Don't Look Back, Soldiers of Islam.

Does the English king still speak mostly French at this time? What about the nobles? I can see tensions arising between Francophone and Anglophone subjects of the Franco-English kingdom (assuming that's the way this is going).
 
Does the English king still speak mostly French at this time? What about the nobles? I can see tensions arising between Francophone and Anglophone subjects of the Franco-English kingdom (assuming that's the way this is going).

It's going to be predominantly francophone, with the nobility still speaking french, however Henry's French lands won't be a long-term English possession (hint, hint) but the French-English union will outlive Henry V but will fall apart in the Wars of the Roses. . .
 
Ok seriously I really cannot do maps. If ANYONE out there can do one I and everyone else would be most appreciative. Just PM me and I'll give you everything you need to know. Send it to me and I'll ok it and then you can post it on the thread.
 
Map.

Approved by Saepe Fidelis.
RV = Republic of Venice Colony
RR = Republic of Ragusa Colony
Not all internal HRE borders shown

dlbsi1420.jpg
 
Don't Look Back, Part 4

Many thanks Pundit that really helped. Unfortunately, this post will make your map pretty much obsolete!
Here we go . . .

Ever since the fall of Constantinople, the Christian princes of the Mediterranean looked anxiously east, awaiting with dread the arrival of Turkish hordes. Once such prince was Alexius IV of Trebizond. His father Alexius III had allied with Timur and had seen his power greatly increased- his rule stretched along the southern coast of the Black Sea. Now, however, the Turks were back on the warpath. Although their gaze was turned west momentarily, he knew that they could pass east just as easily as the wind could change. He strengthened his garrisons, raised taxes and built new fortresses. He incurred for this the wrath of the nobles, who hated the new taxes raised upon them and their lands. Also, the merchants who had grown wealthy off of the western end of the silk road. They were being forced to give up as much as 50% of their income for the state. They also saw their staff intermittently drafted into the infantry every time Suleyman looked across the Bospherous. Finally, in 1422 they entered into secret talks with the Sultan of Rumelia. He offered them military assistance if only they would give tribute to him. calculating that the amount of tribute that they would pay would be less than the taxes they paid the Emperor (he still insisted on being hailed Augustus, Emperor of the ‘Third Rome’). Therefore, in August 1422 there was a coup. The palace guards toppled the Emperor, stabbing him in his bath. They proclaimed a nobleman, John Emperor and he in turn swore fealty to Suleyman, resigning the title emperor and instead styling himself Basileus. The Turks crossed the Bospherous once more and occupied Trebizond’s western fortresses, some of which were only 50 miles from the Bospherous. John allowed this, so long as the Turks supported his claims to the throne, however tenuous they were.
A second successor state was the emirate of Antioch. The emir, Hamsa Ma’Savi, ruled everything form the Taurus mountains to the Euphrates. He admitted the Ragusans into his territory, letting them found a colony in Antioch which was called the Italian quarter despite Ragusa’s position in Dalmatia. Ragusa’s merchants grew yet wealthier from this, and Venice saw once more her power diminished. Tensions were rising. Venice began building galleys at a yet faster rate, the Arsenal operated day and night. By 1423 they had 500 galleys in the Adriatic alone, yet more positioned throughout their empire. Ragusa’s Board of Eleven were worried by this, and enlisted two partners. The first was Sultan Suleyman. They bought from him 200 galleys for 120,000 ducats. They also contacted the Croats. These hillmen lived north of Ragusa, grazing flocks of rugged sheep and goats. Some were shepherds and others were seafarers. Since the 9th century they had been raiding Venetian shipping and now with Ragusa’s aid they took to the Adriatic once more. their nimble little craft hid in bays and inlets, coming out to burn Venice’s merchant ships so that in 1424 they had to adopt the convoy system once more- nearly 100 ships sailing in unison with a heavy military escort. The costs were enormous, and profits all but evaporated. Venice, prideful as she was, declared war. Her galleys sailed to Ragusa where they blockaded the port. They were unable to land however as they sustained a prolonged artillery bombardment. For Ragusa had invested heavily in 50 cannon which they had placed around the harbour. These bombarded the Venetians with heated shot, sinking three ships in two hours. The Venetians were forced to withdrawn implementing a loose blockade.
Ragusa struck back by petitioning the Sultan. Suleyman declared war on Venice and sent his ships into the Aegean. For three years island-warfare raged backwards and forwards. Sometimes Venetians galleys made it to the Hellespont, at one point Ottoman ships sailed past Otranto.
The war raged until 1426 when Holy Roman Emperor Jobst, seeing the Turks preoccupied, attacked. He marshalled all his forces, some 80,000 men and 10,000 knights and they descended into Hungary. They quickly took Bratislava and then Buda. They expected to be greeted a conquering heroes, overturning mosques, killing Turkish settlers. Instead, they were greeted with silence and shuttered-up windows. It seemed Christians had lost faith in Christendom. They advanced to the Danube and proceeded south. Turkish resistance crumbled. Suleyman began gathering his forces, recalling his armies form Anatolia. He also sent envoys once more to his brother, begging him for assistance. Murad sent him 10,000 riders and mounted his own expedition. For years he had been out of the saddle and now craved the open steppe. He and 20,000 riders stormed west, bursting into Lithuania, smashing through all resistance, brushing aside rapidly assembled peasant armies. He then plunged into Teutonic lands. The Knight’s high castles could not be taken yet the ground burnt. Everything from Riga to Konigsburg burned. When they heard of this, the Polish and the Teutonic Knights both abandoned the mission, riding home to protect their lands. The expedition was depleted by 10,000 men and 3,000 knights including their military elite. Jobst pressed on, turning south to Belgrade. The ancient fortress had been heavily invested by Suleyman- 8,000 janissaries were there as were 10,000 soldiers from Serbia and Bosnia. The Emperor settled in for a siege, not believing reports that Suleyman and 30,000 men were coming. When this army of 30,000 men arrived they were surrounded. A second military disaster awaited them. In one final push, 7,000 knights managed to break out of the encircling Turks but the rest were left to their fates (they rapidly surrendered and were disarmed and then either converted and put in the Sultan’s army or settled in depopulated Hungary) while the Emperor and most of the knights frantically moved north. Finally, after 3 months of frantic flight they reached Vienna. Suleyman revenged himself by sending raiding parties into Bohemia, Poland and Austria, with riders even shooting arrows over Vienna’s city walls.
Venice, meanwhile, was in bad straits. Hers and Ragusa’s fleets finally met off Euboea and Ragusa was victorious, with 120 galleys taken or sunk. The Ragusans sailed up the Adriatic, joining with the Croat pirates before anchoring off the Lido near Venice. The Doge Franscesco Foscari was forced to beg for terms when with a hostile fleet blockading Venice Milan entered the war under Duke Filippo Visconti, who marched east and smashed Venice’s land armies before camping on the shores of the lagoon. Venice was defeated.
In the peace settlement, Venice was forced to cede all land in Italy to Milan aside form the lagoon and a 20 mile hinterland. She was also to cede all colonies in the levant to Ragusa. Her Mediterranean islands were split. Cyprus was given to the emir of Antioch, a vassal of Suleyman. Euboea was ceded to Suleyman as were most of the Aegean islands and the Peloponesse. Ragusa received her Dalmatian possessions, Crete, Corfu and several Aegean islands. To re-address wrong-doings, Suleyman also demanded the return of St. Marks’ horses. They were placed in Constantinople outside the Hagia Sophia where they remain to this day (actually the originals are inside the Hagia Sophia Museum, the ones seen outside are 19th century replicas made to replace the originals which were being damaged by the city pollution).
Venice was therefore forced into a new austere era. Doge Foscari was forced to abdicate by the Board of Ten who replaced him with a pliable puppet, a certain Thomas Mariano, not particularly wealthy nor very politically inclined. In his acclamation instead of throwing gold coins to the crowd he threw coppers, and his public feasts were infrequent and poorly held. Pageantry was cut back as the city reeled from defeat. The people, growing more and more restless, began to gravitate towards rebellion. Riots broke out in February 1428 as food prices soared due to Croat pirates raiding the city’s grain supplies. Finally in April the Board of Ten summoned condotierri to restore order. They hired these bands of soldiers to disperse crowds and police the streets. Their practices were brutal- hundreds were executed after one riot. Their heads were displayed on spikes around the city and their decapitated bodies impaled on public buildings. In a city accustomed to public displays of violence this was forgivable, yet the fact that it was foreigners killing Venetians made it all the worse. Soon the situation was so bad that finally in December 1428 the condotierri, sensing political change, switched sides. One, Francesco Sforza, led his men into the Doge’s palace and imprisoned the Doge. He then turned on the Board of Ten and had them all executed and thrown to the baying mob. He then addressed the people, announcing the fall of the Doge and the creation of the Second Venetian Republic, with himself as the first Doge.
He was at first unpopular, yet when in 1430 he defeated Milan and regained much lost territory, his popularity skyrocketed. He forced the wealthy to finance a new programme of ship-building and finally in 1432 defeated the Croat pirates. They then sailed west and founded a colony in Tripoli and then negotiated the colonisation of Tunis. These were not like the later factories of colonial powers, but were instead portions of a city set aside for a particular power. The Tunisian colony was named the Doge’s Quarter, because of the large statue to Francesco there. Francesco also signed an alliance with the Emir of Granada and also the King of Portugal. He sold ships to both powers and when they went to war he profited. He threw fantastic pageants to keep the people happy and grand military reviews of thousands of soldiers in St. Mark’s Square.

