A Greater Alodia
- Thread starter Tom_B
- Start date
Part 34 End of 1143
In early August of 1143 all three prongs of the alliance rested and recruited from the locals while awaiting news of the expected naval engagement. When he learned of the great naval victory at Punto Meliso, Co-Emperor Alexios ordered a two day celebration. When it was over he moved the Byzantine Army west to rendezvous with Frederick southeast of Troia on 21 August. The next morning their combined army begins heading west towards Benevento. They soon enter increasingly rough terrain which slows their progress but they still manage to reach Benevento in a week. They take it with an assault the following night. Alexios rests his army there and waits for supplies to arrive. Meanwhile Frederick has some success persuading locals to join the army.
General Istafunus waited until supplies from Alexandria arrived on 30 August before he ordered a march to the west which reaches Potenza on 7 September and captures it on 15 September. Alexios’ strategy at this point is to have the two armies converge on Salerno which was Roger’s peninsular capital. This offensive commenced on 25 September with Istafanus proceeding west. The following Alexios heads south. Since the defeat of his navy at Punto Meliso, Roger saw his prospects against this strong coalition as dismal. In desperation he sent a substantial portion of his army in an attempt to try to ambush Alexios in the Appenine Mountains. When this failed he decided that he must flee to Sicily with his army. Despite the losses it had suffered his navy still had control of the Tyrrhenian Sea, though it was unclear how long that would last.
Roger deployed small units to fight a delaying action in the mountains to give the rest of his army sufficient time to complete its evacuation. Most of these were deployed against Alexios’ army in very rugged terrain where they halted his advance for three days. Roger underestimated Istafanus who skillfully used Axumite mountain troops to neutralize the delaying parties in terrain that was not as rugged. He was able to reach Salerno on 4 October. At that time a fifth of Roger’s soldiers and half of his horses had not been evacuated. Istafanus was able to gain control of the harbor after dark forcing the Normans to hole up inside the citadel. Along with the horses he captured a large quantity of supplies plus considerable loot. The following day he sent the Axumite mountain troops north to attack the delaying parties from the rear. Because of this Alexios was able to join him on 7 October. Together they captured the citadel on 16 October. After this they celebrated for 3 days.
Alexios then heads north and quickly subjugates Naples. Alexios decides to spend the winter there with the bulk of his army. During that time he will revive the Duchy of Naples completely independent of Sicilian hegemony. Alexios intends to remain in Italy with his entire army for at least another year unless his father informs of an urgent reason for him to return home. He correctly anticpates that reestablishing lasting Byzantine rule in most of Apulia will create many vexing political problems. Fortunately for him the Egyptians so far were only laying claim to the port of Taranto and its immediate vicinity.
Frederick continued further north to Capua where he reinstalled Rovert II as the Prince of Capua. Pope Celestine II traveled to Padua to meet Frederick on 12 November thanking him for his role in the campaign against Roger. Frederick also received a letter from his uncle, Conrad congratulating him and ordering him to return to Germany in the spring. Meanwhile Istafunus spends 11 days using his cavalry to conduct incursions to the southeast trying with limited success to stir up resistance to Roger. After that he splits his army leaving a quarter at Salerno and heading back to Potenza with the rest to spend the winter.
On 18 November an Egyptian expedition raids Syracuse which King Paul’s spies have learned is weakly garrisoned. They quickly sack the city and depart before Norman reinforcements arrive. They take a goodly amount of loot. Strategically King Paul sees this raid as a way to make Roger worry about southeast Sicily complicating any plans he might have to return in force to the mainland. It is also a way to add insult to injury.
Throughout the year the Adal Kingdom surreptiously supported a cabal of Sunni Showans who hated Sultan Geedi. On 27 November this group struck seizing power in the capital of Walale. They killed Geedi and his sons. However the vizier, Haydara just barely escaped capture with the help of his personal regiment of Nubian archers. He managed to reach the border of occupied Damot where King Tewodros of Axum grants him sanctuary. Meanwhile in Walale there is a brief bloody power struggle within the ranks of the insurrectionists resulting in a man named Maxamed becoming the new sultan. He soon begins persecuting Ismailis, Christians and pagans.
Upon learning of this King Paul instructed Tewodros to try to get Haydara to usurp the new Sunni sultan Maxamed. Several of the rich Fatimid Egyptians who had emigrated to Yemen support this effort. So does Yanis who still commands a small personal regiment, once Haydara promises to make him his vizier. Haydara wants to strike as soon as possible but is told that he must wait until the spring.
In early August of 1143 all three prongs of the alliance rested and recruited from the locals while awaiting news of the expected naval engagement. When he learned of the great naval victory at Punto Meliso, Co-Emperor Alexios ordered a two day celebration. When it was over he moved the Byzantine Army west to rendezvous with Frederick southeast of Troia on 21 August. The next morning their combined army begins heading west towards Benevento. They soon enter increasingly rough terrain which slows their progress but they still manage to reach Benevento in a week. They take it with an assault the following night. Alexios rests his army there and waits for supplies to arrive. Meanwhile Frederick has some success persuading locals to join the army.
General Istafunus waited until supplies from Alexandria arrived on 30 August before he ordered a march to the west which reaches Potenza on 7 September and captures it on 15 September. Alexios’ strategy at this point is to have the two armies converge on Salerno which was Roger’s peninsular capital. This offensive commenced on 25 September with Istafanus proceeding west. The following Alexios heads south. Since the defeat of his navy at Punto Meliso, Roger saw his prospects against this strong coalition as dismal. In desperation he sent a substantial portion of his army in an attempt to try to ambush Alexios in the Appenine Mountains. When this failed he decided that he must flee to Sicily with his army. Despite the losses it had suffered his navy still had control of the Tyrrhenian Sea, though it was unclear how long that would last.
Roger deployed small units to fight a delaying action in the mountains to give the rest of his army sufficient time to complete its evacuation. Most of these were deployed against Alexios’ army in very rugged terrain where they halted his advance for three days. Roger underestimated Istafanus who skillfully used Axumite mountain troops to neutralize the delaying parties in terrain that was not as rugged. He was able to reach Salerno on 4 October. At that time a fifth of Roger’s soldiers and half of his horses had not been evacuated. Istafanus was able to gain control of the harbor after dark forcing the Normans to hole up inside the citadel. Along with the horses he captured a large quantity of supplies plus considerable loot. The following day he sent the Axumite mountain troops north to attack the delaying parties from the rear. Because of this Alexios was able to join him on 7 October. Together they captured the citadel on 16 October. After this they celebrated for 3 days.
Alexios then heads north and quickly subjugates Naples. Alexios decides to spend the winter there with the bulk of his army. During that time he will revive the Duchy of Naples completely independent of Sicilian hegemony. Alexios intends to remain in Italy with his entire army for at least another year unless his father informs of an urgent reason for him to return home. He correctly anticpates that reestablishing lasting Byzantine rule in most of Apulia will create many vexing political problems. Fortunately for him the Egyptians so far were only laying claim to the port of Taranto and its immediate vicinity.
Frederick continued further north to Capua where he reinstalled Rovert II as the Prince of Capua. Pope Celestine II traveled to Padua to meet Frederick on 12 November thanking him for his role in the campaign against Roger. Frederick also received a letter from his uncle, Conrad congratulating him and ordering him to return to Germany in the spring. Meanwhile Istafunus spends 11 days using his cavalry to conduct incursions to the southeast trying with limited success to stir up resistance to Roger. After that he splits his army leaving a quarter at Salerno and heading back to Potenza with the rest to spend the winter.
On 18 November an Egyptian expedition raids Syracuse which King Paul’s spies have learned is weakly garrisoned. They quickly sack the city and depart before Norman reinforcements arrive. They take a goodly amount of loot. Strategically King Paul sees this raid as a way to make Roger worry about southeast Sicily complicating any plans he might have to return in force to the mainland. It is also a way to add insult to injury.
Throughout the year the Adal Kingdom surreptiously supported a cabal of Sunni Showans who hated Sultan Geedi. On 27 November this group struck seizing power in the capital of Walale. They killed Geedi and his sons. However the vizier, Haydara just barely escaped capture with the help of his personal regiment of Nubian archers. He managed to reach the border of occupied Damot where King Tewodros of Axum grants him sanctuary. Meanwhile in Walale there is a brief bloody power struggle within the ranks of the insurrectionists resulting in a man named Maxamed becoming the new sultan. He soon begins persecuting Ismailis, Christians and pagans.
Upon learning of this King Paul instructed Tewodros to try to get Haydara to usurp the new Sunni sultan Maxamed. Several of the rich Fatimid Egyptians who had emigrated to Yemen support this effort. So does Yanis who still commands a small personal regiment, once Haydara promises to make him his vizier. Haydara wants to strike as soon as possible but is told that he must wait until the spring.
Part 35
The increased prosperity of Alodia during the reign of King Paul the Great has caused the capital city of Soba to become badly overcrowded. Because of this King Paul announces on 18 February, 1144 that he is going to rebuild Meroë, the ancient capital of Kush. He has toyed with this idea for several years carefully making extensive plans so construction begins quickly. As a stopgap measure he is also encouraging emigration to the new settlement at Neropolis on Lake No. He has determined that papyrus can be farmed profitably on the outer edges of the Sudd Swamp.
When the Sunni coup overthrew Sultan Geedi of Showa the Adal Kingdom occupied Harar again. At first the new sultan Maxamed looked on this as being a temporary measure meant to support the coup. By February it was starting to become obvious that the Adal Kingdom intended to annex Harar. Maxamed began to threaten to go to war with his former backers if they failed to return Harar. On 3 March Showan cavalry skirmished with Adal cavalry near Harar. A week later Maxamed publicly demanded the return of Harar. The following day there was another cavalry skirmish.
Haydara then concluded that the time had come to strike. The diverse coalition that he had assembled included 3,000 Axumite infantry and 900 Alodian cavalry that King Tewodros had provided at the insistence of King Paul. Forty years ago King Kaleb had conquered the pagan Gafats. They regarded Christianity with contempt as the religion of their oppressors. Soon afterwards some of them slipped over the border into Showa. They were not welcome there at first but when Geedi became sultan he treated them fairbly. As a result many were converted to Ismailism. Furthermore these converts were able to spead their faith to the Gafats still inside Axumite territory. Haydara had 600 of them willing to fight for him. There were also more than 700 Yemenis in his coalition.
Haydara decided to advance slowly towards Walale, the capital. This permits him to steadily gain followers along the way. It also allows Yanis to train Haydara’s diverse coalition how to work together effectively. When this invasion started Maxamed had concentrated most of the Showan army in the east preparing to retake Harar. Upon learning of the invasion Maxamed feared that Haydara rushed back to Walale fearing that his opponents intended to take it by coup de main. Haydara on the other hand was pessimistic about his ability to mount a successful siege of Walale. So he wandered around the countryside trying to lure Maxamed into an open field battle.
This strategy eventually succeeded and he engaged Mazamed’s army on 3 May. Haydara had a modest advantage in overall numbers but Maxamed had an advantage in cavalry which he expected to be decisive. He had never fought Alodian cavalry before and it turned out to be an unpleasant experience. The battle starts with an indecive cavalry skirmish. Just before noon there was another that Maxamed interpreted as a win. This fanned his confidence. He soon personally led a cavalry charge on the Alodians who feigned a retreat that brought their pursuers within effective range of Haydara’s archers. Maxamed was seriously injured when his mount crumpled after being hit by an arrow.
Meanwhile the Alodian cavalry skillfully wheeled around to counterattack the flanks while Axumite heavy infantry attacked frontally. Haydara’s other cavalry joined in the attack on the flanks. Some of Maxamed’s horsemen panicked at this point but others rallied to rescue their fallen leader. However Haydara has secured an advantage which Yanis urged him to exploit to the fullest.
Maxamed had suffered a concussion and gave confused orders that made the situation worse. He eventually convinces himself that his infantry can turn things around and orders them to advance at at a hard march. By the time they arrive nearly half of his cavalry is soon eliminated and the rest are retreating in disarray. Drawing upon what he learned during the Conquest of Egypt Yanis orders the speedy Alodian horsemen to swing around to attack the left flank and rear of the enemy infantry. The rest of his cavalry pursues Maxamed’s cavalry to keep them from rallying. The Axumite heavy infantry is pivoted to face the enemy infantry which is soon routed. The Alodian cavalry then proceed to cut off the infantry’s line of retreat. A few of Maxamed’s foot soldiers manage to escape in scattered demoralized groups but most of them are either captured or killed before dusk.
Maxamed is able to make it back to Walale with what is left of his cavalry. He had left behind a decent sized garrison led by someone he trusted. The following day Haydara arrives and begins a methodical siege at last light. While the siege is underway an envoy from the Adal Kingdom contacts Haydara and asks if he is willing to acknowledge Adal annexation of Harar. There is an implied threat that if he does not he could find himself at war with the Adal Kingdom. Harar was a reputation for being fierecely Sunni so Haydara decides that it is more trouble than it is worth so he accedes. He has been provided Axumite artillerists skilled in constructing and using trebuchets. As a result he is able to break into the city on 21 May. The city has a crude citadel but instead of holing up inside it Maxamed leads a desperate counterattack and is slain. Some of his followers do flee inside the citadel. The next day Haydara offers to spare their lives if they surrender. They accept his offer. He does spare their lives but enslaves them along with their families.
In exchange for Aloldian and Axumite aid Haydara has agreed to become a tributary. However realizing that this might upset many Showans King Paul has agreed to postpone the start of tribute payments for one year giving Sultan Haydara time to consolidate his grip on the throne. On 30 June Haydara receives a letter from the young imam, Abu’l-Qasim al-Tayyib congratulating him on his victory. At the imam’s encouragement some more of the Fatimid big shots who had moved to Yemen then emigrate to Showa to assist Haydara.
The Byzantine Co-emperor Alexios decided during the winter that he is not going to try to establish dominion north of Trani. There were seeral reasons for this. One of them was to avoid antangonizing the Papacy. Pope Celestine II had been pleased that King Roger’s domain had been drastically reduced. He also accepted that a Byzantine presence in Apulia was necessary to guard against Roger returning. What Alexios had ended up proposing was that the Byzantine domain would consist of a narrow coastal strip extending from Trani to Bari. From Bari the border would extend in a line SSW to Taranto which would be controlled by the Kingdom of Lower Egypt.
Pope Celestine had been worried that King Epimachos of Egypt would try to claim a large piece of Italy. He was relieved to learn that their demands were limited to the immediate vicinity of Taranto. Complicating matters though were the demands of the Venetians. As expected Doge Posani insisted that Venetian merchants in the Byantine controlled areas be granted the same privileges that they had in the rest of the Byzantine Empire. However he also wanted Trani to be jointly ruled by the Republic of Venice and the Byzantine Empire. When Alexios demurred thedoge went directly to his father who consented as he realized that he would continue to need the Venetian navy for the foreseeable future.
Unfortunately Pope Celestine died on 8 March before details of the agreement were finalized. The next day there was a new pope who took the name Lucius II. Alexios was forced to negotiate a new deal and he has heard rumors that there were cardinals who felt Celestine had been overly generous. Fortunately Lucius was not one of those cardinals but was largely in agreement with Celestine. Nevertheless he wanted to put his own stamp on the agreement which meant further negotiations which Alexios found tiresome. Another diplomatic complication was Roger whom Alexios thought might be willing to negotiate for the return of his son, William.
Frederick was still in Rome when Pope Celestine died. During the winter he learned about the problems that the Papacy was experiencing with the Commune of Rome led by Giordano Pierleoni who wanted to strip the pope of all temporal power. Lucius implored Frederick to delay his return to Germany while he was negotiating with Pierleoni. The pope was willing to send an envoy to King Conrad III with a letter justifying the delay. Frederick decided to remain in Rome. This emboldened Pope Lucius in his demands.
Alexios been accompanied by his brother Isaac during the Italian campaign. On 20 March Alexios sends nearly a third of his army under the command of Isaac to Bari with orders to secure control of the Salentine Peninsula which had some loyalty to Roger. He arrived at Bari with the mounted vanguard of his army on 31 March. He spends 5 days there on administrative matters before continuing on to Brindisi where he picks up some supplies from Corfu that have been landed. On 8 April Isaac arrives at Lecce which refuses to surrender so he begins a siege the following day. While the siege is underway he sends his cavalry to raid and plunder hostile areas further south. He captures and sacks the city on 2 May. After a two day celebration he quickly eliminates remaining resistance in the peninsula. However on 13 May he becomes ill with a high fever and dies a week later.
Meanwhile Alexios had collaborated with General Istafanus in devising a spring campaign in Calabria which he hoped to conquer completely and make a Byzantine possession as well. Pope Celestine had approved of this plan because he wanted Roger weakened as much as possible. However Pope Lucius had been a friend of Roger and felt that Roger should be allowed to retain control of Calabria. This stance made things more difficult for Alexios but in the end it did not dissuade him from proceeding with his plan. King Epimachos only asked for the port of Cotrone which Alexios found acceptable.
Alexios and Istafanus devised a two pronged attack. At the beginning of April Istafanus briefly made a diversionary attack from Potenza to the southwest while beginning to send the bulk of his army ESE towards the Gulf of Taranto. A combination of Egyptian and Veneian warships protect his left flank. On 10 April he reached the coast where he stopped for 3 days to collect supplies from Taranto then headed southwest. He made good progress along the coast at first but on 19 April he encountered stiff resistance at Trebisacce that he doesn’t overcome until 2 May. Two days later he reaches the fortified town of Castrovillari which refuses to surrender. Istafanus begins a siege.
Meanwhile Alexios had moved the bulk of his army to Salerno where he was reinforced with the Egyptian units that had spent the winter there. He had originally planned to start marching towards Castrovillari on 9 April but this was delayed until 25 April because of the need to do more negotiating with Pope Lucius who continued to oppose the operation. During the delay he prepared for the campaign by establishing supply dumps along the first third of his planned route which he firmly controls. As a result the advance goes smoothly at first encountering no opposition. However at the end of April his army enters more rugged terrain and begins to experience small ambushes by Normans familiar with the area and loyal to Roger.
One thing that ameliorates this problem is Istafanus’ siege which pins down most of the Normans in the area so only a small number are able to interfere with Alexios’ advance. Meanwhile Roger has himself returned to the mainland with reinforcements from Sicily. On 8 May he makes a bold night attack to lift the siege of Castrovillari despite being outnumbered by the Egyptians. Istafanus anticipated this so Roger was unable to achieve the degree of surprise that he had hoped. At first his attack suffered heavy losses. Nevertheless in the confusion of a night battle things turned in Roger’s favor aided by his garrison at Castrovillari making a timely sortie. Istafanus was lightly wounded and narrowly avoided captured. His baggage train has been captured. Panic set in and he realized that he needed to quickly retreat to the east to avoid disaster. The darkness made the withdrawal easier and limited his losses. Come dawn he rallied his men but he continued retreating all the way to Trebisacce. With the loss of his baggage train guarding his supply line was essential and Trebisacce was easily defended.
Some of Roger’s cavalry harassed the Egyptians during the morning but he resisted the temptation to mount a full pursuit. He had suffered serious losses in the battle. As far as he could tell the Egyptians still had strengthat least equal to his own. Furthermore there was a powerful Byzantine army inching its way to Castrovillari. He was content to destroy the Egyptian siege engines then orders a celebration. It had been a long time since he had a reason to celebrate. When the celebration is over he begins reinforcing the units impeding Alexios’ progress in the mountains.
On 11 May a Norman raiding force lands east of Salerno. It is not large enough to take the city but is strong enough to sever Alexios’ supply lines. Once he learns of this Alexios reluctantly decides that he must return to Salerno with his entire force. Furthermore he is saddened when he learns of the death of his brother. It makes it harder for him to concentrate. When he approaches Salerno the Norman raiders hurriedly retreat to their vessels and return to Sicily. The naval situation at this time is that the Venetian navy with some help from the Egyptians completely dominate the Adriatic and Ionian seas. However the doge firmly prohibited his fleet from entering the Tyrrhenian Sea so it remains firmly in Sicilian control. In late March Roger had been able to buy some naval support from Pisa but they made it clear that they were not going to venture into the Ionian Sea to challenge the Venetians.
Once he is back at Salerno Alexios is again pressured by Pope Lucius to call off the Calabrian campaign and enter into negotiations with Roger. Alexios has become less resistant to this idea. He orders the resumption of the campaign in the Salentine Peninsula which had halted after the death of Isaac. He holds off on trying to resume the Calabrian campaign until he hears word from his father.
The increased prosperity of Alodia during the reign of King Paul the Great has caused the capital city of Soba to become badly overcrowded. Because of this King Paul announces on 18 February, 1144 that he is going to rebuild Meroë, the ancient capital of Kush. He has toyed with this idea for several years carefully making extensive plans so construction begins quickly. As a stopgap measure he is also encouraging emigration to the new settlement at Neropolis on Lake No. He has determined that papyrus can be farmed profitably on the outer edges of the Sudd Swamp.
When the Sunni coup overthrew Sultan Geedi of Showa the Adal Kingdom occupied Harar again. At first the new sultan Maxamed looked on this as being a temporary measure meant to support the coup. By February it was starting to become obvious that the Adal Kingdom intended to annex Harar. Maxamed began to threaten to go to war with his former backers if they failed to return Harar. On 3 March Showan cavalry skirmished with Adal cavalry near Harar. A week later Maxamed publicly demanded the return of Harar. The following day there was another cavalry skirmish.
Haydara then concluded that the time had come to strike. The diverse coalition that he had assembled included 3,000 Axumite infantry and 900 Alodian cavalry that King Tewodros had provided at the insistence of King Paul. Forty years ago King Kaleb had conquered the pagan Gafats. They regarded Christianity with contempt as the religion of their oppressors. Soon afterwards some of them slipped over the border into Showa. They were not welcome there at first but when Geedi became sultan he treated them fairbly. As a result many were converted to Ismailism. Furthermore these converts were able to spead their faith to the Gafats still inside Axumite territory. Haydara had 600 of them willing to fight for him. There were also more than 700 Yemenis in his coalition.
