Do me a map, if you want.
Roughly, it's similar to OTL's Turkish/Syrian border, with imperial control also encompassing the major coastal fortresses of Lebanon and Palestine, which are resupplied by ship from Cyprus.
Isaac's Empire 2.0
- Thread starter Basileus Giorgios
- Start date
Do me a map, if you want.
Roughly, it's similar to OTL's Turkish/Syrian border, with imperial control also encompassing the major coastal fortresses of Lebanon and Palestine, which are resupplied by ship from Cyprus.
katchen
Banned
Instead of some Siberian ethnic group like the Evenki or the Ket or the Yakut moving down into the steppe and increasing in numbers before moving west, how about the Tibetan Tanguts who have already created Hsi Hsia and have their own alphabet and are Vajrayana Buddhist?Such a paradox, an author needs an active thread to be motivated to put out updates but a thread with constant updates will no doubt be active.
I recall that the Mongols won't be the Steppe invaders this time around, any hints on who it will be?
(from the Wikipedia article Tangut People
he Tanguts divided themselves into two classes: the "Black Headed" Tanguts, and the "Red Faced" Tanguts. The Red Faced Tanguts comprised the commonality while the Black Headed Tanguts were the elite priestly caste. Although Buddhism was extremely popular among the Tangut people, many Tangut herdsmen continued to practice an ancient shamanic religion known as "Root West". The black caps worn by Root West shamans gave the Black Headed caste its name. According to Tangut myth, the ancestor of the Black Headed Tanguts was a heavenly white crane, while the ancestor of the Red Faced Tanguts was a monkey. Ancient sources describe Tanguts as being short, stocky, dark-skinned, and thick-lipped. They wore their hair in the Tufa style, shaved bald except for a long fringe of bangs that framed the face. Tangut kings went by the title of Wuzu. History[edit]
The founder of the Tangut, the Tuoba Xianbei, was a famous prince of the Tuyuhun Empire (284–670), Tuoba Chici. In the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Tuoba brought troops to suppress the Huangchao Rebellion on behalf of the Tang court and took control of the Xia State, or Xia Zhou, in northern Shaanxi in 881. After the Tang fell in 907, the Tuoba descendants formally declared resistance against the expanding Northern Song in 982 by Li Deming (李德明) and proclaimed independence to establish the Tangut Empire by his son, Li Yuanhao (李元昊) in 1038.
In Tangut-language sources the Tangut state was called the "Great State of White and Lofty" (phôn¹ mbın² lhi̯ə tha²).[3] Although the Chinese translation of this name (Báigāo dàguó 白高大國) was occasionally used in Tangut sources,[4] the state was most commonly referred to as the "Great Xia" (大夏) in Western Xia Chinese-language sources or as the "Xia State" (夏國) in Song dynasty sources.[5] In later historiography and in modern Chinese the Tangut state is referred to as the "Western Xia" (Xī Xià 西夏). The Mongols and other steppe tribes referred to the Tangut kingdom as "Qashi" or "Qashin", which was derived from "He Xi" (河西), the Chinese name for the region the Tanguts controlled.
Since the Tangut's founding father, Li Deming, was not a very conservative ruler, the Tangut people began to absorb more and more of the Chinese culture that surrounded them, but never lost their actual identity, as is proven by the vast amount of literature which survived the Tangut state itself.
Li Deming's more conservative son, Li Yuanhao, (李元昊) sought to restore and strengthen the Tangut people's identity by ordering the creation of an official Tangut script and by instituting laws that reinforced traditional cultural customs. One of the laws he mandated called for citizens to wear traditional ethnic apparel, and another required wearing hair short or shaving the head, as opposed to the Chinese custom at the time of wearing hair long and knotted. Rejecting the common Chinese surname of "Li" (given to the Xixia by the Tang Dynasty court) and "Zhao" (given to the Xixia by the Song Dynasty court) he adopted the Tangut surname "Weiming" (嵬名). He made "Xingqing" (興慶)(present day Yinchuan (銀川)) his capital city.
