King Maximilian Der Heftige
King of Menscha and the Salians Maximilian Hohengoff (a.k.a. Der Heftige (The Fierce)
The great uniter and King of the Salians, a warrior King who reforged a realm for his people and was crowned the first King of the Salians since the days of the Kraulings. An enlightened despot who transformed the Salians into among the most powerful and prosperous people on the continent.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Noted in his time as bearing a considerable likeness to Mauger Krauling, the first King of the Salians, Maximilian often compared himself to the Krauling king in order to further his legitimacy in the eyes of his nobles.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Maximilian was born in early Aulza to Reik Fredrich Eisenherz Hohengoff of Drestadt and the Grafin Judith Von Bevhern of Vernslaas. Due to his birthright, he would succeed not only his father as Reik of Drestadt, but also the counties of the von Bevhern family of his mother. As a boy, he was noted as being especially interested in hunting, riding, and weaponry training. Maximilian is said to have begun his formal training to succeed his father when he accompanied him to a special Hoftage, or a council convened by Salic reiks to discuss matters of diplomacy and other matters. Maximilian is said to have spoken well at this Hoftage and impressed many rulers there with his wisdom far beyond his years. Maximilian also accompanied his father on campaign against the Marvingians and is said to have conducted himself very well. A story told of this time is of Maximilian's avenging of a slain soldier by local villagers who robbed the dead man. Friedrich is supposed to have given his son the task of bringing the robbers to justice and Maximilian supposedly rounded up the townspeople and threatened to put their village to the torch if the robbers were not brought before him. This episode is told to illustrate the stern, just, and stubborn nature of Maximilian which would go on to characterize his reign.
Maximilian's father, Friedrich was known in his day as the Ironheart for his campaigns in the south but famously for his victory against the Great Northern Army, an army of northern Iolans led by King Harald Hrósa of Holvika at the famous Battle of Wiezenfach. After a long-awaited day, Maximilian's father died and the eager Maximilian was crowned in the cathedral of the Blessed Ulrich by patriarch Heinrich III. Succeeding his father, the young reik of Drestadt was thoroughly ready to take over where his father had left off. He inherited a military apparatus that in its day seemed second to none and through his own series of reforms, he elevated the military of Drestadt to the premier fighting force of Great Salia. With wealth claimed by his father's southern victories, Maximilian professionalized aristocratic levies that he had been given and centralized much of the power of the realm around the monarch. He fought many times with his vassals, often those of his western lands. The Hohengoff dynasty that Maximilian belonged to was the most prestigious of all the Salic reiks and the ruler had many distant relatives sitting on or near the thrones of many realms of Great Salia. Through inheritances of his relatives, Maximilian came to rule, or at least claim hegemony, over many of the Salic states around Drestadt and convened a council of Reiks in 452 A.E where he was officially proclaimed the leader of the Salic League, an alliance of the Salic states and informally an alliance that would form the core of the lands of the future Kingdom of Menscha.
The Hoftage of 452 was convened in response to the aggressive posturing of the northern Tusicans and the Sturmares who had once ruled and dominated the Salians in earlier years. To the Salians, the hegemony of Maximilian was preferable to the domination of the far away and more harsh Sturmares specifically and so, in 454 A.E, the War of the Leagues was declared and Great Salia knew once more, the drums of war. While the Old Guard of the Tuscians, commanded by the elder Reik Germund Grum, was once regarded as a force to be reckoned with, in the present it was simply no match for the newly reformed army of Drestadt. Salic proto-Landsknects marched north under their ruler and defeated the Tuscian Old Guard at the Battle of Juhl where Reik Grum was killed. Moving north, the Drestadters burned and pillaged viciously as they went, burning the town of Vane to the ground and carrying away vast amounts of plunder and prisoners. Maximilian's utter destruction of Vane brought a sudden end to the War of the Leagues and soon he received surrenders from many of the enemy cities, each proclaiming him overlord and hegemon.
