Dalmatia Ascendant: Reboot

[Ilúphatar]

Firstly, and this relates to comment from @Shevek23, what do you guys think of the use of Greek Fire in the battle? I used it to make the tale a little more interesting than your standard siege story, and make Zara itself seem even that little bit more special . Thoughts?

So what the next step for Zara here?

Eliminate the magyar of course

Well, perhaps not quite that dramatic! I won't spoil the specifics, but just remember that the Civil War is ongoing and that there are some rebellious Dalmatians that need to be reminded of their true loyalties.

I have a photo I took at the museum some time ago showing a model of medieval Zara where you can kinda see the main gate (and some of the Port gates that we discussed earlier). Unfortunately the model represents the period after this timeline (14th century I believe) so you have some Venetian add-ons to the old fortification (the Castello bastion that has a trench between itself and the city, and the Citadela in the right corner of the city) but from what I know most of the northern wall and the fortifications toward the mainland (including the main gate) are more or less the same.
https://ibb.co/etKfue

Thanks, that's actually pretty useful! The main gate also looks pretty well fortified, which would explain why Andrew favoured an assault on the port gate (giving me an excuse not to edit the post ).

Andrew taking Zara would not exactly be a sudden death blow to Emeric's cause but it would hurt him a lot.

With the cities that more naturally aligned with him and Zara in his power, he surely could dominate the rest of the League or most of it anyway, enough to seriously impair the benefit their being left in peace might bring Emeric.

Exactly that. Zara has always been the key to Dalmatia, pretty much ever since the fall and destruction of Salona. Andrew recognised that by taking Zara, Dalmatia would essentially be forced to recognise his rule as their Duke. That's why Venice was always so eager to get their hands on Zara, because it was the key to Dalmatia, which was in turn the key to the domination of the Adriatic.

I was mainly worried the Venetians might pull something in this crisis when Dalmatia is somewhat cut off from the full backing Emeric could give if there weren't a civil war going on but now I suppose that actually the main thing protecting Dalmatia from Venice is Dalmatia.

As I said I was mainly worried what the Venetians might do, and perhaps some shred of my calculations survives in the fact Andrew did not seek to make common cause with Venice, calling on Venetian help to attack by sea in coordination with his attack by land.

It did occur to me maybe Andrew would have coordinated with Venice and thus won, but it was a matter of timing and opportunity--it would appear the time scale of Emeric being tied down and distracted on the external borders was quite short, a matter of weeks or even days, and Andrew's opportunity was limited. So there just wasn't time to coordinate some grand strategic alliance back and forth across the Adriatic? Surely the strategic, long game interest Andrew shares with Emeric in avoiding losing control of any of the shore to some overseas power has some weight still (not necessarily if Andrew is on his way down and knows it, he might do anything then just to spite his brother, but by then, what has he got to offer the Venetians to attract them in?)

You've pretty much hit on the answer yourself here. Remember, Venice was defeated only a few months ago. The Republic is undergoing an economic crisis resulting from the loss of a large proportion of the city's navy, as well as the hiatus in merchant shipping during construction (which suffered further during the war from privateer-esque attacks by Genoese and Pisan rivals). Dandolo is now deeply unpopular among the Venetian ruling classes for his 'recklessness' in attacking Zara and losing. He probably won't be able to raise enough money to reconstruct the fleet, let alone convince the various Councils to agree to a new war so soon.

Furthermore, Andrew wouldn't be willing to ally with Venice for several reasons. Firstly, with the war so much in recent memory, a pro-Venetian position would upset the Dalmatians considerably, pretty much losing him the support he currently has in the League. Secondly, both Andrew and Venice covet Zara for the reasons I stated above. Andrew needs Zara to control Dalmatia properly; but Venice would demand Zara as the price for an alliance. Thirdly, Andrew interpreted the Venetian attack on Dalmatia as an attack on his duchy - remember, the League during the war was an informal pact, not a constitutional reality. At the time his claim to be 'Duke of Dalmatia' was closer to reality. It was a while back in the TL, but the Croatian ban, Martin Hontpázmán, sent Croatian soldier to help garrison Zara - this was with Andrew's assent, who for once was in agreement with his brother. So any idea of alliance was a non-starter TBH.

Which is exactly where I was blindsided, that and supposing Zara was more invulnerable that I should have

So, somehow I got into my head that Zara was downright impregnible, forgetting of course that it is just a handful of years down the line from its OTL breaching and sack. So I figured neither Andrew nor Emeric would dare divert too much to trying to settle its status by sheer force.

I am a little concerned that I made Zara appear too vulnerable in the telling of the battle. Zara was the fortress-city of Dalmatia. Very few armies ever took it before the rise of the cannon, because it's peninsular location made a full-blown siege impossible and an assault (as Andrew attempted) almost as difficult. The reason that Venice needed Crusader help IOTL was because they needed a proper land-army with siege engines to compliment their naval power - that way, Zara was totally surrounded on land and sea. The noose was tightened once the Venetians broke the harbour-chain, and Zara soon capitulated.

The difference ITTL was that: (1) Venice lacked a large land army; and (2) with slower and weaker Venetian progress, Zara had time to summon Dalmatian allies to their aid, enabling them a surprise victory at sea that was unfeasible IOTL.

You may have noticed several mentions in the text itself that Andrew hoped to threaten the Zaratins into submission, rather than attempt outright conquest. At first he hoped the mere presence of his army would change their minds; then later he hoped the arrival of siege towers would convince Begna to switch allegiance. The actual assault was a desperate attempt to either seize the city outright or finally compel Begna to parley with him.

Zara having survived Andrew's best shot, albeit by a rather melodramatic quasi-miracle rather than a boring old "you fool, Zara is impregnible!" manner I thought it would, will not be the fence-sitter I thought it would

The Hail Mary Pass of having on hand some small samples of Greek Fire makes a little sense in Zara being a former Byzantine outpost with some formal special relationship still on the books IIRC (another factor perhaps in Venice aiming Villardouin et al at the city?) I do have to wonder, if the city had these assets in hand, why they were not employed earlier when the defenses had been less breached, to repel the invaders before they had gotten so far? Who was it who knew of these vials and did not think to offer them up earlier? Was there some sealed box with a sworn-to admonition written on it saying to break the seals only after all else had failed or what? but it surely does make a fun story.

If you dared, I think an even cooler, but sadly wankish, version would be if there were persons, Byzantine envoys or part of their embassy, on hand who did know the full secret of the recipe for the stuff, who waited until they could see the city was in dire straits, and then came forward offering to manufacture some for the good of their patron state's interest--the difference being that this person somehow transmits the secret to Zaratines who conserve it, so that Zara and by extension as the League consolidates Dalmatia retains it and the OTL lost formula is known to modern science in the ATL.

I was somewhat concerned that the use of Greek Fire in the battle would be rather unrealistic, but I wanted to avoid the potential boredom of 'Andrew attacked Zara, he couldn't get over the walls, so he left'. As you say, Zara had been a Byzantine city not long before, so the presence of ignis graecus is not implausible. Begna knew of these vials but chose not to use them before the situation was truly desperate, knowing that they could prove decisive in a future battle. TBH, Begna probably didn't need to use them - as mentioned, Zara was truly formidable and it's unlikely that the Croatian successes on the walls and at the Port Gate would translate into outright victory. The point was that he felt threatened enough to use them, thus turning a somewhat 'samey' battle into one with a little more 'pizzazz' .

I briefly considered allowing Zara to have the recipe itself, but I feel that would introduce an almost fantastical element to the narrative that I'd rather avoid. Those were the only three vials of Greek Fire in Zara, and the last recorded use of the weapon in TTL's history (IOTL, the last record of it's use in Europe was made by Anna Komnenos of Byzantium, who wrote of her father, the Emperor Alexios, using the fire against a Pisan fleet. It seems that the recipe was lost to history between then and 1204, as there was no mention of its use against the Crusader's Sack of Constantinople).

But it was specifically Zara's own interests you were at pains to tell us Emeric favored and augmented, not those of each and every League city, and within the League that was surely a cause of jealousy, not just of the petty sort but concern Zara's status as queen city of Dalmatia and dominating each of the others was being cemented by Emeric's favor.