Beckwith (2009)[5] describes the Tangut as a people that primarily lived in the Ordos, the bend of the Yellow River. (p. 171) Under T'o-pa Ssu-kung they conquered Ch'ang-an (Xian) between 881 and 895 and expanded their reign southward and westward until they reached their original homeland in Tibet and Central Asia.(ibid p. 172).
In the thirteenth century, Genghis Khan unified the northern grasslands of Mongolia and led the Mongol troops to carry out six rounds of attacks against Tangut over a period of twenty-two years (1202, 1207, 1209–10, 1211–13, 1214–19, 1225–26). During the last round of the Mongol attacks, Genghis died in Western Xia. The official account of the Mongol history attributed his death to an illness, whereas legends accounted that he died from a wound inflicted in the battles. In 1227 the capital of Western Xia was overrun by the Mongols, who devastated its buildings and written records: all was burnt to the ground except its monastery. The last emperor was killed and tens of thousands of civilians massacred. However, many Tangut families joined the Mongol Empire. Some of them led Mongol armies, e.g. Cha'an, into the conquest of China. After the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) was established, the Tangut troops were incorporated into the Mongol army in their subsequent military conquests in central and southern China. The Tangut were considered Semu under the Yuan class system, thus separating them from the North Chinese. As late as the Ming dynasty, there was evidence of small Tangut communities in Anhui and Henan provinces. The people including members of the royal clan emigrated to western Sichuan, northern Tibet, even possibly northeast India, in some instances becoming local rulers. [6][7][8][9] The Tangut people lived in Central China preserved their language until at least the 16th century.
Religion[edit]
The main religion of the Tangut state was Buddhism, which played a very important role in Tangut society. The entire Chinese Buddhist canon was translated into the Tangut language over a span of 50 years and published around 1090 in about 3700 juan—a remarkable feat, compared to the time it took the Chinese to accomplish the same task. The Buddhism in Xixia is generally believed to be an amalgamation of Tibetan and Chinese traditions, among which Huayan Chan (tradition of Guifeng Zongmi (Chinese: 圭峰宗密), 780–841, his master Huayan Chengguan) was the most influential. Another characteristic feature of Tangut Buddhism was similar to the Buddhist beliefs in the Khitan kingdom of Liao: a number of texts previously believed to be of native Tangut origin, turned out to be translations of Khitan source texts. The degree of Tibetan impact on the formation of Tangut Buddhism still remains unexplored, especially in the light of new discoveries showing that Tangut Buddhism owed more to the local culture in Northern China than to pure Tibetan or Han Chinese influences. Texts belonging to the Tibetan Mahamudra tradition demonstrate that Tangut Buddhism initially evolved along the Karma Kagyu rather than Sakya lines of Buddhist transmission. A number of Tangut Buddhist institutions, such as "Imperial Preceptor" survived the Tangut State itself and are to be found during Yuan dynasty. One of the more definite sources of Tangut Buddhism was Wutaishan, where both Huayan and Esoteric Buddhism flourished since the late Tang period up to the time of Mongol invasion.
Solonin (2005: unpaginated) links Tangut, Ch'an, Helanshan, Sichuan, Rev. Kim and Bao-tang Wu-zhu:
BAD THINGS.
That's probably the influence of my dissertation writing style creeping into IE, I would think. Formality will probably loosen as updates go on, but we'll see I suppose! IE readers, if interested, can read my dissertation on Egypt in the sixth century AD here.
Two other bits of candy for IE readers. Firstly, I've massively updated the interactive family tree of the Emperors that's online at familyecho.com. You can login to this by using the username "IEFan" and password "Komnenos". I'm working through the process of adding in the various noble families of the Empire to this tree, as well as the ancestors of later characters who pop up in the first version of the TL.
Secondly, I may do some brief guides to said noble families as they stand in 1212, if readers would be interested?
It was going to be, but for the first couple of families I've just written a few paragraphs on them: this is partly because families like the Doukai are just so extensive, I'd have to do different ASOIAF style guides for different branches of one family. Plus, there's the fact that Byzantium differs from medieval western Europe, on which Westeros is based, in that leadership of a particular clan largely depends on the position in the Imperial hierarchy one holds, rather than simply being the eldest heir to estates.
I will try to get some of these up tomorrow: like I say, I have two written, but I'd like to do a few more and then release them every few days in the next week or so. Then I'll release the next update, which is 2/3 written already!
