An Age of Miracles: The Revival of Rhomanion

[frozenpredator]

A five-way civil war? the war of the five emperors?

how very song of ice and fire, I love it.

wonder who will win in the end.

[MerryPrankster]

And one of these claimants is busy antagonizing Timur by raiding Armenia no less.

[Mathalamus]

Will foreign nations intervene in the civil war? it already looks to be a long bloody civil war that will set back Byzantium by a good 200 years.

...even i have no idea who will win. even with Constantinople, i know for sure maria is going down first. i forgot how a Spanish women came there anyway...

[MerryPrankster]

Originally Posted by Mathalamus

Will foreign nations intervene in the civil war?

They already have--the Venetians just got a bloody nose intervening on Maria's behalf.

[Basileus444]

SavoyTruffle: It definitely is. I was trying to create a Byzantine version of the Ottoman Interregnum.

frozenpredator: The War of the Five Emperors, I really like that. I was going to call this the Roman Interregnum, but that is much better. Is it okay if I use that?

MerryPrankster: I needed something to explain Manuel's popularity despite his lack of any blood or marriage claim to the throne, so I adapted your idea of ejecting the Timurids. Although so far Manuel has taken care not to be too annoying. He's only raiding, not conquering.

Mathalamus: I have plans for several foreign interventions of some scope or another. The Venetians are just the first and will be the most constant. As for Maria getting to Constantinople, I apologize for not explaining it. She is a sister of the King of Aragon-Sicily and was married to the then Prince Theodoros III Laskaris as part of a diplomatic arrangement. Then her husband became Emperor and then a corpse, which led to her becoming regent on behalf on her son John.

[MerryPrankster]

If we're going to make War of the Five Kings metaphors, perhaps Manuel is something like Stannis Baratheon.

SPOILERS

In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, after Stannis fails to take the capital by sea, he and his supporters withdraw to the Wall to defend Westeros against the wildlings and the supernatural Others who are driving the wildings toward the settled lands. Stannis's advisors figure "save the realm, become king."

Manuel could content himself with defending his positions and raiding the Timurid Empire until Tamerlane dies and then earn some street cred by retaking lost Imperial territory (Armenia, maybe other Caucasian regions, and perhaps even Kurdistan if the borders change enough), all while the other contenders kill each other. The people sick of various wannabe emperors destroying the Empire's patrimony so they can reign in hell rather than serve in heaven might support a man who is actively trying to expand the imperial domain.

Alternatively, whoever wins in the west might seek to reward Manuel for his services--perhaps marry his daughter or something--for playing the long game and trying to improve the Imperial situation.

[Basileus444]

MerryPrankster: You've given me some really good ideas. While I've already decided how the civil war is going to end, as well as its general course, I'm going to make some tweaks. Thank you very much for the suggestions.


Five thousand plus views!! My thanks to all the readers and posters who made this possible. You all have helped make this timeline a better one. To celebrate, I'm posting an extra mini-update. Hope you enjoy.



Portrait of the Regent Maria of Barcelona, painted in 1479. While this portrait was made well after her death, historians are fairly certain it is an accurate portrayal as it is claimed to be a copy of another portrait made in 1405 which no longer exists, although the second version did take advantage of improvements made in the art of painting over the course of the fifteenth century. At the time of the original portrait she was twenty three. The original was part of The History of the Roman Empire in Art, an exhibition sponsored by the Emperor in Constantinople in the late 1470s.

While she was extremely unpopular amongst her Greek subjects, she was said to be an extremely charming woman in person. She had a great deal of support in court, which was how she maintained her position as regent and control over the central bureaucracy. Unfortunately for her, her diplomatic skills did not extend beyond those individuals with whom she could interact on a personal level. Still her feminine charms proved to be very useful as they gave her the unquestioning loyalty of Basil Palaeologus, the commander of the Thracian tagma, without whose support she would never have survived the Patriarch Incident.



Manuel Doukas, Guardian of the Empire, painted in 1478. This painting was made especially for the same art exhibition and was one of the most popular paintings. One minor error is that Manuel, seated on the white stallion, had a completely white beard at this point as he was in his late fifties.

