The Lion's Fall -- A Medieval Timeline

[coldblood11]

The Hohenstaufen Dynasty, Part I​

The Portrait of an Emperor

Completed around the middle of 1160, this ormolu reliquary was a faithful copy of the figure of the young Frederick I, commonly called Barbarossa. The Emperor offered it as a gift to his godfather, Count Otto von Cappenberg.​

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The Holy Roman Empire hit its peak under the Hohenstaufen Dynasty, its territory stretching from Sicily to the Baltic Sea and comprising the entirety of both Italy and Germany.

In October 1154, representing the Hohenstaufen Dynasty, Frederick the First traversed the Brenner Pass, heading towards Italy, to be coronated in Pavia as the King of Italy. He was a model of medieval chivalry: strong, handsome, and originating from a noble family whose home was situated in Swabia, in the south-west of the modern-day German Federation. The Chronicler Rahewin, an author, alongside Otto of Freising, in the literary work named Stories of Emperor Barbarossa, thus described him: "He has a beautiful face. His eyes are clear and striking, being accompanied by what can only be characterised as a noble nose. His beard has a reddish colour, whilst his delicate lips fit a not-so-large mouth - actually, his entire appearance is optimistic and cheerful." The Italians gave him the nickname Barbarossa - "Red Beard".

Frederick had already been Duke of Swabia, when, in 1152, he was chosen as the sovereign of Germany, at approximately thirty years since birth. His journey to the south, occurring two years later, would not have been possible if he wouldn't have managed to reach a half-hearted compromise with his ambitious cousin, also a pretender to the crown, namely Henry the Lion, the representative of the rival House of Welf, who agreed to escort him on his way to Italy. Immediately after the death of Henry the Fifth and with him, the formerly-ruling Salian dynasty, in the year of 1125, a bloody conflict was triggered between the Welfs and the Hohenstaufens, the two most dominant families in all the German-speaking lands, a conflict undoubtably targeting the Holy Roman Emperorship. Partly, Frederick had been chosen King due to his undeniable position as a "compromise candidate", to put an end to the crippling dispute. Even though he was technically a Hohenstaufen, he also was, through his maternal line, also a Welf, and could act as a "cornerstone which unites two walls, preventing them from collapsing," as Otto of Freising put it.

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The Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick I

Emperor Frederick, after his imperial coronation at Rome in 1155, had maintained tenuous relations, at best, with the Pope and his Holy Dominions. His reign would be marked by contemporary historians as the earliest period in history in which a pan-German independent union was a considered prospect. ​

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Through subtle diplomacy, the new sovereign succeeded in offering a necessary breath of fresh air to the empire plagued by crisis. The Welfs had been the most powerful of the two competing families, controlling the important duchies of Saxony and Bavaria. They had lost, however, the latter, under the leadership of Conrad the Third, Frederick's uncle and predecessor to the throne. Before the start of the journey to Rome, Frederick promised to give back the sought duchy to Henry the Lion. Henry Jasomirgott, from the House of Babenberg, who was ruling the duchy as an Interim Duke, was rewarded with a newly-created duchy created right on the border of the Holy Roman Empire - Austria. Frederick put his plan in motion in 1156, but hadn't fully halted the conflict between the Welfs and the Hohenstaufens, merely briefly pausing it. Both factions needed allies. In 1168, Henry the Lion married a daughter of Henry II, the King of England, establishing a strong connection with the latter. Frederick Barbarossa turned his attention towards France, uniting with Princess Beatrix, which besides needed connections, brought him an extra gift as well: the englobing of Burgundy into the Holy Roman Empire...

