From the Embers, A Flame Is Lit: A Western Roman TL

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Inspired by this thread. Pre-TL discussion here. Writing style is inspired by Look to the West.

FROM THE EMBERS, A FLAME IS LIT

Greetings here. This is the log of Captain Alexis Samuel Harding, Doctor of Applied Quantum Mechanics and Captain in the Multiversal Expeditionary Force. We’ve stumbled into an entirely new world here, one that has been designated Time-Line Omega or TLO for short. It seems to have diverged from our own universe in January of A.D 459. Doctor Germanotta, would you care to get the translated history books here? As I was saying, in regard with MEF protocol, we will refer to our original universe as OTL (Original Time-Line) and this one we have discovered as TTL (This Time-Line) or TLO (Time-Line Omega). The current year in TTL seems to be 2011 A.D. Now, scanning the history books into our database...ah, scan complete. Let’s take a look, shall we?

1. The Death of Ricimer and the Glory of Majorian

In the month January of the Year of Our Lord four-hundred-and-fifty-nine, Ricimer, Patricius and Imperator Majorian I’s magister miilitum, took ill. The illness was a sudden one, and many historians have wondered what exactly it was that took hold of him, but it could have been anything – sudden, lethal illnesses were not an unknown thing in the period. Regardless, after six months of excruciating agony and debilitating sickness, Ricimer, puppet-master of Emperors, was dead, laid low by what must have seemed to be the hand of God. Without being shackled to a puppet-master, Majorian was free to rule as he planned. In the year 460, he began his campaign to finish the Vandals once and for all. At Carthageniensis, some traitors tried to burn down his fleet, but were stopped. With the absolute defeat of the Vandals and the reconquest of Mauretania, Majorian’s campaign was concluded in victory.

His triumphal procession through the Eternal City in 461 AD was concluded, appropriately enough, by a Senatorial assassination plot. To this day, there remains some controversy over whether Majorian was aware of the plot and waited so he could use it to weaken the power of the Senate, or if his survival was luck and his reaction to it unplanned. Regardless, Majorian was cautious, and survived the assassination attempt. His troops marched into the Senatorial chamber, and, under his instructions, killed the rebellious Senators, decimating the Senate. The land of the Senators killed was confiscated, broken up and distributed it to his cavalry to ensure their loyalty – it would pass to their descendants when they died, but they were obliged to remain loyal, creating a sort of semi-feudal [1] system. The Senators killed were replaced with easily pliable puppets.

Perhaps Majorian was shaken and given some kind of awareness of his mortality by the assassination attempt, for in 462 he made the Imperatorship hereditary. He made it clear – the legitimate firstborn son of the Emperor would be the next one. If there were no legitimate sons, a daughter would be chosen. Majorian then, from 463 to 470, began reforms of the Empire. He had the military reformed, but it remained weak, and Majorian could only do so much. Nevertheless, from the beginning of his reign onwards, Rome was relatively secure, in contrast to the frontier areas.

Majorian was an excellent administrator as well, and reformed the civil service of Rome immensely. He also survived a number of assassination attempts.

From 476 to 478, the fortifications of Rome were massively improved. The Majorianic Walls, as they are known, still stand (albeit having been heavily damaged during the Politeian and Popular Wars) in places today. During Majorian’s reign, Rome’s economy and general health improved heavily, and the state was, if not looking towards a bright future, definitely with a better prognosis.

Majorian’s actions also changed the course of Frankonian history, for in AD 486 (one year before Majorian’s death and succession by Valerian II), King Ludwig I of Frankonia [2] was baptised into the Apostolic [3] Church and agreed to fight for Rome against the Visigoths in Southern Gaul, in exchange for being given a large area of Gaul north of the Liger River as a personal dominion, which became the Kingdom of Frankonia.

In early A.D 487, Majorian, having reigned for an unprecedented 30 years, died and was succeeded by his heir Valerian II.

Harding’s Notes:

[1] A cultural translation

[2] TTL name for Clovis I from our own history.

[3] TTL term for the Catholic Church.
 
Well you know I'm happy. :p

That said, Ricimer was not Majorian's puppet master. Majorian and Ricimer had been joint puppet masters of Avitus. Ricimer just stabbed his buddy in the back because he was losing influence since Majorian was a good emperor. I suppose that could imply some puppet-masterdom though... hmm. Well carry on!

Massive edits:

One thing I am interested in is how Majorian will deal with barbarians. In particular the Berbers in the rough country beyond the African coastal plains. They were a formidable force, hardier than the towns people and proved good fighters for the Arabs. I could see hiring them as mercenaries, but I'm not sure if they have good horses yet or if that had to wait for mixing the Arabians with the native stock.