Productivity ahoy.
The House of Doukas in 1212
Well, I am glad!
Here are the Doukai. I have something longer written up on them, but that can come in the week. The important segment of the family are here, portrayed in ASOIAF appendix style.
The nobility of Rhōmanía in 1212 Part 1
Keep it up, BG!
Thanks!
Here's a bit of information on the Komnenoi and Doukai. Coming up in the next few days: the Kantakouzenoi and Nafpliotis families, then the Palaiologoi and Melissenoi, and then the more minor families, and then the next chapter! I'm aiming to get something new up on the thread every few days for the next few weeks, to compensate for lack of activity.
Any Greek speakers available to tell me what the plural of "Nafpliotis" would be? Nafpliotoi? Nafpliotai? Other?
THE NOBILITY OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE EARLY THIRTEENTH CENTURY
Beginning in the early ninth century, imperial politics increasingly began to resemble a tug-of-war between various military baronial families, largely based in eastern Asia Minor, and the bureaucratic apparatus of the state back at Constantinople. This struggling reached a head in the tenth century, with the savage repression of the barons by the Emperor Basil II, but following Basil’s death, they began to spring back into life, although many of the old families, such as the Phokades and Skleroi would never regain the influence they enjoyed in the tenth century. New families arose in the post-Basil era, notably the Komnenoi and Palaiologoi, the former of whom seized the throne in 1057, and decisively defeated their rivals after the Battle of Claudiopolis in 1063. The Komnenoi generally managed to stay on top of their aristocratic rivals barring one savage flare-up in the reign of Isaac II (1117-22), but the other noble families continued to prosper, some more than others. This, then, is a brief guide to the major families encountered by George I when he took the throne in the autumn of 1212.
HOUSE OF KOMNENOS
The House of Komnenos claims descent from one Manuel Erotikos Komnenos, a general and friend of Basil II. Manuel died young around 1010, and his two sons John and Isaac were brought up by the great Emperor. Isaac later took Basil’s throne in 1057, but his own son had died long before this, and the remaining Komnenoi are the descendents of his brother John Komnenos and his wife Anna Dalassēnē, from whose line five further Komnenid Emperors emerged.
By 1212, the Komnenoi are largely extinct, thanks to the purges of the 1180s that saw most of them destroyed. The notional heir to the family is the young Isaac, a great-great-great grandson of Manuel Erotikos Komnenos, but Isaac has been forced into monastic exile by the incoming regime of George of Genoa. Besides Isaac, there are his three sisters, all of whom have been married off to allies of George (the youngest, Zoe, is the bride of the new Emperor) and the nun Anna Komnena, the daughter of Isaac’s cousin Michael, who was killed in 1187 as a member of a rival branch of the family. Michael’s two infant sons Basil and Constantine disappeared in 1187, but their bodies were never displayed by the Empress Eirene (a Komnenid only by marriage) and her allies, which has led to rumours of their survival. To all extents and purposes, though, the Komnenid name is now extinct, even if the bloodline lives on.
HOUSE OF DOUKAS
Originally lords from the Anatolian marches, over the course of the eleventh and twelfth centuries the Doukai transferred their base further westward, to be centred on Thrace, for easy access to the capital. Though a very ancient family indeed, the current Doukai are all the descendents of another Basil II-era general named Andronikos Doukas, who participated in the Bulgarian wars of the early eleventh century. Andronikos’ two sons, Constantine and John, were significant figures at court in the early Komnenid period, allied especially to Michael Psellos. With the fall of the Psellos-led faction in the late 1070s, though, the Doukai found themselves being pushed somewhat into the background at court, and they reverted once more to largely holding military positions. The family heir, Constantine the Younger, died following his injuries sustained at the Battle of Haram in Serbia in 1130.
