The Mauricians: A Medieval Roman novel
- Thread starter Pururauka
- Start date
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girld22
Banned
Hi everyone great timeline and well done nice to see more roman timelines.
Ok please check out my timeline
https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?p=7439026#post7439026
Ok please check out my timeline
https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?p=7439026#post7439026
Hell no, I like narrative updates. The best TLs on this site are almost always either narrative or history book style; a straight-event TL always in the end, seems to come off as being, well, neutered.
Good things come to those who wait. Personally, I like to see what these people lived through (yes, even the boring stuff,) how they would imagine their reality, and I think that a novel was the best way to show this. This particular war, not just the civil one, but the combination of the internal struggle with the fight against Persia as well, was IOTL crucial to the health of the collective psyche of the Romans. It reestablished them as rightful, victorious, and Christian, masters of the world, in their own minds. (Who knew it'd all go to hell a few years later?) I consider this a wonderful period to explore in all of its aspects.
Think of us taking the scenic route to our destination.
HAAAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHA!!!!!!!!!!
I laughed for abut 20 minutes here.
I might need to sig that.Jokes aside, I think that IOTL Phocas got a really, really, bad rap just 'cause he lost the war. He might have really been a cruel SOB, but he was still human.
I'll check it out.
While narrative is undeniably awesome it is pretty easy to lose track of things since there is no neat summary, especially if you've missed an update...maybe a summary update once in a while to sum up the events?
HAAAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHA!!!!!!!!!!
I laughed for abut 20 minutes here.
Jokes aside, I think that IOTL Phocas got a really, really, bad rap just 'cause he lost the war. He might have really been a cruel SOB, but he was still human.
I definitely agree with this. One of the books I'm currently looking at for my dissertation has a much more sympathetic portrayal of Phocas, as a fairly competent man, at least at the start of his reign. Warren Treadgold reckons that it was only the constant plotting of the surviving Mauricians up to about 605 that really pushed him over the edge. He cites the skill with which Phocas concluded a peace treaty with the Avars in 603, and the comparative restraint he showed to Mauricians besides the Emperor himself and his sons in the first couple of years of the reign as proof of this.
Fair enough; that I can do. Since we've reached the end of a chapter, the next update will be a summary of everything up until now. And I'll throw in the map there as well.
Yep. Here he's had more pressure to deal with from the get-go, losing the West right away. And then, we have the plotting of Theodorus, Gennadios, and Constantina, which really did not do much to show his soft side...
On the other hand however, we have the cruel betrayal of Narses, and the baseless paranoia when it comes to Priscus.
In any case, I'm trying to show that he was not a demon from the start. If anything, a deteriorating situation weighs him down progressively; in turn fueling the paranoia, the cruelty, and the alcoholism.
Book A Summary
So here it is, the summary of things past. A special cookie for God-Eater of the Marshes, for being such a wonderful cartographer. (If anyone would like to see the map in its original resolution, go here.)
__________________________
On late March of 602, the Roman Emperor Maurice Tiberius sent two of his sons to Pope Gregory in Italy to achieve a twofold mission. Ever since the descent of the Lombards from the transalpine passes, the situation in the former Roman homeland had been deteriorating, as the Lombard advance had, by then, reached deep into central Italy. Gregory, ruling the ancient capital virtually unchallenged, had negotiated a peace treaty personally with the Lombard raiders to safeguard Rome, in direct opposition of Maurice’s, and the Italian Exarch Callinicus’ orders. In Constantinople, this did not go unnoticed; but at the time, the focus of imperial attention was on the northern bank of the Danube. A two decade war against the Avar khaganate had finally started to go well for the Romans, since the transfer of entire veteran armies from a pacified eastern border. With increasing success at home, the Emperor had begun to plan a renewed offensive in Italy, to drive the Lombard tribes out and reunite the country under Roman rule. It was with this in mind that, instead of chastising Gregory for overstepping his authority, Maurice cleverly sent his oldest son, and co-Emperor, Theodosius, with a sizeable subsidy, to appease the Roman Pontiff, and to start to lay the groundwork for his own arrival. At the same time, and in order to familiarize him with what should become his future domain, Theodosius’ younger ten-year-old brother, Tiberius sailed along with the embassy, and his care was personally entrusted to the Pope.
Enlivened by the arrival of the Roman princes, Gregory grew bold. He pressed Theodosius to make haste, and commence operations against the Lombards at once. But Theodosius, a young man of nineteen, reticent and fully aware that a direct confrontation with all Lombard forces before the arrival of his father’s soldiers would only result in an embarrassing defeat by the numerically inferior Romans, hesitated at first, before yielding to the Pope’s insistence; and even then, decided to try a political approach instead, looking for cracks in the newly built Lombard edifice. Having delivered the entrusted grant to the Pope, he conferred with the Exarch of Ravenna, Callinicus, and agreeing on a strategy, slowly gathered the Italian armies for the upcoming war against the Germanic tribes.
Under the direction of King Alboin, the rash Lombard invasion had spread deep into the peninsula, and after an initial brutal assault, the Romans had rallied and recovered some lost ground. This outcome had led to the creation, or isolation, of two semi-independent duchies, south and east of Rome, Benevento and Spoletto, and a larger, actual kingdom, to the north. Keenly studying his options, Theodosius, advised by the Pontiff, set his sights on the enemy closest, and weakest, to Rome first, the Spolettian dukedom.
With the death of duke Ariulf barely weeks after the young Emperor’s arrival, the duchy of Spoletto was thrown into chaos. Two contenders, Theodelap, and one of his brothers, both children of Faroald, the first duke, emerged and battled one another for control of the land. The internal conflict taking place was entirely outside the control of the Lombard royal court at Pavia. Theodosius carefully collected his forces and marched them south, taking full advantage of an earlier truce negotiated between Callinicus and the Lombard King Agiluf in 598. On June 5th 602, in a battle outside the walls of Spoletto, a Roman army of 9,000 strong under the command of the Exarch crushed the forces of Theodelap, and two weeks later those of his brother, before word of the events even reached Pavia. Immediately, while annexing the broken principality, Theodosius dispatched emissaries to Agiluf, chastising him by listing the raids that the Spolettian Lombards were carrying out against the Romans in Latium in violation of the treaty, before endearing him by delivering a subsidy in gold, and meeting him in a personal conference in Perugia, where both assisted mass together. Although initially the situation remained tense, the lack of further action on the part of the Romans, coupled with the fact that Theodelap might have proven to be an unruly, if not outright aggressive “vassal,” assuaged the King.