Haydara decided to advance slowly towards Walale, the capital. This permits him to steadily gain followers along the way. It also allows Yanis to train Haydara’s diverse coalition how to work together effectively. When this invasion started Maxamed had concentrated most of the Showan army in the east preparing to retake Harar. Upon learning of the invasion Maxamed feared that Haydara rushed back to Walale fearing that his opponents intended to take it by coup de main. Haydara on the other hand was pessimistic about his ability to mount a successful siege of Walale. So he wandered around the countryside trying to lure Maxamed into an open field battle.
This strategy eventually succeeded and he engaged Mazamed’s army on 3 May. Haydara had a modest advantage in overall numbers but Maxamed had an advantage in cavalry which he expected to be decisive. He had never fought Alodian cavalry before and it turned out to be an unpleasant experience. The battle starts with an indecive cavalry skirmish. Just before noon there was another that Maxamed interpreted as a win. This fanned his confidence. He soon personally led a cavalry charge on the Alodians who feigned a retreat that brought their pursuers within effective range of Haydara’s archers. Maxamed was seriously injured when his mount crumpled after being hit by an arrow.
Meanwhile the Alodian cavalry skillfully wheeled around to counterattack the flanks while Axumite heavy infantry attacked frontally. Haydara’s other cavalry joined in the attack on the flanks. Some of Maxamed’s horsemen panicked at this point but others rallied to rescue their fallen leader. However Haydara has secured an advantage which Yanis urged him to exploit to the fullest.
Maxamed had suffered a concussion and gave confused orders that made the situation worse. He eventually convinces himself that his infantry can turn things around and orders them to advance at at a hard march. By the time they arrive nearly half of his cavalry is soon eliminated and the rest are retreating in disarray. Drawing upon what he learned during the Conquest of Egypt Yanis orders the speedy Alodian horsemen to swing around to attack the left flank and rear of the enemy infantry. The rest of his cavalry pursues Maxamed’s cavalry to keep them from rallying. The Axumite heavy infantry is pivoted to face the enemy infantry which is soon routed. The Alodian cavalry then proceed to cut off the infantry’s line of retreat. A few of Maxamed’s foot soldiers manage to escape in scattered demoralized groups but most of them are either captured or killed before dusk.
Maxamed is able to make it back to Walale with what is left of his cavalry. He had left behind a decent sized garrison led by someone he trusted. The following day Haydara arrives and begins a methodical siege at last light. While the siege is underway an envoy from the Adal Kingdom contacts Haydara and asks if he is willing to acknowledge Adal annexation of Harar. There is an implied threat that if he does not he could find himself at war with the Adal Kingdom. Harar was a reputation for being fierecely Sunni so Haydara decides that it is more trouble than it is worth so he accedes. He has been provided Axumite artillerists skilled in constructing and using trebuchets. As a result he is able to break into the city on 21 May. The city has a crude citadel but instead of holing up inside it Maxamed leads a desperate counterattack and is slain. Some of his followers do flee inside the citadel. The next day Haydara offers to spare their lives if they surrender. They accept his offer. He does spare their lives but enslaves them along with their families.
In exchange for Aloldian and Axumite aid Haydara has agreed to become a tributary. However realizing that this might upset many Showans King Paul has agreed to postpone the start of tribute payments for one year giving Sultan Haydara time to consolidate his grip on the throne. On 30 June Haydara receives a letter from the young imam, Abu’l-Qasim al-Tayyib congratulating him on his victory. At the imam’s encouragement some more of the Fatimid big shots who had moved to Yemen then emigrate to Showa to assist Haydara.
The Byzantine Co-emperor Alexios decided during the winter that he is not going to try to establish dominion north of Trani. There were seeral reasons for this. One of them was to avoid antangonizing the Papacy. Pope Celestine II had been pleased that King Roger’s domain had been drastically reduced. He also accepted that a Byzantine presence in Apulia was necessary to guard against Roger returning. What Alexios had ended up proposing was that the Byzantine domain would consist of a narrow coastal strip extending from Trani to Bari. From Bari the border would extend in a line SSW to Taranto which would be controlled by the Kingdom of Lower Egypt.
Pope Celestine had been worried that King Epimachos of Egypt would try to claim a large piece of Italy. He was relieved to learn that their demands were limited to the immediate vicinity of Taranto. Complicating matters though were the demands of the Venetians. As expected Doge Posani insisted that Venetian merchants in the Byantine controlled areas be granted the same privileges that they had in the rest of the Byzantine Empire. However he also wanted Trani to be jointly ruled by the Republic of Venice and the Byzantine Empire. When Alexios demurred thedoge went directly to his father who consented as he realized that he would continue to need the Venetian navy for the foreseeable future.
Unfortunately Pope Celestine died on 8 March before details of the agreement were finalized. The next day there was a new pope who took the name Lucius II. Alexios was forced to negotiate a new deal and he has heard rumors that there were cardinals who felt Celestine had been overly generous. Fortunately Lucius was not one of those cardinals but was largely in agreement with Celestine. Nevertheless he wanted to put his own stamp on the agreement which meant further negotiations which Alexios found tiresome. Another diplomatic complication was Roger whom Alexios thought might be willing to negotiate for the return of his son, William.
Frederick was still in Rome when Pope Celestine died. During the winter he learned about the problems that the Papacy was experiencing with the Commune of Rome led by Giordano Pierleoni who wanted to strip the pope of all temporal power. Lucius implored Frederick to delay his return to Germany while he was negotiating with Pierleoni. The pope was willing to send an envoy to King Conrad III with a letter justifying the delay. Frederick decided to remain in Rome. This emboldened Pope Lucius in his demands.
Alexios been accompanied by his brother Isaac during the Italian campaign. On 20 March Alexios sends nearly a third of his army under the command of Isaac to Bari with orders to secure control of the Salentine Peninsula which had some loyalty to Roger. He arrived at Bari with the mounted vanguard of his army on 31 March. He spends 5 days there on administrative matters before continuing on to Brindisi where he picks up some supplies from Corfu that have been landed. On 8 April Isaac arrives at Lecce which refuses to surrender so he begins a siege the following day. While the siege is underway he sends his cavalry to raid and plunder hostile areas further south. He captures and sacks the city on 2 May. After a two day celebration he quickly eliminates remaining resistance in the peninsula. However on 13 May he becomes ill with a high fever and dies a week later.
Meanwhile Alexios had collaborated with General Istafanus in devising a spring campaign in Calabria which he hoped to conquer completely and make a Byzantine possession as well. Pope Celestine had approved of this plan because he wanted Roger weakened as much as possible. However Pope Lucius had been a friend of Roger and felt that Roger should be allowed to retain control of Calabria. This stance made things more difficult for Alexios but in the end it did not dissuade him from proceeding with his plan. King Epimachos only asked for the port of Cotrone which Alexios found acceptable.
Alexios and Istafanus devised a two pronged attack. At the beginning of April Istafanus briefly made a diversionary attack from Potenza to the southwest while beginning to send the bulk of his army ESE towards the Gulf of Taranto. A combination of Egyptian and Veneian warships protect his left flank. On 10 April he reached the coast where he stopped for 3 days to collect supplies from Taranto then headed southwest. He made good progress along the coast at first but on 19 April he encountered stiff resistance at Trebisacce that he doesn’t overcome until 2 May. Two days later he reaches the fortified town of Castrovillari which refuses to surrender. Istafanus begins a siege.
Meanwhile Alexios had moved the bulk of his army to Salerno where he was reinforced with the Egyptian units that had spent the winter there. He had originally planned to start marching towards Castrovillari on 9 April but this was delayed until 25 April because of the need to do more negotiating with Pope Lucius who continued to oppose the operation. During the delay he prepared for the campaign by establishing supply dumps along the first third of his planned route which he firmly controls. As a result the advance goes smoothly at first encountering no opposition. However at the end of April his army enters more rugged terrain and begins to experience small ambushes by Normans familiar with the area and loyal to Roger.
One thing that ameliorates this problem is Istafanus’ siege which pins down most of the Normans in the area so only a small number are able to interfere with Alexios’ advance. Meanwhile Roger has himself returned to the mainland with reinforcements from Sicily. On 8 May he makes a bold night attack to lift the siege of Castrovillari despite being outnumbered by the Egyptians. Istafanus anticipated this so Roger was unable to achieve the degree of surprise that he had hoped. At first his attack suffered heavy losses. Nevertheless in the confusion of a night battle things turned in Roger’s favor aided by his garrison at Castrovillari making a timely sortie. Istafanus was lightly wounded and narrowly avoided captured. His baggage train has been captured. Panic set in and he realized that he needed to quickly retreat to the east to avoid disaster. The darkness made the withdrawal easier and limited his losses. Come dawn he rallied his men but he continued retreating all the way to Trebisacce. With the loss of his baggage train guarding his supply line was essential and Trebisacce was easily defended.
Some of Roger’s cavalry harassed the Egyptians during the morning but he resisted the temptation to mount a full pursuit. He had suffered serious losses in the battle. As far as he could tell the Egyptians still had strengthat least equal to his own. Furthermore there was a powerful Byzantine army inching its way to Castrovillari. He was content to destroy the Egyptian siege engines then orders a celebration. It had been a long time since he had a reason to celebrate. When the celebration is over he begins reinforcing the units impeding Alexios’ progress in the mountains.
On 11 May a Norman raiding force lands east of Salerno. It is not large enough to take the city but is strong enough to sever Alexios’ supply lines. Once he learns of this Alexios reluctantly decides that he must return to Salerno with his entire force. Furthermore he is saddened when he learns of the death of his brother. It makes it harder for him to concentrate. When he approaches Salerno the Norman raiders hurriedly retreat to their vessels and return to Sicily. The naval situation at this time is that the Venetian navy with some help from the Egyptians completely dominate the Adriatic and Ionian seas. However the doge firmly prohibited his fleet from entering the Tyrrhenian Sea so it remains firmly in Sicilian control. In late March Roger had been able to buy some naval support from Pisa but they made it clear that they were not going to venture into the Ionian Sea to challenge the Venetians.
Once he is back at Salerno Alexios is again pressured by Pope Lucius to call off the Calabrian campaign and enter into negotiations with Roger. Alexios has become less resistant to this idea. He orders the resumption of the campaign in the Salentine Peninsula which had halted after the death of Isaac. He holds off on trying to resume the Calabrian campaign until he hears word from his father.
Part 36 Rest of 1144
During July Sultan Haydara and his vizier, Yanis decide that they will use Mamluks to bolster the Showan army. Starting in August Haydara also starts actively recruiting former Fatimid officials still inside Egypt. He tells them that the Fatimid Caliphate is being restored in Showa. This ploy has some limited success.
Frederick ends up staying with his German troops in Rome until the middle of July. Their presence serves to intimidate the Commune of Rome. Pope Lucius is very grateful.
In Italy there was a lull in the fighting during the summer. Co-Emperor Alexios had trouble deciding what strategy he should pursue. The instructions he finally receives from his father, Emperor John II Comnenos on 23 July was somewhat ambiguous. It started by stating that completely eliminating Roger’s power on the mainland was the ultimate objective of the campaign. However it then went on to acknowledge the difficulty of campaigning in the Apennines and cautioned against being recklessly bold. He also warned against underestimating Roger who has repeatedly shown himself to a clever strategist and skilled tactician. Though it was never explicitly stated Alexios felt that his father was saddened by the loss of Isaac and did not want to lose his eldest son as well.
His father also stated that it was necessary to conduct “prudent” diplomacy with the pope though the only guidance he offered was for Alexios not to budge about the extent of the Italian territory he wanted to rule. As for the Venetian demands to jointly rule Trani John said he would personally resolve that issue with the doge. He did recommend that the area to be ceded to the Egyptians be expanded a little to the west to include Castellaneta.
John gave absolutely no guidance about what was the issue that Pope Lucius was most focused on at this time, which was resurrecting a fully independent Principality of Salerno. With the death of Gisulf II in 1077 the line of Lombard rulers of Salerno had died out. This gave Alexios and Lucius nearly a freehand to choose a new prince as the Egyptians were completely indifferent. However Alexios wasn’t sure what he was looking for other than the individual should not manifest any hostility towards the Byzantine Empire. This gave the pope great leeway. He was able to find someone willing to grant the pope all the privileges and concessions he wanted.
Alexios chafed at his army being completely inactive. So at the beginning of August he embarked on a campaign in the Agropoli District. This encountered no significant resistance. He wasn’t the only one chafing. Roger kept hoping that Alexios would try again to take Catrovillari and prepared to spring a devastating ambush on the Byzantine army in the Appenines. Roger was frustrated that he was unable to spring his ambush. Learning of the Byzantine campaign in the Agropoli District he used his navy to launch an amphibious attack on them on 30 August. However Alexios had been prepared for such an attack so it ended up being little more than an annoying pinprick. Though itwas enough to keep him from advancing further along the Cilentan Coast.
In early September a sizable Sicilian fleet ventured into the Gulf of Taranto while a larger Pisan fleet dominated the Tyrrhenian Sea. On 10 September the Sicilians tried to trap a smaller Egyptian fleet but the Egyptians managed to escape accept for one laggard vessel. Roger is frustrated in his plan to smash Alexios. Believing that the Egyptians are seriously short on supplies and badly demoralized he conducts a diversionary amphibious raid near Amendolara on 5 October. He then attacks the Egyptians at Trebisacce just before midnight on 8 October. He achieves some degree of surprise but Istafanus soon rallies his men. His army is indeed short on supplies though not as badlly as Roger believed. After brief initial success Roger’s attack becomes confused in the darkness and falters. Istafanus reacts cautiously. He refrains from launching a counterattack when Roger withdraws.
Stung by criticism that the Egyptians did most of the fighting at the Battle of Punto Meliso Doge Polani has ordered the Venetian navy to start conducting operations in the Gulf of Taranto. On 2 November the Venetians eliminate most of a considerably smaller Sicilian fleet southwest of Taranto. After that the Venetians land supplies at Taranto. This is soon followed by additional supplies coming from Egypt. In late November Istafanus unleashes his Alodian cavalry to harass Roger’s army with hit and run raids.
While this was going on Imad al-Din Zengi learned that Count Joscelin II of Edessa had taken almost his entire army to Diyarbakir to assist its ruler, Kara Arslan. The loss of Aleppo had been a big blow to Zengi’s prestige. He knew that there was considerable animosity between Prince Athanasios and Joscelin. Desperate to regain his lost prestige Zengi decided to gamble that he could either take Edessa very quickly or that Anthanasios would not come to its aid. On 28 November Zengi arrived at Edessa with the largest army he could muster. When the city refused to surrender he began erecting siege engines and mining its foundations. The city was defended by only its civilian inhabitants led by three bishops. The city’s walls proved stronger than Zengi had expected and the defenders put up a determined resistance.
When he learned of this Athanasios’ initial reaction was not to come to the aid of Edessa. However over the next two days Christophoros of Thyra along with Constance were able to change his mind so he led a relief force to Turbessel where he met with Joscelin. Athanasios insisted that Joscelin publicly acknowledge that he was a vassal of Antioch and that Athanasios would serve as regent for his son if needed. Joscelin very reluctantly acceded because he was desperate. The combined Antiochene and Edessan army proceeded to the outskirts of Edessa where they battled Zengi on 17 December.
Though seriously outnumbered, Zengi feels that this is his last remaining opportunity to become the leader of the Islamic forces opposing the Crusaders so he gives battle with great zeal. Joscelin is overly eager to destoy Zengi’s siege engines. This causes him to disobey Athanasios’ orders early in the battle. However the Frankish knights of Antioch have grown to respect Athanasios and serve him well this day. Back in 1142 King Paul the Great recalled all Coptic and Axumite units from the Principality of Antioch but he let his son retain 400 Alodian horsemen which he puts to good use cutting the enemy’s line of retreat. This permits the Antiochene knights to crush most of Zengi’s best horse archers in a devastating charge.
After that Zengi realizes that the battle is lost. He skillfully manages to save almost half of army but while doing so is badly wounded. Three days later he dies from septic shock caused by his wounds.
During July Sultan Haydara and his vizier, Yanis decide that they will use Mamluks to bolster the Showan army. Starting in August Haydara also starts actively recruiting former Fatimid officials still inside Egypt. He tells them that the Fatimid Caliphate is being restored in Showa. This ploy has some limited success.
Frederick ends up staying with his German troops in Rome until the middle of July. Their presence serves to intimidate the Commune of Rome. Pope Lucius is very grateful.
In Italy there was a lull in the fighting during the summer. Co-Emperor Alexios had trouble deciding what strategy he should pursue. The instructions he finally receives from his father, Emperor John II Comnenos on 23 July was somewhat ambiguous. It started by stating that completely eliminating Roger’s power on the mainland was the ultimate objective of the campaign. However it then went on to acknowledge the difficulty of campaigning in the Apennines and cautioned against being recklessly bold. He also warned against underestimating Roger who has repeatedly shown himself to a clever strategist and skilled tactician. Though it was never explicitly stated Alexios felt that his father was saddened by the loss of Isaac and did not want to lose his eldest son as well.
His father also stated that it was necessary to conduct “prudent” diplomacy with the pope though the only guidance he offered was for Alexios not to budge about the extent of the Italian territory he wanted to rule. As for the Venetian demands to jointly rule Trani John said he would personally resolve that issue with the doge. He did recommend that the area to be ceded to the Egyptians be expanded a little to the west to include Castellaneta.
John gave absolutely no guidance about what was the issue that Pope Lucius was most focused on at this time, which was resurrecting a fully independent Principality of Salerno. With the death of Gisulf II in 1077 the line of Lombard rulers of Salerno had died out. This gave Alexios and Lucius nearly a freehand to choose a new prince as the Egyptians were completely indifferent. However Alexios wasn’t sure what he was looking for other than the individual should not manifest any hostility towards the Byzantine Empire. This gave the pope great leeway. He was able to find someone willing to grant the pope all the privileges and concessions he wanted.
Alexios chafed at his army being completely inactive. So at the beginning of August he embarked on a campaign in the Agropoli District. This encountered no significant resistance. He wasn’t the only one chafing. Roger kept hoping that Alexios would try again to take Catrovillari and prepared to spring a devastating ambush on the Byzantine army in the Appenines. Roger was frustrated that he was unable to spring his ambush. Learning of the Byzantine campaign in the Agropoli District he used his navy to launch an amphibious attack on them on 30 August. However Alexios had been prepared for such an attack so it ended up being little more than an annoying pinprick. Though itwas enough to keep him from advancing further along the Cilentan Coast.
In early September a sizable Sicilian fleet ventured into the Gulf of Taranto while a larger Pisan fleet dominated the Tyrrhenian Sea. On 10 September the Sicilians tried to trap a smaller Egyptian fleet but the Egyptians managed to escape accept for one laggard vessel. Roger is frustrated in his plan to smash Alexios. Believing that the Egyptians are seriously short on supplies and badly demoralized he conducts a diversionary amphibious raid near Amendolara on 5 October. He then attacks the Egyptians at Trebisacce just before midnight on 8 October. He achieves some degree of surprise but Istafanus soon rallies his men. His army is indeed short on supplies though not as badlly as Roger believed. After brief initial success Roger’s attack becomes confused in the darkness and falters. Istafanus reacts cautiously. He refrains from launching a counterattack when Roger withdraws.
Stung by criticism that the Egyptians did most of the fighting at the Battle of Punto Meliso Doge Polani has ordered the Venetian navy to start conducting operations in the Gulf of Taranto. On 2 November the Venetians eliminate most of a considerably smaller Sicilian fleet southwest of Taranto. After that the Venetians land supplies at Taranto. This is soon followed by additional supplies coming from Egypt. In late November Istafanus unleashes his Alodian cavalry to harass Roger’s army with hit and run raids.
While this was going on Imad al-Din Zengi learned that Count Joscelin II of Edessa had taken almost his entire army to Diyarbakir to assist its ruler, Kara Arslan. The loss of Aleppo had been a big blow to Zengi’s prestige. He knew that there was considerable animosity between Prince Athanasios and Joscelin. Desperate to regain his lost prestige Zengi decided to gamble that he could either take Edessa very quickly or that Anthanasios would not come to its aid. On 28 November Zengi arrived at Edessa with the largest army he could muster. When the city refused to surrender he began erecting siege engines and mining its foundations. The city was defended by only its civilian inhabitants led by three bishops. The city’s walls proved stronger than Zengi had expected and the defenders put up a determined resistance.
When he learned of this Athanasios’ initial reaction was not to come to the aid of Edessa. However over the next two days Christophoros of Thyra along with Constance were able to change his mind so he led a relief force to Turbessel where he met with Joscelin. Athanasios insisted that Joscelin publicly acknowledge that he was a vassal of Antioch and that Athanasios would serve as regent for his son if needed. Joscelin very reluctantly acceded because he was desperate. The combined Antiochene and Edessan army proceeded to the outskirts of Edessa where they battled Zengi on 17 December.
Though seriously outnumbered, Zengi feels that this is his last remaining opportunity to become the leader of the Islamic forces opposing the Crusaders so he gives battle with great zeal. Joscelin is overly eager to destoy Zengi’s siege engines. This causes him to disobey Athanasios’ orders early in the battle. However the Frankish knights of Antioch have grown to respect Athanasios and serve him well this day. Back in 1142 King Paul the Great recalled all Coptic and Axumite units from the Principality of Antioch but he let his son retain 400 Alodian horsemen which he puts to good use cutting the enemy’s line of retreat. This permits the Antiochene knights to crush most of Zengi’s best horse archers in a devastating charge.
