Part LXXII: The Late Thalassan Dynasty
When Manuel II died it truly was the end of an era for the Romans. Manuel had been Emperor for over seventy years. Entire families knew no Emperor but him. The citizens couldn’t help but be apprehensive. After all, even at the time it was very clear that Manuel had been the most successful Emperor since the first Augustus. Maybe ever.
No matter how good his successor was he was bound to be a step down. That said, no one worried too much. Leo VI was very much a known quantity, especially in the capital. He had been the face of the Imperial family since the death of his father John, and had held virtually every important office that might prepare him for the role. He had commanded troops on the Danube, overseen games not just in Constantinople but in Antioch, Ravenna, Venice, Syracuze, Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Carthage. He had spent at least a quarter of a year in each Exarchate, and was reasonably close to his relations. He was married to an upper-class Cilician woman, and had one son and two daughters. Constantine, Zoe, and Eudoxia. In turn Constantine had married the daughter of a Turkish leader from Caesarea in Anatolia, and Zoe and Eudoxia had married into important families in Greece and Baetica respectively.
In other words, Leo was a clearly legitimate and accepted successor. The Exarchs themselves basically shrugged at the news and carried on as before. They had already mostly thought of Leo as their direct superior regardless. Little had changed with the new title.
Outside the Empire though much had changed with Manuel’s death. The invincible Emperor was now dead, and his grandson was in charge. Perhaps now was the time to press for gains at the expense of the Romans.
The Turks of Mesopotamia were the first to probe Roman defenses, raiding near Dara in autumn 1092. Their force was decisively beaten by the garrisons out of the two fortresses, and the Turkic Emperor sent along his most sincere apologies, as well as the heads of a few of the leaders. And he certainly had known nothing of the attack, not a thing. Leo accepted the gesture despite his, correct, doubts and did not press for a larger retaliatory strike.
He did however consider a campaign against Markuria for control of the Arabian coast, and the return of the theme of Nubia. The latter of course had been abandoned by Leo’s great-grandfather when the Turks overran Anatolia, and the former was being hit with heavy tolls as the Markurian kings squeezed every coin they could out of the trading ships. Ultimately however Leo declined to pursue a more aggressive stance toward Markuria.
In 1093 emissaries arrived from Daqin to meet the Emperor, and presented themselves as representatives as the Four Kingdoms under Heaven. At least that’s what the Roman scribes said they called themselves. These were of course the four kingdoms of Guinnei, Huianan, Jiangnaxi, and Lingnan. The four will coexist more or less intact in what we refer to as the Four Kingdoms period for the next hundred years, until the Huns overrun them all.
Gifts were brought to the Emperor and returned. Interestingly Daqin sources for this period refer to the Emperor as Manuel, meaning that news of the change in ruler had not been understood by the emissaries. When they returned to Daqin and reported that the Emperor seemed to only be in middle age interest was sparked among alchemsists that the Romans had stumbled across an elixir for extending life. By the time any expedition could be sent to uncover such secrets however Leo VI was dead, and the entire possibility was written off.
Daqin return to the world stage however is important because it meant that imports from the region could now begin one again in earnest. Silk, pottery, and other goods flowed into Europe over the restored trade routes, while once again gold and silver flowed out. The sudden addition of so much Chinese silk had a major unintended consequence however, as the supply suddenly had increased with no concurrent increase in demand.
Prices plummeted, and a major economic downturn began. Leo began seizing silk in vast quantities from imperial producers and stockpiling it, but the price would take years to recover. When it did Leo found himself sitting on tons of the stuff, and aware he couldn’t actually sell it without making the entire problem repeat itself.
A solution presented itself via Africa. New trade was coming up out of the Vastitus Magnus. For centuries trade with what realms lay beyond the great desert had been sporadic at best, but in 1075 a Berber merchant had struck upon an idea. He traveled to northern Arabia and came back with camels. With these beasts he began a journey south, eventually arriving in the kingdom of Ourangdi. Some trade occurred, and the merchant returned north with his new goods.
