"And All Nations Shall Gather To It" - A Crusades TL
*****
Hello, friends,
This is a story I've been writing, bit a bit, for some months now, focused on the Crusaders (with a PoD in the First Crusade), and in an alt-Kingdom of Jerusalem (let's abreviate "KOJ" to facilitate). For a set of circumstances and divergences that will be explained along the way, I believe this scenario can justify a more long-lived KOJ, and also, an even more lasting Byzantine Empire. For now, I'm focused on the First Crusade and its consequences, but later I'd love to develop this into a full-fledged centuries-long thread.
Some months ago I posted this thread discussing the possibility that another of the leaders of the First Crusade might become King of Jerusalem instead of Godfrey of Bouillon. In one of the last posts of the thread, I explained in detail the plans I had for a TL in which Raymond of St. Giles becomes the first de facto ruler of Jerusalem, and this brings very interesting butterflies, both in the Orient and in Europe. If you want to see the point I want to get to, just check the thread linked in this paragraph.
In short, the Point of Divergence occurs in 1099, during the Siege of Antioch. IOTL, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos was marching to Antioch to assist the Crusaders in their battle against the Turkish coalition led by the Atabeg of Mosul, but decided to turn back when he was met in Tarsus by Stephen of Blois, a deserter from the Crusade, who claimed that the Crusaders were about to be annihilated. Alexios abandoned the Crusaders and, after their surprising victory over the Turks, they considered him a traitor and oathbreaker. This was but the first of a series of grievances between the Crusaders and the Byzantine Empire, out of many others that sometimes thwarted prospects of alliances between Constantinople and Jerusalem. ITTL, Stephen of Blois does not defects from the siege of Antioch, and Alexios goes all the way to relieve the Crusaders, thus preserving the seeds for a genuine alliance between Byzantium and the future KOJ. Butterflies ensue...
PLEASE READ THESE FIRST
For new readers, I kindly ask for you to read this topic before going into the TL itself. Here I’ll answer some questions that often pop up in the discussions between the chapters. Obviously, considering we have more than 100 pages deep into the thread, it is hard for new readers to catch up with everything we have discussed, so I believe it is useful to read this piece firstly, so that the topics of discussion can be narrowed down to more specific issues.
1. What is the “Butterfly Criteria” used in the TL? Will a historical person X or Y appear in the TL? Will place A or B, or peoples C or D be affected by the POD?
The TL uses a “direct causality” when we are considering butterflies: divergences will happen if they are directly affected by the POD and the causality developments that happen after the initial divergences, with spatial and temporal limitations. This means that Europe and the Middle East will be initially the only ones affected by the POD, and, even then, only in certain spaces and for a certain period. Once the divergences escalate and mount up, we’ll be seeing how this affects other parts of the world, and the TL gradually becomes more complex. The main rule is: things will remain the same and happen exactly like IOTL unless I mention that it happen differently, and this will be considered a divergence. And, from there onwards, divergences will happen more frequently, until we see an absolute distinction from our historical reality.
Sometimes, due to narrative and storyline options, I’ll be putting other divergences which I believe are somewhat related to the POD and the initial chains of causality, and which permit me to create a more plausible scenario exploring a surviving Crusader State. This means that sometimes persons who died in year X might live longer, or might pass away earlier even, and persons who were born long after the POD most likely won’t be born, and so forth. Once any of these historical or historically-based characters enter in direct contact with the events or the circumstances related to the alt-Outremer, they will be directly affected. As a rule of thumb, if any historical individual participates in some action inside the TL, he and whatever of his relations he has (spouse, collateral relatives, descendants, etc.) might be affected. This means, for example, that any character that participates in any of the Crusades mentioned in-TL, even if they don't actually remain in the Crusader State, are automatically included into the divergence, and his individual life might (or not) diverge from what happened IOTL.
I am also fond of the concept of "Alternate History Siblings" (used in Thande's Look to the West) - in which people may be shaped by circumstances in different ways, be mergers of different individuals, have different names and lead different lives, but are fundamentally familiar to historical individuals. Such characters, and other dramatically different things having the same name, are indicated with an asterisk (*), short for "alternate".
2. How long will the TL last in-story?
I’ll be taking the TL to last as much as I can take farther from the POD. My immediate objective is to reach the alternate 16th C. My ultimate objective is to take it, in-timeline, to the 20th Century C.E.