[frozenpredator]

Originally Posted by Basileus444

frozenpredator: The War of the Five Emperors, I really like that. I was going to call this the Roman Interregnum, but that is much better. Is it okay if I use that?

considering i only changed one word from George RR Martins war of the five king i think its ok for you to use it

[Lorn Of Rome]

Greet update keep up the good work

[Basileus444]

frozenpredator: Cool, I will. I haven't read anything by George RR Martin, so I wasn't familiar with the reference.

Lorn of Rome: Thanks, will do. And out of curiosity, what does your signature mean?

[Elfwine]

By the way, Basileus: Andrew III? That a butterfly I see?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_III_of_Hungary

Not that there's any reason to change it - go with it - just observing. And interesting how Hungary is largely ignoring this - is that a good thing? I hope so...

[Basileus444]

Yes, that's a butterfly. I thought it would be interesting to keep the Arpads around, plus it's a way to stick it to the d'Anjous, who I never liked.

And Hungary is going to get involved further down the road...sort of. But I wanted to start the German arc and doing it now provided an easy justification for why Hungary stays out of all but the end phase.

[Basileus444]

This is an extra update, done to further flesh out this timeline. It is on the nature of the Roman economy and coinage system on the outbreak of the War of the Five Emperors. The next update, which will chronicle the opening stages of that war, is in the final proofreading/editing phase and will be posted tomorrow.


The Roman Empire prior to Timur’s invasion and the War of the Five Emperors was one of the most powerful states in the world economically. Its economy was highly monetized, with several types of coinage in circulation. There was a steady flow of currency as taxes and tolls went into Constantinople and came out again as wages and bonuses for soldiers and administrators and payments to contractors.

The structure of the Laskarid army encouraged trade throughout the empire. Regional trade fairs quickly grew up around the regular tourma and tagma reviews. While soldiers underwent their reviews, their families brought in extra produce from their farms and purchased needed supplies. The trade fairs that sprung up around the Thracesian and Optimates tagma reviews were among the largest in the known world.

Internal trade, which mostly consisted of agricultural products, was entirely in the hands of Roman merchants as the Italians rarely ventured beyond the coast. Also foreign merchants had to pay a five percent duty for transporting goods across theme boundaries, whereas natives only had to pay a two percent one. One of the most consistent features of Roman internal trade was the steady exchange of animal and plant products between central/east Anatolia and west/coastal Anatolia. One advantage for Roman merchants of this period was that the Laskarid bureaucracy, focused on maintaining the quality standards of the armed forces, paid little attention to commerce except to ensure that the appropriate duties were paid, which consisted of warehouse and dock rents and import/export duties.

The Laskarid government was determined that in terms of military equipment, no imports were necessary. While the state maintained the warehouse system that sold required equipment to soldiers, those warehouses were stocked by supplies from local independent contractors. Strict quality standards were fiercely enforced, with the supply of substandard weapons or armor considered a breach of contract. Those who violated a government contract in that manner were barred from accepting any other government contract for ten years. These government contracts were highly lucrative as the state provided the raw materials free of charge in the goal of maintaining quality.

The state also maintained stud farms so that there would also be an adequate supply of horses for the cavalry and logistical branches of the military. Cavalry soldiers were required to purchase their war horses from the stud farms to ensure quality standards. Strict breeding programs were maintained to ensure the high standards of the equines. Also there were Imperial forests, mostly located on the Black Sea coast of Anatolia, dedicated specifically for providing timber for the navy. To maintain them, for every tree cut down one had to be planted, a statute enforced by the Inspector of the Imperial Forests.

Foreign trade was contested between foreign and native merchants. Except for the Venetians and Genoese, every merchant, including native ones, had to pay a ten percent value tax on any imports or exports. The Venetians and Genoese only had to pay a two percent duty. However Roman merchants had an advantage in the luxury goods market as they were better situated to gain ready access to eastern markets and had already developed substantial contacts with Ottoman and Indian merchants by the time Venetian and Genoese trade duties were reduced to two percent in 1376. As a result most eastern goods that came through the Empire (via either the Silk Road to Trebizond or overseas from India up the Persian Gulf and through Mesopotamia to Antioch) were shipped west in Roman cargo vessels, where they usually disembarked in Bari. Eastern goods coming through the Red Sea to Alexandria on the other hand were typically shipped to Europe in Italian vessels.