After that Zengi realizes that the battle is lost. He skillfully manages to save almost half of army but while doing so is badly wounded. Three days later he dies from septic shock caused by his wounds.
Seem that with Al-Din Zengi once again defeated plus with his death further aggravating the strategic consequences of his defeat. Would seem that the Edessa security could be assured for the time to come. Especially, given that it would probably that Zengi demise to cause a successor war among whoever that would be claiming his rulership inheritance.
Part 37 1145
After a brief period of mourning there was some contention between Zengi’s three sons. The oldest, Saif al-Din Ghazi I presumed to have authority over Mosul but had to contend with his aggressive younger brother, Nur al-Din. Complicating matters Mahmud II, the Seljuk sultan of Baghdad, had in 1127 appointed his son, Alp Arslan the governor of Mosul with Zengi as his atabeg. However crafty Zengi had reduced Alp Arslan to a figurehead he completely dominated. However Zengi’s prestige had waned since the loss of Aleppo causing Alp Arslan to conspire to seize control of Mosul. He took advantage of the friction between Saif ad-Din and Nur ad-Din to have them arrested and imprisoned. He then took power in Mosul. The youngest son, Qutb al-Din Mawdud narrowly escaped capture and went into hiding in the Jezirah.
By this time most of the Turcomans had concluded that Zengi had been a perennial loser with his final defeat at the Battle of Edessa confirming that so they failed to support his sons. Alp Arslan had no immediate desire to attack the Crusader States. He concentrated instead on consolidating his grip on Mosul with the very ambitious long term goal of replacing the sultan, Ghiyath ad-Din Mas’ud.
In the latter half of 1144 General Lazoros had been trying to organize a campaign to subjugate all of Kerala. While Kulothungo Chola II was favorable to the plan he was unable to commit as many of his troops to the campaign as Lazoros had wanted. Lazoros then persuaded him to make an offer to King Paul of Alodia that if he would commit 10,000 additional soldiers he would be allowed to jointly rule Kerala with the Chola.
In the January of 1145 King Paul began to give this offer serious consideration. King Paul thoroughly hated King Roger II of Sicily and had wanted him driven off the Italian mainland entirely. However it was becoming increasingly obvious that wasn’t going to happen. Meanwhile the Showan Sultanate had been turned into a tributary of Axum. The situation in Yemen wasn’t particularly troubling as far as Paul could tell.
When he assumed the throne Paul had believed his predecessor had overestimated the importance of India. However in recent years he began to appreciate the importance of the trade with India. At the beginning to February he decides to accept the offer. He starts by committing 2,000 Alodian cavalry and 3,000 Alodian infantry. He still does not have a high opinion of Alodian infantry but has been told that Lazoros has worked wonders retraining Alodian infantry.
These units arrive at Hafun during April though the Alodian cavalry did not bring their mounts. To Paul’s pleasant surprise his base at Hafun has become a very successful entrepôt. The Chola navy transports them from Hafun to Kollam during May and early June. Lazoros then proceeds to provide the Alodian cavalry with suitable mounts and the Alodian infantry with intensive retraining. Next Paul commits 1,500 Axumite infantry and 500 Axumite cavalry which arrive at Hafun in June and Kollam in August. Lastly he commits 1,800 Coptic infantry, 200 Coptic artillerists and 1,000 Coptic cavalry (half of which are horse archers). These arrive at Hafun in July and Kollum in Spetember. Lazaros knows that Axumite cavalry isn’t very good and decides that need lengthy retraining. He is unfamiliar with the Copts. He cautiously decides that to be safe to give them lengthy training as well except for the artillerists.
However he is not going to wait for the training program to finish before launchinghis campaign as he wants to take advantage of the gap between the two monsoon seasons. He has created 2 regiments he formed from Kollam’s Christians that are very loyal to him. He adds them along with what’s left of the hardened old soldiers King Petros had sent to the units Kulothungo Chola II has provided. Lastly he adds the Alodian cavalry, Axumite infantry and Coptic artillerists King Paul has sent. His initial objective is Kuttanad, the Rice Bowl of Kerala. He begins his campaign on 3 Sptember and decisively defeats the weak army defending the area on 7 September.
Two days later he reaches the small city of Allepey. Roughlya quarter of the local population here is Christian. Soon after becoming the mayor of Kollam Lazoros began wooing the Christians of Allepey. Some of them render valuable assistanceto Lazoros as he fights a convoluted three day battle in the complicated backwaters of the area. The ruler of the port Kochi to the north has sent four fifths of his army to try to trap Lazoros’ army in the langoons. However over 30% of Kochi’s population is Christian and Lazoros in the last two years has succeeded in subverting quite a few of them. He has a sizable fifth column inside the city as well as a network of spies. These spies provide him with critical intelligence. Together with the assistance of the Allepey Christians it is Lazoros who is able to trap and destroy nearly all of the Kochi army in the Battle of Backwater. Two days later he takes Allepey in an assault without much trouble.
He rests his army at Allepey while waiting for supplies and sending Alodian cavalry on ahead to recconoiter. It only takes two days to get all the rice he needs from Kuttanad. He then proceeds to Kochi where his fifth column opens a key gate for him on 19 September and lets him into the city. After two hours, resistance collapses. Lazoros then prohibits further killing and limits the looting. He intends to rule the city for a long time and does not want to get off ona bad foot. The following day he begins forming a regiment from the local Christians. However as he had done at Kollam he makes a concerted effort to avoid antagonizing the local Brahmins.
Immediately northof Kochi was the principality of Padinjattedathu Swaroopam which controlled Kodongullar another key Kerala port. Its ruler was loosely allied with Kochi. The morning of 21 September the bulk of its army arrived outside Kochi intent on rendering assistance. Its commanding officer was unaware that Kochi had been captured. At that time Lazoros was preoccupied with administrative issues. With its disaparte elements his army experienced communications problems on occasion and this was one of them. Because of this an opportunity to inflict a crippling defeat on the army of Padinjattedathu Swaroopam was squandered. Instead there was only a brief skirmish before the army’s commader realized the danger he was in and withdrew. During the afternoon Alodian cavalry harass its withdrawal.
The morning of 23 September Lazoros continues north with most of his army into Padinjattedathu Swaroopam leaving behind 120 of his old troopers to garrison the town and train the newly formed Christian regiment. On 25 September he engages enemy just before noon. Lazoros only has a small numerical advantage and experiences considerable trouble at first. Hoiwever he turns thing around and prevails before just before dusk. The enemy is defeated but not destroyed and escapes in the fading twilight making it back to Kodongollar the next day.
Barely a sixth of the population of Kodongullar is Christian. When Lazoro had attempted to subvert them like he had at Allepey and Kochi he failed to even establish a reliable spy network there much less a fifth column. He quickly concludes that an immediate assault had little chance of success. Instead he began a methodical siege during which the Coptic artillerists made trebuchets which proved very effective in smahing the city’s walls.
Meanwhile Lazoros finally brought forward the Alodian infantry and Axumite cavalry even though he thought they both could still use more training. The former performed decently once the city’s walls were pierced on 8 October. It took more than an entire day to complete the capture of the city in heavy fighting. Duing that time the ruler of Padinjattedathu Swaroopam alomg with his family managed to escape with a fraction of his atmy through a secret tunnel. On 11 October he rendezvoused with a force that the Zamorin rulers of Kozhikode to the north had belatedly sent to try to disrupt the siege. Learning that the city had already fallen the Zamorin commander was reluctant to take on Laxoros’ army especially with the onset of the winter monsoon imminent. He briefly skirmished with Alodian and Axumite avalry the following day then cautiously withdrew back to Kozhikode.
Lazoros intended to conquer Kozhikode as well as it was the most important of the Kerala ports. However he decided to spent the winter monsoon at Kodongullar. During that time he had the new formed Christian regiment at Kochi undergo intensive training.
Meanwhile in southern Italy both Roger and his enemies struggled to find an effective strategy. The Sicilians and the Byzantines both executed marches in the Appenines trying to lure their opponent into a trap but this only resulted in a few inconclusive skirmishes. The real winner in all this ended up being Pope Lucius II who was able to persuade both Roger and Alexios with the reluctant approval of his father to sign the Treaty of Potenza on 28 October. Roger was allowed to hold on to Calabria and got his son William returned unharmed. Lucius mistakenly thought his friend erstwhile Roger would be appreciative of this but he wasn’t. However Lucius did accrue great prestige in Rome for this diplomatic success which greatly weakened the efforts of the Roman Senate to curtail his temporal power.
Emperor John II Comnenos did not trust Roger to abide by the treaty and instructed his son to remain in Italy for at least another six months. In early December King Epimachos of Lowe Egypt slowly started reducing the size of his army in Italy.
On 4 December Queen Constanceof Antioch gave birth to a son that Prince Athanasios named Othniel. Athnasios continued to be very popular in Antioch and in Edessa as well much to the disgust of Count Joscelin II who was now his vassal.
After a brief period of mourning there was some contention between Zengi’s three sons. The oldest, Saif al-Din Ghazi I presumed to have authority over Mosul but had to contend with his aggressive younger brother, Nur al-Din. Complicating matters Mahmud II, the Seljuk sultan of Baghdad, had in 1127 appointed his son, Alp Arslan the governor of Mosul with Zengi as his atabeg. However crafty Zengi had reduced Alp Arslan to a figurehead he completely dominated. However Zengi’s prestige had waned since the loss of Aleppo causing Alp Arslan to conspire to seize control of Mosul. He took advantage of the friction between Saif ad-Din and Nur ad-Din to have them arrested and imprisoned. He then took power in Mosul. The youngest son, Qutb al-Din Mawdud narrowly escaped capture and went into hiding in the Jezirah.
By this time most of the Turcomans had concluded that Zengi had been a perennial loser with his final defeat at the Battle of Edessa confirming that so they failed to support his sons. Alp Arslan had no immediate desire to attack the Crusader States. He concentrated instead on consolidating his grip on Mosul with the very ambitious long term goal of replacing the sultan, Ghiyath ad-Din Mas’ud.
In the latter half of 1144 General Lazoros had been trying to organize a campaign to subjugate all of Kerala. While Kulothungo Chola II was favorable to the plan he was unable to commit as many of his troops to the campaign as Lazoros had wanted. Lazoros then persuaded him to make an offer to King Paul of Alodia that if he would commit 10,000 additional soldiers he would be allowed to jointly rule Kerala with the Chola.
In the January of 1145 King Paul began to give this offer serious consideration. King Paul thoroughly hated King Roger II of Sicily and had wanted him driven off the Italian mainland entirely. However it was becoming increasingly obvious that wasn’t going to happen. Meanwhile the Showan Sultanate had been turned into a tributary of Axum. The situation in Yemen wasn’t particularly troubling as far as Paul could tell.
When he assumed the throne Paul had believed his predecessor had overestimated the importance of India. However in recent years he began to appreciate the importance of the trade with India. At the beginning to February he decides to accept the offer. He starts by committing 2,000 Alodian cavalry and 3,000 Alodian infantry. He still does not have a high opinion of Alodian infantry but has been told that Lazoros has worked wonders retraining Alodian infantry.
These units arrive at Hafun during April though the Alodian cavalry did not bring their mounts. To Paul’s pleasant surprise his base at Hafun has become a very successful entrepôt. The Chola navy transports them from Hafun to Kollam during May and early June. Lazoros then proceeds to provide the Alodian cavalry with suitable mounts and the Alodian infantry with intensive retraining. Next Paul commits 1,500 Axumite infantry and 500 Axumite cavalry which arrive at Hafun in June and Kollam in August. Lastly he commits 1,800 Coptic infantry, 200 Coptic artillerists and 1,000 Coptic cavalry (half of which are horse archers). These arrive at Hafun in July and Kollum in Spetember. Lazaros knows that Axumite cavalry isn’t very good and decides that need lengthy retraining. He is unfamiliar with the Copts. He cautiously decides that to be safe to give them lengthy training as well except for the artillerists.
However he is not going to wait for the training program to finish before launchinghis campaign as he wants to take advantage of the gap between the two monsoon seasons. He has created 2 regiments he formed from Kollam’s Christians that are very loyal to him. He adds them along with what’s left of the hardened old soldiers King Petros had sent to the units Kulothungo Chola II has provided. Lastly he adds the Alodian cavalry, Axumite infantry and Coptic artillerists King Paul has sent. His initial objective is Kuttanad, the Rice Bowl of Kerala. He begins his campaign on 3 Sptember and decisively defeats the weak army defending the area on 7 September.
Two days later he reaches the small city of Allepey. Roughlya quarter of the local population here is Christian. Soon after becoming the mayor of Kollam Lazoros began wooing the Christians of Allepey. Some of them render valuable assistanceto Lazoros as he fights a convoluted three day battle in the complicated backwaters of the area. The ruler of the port Kochi to the north has sent four fifths of his army to try to trap Lazoros’ army in the langoons. However over 30% of Kochi’s population is Christian and Lazoros in the last two years has succeeded in subverting quite a few of them. He has a sizable fifth column inside the city as well as a network of spies. These spies provide him with critical intelligence. Together with the assistance of the Allepey Christians it is Lazoros who is able to trap and destroy nearly all of the Kochi army in the Battle of Backwater. Two days later he takes Allepey in an assault without much trouble.
He rests his army at Allepey while waiting for supplies and sending Alodian cavalry on ahead to recconoiter. It only takes two days to get all the rice he needs from Kuttanad. He then proceeds to Kochi where his fifth column opens a key gate for him on 19 September and lets him into the city. After two hours, resistance collapses. Lazoros then prohibits further killing and limits the looting. He intends to rule the city for a long time and does not want to get off ona bad foot. The following day he begins forming a regiment from the local Christians. However as he had done at Kollam he makes a concerted effort to avoid antagonizing the local Brahmins.
Immediately northof Kochi was the principality of Padinjattedathu Swaroopam which controlled Kodongullar another key Kerala port. Its ruler was loosely allied with Kochi. The morning of 21 September the bulk of its army arrived outside Kochi intent on rendering assistance. Its commanding officer was unaware that Kochi had been captured. At that time Lazoros was preoccupied with administrative issues. With its disaparte elements his army experienced communications problems on occasion and this was one of them. Because of this an opportunity to inflict a crippling defeat on the army of Padinjattedathu Swaroopam was squandered. Instead there was only a brief skirmish before the army’s commader realized the danger he was in and withdrew. During the afternoon Alodian cavalry harass its withdrawal.
The morning of 23 September Lazoros continues north with most of his army into Padinjattedathu Swaroopam leaving behind 120 of his old troopers to garrison the town and train the newly formed Christian regiment. On 25 September he engages enemy just before noon. Lazoros only has a small numerical advantage and experiences considerable trouble at first. Hoiwever he turns thing around and prevails before just before dusk. The enemy is defeated but not destroyed and escapes in the fading twilight making it back to Kodongollar the next day.
Barely a sixth of the population of Kodongullar is Christian. When Lazoro had attempted to subvert them like he had at Allepey and Kochi he failed to even establish a reliable spy network there much less a fifth column. He quickly concludes that an immediate assault had little chance of success. Instead he began a methodical siege during which the Coptic artillerists made trebuchets which proved very effective in smahing the city’s walls.
Meanwhile Lazoros finally brought forward the Alodian infantry and Axumite cavalry even though he thought they both could still use more training. The former performed decently once the city’s walls were pierced on 8 October. It took more than an entire day to complete the capture of the city in heavy fighting. Duing that time the ruler of Padinjattedathu Swaroopam alomg with his family managed to escape with a fraction of his atmy through a secret tunnel. On 11 October he rendezvoused with a force that the Zamorin rulers of Kozhikode to the north had belatedly sent to try to disrupt the siege. Learning that the city had already fallen the Zamorin commander was reluctant to take on Laxoros’ army especially with the onset of the winter monsoon imminent. He briefly skirmished with Alodian and Axumite avalry the following day then cautiously withdrew back to Kozhikode.
Lazoros intended to conquer Kozhikode as well as it was the most important of the Kerala ports. However he decided to spent the winter monsoon at Kodongullar. During that time he had the new formed Christian regiment at Kochi undergo intensive training.
Meanwhile in southern Italy both Roger and his enemies struggled to find an effective strategy. The Sicilians and the Byzantines both executed marches in the Appenines trying to lure their opponent into a trap but this only resulted in a few inconclusive skirmishes. The real winner in all this ended up being Pope Lucius II who was able to persuade both Roger and Alexios with the reluctant approval of his father to sign the Treaty of Potenza on 28 October. Roger was allowed to hold on to Calabria and got his son William returned unharmed. Lucius mistakenly thought his friend erstwhile Roger would be appreciative of this but he wasn’t. However Lucius did accrue great prestige in Rome for this diplomatic success which greatly weakened the efforts of the Roman Senate to curtail his temporal power.
Emperor John II Comnenos did not trust Roger to abide by the treaty and instructed his son to remain in Italy for at least another six months. In early December King Epimachos of Lowe Egypt slowly started reducing the size of his army in Italy.
On 4 December Queen Constanceof Antioch gave birth to a son that Prince Athanasios named Othniel. Athnasios continued to be very popular in Antioch and in Edessa as well much to the disgust of Count Joscelin II who was now his vassal.
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Well, even without mentioning, the Papacy or recent ongoing developments in Kerala...
To the extent that now there two African Christian powers. Or that there's again an independent and for the first time a Christian one powerful Egyptian kingdom able to intervene in Scilly and to keep in check to the Italian maritime republics. As well as the ones, that would be caused, by a seemingly strengthened Byzantine empire and the survival and thriving of the Outremar crusader founded states...
It's, really fascinating, as the both the small and bigger changes accumulated and combined...
Part 38 1146
On 17 January, 1146 Co-Emperor Alexios arrives at Corfu where he spends 4 days dealing with administrative issues. After that he heads back to Constantinople. More than a quarter of the Byzantine forces in Italy are removed during January. Meanwhile King Roger II continues to make an outward show of abiding by the Treaty of Potenza while seeking ways to undermine it. Pope Lucius II continues to frustrate the efforts of the Roman Senate to curb his temporal power.
In recent years Roger had banned Egyptian merchants from his domain. They are now becoming a common sight in Apulia and esp. in Taranto. Two thirds of them are Copts with most of the rest being Muslim. Five very wealthy Alodians dominate Taranto. They soon come to be known as the Black Hand.
On 6 February Count Pons of Tripoli is badly injured in an accident and dies the following day. He is succeeded by his son Raymond. Pons had become a good friend of Prince Athanasios. With the Crusaders controlling the key fortresses of Baalbek, Homs and Hama the County of Tripoli was well protected and has prospered. Raymond is not as close to Athanasios as his father had been but respects him.
General Lazaros had planned to resume his Kerala campaign in early February but was seriously ill and didn’t fully recover until 17 February. He begins his offensive the following day. By this time he has fulliy incorporated into his army all of the diverse forces that King Paul the Great has sent him. Furthermore he has raised a large Christian regiment in Kochi and has begun raising a second. There has also been an upsurge in enthusiasm in the Christian population of Kollam due to the success of the campaign. Lazoros has begun raising a third regiment there.
Lazoros’ main objective was Kozhikode, the most important important port in Kerala. However directly north of Kodongullar was the Parappanad Kingdom which was a vassal of Kozhikode. Lazoros would have to go through Parappanad to get to Kozhikode. During the early afternoon of 21 February Alodian cavalry skirmish with the bulk of the Parappanad army. Anticipating this offensive the king of Parappanad had increased the size of his army. Despite this it becomes obvious that he is badly outnumbered and he orders a withdrawal to the north. Alodian cavalry are unable to cut his line of retreat though they are able to harass.
That night Lazoros made camp but the Parappanad army continued its retreat and began crossing the Kadalundi River at first light. Lazoros was able to inflict some losses while they are crossing but most of the Parappanad army was able to cross. After that Lazoros looks for a way to cross the Kadalundi. However the Zamorin ruler of Kozhikode had decided to send most of his army south to prevent Lazoros from crossing the Kadalundi. The king of Parappanad is not very happy with this strategy because it means abandoning nearly half of his kingdom but sees no alternative. For 3 months they frustrate all of Lazoros’ attempts to cross the Kadalundi. Lazoros finally succeeds in crossing well upriver near Melattur on 25 May when the river levels have subsided.
By this time Lazoros has revised his strategy concluding that it might not be necessary to go through Parappanad to get to Kozhikode after all. He quickly moves the vanguard of his army north and secures a crossing over the Chaliyar River near Mampad. Soon afterwards the monsoons start. However there are small gaps during the monsoon season when he is able to make limited moves. Meanwhile he was been able to secure additional Chola naval support which is an essential element of his revised plan.
On 2 September with main monsoon season over Lazoros has the bulk of his army proceed quickly downriver along the right bank of Chaliyar River. The army soon splits. One piece proceeds to encircle Kozhikode. The other quickly captures the weakly defended port of Beypore. This allows Lazoros to supply his army by sea. He then begins a methodical siege of Kozhikode while also positioning units along the Chaliyar. These block the attempts of the main Zamorin army to come to the aid of their endangered capital. On 30 September Lazoros’ trebuchets punch a hole in the walls of Kozhikode resulting in fierce fighting in the streets for nearly a full day before the city is subdued. The Zamorin monarch is captured.
With the city subjugated Lazoros focused his attention on the Parappanad Kingdom and the Zamorin army south of the Chaliyar River. He decided that it would be best to resolve these problems diplomatically rather than militarily. The Parappanad Kingdom had been a vassal of Kozhikode. There was no compelling reason to conquer it outright if it was willing to become a tributary of both Alodia and Chola. Parappanad’s Brahmins demand assurances that Lazaros would not try to impose Christianity on them. Lazaros was willing to provide that but in return he wanted assurances that Parappanad’s Christians which was barely a tenth of its population not be abused. There was also some negotiation about the size of the tribute. At the end of November they agree upon a tribute that was substantial but not exorbitant and Parappanad becomes a tributary the next day.
