Re-writing and continuing this.
I began a game, playing the Dukes of Aquitaine.
Luponids formally were dukes of all Aquitaine, ruling over it as an independent principalty, before the Arabo-Berber raids of the VIIIth and the reconquest by Peppinids made them significantly reduced and under Frankish alliegance.
My primary goal is to get back all of Aquitaine that acknowledged Eudon's authority, and then to claim the imperium against Franks or Lombards.
Hunald II, duke of Aquitaine (768-774)
As in CKII timeline, he doesn't seems to have revolted, he remains one of the several Luponids in the regions with County of Gascony and the County of Foìs, arguably the more powerful of these.
He had only one direct descendent, his grand-son Loup. Charles quickly disappeared, leaving Carloman as sole king of the regnum Francorum
His reign is fairly uneventful, except for a nobiliar revolt from which he managed to get victorious, mostly thanks toa general revolt against Carloman which crushed revoltees armies. It allowed Hunald to recover his grand-father holdings in Bordeaux.
Loup II 'the Just', prince of Aquitaine (774-819)
At first, his reign promised to be bad : he was considered as lazy and dull, without much redeeming qualities, while Carloman increased his power and conquered Saxony.
In fact, his decision to ally with Saxon revoltees looked like one of the worst ideas he could pull off.
But Carloman's reign was shaky enough (general revolts, and endlessly creations of titles) that as Franks get chased out of Saxony, Loup managed to recreate an independent Principalty of Aquitaine as a result, without any real Frankish interventions against him.
Carloman's successors were unable to preserve the unity of the regnum, and some nobiliar families as Robertians even managed to take the royal title in Austrasia and Bavaria, allowing Aquitaine to enjoy a relatively long period of peace, safe for regular Norse raids.
His principalty is mostly stuck to the Atlantic shore, and 2/3 of Aquitaine is still under Frankish control, but Loup outgrew his reputation and became a fairly competent ruler who turned back to the traditional alliance with Lombards in order to prevent any tentative of Frankish reconquest : but these are more preoccupied at this point by Viking raids (that did plagued Aquitaine as well). On several matters, the inner policy of Loup II is similar to Hunald II's : curbing down the power of local
potentes and building a network of alliance with Neustrian and Aquitain families in the regnum Francorum (mostly Anjou and Gascony)
By the time of his death, he was the most powerful prince in western Gaul, regularily raids and managing to maintain the principalty in order without revolts in decades.
It allowed him, shorty before he died of cancer, to repel Arabo-Berbers (which went trough their own succession crisis, as Umayyads were dethroned) out of Navarra, freeing up the western passes, as a prologue to the Aquitain expeditions in Spain that marked the Xth century, and beggining the Asturian/Aquitain alliance.
Aquitaine at the death of Loup II
Loup III, prince of Aquitaine (819-827)
Loup, king of Aquitaine (826-827)
An embettered version of his father at the same age, hebeneficied from a fairly peaceful principalty from his father , with even norse raids going trough a pause. The desintegration of the regnum Francorum allowed him to reclaim the claim kingship on Aquitaine from the child-king Adelin.
After having made alliance with the Carolingian kingdom of Burgundy (whom he was issued from his mother) and waited long enough to appease some nobiliar concerns, he raised a large ost and advanced in Gascony, hoping his cousins would support his claim, and that the wars in Lemosin and the wars against Moors the kingdom was would be at his advantage for a quick war.
Which didn't happened : the war for Aquitaine was long and costly, and eventually led to his death as he fell on the field at the Battle of Ausc.
Loup IV, prince of Aquitaine (827-829) Loup I, king of Aquitaine (829-831)
Loup III's son, also named Loup, had to fend off the Gascon counter-attack that advanced as far as Loire, but eventually crushed with Burgundian support, gascon armies at Engoleime in late 827.
From this point, the conquest of Gascony became easier as Gascons and to battle against Aquitains and Moors, eventually giving up the kingship to Loup in 829, after 3 years of conflict that norse used to raid the aquitain coast and hinterland without much opposition.
While Loup was victorious and acknowledged as king in all western Aquitaine (Tolsan, Berry and Auvergne remaining divided between Neustrians, Austrasians and Burgundians), effectively reconstituting the principalty of his first namesake, he had to face a strong nobiliar opposition fueled both by the cost of the war and the bitterness of his new vassals, critically after the warring king helped Asturias recovering some lands in Cantabrias.
