Morvan, King of Breizh, Duke of Brittany, Count of Leon and Kernev, and Baron of An Erge Vras; in August of 809.
Morvan was officially crowned King of Breizh, ensuring a stable transition of power but his Council was still in disarray from the sudden death of Concar. At the time he became King, Morvan was married to Queen Lada who had already given him two children, an older daughter named “Drilego” and a son named “Iudnimet” who would be his heir.
Morvan immediately went to work to stabilize things. Despite having been his father’s apprentice, Morvan withdrew from the Hermetic Society. It’s “requests” had often taken his father away from the task of running the realm and he did not wish those distractions. He also strove to avoid his father’s other vices; enough that many in the Court called him “Chaste”.
Morvan soon learned of a plot against him; his brothers Guethencor and Morguethen were both plotting to kill him and claim the kingdom for themselves. He was able to talk Morguethen out of the plot but Guethencor refused to budge. Paranoid, Morvan focused his interest into espionage.
That interest quickly proved useful. In early 810 he discovered that his father’s lover Rioanon was plotting to kill Iudnimet; presumably as a path to seeing her child on the throne. Fortunately, Morvan was able to talk her out of her plans.
He spent the rest of the year focusing on the realm. He invested in the infrastructure of several counties and then held a Grand Tournament to help bring the people together. It succeeded, and as the year ended he learned that a faction devoted to getting Morguethen named King had been disbanded.
He quickly found out why when Morguethen died soon afterward. It seemed to be of natural causes, but the timing was suspicious.
Morvan had little time to mourn his brother. Morguethen had been his Chancellor (named thus by his father years ago) and he quickly needed to replace the position. His brother Guethencor let it be known that he desired to be on the Council, but Morvan was uncertain of his capability. He reached out to his brother, asking him to end his plot against him in exchange for the position, but Guethencor refused.
Knowing that it would cause him more personal problems, Morvan did what he felt was best for the Kingdom. He named his most qualified courtier, Mayor Michel of Brest, to the position of Chancellor. He then dispatched Michel to Cornwall to resume Morguethen’s work there.
As for Guethencor, Morvan designated him as his Regent. He hoped this would satisfy his demand for power. Unfortunately, it did not and soon a “Guethencor for King” faction arose.
Not all was bad news though. Morguethen’s death had given Morvan the Duchy of Penteur and the County of Tregor, giving him greater control of the Kingdom and more levies for what he was certain would be Guethencor’s inevitable betrayal. He had been approached by Waltgaud “The Lame” of the Mid-Francian Revolt, wishing to arrange a marriage between one of his subjects and his father’s lover Rioanon. Remembering her earlier plot, Morvan was happy to have her leave his kingdom.
Then his wife Lada revealed to him that she was with child. Morvan was happy to know he would soon have another heir. She soon gave birth to a son and Morvan named him “Concar”, after his father.
Unfortunately, Guethencor refused to stop his plotting. He continued to lead a plot to kill Morvan, then dared to fabricate a claim on the Duchy of Penteur! This was a slight that Morvan could no longer ignore. He had his brother arrested and thrown into the dungeons of his palace.
With the immediate threat from his brother gone Morvan took the time to reorganize to a Late Feudal Administration, centralizing more of the control of the Kingdom under his direct administration.
Perhaps because of this, a strange opportunity came to him. A knight came to his kingdom, wanting to swear fealty to him and become his Marshal. Morvan was surprised, partially because after speaking with them it became obvious that they were a brilliant military strategist, but mostly because the knight was a woman; the Lady Ourcen de Kemporle. Morvan was impressed and named her his Marshal. Many of his vassals openly complained but he refused to turn away her obvious talent.
Guethencor complained too, but Morvan just left him in the dungeon.
Morvan should have been content, but he became increasingly paranoid and started seeing plots against him everywhere. First, he discovered that his half-brother Clemen was plotting to kill him *and* a faction had formed to support Clemen for King. Then, his spymaster started acting strange. Morvan spied on his spymaster for a while but was never able to catch him doing anything incriminating.
