Chapter 1: Under the Angelos
Victory at Constantinople
War Flag of the Byzantine Empire
Victory at Constantinople
War Flag of the Byzantine Empire
The siege of Constantinople was well underway. Although the great city had been sieged countless times and never taken, this time it was different. They were facing the Latins, the followers of the Patriarch of Rome. Emperor Alexios III since his coronation had been nothing but an selfish greedy idiot, wasting the treasury built up by the Komnenos dynasty that was almost depleted. This man was no weakling though. He pulled up an army of 7000, marching to the St Romanus gates to face his enemy. Outnumbering them, but his mood and morale was not at its greatest, but he still marched on. He thought of turning back and fleeing, saving himself and his fortunes, or save his empire and his city. This was no cowards game, this was the sport of kings, and he was going to win this match against all odds.
So with his 17 divisions he opened the grand gates and charged on the shocked enemy. Until then it had seemed like his troops had given in to despair. The charge of his battalion was gracious and agile, hitting the enemy so quickly the flanks didn't have a chance to decide their fates. Nearly 1000 crusaders were killed within the first hour and the remaining 2500 either fled or continued to fight out for the next 3 hours. Most of the Frankish cavalry survived and fled to the newly established Venetian hold in Chalcedon. The cavarly the main threat as only days before had they destroyed an army of 500. As the day drew to a close, the Emperor stood over the battlefield feeling a sign of relief. But the war wasn't over.
Alexios returned to the city and the next day he had a council with all the strategos present. The Venetians were still sieging from Golden Horn and the Varagians were tired from the long battles. He decided to start throwing the burning corpses of dead animals onto the Venetian ships to deter them, while his forces secure the ports and more troops across the Bophrous undetected, of course this involved them to go on a days trip around the small sea to Chalcedon. Although this plan partially failed it saw to that messengers were sent to Nicaea, Smyra and the rest of Asia Minor requesting their levies help free Chalcedon. The troops that did land built a small fortress on what would become a large town near Chalcedon.
After the Megas Doux of the Empire, Michael Stryphnos died in escape from Venetian forces so then Alexios elected Theodore Laskaris to become his new Megas Doux as they had family ties. Theodore launched the remaining levys from Asia Minor (except for the border defenders against the Sultanate of Rum), and on the 12th of August an assualt on Chalcedon was initiated. The attack was weak at first and quickly turned sour after the Frankish cavarly killed triple their numbers in a sally forth. The Crusaders had no reinforcements so the battle was against the minor garrison of the city plus the remaining Crusaders. Ladders allowed some troops to get in and signal the navy to attack. This gave them enough time to burn some of the Venetian ships that were ported and took out most of the cornered knights. The entire council of leaders including Boniface of Monferrat and Alexios IV escaped. Although the escape of the Emperors new found enemies was eminent, the Emperor had bigger problems than the ruddy Latins. Romans were always the sons of Mars. The sons of war.
An artists depiction of the siege of Constantinople
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