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The Imperial Right

This map, finalised in 2243, shows the entirety of the Hohenstaufen Empire and the Hohenstaufen external territories (Sicily, Venice), in approximately 1200.​

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The armistice between the warring houses didn't last for long. In 1178, Henry - who lived in, in a regal fast, in the Palace of Dankwarterode, in modern-day Brunesguik - managed to alienate the majority of his Bavarian subjects as a result of his cruel autocratic regime. He had confiscated proprieties, had revoked fiefdoms formerly given away, and had obligated the pagan Slavonic princes from Mecklenburg and Pomerania to convert to Christianity. On the other hand, though, he did substantially enrich the duchy, encouraging commerce and the development of cities, creating the port of Lübeck on the German coast of the Baltic Sea, and the great city of München, who was beforehand a small Bavarian village which collected tax at a crossing over the Iser River. However, in the eyes of Henry's fierce adversaries, the noble crossed the line, blaming Germany's overly-federalised state as a chaotic mode of governing. Utilising the allegations made by the local nobility as a pretext, Frederick and his cohorts actioned, establishing legal procedures against Henry the Lion, declaring him a national criminal, and confiscating his imperial fiefdoms, aside from un-claimable elderly lands, rightly inherited in some regions around Brunesguik and Lüneburg, in the German North. Henry was forced to leave [1], but the Lion refused to listen to the "treacherous" Frederick and violently fled the scene, heading towards the hideouts of his vassal princes, being unknowingly followed by the Imperial Guards. Once arrived, they immediately apprehended both Henry and his loyalists. By the decree of Frederick I, the loyalists were given a chance to exit the country, most of them fleeing to friendly England, with Henry being the only one to be executed, in front of a mass crowd. The fall of the Lion was a personal triumph to Frederick Barbarossa, bringing him quite a few benefits; the allodial territories of Henry became personal domains of the Holy Roman Emperor, whilst his other lands those of his captured loyalists were turned over to and divided between sworn supporters of Barbarossa. The death of the Lion marked the start of an era of thorough de-federalisation, one which would have major consequences...

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The Regal Image

Frederick the Second, Holy Roman Emperor, is featured on this seal bearing the symbols of his authority. He's staying on the physical throne, with the imperial crown on his head, and with the globe and sceptre in his hands.​

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To solidify his authority and to fill his coffers, Frederick set his eyes upon Italy. But Italian politics proved to be just as tumultuous as the turbulent House of Welf, internally at least. The first meeting between the Emperor and the Pope, in 1155, had ended tensionally. Barbarossa refused to treat the Papacy with the courtesy his predecessors had shown towards the pontiff sovereign, as he greatly considered their venerable manifestations demeaning. Profoundly offended, the Pope was hardly convinced to accept the investiture of Frederick as the Holy Roman Emperor. This event took place on the 18th of June, 1155, with the people of Rome expressing their disapproval, storming into the hall where the banquet was taking place; in the slaughter that followed, five hundred people were killed.

Frederick would have crossed the Alps five more times since that day. The cities of Lombardy didn't wish to contribute to the imperial treasury. Gathering under the leadership of Milano in the Lombard League, they provoked the one who wished to rule them and largely enjoyed the support of the Papacy and the Papal Domains, who feared an increase in Barbarossa's power. A fierce conflict followed, which saw the multiple excommunication of the Emperor, leading to Barbarossa funding anti-papal groups throughout the Italian Peninsula. In 1185, a compromise between the two parties was finally reached. The Emperor nominally retained the privilege to rule over North Italy, but was forced to recognise the autonomy of the Lombard cities, who would win their right to have independence in all internal affairs, in exchange for a consistent, monthly sum of money.

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[1] - In Our Timeline, Henry the Lion fled to England.

 

[Janprimus]

Henry Jasomirgott and other members of the house of Babenberg before him, was margrave of Austria.
He hadn't done anything to deserve a demotion from the ducal rank, which also meant that he would have been a vassal of the Welf duke of Bavaria, Henry the Lion* and thus might be vunerable to revenge.
Not to mention that the other great houses in the Empire also supported Henry Jasomirgott, some undoubtedly also didn't want Henry the Lion to become too powerful.

As such the Privilegium Minus also granted Henry Jasomirgott special privileges, in terms of inheritance, but also the right to combine ducal and margravial prerogatives.
Don't forget that Henry Jasomirgott was an uncle from Frederick Barbarossa.
So all in all it was a compromise, which pleased most parties, it basically only left Henry the Lion a bit disappointed.