This is exactly the case. Like Dandolo and Andrew, Emeric knows that Zara is the key to controlling Dalmatia. I like to think of Zara as the 'lens' through which Hungary can 'project' power over the other Dalmatian cities. This has, as you mentioned, caused some jealously and resentment - case in point, Ragusa and Cattaro.

Finally...I enjoyed the drama of the description of the near-fall of Zara, it reminded me strongly of Tolkien's descriptions of the defences of both Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith in The Two Towers and Return of the King respectively.

I can't imagine higher praise, thank you so much! I'm not quite sure it's deserved, but I'm glad you enjoyed the post in any case .

 

[The Professor]

Firstly, and this relates to comment from @Shevek23, what do you guys think of the use of Greek Fire in the battle? I used it to make the tale a little more interesting than your standard siege story, and make Zara itself seem even that little bit more special . Thoughts?

If you're worried it comes across too unrealistic you can always fuzzy it up as a semilegendary account. Sort of: historians agree the siege engines were destroyed by fire but disagree whether it was Greek Fire or regular pitch and fire etc.

 

[Shevek23]

... much ever since the fall and destruction of Salona. Andrew recognised that by taking Zara, Dalmatia would essentially be forced to recognise his rule as their Duke. That's why Venice was always so eager to get their hands on Zara, because it was the key to Dalmatia, which was in turn the key to the domination of the Adriatic.

Salona? Darn, now I have to read up on Salona! But obviously not for this TL, just to know more about the obscured history of the Illyrian coast!

...Remember, Venice was defeated only a few months ago....
Furthermore, Andrew wouldn't be willing to ally with Venice for several reasons....

I often am unclear on the time lapses between updates, having not memorized the date the last one ended so it was not clear to me Venice is still reeling from the recent defeat and effectively off the board for the moment. Meanwhile it was clear enough that the interest of anyone who would be king of Hungary would disfavor foreign control of any coastal city, but the key importance of Zara is something I am still learning! OTL I guess Venetian hegemony over it obscures, to anyone not closely following regional history or the history of Venice, how valuable an asset Zara was to them; in the vague, casual oversight history I have picked up of this region and era, Zara was never mentioned, which is why all I knew about it was Villardouin's account of its fall. In my Crusades class I incorrectly, I know now, visualized Zara, whose name I did not remember, as a pretty minor outpost--maybe the most important town around but in a region I hardly conceived had any importance outside itself. My professor might have done better to take a moment to emphasize how important Zara was, and how difficult to take, but for one thing she may have and I missed that portion of the lecture and for another, the focus was on the Crusades and we read Villardouin mainly for events farther east, touching on the Zaratine incident mainly because it was there.

So it was less inconceivable to me that Andrew might raffle off control of Zara to gain control of all the other cities, especially if deeding it over to the Venetians would mean it was denied to Emeric. Obviously he still would prefer to keep control of Zara too though it was unclear to me that Zara is key to controlling all the Dalmatian cities which makes it crucial. I vaguely figured joint conquest would lead to divided control, Venice controlling Zara as a trade city but Andrew retaining control as a land based vassal, Andrew lending Venice the aid of the Dalmatians as allies and negotiating trade terms.

Having little information to go on I have tentatively always been Team Emeric in this, defaulting to the established king and as your narrative has shown, patron of Zara, and figured Andrew was basically just a disaster for both Hungary and Dalmatia. But figured the Dalmatians would ingloriously sit on the fence while the brothers fought it out inland, prepared to shift as a block to whoever got the upper hand there.

I was not reckoning properly with medieval mentality which often bet everything on one big battle, one and done.

Now I am thinking of Andrew as a dead duck which is probably wrong too I suppose. And I did consider that a losing Andrew, or Emeric even, might call in Venice just to spite the victor...but the time scale which I did not follow means Venice is out for now, whereas they would have nowhere nearly as attractive an opportunity trying to steal something from the winning king in the endgame, when the losing rival has nothing to put on the board to sweeten the deal in strategic terms as seen from St. Mark's square.

Indeed it is now clear that Venice just was not in the cards in this fight, nor do I wonder why Andrew waited so as to lose the possible "asset" of Venetian alliance--as you clarify for any Hungarian contender, Venice is a dagger with a poisoned grip. De facto Dalmatia and Hungary, in this as in other matters, are effectively united in interest. (Which is one reason I disliked @Vuu's post...perhaps later we will see more of how Dalmatia and Hungary's interests diverge, but so far they look pretty well joined at the hip to me. Other nationalities under the Hungarian crown may see it as pure oppressive conquest, perhaps though I am hoping the Magyar regime will evolve into something very creative, but the Dalmatians and Hungarian overlords seem to have little to complain of about the relationship, at least not collectively--their issues are more a matter of fraternal jealousy than a systematic resentment of overlordship as such. As medieval lordships go, the Hungarian management of the relationship with Dalmatia seems pretty shrewd and even enlightened.

I am a little concerned that I made Zara appear too vulnerable in the telling of the battle. ...

It was very clear Andrew was doubling down and going all out, a massive play for a massive, even crucial, prize. He bet everything on winning something he had to have, and had to take a rare opportunity while Emeric was bogged down; indeed this attack on Zara was his Pearl Harbor as it were--others may have better analogies, but his whole grand strategy seems to be 1) wait for Emeric to be tied down in a distant border fight 2) declare for the throne and consolidate getting his allied or easily dominated ducks in a row; 3) throw everything he could at Zara if the mere threat did not scare them over to his side 4) having won Zara sew up all Dalmatia, deny Emeric material aid or communications from that crucial direction, mobilized Dalmatia to augment his forces and with the advantage of a secured western front and far superior access to trade goods, move at leisure to grind down Emeric inland. Hopefully many of Emeric's supporters, seeing Andrew has the upper hand, spare themselves the pain of being ground down in a losing cause, turn on Emeric, and thus the usurpation is completed relatively quickly and painlessly before Hungary's various external foes make common cause with disgruntled subjects to start tearing at it like vultures. In retrospect, it is clear how everything turns on Zara and thus it required Andrew to bet everything on that critical campaign. This is why I now figure he is now dead in the water and would do well to turn and run into exile somewhere; he's got less force left where he hoped to augment it with Dalmatian resources, a poorer strategic and logistic position what with Zara and the other two loyalist cities surely joining force with Emeric unstintingly, to aid their patron king and bring down Andrew ASAP, including the King sanctioning Zara moving in on the pro-ducal majority of cities to either neutralize them as assets of Andrew or better yet shepherd them over to the royal side and turn the tables on Andrew.Now it will be Emeric with a secure western front, access to trade logistics for what that is worth, Dalmatian loans (Zara might extort a lot from the treasuries of the rebel cities as price of their submission to Emeric, and loans and grants to the king can hire mercenaries or otherwise smooth things for the king while Andrew will be begging for cash); even some Dalmatian levies to make up a bit of fighting force for the king...not too much of that, Dalmatia is not all that populous and Dalmatian military strength is on the sea, here split in civil war, too bad for the Venetians they are knocked out of the game at this wonderful moment of opportunity when one Dalmatian fleet turns on another! But there it is, Dalmatia will be terribly vulnerable by sea as the Zaratine fleet is preoccupied fighting to reduce the northern cities and the renegades in the south. I suppose Zara must turn north while the Andrew-partisan southern city is teamed up on by the two flanking Emeric-Loyalist cities, at least holding it at bay and denying it trade until the Zaratines can divert something southward. This will take time, wear down both sides somewhat ruinously, sow seeds of animosity for generations to come,and impair Hungary's trade, but civil war is civil war. I hoped Dalmatia might sit it out semi-neutral but now that on the contrary Dalmatia turns out to be the first battlefield I can see the logic of it. All the fears that motivated the ducal faction cities about Zaratine hegemony under royal favor are going to come true with a vengeance for the ducal cites, unless they roll over and submit right quick and even then they are in for a skinning.

You know the Tolkien metaphors I used? Saruman and Sauron went all in on their attacks too, and defeat cost them dearly. In those books were it not for other factors the side of evil had deep pockets and could afford these reverses but they were both bitter and unexpected. Andrew has no reserves to speak of. Dead duck now. All he can do is draw things out, which since exile will hold few attractions I suppose he will do in hope of a miracle to compensate him for Zara's sorcerous win. I doubt God will send him one though, the traitor!