Leadership of the broader Doukas clan now passed to Constantine’s younger brother Bardas Doukas. Bardas was able to knit together close alliances with the other noble families of the empire, marrying off his son Michael to Eirene Melissene, the daughter of a disgraced but wealthy general named Theodosios, and his sister Theophano to Nikēphoros Bryennios the Younger, an ally of the imperial family. It is the line descended from Michael Doukas that is now the wealthiest, bringing together the combined might of the two ancient houses of Doukas and Melissenos, plus absorbing newcomers, notably the Photopouloi. With all of this wealth and power, Michael Doukas was able to act with plenty of eyebrow-raising swagger in the capital, notably naming his son and heir Theodosios after the boy’s anti-Komnenid rebel grandfather.
Theodosios was never a particularly strong supporter of John II or his successors, but by the marriage of his daughter Eirene Doukaina to a cousin, Alexios Doukas, from a lesser branch of the family, the Doukai were brought back into court politics, with Alexios being one of Eirene Nafpliotissa’s strongest supporters together with his brother-in-law Bardas and his son Constantine. This state of affairs continued right up to 1210, when Alexios was disgraced by the Empress Eirene. This foolish act cost her support of the powerful Doukai, who naturally threw their support behind the Bringas-led rebels (indeed, David Bringas himself was married to an aunt of Bardas Doukas) and were richly rewarded for it. Constantine Doukas can now count himself a member of George I’s family, being married to one of the last Komnenid princesses. The future for the Roman Empire’s “first family” undoubtedly looks bright.
The Doukai have roots going back into the ninth century: indeed, if I recall correctly they claimed descent from the Senatorial aristocracy of the Old Rome. The current Doukai all trace their roots back to one of Basil's generals, though, with the other branches of the family having gone extinct in the male line or slid into obscurity. The majority of them in the IE universe are the descendants of the Constantine Doukas who in our timeline was Emperor from 1059 to 1067.
And yes, I certainly hear you on Erotikos Komnenos.
There'll be a map sooner or later, but it's a big job so I hope you'll forgive me if you get more text in the meantime!
Any update is fine. I have missed the epicness of this timeline. I look forward to seeing the first usurper.
I am planning to work in one who we didn't see the first time round!
The nobility of Rhōmanía in 1212 Part 2
Another mini section on aristocrats!
Like the Nafpliotis family, the Kantakouzenoi are minor Anatolian dynasts, coming to attention under Isaac I, when one Michael Kantakouzenos distinguished himself in battle at Claudiopolis. Thereafter, the family’s ascendancy was relatively rapid, although three of Michael’s four sons perished before their father, leaving only the youngest, George Kantakouzenos, to inherit the family’s large estates in Lydia in 1096. George was a noted opponent of Alexios Komnenos, and went so far in 1115 as to marry the daughter of the disgraced rebel Theodosios Melissenos and name his son after the rebel, in doing so anticipating a similar move by Michael Doukas a generation later.
The marriage of George’s youngest daughter Maria to Leo Nafpliotis, brother of the Italian Katepánō Constantine, in 1147 allowed the Kantakouzenoi a strong lock on power as Nafpliotis influence increased in the decades that followed. Maria Kantakouzene provided Leo Nafpliotis with five sons, who went out to become among the staunchest supporters of the Empress Eirene.
Young Theodosios, meanwhile, enjoyed an impressive career in civilian politics in Constantinople itself, initially under the tutelage of the elderly Parakoimomenos Basilios, which his sons George, John and Eutychios (a eunuch) would follow as the years went on. Theodosios into a mercantile family, spurning the offers of rival aristocratic clans, a shrewd move that greatly increased the wealth and influence open to the Kantakouzenoi; by the end of the 1170s they were by far the greatest of the Constantinople-based aristocratic families, with estates across the empire. Unlike their peers, the Kantakouzenoi felt very little attachment to their ancestral lands, with both George and John happily selling off their Lydian homelands for plots elsewhere.
By 1212, the family is headed by John Kantakouzenos, who holds a number of archaic offices in the Senate as well as a vast degree of influence across the city. John is supported by two nephews and a son of his own, plus his cousins Joseph and Athemios Nafpliotis. To an extent, the Kantakouzenoi can be seen as an extension of the Nafpliotidai, although they have links to other families, notably the Palaiologoi. Rich, forward-looking, and powerful, the future for the Kantakouzenoi is full of opportunity.
