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Interlude II: Three Excerpts
Three Excerpts on European History
From The Myth of the “Second Imperial” Collapse
An Essay by Taurin Laurent, 2016
One of the most oft-repeated tropes of late-11th and early-12th century European history is that of the “Second Imperial” or “Frankish” Collapse. Scholars who support this view point to the general decline of centralized control in the Second Empire [1], the increase of inter-Imperial violence, and the failure of the Empire to mount a significant response to King Stanislaus of Lechia’s push to the Elbe. Though the Imperial office continued for centuries afterwards, many scholars of this period disregard the Empire as an institution after this point.
I contend, however, that this is a false view. An examination of Frankish rulership, from the establishment of the Frankish state to the so-called “Imperial Collapse”, reveals that the century or so that followed Aurelien’s solidification of control over Western Christendom were an aberration. Frankish rulership, aside from this period, was never centralized in nature. Even the titles of the Emperor reflected this, as he was “Over-King of the Franks”, recognizing the other Frankish monarchs as “Brother-Kings”.
In all reality, the “Imperial Collapse” was merely a return to how Frankish rule traditionally took place, as a reaction to decades of unusually centralized control. In response to the three main points expressed in the first paragraph, I will show how the decline of centralization was responsible for the “Nuestrian Revival”; how inter-Imperial violence helped “trim the fat” within the Empire; and how the Imperial presence East of the Elbe was not as solid as some believe…
From The Meeting of Civilizations: The Ismaili-Christian Frontiers, 697-Present
Yusha al-Nasab and Vesna Olegevna, 2018
The Rhomanian reconquest of Asia Minor from 1086 to 1125 was made possible through their liberal usage of Rus mercenaries. Hailing from the half-Ostish, half-Slavic swamps and forests of Eastern Europe, the Rus were quick to flock to the Rhomanian banner upon hearing promises of gold and loot. When the Rhomanian government was slow to pay them back, however, the Rus were known to take matters into their own hands, sometimes sailing across the Aegean and sacking Rhomanian towns on mainland Greece. Even Constantinople itself was nearly sacked, only averted by the intercession of the Patriarch.
The Rhomanians eventually grew tired of the Rus antics, and in 1123, while forces under Basil Sakellarios were finishing the job of pushing the Ismaili forces into Syria (and making not-so-secret plans to follow up this campaign with a push into Syria itself), Emperor Angelos gave the go-ahead for a purge of the Rus. Angelos hoped to punish the Rus for their blatant piracy, reassure the lords of his realm that he could control his mercenary force, and save the treasury money that would be spent paying them off.
His plan backfired, and brought an end to Rhomanian expansion.
A large force of Rus, under Vsevolod Vsevolodevitch, was the first confronted by Rhomanian forces; when ordered to relinquish their arms in exchange for payment, Vsevolod detected something was wrong and immediately lashed out, routing the Rhomanian force. Word of this spread, and soon the war-torn peninsula was plunged again into conflict, this time between the two cooperative Christian powers. Emperor Angelos tried his best to put a lid on the situation, but it was too far gone.
Basil Sakellarios learned of this, and saw that this was the perfect chance to take advantage of the situation. Sakellarios marched his armies back from Syria and sought to bring the Rus to terms before moving on to Constantinople. After an inconclusive series of clashes with Vsevolod, Sakellarios sat in parley with him and agreed to, in exchange for the Rus giving up the captives and loot they had taken since the beginning of hostilities with the Rhomanian government and promises of military service, grant them land tracts in Asia Minor. Vsevolod, fearing that he couldn’t maintain a longer campaign, readily agreed.
With this accomplished, Sakellarios moved to Constantinople, where he deposed Angelos and proclaimed himself Emperor. This marked the beginning of the Slavic settlement of Asia Minor, a region better known today as Yarkaya [2] thanks to this decision of the future ruler of Rhomania…
From Gallaecia: The Engine of Exploration
By Wulf Alfredsson, 2017
Gallaecia was officially reborn by treaty between Miro the Suevian and Pelagio of Hispania in 1070 A.D., as a result of mistakes made by Alfonso’s ancestors during their seemingly endless and fruitless wars in Northern Africa. The Suevians of Gallaecia had never fully lost their identity, even under hundreds of years of Hispanian rule [3]. Much of the credit for this, of course, rests in their initial refusal to abandon their Arian faith, followed by their maintenance of their own lands and customs with the official approval of the Hispanian monarchy. While this had bought the Hispanians decades of domination over Gallaecia, this allowed the Suevi to raise a new king up on their shields with relative ease.
