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The best fortress which a prince can possess is the affection of his people.

 Niccolò Machiavelli

Darkage

The Castle Age is the second Age a player may access in Rise of Kings. Historically, the Castle Age is meant to represent the early mediaeval period, and involves the following:

  • The increasing importance of castles and siege warfare.
  • Revival of a mercantile economy, as new contacts with the Middle East and urbanisation take hold.
  • The feudal system increases in influence and begins to dominate society.
  • Organised religion takes hold and begins to play a role in social and cultural development.
  • Infantry, once a neglected part of the army, becomes more powerful as an anti-cavalry force.
  • Naval and siege artillery increase in significance as a decisive factor for your forces.

A good number of factions at this time will become dominant, although it will be said that most Muslim factions will be at their peak, especially the Saracens.

Important technologies[]

Castle Age timeline[]

12th century[]

  • 1113: Vladimir Monomakh Grand Prince of Kiev.
  • c1120: Rise of Almohads in Morocco.
  • 1125: Vladimir Monomakh died. His death would see the end of the golden age of Kiev.
  • 1145–1147: Almohads overthrew Almoravid, breaking up Muslim Iberia. 2nd Taifa period in Spain.
  • 1147: 2nd Crusade; first recorded mention of Moscow in history on the Moskva river.
  • 1169: Saladin sultan of Egypt.
  • 1172: Almohads dominant in Andalus.
  • 1176: Friedrich Barbarossa acknowledged superiority of Papacy at Venice.
  • c1185: The Lay of Igor's Campaign composed. This would be Russia's first national epic.
  • 1180–1185: Outbreak of Gempei War. Japanese monarchy weakened and Kamakura shogunate established.
  • 1189: Third Crusade.
  • 1198–1216: See of Innocent III. Friedrich II Hohenstaufen, who was then aged 4, became his ward.

13th century[]

  • c1200: Rise of Islamic Mandenka kingdom in present-day Mali.
  • 1202: 4th Crusade diverted to Constantinople.
  • 1204: Latin occupation of Constantinople: Byzantine empire temporarily sundered.
  • 1206: Temüjin united the Mongols and accepted the name of Genghis Khan.
  • 1212: Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa: Christian forces defeated the Almohads.
  • 1214: Genghis Khan took Beijing.
  • 1223: Russo-Cuman army smashed by Mongols at Battle of the Kalka.
  • 1226: Death of St Francis Assisi, founder of the Franciscan monastic order.
  • 1227: Death of Genghis Khan. Mongol Empire inherited by Ugedey Khan.
  • 1227–30: Collapse of Almohad authority.
  • 1228 So-called "6th Crusade" — Jerusalem ceded by Al-Kamil of Egypt to Friedrich II Hohenstaufen for 10 years.
  • 1236–48: All Andalus except Granada fell to Christians.
  • 1237–40: Batu Khan conquered Russia.
  • 1240: Mongols razed Kiev. in that same year however, Alexander, Prince of Novgorod, crushed Swedes at the Battle of the Neva, earning himself the epithet Alexander Nevsky.
  • 1241 Mongol defeats of Polish forces at Legnica and Silesia.
  • 1242: Battle of Lake Peipus — Russians under Alexander Nevsky broke a Teutonic Knight incursion.
  • 1250: Friedrich II Hohenstaufen died, causing an interregnum; Marinid dynasty dominant at Fez.
  • 1251: Mongke Khan Great Khan; Kublai Khan Mongol governor of China.
  • 1258: Hulagu sacked Baghdad, ushering the decline of the Islamic world.
  • 1260: Kublai Khan Great Khan.
  • 1261: Greeks retook Constantinople from Latins.
  • 1263: Death of Alexander Nevsky, he left Moscow to his youngest son Daniel.
  • 1273: Rudolf Habsburg elected emperor. Emergence of the Swiss nation.
  • 1280: Kublai Khan founded Yuan dynasty.
  • 1292: Kublai Khan died.
  • 1293: Robert Bacon, the prophet of experimental science, died.
  • 1299-1358: Marinids at war with Ziyarids of Algeria.

14th century[]

  • 1324: War of Saint-Sardos in Gascony deprived English crown of inheritance in France, thus sparking off the Hundred Years' War.
  • 1337–40: French navy raided southern England before being destroyed at Battle of Sluys.
  • 1348: The Great Plague.
  • 1360: Chinese people rebelled against Mongols, establishing Zhu Yuanzhang as their Emperor eight years later.
  • 1377: Gregory IX returned back to Rome.
  • 1378: Great Schism: Urban VI in Rome; Clement VII in Avignon.

References[]

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