Despenser War

Despenser War
Clockwise, from top left:Bannister Bridge, Eadwyn III after the Battle of Glouth, The Siege of Burgh Despenser, Aftermath of the murder of Eadwyn II
Date 11 May 1320 – 16 October 1324 (4 years, 5 months and 5 days) Location Ambrose Result Pyrrhic Aethwallic victory Exile of the House of Despenser to the Duchy of Glencamber Extinction of the House of Aethwal House of Lyksborg inherits the Ambrosian throne Kingdom of the Two Daughters formed through personal union
Belligerents
House of Aethwal Archkingdom of Sjealand	House of Despenser Druidic Circle Various Vasturian states
Commanders and leaders
Eadwyn III  Eadwyn IV   Prince of Perth † Thane of Bermund   Svend III Jarl of Folkvang Count of Hoorker Baroness of Moork	Edgard III  † Thane of Moray † Lord Maithwaite   Thane of Caumcester Edmund of Campchath Wulfhild the Great
Strength
Around 18,000 (1322) 10,000 Sjealandic reinforcements (1323)	Around 27,000 (1323)

The Despenser War also known as the First War of the Ambrosian Succession, was a conflict fought from 1320 to 1324 between the House of Aethwal, the ruling royal house of Ambrose, and the House of Despenser. The legitimist Aethwallians were supported by the House of Lyksborg, the ruling house of Sjealand, which began actively participating in the war in 1322.

The conflict was rooted in the 1319 death of King Eadwyn I and the ascension of his nephew Eadwyn II to the throne. The younger Eadwyn, who had been raised and educated at the court of Svend III in Sjealand, was deeply unpopular among the nobility and widely regarded as a foreign usurper because of his lenience towards Norcist converts and his inclusion of young Tynic aristocrats at his court. After many nobles were ejected from the royal court, a plot was hatched to place his first cousin Edgard, Thane of Bothnegowan on the throne, culminating in Eadwyn's murder at Burgh Despenser in 1320. However, rather than retire to exile, Eadwyn II's brother contested Edgard's claim, crowning himself Eadwyn III and raising an army of legitimists and mercenaries to his cause.

The war eventually escalated from a minor baronial revolt to a serious civil war as more feudal landowners pledged loyalty to each side; unable to secure decisive advantages, the fighting was characterized by drawn-out sieges and attrition warfare, with campaigning hampered by the short summer months. Eadwyn III was captured and executed in 1321, and replaced by his twelve-year old son as Eadwyn IV (under a regency imposed by his cousin, the Prince of Perth). Through adroit diplomacy, the Prince was able to convince Svend III, Archking of Sjealand to intervene on the legitimist side, with promises of Svend's daughter marrying Eadwyn IV. The battle-hardened and professional Sjealandic forces landed in Elsbridge in the spring of 1323, led by Svend personally, and quickly started an offensive towards the seat of Edgard.

The armies of Edgard and Eadwyn met in the autumn of 1324 at the Battle of Bannister Bridge; the battle was the bloodiest in pre-industrial Ambrosian history, with both sides taking over 30,000 casualties combined. The Aethwallian army, exhausted and disorganized after several weeks of campaigning, was attacked piecemeal and annihilated with the loss of its entire remaining leadership; however the Despenserist force was encircled by the late Sjealandic army the next day and destroyed, with Moray bleeding to death on the battlefield. The loss of his last remaining army prompted the former heir apparent to flee to Vasturia, ending the war.

By its conclusion, the war had led to the exile of the House of Despenser and their allied houses (the plurality of the pre-war Ambrosian nobility), denying them the Ambrosian throne. However, Bannister Bridge had also seen the near extinction of the House of Aethwal, with the closest adult candidate being Svend himself, the head of the House of Lyksborg. This caused the crowns of Sjealand and Ambrose to be joined in a personal union, which would become known as the Kingdom of the Two Daughters; this arrangement would persist until the late 1600s. The war also saw separation of most of the Northumbrian baronies from the Ambrosian crown, leading to the coalescence of the Duchy of Northumbria in 1380.

