Oman could definitely get in on the action a few centuries early; you could also have greater Islamization in Eastern Africa without an outside interlocutor -- OTL Portuguese sources mention Muslim advisors and traders as far south as Great Zimbabwe/Monomotapa. Have Great Zimbabwe islamize and not keep collapsing every time a gold vein runs out, and they could in turn spread Islam south to the Nguni peoples and/or northeast into the Congo with enough time.

Other areas of Muslim expansion could include India as in OTL, SE Asia (Champa does better, eventually converts a la OTL, and either crush the Khmer or induce them to convert to Islam rather than Theravada Buddhism at the end of the Angkor civilizational complex), as well as in China (let's say the Yuan convert and make Hui and new Han converts able to rise up in their ethnic hierarchy, which in turn incentivizes conversion along with the influx of Persians and Turks that are already Muslims). You could also easily have a Muslim Philippines.

As for the Mongols -- Ain Jalut expy at Har Megiddo? Between them and the Byzantines, they have the terrain and heavy cavalry to push back a Mongol incursion a la the OTL Mamluks. Also would like to see a Mongol invasion of India, which could actually hurt Indian Islam and either reinvigorate Buddhism or see a new Mongol-descended kshatriya class reinvigorate Hindu polities in the region (at least until later Islamic conquerors decide to come fuck up the subcontinent.) India also offers a lot of possibilities with the Chola, who had their own maritime empire in SE Asia and could, at least theoretically, fuck around in Madagascar or Eastern Africa if they decided they wanted to stop Muslim merchants from muscling in on their turf. IOTL, the Muslims only overcame the Tamils as a major Indonesian mercantile presence with the coming of Zheng He (and, of course, centuries of slowly growing their communities) -- and Zheng He is easily butterflied.
 
Even if the Ilkhanate doesn't convert to the Church of the East (well, for more than a couple of generations) it would be interesting if we could find a way to make this Church stronger in a few regions. Although it survives to this very day, its a shadow of its former self, and seeing it more prominent (even if not anywhere near the majority) would be super interesting and cool.
 

jocay

Banned
Ah yes, a Mongol/Mughal(?) empire based out of Delhi would be something. Perhaps the alt-Chagatai Khanate is located a bit further south, based out of Herat or Kabul, and expands southeast towards India?
 
Ah yes, a Mongol/Mughal(?) empire based out of Delhi would be something. Perhaps the alt-Chagatai Khanate is located a bit further south, based out of Herat or Kabul, and expands southeast towards India?

Hey, there’s an idea—Afghanistan as the center of a Mongol state. That makes it much more prosperous and stable than IOTL, and in the long run could have serious effects across Central Asia.
 

jocay

Banned
Hey, there’s an idea—Afghanistan as the center of a Mongol state. That makes it much more prosperous and stable than IOTL, and in the long run could have serious effects across Central Asia.

IOTL a large contingent of Mongols did end up settling in Afghanistan, specifically Herat, and made up a large chunk of the armies of conquerors such as Timur and Babur; there was also a dialect of Mongolian (Moghol) that until recently was spoken. The Hazara are also hypothesized to be their descendants though they had adopted a variety of Persian.
 
Very interesting! Never heard about this particular tactical formation (at least not with this specific name). Do you happen to have any sources or texts explaining it in greater detail? It would be good to have a better picture of it.

It was also called a "square marching formation" or "fighting march".

This paper describes it pretty well. The first time it is mentioned seems to be right before Ascalon 1099.

I made a picture of how it should look (minus the cavalry in the open centre, and ignore the torsion artillery units).

TzaUEA7.png
 
Well, while I admit that I liked the Aragon + Aquitaine idea (indeed, the geographic problem wouldn't be really too difficult to overcome; we've had a Burgundian monarch in Portugal and a Champaignois one in Navarra, so an Aquitainian in Aragon wouldn't be too far-fetched), I agree that it wouldn't change so much for Aquitaine, whose Kings would still be vassals to the King of France.

This, however, brings HUGE changes for Catalonia itself. Now, I have to ask, how viable is to have Barcelona as a noble republic, similar to Florence, in the case the House of Barcelona never joins with Aragon? Yay or nay?
The Portuguese House of Burgundy was a scion of the Capetian house of Burgundy, but they never ruled over Burgundy proper. The Champenois dynasty of Navarre is a better example though.
Still, besides the point Barcelona has a better offer to make to Aragon than the Aquitanian do as I explained, to take the Champenois example, the geographical break introduces another break in the political continuum.
The Angevin empire was coherent as it was made up of territories bordering each other in a continuous succession all the way from Normandy to the Pyrenees and were connected to England by way of sea. Meanwhile, Aragon and Barcelona were bordering each other. This geographical continuum allowed a political one, but in the case of Champenois counts ruling Navarre, the distance was such that the Count-King could only really focus on one of them at a time.
It's a bit like Edessa in your TL when Count Baldwin settles in Tiberias and let the county to its own (well, his nephew's) device.

It's not that I consider the idea of an Aquitanian-Aragon match too far-fetched, it's just that considering the pros and cons and the potential implications, I don't find it too desirable.
The most important drawback for the Aquitaine dukes is that Aragon is anchored in a totally different geopolitical area, which is south of the Pyrenees, the Iberian peninsula. So, if they chose the Aragonese crown, they can't devote all their attention to Aquitaine.


