And All Nations Shall Gather To It - Volume I: The Abode of Peace

[St. Just]

No one is going to underwrite the ducats to sail into nowhere to lands few people have even been to for an uncertain reward. Not to mention, what feudal military leader of the age is going to be comfortable leaving the domestic situation to their rivals for years? At least with normal crusades or the Baltic there's an apparent promise of loot/land/titles.

 

[Quinkana]

No one is going to underwrite the ducats to sail into nowhere to lands few people have even been to for an uncertain reward. Not to mention, what feudal military leader of the age is going to be comfortable leaving the domestic situation to their rivals for years? At least with normal crusades or the Baltic there's an apparent promise of loot/land/titles.

Tbf the award is land and titles for Vinland since the Scandinavians know of Vinland/Markland otherwise they wouldn't write of the lands. The problem is more about how far is it but I could see a bunch of nobles settling on those lands with the appropriate agricultural package.

 

[Sarufiyyun]

Who says it has to be some king? It could be some bastard noble or mercenary.

 

[Quinkana]

Who says it has to be some king? It could be some bastard noble or mercenary.

It's plausible, but having a powerful patron is important. A king would be the best option but stuff like a wealthy noble doing so is plausible too.

 

[The Anglo-Dutch Union]

It's plausible, but having a powerful patron is important. A king would be the best option but stuff like a wealthy noble doing so is plausible too.

Why would this powerful noble leave his lands behind, the lands which make him powerful, to conquer Vinland. A land which almost no-one really knows and with and unknown amount of wealth (and if he arrives in Vinland he would become even less enthusiastic)

 

[Quinkana]

Why would this powerful noble leave his lands behind, the lands which make him powerful, to conquer Vinland. A land which almost no-one really knows and with and unknown amount of wealth (and if he arrives in Vinland he would become even less enthusiastic)

Why would he leave his lands he's just patronising it. The conquering would be done by the dude he's patronising. Basically it's a 'well if he succeeds great if he fails well I lose some money but it's fine I have more money' type of situation.

 

[Legofan4]

Why would he leave his lands he's just patronising it. The conquering would be done by the dude he's patronising. Basically it's a 'well if he succeeds great if he fails well I lose some money but it's fine I have more money' type of situation.

Except that is not how the crusades worked. The nobles and kings only gained from it when they went themselves not sent men in their place. Why do you think the kings of England and France and the Holy Roman Emperor went in person? They knew it could cause problems back home but still went to the Outremer in person.

 

[Asasyn13]

Except that is not how the crusades worked. The nobles and kings only gained from it when they went themselves not sent men in their place. Why do you think the kings of England and France and the Holy Roman Emperor went in person? They knew it could cause problems back home but still went to the Outremer in person.

Well, not really. At the end of the 12th century, the idea emerged that instead of participating in a crusade personally, we would finance someone else's fight in the Holy Land. This is how knightly orders such as the Knights Templar and the Knights of St. John developed. These were, however, organizations that were too weak and too small to carry out a real fight. As a result, the crusaders lost more lands, which, due to the lack of people, could not be recovered.

 

[Revalus]

As I recall, the Norwegian king Haakon IV Haakonsson (1204-1263) pursued an aggressive foreign policy in which he added Iceland and Greenland to his kingdom. If Vinland was still a colony and still in contact with the Old World, however sporadic, I can see Haakon extending his authority over to it.

 

[Sarufiyyun]

Vinland wasn't a colony at this point but the Icelandic and Greenlandic Norse were visiting it and Markland for timber (and presumably other items). There could be a second attempt at a colony or at least a trading post.

 

[lambert41]

View attachment 335299
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Much like Antioch, the city of Jerusalem was a sprawling and cosmopolitan metropolis (according to the European point of view), and the weakened military contingent of the Crusaders – by now perhaps numbering 15.000 able soldiers out of an estimated total of 30.000 men-at-arms and knights that had been present in Constantinople years before – could not afford to encircle the city and starve it into surrender.

Iftikhar ad-Dawla had plenty of time to prepare for their arrival, and hoarded supplies to withstand a siege, and had even tried to deforest the nearby countryside so as to prevent the Crusaders from collecting lumber to build siege engines, but they arrived just in time to chase away the Jerusalemite woodcutters in the outskirts of the city. The topography would not help, as Jerusalem was cradled comfortably in a rugged and hilly terrain, making it impossible to establish a useful besieging perimeter.

The Holy City would have to be taken by storm, and, indeed, a number of these armed pilgrims accepted with grim determination the fact that they might sacrifice their lives to reconquer the sacred temple of God from the impious.