While Venice re-built therefore, Ragusa went from strength to strength. She settled the levant so that finally in 1434 they formally annexed the Holy Land. They made their regional power base Acre for its defensibility and its port, yet claimed the Holy City of Jerusalem as the centre of their new empire. In fact, the only administrative functions Jerusalem held was the Diocese of Jerusalem. Ragusa also signed alliances with Genoa and Florence. At this time Cosimo di Medici was expanding his power, both political and financial. He extended the Medici bank to Padua, Venice, Milan, Genoa and, most significantly, Ragusa, where the bank achieved financial primacy. The Italian renaissance was begun- books from the libraries of Cordoba, Constantinople and Alexandria were translated into Latin and also Italian and then disseminated among a literate bourgeoisie. New thoughts overturned the old and new artistic forms that drew on the influences of the ancient world but also of Islam were seen. We can see this in the painting of the Saviour in the Desert (1483) by Da Vinci, held my many critics to be the first abstract art piece.
In 1432 Mehmet, son of Murad of the Rus was born in Kiev.

With his armies shattered again, the Holy Roman Emperor signed a peace treaty with Suleyman who was beginning to show his age. His two sons, Ibrahim and Bayezit vied for their father’s favour. Ibrahim secured the support of the palace staff whereas Bayezit was popular with the army. When Suleyman died on May 9th 1432 the law of fratricide came into effect. Bayezit immediately withdrew from Constantinople to Belgrade where he raised his standard. Ibrahim, meanwhile, ruled in Constantinople. He frantically looked for allies, even asking his uncle Murad for aid. Murad did not come to his aid, however, he was planning the attack on Muscovy. Bayezit raised 6,000 janissaries and 11,000 other soldiers and marched on Constantinople. He was welcomed into Edirne and finally Constantinople opened her gates to him. He was greeted with applause and rose petals. He marched immediately to Topkapi where Ibrahim had barricaded himself. The janissaries burst through and broke into the Harem. They killed indiscriminately, including Meroe, a famed beauty from Armenia given to Suleyman as a gift. Ibrahim was finally found hidden under a sofa. He was taken to his brother who personally slit his throat. Bayezit was acclaimed Sultan in the Sultan Suleyman Mosque, where he strapped on the Sultan’s sword and was received by the people. Meanwhile, a procession of tiny coffins left Topkapi as Suleyman’s multifarious other offspring were quietly killed. Bayezit shored up his rule by immediately giving a donation to the janissaries, the first Sultan to do so yet not the last.
 
Don't look bakc part 5

Nothing? Ok. . .