Any Team Andrew fans out there who have something to say for the rebellious brat? I can at least credit him for not scheming with Venice (before the previous war, to time his rebellion with the Venetian attack). Given the author's remark that even without vials of Greek Fire, aka Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, Begna still had the means of fighting Andrew's incursion and saving some of the city, step 3 in Andrew's inferred master plan would actually have had the rigor of an Underpants Gnome plan for Profit. That's not good lordship. Of course his real step 3 was to seduce or if necessary intimidate Zara into allegiance, not have to actually take the city--this was the Master Plan diverted to Plan B.

...I was somewhat concerned that the use of Greek Fire in the battle would be rather unrealistic, but I wanted to avoid the potential boredom of 'Andrew attacked Zara, he couldn't get over the walls, so he left'. As you say, Zara had been a Byzantine city not long before, so the presence of ignis graecus is not implausible. Begna knew of these vials but chose not to use them before the situation was truly desperate, knowing that they could prove decisive in a future battle. ...

It all does make sense. That small stockpiles might have been in the vaults...though one has to wonder what would have become of those OTL, when the city submitted to Venice. That a literal handful of it might have made no difference in the context of OTL, when the city was attacked both by land and sea and the moment of despair was the Venetians getting into the harbor in superior numbers--three vials would be able to do nothing more than infuriate a basically overwhelming force, and ruining the French siege engines would just doom the city to be starved out at Venetian leisure. So I suppose one could imagine that rather than turn them over they were destroyed somehow or spirited out into the countryside where they were hidden and forgotten.

It even makes sense Begna would wait to use them until it dawned on him that saving Zara at a lower cost than Andrew was about to extort was exactly the crucial emergency and opportunity to use the things that Fortune had reserved them for and no better use would be likely to ever come about.

I briefly considered allowing Zara to have the recipe itself, but I feel that would introduce an almost fantastical element to the narrative that I'd rather avoid. Those were the only three vials of Greek Fire in Zara, and the last recorded use of the weapon in TTL's history (IOTL, the last record of it's use in Europe was made by Anna Komnenos of Byzantium, who wrote of her father, the Emperor Alexios, using the fire against a Pisan fleet. It seems that the recipe was lost to history between then and 1204, as there was no mention of its use against the Crusader's Sack of Constantinople).

Given your superior historic knowledge about just when the last recorded date of its use was, which I did not know, indeed secret recipe masters lurking about but having failed to aid Constantinople herself in her hour of need would be preposterous. And as I said, while imagining Zara emerging as the sole master of Greek Fire, soon to be renamed Zaratine Fire or the Dalmatian Dragon Breath in the West, is kind of fun in a cartoonish way it distracts from and eclipses the much sounder basis I suppose Zara and Dalmatia as a whole shall rise on.Three precious legacy vials, a quasi-magic Holy Hand Grenade, works better, and of course we all know Greek Fire was a real thing in its day. I would guess some made up glop might keep for centuries in storage, though to do the damage you describe these 'vials' would have to be much bigger than that word suggests--big canisters, that would require a team of men to heft I would think.

 

[Vuu]

All they need is some accessible crude oil, to make the proto-napalm (if you believe that theory)

But it's an interesting thought experiment on early industrialization meme - they'd probably use technology in strange and destructive ways

 

[Ilúphatar]

If you're worried it comes across too unrealistic you can always fuzzy it up as a semilegendary account. Sort of: historians agree the siege engines were destroyed by fire but disagree whether it was Greek Fire or regular pitch and fire etc.

I have now done this, along with a few other edits to explain the lack of an attack on the main gate and to emphasise that Andrew wanted to intimidate the Zaratins into submission rather than conquer them outright. I think it's helped tidy up a few issues.

Salona?

Yep, it was the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia before its destruction.

I often am unclear on the time lapses between updates,

Perhaps I could put in a note at the start of each post showing the length of time which has elapsed since the previous post?

I vaguely figured joint conquest would lead to divided control, Venice controlling Zara as a trade city but Andrew retaining control as a land based vassal, Andrew lending Venice the aid of the Dalmatians as allies and negotiating trade terms.

While that's not impossible (the merchant republics had Quarters in Constantinople, after all), in Zara's case it might become problematic. Venice would want its own troops present to safeguard its vital interests in the city; whereas the Hungarians would be less than pleased to see a large Venetian garrison in their most important port city. They would be compelled to retain a similar number of soldiers in Zara to prevent a sudden Venetian takeover. Keeping permanent garrisons in any city was expensive at the time, but it would be a cost Venice would be both more willing, and more able to bear than distant Esztergom.

So possible in theory, but unstable in practice.

Now I am thinking of Andrew as a dead duck which is probably wrong too I suppose.

In retrospect, it is clear how everything turns on Zara and thus it required Andrew to bet everything on that critical campaign. This is why I now figure he is now dead in the water and would do well to turn and run into exile somewhere; he's got less force left where he hoped to augment it with Dalmatian resources, a poorer strategic and logistic position what with Zara and the other two loyalist cities surely joining force with Emeric unstintingly, to aid their patron king and bring down Andrew ASAP, including the King sanctioning Zara moving in on the pro-ducal majority of cities to either neutralize them as assets of Andrew or better yet shepherd them over to the royal side and turn the tables on Andrew.

Perhaps a half-truth. Andrew is a 'dead duck' as far as Dalmatia is concerned - his gamble failed, and he has lost any chance of gaining preeminence in the littoral. However: his army was not fatally damaged in the attack; he has reserves in the Zagora and elsewhere in Croatia; and the Bulgarians remain a dangerous distraction for Emeric. At the end of the last post he successfully withdrew to Tinin, and is now plotting his next move - this time against his brother directly.

The extent to which a pro-Emeric Dalmatia will help the King is debatable. It is true to say that the victory at Zara harmed Andrew more than it benefited Emeric - i.e. Andrew would have gained much from conquering Dalmatia, but its value to Emeric is based on what it can deny his brother rather than what it can do for him directly. Zara itself is incapable of mounting a large land army to campaign in the hinterland against Andrew - its population is small and its coffers bare after an expensive war against Venice. That doesn't mean it cannot restore the rule of the King elsewhere, however.

though one has to wonder what would have become of those OTL, when the city submitted to Venice. That a literal handful of it might have made no difference in the context of OTL, when the city was attacked both by land and sea and the moment of despair was the Venetians getting into the harbour in superior numbers--three vials would be able to do nothing more than infuriate a basically overwhelming force, and ruining the French siege engines would just doom the city to be starved out at Venetian leisure. So I suppose one could imagine that rather than turn them over they were destroyed somehow or spirited out into the countryside where they were hidden and forgotten.

Again, you hit on the answer yourself! The explanation (assuming the legend is true, which the edited post now puts in doubt) would be that the critical moment was the Venetians gaining the harbour, enabling the Crusaders to make camp outside the walls. Three vials would not be particularly useful against a force which controlled both land and sea; able to mount attacks at multiple points along the walls simultaneously. Once the Crusaders entered the city, the vials were destroyed and the secret of Greek Fire lost forever.

All they need is some accessible crude oil, to make the proto-napalm (if you believe that theory)

I suddenly have a strange image in my mind of oil rigs scattered among the Adriatic archipelago

 

[Ilúphatar]

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Tragura's Old Town
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Submission
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Immediately following on from previous post*

With the siege broken, Zara quickly reasserted control over its hinterland. As Andrew's army was now out of the picture, the only opposition came from local Croat nobles who supported the Duke's rebellion. Perhaps the most prominent of these families was the House of Šubić, which held the key stronghold of Breber and also possessed the municipality of Tragura in Dalmatia. Several patricians from Zara left the city and joined the army of the loyalist Kačić family, chiefly as a means of defending or recovering estates they held in the hinterland. After the Ducal army's withdrawal, much of the coastline fell under the control of Domald, Comes of Sebenico and župan of Sidraga - one of the most prominent members of the House of Kačić. He led the loyalists in battle against the Šubićs, defeating them at Scardona[1] and advancing to besiege Tragura - though he was unable to prevent a rebel advance down the River Cherca[2] from tying down a large loyalist garrison at Norzi[3]. He also managed to retake Belgradon, thus bringing all Sidraga back under his control.