The trip was a dismal failure from an economic point of view, and the man was dragged away by his creditors shortly after. But the idea had been planted. Berbers, Africans, Italians, and Goths began financing their own expeditions south, and soon camels had been imported into the region in the hundreds, and then the thousands. But the question of what all to actually transport was questionable. Normal manufactured goods were taken of course, but what many of the merchants wanted was something that was high quality, light, and worth a lot of money.
Hence, silk.
The Emperor began selling silk at market prices to these merchants, with the very clear understanding that none of it was to be sold within the Empire’s borders. This was perfectly fine with the merchants who began trading silk south. Gold flowed back, of which the Emperor naturally took his cut. There was grumbling about the taxation, since they’d already had to buy silk from the Emperor to make the trip, but the journey was generally profitable enough that the trade-off was accepted.
In the north however problems began to flare up. The collapse of the Franks had led to the lands settled by the Serbs, old Pannonia being taken by the Bulgar king. Worse, Matthios and John’s campaigns against the Cumans had left the Romans in control of the region between the Carpathi Mountains and the Black Sea, historically Bulgar territory. Even if the king tended to run away every time the nomads crossed the Tyras.
Its hard to blame him on that front, but with the Cumans now batted back across the river King Simon of Bulgari wanted his lands back. He had not dared cross swords with the Emperor who had bested the mighty Franks, but against a new Emperor things might well have changed. In 1095 a Bulgar raiding force cross the Carpathi mountains and laid siege to one of the Roman phrourions. The garrison held out, and reinforcements from across the Danube sent the Bulgars into retreat. There were no deaths on either side, though a number of animals were carried off and fields were burned.
The message was clear however.
Leo however sent his own message, sending two thousand light cavalry across the Danube into what had once been the province of Dacia, and striking a number of villages in the region. Once again few people died, but livestock were carried off. The Romans also burned down two of the villages after forcing the population to cross the river into modern Dacia.
King Simon’s War had begun. Raids and counterraids flew across the border, sometimes resulting in small skirmishes, but no pitched battles. Towns in both realms were burned and people forced to migrate. At least one population was kidnapped no fewer than six times in the three years the war lasted.
For his part Leo did not oversee the war himself. Nor it should be noted did Simon. Simon was leading a major offensive against the Polans. Finally, in 1098 a major Bulgar force invaded Illyricum, raiding the lands of the Croati who lived there. But as they were withdrawing the force was trapped in a pass by the Roman army and forced to surrender. Many important Bulgar nobles were captured, as was Simon’s oldest son, Peter.
With such a valuable prisoner the Romans were able to negotiate a peace treaty. Simon acknowledged Roman rule over the region, now known as Dacia Orientalis, and in exchange the Romans would pay a rent of one hundred pounds of gold per year, for the next fifty years. In addition, an Imperial heir of Constantine’s would be required to marry a Bulgar princess. As neither person existed yet however this was a mostly theoretical agreement.
Casualties in King Simon’s War were as might be imagined, light. It had however been expensive as Leo had shipped an additional twenty thousand men to the Danube, and a number of new fortresses were required in Illyricum. It had however given Constantine much needed military experience which he could point to as Emperor, and dispelled notions that Leo would be an easy target after Manuel’s death.
In the north Simon’s war against the Polans was so successful that in 1101 the king of that people agreed to be baptized. Sporadic fighting would continue against the northern pagans, but the conversion of Polans was a key point in tightening the noose on European paganism.
The war with the Bulgars over Leo turned his full attention, and treasury to an issue that had long been pressing, but neglected. Africa. Manuel had shifted a fair amount of money into rebuilding the African infrastructure, but turning the desert back was an enormous process. One that would require still more sums of money. Leo finally began to give out that money. The project would take over twenty years, and millions upon millions of gold coins, but when complete would at least restore Africa’s tax revenues to something approaching what they had once been.
Leo however would not live to see it. In 1100 he became overheated while playing a tzykion match and collapsed, dying mere days later. He was fifty-three years old, and had been Emperor for eight years. Leo was a moderately successful Emperor. He oversaw Manuel II’s last years, maintained the old system of the Exarchs smoothly, and was successful in his foreign endeavors. That said, he also is something of a nonentity when looking at overall Imperial history. Sandwiched between Manuel II, and Constantine VIII Leo’s short reign simply isn’t particularly remarkable.
