The Great Feudal War

The Great Feudal War was a war of succession in Corveaux from 1411 to 1420. The two warring parties were King Louis XIV, the son of Queen Marié Dampierre, and his aunt, Audrey Dampierre. The war earned Louis his title as 'The Undefeated' and the death toll within the Dampierre extended family was so high, that when he emerged as victor, he had barely any family left, which is considered one of the main reasons for the current stability of the Dampierre Dynasty.

## Background

Before Hannequin I Dampierre's death in 1389, he appointed his daughter Marié Dampierre as successor, with the provision, that if she should die, her sister Audrey should be the successor. The provision was meant to be a security in case Marié failed to produce an heir, but this was never explicitly written. So, when Marié died in 1411, and her son Louis XIV succeeded her, Audrey challenged his appointment, arguing that she should have received the crown because of the provisions written in Hannequin's will.

## The Conflict

In October of 1411, during the marriage feast of King Louis and Veera Ambrose of Thyssen, his father Mathias insulted the son of Audrey, also named Louis, in public. Both sons of Audrey left for Risseaux. They plundered Montress, rulled by House Bojourné, who were supporters of King Louis, and began to raise an army in their mother's name. In February of 1412, Audrey entered Troisanne and declared herself Queen of Corveaux while King Louis was in Napier on a Journey of Vassalage, so that his counts could swear their allegiance. When word reach Louis, he called his banners from Napier.

The siblings of Louis XIV, Damien and Antionette, refused to lend him any support, anticipating that he would not be able to retake Troisanne. They preferred to swear fealty to Audrey in the hopes of additional lands and titles. In 1415, Louis managed to muster an army and marched towards Troisanne. Only 16 years old, he won his first victory at the Battle of the River Rouge, granting him entrance into the Nirou Basin where he managed to take Risseaux and capture one of Audrey's sons. He then built up his army with the support of the region and moved south to Collina, where Audrey's other son had stationed himself on the bank of the Collina river. Here, the two cousins concluded a peace treaty. Audrey's son recognized Louis' claim to the throne and got his brother, Louis, in return. After freeing Collina, his ally Guilmar Bojourné joined his forces to the Louis' and together, they marched on Troisanne in 1417, causing Audrey to flee to Vardis.

In 1419, Audrey had formed a new army in Vardis and joined with King Louis' siblings, to form the Trinity of Righteous Rulers. They began to plunder their way south towards Troisanne, but in early 1420, the combined armies of the trinity, attempting to cut off trade to Thyssen, met the loyalist forces at Battle of the Skorantine Steps, where Louis' siblings were killed and Audrey was captured. Subsequently, when the people of Vardis continued to rebel against the crown, King Louis ordered to have Audrey blinded and exiled her children to the Westerlands where they died during the Golden War.

## Aftermath

Following the dissolution of the Trinity, and the subsequent defeat of the Golden Horde by Vichinian forces the following year, Louis was left free to pursue internal consolidation of his realm. His father died in 1425, leaving his and his wife Veera's newly born daughter, Marié, as the only foreseeable heir to the throne of Corveaux. The unity of the Corvian realm led to a greater sense of nationalistic pride than ever seen before. The war itself had made thousands of hardened veteran soldiers of the Corvian troops and led to several new inventions of warfare, including the Trebuchet. All of this were contributing factors to Louis' great success during the Western War of 1428.