Origin of the conflict

Ambrosian-Sjealandic relations

Prior to the conflict, relations between the Ambrosian and Sjealandic monarchies had primarily been coordial, while the Tårnøerne archipelago had been a point of contention between the two states, the formerly independent earldoms of the islands having been thrown back and forth in the preceding centuries. The courts of Elsbridge and Asgård now enjoyed greater cooperation in the Sea of Njord, especially against the trading leagues of Vestmannaland. Several intermarriages had occurred, and the King of Ambrose had even given Sjealand minor support against the Swastrian invasions of the 1200's. The two states enjoyed perhaps the most coordial and close relations of any two nordanian states at the time.

State of Ambrose

The funeral procession of Eadwyn I, King of Ambrosia

The reign of King Eadwyn I was generally a peaceful one; aside from several minor civil strife in the vassals of the Northumberland, his rule from 1281 to his death 1319 was marked by a period of prosperity and stability, ensured by the king's adept manipulation of court politics. Despite the king's general popularity, however, problems had begun cropping up: the year before the King's death had seen a severe famine. The nobility to pressure the King, on his deathbed, to relax the taxes levied on the manorial estates; this saw the King's popularity rise but also saw the crown's income (and power) reduced.

Upon the king's death on November 10th, 1319, his son, the Prince of Cornmoor, ascended to the throne as Eadwyn II. Eadwyn II, was unlike his father, very unpopular in Ambrose, especially with members of the landed gentry. This was partially because of his background; the younger Eadwyn had not been raised by in Elsbridge his father but in Asgård—the capital of Sjealand—by his mother, Gerda of Holmegard (1270-1312), herself of Sjealandic birth. Returning to Ambrose at the age of twenty in 1296, he was was friendless and estranged from the established nobility, who considered him little more than a foreigner; the Prince apparently made little effort to try to ingratiate himself with them. His ascension did little to change this perception; he issued several edicts prohibiting persecution of Atrunean converts, and also included numerous young Tynic noblemen to the royal court. In fact, his unpopularity only deepened, with his critics regarding him as a corrupt pagan. The royal court became irrevocably fractured between the King's supporters and his opponents, and the king quickly began ruling by decree instead relying on the fourteen-member baronial council set in place by the 1197 Charter of Liberties.

Seven months into his reign, and in response to the lack of cooperation in the execution his decrees, Eadwyn II raised taxes on the nobility to their previous levels. The nobles protested that their estates remained in famine, viewing the taxes as a pretext for swelling the royal treasury. In response, Eadwyn dismissed nearly half of his court. It was at this point that many nobles began considering deposing the king, by murder if necessary, to prevent the dramatic erosion of their power.

State of Sjealand

Coming out of the Halmsfeld Heresy, Great Swastrian Invasion and the War of Vengeance the Sjealandic society was heavily militarized. While the Tynic Sea empire had been lost, Sjealand had under the reigns of Magnus I and Svend III retaken vast swathes of land, conquered the Tårnøerne and several islands in the Sea of Njord and burnt Wittburg to the ground. In addition Sjealands maritime trade relations were booming, with borean trade bringing much needed capital into the growing nation and auregan timber supplying the blossoming navy.

In recent years Svend III had sought to gain further influence in Ambrose, to use their significant military prowess against renewed Vestmannarn offensives against his holdings on the coast, but the strong and traditionally independent nobility of Ambrose had so far refused to involve themselves in fights that did not stand to benefit them, and were suspicious of the southern Atrunean Sjealanders. Only the support of Eadwyn II even kept Ambrose as a nominal ally of Sjealands, something the nobility was wary of and increasingly hostile against.

Sjealandic Invasion

By 1323 the pleading of the Ambrosian court had finally convinced the Archking of the value in supporting the Aethwallic court. With haste several thousand soldiers of the Hird were called up, around 10,000 infantry-men and 2,500 cavalrymen along with Svend III's personal bodyguard consisting of noblemen and knights. Thanks to the excellent infrastructure put in place by his forefathers, as well as Swastrian invaders, Svend was able to march his army north to Nordvakt in under a month, from where he began preparations to ship his large army to Elsbridge. The massive fleet departed Nordvakt in march of 1323, containing over 150 transport and war-ships, bound for Elsbridge.