Morvan tried to improve his mood by holding a Summer Fair, but neither it nor the birth of another son, named “Leucum”, were enough to break him out of his depression.
In 815 Iudnimet turned 12 and Morvan formally introduced him as his heir to the court. It was a disaster. Iudnimet managed to insult Mayor Cenmonoc of Plougonuen and the opinion of many of his vassals dropped. Morvan did his best to withhold his anger from his son.
Fortunately, he soon had a target; Clemen fabricated a claim on the Duchy of Brittany. Morvan immediately had him arrested and thrown into the dungeon, where he and Guethencor could scheme helplessly for as long as they wanted.
The next few years passed quietly, except for the occasional grumbles from the dungeons. Morvan continued to invest his time into his Kingdom, and with his wife Lada, apparently; she gave him two more sons, “Buhedoc” and “Hedyn”.
Feeling left out among her five brothers, his lone daughter Drilego demanded the nickname “The Loyal”. Soon after an offer came from Middle Francia, requesting the betrothal of Drilego to King Magneric of Middle Francia. Feeling that a King was a good match for his only daughter, not to mention having more ties to the powerful kingdoms to the east, Morvan agreed.
Morvan again became suspicious of his spymaster and began to keep him under observation again. This time he uncovered the spymaster’s plot; he and the court physician were plotting to kill his half-sister, Princess Guenmon of East Francia! Even ignoring the diplomatic disaster that would be caused if Prince Karl traced the plot back to Breizh, Moravan could now allow such a plot to proceed against a member of his own family. He immediately had the spymaster and physician thrown into his increasingly crowded dungeons.
Later in the year, Iudnimet came of age. Morvan looked around and found the perfect opportunity; Eustadiola, the Duchess of Upper Britany, was able to be betrothed. She was already heir to the duchy and the three counties that bordered Breizh to the east. Through this marriage the Kingdom would, in the future, safely expand into what was now part of West Francia.
Unfortunately, it would be some time as Eustadiola was still a child, but Morvan’s request for a betrothal was accepted. Content that he had made the best choice possible, Morvan gifted the County of Kernev to Iudnimet to rule as his own until the marriage could take place.
Perhaps because of this new connection between their realms, in 820 Morvan was invited to participate in the Coronation of King Grifo of West Francia.
Later in that year, Morvan was able to convince his Council to accept a change in the inheritance rules for Breizh. The Council accepted Primogeniture, meaning that Morvan would not have to worry that any of his work would leave his family; Iudnimet would inherit everything he owned.
Then, Morvan somehow became known as “The Monk”. Yes, he was still considered “Chaste” by most of his court, but he and Lada had six children together. He couldn’t be *that* chaste.
Morvan made new allies. Baroness Nuna of Lorainne visited the castle for some months and when she returned home she had spoken highly enough of her time in Broerec that her husband, Baron Aznar of Lorainne, offered a non-aggression pact to Morvan. He happily accepted.
Unfortunately, that would be the only good news for a while. Pneumonia struck the County of Leon and even closing the gates did nothing to stop it’s spread. Two of Morvan’s sons, Concar and Hedyen, became sick. The new Court Physician Guorbili botched the treatment for Hedyen but he survived, though he would be weak and sickly for the rest of his life.
Gurobili was unable to save Concar, who died at the age of 8. Morvan was angry but allowed Guorbili to remain as Court Physician. For now.
Because he had other problems. King Jord of Cornwall sent the body of Chancellor Michel back to Breizh with a warning. Angered, Morvan named his half-brother Primarhoc to be his new Chancellor and sent him back to Cornwall.
For the next few years, things were quiet. Morvan invested in the infrastructure of his Kingdom and Breizh prospered. There was a minor family disagreement when Drilego decided she wanted to be Marshal of Breizh, but Morvan turned her down. She was angry, but it didn’t matter. Less than a month later Magneric “The Young” of Middle Francia became King, the betrothed were married, and Drilego left the court to become Queen of Middle Francia. Morvan felt that she would be far happier being a Queen as opposed to just a Marshal.