Meanwhile Lazoros was trying to negotiate with the commander of the Zamorin army to get him to surrender. Lazoros had compelled the Zamorin ruler in Kozhikode to issue an order that the army surrender but its commander decided with some justification that it wasn’t valid. However his army was boxed in between the Chaliyar and Kadalundi Rivers. For the time being it was able to live off the land. However that was becoming increasingly difficult. When the Parappanad Kingdom agreed to become a tributary it became utterly impossible and its commander knew it.
Hoping to escape to the kingdom of Kolethunadu he makes a desperate attempt to cross the Chaliyar after dark on 5 December during a monsoon that has swollen the river. This does achieve some initial surprise. Nearly five thousand Zamorin in the initial wave make it across the river. Half of these engage surprised Chola soldiers while the rest slip through the lines and escape into the countryside. Alodian cavalry will round up many of them in the morning. Meanwhile other Zamorin in the first wave are drowning. The defenders quickly rally and the next two waves fail with horrible losses. The Zamorin commander then calls off the attack. The following day he begins serious negotiations. Lazoros is willing to promise not to kill, mutilate and torture any prisoners. With some reluctance he agrees to let the Zamorin commander plus his deputy and 2 bodyguards go free. The rest of the Zamorin army except for those that have been maimed is enslaved when it surrenders on 12 December.
Lazoros decides to sell a quarter of the Zamorin prisoners to the Ghurids. The rest he sends in waves to Hafun as a gift to King Paul. Many of these will end up in the Showan Sultanate where Sultan Haydara will use them as slave soldiers. Others end up in Yemen and the Kilwa Sultanate. Some of them will be used as either guards or laborers on the Jubba Valley plantations which had been growing rapidly of late. A few end up remaining at Hafun to work in the salt mines.
On 17 January, 1146 Co-Emperor Alexios arrives at Corfu where he spends 4 days dealing with administrative issues. After that he heads back to Constantinople. More than a quarter of the Byzantine forces in Italy are removed during January. Meanwhile King Roger II continues to make an outward show of abiding by the Treaty of Potenza while seeking ways to undermine it. Pope Lucius II continues to frustrate the efforts of the Roman Senate to curb his temporal power.
In recent years Roger had banned Egyptian merchants from his domain. They are now becoming a common sight in Apulia and esp. in Taranto. Two thirds of them are Copts with most of the rest being Muslim. Five very wealthy Alodians dominate Taranto. They soon come to be known as the Black Hand.
On 6 February Count Pons of Tripoli is badly injured in an accident and dies the following day. He is succeeded by his son Raymond. Pons had become a good friend of Prince Athanasios. With the Crusaders controlling the key fortresses of Baalbek, Homs and Hama the County of Tripoli was well protected and has prospered. Raymond is not as close to Athanasios as his father had been but respects him.
General Lazaros had planned to resume his Kerala campaign in early February but was seriously ill and didn’t fully recover until 17 February. He begins his offensive the following day. By this time he has fulliy incorporated into his army all of the diverse forces that King Paul the Great has sent him. Furthermore he has raised a large Christian regiment in Kochi and has begun raising a second. There has also been an upsurge in enthusiasm in the Christian population of Kollam due to the success of the campaign. Lazoros has begun raising a third regiment there.
Lazoros’ main objective was Kozhikode, the most important important port in Kerala. However directly north of Kodongullar was the Parappanad Kingdom which was a vassal of Kozhikode. Lazoros would have to go through Parappanad to get to Kozhikode. During the early afternoon of 21 February Alodian cavalry skirmish with the bulk of the Parappanad army. Anticipating this offensive the king of Parappanad had increased the size of his army. Despite this it becomes obvious that he is badly outnumbered and he orders a withdrawal to the north. Alodian cavalry are unable to cut his line of retreat though they are able to harass.
That night Lazoros made camp but the Parappanad army continued its retreat and began crossing the Kadalundi River at first light. Lazoros was able to inflict some losses while they are crossing but most of the Parappanad army was able to cross. After that Lazoros looks for a way to cross the Kadalundi. However the Zamorin ruler of Kozhikode had decided to send most of his army south to prevent Lazoros from crossing the Kadalundi. The king of Parappanad is not very happy with this strategy because it means abandoning nearly half of his kingdom but sees no alternative. For 3 months they frustrate all of Lazoros’ attempts to cross the Kadalundi. Lazoros finally succeeds in crossing well upriver near Melattur on 25 May when the river levels have subsided.
By this time Lazoros has revised his strategy concluding that it might not be necessary to go through Parappanad to get to Kozhikode after all. He quickly moves the vanguard of his army north and secures a crossing over the Chaliyar River near Mampad. Soon afterwards the monsoons start. However there are small gaps during the monsoon season when he is able to make limited moves. Meanwhile he was been able to secure additional Chola naval support which is an essential element of his revised plan.
On 2 September with main monsoon season over Lazoros has the bulk of his army proceed quickly downriver along the right bank of Chaliyar River. The army soon splits. One piece proceeds to encircle Kozhikode. The other quickly captures the weakly defended port of Beypore. This allows Lazoros to supply his army by sea. He then begins a methodical siege of Kozhikode while also positioning units along the Chaliyar. These block the attempts of the main Zamorin army to come to the aid of their endangered capital. On 30 September Lazoros’ trebuchets punch a hole in the walls of Kozhikode resulting in fierce fighting in the streets for nearly a full day before the city is subdued. The Zamorin monarch is captured.
With the city subjugated Lazoros focused his attention on the Parappanad Kingdom and the Zamorin army south of the Chaliyar River. He decided that it would be best to resolve these problems diplomatically rather than militarily. The Parappanad Kingdom had been a vassal of Kozhikode. There was no compelling reason to conquer it outright if it was willing to become a tributary of both Alodia and Chola. Parappanad’s Brahmins demand assurances that Lazaros would not try to impose Christianity on them. Lazaros was willing to provide that but in return he wanted assurances that Parappanad’s Christians which was barely a tenth of its population not be abused. There was also some negotiation about the size of the tribute. At the end of November they agree upon a tribute that was substantial but not exorbitant and Parappanad becomes a tributary the next day.
Meanwhile Lazoros was trying to negotiate with the commander of the Zamorin army to get him to surrender. Lazoros had compelled the Zamorin ruler in Kozhikode to issue an order that the army surrender but its commander decided with some justification that it wasn’t valid. However his army was boxed in between the Chaliyar and Kadalundi Rivers. For the time being it was able to live off the land. However that was becoming increasingly difficult. When the Parappanad Kingdom agreed to become a tributary it became utterly impossible and its commander knew it.
Hoping to escape to the kingdom of Kolethunadu he makes a desperate attempt to cross the Chaliyar after dark on 5 December during a monsoon that has swollen the river. This does achieve some initial surprise. Nearly five thousand Zamorin in the initial wave make it across the river. Half of these engage surprised Chola soldiers while the rest slip through the lines and escape into the countryside. Alodian cavalry will round up many of them in the morning. Meanwhile other Zamorin in the first wave are drowning. The defenders quickly rally and the next two waves fail with horrible losses. The Zamorin commander then calls off the attack. The following day he begins serious negotiations. Lazoros is willing to promise not to kill, mutilate and torture any prisoners. With some reluctance he agrees to let the Zamorin commander plus his deputy and 2 bodyguards go free. The rest of the Zamorin army except for those that have been maimed is enslaved when it surrenders on 12 December.
Lazoros decides to sell a quarter of the Zamorin prisoners to the Ghurids. The rest he sends in waves to Hafun as a gift to King Paul. Many of these will end up in the Showan Sultanate where Sultan Haydara will use them as slave soldiers. Others end up in Yemen and the Kilwa Sultanate. Some of them will be used as either guards or laborers on the Jubba Valley plantations which had been growing rapidly of late. A few end up remaining at Hafun to work in the salt mines.
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Part 39
On 2 January 1147 the Byzantine Emperor John II Komnenos falls gravely ill. He dies a week later. His son Co-Emperor Alexios succeeds him. His surviving brothers Andronikos and Manuel support him wholeheartedly. Alexios II intends to continue his father’s policies. What differences that exist are subtle. He does not hate King Roger II of Sicily as intensely as his father did. He had no plans to further weaken Roger’s power. Prince Athnasios of Antioch quickly swears his allegiance to Alexios. By this time Alexios had come to share his father’s opinion that Athanasios was both competent and trustworthy.
Towards the end of 1146 Abu’l-Qasim al-Tayyib began to assert himself as the imam with the encouragement of Dhu’ayb ibn Musa. This resulted in steadily increasing friction with the ruler of Sana’a, Hamid ad-Dawla Hatim. On 19 January Hamid imprisoned Dhu’ayb feeling that without his influence al-Tayyib would be more tractable. The reverse was what happened as the imam quickly demanded the release of Dhu’ayb which Hamid refused to do. While Hamid tried his best to keep these developments secret word soon leaked out. The rich Fatimid Egyptians who had migrated to Sana’a began to fear that Hamid might harm the imam. They organized a coup that seized power on 10 February. They released Dhu’ayb and imprisoned Hamid. They acknowledged al-Tayyib as their ruler. At first the angry al-Tayyib wanted to behead Hamid but Dhu’ayb was able to persuade him to publicly blind him instead.
After that Fatimid comspirators who had organized the coup became al-Tayyib’s inner circle along with Dhu’ayb. Some of them dreamt of regaining control of Egypt. However Dhu’ayb pointed out that before such an ambitious move could be seriously considered the imam needed to establish firm control of Yemen. The first step was to make sure that the Hamdan tribe to which Hamid belonged cooperated. Executing Hamid would have stirred up considerable anger which was why Dhu’ayb advocated blinding him instead. The next step that Dhu’ayb advocated was to get the feuding elements of the powerful Zurayid Dynasty which professed devotion to al-Tayyib to put aside their differences and unite in his cause. Dhu’ayb warned that this would require careful diplomacy and take some time. While that is going on al-Tayyib should try to convince King Paul to turn over control of Zabid, a Sunni stronghold to him.
The imam had deeply mixed feelings about King Paul. Queen Arwa had been like a mother to him. She had on several occasions told him that she believed that King Paul probably saved al-Tayyib’s life and he should be grateful for that. However King Paul had overthrown the Fatimid Caliphate under the pretense of saving it and turned it into a Coptic tributary of Alodia. This al-Tayyib could not forgive. Dhu’ayb counseled al-Tayyib to keep that sentiment hidden in his heart for Alodia had become a great power he dare not antagonize. If instead he presented himself as a grateful friend of King Paul he should be able to gain control of Zabid and possibly some other favors as well. The imam was soon persuaded to adopt this strategy and did indeed succeed in gaining control of Zabid in early June.
North of Kozhikode is the powerful kingdom of Kolathunadu ruled by the Kolathiri family. They had pretended to be friendly with the Zamorins but had for some time been secretly hoping to be able to subjugate Kozhikode. When they learned of the Zamorin strategy in dealing with General Lazoros they were hopeful that it would greatly weaken both sides and ultimately present them with an opportunity to grab Kozhikode. Lazoros’ daring strategy took them by surprise as much as the Zamorins. They thought it likely that Lazoros would come for Kolathunadu as well in the coming year. To counter that they fanned rumors amongst the nonChristain elements ofKozhikode that Lazoros planned to suppress their respective faiths. As usual Lazoros had been very careful in handling the local Brahmins. However nearly a third of Kozhikode was Muslim and he was not as sensitive to their concerns as he was to the Hindus.
Lazoros had intended to begin his campaign against Kolathundu in late February but was forced to postpone that because much of his army was sick at the time. On 28 February riots erupted in the Muslim section of Kozhikode that grew worse the next day. The rioters targeted the small Christian population. This helped spur the creation of a small Christian regiment but in the meantime quelling it occupied the attention of Lazoros’ healthy soldiers. It wasn’t until 13 March that Lazoros felt that the situation was sufficiently controlled that he could begin his campaign. Three days later he reached the left bank of the Kuttiady River where he found most of the Kolathiri army deployed to prevent his crossing. It wasn’t until 2 April that he succeeded in crossing it by using the Chola navy to make an amphibious landing further north taking the town of Vatakara.
Lazoros was then eager to cross the Mahe River as quickly as possible. This allowed the Kolathiri to thrash the vanguard of Lazoros’ army north of the river on 4 April. After that defeat Lazoros’ army was reduced to only a small numerical advantage over the Kolathiri. For the rest of April Lazoros maneuvered his army cautiously. There were 3 brief cavalry skirmishes. The commander of the Kolathiri was cautious as well. On 7 May they fought an inconclusive battle north of the Mahe River with each becoming even more impressed by their opponent’s tactical prowess. Two days later another round of Muslim riots in Kozhikode started.
On 19 May Lazoros conducted an amphibious raid on the outskirts of Kannur which captures an impressive amount of loot. On 28 May he fights another battle on the outskirts of Kottayam (Thalassery). It is a hard fought battle. In the end he forces the Kolathiri to retreat across the Kuyyali River but he has suffered very serious losses. He does not believe he can take Kottayam in a quick assault and so begins a very methodical siege as the monsoons start.
The siege experiences a series of problems some of which are weather related. The most serious occurs on 22 June when Lazoros receives orders from Kulothunga Chola II to send a quarter of his Chola troops and a third of his Chola warships back east to be used in a campaign against the Eastern Chalukyas. Lazoros quickly realized that he had become a victim of his own success. He had been told that Kulothunga had been deeply impressed by his capture of Kozhikode. This lead him to believe that Lazoros was so proficient he did not need all of his forces to conquer Kolathunadu as well. However the current campaign was in fact proving quite difficult. Even before receiving these orders he doubted if he would be able to take Kannur much less the capital city of Ezhimala before years end.
He was confident that he could capture Kottayam in the end even if it was taking longer than expected. He complied with Kulothoung’s orders but he used the monsoons as an excuse to delay the transfer of some of the troops a few days. On 9 July he finally penetrated into the port. For two hours there was hard fighting but then the town’s rulers negotiated their surrender during a truce. The Kolathiri had made no attempt to interfere with the siege. One reason for this was that once the monsoons started the Kuyyali River quickly became a formidable obstacle. Even after the fall of Kottayam the river remained the boundary between the two sides. Lazoros was in no hurry to try to cross it.
Zengi’s youngest son Qutb al-Din Mawdud had succeeded in building a following among the Turcomans who had admired his father. During June they started conducting raids into the County of Edessa. They were not very strong so they did not penetrate very far. This raid was conducted without the approval of Alp Arslan who would like to imprison al-Din Mawdud along with with his brothers.
On 1 August two Assassins kill King Epimachus of Lower Egypt. This is followed by an uprising by the Assassins in the vicinity of Alexandria. Epimachos is succeeded by his nephew Merkourios whose first act is to crush the Assassins. He is also suspicious that King Roger II of Sicily might’ve played a role in the assassination but is unable to uncover any evidence substantiating that. King Paul shared his suspicions about Roger.
On 2 January 1147 the Byzantine Emperor John II Komnenos falls gravely ill. He dies a week later. His son Co-Emperor Alexios succeeds him. His surviving brothers Andronikos and Manuel support him wholeheartedly. Alexios II intends to continue his father’s policies. What differences that exist are subtle. He does not hate King Roger II of Sicily as intensely as his father did. He had no plans to further weaken Roger’s power. Prince Athnasios of Antioch quickly swears his allegiance to Alexios. By this time Alexios had come to share his father’s opinion that Athanasios was both competent and trustworthy.
Towards the end of 1146 Abu’l-Qasim al-Tayyib began to assert himself as the imam with the encouragement of Dhu’ayb ibn Musa. This resulted in steadily increasing friction with the ruler of Sana’a, Hamid ad-Dawla Hatim. On 19 January Hamid imprisoned Dhu’ayb feeling that without his influence al-Tayyib would be more tractable. The reverse was what happened as the imam quickly demanded the release of Dhu’ayb which Hamid refused to do. While Hamid tried his best to keep these developments secret word soon leaked out. The rich Fatimid Egyptians who had migrated to Sana’a began to fear that Hamid might harm the imam. They organized a coup that seized power on 10 February. They released Dhu’ayb and imprisoned Hamid. They acknowledged al-Tayyib as their ruler. At first the angry al-Tayyib wanted to behead Hamid but Dhu’ayb was able to persuade him to publicly blind him instead.
After that Fatimid comspirators who had organized the coup became al-Tayyib’s inner circle along with Dhu’ayb. Some of them dreamt of regaining control of Egypt. However Dhu’ayb pointed out that before such an ambitious move could be seriously considered the imam needed to establish firm control of Yemen. The first step was to make sure that the Hamdan tribe to which Hamid belonged cooperated. Executing Hamid would have stirred up considerable anger which was why Dhu’ayb advocated blinding him instead. The next step that Dhu’ayb advocated was to get the feuding elements of the powerful Zurayid Dynasty which professed devotion to al-Tayyib to put aside their differences and unite in his cause. Dhu’ayb warned that this would require careful diplomacy and take some time. While that is going on al-Tayyib should try to convince King Paul to turn over control of Zabid, a Sunni stronghold to him.
The imam had deeply mixed feelings about King Paul. Queen Arwa had been like a mother to him. She had on several occasions told him that she believed that King Paul probably saved al-Tayyib’s life and he should be grateful for that. However King Paul had overthrown the Fatimid Caliphate under the pretense of saving it and turned it into a Coptic tributary of Alodia. This al-Tayyib could not forgive. Dhu’ayb counseled al-Tayyib to keep that sentiment hidden in his heart for Alodia had become a great power he dare not antagonize. If instead he presented himself as a grateful friend of King Paul he should be able to gain control of Zabid and possibly some other favors as well. The imam was soon persuaded to adopt this strategy and did indeed succeed in gaining control of Zabid in early June.
North of Kozhikode is the powerful kingdom of Kolathunadu ruled by the Kolathiri family. They had pretended to be friendly with the Zamorins but had for some time been secretly hoping to be able to subjugate Kozhikode. When they learned of the Zamorin strategy in dealing with General Lazoros they were hopeful that it would greatly weaken both sides and ultimately present them with an opportunity to grab Kozhikode. Lazoros’ daring strategy took them by surprise as much as the Zamorins. They thought it likely that Lazoros would come for Kolathunadu as well in the coming year. To counter that they fanned rumors amongst the nonChristain elements ofKozhikode that Lazoros planned to suppress their respective faiths. As usual Lazoros had been very careful in handling the local Brahmins. However nearly a third of Kozhikode was Muslim and he was not as sensitive to their concerns as he was to the Hindus.
Lazoros had intended to begin his campaign against Kolathundu in late February but was forced to postpone that because much of his army was sick at the time. On 28 February riots erupted in the Muslim section of Kozhikode that grew worse the next day. The rioters targeted the small Christian population. This helped spur the creation of a small Christian regiment but in the meantime quelling it occupied the attention of Lazoros’ healthy soldiers. It wasn’t until 13 March that Lazoros felt that the situation was sufficiently controlled that he could begin his campaign. Three days later he reached the left bank of the Kuttiady River where he found most of the Kolathiri army deployed to prevent his crossing. It wasn’t until 2 April that he succeeded in crossing it by using the Chola navy to make an amphibious landing further north taking the town of Vatakara.
Lazoros was then eager to cross the Mahe River as quickly as possible. This allowed the Kolathiri to thrash the vanguard of Lazoros’ army north of the river on 4 April. After that defeat Lazoros’ army was reduced to only a small numerical advantage over the Kolathiri. For the rest of April Lazoros maneuvered his army cautiously. There were 3 brief cavalry skirmishes. The commander of the Kolathiri was cautious as well. On 7 May they fought an inconclusive battle north of the Mahe River with each becoming even more impressed by their opponent’s tactical prowess. Two days later another round of Muslim riots in Kozhikode started.
On 19 May Lazoros conducted an amphibious raid on the outskirts of Kannur which captures an impressive amount of loot. On 28 May he fights another battle on the outskirts of Kottayam (Thalassery). It is a hard fought battle. In the end he forces the Kolathiri to retreat across the Kuyyali River but he has suffered very serious losses. He does not believe he can take Kottayam in a quick assault and so begins a very methodical siege as the monsoons start.
The siege experiences a series of problems some of which are weather related. The most serious occurs on 22 June when Lazoros receives orders from Kulothunga Chola II to send a quarter of his Chola troops and a third of his Chola warships back east to be used in a campaign against the Eastern Chalukyas. Lazoros quickly realized that he had become a victim of his own success. He had been told that Kulothunga had been deeply impressed by his capture of Kozhikode. This lead him to believe that Lazoros was so proficient he did not need all of his forces to conquer Kolathunadu as well. However the current campaign was in fact proving quite difficult. Even before receiving these orders he doubted if he would be able to take Kannur much less the capital city of Ezhimala before years end.
He was confident that he could capture Kottayam in the end even if it was taking longer than expected. He complied with Kulothoung’s orders but he used the monsoons as an excuse to delay the transfer of some of the troops a few days. On 9 July he finally penetrated into the port. For two hours there was hard fighting but then the town’s rulers negotiated their surrender during a truce. The Kolathiri had made no attempt to interfere with the siege. One reason for this was that once the monsoons started the Kuyyali River quickly became a formidable obstacle. Even after the fall of Kottayam the river remained the boundary between the two sides. Lazoros was in no hurry to try to cross it.
Zengi’s youngest son Qutb al-Din Mawdud had succeeded in building a following among the Turcomans who had admired his father. During June they started conducting raids into the County of Edessa. They were not very strong so they did not penetrate very far. This raid was conducted without the approval of Alp Arslan who would like to imprison al-Din Mawdud along with with his brothers.