Having advanced his father’s agenda without breaking the official truce against the Lombards, Theodosius decided to briefly visit Carthage. He embarked in early July, and was warmly welcomed by the Exarch Heraclius, and his two sons, Heraclius the Younger, and Theodorus. Captivated by the balmy weather, and impressed by the wealth of the provincial capital and its hinterlands, the Emperor remained in Africa for two months. But this would not prove to be entirely a trip of pleasure; becoming slightly more proactive, he personally watched over the diplomatic dealings with the various Moorish tribes. Yet again, taking full advantage of Imperial prestige and majesty, as he had with the Lombards, he held audiences with several of the tribal leaders, renewed their foederati status, and upon his return to Italy in September 602, the African border had been successfully confirmed, and a potential source of auxiliary troops secured.
Arriving in Rome, Theodosius heard of Maurice’s ongoing triumphs against the Avars; but was frustrated by the possibility that his father’s arrival might be delayed until the following year. Unable, or unwilling to wait until then, and emboldened by his previous experience, Theodosius decided to move on his own again, egged on by Gregory. Once more, he flexed his diplomatic muscles and sent the younger Heraclius, who had come to Italy with him, to Agiluf’s court, with evidence of a plot by Arechis, duke of Benevento, to unseat him. In order to understand the following events however, the religious situation of the Lombard nation, and royal court, must be first examined.
Initially a pagan, after his coronation Agiluf converted to Arian Christianity, the most popular branch of that religion amongst the Lombards; an event which greatly displeased his Orthodox wife Theodelinda, to whom he indirectly owed his throne, as she had been married to the previous King Authari, and had chosen him as Authari’s successor. Perhaps to compensate for this, and walking a thin line between popular discontent, and upsetting the powerful woman to whom he was indebted, he accepted to the truce with the Orthodox Romans, as well as baptizing his son Adaloald into the Roman Church shortly after his birth in late 602. Needless to say, the Lombard Queen kept in regular close contact with Pope Gregory, who must have used his influence in order to pressure Theodelinda to impose herself on Agiluf. Whatever actions might have taken place behind the curtain, Theodosius’ embassy shocked Pavia. Arechis was “proven” to be plotting to take the crown for himself, allegedly disgusted by the overtly pro-Orthodox policy of Agiluf. Whether the charges were true or not, shall remain unknown; but in October of the same year, led by the younger Heraclius, newly created magister militum per Italiam, Callinicus, and reinforced by barbarian divisions from Pavia, the Roman armies put an end to the young duchy of Benevento.
Concluding a new treaty of “perpetual peace and alliance” with the Lombard monarch, and fresh from another victory, Theodosius returned to Africa in mid-November, to rest again and, perhaps, continue to cultivate his ties with the Berber tribes. It was during his stay there, that the first tidings of the revolt by the Danubian armies reached him. Unsure on how to react, Theodosius vacillated and wasted a whole month in Carthage until, a week before Christmas, the news of Maurice’s execution, along with those of Theodosius’ own younger brothers’, and Phocas’ acclamation as Emperor arrived. Shortly after, among those ships bearing the dark news, arrived some imperial vessels carrying his wife Irene, his seven-year-old sister Anastasia, and a few other refugees from the Maurician court.
With the confirmed support of the Western provinces, their Exarchs, Pope Gregory, and bolstered by the African and Italian armies, as well as strengthened by small contingents from his new friend Agiluf and men from his Berber clients, the young Emperor launched a frontal assault against Dyrrachium in April of 603. Inexperienced, filled with youthful pride from his small conquests, and confident that luck still shone upon him, he ordered Nicetas, a nephew of the elder Heraclius, to lead the attack. The city was to serve as a bridgehead for Theodosius’ own arrival with the rest of the troops, and mark the start of an offensive that would carry him to Thessalonica, and then to Constantinople. Rude then was the awakening, when the Praesental and Illyrian field armies moved swiftly against Nicetas, and after a two month siege retook the city, captured the troops, and executed their leader, in July of the same year.
As the intestine struggle shaped up in the West, the rise of Phocas created its own challenges in the East. Loyal to Maurice remained Narses, commander of the Mesopotamian armies, and the best, and ablest, military leader that the Romans had. He immediately rose up in rebellion against the new Emperor in Constantinople, in the name of Theodosius, and called on Khosrau, the Sassanian King, who owed his throne to the defunct Augustus. The Iranian sovereign, all too eager to shatter his public chains of subservience, mobilized at once, and soon his forces were pouring over the Roman border.
Meanwhile, Phocas had not been idle. Germanus, dux of Phoenicia, was sent against the rebel, and cornered Narses in Edessa. At about the same time, a fleet sailed from Constantinople towards the West, and a smaller division marched overland through Illyria, to put an end to Theodosius’ adventure once and for all. Fortune, which had carried him from the camp to the palace nonetheless, suddenly deserted the new Caesar. The Iranians arrived swiftly to Narses’ relief, and the combined army crushed Germanus and his men in the vicinity of Constantina. In the West, the Imperial navy was blown apart by a sudden storm in the Adriatic, and its pieces were quickly overtaken by the smaller Italian and African home navies, while the land force was wiped out by the Avars. Undeterred, Phocas ordered a second expedition under the eunuch Leontius to march East and rout Narses and Khosrau. In the West however, impeded by the lack of a naval presence from reaching Italy, he turned to diplomacy. He established a peace accord with the Avars, softened with a hefty tribute, to keep the Danube border stable; and purchased the aid of Theuderic II, King of the Burgundian Franks, in order to deal with Theodosius and the Lombards.
The year of 604 arrived then, with an uneasy impasse in the West as Theuderic prepared, and Leontius was defeated by the Iranian assisted rebel force. The vanquished eunuch returned to Constantinople, only to be flogged and thrown into prison by an irate Phocas. The distressed Emperor now sent yet another division under his own nephew, Domentziolus the Younger, to deal with the eastern front. But the inexpert youth was bested in the field by one of Khosrau’ finest commanders, Farrokhan Shahrbaraz, and barely escaped with his life. At this point, nevertheless, concerned by the extent of his traditional enemies’ success, Narses offered to conduct negotiations with Phocas personally, in exchange for a safe passage and for his return to the East to be guaranteed. The Emperor quickly accepted, and the general was led to the capital, where upon arrival, was unceremoniously seized and burned at the stake in the Hippodrome. Without Narses, Roman resistance in the East collapsed entirely, and Mesopotamia was overrun.