Otherwise, the affairs of the realm continued normally. The opportunity to purchase land for a new bishopric presented itself and Morvan spent the funds to build it.
Then Chancellor Primarhoc died, but not before he managed to fabricate a claim on Cornwall. Morvan briefly mourned his half-brother but gained control of the County of Broerec. He quickly named one of his courtiers, Gurcencor, to be the new Chancellor. He immediately sent him to Devon.
Another few years passed in which Morvan did nothing but invest in his infrastructure. Then… the measles appeared in Leon. Once again, Morvan ordered the gates closed to protect himself and his court.
This ultimately proved to be a mistake. Morvan had thought the castle had been prepared for such an eventuality, but their stored food proved to be inadequate. He had to make a first, crucial decision when he was forced to implement rationing of food. Then, a second decision when one of his Courtiers, a minor noble named Urvod, was caught stealing food from the stores.
One of his other Courtiers suggested that Urvod could become food himself, but Morvan refused to make that decision and simply kicked Urvod out of the gates. Which did nothing to solve the food situation.
In the end, Morvan was forced to open the gates again. It was that or starvation, and Morvan was forced to choose between the possibility of getting sick and the certainty of starvation. The commoners outside were angry that Morvan had abandoned them during the disease outbreak, but he had done what he could for as long as he could.
He received one bit of good news when he opened the gates. Gurencor had successfully fabricated a claim on Devon. Morvan sent him on to Somerset.
The next few years would challenge Morvan with even more problems. He discovered that his Court Chaplain had been selling favors with the Church for money. Morvan wanted nothing to do with this and immediately stripped him of his title and kicked him off the Council. He found himself having to look outside of Breizh for a replacement but eventually invited Bishop Carantec to join him as his new Chaplain.
Then… Iudnimet contracted measles.
There was nothing Morvan could do. He sent Gurobili to care for Iudnimet, but word had gotten out. He received word from her Regent that Eustadiola had broken off her betrothal. Apparently, they wanted nothing to do with what they considered a form of the “Pox”.
Morvan was angered, more angry than he had ever been in his life. Iudnimet recovered and he attempted to re-establish the betrothal, but Eustadiola had already been betrothed to another suitor. Iudnimet was upset that he had lost his wife, and Morvan was upset that he had lost a way to expand his kingdom.
Working quickly, Morvan arranged for a marriage between Iudnimet and Moruith; his half-sister. It was less than optimal, but it closed off some lines of inheritance and might prevent some lines of succession from leaving his kingdom.
He then turned his gaze outwards. The kingdom must expand. He had some fabricated claims, and he would use them. He declared war against King Jord of Cornwall, pressing his fabricated claims on Cornwall and Devon. He immediately called up all of his legions.
And almost as immediately hit a problem. He had thousands of troops ready to invade Cornwall, but only a handful of ships. There was mass confusion as he attempted to split his troops apart so they would fit on the few ships he had available to cross the Channel.
Then… that confusion turned into a success. Apparently wondering where the Breizh troops were, King Jord had sent almost his entire army to invade. They found the entire Breizh army waiting for them and the Cornwall troops were slaughtered as they came ashore.
Morvan pressed his advantage, even hiring a mercenary company with ships to help him transfer his troops. But, in the end, what had first seemed like a mistake turned into victory.,
Without his troops, King Jord was unable to defend his cities. His situation worsened when King Morvan himself slew Custentin, King Jord’s champion. The counties of Cornwall and Devon fell to King Morvan, and the realm expanded.
At the end of 829, the Kingdom of Breizh’s expansion across the Channel was complete. The realm had expanded. Morvan was more in debt to the moneylenders than he wished to admit, but peace once again prevailed.
Morvan looked at his realm. The treasury was drained and he owed more to the moneylenders than he liked, but… the realm was at peace. He looked forward to his next challenge.
Europe, 830
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