Zara itself did not raise an army to campaign in Croatia. The Istrian War had drained the city's coffers, making expensive armies infeasible. During the Siege of Zara, the Zaratin soldiers had been defending their homes, but an advance inland would require a force paid in gold. However, the Comes and governing Council were prepared to deploy the Zaratin fleet against coastal strongholds held by the rebels. On the 26th of August, several ships of Zara assisted in the aforementioned capture of Scardona; and five days later a flotilla was assembled at Zara to reimpose the authority of the King over the Carnaro Islands.

The Zaratin fleet arrived at Arba on the 4th of September. The Arbans did not offer battle, but agreed to submit to the King and to the Dalmacie Princeps on the condition that their territories on Pago be retained. From there, the Zaratins sailed north and assembled themselves outside of the city of Veglia, from which the island gained its name. It would have been risky to assault the city in force with ships alone, but fortunately for the Zaratin flotilla the devastation of the Istrian War had left the Vegliot fleet unable to mount any sort of significant resistance. They too submitted. Shortly afterwards, Crepsa also conceded after a Zaratin envoy arrived at Ossero and threatened the isle with conquest in the name of the King. The three islands had rebelled primarily due to their economic dependence on the Meranian port of Floim[4], but faced with a loyalist armed force, they were unable and unwilling to lose the protection of the only city able to defend their commercial interests elsewhere.

Comes Begna demanded that the Comites of the northern islands come to Zara at once to give oaths of allegiance to the King and to the Princeps. There are established accounts of the event; it seems that the three travelled as a group and arrived together on the 11th of September before submitting to Begna at the Comital Palace. This was certainly a turning point in the political structure of the Dalmatian League, as it established the precedent for regarding the Zaratin Comes as of a status similar to that of the viceregal ban of Croatia; i.e. as a representative of the King himself. It also implied that Dalmatia was a cohesive and separate polity, whereas in constitutional reality each city was treated as a separate, privileged municipality usually considered as a part of Croatia (the truth of this matter is unclear and disputed by historians).

With the north subdued, Zara turned its attention to Tragura. Comes Domald of Sebenico had begun besieging the city on the 28th of August with his army of Sidragan Croats and Sebenzani[5] citizens. However, like Zara, Tragura was a formidable fortress. Its fall would require a combination of land forces and naval dominance, especially as the core of the city was actually on a small offshore island (Domald was attacking the settled littoral of the Castelli[6] region). Nearby Spalatro had skirmished with their Traguran counterparts around the island of Bua[7], but they were unable to decisively defeat them. Nevertheless, the bravery of the Spalatrin sailors was frequently celebrated on anniversaries for many years afterwards.

In this context the Zaratin fleet turned south, leaving a small number of ships to enforce a light blockade of Floim. After a brief halt for supplies in Zara on the 13th, the force continued on towards Tragura. The exact conditions of the resultant Battle of Tragura are unclear, but most scholars agree that the Spalatrin fleet was most likely placed under Zaratin command - specifically under the well-known Zuane Zorzi. Zorzi wasted no time in acting and, as a forbear to his later mastery of pincer-movements, caught and destroyed the rebel fleet on the 16th of the month to the east of Bua. Despite moderate casualties among the Zaratin-Spalatrin combined force, the destruction of Traguran sea-power was the key to undoing the city's defences. The rebel Šubić Comes held out for another week before loyalist elements within Tragura - perhaps bribed by Domald - rose up and deposed him. The city's gates were opened and the rule of the King was reimposed across all Dalmatia. Zara's work was done.

Meawhile, Kaloyan of Bulgaria had not been idle. In mid-July he had invaded the Grand Principality of Serbia and seized Niš, reclaiming it from Vukan Nemanjić, a vassal of Hungary. With supporters of Vukan's exiled brother Stefan pressing an offensive towards the capital of Ras, the 'Emperor' was emboldened to strike north and retake territories lost to Hungary the year before. Kaloyan assembled his army at Vidin and marched on the fortress of Ram[8], which lay close to the Danube. With the civil war ongoing, the Hungarian garrison was divided and weak, and the citadel was swiftly taken. Soon afterwards Branicevo also fell to the advancing Bulgarians. By the beginning of August Belgrade itself was under siege, and Kaloyan began to establish a footing north of the Danube. His Cuman vassals began raids into Erdély[9]

King Emeric needed to eliminate the threat from his brother quickly if he was to face the threat from the south. Having defeated Duke Leopold of Austria at Lake Balaton on the 10th of August, forcing his return to Vienna, the King reassembled his army and marched south into Slavonia. By capturing the principal town of Eszék, it was hoped that Royal authority could be reestablished south of the River Drava[10]. A secondary motivation was to try to persuade the ban of Bosnia, Kulin, to openly side with the loyalists - thus far, he had remained silent on the subject. Emeric crossed the Drava on the 16th and established a stronghold at the village of Valpó[11], intending to receive further reinforcements from the city of Pécs before continuing his drive towards Eszék.

Abandoning the siege at Zara, Andrew spent several week consolidating a force at Tinin before marching north into Croatia proper. Although he had received reports of the King's advance into Slavonia, the Duke had heard no more news from the province and assumed that Eszék had already fallen. Rather than assaulting the walls of a fortified city - the defeat at Zara still stung - Andrew instead advanced north to Varaždin, hoping there to join forces with the large number Hungarian magnates who had also rebelled against the King. Andrew established himself at the city on the 26th and awaited news.

By the 24th, Eszék had indeed yielded to the loyalists, and much of Slavonia now fell into Emeric's hands. This was an important victory, but the King's position remained fragile. Despite Dalmatian successes in the littoral, almost all of the Croatian nobility had sided with Andrew. The greater portion of the Hungarian landholders also at least favoured Andrew - many refused to fulfil their feudal obligations to provide soldiers for the Royal army. The King had made great efforts to centralise his Kingdom, but now his magnates saw an opportunity in Andrew to regain much of their power. Andrew needed to be swiftly dealt with. On the 27th of August, the loyalist army marched west towards Varaždin.

The historian, Thomas the Archdeacon[12], records what happened next in his text, History of the Bishops of Salona and Split:

[All] the magnates of the kingdom and almost the whole of the Hungarian army deserted [King Emeric] and unlawfully sided with Duke Andrew. Very few men indeed remained with the King, and even they were terrified at the extent of the insurrection, and did not dare to urge the King to hope for success, but rather advised him to flee. Then it happened that one day both sides had drawn close to each other and were beginning to prepare themselves in earnest for battle. ... [After] much wise thought, with inspiration from heaven [King Emeric] found a successful way by which he might recover his right to the kingdom and still remain guiltless of bloodshed. So he said to his men, "Stay here a while, and do not follow me." Then he laid down his weapons, and taking only a leafy bough in his hand he walked slowly into the enemy ranks. As he passed through the midst of the armed multitude, he cried out in a loud and strong voice, "Now I shall see who will dare to raise a hand to shed the blood of the royal lineage!" Seeing him, all fell back, and not daring even to mutter, they left a wide passage for him on either side. And then when [King Emeric] reached his brother, he took him, and leading him outside the body of troops, he sent him to a certain castle for custody.[13]​

The King imprisoned his brother the Duke at Gornji Kneginec, and later had him taken to Esztergom. With Andrew's defeat, the remaining rebellious armies fell apart. The Hungarian nobles, seeing Andrew in custody on Emeric's return to the capital, were forced to submit themselves to their King. Having dealt with problems in the heartland, Emeric travelled south into Croatia and entered the fortress at Tinin, where his brother had first risen in rebellion. There he spent the winter months, and received renewed oaths of loyalty and submission from the župans of Croatia. Some lands he attainted and reattached to the Royal estates, or granted to other families - for example, the townships of Almissa and Scardona were taken from the Šubić family and given as a reward to Domald of Sidraga. It can be said that this event truly began the great rivalry between the House of Šubić and the House of Kačić. Andrew's ducal title was stripped from him, and the ban of Croatia, Martin Hont-Pázmány[14], was executed for treason as a key ally of Andrew during the rebellion. He was replaced with one Hipolit[15] (Hippolytus in Latin).

Also present were envoys from the seven Dalmatian cities under Hungarian suzerainty; some who came to beg forgiveness for their city's rebellion, others who came to receive gifts for their loyalty. Damian Varicassi, the Zaratin envoy, was granted particularly luxurious gifts to take back to Zara for the Comes. This further cemented the assumption that Zara spoke for the King in Dalmatia.