On 1 August two Assassins kill King Epimachus of Lower Egypt. This is followed by an uprising by the Assassins in the vicinity of Alexandria. Epimachos is succeeded by his nephew Merkourios whose first act is to crush the Assassins. He is also suspicious that King Roger II of Sicily might’ve played a role in the assassination but is unable to uncover any evidence substantiating that. King Paul shared his suspicions about Roger.
Part 40
On 7 August Biktor of Faras arrives at Hafun. King Paul of Alodia has ordered him to travel to the East African coast and compose a detailed written report. He is astounded by what a vibrant commercial center Hafun has become in such a short time. His next stop is the prosperous Mogadishu Sultanate. There he encounters considerable hostility towards Alodians, Axumites and Makurians so he doesn’t stay long before moving on to the Chola controlled port of Kismayo. From there he continues on to Kilwa where he is able to meet with the sultan, Dawud ibn Suleiman who was very amicable. Eventually he grants Biktor permission to travel to Sofala which he finds to be very wealthy as a result of it trading gold mined at Great Zimbabwe. On his way back to Soba he stops at the port of Barawa which is part of the Tunni Sultanate. Like Mogadishu it is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim. Because of that some of its inhabitants are sympathetic to the Sultan of Mogadishu but others see see Mogadishu as a ruthless rival they don’t trust. Biktor’s written account of his travels will be circulated fairly widely.
Soon after the end of the main monsoon season General Lazoros makes a halfhearted attempt to cross the swollen Kuyyali River which the Kolathiri easily defeat. After that Lazoros becomes even more cautious and he is worried that if he were to suffer a devastating defeat the Kolathiri would be able to take Kozhikode. Conversely the Kolathiri generals were awed by Lazoros’ accomplishments. By the time that the second monsoon season starts there have been only two indecisive cavalry skirmishes. The year ends with the Kolathiri army north of the Kuyyali and Lazaros south of it. Kulothunga Chola II is disappointed with Lazoros’ lack of progress. However the economic benefits of controlling Kozhikode are already becoming abundantly clear so his criticism is not harsh.
In the January of 1148 there is another round of riots by the Muslims of Kozhikode. Lazoros fairly quickly suppresses the revolt then succeeds in crossing the Kuyyali River on 19 March. Two days later he defeats the Kolathiri in a hard fought battle with both sides taking heavy losses. A week later he begins a siege of Kannur. However this siege soon experiences multiple problems and a very well executed nighttime sortie on 7 April destroys half of Lazaros’ siege engines. Two days later Lazoros offers to terminate the siege if Kannur agrees to become a tributary of the Chola. This offer is given serious consideration but is ultimately rejected. Then on 29 April a new army that the Kolathiri have scrapped together arrives and forces Lazoros to abandon the siege.
During May both the Kolathiri and Lazoros undertake a great deal of maneuvering but as both sides remain very cautious there is no major battle only a few cavalry skirmishes. When the main monsoon season arrives Lazoros has most of his army situated in a fortified position just north of the Kuyyali. During the monsoons Lazoros experiences some problems with his supply lines. When the main monsoon season ends he does not feel that he can go back on the offensive. He hopes that the Kolathiri might try to attack but they remain cautious and fail to do so.
In the fall of 1147 Emperor Alexios II is persuaded by his advisers to increase Byzantine naval spending. One reason for this is he does not want to have to rely on the Venetians for naval support. Indeed when Doge Polani died in June his his successor Domenico Morosino soon granted the Catholic Church independence within the Republic of Venice which displeased Alexios. Another reason is that with tax revenue from their newly acquired Italian territory there was more money to spend.
On 24 April Alexios begins a campaign against the Mas’ud the Sultan of Rum who has been violating the imperial frontiers since Emperor John II died. While this campaign is largely punitive Alexios wants to take some peripheral territory and fortify them. He has much superior strength but this creates some serious supply problems that constrain his advances. Mas’ud hopes to spring an ambush in the mountains but Alexios is fairly familiar with the Anatolian terrain from prior campaigns and thwarts those efforts. Mas’ud in turn wants to avoid losing most of his army. Over the next three months there are two fairly small open field battles, one protracted siege and several skirmishes. Alexios has gained control of the areas he wants most and has already started work on two new castles. He is prepared to pounce if Mas’ud tries to retake them but Mas’ud prudently remains on the defensive.
In the Coastal Mountains between the Principality of Antioch and the County of Tripoli there were several castles held by the Assassins (Nizari Ismailis). Due to the problems his father had with the Assassins in Alezandria Prince Athanasios had never been comfortable with this but his advisers in Antioch had informed him that the Assassins had on more than one occasion proved useful in countering Zengi’s activity. With the death of Zengi this justification evaporated. When he learned of theassassination of King Epimachos of Egypt Athanasios decided decided that the time had come to eliminate these Assassin strongholds. He begins laying siege to one of the castles on 30 October and captures it on 6 December despite very determined resistance. The Antiochene losses were more than Athanasios had expected.
Christophoros of Thyra persuades him to wait until late March before resuming the campaign. In the meantime he asks his father to send him some Axumite mountain soldiers, which he believes would be useful in this campaign. He receives 400 of them but it is midApril before they arrive at Antioch and the campaign is already underway. Athanasios also persuades Raymond II the Count of Tripoli to render some limited assistance. By the end of July he has captured two more Assassin strongholds. He then learned that Emperor Alexios is planning to visit Antioch in the middle of August and expects Athanasios to reaffirm in person his loyalty.
Athanasios is all too willing to do this and suspends his campaign against the Assassins for what he expected to be a short period. However Alexios ended up staying in Antioch for more than a month as he felt there were several important issues he felt needed to be addressed. For one thing he expected Count Raymond II and Count Joscelin II of Edessa to come to Antioch and affirm there loyalty as well. Raymond arrives promptly but Joscelin drags his feet and doesn’t show up until 13 September. As the County of Edessa is now a vassal of Antioch this reflects very badly on Prince Athanasios. This results in a very stormy meeting between Athanasios and Joscelin. Alexios also hoped that Queen Melisende of Jerusalem would come to pay homage as well but that is not to be.
By the end of May 1148 Imam Abu’l-Qasim al-Tayyib has finally succeeded in uniting the bickering Zurayid factions behind him. This gives him control of the southern coast of Arabia including the key port of Aden. He then turns his attention to the Sulymanids. On 30 July al-Tayyib destroys most of the Sulymanid army and kills their amir. He then proceeds to seize their territory.
On 25 September Eleanor of Aquitance gives birth to a son named Philip
On 7 August Biktor of Faras arrives at Hafun. King Paul of Alodia has ordered him to travel to the East African coast and compose a detailed written report. He is astounded by what a vibrant commercial center Hafun has become in such a short time. His next stop is the prosperous Mogadishu Sultanate. There he encounters considerable hostility towards Alodians, Axumites and Makurians so he doesn’t stay long before moving on to the Chola controlled port of Kismayo. From there he continues on to Kilwa where he is able to meet with the sultan, Dawud ibn Suleiman who was very amicable. Eventually he grants Biktor permission to travel to Sofala which he finds to be very wealthy as a result of it trading gold mined at Great Zimbabwe. On his way back to Soba he stops at the port of Barawa which is part of the Tunni Sultanate. Like Mogadishu it is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim. Because of that some of its inhabitants are sympathetic to the Sultan of Mogadishu but others see see Mogadishu as a ruthless rival they don’t trust. Biktor’s written account of his travels will be circulated fairly widely.
Soon after the end of the main monsoon season General Lazoros makes a halfhearted attempt to cross the swollen Kuyyali River which the Kolathiri easily defeat. After that Lazoros becomes even more cautious and he is worried that if he were to suffer a devastating defeat the Kolathiri would be able to take Kozhikode. Conversely the Kolathiri generals were awed by Lazoros’ accomplishments. By the time that the second monsoon season starts there have been only two indecisive cavalry skirmishes. The year ends with the Kolathiri army north of the Kuyyali and Lazaros south of it. Kulothunga Chola II is disappointed with Lazoros’ lack of progress. However the economic benefits of controlling Kozhikode are already becoming abundantly clear so his criticism is not harsh.
In the January of 1148 there is another round of riots by the Muslims of Kozhikode. Lazoros fairly quickly suppresses the revolt then succeeds in crossing the Kuyyali River on 19 March. Two days later he defeats the Kolathiri in a hard fought battle with both sides taking heavy losses. A week later he begins a siege of Kannur. However this siege soon experiences multiple problems and a very well executed nighttime sortie on 7 April destroys half of Lazaros’ siege engines. Two days later Lazoros offers to terminate the siege if Kannur agrees to become a tributary of the Chola. This offer is given serious consideration but is ultimately rejected. Then on 29 April a new army that the Kolathiri have scrapped together arrives and forces Lazoros to abandon the siege.
During May both the Kolathiri and Lazoros undertake a great deal of maneuvering but as both sides remain very cautious there is no major battle only a few cavalry skirmishes. When the main monsoon season arrives Lazoros has most of his army situated in a fortified position just north of the Kuyyali. During the monsoons Lazoros experiences some problems with his supply lines. When the main monsoon season ends he does not feel that he can go back on the offensive. He hopes that the Kolathiri might try to attack but they remain cautious and fail to do so.
In the fall of 1147 Emperor Alexios II is persuaded by his advisers to increase Byzantine naval spending. One reason for this is he does not want to have to rely on the Venetians for naval support. Indeed when Doge Polani died in June his his successor Domenico Morosino soon granted the Catholic Church independence within the Republic of Venice which displeased Alexios. Another reason is that with tax revenue from their newly acquired Italian territory there was more money to spend.
On 24 April Alexios begins a campaign against the Mas’ud the Sultan of Rum who has been violating the imperial frontiers since Emperor John II died. While this campaign is largely punitive Alexios wants to take some peripheral territory and fortify them. He has much superior strength but this creates some serious supply problems that constrain his advances. Mas’ud hopes to spring an ambush in the mountains but Alexios is fairly familiar with the Anatolian terrain from prior campaigns and thwarts those efforts. Mas’ud in turn wants to avoid losing most of his army. Over the next three months there are two fairly small open field battles, one protracted siege and several skirmishes. Alexios has gained control of the areas he wants most and has already started work on two new castles. He is prepared to pounce if Mas’ud tries to retake them but Mas’ud prudently remains on the defensive.
In the Coastal Mountains between the Principality of Antioch and the County of Tripoli there were several castles held by the Assassins (Nizari Ismailis). Due to the problems his father had with the Assassins in Alezandria Prince Athanasios had never been comfortable with this but his advisers in Antioch had informed him that the Assassins had on more than one occasion proved useful in countering Zengi’s activity. With the death of Zengi this justification evaporated. When he learned of theassassination of King Epimachos of Egypt Athanasios decided decided that the time had come to eliminate these Assassin strongholds. He begins laying siege to one of the castles on 30 October and captures it on 6 December despite very determined resistance. The Antiochene losses were more than Athanasios had expected.
Christophoros of Thyra persuades him to wait until late March before resuming the campaign. In the meantime he asks his father to send him some Axumite mountain soldiers, which he believes would be useful in this campaign. He receives 400 of them but it is midApril before they arrive at Antioch and the campaign is already underway. Athanasios also persuades Raymond II the Count of Tripoli to render some limited assistance. By the end of July he has captured two more Assassin strongholds. He then learned that Emperor Alexios is planning to visit Antioch in the middle of August and expects Athanasios to reaffirm in person his loyalty.
Athanasios is all too willing to do this and suspends his campaign against the Assassins for what he expected to be a short period. However Alexios ended up staying in Antioch for more than a month as he felt there were several important issues he felt needed to be addressed. For one thing he expected Count Raymond II and Count Joscelin II of Edessa to come to Antioch and affirm there loyalty as well. Raymond arrives promptly but Joscelin drags his feet and doesn’t show up until 13 September. As the County of Edessa is now a vassal of Antioch this reflects very badly on Prince Athanasios. This results in a very stormy meeting between Athanasios and Joscelin. Alexios also hoped that Queen Melisende of Jerusalem would come to pay homage as well but that is not to be.
By the end of May 1148 Imam Abu’l-Qasim al-Tayyib has finally succeeded in uniting the bickering Zurayid factions behind him. This gives him control of the southern coast of Arabia including the key port of Aden. He then turns his attention to the Sulymanids. On 30 July al-Tayyib destroys most of the Sulymanid army and kills their amir. He then proceeds to seize their territory.
On 25 September Eleanor of Aquitance gives birth to a son named Philip
Part 41
During the September of 1148 King Merkourios of Lower Egypt began revisiting some issues that his predecessor King Epimachos had with Makuria dealing with the border between Upper and Lower Egypt. The last thing King Paul had wanted was trouble with Alodia’s powerful neighbor to the north. King Georgios IV of Makuria harbored some resentment had felt that Makuria had down the lion’s share of the work during the Conquest of Egypt but had reaped less of the rewards than Alodia had. Because of this King Paul had instructed Epimachos to be accommodating when dealing with Georgios. Merkourios has concluded that Epimachos had been too generous and began making demands. King Paul quickly clamps down on Merkourios. This results in some friction with his vassal.
Worried about the growing power of the Ismaili Imam Abu’l-Qasim al-Tayyib the Zaidi Imam al-Mutawakkil Ahmad ibn Sulayman launches an offensive against them in late October 1148. Al-Tayyib was already planning to attack the Zaidi in the spring. This attack takes him by surprise while he is preoccupied with absorbing Sulymanid territory. His forces are soon routed with most of them falling back on the capital San’a.
Mutawakkil hesitates but soon decides to go big and try to capture San’a. However after the initial victory some of his chieftains feel that their work is done and go home. Soon after arriving at San’a al-Tayyib receives some reinforcements from the Zurayids. With their help al-Tayyib defeats the Zaidi army on the outskirts of San’a. He then pursues the Zaidi army with the intention of taking their capital at Sa’ada. However his army soon experiences trouble in the Serat Mountains which surround the stronghold. Furthermore nearly all of the Zaidi chieftains that had departed rejoin the army once they learn that Sa’ada is threatened. During December the campaign bogs down completely. The imam wants to continue it but Dhu’ayb is able to persuade him to wait until the spring.
In late November there is some cautious indecisive fighting between the Kolathiri and General Lazaros’ army north of the Kuyyali River. Soon afterwards Lazaros’ health begins to deteriorate. This worries Kulothunga Chola II causing him to vigorously enter into negotiations with the Kolathiri. On 30 December the Chola fleet destroys nearly all of the Kolathiri navy. This results in a peace treaty being concluded on 27 February, 1149, which establishes the Kuyyali River as the boundary with the kingdom of Kolathunadu. King Paul the Great of Alodia does not have any objections to this treaty. Like the Chola the Alodians are already reaping great rewards from the possession of Kozhikode.
Lazoros dies on 22 March. He was widely mourned by the Christians of Kerala. One of his last acts was to send an Axumite missionary to the Silent Valley where he soon proves very effective in converting the locals to Coptic Christianity. Lazoros’ successor is a Chola general and a Hindu. His ascendancy serves to reduce the apprehension among the nonChristians in Kochi and Kozhikode which makes it easier for Kulothunga Chola to consolidate his grip on them.
On 16 January 1149 the Assassins unsuccessfully try to kill Prince Athanasios. He had been expecting this and was well prepared. The incident only serves to strengthen his resolve to eradicate thenearby Assassin strongholds. He resumes his campaign against them on 12 March. After quickly capturing one small fort he proceeds to Maysaf, one of the two most important Nizari strongholds. He then lays siege to Maysaf. Even with some help from Tripoli this proves to be a very difficult siege and it isn’t until 25 June that he is able to break into the city. After that it is another week before the citadel falls. The leader of the Syrian Assassins, Rashid ad-Din Sinad is not residing at Maysaf at this time but Ali ibn Wafa, one of his trusted lieutenants is killed there.
On 20 March al-Tayyib resumes his campaign against the Zaidi. His army continues to have a hard time in the Serat Mountains. Despite that he is able to begin a siege of Sa’ada on 12 April. However he is forced to abandon this siege on 18 April and withdraws from the immediate area the following day. For the remainder of the month there are merely a few cavalry skirmishes.
The Adal Kingdom is also worried about the growing power of al-Tayyib and lands an expedition which takes the Sunni stronghold in an assault on 17 May. Upon learning of this al-Tayyib is incensed but with most of his army engaged with the Zaidi Dhu’ayb easily convinces him that he must wait before he can effectively deal with this new threat.
In late February 1149 revolt breaks out in parts of the Principality of Salerno. Hoping to destabilize the Principality of Salerno King Roger II of Sicily secretly assists these revolts. By the end of April the Prince of Salerno controls little more than the immediate vicinity of Salerno. King Conrad III of Germany then persuades Pope Lucius II that the Italian noble they had installed as Prince of Salerno was a mistake. Conrad has been negotiating with the rebellious Welf VI which Roger had been trying without success to turn into an ally. On 24 May an agreement is concluded wherein Welf VII (son of Welf VI) becomes the new Prince of Salerno. Pope Lucius goes along with this in exchange for Conrad sending a modest German force under Frederick to Rome to defend the Papacy against the Commune of Rome which is again causing trouble.
Welf VII arrives at Salerno with an army on 17 June. When the current prince refuses to surrender the city Welf begins preparations for a siege. Two days later the prince is poisoned and the city surrenders. Welf then proceeds to crush the revolts by the end of July despite Roger’s efforts. He is perturbed to find that the Egyptians in Taranto have taken advantage of the revolts to make a small border adjustment. He decides against demanding the return of those areas as Egypt is too powerful to risk provoking.
During the September of 1148 King Merkourios of Lower Egypt began revisiting some issues that his predecessor King Epimachos had with Makuria dealing with the border between Upper and Lower Egypt. The last thing King Paul had wanted was trouble with Alodia’s powerful neighbor to the north. King Georgios IV of Makuria harbored some resentment had felt that Makuria had down the lion’s share of the work during the Conquest of Egypt but had reaped less of the rewards than Alodia had. Because of this King Paul had instructed Epimachos to be accommodating when dealing with Georgios. Merkourios has concluded that Epimachos had been too generous and began making demands. King Paul quickly clamps down on Merkourios. This results in some friction with his vassal.
Worried about the growing power of the Ismaili Imam Abu’l-Qasim al-Tayyib the Zaidi Imam al-Mutawakkil Ahmad ibn Sulayman launches an offensive against them in late October 1148. Al-Tayyib was already planning to attack the Zaidi in the spring. This attack takes him by surprise while he is preoccupied with absorbing Sulymanid territory. His forces are soon routed with most of them falling back on the capital San’a.
Mutawakkil hesitates but soon decides to go big and try to capture San’a. However after the initial victory some of his chieftains feel that their work is done and go home. Soon after arriving at San’a al-Tayyib receives some reinforcements from the Zurayids. With their help al-Tayyib defeats the Zaidi army on the outskirts of San’a. He then pursues the Zaidi army with the intention of taking their capital at Sa’ada. However his army soon experiences trouble in the Serat Mountains which surround the stronghold. Furthermore nearly all of the Zaidi chieftains that had departed rejoin the army once they learn that Sa’ada is threatened. During December the campaign bogs down completely. The imam wants to continue it but Dhu’ayb is able to persuade him to wait until the spring.
In late November there is some cautious indecisive fighting between the Kolathiri and General Lazaros’ army north of the Kuyyali River. Soon afterwards Lazaros’ health begins to deteriorate. This worries Kulothunga Chola II causing him to vigorously enter into negotiations with the Kolathiri. On 30 December the Chola fleet destroys nearly all of the Kolathiri navy. This results in a peace treaty being concluded on 27 February, 1149, which establishes the Kuyyali River as the boundary with the kingdom of Kolathunadu. King Paul the Great of Alodia does not have any objections to this treaty. Like the Chola the Alodians are already reaping great rewards from the possession of Kozhikode.
Lazoros dies on 22 March. He was widely mourned by the Christians of Kerala. One of his last acts was to send an Axumite missionary to the Silent Valley where he soon proves very effective in converting the locals to Coptic Christianity. Lazoros’ successor is a Chola general and a Hindu. His ascendancy serves to reduce the apprehension among the nonChristians in Kochi and Kozhikode which makes it easier for Kulothunga Chola to consolidate his grip on them.
On 16 January 1149 the Assassins unsuccessfully try to kill Prince Athanasios. He had been expecting this and was well prepared. The incident only serves to strengthen his resolve to eradicate thenearby Assassin strongholds. He resumes his campaign against them on 12 March. After quickly capturing one small fort he proceeds to Maysaf, one of the two most important Nizari strongholds. He then lays siege to Maysaf. Even with some help from Tripoli this proves to be a very difficult siege and it isn’t until 25 June that he is able to break into the city. After that it is another week before the citadel falls. The leader of the Syrian Assassins, Rashid ad-Din Sinad is not residing at Maysaf at this time but Ali ibn Wafa, one of his trusted lieutenants is killed there.
On 20 March al-Tayyib resumes his campaign against the Zaidi. His army continues to have a hard time in the Serat Mountains. Despite that he is able to begin a siege of Sa’ada on 12 April. However he is forced to abandon this siege on 18 April and withdraws from the immediate area the following day. For the remainder of the month there are merely a few cavalry skirmishes.
The Adal Kingdom is also worried about the growing power of al-Tayyib and lands an expedition which takes the Sunni stronghold in an assault on 17 May. Upon learning of this al-Tayyib is incensed but with most of his army engaged with the Zaidi Dhu’ayb easily convinces him that he must wait before he can effectively deal with this new threat.
