no its kinda like if it like semi fuedalisim the serfs for lack of a btter word are tied to a land and need to provive for the soldiers so called farmer soldiers but they dont really own the land as much as the emperor is leasing them the land , but this is mostly on frontier regions in the others its just this but witht he complications of providing for soldiers at least not as directly and thank you Nicetas is efficent cruel but efficent.
Heirs of Heraclius, a no Islam timeline
- Thread starter Silver01
- Start date
This is going to have so many butterflies, but other than that this looks good. I would be interested to see how differently would world religion play out. 
Well thank you have a good read it's quite longThis is going to have so many butterflies, but other than that this looks good. I would be interested to see how differently would world religion play out.
The age of unrrest
As 857 news came from the south that ruined Heraclonas plans the great Berber rebellion had been finally been crushed and He knew where the Berber emperor would do now.
After the short civil war , and after the supposed death of his brother many rebelled against his rule for different reasons , the troops in Sicily due to lack of pay as he was busy with planning his future invasion that he neglected to pay them , the governor of Libya Anir an old supporter of his brother was gathering an army to fight him but learned of also rebelled, along with the governors in region of the Maghreb due to a combination of over taxation and the emperor ignoring the issue of of the governor with the souther berbers, and in the west coast of the great ocean the tribal Berbers also rebelled , along with Ghana, they had been recently conquered a generation ago by what they saw as great emperor , but his new emperor was seen as weak and the souther berbers and Ghana sought to rid themselves of his rule.
the emperor focused himself on Anir but on this way to Libya the southern Berbers along with the governor of Mauretania Tingitana and some nomadic berbers from the Berghouata confederacy , despite their rivalry do to territorial claims about what they controlled both Joined forces marched towards the west aiming to attack the Capital of Carthage .
So the emperor had to return and met their armies near Pomaria , it said Yedder had 35 000 against Yugerten and the tribal confederation who had 45 000 , despite being outnumbered he used the by putting his elephants in the extreme wings prevented any outflanking maneuvers , they tried a feign retreat but failed , Yedder II then attacked and his own cavalry punched a hole in the center and his light cavalry attacked them from the wings, he killed 1/4 of the army and they scattered back to Mauretania Tingitana, After his victory and dealing with minor rebellions he moved back to the west.
In 847 he marched to fight the governor of Libya they both met near the old city of Macomedes-Euphranta little is know about the battle but Anir managed to defend his territory by defeating Yedder II
little is know about the battle but it is said that both sides clashed and it Seemed Yedder was going to win but he pushed to much in the left wing and made a significant gap that Anir took advantage of and charged destroying Yedders left and then causing Yedders right to flee.
Yedder managed to survive but after his defeat the went back to Carthage, he used this time to crush the revolt in Sicily .
In late 849 Emperor the emperor went against Libya was again defeated by Anir
the sources said it was because an arrow struck Yedders horse and caused a great panic and a mass route ,with his defeat he fled Back to Carthage as Anir began to move in the coast and laid siege to Leptis Magna .
By 850 Yedder began to prepare another counter attack against Anir who was still besiegeing leptis magna , But another incursion of the southern berbers distracted him he marched to the east to defeat them Yugerten and Yedder near the old town of Albulae.
the southern berbers maintained their distance and showered Yedders force with arrows , and then both forces clashed , the battle was fiercely contested. As their infantries clashed ,their cavalries did as well the emperor was almost thrown of his horse but managed to survive , still the battle was close but the infantry in Yedders right with help of the elephants managed to push through and soon they began to break seeing this Yedder ordered a full charge in the rest of the line to put more pressure and it worked as Yugerten army collapsed and he himself was slain .
In late 851 he marched against the southern Berbers as Anir lifted the siege of Leptis Magna since his navy had been defeated and the copts and Greeks supported by the kingdom of Egypt had revolted against him, This gave him some breathing room and he decided to go down and finally defeat the nomadic Berber Confederacies.
