A History of the Oungrikos Dynasty of Roman Emperors: The Six Emperors – 1180 to 1330

[Iacobus]

This is an Althist I've been mulling over for a few days in some serious detail. I had a burst of passion for exploring the history surrounding this era. The timeline isn't complete yet but I have some ideas of the kind of events a Roman Empire under Hungarian kings after Bela inherits from Manuel Komnenos would facilitate. I've decide to start from the top, as with any good Althist and will navigate through the formative years of the dynasty, the Third and Fourth Crusades (the latter being in a different time and place to OTL), the Mongol invasions and see how it's diplomacy and geopolitics would be shaped and how in turn this ERE would shape the state of the world.

The characters and chronologies, including the lifespans of certain historical figures are inspired by actual historical events though of course licence has been taken where allowed. Some characters might not have been in a certain time or place when they were supposed to die in OTL and if it's not something like frailty or cancer then it could be avoidable somehow. After Bela-Alexios each of the Emperors would've had different lives and formative experiences and besides their decent from Bela would have likely had different maternal lineages to OTL analogues. The further down the generations you go the more different these characters will be. By the time we get to Marios I the Arpad dynasty of Hungary is supposed to have died out in OTL but here it still rules, not only Hungary but resurgent and formidable Roman Empire also.

Here we go:

Reigns

Bela-Alexios (Alexios II) – r.1180-1196
Emerikos-Alexios (Alexios III) – r.1196-1205
Andros-Alexios (Alexios IV) – r.1205-1235
Bela-Alexios II (Alexios V "the Great") – r.1235-1270
Stephanos I – r.1270-1290
Marios I – r.1290-1330

Timeline

The Rise of the Oungrikoi

1163 – Following a peace treaty between Stephen III of Hungary and Manuel I Komnenos of the Roman Empire, Stephen's brother Bela, a prince of the Arpad dynasty of Hungarian royalty moves to Constantinople, is betrothed to Manuel's daughter, the Princess Maria. He is given the high imperial title Despotes and given the name Greek name Alexios.

1165 – Bela is designated by Manuel I as his heir. He is now first in line to inherit the Roman Empire. During conflicts between Manuel and Stephen III, Bela had served alongside the Romans in military campaigns in Bosnia and Dalmatia. He is noted to have appealed for mercy to be shown towards Hungarian prisoners of war.

1167- Another war with Hungary breaks out amid accusations that Bela-Alexios 'claimed the kingdom of his brother'. A Hungarian invasion force is crushed by the Romans at Sirmium. Many Hungarians are known to has defected to Bela's side, proclaiming him the true king.

1169- POD – Manuel's wife, Maria of Antioch gives birth to a daughter named Anna. Bela-Alexios remains the heir of Manuel.

1172 – Stephen III dies without sons, Bela-Alexios succeeds him as Bela III, King of Hungary.

1176 – POD – Bela joins Manuel I on his Anatolian campaign against the Seljuk of Rum. They deliver a crushing victory at Halys River. The result of this is the seizure of most of the Seljuk northern territories, including the city of Ancyra to the Romans. Romania was now in a much more powerful position in Central Antolia. Hungarian horse archers were decisive.

1180 – Manuel I dies and is succeeded by Bela-Alexios who is crowned Alexios II of the Romans. He is the first of a line of an Arpatian-Komnenoi rulers who would hold personal union over both Hungary and Romania and become most widely known as the Oungrikoi Emperors (The Hungarian Emperors).

Reign of Bela-Alexios

1185 – Bela leads a second final campaign against to Seljuk of Rum to retake the southern half of the Anatolian Basin for the Empire. The Seljuk capital, the city of Iconium falls to the Romans. The last Seljuk Sultan of Rum, Kilij Arslan II dies in battle. Central Anatolia is reconquered and an eastern frontier from Trabzon to Cicilia is subsequently consolidated.

1187 – The Ayyubid Sultanate under Saladin invades the Kingdom of Jerusalem and retake the Holy City itself. The events leading up to the Third Crusade are set in motion.

