You may not like it but this was peak Germany. Map Gore the Country. It should never have unified.
the HRE was invented to contain germans and i shall never forgive napoleon for breaking the Seven Seals.
best france: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Map_France_1477-en.svg
Ackshually you're missing the City of Jerusalem, which was held by Frederick II for over a decade. This was negotiated in a peace treaty with the successors of Saladin, and while it didn't go beyond the walls of the city itself, still is considered part of the Hohenstaufen domains.I still don't know enough about Frederick II. His reign seemed really cool, honestly. He spoke Latin, Greek, Arabic, Sicilian, French, and German. Ruled like half of Europe from Sicily. Was excommunicated by the Pope four separate times.
Someone needs to make a comedy set in gavelkind times, you could have a running bit where there's a plague going around and every half hour or so, you hear church bells to denote that the latest new king has died, and everyone groans in annoyance before flipping over all the banners and flags to reveal the new coat of arms on the other side, and they're all racing each other through the muddy town square to the bank(?) to exchange their worthless coins for identical coins with the new guy's face on them.
The last part we already sort of have. King Charles III of England's new banknotes have finally started to enter circulation, but he'll probably be dead before they fully phase out the old Queen Elizabeth banknotes. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxwwe9ndlkmo
I'm planning a visit to some European country.
Any tips, Hexbears? I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with choice tbh
i have only been to Athens, but that was super neat. probably a very different feel than western europe, but especially outside of the aggressively tourist parts of the city, food was pretty affordable. the historical sites and museum were super neat, as was the communist graffiti. cats everywhere, a consequence of ottoman influence i think. had a nice moment trying to talk to an old greek man who brought some fish for a park-kitty i was petting. neither of us spoke the other language but the situation was clear and human. not for the vegan of heart though; i don't think greeks are really down for that en masse yet.
another country that should be no more