Other questions I have is whether efforts to trade and Christianize will occur. In Roman times the trade with the Sahael area was minimal, but by the time Ghana formed (between 700-800 probably) you could trade food for salt in the Sahara, then trade that salt (and finished goods) for gold and slaves (and a bit of ivory). If the Romans could become involved in that trade it would be a huge boost since specie was constantly draining out of the Roman treasury to the east.

Also relations to the eastern empire, particularly in how religion develops.

So I am looking forward to seeing how this develops!

ED2: After re-reading some things stand out: hereditary ruler -- that seems difficult. Does Majorian have a capable son? If not there's no reason to assume this could happen. Even if a legitimate heir is someone else's puppet some ambitious general will try and take the throne for themselves. The exception would be barbarians who could never hold the throne. Let's hope they can pull it off. With a smaller empire it could be possible.

Also he and Valerian II threw Roman Soissons to the Franks? Ouch. That's not going to make him popular. Still I look forward to seeing how the Goths and Franks get played off against each other, his relations with the Burgunds and what happens with the Ostrogoths--do they still break the post-Atilla huns? Do they move west? Stay in the Balkans (Gothic Balkan power could eventually reach Gothic speaking Crimea as in your request)? Interaction between them and the Slavs if they do as well as with the eastern empire...

Yes!
 
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That said, Ricimer was not Majorian's puppet master. Majorian and Ricimer had been joint puppet masters of Avitus. Ricimer just stabbed his buddy in the back because he was losing influence since Majorian was a good emperor. I suppose that could imply some puppet-masterdom though... hmm. Well carry on!

That said, not all sources shown will be entirely accurate, as, well, OTL historiography is not 100% accurate as well...though I will try and provide alternative PoVs.
 
That said, not all sources shown will be entirely accurate, as, well, OTL historiography is not 100% accurate as well...though I will try and provide alternative PoVs.
True, it could well be presented that way in the histories.

BTW, added huge wall of text to my comments above.
 
Yay, i will always follow an WRE survival... ;)

Surely you made the call just in time, let's see if with only Italy and its surrounding ( I guess Majorian's empire was great as Odoacre's kingdom...)
 
2. Valerian Imperator

Valerian II, heir to Majorian, was a second brilliant Emperor in the mould of Augustus. However, his succession was contested by several, including one of Majorian’s old generals, which prompted an assassination attempt on the day before his coronation. Valerian survived the assassins’ blows, and killed one himself. He then sent an army northward to Ravenna to crush the rebels. The enemy, one of Majorian’s generals who thought he belonged as Emperor, was en route to Massalia, near Nicaea (not to be confused with Nikaia in Bythinia), when he faced Emperor Valerian in battle. The fighting was brief but brutal, and by the day’s end the traitor general and his compatriots had been slain. Valerian returned to Rome, and was officially declared Emperor on Christmas Day, deliberately timing his coronation so as to coincide with the anniversary of Christ’s birth, thus setting forward a tradition that continues to this day.

Valerian was a competent general, and considered himself ‘the Second Alexander’ in reference to Alexander the Great. However, most of the battles he fought were defensive in nature. He was however, more than just a fighter. He focused heavily on Christianising his subjects, in particular the Berbers of Mauretania, whom he used as mercenaries. By the end of his reign, Christianity was heavy amongst his people.

In 493, Valerian began more military reforms in the style of his predecessor Majorian, making the Empire’s military somewhat more than Majorian had left it, somewhat more like the military of the Empire’s glory days. However, there was still reliance on the foederati and barely-trained levies, with the disciplined troops as crack soldiers, deployed in the rarest of circumstances. Financial reforms were also undertaken, angering the aristocracy, but Valerian survived their assassination attempts.

In the East, the Ostrogoths remained a primarily Balkan power, and Rome was doing relatively well. The Roman Empire had strong relations with the Eastern Roman Empire, as things seemed to finally be recovering after the Hell of the 4th and early 5th centuries, although during the 6th Century troubles of their own would rise forth, such as plague and more Barbarian troubles. Valerian II died in 526 AD, having reigned for a long period like Majorian had. He was succeeded by Lucius I, whose line would eventually rule Constantinople as well as Rome after many struggles.
 
It is possible to know the ERE and other Barbaric countries reaction to WRE resurgence?

Also, a map could be more likely...
 
Interesting, I too am a fan of a surviving Western Rome.

Perusing the wiki, it says Majorian was respectful and supportive of the Senate. Are you saying an assassination attempt would be enough to turn him against it violently?
 
Interesting, I too am a fan of a surviving Western Rome.

Perusing the wiki, it says Majorian was respectful and supportive of the Senate. Are you saying an assassination attempt would be enough to turn him against it violently?

If you look at the first link at the top, it was part of the scenario that inspired this.
 
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