At the same time in the West, Phocas’ ally Theuderic II launched his awaited invasion of Italy in March, shortly after the death of Pope Gregory. The Frank obliterated the Lombard field army under Agiluf at Novara, and then proceeded to take Milan, Turin, and Pavia. To complicate matters further, some disaffected dukes joined the invaders, or chose to remain neutral. The Lombard King, appealed desperately to Theodosius for help, and the young Emperor, hesitant at first due to the loss of the larger part of his troops in Dyrrachium, finally came to the aid of his friend, encouraged by the Empress Irene, some would later say. The battle of Pavia, in June of 604, was hard fought, and a grinding affair for both parties, until an allied victory was secured with the death of the Frankish monarch. Among the fallen, however, was also Agiluf. Theodosius, ever the politician, secured extraordinary concessions from the widowed Theodelinda, and at a stroke, Roman authority once again reached unchallenged all the way to the Po. Although smaller Frankish raids would continue, Callinicus and the northern forces of the Exarchate were empowered enough to deal with the situation. With Italy fortified, and aware of the limits of his now small strength, Theodosius sent Heraclius on a diplomatic mission to Spain, to negotiate Visigothic aid to continue the fight against Phocas.
In the meantime, in Constantinople, Phocas’ men had begun a crackdown of the old guard under Maurice. The Emperor, fearful of a “second Narses” rising, arrested or executed secretly several of the capital’s most prominent civic and military leaders; most notably John Mystacon, general of the Roman expedition that had seated Khosrau on the Iranian throne. These acts unnerved many members of the Senate, as well as other prominent families, and created fertile ground for a secret plot hatched by Maurice’s widow, Constantina, who had been tonsured and locked in a nunnery; the new Praetorian prefect, Theodorus; and the patrician Gennadios. With political intrigue brewing in the Roman capital, the fierce war with the Iranians continued as Dara, the bastion of the East, fell to Shahrbaraz after a siege of nine months in October of 604. An attempted armistice, offered by the younger Domentziolus around this time, was also discarded, as the official goal of the war for the Sassanian monarch remained to avenge Maurice and place Theodosius on his father’s throne.
Back in the West, the death of Theuderic II caused commotion amongst the delicately balanced Frankish kingdoms. Sigebert, a three- year-old infant and Theuderic’s son, was crowned as King and recognized as lord in all the lands owned by his father. The regency, and real power, however, was exercised by his powerful, and crafty, great-grandmother, Brunhilda, who made no secret of her dislike for the King of Neustria, and child of her hated rival Fredegund, Clothar II. Fully aware of her political liability as a woman, she sought the help of her grandson, and Sigebert’s uncle, the eighteen-year-old King of Austrasia, Theudebert II, for the impending fight against Clothar. A secret treaty was hastily concluded between Theudebert and Brunhilda, and a plan devised, to trick and defeat the Neustrian ruler, by promising him the Burgundian crown in exchange for successfully ending the war in Italy.
The last significant event of the year took place in December 9th 604, when Maurice II Justinian was born in Rome. The Empress Irene almost died during childbirth, but eventually recovered, to Theodosius’ great pleasure. The child was soon after baptized by Theodosius’ new handpicked Pope, Boniface III.
The year of 605 opened with new plans by the government in Constantinople to send off a fresh expedition East under the new Comes Orientis, Bonosus; to ship another force West under Phocas’ brother, Domentziolus the Elder; and to sway divine favor on their direction, by bringing about the conversion of the one remaining non-Christian group within the Empire’s borders: the Jews. As the Iranians under Shahin Vahmanzadegan completed the conquest of Armenia, and commenced the advance into Anatolia, revolts erupted all over the largest cities of the eastern provinces, the pacifying of which diverted even more troops from the desperate situation along the front. In the midst of chaos in the East, Theodosius finally decided to make his move. He crowned his brother Tiberius as Caesar, and left for Carthage. Having successfully secured Visigothic assistance in the form of three thousand men, in exchange for almost all of the remaining Roman possessions in Spain, he sailed along the African coast towards Egypt. Although, the majority of stops along the route welcomed him and his men, upon reaching Alexandria, in May of the same year, his troops encountered token resistance, which was rapidly quelled by his personal arrival. Afterward, following the example of their capital, all Egyptian cities switched their allegiance to the son of Maurice.
For those loyal to Phocas, one disaster seemed to follow right after another. Soon after the capitulation of Egypt, which led to some unrest in Constantinople due to the disruption of the grain supply, Farrokhan Shahrbaraz undertook the siege of the Syrian capital Antioch, and after a month-long blockade, successfully seized it with help from Jewish dissidents. Khosrau, encouraged by the successes of his generals, mobilized even more men to be sent towards the West. With the eastern provinces slipping from Rome’s grip, back home, in The City of Constantine, the coup against the Emperor finally took place. But, as one of the few lucky breaks to be had, Phocas was able to get wind of the treacherous conspiracy, and acted swiftly, arresting, and executing all of those involved, even Theodosius’ mother. The only other bit of good news during this time was the successful landing in Sicily by his brother Domentziolus who, after disrupting Theodosius’ supply lines, had orders to move against Africa. Discouraged by his inability to successfully stop the Sassanians, and the western Romans, Phocas began to fall into alcoholism, which further impaired his judgment, increased his paranoia, and made him more reliable on certain favorites and subordinates.
Meanwhile in Egypt, although initially eager to continue on as quickly as possible into Palestine, Theodosius was bogged down by the tense religious conflict between the clerics of the Chalcedonian and Monophysite churches. Unwilling to pronounce himself on the issue, he suffered the consequences shortly after, as an attempt was made on his life by a fanatical assassin, hired by the Chalcedonian Patriarch Eulogius. Though he survived the incident, he remained unsuspecting of the gathering storm in the West; since back in Italy, which had been left with barely any men to safeguard the land, and taking advantage of the Emperor’s absence, Gisulf, duke of Friuli and one of the men who stood by the sidelines in the fight against the Franks, revolted against Queen Theodelinda and the young Lombard King Adaloald, both Roman allies, forcing them to flee to Ravenna.