The state of Europe in 1432 was, therefore, of several large, solidified powers watching each, looking for weakness. This was shattered, however, in Russia. In 1432 the three powers were: The Kiev Sultanate, led by Murad and the Turks. It ruled all from the Carpathians to the Caucasus. To the north was Muscovy, led by Vasily II. It was weak, wracked by internal conflicts with fratricide and blood feud engulfing the Princedom in civil war. The third power was the Novgorod Republic. Grown wealthy from trade with the Hanseatic League she was powerful, her lands running from Estonia to the Urals. Murad saw these lands as his- he claimed openly to be reunifying the old Rus under Islamic rule. In 1432 he was already mustering his forces. By 1434 he had gathered to him 60,000 riders as well as 6,000 janissaries. These forces were Turks, tartars, cossacks and other multifarious tribes and nomadic groups who answered to the Sultan who planted his seven horsetails in the north. Finally, in late May 1434 he advanced. For thousands of miles they rode- the janissaries in carriages drawn by six horses each that could just about keep up with the horde. These carriages also carried cannon, a new addition to Murad’s arsenal. These were meant to break the walls of the Moscow Kremlin, a formidable structure of red brick and stone on the banks of the Moskva River. It took nearly a month to reach Moscow but the riders made it well within the campaigning season. By late August they had camped on the southern bank of the Moskva River. The cannon were arranged and bombardment began. The Kremlin walls fell and into the breach swarmed the janissaries. They forced the defenders back and then proceeded to take the Kremlin. The Grand Duke was killed and that night the horsemen rode through the streets of Moscow killing and pillaging. After three days Murad restored order. He ordered new lodgings to be built by the enslaved populace. By September the army had sufficient quarters to sit the winter out. That winter Murad sent out riders to secure the lands surrounding. Tired of warfare and tyranny the serfs joined with them and so long as the horsemen acted with restraint they were tolerated. The serfs were all given their freedom and their own land. The leaders of the resistance, which was built around Yury, the Grand Prince’s uncle who claimed leadership, were routed and gradually disposed of. Yury was hanged in November of that year. Murad ruled Moscow unopposed. The next spring he rode home in triumph.

The fall of Moscow had no immediate consequences for western Europe yet news of its fall sent shivers down the spine of every Christian prince. In France, Henry V was still on the throne and determined to take that of France. Throughout the 1420s he had been campaigning in central France yet could not pin the French down for a final victory. In the late 1420s he had encountered a new enemy. For years the French had quaked when they heard of his arrival. Their lack of clear leadership was their own undoing yet in 1429 a reverse of fortune occurred. Led by a charismatic girl the French rallied. They retook Orleans and the young girl, a certain Joan quickly attracted a mass following so that the Dauphin gave her command of France’s armies. She led them north, threatening to retake Paris. Henry’s subordinates were all defeated by the revitalised French. Henry therefore took to the field against her.
They met at Sancerre, 124 miles from Paris on 16th August 1429. The battlefield was a wide valley, with Henry in the north and Joan from the south. Henry drew up his troops on the right bank of the river. He anchored one flank to the river and the other ran up the hill towards the thick forest. Joan deployed her infantry in one mass, intending to smash through the British lines and then surround the flanks. Henry assumed his usual deployment- archers in front (with stakes and a ditch) then infantry and then cavalry on the flanks and in the rear. Joan put her cavalry in the rear, intending that once the British were broken they would ride the fleeing British down.
The French advanced slowly, intending to keep their strength for the final charge. Joan led the attack, shouting out to the ranks to hold their integrity and to fight for France and for liberty. Meanwhile, the longbowmen once more fired high into the air. They struck the dense mass of Frenchmen with lethal force, killing hundreds before they got close. They closed the last 200 metres with a charge, with the lightly armoured soldiers in front followed by men-at-arms. In the rear were crossbowmen, who fired into the British ranks. The infantry cleared the ditch and made their way through the stakes before setting into the infantry. The longbowmen withdrew and the men-at-arms charged into the French as they were scrambling through the obstructions. The French were thrown back into the ditch but their numbers began to weigh in, pushing the British back. Henry ordered his longbowmen to throw themselves in, their long knives and small bucklers effective at finding chinks in heavy plate armour. Henry, to the right and on a low hill, saw that the French flanks were exposed. He intended to throw his cavalry in, yet was concerned with the French cavalry which was hanging back. He knew that the French knights were heavier and more numerous than their British counterparts, and so waited, hoping to call Joan’s bluff.
He succeeded, as Joan took the bait and devoted her cavalry. The knights crashed through the mass, falling into the ditch and eviscerating themselves on the stakes. Despite this, they provided the momentum necessary to force the British infantry back. It was then that Henry devoted his cavalry. Moving behind the French and then charging into their rear, it was a rout. Surrounded, the knights surrendered to the closest English knight and the common Frenchmen surrendered en masse. Joan, knowing that she would be killed, managed to escape, weeping as she did, yet dragged away by a loyal knight.
The battle of Sancerre was a disaster for France. 1,500 knights were captured, with 800 killed. 3,000 infantry were also captured, with 4,000 killed. The British losses were 2,000 dead infantry and 150 fallen knights. By this battle Henry seized central France conclusively, and with his Burgundian alliance squeezed France into the south west of the country. The capital was shifted to Toulouse where Charles VII and his son Louis attempted to hold onto whatever they could. When Joan returned Charles immediately had her arrested. She had led to a resumption in Henry’s campaigning which had lost them so much land. On October 4th 1429 Joan was beheaded for incompetence on the orders of Charles. This led to riots among the poor areas of the city. They were quickly put down, yet popular resentment of the monarchy increased. It was the incompetent king and his useless scheming ministers who had lost Paris, Orleans, Marseilles and now their beloved Joan. Louis, the Dauphin, sensed this and once more began his scheming. Hated by his father he contacted Henry, offering him the crown of France is only he would be allowed the title Warden of His Majesty’s Crown Lands. Henry was interested, and said that if Louis could remove his father and maintain power he would support him. Louis, therefore, began to form a conspiracy. He assembled dukes, barons, counts and other nobles as well as bishops and abbots. He put to them his proposition- Henry promised them that their lands would be kept intact so long as they acknowledged him as king. After much wrangling they assented. On the 23rd December 1429, King Charles VII was apprehended on his way from Mass. He was locked in a high tower in the Toulouse citadel while events unfurled. Louis announced that his father had been killed by a dissatisfied servant, angered by Joan’s execution. A random servant was picked out and summarily executed in the manner of a regicide. Louis then made his second shocking revelation. Apparently, he was illegitimate and was therefore not fit to inherit. The only person, he said, who could claim the throne of France was King Henry. This was, of course, greeted with applause from the nobles who had been won over. Those who were not were swiftly purged, Louis told the people of Toulouse that they had conspired months earlier to kill Joan and that he had campaigned for her release and ennoblement. The stricken nobles were abandoned, and were torn apart by a lynch mob. On 25th December 1429 Henry V was crowned King Henry II of France in Rheims cathedral. He announced that he would delegate the role of governing France to his Warden, Louis, who took the title of Warden and also Count of Toulouse where he held his own court, scarcely less sumptuous than Henry’s, which was still located in Westminster.
Henry thereby controlled all of France, asides from Burgundy, which controlled Burgundy proper as well as parts of Provence down to the coast including Marseilles and Avignon. It was this rival power that angered Louis, who remembered with bitterness his father’s quarrels with the Duke of Burgundy. He burned with hatred for this upstart kingdom and sought to see it subdued. He petitioned Henry, saying that for centuries Burgundy had been an integral part of the Kingdom of France, and that if he wished to be king of France he would crush these traitors. Henry was torn. A man of honour, he acknowledged the Burgundian’s treason against France, yet did not wish to dishonour himself by breaking his alliance with them. He therefore found a diplomatic solution. In February 1430 he married Elizabeth, daughter of the King of Burgundy and his only surviving offspring. When he died in 1433 Henry took the title King of Burgundy, appointing Richard of York his deputy there. This was seen as many then and now as a political move to distance one of his rivals to the throne from his power base. Richard accepted the office and executed it to the best of his ability.