With Royal authority reestablished in Hungary, Croatia and Dalmatia, King Emeric could now turn to face the Bulgarians. But the Dalmatians' work was not yet done, and much was to be accomplished within the League if it were to recover from the travails of the civil war.

__________________________________________________________________________________​

Extract from: Hungary, Croatia and Dalmatia - A Potted History

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*This was an addition suggested by @Shevek23. If you think it's worth doing for each update please let me know!

Footnotes:

[1] Skradin, Croatia.

[2] This is the Italian name for the River Krka in Croatia. The Dalmatian name would have been more similar to the Italian form than the Croatian.

[3] Norzi is the Italian name for the Croatian settlement of Nos Kalik. The Dalmatian name would have been more similar to the Italian form than the Croatian.

[4] This was mentioned a while back but, in case you've forgotten, Floim is the Dalmatian name for Rijeka, Croatia.

[5] Sebenzani is the demonym for inhabitants of Sebenico/Šibenik.

[6] Castelli is the Italian name for the Kaštela region of Croatia. The Dalmatian name would have been more similar to the Italian form than the Croatian.

[7] Bua is the Italian name for the Croatian island of Čiovo. The Dalmatian name would have been more similar to the Italian form than the Croatian.

[8] Thank you @isabella !

[9] Erdély is the Hungarian name for Transylvania.

[10] The River Drava is a tributary of the Danube which forms much of the border between Hungary and Croatia, both today and in 1203. Also, I use the British (i.e. correct ) way of writing river names; i.e. [river]+[name], as opposed to the US; [name]+[river]. So sue me!

[11] Valpó is the Hungarian name for Valpovo, Croatia.

[12] Thomas the Archdeacon was a real historian who recorded Emeric's OTL defeat of Andrew.

[13] All this is from Thomas the Archdeacon's OTL telling of the event. It can easily be found here.

[14] Martin Hont-Pázmány was also a friend and ally of Andrew IOTL, as ban of Croatia.

[15] IOTL Hipolit became ban of Croatia in 1204, but here he is given the honour a year early.

__________________________________________________________________________________
​

Here's a map of the campaign in Dalmatia over the course of the civil war. It's a bit confusing, so apologies for that. I'll put a simplified timeline of the whole war below to help explain:

Key:

Blue = Loyalists
Red = Rebels
Britannic Bold font = Places
Arial font = Dates (each date represents the day on which a force arrived at the 'arrow' end of each arrow)

Simplified timeline (British date format - DD/MM/YY):

04/07 - Duke Andrew raises his banner at Tinin, beginning the rebellion.
15/07 - Bulgarians capture Niš in Serbia.
28/07 - Duke Leopold of Austria begins an invasion of Hungary.
05/08 - Belgrade placed under siege by the Bulgarian armies.
09/08 - Andrew takes Belgradon and begins the Siege of Zara.
15/08 - King Emeric defeats the Austrians at Lake Balaton. Leopold returns to Vienna.
16/08 - King Emeric reaches Pécs and begins to mass forces to invade Croatia.
17/08 - Assault on Zara; the Ducal army is defeated.
18/08 - Andrew withdraws to Tinin. He waits a month to reconsolidate his power in the wake of the defeat.
21/08 - Domald of Sidraga recaptures Belgradon.
26/08 - Scardona falls to the loyalists.
28/08 - Siege of Tragura begins.
31/08 - Rebel forces tie down loyalist garrison at Norzi until Andrew's defeat.
04/09 - Zaratin fleet arrives in the Carnaro Islands.
05/09 - Submission of Arba to Zara.
07/09 - Veglia submits to Zara.
08/09 - Crepsa submits to Zara.
11/09 - The Comites of Arba, Veglia and Crepsa give oaths of allegiance to the King and to Comes Begna at Zara.
13/09 - Zaratin fleet stops for supplies in Zara.
15/09 - Zaratin fleet arrives at Spalatro.
16/09 - Battle of Bua; Traguran fleet destroyed. King Emeric crosses the Drava and captures Valpó.
23/09 - Fall of Tragura to the loyalists.
24/09 - King Emeric captures Eszék.
26/09 - Duke Andrew arrives at Varaždin.
27/09 - The King marches on Varaždin.
28/09 - Emeric captures Andrew. End of the civil war.

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​

Well, I hope that was interesting! Now Dalmatia can spend some time sorting out its internal issues rather than fighting foreign wars.

Hope you enjoyed!

Thanks,

- Ilu

 

[agisXIV]

Is Bosnia still Bogomil at this point ITTL (and OTL?)

 

[Shevek23]

Then he laid down his weapons, and taking only a leafy bough in his hand he walked slowly into the enemy ranks. As he passed through the midst of the armed multitude, he cried out in a loud and strong voice, "Now I shall see who will dare to raise a hand to shed the blood of the royal lineage!" Seeing him, all fell back, and not daring even to mutter, they left a wide passage for him on either side. And then when [King Emeric] reached his brother, he took him, and leading him outside the body of troops, he sent him to a certain castle for custody.

And here I was wondering about the plausibility of the storage of several vials of Greek Fire! This is the High Middle Ages indeed--understanding that the above passage is straight out of the historic record, such as it is. It reminds me of the Crusades class. We wouldn't dare make stuff like this up!

"My brother has raised the whole kingdom against me, he's got the alliance of half the kingdom's worst foes, has my own army outnumbered, all I've got is some loyal retainers and a bunch of bankrupt coastal merchants with no army to speak of, half of whom were brought to heel by the other half. His vast forces are poised to squash mine line bugs. Guess I'll just have to walk right up to him through his legions and give him an old fashioned personal slapdown like when we were children and send him to his room. I didn't want to do it but as God is my witness, he forced me to extreme measures. Now he's going to sulk and cry, but it can't be helped! I'm king after all, and everyone has to do what I say or I don't get to be king anymore!"

I love the time line and map; the main post maintains all your high standards.

 

[Ilúphatar]

Is Bosnia still Bogomil at this point ITTL (and OTL?)

It's difficult to be completely accurate on this because of the lack of contemporary records from the Bosnians themselves. There's certainly still a large number of Bogomils in Bosnia (and, actually, some in Dalmatia as well) but whether the Bosnian Church of the time can truly be called 'Bogomilist' is up for debate.

"My brother has raised the whole kingdom against me, he's got the alliance of half the kingdom's worst foes, has my own army outnumbered, all I've got is some loyal retainers and a bunch of bankrupt coastal merchants with no army to speak of, half of whom were brought to heel by the other half. His vast forces are poised to squash mine line bugs. Guess I'll just have to walk right up to him through his legions and give him an old fashioned personal slapdown like when we were children and send him to his room. I didn't want to do it but as God is my witness, he forced me to extreme measures. Now he's going to sulk and cry, but it can't be helped! I'm king after all, and everyone has to do what I say or I don't get to be king anymore!"

It certainly sounds unbelievable! It's the sort of event that makes one think ASBs might in fact walk among us

I love the time line and map; the main post maintains all your high standards.

Thanks, I spent quite a while on it so I'm glad you enjoyed

 

[Wolttaire]

Will Zara try to control the coast of Croatia now or try to set up? colonies across the meddertain maybe even beyond?

 

[Vuu]

Is Bosnia still Bogomil at this point ITTL (and OTL?)

The entirety of bogomilism in Bosnia is up to debate OTL

 

[Shevek23]

...It certainly sounds unbelievable! It's the sort of event that makes one think ASBs might in fact walk among us ...

The whole middle ages tended to be like that though. A lot of things turning on mere morale issues..."OH Noooes! Our foe has a banner indicating they have the approval of the POPE! We are doomed!" "Oh no! The elderly Jocelyn de Courtenay had gotten exasperated with his cowardly son and TAKEN THE FIELD OF BATTLE HIMSELF! What ever shall we do? Run away!" (OK, that was in Asia, in Edessa to be exact, but it was a European Crusader realm). "King Harold has fallen, there's an arrow in his eye, we must run and let William the Bastard and his heirs rule us forever!" (Also the Normans had that papal banner of disapproval in their arsenal).