(*= I know he was also duke of Saxony)

Now the TL I doubt Frederick could keep all seized fiefs. In fact like IOTL you'll probably see some smaller duchies being created and also reduced duchies of Saxony and Bavaria will be granted (to different houses).
Maybe he could succeed in adding the Welf allodial lands, what IOTL would later become the duchy of Brunswick-Luneburg, to the imperial demesne.

 

[coldblood11]

Henry Jasomirgott and other members of the house of Babenberg before him, was margrave of Austria.
He hadn't done anything to deserve a demotion from the ducal rank, which also meant that he would have been a vassal of the Welf duke of Bavaria, Henry the Lion* and thus might be vunerable to revenge.
Not to mention that the other great houses in the Empire also supported Henry Jasomirgott, some undoubtedly also didn't want Henry the Lion to become too powerful.

As such the Privilegium Minus also granted Henry Jasomirgott special privileges, in terms of inheritance, but also the right to combine ducal and margravial prerogatives.
Don't forget that Henry Jasomirgott was an uncle from Frederick Barbarossa.
So all in all it was a compromise, which pleased most parties, it basically only left Henry the Lion a bit disappointed.

(*= I know he was also duke of Saxony)

Now the TL I doubt Frederick could keep all seized fiefs. In fact like IOTL you'll probably see some smaller duchies being created and also reduced duchies of Saxony and Bavaria will be granted (to different houses).
Maybe he could succeed in adding the Welf allodial lands, what IOTL would later become the duchy of Brunswick-Luneburg, to the imperial demesne.

Henry Jasomirgott was awarded Bavaria when Conrad III stripped the Welfs of that specific duchy. Naturally, the Welfs wanted it back; there was no way Frederick could stop the conflict for the throne without slightly pleasing the Welfs.

Of course, it was a compromise, I didn't say otherwise, I think.

I know the Lion was the Duke of Saxony as well. I mentioned that that, y'know.

You're probably right, I should make these changes gradual. I'm going for a TL in which the Holy Roman Empire ends up a lot more centralised, so any implausibility ought to be blamed on that peculiarity.

 

[coldblood11]

I'm delighted to announce that I finally completed my edits on that first post. Also, there will be two more posts around a similar length about the Hohenstaufen Dynasty, the series of posts in total comprising its activities from 1152 to circa 1254.

 

[Janprimus]

Henry Jasomirgott was awarded Bavaria when Conrad III stripped the Welfs of that specific duchy. Naturally, the Welfs wanted it back; there was no way Frederick could stop the conflict for the throne without slightly pleasing the Welfs.

Of course, it was a compromise, I didn't say otherwise, I think.

I'm not suggesting otherwise, I only wanted to give some additional information. Furthermore Frederick couldn't nor wouldn't strip Bavaria from his uncle Henry Jasomirgott in favour of his cousin Henry the Lion, without giving his uncle something in return. That it would also reduce the gain of his already powerful cousin was another benefit.

I know the Lion was the Duke of Saxony as well. I mentioned that that, y'know.

I also wrote it down for myself. However I deliberately left it out, because the margraviate of Austria had the duchy of Bavaria had a feudal relation (until Austria became a duchy), there was no link with Saxony.

You're probably right, I should make these changes gradual. I'm going for a TL in which the Holy Roman Empire ends up a lot more centralised, so any implausibility ought to be blamed on that peculiarity.

I applaud any TL which wants to keep the Holy Roman Empire more centralized. However vassals in this era did expect something in return.

IOTL the following happened, when Henry the Lion was stripped from his fiefs.
His Bavarian lands: the count of Andechs was created duke of Merania, the margraviate of Styria was elevated to a duchy, the (now further) reduced duchy of Bavaria was granted to the count palatine of Bavaria, Otto of Wittelsbach.
His Saxon lands: the house of Welf kept their allodial* lands around Brunswick and Luneburg (later transformed in the duchy of Brunswick-Luneburg and thus became a fief), the archbishop of Cologne gained the duchy Westphalia-Angria (the western part of the former Saxon stem duchy), the reduced (the eastern part of the former Saxon stem duchy) duchy of Saxony was granted to the count of Anhalt.