In late February 1149 revolt breaks out in parts of the Principality of Salerno. Hoping to destabilize the Principality of Salerno King Roger II of Sicily secretly assists these revolts. By the end of April the Prince of Salerno controls little more than the immediate vicinity of Salerno. King Conrad III of Germany then persuades Pope Lucius II that the Italian noble they had installed as Prince of Salerno was a mistake. Conrad has been negotiating with the rebellious Welf VI which Roger had been trying without success to turn into an ally. On 24 May an agreement is concluded wherein Welf VII (son of Welf VI) becomes the new Prince of Salerno. Pope Lucius goes along with this in exchange for Conrad sending a modest German force under Frederick to Rome to defend the Papacy against the Commune of Rome which is again causing trouble.
Welf VII arrives at Salerno with an army on 17 June. When the current prince refuses to surrender the city Welf begins preparations for a siege. Two days later the prince is poisoned and the city surrenders. Welf then proceeds to crush the revolts by the end of July despite Roger’s efforts. He is perturbed to find that the Egyptians in Taranto have taken advantage of the revolts to make a small border adjustment. He decides against demanding the return of those areas as Egypt is too powerful to risk provoking.
Part 42
On 28 August Queen Melisende of Jersulam eceives a letter from King Merkourios of Lower Egypt demanding that she return the town of Pelusium to Egypt. The queen does not care for the brusque tone of this letter but she does not regard Pelusium as being worth a squabble with her powerful neighbor so she soon decides to accede.
On 7 September Prince Athanasios begins to besiege the Al-Kahf Castle which the Assassin leader, Rashid ad-Din Sinan is using as his base. This proves to be another difficult siege but on 18 November the Antiochene forces capture it. Sinan was killed during the last day of fighting. This demoralizes the Assassins. In the next four months Athanasios takes the remaining Assassin strongholds.
On 19 September Qutb al-Din Mawdud is able to free his brothers, Saif ad-Din and Nur ad-Din ftom captivity in a daring raid. Alp Arslan is very upset over this and makes a concerted but unsuccessful effort to capture the brothers who hide in the Jezirah. They have some success attracting followers to overthrow Alp Arslan but in a little more than a month the brothers are squabbling amongst themselves.
In early September Abu’l-Qasim al-Tayyib resumes his campaign against the Zaidi. He wins a hard fought victory on 28 September. He begins besieging the Zaidi capital of Sa’ada again on 11 October. This proves to be a difficult siege. On 30 October he just barely defeats a force of Zaidi trying to lift the siege. It isn’t until 27 December that he is able to break into the city and it takes 8 more days to capture its citadel.
The Ismaili Imam captured the Zaidi Iman, al-Mutawakkil Ahmad ibn Sulayman and slowly tortured him to death. Al-Tayyib has grown to hate the Zaidi and treats the city’s population harshly, killing most of the men and selling the rest along the women and children into slavery. This shocks his vizier, Dhu’ayb but he is careful not to criticize the imam even in private. He does persuade al-Taayyib to send many of the enslaved Zaidi to the Jubba River plantations as the wealthy plantation owners are staunch supporters.
The fall of Sa’ada does not completely end Zaidi resistance. Eliminating it keeps al-Tayyib preoccupied for the first half of 1150 which prevents him from trying to retake the Sunni stronghold of Zabid. While this is going on Dhu’ayb convinces al-Tayyib to negotiate an alliance with Sultan Haydara of Showa to counter the fiercely Sunni Adal Kingdom. He also gets the Sharif of Mecca to swear fealty to al-Tayyib on 7 April.
Soon after the conclusion of the treaty with the Kolathiri, King Paul the Great of Alodia proposed to Kulothunga Chola that they launch a joint invasion of the Maldive Islands. Kulothunga Chola was soon persuaded. The joint expedition succeeds in landing on the capital island of Malé on 20 November. The ruler of the Maldives was Dhovemi. He offers more resistance than the Chola admiral commanding the expedition had expected. There is very fierce fighting for nearly 3 weeks before the island is subjugated. Over the next 5 months the other major islands are subjugated. Some of the islands put up fierce resistance while others surrender without a fight. The population of the Maldives is predominantly Buddhist but there is a growing Sunni element. In the February of 1150 the Alodians begin building a Coptic church on Malé and send several Coptic missionaries to proselytize. Their efforts have minimal success in their first year.
On 9 December King Paul becomes very ill and for a while it looks like he might die but he recovers in a week. Afterwards he is convinced that he had been poisoned. He is not sure by whom and refuses to rule out the Nizari even though they were known to refrain from using poison. He also suspects King Roger II of Sicily might be behind it. He becomes extremely suspicious of his palace staff. He soon starts to suspect his heir, Prince Basil. He also begins to suspect that King Georgios IV of Makuria might be plotting to takeover Alodia. These feelings soon become paranoid. He has several members of his household staff interrogated using torture.
At the beginning of March Paul’s health begins to decline. He soon jumps to the conclusion that this was either the result of being poisoned a second time. However this time he does not recover and he gets slowly but steadily worse. As he does he gets even more paranoid. He begins to worry that King Tewedros of Axum will turn on Alodia. One person he does continue to trust is his son Athanasios. He is very tempted in May to name Athanasios as his heir instead of Prince Basil. This would be contrary to Alodia’s matrilineal rules of succession. His inner circle and the Coptic bishops are opposed to this believing it could create a succession crisis that could turn into a civil war. Learning of this Prince Athanasios sends his father a letter begging him not to name him as heir which finally dissuades King Paul.
Meanwhile King Paul has become obsessed with the ancient Nubian realm. On 13 May he moves to from his palace in Soba to smaller quarters in Meroë. Soon after that his condition both physical and mental further deteriorates. On 30 June King Paul dies. He is widely mourned throughout Alodia and by most of the Copts in Egypt. He is also mourned to a lesser degree in the Outremer where the more astute individuals acknowledge that his actions have served to make them more secure.
Basil is crowned king the next day. One of his first acts is to move back to the palace in Soba. He knows that there some influential Alodians who believe he did indeed poison his uncle. There is also a group that feels Prince Athanasios should have become the new king. He realizes that King Paul will be a tough act to follow.
On 28 August Queen Melisende of Jersulam eceives a letter from King Merkourios of Lower Egypt demanding that she return the town of Pelusium to Egypt. The queen does not care for the brusque tone of this letter but she does not regard Pelusium as being worth a squabble with her powerful neighbor so she soon decides to accede.
On 7 September Prince Athanasios begins to besiege the Al-Kahf Castle which the Assassin leader, Rashid ad-Din Sinan is using as his base. This proves to be another difficult siege but on 18 November the Antiochene forces capture it. Sinan was killed during the last day of fighting. This demoralizes the Assassins. In the next four months Athanasios takes the remaining Assassin strongholds.
On 19 September Qutb al-Din Mawdud is able to free his brothers, Saif ad-Din and Nur ad-Din ftom captivity in a daring raid. Alp Arslan is very upset over this and makes a concerted but unsuccessful effort to capture the brothers who hide in the Jezirah. They have some success attracting followers to overthrow Alp Arslan but in a little more than a month the brothers are squabbling amongst themselves.
In early September Abu’l-Qasim al-Tayyib resumes his campaign against the Zaidi. He wins a hard fought victory on 28 September. He begins besieging the Zaidi capital of Sa’ada again on 11 October. This proves to be a difficult siege. On 30 October he just barely defeats a force of Zaidi trying to lift the siege. It isn’t until 27 December that he is able to break into the city and it takes 8 more days to capture its citadel.
The Ismaili Imam captured the Zaidi Iman, al-Mutawakkil Ahmad ibn Sulayman and slowly tortured him to death. Al-Tayyib has grown to hate the Zaidi and treats the city’s population harshly, killing most of the men and selling the rest along the women and children into slavery. This shocks his vizier, Dhu’ayb but he is careful not to criticize the imam even in private. He does persuade al-Taayyib to send many of the enslaved Zaidi to the Jubba River plantations as the wealthy plantation owners are staunch supporters.
The fall of Sa’ada does not completely end Zaidi resistance. Eliminating it keeps al-Tayyib preoccupied for the first half of 1150 which prevents him from trying to retake the Sunni stronghold of Zabid. While this is going on Dhu’ayb convinces al-Tayyib to negotiate an alliance with Sultan Haydara of Showa to counter the fiercely Sunni Adal Kingdom. He also gets the Sharif of Mecca to swear fealty to al-Tayyib on 7 April.
Soon after the conclusion of the treaty with the Kolathiri, King Paul the Great of Alodia proposed to Kulothunga Chola that they launch a joint invasion of the Maldive Islands. Kulothunga Chola was soon persuaded. The joint expedition succeeds in landing on the capital island of Malé on 20 November. The ruler of the Maldives was Dhovemi. He offers more resistance than the Chola admiral commanding the expedition had expected. There is very fierce fighting for nearly 3 weeks before the island is subjugated. Over the next 5 months the other major islands are subjugated. Some of the islands put up fierce resistance while others surrender without a fight. The population of the Maldives is predominantly Buddhist but there is a growing Sunni element. In the February of 1150 the Alodians begin building a Coptic church on Malé and send several Coptic missionaries to proselytize. Their efforts have minimal success in their first year.
On 9 December King Paul becomes very ill and for a while it looks like he might die but he recovers in a week. Afterwards he is convinced that he had been poisoned. He is not sure by whom and refuses to rule out the Nizari even though they were known to refrain from using poison. He also suspects King Roger II of Sicily might be behind it. He becomes extremely suspicious of his palace staff. He soon starts to suspect his heir, Prince Basil. He also begins to suspect that King Georgios IV of Makuria might be plotting to takeover Alodia. These feelings soon become paranoid. He has several members of his household staff interrogated using torture.
At the beginning of March Paul’s health begins to decline. He soon jumps to the conclusion that this was either the result of being poisoned a second time. However this time he does not recover and he gets slowly but steadily worse. As he does he gets even more paranoid. He begins to worry that King Tewedros of Axum will turn on Alodia. One person he does continue to trust is his son Athanasios. He is very tempted in May to name Athanasios as his heir instead of Prince Basil. This would be contrary to Alodia’s matrilineal rules of succession. His inner circle and the Coptic bishops are opposed to this believing it could create a succession crisis that could turn into a civil war. Learning of this Prince Athanasios sends his father a letter begging him not to name him as heir which finally dissuades King Paul.
Meanwhile King Paul has become obsessed with the ancient Nubian realm. On 13 May he moves to from his palace in Soba to smaller quarters in Meroë. Soon after that his condition both physical and mental further deteriorates. On 30 June King Paul dies. He is widely mourned throughout Alodia and by most of the Copts in Egypt. He is also mourned to a lesser degree in the Outremer where the more astute individuals acknowledge that his actions have served to make them more secure.
Basil is crowned king the next day. One of his first acts is to move back to the palace in Soba. He knows that there some influential Alodians who believe he did indeed poison his uncle. There is also a group that feels Prince Athanasios should have become the new king. He realizes that King Paul will be a tough act to follow.
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While foreseeable this way to start to proselytize, I tend to think that
it still wouldn't be the best way to keep the population calm and rather would be probable to cause some rebellions... If it wouldn't be followed by some incentives to convert to their new rulers faith.
it still wouldn't be the best way to keep the population calm and rather would be probable to cause some rebellions... If it wouldn't be followed by some incentives to convert to their new rulers faith.
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The Alodians are not attempting to force Christianity on the Maldives. If they did their partners the Chola would quickly become upset. They just sent some missionaries and built a church. Some Maldives will see the church as a symbol of their subjugation but those are the sort who would likely rebel even if there was no proselytizing.
Part 43 Enter Basil
Prince Basil had been cordial and respectful with his uncle but they were never very close and he did not idolize them him as intensely as many Alodians did. He in fact derived some schadefreunde from the madness that Paul succumbed to in his final months except he did not appreciate being suspected of poisoning him and not just byPaul. Basil never really cared for his cousin, Prince Athanasios for a variety of reasons, one of which was simple basic envy. He was well aware that there were nobles who would prefer to have Athanasios as their monarch. He was worried that some of them were already plotting to depose him and replace him with Athanasios.
The Alodia that King Basil inherited had become a powerful and prosperous nation. He intended to keep it that way. However he sees no compelling reason to expand Alodia’s empire---with only one small exception. That was the port of Massawwa. It was located close to Adulis and was Alodia’s biggest competitor on the Red Sea. It was currently controlled by the Balaw Kingdom which was one of the small relatively weak Beja polities. The Beja did not pose an existential threat to Alodia but they were a nuisance at time conducting small raids into Alodian territory. Conquering Balaw would send a message to the other Beja kings that they had better behave. It would definitely please the Alodian and Axumite merchants who could never understand Paul’s reluctance to take such an obvious step.
So on 2 September Basil sends an Alodia army into Balaw. The army is a roughly equal mix of cavalry and infantry. Despite the best efforts of King Paul the Great the effectiveness of Alodian infantry continues to be mediocre at best in open field battles. Basil’s advisers had warned him of this but he eschewed using the better quality infantry from Axum. Alodian cavalry continued to be fast and nimble. For the most part this made up for the shortcomings of the infantry. However assaulting fortresses was an exception. The assault on Massawa on 30 September was an embarrassing failure. After that fiasco the Alodians resorted to a very methodical siege. Even that turned out to be more difficult than King Basil expected and it wasn’t taken until 6 November. By this time the Alodian army occupied the rest of Balaw. None of the other Beja kings came to the aid of Balaw.
Despite one big and several small embarrassments Basil felt that the invasion was a success. He had demonstrated his royal manliness to his subjects by overpowering a much weaker opponent. Having gotten that over and done with, he was in no hurry to do it again. He really did not see any other territory that needed taking. Basil thought the conquest of the Maldives in concert with the Chola was one of his uncle’s mistakes. At first he had doubts about the Kerala campaign but when his staff provided him with some rough estimates about the trade coming through Kozhikode alone he was forced to revise his opinion. However he still saw no reason whatsoever to try again to conquer Kolathunadu.
Basil regarded rebuilding the ancient city of Meroë as folly. He quickly terminated all construction there. He also cancelled the policies that Paul had set up which provided an incentive for Alodians to settle there. Paul did not share Paul’s worries about Soba being overpopulated. On the contrary he saw a crowded city as a sign of prosperity.
What Basil regarded as Paul’s greatest error was his subservience to the Byzantine Empire. That led to the Italian campaign that Basil saw as serving Byzantine interests instead of Alodia’s. He had doubts at first as to whether or not Taranto was worth haging on to but his advisers convinced that it was.
What was definitely not worth holding on to was the enmity of King Roger II of Sicily. Basil quickly entered into secret negotiations with Roger who tries to persuade him to switch sides. Basil was wary of that offer. He did not want to go ftom being a docile servant of the Byzantine Emperor to being committed to facilitating Roger’s ambitious schemes. He did not want to wage war alongside the Byzantines but even less did he want to wage war against them. So the negotiations with Roger quickly became complicated and frustrating. There continued to be bits of intelligence that Roger was trying to subvert Alodian control of Lower Egypt in various ways. One thing that Paul did that Basil admitted to appreciating was the far reaching network of spies though he did wonder if having a spy in Norway was really necessary.
Similarly Basil thought Paul had provided too much assistance to the Outremer. One reason why Basil disliked Athanasios stemmed from personal issues between that occurred before Athanasios departed for Antioch. However an even greater ingredient was Basil resented the lavish attention that the Alodian nobiity gave to the exploits of Athanasios in Antioch. Basil’s opinion was that his cousin was overrated that he had been led by the nose first by his father then by his highly eccentric power hungry mother-in-law. There were some recent reports that his wife Constance was beginning to exert undue influence on his policies. Basil tred not to be overtly hostile to Athanasios as he knew that would be extremely unpopular with his subjects. When Constance gave birth to a daughter in October he sends a present with a letter of congratulations.
Basil fully understood that good relations with his powerful neighbor to the north, Makuria was essential. The royal familes of the two nations continued to intermix and intermarry a great deal. So there was a sense that the two nations were cousins if not siblings. However relatives did not always get along. A war with Makuria could be a complete disaster. He knew that King Georgios IV of Makuria frequently complained about a number of different things. Basil’s intuition was that his most fundamental grievance was that the invasion of Egypt ended up benefiting Alodia more than Makuria. Basil decided it would be best to visit Georgios very soon after he had captured Massawa. This because he thought it would be useful to demonstrate his forcefulness and strength before meeting Georgios.
Because that campaign ended up taking longer than expected it wasn’t until 22 November that Basil arrived in the Makurian capital of Dongola. The meeting got off on the wrong foot with Georgios being upset over the conquest of Massawa which he saw as a sign that Basil wanted even greater control of the Red Sea traffic. It was hard for Basil to deny this allegation because it was essentially true. What he had trouble understanding why Georgios was so upset. Eventually it dawned on him that it was mostly due to envy. Georgios was envious of the success that Alodia has enjoyed feeling that it diminished him in comparison.
Basil was at a loss at first as to how to deal with him. After a while he had an idea. He offered to turn over Alodia’s role in the Maldives to Makuria. This surprised Georgios a little. He asked a few questions then declared that he would likesome time to think it over. After that the Makurian monarch was less grumpy. They discussed a few issues that Basil regarded as petty. He tried to be accommodating without giving the impression that he was intimidated and would agree to anything.
Basil was uncertain about what to make of what was going on in Yemen. He never understood why Paul and several powerful Alodian nobles had been so enamored of Queen Arwa. He had some doubts about letting the Fatimid bloodline continue was a good idea. Paul had subscribed to the prevailing attitude in Alodia that they could work with the Ismailis better than with other Muslims. Basil acknowledged that this policy seemed to be working so far but wondered if it would present problems in the not too distant future.
Prince Basil had been cordial and respectful with his uncle but they were never very close and he did not idolize them him as intensely as many Alodians did. He in fact derived some schadefreunde from the madness that Paul succumbed to in his final months except he did not appreciate being suspected of poisoning him and not just byPaul. Basil never really cared for his cousin, Prince Athanasios for a variety of reasons, one of which was simple basic envy. He was well aware that there were nobles who would prefer to have Athanasios as their monarch. He was worried that some of them were already plotting to depose him and replace him with Athanasios.
The Alodia that King Basil inherited had become a powerful and prosperous nation. He intended to keep it that way. However he sees no compelling reason to expand Alodia’s empire---with only one small exception. That was the port of Massawwa. It was located close to Adulis and was Alodia’s biggest competitor on the Red Sea. It was currently controlled by the Balaw Kingdom which was one of the small relatively weak Beja polities. The Beja did not pose an existential threat to Alodia but they were a nuisance at time conducting small raids into Alodian territory. Conquering Balaw would send a message to the other Beja kings that they had better behave. It would definitely please the Alodian and Axumite merchants who could never understand Paul’s reluctance to take such an obvious step.
So on 2 September Basil sends an Alodia army into Balaw. The army is a roughly equal mix of cavalry and infantry. Despite the best efforts of King Paul the Great the effectiveness of Alodian infantry continues to be mediocre at best in open field battles. Basil’s advisers had warned him of this but he eschewed using the better quality infantry from Axum. Alodian cavalry continued to be fast and nimble. For the most part this made up for the shortcomings of the infantry. However assaulting fortresses was an exception. The assault on Massawa on 30 September was an embarrassing failure. After that fiasco the Alodians resorted to a very methodical siege. Even that turned out to be more difficult than King Basil expected and it wasn’t taken until 6 November. By this time the Alodian army occupied the rest of Balaw. None of the other Beja kings came to the aid of Balaw.
Despite one big and several small embarrassments Basil felt that the invasion was a success. He had demonstrated his royal manliness to his subjects by overpowering a much weaker opponent. Having gotten that over and done with, he was in no hurry to do it again. He really did not see any other territory that needed taking. Basil thought the conquest of the Maldives in concert with the Chola was one of his uncle’s mistakes. At first he had doubts about the Kerala campaign but when his staff provided him with some rough estimates about the trade coming through Kozhikode alone he was forced to revise his opinion. However he still saw no reason whatsoever to try again to conquer Kolathunadu.
Basil regarded rebuilding the ancient city of Meroë as folly. He quickly terminated all construction there. He also cancelled the policies that Paul had set up which provided an incentive for Alodians to settle there. Paul did not share Paul’s worries about Soba being overpopulated. On the contrary he saw a crowded city as a sign of prosperity.
What Basil regarded as Paul’s greatest error was his subservience to the Byzantine Empire. That led to the Italian campaign that Basil saw as serving Byzantine interests instead of Alodia’s. He had doubts at first as to whether or not Taranto was worth haging on to but his advisers convinced that it was.
What was definitely not worth holding on to was the enmity of King Roger II of Sicily. Basil quickly entered into secret negotiations with Roger who tries to persuade him to switch sides. Basil was wary of that offer. He did not want to go ftom being a docile servant of the Byzantine Emperor to being committed to facilitating Roger’s ambitious schemes. He did not want to wage war alongside the Byzantines but even less did he want to wage war against them. So the negotiations with Roger quickly became complicated and frustrating. There continued to be bits of intelligence that Roger was trying to subvert Alodian control of Lower Egypt in various ways. One thing that Paul did that Basil admitted to appreciating was the far reaching network of spies though he did wonder if having a spy in Norway was really necessary.
Similarly Basil thought Paul had provided too much assistance to the Outremer. One reason why Basil disliked Athanasios stemmed from personal issues between that occurred before Athanasios departed for Antioch. However an even greater ingredient was Basil resented the lavish attention that the Alodian nobiity gave to the exploits of Athanasios in Antioch. Basil’s opinion was that his cousin was overrated that he had been led by the nose first by his father then by his highly eccentric power hungry mother-in-law. There were some recent reports that his wife Constance was beginning to exert undue influence on his policies. Basil tred not to be overtly hostile to Athanasios as he knew that would be extremely unpopular with his subjects. When Constance gave birth to a daughter in October he sends a present with a letter of congratulations.