The most valuable Roman raw material exports were alum, used to dye wool, and mastic, an ingredient in perfumes and chewing gum. Both were worth their weight in gold. Chios, the main supplier of mastic, contributed over 100,000 hyperpyra a year to the treasury in taxes, well over five times the rent the Venetians paid for Crete. (1) Other exports included olive oil, wine, sugar from Cypriot plantations, and grain (Anatolia could not compare to the Ukraine as a grain exporter, but during times of peace it was an important adjunct of the market in cereals). The dark wines from the Peloponnesus known as Malvasia, a corruption of Monemvasia, were particularly popular in the west. With their control of Coron and Modon, Genoese merchants dominated the export market for that product.

The Empire also exported manufactured goods. There were thriving textile industries around Nicaea and Corinth which specialized in producing both high and low quality garments for different income brackets, a shipbuilding industry centered on Trebizond, as well as glassmaking and soap industries concentrated in the Opsician theme. Jewelry manufactured in Sinope was renowned for its high quality throughout the Mediterranean.

Since the Empire deliberately produced most of its material requirements, the Empire inadvertently followed the ‘Chinese model’. With the exception of high quality Italian plate armor, very popular amongst the kataphraktoi, the West had very little to offer in terms of trade except for bullion. The steady stream of precious metals that flowed eastward was a great annoyance to Catholic monarchs and a great boon to the Roman Emperors.

The Italians mainly benefitted from their monopoly of the carrying trade. With the exception of eastern luxury goods, particularly spices, most Roman exports were carried in Italian vessels. Roman merchants specialized either in the eastern markets or in internal trade, both of which were still lucrative. Venice and Genoa also dominated the Black Sea trade, monopolizing the export of furs and slaves from the region. However in the Ukrainian grain trade, merchants from the independent Principality of Theodoro held a substantial share.

The Empire had a highly developed but somewhat complicated coinage system, most of which dated back to John IV’s reform of the coinage system. The most valuable coin was the hyperpyron, on which the value of all lower coins were based. It had originally been invented by Alexios Komnenos (1081-1118) with 20.5 karats of gold, roughly seven eighths the value of the old nomismata. It had been debased after that, but had been restored to its original value in 1287. Eighty four coins were equivalent to a pure one-pound bar of gold. The other gold coins in circulation were the gold semissis, worth one half of a hyperpyron, and the tesmissis, worth one fourth.


A hyperpyron minted during the reign of Manuel II Laskaris, 1316-1324

There were two types of silver coins, the miliaresion, worth one tenth of hyperpyron, and the stavraton, worth one twentieth. Both the gold and silver coins were regularly used as international currency. Foreign coins containing precious metals could be used in Roman markets, but for matters of convenience foreign merchants preferred to exchange their ducats or florins, for example, for Roman currency.

The copper follis was the regular currency used by the majority of the population. One hundred folloi were equivalent to one hyperpyron. One follis was about the cost of a one pound loaf of bread. There was also a sefollis, worth one half of a follis, and a tesfollis, worth one quarter.

The copper coins were used purely for internal commercial transactions. Since foreign copper coins were not acceptable for such arrangements, foreigners were at a disadvantage participating in local trade. At the various established mints, foreigners could exchange their coins for copper Roman currency, but could only do so by exchanging legal international tender, gold or silver currency. Thus by needing to purchase everyday supplies foreign merchants contributed to the Empire’s bullion supplies. Also there was a five percent value tax levied on coin exchanges conducted at the mints, a tax specifically aimed at foreigners since Roman merchants operating abroad were still able to use their own precious Roman currency.

There were several mints scattered across the Empire in order to facilitate an adequate supply of currency. This was not done to facilitate commerce but to ensure that the government had adequate cash on hand to fulfill its financial obligations. There were three types of mints. Level One mints were authorized to produce all types of Roman currency. Level Two mints could only manufacture silver and copper coins. Level Three mints, by far the most common, could only make copper coins, but also functioned as monetary exchange centers. The other two types also did that as well, but not as often. When a money exchange was made at one of the Level Threes that required Roman silver or gold coins, they were drawn from on-site stockpiles. Foreign silver or gold coins gained in these transactions were transferred to higher level mints to be melted down into Roman coinage.