The Roman Empire and its neighbors, on June of 605.
BOOK A
Chapters 1-6
Chapters 1-6
On late March of 602, the Roman Emperor Maurice Tiberius sent two of his sons to Pope Gregory in Italy to achieve a twofold mission. Ever since the descent of the Lombards from the transalpine passes, the situation in the former Roman homeland had been deteriorating, as the Lombard advance had, by then, reached deep into central Italy. Gregory, ruling the ancient capital virtually unchallenged, had negotiated a peace treaty personally with the Lombard raiders to safeguard Rome, in direct opposition of Maurice’s, and the Italian Exarch Callinicus’ orders. In Constantinople, this did not go unnoticed; but at the time, the focus of imperial attention was on the northern bank of the Danube. A two decade war against the Avar khaganate had finally started to go well for the Romans, since the transfer of entire veteran armies from a pacified eastern border. With increasing success at home, the Emperor had begun to plan a renewed offensive in Italy, to drive the Lombard tribes out and reunite the country under Roman rule. It was with this in mind that, instead of chastising Gregory for overstepping his authority, Maurice cleverly sent his oldest son, and co-Emperor, Theodosius, with a sizeable subsidy, to appease the Roman Pontiff, and to start to lay the groundwork for his own arrival. At the same time, and in order to familiarize him with what should become his future domain, Theodosius’ younger ten-year-old brother, Tiberius sailed along with the embassy, and his care was personally entrusted to the Pope.
Enlivened by the arrival of the Roman princes, Gregory grew bold. He pressed Theodosius to make haste, and commence operations against the Lombards at once. But Theodosius, a young man of nineteen, reticent and fully aware that a direct confrontation with all Lombard forces before the arrival of his father’s soldiers would only result in an embarrassing defeat by the numerically inferior Romans, hesitated at first, before yielding to the Pope’s insistence; and even then, decided to try a political approach instead, looking for cracks in the newly built Lombard edifice. Having delivered the entrusted grant to the Pope, he conferred with the Exarch of Ravenna, Callinicus, and agreeing on a strategy, slowly gathered the Italian armies for the upcoming war against the Germanic tribes.
Under the direction of King Alboin, the rash Lombard invasion had spread deep into the peninsula, and after an initial brutal assault, the Romans had rallied and recovered some lost ground. This outcome had led to the creation, or isolation, of two semi-independent duchies, south and east of Rome, Benevento and Spoletto, and a larger, actual kingdom, to the north. Keenly studying his options, Theodosius, advised by the Pontiff, set his sights on the enemy closest, and weakest, to Rome first, the Spolettian dukedom.
With the death of duke Ariulf barely weeks after the young Emperor’s arrival, the duchy of Spoletto was thrown into chaos. Two contenders, Theodelap, and one of his brothers, both children of Faroald, the first duke, emerged and battled one another for control of the land. The internal conflict taking place was entirely outside the control of the Lombard royal court at Pavia. Theodosius carefully collected his forces and marched them south, taking full advantage of an earlier truce negotiated between Callinicus and the Lombard King Agiluf in 598. On June 5th 602, in a battle outside the walls of Spoletto, a Roman army of 9,000 strong under the command of the Exarch crushed the forces of Theodelap, and two weeks later those of his brother, before word of the events even reached Pavia. Immediately, while annexing the broken principality, Theodosius dispatched emissaries to Agiluf, chastising him by listing the raids that the Spolettian Lombards were carrying out against the Romans in Latium in violation of the treaty, before endearing him by delivering a subsidy in gold, and meeting him in a personal conference in Perugia, where both assisted mass together. Although initially the situation remained tense, the lack of further action on the part of the Romans, coupled with the fact that Theodelap might have proven to be an unruly, if not outright aggressive “vassal,” assuaged the King.
Having advanced his father’s agenda without breaking the official truce against the Lombards, Theodosius decided to briefly visit Carthage. He embarked in early July, and was warmly welcomed by the Exarch Heraclius, and his two sons, Heraclius the Younger, and Theodorus. Captivated by the balmy weather, and impressed by the wealth of the provincial capital and its hinterlands, the Emperor remained in Africa for two months. But this would not prove to be entirely a trip of pleasure; becoming slightly more proactive, he personally watched over the diplomatic dealings with the various Moorish tribes. Yet again, taking full advantage of Imperial prestige and majesty, as he had with the Lombards, he held audiences with several of the tribal leaders, renewed their foederati status, and upon his return to Italy in September 602, the African border had been successfully confirmed, and a potential source of auxiliary troops secured.
Arriving in Rome, Theodosius heard of Maurice’s ongoing triumphs against the Avars; but was frustrated by the possibility that his father’s arrival might be delayed until the following year. Unable, or unwilling to wait until then, and emboldened by his previous experience, Theodosius decided to move on his own again, egged on by Gregory. Once more, he flexed his diplomatic muscles and sent the younger Heraclius, who had come to Italy with him, to Agiluf’s court, with evidence of a plot by Arechis, duke of Benevento, to unseat him. In order to understand the following events however, the religious situation of the Lombard nation, and royal court, must be first examined.
Initially a pagan, after his coronation Agiluf converted to Arian Christianity, the most popular branch of that religion amongst the Lombards; an event which greatly displeased his Orthodox wife Theodelinda, to whom he indirectly owed his throne, as she had been married to the previous King Authari, and had chosen him as Authari’s successor. Perhaps to compensate for this, and walking a thin line between popular discontent, and upsetting the powerful woman to whom he was indebted, he accepted to the truce with the Orthodox Romans, as well as baptizing his son Adaloald into the Roman Church shortly after his birth in late 602. Needless to say, the Lombard Queen kept in regular close contact with Pope Gregory, who must have used his influence in order to pressure Theodelinda to impose herself on Agiluf. Whatever actions might have taken place behind the curtain, Theodosius’ embassy shocked Pavia. Arechis was “proven” to be plotting to take the crown for himself, allegedly disgusted by the overtly pro-Orthodox policy of Agiluf. Whether the charges were true or not, shall remain unknown; but in October of the same year, led by the younger Heraclius, newly created magister militum per Italiam, Callinicus, and reinforced by barbarian divisions from Pavia, the Roman armies put an end to the young duchy of Benevento.
