Still debating whether or not Thessalonika will be sacked. I do have plans for William II though. There will be a third crusade and the Byzantines will actually take advantage of it this time.
Thanks. I do my best.
Basileia ton Romaion: Aima! Drasis! Bloody prophecies!
- Thread starter ByzantineLover
- Start date
Still debating whether or not Thessalonika will be sacked. I do have plans for William II though. There will be a third crusade and the Byzantines will actually take advantage of it this time.
Thanks. I do my best.
The last Norman invasion
1185 AD:
After some initial skirmishes, one of which saw the Armenians of the Troad defect back to him after promises of mercy, Manuel II had Theodore Mangaphas trapped in Philadelphia like the rat he was. A week passed before the city overthrew Mangaphas and opened its gates to the emperor. Unfortunately, there were severals reports of pillaging by the Bulgarians and Vlachs. Manuel appoints Peter as Philadelphia's new governor, 'politely' whispering in his ear to keep his soldiers in check. On the way back to Constantinople, Manuel receives word that the Normans are attacking, Corfu, Cephalonia and Dyrrachium have been lost and the barbarian host is marching towards Thessalonica. Manuel's confidence outweighs his anxiety. After all, he had personally selected the city's governor and strategos - John Argyropoulos, a tough soldier who excelled at defensive warfare*. Determined to stop the Normans at Thessalonika, Manuel sends word to Alexios Branas, Manuel Maurozomes and Theodore Choumnos to raise as many soldiers as possible and wait for him at Kaliopolis**. Eventually they arrive and cross the Bosporus, sending Theodore Mangaphas back to Constantinople for punishment. Manuel was tempted to have some coins minted in Theodore's image to be heated up and shoved into his eyes and up his... But then he stopped to think. Technically the Basileia ton Romaion was still a republic, and technically the seat of augustus or basileus was still elective, in the loosest possible terms. In other words, there was no real penalty for attempted usurpations and the civil wars that followed. If he simply executed Theodore there would be an execution, an announcement and the affair would be quickly forgotten. Put Mangaphas on trial, however, and people would be talking about it for weeks. Anyone thinking about trying to take the throne would be forced to think twice...
On August 24th, the Normans were preparing to storm Thessalonika, having almost completely undermined the city's eastern wall. Suddenly, trumpets blared, javelins and arrows soared through the air and large numbers of Bulgarian and Skythikoi cavalry galloped onto the horizon. William ordered his troops to stand their ground, but the heavy cavalry under Richard of Acerra could not hold their enthusiasm and charged with a roar. The Romaioi cavalry suddenly turned and retreated, yet the Normans kept charing, thinking they had the enemy on the run. Soon they were caught in a hail of javelins and became bogged down as the infantry hacked at them with swords, axes and maces.
Archbishop Eustathius of Thessalonika describes that with the defeat of the Norman heavy cavalry, a two-pronged attack by the emperor's forces and the city's garrison routed the main force. Of the 20,000 men, nearly half were killed outside Thessalonica. William II managed to escape with 3,000 of the survivors but Alexios Branas pursued them to the town of Demetritzes. The remaining 6,000 escaped back to Sicily under Count Tancred of Leece, abandoning all they had stolen and leaving the lands to the Romaioi.
Manuel, for the first time in his life, decided to throw a celebratory triumph, parading William de Hautville through the streets of Constantinople in chains. Manuel offers the captured Normans a simple choice - join the imperial army and live, or refuse and die. Nearly all of them jump at the chance. The small handful who refuse are herded into the Hippodrome alongside the king.
Niketas Chionates records this exchange between the king and the emperor:
William: I beseech you, great Emperor, I and many others have wives and children back home. Can we not take counsel together? Can we not have peace, you and I?
Manuel II: We shall have peace. We shall have peace when you answer for the scorched farmland and homes you have left between Dyrrachium and Thessalonika! We shall have peace when the lives of the men, women and children, whose bodies were hewn even as they lay dead, are avenged! When you wander deaf, dumb and blind for the sport of your own brigands, we shall have peace.