The conflict broke down in early 830, but thanks to Asturian and Burgundian support, hinting at an over-reliance of foreign support, Loup I got the better of it : continuing his father policy of strengthening the Louping holdings in the Garonne basin (mostly at the price of giving up on Loire), he chased of felon lords of the region, while giving the duchy of Poitou to the Abbonids.
This harsh policy and fear of new conflicts probably led to his assassination in 831
Aquitaine at the death of Loup IV
Eudon, count of Saintonge (827-831)
Eudon II 'the Bold', king of Aquitaine (831-861)
Eudon succeeded his brother in an uneasy situation : the Luponid revival was well established, critically before the succession crisis among Franks and Arabo-Berbers which prevented the appearance of a strong rival at the kingdom's border. But the Burgundian alliance, based on matrimonial ties, was put in a hold.
In order to give nobles something to feed on, the regent Uc of Peitau launched an expedition against the divided pyrenean emirs. By 833, most of Middle Ebre basin was on Aquitain hands.
Nevertheless, the nobiliar unrest became an almost permanent feature of Eudon's reign. But the first blow for Aquitain's success was the sudden shift of alliances, and the Asturian attack in Pyrenees, in order to claim back the County of Pampalona. As the control over western Pyrenean passes was strategically decisive, Uc of Peitau gathered a large army for what was a mostly localized conflict in Pamaplonès and Viscay, but while the conflict ended with an Aquitain victory, it weakened the military resources of the kingdom, increasingly lead to a nobiliar distrust and at the cost of the Asturian alliance : when the Luponid county of Pampalona eventually inherited the Duchy of Anjou making the region entering Frankish orbit, it let the impression of a great waste.
The next important threat came from Carloman II, which gathered anew the various frankish kingdoms at the exception of Robertian Austrasia. As soon as Eudon personally ruled over an Aquitaine who just fought against Asturias, the Carolingian king claimed back the kingship of Aquitaine. Giving the weakened leverage Luponids had on the potentes of the kingdom, defeat would have meant loosing not only the kingship but as well suzerainty over Peitau, Gascony and Lemosin.
But in face of the formidable army gathered by Carloman, Eudon had no choice but to resort to enrolling Norse raiding bands at his service to complete forces that just went out of a conflict. The war was particularily costly for both men and treasury, and Eudon's efforts (as well than a revolt of Burgundian nobles) barely managed to owe Aquitaine a white peace.
The Carolingian threat looming over Aquitaine provoked a radical change of Luponid's policies : as the nobles began to ask for the payments of the efforts, threatening to revolt if their requests weren't met, Eudon had little choice than to step down and allow a greater participation of
potentes on his rule.
The loss of Pamaplonès meant that the lands gained in Sargossan were effectively cut from Aquitaine, opening the region to Arabo-Berber raids and campaigns. Guilhèm Talhafer was made
marchio of Sargossan in order to unify the region as a defense against Andalusian tentatives.
In the 840's, viking raids became to be more worrying in size and occurence, in the same time that Norse kingdoms get established, with centers in Noregr and Sviþjod, but regularily fought against themselves or inner revolts. It lead to a certain decline in prosperity of the Atlantic shores, Tolsan and Cadurcin harboring more palatial residence from this point onward.
Meanwhile, the necessity to obtain more ressources against a new Frankish campaign led Eudon to focuses his efforts against Gothia, held at this point by Austrasians. No less than 4 campaigns were necessary to recover the Tolsan, effectively closing up Garona basin. The effort was too important for what nobles could be mattered tough, and a conspiration to replace Eudon with his uncle Vincent unfoiled : even if defeated, it pointed how much Luponid rule over their potentes and vassals was weakened.
As Eudon prepared a new campaign against Austrasian Gothia, in order to free passage to eastern Pyrenean passes, he was brutally murdered in 852 : the succession of royal murders, which was eventually dubbed "phonocracy" let his minor son Loup II in charge.
In spite of a troubled reign, Eudon II is sometimes credited with being the first real king of Aquitaine, having given much of the early institution of the realm as well definying the traditional Aquitain "mediterranean tropism".
Kingfom of Aquitaine at Eudon II's death.
Loup, king of Aquitaine (861)
The child-king didn't outlived his father by long, being murdered himself mere months after : he's generally not numbered as king.