That said, if Barcelona doesn't unite with Aragon, it may sooner or later fall back into the French sphere of influence.
Since the days of Charlemagne, Barcelona was de jure part of France but the counts never formally swear the hommage liege to the French King ever since the Capetians sat on the throne, even though they only aknowledged the last Carolingian kings pro forma. The King of France only formally renounced any claim of sovereignty over the county in the Corbeil treaty of 1258, which concluded the decades long dispute between both over their respective sphere of influence in the South (in the context of the Albigensian crusades).
Without Aragonese backing, it remains to be seen whether or not Barcelona had the means to expand as much as it did IOTL. The Balearic Islands may still be within reach with a good naval support so Barcelona could claim them on its own, but I don't know if Catalan manpower alone would be enough for Valencia (it would likely fall under either Castillan or Aragonese dominion).
If the OTL marriage with Guilhem VIII's daughter still happens ITTL, then the Counts would extend their dominion over Montpellier. That's about the OTL Kingdom of Majora, but without Aragon and Valencia to anchor it into the Iberian sphere. The possession of Cerdagne, Roussillon, Montpellier and perhaps Provence (if it doesn't befall to a cadet branch) combined with lack of land expansion south of the Ebro river, would probably tie Barcelona to southern France, both politically and also commercially. So, if the times come of a royal intervention, Barcelona can't hide behind the Aragonese crown to formally become independent.

Of note, the Counts of Barcelona and Toulouse had had a dispute over the inheritance of Provence, though this was eventually solved by a partition; still, the King of Aragon, from that same House of Barcelona, later became a staunch supporter of Toulouse against the French king during the Albigensian crusade.
 
then why should the Mongols take Jerusalem or Constantinople, when in OTL they did not do so?
Well, you just get to look at the Byzantine Empire and the Kingdom of Jerusalem at the time of Mongols' arrival... or rather what was left of them.
Constantinople had been sacked, plundered and effectively ruined by the Latins in 1204, Bulgars had broken off, Greece had been "balkanized" and Nicea was biding its time in western Anatolia, stuck between the Seljuqs of Rum and the Latins in the Aegean.
Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Jerusalem was reduced to a coastal strip and had barely held onto Jerusalem after its recovery by Frederick II in 1228, only to lose it to the Khwarezmians in 1244.
Then tell me what wealth or threat these targets could have been for the Mongols to have considered bothering about them.


When on their own, the Mongols' logistics was not so reliant on a chain of supply than they were on communication lines.
Supplies were essentially taken off the land they campaigned on or extorted from locals. Each Mongols typically travelled with several horses so they had always fresh horses and also accessible meat and milk at reach (horses were also used as cattle). However, the drawback is the availability of resources to gaze upon. The Pontic steppes are a good ground for thousands if not tens of thousands of horses, the Levant and Vietnam are less so (though in the latter case the climate played a key role).
Invading Hungary and Poland wasn't so much of an obstacle. After the campaign season, the Mongols would just withdraw to the steppes in Ukraine, only to return the next season, before eventually turning the Hungarian plains into a new forward base of operations for further campaigning, just like the Huns and the Magyars did in their time.

The density of fortified towns, the climate made a conquest difficult, but Mongols never shied away from such difficulties.
Multiple sieges were a painful effort, but fortifications were irrelevant if there was no field army to relieve the siege. Often, these field armies ended up routed if not destroyed. There, even though the European armies may have fielded an efficient heavy cavalry, none of the European armies of the time had a mobility to rival that of the Mongols whose speed at maneuvering was paramount to their success, to surprise unexpecting and often arrogant commanders. Hungarian, Czech and Polish rulers were no exception.
Then the besieged town was captured, brutally sacked, and the towns after, without any hope of being able to hold indefinitely on their own and without quick relief from their lord whose army has just been decisively vanquished, surrender without a fight. Meanwhile, local rulers, either out of opportunism or out of survival instinct, side with them and supply them with troops.
So, to adapt Mongols' tactics took some time and usually, this happened only after a first contact few survived as independent and coherent entities as the Hungarians, the Poles and the Mamluks did.

Europe's survival as that of the Mamluks had more to do with the context that was favorable to them. In Europe's case, the Mongols lost interest as they first became embroiled into succession conflicts before their focus switched to other areas, be it China or the Levant. It would then be another four decades before a serious attempt was made (invasion of 1285/1286). For the Mamluks, Ain Jalut was more of a setback for the Mongols than a decisive defeat. The death of Mongke and the inter Mongol conflicts that followed, notably between the Ilkhanate and the Golden Horde, and it would be two decades before another serious attempt was made (invasion of 1281).
Song China, unlike Vietnam, was relatively close to Mongol bases in northern China, and open on a wider front, that is the whole of the Yangtze river valley. Tonkin and Annam's configuration is that of a narrow trip of coastal lands caught between the sea and the mountains which didn't left much choice as to which road use to invade, unlike in southern China. Plus, the interest of conquering Vietnam was way less important than had been that for the Song dynasty, which was both a wealthy and prosperous target and a threat to Mongols' holding of northern China.

Plus, if the Mongol cavalry was an essential component of their invasions, they did also rely on auxiliaries and tributaries to make for infantry and specialists. During the siege of Baghdad, Hulagu called about a thousands Chinese siege and artillery engineers, Armenian, Georgian, Antiochan, Persian and Turkish auxiliaries.
As it goes with their loyalties, these went as long as Mongol reputation of invicibility and their achievements follow one another until Ain Jalut: destruction of the Khwarezmian Empire, routed the Russian princes, rolled over Poland and Hungary, brought the Rum Seljuqs on their knees...
Psychological warfare here is not to be overlooked, as it was one of the strengths displayed by the Mongols: make a brutal example of the first city to resist and the others fall in line no matter how well fortified they were, which worked pretty well in Persia and Syria.


All in all, if Mongols were ever to consider targeting the Byzantines and the Latins for expansion, then they won't be intimidated by the difficulties.
And as they showed with the Songs, they can be very obstinate. And in way of manpower and resources, once their rear secured and plenty of auxiliaries at hand, they don't have any problem at waging a long war (between their initial invasion of Khwarezm and the sack of Baghdad, we are speaking of nearly forty years of campaigns succeediing one another).
The ultimate obstacle to the Mongols are the Mongols themselves and their infighting, the breakup of their empire into several khanates which separately are unable to project the force necessary for conquests as extensive as their early feats.