1189 – Crusaders from the West , mostly from France and England, join forces with Romanians in Cyprus. A large crusading army from Germany takes the land route through Hungary, Thrace and Anatolia. Bela allows his brother Geza to accompany the German army under Fredrick Barbarrosa. When Fredrick drowns in Syria, the Hungarians take the initiative and with the help of German troops march south to support the forces of Richard the Lionheart. Collectively they succeed in taking and holding Jerusalem, delivering key victories against the Ayyubids.

1191 – Bela arranges for his brother Geza to marry Queen Tamar of Georgia, cementing an alliance in the East and helping the Georgians conquer surrounding regions from Muslim rulers including several Armenian principalities.

1190s – In the Holy Land, once many of the Western Crusaders have left for home, the Kingdom of Jerusalem is increasingly reliant on Roman assistance for security. The Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, a Roman alligned military order is formed at this time. Most of it's members are Orthodox or Eastern Christians.

1196- Bela dies and is succeed as Emperor of the Romans and King of Hungary by his son Emerikos-Alexios (Alexios III of the Romans, Emeric I of Hungary).

Summary of Events upto 1241

1196-1204- Tensions between the two brothers Emerikos and Andros led to concessions being made to Andros including the Duchies of Croatia and Bosnia. In Bosnia, Bologomists who were considered heretics by both the Holy See in Rome and the Church in Constantinople are subjugated. Emerikos pursues a Unionite ecclesiastical policy with regards to the schism between the Catholic West and Orthodox East. He however does so with discretion and does not coerce Byzantine Christians into changing their rites. He accepts the Latin and Byzantine rites under his leadership of the Eastern Church.

1204- Venice attempts to assert control over the port of Zara on the Adratic Coast. Andros Duke of Croatia and Bosnia is made an offer by the Venetians that they will support his claim to the Hungarian throne if he supports their leasing of ports in Dalmatia.

1204-05- The Brother's War. Andros marches his army supported by Italian mercenaries into Hungary and with the support of Hungarian nobles is crowned King in defiance of his brother, Emerikos. The Emperor sends an army north however no major engagement occurs besides skirmishes due to the war being cut short by Emerikos' death due to illness. His only son, Emerikos the Younger died the same year. Andros hence inherits the Roman Empire and the personal union of Hungary and Romania is restored.

1205-1220- During the reign of Andros the frontiers of the Empire remain relatively stable. His administrative reforms were extensive across his domain and he proved a shrewd dispanser of wealth and privilages to those parties that supported him.

He sought a more favourable policy toward Venetian merchants over the more established Genoans and as well as granting leases to ports along the Adriatic Sea he allowed Venice to set up emporiums in major port cities along the Aegean and Black Sea coasts including in Constantinople itself. Andros was a tolerant emperor and hired many Jews and Muslims to Imperial offices which he recieved some criticism for but considered a nessecity within such a diverse Empire.

Territorially, the frontier of his dominion was extended into the Lower Danube regions east of Hungary an along the far side of the Carpathian Mountains into the Principalities of Halych and Lodomeria which he added to his Hungarian domains.

1220-1235- In the 1220s the Empire was flourishing economically in part due to the overall peace of Andros' reign and his willingness to invest huge amounts of his wealth into creating a new class of economically active nobles through his 'New Institutions' policy. He also made sure to effectively redistribute existing resources towards newly consolidated territories in the Cumania and Anatolia.

On the flip-side this period did see the rise of factional rivalries and violence between the many new groups of nobles and burghers competing over access to the new wealth that was being generated in a rapidly changing economy. In response to this Andros developed a new reformed militia system across his realm, developing a more standardised and mobile type of law enforcement unit to counter lawlessness in settlements and along travel routes.

Throughout his reign he is believed to have been a Latin Rite Christian presiding over a predominantly Orthodox clergy across most of his Roman domains and nonetheless continued to uphold the permissive policies of his predecessor Emerikos and even went further, advocating for the reconciliation of Miaphysite Christians. Though ostensibly Unionite he tacitly affirmed the primacy of the Emperor over the Church within the Empire, an idea known retrospectively as Caesaropapism.

1235-1241- Andros Alexios dies in 1235 and is succeeded by his son Bela-Alexios II (Alexios V of the Romans, Bela IV of Hungary).

The early part of Bela's reign is the continuation of the stability of his fathers reign, his main achievement being the Christianisation of Cumans living in the Lower Danubian provinces, some lords of whom had acknowledged him as the 'King of Cumania' as early as 1233. Beginning in 1241 however would be a new and sudden threat that would define the next chapter of the Oungrikos story.