Miro and his descendants would oversee the rise of a Kingdom that could not look to its land borders for conquest. Though Hispania was often divided between noblemen and kings at odds with one another, Gallaecia was small, and could not hope to take land from its larger neighbor without potentially invoking its wrath. No, Gallaecia’s vehicle for expansion was always going to be the sea; and it was particularly blessed to have Miro as its first monarch.
Miro had been a veteran of the wars of the Hispanian Kings in North Africa. He had spent most of his adult life fighting on that continent. But he had developed a sense that Africa was much larger than it was commonly thought at the time- interactions with migratory nomads and traders who crossed the Great Desert informed Miro of a vast Empire that was full of wealth that lay just beyond the sands. Miro became determined to reach this Empire; this goal would be inherited by his children.
While the Setralanders and their descendants were sailing down the coast of Talbeah and interacted with the Maya, the Gallaecians began to sail down the coasts of Africa. Shipbuilding technology, pioneered by the Ostish and the Irish Fanaithe before them [4], enabled these journeys, but the Gallaecians would point their ships in a completely different direction…
[1] – This author follows the conventions of most of Europe by referring to the Empire established by Aurelien as the Second Empire. Rhomania, of course, was a continued off-shoot of the First Empire, and thus not referred to as the “Second”.
[2] – Yarkaya, coming from Yarkaya Zemlya, or “Bright Land”, which is the Yarkayan Rusyn name for what Rhomanians and Romans before them referred to as Asia Minor.
[3] – Of note is the author’s use of the term “Hispanian”, without the qualifier of “Visigothic”. Pelagio, despite being the monarch associated with the end of Iberian unity and the man who officially abandoned dreams of conquest in North Africa, was the first true “Hispanian” ruler. This is especially evidenced by his preferring of a version of his Latin baptismal name “Pelagius” over his Visigothic name “Ricimir”. He oversaw the flourishing of a new culture during his reign; while not warlike, he developed the economy of his Kingdom and saw it regain some of the prestige it had lost in its military failures.
[4] – The shipbuilding advancements that enabled the initial bought Trans-Atlantic trade of the 6th-10th Centuries were spread across Europe by Britons fleeing the advance of the Anglo-Saxons, as well as Gaelic mercenaries. The later wave of advancements brought on by the Ostish spread via interactions along their trading sphere.
From The Myth of the “Second Imperial” Collapse
An Essay by Taurin Laurent, 2016
One of the most oft-repeated tropes of late-11th and early-12th century European history is that of the “Second Imperial” or “Frankish” Collapse. Scholars who support this view point to the general decline of centralized control in the Second Empire [1], the increase of inter-Imperial violence, and the failure of the Empire to mount a significant response to King Stanislaus of Lechia’s push to the Elbe. Though the Imperial office continued for centuries afterwards, many scholars of this period disregard the Empire as an institution after this point.
I contend, however, that this is a false view. An examination of Frankish rulership, from the establishment of the Frankish state to the so-called “Imperial Collapse”, reveals that the century or so that followed Aurelien’s solidification of control over Western Christendom were an aberration. Frankish rulership, aside from this period, was never centralized in nature. Even the titles of the Emperor reflected this, as he was “Over-King of the Franks”, recognizing the other Frankish monarchs as “Brother-Kings”.
In all reality, the “Imperial Collapse” was merely a return to how Frankish rule traditionally took place, as a reaction to decades of unusually centralized control. In response to the three main points expressed in the first paragraph, I will show how the decline of centralization was responsible for the “Nuestrian Revival”; how inter-Imperial violence helped “trim the fat” within the Empire; and how the Imperial presence East of the Elbe was not as solid as some believe…
From The Meeting of Civilizations: The Ismaili-Christian Frontiers, 697-Present
Yusha al-Nasab and Vesna Olegevna, 2018
The Rhomanian reconquest of Asia Minor from 1086 to 1125 was made possible through their liberal usage of Rus mercenaries. Hailing from the half-Ostish, half-Slavic swamps and forests of Eastern Europe, the Rus were quick to flock to the Rhomanian banner upon hearing promises of gold and loot. When the Rhomanian government was slow to pay them back, however, the Rus were known to take matters into their own hands, sometimes sailing across the Aegean and sacking Rhomanian towns on mainland Greece. Even Constantinople itself was nearly sacked, only averted by the intercession of the Patriarch.
The Rhomanians eventually grew tired of the Rus antics, and in 1123, while forces under Basil Sakellarios were finishing the job of pushing the Ismaili forces into Syria (and making not-so-secret plans to follow up this campaign with a push into Syria itself), Emperor Angelos gave the go-ahead for a purge of the Rus. Angelos hoped to punish the Rus for their blatant piracy, reassure the lords of his realm that he could control his mercenary force, and save the treasury money that would be spent paying them off.
