King Haakon I of Frankenlisch

Haakon I
King of Frankenlisch
Reign	20 March 1414 - 9 September 1440
Predecessor	King Osmund II of Frankenlisch
Successor	Haakon II
Born	(1389-05-21)21 May 1389 Frankenlisch, Kingdom of Frankenlisch
Died	9 September 1440(1440-09-09) (aged 51)
Spouse	Queen Helga
Full name Haakon Falk Osmundsen
House	House of Falk
Father	King Osmund II of Frankenlisch
Mother	Queen Hildegard
Religion	Frankenlischian Andyist Church

King Haakon I was born in 1389 to the Frankenlischian Royal House of Falk, he was born midway through the reign of his father, Osmund II's reign as monarch. In 1414, King Osmund passed away, leaving Haakon as the new king. In March of 1414, he was crowned as the King of Kingdom of Frankenlisch. He held this position for twenty-six years and now has a class of battleship named after him: the Imperial Navy King Haakon I Class Battleship.

Early Life

King Haakon was born in the Hospital of Saint Felix in Frankenlisch Castle as the son of King Osmund II, the reigning Frankenlischian King and his wife, Hildegard of Nantebourg. His birth can be found abnormally frequently in Frankenlischian Chronicles with the date pinpointed on the 21st of May 1389 at exactly midnight as mentioned in Theoderus' Chronicle: "The heir was born peacefully when the moon was at its highest point in the sky." The King did not witness Haakon's birth as he was seriously ill with dysentery and the King's regent William Beuclerc named the boy Haakon, meaning son or descendant in old Frankenlischian.

Haakon was known until his ascension as King as Haakon of Falscraf as he attended the University of Falscraf, known simply as Falscraf School at the time. His education and upbringing is badly covered in the time's chronicles as there was a period of major Wars in Vionna so chroniclers such as Theoderus and Geoffrey Elrich focus mainly on other things. It is noted, however, that during 1405 there was an attack by Terrifican raiders on the town of Falscraf that reached the walls of the castle and by extension, the University. Haakon was sixteen at the time and was said to have conducted himself with great valour during the attack and an illustration exists within the University of the teenage heir firing a crossbow at the raiders, the painting was made in 1570, over a century afterwards, but chronicles of the attack also testify to Haakon's bravery and combat prowess during the action. The attack was apparently beaten back and the school's Chancellor at the time, Boyd Sowards, tallied in a diary entry that three of the school's students had been killed along with twenty-three townsmen, thirty guards and around sixty of the raiders.

At age 17, Haakon was taken out of education and entered military service as his father, King Osmund, was no longer able to lead the Royal Army. This meant he led the Frankenlischian forces through the later years of the Vionnan Anarchy.

Campaigns in Vionna

Main article: Vionnan Anarchy (1398 - 1411)

Theoderus, who followed Haakon as a member of his retinue for his early campaigns, notes in his 1406 Yearly Overview that Haakon was "A young man of great promise and intelligence, courageous in both manner and action." It seems that other contemporary sources agreed that Haakon since his teenage years was a learned man who proved himself a potent force on the battlefield. His first battle was a skirmish outside Frankenlisch itself against a group of Lopen raiders, the action was detailed only by Theoderus but may have been mentioned in Haakon's personal diaries, however, it is more likely that the events detailed in the entry are referring to Haakon's later Conquest of the Lopenland in 1413. Theoderus states that the battle was "Short and bloody" with "Minimal casualties on both sides." The only known details are that Haakon led a portion of the Frankenlisch Garrison against a group of encamped Lopen raiders about 120 strong and broke up their camp, forcing them into a rout which he allowed.

In May 1406 King Osmund was approached by a party of Vionnan nobles including the Duke of Larkinge, the Count of Ballaeter and Balderic Randell. The group seemingly came in a spirit of goodwill requesting that King Osmund allow them to recruit mercenaries from Frankenlischian lands to join their conflicts in the Vionnan Anarchy, a request that Osmund rejected, knowing that the assembled nobles had exhausted much of their manpower already in a four-year war against King Lawrence of the Riverland. The talks quickly became heated and the Vionnan nobles returned to their respective territories, raising what remained of their levies later that month and marching on Gestoria led by Lord William Brice, the Count of Briceport. King Osmund ordered the mobilisation of the Royal Army on the First of June that year and Haakon, who by that point had been named Prince of the Fallen Isles, took command of these forces on the Fourth.

Educated yet inexperienced in command, Haakon held a war council on the Fifth which decided to wait a week for the remainder of the Frankenlischian levies to arrive, finally amassing a force of thirty thousand Housecarls, Fyrd and mercenaries. Another week was spent training the army and amassing spears and leather armour for the Fyrd levies as many were armed only with farming equipment and wearing regular peasant clothing. This delay allowed the Count of Briceport's men to storm Gestoria and seize the city with most of its defences and supplies intact. Haakon's army began to march down on the Twenty-Eighth and eventually lay siege to Gestoria on the Tenth of June.

Siege of Gestoria
Main article: Second Siege of Gestoria

The Second Siege of Gestoria, opening up only a single day after the First Siege, was Prince Haakon's first major battle. He commanded a force of just over 30,000 men against 20,000 defenders under the command of the Count of Briceport. Haakon's troops began to arrive late on the Ninth and lay siege to the city on the Tenth. Haakon's army was bolstered on the Ninth by a portion of the Gestoria garrison led by Duke Harald Picroft of Gestoria along with much of the city's population as the Duke had led them to safety through the castle sewers. He provided plans for the settlement along with much-needed information about the enemy host as well before bursting into tears and having to be confined to quarters by Prince Haakon. Lord Stanley Hunter had the Duke kept under guard as he had developed a serious depression and was in danger of taking his own life, something the Frankenlischian war effort could not allow as the Duke was a powerful figurehead in Gestoria.

Prince Haakon, surprised by the speed of Brice's siege, was prepared for a quick siege and hoped to make use of Brice's abandoned equipment. Brice had already cleared the ground outside the city of corpses and discarded weapons and equipment, he also set to work on cutting back the woods surrounding Gestoria, this task was not completed when Prince Haakon arrived but the efforts kept Haakon's skirmish troops from harassing the walls and gate. Haakon's army surrounded the city and began efforts to force the defenders out including the use of trebuchets, Polykrete (a very early form of Napalm) and siege warfare.

It quickly became clear that the siege would not be a quick affair and heavy rainstorms forced the Frankenlischian Army to encamp for six weeks with very little actual siege efforts on either side. The River Ecrin broke its banks somewhere in mid-July which allowed the castle to receive a minor restocking of its freshwater supplies and part of the Frankenlischian siege camp was evacuated due to flooding. Prince Haakon himself was almost drowned when his tent was flooded while he was sleeping.

The floodwaters finally receeded in early August and the storms ended allowing the Frankenlischians to continue efforts to take the city and castle back including preparing siege towers and rams and barraging the walls and castle with trebuchets. In mid-August, a major raid was launched against the Frankenlischian positions which was successfully checked and pushed back by the Frankenlischian Housecarls. Multiple probing attacks were launched against the walls in the following weeks and but these had ended by October.

Finally, on the 18th of October, a large skirmish was fought by Gestoria's Western Gate as some of Brice's host attempted to sally out but this was met and defeated by mounted Housecarls and mercenaries from Germana led by Prince Haakon. Following this skirmish and the garrison running out of supplies, Brice finally surrendered on the 19th. Despite the protracted siege, which lasted 130 days in total, Prince Haakon allowed Brice the honours of war and his men marched into captivity while he was kept as a prisoner in Gestoria.