1313 may as well be a non-year. So here's foreshadowing:
(From Manuel Planoudes' Ho Autokrator, 1369)
"...If I were able to go back and change anything in my life, I would unwrite the aforementioned note in 1313...."
ALEXIOS TARKHANEIOTES: THE OTHER ONE
The Alexios Tarkhaneiotes I refer to is not the emperor, but instead his first cousin. Alexios Tarkhaneiotes was born to Andronikos Tarkhaneiotes and Helene Angelos in Larissa in 1283. He was fourth in line to the Thessalian throne, but showed no interest in power, instead spending his time reading and developed an early fascination with languages, learning French, Latin and Aromanian before the age of 15, when he moved to Konstantinopolis and accompanied the emperor on the Paphlagonian Campaign.
He commanded a ship during the Siege of Sinope and carried Parwana back to the capital after its fall and was permanently promoted to captain. He lost his left eye three years later during the Civil Wars of 1301, in which he supported Kourkouas and by merit of being the only captain who didn't immediately flee in the aftermath of the Coup of 10 June was promoted to admiral and sent with five ships to track down Planoudes. He was anchored off of Antikythera when news of Konstantinos XII's coup and counter-purge reached him. His squadron sailed to Kriti and joined Alexios VIII's armada. When Nikephoros overthrew Alexios VIII he exiled him and told him never to return.
Alexios winds up in Florence with Planoudes and Dante, joining the clergy in 1303 and taking the clerical name Bonifacius. By 1307 he had worked his way up to priest and convinced Clement V to appoint him Bishop of Vinland. He traveled north to Bjørgvin and from there to Reykjavik, Herjolfsnes and Vinland proper. He spent a year as Bishop before appointing a local deacon as his replacement in 1309 and leading a group of 20 Vinlanders on a self-proclaimed Crusade against the Mississippians, whom he had only vaguely heard of through Algonquin traders. They found the Mississippians far stronger than they expected and were taken to Cahokia for human sacrifice. Alexios-Bonifacius escapes with a bagful of copper ritual plates and is chased back to Vinland. He then launches a second expedition that sails down the coast to Florida and then across to the Antilles. He lands in the Yucatan, steals a few bags of tomato and cacao seeds before most of his group are killed and he and two men flee back to Vinland. He is almost lynched upon his return but escapes and flags down a Basque fisherman and returns to Europe in 1312. He then resigns from the priesthood and is rebaptized into the Orthodox Church in Serbia.
Stefan Milutin grants him a small tract of land in Kosovo so he can use him to support an invasion of the Empire. In 1316 he petitions Alexios VI to rejoin Imperial service. The emperor agrees and Alexios joins the Papioi.
At this point he could speak (in order of learning) Greek, Latin, French, Aromanian, Hebrew, Italian, Bulgarian, Turkish, Arabic, Romani, Norwegian, Vinland Norse, Algonquian, Mississippian, Nahuatl, Basque, Serbian, Albanian and Bosnian. The Papioi recognized the potential of such a polyglot, and as such was forcibly circumcised and sent on a mission to infiltrate the major Islamic schools of the Middle East. He was the first European to enter Mecca in 1321 and spent the next eight years crisscrossing the Middle East taking notes on the prevailing theologies of the area. In 1330 he was assigned to explore the Coast of Africa (the last reliable accounts were from the 3rd Century) and spent the next two years sailing, riding and hiking as far south as Great Zimbabwe. From there it was to India in 1332 and China in 1336. He returned to the Empire in 1338 and went into retirement in Konstantinopolis.