So, to get back to Jerusalem and the Byzantines, they are in no way safe from Mongol invasion because of their strength and wealth. These are the very traits that make them targets.


If I was to imagine a Mongol invasion of the Byzantine empire, there I would go:
Mongols don't arrive unaware of the ground they march on, the lords and loyalties, the military strengths and weaknesses. So, if they dare to target Constantinople, they will take the barrier of the straits out with a simple solution, they'll just go around the whole Black Sea.
Actually, that would be probably a two pronged invasion, one through Armenia into Anatolia, and the other from southern Ukraine into the Balkans. They wouldn't probably make a rush at the city first but clear the path in Anatolia and around the Danube up to Thrace, burning, pillaging, battling occasional Byzantine armies come to oppose.
A two pronged invasion will force the Rhomaion to divide their forces between both frontiers, which is already weakening them.
Then, I guess the Mongols would also have a third invasion in the meantime into Hungary, more to neutralize any possibility of relief by the Hungarians than to conquer them (in contrast to OTL).
Once that first year, the territories are properly devastated, the population is terrorized (psychological warfare again), the military opposition is either severly weakened or almost blasted away by this first year, then they go for Constantinople itself and blockade it from land, from both sides of the straits. There is still the Byzantine navy to take into account, but that won't prevent them to make a run for the walls. Alternatively, or concurrently, they can make a go for Greece.
I'm not saying whether or not they can work it out. They can fail to break Constantinople walls, see a crusading army called upon by the Pope and formed by the HRE, France and England to rush to Hungary and Constantinople's relief ...
In Syria and Palestine, they could likewise be satisfied with routing the Jerusalemite field army and secure Damascus and the Oronte valley, or less, delaying further moves to a later time once the Rhomaion would have been dealt with.
Or Constantinople could simply accept to give a tribute and abandon Jerusalem.
Many options, possibilities, outcomes.


EDIT: By the way, when the Mongols came, Anatolia was anything but a highway. The Rum Seljuqs were on the rise and had near hegemony. Kose Dag just broke their domination of the region.
And even though the Abbasid Caliph experienced a resurgence amidst the Great Seljuq collapse, they were in no way going anywhere to become a powerful entity as Ayyubids or the Seljuqs themselves.
 
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Not really. That's just having the Aragonese kings in the same position as the English kings.
Plus, Aragon had more interests in an union with Barcelona than with Aquitaine, both on geographical (Navarre stood in the path) and commercial terms (access to the Mediterranean sea and its trading networks).

Those both problems (geographical and commercial) can be solved very easily:

  1. IOTL Alfonso VII of Castile-Leon and Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona (consort king of Aragon) signed two treaties (the Treaty of Carrion in 1140 and the Treaty of Tudilen in 1151) to divide the Kingdom of Navarre between themselves (ending its independence), but for various reasons the partition plan never carried out. If we get a personal union between Aquitaine and Aragon and an equivalent treaty that is successfully implemented is signed, the land connection between both territories would be much more direct (because Navarre wouldn't exist and, consequently, wouldn't stood in the path).
  2. Although Aragon and Barcelona don't form a union, the aragonese expansion to the Mediterranean sea is very likely to occur anyway, achieving a beachhead in the region of the Ebro river delta (near the city of Tortosa) and impeding the expansion towards the south of the County of Barcelona. IOTL the king Alfonso I of Aragon (Petronilla's uncle) tried to get an exit to the Mediterranean conquering one by one the Muslim fortifications and castles that defended the corridor of fortified villages that lead to the mouth of the Ebro river, but he died trying to besiege one of these towns (the town of Fraga) in 1134.
 
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This still poses a problem. As I said, you can't have the ruler devoting attention south of the Pyrenees without neglecting what's north.
Aquitaine has interests to look after in the Loire valley, in Auvergne, in Toulouse, while Aragonese interests are towards Navarre, the Ebro, Barcelona and Valencia. The House of Poitiers couldn't possibly deal with the King of France if it's stuck south of the Pyrenees.
EDIT: At least, the Aragon-Barcelona union was coherent regarding the centers of interests. Aquitaine can't really outbid the counts of Barcelona on that to get the hand of Petronilla.
Navarre conquest and partition was a possibility, Barcelona meanwhile was a certainty.
 
A thought regarding France: Where is the heir to the throne? If the king snuffs it during the crusade, as seems likely, might his heir also be in danger? If so, who is next in line? I am assuming that the current king has offspring already, or is his successor-to-be still OTL's Louis VII? Are any of the king's brothers also on the crusade?

As it is said the king is young, if he leaves only an infant on the throne, would his brothers not try and contest that?

Oman could definitely get in on the action a few centuries early; you could also have greater Islamization in Eastern Africa without an outside interlocutor -- OTL Portuguese sources mention Muslim advisors and traders as far south as Great Zimbabwe/Monomotapa. Have Great Zimbabwe islamize and not keep collapsing every time a gold vein runs out, and they could in turn spread Islam south to the Nguni peoples and/or northeast into the Congo with enough time.

Other areas of Muslim expansion could include India as in OTL, SE Asia (Champa does better, eventually converts a la OTL, and either crush the Khmer or induce them to convert to Islam rather than Theravada Buddhism at the end of the Angkor civilizational complex), as well as in China (let's say the Yuan convert and make Hui and new Han converts able to rise up in their ethnic hierarchy, which in turn incentivizes conversion along with the influx of Persians and Turks that are already Muslims). You could also easily have a Muslim Philippines.