Yet the loyalty of the Tuscians and the Sturmares was forever in question during Maximilian's reign as in his later years, another war was fought with them and would prove more irritating than the first. The 2nd War of the Leagues saw a more guerrilla and partisan war break out along the upper portion of Salia and Tusica. There, Maximilian allowed his subordinate nobles and commanders greater freedom in quelling disloyal partisans and enemy guerillas. This war however would be far more brutal and significant than the first for the Tuscian League had found a brilliant commander in Johan Radhein. Radhein was a veteran of the 1st League War and learned a great deal from the Drestadters, learning to fight the separated corps of their army, rather than attempting to win a large battle in the field. Radhein was often called der Sumpffuchs or "the Swamp Fox" due to his surprise attacks and sudden disappearances into the bogs and swamps of northern Salia. His tactics drastically slowed the Salic attackers but he received little in the way of support from other Tusic and Sturmare commanders who favored open warfare. Despite Radhein's misgivings, he led the Tusic League army at the Battle of Temul which was a massive defeat for the Tuscian League and led to their surrender the next year. Due to Radhein's innovative tactics and his generally positive reputation among his enemies, he was invited by Maxmilian to become a military advisor, being given lands and titles under the new Menschan monarchy.
The key to Maximilian's military effectiveness lay in new reforms to the use of artillery during sieges as well as his development of a proud corp of professional soldiers of noble standing, often called the Silbakübels, or "Silver Buckets" for their distinctive helmets. Organization, training, and pride became part of the Salic military identity as Maximilian and his father previously had formed units that carried distinctive and recognizable banners and legacies of prestige. So too was infighting and competitiveness encouraged among the Salic army as these units of soldiers formed rivalries with other divisions and feats of courage and bravery propelled others to follow the daring into battle without hesitation.
Maximilian, during his early reign, had promised to marry the daughter of the crowned King of Tiranar and the Halsats, Romel le Glorieux. However, Maximilian had long delayed the marriage due to his campaigning and by the time the realm came to peace, Maximilian had made up his mind to abandon the arrangement and instead marry Narja von Lauretzin, daughter of Elius von Lauretzin, one of his chief military commanders and strongest supporters. However, due to his previous oath to marry Isabella Merobaud, King Romel raised an army and intended to attack the Salic monarch over this broken oath. Only through the mediation of both realm's nobles and primarily Patriarch Heinrich III, did the two realms avoid war. Though war was avoided and Maximilian agreed to pay at least half the proposed dowry, the bitterness of the struggle and the strong personalities of Romel and Maximilian ensured that this quarrel spiraled into an ethnic rivalry between the Halsat and Salic monarchies that would lead to war in the future.
By the time Maximilian had crowned himself King of the Salians, he was nearly sixty years old. His coronation as King of Menscha was the ultimate achievement of his life and after his coronation, he did his best to prepare his new realm for his eventual death. He did away with the perceived law of equal inheritance, something that would have split his kingdom between his son and his grandsons as well as introduced his long-delayed law reform. Maximilian's law reform notably protected the rights of law-abiding citizens from unwarranted seizure as well as formalized codes of conscription and tax. He introduced fixed prices for medicine and healthcare goods, meaning that the general health of his new kingdom would gradually improve, which became the case nearly a decade after his death as proper treatments for treatable illnesses became more readily available to the masses. Maximilian's law reform also empowered the lower nobles of his realm, the Grafs or counts, while massively reducing the privileges of higher nobles, the Gekronti, or "robed ones", who posed the greatest risk to the stability of Menscha. However, a revolt broke out in response to these restrictions on the Gekronti and so the old ruler assembled his forces and rode to snuff it out. While successful, Maximilian's health began to fail while returning from the campaign, likely gout. As the old king attempted to ford the river Aurislach, his horse became spooked and threw him from the saddle and into the river. The old king could not rise from the harsh current and he drowned in the river, weighed down by his armor. Maximilian's marriage to Narja von Lauretzin produced three children, his two daughters Therese and Karoline who went on to be grandmothers of future Menschan kings, as well as his oldest son Rudolf, father of Maximilian's eventual successor, his grandson who became Otto III.