3. Do you have maps demonstrating the situation of the Levant during the TL?
Please, check the threadmarks, there are at least three installments in which I published reference maps. In any case, I simply suck at map drawing, and I have not even basic knowledge about image-editing programs, so I won’t be taking my chances there. If anyone volunteers to help in mapmaking, please PM me
4. Will the Crusaders conquer and hold Islamic Egypt? What about the Copts, Ethiopians and other Christian East African peoples?
Yes, they will. As has been discussed various times in the thread, I believe, as do many readers, that the Crusaders could have militarily occupied Egypt and establish their own politico-administrative regime there, and that this circumstance would have ensured the long-term survival of the Crusader polities. The conquest of Egypt by the Crusaders will happen in the late 12th C. to the middle of the 13th C.C.E., and will be detailed in Act VII (still unwritten, as of April 2020).
The Crusader State of Egypt will probably coincide, geographically speaking, with the format of Fatimid Egypt, meaning that they will not expand into the territory of the Christian polities that historically existed south of Egypt, in modern Sudan (Axum, Abyssinia, Ethiopia, etc.). Their relations with non-Catholic Christians will be one of conciliation and vassalization, that is, the latter will find themselves in second place in the socio-cultural pyramid, but still privileged in relation to the Islamic communities, which will often be marginalized.
The relations between the Catholics, Syriacs, Copts, and other Christian denominations, as well as between all of them and the Muslims, will always be a prominent aspect of the TL.
5. What about the Mongols?
Genghis Khan’s life and the creation of the Mongol Empire will happen ITTL exactly like they historically did, due to the aforementioned butterfly regime, up until they arrive in the Levant and in alt-Europe, in the late 13th C.C.E. The formation of the splintered Khanates will most likely happen in a similar fashion to OTL, as will their invasion patterns, into Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, and, finally, the formation of the Pax Mongolica. Once they become entrenched in the Middle East and in Russia, and enter a long-lasting contact with the alternate then, we’ll be seeing the divergences unfold, but, suffice to say, without spoilering too much, their impact on global geopolitics will be massive, much like OTL.
6. Will the Reconquista still happen? And if it does, can it expand into North Africa?
Yes and yes. The Reconquista will happen ITTL, meaning that the whole of the Iberian Peninsula will be annexed by Christian polities, eradicating the Islamic rule in the region. It will be finished sooner than OTL, because of the divergences I believe would be happening in a world with a more sophisticated and consolidated Crusading ideology. It will be better detailed in Act VI (still unwritten, as of May 2020).
Regarding the Islamic Maghreb, we will see that the Christian polities of the Mediterranean will launch consecutive campaigns to occupy and colonize North Africa, especially Tunisia and Libya, not unlike what they attempted to do IOTL. This means that the Barbary States as we saw historically won’t be appearing, at least not in the way they did in our reality. Islam will likely not, however be eradicated from North Africa, and this will play an important role in the assessment of the power relations between the Crusader regimes and the Islamic communities. I estimate that by the late 14th C. to the 15th C.C.E., the whole Mediterranean coast will be, if not entirely, mostly under Crusader-inspired European entities.
7. What about the Baltic and Northern Crusades?
All of the historical Crusades in the European continent will happen on schedule and, in general, they will mirror the events of OTL, in the first centuries (13th and 14th C.). Later on, we’re bound to see some divergences, and we’ll be seeing in detail how the European Crusaders will interact with the Latin-Levantine ones, and with the
8. Will the Crusaders go to India and further?
They will, once Egypt is secured, and the venues of the Red Sea are open to voyages. The “Franks” will likely venture into the Indian Subcontinent as early as the 13th C.C.E., into Southeast Asia and into the Far East. Due to the historically high demand for spices and other goods that Europeans acquired from eastern Asia, we’ll certainly be seeing an anticipation of the processes of economic complexification and proto-globalization that we saw happen, IOTL, after the late 15th C.C.E.
9. What about the discovery and colonization of the Americas and other continents?
They will most likely happen, but certainly not in the way it did historically; suffice to say that we won’t be seeing Columbus or Vespucci or the likes. It might be delayed some decades or centuries, or even anticipated, in comparison to OTL. The point that must be stressed is that the circumstances that led to the Great Discoveries in our reality can’t be replicated with perfection ITTL, and that with divergences piling up from the late 11th C., we are bound to see a very different Europe, and very different societies and relations.