Eh, to me this really smacks of a 'pendulum effect' thing (or whatever it's called). To me, the idea that more successful crusades would mean Islam succeeding where it did not makes no sense. Now, I can definitely see a more of a maritime focus for the islamic powers, particularly if they need to battle Crusader forces in the red sea to safeguard their holiest places and keep the pilgrimage routes open. However, while them dominating more of the east coast of Africa as a result makes sense, them being more successful (or even as successful as OTL) in East Asia makes no sense whatsoever - Fanatical soldiers would if they have that option rather war in the holy land, surely? And without great military successes in the Indian subcontinent, the mercantile power and settlers which led to Malaysia and Indonesia becoming islamic would as far as I can tell not even exist.
 
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Oman could definitely get in on the action a few centuries early; you could also have greater Islamization in Eastern Africa without an outside interlocutor -- OTL Portuguese sources mention Muslim advisors and traders as far south as Great Zimbabwe/Monomotapa. Have Great Zimbabwe islamize and not keep collapsing every time a gold vein runs out, and they could in turn spread Islam south to the Nguni peoples and/or northeast into the Congo with enough time.

Other areas of Muslim expansion could include India as in OTL, SE Asia (Champa does better, eventually converts a la OTL, and either crush the Khmer or induce them to convert to Islam rather than Theravada Buddhism at the end of the Angkor civilizational complex), as well as in China (let's say the Yuan convert and make Hui and new Han converts able to rise up in their ethnic hierarchy, which in turn incentivizes conversion along with the influx of Persians and Turks that are already Muslims). You could also easily have a Muslim Philippines.

As for the Mongols -- Ain Jalut expy at Har Megiddo? Between them and the Byzantines, they have the terrain and heavy cavalry to push back a Mongol incursion a la the OTL Mamluks. Also would like to see a Mongol invasion of India, which could actually hurt Indian Islam and either reinvigorate Buddhism or see a new Mongol-descended kshatriya class reinvigorate Hindu polities in the region (at least until later Islamic conquerors decide to come fuck up the subcontinent.) India also offers a lot of possibilities with the Chola, who had their own maritime empire in SE Asia and could, at least theoretically, fuck around in Madagascar or Eastern Africa if they decided they wanted to stop Muslim merchants from muscling in on their turf. IOTL, the Muslims only overcame the Tamils as a major Indonesian mercantile presence with the coming of Zheng He (and, of course, centuries of slowly growing their communities) -- and Zheng He is easily butterflied.

A thought regarding France: Where is the heir to the throne? If the king snuffs it during the crusade, as seems likely, might his heir also be in danger? If so, who is next in line? I am assuming that the current king has offspring already, or is his successor-to-be still OTL's Louis VII? Are any of the king's brothers also on the crusade?

As it is said the king is young, if he leaves only an infant on the throne, would his brothers not try and contest that?



Eh, to me this really smacks of a 'pendulum effect' thing (or whatever it's called). To me, the idea that more successful crusades would mean Islam succeeding where it did not makes no sense. Now, I can definitely see a more of a maritime focus for the islamic powers, particularly if they need to battle Crusader forces in the red sea to safeguard their holiest places and keep the pilgrimage routes open. However, while them dominating more of the east coast of Africa as a result makes sense, them being more successful (or even as successful as OTL) in East Asia makes no sense whatsoever - Fanatical soldiers would if they have that option rather war in the holy land, surely? And without great military successes in the Indian subcontinent, the mercantile power and settlers which led to Malaysia and Indonesia becoming islamic would as far as I can tell not even exist.
Nah first son rule apply and by this time we are starting to reach the area where you can’t even take the throne. Sadly because it be way more fun, it not like crusader kings and in such a developed state like France you are for more likely to see a regency by one brother or a shared regency which generally cause more but not always cause more chaos.

I concur with @Icedaemon it doesn’t make sense for the butterflies to extend that far, sure a more powerful Oman fleet to deal with crusader( it not a guarante they would fight at all most likely for a while Oman would dominate in the Red Sea and wouldn’t grow the fleet until the crusaders start interfering in there sphere of influence and until they have a large enough fleet for that. When that happen I except with a more dominate navy in the Red Sea... what changes? Islam has always dominate the seas in east Africa and a stronger navy wouldn’t cause any inland shift and all the way on the perhrify that be a massive change in Oman to have influence there that would require pods outside of the crusaders if we want a more Islamic east we need a pod outside of the crusader but a more powerful Oman is well within the cards a within crusaders building a navy in the Red Sea.
Edit: meant Yemen
 
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A thought regarding France: Where is the heir to the throne? If the king snuffs it during the crusade, as seems likely, might his heir also be in danger? If so, who is next in line? I am assuming that the current king has offspring already, or is his successor-to-be still OTL's Louis VII? Are any of the king's brothers also on the crusade?

As it is said the king is young, if he leaves only an infant on the throne, would his brothers not try and contest that?
Unlike elsewhere in Europe, the Capetians developped early on a strong legalist tradition, which they incidentally used to undercut their feudal vassals.
That goes along with relatively uncontested successions by French nobility (well, Edward III was first and foremost King of England and Charles the Bad was king of Navarre, and that was the Hundred Years War).
Of the minorities and regencies that happened, the near family stayed loyal to the infant king, be it Louis IX, Charles VIII, Louis XIII or Louis XV. Actually, there were quite minorities to speak of in Capetian history. That same old dynastic luck if you ask me.
The heir, however young he may be, was never contested, the extreme case was that of John I, the posthumous son of Louis X, who practically became king in utero (even though he lived 5 days, his uncle never contested his right to the throne, otherwise nobody would have waited how the birth went on). Even though John I only lived 5 days, I would say the example is relevant as it fits the pattern of legalism followed by Capetians.

In any event, King Phillip would have left the regency in the hands of his mother, Dowager Queen Adelaide, since his brothers are quite young (Louis is 19), and his has no uncles left.
 