As the Nafpliotis-led regime of Eirene settled into power over the 1180s, these five young men became amongst the most powerful in the Empire, bringing with it a degree of legitimacy. The trouble for the Nafpliotidai was a relative dearth of genuine talent: certainly the eldest of the brothers, Nikēphoros, proved himself militarily to be a disaster with his humiliating defeat in 1197. The second son, Leo, meanwhile made many enemies in Constantinople, to the extent that upon his natural death in 1211 rumours spread that he had been poisoned by an ally of Eirene, eager to rid the Empress of the embarrassing weight of her cousin. In Italy, meanwhile, the Katepánō Christopher was killed by mutinying soldiers early in 1212.
This leaves only two surviving Nafpliotidai left for the incoming George of Genoa to deal with: but the new regime must tread carefully, for Joseph Nafpliotis, the fourth brother, now controls the vast majority of the extensive family estates, and is a rather more balanced and capable character than his older brothers to boot. Joseph can also boast two legitimate sons, Leo and George, as well as a castrated bastard named Rōmanos. His younger brother Anthemios meanwhile holds the coveted office of Parakoimomenos, and is thus crucial in the court hierarchy of Constantinople. The Nafpliotidai may have lost a lot of their old swagger with the death of “their” Empress, but it would be a brave man who declared them to be written off entirely.
HOUSE OF KANTAKOUZENOS
Like the Nafpliotis family, the Kantakouzenoi are minor Anatolian dynasts, coming to attention under Isaac I, when one Michael Kantakouzenos distinguished himself in battle at Claudiopolis. Thereafter, the family’s ascendancy was relatively rapid, although three of Michael’s four sons perished before their father, leaving only the youngest, George Kantakouzenos, to inherit the family’s large estates in Lydia in 1096. George was a noted opponent of Alexios Komnenos, and went so far in 1115 as to marry the daughter of the disgraced rebel Theodosios Melissenos and name his son after the rebel, in doing so anticipating a similar move by Michael Doukas a generation later.
The marriage of George’s youngest daughter Maria to Leo Nafpliotis, brother of the Italian Katepánō Constantine, in 1147 allowed the Kantakouzenoi a strong lock on power as Nafpliotis influence increased in the decades that followed. Maria Kantakouzene provided Leo Nafpliotis with five sons, who went out to become among the staunchest supporters of the Empress Eirene.
Young Theodosios, meanwhile, enjoyed an impressive career in civilian politics in Constantinople itself, initially under the tutelage of the elderly Parakoimomenos Basilios, which his sons George, John and Eutychios (a eunuch) would follow as the years went on. Theodosios into a mercantile family, spurning the offers of rival aristocratic clans, a shrewd move that greatly increased the wealth and influence open to the Kantakouzenoi; by the end of the 1170s they were by far the greatest of the Constantinople-based aristocratic families, with estates across the empire. Unlike their peers, the Kantakouzenoi felt very little attachment to their ancestral lands, with both George and John happily selling off their Lydian homelands for plots elsewhere.
By 1212, the family is headed by John Kantakouzenos, who holds a number of archaic offices in the Senate as well as a vast degree of influence across the city. John is supported by two nephews and a son of his own, plus his cousins Joseph and Athemios Nafpliotis. To an extent, the Kantakouzenoi can be seen as an extension of the Nafpliotidai, although they have links to other families, notably the Palaiologoi. Rich, forward-looking, and powerful, the future for the Kantakouzenoi is full of opportunity.
HOUSE OF NAFPLIOTIS
The Nafpliotidai rocketed to prominence in the middle of the twelfth century thanks to the efforts of the father of their dynasty, Constantine Nafpliotis, who established close links with a number of leading figures in the regime of Manuel Komnenos thanks to his genial and personable nature. This perceived closeness to the Government aided Constantine further with a prestigious wife, Pulcheria, daughter of the great Norman general Jordan of Aversa. Jordan had hoped by the marriage he would save his crumbling political career in the early part of the reign of John II. The gambit failed, but Pulcheria gained her inheritance intact, and it passed on to the family, with Constantine taking care to provide for his younger brother Leo and Leo’s five sons. As the Nafpliotis-led regime of Eirene settled into power over the 1180s, these five young men became amongst the most powerful in the Empire, bringing with it a degree of legitimacy. The trouble for the Nafpliotidai was a relative dearth of genuine talent: certainly the eldest of the brothers, Nikēphoros, proved himself militarily to be a disaster with his humiliating defeat in 1197. The second son, Leo, meanwhile made many enemies in Constantinople, to the extent that upon his natural death in 1211 rumours spread that he had been poisoned by an ally of Eirene, eager to rid the Empress of the embarrassing weight of her cousin. In Italy, meanwhile, the Katepánō Christopher was killed by mutinying soldiers early in 1212.