Due to his close call in Albulae and his defeat at the hands of Anir, it would be safer if he like his father rode the biggest elephant to battle he found a horse more comfortable and better since he wanted to be in the fighting but he recognized that for a commander the beast was much more secure.
In mid 852 he defeated the nomadic Berbers near the Tensift River, the southern Berbers, and some forces of Ghana met Yedder II in Aoudaghost the enemy tried to use camels with burning straw in the backs to scare the elephants and maybe cause mass panic.
But it failed as the Berbers shot them down with their arrows then both armies clashed the light cavalry and javelineers harassed the flanks as the ghana infantry began to push Yedder force back, seeing this Yedder sent his reserve of cavalry to the center and elephants in the wings this worked as the beast scared off the southern Berbers horses and the Berber heavy cavalry broke the Ghanaian center after his victory he continued to defeat the local minor forces.
By 855 he conquered them and made Ghana his vassal again.
In 856 he marched towards the west to meet and finally defeat Anir
They met near Leptis Magna as Anir was trying to besiege it, the exact numbers of the combatants are unknown but it is most likely that the Berber emperor had about 30 000 and the rebellious governor had 35 000.
Both armies began to pray imploring God and Christ for a victory, Anir had placed his force in the typical formation with infantry and male elephants in the center, with heavy and light cavalry in the wings with female elephants and infantry in the extreme wings to prevent any cavalry outflanking.
The Berber emperor had the same structure, ButYedder had done the opposite using his male elephant in the wings, and his females in the center, when both armies met this caused the females in Anir forced to flee this created chaos and allowed Yedders Cavalry to attack them from the flanks Anir tried to save flanks by sending more of his center to the wings but failed and soon his army routed, Anir was captured and then executed in Leptis Magna.
The civil war was over, even though it was obvious to Yedder II that this crisis was caused by his enemies having too much power.
It was that not only his enemies had gotten a power base as other provinces like the kingdom of Hispania and the newly conquered provinces of Corsica and Crete sent few forces but sent more taxes so that they could concentrate on their own issues, Yedder noticed their increase self-autonomy but he did not care so long as they offered troops and paid their taxes he was fine , this decision of his to ignore his governor's increasing autonomy would have drastic consequences on the future of the great Berber empire but now he only cared about one thing
to secure his father’s dream of the Berber emperor being the lord of North Africa and for that he needed Egypt and he did not even have to face the mighty Roman empire for it just a bunch of Coptic peasant levies and their self proclaimed king, while intrigued he was somewhat disappointed he wanted to conquer it from the Romans to increase his status and be compared to his father Gwafa, at least he thought that now the conquest of Egypt was for a sure thing as this small Coptic kingdom could not compare to his empire.
After the short civil war , and after the supposed death of his brother many rebelled against his rule for different reasons , the troops in Sicily due to lack of pay as he was busy with planning his future invasion that he neglected to pay them , the governor of Libya Anir an old supporter of his brother was gathering an army to fight him but learned of also rebelled, along with the governors in region of the Maghreb due to a combination of over taxation and the emperor ignoring the issue of of the governor with the souther berbers, and in the west coast of the great ocean the tribal Berbers also rebelled , along with Ghana, they had been recently conquered a generation ago by what they saw as great emperor , but his new emperor was seen as weak and the souther berbers and Ghana sought to rid themselves of his rule.
the emperor focused himself on Anir but on this way to Libya the southern Berbers along with the governor of Mauretania Tingitana and some nomadic berbers from the Berghouata confederacy , despite their rivalry do to territorial claims about what they controlled both Joined forces marched towards the west aiming to attack the Capital of Carthage .