Concluding a new treaty of “perpetual peace and alliance” with the Lombard monarch, and fresh from another victory, Theodosius returned to Africa in mid-November, to rest again and, perhaps, continue to cultivate his ties with the Berber tribes. It was during his stay there, that the first tidings of the revolt by the Danubian armies reached him. Unsure on how to react, Theodosius vacillated and wasted a whole month in Carthage until, a week before Christmas, the news of Maurice’s execution, along with those of Theodosius’ own younger brothers’, and Phocas’ acclamation as Emperor arrived. Shortly after, among those ships bearing the dark news, arrived some imperial vessels carrying his wife Irene, his seven-year-old sister Anastasia, and a few other refugees from the Maurician court.
With the confirmed support of the Western provinces, their Exarchs, Pope Gregory, and bolstered by the African and Italian armies, as well as strengthened by small contingents from his new friend Agiluf and men from his Berber clients, the young Emperor launched a frontal assault against Dyrrachium in April of 603. Inexperienced, filled with youthful pride from his small conquests, and confident that luck still shone upon him, he ordered Nicetas, a nephew of the elder Heraclius, to lead the attack. The city was to serve as a bridgehead for Theodosius’ own arrival with the rest of the troops, and mark the start of an offensive that would carry him to Thessalonica, and then to Constantinople. Rude then was the awakening, when the Praesental and Illyrian field armies moved swiftly against Nicetas, and after a two month siege retook the city, captured the troops, and executed their leader, in July of the same year.
As the intestine struggle shaped up in the West, the rise of Phocas created its own challenges in the East. Loyal to Maurice remained Narses, commander of the Mesopotamian armies, and the best, and ablest, military leader that the Romans had. He immediately rose up in rebellion against the new Emperor in Constantinople, in the name of Theodosius, and called on Khosrau, the Sassanian King, who owed his throne to the defunct Augustus. The Iranian sovereign, all too eager to shatter his public chains of subservience, mobilized at once, and soon his forces were pouring over the Roman border.
Meanwhile, Phocas had not been idle. Germanus, dux of Phoenicia, was sent against the rebel, and cornered Narses in Edessa. At about the same time, a fleet sailed from Constantinople towards the West, and a smaller division marched overland through Illyria, to put an end to Theodosius’ adventure once and for all. Fortune, which had carried him from the camp to the palace nonetheless, suddenly deserted the new Caesar. The Iranians arrived swiftly to Narses’ relief, and the combined army crushed Germanus and his men in the vicinity of Constantina. In the West, the Imperial navy was blown apart by a sudden storm in the Adriatic, and its pieces were quickly overtaken by the smaller Italian and African home navies, while the land force was wiped out by the Avars. Undeterred, Phocas ordered a second expedition under the eunuch Leontius to march East and rout Narses and Khosrau. In the West however, impeded by the lack of a naval presence from reaching Italy, he turned to diplomacy. He established a peace accord with the Avars, softened with a hefty tribute, to keep the Danube border stable; and purchased the aid of Theuderic II, King of the Burgundian Franks, in order to deal with Theodosius and the Lombards.
The year of 604 arrived then, with an uneasy impasse in the West as Theuderic prepared, and Leontius was defeated by the Iranian assisted rebel force. The vanquished eunuch returned to Constantinople, only to be flogged and thrown into prison by an irate Phocas. The distressed Emperor now sent yet another division under his own nephew, Domentziolus the Younger, to deal with the eastern front. But the inexpert youth was bested in the field by one of Khosrau’ finest commanders, Farrokhan Shahrbaraz, and barely escaped with his life. At this point, nevertheless, concerned by the extent of his traditional enemies’ success, Narses offered to conduct negotiations with Phocas personally, in exchange for a safe passage and for his return to the East to be guaranteed. The Emperor quickly accepted, and the general was led to the capital, where upon arrival, was unceremoniously seized and burned at the stake in the Hippodrome. Without Narses, Roman resistance in the East collapsed entirely, and Mesopotamia was overrun.
At the same time in the West, Phocas’ ally Theuderic II launched his awaited invasion of Italy in March, shortly after the death of Pope Gregory. The Frank obliterated the Lombard field army under Agiluf at Novara, and then proceeded to take Milan, Turin, and Pavia. To complicate matters further, some disaffected dukes joined the invaders, or chose to remain neutral. The Lombard King, appealed desperately to Theodosius for help, and the young Emperor, hesitant at first due to the loss of the larger part of his troops in Dyrrachium, finally came to the aid of his friend, encouraged by the Empress Irene, some would later say. The battle of Pavia, in June of 604, was hard fought, and a grinding affair for both parties, until an allied victory was secured with the death of the Frankish monarch. Among the fallen, however, was also Agiluf. Theodosius, ever the politician, secured extraordinary concessions from the widowed Theodelinda, and at a stroke, Roman authority once again reached unchallenged all the way to the Po. Although smaller Frankish raids would continue, Callinicus and the northern forces of the Exarchate were empowered enough to deal with the situation. With Italy fortified, and aware of the limits of his now small strength, Theodosius sent Heraclius on a diplomatic mission to Spain, to negotiate Visigothic aid to continue the fight against Phocas.
In the meantime, in Constantinople, Phocas’ men had begun a crackdown of the old guard under Maurice. The Emperor, fearful of a “second Narses” rising, arrested or executed secretly several of the capital’s most prominent civic and military leaders; most notably John Mystacon, general of the Roman expedition that had seated Khosrau on the Iranian throne. These acts unnerved many members of the Senate, as well as other prominent families, and created fertile ground for a secret plot hatched by Maurice’s widow, Constantina, who had been tonsured and locked in a nunnery; the new Praetorian prefect, Theodorus; and the patrician Gennadios. With political intrigue brewing in the Roman capital, the fierce war with the Iranians continued as Dara, the bastion of the East, fell to Shahrbaraz after a siege of nine months in October of 604. An attempted armistice, offered by the younger Domentziolus around this time, was also discarded, as the official goal of the war for the Sassanian monarch remained to avenge Maurice and place Theodosius on his father’s throne.
Back in the West, the death of Theuderic II caused commotion amongst the delicately balanced Frankish kingdoms. Sigebert, a three- year-old infant and Theuderic’s son, was crowned as King and recognized as lord in all the lands owned by his father. The regency, and real power, however, was exercised by his powerful, and crafty, great-grandmother, Brunhilda, who made no secret of her dislike for the King of Neustria, and child of her hated rival Fredegund, Clothar II. Fully aware of her political liability as a woman, she sought the help of her grandson, and Sigebert’s uncle, the eighteen-year-old King of Austrasia, Theudebert II, for the impending fight against Clothar. A secret treaty was hastily concluded between Theudebert and Brunhilda, and a plan devised, to trick and defeat the Neustrian ruler, by promising him the Burgundian crown in exchange for successfully ending the war in Italy.