This leaves only two surviving Nafpliotidai left for the incoming George of Genoa to deal with: but the new regime must tread carefully, for Joseph Nafpliotis, the fourth brother, now controls the vast majority of the extensive family estates, and is a rather more balanced and capable character than his older brothers to boot. Joseph can also boast two legitimate sons, Leo and George, as well as a castrated bastard named Rōmanos. His younger brother Anthemios meanwhile holds the coveted office of Parakoimomenos, and is thus crucial in the court hierarchy of Constantinople. The Nafpliotidai may have lost a lot of their old swagger with the death of “their” Empress, but it would be a brave man who declared them to be written off entirely.
No interest in these little bonus chapters?
The new update is complete, and will be published in a few hours' time.
The new update is complete, and will be published in a few hours' time.
Chapter Fifteen: The Calm Between Storms
Yup: that's what I aim for!
Anyway, here's what we're all here for: chapter fifteen!
Chapter Fifteen: The Calm Between Storms
"Some bad men murmured that the Empress should be cast aside and replaced with a broad-hipped wench of the tavern, but the pious Emperor, beloved of God, spat on their suggestions and sent them cringing from his glorious presence"
Xiphilinus the Lydian, Three Saintly Emperors
"Some bad men murmured that the Empress should be cast aside and replaced with a broad-hipped wench of the tavern, but the pious Emperor, beloved of God, spat on their suggestions and sent them cringing from his glorious presence"
Xiphilinus the Lydian, Three Saintly Emperors
George I was crowned Emperor of the Romans in September 1212 with minimal fuss, but the new monarch must have been abundantly aware that he had a mountain to climb in terms of dealing with the legacy of Eirene. All around the Empire, the Empress’ men remained in positions of power: even if she had angered the Doukai, others remained more than happy to support her, notably the houses of Palaiologos and Kantakouzenos[1], to say nothing of the surviving members of the Nafpliotis clan. The thirty-four year old Italian can also hardly have been unaware of the uncomfortable precedent for Komnenids to emerge from monasteries and stir up havoc.[2] It was a difficult situation which required a delicate hand: fortunately, George I possessed this natural caution in abundance.
As things turned out, Eirene’s three daughters spent less than a month in their monasteries before being recalled to Constantinople to be married. Here, George took a calculated gamble. The eldest daughter, a proud young woman by the name of Theophano, was married off to Michael Bringas, the son of David and a man who might have hoped to be Emperor. Instead, he was awarded with the office of Katepánō of Italy and membership of the imperial house. This could have been risky, and a less confident man than George would have been wary about the marriage. But the two men had served together in the revolt, and the new Emperor probably knew Michael Bringas well enough to judge he would be satisfied with his reward. It was, as things turned out, the correct decision; Bringas went on to be a loyalist despite his wife, who in the event died in childbirth four years after the marriage. Meanwhile, the middle daughter, named Eirene for her mother, was married off to Constantine Doukas, the son of the Alexios who had so dramatically fallen from favour in the old regime. Once again, it was the correct decision: Constantine and Eirene fell deeply in love, and their marriage was long, happy, and most importantly, loyal.
The final marriage would be that of the Emperor himself. George had initially considered marrying a princess of the Doukai, on account of the Empress Eirene’s alleged devilry, but was assured by the Patriarch that such impurity could not have passed on to her daughters.[3] With this assurance there could only really be one choice: and the Emperor George was married to Zoe Komnena. Within a few months, the new Empress had a child in her belly.