So the emperor had to return and met their armies near Pomaria , it said Yedder had 35 000 against Yugerten and the tribal confederation who had 45 000 , despite being outnumbered he used the by putting his elephants in the extreme wings prevented any outflanking maneuvers , they tried a feign retreat but failed , Yedder II then attacked and his own cavalry punched a hole in the center and his light cavalry attacked them from the wings, he killed 1/4 of the army and they scattered back to Mauretania Tingitana, After his victory and dealing with minor rebellions he moved back to the west.
In 847 he marched to fight the governor of Libya they both met near the old city of Macomedes-Euphranta little is know about the battle but Anir managed to defend his territory by defeating Yedder II
little is know about the battle but it is said that both sides clashed and it Seemed Yedder was going to win but he pushed to much in the left wing and made a significant gap that Anir took advantage of and charged destroying Yedders left and then causing Yedders right to flee.
Yedder managed to survive but after his defeat the went back to Carthage, he used this time to crush the revolt in Sicily .
In late 849 Emperor the emperor went against Libya was again defeated by Anir
the sources said it was because an arrow struck Yedders horse and caused a great panic and a mass route ,with his defeat he fled Back to Carthage as Anir began to move in the coast and laid siege to Leptis Magna .
By 850 Yedder began to prepare another counter attack against Anir who was still besiegeing leptis magna , But another incursion of the southern berbers distracted him he marched to the east to defeat them Yugerten and Yedder near the old town of Albulae.
the southern berbers maintained their distance and showered Yedders force with arrows , and then both forces clashed , the battle was fiercely contested. As their infantries clashed ,their cavalries did as well the emperor was almost thrown of his horse but managed to survive , still the battle was close but the infantry in Yedders right with help of the elephants managed to push through and soon they began to break seeing this Yedder ordered a full charge in the rest of the line to put more pressure and it worked as Yugerten army collapsed and he himself was slain .
In late 851 he marched against the southern Berbers as Anir lifted the siege of Leptis Magna since his navy had been defeated and the copts and Greeks supported by the kingdom of Egypt had revolted against him, This gave him some breathing room and he decided to go down and finally defeat the nomadic Berber Confederacies.
Due to his close call in Albulae and his defeat at the hands of Anir, it would be safer if he like his father rode the biggest elephant to battle he found a horse more comfortable and better since he wanted to be in the fighting but he recognized that for a commander the beast was much more secure.
In mid 852 he defeated the nomadic Berbers near the Tensift River, the southern Berbers, and some forces of Ghana met Yedder II in Aoudaghost the enemy tried to use camels with burning straw in the backs to scare the elephants and maybe cause mass panic.
But it failed as the Berbers shot them down with their arrows then both armies clashed the light cavalry and javelineers harassed the flanks as the ghana infantry began to push Yedder force back, seeing this Yedder sent his reserve of cavalry to the center and elephants in the wings this worked as the beast scared off the southern Berbers horses and the Berber heavy cavalry broke the Ghanaian center after his victory he continued to defeat the local minor forces.
By 855 he conquered them and made Ghana his vassal again.
In 856 he marched towards the west to meet and finally defeat Anir
They met near Leptis Magna as Anir was trying to besiege it, the exact numbers of the combatants are unknown but it is most likely that the Berber emperor had about 30 000 and the rebellious governor had 35 000.
Both armies began to pray imploring God and Christ for a victory, Anir had placed his force in the typical formation with infantry and male elephants in the center, with heavy and light cavalry in the wings with female elephants and infantry in the extreme wings to prevent any cavalry outflanking.
The Berber emperor had the same structure, ButYedder had done the opposite using his male elephant in the wings, and his females in the center, when both armies met this caused the females in Anir forced to flee this created chaos and allowed Yedders Cavalry to attack them from the flanks Anir tried to save flanks by sending more of his center to the wings but failed and soon his army routed, Anir was captured and then executed in Leptis Magna.
The civil war was over, even though it was obvious to Yedder II that this crisis was caused by his enemies having too much power.