The crowd cheers in agreement. His offer rejected, William began loudly swearing in a mixture of Sicilian and Arabic. William was herded off the dungeons where his sword hand was cut off, his nose slit and his eyes put out. The rest of the Normans were executed then and there. Manuel returns to the palace to discover that Rusudan has given birth to twins!
__________________________________________________
*: OTL, the city's governor was, supposedly, a man named David Komnenos who failed to prepare for the siege and forbade the defenders from making sallies.
**: Modern-day Gallipoli
__________________________________________________
Decision time! Since I can't add a poll to this thread, I'll have to post the choices here:
Manuel's twins will be a boy and a girl. What should their names be? Answer when you comment.
Boy - Demetrius, named after Thessalonika's patron saint.
Boy - George, named after Rusudan's father, King George III of Georgia
Boy - Basileios/Basil, which means 'king'
Girl - Zoe
Girl - Maria
Girl - Helene
1185 AD:
After some initial skirmishes, one of which saw the Armenians of the Troad defect back to him after promises of mercy, Manuel II had Theodore Mangaphas trapped in Philadelphia like the rat he was. A week passed before the city overthrew Mangaphas and opened its gates to the emperor. Unfortunately, there were severals reports of pillaging by the Bulgarians and Vlachs. Manuel appoints Peter as Philadelphia's new governor, 'politely' whispering in his ear to keep his soldiers in check. On the way back to Constantinople, Manuel receives word that the Normans are attacking, Corfu, Cephalonia and Dyrrachium have been lost and the barbarian host is marching towards Thessalonica. Manuel's confidence outweighs his anxiety. After all, he had personally selected the city's governor and strategos - John Argyropoulos, a tough soldier who excelled at defensive warfare*. Determined to stop the Normans at Thessalonika, Manuel sends word to Alexios Branas, Manuel Maurozomes and Theodore Choumnos to raise as many soldiers as possible and wait for him at Kaliopolis**. Eventually they arrive and cross the Bosporus, sending Theodore Mangaphas back to Constantinople for punishment. Manuel was tempted to have some coins minted in Theodore's image to be heated up and shoved into his eyes and up his... But then he stopped to think. Technically the Basileia ton Romaion was still a republic, and technically the seat of augustus or basileus was still elective, in the loosest possible terms. In other words, there was no real penalty for attempted usurpations and the civil wars that followed. If he simply executed Theodore there would be an execution, an announcement and the affair would be quickly forgotten. Put Mangaphas on trial, however, and people would be talking about it for weeks. Anyone thinking about trying to take the throne would be forced to think twice...
On August 24th, the Normans were preparing to storm Thessalonika, having almost completely undermined the city's eastern wall. Suddenly, trumpets blared, javelins and arrows soared through the air and large numbers of Bulgarian and Skythikoi cavalry galloped onto the horizon. William ordered his troops to stand their ground, but the heavy cavalry under Richard of Acerra could not hold their enthusiasm and charged with a roar. The Romaioi cavalry suddenly turned and retreated, yet the Normans kept charing, thinking they had the enemy on the run. Soon they were caught in a hail of javelins and became bogged down as the infantry hacked at them with swords, axes and maces.
Archbishop Eustathius of Thessalonika describes that with the defeat of the Norman heavy cavalry, a two-pronged attack by the emperor's forces and the city's garrison routed the main force. Of the 20,000 men, nearly half were killed outside Thessalonica. William II managed to escape with 3,000 of the survivors but Alexios Branas pursued them to the town of Demetritzes. The remaining 6,000 escaped back to Sicily under Count Tancred of Leece, abandoning all they had stolen and leaving the lands to the Romaioi.
Manuel, for the first time in his life, decided to throw a celebratory triumph, parading William de Hautville through the streets of Constantinople in chains. Manuel offers the captured Normans a simple choice - join the imperial army and live, or refuse and die. Nearly all of them jump at the chance. The small handful who refuse are herded into the Hippodrome alongside the king.
Niketas Chionates records this exchange between the king and the emperor:
William: I beseech you, great Emperor, I and many others have wives and children back home. Can we not take counsel together? Can we not have peace, you and I?
Manuel II: We shall have peace. We shall have peace when you answer for the scorched farmland and homes you have left between Dyrrachium and Thessalonika! We shall have peace when the lives of the men, women and children, whose bodies were hewn even as they lay dead, are avenged! When you wander deaf, dumb and blind for the sport of your own brigands, we shall have peace.
