The Legacy of the Merovingians
- Thread starter Utgard96
- Start date
Glad you like it. And yes, the Franks and the Romans will remain fierce rivals (think France and Spain IOTL)
, or at least as long as the Moorish Roman Empire stays intact.
It's only Imperium Romanorum. And it will survive in its present form for at least two hundred years more.
I'm honoured that you read it! Remnants of Rome was a big inspiration for this, so it's fitting that its creator should read it.
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Sorry about this, folks. I've made a new map recently, and as I wanted to post it here, I wrote an update to go with it. Thus, Dagobert Rising is off for another few days.
To the north of the Roman (Constantinopolitan) Empire, there lie two chains of mountains (the Carpathians in the west and the Caucasus in the east), followed by a vast steppe that stretches all the way to what we would call the Austern Sea [1] today. The Tauris [2], a peninsula and Roman province, is the southernmost part of these steppes, and maintained at least some order and civilisation even in the 7th century. The lands to its north, however, were populated entirely by different barbaric tribes who waged almost constant wars with each other.
The most civilised of these tribes was without the Bolgars, who had settled in the lands north of the Caucasus and east of the Tauris. The Bolgar Khans established their capital at Phanagoria [3], a city located on a strait just across from the easternmost point of the Tauris, and which was fairly unimpressive even counting among the steppe tribes. Their kingdom stretched from the Caucasus to the Bolgar River, as we know it today [4]. The Bolgars followed a pagan faith known as Tengriism, but the Khan Batbayan, who took power after his predecessor's death in battle, accepted missionary work in his lands and showed personal interest in converting to Orthodox Christianity.
To the east of the Bolgars, on the Turkic Sea [5], lie the various tribal statelets of the Alans. They had originally appeared in Europe around the time of Christ's birth. At that time, they were so numerous that they posed a significant threat to the Roman Empire; however, with the fall of Rome and the migration of the Huns into Europe, they dispersed into various groups, most of which were pater destroyed by the Huns or the Germanic peoples that filled their void (including the Goths and the Franks). By 600, the only major groups of Alans had settled (in relative terms, being nomads) in the northern foothills of the Caucasus. These tribes were, for Bolgaria, in the best of cases a large nuisance, in the worst of cases a serious threat to their existence. The Alan warriors were fierce, and their chiefs greedy. This combination lead to burning and pillaging of eastern Bolgaria, and for this reason those lands were very sparsely populated.
The Gothic kingdom was a fairly stable local power by now, with Alaria [6] (their capital city, named for the Visigothic King Alaric, who died in battle with the Franks) having become a large, prosperous trading centre (being the last major city on the Danuvius before that river reaches the sea). The Gothic king paid a small tribute to the Emperor in Constantinople (his subjects having reluctantly converted to Orthodoxy), and in exchange the Emperor would support him in any war. Other than this, the Goths were entirely independent. The bad blood caused by their earlier sacking of Rome had largely been abridged, and the issue served less to impair their relations with Constantinople.
In Pannonia, a new people known as the Avars reigned supreme. They had come from the East around 550, and originally settled north of Gothia. However, they later moved to the Pannonian plain for defensive purposes and because of the fertility of those lands. They enlisted the aid of the Lombards in destroying the Gepid Kingdom, which occupied eastern Pannonia at the time, and encouraged the Lombards to move into northern Italy. This was the last mass migration of the Folcswandrongtyd [7], and led to a collapse of Roman authority in Northern Italy.
To the north of the Avar Khaganate, there were three peoples whose languages were related: the Balts, the Polans, and the Rossians. These three peoples had common origins and some common traditions. They were almost entirely pagan, with only some Arian Christians among them.
The vast woods of the far north were inhabited by a diverse people known as the Somens [8]. These people were not organised in any way above the individual villages, but did not fight significantly within their people. The exception to this rule would be the Magyars, who parted from the main Somen population around 550, and migrated southwestward. They met with the Turkic nations to their east, and had to fight to gain new lands. This led to them becoming rather more violent than the northern Somens, and infighting was common. They came to organise into a unified kingdom, but not until much later.