There were plenty of other loose ends flickering in the wind, however. Most pressing of these were Eirene’s two surviving male cousins, Joseph and Anthemios Nafpliotis.[4] Anthemios, as a eunuch, could be treated leniently, and he was confirmed in his position as Parakoimomenos by the new Emperor, but Joseph was trickier, controlling as he did the great Nafpliotis family estates. In the end, George opted to appease Joseph Nafpliotis well, trusting that there would be no popular support for a return of the family to power. Named Domestikos tēs Anatolēs, Joseph was sent eastward with his bastard son Rōmanos to try and begin the process of restoring the frontiers there. His two sons, Leo and George, were kept behind by the Emperor- wisely, as it turned out. Early in 1213, George Nafpliotis attempted to ferment an uprising in the capital, which for a day or two seemed to seriously threaten the Emperor, before it lost steam and the young nobleman was captured and tortured prior to being paraded around the hippodrome and executed.[5]It was a salutary lesson for the last remaining potential threats. The young Isaac Komnenos, safe in monastic confinement, opted to pursue a career in the clerical hierarchy that would see him eventually become Patriarch of Antioch, while in Cyprus Theodore Evagoras finally fell into line and was rewarded with the hand in marriage of George’s sister Matilda.[6]
By the middle of 1213, the internal situation seemed stable enough for the Emperor to risk leaving the capital. His destination was, of course, the East, where the achievement of Kürboğa looked ripe for demolition. Eirene’s foreign policy decision to refuse considering a peace with the Salghurids was now appropriated by the new Emperor as a useful political tool. Messages were sent to the Sultan Tuğtekin, proclaiming the reasonableness of George and his eagerness for peace: all Tuğtekin would have to do would be to vacate his father’s conquests in their entirety.
In expecting this to be the basis of a lasting peace settlement, the Emperor was clearly pushing his luck. The plan seems to have been to use Tuğtekin’s indignant refusal as a pretext to sweeping the Salghurids out of Syria and Palestine in a couple of triumphant campaigns, but the Emperor George was no great battlefield commander: indeed, his tactical arrogance in military matters stood in stark contrast to his adroit and careful management of internal diplomacy.[7] A campaign into northern Syria in autumn 1213 met with embarrassing failure, with Rōmanos “the Bastard” being forced to step in to save his Emperor’s life. Rōmanos was a eunuch who had been intended for the clergy by his father, but at the age of just twenty six he was already showing himself to have more battlefield ability than anyone in the East since his distant kinsman Jordan of Aversa. In 1214, he achieved what George had failed to do by defeating Tuğtekin in pitched battle at Apameia on the Orontes, opening up northern Syria for conquest. In 1217, after two patient years of siege, Damascus fell, and the eunuch commander entered the city in triumph. Unlike his peers, Rōmanos realised just how badly the imperial armies had suffered in the previous years of repeated defeat, and urged his Emperor to conclude peace now, to avoid John II-style overstretch. Reluctantly, George was persuaded, and in 1218, a peace settlement was finally concluded that left the majority of Palestine under Salghurid control, but guaranteed Christian access to the holy places of Jerusalem. For the rest of George’s reign, the Syrian frontier would remain peaceful, testimony to the Emperor’s diplomatic skill in the face of his military ineptitude.
Following the defeat of 1213, George had retreated into Cappadocia to lick his wounds. While there, he was able to patch up a permanent peace treaty with Roupen II of Syunik, effectively granting the Armenian monarch control over all of the lands taken by his father in the past few decades. For his part, Roupen agreed to a peace treaty and sent his ten year old son Ashot to Constantinople for the boy’s “education”.[8] It was a deal that suited both Emperor and Armenian: after half a century of hostility, the Caucasus could now finally look forward to the fruits of peace, and indeed in the years after the treaty the region enjoyed an unprecedented period of commercial and artistic flowering.