Forward unto the Mongol Invasions, the chaos they unleashed and the Fourth Crusade of 1248!

TBC

 

[Iacobus]

https://www.reddit.com/r/imaginarymaps/comments/adhmfq

While you wait around for the next update, I'll be dropping this link of a map posted on Reddit showing this same POD as imagined by u/Fehervari who actually inspired my use of the name 'Oungrikos' for the Hungarian Dynasty. It's been posted here before on the Turul thread but it's now here too for reference.

During 1250 in my scenario Bela Alexios II is in power and the Empire is helping Hungary recover from the Golden Horde invasion of 1241. Meanwhile the Forth Crusade of ATL (like the Seventh Crusade of OTL for the most part) is raging in Egypt and the Holy Land. Romania is soon going to grab a lot of clay...

Also the whole of Anatolia is now taken and Georgia and the Armenian Principalities are allies of the Empire.

 

[Iacobus]

Here we are again, the next instalment...

The Reign of Bela-Alexios II from the year 1241 to 1256

1241- The arrival of the Mongols on the frontiers of Bela's realm was marked by a migration into Hungary and Roman Bulgaria of fleeing Cuman refugees. The Mongols had already overan the Rus Principalities and invaded and ransacked Poland. Following this in March of 1241, the Mongol armies commenced taking positions to prepare a major invasion of Hungary consisting of hosts of tens of thousands of horsemen from four different directions.

The Romans were already aware of encroaching nomadic armies after their trade posts on the Northern Black Sea were sacked. When the Southern wing of the Mongol invasion force swept by Roman lands along the lower Danube, Bela-Alexios at court in Constantinople was forced into action, raising a large host from Anatolia and Thrace to move towards Sirmium to forward a defence of his Hungarian lands and possibly meet the Southern armies led by Mongol commander Bochek. Hungary itself once the invasion had begun in earnest was effectively helpless and the noble levies raised at the early stage of the invasion were mostly smashed.

The Army Bela brought up north however grew into a large cohesive fighting force with a cavalry heavy focus made up of Cataphracts, Light Hussars and Horse Archers along spear and pike infantry recruits from the Balkans. Meanwhile as 1241 dragged on the Mongols were increasingly bogged down in siege warfare, the Hungarians choosing to hole themselves up behind their castle walls picking off Mongols below. The Mongols suffered strained supply lines and heavy losses to both siege warfare and disease.


1242- The Roman force begins to restore order to Hungary after months of Mongol looting and pillaging, relieving besieged castles from now tired Mongol besiegers who begin to withdraw from the Kingdom. What Bela finds when his force patrols the reconsolidated territory is devastation. Estates and settlements were burnt out and in ruins and much of the Hungarian countryside was depopulated, many thousands being either killed or abducted by the Mongol raiders. While the Mongols had failed to occupy Hungary successfully, the Empire was left with the massive task of trying to rebuild this ravaged land, the land of the imperial dynasty's forefathers.

It is understood a major factor in the retreat of the Mongols from Hungary was a major rebellion of Cumans supported by the Empire that sought to recover lands in Southern Ukraine and reestablish a buffer between the Golden Horde and Romanian possessions in Crimea and the Northern Black Sea Region. Ultimately this has mixed success however some land is reaqquired for the Cumans to resettle in the Lower Danube.


1242-48- Major rebuilding of Hungary commences while an increased military presence protects the realm from further Mongol raids. New fortifacations are constructed to protect entry points into the Pannonian Basin through mountain passes along the Carpathians down to the Danubian Gates where communities of Armenians from Cilicia are encouraged to settle and provide garrisons. Significant settlement from other parts of the Oungrikos Realm occurs across Hungary to repopulate hard hot parts of the Kingdom. Other settlers are encouraged to come from outside realms like Poland and Germany.

Bela-Alexios II is later lauded as a 'rebuilder' of the nation of Hungary for investing so much in these rebuilding efforts. These efforts though kickstart a process of cultural change in Hungary leading to its further intergration into the Roman Empire, including a proggressively greater Orthodox Christian presence.