Maximilian's father, Friedrich was known in his day as the Ironheart for his campaigns in the south but famously for his victory against the Great Northern Army, an army of northern Iolans led by King Harald Hrósa of Holvika at the famous Battle of Wiezenfach. After a long-awaited day, Maximilian's father died and the eager Maximilian was crowned in the cathedral of the Blessed Ulrich by patriarch Heinrich III. Succeeding his father, the young reik of Drestadt was thoroughly ready to take over where his father had left off. He inherited a military apparatus that in its day seemed second to none and through his own series of reforms, he elevated the military of Drestadt to the premier fighting force of Great Salia. With wealth claimed by his father's southern victories, Maximilian professionalized aristocratic levies that he had been given and centralized much of the power of the realm around the monarch. He fought many times with his vassals, often those of his western lands. The Hohengoff dynasty that Maximilian belonged to was the most prestigious of all the Salic reiks and the ruler had many distant relatives sitting on or near the thrones of many realms of Great Salia. Through inheritances of his relatives, Maximilian came to rule, or at least claim hegemony, over many of the Salic states around Drestadt and convened a council of Reiks in 452 A.E where he was officially proclaimed the leader of the Salic League, an alliance of the Salic states and informally an alliance that would form the core of the lands of the future Kingdom of Menscha.
The Hoftage of 452 was convened in response to the aggressive posturing of the northern Tusicans and the Sturmares who had once ruled and dominated the Salians in earlier years. To the Salians, the hegemony of Maximilian was preferable to the domination of the far away and more harsh Sturmares specifically and so, in 454 A.E, the War of the Leagues was declared and Great Salia knew once more, the drums of war. While the Old Guard of the Tuscians, commanded by the elder Reik Germund Grum, was once regarded as a force to be reckoned with, in the present it was simply no match for the newly reformed army of Drestadt. Salic proto-Landsknects marched north under their ruler and defeated the Tuscian Old Guard at the Battle of Juhl where Reik Grum was killed. Moving north, the Drestadters burned and pillaged viciously as they went, burning the town of Vane to the ground and carrying away vast amounts of plunder and prisoners. Maximilian's utter destruction of Vane brought a sudden end to the War of the Leagues and soon he received surrenders from many of the enemy cities, each proclaiming him overlord and hegemon.
Yet the loyalty of the Tuscians and the Sturmares was forever in question during Maximilian's reign as in his later years, another war was fought with them and would prove more irritating than the first. The 2nd War of the Leagues saw a more guerrilla and partisan war break out along the upper portion of Salia and Tusica. There, Maximilian allowed his subordinate nobles and commanders greater freedom in quelling disloyal partisans and enemy guerillas. This war however would be far more brutal and significant than the first for the Tuscian League had found a brilliant commander in Johan Radhein. Radhein was a veteran of the 1st League War and learned a great deal from the Drestadters, learning to fight the separated corps of their army, rather than attempting to win a large battle in the field. Radhein was often called der Sumpffuchs or "the Swamp Fox" due to his surprise attacks and sudden disappearances into the bogs and swamps of northern Salia. His tactics drastically slowed the Salic attackers but he received little in the way of support from other Tusic and Sturmare commanders who favored open warfare. Despite Radhein's misgivings, he led the Tusic League army at the Battle of Temul which was a massive defeat for the Tuscian League and led to their surrender the next year. Due to Radhein's innovative tactics and his generally positive reputation among his enemies, he was invited by Maxmilian to become a military advisor, being given lands and titles under the new Menschan monarchy.
The key to Maximilian's military effectiveness lay in new reforms to the use of artillery during sieges as well as his development of a proud corp of professional soldiers of noble standing, often called the Silbakübels, or "Silver Buckets" for their distinctive helmets. Organization, training, and pride became part of the Salic military identity as Maximilian and his father previously had formed units that carried distinctive and recognizable banners and legacies of prestige. So too was infighting and competitiveness encouraged among the Salic army as these units of soldiers formed rivalries with other divisions and feats of courage and bravery propelled others to follow the daring into battle without hesitation.
Maximilian, during his early reign, had promised to marry the daughter of the crowned King of Tiranar and the Halsats, Romel le Glorieux. However, Maximilian had long delayed the marriage due to his campaigning and by the time the realm came to peace, Maximilian had made up his mind to abandon the arrangement and instead marry Narja von Lauretzin, daughter of Elius von Lauretzin, one of his chief military commanders and strongest supporters. However, due to his previous oath to marry Isabella Merobaud, King Romel raised an army and intended to attack the Salic monarch over this broken oath. Only through the mediation of both realm's nobles and primarily Patriarch Heinrich III, did the two realms avoid war. Though war was avoided and Maximilian agreed to pay at least half the proposed dowry, the bitterness of the struggle and the strong personalities of Romel and Maximilian ensured that this quarrel spiraled into an ethnic rivalry between the Halsat and Salic monarchies that would lead to war in the future.