One might guess this would disprove Marxist materialism forever but I think the fact this sort of contingent morale seems medieval characteristically, not so prevalent in earlier Classical times and not so characteristic of modern times either suggests to me some kind of deep sociological explanation that can probably be linked to the nature of the medieval superstructure and so forth, that is it is something about the class structure that makes this so damn characteristic.

So also, there is plenty of room for legends to grow up with extra bric a brac that was not really in play during the real event. Personally, especially in view of stuff like this happening for real, I don't suppose you should obscure the Greek Fire episode too much...though I am not sure it is plausible that more or less "live" stuff can keep in "vials" over generations. But we can't prove it isn't plausible because we really don't know what it actually was. It does not behave, per description, exactly like modern napalm for instance, though admittedly napalm is broadly similar...but not identical. Napalm also might actually keep if well sealed enough so the volatiles don't evaporate away--a good seal would lead to pressure building up but if the "vials" were kept in a cool, stable temperature place (like say, a sealed vault deep in a subterranean dungeon) the pressure might never exceed critical for breaking the seals. My impression is, Greek Fire was more of a pumpable fluid, meaning more volatiles, and had some sort of self-igniting component I think would slowly react over time with the dominant apparently hydrocarbon combustable component--like napalm laced with sodium or potassium perhaps. Maybe the reaction would reach an equilibrium with enough free water-reactant stuff to start burning on contact with human skin or wet wood (presumably the defenders of Zara were trying to set the siege machines on fire by more conventional means and Andrew's Croatians were putting the fires out with water) and ignite the sticky, water-won't extinguish oily stuff, and maybe there was enough sodium or whatever to sustain flame like reactions even in a smothered state. Or some third component mixed in to be an oxidant, and it is again adding water that tips the mix over to self-sustained deflagration which turns into vigorous flame on contact with free oxygen? The sodium causes the water to dissociate with a lot of heat released to make sparks igniting the hydrogen?

Have any speculations on the probable nature of Greek Fire hit on that, a three component deal--hydrocarbons between kerosene-diesel fuel and tar so they are like wet jello, sticky and lumpy but very soft and liable to be pumped (one mode of deploying the stuff being big syringes) mixed with enough sodium or something like that that reacts with water in a way releasing some mix of flammable gas, oxidant and heat, and also some embedded oxidant the way gunpowder has to guarantee reactions continuing even when access to atmospheric oxygen is cut off, the whole thing forming a colloidal jelly that can be squirted, floats on water, repels water as it reacts with it, and sticks to things attacking them caustically as well as by heat release? If one mixes some sort of wet, slushy napalm, sodium and some embedded oxidant, can one get a storable mix or does it react with itself slowly until a key ingredient either is exhausted or goes below a critical limit?

I'd think the way to handle it would be to saturate leather protective clothes and wooden vessels with oil to minimize the water moisture contact, or use glass or ceramic or some kind of metal (not just any metal would do, but certain alloys might be nonreactive and non-catalyzing) for the vessels. Handlers would learn to keep anything moist away and minimize exposure to air; perhaps the syringes that used to fire jets of it would have a parallel water syringe to spray into the stream past the outlet to ignite it in flight? Maybe when catapulted in blobs, out of buckets suitably lined with reaction-resistant materials, thin walled glass ampoules with water in them would be included as "detonators" so when they shatter a flame is created that spreads all over the splattered zone, just in case moisture on target is not enough to guarantee it starts burning?

 

[Ilúphatar]

__________________________________________________________________________________

Diocletian's Palace, Spalatro
__________________________________________________________________________________
Accord
__________________________________________________________________________________​

A few weeks later

The winter of 1203-1204 saw a fundamental change in the balance of power within the fledgling Dalmatian League, and in the Croatian hinterland. With the departure of the King from the region in late September, power reverted to the hands of those who had held it before the outbreak of war - namely, the local nobility. However, with Duke Andrew out of the picture, a new order was emerging.

At Tinin, now the de facto capital of Croatia, King Emeric's appointed ban sat as the royal representative throughout the realm of the Croats. His name was Hipolit, chosen for his loyalty and steadfastness in the face of Andrew's rebellion. The previous holder of the office, Hont-Pázmány, had merely been a pawn of the Duke, but his successor exercised his authority in the King's name. All Croatia submitted to his rule, willingly or otherwise.

So too did the Comites of the Dalmatian cities, though as ever they gave allegiance out of free will and not under threat of force. In particular, Antonio Begna of Zara developed a close relationship with ban Hipolit. Constitutionally their relative positions were unclear - some held that the Dalmatian cities fell under the jurisdiction of the ban, others argued that the Dalmacie Princeps was the King's representative amongst the communitates. Whatever the case, his Majesty was not in a position to clarify the situation, as he was using the onset of winter to prepare his armies for a spring counterattack against Bulgaria.

Within the League itself, a new order was emerging. In the short time between it's foundation and the outbreak of war a balance of power had existed, with three major blocs - the Carnaro Islands; the Spalatrin-Traguran partnership (with which Sebencio usually agreed); and Zara - acting as the basis for collective policy-making. However, the civil war had broken out so soon after the League's creation that the structure was ripe for remoulding with Zaratin hands. Little was formally or legally changed, as the purview of the Universitas was restricted to the loosest form of confederal government. Nevertheless, Zara's dominance was cemented as an undeniable fact.

At the Dalmatian League's foundation, on the 1st of November 1202, its function had simply been to enable officials from each city to meet and coordinate the pan-Dalmatian war effort against Venice. In June 1203 it had been reshaped into a confederation with the Universitas as the central government. This body met in Zara and each city was entitled to send ten representatives of its prominent aristocratic families to vote on common issues. In the wake of the civil war the Princeps, who acted as the chairman of the Universitas' meetings, stripped the rebellious cities of two of their delegates each, reducing the membership of Arba, Veglia, Crepsa and Tragura to eight apiece. This proportionally increased Zaratin voting power in the League - functionally eleven, as the Princeps was not counted among Zara's total.

One might suspect that such an imbalance would cause discord, but in the event Dalmatia remained remarkably free of further political strife in 1203. This was due to a number of factors; most importantly, the Dalmatians were used to foreign domination, so the preeminence of one of their number was no more troubling to them than any other hegemonic power. Furthermore, the rebels were aware that they had got off lightly, and that Zara could potentially have used its newfound power to impose its authority outright over some of the cities. The retainment of the League's structures was seen as a means of restraining Zaratin power whilst enhancing the collective power of Dalmatia. Historians are largely united in agreement that the formalisation of the constitutional realities of the League were key in providing the conditions for the development of Dalmatian proto-nationalism.

[1]Dalmatia was therefore a paragon of calm amongst the realms of Emeric, whilst the Croatians quietly fumed at Royal interference and the Hungarians marched against the Bulgarian invaders. This was even in spite of important political events in Zara, as on the 22nd of November, 1203, an election was to be held to choose a new Comes. The Dalmatians had (and retain to this day) a long history of avoiding the concentration of power in the hands of one man, hence their insistence on two-year terms for their leaders. Antonio Begna therefore chose not to stand again, despite his impressive achievements whilst in office.

Zara's principal institutions of government were the Greater Council (Maiori Consilio[2]) and the Small Council (Pedlo Consilio[3]). Unlike Venice, which restricted the franchise to forty electors appointed by the Mazor Consegio[4], Zara's election procedure gave every member of the Great Council a vote. This helped to distribute power amongst the patrician families of the city.

Three main candidates were standing in the election. One was Zoilo Calcina[5], a man who was well-known in the city for his prominence among the merchants. Much of his commerce dealt with the salt-trade between Pago and Venice, and he was recognised as the obvious leader of the pro-Venetian faction in Zara. It is important to remember that to many in Dalmatia, Venice was not an implacable enemy, but a key partner. To Calcina, a rapprochement with the Republic was necessary to ensure Zara's continued commercial success, as well as to ward off any infraction of Zaratin sovereignty by the King of Hungary.