So basically he ended dividing the lot and trying to appease as many as possible.
IMHO if Frederick would have been able to get the Welf allodial lands and at the same time would have granted those lands, which were imperial fiefs (so his vassals would have demanded those), then he would have achieved both. Like IOTL it probably best to reward a number of dynasties and not just one (divide and conquer).

(*= they had a few small allodial territories in Bavaria too)

 

[coldblood11]

I applaud any TL which wants to keep the Holy Roman Empire more centralized. However vassals in this era did expect something in return.

IOTL the following happened, when Henry the Lion was stripped from his fiefs.
His Bavarian lands: the count of Andechs was created duke of Merania, the margraviate of Styria was elevated to a duchy, the (now further) reduced duchy of Bavaria was granted to the count palatine of Bavaria, Otto of Wittelsbach.
His Saxon lands: the house of Welf kept their allodial* lands around Brunswick and Luneburg (later transformed in the duchy of Brunswick-Luneburg and thus became a fief), the archbishop of Cologne gained the duchy Westphalia-Angria (the western part of the former Saxon stem duchy), the reduced (the eastern part of the former Saxon stem duchy) duchy of Saxony was granted to the count of Anhalt.

So basically he ended dividing the lot and trying to appease as many as possible.
IMHO if Frederick would have been able to get the Welf allodial lands and at the same time would have granted those lands, which were imperial fiefs (so his vassals would have demanded those), then he would have achieved both. Like IOTL it probably best to reward a number of dynasties and not just one (divide and conquer).

(*= they had a few small allodial territories in Bavaria too)

Yeah, Henry really ended up on the short end of the stick, and besides the allodial territories, his possessions were carved up.

I ended up editing that post anyway, so now Frederick only gained direct control of Henry's allodial lands, whilst other people who sided with him (Frederick) and not with the Welfs divided the Lion's other territories between them.

Thanks for your advice.

 

[coldblood11]

The Hohenstaufen Dynasty, Part II​

The Emperor Abroad

This manuscript headpiece from the 15th Century depicts Frederick Barbarossa fighting, with his personal retinue, in the Third Crusade, at a site meant to resemble a typical district of the City of Jerusalem. His faithful warriors originally wore banners decorated with the imperial eagle, however, these were modified to standard Crusader uniforms and helmets by Russian painters, at the order of Emperor Nicholas III, during the Secessionist War fought against the primarily German U.C.S.R during the early 1920's.​

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Aside from the grand political realisations of the Hohenstaufen period, the ruling dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire also focused on raising living standards and developing a truly unique, pan-German culture. The era of chivalry was reaching its peak. It was an age of knightly tournaments, of troubadours, and of courtly love. The German literature of the Middle Ages reached its apogee through the works of the lyrical poet Walter von der Vogelweide (literally "Walter from the meadow with birds") and those of Wolfram von Eschenbach, author of the epic poem Parzival, a classic version of the legend of the Holy Grail. In time, living standards drastically improved for all the subjects of the Emperor. A hotter climate, combined with territorial gains and increases in field productivity, owed to widespread deforestation and the extensive use of the crop rotation system, led to the general citizen of the Holy Roman Empire being better fed than in the anterior period. Commerce and cities bloomed, undergoing rapid development.

A general sentiment of welfare found its way in public holidays and festivals. At Whitsun in 1184, the emperor organised a sumptuous festival in order to celebrate the investiture as knights of his two sons, Henry and Frederick. Circa two hundred thousand people gathered from all throughout the empire to Mayence, a city located on the Rhine. The children of the sovereign took their oath in a chivalrous fashion, whilst dressed in splendid clothes, before proving their bravery in specific tournaments. At the banquet which ended the festive day, they were served delicious food and fine wines, and the people were entertained by fire swallowers, acrobats, dancing bears, and cock fights.