10. And what about the Protestant Reformation, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, the World Wars, etc?
As a rule, I can say that events that historically happened later than the 15th C. will not happen, or, if they do, they won’t happen like they did OTL. What I know for certain is that, considering the basic premises of the TL, and the idea that divergences become increasingly more complex and more substantial as we advance in time, by then the world by then will have diverged so much that it is very improbable that they will happen, if only in a similar, but not exact, way.
1. What is the “Butterfly Criteria” used in the TL? Will a historical person X or Y appear in the TL? Will place A or B, or peoples C or D be affected by the POD?
The TL uses a “direct causality” when we are considering butterflies: divergences will happen if they are directly affected by the POD and the causality developments that happen after the initial divergences, with spatial and temporal limitations. This means that Europe and the Middle East will be initially the only ones affected by the POD, and, even then, only in certain spaces and for a certain period. Once the divergences escalate and mount up, we’ll be seeing how this affects other parts of the world, and the TL gradually becomes more complex. The main rule is: things will remain the same and happen exactly like IOTL unless I mention that it happen differently, and this will be considered a divergence. And, from there onwards, divergences will happen more frequently, until we see an absolute distinction from our historical reality.
Sometimes, due to narrative and storyline options, I’ll be putting other divergences which I believe are somewhat related to the POD and the initial chains of causality, and which permit me to create a more plausible scenario exploring a surviving Crusader State. This means that sometimes persons who died in year X might live longer, or might pass away earlier even, and persons who were born long after the POD most likely won’t be born, and so forth. Once any of these historical or historically-based characters enter in direct contact with the events or the circumstances related to the alt-Outremer, they will be directly affected. As a rule of thumb, if any historical individual participates in some action inside the TL, he and whatever of his relations he has (spouse, collateral relatives, descendants, etc.) might be affected. This means, for example, that any character that participates in any of the Crusades mentioned in-TL, even if they don't actually remain in the Crusader State, are automatically included into the divergence, and his individual life might (or not) diverge from what happened IOTL.
I am also fond of the concept of "Alternate History Siblings" (used in Thande's Look to the West) - in which people may be shaped by circumstances in different ways, be mergers of different individuals, have different names and lead different lives, but are fundamentally familiar to historical individuals. Such characters, and other dramatically different things having the same name, are indicated with an asterisk (*), short for "alternate".
2. How long will the TL last in-story?
I’ll be taking the TL to last as much as I can take farther from the POD. My immediate objective is to reach the alternate 16th C. My ultimate objective is to take it, in-timeline, to the 20th Century C.E.
3. Do you have maps demonstrating the situation of the Levant during the TL?
Please, check the threadmarks, there are at least three installments in which I published reference maps. In any case, I simply suck at map drawing, and I have not even basic knowledge about image-editing programs, so I won’t be taking my chances there. If anyone volunteers to help in mapmaking, please PM me
4. Will the Crusaders conquer and hold Islamic Egypt? What about the Copts, Ethiopians and other Christian East African peoples?
Yes, they will. As has been discussed various times in the thread, I believe, as do many readers, that the Crusaders could have militarily occupied Egypt and establish their own politico-administrative regime there, and that this circumstance would have ensured the long-term survival of the Crusader polities. The conquest of Egypt by the Crusaders will happen in the late 12th C. to the middle of the 13th C.C.E., and will be detailed in Act VII (still unwritten, as of April 2020).
The Crusader State of Egypt will probably coincide, geographically speaking, with the format of Fatimid Egypt, meaning that they will not expand into the territory of the Christian polities that historically existed south of Egypt, in modern Sudan (Axum, Abyssinia, Ethiopia, etc.). Their relations with non-Catholic Christians will be one of conciliation and vassalization, that is, the latter will find themselves in second place in the socio-cultural pyramid, but still privileged in relation to the Islamic communities, which will often be marginalized.
The relations between the Catholics, Syriacs, Copts, and other Christian denominations, as well as between all of them and the Muslims, will always be a prominent aspect of the TL.
5. What about the Mongols?
Genghis Khan’s life and the creation of the Mongol Empire will happen ITTL exactly like they historically did, due to the aforementioned butterfly regime, up until they arrive in the Levant and in alt-Europe, in the late 13th C.C.E. The formation of the splintered Khanates will most likely happen in a similar fashion to OTL, as will their invasion patterns, into Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, and, finally, the formation of the Pax Mongolica. Once they become entrenched in the Middle East and in Russia, and enter a long-lasting contact with the alternate then, we’ll be seeing the divergences unfold, but, suffice to say, without spoilering too much, their impact on global geopolitics will be massive, much like OTL.