1244- After being driven from their lands in Iran and Central Asia by the Mongols hordes, the Muslim Khwarezmians arrive in the Middle East and on their way to seek the assistance of the Ayyubid Sultinate in Egypt successfully besiege and take Jerusalem from the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Roman vassal, to provide as a gift for the Ayyubids.

Bela is at this time distracted by events in Hungary and around the Black Sea so his formidable military resources were still greatly overstretched, therefore he couldn't occesrate a quick response to the recapture of Jerusalem. However both the Emperor and the Pope in Rome did choose to begin co-operation for an ambitious military operation to be planned methodically over several years while the Empire recovered. The ultimate objective was to not simply reaqquire Jerusalem for Christendom but to further secure the position of the Holy Land through occupying the whole of Egypt and toppling the Ayyubid Sultanate itself.


1247- The preperations for a Fourth Crusade are complete though the Papacy is forced to concede the venture will greatly depend on Roman support due to a lack of co-operation between the Kingdoms of the Latin West. King Louis IX of France is the only King in Western Europe to pledge full support albeit enthusiastically, providing a great number of ships and men. Other minor hosts are raised from as far afield as Norway, Frisia and England. All these Latin forces plan on making the journey East by sea initially to the island of Cyprus.


1248- The execution of the Fourth Crusade begins after the French led host arrives in Cyprus and meets with Bela's Roman naval forces while another Roman army supplimented by Hungarian and Cuman veterans has been gathered in Syria to push back Ayyubid incursions northwards.

Louis insists that the seizure of Egypt is imperative to cripple the Ayyubid war machine and engage the enemy in a two front war and nominates the port city of Damietta his main target to be taken and a good maritime vantage for operation in the Holy Land. Bela, with advice from his advisors prefers to opt for a conquest of Alexandria, the major trading hub of Egypt as a springboard for greater control of Egypt itself. With signifacant contributions from Venetian and Genoese mercenaries, Bela is able to assemble a second force for this task alongside the one to assist Louis.


Early 1249- At Roman insistance and with full support of Bela's assisting force, Louis is encouraged to commence his attack on Egypt in January of the year 1249 taking into account the timetable of the Nile flood cycle which began from around June by which time the Crusaders had hoped to have a large consolidated beachead and deny the Ayyubids an effective counter attack that year while the Romans make gains in the Levant.

Once Louis initiated his landing and took Damietta with some heavy resistance the Ayyubids planned to countersiege the Crusaders and moved their forces over towards the Northeast Delta leaving Alexandria less well defended. In March, the second Roman led attack force landed while the navy of Italian galleys and Roman dromon armed with Greek fires engaged in a bitter naval battles both in the harbour of Alexandria and behind it's peninsula. Using diversion tactics and stretching the defences thin the Romans managed to occupy the city. This was for the first time in approximately six centures that a Greek Army had occupied Egyptian lands and would be a major source of prestige for Bela who had up to now a rather turbulant reign.


Late 1249- The invasion of Egypt by the combined Roman and French led Crusader forces is a success in achieving its objectives by August to effectively occupy or otherwise deny Ayyubid access to the Northern Nile Delta before the floods arrive allow the Crusaders to restock and fortify while conducting occassional reconassence and raiding in Sinai and Suez against Ayyubid forces seeking to stay connected across Egypt and the Levent.

During Autumn the situation for the Ayyubid Sultanate is increasingly desperate and while their forces are increasingly embroiled in a defence of Egypt the attacking forces in Syria are pushed further back down south towards Jerusalem. All the while the Sultan as-Salih Ayyub dies in November throwing the Sultanate into a timultuous power struggle between the Ayyub Dynasty and the Mamluks, a military class serving under them who had been growing in power.


1250- The Crusader offensive resumes as the flood waters subside strengthened by a second influx of recruits mostly from Italy and Romania who landed over the winter. The Crusaders push on to the gates of Fustat, the seat of the Ayyubids in March of 1250. The Ayyubids are faced with a need to defend their capital and effectively abandon their offensive in the Holy Land. Jerusalem is back in Christain hands by the start of May and the Kingdom of Jerusalem is restored under the vassalage of Bela. Also in this month due to massive disatisfaction over his rule and the disastrous events of the past few months the only recently accended Sultan Turanshah is assassinated by Mamluks. Reportedly his heart is cut out an offered to Louis and Bela as a sue for peace, one that is soundly rejected. Soon thus the city of Fustat falls and with the Ayyubid Sultanate effectively dissolved and the rest of Egypt in disarray, the Crusader forces continue sending parties down the Nile Valley, joining up with Coptic and Nubian communities asserting their freedom from Muslim control until contact is established with the Kingdom of Makuria in North Sudan.