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The Gospel Writer

This statue from Freudenstadt, Bavaria, is one of the few ecclesiastic sculptures constructed in the neoclassical Romanesque Swabian architectural style which survived the German Blood War. Sculpted from fine marble and having a height of 236 centimetres, it depicts Saint Mark, one of the four gospel writers canonised by the Roman Catholic Church. His symbol - a winged lion - appears on a circular pedestal situated under the feet of the Saint.​

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But whilst Germany, in her ensemble, prospered, the private finances of the emperor were steadily regressing/ Even so, loyal to the chivalrous spirit of the era, Barbarossa, accompanied by a diverse, massive retinue, left the fatherland to fight in the Third Crusade, in 1189. He nearly died whilst travelling to Jerusalem, when he tried to traverse the Saleph River by swimming to the other side, on the 10th of June the next year, but he was saved by a fellow Crusader before drowning. Ultimately, Barbarossa's force reached Jerusalem, culminating in the biggest battle the Third Crusade would ever see: the Third Battle of Jerusalem. The boldest Crusader military manoeuvre in history, Barbarossa's costly siege almost led to the incineration of the entire city, and a massive number of casualties on both sides, including the Holy Roman Emperor himself. Despite the negative repercussions, the battle for the Holy City ended in a victory for the warmongering Crusaders, albeit a pyrrhic one. Barbarossa's efforts and the first major victory against the Ayyubid hordes led to the establishment of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, after almost a year of damaging Crusader occupation.

At home, Barbarossa's son, Henry the Sixth, inherited a ramshackle empire. Six years before his enthronement, Henry, twenty years old at the time, had tried to strengthen the empire by marrying Constance of Sicily, a woman eleven years older. Henry's marriage practically allowed the Hohenstaufens to not only claim direct control of the riches of Sicily, but also of the entire southern part of the Italian Peninsula, at that time entirely dominated by the ruling class of Sicily. The local monarch, the nephew of Constance, William the Second, had died childless in 1189, but Henry's tentative to seize power was thwarted by an anti-German faction, which installed William's stepbrother on the throne, Count Tancred of Lecce. This event made Henry involve himself in a long struggle for the Sicilian throne (an ultimately successful one, though), which attracted his attention oftentimes, in comparison to the other imperial responsibilities. When news of Frederick I's death reached Germany, the inheritor to the throne, Henry VI, found himself in a precarious position, with many thinking that he was too obsessed with Italy to have a flourishing reign such as that of his father. To counter this problem, Henry decided to leave control of Germany to a handful of hand-picked, noble men, each assigned rule over a specific duty in a position of authority beyond that of the regional duke. This was known as the Court of Chancellors. Thus, the now-emperor departed south, to Apulia, at the heel of the Italian Boot, stopping on the way to Rome, to receive his investiture as Holy Roman Emperor. However, revolts in Germany against the Court of Chancellors, based on accusations of cruelty and corruption, forced Henry to return home. He found there only agitation, in Saxony and the other domains of the Inferior Rhine openly rebelling after mere months. The emperor was eventually coalesced by the dukes and margraves of the Saxony-led coalition into permanently disbanding the Court. The son of Barbarossa, though, took this as a pass to increasingly turn his empire into a more centralised state, with more and more power invested in the hands of the monarch and less invested in local leaders. The process was gradual, but arduous.

The emperor suddenly found luck on his side as well. Whilst leaving the Holy Land for England to visit his people, Richard the Lionheart was stealthily kidnapped by German crusaders under the command of Duke Leopold of Austria, who in turn proceeded to hand him over to Henry VI as per standard military procedure. This act immediately sparked outrage, as Crusaders were considered staunch allies, united in battle by a sacred armistice, destined to protect each other and the entirety of Christendom against perfidious elements threatening to disturb their situation.