A second candidate was Nicola Galeli[6], the leader of the pro-Croatian faction in Zara. The civil war had done much to damage the reputations of those with ties to the Croatian nobility (some, mostly political rivals of Begna, had even been executed or exiled), but Galeli was a known associate of Domald of Sidraga and emphasised the need to appease the local nobles of the hinterland. His cause appealed to those in the Maiori Consilio who had suffered with property destruction at the hands of rebel Croats - their estates inland had largely been pillaged, and they blamed the Zaratin government's confrontational approach during the conflict. Nevertheless, popular opinion among Zara's citizens (theoretically represented in the institution of the Arengo[7]) was firmly anti-Croat in the aftermath of Andrew's siege, a view which influenced many to cast their vote in favour of another.

The third was a man called Damian Varicassi[8], an associate of Begna who favoured a specifically Hungarian alignment, deliberately sidelining any allegiance (nominal or otherwise) to the Croatian ban. His aim was to assert Zara's secured freedoms and build the city up, so as to increase its influence both in Dalmatia and elsewhere in the Mediterranean. In particular he aimed to expand Zaratin commerce with the Greek Empire[9] as a serious competitor to Venice, Genoa and Pisa. In this vein, Varicassi was an important promoter of Dalmatian solidarity, as he hoped to harness the collective power of the League as a means of enhancing Zara's strength.

The electoral protocol in actuality took several days, as the laborious process of vote casting and then counting was a great deal more time-consuming without the technology of today. So it wasn't until the 25th of November that the victor was announced. The position of Comes, whilst lesser in power relative to the Doge's authority in Venice, would lend significant influence to whichever faction was the victor. The election would also indicate how elections for the membership of the Small Council would turn out, and thus foreshadow the direction of policy for the whole commune. The aristocrats of Zara waited with bated breath for the proclamation.

__________________________________________________________________________________​

Extract from: A Study of Zaratin Politics Through the Ages

__________________________________________________________________________________​

Footnotes:

Firstly, I must again give credit to @MakiRoc for much of the information on Zaratin politics and historical figures here. He has certainly been a great help in writing this TL, so I want to make sure credit is given where it's due. Thanks

[1] Beyond this point I look at internal Zaratin (not pan-Dalmatian) politics. Unfortunately due to the scant records from the era, I was unable to find concrete sources of information on Zara's actual government structure at the time. In light of this, I chose to model the system roughly on Venice's system. One possible useful source I found referenced was the Statute of Zadar, an historical document which contained the collated laws of mediaeval Zara, presumably including its constitutional structure. Unfortunately, I could not find an online version of this - and the sole surviving original document is currently resident in Dubrovnik (Ragusa), and thus rather beyond the usability limit of my bus pass! If anyone happens to know of one or finds a copy online, please let me know and I will happily retcon any inaccuracies.

[2] 'Maiori Consilio' is Dalmatian for 'Greater Council'. It is known that Zara had a 'Big' and 'Small' council at the time. Here I have interpreted these as correlating to the Venetian 'Major Council' and 'Minor Council' ('Council of Six').

[3] 'Pedlo Consilio' is Dalmatian for 'Small Council'. I have interpreted its role as a Cabinet-esque part of the executive.

[4] 'Mazor Consegio' is Venetian for 'Major Council'. This body seems to have acted as the legislative organ of Venetian government.

[5] Calcina is a fictional character.

[6] Galeli is a fictional character.

[7] An arengo was the name given to the body of 'freemen' or citizens of mediaeval Italian communes. As a neolatin city-state, it is likely that Zara would have had a similar body. I simply kept the same name.

[8] Varicassi was a real person. He has turned up previously in TTL as a Zaratin diplomat. As previously mentioned elsewhere, IOTL he was one of two envoys sent from Zara to negotiate with the army of the Fourth Crusade.

[9] For those just joining us, ITTL the name 'Byzantine Empire' never became as popular as a term for the mediaeval Roman Empire (Basileía Rhōmaíōn). Instead, historians favoured 'Imperium Graecorum', or 'Empire of the Greeks'. Personally I am well within the ranks of Byzantophiles and am firmly convinced that the Rhomaoi were the legitimate continuation of the Empire!

_______________________________________________________________________________​

Hope you enjoyed that. Lots of politics but not much fighting - hope the military historians among you didn't find it dull!

See you in the next one!

Thanks,

- Ilu

 

[cmakk1012]

It’s cool to see the political structure of Dalmatia solidifying! The Zaratins have a very interesting form of government, even just in the general outline given here. That being said, there may be residents of Dubrovnik on this site that could look into the Statute. There are certainly some Croatians here

 

[The Professor]

Good to see an update. Especially one describing the then politics!

[9] For those just joining us, ITTL the name 'Byzantine Empire' never became as popular as a term for the mediaeval Roman Empire (Basileía Rhōmaíōn). Instead, historians favoured 'Imperium Graecorum', or 'Empire of the Greeks'. Personally I am well within the ranks of Byzantophiles and am firmly convinced that

Was that cut off sentence deliberate?
I'm also not a complete fan of the word Byzantine.

 

[Ilúphatar]

Will Zara try to control the coast of Croatia now or try to set up? colonies across the meddertain maybe even beyond?

Well, that might just depend on who wins the election! However, I can assure you that Zara's expansion is not yet complete.

presumably the defenders of Zara were trying to set the siege machines on fire by more conventional means and Andrew's Croatians were putting the fires out with water

The Zaratins were trying to set the towers on fire with flaming arrows and other combustible materials (including 'fire-bundles', which were - shocker - 'bundles' of wood with nails hammered through and soaked in flammable liquid. These would be thrown at wooden siege engines, and the nails would help them stick, allowing the fire to communicate itself to the structure). However, Andrew had had his men attach fresh animal hides to the outside to reduce the siege-towers flammability. Ordinarily fire-bundles would also have been thrown in front of the towers before their arrival at the wall, to create barriers of fire as an obstacle. You may remember, however, that it was night when the attack commenced and that the Zaratins did not notice the towers until it was too late.

It’s cool to see the political structure of Dalmatia solidifying! The Zaratins have a very interesting form of government, even just in the general outline given here. That being said, there may be residents of Dubrovnik on this site that could look into the Statute. There are certainly some Croatians here

I'm glad you liked it! I have noticed several Croatians on the thread, but I think they're mostly from the northern part of Dalmatia. Still, they have access to Croatian source material which is closed for me, and I have received useful input from them before!

Good to see an update. Especially one describing the then politics!

Glad you enjoyed . It took me a while to do, as I'm packing for Uni, but it's finally here!

Was that cut off sentence deliberate?

I kind of wish it was, because that would have been funny! But it was just a mistake - I switched devices part-way through writing so it must have got cut off to the last autosave. Thanks for noticing, I've fixed it.

 

[Daedalus]

Another fantastic update! It's nice to see some (relative) peace, though the Bulgarians are still a threat. Though Emeric's dealt swiftly with Andrew, who knows how things will turn out in Serbia...

And the tension of the election is exciting! Pro-Venice or pro-Hungary... one trying to reestablish cordial relations with its former enemy, the other becoming a rival against it... The Adriatic is going to be a hotbed of maritime disputes, how exciting!

 

[rocke]

I think that the Venetians and Zara are going to have smash winner takes all battle for who gonna come out on top?

 

[MakiRoc]

Firstly, I must again give credit to @MakiRoc for much of the information on Zaratin politics and historical figures here. He has certainly been a great help in writing this TL, so I want to make sure credit is given where it's due. Thanks

No, I must thank you for showing an interest into medieval dalmatian history and writing this timeline. It's not easy to write this TL since most of the reading material is not in English. I think you're doing a splendid job of digging up information.
I myself would have loved to write a couple of timelines concerning this region, but I simply have no time at all so I'm glad someone is representing Dalmatia on this forum.

Beyond this point I look at internal Zaratin (not pan-Dalmatian) politics. Unfortunately due to the scant records from the era, I was unable to find concrete sources of information on Zara's actual government structure at the time. In light of this, I chose to model the system roughly on Venice's system. One possible useful source I found referenced was the Statute of Zadar, an historical document which contained the collated laws of mediaeval Zara, presumably including its constitutional structure. Unfortunately, I could not find an online version of this - and the sole surviving original document is currently resident in Dubrovnik (Ragusa), and thus rather beyond the usability limit of my bus pass! If anyone happens to know of one or finds a copy online, please let me know and I will happily retcon any inaccuracies.

I present to you the Statvta Iadertina in all its original glory. How is your Latin ?
http://dikaz.zkzd.hr/?pub=1&p=9&s=publ

Please note that this is the first printed version of the Zaratin Statute from 1564. Many changes and addition were made since the 13th century.