1434. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V of Bohemia is elected. He is congratulated by the Pope, King Henry V/II and even, surprisingly, Sultan Bayezit III. Bayezit hopes to forge diplomatic ties with western powers so that he can solidify his rule over the Balkans. The bureaucracy is disorganised, the army overstretched and central authority has all but collapsed in Bosnia and Albania, crucial border regions. Bayezit orders the construction of colonies- these are to be fortresses as well as market centres. Thirteen are founded at first in a string along the border. The inhabitants are almost exclusively Turks who are all drafted into local militias. Thus securing the borders, Bayezit ordered an expedition east into Anatolia. 10,000 soldiers marched east, past Ankara where the skulls of fallen Ottomans could still be seen and towards Antioch where they were greeted by the emir. The head of the force, Grand Vizier Topal bore a letter from the Sultan formally annexing Antioch into the empire. The emir was quickly removed despite his repeated proclamations of loyalty, and replaced with a Turk. Topal then continued east, down the Euphrates towards Baghdad which was besieged in 1435 yet had to be given up. They returned and on the return annexed most of Anatolia, bringing the pastoral nomads under the Sultan’s rule. By 1436 all of Anatolia plus the emirate of Antioch was the Sultan’s.
 
Hmm. Interesting.

Don't think the Cypriots will take kindly to being just handed over to a Muslim power willy-nilly without a fight. The Venetians might have been rapacious Latin bastards on the island, but at least they would be viewed as Christian rapacious bastards. I'm sure they would rebel and try to set up an independent government of their own (Empire of Nicosia anyone?) They would also intrigue to have Ragusa help them if the Cypriots felt they needed a Christian power as back-up.

Same for the Peloponnese - although there they'd have to contend with the mighty Osmanlis just across the Hexamilon (neck of land separating Peloponnese from the rest of Greece).

I like the fragmented state of Anatolia, but I can't see it staying like that for very long. The Emirate or Antioch, or Karaman, or the Koyunlu will make a grab for domination before too long.

To say nothing of the Turkish Sultanates themselves: based in Europe, with heavily dhimmi populations, no matter how many Turks you have migrate into them (and if you have ALL Turks in the Middle East migrate 50% into Rumelia and 50% into Russia it STILL won't be enough for them to be a majority in either Sultanate). Now Rumeli and Rus could be relaxed with that state of affairs, and recruit local Christians into Sultanal service, but after a while the Muslim intelligensia will want Rumeli or Rus to turn back and reconquer the "heartlands" of Islam, and establish their authority over the Holy Sanctuaries. So at the very least the two Sultanates will interfere in Anatolia and try to control, if not conquer the lesser states there.

Your 'Augustus' of Trebizond takes the 'lesser' title of Basileus. Sorry but 'Basileus' means 'Emperor' in Greek in the 15th century. Basileus used to be 'King', but in ancient times. By this stage it means nothing other than 'Emperor'. 'Avyoustos' (Augustus) would be a subsidiary title belonging to the Emperor but 'Basileus' would be in no way inferior to it.

Like what you did with Ragusa. Let's have lots of interesting Renaissance developments there and in the Ragusan colonies. Maybe we could even have an interesting "intellectual encounter" between Christianity and Islam in Ragusa. I leave it to your creativity to decide what.
 
1) Don't think the Cypriots will take kindly to being just handed over to a Muslim power willy-nilly without a fight. The Venetians might have been rapacious Latin bastards on the island, but at least they would be viewed as Christian rapacious bastards. I'm sure they would rebel and try to set up an independent government of their own (Empire of Nicosia anyone?) They would also intrigue to have Ragusa help them if the Cypriots felt they needed a Christian power as back-up.

Same for the Peloponnese - although there they'd have to contend with the mighty Osmanlis just across the Hexamilon (neck of land separating Peloponnese from the rest of Greece).


2) To say nothing of the Turkish Sultanates themselves: based in Europe, with heavily dhimmi populations, no matter how many Turks you have migrate into them (and if you have ALL Turks in the Middle East migrate 50% into Rumelia and 50% into Russia it STILL won't be enough for them to be a majority in either Sultanate).