The last significant event of the year took place in December 9th 604, when Maurice II Justinian was born in Rome. The Empress Irene almost died during childbirth, but eventually recovered, to Theodosius’ great pleasure. The child was soon after baptized by Theodosius’ new handpicked Pope, Boniface III.
The year of 605 opened with new plans by the government in Constantinople to send off a fresh expedition East under the new Comes Orientis, Bonosus; to ship another force West under Phocas’ brother, Domentziolus the Elder; and to sway divine favor on their direction, by bringing about the conversion of the one remaining non-Christian group within the Empire’s borders: the Jews. As the Iranians under Shahin Vahmanzadegan completed the conquest of Armenia, and commenced the advance into Anatolia, revolts erupted all over the largest cities of the eastern provinces, the pacifying of which diverted even more troops from the desperate situation along the front. In the midst of chaos in the East, Theodosius finally decided to make his move. He crowned his brother Tiberius as Caesar, and left for Carthage. Having successfully secured Visigothic assistance in the form of three thousand men, in exchange for almost all of the remaining Roman possessions in Spain, he sailed along the African coast towards Egypt. Although, the majority of stops along the route welcomed him and his men, upon reaching Alexandria, in May of the same year, his troops encountered token resistance, which was rapidly quelled by his personal arrival. Afterward, following the example of their capital, all Egyptian cities switched their allegiance to the son of Maurice.
For those loyal to Phocas, one disaster seemed to follow right after another. Soon after the capitulation of Egypt, which led to some unrest in Constantinople due to the disruption of the grain supply, Farrokhan Shahrbaraz undertook the siege of the Syrian capital Antioch, and after a month-long blockade, successfully seized it with help from Jewish dissidents. Khosrau, encouraged by the successes of his generals, mobilized even more men to be sent towards the West. With the eastern provinces slipping from Rome’s grip, back home, in The City of Constantine, the coup against the Emperor finally took place. But, as one of the few lucky breaks to be had, Phocas was able to get wind of the treacherous conspiracy, and acted swiftly, arresting, and executing all of those involved, even Theodosius’ mother. The only other bit of good news during this time was the successful landing in Sicily by his brother Domentziolus who, after disrupting Theodosius’ supply lines, had orders to move against Africa. Discouraged by his inability to successfully stop the Sassanians, and the western Romans, Phocas began to fall into alcoholism, which further impaired his judgment, increased his paranoia, and made him more reliable on certain favorites and subordinates.
Meanwhile in Egypt, although initially eager to continue on as quickly as possible into Palestine, Theodosius was bogged down by the tense religious conflict between the clerics of the Chalcedonian and Monophysite churches. Unwilling to pronounce himself on the issue, he suffered the consequences shortly after, as an attempt was made on his life by a fanatical assassin, hired by the Chalcedonian Patriarch Eulogius. Though he survived the incident, he remained unsuspecting of the gathering storm in the West; since back in Italy, which had been left with barely any men to safeguard the land, and taking advantage of the Emperor’s absence, Gisulf, duke of Friuli and one of the men who stood by the sidelines in the fight against the Franks, revolted against Queen Theodelinda and the young Lombard King Adaloald, both Roman allies, forcing them to flee to Ravenna.
The Roman Empire and its neighbors, on June of 605.
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Thanks for the summary, it makes understanding all of it much easier!
It also proved to be a good filler to put up with the map anyhow.BOOK B
Chapter 7 -I-
Chapter 7 -I-
As he kept on his way to work, he continued to ask himself what would happen now. The war could not have taken this turn at a better time. He had been married for barely a couple of years, and his wife Zoe had just given birth to Helena, the most beautiful baby girl in the world. But, is there a good time for a war? When was the last time you examined your life, and you asked yourself “would this be a good time for a war?” Better cut it out.
His fish stand at the marketplace was small, but the income it generated was enough to sustain the family. He ran his own numbers, and made his own schedule. Later, he had thought, when things improved, he could hire a helper. So long there is a “later.” He put down the bag with his cutlery, and began to untie the ropes of the stand.
It was hard to concentrate. Ever since Phocas had become Emperor, there was the faint possibility of the conflict reaching Constantinople. The Persians made no secret of their hatred for the murderer of Maurice; and the former Emperor’s son was bound to share the feeling. Now, two and a half years into the fight, the outer provinces were being eaten away and the price of daily living in the capital increased regularly. Ironic, for an Emperor whose claim to the throne lay in eliminating the frugality of his predecessor, and sharing the wealth with the common people. Though for about a year, there seemed to have been the semblance of a certain balance with Phocas holding the East, and Theodosius holding the West, the latter’s takeover of Egypt had finally disrupted that equilibrium. Enough; get to work.
With customers arriving, his concerns were dispelled, and for a few happy hours, the world consisted only of peeling scales and removing spines. But inevitably, reality came back in full force once he returned home for lunch. He entrusted the care of his counter to a neighbor, and left. On crossing the Forum of the Ox, he could not help but overhear a couple of youths attired in the characteristic bright green tunics of their deme, dialoguing loudly about how Antioch was already lost, how the Persians would begin working on a navy right away to invest The City, and how the Avars would take advantage of the situation to move south and seize the European provinces. “We must know when to abandon the sinking ship!” they concluded loudly.
But, when Aurelianus was on the verge of crossing the portico at the far east end, he noticed a group of men coming into the square, sporting blue tunics across their chests, tied at the shoulders, and soon a shouting match ensued: “Death to all enemies of the Empire!” “To Chosroes and Theodosius, his slave!” shouted some. “Long live the rightful Emperor!” “Death to the tyrant!” replied the others. Knowing that this would likely end up in punches and kicks, he hastened his step under the hot summer sun.
His house was small, but cozy. Not bad for someone who’s just starting out. He kissed his wife, and thanked her for the wooden cup full of water, he was served. “I’ll be right back with the food” she said. She was a beautiful woman, with long and almost blonde hair; his friends always taunted him that a regular guy like him did not deserve her. Bullshit. He decided to go check on Helena, as she was lying asleep, wrapped in blankets on her parents’ cot. Steady work, a gorgeous wife, and a healthy daughter, what else could he ask for?