The Rhomaioi ships that had accompanied by sea all the way to Caesarea had brought a disassembled battering ram, as well as three humongous catapults named “trebuchets”, and various ladders, ropes and sapping tools. The terrain was too hard and rocky to permit sapping maneuvers to collapse the walls, but the leaders of the army accepted Bohemond’s suggestion of employing a small group of laborers in digging works near the western gate-tower as a means of diverting attention of the defenders from the places that would in fact be attacked. The diversion worked, apparently, as some infantry troops from the defending garrison were detached to attack them during a night sally, but were repelled by a Frankish cavalry charge led by Robert of Flanders.

*****
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At first, the besiegers trusted the trebuchets would serve as their entrance ticket – as it had proved to be a very useful engine in the siege of Nicaea, some years previously – but after a couple days of successive throws, they realized the Jerusalemite circuit of walls was solid enough to make their efforts a failure. At least they managed to break two towers near the north gate, burying alive in the ruins some dozens of militiamen, and, in another spot, even breached a part of the northern wall, but the defenders, after repelling a daytime attack, obstructed the small entrance by collapsing nearby houses and filling it with spare wood and rubble during the night.

As it happened, in the end, the fate of the city was decided by the oldest instruments of war available: the battering ram – that breached the northern gate – and the ladders – as the soldiers en masse orchestrated escalades in various points along the circuit of walls to pulverize and weaken the divisions of the city garrison, forced to deal with simultaneous intrusions. In the southern wall, the Franks led by Stephen of Blois managed to place a siege tower and after a bloody showdown against infantrymen and archers in the ramparts, successfully entered the city.

As soon as the defenses were breached, the fate of Iftikhar ad-Dawla’s forces was sealed, as his troops were mostly light infantry, and lacked the necessary organization and discipline to resist the offensive, especially as the carnage spread through the tight alleys and tunnels near the circuit of walls and in the emptied market streets, where the Crusaders conducted a merciless bloodbath.

Some days after Easter, then, in the fateful year of 1099, the great city of Jerusalem fell to the Crusaders. They had already commemorated the religious festival of Christ’s resurrection in their war camp, and now that they had arrived in the Holy City, for various consecutive days they renewed the festivities with even greater joy, with sumptuous banquets, masses and acts of adoration in the sacrosanct places, culmination with a procession led by Bishop Adhemar of Monteil and Arnulf of Chocques going to Mt. Calvary, all while the hundreds of slain inhabitants of the city were given away as a tribute to vermin and crows in the gutter outside the walls, or simply incinerated in great pyres.

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Chapter Notes: IOTL, Iftikhar ad-Dawla, the Fatimid governor of Jerusalem, had more time to prepare for the siege, as the Crusaders only arrived in June (whereas ITTL they came in the midst of April), and, according to Runciman and Tyeman, he deforested the whole country around Jerusalem to prevent the Crusaders from harvesting wood. ITTL, the Crusaders already have siege engines brought by the Byzantines, and this explains why the capture of the city was even quicker than OTL.

an interesting alternate. Curious how Stephen of Blois is made hero rather than coward.

 

[lambert41]

Another not so big, but nonetheless relevant chapter. Hope you enjoy. Also, I've noticed some persons are starting reading the TL from the beginning; so, for the new readers, if you are keeping up, do give your opinion, suggestions, criticism, and questions. I appreciate the feedback.


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If the Crusaders somehow feared that Duqaq’s death might cause his successor to resume the systematic offensives against their instable and weakened agglomeration of forts and fiefs, they were mistaken. Duqaq’s son, Tutush II, made no moves against the Christians, even if he had solemnly sworn in face of his vassals to that he would retake al-Quds [Jerusalem] from the wicked hands of these western devils. Amusing as the scene might have been to his courtiers, a starry-eyed child describing in detail the vicious torments to which the “Franji” would be submitted, he would have no opportunity of doing it. His regent and tutor Toghtekin, who had been so loyal to Duqaq, despised Tutush II as a weakling, believing him to be too influenced by the palatine eunuchs, and, urged by his own relatives and by his colleagues among the Turcoman captains, executed a coup, establishing himself Emir of Damascus. Out of respect for his former liege Duqaq, however, Toghtekin had Tutush II imprisoned instead of outright assassinated.

The usurpation served as a convenient pretext for Tutush’s uncle Radwan to launch his long planned invasion of Damascus, even if with some delay, in 1105. By then, Radwan was the most powerful lord of Syria, ruling over Aleppo, Homs and Tripoli, as well as an ally of the Great Seljuks against the Artuqids of Mardin. Radwan actually had no intention of restoring his young nephew to power, but the casus belli was as good as any to get such a wonderful prize as Damascus, and so, waiting for a less tepid season, he marched into southern Syria with an army.