The Roman mints in 1400 were (listed in order of size):

Level One mints: Constantinople and Antioch (the latter regularly functioned as a money exchange site due to its prominence in east-west trade)

Level Two mints: Thessalonica, Nicaea, Smyrna

Level Three mints: Bari, Trebizond, Dyrrachium, Attaleia, Athens, Lemesos (Limassol), Monemvasia





1) Treadgold, History of the Byzantine State and Society, OTL Chios in 1329 had an annual revenue of 120,000 hyperpyra.

[Basileus444]

I realize that I posted an update on Byzantine economics and neglected that inevitable thing that everyone loves (to hate), taxes. So here is an addendum regarding Roman taxes in the late fourteenth century.

Addendum on taxes:

The main reason that gold and silver coins were not used in everyday transactions, besides the fact that all but the stavraton were inappropriately valuable, was that taxes could only be paid in gold or silver. While this meant that there was a constant flow of precious metals to Constantinople, there was also a constant flow out to the provinces as bureaucrats and soldiers were also only paid in silver and gold.

At each of the mints, plus at exchange stations in Ancyra, Iconium, Sinope, Adana, Larissa, and Mystras, individuals could exchange their copper coins for silver or gold currency, but they were required to pay a ten percent exchange fee if they did so. The folloi were used by the government to help pay government contractors and to distribute as a sign of largesse. Individuals could also exchange precious coins for folloi without having to pay any fee. This enabled the central government to easily recoup its supply of precious currency, as soldiers exchanged their hyperpyra for the folloi they used in the markets.

The most important tax for the Roman treasury was the land tax levied every year. It was paid by every landowner, great or small, and was assessed on the size and quality of each estate. Every five years a land survey was taken across the Empire, grading each estate and determining its tax quota for the coming tax cycle. The only exception to this were tagma soldiers, who were exempted from the land tax as they had received their land grants from the state.

One of the reasons that the Laskarid economy was so strong was that taxes were just as vigorously enforced on the rich as they were on the poor. While wealthy landowners could potentially afford small private armies, they could not gain access to the high quality equipment supplied to Imperial troops through the warehouse system, and their retainers could not match the discipline of tagma troops either. To avoid aristocrats trying to intimidate tax collectors with their retainers, during his collection round the collector was authorized to order any soldiers, including a tagma strategos, to assist him in forcing compliance. So that the troops would be willing to aid him, for salary purposes this counted as active duty. Also Theodoros II, who hated the nobility, made a ruling in 1262 that if a noble were to attack or to hire or arrange someone else to attack a tax collector, it would be considered an act of high treason.

Another important tax was the head tax, which was levied on every household in the Empire, including the soldiers, and was gathered at the same time as the land tax. It was based on how many individuals were in each household, with variations based on the age and gender of the people in question. Thus a family with infants would have to pay less than one with children who were old enough to help in the family occupation. To ease the workload of the bureaucracy the census was conducted at the same time as the land survey.

For tax gathering purposes, the main administrative unit was the province, of which there were forty, four in each of the nine themes plus four in the non-theme territories. Each province was divided into ten sub-provinces, which were divided into ten districts. Tax collection was based in each district, then pooled and moved up the chain. Themes were not involved in the tax gathering process, but since province boundaries did not cut across the borders of themes, it proved to be quite easy for the claimants in the War of the Five Emperors to redirect the tax flow from Constantinople to their thematic capitals.

In towns and cities, tax gathering was somewhat more complicated. Every property owner had to pay a property tax, similar to the land tax, which were assessed in the land survey and based on the economic value of the buildings, whether they be houses, workshops, warehouses etc. If they were commercial buildings like a butcher shop or smithy, the assessments were based on the estimated annual income of the owner, taking into account the market prices of the product and the expected clientele. For example, a butcher who specialized in providing fish and poultry for poor artisans would be charged less than another butcher on the other side of town who regularly supplied veal for wealthy merchants. Non-commercial buildings such as houses were taxed based on how much they would fetch on the open market at the time of the survey. If individuals possessed properties both in the town and in the country, they were required to pay taxes on both.

Duties from trade and manufacturing made up a respectable minority of Imperial revenues. However those duties were only imposed on products that passed between themes or the national borders. Intra-theme trade, which mainly consisted of low-value high-bulk goods was not regulated or taxed. The expansion of the bureaucracy necessary to survey such commerce would likely cost more than the revenue gained. This had the incidental effect of encouraging more commerce. Small short-range merchants were able to establish businesses without being stifled by duties and were able to easily expand and soon began trading across themes, by which point they were able to survive the tolls.