Peace, to enjoy it all. Although making inroads, the Persians were still a long distance away to weigh on his mind heavily. On the other hand, Theodosius’ intentions remained obscure for the majority of the citizens of Constantinople. Whether he would resent Maurice’s death, and the joy of the populace on hearing about it, was the talk of every tavern, shop, and brothel. Perhaps they could get an inkling of his ambitions, if he chose to starve them all to death. And not to be forgotten was also the threat of the barbarians from the north. The Avars had remained quiet, too quiet, since the conclusion of the last war which ended with Phocas’ rise. But lately, their Sklavenoi subjects had been making inroads deeper and deeper into Thrace. There was even chatter at the market that the Emperor really had no force at all defending the Danube.
They prayed shortly before eating. Like always, Zoe asked him how work had gone during the morning. He replied with some small talk about it, but avoided mentioning the incident at the Forum. Home was not the right place to talk about uncomely things. But the rustic walls, could not keep out the wider world.
“They say that there won’t be any more wheat…Is that true?” Zoe commented gravely.
“We shouldn’t worry. Something will come up” he replied, putting a bite in his mouth to avoid elaborating further. Hopefully that should settle the issue.
“But what if nothing does? What if the war makes it here? You’re not going to fight are you?” insisted his wife.
Whatever the Emperor says, I suppose. He shrugged, since he really did not know what would happen. “Who knows” he said finally, taking another bite right after, and chewing loudly.
Zoe did not take it so lightly. “You have to think about me! And Helena! What’s to become of us if you’re dead?” Tears had begun to well up in her eyes.
Aurelianus swallowed the food. “It is of no use to worry about things that might not even happen. The soldiers have the borders protected, and the Emperor will find a way to restore the food supply. In the meantime, we shouldn’t stress too much” he told her, attempting to calm the air. Not that he was lying either; as far as he knew, the armies had no manpower shortages, in spite of the rumors about some citizens in Hellas being conscripted. But, that surely could not happen here.
He tried to finish lunch without any more incidents, and finally got Zoe to calm down. He returned to work with the hopes that his dead fish would relieve him from politics. It would not be so.
Waiting for him at the stand, was his friend and customer Andreas. He invited him to take a seat with the spare stool he had, knowing fully well how the conversation would go, and they both took their places behind the counter. They talked a little about the heat, and of the business, before Andreas got to the point, with a softer tone, almost whispering.
“Look Aurelianus,” he started, “I know that you’re not really into politics, but I want you to support the Green demarch in the days to come.”
Aurelianus made a face before replying. “I don’t know…remember that the Greens were the ones cheering Phocas on at the beginning…”
“See what good that did? And you don’t think that the Blues have turned into his whores now?” he answered, with obvious disgust, and looking carefully around. “I have heard from very reliable sources that the Comes Excubitorum might make a move. That can only mean one thing.”
He had some skepticism. “Priscus?”
“Believe me; it is from a good source. Apparently, he might try to declare for the son of Maurice. Or so I hope. Imagine if we hold onto Phocas. Egypt is gone, and so is our food. At any moment Antioch will fall and the Persians will mop up the rest of Syria and Anatolia. And the Avars are still hanging over our heads.”
“You’re exaggerating. Hasn’t one of Phocas’ brothers landed somewhere in the West?”
“Clutching at straws” countered Andreas with a hand gesture. “They know they’re going to lose the war and want to get a few punches in before it’s all over.”
Aurelianus sighed. He was not really convinced. “Well… so what’s your demarch going to do?”
“Once things are in place, he will need all of us to hold The City down until some authority can be restored. And, we might expect the Blues to throw a fit.”
“I don’t know Andreas. You want to get us involved in a war that I don’t want anything to do with!” he exclaimed, in a louder tone.
Andreas got up, raised his hands, as if freeing himself of any responsibility, and once again looked around to see if they had been heard. “As you wish, Aurelianus. But whether you want it or not, the war will come to Constantinople. It’s just matter of deciding if we’ll up on the right side.” He departed with a cold wave.
Aurelianus looked at the marketplace. The people wandered about, taking care of their businesses, or just walking casually. No one had paid any attention to them. Kyrie eleison. Your will be done.
Right now what is the population of Constantinople? I expect it to go into a nose dive since the grains gone
Constantinople's population was down a bit from its early sixth century apogee, but it was still probably the biggest city in the world, with a population of perhaps about 400,000.
Nice update- I was worried this had gone away! Will we be back to being nice and regular now? I seem to remember that you said you had a "stock" of written chapters that was beginning to run low: have you been able to "replenish" this?
I would have thought it just shy of 500,000, given that they had a little over a generation to recover from the most recent breakouts of the plague. But I might defer to BG’s opinion on this.
Very true.
Danke Schoen!
Thanks. I’ve got plans to continue this, as far as real life will let me!
Funny you should mention the “stock.” All I have left of the on-hand-ready-to-go update stack, is three more. After that, I’ve been able to make some progress, as I’ve expanded the rough drafts to around 30 new subchapters. I might need to switch the focus to those now, in order to polish them and try to get back to regular updating!
Chapter 7 -II-
Being back in Antioch was different. The natural reaction when walking around the city before, had been one of caution, as taught by his parents; to not upset a Christian when conducting one’s business, or just walking in town; but not now. Not anymore. After the success of their initial rebellion, he had had to abandon the place, when the forces of the Imperial Comes Scholai stormed it, and the defenders, nothing but rabbles armed with a few swords, farm tools, and rocks, had been unable to keep them out. Nonetheless, him and others fleeing, just as Moshe had promised, had been received by the Persians with open arms. All of them were settled into houses in the occupied cities, and allowed to move around unmolested. As equals. However, the best reward had been to be given a horse and weapons of his own, and to have played a part in the retaking of his city.
“Very well then, we’ll have everything ready for tomorrow. Will see you then” Yareb heard someone say in Greek, next to him. The door had opened, and a Persian, surrounded by his guards, was leaving the room, without so much as looking at him. He must have been someone important, as his vestments indicated. But the ostentation in the garments of the guards was not far behind; bright blue, and teal, with golden inlets. Happy clothing to die in. He continued to contemplate them, speaking in their tongue, as they walked down the dark hall on their way out.