6. Will the Reconquista still happen? And if it does, can it expand into North Africa?
Yes and yes. The Reconquista will happen ITTL, meaning that the whole of the Iberian Peninsula will be annexed by Christian polities, eradicating the Islamic rule in the region. It will be finished sooner than OTL, because of the divergences I believe would be happening in a world with a more sophisticated and consolidated Crusading ideology. It will be better detailed in Act VI (still unwritten, as of May 2020).
Regarding the Islamic Maghreb, we will see that the Christian polities of the Mediterranean will launch consecutive campaigns to occupy and colonize North Africa, especially Tunisia and Libya, not unlike what they attempted to do IOTL. This means that the Barbary States as we saw historically won’t be appearing, at least not in the way they did in our reality. Islam will likely not, however be eradicated from North Africa, and this will play an important role in the assessment of the power relations between the Crusader regimes and the Islamic communities. I estimate that by the late 14th C. to the 15th C.C.E., the whole Mediterranean coast will be, if not entirely, mostly under Crusader-inspired European entities.
7. What about the Baltic and Northern Crusades?
All of the historical Crusades in the European continent will happen on schedule and, in general, they will mirror the events of OTL, in the first centuries (13th and 14th C.). Later on, we’re bound to see some divergences, and we’ll be seeing in detail how the European Crusaders will interact with the Latin-Levantine ones, and with the
8. Will the Crusaders go to India and further?
They will, once Egypt is secured, and the venues of the Red Sea are open to voyages. The “Franks” will likely venture into the Indian Subcontinent as early as the 13th C.C.E., into Southeast Asia and into the Far East. Due to the historically high demand for spices and other goods that Europeans acquired from eastern Asia, we’ll certainly be seeing an anticipation of the processes of economic complexification and proto-globalization that we saw happen, IOTL, after the late 15th C.C.E.
9. What about the discovery and colonization of the Americas and other continents?
They will most likely happen, but certainly not in the way it did historically; suffice to say that we won’t be seeing Columbus or Vespucci or the likes. It might be delayed some decades or centuries, or even anticipated, in comparison to OTL. The point that must be stressed is that the circumstances that led to the Great Discoveries in our reality can’t be replicated with perfection ITTL, and that with divergences piling up from the late 11th C., we are bound to see a very different Europe, and very different societies and relations.
10. And what about the Protestant Reformation, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, the World Wars, etc?
As a rule, I can say that events that historically happened later than the 15th C. will not happen, or, if they do, they won’t happen like they did OTL. What I know for certain is that, considering the basic premises of the TL, and the idea that divergences become increasingly more complex and more substantial as we advance in time, by then the world by then will have diverged so much that it is very improbable that they will happen, if only in a similar, but not exact, way.
All the dates below are set in the Common Era system. Particularly irrelevant years will go unmentioned.
- 1095 – Council of Clermont. Pope Urban II calls the First Crusade;
- 1098 – Siege of Antioch. POINT OF DIVERGENCE: Emperor Alexios I Komnenos arrives in Antioch with reinforcements and defeats the combined Muslim army led by Radwan of Aleppo, Duqaq of Damascus and Kerbogha of Mosul;
- 1099 – The Crusaders march through Syria and Lebanon into Palestine. Siege, capture and massacre of Jerusalem. Raymond of Toulouse becomes Prince of Jerusalem/Duke of Galilee and Adhemar of Le Puy becomes (Latin) Archbishop of Jerusalem. The Crusaders defeat the Fatimids in Gaza and take Ascalon with the help of a Genoese Fleet;
- 1100 – Pope Paschal II summons the “After-Crusade” (or Crusade of the Faint-Hearted). Armies coming mainly from southern and central France, northern Italy and southern Germany/Austria go to the Outremer.
