Medieval II: Total War Mod - Sicilian Vespers

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Medieval II: Total War is the latest game in the award-winning and critically acclaimed Total War series. #Grand Campaign #Total War #Medieval II mod #Grand #Campaign #War

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Medieval II: Total War is the latest game in the award-winning and critically acclaimed Total War series. A follow-up to 2005's Strategy Game of the year Rome: Total War Medieval II: Total War is a visually stunning game that spans four and half centuries of the most turbulent era in Western history, from 1080 to 1530, encompassing the golden age of chivalry, the Crusades, the proliferation of gunpowder, rise of professional armies, the Renaissance and the discovery of America.

Players will embark on a Grand Campaign to take control of their kingdom and cultivate it into a continents-spanning empire using whatever it takes ‑ including diplomacy, trade, religion, espionage and of course war. Leading armies across Europe, the Middle East, and even the Americas, players will encounter brutal real-time battles and the pure bloodlust of medieval warfare. As players progress, they will shape their empires by strategically determining whether to build castles for military power or cities for technology and trade, giving Medieval II: Total War a more emergent depth of gameplay, like never seen before.

With Medieval II: Total War, The Creative Assembly raises the spectacle of the Total War series to a whole new level by completely upgrading the game's battlefield rendering system, devising new methods for building and rendering cities and heavily revising the game's combat animation system. With over 10,000 troops now to command and hundreds of unit types, players can experience massive battles in graphically rich environments enhanced by dynamic weather effects and vastly diverse terrain. Medieval II: Total War provides players the reigns to experience and rewrite one of the most fascinating periods of history to become the greatest power of the Middle Ages.

Note: The Sicilian Vespers is the name given to a rebellion in Sicily in 1282 against the rule of the Angevin king Charles I of Naples, who had taken control of the island with Papal support in 1266. It was the beginning of the eponymous War of the Sicilian Vespers.

The rising had its origin in the struggle between the Hohenstaufen-ruled Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy for control over Italy. When Hohenstaufen Manfred of Sicily was defeated in 1266, the kingdom of Sicily was entrusted to Charles of Anjou by Pope Urban IV.

Charles regarded his Sicilian territories as a springboard for his Mediterranean ambitions, which included the overthrow of the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus. His French officials (who governed Sicily badly) mistreated native Sicilians with rape, theft and murder.

There are two interpretations, not necessarily exclusive, of events. One stresses the weltpolitik of Michael Palaeologus and the Aragonese king Peter III, Manfred's son-in-law, in fomenting the revolt; the other concentrates on the unpopularity of Charles's rule among native Sicilians. The latter view gained popularity during the Risorgimento when it was propounded by the patriot Michele Amari. Regarding the former, Michael VIII in his autobiography wrote: "Should I dare to claim that I was God's instrument to bring freedom to the Sicilians, then I should only be stating the truth." "Sicilian Vespers" (1846), by Francesco Hayez

The event is named because the insurrection began at the start of vespers on Easter Monday (March 30, 1282) at the Church of the Holy Spirit just outside Palermo. Thousands of Sicily's French inhabitants were massacred over the next six weeks. The events that started the uprising are not known for sure but the retellings have common elements.

According to Steven Runciman, Sicilians at the church were engaged in holiday festivities and a group of French officials came by to join in and began to drink. A sergeant named Drouet dragged a young married woman from the crowd, pestering her with his advances. Her husband then attacked Drouet with a knife, killing him. When the other Frenchmen tried to avenge their comrade the Sicilian crowd fell upon them, killing them all. At that moment all the church bells in Palermo began to ring for Vespers.

According to Leonardo Bruni (1416), the Palermitans were holding a festival outside the city when the French came up to check for weapons and on that pretext began to fondle the breasts of their women. This then started a riot, the French were attacked first with rocks, then weapons, killing them all. The news spread to other cities leading to revolt throughout Sicily. "By the time the furious anger at their insolence had drunk its fill of blood, the French had given up to the Sicilians not only their ill-gotten riches but their lives as well".

Taking advantage of the revolt, King Peter III of Aragon launched a successful invasion, becoming also Peter I of Sicily.

Charles remained in control of the mainland Kingdom of Naples until his death in 1285 and his heirs continued to reign there until Peter's successors reunited the territories in 1442.

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