“Yareb Ben Asher! Come in!” called a voice from the room, in Hebrew.
He stood up, and walked in. The chamber had been seized from some Roman bureaucrat, or so it seemed; ornamented with mosaics, vases, paintings, and finely embroidered curtains. Unremarkable among the baroque concoction of Roman luxury, sitting in one of the red couches at the left end of the room, was the man who had summoned him, attired in a plain brown tunic, Moshe Ben Tahmid. “Please, be seated” he indicated, pointing to the seat across his own.
Yareb shut the door behind him, and assented, sitting down. “It is good to see you again Rab [1.]”
“God bless you. I am glad to see you made it back safely.”
“Yes, having a horse of your own does make things far easier. I was able to go back to my old house… luckily it was still there…though a few things were missing” he informed him. The bastards had sacked the place.
“A few… I understand. Nevertheless, I am most pleased that the Lord has kept you safe” the older Jew retorted, rubbing his hands together. “Well, you must be wondering, why I called on you so soon after your return home.”
He nodded silently, before his host started: “As you know Yareb, this war continues. The Persians are still victorious, with God’s help indubitably, and are now poised to move south, into Israel.”
Just like you had said, he thought.
“The problem, as I see it, lies in the root of this war. Chosroes seems unwilling to fight the son of Maurice, who is now in Egypt, within reach of Jerusalem. Should he march north, there’s no guarantee that our current friends will move against him. But, as you must realize, this is an unacceptable outcome for us. We need to seize our land from the gentiles quickly, before Theodosius moves in” proceeded Moshe.
Another revolt. But how? “There are no considerable numbers on our side there, like it was here…” Yareb responded, doubtful.
“You are mistaken my friend. The land is indeed full of Christians. But I have been able to reach those who are our friends there. Ever heard of Binyamin Ben Doran [2]?”
He had in fact heard of the man. Hailing from Tiberias, he was the richest merchant in all of Palestine, and commanded the esteem and respect of all the Jews of that city, and had, as far as he knew, disappeared with his fortune when Alexander arrived in the province. “I have…can we count him in?”
“Of course. I have been in contact with him for some time now. He has assured us of being able to arm at least four thousand men from Tiberias, Nazareth, and the Galilean mountains” added Moshe, with a bright smile across his face.
Yareb rubbed his palms together, placed his elbows on his legs, and then rested his chin on his joined hands. Moshe; you’ve done it, yet again…
“However, there’s still work to be done. The man you saw leaving here was the Persian leading general, the one they call the ‘Boar of the Kingdom’” continued his interlocutor. “He came to inform me that Chosroes has mobilized the faithful in his lands, and a force of fifteen thousand men will be arriving in Dara sometime next week, under the command of the Rosh Galut’s [3] son, Nehemiah Ben Hushiel. He wants me to go meet him, and to coordinate our movements with Binyamin’s uprising. And I want you to come with me.”
He was taken aback for a few seconds. Before the Antiochian revolt, he had been a simple goat herder, looking exclusively after the family’s flock. The war had seemed irrelevant, and unimportant, to him, like so many of the other fights between the Romans and the Persians, in which the Jews played no part. Yet, things only deteriorated for him and his people, with the arrival of Phocas’ persecution, which took away his family; but without leadership, and purpose, they were still powerless. Somehow Moshe, then a merchant, had been able to discern the opportunity that the current conflict presented, and had acted accordingly, organizing the uprising in their home city, and reaching out to the advancing armies of Chosroes. And, Yareb had been then just one of the many hopeful and young Jews, who rallied behind him. What did the former trader see in him?
“I’d be honored Rab. But I do not think that I can be of much assistance to our great cause…”
“Nonsense” countered Moshe, waving a hand in front of him. “You are one of those, who has real faith in what we are doing. You have faith in me. I can see it in your eyes.” The stare of the older man seemed encouraging, fortifying.
Do I really? he considered in silence, looking down.“Without a doubt, I will apply myself to the task and not rest until we can pray together at the rebuilt Temple once again” said Yareb softly, nodding, and reassuring himself.
The older Jew grinned again. “Good. The last thing that you should know, is that we need to be sure of where Nehemiah’s loyalties lie, once we get to meet him. Do you understand what I mean?”
He was utterly clueless. “No…”
“The Persians are behind us now. But we cannot depend on them forever; someone is going to win this war, one way or another. Should they do it, we need to be ready to fit in the new order without becoming their slaves. Should the Romans do it, however mauled and weakened they end up, we must be ready to defend our newly won independence from them. The son of Hushiel is a young man, like you, whose mind might be untainted by the evil of this world. And, as things stand now, Nehemiah and his men, coupled with Binyamin’s, will be the closest thing we will get to a real army for at least a decade. And we need to know if he is truly with us, or with the gentiles. That is why I want you with me: your conviction will demonstrate to him the eagerness of the Syrian Jews to restore the Promised Land to all of us!”
Moshe was once again looking into the distant future, past pitiful material gain, to an independent Kingdom of Israel, with that uncanny farsightedness of his. He had gotten the Jews of Antioch this far; and for all Yareb knew, the former merchant sitting in front of him now, could very well prove to be the Messiah himself. He had known what’s best. He must know what’s best. He does know what’s best.
“If that is the case, I will speak with Ben Hushiel personally” he asserted as he stood up, and stretched the flaps of his tunic. “He will see the light.”
“I knew I could count on you” responded Ben Tahmid, looking up at him and tugging lightly on his black beard. “Get ready then; we travel light tomorrow.”
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[2] Benjamin of Tiberias - IOTL this man enlisted and armed many soldiers during the Jewish revolt against Heraclius, and participated in the Sassanian siege and capture of Jerusalem in 614, after which he continued playing a mayor administrative role. The surname Ben Doran is entirely fictitious.
[3] Rosh Galut – Hebrew title of the Jewish Exilarch of Ctesiphon; the political and religious head of all Jews, who left during the Babylonian exile after the fall of Jerusalem in 597 BC. The original community housed in Babylon, was later relocated to Seleucia and Ctesiphon, and never left the East, but was instead strengthened and enlarged, with waves of new arrivals from the ensuing persecutions of Jews in pre and Christian Rome.
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Just wanted to say I'm loving this timeline. I haven't commented on it until now because I don't have much to contribute. This timeline is my favorite one to read at the moment, and I'll be looking forward for more.
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