Unlike elsewhere in Europe, the Capetians developped early on a strong legalist tradition, which they incidentally used to undercut their feudal vassals.
That goes along with relatively uncontested successions by French nobility (well, Edward III was first and foremost King of England and Charles the Bad was king of Navarre, and that was the Hundred Years War).
Of the minorities and regencies that happened, the near family stayed loyal to the infant king, be it Louis IX, Charles VIII, Louis XIII or Louis XV. Actually, there were quite minorities to speak of in Capetian history. That same old dynastic luck if you ask me.
The heir, however young he may be, was never contested, the extreme case was that of John I, the posthumous son of Louis X, who practically became king in utero (even though he lived 5 days, his uncle never contested his right to the throne, otherwise nobody would have waited how the birth went on). Even though John I only lived 5 days, I would say the example is relevant as it fits the pattern of legalism followed by Capetians.

In any event, King Phillip would have left the regency in the hands of his mother, Dowager Queen Adelaide, since his brothers are quite young (Louis is 19), and his has no uncles left.
In France the mother of the King if alive has the precedence as regent over other members of the family.
 
52. A Crusade for Armenia (1140/1141)
N. of. A.: This chapter is a bit longer than the previous ones. Hope it is an enjoyable read, though. I tried to divide it without breaking the flow of the narrative. Some two or so more installments and we finish the part about the Second Crusade.


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As we have seen in previous passages of this Chronicle, the years of 1139 and 1141 were particularly harsh to the populations of the Near East, struck as it was by the wrath of the Four Horsemen.

Famine came to some of them after long spells of drought and cold, that made the pastures barren and the crops lame, and he allied with his brother, Pestilence, always invited to visit both the camps of the soldiers and the camps of the refugees.

War came to most of them, ever delighted by the fact that human societies would inflict on each other so much suffering out of disputes concerning the will and whims of God.

And Death… she came to all of them, being the ultimate empress of mankind, at the same time guarantor and deliverer of human misery.



Sem título.jpg


Photography focusing in the ancient walls of Amida, called Diyarbakir by the Turks. This ancient fortress, at the time of the Second Crusade, belonged to the Turkish Artuqid dynasty before being captured by the Christians



The Rhōmaîon army, led personally by Basileus John II Komnenos, left Antioch in the middle of spring, and followed the a northeastern-oriented ancient road that bordered the Amanus mountains. They were accompanied by some Frankish dignitaries: Count Theodorich of Flanders; Duke Conan III of Britanny [Breton: Konan Kerne], who had no desire of following the main French army, due to a rivalry with Fulk, Count of Anjou; and Theobald of Champagne, who had enjoyed the stay in Antioch and preferred to join the Greeks; among others.

The other part of the Christian coalition, led by King *Phillip II of France, together with his various vassals and the Outremerine grandees, went from Aleppo, and followed the more direct north-oriented road.

Voyages that could be made in a day and half by a few travelers took three or four times more, because of the logistical complications that such a massive human agglomeration created. It was not only about feeding soldiers and knights. There were many non-combatants, and, among these, women, children and elders with particular necessities. There were draught animals, from donkeys to camels, cattle to be herded, war horses, dogs and so forth, as well as various wagons and carriages. An army could not be sustained solely by faith, and neither only by game from hunt or by whatever resources local communities could spare; those were usually very few. No, one needed a reliable and constant influx of goods from predefined centers of collection and distribution. Aleppo would have been a very convenient point to make it so, but now that it was derelict due to the earthquake, the Christian coalition depended on the influx of resources from Asia Minor and from Latin Syria. Those coming from Anatolia were concentrated into Iconium, and were transported to Adana, and then to Alexandretta or Antioch, while those brought from Lebanon and Syria were directed to Laodicea and Maare [Arabic: Maʿarrat al-Nuʿmān], and from there they would be sent to Samosata. Aliments had their own inherent difficulties; vegetables, fruits, meat and dairy often spoiled without proper preservation; cereals were needed in vast amounts, but were easier to transport than bread and beer. Clothing, accessories and personal utensils never came in enough quantity to be available to everyone. Collective commodities such as various types of wood for construction, iron and other metals, leather, linen and paper, were, conversely, more difficult to transport in large quantities, and had often to be brought by ship from the Mediterranean, by the Greeks or the Italians. For the first time in centuries, the fluvial transport was revived as a primary means of allocation and distribution of resources, and it tells us much the fact that one contemporary Frankish chronicler greatly praises the Orontes river due to the role that it played in conveying goods from the Levant.

The Basileus only permitted the coalition to march into Edessan territory once he ensured that the logistical network had been consolidated. Even so, the expedition was to face various issues as they ventured deep into Armenia, far from their hubs of resources. This, in turn, would provoke various issues, from deprivation to desertions, and severely delay their advances.

The Christian armies reunited in Hantab [Arabic: Aintab/Modern Turkish: Gaziantepe], a city larger and more prosperous than Turbessel - which despite being the former capital of the fief, was merely a castle - and from there quickly went to Samosata, going along the Euphrates course. The land in the region was (to the Franks) surprisingly fertile, especially because in spring, between the floods of winter and the droughts of summer, the plains and pastures were verdant and plentiful. However, the chaos of war provoked substantial migrations and strained local communities, whose resources rarely could be spared.

In Samosata, the Basileus exacted from the Count of Edessa an oath of allegiance, once again symbolically reaffirming his suzerainty over the Crusader principalities, while, on the other hand, Phillip eagerly accepted the release of some minor French barons of their vassalage; they would relinquish their estates in Europe to either the Crown or to the Church, in exchange for the promise of wealth and adventure as lords in this godforsaken frontier, and now joined the service of Edessa. The most notable example was the case of the the priest-knight Felix of Valois, an illegitimate son of Count Ralph of Amiens, who had recently joined the Templarians and would later found a castle in Gargar.