1) I don't know about Cyprus, but generally for almost at all times when facing the choice between a Turban man and a Latin, Orthodox Christians usually chose the former. Though yes I've heard that in Cyprus the Latins were more accommodative to the locals there compared to at other places, and there were indeed wealthy local Orthodox elites that had rather large influence in the country under the Latin rule, IIRC....

2) IOTL during this time, Balkan muslims were certainly minority in terms of religious proportion, but OTOH also the largest socio-cultural group around.

With the injection of additional muslim immigration from Anatolia, that would only make such status firmer. Won't be surprised if by the late 1600s ITTL the muslims will be constituting 60% of Balkan population (though most likely it would take longer)....
 
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Hmm. Interesting.

Don't think the Cypriots will take kindly to being just handed over to a Muslim power willy-nilly without a fight. The Venetians might have been rapacious Latin bastards on the island, but at least they would be viewed as Christian rapacious bastards. I'm sure they would rebel and try to set up an independent government of their own (Empire of Nicosia anyone?) They would also intrigue to have Ragusa help them if the Cypriots felt they needed a Christian power as back-up.

Same for the Peloponnese - although there they'd have to contend with the mighty Osmanlis just across the Hexamilon (neck of land separating Peloponnese from the rest of Greece).

I like the fragmented state of Anatolia, but I can't see it staying like that for very long. The Emirate or Antioch, or Karaman, or the Koyunlu will make a grab for domination before too long.

To say nothing of the Turkish Sultanates themselves: based in Europe, with heavily dhimmi populations, no matter how many Turks you have migrate into them (and if you have ALL Turks in the Middle East migrate 50% into Rumelia and 50% into Russia it STILL won't be enough for them to be a majority in either Sultanate). Now Rumeli and Rus could be relaxed with that state of affairs, and recruit local Christians into Sultanal service, but after a while the Muslim intelligensia will want Rumeli or Rus to turn back and reconquer the "heartlands" of Islam, and establish their authority over the Holy Sanctuaries. So at the very least the two Sultanates will interfere in Anatolia and try to control, if not conquer the lesser states there.

Your 'Augustus' of Trebizond takes the 'lesser' title of Basileus. Sorry but 'Basileus' means 'Emperor' in Greek in the 15th century. Basileus used to be 'King', but in ancient times. By this stage it means nothing other than 'Emperor'. 'Avyoustos' (Augustus) would be a subsidiary title belonging to the Emperor but 'Basileus' would be in no way inferior to it.

Like what you did with Ragusa. Let's have lots of interesting Renaissance developments there and in the Ragusan colonies. Maybe we could even have an interesting "intellectual encounter" between Christianity and Islam in Ragusa. I leave it to your creativity to decide what.

Damn, my Greek has failed me once more! Fine he'll just be king then.
Well you've foreseen things very well Megas, the force is strong with you. Either that or I'm becoming predictable. Either way, we'll be seeing a move back into Asia but it won't be uncontested.
As for localistic resistance- the people are relieved to be free of the venetians and the latins for awhile yet they eventually begin to become restless. But economic restructuring and land redistribution keep them happy for a few years so we'll be seeing uprisings in probably the 1450s/60s.
 
1) I don't know about Cyprus, but generally for almost at all times when facing the choice between a Turban man and a Latin, Orthodox Christians usually chose the former. Though yes I've heard that in Cyprus the Latins were more accommodative to the locals there compared to at other places, and there were indeed wealthy local Orthodox elites that had rather large influence in the country under the Latin rule, IIRC....

Greetings, Ridwan.
In the late 15th century the Venetians won't have been in power long enough to overturn the Lusignan balance of power between Latin nobles/merchants and the native Greeks - therefore they would not have been bitterly opposed like they were IOTL 16th century (when the Venetians, surrounded on three sides by powerful Ottomans had to tax the island to the hilt to pay for expensive fortifications and naval defences).

The view that the Christians preferred the "turban to the tiara" is a later historical platitude that was applied clumsily to a region with complex, and diverse, relationships between Orthodox, Catholic and other Christians - for example on Crete until 1669 the Greeks got along much better with the Venetian authorities compared with the Greeks in Cyprus up to 1571.

2) IOTL during this time, Balkan muslims were certainly minority in terms of religious proportion, but OTOH also the largest socio-cultural group around.

With the injection of additional muslim immigration from Anatolia, that would only make such status firmer. Won't be surprised if by the late 1600s ITTL the muslims will be constituting 60% of Balkan population (though most likely it would take longer)....

Hmm. Well I'm sceptical that the Balkan Muslims would have been the biggest socio-cultural group in the late 15th century. In Anatolia, sure; in Rumeli, even taking account of the massive migrations SF has described, no way: the Serbs, Bulgarians, Greeks and Hungarians, maybe even the Vlachs/Romanians would ALL have been bigger socio-cultural units than the Turco-Muslim settlers - unless of course if the migrations had led to widespread massacres, flight from the land by dhimmi peasants, and the conversion of wide areas of the Balkans into pasture-land, in which case the Balkan economy would have collapsed and the Osmanli Sultanate would not have been able to be a rich, prosperous state giving timars to all those sipahis. The same would apply for the Rus Sultanate.

But nowhere does SF say massacres, flight from the land or a huge increase in nomadism happened - therefore the areas are primarily agricultural and Christian as they were for centuries under the Ottoman empire IOTL.

Damn, my Greek has failed me once more! Fine he'll just be king then.
Well you've foreseen things very well Megas, the force is strong with you. Either that or I'm becoming predictable. Either way, we'll be seeing a move back into Asia but it won't be uncontested.
As for localistic resistance- the people are relieved to be free of the venetians and the latins for awhile yet they eventually begin to become restless. But economic restructuring and land redistribution keep them happy for a few years so we'll be seeing uprisings in probably the 1450s/60s.

Let Alexius of Trebizond be a 'Despot' ('Master'), a 'Rigas' (the Greek version of 'Rex', which of course is 'King'), a 'Prinkipas' ('Prince') or even a 'Megas Dux' ;) ('Grand Duke'). He might be able to get away with 'Basileus', though, especially if he cosied up to the Kings of Georgia and/or the Kara-Koyunlu, as the Emperors of Trebizond actually did IOTL.