The Plethon merchant family, one of the richest in the Empire in 1400, had started out by transporting low-quality Corinthian silks in small cargo haulers to the villages dotting the Corinthian gulf in the 1320s. Their profit margin was decent as they only had to pay property taxes on the warehouses and the ship tax, levied on all ship owners (excluding fishing boats used for that purpose) and based on the size of the ship, but no customs duties. Eventually they were able to expand their outreach, eventually monopolizing the transport of Corinthian silks to the Syrian theme, the source of their economic power. In his account of Konstantinos XI’s reign, John Pachymeres remarked that the Plethons’ taxes paid for the Constantinople archontate.

To improve the efficiency of tax gathering and reduce opportunities for embezzlements, there were few fees demanded beyond those of the regular taxes and customs duties. The main exceptions were that towns had to pay for a market license which had to be renewed every tax cycle, merchants had to pay a stall tax to establish a booth at a fair, and there was a fee required to construct mosques, although not churches. An inheritance tax was also required, but only on inheritances that were worth more than forty hyperpyron.


Feel free to post and let me know if you found this all boring. It's economic history, I'll agree with you. Also it'll let me know if anyone is reading these supplemental updates to the main timeline so I'll know whether or not to keep making them.

[Mathalamus]

in summary: Byzantium is overpowered economically, which can translate to being a very well off nation in most categories, if properly maintained.

of course, when is it properly maintained?

ill keep an eye on this, particularly when you reach the 1800s. i always have trouble with everything past that, so i sort of use parallelism for lack of better options.

[Basileus444]

Originally Posted by Mathalamus

in summary: Byzantium is overpowered economically, which can translate to being a very well off nation in most categories, if properly maintained.

of course, when is it properly maintained?

ill keep an eye on this, particularly when you reach the 1800s. i always have trouble with everything past that, so i sort of use parallelism for lack of better options.

I envisioned the Laskarid economy basically as the Macedonian era economy reborn with a larger commercial sector. Which is incredibly powerful but it depends on a loyal, efficient, and not corrupt bureaucracy to keep it functioning smoothly. There are lots of opportunities for wealthy individuals to bribe tax assessors in this system.

I'm using parallelism also, mainly to help with ideas. It's interesting to have similar historical phenomena appear but for different reasons. When the Renaissance hits in a few decades the focus on ancient Greece and Rome is because the Latins are attempting to claim them as their own so that those Byzantines can't have them.

[Basileus444]

"We are Romans, not Latin barbarians. We worship a God of justice, not a god of violence. Do not stoop to their level; do not wallow in their filth. Show the world that your souls are cleaner than theirs, not just your skins."-Patriarch Anthony IV to the troops of the Constantinople archontate

1405: In Europe, the civil war is a stalemate as troops march and counter-march all over the border region between the Macedonian and Thracian themes, the goal being possession of the city of Thessalonica. Thomas Laskaris uses his horse archers to great effect, luring Maria’s Latin mercenaries into repeated ambushes where they are annihilated. Meanwhile behind the front he is busily creating tagmata for Epirus and Hellas.

The Hellas theme is somewhat of an oddity, as the plans for its creation were contingent on control of the Peloponnesus. For now he establishes land grants for as much of the tagma as possible, roughly forty percent of the soldiers, while promising land to the remainder when the peninsula is taken. Meanwhile he does not push the offensive, not wanting to risk his single tagma now before he can reinforce it. While the Thracian tagma may not care for Maria, it is willing to fight for its homes. He is also hampered in his war effort by a series of small Serbian raids across the border.

Bulgaria invades Maria’s piece of the Empire in April. With all her forces to the west fighting Thomas, she begs Venice to dispatch galleys to the Danube and pillage Bulgaria. The Venetian response is dilatory until she offers free trade to the Venetians; they will not have to pay any customs duties of any kind. The Venetians accept, suddenly springing into action. Venetian squadrons sail up the Danube, pillaging and burning all of the countryside within ten miles of the river.