It was that not only his enemies had gotten a power base as other provinces like the kingdom of Hispania and the newly conquered provinces of Corsica and Crete sent few forces but sent more taxes so that they could concentrate on their own issues, Yedder noticed their increase self-autonomy but he did not care so long as they offered troops and paid their taxes he was fine , this decision of his to ignore his governor's increasing autonomy would have drastic consequences on the future of the great Berber empire but now he only cared about one thing
to secure his father’s dream of the Berber emperor being the lord of North Africa and for that he needed Egypt and he did not even have to face the mighty Roman empire for it just a bunch of Coptic peasant levies and their self proclaimed king, while intrigued he was somewhat disappointed he wanted to conquer it from the Romans to increase his status and be compared to his father Gwafa, at least he thought that now the conquest of Egypt was for a sure thing as this small Coptic kingdom could not compare to his empire.
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I don't think so I have told that heraldry symbols don't appear later in to the middle ages and the romans in the otl didn't have one
The flags I have made or have been made by other are real I for the intented powers but not comtemporary
Third Berber siege of Alexandria
Ever since the civil war was over Yedder prepared to invade Egypt he did not waste any time and began to reunite his army, The Berber emperor reunited troops of every part of his empire, from the recently defeated tribal Berbers with their horses and camel archers/javelineers, there was a small contingent of also Hispanic rounded for their heavy cavalry and good infantry, Balearic slingers and some sub-Saharan African troops sent by his vassal Ghana.
But the main bulk of the force was the Cartago roman Berbers that had composed the best infantry in the empire the best javelineers and the one the best heavy cavalry in the empire and the Libyans with their famous archers and infantry.
Alongside them Yedder II brought the 50 of his elephants just in case there was a battle, also to show off his massive force, some 35 000 men went to invade Egypt, but it was already wintering 857, and his admiral, the old but highly respected Munatas, manage to convince him to wait for spring and he listens to him and used the time to rally some 6000 more men, once winter passed he moved once he arrived in Libya in late May he was reinforced by 4000 men making his total number 45 000 and 200 ships, 80 of them being warships.
Apacyrus ever since he founded had prepared his kingdom against the Berbers, since the Romans had been in crisis did not worry about them and only had to worry about the Berbers, he began to sell shipments of grain at inflated prices to the roman Berber empire, and Frankish kingdoms, he also tried to heavily tax the eastern goods, but due to the collapse of the Frankish empire and the decline of the roman empire, eastern goods where not being bought, as the trade moved more to the south with Aksum he still participated on it.
Apacyrus had supported Anir during the Berber civil war which gave Yedder II an excuse to attack the Copts, he expected this and had prepared more for an invasion ever since 855, he gathered his veterans and used his wealth to train more men, by 858 he could muster some 10 000 men to defend his capital, but this was not enough he hired 2000 Bedouin mercenaries, and due to his alliance with the king of Makuria Ioannes II, he sent 3000 men to the city, augmented his numbers to 15 000 , along with 100 ships , but even then he was outnumbered 3 to 1 and Yedder could get 30 000 more men to assist him, due to this he made an unpopular move and in may June he sent word to Heraclonas , to assist him , the emperor wanted to reconquer Egypt but knew his army was in no condition to do so , as there was barely enough to pay them right now much less transport them to Alexandria ,so he wanted to wait recover his empire to then reconquer Egypt, he was not excited to help the Copts but he recognized a Berber conquest would make things much worse , not only would it hamper his intention to reconquer Egypt but nothing assured the Berbers from stopping in Egypt and they could go for the Levant , he promised 2 000 men and some 80 ships to his cause .
In return the Copts would send free grain shipment for 10 years, by June 30 Yedder arrived at the city and began its siege, Apacyrus son James went to the bank of the Nile to prevent any crossing, to the surprise of the Copts Yedder had no intention to cross the Nile, as he was confident that he was going to win and boasted that within less than 2 months he would be crowned by the patriarch of Alexandria as lord of all Africa, but Yedder could not use all his troops since about 15 000 of them where cavalry, but still even with that he outnumbered the city garrison of 9000 by a wide margin, Apacyrus told his son to stay where he was just in case the Berbers attempted to cross.