The crowd cheers in agreement. His offer rejected, William began loudly swearing in a mixture of Sicilian and Arabic. William was herded off the dungeons where his sword hand was cut off, his nose slit and his eyes put out. The rest of the Normans were executed then and there. Manuel returns to the palace to discover that Rusudan has given birth to twins!
__________________________________________________
*: OTL, the city's governor was, supposedly, a man named David Komnenos who failed to prepare for the siege and forbade the defenders from making sallies.
**: Modern-day Gallipoli
__________________________________________________
Decision time! Since I can't add a poll to this thread, I'll have to post the choices here:
Manuel's twins will be a boy and a girl. What should their names be? Answer when you comment.
Boy - Demetrius, named after Thessalonika's patron saint.
Boy - George, named after Rusudan's father, King George III of Georgia
Boy - Basileios/Basil, which means 'king'
Girl - Zoe
Girl - Maria
Girl - Helene
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There can never be too much LOTR in a Byzantine plot. Unless magic was involved.
Thanks!
There can never be too much LOTR in a Byzantine plot. Unless magic was involved.
Don't worry, it'll probably only be a one-off thing.
No name choices?
Going once... going twice... Gone!
1185-1187 AD:
The young twins are named Zoe, meaning 'life', and George, after Rusudan's father. Unfortunately, while George was purple-born, he also had a club foot. When the twins were presented to the court at Christmas, every precaution was taken to hide this deformity. That same day, Zoe was betrothed to two-year-old Isaac Rallis-Raoul, a relation of the strategos of Achaia.
Across the Ionian Sea, Tancred of Leece and the surviving Normans returned to find Sicily and Calabria wracked by an outbreak of malaria. Among the dead in Palermo are his wife, Sibylla of Acerra, sister of the deceased Richard, and Bohemund, William's only child. Queen Joan has also been infected but it remains to be seen if she will recover. The only legitimate heir left to the Sicilian throne was William II's aunt Constance, the posthumous daughter of King Roger II. The previous year, William had betrothed Constance to Henry, eldest son of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, but many of the noble balked at the idea of giving up their independance to the Hohenstaufen. In response, they named Tancred the new king.
Tancred's first actions were to pack Joan off to a nunnery and, with papal dispensation, marry his aunt Constance*. Frederick was furious at this last action and wanted to march down through Italy right then and there, but he was short of funds and he had previously experienced the effects of Italian weather on his armies firsthand. Sicily would have to wait...
Further away, in France, Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany, narrowly escapes being trampled during a jousting tournament**.
In late 1187, just after the birth of Manuel's second daughter Helene (named after his aunt), the Cumans begin raiding across the Danube again so Manuel sent Alexios Branas to throw them back across. Once at Mesembria, however, Branas turns back, intent on claiming the throne for himself, succeeding where Morotheodoros had failed. The speed of Branas's betrayal took Manuel completely by surprise, but Branas was surprised in turn when the citizens of Constantinople refused to support him at the gates. Manuel personally led the sally alongside Isaac Angelos and Manuel Maurozomes. In the melee, Branas was unhorsed and beheaded. Manuel is extremely upset, as he is robbed of the chance to put Alexios Branas on trial, and he has grown quite attached to young Theodore and Agnes. He makes up for it by arresting Alexios Angelos, who, apparently being promised a higher position in court, had helped bribe some of the rebelling soldiers.
Sending Maurozomes to defeat the Cumans instead, Manuel receives further news from the Holy land - Jerusalem has fallen!
__________________________________________________
Children of Manuel II Komnenos by 1188 AD:
Alexios (b. 1182) - Heir-presumptive. Brave, secretive, easily bored. Betrothed to Theodora Axuchina.
David (b. 1184) - Gregarious. Takes duties (and everything else) extremely seriously. Betrothed to Princess Constance of Hungary.
Zoe (b. 1185) - Doted on by her mother. Has a voice like honey. Betrothed to Isaac Rallis-Raoul.
George (b. 1185) - Weak of body, sharp of mind. Always noticed, never welcomed, except by his brother David.