In the east of this area, two Turkic peoples had set up states for themselves. The first were the Göktürks, whose empire stretched all the way to Dzungaria. It had expanded through brute force, with the kağan (emperor) Istämi having pushed the Göktürk frontier into Europe starting around 560. The Göktürks were also of the Tengri faith.
The second people were the Khazars, who had originally been part of the Göktürk population. However, around 580, with the Göktürks experiencing a gruesome civil war, a Khazar noble named Barjik founded the city of Itil[9] (located by a bend in the river of that name [10]), drove out the local Göktürk forces, and declared himself kağan of Khazaria, with Itil as his capital.
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[1] The Baltic. My naming is inspired by the Old Norse 'Austmarr', meaning 'eastern lake'.
[2] The Crimea.
[3] Modern day Temryuk, Krasnodar Krai, Russia.
[4] The Don River.
[5] The Caspian Sea. As for the name, I say only that it's called that for the same reason that the Turkic languages refer to it as the 'Khazar Sea' today.
[6] OTL Galați, Romania.
[7] Frankish for 'Migration Age'.
[8] Those Finno-Ugric peoples who inhabited northern Russia before the Slavs arrived IOTL, and still hold autonomous lands within Russia. The name is an anglification of Somii, which in turn is the latinisation of Suomi.
[9] OTL Sashi Chekalina, Volgograd Oblast, Russia.
[10] The Volga. The name is indeed the Khazar name for it, and means simply 'great river'.
Legacy of the Merovingians, chapter VII
It Came from the Steppes
It Came from the Steppes
To the north of the Roman (Constantinopolitan) Empire, there lie two chains of mountains (the Carpathians in the west and the Caucasus in the east), followed by a vast steppe that stretches all the way to what we would call the Austern Sea [1] today. The Tauris [2], a peninsula and Roman province, is the southernmost part of these steppes, and maintained at least some order and civilisation even in the 7th century. The lands to its north, however, were populated entirely by different barbaric tribes who waged almost constant wars with each other.
The most civilised of these tribes was without the Bolgars, who had settled in the lands north of the Caucasus and east of the Tauris. The Bolgar Khans established their capital at Phanagoria [3], a city located on a strait just across from the easternmost point of the Tauris, and which was fairly unimpressive even counting among the steppe tribes. Their kingdom stretched from the Caucasus to the Bolgar River, as we know it today [4]. The Bolgars followed a pagan faith known as Tengriism, but the Khan Batbayan, who took power after his predecessor's death in battle, accepted missionary work in his lands and showed personal interest in converting to Orthodox Christianity.
To the east of the Bolgars, on the Turkic Sea [5], lie the various tribal statelets of the Alans. They had originally appeared in Europe around the time of Christ's birth. At that time, they were so numerous that they posed a significant threat to the Roman Empire; however, with the fall of Rome and the migration of the Huns into Europe, they dispersed into various groups, most of which were pater destroyed by the Huns or the Germanic peoples that filled their void (including the Goths and the Franks). By 600, the only major groups of Alans had settled (in relative terms, being nomads) in the northern foothills of the Caucasus. These tribes were, for Bolgaria, in the best of cases a large nuisance, in the worst of cases a serious threat to their existence. The Alan warriors were fierce, and their chiefs greedy. This combination lead to burning and pillaging of eastern Bolgaria, and for this reason those lands were very sparsely populated.
The Gothic kingdom was a fairly stable local power by now, with Alaria [6] (their capital city, named for the Visigothic King Alaric, who died in battle with the Franks) having become a large, prosperous trading centre (being the last major city on the Danuvius before that river reaches the sea). The Gothic king paid a small tribute to the Emperor in Constantinople (his subjects having reluctantly converted to Orthodoxy), and in exchange the Emperor would support him in any war. Other than this, the Goths were entirely independent. The bad blood caused by their earlier sacking of Rome had largely been abridged, and the issue served less to impair their relations with Constantinople.