The siege began with a general assault on the third of July, as the siege engines began to pound the walls then the Berbers began to use ladders to climb the city walls, while the copts used their own catapults and began used rocks, stones, and heated sand to attack the Berbers, hoy July heat also did not help the Berbers as some fell due to heat exhaustion, still once they arrived at the top, heavy fighting ensued for hours but the Copts managed to push them with high casualties for both sides but the copts pushed them back.
In late July the first attack on the harbor began, the small place and the choke point facilitated the defense of the city and the Coptic ships managed to drive them of but still the city was now cut off, another attack was sent 2 weeks later with no success for the Berbers.
By mid-September, the third attack on the harbor began, but the Byzantines had just arrived the Romans knew that the Berbers avoided close contact due to their greek fire so the Romans moved to the harbor and the Berbers began to retreat when they did the Romans sent 8 old warships, and despite heavy arrow fire, the ships continued to move, Munatas noticed this and retreated but it was to late the roman ships burned their ships with greek fire, as the ships made contact and the fire began to spread and burned down 50 enemy ships, many Berbers died in the fires or drowned, among them Munatas, that was a massive blow to their morale when the Berber ships moved the Byzantines landed on the harbor to the cheer of the Copts and local greeks of the city.
Seeing this situation,and as the second month of the siege arrived, the copts sent word to Yedder saying "You must hurry your "majesty"or you are going to be crowned by another patriarch " , time passed and winter had arrived luckily for the bebbers their ships brought food and supplies from Libya and other parts to keep the siege going, but it was not enough and they need it to collect the supplies of the Nile delta.
So in the 9th of February of 859, Yedder II sent 8000 of his cavalry to cross the Nile, but they were met by James who showered them with a rain of arrows as they continued to cross they met the copts Bedouins and Kushites who fought them off with fierce resistance, after hours of fighting, the Berbers retreated, do this the Berber emperor now sent 10 000 cavalrymen and 20 elephants, in dawn they began crossing with almost no resistance, the Berber commanders assumed that the copts retreated due to the heavy fighting of the previous day, in reality, they were waiting for them, once half the Berbers crossed they were attacked from the front by the Copts and Kushites and from the sides by the Bedouins, seeing this the Berbers panicked and retreated many were shot or drowned.
After this Yedder would not make any attempts to waste more of his troops to cross, as he sent word back to Carthage to gather more troops and waited, when spring arrived he still waited by may the 10 000 arrived with 40 supply ships, with that in late May 859, he launched another massive assault spearheaded by his elite Lybian infantry these fought the copts in a section and broke through and the Coptic the forces retreated, they only need it to wait for them to open the gates and they moved to do so and they did, but a fire close to the main gate began and most sources say it was the copts that started it, the fire prevented more troops to join
burned the and thus 5000 Libyans being stuck had no option but to win, but the Coptic Byzantine force won and most of the Libyans in the city were killed.
Despite this loss, Yedder by June planed another assault but an epidemic broke through his camp, and that forced him to stay put z time passed and the siege had reached its first year with no clear winners yet.
But the main bulk of the force was the Cartago roman Berbers that had composed the best infantry in the empire the best javelineers and the one the best heavy cavalry in the empire and the Libyans with their famous archers and infantry.
Alongside them Yedder II brought the 50 of his elephants just in case there was a battle, also to show off his massive force, some 35 000 men went to invade Egypt, but it was already wintering 857, and his admiral, the old but highly respected Munatas, manage to convince him to wait for spring and he listens to him and used the time to rally some 6000 more men, once winter passed he moved once he arrived in Libya in late May he was reinforced by 4000 men making his total number 45 000 and 200 ships, 80 of them being warships.