The emperor did not care in the slightest, however, as he foresaw that Richard could represent the solution for exiting the crisis the whole empire was stuck in, at the time. Richard was akin with Tancred of Lecce, the rival of the Holy Roman Emperor in the battle for the throne of Sicily, as well as being a close acquaintance of the majority of the exiled Welf loyalists after their relocation to England following the death of Henry the Lion in 1178. His arrest deprived the Welfs of one of their most important external allies and dissolved the alliance between England and Sicily. Henry VI demanded a ransom of one hundred thousand silver marks - a massive sum, equaling thirty-four tons of pure silver - in addition to the repatriation of the exiled Welf loyalists to Germany. England gathered the necessary amount of money, and sent some of their finest military officers to guard the transfer of the exiled nobles to the private estate of the emperor, and true to his word, Richard was unconditionally freed in 1196. The returned men, however, were decided to be publicly executed, being made examples of how treacherous men to the regime would end up. As a condition of the Lionheart's freedom, he was forced to bow down in front of Henry, theoretically making his country a vassal of the Holy Roman Empire.

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The Shrine of the Three Kings

Under the regime of Frederick Barbarossa, the corporal remnants attributed to the three mages who had come to see the baby Jesus were brought from Milano to Colonia, in Germany. There, they were kept within the world-famous Colonia Cathedral, in a splendid shrine, one of the oldest which remained intact to the present day. The shrine resembles a church with three naves, having on the sides portraits of the Apostles and Prophets.​

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Benefitting from this huge financial infusion, Henry finally managed to capably conquer Sicily and crown himself king inside the Cathedral of Palermo, the capital of the island. The second day after the crowning, Constance, aged forty-two, gave birth to the long-awaited heir to the Holy Roman throne - the future emperor, Frederick the Second.

The kingly birth of his son left Henry the Sixth at the height of his power. He was ruling over Germany, Sicily, Burgundy, and the majority of Italy, save for the Holy Domains of the Pope in the centre of the peninsula. In addition, England, Poland, Bohemia, and Moravia were owing homage to him, as well as Armenia, Cyprus and the former Norman territories, Tunis, and Tripoli, in Northern Africa. His brother, Phillip of Swabia, was engaged with a Byzantine princess, thus being in the precarious position of having the possibility to form an alliance with the largest eastern Christian empire at the time.

Only one prerequisite was missing for the accomplishment of Henry's imperial dream. He wanted to change the elective system of the Holy Roman Empire, replacing the choosing of the emperor by an electoral college with hereditary succession. In 1197, Henry exposed his plans to the electors, who immediately rejected them, despite the numerous concessions the emperor promised them in exchange for them implementing his programme. At best, they accepted to choose his son, Frederick, as the King of Germany. The Pope was himself against Henry's projects, fearing that the Holy Dominions would be entirely surrounded by the Hohenstaufens. However, despite Europe's negative stance towards the attainment of his plans, Henry's ambitions would go on to be fulfilled...

 

[coldblood11]

If anybody's wondering, the reason why so much time passes between posts is because I generally try to make long, solid-written posts which more often than not, take me quite a few days considering I am still a student and have a lot of time occupied by studying and other assorted actions.

Oh, and when I'm gonna finish up the three-part series on the Hohenstaufen Dynasty, I'm gonna make posts in which I explain what's happening with the Angevin Empire.

 

[Unknown]

How far are you going with this?

Good start...

 

[flo]

Nice!

A Hohenstaufen timeline with centralization of the HRE. I will watch this timeline with great interest. Subscribed

 

[coldblood11]

How far are you going with this?

Good start...

Thanks!

I'm planning to reach 1500, give or take a few years, for now. With enough support, I'm probably going to extend it quite a bit from that year. Even so, history beyond that year will be commented upon in the short descriptions for provided images. Hence the Union of Council Socialist Republics bit...

A Hohenstaufen timeline with centralization of the HRE. I will watch this timeline with great interest. Subscribed

Dankeschön.

Be warned, though, this won't be just about the Hohenstaufen Dynasty. I plan on extensively writing about the political history of the Angevin Empire, the various Italian city-states, and even entirely different areas of the globe, including the Americas, Eastern Europe, and Arabia, and I'm possibly going to dwelve into Asia as well.