1250-56- Louis IX of France remains in Egypt, administering his occupied lands from Damietta to Mansurah, while Bela Alexios II established an Exarchate over Egypt to rule from Alexandria over the rest of Egypt with the help of the Copts and co-operative Muslim communities including Mamluks among them.

After Louis return to France in 1254 he grants his lands in Egypt over to the King of Jerusalem as was pledged at the very start of the crusade. Nonetheless over the later part of the century Jerusalem would grow increasingly under tighter Roman influence as the Empire continues it's dramatic rise in power during Bela's reign.

Another great turning point is around the corner as the Mongols burst back onto the scene in the mid 1250s, this time in the Middle East. The relationship with these Mongols under one Helagu Khan would however prove to be of a wholly different character to Bela's first encounter a decade and a half earlier.

Next Up: The Siege of Baghdad, its consequences and Oungrikoi-Ilkhanate relations.

 

[Iacobus]

Here we go again...

The later years of the reign of Bela-Alexios II from 1257 to 1270

1257- To the East of the realms of Bela and his vassals and allies the Mongols spread from the Central Asian Steppe into Persia. Genghis Khan had left orders to his successor Mongke to see through the conquest of the Muslim nations to the South of the Empire the Mongol Empire. Mongke gave his brother Helugu the task of consolidation the Ilkhanate with the two goals of subjugating the Abbasid Caliphs in Baghdad and crushing the resistance of rebellious Ismali rebels across Iran. The Abbasids were in a greatly weakened state by the 1250's after a long period of declining power at the expense of the Ayyubids and Khwarezmians who were now both liquidated by the Mongols and Romans repectively. This left the Abbasids as the last major Muslim realm in the Middle East outside Arabia surrounded by hostile powers.

The Romans and Crusaders meanwhile had been stabilising after a period of rapid expansion and conquest. Allies of the Romans, the Kingdom of Georgia had been incresingly threatened by the Mongol raiding parties cross from Iran into its territory and due to the close alliance between the Georgians and the Romans this became a cause for Roman concern.

Bela send an envoy East on behalf of his Eastern vassals and protectorates to negotiate a favourable resolution to the Ilkhan. Georgia and the Armenian Principalities had alredy been sent a demand to provide levies to the Mongol forces in the Middle East. It was decided by Bela that these should simply compliment a Roman led force which was send east to secure the eastern frontier. Meanwhile Helugu had assembled the largest Mongol force ever seen for the march on Mesopotamia which included units from as far afield as Manchuria and China.

The Roman envoy met with the Ilkhan and it was agreed the Georgians and Armenians would be serving in a Roman Army. One of the most diverse armies of pre-modern times had just been composed with Mongols and Greeks, Italians and Chinamen serving alongside one another.

1258- Events moved quickly, mostly occuring in January of 1258. Helugu had recieve a rejection of his terms put forward to the Abbasids in a way he considered and affront and proceeded to press across the Tigris river to lay siege to Baghdad. Many of the Christians from the Caucasus and Crusader veterans were eager to serve in the army and take the fight to the Caliphate. The Romans provided engineers to aid the besiegers and these engineers built advanced gravity-assited trebruchets, an invention first used in the armies of Alexios I Komemnos.

For Romania the choice to support the Mongol campaign against the Abbasids appeared wise since it was assumed Arab Muslim powers were the chief threat to the newly conquered regions of Egypt and Syria. The Mongols were regarded as having common enemy in the Arabs from early on and Bela had sought to encourage positive relations for some time.

The Siege of Baghdad lasted just 6 days assisted by the trebruchets and an army of 150,000 strong piled through the breaches into the city and sacked it mercilessly. The implications of this sacking would last for centuries. The date 7th February 1258 broke the back of the Arab Caliphate. From now on Islam would be scattered and fragmented. It took less than a decade for three great Muslim empires in Iran, Mesopotamia and Egypt to collapse and for Cairo and Baghdad to fall to Crusaders, Romans and Mongol hordes.

