Crusader Kings 3: Guide To The Harrying Of The North

The Harrying Of The North is a story event added to Crusader Kings 3 in the Basileus update. While it works particularly well alongside the Roads To Power DLC, particularly for the adventurer Hereweard of Oslac, you don't need to own the expansion in order for the event to trigger.

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The Harrying is a long-term power struggle between the Norman invaders and the Anglo-Saxon people of England, and presents opportunities for characters on both sides. Here is everything you need to know to shape England's destiny for centuries to come.

How To Start The Harrying Of The North

The Harrying Of The North event triggers shortly after William The Conqueror becomes King of England in the 1066 start of Crusader Kings 3. It is possible, however unlikely, that William will lose his bid for the throne; if that's the case, the event will not trigger.

Characters of Anglo-Saxon or Norman Culture can participate in the event, provided they hold land within the de jure Kingdom of England. If Roads To Power is enabled, Hereweard of Oslac gets unique events related to the Harrying as long as his camp is located in England, especially his homeland of Cambridgeshire.

Counties in England will suffer a Development Growth Penalty for twenty years once the Harrying Of The North begins.

Resistance And Pacification

The Harrying Of The North focuses on the Resistance of the Anglo-Saxon nobles in Mercia and Northumbria versus the Pacification laid down by the heavy-handed rule of the Normans in the south. Both are tracked separately, and you ideally want your side's score to be higher than that of the other.

• If Resistance is higher than Pacification, Cultural Acceptance between Normans and Anglo-Saxons will degrade over time, making it harder for Norman characters to maintain Control in Anglo-Saxon counties.
• If Pacification is higher than Resistance, Cultural Acceptance between Normans and Anglo-Saxons will increase over time, eventually allowing the Norman King (William or his successors) to take the Embrace English Culture decision and solidify their rule.

Both of these effects are heightened the greater the difference between the two scores.

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How To Increase Resistance Or Pacification

Characters participating on either side will periodically receive events allowing them to increase their side's score, usually by inflicting a penalty on a holding of the other side. This temporarily weakens England as a whole, but that usually matters more to William than to the Anglo-Saxon rebels. Anglo-Saxon characters get events that increase Resistance, while William and his heirs get events that increase Pacification.

Since there are likely to be more characters on the Resistance side, and therefore more opportunities for events to trigger, William can counter their faster growth by building Castle Holdings in England. Each one adds a point of Pacification when completed. Spending 1000 Gold and five years to construct the Tower of London grants 2 Pacification when it's finished.

How To End The Harrying Of The North

The Harrying Of The North ends when there is no longer a Norman character holding the Kingdom of England. This can be from William's dynasty being overthrown and replaced, either by a Faction uprising or another foreign invader, or it can be due to the Norman monarch taking the Embrace English Culture decision. This requires Pacification to be at 16 or higher and greater than Resistance for at least a year, and changes Norman characters in England to the English Culture.

Switching to English Culture means you get access to Longbow Men-At-Arms, who have an exceptional Attack and counter Heavy Cavalry.

Whatever the outcome, you'll eventually want to end the Harrying one way or another, since the events keep applying penalties to English counties. If you're the Anglo-Saxons, that means you need to eventually either rise up and defeat the Normans, or allow Resistance to stagnate until English Culture can form. If you're playing as the Normans, you should rush Pacification to become English as quickly as possible, so that you don't have to keep destroying buildings and can actually invest in northern holdings.

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