Clearly needing more troops, Maria also pawns the Crown of Thorns as collateral for a loan to purchase more mercenaries. With those new mercenaries, coupled with an independent Serbian invasion of Bulgaria which pushes the border to the Morava, she is able to convince the Bulgarians to withdraw, although both they and the Venetians are allowed to keep all of their loot. Meanwhile Demetrios’ spies in Constantinople inform him of the planned transfer of the Crown of Thorns to Venice. Recognizing the opportunity he violates his treaty with Venice and ambushes the convoy carrying the relic off the coast of Ikaria, capturing it and bringing it in triumph to Smyrna. While the war with Venice resumes after the battle, Demetrios rightfully considers it a win.

In Anatolia, Demetrios is forced to join the land war in May when the Syrian tagma invades the Anatolic theme. Thus far Manuel has been following an ‘aggressive defense’ strategy in regards to his western border. Sending out swarms of small raiding parties, these light columns harass enemy forces and keep them off balance so that they are unable to launch a concentrated offensive. That strategy is also useful as a preliminary stage to a general offensive conducted by the raiding side.

However Manuel’s younger son Michael favors more aggressive tactics. A brave man, he wages war with more enthusiasm than skill. His older brother George is not a soldier but a doctor, who in the 1390s went abroad and studied the medical techniques of both Muslim and Hospitaller healers. He is the archiatros ton tagma (translation: Chief Physician of the Division, the commander of the 500 doctors attached to a tagma as well as the personal physician of the strategos) of the Coloneia tagma and the personal physician of his father. While there are the inevitable charges of nepotism few believe that George’s ability is inadequate to his station.

It is Michael Doukas who convinces his father to unleash the Syrian tagma on Demetrios, breaking the unofficial truce between the two claimants. Demetrios orders John Melissenos, commander of the Anatolic tagma, to fight a holding action while he invades the Opsician theme with the Thracesian tagma. With only a few small garrisons in the region due to the Opsician tagma campaigning near Sinope, Demetrios is able to capture all of the theme west of Poemanenum, including that city as well as the theme’s capital of Abydos, but is unable to continue when he receives news that Melissenos has been defeated at Pracana.

After installing garrisons in his conquests, Demetrios rushes east and defeats the Syrian tagma near Iconium, driving it back across the border between the Anatolic and Syrian themes but does not pursue beyond that line. With Nicholas and Manuel fully engaged in Paphlagonia, Demetrios begins making preparation to expand the tagma-theme system in his territories. He does not feel it would be wise to engage in further offensives until he has enough troops to match Manuel.

Far to the north, a marriage alliance is negotiated between Mikhail, King of Novgorod, and Gvidas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, whereby the heirs of both, Boris and Ieva, are united in matrimony. Ieva converts to Orthodox Christianity before her marriage which takes place in Pskov on June 30. If Gvidas dies without a male heir, which is likely since he is sixty nine and in poor health, then the crowns of Novgorod and Lithuania will be combined in a dynastic union.


1406: The civil wars in Europe and Asia continue, although at the noise of a rumble and not a roar. Realizing that the conflict is going to last longer than expected, the various claimants intensify their efforts to expand the forces available to them. All of the rulers except Nicholas and Maria are able to expand the tagma-theme system, with Thomas being the most successful and creating two full tagmata.

The main reason for his success is that a disproportionate number of Maria’s supporters have a disproportionate amount of their estates in his territories. He also adds a new innovation to the system by substituting businesses in engage for land. For example, if a business such as a merchant firm, leather tanning shop, blacksmith forge etc., is capable of producing an annual revenue equal to that of a skutatos estate, then one of the owners is conscripted as a skutatos. He receives the pay and equipment bonuses of a regular soldier and is responsible for following all rules and regulations. Tax exemptions granted to the owner’s business are the equivalent of the land grants made to regular tagma troops.

However both Manuel and Demetrios lack the necessary estates to create a full tagma so they create a new kind of district, a cleisurae. The district are named after an adjunct to the old theme system to guard mountain passes established by Theophilos (r. 829-842), but the old and new types are quite dissimilar. A cleisurae is a mini-theme, supporting one tourma as opposed to the ten supported by a theme. Demetrios is able to create six, Manuel four. They also, like Nicholas, create full-time corps of Athanatoi personally attached to themselves, which are two thousand strong.