- 1101 – The Lombards are massacred by the Rûm Seljuks in Anatolia. The newly arrived French and German Crusaders, assisted by a “Byzantine” force, in turn inflict a decisive defeat upon the Seljuks, allowing the Empire to reconquer Cappadocia and Paphlagonia, and to reinforce the suzerainty over the Armenians of Cilicia. Later that year, the new Crusader army helps the Latin-Levantine force of Prince Raymond in expelling another large Egyptian army, led by Vizier al-Malik al-Afdal Shāhanshāh in Gaza and Rafah;
- 1102 – The reinforced Crusader army, having previously secured Jaffa, captures Acre and Tyre;
- 1103 – Radwan of Aleppo becomes the ruler of Homs and Mosul, and the suzerain over Tripoli in Lebanon. Duqaq raids Palestine, but fails to expel the Crusaders. In Jerusalem, Alfonso-Jordan, Raymond’s second son, is born, and Adhemar of Le Puy dies.
- 1104 – Gerard of Amalfi becomes Archbishop of Jerusalem, and some reinforcements arrive from France, with Bertrand, the son of Raymond, arriving in the same time. Duqaq of Damascus dies, succeeded by Tutush II. In Anatolia, the Danishmends defeat the remnant of the Rûm Seljuks and slay Kilij Arslan, reducing them to a rump state in the northern part of the peninsula. The “Byzantines” form an alliance with the Danishmends’ enemies and contain them, retaking Paphlagonia to the empire;
- 1109 – The Sunni Caliph forges an alliance between Radwan of Aleppo, Ilghazi of the Artuqids, Sökmen of the Shah-Armens and the Fatimids, with the intent of invading Jerusalem. The “Syrian Jihad”, as it becomes known, is initially successful, with the Fatimids besieging Jerusalem with the Damascenes, and the Turco-Syrians besieging Tyre after defeating Raymond’s Crusader army in Tebnine. An army of Italo-Normans and “Byzantines” arrive and relieve Tyre, later to defeat the main body of the Muslim army besieging Jerusalem. The Komnenoi fleet destroys the Fatimid navy off the coast of Egypt. The counterattack of the Crusaders expels the Turks from Palestine, but they remain in Lebanon and Syria.
- 1110/1111 – King Sigurd of Norway arrives [Norwegian Crusade]. With this reinforcement, the Crusaders capture Sidon and Beirut and then march into eastern Lebanon, attacking Toghtekin’s newly created Emirate of Baalbek. He is defeated and the Crusaders obtain the surrender of Zahlé and Baalbek. Raymond dies in early 1101. Bohemond becomes Prince of Jerusalem by the consent of the nobles.
- 1113 – Toghtekin is assassinated. His son Buri becomes Emir of Homs, but is soon dethroned and forced to flee to the court of the Great Seljuks. The Turco-Syrian aristocrat Al-Himsi becomes the Emir instead.
- 1115/1116 – Bohemond leads the Crusaders to besiege Damascus, now ruled by Baktash, Tutush II’s uncle. After almost a year of failed attempts of taking it by storm, the Crusaders lift the siege, accepting tribute from Damascus.
- 1120 - Bohemond dies. First Conclave of Jerusalem is held, electing his distant cousin Robert of the Marquisate (Marchisus or of Buonalbergo) to be the third Prince of Jerusalem and Duke of Galilee. The results are disputed by the sole surviving Hauteville nobleman in the Outremer, Humphrey of Cannae, but his rebellion in Tyre ends in failure.
- 1121/1123 - The Latin Principality obtains the vassalage of some Syrian provinces in the upper Orontes valley, and later its noblemen orchestrate expeditions in northwestern Syria, capturing Masyaf, Maarat al-Nu'maan and Apamea, all of which are incorporated into the Bavarian March of Tortosa, but fail to take Shayzar. Prince Robert dies during a raiding incursion.
- 1124 - Another Italo-Norman lord related to the Hautevilles, Richard of Salerno, is elected. A treaty establishes the border between the Crusaders and the "Byzantine" Empire in Laodicea ad Mare.
- 1124/1127 - The Latin Principality annex the main cities in Oultrejordain (Amman, Madaba, Ajloun and Ma'an), consolidating their hold over Palestine.
- 1126 - Baldwin of Boulogne, Count of Edessa, assumes the County of Tiberias, and de facto forfeits Edessa to his cousin Baldwin of Rethel. The Lorrainer House of Boulogne becomes entrenched in Tiberias.
- 1129 - Gregorio Papareschi (OTL Pope Innocent II) becomes Archbishop of Jerusalem
- 1130 - The Normans annex Tripoli, the last significant Islamic holdout in the Levant. William of Sant'Angelo, Count of Balbac, becomes Count of Tripoli. || Signing of the "Michielian Pact", an alliance between the Principality of Jerusalem and the Republics of Venice and Amalfi (Interlude 3).
