The Legacy of the Third Crusade: 1190-1197:
The Third Crusade continued throughout the campaigning season of 1191, following the capture of Acre by the combined forces of Richard The Lionheart of England, Phillip Augustus of France and the remnants of the German Crusaders. Acre gave the Crusading cause a conduit between the Levant and Europe once again, and would become the capital of renewed Kingdom of Jerusalem in time, but Richard still desired to seize the holy city itself. Following more than a year of fighting, the defeat of Saladin at the great Battle of Arsurf, and the capture of Sidon, Jaffa and Askalon by Christian forces, a truce was finally reached. The 3rd Crusade had achieved much for the Christian cause in the east, yet had aided the “Greeks” far more than the Latins of Outremer. Roman naval forces under the Megas Doux Alexios Kontestephanos had assisted the crusaders in seizing these coastal towns, yet had received very little credit for their efforts, as Richard expected the arrival of the Roman emperor in vain with his field army. Imperial forces were far more interested in crushing a rebellion against Alexios II in Cyprus (lead by a certain Isaac Komnenos, a relative of Bela-Alexios) and in re-asserting Roman authority over Armenian Cilicia and Crusader Antioch.
By the time the Crusaders began to depart in the summer of 1192, The Romans had achieved much to regain their hold over Central Anatolia, and had established Doukates of Ikonion and Anycra to defend the gains made by Alexios and Frederick. Numerous Turks were enrolled into army at this time, including many prisoners of war resettled in the Balkan climes and granted Pronoia , a type of land and tax revenue grant used extensively by Manuel and now by Bela-Alexios to maintain the cavalry soldiers essential to aggressive campaigning. Alexios, for the second time in his reign, had marched on Cilica in 1193 and received the submission (at least nominally) of the Armenians, whose independence was again on the wane due to the continued revival of imperial power in Anatolia. Antioch, although still ruled by Norman princelings with a strong tendency towards rebellion, was also forced to accept the continued overlordship of this Megas Komnenos . Alexios was again prevented from marching against the forces of Islam in the Levant, however, by his continued fear for his throne in the face of continued factionalism within his own court in Constantinople.
The revolt of Isaac Komnenos in Cyprus had been crushed in 1192 but had exemplified the serious issues of factionalism and regionalism that increasingly plagued the Empire that Alexios had inherited. In 1195 the Basileus was forced to campaign against the Serbs of Rascia, who had yet again repudiated their vassalage to the Romans. Marching through the Balkans for the first time in a decade, Alexios observed first hand the growing inadequacies of the systems of provincial governance, taxation and defense that the Komnenoi had utilized for over a century. Still riding high from his victories in the east and seeking to solidify the realm that he intended for his son Peter, Alexios set upon reorganizing the themes of the Balkan regions of the Empire into distinct military and civilian provinces. The system of Doukates along the Danube frontier was streamlined (Paristrion, Sardika, Belgrade) and these regions re-garrisoned with detachments from the expanded Tagmata , swelled as they were with Turkish and Latin recruits eager to one day acquire Pronoia in the Roman service. Dyarrachion was maintained as the key to Albania and as a military province, and a new corps of Balkan Akritae were introduced, serving as “militias” along the frontiers and paid with tax exemptions and land grants in the localities they protected.
Alexios also relieved the interior Balkan provinces of many residual military obligations the Theme system had expected of them for centuries, and promoted “new men” as Consuls (Hypatoi) of these regions. Troops were still recruited from the “civilian” themes, but Alexios and his successors strove to maintain central control over them and preferred to expand standing regiments and “border” troops rather than maintaining a plethora of semi-professional units whose organization, training and payment varied far too much across the Empire. Finally, Alexios created a new office in the 1190s to directly supervise and maintain the integrity of the imperial Pronoia, that the Logothete of Soldiers. Though these reforms were not fully implemented in his reign, Alexios had begun to address one of the primary failings of the so-called “Komnenian system”: its lack of standardized institutions across fiscal, military and administrative arenas in both capital and provinces.
