Battle of Ansee Abby

The Battle of Ansee Abby was the first major battle of the Paragon Rebellions which was the climax of the First War of Visimar. The defenders would rally their support for Emperor Konrad II, the Emperor of the Western Empire of Visimar against the supporters of Ragnfred the Holy and the Arch-Confessor Joseph Kanner.

## Background

> *Main Article: Paragon Rebellions*
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> After several weeks of small-scale incursions and raids by the Holy Empire of Visimar. Emperor Ragnfred decided in his war council that it was time to strike the Western Visimarians in a final battle that would utilized his entire fighting force. Given the full strength of the Paragon faith militia as well as the combined strength of all the lord's men in the Eastern Kingdoms, Ragnfred would amass over 20,000 fighting men, all from multiple sources of recruitment including clans, herder tribes from the east, and a regiment of armoured lancers from the Golden Empire. Overall, the Holy Empire's army dwarfed the Western Visimarians who could only bring 10,000; a majority of the male population in Western Visimar as well as several hired companies of sellswords.
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> The battle lines would be formed near Ansee Abbey, an old faith monastery that was looted and razed months prior by faith militants. It was be agreed by both sides by noble delegation that the battle would be fought on open plains to allow a initial bout of knightly combat to occur before the commoners fought. It was then decided that the terms were acceptable and the battle soon began shortly after.
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## Forces

Around 30,000 soldiers would be present at the battle, with 20,000 belonging to the Holy Empire and over 10,000 belonging to the Western Empire. Over 5000 knights would be present on both sides, all mounted and heavily armed compared to their foot soldier retainers. Many scholars claim that this was the largest amount of knights present for battle on the continent at any time in history. Both sides were eager to fight as it would be the first major battle of the First War of Visimar and neither side was willing to back down. A force of 2,000 tribal horsemen from a northern tribal confederation would also appear after the battle to fight the survivors after the battle, but were driven off as quickly as they arrived.

### The Western Empire of Visimar

The Western Empire of Visimar was struck with a levy shortage following the military incursions made into the Empire by fanatical religious fighters. Being so depleted meant that the lords had to tax the serfs out of every valuable they had in order to hire mercenaries and clans to fight for them. As a result, around 11,000 soldiers were present that were loyal to the Western Empire of Visimar. Almost a third of the soldiers would be derived from foreign sources including Free State mercenary companies, local clans, an elven mercenary company and tribal halfmens from the borders of the Wildman plains. The core of the Western Empire would include a heavy reliance on peasant militias who were widely unarmoured. A core of the levy would include the unhorsed lords and knights of Visimar who would accompany and support the levy in battle.

Over 5000 knights and sergeants would be present on the Western Empire's side. Most knights would be picked from the landed knights within the empire's territory as well as dispossessed knights who were forced into Western service after being run out by their own serfs. Almost all of the knights present were heavily armed and their sergeants were adequately armed as well. Clan horsemen were present in the formation, but a majority were forced to give up their horses for the depleted nobility whose horses died earlier in the campaign due to famine.

### Holy Empire of Visimar

Unlike Western Visimar, The Holy Empire had managed to amass over 20,000 soldiers before the battle. A majority of the fighters would be drawn from the largely fanatical and poorly equipped faith militant who flocked to the Emperor's banners en masse after the Betrayal at Odo Garden. The numbers of faith militants ranged from around 5,000 to 7,000. The rest of the army consisted of the remnants of the Palantine Guard, levies, noble retainers, mercenaries and hired clans from the Eastern Kingdoms, most notably the Trito clan.

Just like their enemies, the Holy Empire amassed over 5000 knights who were positioned in front of the foot formations. Along with the landed and hedge knights were hired lancers from the Golden Empire as well as some horsed nobles from the Trito Clan. Although equal in numbers, many of the Golden Lancers and the clan riders were poorly equipped, unsuited for knightly combat on a plain field.

## The Battle

### The Knightly Battle

Before both sides clashed, Emperor Konrad II suggested that each side's knights would fight in a single bout in front of both armies to make it clear who possesses the dominant force. Ragnfred agreed on the condition that the fighters didn't have to be nobles or knights who fought in the battle.

After the formations were in place, both sides marched forward their knights and each side lowered their lances to charge. The battle lasted 10 minutes as over 3000 knights would lose their lives during the initial charge and the subsequent melee. In the initial charge, Emperor Konrad II along with over a thousand knights were impaled by wooden lances at the beginning of the battle and were mostly trampled throughout the melee. After both sides retreated, over 4000 knights were lying on the battlefield along with 2000 riders.

A fierce foot skirmish erupted among the unhorsed nobles, which led to the extraction of Emperor Konrad II by some of his close allies. Those who fought soon retreated back to their own lines as the armies were ordered forward.

### The First Combat

The first contact between the foot armies of each empire would see over 5000 soldiers on each side clash. The battle lines stretched over a kilometer in length and each battle was divided into two lines of men. When the first clash erupted, many men would lose their lives as the faith militant were pushed to the frontlines to act as fodder for the more experienced warriors. The first combat would last over an hour before both sides retreated in exhaustion. At the end of the battle, over 1000 men were killed and over 1500 were wounded.

### The Second Combat

The next day, both sides formed battle lines again with soldiers kept in reserve. Most of the faith militants that were struck down the day prior were replaced twofold and by the end of the Holy Empire's deployment, over 4000 militants stood opposing the last 5000 fighting soldiers of the Western Empire.

Both sides fought for 6 hours before the Western Empire's soldiers began to flee. The Holy Empire took this advantage to chase the routers down to make sure they didn't regroup nearby. This was the ultimate decision which led to the confirmed defeat of the Holy Empire.

### Route

A route soon went underway shortly after the center of the Western Empire's army crumbled, many nobles and peasants alike were ridden down by clan riders and lancers kept in reserve and overall, an additional 1000 men were captured and another couple hundred ridden down and killed. Emperor Konrad II and his retinue would flee the battle before the massive defeat and seek shelter in the town of Grunburg before Konrad would pass from his injuries due to a fever. The rest of the 1000 soldiers that routed from the battle would regroup at Grunburg to mourn their loss before marching further south to regroup.