- Click image to enlarge.
- Click image to enlarge.
This tournament will be 1v1, single elimination bracket. Seeding will be random. The first two rounds will be single games, after that the quarter finals will be best of three, semi finals best of five and finals best of seven. It is open for freemiums, though, the games can be played one at a time if needed.
In the previous tournament we saw how the 1015 viking invasion of England failed, with Edmund Ironside's victory at the Battle of Ashingdon. But Edmund's power was weak and he was struggling to hold the kingdom together. On top of this precarious situation his legitimacy was being questioned from two different sides. First, Queen Emma of Normandy claimed that King Athelred's marriage to Alfgifu of York was invalid, and thus their children (the eldest of which was Edmund) were illegitimate. Emma had fled to Normandy when her husband died and was being supported by her brother, the Duke Richard. Second, the grandson of King Athelward, also named Athelward, claimed that he was the rightful ruler, as Athelerd had been a usurper. Athelward and his brothers were exiled from England, but had found support at the court of Alfred of Magonsets in Gloucester.
But a more ominous threat was looming just over the horizon. While Earl Eirikr sailed from Norway to conquer England, Olafr Haraldsson conquered Norway from Eirikr's son Hakon. By 1016 he had won back from the Swedish and Danish kings the territories taken from Norway after the battle of Svolder. In 1018 King Haraldr of Denmark died and was succeeded by his nephew Hakon Eiriksson, previoulsy the Earl of Hladir and Western Norway. Olafr saw that King Hakon still had intentions on taking back Norway, and he persuaded the powerful Earl Ulf to depose Hakon in favour of the late Knutr's son Sweyn, who would rule as a vassal of Olafr in Denmark. In 1022 Olafr managed a similar feat in Sweden by deposing the king in favour of his son.
At this time, when Olafr's dominance over all of Scandinavia secure, a request came from his friend and ally Richard the Good of Normandy, that he would assist in an invasion of England, in support of Edward the son of Athelred. Olafr agreed, and together with King Anund of Sweden and Earl Ulf he built a large invasion fleet and set sail for England. Olafr's army landed in East-Anglia while Edward's force landed in Sussex, with the aim to join up near London. This situation is the one this tournament will play out.
When signing up please state which side you are on. You can join Edward's fleet with a home map of France, or Olafr's with a home map of Nordic Countries. Or you can pledge allegiance to the King, Edmund's home map is England. Or you can support Athelward's claim to the throne and have Wales as your home map.
If you know of any other personalities from the era that you feel could enter in to the story, you are very welcome to play for them (like for instance, an invasion by the Scottish king. Though, please leave the chinese emperors out of it...). If you don't choose anyone I will put you in Olafr's joint Scandinavian fleet.
List of Kings of England