*****​


Historiography commonly divides the Armenian campaign of the Second Crusade in two distinct phases, in the years of 1140 and 1141.

The first phase consisted in the (re)conquest of the occidental provinces of “royal” Armenia, which would be incorporated into Rhōmania. Concerning military operations, it was wholly uneventful, because they faced little resistance, be it from the locals, be it from external belligerents.

The most notable case was the one of Melitene [Turkish: Malatya], a populous and rich metropolis that had changed between various Christian and Islamic rulers in the last few decades. Most recently, it had been brought into the dominion of the Danishmends, and under them she saw a brief period of prosperity; once this parvenu Turkmen dynasty fell, however, it devolved into a provincial government under an Armenian prince who, abhorrent of the Imperial regime, recognized Edessan suzerainty. Now, however, after the Seljuq invasion of Edessa, Melitene was de facto independent. It should have easily surrendered to the Basileus when his large coalition arrived, but, to everyone’s surprise, its gates were closed and entry was denied. The ruling prince of Melitene had been victim of a coup only a few months previously, and the new ruler was a charismatic tyrant named Mikail Ghazaryan, a former parochial bishop who now styled himself “Apostle and Patriarch”. His ferocious preaching convinced the denizens of Melitene that the Apocalypse was imminent, and that they ought to live as saints or die as martyrs; with this, he imposed a regime of terror, and actively persecuted both the Muslims and the Chalcedonian Christians, regarded as impure. Now, he claimed that the Basileus was the Antichrist, and ordered the city to take arms against him.

The siege of Melitene was a short and unnecessary affair, but it had to be prosecuted. Seeing that diplomacy could not win capitulation, the allies were forced to act by force, and took the city by storm, destroying the ramparts and later they managed to oust Ghazaryan’s sicarians and impose some measure of order in the metropolis.

In the next few months, the Emperor diplomatically annexed Harpout [Modern Turkish: Elazığ] and reaffirmed suzerainty over Kelezene [Modern Turkish: Erzincan], still under the rule of the Turkic client dynasty of the Mengujekids.

Afterwards, the Crusader army was disbanded to the Edessan headquarters in the midst of summer. In the next following months the Basileus worked vividly to impose a semblance of actual military presence in the region, as well as to reignite the bureaucratic and administrative provincial apparatuses. By securing Melitene, the route of goods from Anatolia could follow a direct path into Armenia, and thus the Crusader army would become less dependent on Syria and the Outremer, but there were urgent matters to attend to: the appointment of mayors and fiscal agents in the local provinces, the reconstruction of derelict forts, relay stations and roads, and so forth.

The consecutive months of idleness, however, sparked various conflicts among the Franks, especially after the Rhōmaîon armies too disbanded, going to Germanicia and Melitene, led by Andronikos Komnenos and Nikephoros Bryennios, respectively. Shortly thereafter, the Basileus himself returned to Constantinople with his trusted marshal, John Axouch.

Then, until the spring of 1141, when the military operations were finally resumed, we see an accumulation of various problems in the camps of the Latins, in the form of various disputes between the distinct cultural groups of armed pilgrims, pitting French against Flemish and Norman, Aquitanian against Provençal, Bavarian against Lombard, and so forth. These troubles were aggravated by common complications of campaigning: deprivation caused by shortage of resources and the difficulty of imposing order in a composition of diverging hierarchies, be them baronial, comital, ecclesiastical or burghese.

On the other hand, non-Catholic minorities, Syrians, Palestinians, Turcopoles and Armenians, were usually ostracized and lacked any say in relevant matters, including the distribution of the goods and spoils of war, and this inspired frequent desertions and, sometimes, outright mutinies. In the span of a few months, the army suffered a substantial reduction in size, without even a single battle being fought.


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With a complete disregard for superior orders, and ignoring the exhortation of the Rhōmaîoi to not advance any further into Armenia, some of the French lords, most notably Fulk of Anjou and Odo II of Burgundy, assembled their divisions in the autumn of 1140 and marched against “Siveral” [Modern Turkish: Siverek], located on the other side of the Euphrates, a city that nominally belonged to the Turkish Artuqids of Amida [Turkish: Diyarbakir], but was actually ruled by a Kurdish Sheik. The French, even though they lacked knowledge about the terrain, convinced the Kurds to do battle not far from Siveral and easily vanquished their small party. This, in turn, convinced its local ruler to surrender after being extorted into paying a substantial tribute of gold.

The easy triumph in turn inspired some other French magnates to join their independent expedition, such as Archibald VII of Bourbon [French: Archambaud de Bourbon], Odo II of Déols and Salon of Sens. This time, they went south to Constantia [Modern Turkish: Viranşehir], in the region that the ancient Romans used to call “Osrhoene”. This one too was held by the Artuqids and, this time, the Turks were prepared, having called reinforcements among the Kurds. Once again, the more numerous and seemingly more determined Franks came victorious in the battlefield, albeit they failed to actually wipe out the enemy force, as their individual bands dispersed through the mountains and valleys after being routed.

After the Frankish Dukes besieged Constantia, they were soon joined by the royal army of King *Phillip II, who, in spite of lacking real interest in this expedition, wanted to take part in the division of spoils. He could not forbid his vassals from waging this own petty war; they had, after all, a ducal prerogative to command their own armies and, after the expiration of the usual period of forty days of campaign to which they were obliged to the liege, they were free to depart or to devise their own agenda. In a few days, Constantia fell and was mercilessly plundered.

Nonetheless, seeing its potential as an advanced base beyond Edessan territory, the King of France granted Constantia as a fief to Duke Odo II of Burgundy, who, in turn, enfeoffed it to his younger brother Raymond of Grignon, know christened as Count.