The journey to Ambrose was relatively safe, with calm seas and mild weather, however these favourable conditions also quickly alerted the Despensers to the coming army, as the fleet was spotted by an Ambrosian pro-despenser beacon-keeper south of Cape Glenburgh. Using the system of Ambrosian coastal beacons he was quickly able to alert most of rebel Ambrose to the coming of the fleet, before even Eadwyn was. Yet with the arrival of the Sjealandic forces in Elsbridge in April, the legitimist side saw itself greatly reinforced, as the Sjealandic army was, unlike either side of the Ambrosian civil war, professional and consisted of battle-hardened veterans fighting in close phalanxes with polearms.

The fourteeen year old Eadwyn, eager to use the momentum and security granted to him by the reinforcements, took to the field and led an army into eastern Ambrose to strike at the Despenser Hinterlands, while Sjealandic engineers were slowly constructing a series of bridges over the inland tributaries to the Els River, planning to go for Burgh Despenser itself. Proving himself to be an inadequate military commander, Eadwyn began increasingly to rely on the Prince of Perth for all military decisions, even letting him take the field in his place, wearing the royal armour. Svend continued to operate independently. Edgard, wary of the Sjealandic push to his home and wishing to take on the more numerous royal forces dealt Eadwyn a series of crushing defeats throughout 1323, notably at Haldred Inn, Westpyke and Castle Galesmouth, in the end he besieged Perth and took it by storm, humiliating the Prince and capturing his family.

Utterly disappointed by the abilities of his kin Svend summoned Eadwyn and the Prince to his camp at Burgh Despenser, something that greatly lowered the nobility's opinion of Eadwyn. During this meeting the Prince of Perth was stripped of his duties as Regent, with the title conferred to Svend, Eadwyn was sent to Elsbridge along with a Sjealandic guard to run the city while Svend would take command of the combined 40,000 men they could muster. Within a month Burgh Despenser had been stormed and sacked, with Edgards family put to the sword and his ancestral home burnt to the ground.

Frightened by Svend's ruthlessness the Barons combined their forces and rushed to Elsbridge, hoping to cut off the only major port under Legitimist control, however the introduction of Sjealandic gunpowder weapons to the city's defences utterly terrified the army as it assaulted the city, leaving the Barons unable to gain any significant victory against the capital, before being routed by a reinforcing army.

By 1324 the Legitimist, with massive Sjealandic aid, had been able to gain significant ground back from the rebel barons, but most knew this was not thanks to Eadwyns rule, but rather the ruthless efficiency of Svend, and fewer and fewer were taking Eadwyn seriously. Fuelled by these whispers, and as many Ambrosian histories believe, by Svend's suggestion, Eadwyn, who was now 15, took personal command of the Royal Army and took to the field towards the new rebel stronghold of Moray, Svend following him a few days later but not conjoining their armies. Hearing of this Edgard summoned as many rebel barons, Vasturian supporters and Wosraci mercenaries as he could and marched west to meet Eadwyn in the field.

Battle of Bannister Bridge

In September 1324 Eadwyn's army of 36,000 men reached Bannister Bridge, a small settlement around a large stone bridge crossing the Bannister River. Only a weeks march from Moray, Eadwyn decided to encamp at the bridge, sending his best soldiers across the river while his greener newer forces along with himself stayed on the other side of the river, in and around the village where Eadwyn stayed at the mayors manse. Unbeknownst to him, the mayor was a supporter of Edgards, and had tipped off his army days in advance. Edgard had been busy ferrying his army across to river further south to envelop Eadwyn and assault his rear, while the Mayor of Bannister Bridge distracted Eadwyn with feasts, and according to several sources, his daughters, to him Eadwyn lost his virginity and spent most of his days with.

Having stayed a week encamped at Bannister Bridge, which by now had been turned into a semi-fortified encampment Eadwyn, now satisfied with his forward scouting and reports of low rebel activity, decided to break camp and continue to Moray. However the mayor of the town Godwin, signalled awaiting rebel scouts of this, and within a day Edgards army appeared from the west and from the east. A knight carrying Edgards armor and standard lead the eastern army, and thus Eadwyns commanders assumed this was where the brunt would hit and rushed to awake Eadwyn, who was sleeping with the mayors daughters. Quickly waking and mounting his horse Eadwyn rushed across the bridge to his experienced forces on the eastern bank. There he took command of the center and began a push towards the rebel forces.