1265- The Romans did not gain much in the way of land during the endevour in Mesopotamia but did ensure the powerful Ilkhanate respected the eastern frontier of Roman control. Georgia and the Kingdom of Jerusalem were protected from Mongol raids through a non-agression pact between Bela and Helugu. Bela wished to secure this frontier on a more perminant basis and even proved willing to offer the hand of one of his daughters to Helugu, Maria, his youngest. (Maria Oungrikos Komemnos is the ATL analogue of Margret of Hungary, daughter of Bela IV. She plays the role of another Byzantine princess who married into the Ilkhante, Maria Palaiologina.)

Before Maria made it to the court of Helugu he fell gravely ill and died and so was wed to his son and successor Abaqa. Such would gain the title 'Despina Khatun' following the death of the Queen Mother, Doquz Khatun, and per Mongol tradition became a figure of spritual guidance. Her predecessor had been a committed Nestorian Christian and many of the Mongol elites were Christians. Her tenure in power and continuing influence over the decades would be pivotal in steering the cause of Iranian history and the Nestorian Revival.

1269- Bela-Alexios' younger son, also called Bela, dies. He was the intended heir to the Kingdom of Hungary, as part of a plan to keep Hungary more stable after his father's death. Bela-Alexios' older son, Stephanos, heir to Romania would also now inherit Hungary, those previous plans now dashed.

1270- Bela-Alexios II (Alexios V aka. The Great) dies in 1270. His son Stephanos succeeds him as Emperor of the Romans and King of Hungary.

TBC

Next: The Reign of Stephanos I and the War against Ottokar II of Bohemia

 

[Iacobus]

Here we go again...

The Reign of Stephanos I

1270-71: A Prelude

Stephanos I inherited both the Roman Empire and Hungary from his father and intended to rule from Constantinople. Having spent most of his life in the Empire's Greek lands he was throughly Hellenised and professed to the Byzantine (Melkite) Rite of Othordoxy. By the time his reign began the Eastern frontier of the Empire had stabilised. His sister, Maria, was married to the Ilkhan and influential in directing the spritual and political priorities of the state. The two powers were effectively amicable partners and allies.

In the West however, the faltering of Alexios V's plans to grant Hungary to his late younger son Bela meant Hungary was once again growing increasingly complacent under the rule of distant Constantinople and the Hungarian nobility was increasingly divided between two faction, a pro-Roman faction of Hellenised nobles and a Nativist faction with Latin leanings. Knowledge of the discord in Hungary spread beyond the Empire into the neighbouring HRE where a Bohemian King was keen to exploit the oppertunity he saw for his own ends.

Ottokar II of Bohemia had ambitions to become the Holy Roman Emperor. He had been pursuing his goals through military means for over a decade aqquiring lands south of Bohemia in Austria and Styria and his domains now reached the Adriatic Sea. His methods though had alienated the other Electors of the HRE and there was a threat of other pretenders to the Imperial Crown gaining greater favour. In an effort to increase his powerbase during 1271 he made promising overtures to the Hungarian Nativists promising to support their cause for autonomy in return for military support in the HRE.

1272- Hungarian rebels rise up and march on Buda. Ottokar sends his forces to join their coup. This constitutes an act of war against Stephanos. The Emperor in Constantinople, when word reaches him, mobilises his tagmata and marches north to recapture the city. Many loyal nobles of the Roman faction are forced to flee the capital region of Hungary and some manage to raise levies from their estates to defend the lands north of Sirmium forward of Stephanos's approaching army.

The mostly Orthodox magnates of Southern and Eastern Hungary are able to raise a cohesive force to consolidate their lands and harrass the rebels. They manage to gain information on Ottokar's army marching through Western Hungary.

1273- Stephanos lays seige to Buda with trebuchets and is able to retake the city. He finally, after months of skrimishes manages to meet Ottokar at Pressburg but the Bohemian army is ordered to retreat from Hungary. The Romans and Bohemians make a peace. It is assumed that Ottokar had been wavering in his support for the coup, one that potentially would've put him on the throne of Hungary, due to how badly it went after the fall of Buda. Many Nativist nobles were killed in the rebellion and Hungary would now experience a period of increased Hellenic Othordox influence as officals are sent north from Constantinople to oversee the reconstuction of Hungary after the rebellion.