The only wortwhile fact of his reign was the beggining growing independence of Abbonids in Peitau, as Abbon II was ousted out of the regency.
Adalgis I 'the Just', king of Aquitaine (861-915)
Adalgis I, king of Mercia (907-912) - Adalgis I, king of England (912-915)
The first part of his rule was merely troubled by the refusal of the Duchess of Gascony to acknowledge Adalgis' authority, which was swiftly dealt with. More worrying was the propency of potentes to advance their own interests : Hugonids inherited the duchy of Peitau as well the counties held by Adalgis great-uncles descendents and warring against the Countess of Lemosin to take on the northern part of the county, while Talhafers fought against their own vassals, monopolizing the whole of the march safe Jaca.
The regent seems to have been fairly content with preserving Adalgis' holdings without so much as continuing Eudon II's policies except by a short and unsuccessful war against rebel Arab lords on the lower Ebre valley.
Adalgis took power in a relatively stagnant Aquitaine, mostly safe from Frankish interventions thanks to a particularily chaotic situation in Frankish Germany, which allowed him to campaign regularily against Austrasian holdings in Gothia.
Eventually, the conflict between Austrasia and Aquitaine became the major conflict in the late IXth and early Xth century, being a succession of wars and treves between the late 870's and the early 910's sometimes nicknamed the Southern War of Forty Years, atlough the War of Succession of Mercia tends to be taken apart as it involes conflict against local foes.
As forces of both kingdoms managed to gather a relatively unified army, the campaigns in Lower Gothia, originally targeted to the remnants of Sayyrid emirate, as they were chased off by the powerful Ure Emirs of Africa, eventually led to a conflict between Austrasia and Gothia in the region, both kingdom having resorted to same plans of conquest. After that Adalgis took most of Lower Gothia up to Barcelona, following his father's foothsteps, he had to fight yet 10 years to conquers the rest of it.
The long, if relatively not that tense, conflict against Austria led to a new array of request from nobility, which refused to send too much of their own armies and themselves on continuous wars, which forced Luponids to resort even more to mercenaryship.
This much became obvious with the War of Succession of Mercia : as the Austrasian kings (whom real favoured an anti-dynastic kingship, as none of ruling dynasties managed to hold the throne more than two generations) became overlords in Mercia and parts of Deire, it was feared they would become too powerful to be effectivelly bullied out of Aquitaine.
As Adalgis pretexted his superior rights from his mother, he had to use, for he lacked support in England, resort massively to Gascons and Lombards mercenaries in what was fortunately a short war, while most of the realms' troops were busy repealling Austrasians in Tolsan and Lemosin.
The coronation of Adalgis as king of Mercia, opened a excentric part of Aquitain history where the focus was less put into expanding or strengthening holdings in Gaul or Spain : while he reinforced the Lombard alliance thanks to a proactive matrimonial diplomacy and send his son Loup participating to the campaigns against Ure in Africa, Adalgis eventually passed more time in England reorganizing the local institutions, as well as chasing Norses out of Essex in 909. Eventually, he fought victoriously against the heretics of Kent, claiming the Bretwalda over all the south of the Island (as Picts conquered everything up to Umber in the last decades), formally being known as
Rex Anglorum.
Possibly related, the increasingly threatening and devastating (especially in Peitau) Norse raids in western Aquitaine tended to disappear for a while, the whole of Garona basin experiencing a new prosperity after decades of damages due to raids and epidemics.
While some says he planned to force the King of East-Anglia into obedience, circumstances forced him to return in Aquitaine, as the Ure emirs launched a reconquest of lost territories in Spain and Africa after having crushed their rivals. Ure invasion, backed with all the strength of Islamic West, was repealled at a great cost after 3 years of conflict, in spite of support provided by French and Lombards expeditions, themselves being pressured in Africa.
This new threat, and the risk of overextending his demesne, may have led Adalgis to give the throne of England to his son Eudon in 915, briefly before dying, poisoned.
The great legacy of Adalgis is less about Aquitain territorial expension, altough it did continued the policies of Eudon II, than having created a whole diplomatic and familial network in Europe whom Luponids could benefit.
Aquitaine and Luponid holgings at the beggining of Loup III's reign
(after he inherited the Duchy of Upper Gothia after his young brother murder)
Loup III, king of Aquitaine (915-...)