Helene (b. 1187) - Betrothed to Demetrios Argyropoulos.
__________________________________________________
*: Yes, this type of marriage (avunculate) could occur with papal dispensation and due to different interpretations of Leviticus 18. It is even legal today in countries like Australia, Austria, Malaysia, France, Argentina, Brazil and Russia.
**: OTL, he died and his son, Arthur of Brittany, would later be murdered by John Lackland.
1185-1187 AD:
The young twins are named Zoe, meaning 'life', and George, after Rusudan's father. Unfortunately, while George was purple-born, he also had a club foot. When the twins were presented to the court at Christmas, every precaution was taken to hide this deformity. That same day, Zoe was betrothed to two-year-old Isaac Rallis-Raoul, a relation of the strategos of Achaia.
Across the Ionian Sea, Tancred of Leece and the surviving Normans returned to find Sicily and Calabria wracked by an outbreak of malaria. Among the dead in Palermo are his wife, Sibylla of Acerra, sister of the deceased Richard, and Bohemund, William's only child. Queen Joan has also been infected but it remains to be seen if she will recover. The only legitimate heir left to the Sicilian throne was William II's aunt Constance, the posthumous daughter of King Roger II. The previous year, William had betrothed Constance to Henry, eldest son of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, but many of the noble balked at the idea of giving up their independance to the Hohenstaufen. In response, they named Tancred the new king.
Tancred's first actions were to pack Joan off to a nunnery and, with papal dispensation, marry his aunt Constance*. Frederick was furious at this last action and wanted to march down through Italy right then and there, but he was short of funds and he had previously experienced the effects of Italian weather on his armies firsthand. Sicily would have to wait...
Further away, in France, Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany, narrowly escapes being trampled during a jousting tournament**.
In late 1187, just after the birth of Manuel's second daughter Helene (named after his aunt), the Cumans begin raiding across the Danube again so Manuel sent Alexios Branas to throw them back across. Once at Mesembria, however, Branas turns back, intent on claiming the throne for himself, succeeding where Morotheodoros had failed. The speed of Branas's betrayal took Manuel completely by surprise, but Branas was surprised in turn when the citizens of Constantinople refused to support him at the gates. Manuel personally led the sally alongside Isaac Angelos and Manuel Maurozomes. In the melee, Branas was unhorsed and beheaded. Manuel is extremely upset, as he is robbed of the chance to put Alexios Branas on trial, and he has grown quite attached to young Theodore and Agnes. He makes up for it by arresting Alexios Angelos, who, apparently being promised a higher position in court, had helped bribe some of the rebelling soldiers.
Sending Maurozomes to defeat the Cumans instead, Manuel receives further news from the Holy land - Jerusalem has fallen!
__________________________________________________
Children of Manuel II Komnenos by 1188 AD:
Alexios (b. 1182) - Heir-presumptive. Brave, secretive, easily bored. Betrothed to Theodora Axuchina.
David (b. 1184) - Gregarious. Takes duties (and everything else) extremely seriously. Betrothed to Princess Constance of Hungary.
Zoe (b. 1185) - Doted on by her mother. Has a voice like honey. Betrothed to Isaac Rallis-Raoul.
George (b. 1185) - Weak of body, sharp of mind. Always noticed, never welcomed, except by his brother David.
Helene (b. 1187) - Betrothed to Demetrios Argyropoulos.
__________________________________________________
*: Yes, this type of marriage (avunculate) could occur with papal dispensation and due to different interpretations of Leviticus 18. It is even legal today in countries like Australia, Austria, Malaysia, France, Argentina, Brazil and Russia.
**: OTL, he died and his son, Arthur of Brittany, would later be murdered by John Lackland.
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I presume the next update will cover the third crusade, hopefully Manuel will be a better diplomat than the Angeloi OTL, an intact German force would be great as well.
I presume the next update will cover the third crusade, hopefully Manuel will be a better diplomat than the Angeloi OTL, an intact German force would be great as well.
It will cover the third crusade, more from the perspective of the Romaioi than the crusaders as they take advantage of the chaos in Anatolia. While relations between the Germans and Byzantines won't be as breezy as they were in my last TL, Manuel won't try to actively hinder Barbarossa's progress.