Apacyrus ever since he founded had prepared his kingdom against the Berbers, since the Romans had been in crisis did not worry about them and only had to worry about the Berbers, he began to sell shipments of grain at inflated prices to the roman Berber empire, and Frankish kingdoms, he also tried to heavily tax the eastern goods, but due to the collapse of the Frankish empire and the decline of the roman empire, eastern goods where not being bought, as the trade moved more to the south with Aksum he still participated on it.
Apacyrus had supported Anir during the Berber civil war which gave Yedder II an excuse to attack the Copts, he expected this and had prepared more for an invasion ever since 855, he gathered his veterans and used his wealth to train more men, by 858 he could muster some 10 000 men to defend his capital, but this was not enough he hired 2000 Bedouin mercenaries, and due to his alliance with the king of Makuria Ioannes II, he sent 3000 men to the city, augmented his numbers to 15 000 , along with 100 ships , but even then he was outnumbered 3 to 1 and Yedder could get 30 000 more men to assist him, due to this he made an unpopular move and in may June he sent word to Heraclonas , to assist him , the emperor wanted to reconquer Egypt but knew his army was in no condition to do so , as there was barely enough to pay them right now much less transport them to Alexandria ,so he wanted to wait recover his empire to then reconquer Egypt, he was not excited to help the Copts but he recognized a Berber conquest would make things much worse , not only would it hamper his intention to reconquer Egypt but nothing assured the Berbers from stopping in Egypt and they could go for the Levant , he promised 2 000 men and some 80 ships to his cause .
In return the Copts would send free grain shipment for 10 years, by June 30 Yedder arrived at the city and began its siege, Apacyrus son James went to the bank of the Nile to prevent any crossing, to the surprise of the Copts Yedder had no intention to cross the Nile, as he was confident that he was going to win and boasted that within less than 2 months he would be crowned by the patriarch of Alexandria as lord of all Africa, but Yedder could not use all his troops since about 15 000 of them where cavalry, but still even with that he outnumbered the city garrison of 9000 by a wide margin, Apacyrus told his son to stay where he was just in case the Berbers attempted to cross.
The siege began with a general assault on the third of July, as the siege engines began to pound the walls then the Berbers began to use ladders to climb the city walls, while the copts used their own catapults and began used rocks, stones, and heated sand to attack the Berbers, hoy July heat also did not help the Berbers as some fell due to heat exhaustion, still once they arrived at the top, heavy fighting ensued for hours but the Copts managed to push them with high casualties for both sides but the copts pushed them back.
In late July the first attack on the harbor began, the small place and the choke point facilitated the defense of the city and the Coptic ships managed to drive them of but still the city was now cut off, another attack was sent 2 weeks later with no success for the Berbers.
By mid-September, the third attack on the harbor began, but the Byzantines had just arrived the Romans knew that the Berbers avoided close contact due to their greek fire so the Romans moved to the harbor and the Berbers began to retreat when they did the Romans sent 8 old warships, and despite heavy arrow fire, the ships continued to move, Munatas noticed this and retreated but it was to late the roman ships burned their ships with greek fire, as the ships made contact and the fire began to spread and burned down 50 enemy ships, many Berbers died in the fires or drowned, among them Munatas, that was a massive blow to their morale when the Berber ships moved the Byzantines landed on the harbor to the cheer of the Copts and local greeks of the city.
Seeing this situation,and as the second month of the siege arrived, the copts sent word to Yedder saying "You must hurry your "majesty"or you are going to be crowned by another patriarch " , time passed and winter had arrived luckily for the bebbers their ships brought food and supplies from Libya and other parts to keep the siege going, but it was not enough and they need it to collect the supplies of the Nile delta.