1278- Ottokar II is finally defeated at the Battle of Marchfield by the army of Rudolf von Hapsburg, the elected Holy Roman Emperor who had deprived Ottokar of all his non-Bohemian lands. The Hapsburg force was assisted by a Roman force sent by Stephanos.

1285- A second large invasion of Hungary by the Mongols occurs and though destructive is not nearly on the scale of the 1241 invasion. Roman military tactics during the intermittant period had greatly improved to counter nomad horseback armies effectively. A second reconstruction program is started and the process of cultural shift continues. Melkite Othordoxy is increasing in Hungary and Greeks are the main source of settlers for repopulation of the countryside.

The administration of Hungary at this time has been centralised with an appointed Palatine to act as a representative of the Emperor and was either a Roman or Roman-aligned during the later Oungrikos period.

1290- After 20 years on the throne, Stephanos dies, leaving the Empire wholly to his son Marios. He reign was marked overall by the acceleration of the process of Hellenisation in Hungary and overall stabilty and properity across the rest of the Empire.

 

[Iacobus]

Here we go again...

Overview of the Reign of Marios I

Chronological Events of Significance

1295- Marios sends an expeditionary force to the Ilkhanate in 1295 to assist the Ilkhan Ghazan against a powerful Oirat rebellion that threatened to overthrow him. Ghazan triumphs and elevates Christianity to the official religion of the state in a way reminiscent of the conversion of Constantine the Great. Pre-eminence is granted to the Church of the East within the Ilkhante, the High Church of the East has its See established in Tabriz.

General Events

• The Knight Hospitaller begin to split at this time between the Order of the Knights of Malta and Order of the Knights of Rhodes. The former aligned with Rome and the latter aligned with Constantinople.​
• These changes bring the Levant and Egypt under greater Rhoman control as the Kingdom of Jerusalem becomes increasingly dependent on the Empire considering a significant part of its defence now owed Rhomania fealty.​
• The Mamluks continue to exist in Egypt as an institution into the late 1200s. Some are affiliated with Muslim rebels who periodically raid the Nile Valley and Holy Land how during the reign of Marios these are finally suppressed. The Mamluk class of warriors and administrators are reformed. They are recruited from Cuman and Circassian Orthodox Christians and are no longer pressured to convert to Islam.
• The Varangian Guard continue to exist and are a tagmata regiment based in Constantinople. They are mostly recruited from the Rus in the late 1200s.
• The Senate still exists as a gathering of ministers and magnates who gather to grant blessings of the Emperor's legislation, including the passage of new taxes and reforms of the bureaucracy. It has taken this form since Andros, however has been called less frequently by his successors and is considered a mere advisory chamber.
• The Marian Legal Reforms are enacted and among the changes is the mandate of a set order of draconian mutilation based punishments for theft and sexual misbehaviour. These include the amputation of fingers, the left hand, genitals and ultimately decapitation for repeat offenders.

1330 - Marios I dies without issue and the crown must pass to the nearest blood claimant outside the Oungrikos line.

TBC - Some events in Italy may need covering in greater detail. This Timeline has gone on long enough now for others to make guesses how this ERE affects the Europe of the early 1300s! What wars, intrigues and events are likely to be effected Marios' Empire?

Remember: The Balkans, Anatolia, Hungary, 'Cumania', Cherson, Syria, Palestine and Egypt are under the ERE. Georgia-Armenia is an ally. The Kingdom of Jerusalem is a vassal.

Edit: The suppression of the Templars is scratched. The Megas Komnenoi are too!

 

[Iacobus]

I've done a crude map based of the Worlda 1300 map found on here. Gives you an idea where things stand in that year while Marios sits on the throne.
Cumania and Jerusalem are shown as vassals. Only other places I've modified are Georgia, unifying it and Yemen which now holds Hejaz and claims the Caliphate.

 

[Iacobus]

Made a new thread-mark for this. I feel the need to flashback to earlier points in the timeline and clarify certain events I've learnt of from this era of history that would effect the ATL. I've identified the exploits of one Stefan Nemanja, Grand Prince of Serbia (r.1166-1196) as being influential in events early in the reign of Bela-Alexios I.