Basil fully understood that good relations with his powerful neighbor to the north, Makuria was essential. The royal familes of the two nations continued to intermix and intermarry a great deal. So there was a sense that the two nations were cousins if not siblings. However relatives did not always get along. A war with Makuria could be a complete disaster. He knew that King Georgios IV of Makuria frequently complained about a number of different things. Basil’s intuition was that his most fundamental grievance was that the invasion of Egypt ended up benefiting Alodia more than Makuria. Basil decided it would be best to visit Georgios very soon after he had captured Massawa. This because he thought it would be useful to demonstrate his forcefulness and strength before meeting Georgios.
Because that campaign ended up taking longer than expected it wasn’t until 22 November that Basil arrived in the Makurian capital of Dongola. The meeting got off on the wrong foot with Georgios being upset over the conquest of Massawa which he saw as a sign that Basil wanted even greater control of the Red Sea traffic. It was hard for Basil to deny this allegation because it was essentially true. What he had trouble understanding why Georgios was so upset. Eventually it dawned on him that it was mostly due to envy. Georgios was envious of the success that Alodia has enjoyed feeling that it diminished him in comparison.
Basil was at a loss at first as to how to deal with him. After a while he had an idea. He offered to turn over Alodia’s role in the Maldives to Makuria. This surprised Georgios a little. He asked a few questions then declared that he would likesome time to think it over. After that the Makurian monarch was less grumpy. They discussed a few issues that Basil regarded as petty. He tried to be accommodating without giving the impression that he was intimidated and would agree to anything.
Basil was uncertain about what to make of what was going on in Yemen. He never understood why Paul and several powerful Alodian nobles had been so enamored of Queen Arwa. He had some doubts about letting the Fatimid bloodline continue was a good idea. Paul had subscribed to the prevailing attitude in Alodia that they could work with the Ismailis better than with other Muslims. Basil acknowledged that this policy seemed to be working so far but wondered if it would present problems in the not too distant future.
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Part 44 Ras Eskender
On 9 August 1150 the Assasins tried again to kill Prince Athanasios. This time he only survived due to his quick reactions that allowed him to kill the assailant with his own short sword. News of this exciting incident increased his popularity with his subjects, both commoners and nobles. Furthermore it provided additional justification for his expensive campaign against the Assassin strongholds. However it deeply disturbed his wife Constance who was sure it would not be the last attempt.
On 30 August the Imam Abu’l-Qasim al-Tayyib led an army to the city of Zabid, a Sunni stronghold. Two days ago he had encountered enemy scouts. He was sure that they reported that his army was much larger that the one defending Zabid. He was not surprised that they declined to engage him in the open but instead sheltered inside the walls of the city. He demanded that the city surrender but its Sunni leader refused. The imam proceeded to invest the city then begin a very methodical siege. By this time he had participated in several sieges, some of which were very challenging. He felt that he had learned everything he needed to know about siegecraft. He did not see any way that this one could go wrong. It was merely a matter of time.
Except that it wasn’t. On 21 September the Adal Kingdom landed an army on the Yemeni coast near Zabid. Three days later it forced al-Tayyib to end the siege. The next day he attacked the Adal army which has been reinforced by the Zabid garrison. The battle is fierce and evenly matched at first but as dusk approached the Adal army gets the upper hand. The imam stubbornly wants to continue fighting but after he takes a light wound is persuaded to retreat. Having suffered heavy losses the commander of the Adal army decides against trying to pursue. He returns to Zabid. When al-Tayyib returns to his capital at Sana’a he is in a very foul mood. He is determined to crush the Adal Kingdom. His vizier Dhu’ayb and others explain to him that would require a much stronger navy than they currently had. The imam demanded that they build the necessary navy as quickly as possible no matter the cost. This was easier said then done.
Dhu’yab also persuaded al-Tayyib to begin negotiating with Sultan Haydara who had his own longstanding grievances with the Adal Kingdom. In the meantime news of the imam’s defeat at Zabid has reignited Zaida resistance. The imam took Dhu’yab’s prudent advice and concentrated of suppressing that before trying again to take Zabid.
A divide has slowly developed in Axum between those who spoke Ge’ez as their primary language and those who spoke Amharic. Tension was growing between the two groups. There were Amharic noble houses and many of them thought with considerable justification that the royal house in the capital regarded them as being lesser in quality and prestige to the Ge’ez speaking houses. A majority of the Amhara lived in the large province of Bete Amhara. Though the king of Aksum theoretically had the right to appoint the provincial governors there was a strong tradition that in Bete Amhara that it was inherited patrilineally. In the September of 1148 Ras Eskender became the governor of Bete Amhara. He soon started to fan Amharic resentment. After a while he also began to openly criticize King Tewedros of Axum. Tewedros was a not very bright phlegmatic hedonist whose main virtue was that he had readily complied with King Paul’s demands. Eskender had no respect for King Tewedros but King Paul was another matter. Paul intimidated Eskender. This had placed a lid on how far Eskender was willing to go. That soon changed when Paul died. He then became bolder in his criticism and demands.
Tewedros ignored the demands but not the criticism, some of which were valid. Meanwhile Eskender was stirring up discontent among the Amhara outside his province as well as inside. While King Paul had been pious and ascetic he had avoided being overly judgmental. He was personally disgusted with Tewedros’ sinful hedonism and on occasion had rebuked his vassal in private but took care not to let it publicly spoil thei r relationship.
Basil was as pious-- if not more--than his uncle had been but he had less tolerance for the sinfulness of others. He also disliked Tewedros trying to pressure him into reducing Axum;s tribute soon after he was crowned. He therefore felt that there was considerablemerit to some of Eskender’s critiques though he did not care for Eskender stirring up Amharic resentment. However dealing with this situation was very low on his list of priorities. He was more concerned with Makuria, Egypt and Sicily. Compounding that Kulothunga II died in 1150 so he had a new Chola ruler to deal with there. Trade with the subcontinent had become so important that Basil needed to give his relationship with the Chola considerable attention. He was very pleased to learn on 11 January that King Georgios IV had finally decided to accept his offer and take over Alodia’s part in jointly ruling the Maldives in conjunction with the Chola.
In the January of 1151 Eskender’s animosity towards Tewedros escalated and on 18 January Tewedros announced that Eskender was no longer the governor of Bete Amhara. Eskender responded by declaring that Bete Amhara was no longer part of the kingdom of Axum. He had for some time been making inquiries as to the loyalty of the senior officers stationed in his province. They were all firmly behind him. There was in fact one esteemed Fitawari who went out of his way to approach Eskender to advocate open rebellion. There were also a few Amharic officers stationed in adjourning provinces who had openly expressed admiration of Eskender. In addition Eskender had created a personal regiment fiercely loyal to him. When Tewedros ordered the army in Bete Amhara to arrest Eskender he was ignored. Tewedros was one of the very few people in the kingdom who was surprised by this.
His favorite general was a consummate sycophant named Zeray. There was at the time a rumor going around that Zeray was also one of Tewedros’ lovers. Tewedros selected Zeray to lead an army to crush the rebellion. Eskender firmly believed that one of the keys to King Paul’s success was his network of spies and set about emulating it. His network was not as far ranging though. He had two spies in the Showan Sultanate, one in the Adal Kingdom and another in Yemen. The rest were all inside the Kingdom of Axum. He had spies inside Tewedros’ court and inside his army especially those units located near the capital. He quickly received valuable intelligence. Zeray was a cavalry officer who thoroughly detested the poor reputation that Axumite cavalry long had een saddled with. Tewedros wanted Eskender crushed as quickly as possible. Zeray persuaded him that the best way to do that was with an army consisting solely of cavalry. Only when he drew close to the border of Bete Amhara would he call on local units that included infantry to join him. Furthermore he precdicted that once inside Bete Amhara at least a third of Eskender’s army would defect to him.
Despite all his talk about speed Zeray was not very fast in assembling his cavalry army. By the time it finally departed Aksum Eskender had learned much about Zeray’s plans and the strength of his army. When it drew close to Bete Amhara Zeray summoned local units to join him. Less than half answered the call. Indeed some had already crossed into Bete Amhara and swore fealty to Eskender. In addition to graining soldiers Zeray expected to replenish his dwindling supplies from these garrisons but only got a fraction of what he needed.
Eskender personally led his army which consisted of 3,500 cavalry and 6,000 infantry. He decided it was best to block Zeray’s advance in highlands where his cavalry would be greatly hindered. The need to reconnoiter caused some cavalry skirmishes starting on 25 February. Two days later the battle occurred just before noon. Zeray had 7,500 cavalry but only 1,700 infantry. Eskender had selected a location where he had the high ground and the terrain on his right flank was utterly impassable to cavalry. On his left flank woods and a stream made it difficult for cavalry. However there had been some time to familiarize his own horsemen with complexity of the area. He stationed most of them there but kept 1,000 of them along with 1,000 infantry as a reserve. The rest of his infantry infanty manned the center of the line which was nearly a km long and slightly convex curved. The only impediment to cavalry there was the upward slope.
By this time Zeray’s logistical problems had reached the point he could no longer ignore them. His horses were already undernourished and he had been forced to cut his soldier’s rations yesterday. Trying to find a way around Eskender was not an option. He needed to win decisively this day or else be forced to withdraw from Bete Amhara. He decided to charge the rebel infantry with his cavalry. As the troopers struggled up the slope they were subjected to a barrage of arrows. Then they crashed impotently against a shield wall of heavy infantry. When they retreated down the slope they were thinned still more by arrows.
Zeray had wanted to demonstrate that his cavalry was superior to infantry only to end up dramatically disprove it. This galled him greatly so he stubbornly ordered his cavalry to try again. This time the results were just as bad if not worse. Nevertheless he contemplated a third attempt but his deputy commander just barely persuaded to try instead to turn the enemy’s left flank. This resulted in a complicated struggle that lasted almost two hours. It seasawed at first due to the numerical superiority of Zeray’s cavalry but when Eskender personally led his reserves into the fray the tide decisively turned in his favor.
While this was going on Zeray refused to commit his meager infantry which had lagged behind during the morning. He hoped that Eskender would be tempted into attacking them with his infantry which should open up gaps in his shield wall for Zeray’s cavalry to exploit. Eskender was in fact tempted to do just that but decided against it. By this time Zeray had lost half of his cavalry but he still had a numerical advantage albeit much smaller than when the day started. He had not risked his life so far but was beginning to worry that if things got much worse that could be in danger. He therefore reluctantly ordered a retreat during which his cavalry had to endure another volley of arrows. Eskender was concerned that this retreat might be feigned and waited before ordering a pursuit. When he did it was only able to mop up troopers who had become unhorsed.
On 9 August 1150 the Assasins tried again to kill Prince Athanasios. This time he only survived due to his quick reactions that allowed him to kill the assailant with his own short sword. News of this exciting incident increased his popularity with his subjects, both commoners and nobles. Furthermore it provided additional justification for his expensive campaign against the Assassin strongholds. However it deeply disturbed his wife Constance who was sure it would not be the last attempt.
On 30 August the Imam Abu’l-Qasim al-Tayyib led an army to the city of Zabid, a Sunni stronghold. Two days ago he had encountered enemy scouts. He was sure that they reported that his army was much larger that the one defending Zabid. He was not surprised that they declined to engage him in the open but instead sheltered inside the walls of the city. He demanded that the city surrender but its Sunni leader refused. The imam proceeded to invest the city then begin a very methodical siege. By this time he had participated in several sieges, some of which were very challenging. He felt that he had learned everything he needed to know about siegecraft. He did not see any way that this one could go wrong. It was merely a matter of time.
Except that it wasn’t. On 21 September the Adal Kingdom landed an army on the Yemeni coast near Zabid. Three days later it forced al-Tayyib to end the siege. The next day he attacked the Adal army which has been reinforced by the Zabid garrison. The battle is fierce and evenly matched at first but as dusk approached the Adal army gets the upper hand. The imam stubbornly wants to continue fighting but after he takes a light wound is persuaded to retreat. Having suffered heavy losses the commander of the Adal army decides against trying to pursue. He returns to Zabid. When al-Tayyib returns to his capital at Sana’a he is in a very foul mood. He is determined to crush the Adal Kingdom. His vizier Dhu’ayb and others explain to him that would require a much stronger navy than they currently had. The imam demanded that they build the necessary navy as quickly as possible no matter the cost. This was easier said then done.
Dhu’yab also persuaded al-Tayyib to begin negotiating with Sultan Haydara who had his own longstanding grievances with the Adal Kingdom. In the meantime news of the imam’s defeat at Zabid has reignited Zaida resistance. The imam took Dhu’yab’s prudent advice and concentrated of suppressing that before trying again to take Zabid.
A divide has slowly developed in Axum between those who spoke Ge’ez as their primary language and those who spoke Amharic. Tension was growing between the two groups. There were Amharic noble houses and many of them thought with considerable justification that the royal house in the capital regarded them as being lesser in quality and prestige to the Ge’ez speaking houses. A majority of the Amhara lived in the large province of Bete Amhara. Though the king of Aksum theoretically had the right to appoint the provincial governors there was a strong tradition that in Bete Amhara that it was inherited patrilineally. In the September of 1148 Ras Eskender became the governor of Bete Amhara. He soon started to fan Amharic resentment. After a while he also began to openly criticize King Tewedros of Axum. Tewedros was a not very bright phlegmatic hedonist whose main virtue was that he had readily complied with King Paul’s demands. Eskender had no respect for King Tewedros but King Paul was another matter. Paul intimidated Eskender. This had placed a lid on how far Eskender was willing to go. That soon changed when Paul died. He then became bolder in his criticism and demands.
Tewedros ignored the demands but not the criticism, some of which were valid. Meanwhile Eskender was stirring up discontent among the Amhara outside his province as well as inside. While King Paul had been pious and ascetic he had avoided being overly judgmental. He was personally disgusted with Tewedros’ sinful hedonism and on occasion had rebuked his vassal in private but took care not to let it publicly spoil thei r relationship.
Basil was as pious-- if not more--than his uncle had been but he had less tolerance for the sinfulness of others. He also disliked Tewedros trying to pressure him into reducing Axum;s tribute soon after he was crowned. He therefore felt that there was considerablemerit to some of Eskender’s critiques though he did not care for Eskender stirring up Amharic resentment. However dealing with this situation was very low on his list of priorities. He was more concerned with Makuria, Egypt and Sicily. Compounding that Kulothunga II died in 1150 so he had a new Chola ruler to deal with there. Trade with the subcontinent had become so important that Basil needed to give his relationship with the Chola considerable attention. He was very pleased to learn on 11 January that King Georgios IV had finally decided to accept his offer and take over Alodia’s part in jointly ruling the Maldives in conjunction with the Chola.
In the January of 1151 Eskender’s animosity towards Tewedros escalated and on 18 January Tewedros announced that Eskender was no longer the governor of Bete Amhara. Eskender responded by declaring that Bete Amhara was no longer part of the kingdom of Axum. He had for some time been making inquiries as to the loyalty of the senior officers stationed in his province. They were all firmly behind him. There was in fact one esteemed Fitawari who went out of his way to approach Eskender to advocate open rebellion. There were also a few Amharic officers stationed in adjourning provinces who had openly expressed admiration of Eskender. In addition Eskender had created a personal regiment fiercely loyal to him. When Tewedros ordered the army in Bete Amhara to arrest Eskender he was ignored. Tewedros was one of the very few people in the kingdom who was surprised by this.
His favorite general was a consummate sycophant named Zeray. There was at the time a rumor going around that Zeray was also one of Tewedros’ lovers. Tewedros selected Zeray to lead an army to crush the rebellion. Eskender firmly believed that one of the keys to King Paul’s success was his network of spies and set about emulating it. His network was not as far ranging though. He had two spies in the Showan Sultanate, one in the Adal Kingdom and another in Yemen. The rest were all inside the Kingdom of Axum. He had spies inside Tewedros’ court and inside his army especially those units located near the capital. He quickly received valuable intelligence. Zeray was a cavalry officer who thoroughly detested the poor reputation that Axumite cavalry long had een saddled with. Tewedros wanted Eskender crushed as quickly as possible. Zeray persuaded him that the best way to do that was with an army consisting solely of cavalry. Only when he drew close to the border of Bete Amhara would he call on local units that included infantry to join him. Furthermore he precdicted that once inside Bete Amhara at least a third of Eskender’s army would defect to him.
Despite all his talk about speed Zeray was not very fast in assembling his cavalry army. By the time it finally departed Aksum Eskender had learned much about Zeray’s plans and the strength of his army. When it drew close to Bete Amhara Zeray summoned local units to join him. Less than half answered the call. Indeed some had already crossed into Bete Amhara and swore fealty to Eskender. In addition to graining soldiers Zeray expected to replenish his dwindling supplies from these garrisons but only got a fraction of what he needed.
Eskender personally led his army which consisted of 3,500 cavalry and 6,000 infantry. He decided it was best to block Zeray’s advance in highlands where his cavalry would be greatly hindered. The need to reconnoiter caused some cavalry skirmishes starting on 25 February. Two days later the battle occurred just before noon. Zeray had 7,500 cavalry but only 1,700 infantry. Eskender had selected a location where he had the high ground and the terrain on his right flank was utterly impassable to cavalry. On his left flank woods and a stream made it difficult for cavalry. However there had been some time to familiarize his own horsemen with complexity of the area. He stationed most of them there but kept 1,000 of them along with 1,000 infantry as a reserve. The rest of his infantry infanty manned the center of the line which was nearly a km long and slightly convex curved. The only impediment to cavalry there was the upward slope.
By this time Zeray’s logistical problems had reached the point he could no longer ignore them. His horses were already undernourished and he had been forced to cut his soldier’s rations yesterday. Trying to find a way around Eskender was not an option. He needed to win decisively this day or else be forced to withdraw from Bete Amhara. He decided to charge the rebel infantry with his cavalry. As the troopers struggled up the slope they were subjected to a barrage of arrows. Then they crashed impotently against a shield wall of heavy infantry. When they retreated down the slope they were thinned still more by arrows.
Zeray had wanted to demonstrate that his cavalry was superior to infantry only to end up dramatically disprove it. This galled him greatly so he stubbornly ordered his cavalry to try again. This time the results were just as bad if not worse. Nevertheless he contemplated a third attempt but his deputy commander just barely persuaded to try instead to turn the enemy’s left flank. This resulted in a complicated struggle that lasted almost two hours. It seasawed at first due to the numerical superiority of Zeray’s cavalry but when Eskender personally led his reserves into the fray the tide decisively turned in his favor.
While this was going on Zeray refused to commit his meager infantry which had lagged behind during the morning. He hoped that Eskender would be tempted into attacking them with his infantry which should open up gaps in his shield wall for Zeray’s cavalry to exploit. Eskender was in fact tempted to do just that but decided against it. By this time Zeray had lost half of his cavalry but he still had a numerical advantage albeit much smaller than when the day started. He had not risked his life so far but was beginning to worry that if things got much worse that could be in danger. He therefore reluctantly ordered a retreat during which his cavalry had to endure another volley of arrows. Eskender was concerned that this retreat might be feigned and waited before ordering a pursuit. When he did it was only able to mop up troopers who had become unhorsed.
Part 45
Ras Eskender of Bete Amhara made no attempt to chase General Zeray as he retreated back towards the capital. News of his victory quickly spread through the Amharic speaking portions of Axum. Some Amharic nobles outside Bete Amhara who had been holding back now started to openly support Eskender. Eventually the news reached the Sidama and Wetayla who saw this as an opportunity for an uprising against their Axumite overlords.
King Tewedros of Axum had been boasting to his court that Zeray would quickly smash the rebellion. He was deeply humiliated when he hearned what had transpired. He punished several courtiers when he heard that they were mocking him in private. However there were ministers and clerics criticizing him that he felt were too powerful to chastise. Most of the Alodian nobles at his court fell into this category as he was worried that King Basil of Alodia would dethrone him.
When Basil learned of the defeat he was in an unsually good moof and perversely derived some schadenfreude from the report. He was content to let Tewedros stew in his own juice for a while. He saw no immediate reason to reinforce the Axumite army with either Alodians or Egyptians as he did not think Eskender would try to march on Aksum. This proved to be the case. Eskender did start moving his army around in the middle of March but only into areas where the Amhara were at least 40% of the population. Doing this eliminated a few small garrisons that were hostile as well as helping to recruit more soldiers to his cause. He was able to exert consider authority beyong the the border of Bete Amhara. Increasingly there was some violence against Axumite nobles and merchants in predominantly Amharic areas. Before long this led to a backlash against the Amhara where they were in the minority.
Most of Tewedros’ court advised him to relieve Zeray of command but he decided against it. Because of the losses his cavalry had suffered Zeray was forced to rebuild his shattered army by incorporating a large number of infantry. However he remained openly contemptuous of infantry and rarely treated their officers with the respect they deserved. Furthermore officers whose primary tongue was Amharic were regarded with suspicion.
In early March King Georgios IV had a distinguished visitor at his palace in Dongola. This was Dunama the Mai (king) of the Kanem Empire which lay well to the west. Dunama was a very devout Muslim. He was on his way to perform the Hajj for the third time. There was a substantial trade between their two nations. At one time Kanem controlled Bilma was an important source of source of salt but in recent years it was competing with Alodian controlled Hafun.
Dunama was immensely wealthy and liked to show it off as much as possible. At first this was what Georgios found most annoying about him. However as the conversation progressed what annoyed him the most was Dunama’s intense fascination with the late King Paul of Alodia whom he repeatedly called King Paul the Great. Georgios made sure to inform Dunama that Paul had gone mad in his final months but that only diminished Dunama’s fascination a little.
