Chapter IX.
Basilea Komnenoi.
"Great was, indeed, the happiness of the Basileous when the land lost to the Turk and the Mahometans was freed and liberated from the foreign invader."
The Alexiad.
After the crusade and the destruction of the Seljuk the Romans reimposed their control in Anatolia, bordering with the original Armenia, still under the oppression of the Caliphate.
Antioch was given to the vassal kingdom of Cilicia, that effectively was a mediator between the emperor and the crusaders, the help that Byzantium gave to the latins was brutal and Alexius played well his cards, effectively vassalizing Edessa and Jerusalem.
His domestic policies towards the recovered land was the assimilation or expulsion of all Turkish males and the marriage of women with greeks, the children were re-educated or assimilated, with most male teens forced to serve in the army.
He also invited Latin immigration from Italy, France and Spain, along German and Anglish one.
He decided to rebuild and improve the empire infrastructure, he reformed the tax, weights and customs codes to make commerce easier and simplify the life of the subjects, ha reparted the ancient fiefdoms of Turkic warlords between nobles and the peasantry to improve agricultural production.
His burocratic reform simplified and improved the government hability to mobilize troops and resources, acknowledge and resolve problems and made easier to ensure law and order, reducing crime.
From 1101 to 1109 the Basileus built several Aqueducts, churches and hospitals through Anatolia.
His relationship with the Crusaders and the Papacy were warm and constructive, he made a law facilitating the commerce with the western kingdoms, effectively reviving Mediterranean comercial activities in a way not seen since the Fall of Rome.
In 1119 Alexius died, his passing was mourned in the whole Christendom, especially in Cilicia.
From 1120 and forth the Greek Empire saw a military revival, reform and expansion to counter the reborn Abbasid and Gazhanid empires, preparing for a decisive conflict against the Islamic Orde.
Basilea Komnenoi.
"Great was, indeed, the happiness of the Basileous when the land lost to the Turk and the Mahometans was freed and liberated from the foreign invader."
The Alexiad.
After the crusade and the destruction of the Seljuk the Romans reimposed their control in Anatolia, bordering with the original Armenia, still under the oppression of the Caliphate.
Antioch was given to the vassal kingdom of Cilicia, that effectively was a mediator between the emperor and the crusaders, the help that Byzantium gave to the latins was brutal and Alexius played well his cards, effectively vassalizing Edessa and Jerusalem.
His domestic policies towards the recovered land was the assimilation or expulsion of all Turkish males and the marriage of women with greeks, the children were re-educated or assimilated, with most male teens forced to serve in the army.
He also invited Latin immigration from Italy, France and Spain, along German and Anglish one.
He decided to rebuild and improve the empire infrastructure, he reformed the tax, weights and customs codes to make commerce easier and simplify the life of the subjects, ha reparted the ancient fiefdoms of Turkic warlords between nobles and the peasantry to improve agricultural production.
His burocratic reform simplified and improved the government hability to mobilize troops and resources, acknowledge and resolve problems and made easier to ensure law and order, reducing crime.
From 1101 to 1109 the Basileus built several Aqueducts, churches and hospitals through Anatolia.
His relationship with the Crusaders and the Papacy were warm and constructive, he made a law facilitating the commerce with the western kingdoms, effectively reviving Mediterranean comercial activities in a way not seen since the Fall of Rome.
In 1119 Alexius died, his passing was mourned in the whole Christendom, especially in Cilicia.
From 1120 and forth the Greek Empire saw a military revival, reform and expansion to counter the reborn Abbasid and Gazhanid empires, preparing for a decisive conflict against the Islamic Orde.