There is also a paper about the Zaratin Statute from 1305 in Croatian. It's 219 pages and I haven't read it (and who knows when I'll get the time), but any of you Croats that have the time can feel free to jump in and translate some of this for good all @Iluvatar .
https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/187000

I've been told that the Statute is an outstanding example of strict anti-corruption laws that shows just how paranoid the Zaratins were that any citizen would grab too much power. A total opposite of what we have today.

 

[Ilúphatar]

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The Dalmatian Coat of Arms
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Proclamation
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The following day...

The 25th arrived, and the communitas' officials completed their vote count. At midday on the 25th of November, Damian Varicassi was summoned to the steps of the Comital Palace. There, before the assembled townspeople, the city-guard, magistrates, civil servants, officials and the clergy, Antonio Begna took off the comital coronet[1] and placed it on the head of Varicassi. Nicolò Manzavini[2], the Archbishop of Zara, officiated at the ceremony and proclaimed, with a loud cry, the appointment of a new Comes. And there was much rejoicing in the city.

But there was also discontent. Calcina's faction, who favoured the Venetians, were determined to oppose the new policies Varicassi had put forward. They saw them as leaning too far towards the 'barbarous' interior, ceding too much power to a faraway King whom they saw as having little regard for the liberties and customs of the Dalmatian metropoles. Though they were in a minority and had been outvoted, they were determined to demand pro-Venetian concessions in the Maiori Consilio[3]. It was no secret that some Venetian merchants, acting on the Republic's behalf, helped to fund Calcina's faction - their expulsion from the city in 1202 was not forgotten, and Venice was keen to keep a commercial presence in Zara.

In contrast, Galeli and his following largely accepted the result. In their minds the King was many miles away, but the Croatian ban was near. Functionally, therefore, the Royalist leanings in Varicassi's party could be manipulated into serving their interests in Croatia. It is true that the new Comes saw little in the way of opposition from the 'Galeliti'[4] (as later historians labelled them) and many ended up elected to the Pedlo Consilio, and thus achieved some executive power. The name Galeliti survived the man himself, and has been broadly - and sometimes anachronistically - applied to pro-Croat patricians in Zara, and even Croat-Dalmatian aristocratic families generally.

Meanwhile, as Varicassi celebrated his victory in Zara, King Emeric of Hungary was preparing a counterattack against the Bulgarian armies of the 'Emperor'[5] Kaloyan. The bitter winter of 1203-1204 made an assault impossible until spring - neither side would be able to extort food from locals to supply their troops. Kaloyan decided to winter in Belgrade and hold the Danube against the Hungarians. Although he had gained a small foothold on the northern bank, he was very aware that the parallel campaign against Vukan of Serbia needed to be bolstered if Bulgaria's western flank was to be secure come the spring.

In Esztergom, Emeric exercised his newly regained authority. With his brother Andrew in chains as an example of the fate of those who defied the King, the restive nobles were finally cowed into yielding up their soldiers to the Royal Army. As 1203 gave way to 1204, these men were summoned from across Hungary to the service of their lord. At the same time, the King made a decision which had profound implications for Dalmatia's future. As a new-year's gift to the newly elected Comes of Zara, Emeric dispatched an envoy to the city bearing a gift of great value. On the 1st of January 1204, the messenger was received at the Zaratin Court in the Comital Palace. There, in sight of the Maiori Consilio, he presented to Varicassi a crown and conferred upon him the title of Dalmacie Princeps, 'Prince of Dalmatia'.

The crown was the famed Crown of Zvonimir[6], which had represented Royal authority in Croatia and Dalmatia since its inception in 1076, as bestowed by a Papal Legate. Now, with the shattering of Croatian power by the King's victory, he declared by decree that 'the Crown of Hungary shall suffice for our Realm of Croatia'. This was a fundamental constitutional shift which began the integration of Croatia into Hungary as a political (but not cultural) unitary state[7]; but it also made Zvonimir's Crown unnecessary. Now it would pass to the Dalmatians as a symbol of Royal trust in the Princeps, but also as a symbol of Dalmatia's subservience to the King. Although 1204 began the convention that all Zaratin comites receive the title of Dalmacie Princeps, the granting of this title has always remained the prerogative of the monarch.

The crown was both beautiful and old, and those who beheld it remarked upon its very air of authority. The King had had his goldsmiths and silversmiths make a small addition to it; specifically, a silver leopard's head was affixed to the front of the piece. The leopard had been adopted as a symbol of Croatia, but its use had passed to Dalmatia during their time as a unified entity[8]. It is thought that the adoption of the crown - known thereafter as the Dalmacie Coronum, the 'Dalmatian Crown' - cemented the leopard as the emblem of Dalmatia and influenced the later incarnations of the region's arms and flag.

However, Varicassi did not wear the crown after its presentation - as ever in Zaratin politics, concentration of power was heavily frowned upon. The Comes was adroit enough to know that his peers would never accept such an empowerment of the comital position. He is recorded to have said, 'let the Crown go to Zara - the Coronet is a burden great enough for me'. Since that time, the Crown has never been worn by the Comes, but has sat in an alcove of the Council Chamber of the Palace. It has come to represent the rule of Zara over Dalmatia, rather than the authority of one man.

The coming of spring saw Zara settle into its position, ready to face the coming year with a new leader at the helm. But far to the east, the armies of a King and an Emperor glared at one another across the River Danube.

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Extract from: An Examination of Dalmatia's Relationship with the Haemus

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Footnotes:

[1] At the time a coronet was the usual headgear of those of comital rank. Presumably the Comes of Zara would have had one to represent his authority, even if said authority was relatively limited.

[2] I think I've mentioned this before, but I just want to reaffirm that Nicolò Manzavini was the real Archbishop of Zara until 1202, when the archdiocese became (and remained) vacant for many years. This may indicate that Manzavini was killed in the sack, or perhaps due to subsequent resistance to Venetian authority. Here he survives.

[3] I managed to translate a small part of the Statute of Zara which revealed that the legislative body was called the Maiori Consilio, meaning 'Greater Council', as opposed to Gruond Consilio, meaning 'Great Council'. This has been corrected in the previous update.

[4] Galeliti is Dalmatian for 'Galelites' - i.e. meaning 'those belonging/following Galeli'. Galeli was a Dalmatian family name (though the character ITTL is fictional) and '-iti' is the plural Latinate suffix equivalent to the English '-ites' (as in 'Israelites').

[5] In case I didn't already mention this; Kaloyan claims an Imperial title, but the Pope did not recognise him as an Emperor, only a King. Hence the inverted commas.

[6] The Crown of Zvonimir was the crown granted by the Pope to Dmitar Zvonimir, King of Croatia, in 1076. It became an important symbol of Croatian sovereignty, especially after the personal union of Hungary and Croatia. The Kings of Hungary were initially crowned as King of Croatia separately in Biograd (Belgradon, Alba Maritima), but this practice was eventually ended under King Bela IV, who had just one coronation as King over both realms. ITTL, Emeric's victory brings the Croatian nobility to its knees, leading him to adapt the separate crown and consider Croatia a more integral part of his realm.

Below is a representation of the Crown of Zvonimir:

[7] See point [6].

[8] Having badly translated the Croatian Wikipedia page on the Dalmatian flag, it seems that the association of leopards (later called lions) with Dalmatia and Croatia was already in existence before 1200. I think the easiest thing to do here would be to use a butterfly net and direct Dalmatia's heraldic history along a path similar to than of OTL. Unless someone has a more exiting (yet plausible) idea, in which case, please share!

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That took longer than expected, but there it is!

This is the point that I will have to put this on a hiatus. I begin at Uni on this coming Sunday, and then there's Freshers' Week (for non-Brits, that's the first week of Uni during which most people get drunk - though I personally don't drink - and are introduced to some of the societies). After that it's the introduction to the History course, so I'll need to focus on that. Essentially, I'll write when I can! I would suggest keeping this in your followed list so you don't miss the next update, but I don't want to sound presumptive!

It's possible that I can keep a steady pace, but have larger gaps between updates. In any case, I'll try to give a status report if there's going to be a large gap.

Thanks for reading! Constructive feedback appreciated and encouraged!

- Ilu