In that very year, they even attempted to besiege the hill-city of Mardin, one of the former capitals of the Artuqids, but it was a short-lived effort, as the winter approached, and the French army was struck with an epidemic of camp fever.


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The second phase of the Armenian theater of war happened in the next year, of 1141. This time, the Christian armies, once again reunited - the Rhōmaîon once again led in person by its tireless Emperor - issued an official declaration of war against the Artuqids, and demanded immediate and unconditional surrender.

Predictably, the ultimatum was ignored. The Turkmen had already mustered their forces, led by Bey Husayn ad-Din Timurtash [Turkish: Hüsameddin Timurtaş], and were joined by Buri Saif al-Islam, who brought reinforcements from Mosul. They had expected that the Franks would once again attack Mardin, because it was relatively more vulnerable from the western size, but oddly enough the Crusaders opted to advance directly against the Artuqid capital, Amida [Diyarbakir].

Amida was a very ancient fortress, which had served well in the constant wars between the ancient Romans and the Sassanid Persians. It was there where the ancient Royal Road of the Achaemenids crossed the Tigris River, and thus it held enormous strategic relevance for the various armies that threaded through Asia ever since the beginning of times. In 1141, it was a shadow of its former self, but it was relevant still as one of the most formidable fortified settlements of Armenia.

The Christians seemed well prepared to prosecute a siege, and brought many engines of war, including the dreaded Greek Fire. It was, though, all but evident that they intended to preserve the fortifications, and made an effort to physically overcome the walls without damaging them, preferring the employment of siege towers and ladders instead of trebuchets and sappers. Being sidelined by the extensive course of the Tigris, they could not completely encircle the circuit of walls, and so their efforts were concentrated against the western side of the fortifications.

In their static position however, while assailing the fortifications, the Latins and Greeks became easy prey for an unending stream of Turkic horse cavalrymen. The Frankish and Rhōmaîon light cavalry and mobile troops, even in their best performance, could scantily repulse the determined Turks, who would ford the river once they were attacked and would then proceed to unleash hundreds of arrows upon any Frank or Greek horseman that attempted to cross the stream in pursuit.

Taking advantage of the sizeable numerical superiority, however, the Crusaders stood ground, in the plains west of Amida, and continued the blockade, all while erecting their own circuit of improvised palisades, ditches and camps to keep the Turks at bay.

Seeing that it was of no use to attempt to expel the Crusaders, Emir Buri changed his strategy and, fording the Tigris downriver, went behind the enemy lines to conduct a large-scale razzia with the intent of disrupting their supply lines. His men went as far as the Euphrates valley, whereupon they were deterred by a circuit of well-garrisoned bastions erected by the Rhōmaîoi along the fluvial bridges of the Euphrates. To avoid being entrapped there, he turned to the south and from there back to the east, to attempt an attack against the rearguard of the Crusaders.

This, too, failed, and the siege of Amida persisted.

The capital of the Artuqids would fall shortly thereafter. In spite of its numerous population, the battle-ready defenders were relatively few, and were overwhelmed by the assault of the Christians. The native Christians, mostly Pontic Greeks and Armenians, as well as the Muslims, mostly Kurds and Syrians, had grown used to the mild Artuqid regime, but had no true love towards their foreign masters and made little effort to assist the Turkish loyalists once the Franks and Rhōmaîoi penetrated the city. Disheartened and demoralized, many conscripted militiamen simply deserted and barricaded themselves in their own homes while the Artuqid retainers were slaughtered or imprisoned.

Once his wives, children and relatives were made hostages, Husayn Bey, who, at the time, was afield with Emir Buri, had no choice but to capitulate, and sent heralds to the Basileus to attempt to negotiate a secret truce. Saif al-Islam soon discovered about this, however, and immediately turned against Husayn Bey, imprisoning him. The remaining Artuqid soldiers of Amida accepted service in Buri’s army while their former liege was sent in chains to the citadel of Mosul.

Saif al-Islam even attempted to force the Latins into battle after they had entered Amida, but his efforts did not produce results, and, seeing no use in continuing the campaign alone, he preemptively turned against Mardin. Aware that if the Christians captured this one city too, they would be in perfect position to advance against Mosuli territory, Saif al-Islam, after entering Mardin against the wishes of Najm ad-Din Alp Arslan, the local Artuqid dynast, ordered its evacuation, and conscripted the Artuqids into the Seljuq army - at least in name. Najm ad-Din Alp Arslan was also imprisoned and sent as a hostage to Mosul. Afterwards, his soldiers leveled the walls and torched the buildings, and thus the hill upon which Mardin was built became naked once again. Now, the Artuqids, formerly the most formidable of the Anatolian Turkic beyliks, barring the Seljuqs of Rûm, saw their their ignominious fate: reduced to only a minor and poor province further to the north, centered in the castle of Hasankeyf.

Having taken Mardin out of the equation, Saif al-Islam then occupied the ancient fortress of Nisibis [Arabic: Nusaybin] without great effort, ousting the local Artuqid ruler, and granting it to a loyal Turkish lieutenant named Imad ad-Din Zengi.

Having apparently secured the northwestern border of his dominion, Buri disbanded his army and voyaged with his cadre of vassals to the court of his ally Sökmen II Shah-Armen, to summon his assistance against the infidels.


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In the middle of 1141, the Christian army almost fractured apart due to disputes between their leaders. Once again, the Basileus had voyaged back to Europe, this time to Thessalonica, and, being he the keystone that cemented the cohesion of the army, his absence provoked the resurgence of intestine factionalism. The Rhōmaîoi generals, chief of them being Sebastokrátor Andronikos Komnenos, wanted to continue their expedition to reduce the rest of Armenia, as far as Lake Van, but the Franks, both the Levantines and the French, lost the interest in this campaign; they wanted to go south and march against Baghdad by following the course of the Euphrates river. The Rhōmaîoi, understandably, were baffled by the realization that the Latins genuinely wanted to march against Baghdad, and vehemently opposed it.