As for the rest, it's all good...Keep the show on the road! :cool:
 
Hmm. Well I'm sceptical that the Balkan Muslims would have been the biggest socio-cultural group in the late 15th century. In Anatolia, sure; in Rumeli, even taking account of the massive migrations SF has described, no way: the Serbs, Bulgarians, Greeks and Hungarians, maybe even the Vlachs/Romanians would ALL have been bigger socio-cultural units than the Turco-Muslim settlers - unless of course if the migrations had led to widespread massacres, flight from the land by dhimmi peasants, and the conversion of wide areas of the Balkans into pasture-land, in which case the Balkan economy would have collapsed and the Osmanli Sultanate would not have been able to be a rich, prosperous state giving timars to all those sipahis. The same would apply for the Rus Sultanate.
Did you forget the recent discussion?
 
Ok Megas, he'll be the Megas Dux Hellenon (I'm sorry but my Greek is really not as good as my latin, which is haphazard at best. Damn the Cambridge Latin Course!)
Anyway, I'll have some new stuff up probs by Thursday or maybe sooner, depending on how much time I spend on my geography coursework.
Next up he have the Wars of the Roses, the ascension of Mehmet II to the throne of Kiev and the rise of the Borgias & Medici.
 
I have a request.

Would you mind awfully writing about Cesare Borgia with a really thick Italiano accent? :D

And all the other Borgias as per normal.
 

Hiya.
I only dipped into that thread. Can you summarise the relevant part, please?
I stand by everything I wrote: ethnic Turkish, or half-Turkish, azabs, akinjis, dere-beys, babas, sufis, kuls, ghazis, sipahis, merchants, bureaucrats - and all the rest - are what I would consider as belonging to the Turco-Muslim socio-cultural group in late-15th century Rumeli/Balkan Europe. At no point could such a group, as I have defined it, be in the majority of the Balkan lands or the Russian lands (as shown in your map on the thread). They could have dominated politically, of course, but the relative isolation of the two Sultanates from the "heartlands" of Islam would have made them more peculiar than the Ottoman Empire ever was IOTL - with, I predict, several innovative practices/institutions arising because of the contact with the large numbers of surrounding Christians.
 
Hiya.
I only dipped into that thread. Can you summarise the relevant part, please?
I stand by everything I wrote: ethnic Turkish, or half-Turkish, azabs, akinjis, dere-beys, babas, sufis, kuls, ghazis, sipahis, merchants, bureaucrats - and all the rest - are what I would consider as belonging to the Turco-Muslim socio-cultural group in late-15th century Rumeli/Balkan Europe. At no point could such a group, as I have defined it, be in the majority of the Balkan lands or the Russian lands (as shown in your map on the thread). They could have dominated politically, of course, but the relative isolation of the two Sultanates from the "heartlands" of Islam would have made them more peculiar than the Ottoman Empire ever was IOTL - with, I predict, several innovative practices/institutions arising because of the contact with the large numbers of surrounding Christians.

Ok, yes there was a huge Turkish migration, but no they are not a majority in any sense of the word. They own about 20% of the land in Rumelia and 10% in Russia (they have large numbers of converted tartars, cossacks etc.) but the Turks themselves have at this moment an almost monopoly on political power, yet as we'll see soon, it's less ethnicity and more religion. Muslims have power, Turkish or not.
 
Hiya.
I only dipped into that thread. Can you summarise the relevant part, please?
I stand by everything I wrote: ethnic Turkish, or half-Turkish, azabs, akinjis, dere-beys, babas, sufis, kuls, ghazis, sipahis, merchants, bureaucrats - and all the rest - are what I would consider as belonging to the Turco-Muslim socio-cultural group in late-15th century Rumeli/Balkan Europe. At no point could such a group, as I have defined it, be in the majority of the Balkan lands or the Russian lands (as shown in your map on the thread). They could have dominated politically, of course, but the relative isolation of the two Sultanates from the "heartlands" of Islam would have made them more peculiar than the Ottoman Empire ever was IOTL - with, I predict, several innovative practices/institutions arising because of the contact with the large numbers of surrounding Christians.
No one is saying (or at least should be saying) they are a majority. In the Balkans at least, they are, pound-for-pound a plurality. The population of the Balkans was around 4.5 million at the time of the Fall of Constantinople. That's after three generations of Turkish migration. The Christian population is so completely opposite of monolithic that it's a question of whether they'll change anymore than pre-Selim Ottomans did. I do admit the acquisition of the old Arab-Islamic heartlands changed the character of the empire somewhat, Finkel is right on that one.
 
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Hiya.
I only dipped into that thread. Can you summarise the relevant part, please?
I stand by everything I wrote: ethnic Turkish, or half-Turkish, azabs, akinjis, dere-beys, babas, sufis, kuls, ghazis, sipahis, merchants, bureaucrats - and all the rest - are what I would consider as belonging to the Turco-Muslim socio-cultural group in late-15th century Rumeli/Balkan Europe. At no point could such a group, as I have defined it, be in the majority of the Balkan lands or the Russian lands (as shown in your map on the thread). They could have dominated politically, of course, but the relative isolation of the two Sultanates from the "heartlands" of Islam would have made them more peculiar than the Ottoman Empire ever was IOTL - with, I predict, several innovative practices/institutions arising because of the contact with the large numbers of surrounding Christians.

Well, yeah guess it was my fault. I said "won't be surprised if the muslims will turn into 60% of Balkan population by 17th century", based on my one sided interest in, that if unlikely, there will maybe a possibility of the number of the Balkan muslims reaching that figure by 17th century if they can get the chance to conduct a systematical Islamization without giving any outside party meaningful chance to exploit the side effect of such action. OTOH, the normal way ITTL would be that the Ottomans will be even more European in character, so that they will be even more accomodating to the non-muslims. They will basically be just another European kingdom ITTL. However, other than Europeanized muslims, it'll be also somewhat more Islamicization (not Islamization, yet. Still those are two different things) of Balkan non-muslims as well. Can that make an atmosphere ITTL where the Islam religion will generally be seen something as something even less as peculiar faith as IOTL ? Oh certainly ! So can that make the Balkan people more receptive towards Islam ITTL, if only for a fair bit ? I dare to say that's prefectly possible.