Nicholas, short on the land grants that make the tagma-theme system affordable, creates independent tourmai that are full time soldiers paid in cash, but he cannot fund more than three of these and his troop count thus falls short of his rivals. His lack of Turkopouloi is compensated by recruiting more light koursores to fill the light cavalry niche.

Maria is short on funds and lands and despised by her people, who consider her a traitor and a sellout to Venice. The Venetians not only push Greek merchants out of business but continually misbehave in Constantinople. When charges are pressed by Greeks against Venetians, the case is heard in Venetian courts which universally favor the Venetian claimant. As a result, she is only kept afloat by Venetian loans and Latin mercenaries, who are usually less trained and disciplined than Thomas’ tagmata, and also antagonize the populace as well by their bad behavior.

Due to the plague epidemics of 1347-1348, 1359-60, and 1370-1371, many estates across the Empire became vacant. However since the last outbreak happened over thirty years earlier, Rhomanion’s population is recovering, although it is still only about three quarters what it was in 1346. The empty lands coupled with the minor population growth is what allows the various claimants to successfully expand the tagma-theme system and their armies, although such measures severely weaken the economy.


1407: In March a Neapolitan fleet seizes Corfu. As Thomas has no fleet, the attack goes unchallenged. However a month later a Neapolitan army lands near Avlona and is almost immediately engaged by Thomas’ light troops. The Neapolitan main camp is moved several miles inland to act as a buffer for the troops besieging the Albanian port.

After two weeks, a fierce raid is launched on the Neapolitan camp by most of Thomas’ Turkopouloi but they quickly flee, the enraged Italians giving chase. They run into a swamp, where the heavily armored Neapolitans are ambushed by the Macedonian akritoi. In such an environment, the Neapolitans stand no chance and are annihilated, with no prisoners being taken. Meanwhile Thomas’ heavy troops overrun the lightly guarded Neapolitan camp.

Thomas then dresses up many of his men in Neapolitan equipment and marches to where the Italian fleet is berthed, keeping several soldiers who speak Italian in front. The sailors, expecting the soldiers to be returning for more supplies, welcome the troops on board so they can help with the offloading. Thanks to their complete surprise, the Macedonians capture over thirty Neapolitan galleys. After dispersing the troops besieging Avlona, Thomas uses his new fleet to take back Corfu; it had been in Neapolitan hands for forty nine days. Peace is soon made, restoring the status quo.

Maria attempts to exploit Thomas’ vulnerability, ordering the Thracian tagma to invade the Macedonian theme. However she is informed that due to ‘supply difficulties’ the tagma is unable to do so. In actuality, the troops refuse to march west of the Vardar in order to support the ‘mistress of the Venetians’.

A far more damaging incident occurs in November 1407. On the tenth Maria asks the Patriarch of Constantinople, Anthony IV, to excommunicate her political enemies. Anthony remarks that it is rather odd for a Catholic monarch to ask an Orthodox cleric for spiritual assistance, but that if she were to convert to Orthodoxy he might reconsider. Maria flat out refuses, proclaiming ‘As long as I shall live, I shall never abandon the see of St. Peter, the true rock of the church and all faithful Christians,’ and then storms out of the chamber. Unfortunately for her, the patriarch had a scribe hiding behind a curtain recording the whole conversation.

The transcript hits the streets of Constantinople the next day, enraging the local populace. A mob gathers outside of the Blachernae palace chanting ‘We are the faithful’. Maria orders them to disperse but they refuse to do so. By early afternoon she has run out of patience and orders the Constantinople archontate to disperse the crowd, by force if necessary. They refuse to move. By now exceedingly annoyed, she orders her Latin mercenaries to do the job instead. When the crowd sees the Latin soldiers advancing, they start to throw roof tiles, pots, any projectiles that are handy. The Latins charge in and start cutting the mob to pieces.

The soldiers of the Constantinople archontate are watching the whole affair. Seeing their neighbors attacked and killed, they charge in as well and start attacking the Latin mercenaries. A full scale battle erupts between the Latins and the Greeks. The archontate troops are heavily outnumbered but are supported by the populace. While most are useless in battle, the members of the leather tanners’ and butchers’ guilds prove to be quite helpful. Due to their occupation they are used to blood and guts and the tools of their trade are readily adaptable for war. Still even with their support, the archontate soldiers are forced to retreat back to their barracks. The akritoi contingents prove to be quite adept at street fighting, hiding in houses and then ambushing Latin soldiers.