 

[Caesar Biden]

Nice start! A Hohenstaufen TL is always interesting.

If you really do want to centralize the HRE, though, I'd advise you to steer clear of bits like Armenia, the Holy Land, or England that will ultimately drag the whole empire down. The way things are set up right now ITTL, all it will take is one bad to mediocre Hohenstaufen Emperor and the whole house of cards will come crashing down. And they can't keep rolling 6s on the ruler pool forever.

Changing the method of succession, if successful, will ensure Hohenstaufen dominance over Germany. Frederick and co have eliminated some of their more dangerous opponents, but not all. The true Rome, Sicily, England, France, and all kinds of ambitious nobles inside the overextended empire could be the death of it. Happy writing!

 

[coldblood11]

Nice start! A Hohenstaufen TL is always interesting.

If you really do want to centralize the HRE, though, I'd advise you to steer clear of bits like Armenia, the Holy Land, or England that will ultimately drag the whole empire down. The way things are set up right now ITTL, all it will take is one bad to mediocre Hohenstaufen Emperor and the whole house of cards will come crashing down. And they can't keep rolling 6s on the ruler pool forever.

Changing the method of succession, if successful, will ensure Hohenstaufen dominance over Germany. Frederick and co have eliminated some of their more dangerous opponents, but not all. The true Rome, Sicily, England, France, and all kinds of ambitious nobles inside the overextended empire could be the death of it. Happy writing!

Thanks!

Meh, Crusader Jerusalem really is jointly ruled, and while Barbarossa did play a significant role in creating it, the real power resides in the hands of a lot of Angevin Crusaders and a small amount of German ones, so it's as much of a vassal as England is and was IOTL.

As for the general situation of Western Europe, nothing will really change much until the Angevin Dynasty collapses, with both the Holy Roman Empire and England and France focusing more on internal matters, and in Germany's case, focusing on reducing the Pope's power in the Italian Peninsula. Eastern Europe, however...

Let's just say that the Byzantines won't have such a good time.

 

[Janprimus]

Richard the Lionheart IOTL (and I guess also in this TL) whilst on Crusade in the Holy Land had insulted the Holy Roman Empire and their representative duke Leopold of Austria. Amongst other things he had ordered to take down the flag of the duke of Austria and the Holy Roman Empire on a tower in a conquered town during the crusade; a huge diplomatic insult.

 

[coldblood11]

Richard the Lionheart IOTL (and I guess also in this TL) whilst on Crusade in the Holy Land had insulted the Holy Roman Empire and their representative duke Leopold of Austria. Amongst other things he had ordered to take down the flag of the duke of Austria and the Holy Roman Empire on a tower in a conquered town during the crusade; a huge diplomatic insult.

Yeah, that bit pretty much is a parallel of what happened IOTL.

 

[Caesar Biden]

Thanks!

Meh, Crusader Jerusalem really is jointly ruled, and while Barbarossa did play a significant role in creating it, the real power resides in the hands of a lot of Angevin Crusaders and a small amount of German ones, so it's as much of a vassal as England is and was IOTL.

As for the general situation of Western Europe, nothing will really change much until the Angevin Dynasty collapses, with both the Holy Roman Empire and England and France focusing more on internal matters, and in Germany's case, focusing on reducing the Pope's power in the Italian Peninsula. Eastern Europe, however...

Let's just say that the Byzantines won't have such a good time.

Of course, that's what I thought. I'm just saying the HRE can't be THAT ambitious....

And whatever you do to the Byzantines, it can hardly be as bad as OTL. The Fourth Crusade was a ridiculous series of events that can't be replicated, right?

 

[coldblood11]

And whatever you do to the Byzantines, it can hardly be as bad as OTL. The Fourth Crusade was a ridiculous series of events that can't be replicated, right?

Well, the decadence of the Byzantines won't commence so abruptly, but let's just say that they'll be this TL's punching bag.

 

[coldblood11]

Oh, and everyone: I haven't posted recently, but I really can't considering I'm currently away from home due to the holiday season and all that. Sorry!