Thus, while the Rhōmaîon host marched eastward to reduce the city they called "Kephia" [Arabic: Ḥiṣn Kayfa‘/Modern: Hasankeyf], the instead Franks voyaged to the south, back to Constantia, and from there to Asachia [Arabic: Al-Hasakah], a hill-fort in the Euphrates. The latter was governed by an old Kurdish family that claimed descent from the ancient Arsacid dynasty, the city offered no opposition to the Christians and, in fact, welcomed them and furnished much needed goods.

However, the army, with every kilometer they ventured south, suffered greatly with the insupportable hot climate of the region and, soon enough, with the lack of resources, as well as with malaria and a particularly violent epidemic of dysentery. Grudgingly aware that they could not venture so far without the victual resources of the Empire, they returned north, to a more comfortable position in Amida, and, from there, they returned to Samosata with King Phillip. By then, their ranks had been severely decimated by disease, attrition and malnourishment, to the point that one could say that they had to consecrate a graveyard to the fallen pilgrims in each city of this godforsaken country. Desertions had become frequent to the point that the King had released some of his most important vassals from their oath - they had, after all, already fulfilled their vows - and accepted the others as volunteers instead as conscripts.


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It was in Samosata that they were rendezvoused with the Basileus. John II Komnenos, as soon as he heard about the divorce of the Christian armies, and about the Franks’ blundered attempt of marching to Baghdad, immediately sent his envoys to Armenia to convince them to await for his arrival.

Indeed, the Basileus had returned to Constantinople, two months previously, for the second time mid-campaign, in anticipation of the arrival of another Crusader army, this one comprising Hungarians, Serbians and Croatians. Their leaders were Justiciar George [Hungarian: Cronik fia György], Macarius, Archbishop of Esztergom [Hungarian: Makár], and the Serbian prince Desa, the youngest son of the Uroš I, the old monarch of Serbia.

As it happened, the previous King of Hungary, Béla II “the Blind”, a religious and pious man, had pledged to join the *Second Crusade, and initiated preparations to join the Basileus’ army in late 1140, before passing away in early 1141; his successor was Géza II, then a child of 10 years. The enthusiasm in Hungary for the holy expedition almost vanished, especially because Géza’s uncle and regent, the Serbian prince Beloš, had little interest in crusading. However, the Hungarian Crusade still came to be by the dedicated intervention of Queen dowager Helena, who eagerly sponsored it. Thus, after some initial delay, many from Hungary and also Serbia and Croatia joined the lordly and ecclesiastical banners.

Now, this force was not particularly large, and, unlike the host of France, it had a less belligerent character, because many of them were civilians who had joined in hope of a direct pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and not of waging a war in Armenia. In any case, they were bound to the will of their lords, and these ones, happy by the promise of fortune and fame, quickly adhered to the Basileus’ grand design.

Now, the King of France, it has been said, became greatly embarrassed when he witnessed the arrival of this new crusading expedition. John Komnenos admonished and exhorted him to bring his arms to the deliverance of the infidels, under the shadow of the True Cross. One Frankish chronicler recounts that King *Phillip II, upon being presented, by the Emperor, with a document signed by the Pope himself, demanding him to honor the legacy of his Carolingian predecessors, was thrown into a frenzy and vowed to sleep everyday with his mail cloth until the Saracens had been vanquished from Armenia.

Only when the French and Hungarian Crusaders and the Rhōmaîoi soldiers crossed the Euphrates, going to Amida, did they discover that the army of Sebastókrator Andronikos, while attempting to wrestle the fortified city of Kephia [Hasankeyf] from the Artuqids, had been repealed by a large Turkish army, led by Buri Saif al-Islam and Sökmen II Ahlatshahlah.

According to the Latins, it seemed that, God, in His infinite wisdom, had breathed a holy inspiration into a new wave of Crusaders exactly in the hour of need!

The Mahometans, coming from the region of Lake Van, entered the province of Kephia from its eastern border and relieved the besieged town. Realizing that his position was untenable, Andronikos Komnenos retreated all the way back to Amida, expecting to hold it against a siege by the Turks.

Before putting Amida to siege, however, Saif al-Islam and Sökmen Shah were informed about the approach of the Christian reinforcements, and decided to await, and established an encampment in the entrance of the valley where Kephia is cradled, on the shores of the Tigris river. There, the “Sword of Islam” knew that the fate of Armenia would be decided at last.


On next chapter: the battle between Crusaders and the Turks; and the Latin Principality will see an attempted invasion from Egypt. Can they now fight a war in two fronts?


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Notes: Well, well, how about some Hungarians and Orthodox Slavs in the Crusader soup? I guess many of you weren't expecting it, but it is not unprecedented. Keep in mind, though, that their overall relevance will be much smaller than that of the French, so we won't be having Hungarian knights in the Outremer just now. That is, however, certainly in the realm of possibility, considering that, afterwards, there will likely be more interest for crusading among the Balkanic states.

You might be feeling that the chapters about the Second Crusade are dragging a bit long. That's, in part, intentional; not only due to the attention I want to give to interesting details, but also so the reader can try to feel how would be a Medieval war of attrition, unlike the traditional wars that were based in a few engagements and raiding attacks. This alternate Second Crusade is supposed to be a grueling and tiring episode, for all the parties involved. In any case, I'm already nearing the conclusion.
 
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King *Phillip II, upon being presented, by the Emperor, with a document signed by the Pope himself, demanding him to honor the legacy of his Carolingian predecessors, was thrown into a frenzy and vowed to sleep everyday with his mail cloth until the Saracens had been vanquished from Armenia.
So the Pope didn't appreciate King Phillip's arrogance, and backed the Emperor's authority?
 
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