Alexios hoped to resume campaigning in Anatolia against the Turks in the late 1190s, but alas for the Megas Komnenos , affairs in the west were to take quite a turn for the worst during the coming years due to both internal rebellion and foreign invasion. The combination of unrest fomented by unruly nobles (particularly those of the provincial military establishment) displaced by the new legislation of Alexios as well as the continued interest of the Sicily, Hungary and Venice in imperial affairs would prove to be toxic. Fortunately for the Empire, the “foreigner” who had come into the throne of Constantinople would prove to be more than a match for the storm clouds gathering…
The Third Crusade continued throughout the campaigning season of 1191, following the capture of Acre by the combined forces of Richard The Lionheart of England, Phillip Augustus of France and the remnants of the German Crusaders. Acre gave the Crusading cause a conduit between the Levant and Europe once again, and would become the capital of renewed Kingdom of Jerusalem in time, but Richard still desired to seize the holy city itself. Following more than a year of fighting, the defeat of Saladin at the great Battle of Arsurf, and the capture of Sidon, Jaffa and Askalon by Christian forces, a truce was finally reached. The 3rd Crusade had achieved much for the Christian cause in the east, yet had aided the “Greeks” far more than the Latins of Outremer. Roman naval forces under the Megas Doux Alexios Kontestephanos had assisted the crusaders in seizing these coastal towns, yet had received very little credit for their efforts, as Richard expected the arrival of the Roman emperor in vain with his field army. Imperial forces were far more interested in crushing a rebellion against Alexios II in Cyprus (lead by a certain Isaac Komnenos, a relative of Bela-Alexios) and in re-asserting Roman authority over Armenian Cilicia and Crusader Antioch.
By the time the Crusaders began to depart in the summer of 1192, The Romans had achieved much to regain their hold over Central Anatolia, and had established Doukates of Ikonion and Anycra to defend the gains made by Alexios and Frederick. Numerous Turks were enrolled into army at this time, including many prisoners of war resettled in the Balkan climes and granted Pronoia , a type of land and tax revenue grant used extensively by Manuel and now by Bela-Alexios to maintain the cavalry soldiers essential to aggressive campaigning. Alexios, for the second time in his reign, had marched on Cilica in 1193 and received the submission (at least nominally) of the Armenians, whose independence was again on the wane due to the continued revival of imperial power in Anatolia. Antioch, although still ruled by Norman princelings with a strong tendency towards rebellion, was also forced to accept the continued overlordship of this Megas Komnenos . Alexios was again prevented from marching against the forces of Islam in the Levant, however, by his continued fear for his throne in the face of continued factionalism within his own court in Constantinople.
The revolt of Isaac Komnenos in Cyprus had been crushed in 1192 but had exemplified the serious issues of factionalism and regionalism that increasingly plagued the Empire that Alexios had inherited. In 1195 the Basileus was forced to campaign against the Serbs of Rascia, who had yet again repudiated their vassalage to the Romans. Marching through the Balkans for the first time in a decade, Alexios observed first hand the growing inadequacies of the systems of provincial governance, taxation and defense that the Komnenoi had utilized for over a century. Still riding high from his victories in the east and seeking to solidify the realm that he intended for his son Peter, Alexios set upon reorganizing the themes of the Balkan regions of the Empire into distinct military and civilian provinces. The system of Doukates along the Danube frontier was streamlined (Paristrion, Sardika, Belgrade) and these regions re-garrisoned with detachments from the expanded Tagmata , swelled as they were with Turkish and Latin recruits eager to one day acquire Pronoia in the Roman service. Dyarrachion was maintained as the key to Albania and as a military province, and a new corps of Balkan Akritae were introduced, serving as “militias” along the frontiers and paid with tax exemptions and land grants in the localities they protected.
Alexios also relieved the interior Balkan provinces of many residual military obligations the Theme system had expected of them for centuries, and promoted “new men” as Consuls (Hypatoi) of these regions. Troops were still recruited from the “civilian” themes, but Alexios and his successors strove to maintain central control over them and preferred to expand standing regiments and “border” troops rather than maintaining a plethora of semi-professional units whose organization, training and payment varied far too much across the Empire. Finally, Alexios created a new office in the 1190s to directly supervise and maintain the integrity of the imperial Pronoia, that the Logothete of Soldiers. Though these reforms were not fully implemented in his reign, Alexios had begun to address one of the primary failings of the so-called “Komnenian system”: its lack of standardized institutions across fiscal, military and administrative arenas in both capital and provinces.
Alexios hoped to resume campaigning in Anatolia against the Turks in the late 1190s, but alas for the Megas Komnenos , affairs in the west were to take quite a turn for the worst during the coming years due to both internal rebellion and foreign invasion. The combination of unrest fomented by unruly nobles (particularly those of the provincial military establishment) displaced by the new legislation of Alexios as well as the continued interest of the Sicily, Hungary and Venice in imperial affairs would prove to be toxic. Fortunately for the Empire, the “foreigner” who had come into the throne of Constantinople would prove to be more than a match for the storm clouds gathering…