Toghtekin, aware about Aleppo's preparations for war, did not wait for Radwan to make the first moves, and instead mustered his veterans and travelled north to the border region. The soldiers from Aleppo and Homs, assisted by Kurdish auxiliaries, were certainly surprised to find the Damascenes waiting for them in a fortified camp near the village of Shamsin.

The Damascenes were overwhelmed by the numerically superior Radwanite host, and were expelled from Shamsin, but remained cohesive. Toghtekin changed his strategic and followed a scorched earth policy, making the trek of the army of Aleppo along the Orontes Valley much more arduous. Turkish horsemen and Bedouin raiders in Toghtekin's employ attacked them in day and night to make them sue for peace. In spite of the casualties, the Radwanites pressed forward, and reached Damascus itself after repelling some hit-and-run attacks by his foe. By the time they reached the “Jewel of Syria”, however, both parties agreed to discuss terms of truce. Toghtekin’s decision to keep Duqaq’s son alive likely saved his own, because Tutush II was a worthy bargaining chip. Now, having realized that he alone had no chance against Radwan, and after some negotiations, Toghtekin decided to accept Aleppan suzerainty, retaining a title as Iqtadi of Jableh [Ǧabla] – a place closer to Aleppo and Homs, so that Radwan could keep an eye on him – while Tutush II was established as Qadi of Damascus, now a vassal of his uncle. Thus, Radwan finally fulfilled his life-long purpose of becoming the sole Sultan of Syria, like his father Tutush I had done, with the ambitious Toghtekin “contained” for the time being.

Radwan’s successes caused uproar in Islamic Asia, either with metaphorical applauses, such as those of the enthusiastic Sunni Caliph, al-Mustazhir, who acclaimed him as the champion of the Jihad against the infidels, or by concrete fears, such as those of Ghiyath ad-Din Muhammad I Tapar, Sultan of Great Seljuk, the powerful overlord of Iraq and Azerbaijan, who had hitherto been allied with Radwan against the savage Artuqids of Mardin, but now became wary of Aleppo's expansionism. This fallout of their diplomatic relations explains why the Great Seljuks took no part in the subsequent wars of the Turco-Syrian polities against the Crusaders.

*****​

At behest (or insistence) of the Sunni Caliph, Radwan travelled with his court to Baghdad in early 1109 A.D., where he met with Najm ad-DinIlghazi ibn Artuq, Bey of Diyarbakir [Amida], and patriarch of the Artuqid kin; with Sökmen el-Kutbî, a former slave of the Great Seljuks who had risen to become the ruler of his own beylik, centered in the Armenian city of Khlat [Ahlat] - whose dynasty would later be known as the Islamic princes of Armenia, the Shah-Armens [Ahlatşahlar]; with ambassadors from Cairo, representing the Shi'ite Caliph Manṣūr al-Āmir bi'Aḥkāmi’l-Lāh; and with the Seljuk Sultan himself, Muhammad I, son of Malik-Shah.

In this meeting - which apparently had been undertaken after Caliph al-Mustazhir received the embassy from the Fatimids, proposing an alliance of the Muslim faithful against the infidels in Jerusalem -, likened to Christian contemporaries to the Council of Clermont (1096), the Sunni Caliph implored and admonished to the Islamic princes, followers of the true words of the Prophet, peace be upon him, to cease their fratricide wars and join forces into a coalition to slay al-Franj.

Duqaq of Damascus had been one of the most enthusiastic adepts of this jihadist ideology, proclaiming himself a lifetime “mujāhid”, as well as the most faithful of the Caliph’s servants (somewhat ironic, considering that his grandfather Alp Arslan had effectively submitted the Caliphate of Baghdad into a de facto vassalage), but never actually threatened the existence of the Crusader state in the Levant. Now, the divine task was up to the grand conqueror of Syria and to the powerful beys of Armenia to destroy the Crusaders, according to Al-Mustazhir.

View attachment 364975

Depiction of the Turco-Syrian emirs meeting with Caliph al-Mustazhir, holding a black sword to represent the Abbasid dynasty. Left to right: Sökmen of Khlat (represented as red-head because accordingly to old legends, he originated as an Armenian slave, and thus seen as a non-Arab by his peers), Radwan of Aleppo and Ilghazi of Diyarbakir​

The Caliph's summon in 1109 A.D. holds historical significance for two reasons: (1) it jumpstarted the first concerted reaction to the Crusades since the foundation of the Latin realm of Jerusalem, ten years previously, including an alliance between the Sunnis and the Shi'ites, something that had never happened since the foundation of the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt; (2) it created a greater diplomatic approximation between the Abbasid Caliphated and the parvenu Turkic polities; after all, the Turks, in spite of their sincere devotion to Islam, were still seen as a type of foreign barbarians, bringing destruction and bloodshed to the established Arabic and Persian dynasties.