Sicily might come into the mix as well. Tancred's closest and most powerful neighbours are Hungary and Byzantium. If Tancred offers an alliance to Manuel, the question would be who would be more dangerous - the Normans who had been hounding them for the past century, or the Germans under the energetic Frederick Barbarossa and his sons?
Dammit, I forgot all about Cyprus! And Cilicia! And Antioch!
Are you obliged to always ask this question? No offense intended.
As for how far I'll go. Honestly, I tend to make these TLs up as I go along. Right now, I'm planning to cover continued Komnenoi rule up to say, the 1260s. After that, I'm not too sure.
Alright, my exams are finished, so I have a bit more free time to work on this TL now. Yay.
(Yes, I am a brony too.)
(Yes, I am a brony too.)
Sadly, Medieval English history is not my strong point. I'm still trying to decide what to do with the Angevin Empire. At the moment, I have several ideas floating around at the moment:
* Most events remain the same - Richard ascends to the throne, he and Philip go on crusade.
* Philip Augustus allies with Geoffrey to overthrow Richard and John.
* Richard does not return from the crusade. Not sure how at the moment.
* John flees England to Aquitaine, but the nobles want nothing to do with him, Geoffrey or Richard. The ensuing chaos is exploited by Raymond, Count of Tolouse. Possible Kingdom of Aquitaine.
* Geoffrey ends up with at least England, Wales, Ireland, Brittany, Normandy, Maine and Anjou.
* Geoffrey dies and Arthur ascends, still a minor. Philip takes the opportunity to reconquer his French lands.
I do wonder how Henry, his wife and his sons ended up being so dysfunctional in the first place - Henry the Young, Richard, Geoffrey and John seemed to be as unlike their father as possible, which is not what the empire needed.
Any thoughts?
The Third Crusade
1188-1190 AD:
When Pope Gregory VIII called for a crusade to reclaim Jerusalem, the call was answered by the three most powerful monarchs in Western Europe - Henry II of England, Philip II of France and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Manuel was particularly worried to hear that Barbarossa was taking the overland route with 15,000 men, including 3,000 knights. But in this chaos, Manuel also saw opportunities - to regain the Anatolian lands lost during the reign of Alexios II, and to bring Isaac of Cyprus, Cilicia and possibly Antioch back under Romaioi control.
The Byzantine army was nearly 50,000 men - a mixture of ethnic Romaioi, Bulgarians, Vlachs, Serbians, and Christianised Cumans and Turks, not counting the mixed Norse/English Varangian guard and the many half-breeds. Manuel's plan to continue his father's reforms involved recontructing the theme system. In the newly-reconquered lands, Manuel would gradually resettle the soldiers and put them under the command of a strategos he could trust. The process had already begun when he had settled the Asen brothers in Philadelphia, and if the nobles complained about it? Well, the nobles complain about everything, don't they?
The German army arrived in the autumn of 1189, bolstered by 2,000 Hungarian soldiers under the command of Bela III's half-bred brother Geza. After some terse negotiations, the crusaders were immediately shipped across the Bosporus*. Once the crusaders had disappeared from sight, Manuel personally led 45,000 men to follow them while sending 5,000 men in 80 galleys under Theodore Synadenos and brothers Leo & John Gavalas to recapture Cyprus.
Manuel and his strategoi (Manuel Maurozomes, Constantine Angelos, Basil Vatatzes and David Bryennios) marched south, first taking Laodicea-on-the-Lycus, followed by Sozopolis and all the towns and cities inbetween. While they were harried all the way, resulting in David Bryennios's death and Manuel II losing a finger on his right hand, there did not seem to be as much resistance as the emperor thought there would be. Turning east and capturing Dorylaion, the imperials were pointed in the direction of the crusaders - in the direction of Ikonion.
When the imperial army arrived at Ikonion in June 1190, they were horrified at what they saw. Blood and decaying bodies everywhere and large plumes of smoke rising from the city. In no condition to fight, Ikonion returns to the imperial fold when Manuel promises them protection from the Franks. The emperor then decides to divide his remaining 40,000 men, sending half under Maurozomes and Vatatzes to besiege Ankara, aided by Manuel Laskaris and the Asen brothers. He himself, accompanied by Constantine Angelos, would take the other half towards Seleucia in preparation for an attack on Cilicia...