But maybe saying 17th century was indeed pushing it. Or it seems that I've confused 17th with 19th century ? Because IOTL 19th century, prior to Hamidiyan despotism era, muslims counted for 40s% of Balkan population. This figure will certainly be higher ITTL, no doubt. Dare to say even that by today, TTL Balkans will be majority muslim.

And, the last but not really the least, to echo Saepe Fidelis, Ottoman Empire was NOT a turk-centric entity, but was muslim-centric, and will always be in the majority of plausible parallel worlds you can ever find.
 
Don't Look Back, Part 6

In 1438 King Henry V of England, Burgundy and France died, aged 52. His son, Henry VI, was only three years old and so a Regency council was set up. Soon two factions have arisen: those who support the House of York and the Duke of York in his claim to the throne and then those who support the House of Lancaster and the King. The Yorkists are strong in the north of England as well as Burgundy. The Lancastrians however have the support of Louis, warden of France. Soon low-level warfare is being raged across the three kingdoms. The Yorkists seized Paris in 1440 and the Lancastrians seized London. Over thirteen years of warfare, sometimes flaring up sometimes cooling down, a rough status quo is settled upon. When Louis of France is murdered in 1443 his successor, Charles of Carlisle, is a Yorkist and orders the standard of the Duke of York to be raised across France. Many refused, such as the Lord of Coucy who, remembering his father’s pledge of loyalty to Henry V, sides with the Lancastrians. This perturbs the Yorkists, for Coucy is incredibly strong. On the 13th March 1443 the Baron de Coucy was attacked while taking Mass. There were four assassins who surrounded him in his private chapel. Two held him back while another stabbed him in the throat and another watched the door. When they saw the Baron’s confessor coming they fled, leaving him to die slowly. His heir, Edmund, is made Baron aged four and is dominated by his Yorkist mother whom was rumoured to be having an affair with Edward, the son of the duke of York and Duke of Aquitaine. The Lancastrians, meanwhile, had strengthened their hold in England. Suspected Yorkists had been slowly removed by Lancastrians and eventually on 26th of March in response to the murder of the Baron de Coucy, an anti-Yorkist riot broke out in London. The Mayor, a suspected Yorkist and the leaders of several Guilds were dragged into the street and roughly beheaded in a wave of anti-Yorkist and anti-mercantilist rage. Once order was restored the blame was pinned on Thomas Maine, a guild member who was rumoured to have made a secret deal with the Duke of York. He would stir up trouble in London prompting Yorkists to be threatened. The Duke would then return to England with soldier under the pretence of defending his property. Instead he would take control of Parliament and then force the King to abdicate in his favour. It was far-fetched yet just enough so to be widely believed, and the Duke of York was widely discredited.
Soon it appeared that France was Yorkist, England Lancastrian. When Henry VI died (suspiciously) in 1448 both sides crowned their man king. The Yorkists put forward Edward, son of the Duke of York, whereas the Lancastrians put forward Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Henry V’s younger brother. Both proclaimed themselves King of England, France and Burgundy yet in effect the Lancastrians had already forfeited France and Burgundy. The Yorkists planned an invasion of Britain which occurred in 1449 yet the invading army was defeated and forced back. Finally in 1450 a peace accordant was reached. The Lancastrians were to hold England, Ireland and Wales, the Yorkists would have France and Burgundy. The two sides agreed on this and to create some sort of peace Margaret of Anjou, Henry VI’s widow and thereby a ‘Lancastrian’ was married to Edward of France. Thus the English Civil War ended.

In 1450 Sultan Murad of Kiev, died. He died of pneumonia while in Moscow. He was succeeded by his son, Mehmet, who was in Kiev at the time of his father’s death. The Law of Fratricide was enacted and two days after the death of Murad, Mehmet was announced Sultan in the Kiev Mosque. His hold on power was weak. He was still very young, only eighteen years old. He was therefore forced to give out a cash bonus to the janissaries to ensure their support. Once this was done he determined to fight a war of conquest in order to cement his rule. In 1452 he planted his seven horsetail standard in the Kremlin of Moscow. From across the empire came thousands of horsemen, Tartar, Cossack, Turk, Russian and Mongol. He also brought 8,000 janissaries raised from Circassians. He also had a new artillery force- some 30 cannon with two great ones that could fire a 20 lb ball almost a mile. These were loaded onto carts along with the janissaries and drawn across the steppe during summer. Their destination was Novgorod.
Novgorod had, since the days of Alexander Nevsky, been an independent Republic. Her wealth lay in furs and amber which she exported through the Hanseatic League. Her citizen army was well-equipped if small, and her defences strong. On April 13th 1452 Mehmet laid siege to the city of Novgorod. A sally made by the defenders was contemptuously brushed aside and the cannon were set up. They immediately began pounding the walls and continued to do so ceaselessly for two weeks. Time was crucial, if the city had not been taken by Autumn the army would have to withdraw lest they be caught in the lethal Russian winter. On the 3rd May the first charge was made. 5,000 conscripts from across the Sultanate flooded into the breach. The Republic’s forces held, battling their way through the hordes of conscripts who served as nothing but cannon-fodder. When one man asked why the conscripts were so poorly armed, Mehmet replied: “Food for powder, food for powder. They’ll fill a pit as good as any.” Two days of fighting and the janissaries had yet to engage. The defenders were exhausted. Finally, on May 6th, the janissaries marched. The advanced to the sound of flutes and drums and cannon fire. Mehmet had also built raised platforms for the cannon so that they could fire over the city’s defences spreading panic and chaos. The janissaries flooded into the breaches (three had been made by then) and after eight hours of fighting the defenders were massacred. Then the horsemen attacked. 12,000 horsemen flooded into the city. The streets were narrow and more than a few horsemen were trapped in dead-ends and massacred. Finally, after the customary three days left for pillaging, Mehmet entered the city. The populace were either killed or enslaved- 20,000 slaves were marched to the Black Sea for export. 40,000 people were missing. The city was almost completely flattened. Mehmet shed a single tear when he saw the ruined churches, the shelled-out Kremlin and the ruined streets. He is reported to have said: “ So many kings, so many princes, so many ancient lords and reverend bishops, all gone, erased from history, their memory never to be revived. Such is the fate of all endeavours.” He ordered the city to be re-built and her walls repaired. He men worked furiously and they wintered in Novgorod that year as they had wintered in Moscow previously. Mehmet meanwhile sent patrols out into the countryside, subjugating the peoples. He by no means controlled the whole land, yet large tracts of land accepted him as their master. They reached the Baltic, and Mehmet ordered that a city be built there in Spring of 1453. The city, Fatih Murad was built on the banks of the Neva river in marshland. For years no one settled there, yet Mehmet sent thousands of captives there to settle. Eventually, a floating city was built. Some called it an Islamic Venice of the north. Great mosques were built and grand palaces. Docks were planned and wharves laid. Soon shipping resumed enriching the merchants and Mehmet. The Hanseatic League sent envoys to the Sultan, asking him for trade concessions. These were given and a Hanseatic colony founded in Fatih Murad. It was called by the locals the Swedish quarter, for although the Hanseatic League was multinational, they were commonly referred to by the Turks as ‘the Swedes’. This did not amuse the King of Sweden.