By the end of April Zeray was still keeping most of his army close to Aksum despite increasing criticism. He felt that Eskender would march on Aksum even though there was no sign of that happening. By this time the revolt of the Sidama and Wetayla was underway. Zeray persuaded Tewedros that those revolts needed to be crushed before taking on Eskender again. To that end heput four of his favorite officers in charge of detachments he sent south where the rebellion was. None of these officers was very good. The most incompetent of them was ambushed and soundly defeated on 4 June. Only a small remnant of his force escaped. The other three had some limited success mostly due to their numerical superiority but by the end July the uprising still wasn’t crushed and King Basil’s initial schadenfreude was starting to turn to impatience.
In early August Zeray sent a sizable force of cavalry towards Bete Amhara. Zeray instructed the officer he placed in charge to avoid a major battle but instead concentrate on scouting and raiding. Eskender had to be careful as well as he still had a limited amount of cavalry that he could not afford to squander. He therefore hoped to trap the Axumite cavalry in the mountains where he could destroy it with his infantry but its commander proved to be more competent than Zeray’s other favorites. He carefully avoided such traps though this meant not venturing very far inside the borders of Bete Amhara Province. The only fighting were a few brief cavalry skirmishes. However the raids he conducted were very vicious with unrestrained raping, looting and pillaging. This fanned the enmity of the Amhara.
By the April of 1151 the imam, Abu’l-Qasim al-Tayyib has largely crushed the Zaida resistance and he turned his attention to the Sunni stronghold of Zabid. He begins another siege of it on 26 May. The Adal Kingdom does not try to rescue Zabid this time. Nevertheless it is still a difficult siege that doesn’t break into the city’s walls until 9 July. Over the next two days most of its men are slain. The rest are sold into slavery along with the women and children. Meanwhile his vizier Dhu’yab is busy negotiating with the Sultan Haydara of Showa.
In June Nur Ad-Din is finally able to resolve his differences with his two brothers and gets them to acknowledge his preeminence. Meanwhile he was able to become the leader of those Tucomans who were dissatisfied with the Governor of Mosul Alp Arslan’s acceptance of the Outremer. In July Nur Ad-Din raided the County of Edessa in force. Count Joscelin II is criticized for not doing enough to counter these raids. He had developed a reasonably good working relationship with Alp Arslan and persuades him that it is in their mutual interest to eliminate the troublemaker Nur Ad-Din. On 30 August Alp Arslan almost succeeds in capturing Nur Ad-Din but he narrowly escapes along with his brothers.
Ras Eskender of Bete Amhara made no attempt to chase General Zeray as he retreated back towards the capital. News of his victory quickly spread through the Amharic speaking portions of Axum. Some Amharic nobles outside Bete Amhara who had been holding back now started to openly support Eskender. Eventually the news reached the Sidama and Wetayla who saw this as an opportunity for an uprising against their Axumite overlords.
King Tewedros of Axum had been boasting to his court that Zeray would quickly smash the rebellion. He was deeply humiliated when he hearned what had transpired. He punished several courtiers when he heard that they were mocking him in private. However there were ministers and clerics criticizing him that he felt were too powerful to chastise. Most of the Alodian nobles at his court fell into this category as he was worried that King Basil of Alodia would dethrone him.
When Basil learned of the defeat he was in an unsually good moof and perversely derived some schadenfreude from the report. He was content to let Tewedros stew in his own juice for a while. He saw no immediate reason to reinforce the Axumite army with either Alodians or Egyptians as he did not think Eskender would try to march on Aksum. This proved to be the case. Eskender did start moving his army around in the middle of March but only into areas where the Amhara were at least 40% of the population. Doing this eliminated a few small garrisons that were hostile as well as helping to recruit more soldiers to his cause. He was able to exert consider authority beyong the the border of Bete Amhara. Increasingly there was some violence against Axumite nobles and merchants in predominantly Amharic areas. Before long this led to a backlash against the Amhara where they were in the minority.
Most of Tewedros’ court advised him to relieve Zeray of command but he decided against it. Because of the losses his cavalry had suffered Zeray was forced to rebuild his shattered army by incorporating a large number of infantry. However he remained openly contemptuous of infantry and rarely treated their officers with the respect they deserved. Furthermore officers whose primary tongue was Amharic were regarded with suspicion.
In early March King Georgios IV had a distinguished visitor at his palace in Dongola. This was Dunama the Mai (king) of the Kanem Empire which lay well to the west. Dunama was a very devout Muslim. He was on his way to perform the Hajj for the third time. There was a substantial trade between their two nations. At one time Kanem controlled Bilma was an important source of source of salt but in recent years it was competing with Alodian controlled Hafun.
Dunama was immensely wealthy and liked to show it off as much as possible. At first this was what Georgios found most annoying about him. However as the conversation progressed what annoyed him the most was Dunama’s intense fascination with the late King Paul of Alodia whom he repeatedly called King Paul the Great. Georgios made sure to inform Dunama that Paul had gone mad in his final months but that only diminished Dunama’s fascination a little.
By the end of April Zeray was still keeping most of his army close to Aksum despite increasing criticism. He felt that Eskender would march on Aksum even though there was no sign of that happening. By this time the revolt of the Sidama and Wetayla was underway. Zeray persuaded Tewedros that those revolts needed to be crushed before taking on Eskender again. To that end heput four of his favorite officers in charge of detachments he sent south where the rebellion was. None of these officers was very good. The most incompetent of them was ambushed and soundly defeated on 4 June. Only a small remnant of his force escaped. The other three had some limited success mostly due to their numerical superiority but by the end July the uprising still wasn’t crushed and King Basil’s initial schadenfreude was starting to turn to impatience.
In early August Zeray sent a sizable force of cavalry towards Bete Amhara. Zeray instructed the officer he placed in charge to avoid a major battle but instead concentrate on scouting and raiding. Eskender had to be careful as well as he still had a limited amount of cavalry that he could not afford to squander. He therefore hoped to trap the Axumite cavalry in the mountains where he could destroy it with his infantry but its commander proved to be more competent than Zeray’s other favorites. He carefully avoided such traps though this meant not venturing very far inside the borders of Bete Amhara Province. The only fighting were a few brief cavalry skirmishes. However the raids he conducted were very vicious with unrestrained raping, looting and pillaging. This fanned the enmity of the Amhara.
By the April of 1151 the imam, Abu’l-Qasim al-Tayyib has largely crushed the Zaida resistance and he turned his attention to the Sunni stronghold of Zabid. He begins another siege of it on 26 May. The Adal Kingdom does not try to rescue Zabid this time. Nevertheless it is still a difficult siege that doesn’t break into the city’s walls until 9 July. Over the next two days most of its men are slain. The rest are sold into slavery along with the women and children. Meanwhile his vizier Dhu’yab is busy negotiating with the Sultan Haydara of Showa.
In June Nur Ad-Din is finally able to resolve his differences with his two brothers and gets them to acknowledge his preeminence. Meanwhile he was able to become the leader of those Tucomans who were dissatisfied with the Governor of Mosul Alp Arslan’s acceptance of the Outremer. In July Nur Ad-Din raided the County of Edessa in force. Count Joscelin II is criticized for not doing enough to counter these raids. He had developed a reasonably good working relationship with Alp Arslan and persuades him that it is in their mutual interest to eliminate the troublemaker Nur Ad-Din. On 30 August Alp Arslan almost succeeds in capturing Nur Ad-Din but he narrowly escapes along with his brothers.
Part 46
On 4 September Pope Lucius II died. He had been a strong pope and an intractable foe of the Commune of Rome. Two days later Cardinal Bernardo da Pisa was elected pope and took the regnal name of Eugene III. He was a Cistercian, the first to ever become pope. He was a disciple of St. Bernard of Clairvaux who was immensely influential within the Catholic Church at the time. Because of Lucius’ successful opposition to the Commune he thought he would be able to reside in Rome.
However the Roman Senate soon perceives the meekness of the new pontiff as a sign of weakness. Within a month there there was renewed antipapal agitation which became increasingly violent. Eugene felt compelled to move his residence to Viterbo on 20 October. Meanwhile send an appeal for help to King Conrad III of Germany who promptly responded by again sending his nephew Frederick with a decent sized force which once again suppressed the Commune and restored order to Rome. A very grateful Pope Eugene was able to move his residence back to Rome on 1 December.
During the September of 1151 King Roger II of Sicily succeeds in stirring up revolts against the rule of Prince Welf in the Principality of Salerno. He is having much less success trying to fan discord in Byzantine ruled Apulia. He too saw Eugene as being a weak pope and soon began to secretly support the Commune of Rome hoping that chaos in Rome would render the pope powerless to oppose his plans. He was unhappy when he learned that Frederick had returned in strength to Rome. By this time Frederick had learned quite a lot about the intricacies of Italian politics and once he quelled the Commune he set about to counter Roger’s machinations including sending some of his soldiers to reinforce Welf.
Throughout the fall Nur ad-Din along with his brothers waged a guerilla war against Alp Arslan, the atabeg of Mosul though they also conducted 2 small raids on the County of Edessa. Nur ad-Din continues to gain supporters. On 5 December his older brother Saif ad-Din Ghazi suddenly became ill and died a week later. Nur ad-Din had a complicated relationship with him and until the very end they had frequently argued. Nevertheless Nur ad-Din was deeply saddened by the death of his brother it also made his authority uncontested.
On 10 December Prince Athanasios visits the city of Edessa to confer with its ruler, Count Joscelin II. The last few years have proven to be something of a Golden Age for the Outremer. Since the death of Zengi, the Turcomans have caused relatively little trouble. What little there is has been directed at the County of Edessa as the Crusader fortresses at Aleppo. Homs, Hama and Damascus protect the other polities. Under the rule of Emperor Alexios there are good relations between the Byzantine Empire and the Outremer. The Byzantines have for the time being subdued the Armenians in Cilicia so they were not intruding on the border with Antioch. There was the problem of the Assassin strongholds but the last of those have been eliminated albeit at great cost.
While Joscelin continues to resent Athanasios he agrees with him on these points. What is the primary reason for this visit is Athanasios’ concern about the waxing influence of Nur ad-Din, which could soon pose a serious threat to Edessa and possibly Antioch as well eventually. Joscellin admits to having some apprehension about Nur ad-Din. Athanasios says that since his faher died they they cannot rely on Alodia for help. King Basil has removed all Alodian, Axumite and Egyptian troops from the Principality of Antioch. For that reason it was essential that Antioch and Edessa work together to counter Nur ad-Din. Joscellin agrees to that in principle so long as it does not mean taking orders from Athanasios.
In Yemen Imam Abu’l-Qasim al-Tayyib had decided that he needed to have a serious navy to wage war on the Adal Kingdom. However the Adal Kingdom was well aware of his enmity. On 28 October their navy boldly attacked the nascent Yemeni fleet offAden. The inexperienced Yemeni navy was taken by surprise. The Adal Kingdom captured all of the enemy warships with ease. They then proceeded to land raiders that destroyed the Yemeni shipyard at Aden burning those hulls that had not been launched. They captured the shipwrights and brought them back to Zeila to work as slaves. When al-Tayyib learned of this he was enraged. He had his naval minister beheaded for negligence and had his deputy minister whipped severely.
His vizier Dhu’yab waited two days for him to calm down. He then very carefully laid out a few points. He again stressed the importance of having the Showan Sultanate as a firmly committed ally. Dhu’yab had been negotiating for several months with the sultan’s vizier, Abu’l-Fath Yanis and felt that they were close to concluding a strong treaty even if it meant conceding a few relatively minor points. The imam did not like the idea of conceding anything He then went on to suggest the possibility of forging a treaty with King Basil was worth exploring as Alodia had by far the most powerful navy in the region. The imam did not like when he heard it but on further reflection was forced to admit some merit. So he traveled to Soba and met with King Basil on 10 January, 1152.
Basil was still trying to understand al-Tayyib so he was glad to have an opportunity to communicate face to face. Basil found the imam to be an intense young man possessing considerable charisma. Queen Arwa had taught him Greek so that was the language they used. Predictably Basil’s predecessor Paul came up early in their conversation. Basil’s advisers had told him that al-Tayyib held Paul in very high regard. After all Paul’s invasion of Egypt had probably saved the imam’s life. What Basil perceived in the imam’s attitude towards Paul was decidedly mixed though. For one thing he never referred to him as “King Paul the Great” which pleased Basil. As the conversation progressed it became clear that al-Tayyib was unhappy that Egypt was being ruled by Chrstians but he also seemed to recognize that there was nothing he could do about it in the foreseeable future. He also spoke lovingly of his late stepmother Queen Arwa. Basil found that perfectly understandable. It was Christian Alodians and Axumites who were enchanted with Arwa that Basil disdained.
Basil and al-Tayyib shared a hatred of the Assassins for obvious reasons. Basil was a little surprised to learn that the imam hated the Sunni almost as much. This leads into discussion of the reason for al-Tayyib’s visit which was to secure Alodian naval support for an attack on the Adal Kingdom which he intended to conquer. So they began to negotiate. Basil proved to be a hard bargainer. His biggest demand was for an official Alodian presence at the port of Aden which would include building a Coptic church and granting Alodian merchants special privileges there.
When al-Tayyib finally agreed to those terms with only minor revisions, Basil then pressured him to formally promise not to persecute Coptic Christians. As he wasn’t currently persecuting any Christians al-Tayyib consented to that demand as well. Lastly Basil informed the imam that he intended to seize the island of Socotra in the near future. The imam frowned at first then shrugged and said he had no qualms with that as long as the Ismailis on the island were not persecuted in any way. As far as he was concerned Basil could do whatever he pleased with the Sunni inhabitants.
Basil considered making further demands but worried that he might antagonize al-Tayyib. In fact he had antagonized the imam who felt that he was being humiliated but this was one of the rare occasions where he was able to keep his emotions in check. Basil still worries that in the long run al-Tayyyib might pose a threat but in the near term the Adal Kingdom was most definitely an enemy of Alodia that he would like to see neutralized. The situation in Axum remains an unpleasant stalemate with Zeray continuing his strategy of conducting hit and run cavalry raids on the outer regions on Bete Amhara. Eskender cautiously maneuvars his predominantly infantry army but so far has been unsuccessful in trying to trap Zeray’s cavalry. The only fighting has been a handful of cavalry skirmishes.
Though there some merits to Zeray’s strategy the longer the rebellion continues the more King Tewedros’ prestige and authority along with the economy of Axum suffers. A decisive resolution that Zeray does not seem capable of achieving is needed soon. Increasingly Basil’s advisers have been telling him that the time has come for him to intervene. He is beginning to agree with them but is willing to wait a few more months. It would be nice if he didn’t have to worry about the Adal Kingdom taking advantage of the situation when he does.
On 4 September Pope Lucius II died. He had been a strong pope and an intractable foe of the Commune of Rome. Two days later Cardinal Bernardo da Pisa was elected pope and took the regnal name of Eugene III. He was a Cistercian, the first to ever become pope. He was a disciple of St. Bernard of Clairvaux who was immensely influential within the Catholic Church at the time. Because of Lucius’ successful opposition to the Commune he thought he would be able to reside in Rome.
However the Roman Senate soon perceives the meekness of the new pontiff as a sign of weakness. Within a month there there was renewed antipapal agitation which became increasingly violent. Eugene felt compelled to move his residence to Viterbo on 20 October. Meanwhile send an appeal for help to King Conrad III of Germany who promptly responded by again sending his nephew Frederick with a decent sized force which once again suppressed the Commune and restored order to Rome. A very grateful Pope Eugene was able to move his residence back to Rome on 1 December.
During the September of 1151 King Roger II of Sicily succeeds in stirring up revolts against the rule of Prince Welf in the Principality of Salerno. He is having much less success trying to fan discord in Byzantine ruled Apulia. He too saw Eugene as being a weak pope and soon began to secretly support the Commune of Rome hoping that chaos in Rome would render the pope powerless to oppose his plans. He was unhappy when he learned that Frederick had returned in strength to Rome. By this time Frederick had learned quite a lot about the intricacies of Italian politics and once he quelled the Commune he set about to counter Roger’s machinations including sending some of his soldiers to reinforce Welf.
Throughout the fall Nur ad-Din along with his brothers waged a guerilla war against Alp Arslan, the atabeg of Mosul though they also conducted 2 small raids on the County of Edessa. Nur ad-Din continues to gain supporters. On 5 December his older brother Saif ad-Din Ghazi suddenly became ill and died a week later. Nur ad-Din had a complicated relationship with him and until the very end they had frequently argued. Nevertheless Nur ad-Din was deeply saddened by the death of his brother it also made his authority uncontested.
On 10 December Prince Athanasios visits the city of Edessa to confer with its ruler, Count Joscelin II. The last few years have proven to be something of a Golden Age for the Outremer. Since the death of Zengi, the Turcomans have caused relatively little trouble. What little there is has been directed at the County of Edessa as the Crusader fortresses at Aleppo. Homs, Hama and Damascus protect the other polities. Under the rule of Emperor Alexios there are good relations between the Byzantine Empire and the Outremer. The Byzantines have for the time being subdued the Armenians in Cilicia so they were not intruding on the border with Antioch. There was the problem of the Assassin strongholds but the last of those have been eliminated albeit at great cost.
While Joscelin continues to resent Athanasios he agrees with him on these points. What is the primary reason for this visit is Athanasios’ concern about the waxing influence of Nur ad-Din, which could soon pose a serious threat to Edessa and possibly Antioch as well eventually. Joscellin admits to having some apprehension about Nur ad-Din. Athanasios says that since his faher died they they cannot rely on Alodia for help. King Basil has removed all Alodian, Axumite and Egyptian troops from the Principality of Antioch. For that reason it was essential that Antioch and Edessa work together to counter Nur ad-Din. Joscellin agrees to that in principle so long as it does not mean taking orders from Athanasios.
In Yemen Imam Abu’l-Qasim al-Tayyib had decided that he needed to have a serious navy to wage war on the Adal Kingdom. However the Adal Kingdom was well aware of his enmity. On 28 October their navy boldly attacked the nascent Yemeni fleet offAden. The inexperienced Yemeni navy was taken by surprise. The Adal Kingdom captured all of the enemy warships with ease. They then proceeded to land raiders that destroyed the Yemeni shipyard at Aden burning those hulls that had not been launched. They captured the shipwrights and brought them back to Zeila to work as slaves. When al-Tayyib learned of this he was enraged. He had his naval minister beheaded for negligence and had his deputy minister whipped severely.
His vizier Dhu’yab waited two days for him to calm down. He then very carefully laid out a few points. He again stressed the importance of having the Showan Sultanate as a firmly committed ally. Dhu’yab had been negotiating for several months with the sultan’s vizier, Abu’l-Fath Yanis and felt that they were close to concluding a strong treaty even if it meant conceding a few relatively minor points. The imam did not like the idea of conceding anything He then went on to suggest the possibility of forging a treaty with King Basil was worth exploring as Alodia had by far the most powerful navy in the region. The imam did not like when he heard it but on further reflection was forced to admit some merit. So he traveled to Soba and met with King Basil on 10 January, 1152.
Basil was still trying to understand al-Tayyib so he was glad to have an opportunity to communicate face to face. Basil found the imam to be an intense young man possessing considerable charisma. Queen Arwa had taught him Greek so that was the language they used. Predictably Basil’s predecessor Paul came up early in their conversation. Basil’s advisers had told him that al-Tayyib held Paul in very high regard. After all Paul’s invasion of Egypt had probably saved the imam’s life. What Basil perceived in the imam’s attitude towards Paul was decidedly mixed though. For one thing he never referred to him as “King Paul the Great” which pleased Basil. As the conversation progressed it became clear that al-Tayyib was unhappy that Egypt was being ruled by Chrstians but he also seemed to recognize that there was nothing he could do about it in the foreseeable future. He also spoke lovingly of his late stepmother Queen Arwa. Basil found that perfectly understandable. It was Christian Alodians and Axumites who were enchanted with Arwa that Basil disdained.
Basil and al-Tayyib shared a hatred of the Assassins for obvious reasons. Basil was a little surprised to learn that the imam hated the Sunni almost as much. This leads into discussion of the reason for al-Tayyib’s visit which was to secure Alodian naval support for an attack on the Adal Kingdom which he intended to conquer. So they began to negotiate. Basil proved to be a hard bargainer. His biggest demand was for an official Alodian presence at the port of Aden which would include building a Coptic church and granting Alodian merchants special privileges there.
When al-Tayyib finally agreed to those terms with only minor revisions, Basil then pressured him to formally promise not to persecute Coptic Christians. As he wasn’t currently persecuting any Christians al-Tayyib consented to that demand as well. Lastly Basil informed the imam that he intended to seize the island of Socotra in the near future. The imam frowned at first then shrugged and said he had no qualms with that as long as the Ismailis on the island were not persecuted in any way. As far as he was concerned Basil could do whatever he pleased with the Sunni inhabitants.
Basil considered making further demands but worried that he might antagonize al-Tayyib. In fact he had antagonized the imam who felt that he was being humiliated but this was one of the rare occasions where he was able to keep his emotions in check. Basil still worries that in the long run al-Tayyyib might pose a threat but in the near term the Adal Kingdom was most definitely an enemy of Alodia that he would like to see neutralized. The situation in Axum remains an unpleasant stalemate with Zeray continuing his strategy of conducting hit and run cavalry raids on the outer regions on Bete Amhara. Eskender cautiously maneuvars his predominantly infantry army but so far has been unsuccessful in trying to trap Zeray’s cavalry. The only fighting has been a handful of cavalry skirmishes.
Though there some merits to Zeray’s strategy the longer the rebellion continues the more King Tewedros’ prestige and authority along with the economy of Axum suffers. A decisive resolution that Zeray does not seem capable of achieving is needed soon. Increasingly Basil’s advisers have been telling him that the time has come for him to intervene. He is beginning to agree with them but is willing to wait a few more months. It would be nice if he didn’t have to worry about the Adal Kingdom taking advantage of the situation when he does.