With the archontate largely contained, mainly of the Latin troops seize the opportunity to start looting. Over two hundred of them break into the gold and silversmiths’ district and start pillaging the shops indiscriminately for over two hours before they are driven out by a contingent of butchers and blacksmiths, the latter swinging their hammers with such force as to crack plate armor. With the assault led by a dozen akritoi the Latins are forced to pull back. While the shops were their main targets, at least three small churches were also sacked.

Maria, alarmed at the deteriorating situation, informs her troops that if any of her soldiers are caught deliberately starting fires as a battle tactic, they are to be burnt alive. The last thing she needs is more comparisons to 1203-1204. Meanwhile several members of the archontate ride out to the nearby countryside where three tourmai of the Thracian tagma are conducting maneuvers, asking them to aid them in the fight against the Latins. [Begin edit] The soldiers there do not immediately answer but begin to argue amongst themselves about whether they should march to the aid of the archontate. Most are in favor but there is a minority that is unwillful to raise their arms against Maria, not because of any love or concern for her but simply for the fact that she is the mother of and regent for the rightful Emperor John V Laskaris. The soldiers who are in favor of intervention however are not willing to march without the support of all three tourmai.

Basil Palaeologus is also there and on hearing the news rushes back to the city. He did not try to intervene in the argument, concerned that if he ordered the soldiers not to march that might encourage them to do the opposite. By nightfall in Constantinople the archontate barracks is under siege by the Latin mercenaries, but the one attempted attack is beaten back when the archontate troops manage to maneuver one of the bombards from the adjacent Acropolis arsenal into position and fire it down the crowded street packed with Latin soldiers. By this point the people have dispersed to their homes largely unmolested since the Latins are focusing all their attentions on the much more dangerous archontate troops.

The next morning the Latins start making preparations to bring up trebuchets from the arsenal next to the Harbor of Eleutherius to bombard the barracks. At 8 AM, Basil, Anthony, and Maria arrive at the scene. Maria wisely remains silent while Anthony is able to talk the archontate troops down while Basil calms the Latins, although he has to promise that they will be allowed to keep all the loot they gained. Since by this point there have been no skirmishes for almost twelve hours, the soldiers on both sides have had a chance to calm down somewhat, a major factor in Anthony's and Basil's success. Through their diplomatic skills, the incident is over by 9 AM with the Latins abandoning their artillery preparations. At 10 AM the three Thracian tourmai arrive, having decided to intervene. Basil rides out to meet them, informing them that the incident is over and orders them back to their camps. With the affair over, the soldiers' training and discipline take over and they obey the orders of their strategos. However they make it clear that if the battle had still been ongoing they would not have hesitated to join the archontate. Basil takes the precaution of moving their training exercises to Adrianople three days later. [End edit] The affair, dubbed the Patriarch Incident for how it started, killed seventy archontate troops, three hundred Latin mercenaries, at least half of which were killed in that one bombard blast, and seventeen hundred Constantinople civilians. Fortunately for everyone involved, no serious fires were started.

Meanwhile in Anatolia Manuel continues to remain largely on the defensive in the west, but in Timurid Armenia, raid after raid sweep over the countryside. With the active support of the locals, Timurid contingents are only safe outside of fortified cities if they travel in columns one thousand strong or more. Anything smaller is always attacked and usually annihilated. Because of these raids, Manuel has the complete and utter support of the populace of the eastern themes. Concerned about the loyalty of the Anatolic troops, Demetrios assigns them to guard his Aegean coast against Venetian raids.

In the summer both Mikhail, King of Novgorod, and Gvidas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, die within two months of each other. Novgorod and Lithuania are united under Boris Shuisky, who is formally proclaimed King of Novgorod-Lithuania in May. He promises to respect the rights and traditions of the Lithuanian aristocracy and people and Lithuania formally converts to Orthodox Christianity, although a sizeable portion of the population had already converted in the last several decades. He receives congratulations and gifts from Thomas Laskaris, Demetrios Komnenos, and Manuel Doukas.

[Sang]

Wow... this is awesome! I love it!

[frozenpredator]

And the chaos of the civil war continues.

Was expecting Maria to be taken out with those riots

[MerryPrankster]

I was expecting Maria to come to a bad end as well.