Alarmed by the appearance of Turks on their eastern flank, the Teutonic Knights organised a massive invasion force, with the blessings of the Holy Roman Emperor. 30,000 men were organised, with a further 15,000 coming form Lithuania who felt similarly threatened. The army was a mixture of knights, men-at-arms, heavy infantry (mostly Polish and German) as well as light cavalry from Lithuania. They marched north to Fatih Murad, which the Germans called Muradstadt. They were only 100 miles from the city when on April 23rd 1454 Mehmet met them in battle. His janissaries marched in close formation towards the German centre, where the German infantry was. The two forces engaged and for awhile it looked as If the Turk’s superior discipline would win out. However, the German knights, having learnt from their previous encounters with the Turks, now came crashing into the janissaries flanks. The slave-soldiers wavered and began to flee. It was only the timely arrival of 5,000 cossacks that kept them in rank. The steppe horsemen enveloped the knights and although less heavily armed, they were able to kill them through a combination of ranged attacks and the use of their long knives which were excellent at punching through plate armour.
It was then that the Lithuanian cavalry advanced. Moving around to the rear of the cossacks they threatened their rear. They were caught in the open, however, by 8,000 tartars and Turks who surrounded them and routed them. The Turks then surrounded the Germans and forced them back. At the end of the battle the Lithuanians, having suffered severe casualties (2,500 out of 4,000 fielded) went to Mehmet and asked for peace. Mehmet received their embassy and had them swear loyalty to him. they agreed to pay tribute and to give soldiers for his expeditions and were guaranteed defence from the Teutonic Knights, whom they still did not trust and had had several confrontations with during the campaign.
Meanwhile, in the German camp things were taking a different course. The Teutonic Knights under their Grand Master Herman von Krondstadt were arguing for attacking the Turkish camp whereas the Imperial forces led by Francis von Swabia favoured retreating to East Prussia and making peace with this mighty neighbour. The headstrong Grand Master could not be dissuaded, nor could his men, and that night 2,000 of them rode out of camp. They charged across the plain separating the two camps until they came towards the Turkish camp. They were spotted from afar, and a counter-attack was organised. 1,500 Turks hid themselves to either side of the Knight’s path. Then a unit of janissaries- some 500 men, arranged themselves before the camp. The Knights, seeing the soldiers, charged at them and smashing into their ranks. Then the hidden men rose up and surrounded them. As the conflict escalated, yet more men from the camp were called into the fray (they had been woken when the Knights were first sighted and had been ready for some time) so that the Knights were soon completely surrounded. Herman was pulled from his horse and captured as were some 300 of his companions. The rest were butchered.
The next day, Mehmet sent demands of ransom to the Germans. The defacto commander, Francis, was then confronted by a conundrum. Would he empty the war chest to save 300 very fine knights? Doing so would bankrupt the expedition and mean his soldiers would go without pay. If he did not pay, he could pay his disgruntled soldiers and lose a political enemy. With such unchivilrous intentions therefore, he rejected the demand. The day after, he watched from the camp’s ramparts as all three hundred were flayed alive by tartars. Their mutilated bodies were left to rot outside the camp until someone finally collected them and buried them.
A truce was organised with Mehmet- Francis and his army were to withdraw to Prussia and pay 2,000 Guilders to the Sultan. Once they had returned they would petition the Emperor to send envoys offering peace. The army withdrew in May and arrived back in the Empire in June. Mehmet waited in Fatih Murad throughout the Autumn, watching the construction of the new city. Finally in October, just before the Winter became truly savage, three envoys arrived. They offered peace between the two monarchs. Mehmet’s reply to Emperor Charles was thus:
Padishah Mehmet of Kiev, Lord of 10,000 miles, Khan of the Golden Horde, Sultan of the Rus, the Shadow of God on Earth, would address the King of Rome. We have considered your pleas for peace and have decided that in our wisdom that we shall permit you existence on the condition that you shall make no more futile moves of aggression against our lands, for if you do then our wrath shall descend upon you as the Eagle descend upon the rabbit.
The envoys were forced to winter in Muradstadt due to the winter and they took the opportunity to see the new city. They marvelled at the new Palace, which they declared finer than Nero’s Golden House and also the magnificent domes that peppered the city. Most awe inspiring, however, was the Sultan’s Arsenal, which was being built further upstream from the city. The idea was to have iron and other raw materials floated downstream and then processed before the finished guns would be floated downstream to the barracks where they would be unloaded. It employed 2,000 craftsmen including a certain Transylvanian who had promised Mehmet that he could make the biggest guns in the world. Mehmet had accepted his world and now the man was helping build great cannon that could shoot 70 lb rocks for over a mile out of bronze with iron hoops to reinforce the barrels. The envoys also marvelled at the janissaries in their barracks where they drilled for hours on end using weapons as diverse as pikes, words and even the new muskets that were being introduced. They were amazed to see them expertly and through force of discipline, fire as a rank at once. They however dismissed it as a parlour trick and that by the time they had reloaded the charging knights would have cut them down.
 
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