However Edgard was in fact leading the majority of his forces on the western bank, and smashed into the green levies in Bannister Bridge. However with the town relatively fortified and the Legitimists having the defensive high ground, the battle was by no means one-sided. Yet Eadwyns decision to charge the eastern forces proved a big mistake, as these mainly consisted of light infantry, archers and cavalry, who were quickly able to retreat away from Eadwyns heavily armored housecarls, pulling them further away from Bannister Bridge where Edgard was slowly overrunning the defenders. Eadwyn realized this too little too late and when he pulled his forces back to the town his eastern side was already crumbling. Desperate to break for safety he lead a small group of Hirdmen into a charge at the weakest part of the rebel line but was cut down by Edmund of Campchath, who raised his axe and standard, signalling victory, with which the Legitimist forces melted away.

Battle of Caumcester

Edgard had hoped his defeat of Eadwyn would lead Svend to the table, and perhaps net him a white peace with the Sjealander, whom he thought he could easily defeat, but whose nation he did not wish to provoke. Instead Svend imprisoned Edgards couriers and summoned the remaining legitimist lords and barons to his field camp at Bermund. It is unclear what went on during the 3 days of meetings held at the camp, but what is clear is that the Sjealandic Baroness of Moork and the Prince of Perth, also the last remaining male heir of the House of Aethwal, offered Svend the Ambrosian crown, which he claimed much to the cheers of his army. Within days he marched for Moray, leading an army of around 14,000 Sjealanders and 12,000 Ambrosians.

Edgard and the rebels upon hearing the news were reportedly furious, as Svend possessed the Ambrosian crown regalia, and most importantly Elsbridge, which had been turned into a Sjealandic fortress. Lord Maithwaite, one of Edgards most senior advisors offered to take part of the army and raise further levies, after which they would ambush the Sjealanders in the Glencamber forest. Svend was made aware of this plan however by several spies in Maithwaites entourage and almost massacred his army in the Battle of Glencamber, during which Maithwaite was captured and hanged by Svend. A week after the crossed Bannister Bridge where the town was put to the torch by the furious Legitimist forces and the Mayors daughters reportedly drowned in the river by Svend, who did not want potential heirs of Eadwyn.

On the 13th of October Svends army appeared on the horizon of the rebel camp at Caumcester, where Edgard promptly readied his men for battle. The two armies stared eachother down for 3 days before the Sjealanders finally took the initiative on the 16th, forming their line up in mild chevron, with most of the Sjealandic heavy cavalry on the right flank and the Ambrosian soldiers on the left, the Sjealandic infantry expected to hold most of the line. The rebel forces were lined up in a long shieldwall with a line of mixed cavalry, skirmishers and light infantry in the front.

Additionally the Sjealanders deployed a few units of gunpowder artillery. While they were hardly useful or accurate, the technology having only been imported from Tuthina in the last decades, it served to scare many of the Ambrosian levies and horses, who were unused to the sounds. An opening barrage accompanied by the steady advance of the Sjealandic forces to war-drums and flutes as well as repeated war-cries by their officers served to terrify the Ambrosian line even further, but thanks to Edgards charismatic leadership the line held. Svend, unlike Edgard, did not lead from the front, and instead surveyed the battle from a nearby hilltop, issuing orders with various curious, flag signals and horn signals.

When the lines clashed, the rebels immediately felt the brunt of the force, the Sjealandic infantrys iron discipline and wide-spanning training quickly overpowered many of the feudal levies, while the cavalry on the right flink thundered through the remaining Ambrosian Knights before heading for the Ambrosian camp. This set off panic in the hinter lines of the rebel army and several hundred men began retreating to protect the camp. They discovered too late that this was a ruse and the Sjealandic cavalry powered through the retreating Ambrosians into the rear of the rebel army, utterly breaking them and allowing the Sjealandic infantry to push them further into envelopment with most of the army surrendering. At last only Edgard and a few hundred Housecarls kept fighting on, with Edgard desperately challenging Svend to a duel, only to be silenced by an unkown Sjealandic crossbowman.