His plan backfired, and brought an end to Rhomanian expansion.
A large force of Rus, under Vsevolod Vsevolodevitch, was the first confronted by Rhomanian forces; when ordered to relinquish their arms in exchange for payment, Vsevolod detected something was wrong and immediately lashed out, routing the Rhomanian force. Word of this spread, and soon the war-torn peninsula was plunged again into conflict, this time between the two cooperative Christian powers. Emperor Angelos tried his best to put a lid on the situation, but it was too far gone.
Basil Sakellarios learned of this, and saw that this was the perfect chance to take advantage of the situation. Sakellarios marched his armies back from Syria and sought to bring the Rus to terms before moving on to Constantinople. After an inconclusive series of clashes with Vsevolod, Sakellarios sat in parley with him and agreed to, in exchange for the Rus giving up the captives and loot they had taken since the beginning of hostilities with the Rhomanian government and promises of military service, grant them land tracts in Asia Minor. Vsevolod, fearing that he couldn’t maintain a longer campaign, readily agreed.
With this accomplished, Sakellarios moved to Constantinople, where he deposed Angelos and proclaimed himself Emperor. This marked the beginning of the Slavic settlement of Asia Minor, a region better known today as Yarkaya [2] thanks to this decision of the future ruler of Rhomania…
From Gallaecia: The Engine of Exploration
By Wulf Alfredsson, 2017
Gallaecia was officially reborn by treaty between Miro the Suevian and Pelagio of Hispania in 1070 A.D., as a result of mistakes made by Alfonso’s ancestors during their seemingly endless and fruitless wars in Northern Africa. The Suevians of Gallaecia had never fully lost their identity, even under hundreds of years of Hispanian rule [3]. Much of the credit for this, of course, rests in their initial refusal to abandon their Arian faith, followed by their maintenance of their own lands and customs with the official approval of the Hispanian monarchy. While this had bought the Hispanians decades of domination over Gallaecia, this allowed the Suevi to raise a new king up on their shields with relative ease.
Miro and his descendants would oversee the rise of a Kingdom that could not look to its land borders for conquest. Though Hispania was often divided between noblemen and kings at odds with one another, Gallaecia was small, and could not hope to take land from its larger neighbor without potentially invoking its wrath. No, Gallaecia’s vehicle for expansion was always going to be the sea; and it was particularly blessed to have Miro as its first monarch.
Miro had been a veteran of the wars of the Hispanian Kings in North Africa. He had spent most of his adult life fighting on that continent. But he had developed a sense that Africa was much larger than it was commonly thought at the time- interactions with migratory nomads and traders who crossed the Great Desert informed Miro of a vast Empire that was full of wealth that lay just beyond the sands. Miro became determined to reach this Empire; this goal would be inherited by his children.
While the Setralanders and their descendants were sailing down the coast of Talbeah and interacted with the Maya, the Gallaecians began to sail down the coasts of Africa. Shipbuilding technology, pioneered by the Ostish and the Irish Fanaithe before them [4], enabled these journeys, but the Gallaecians would point their ships in a completely different direction…
[1] – This author follows the conventions of most of Europe by referring to the Empire established by Aurelien as the Second Empire. Rhomania, of course, was a continued off-shoot of the First Empire, and thus not referred to as the “Second”.
[2] – Yarkaya, coming from Yarkaya Zemlya, or “Bright Land”, which is the Yarkayan Rusyn name for what Rhomanians and Romans before them referred to as Asia Minor.
[3] – Of note is the author’s use of the term “Hispanian”, without the qualifier of “Visigothic”. Pelagio, despite being the monarch associated with the end of Iberian unity and the man who officially abandoned dreams of conquest in North Africa, was the first true “Hispanian” ruler. This is especially evidenced by his preferring of a version of his Latin baptismal name “Pelagius” over his Visigothic name “Ricimir”. He oversaw the flourishing of a new culture during his reign; while not warlike, he developed the economy of his Kingdom and saw it regain some of the prestige it had lost in its military failures.
[4] – The shipbuilding advancements that enabled the initial bought Trans-Atlantic trade of the 6th-10th Centuries were spread across Europe by Britons fleeing the advance of the Anglo-Saxons, as well as Gaelic mercenaries. The later wave of advancements brought on by the Ostish spread via interactions along their trading sphere.
- Rognvald
- Word Count: 1.3k