By the time Maximilian had crowned himself King of the Salians, he was nearly sixty years old. His coronation as King of Menscha was the ultimate achievement of his life and after his coronation, he did his best to prepare his new realm for his eventual death. He did away with the perceived law of equal inheritance, something that would have split his kingdom between his son and his grandsons as well as introduced his long-delayed law reform. Maximilian's law reform notably protected the rights of law-abiding citizens from unwarranted seizure as well as formalized codes of conscription and tax. He introduced fixed prices for medicine and healthcare goods, meaning that the general health of his new kingdom would gradually improve, which became the case nearly a decade after his death as proper treatments for treatable illnesses became more readily available to the masses. Maximilian's law reform also empowered the lower nobles of his realm, the Grafs or counts, while massively reducing the privileges of higher nobles, the Gekronti, or "robed ones", who posed the greatest risk to the stability of Menscha. However, a revolt broke out in response to these restrictions on the Gekronti and so the old ruler assembled his forces and rode to snuff it out. While successful, Maximilian's health began to fail while returning from the campaign, likely gout. As the old king attempted to ford the river Aurislach, his horse became spooked and threw him from the saddle and into the river. The old king could not rise from the harsh current and he drowned in the river, weighed down by his armor. Maximilian's marriage to Narja von Lauretzin produced three children, his two daughters Therese and Karoline who went on to be grandmothers of future Menschan kings, as well as his oldest son Rudolf, father of Maximilian's eventual successor, his grandson who became Otto III.
Personality Characteristics
Virtues & Personality perks
Flexible
Adaptable
Energetic
Ambitious
Adaptable
Energetic
Ambitious
Vices & Personality flaws
Stubborn
Demanding
Wrathful
Paranoid
Despotic
Vain
Demanding
Wrathful
Paranoid
Despotic
Vain
Social
Contacts & Relations
Contemporary and rival of King Romel Le Glorieux of Tiranar
Family Ties
Son of Friedrich the Ironheart and Judith Von Bevhern
Husband of Narja Lauretzin
Father of Therese, Karoline, and Rudolf Hohengoff
Grandfather of King Otto III, Maximilian II, and Friedrich IX.
Husband of Narja Lauretzin
Father of Therese, Karoline, and Rudolf Hohengoff
Grandfather of King Otto III, Maximilian II, and Friedrich IX.
Social Aptitude
Maximilian was often characterized as an energetic man but his ambition often put him at odds with many. His law codes and noble reforms provoked the nobility of his realm to revolt time and time again as well as greatly distrust him. Maximilian had no qualms with breaking up the longstanding nobility of Menscha if he found disloyalty among them, which he often did. He was a vain man, seemingly obsessed with divine prophecy and his own perceived luck. He was absolute in his self-belief and had a very impulsive and hot-headed temperament, though he became more content and well-rounded as he aged. He seems to have had great affection for his wife and his daughters, he made a note to return home often to see them and be with them as he often grew angered and violent when apart from them.
Relationships
Ethnicity
Date of Birth
4th of Aulza
Date of Death
9th of Caille
Life
447 A.E
514 A.E
67 years old
Circumstances of Birth
Son of Reik Fredrick of Drestadt and Judith of Vernslaas
Circumstances of Death
Drowned in the river Aurislach while on campaign against rebellious Gekronti
Birthplace
Aregnau, Tuscia
Place of Death
the river Aurislach, Great Salia
Family
Spouses
Narja von Lauretzin
(spouse)
Siblings
Children
Gender
Male
Eyes
Dark Blue
Hair
Long, Dark, Curly Hair and Bushy Beard
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Fair
Height
6'5
Weight
245 lbs
Quotes & Catchphrases
"Let the world balk at the favorite son of victory once more proving his mettle."
Belief/Deity
Mundana Ecclesia
Aligned Organization
Other Affiliations
Character Prototype
Emperor Friedrich II
(A Silbakübel knight, wearing the distinctive Salic helm)
(Maximilian is depicted as King and Lawgiver of the Salians. Depicted wearing the Crown of Mauger, the first King of the Salians and son of Radimane)
(Coronation of Maximilian as King of Menscha and the Salians)
Comments