It has been argued by modern historiography that the Abbasid Caliph was less interested in recovering Jerusalem itself than he was in overthrowing the Seljuk dominion over Iraq and Persia. The expulsion of the Franks was but a very convenient excuse for him to employ whatever residues of spiritual authority that his dynasty still had in the Asian geopolitics to form a coalition that would counterbalance the power of the Great Seljuks. This thesis indeed explains why the Caliph seemed too willing to cooperate with the Turkic invaders of Armenia and Syria, and with his religious rivals, the Shi'ite Egyptians, against the Franks, who were an insignificant threat to his own presence in Iraq. Also, if we give it credibility, we can go as far as to believe that the Abbasid monarch in fact intended, after retaking Jerusalem, to mediate a partition of Palestine between the Fatimids and the Radwanites (something that would have appalled his predecessors, as it meant recognizing some legitimacy to the cursed Shi'ites), and then muster this very coalition against the Seljuk dynasty in Isfahan.

This theory, in fact, was originally forwarded by partisans of Muhammad I himself, who in more than a single occasion, expressed his fears about an Islamic alliance headed by the Caliph of Baghdad. For this reason, indeed, he worked all kinds of escuses to avoid giving any material assistance to the Jihad against the Franks, all while preserving the façade of subservience to the Caliph, proclaiming that his armies were invested in the wars against his hateful brother, Ahmad Sanjar, Sultan of Khorasan [Ḫurāsān] and Transoxiana [Farārūd], claiming that this one intended to destroy Baghdad.

This circumstance, usually called the "desertion of the Sultan", might have allowed the survival of the Crusader state, because an alliance between the whole of the Turkic monarchies with the Egyptians would do short work of the precarious kingdom established in Palestine.

In any case, the fact was that, during a brief period of Crusader history, some of the Islamic potentates of the Near East finally left aside their mutual antagonism to pursuit a nobler goal: that of destroying the Latin realm of Jerusalem.

The pact between the Sultan of Syria, the Emir of Diyarbakir and the Bey of Khlat seemed earnest at the time, and they moved quickly, mustering levies and convening their muqtis, fāris, sheikhs and ghilman to assemble in Ar-Raqqah upon the Euphrates. Their first venture consisted in a joint-strike against Edessa, and together they vanquished the army of Count Baldwin of Boulogne in 1108, forcing him to surrender Turbessel, while Edessa itself remained untouched.

Then, in July 1109, the Turkish, Syrian and Kurdish mujāhidīn finally marched to Lebanon, having received the communication they had been waiting since the previous year: the Fatimids were already on their way to besiege Jerusalem.

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Notes and comments: IOTL, Toghtekin deposed Tutush II (who was still a minor) not long after Duqaq's death, but, then placed Duqaq's elder son Baktash in the throne. Soon, however, he had Baktash exiled as well, and became the sole ruler of Damascus. ITTL, for the sake of convenience, I had him claim the throne for himself immediately, but Baktash is still alive and will appear in future updates.

It is important to note that, IOTL, the Islamic reaction to the First Crusade took decades. Only in 1144, almost 50 years after the conquest of Jerusalem, did an Islamic ruler - Zengi of Mosul - marched against the Crusaders, and destroyed the County of Edessa, much like TTL, sparking the Second Crusade. ITTL, I intended for the Muslims to operate a smaller scale, but nonetheless threatening, response against Jerusalem. It seemed to be a natural consequence of the divergences we have seen so far: due to a stroke of luck, Syria is almost united by a single ruler, Radwan of Aleppo (in spite of his self-designation as Sultan, he is still regarded as Emir, with the "sole" Sultan being the Seljuk king), and I have a hard time believing that he would tolerate the existence of the Crusaders for so long. The inclusion of the Artuqids and of the Shah-Armens was to give more diversity, IOTL the first ones were constant enemies of the Principality of Antioch, which is inexistent ITTL, so they won't risk becoming hostile to the Byzantine Empire right after the downfall of the Rûm Seljuks and of the Danishmends. The Crusaders, in these circumstances, seem a better fish to catch.