I link an important section of his wiki page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Nemanja#Grand_prince

In that section it detail Nemanja's conflicts with Manuel Komnenos and his later fealty to him. However in OTL after Manuel's death in 1180 he revoked fealty to the Empire and actually made an alliance with Bela in Hungary who initially helped him in his wars in the Balkans! Of course in this ATL Bela is the successor of Manuel and the new Emperor so Nemanja finds himself in an Imperial Sandwich between Hungary and Rhomania. I think he'd be better behaved in this scenario and not embark on a foolish venture along too many fronts. The Prince of the Serbs would be most likely to back Bela as Emperor, and be ideally located to do so, against any native threats in exchange for receiving his privileges as a Grand Prince intact. Nemanja strikes me as one of history's more competent rulers and in OTL sewed the seeds of the Serbian Empire as the ERE fell to pieces... This means the Grand Principality would have some staying power within the Empire if future leaders were as smart as him.

In 1204 when the Brothers War is waged between Emerikos and Andros his successor, also Stefan (r.1196-1228) could back a side, maybe Andros who would offer him more privileges. In the long run it could be a minor constituent nation of the Empire with a similar relationship that Jerusalem or the Cumans have.

 

[Iacobus]

More accurate revised version of the 1300 map with light shades of the Empire being Vassal Kingdoms and Principalities.

These are:
The Grand Principality of Serbia
The Armenian Principalities
The Cuman Principalities
The Kingdom of Jerusalem

Not really visible autonomous regions include:
Mount Athos
The Principality of Hamamshen

The rest of the Empire is administered into divisions of Themes. This includes Hungary by 1300, probably fully established in the 1280s. Hungary still has it's own Palatine who is appointed by the Emperor to attend to specifically Hungarian affairs.

Not all of the autonomous vassals of c.1300 will remain so over the centuries. Some will be incorporated fully into the Empire eventually or be released or lost (maybe just for a time). New autonomies will also be created as an internal compromise or for administrative efficiency as the frontiers of the Empire ebb and flows and new areas are added to it.

 

[Iacobus]

I'm currently thinking up a sequel for this Oungrikos POD. At the moment it has a rather concentrated focus on how the ERE resulting from the general sequence of events detailed on this thread would influence and be influenced by the Italian Wars of the 16th century, specifically the War of the League of Cambrai and War of the League of Cognac.

The first of these wars, the Cambrai War from 1508 to 1516, involved Venice which in this ATL would be intrinsically linked with the ERE and it's interests in the Eastern Mediterranean. I highly suspect that Venice being threatened by the expansionist Borgia Regime of the Papal States would elicit a significant response from Romania. When Julius II succeeds and calls for war against Venice for insubordination against the Pope over the bishopric of Vicenza and encourages France, Spain and other major Catholic players get involved he would effectively be calling for a war with the ERE, the one powerful ally Venice could count on.

The best part of two centuries have passed since we left this timeline in 1330 and it remains quite unclear to me how events would've evolved in Hungary to keep it within the Empire this long and not wander or if Romania had yet re-established a foothold in Southern Italy or the Sicilian Vespers conflict had been allowed to proceed as OTL. It's possible through it's influence over the Knightly Orders, specifically the Knight's Hospitaller, that Romania could've established a presence in North Africa by now around Tunis, maybe similar in scope to the Norman Kingdom of Africa. Suffice to say the Knights should be considered like Venice, intrinsically placed within the Imperial system of the ERE if this is the case.

Ah shit! Here we go again...

 

[Iacobus]

Assume this is the general extent of the ERE in the East Med plus Tunisia and maybe Malta and Venice and it's lands as a tributary.

I'd like to add that if any doubts about the Knight Hospitaller, Templars and entrenched orders in the Holy Land remained about their allegiance to the Emperor in Constantinople, they would likely be dispelled after 1508 with a Papal-Roman Conflict. The Knights would go from de jure Papal Orders to de facto Roman Orders with a Unionite Rite.

 

[Iacobus]

Here is the link to the new thread: https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...ungarian-union-from-1180-to-c-1290-ce.505964/

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