So in the 9th of February of 859, Yedder II sent 8000 of his cavalry to cross the Nile, but they were met by James who showered them with a rain of arrows as they continued to cross they met the copts Bedouins and Kushites who fought them off with fierce resistance, after hours of fighting, the Berbers retreated, do this the Berber emperor now sent 10 000 cavalrymen and 20 elephants, in dawn they began crossing with almost no resistance, the Berber commanders assumed that the copts retreated due to the heavy fighting of the previous day, in reality, they were waiting for them, once half the Berbers crossed they were attacked from the front by the Copts and Kushites and from the sides by the Bedouins, seeing this the Berbers panicked and retreated many were shot or drowned.
After this Yedder would not make any attempts to waste more of his troops to cross, as he sent word back to Carthage to gather more troops and waited, when spring arrived he still waited by may the 10 000 arrived with 40 supply ships, with that in late May 859, he launched another massive assault spearheaded by his elite Lybian infantry these fought the copts in a section and broke through and the Coptic the forces retreated, they only need it to wait for them to open the gates and they moved to do so and they did, but a fire close to the main gate began and most sources say it was the copts that started it, the fire prevented more troops to join
burned the and thus 5000 Libyans being stuck had no option but to win, but the Coptic Byzantine force won and most of the Libyans in the city were killed.
Despite this loss, Yedder by June planed another assault but an epidemic broke through his camp, and that forced him to stay put z time passed and the siege had reached its first year with no clear winners yet.
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Yeah I usually write with one but especially for long characters some slip and I don't notice
Third Berber siege of Alexandria pt 2
The epidemic killed about 5000 over the course of a month and a half and halted all operations for a while, during this time of weakness around mid-August, James crossed the Nile with half and attacked the Berber camp, the Romans in the city due to their insufficient pay in the army sallied out to the Berber camp to loot it, Yedder sent his cavalry to repel them, but inside the camp, they had no room to maneuver and the Coptic roman force repelled them, the Romans began to lite up the camp to cause panic, Yedder was busy trying to keep the situation under control as the attention moved to the Berber camp.
Apacyrus who had been seeing this prepared his troops and gather half of his forces and the roman contingent, seeing how the Berbers were distracted and seeing the possibility to end the siege the king of the Copts sent forth half of the garrison and joined the attack, the Berbers being demoralized and not prepared where attacked from the rear left flank or the Berber army, as the king moved the Kushites and copts caused a fire, soon the camp began to burn and Yedder was failing to Stabilize the situation, but he managed to rally his guard and push back Apacyrus force soon the Berbers manage to reform as they did James pulled back, as the Berbers concentrated mostly on his father's force.
The copts were pushed back to the city as James fled back to cross the Nile while being pursued by the Berber cavalry, but they managed to safely reach the river and cross it, still the defenders lost about 4000 troops while the Berbers lost 9000 and many hundred more would die in the next days and weeks of plague and exposure due to the fact that part of their camp had being burned exposed them more to the elements and diseases.
And yet the siege continued, but no new assaults would be launched due to the plague, sally and the low morale of the Berber soldiers, did not allow him to make another assault as that would cause a mutiny, yet Yedder assured them that the city was close to starvation, even though he knew that this was not the case, for the time the Berbers used their catapults against the city walls .
As autumn started, Yedder was facing the troops were becoming wearier and wearier and demanded to know if the siege would continue, Yedder assured them that they soon would win and he ordered that his ships continued to use fire arrows against the Coptic and Byzantine fleets, as they still avoided close combat due to the byzantine ships and their greek fire, the defenders just had to deal with putting out the fires and the cycle continued for many weeks.