__________________________________________________
Children of Manuel II Komnenos by 1190 AD:
Alexios (b. 1182) - Betrothed to Theodora Axuchina
David (b. 1184) - Betrothed to Constance Arpad
Zoe (b. 1185) - Betrothed to Isaac Rallis-Raoul
George (b. 1185) - Betrothed to ___ ___
Helene (b. 1187) - Betrothed to Demetrius Argyropoulos
__________________________________________________
*: In OTL, Isaac II secretly allied with Saladin and did everything in his power to stall Barbarossa, resulting in the sacking of Philippopolis.
1188-1190 AD:
When Pope Gregory VIII called for a crusade to reclaim Jerusalem, the call was answered by the three most powerful monarchs in Western Europe - Henry II of England, Philip II of France and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Manuel was particularly worried to hear that Barbarossa was taking the overland route with 15,000 men, including 3,000 knights. But in this chaos, Manuel also saw opportunities - to regain the Anatolian lands lost during the reign of Alexios II, and to bring Isaac of Cyprus, Cilicia and possibly Antioch back under Romaioi control.
The Byzantine army was nearly 50,000 men - a mixture of ethnic Romaioi, Bulgarians, Vlachs, Serbians, and Christianised Cumans and Turks, not counting the mixed Norse/English Varangian guard and the many half-breeds. Manuel's plan to continue his father's reforms involved recontructing the theme system. In the newly-reconquered lands, Manuel would gradually resettle the soldiers and put them under the command of a strategos he could trust. The process had already begun when he had settled the Asen brothers in Philadelphia, and if the nobles complained about it? Well, the nobles complain about everything, don't they?
The German army arrived in the autumn of 1189, bolstered by 2,000 Hungarian soldiers under the command of Bela III's half-bred brother Geza. After some terse negotiations, the crusaders were immediately shipped across the Bosporus*. Once the crusaders had disappeared from sight, Manuel personally led 45,000 men to follow them while sending 5,000 men in 80 galleys under Theodore Synadenos and brothers Leo & John Gavalas to recapture Cyprus.
Manuel and his strategoi (Manuel Maurozomes, Constantine Angelos, Basil Vatatzes and David Bryennios) marched south, first taking Laodicea-on-the-Lycus, followed by Sozopolis and all the towns and cities inbetween. While they were harried all the way, resulting in David Bryennios's death and Manuel II losing a finger on his right hand, there did not seem to be as much resistance as the emperor thought there would be. Turning east and capturing Dorylaion, the imperials were pointed in the direction of the crusaders - in the direction of Ikonion.
When the imperial army arrived at Ikonion in June 1190, they were horrified at what they saw. Blood and decaying bodies everywhere and large plumes of smoke rising from the city. In no condition to fight, Ikonion returns to the imperial fold when Manuel promises them protection from the Franks. The emperor then decides to divide his remaining 40,000 men, sending half under Maurozomes and Vatatzes to besiege Ankara, aided by Manuel Laskaris and the Asen brothers. He himself, accompanied by Constantine Angelos, would take the other half towards Seleucia in preparation for an attack on Cilicia...
__________________________________________________
Children of Manuel II Komnenos by 1190 AD:
Alexios (b. 1182) - Betrothed to Theodora Axuchina
David (b. 1184) - Betrothed to Constance Arpad
Zoe (b. 1185) - Betrothed to Isaac Rallis-Raoul
George (b. 1185) - Betrothed to ___ ___
Helene (b. 1187) - Betrothed to Demetrius Argyropoulos
__________________________________________________
*: In OTL, Isaac II secretly allied with Saladin and did everything in his power to stall Barbarossa, resulting in the sacking of Philippopolis.
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Anything in particular? Was the last update too... brusque? Or is it about the earlier discussion about the Angevin Empire?
It's mostly about the Angevin Empire and the other Western European powers. And the Third Crusade. Since Geoffrey's survived a certain jousting tourney, butterflies have thusly hit the area. I'll have a list of pointers up in a second...
Here's the main article on the Angevin Empire.
Here's the main article on the Angevin Empire.