- 1131 - Basileus John II Komnenos makes a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with his imperial entourage, and reasserts the suzerainty of the Empire over the Crusader State.
- 1134 - Death of Prince Richard of Salerno. His son Roger becomes the Duke of Galilee and Prince of Jerusalem.
- 1137 - the Second Crusade is officially summoned by Pope Anacletus I. Later in the same year, Damascus is captured as the first target of the Crusade, by a combined Outremerine and Sicilian army.
- 1138 - the Crusaders from Flanders and Hainaut arrive in the Orient, led by Theodorich of Flanders. The Crusaders briefly conquer the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, but are expelled. || A massive earthquake destroys Aleppo.
- 1139 - a Great Seljuk army invades Edessa in retaliation for the capture of Damascus, and devastates the region. Later in the same year, a Seljuk army from Mosul attacks Damascus and lays waste to the country as well.
- 1140 - the Crusaders annex Homs and Shayzar. In the same year, King *Phillip II of France arrives in the Orient with a large army, joined by Basileus John II Komnenos. They declare war on the Seljuks and invade Armenia.
- 1141 - Amida is captured by the Crusaders and Byzantines. The Crusade is joined by Hungarian and Serbian noblemen.
- 1142 - Battle of Hasankeyf results in a decisive defeat for the Seljuks and marks the high-point of the Crusader-Byzantine advance into Armenia. || The Kingdom of Georgia, allied to Byzantium, annexes the Armenian metropolis of Ahlat in Lake Van.
- 1143/1144 - the great dukes of Germany arrive in the East and undertake a disastrous invasion of Egypt. End of the Second Crusade. || Suger of St. Denis becomes Archbishop of the Holy Land and Raymond II of Caesarea becomes Prince of Jerusalem and Duke of Galilee.
- 1150 - the Synod of Lyon is convened by Pope Victor IV to solve ecclesiastic and regal disputes in France, but he dies before arriving in the summit. The clergy of France, England and western Germany choose Bernard of Clairvaux as his successor, and he adopts the Papal name Stephen X. The people of Rome elect Antipope Paschal III, but he abdicates shortly thereafter in favor of Pope Stephen.
- 1155 - the V Ecumenical Council of Constantinople takes place, and attempts to solve theological controversies between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches || John II Komnenos dies, and is succeeded by Manuel.
I tried to use all the English versions of both persons and places' names. In other stories I've written, I always tried to use the "native" name by which the person or place would be known in the specific period and culture it is inserted (like, for example, the name "William" in Medieval Normandy was used as "Williame", but in southern France would be "Guilhèm", and in Italy "Guglielmo". ITTL, all of them will be named simply as William, and the same goes for "Toulouse" instead of "Tolosa", for example, and "Egypt" instead of "Misr"). This might sometimes get a bit repetitive, as names such as William, Henry, Conrad, and others were very common in the Middle Ages, but it will be better for reasons of uniformity.
The only single exception to this rule is the reference to the Byzantine Empire, Byzantium and the Byzantine people. The term, as many in this board are keen to point out, is an anachronism created in the 16th Century, and the Byzantines always referred to themselves as "Romans". Nevertheless, to avoid confusion with anything related to the ancient Roman civilization or the Roman Catholic Church, I prefered to use the terms "Rhomania" to designate the Byzantine Empire, and "Rhomaioi" or "Rhomaion".
Also, pardon the fact that I sometimes use anachronistic terms such as "knight" (the correct in the 11th Century would be Miles), or squadron and division, and, regarding place-names, Lebanon and Iran. It is purely out of convenience to facilitate reading.
The only single exception to this rule is the reference to the Byzantine Empire, Byzantium and the Byzantine people. The term, as many in this board are keen to point out, is an anachronism created in the 16th Century, and the Byzantines always referred to themselves as "Romans". Nevertheless, to avoid confusion with anything related to the ancient Roman civilization or the Roman Catholic Church, I prefered to use the terms "Rhomania" to designate the Byzantine Empire, and "Rhomaioi" or "Rhomaion".
Also, pardon the fact that I sometimes use anachronistic terms such as "knight" (the correct in the 11th Century would be Miles), or squadron and division, and, regarding place-names, Lebanon and Iran. It is purely out of convenience to facilitate reading.
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