In Pannonia, a new people known as the Avars reigned supreme. They had come from the East around 550, and originally settled north of Gothia. However, they later moved to the Pannonian plain for defensive purposes and because of the fertility of those lands. They enlisted the aid of the Lombards in destroying the Gepid Kingdom, which occupied eastern Pannonia at the time, and encouraged the Lombards to move into northern Italy. This was the last mass migration of the Folcswandrongtyd [7], and led to a collapse of Roman authority in Northern Italy.
To the north of the Avar Khaganate, there were three peoples whose languages were related: the Balts, the Polans, and the Rossians. These three peoples had common origins and some common traditions. They were almost entirely pagan, with only some Arian Christians among them.
The vast woods of the far north were inhabited by a diverse people known as the Somens [8]. These people were not organised in any way above the individual villages, but did not fight significantly within their people. The exception to this rule would be the Magyars, who parted from the main Somen population around 550, and migrated southwestward. They met with the Turkic nations to their east, and had to fight to gain new lands. This led to them becoming rather more violent than the northern Somens, and infighting was common. They came to organise into a unified kingdom, but not until much later.
In the east of this area, two Turkic peoples had set up states for themselves. The first were the Göktürks, whose empire stretched all the way to Dzungaria. It had expanded through brute force, with the kağan (emperor) Istämi having pushed the Göktürk frontier into Europe starting around 560. The Göktürks were also of the Tengri faith.
The second people were the Khazars, who had originally been part of the Göktürk population. However, around 580, with the Göktürks experiencing a gruesome civil war, a Khazar noble named Barjik founded the city of Itil[9] (located by a bend in the river of that name [10]), drove out the local Göktürk forces, and declared himself kağan of Khazaria, with Itil as his capital.
****************************************************************************************
[1] The Baltic. My naming is inspired by the Old Norse 'Austmarr', meaning 'eastern lake'.
[2] The Crimea.
[3] Modern day Temryuk, Krasnodar Krai, Russia.
[4] The Don River.
[5] The Caspian Sea. As for the name, I say only that it's called that for the same reason that the Turkic languages refer to it as the 'Khazar Sea' today.
[6] OTL Galați, Romania.
[7] Frankish for 'Migration Age'.
[8] Those Finno-Ugric peoples who inhabited northern Russia before the Slavs arrived IOTL, and still hold autonomous lands within Russia. The name is an anglification of Somii, which in turn is the latinisation of Suomi.
[9] OTL Sashi Chekalina, Volgograd Oblast, Russia.
[10] The Volga. The name is indeed the Khazar name for it, and means simply 'great river'.
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What're Albania, Armenia and Iberia doing all the way over there? 
And if that's Iberia then what's Iberia called now?
And if that's Iberia then what's Iberia called now?
What're Albania, Armenia and Iberia doing all the way over there?
And if that's Iberia then what's Iberia called now?
Those regions were called as such in OTL, actually. It's just that they were overwhelmed by greater powers later in history (except Armenia, obviously) whilst the more commonly known Iberia and Albania retain significance today. Not sure if the areas are still called Iberia/Albania today, but they certainly were at that time.
Excellent time line, btw - I love the maps too, and appreciate how much time must have gone into them.
[/delurks]
What're Albania, Armenia and Iberia doing all the way over there?
And if that's Iberia then what's Iberia called now?
Pretty much what malcolio said. Iberia, Albania, and Armenia were all overrun by Persia in the 500s and set up as satrapies (autonomous provinces). When Persia collapsed under the Islamic onslaught, they were abandoned, and eventually eclipsed by the Georgians and the Azeri. And indeed, I don't think the regions are called Albania and/or Iberia today.
Awsome update!!!!!!!!
Thankee, indeed I do try my best.
I am curious about your plans with the steppes
Alan supremacy
Not quite. I hinted at it in one of my footnotes, though.