The participation of the Caliph is unlike anything that happened IOTL, where they seemed to lack not only the influence but also the will to intervene in the Levant. There are historical mentions about the Sunni Caliph summoning the whole of Islam to destroy the Crusaders - even if the modern perception of "jihad" has yet to be born, the term was already used in the sense of "holy war against the infidels" IOTL since that period, so I found convenient to use it (pardon if it seems like a bit of anachronism) - but he never went as far as healing the disputes between the Turkish polities (which hardly cared about the Abbasids anyway). Again, the events of the Alt-TL can be explained by Radwan's expansion and growth of power, which would turn him into a formidable opponent of the Great Seljuks that ruled Baghdad, which in turn means that the Caliph of Baghdad would be interested in finding a "champion" of his cause against the Seljuks, while Radwan would be interested in the veneer of legitimacy brought by the sponsorship of the Caliphate, allowing his branch of the Seljuk dynasty to gain proeminence in the Near East.

You see, Middle-Eastern politics were VERY complicated historically ever since the Middle Ages... and in any divergent TL, it could not be different. I hope this long explanation has been enough to make clear the point to which we have come, and also what will come next.

This is where cracks form in the alt-TL. Through all of the source material I have studied over 6 years, there isn't a single instance where I would be comfortable thinking the Fatimids and Syrian Turks would work in concert together. It would have been more likely that the Caliph would have portended an attack on the Egyptian army going to Jerusalem.

 

[lambert41]

Hither came Bohemond, the Norman, son of Robert Guiscard, blonde haired, bright eyed, sword in hand, a slayer descending from a barbarian race of conquerors,

and unto this....Conan the Cimmerian, sword in hand, destined to bear the jeweled crown of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow.....

Excellent

 

[Hendric]

Will the holy roman emperor barbarossa join the third crusade with his large army?

 

[Angmar]

Im ask me what will hepening in the Baltoc Staates. Now WE have No Teutonia Order and so No eastern prussia.

 

[TickTock The Witch's Dead]

Will warfare in Europe decrease if a lot of would-be fighters are heading elsewhere in North Africa and the Middle East? It feels like a lot of martial impulses are being exported somewhere which makes me wonder if Europeans will be as willing to fight each other still if they don't have as many warriors.

Speaking of Europe, I bet the Crusaders will have an incentive to have Europe as peaceful as possible and will try to prevent as much inter-Christian conflict as possible. After all European fighters draw away fighters and workers the Crusaders need. So I suppose Jerusalem will send envoys to negotiate peace and maintain harmony between various states and factions in order to allow that stability to last.

I wonder if Rhomania will push for conversion efforts in the Crusader kingdoms. Can’t see them letting the Catholics getting all the converts. Maybe the government pays for proselytizing efforts to Orthodox Christianity.

Something I realized. I don’t think Crusader Egypt will be part of the Crusader kingdom but rather its own separate kingdom. Egypt is too big to be ruled from Jerusalem and the Christian conquerors there will definitely decide to go their own way which will piss off Jerusalem to no end. Could see Rhomania taking advantage of this by being the mediator between the two kingdoms.

How will Dacia be affected? I wonder if Rhomania will seriously consider focusing on there. Could also be a site for a serious conflict.

 

[DanMcCollum]

and unto this....Conan the Cimmerian, sword in hand, destined to bear the jeweled crown of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow.....

Excellent

I used a play on the same line to describe the arrival of my Gaelic Pirate Queen Caoimhe MacFergus in my own timeline. It's just too good of an intro NOT to coopt sometimes

Will the holy roman emperor barbarossa join the third crusade with his large army?

I'm almost positive that a different dynasty came to the forefront in the Holy Roman Empire in this TL; so Barbarosa, if he still exists, would likely be a German Duke and not an Emperor.

 

[TickTock The Witch's Dead]

I'm almost positive that a different dynasty came to the forefront in the Holy Roman Empire in this TL; so Barbarosa, if he still exists, would likely be a German Duke and not an Emperor.

Also I don't think the situation is that desperate enough where a Holy Roman Emperor has to come to the Middle East yet. On the other hand I see a Holy Roman Emperor using the Outremer as an excuse to get rid of too many warriors that could otherwise cause trouble in his domain.

 

[Angmar]

Ther are allways the balticum and Poland for this Warriors to Fight and die.

Its closer and Not so overrun with french and English Warriors.
But outremer has mor Prestige so maybe lets See ahat Happening.

 

[TickTock The Witch's Dead]

Ther are allways the balticum and Poland for this Warriors to Fight and die.

Its closer and Not so overrun with french and English Warriors.
But outremer has mor Prestige so maybe lets See ahat Happening.

True. Speaking of which I wonder if the Kievan Rus is considering sending warriors down south to help Rhomania.