The War of Franconian Succession, Part 2

Several years had passed and the Duke still had not his decision with regard to his successor. Growing increasingly feeble in both mind and body, he finally was moved to act. Dropov, now the Duchy's Prime Minister, gave his counsel. It could only be his elder son. Ernst Gustav III, after having consulted his horse and several faithful dogs, now agreed. The paperwork was drawn up. The Empress-Queen and the Imperial Diet were all notified. With the Imperial assent, the deed was done. 

The apparent heir, Ernst Gustav, continued in his rakish ways, spending his income and rents on fun, frolic and people of dubious character. Bankruptcy was not far away, and one or two more bad harvests would bring down the family. But while he played, the neighbors regarded at the increasingly dissolute heir to the House of Grunch (locally pronounced Grunk) with mixed amusement and opportunity. Something would have to be done. 

The Duke of Burgundy, their neighbor to the west, looked covetously at the district just across the river. The recent re-opening of some ancient. lost Roman silver mines was a lure he could not resist. 

To the north and east, the Landgrave of Hesse, having divided his realm among his sons, looked upon the poorly run Duchy as ripe for the taking. The question was simply, how to bring about an "incident" that could be presented to the Empress for her sanction. Oddly, Dropov offered a suggestion:

Bandits!   

"Franconian" Bandits.

 

The heretofore quiet lands near the Hessian border had seen little in the way of lawlessness. Suddenly, local merchants, usually Hessian, were being robbed. That the local Franconian merchants seemed to go about their business without any molestation struck a few as odd. Such things could not be tolerated, so the Landgrave had to act. Certainly the Duke wouldn't. So it came to pass. The Landgrave would offer his "fraternal" assistance in suppressing these outrages.

"Help" was on the way.  

Until next time...