The 1210s were, then, a relatively successful decade for the Empire, especially after the troubles of the previous years. For George I himself, though, they were tragic. Shortly after he had set out for the East his young wife Zoe Komnena had delivered him a healthy daughter, Theodora. The Basileus did not see the child at all until his return to the capital early in 1215, but the father-daughter relationship was strong according to all accounts. It was a good thing it was: because George and Zoe would have no other living children. Between 1215 and 1221 the Empress fell pregnant no less than five times, but all five children were either stillborn or died young. This was not merely a personal tragedy: without a male heir, the succession lay open to doubt.[9] By the time of Theodora’s tenth birthday, it was clear to all that Zoe would not bear another child, and attempts were apparently made to persuade the Empress to retreat into monastic obscurity and clear the way for a more fertile successor, but this Zoe angrily refused: not for nothing was she the daughter of Eirene Nafpliotissa. Indeed, the Emperor himself showed a distinct lack of interest in other women after his marriage, a restraint for which he would be praised by religious figures in the future. And so much devolved upon the young Theodora, a princess educated by one of the finest minds of the day, the Patriarch Nicholas V[10] and brought up by her mother to remember every drop of her imperial bloodline. If George could not have a male heir, he could at least make sure his daughter would be a capable player of the dangerous Constantinopolitan political game.
The rules of that game were, the Emperor resolved, in need of a serious update. Since the early tenth century, the Empire had been governed by the Basiliká, an update led by Leo VI of Justinian’s great compendium of Roman law.[11] But just as times had changed in the 350 years between Justinian and Leo, so had they in the three centuries between Leo and George. An update was badly needed, particularly with regard to dealing with the Empire’s greatly expanded territories in both East and West. Work seems to have begun on this in 1218, and it was completed in 1221, the year Zoe’s last child died. The Basiliká of George would serve as his heir just as much as Theodora would, enshrining as it did the Emperor’s legacy to the future. For the first time in centuries, the Code was printed in languages other than Romaic too: editions survive of the text in Latin and Armenian, and it was at least partially translated into Arabic too. George’s legal revisions speak of a new and revived Empire: outward looking, self confident, and at peace with itself.
It was, all in all, just as well. No-one in Constantinople could possibly have known it: but the Empire of the Romans was about to enter into a death struggle with a truly implacable and terrifying foe. Perhaps on the eastern frontier they might have had the first indication of what was to come, marked by the crowds of terrified refugees streaming out of the Saljūq lands. For Iran was burning.
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[1] The Kantakouzenoi enjoyed a period of spectacular ascendancy IOTL following the Fourth Crusade, but they, like the Palaiologoi, had been players since the eleventh century.
[2] See the antics of Theodora the Younger in chapter thirteen.
[3] Doctrinal making-it-up-as-you-go. The Devil’s influence is held to have entered Eirene as she lived, and it was not an inherent thing.
[4] Originally there were five Nafpliotis brothers, sons of Leo Nafpliotis and Maria Kantakouzene. Of these, Nikēphoros died in 1197 following his defeat at Smbat’s hands, Leo the Younger died naturally in 1211, and Christopher was killed by the rebels in January 1212, when he attempted to put down rebellion in Sicily.
[5] A typical treatment for pretenders.
[6] Evagoras is some thirty years older than the unfortunate Matilda. The marriage only lasts five years before the death of the Grand Duke of Cyprus, allowing Matilda to bring up their son George Evagoras (named for his uncle the Emperor) practically as an independent monarch.
[7] This mismatch is not uncommon: it’s very rare to get a leader who’s brilliant both on the battlefield and in the political arena.
[8] This happened quite commonly. In the event, Ashot remains in Constantinople for a decade, and becomes known as one of the city’s biggest playboys.
[9] Succession issues have been covered in IE before. The Romans never developed a formalised system of succession, although from Augustus onward the idea that a member of the Emperor’s bloodline had a degree of priority was circulating. Leo VI went to extraordinary lengths in the early tenth century to secure a male heir, although by contrast his great-grandsons Basil II and Constantine VIII barely bothered.
[10] Nicholas V (1209-1229) was a monk from Bithynia who had risen to prominence thanks to his links to the Nafpliotidai: he was often rumoured to be a bastard son of Eirene’s cousin Nikēphoros. He had been raised to the Patriarch by Eirene, but was never particularly close to her, and quite happily turned on the Empress to back the new regime in 1212. His intercession was instrumental in saving the lives of the other members of the Nafpliotis house, however.
[11] Leo’s code essentially stripped out the elements of Justinianic law that had become surplus by his day, as well as removing unnecessary duplications and updating definitions to suit better tenth century realities.
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