As autumn continued Yedder had even planed to use sappers to undermine the walls of Alexandria but that was to risky for him and decided that he would not this , by early november he and his commanders had run out of patience made orders for the final assault and ordered a time of prayer , inside the city Apacyrus knew that the end was soon upon them , and thus the final assault began, Yedder sent in the early morning sent Moors to tire the defenders followed by Libyans who managed to breach into the city and tried to open the The west gate but where pushed back ,Yedder now ordered a general assault , a fierce melee ensued all over the walls , the Carthago berbers managed to enter the walls and the western gate allowing the rest to the troops to enter but the rest of the army was still fighting in the souther and some even in the eastern wall , the case of the eastern wall the berbers were pushed back and soon all the army moved back to the western wall ,but the Canal inside the city prevented berbers from marching deeper in to the city, it was now or never Apacyrus and the byzantine commander Manuel charged and drove the berbers back the berbers who were entering the city clashed against their retreating commanrades and chaos ensued ,and the copts and romans began to push back , many Berbers died.
Seeing how the situation was developing, Yedder called off the assault, his troops demoralized wanted blood and were soon to turn off the emperor, so to avoid the soon to come mutiny and possibly saves his life, Yedder with thousands of dead and nothing to show for it had to lift it and start his shameful retreat back to Carthage, James who had been some couple of kilometers from the city used this fact and his troops began to harass the retreating Berbers all the way to Libya, as the Byzantine and Coptic ships pursued the Berber ships.
Still, the siege of Alexandria was over and Apacyrus received praise by everyone as a hero, even the greeks of the city who disliked him now praised him, Manuel and Apacyrus showed a sign of friendship to the public as both greek and copt had survived the Berber onslaught, even though the roman commander ponder to backstab and take back the city, he first sent word to Heraclonas, the roman emperor knowing that he did not have the resources or the will to send an expedition told that if he did the Copts would massacre him as his force, as he had no intention nor means to send reinforcements, the byzantine commander stayed a few weeks more until his navy came back from harassing the Berber navy and made his way back to Constantinople.
Apacyrus who had been seeing this prepared his troops and gather half of his forces and the roman contingent, seeing how the Berbers were distracted and seeing the possibility to end the siege the king of the Copts sent forth half of the garrison and joined the attack, the Berbers being demoralized and not prepared where attacked from the rear left flank or the Berber army, as the king moved the Kushites and copts caused a fire, soon the camp began to burn and Yedder was failing to Stabilize the situation, but he managed to rally his guard and push back Apacyrus force soon the Berbers manage to reform as they did James pulled back, as the Berbers concentrated mostly on his father's force.
The copts were pushed back to the city as James fled back to cross the Nile while being pursued by the Berber cavalry, but they managed to safely reach the river and cross it, still the defenders lost about 4000 troops while the Berbers lost 9000 and many hundred more would die in the next days and weeks of plague and exposure due to the fact that part of their camp had being burned exposed them more to the elements and diseases.
And yet the siege continued, but no new assaults would be launched due to the plague, sally and the low morale of the Berber soldiers, did not allow him to make another assault as that would cause a mutiny, yet Yedder assured them that the city was close to starvation, even though he knew that this was not the case, for the time the Berbers used their catapults against the city walls .
As autumn started, Yedder was facing the troops were becoming wearier and wearier and demanded to know if the siege would continue, Yedder assured them that they soon would win and he ordered that his ships continued to use fire arrows against the Coptic and Byzantine fleets, as they still avoided close combat due to the byzantine ships and their greek fire, the defenders just had to deal with putting out the fires and the cycle continued for many weeks.
As autumn continued Yedder had even planed to use sappers to undermine the walls of Alexandria but that was to risky for him and decided that he would not this , by early november he and his commanders had run out of patience made orders for the final assault and ordered a time of prayer , inside the city Apacyrus knew that the end was soon upon them , and thus the final assault began, Yedder sent in the early morning sent Moors to tire the defenders followed by Libyans who managed to breach into the city and tried to open the The west gate but where pushed back ,Yedder now ordered a general assault , a fierce melee ensued all over the walls , the Carthago berbers managed to enter the walls and the western gate allowing the rest to the troops to enter but the rest of the army was still fighting in the souther and some even in the eastern wall , the case of the eastern wall the berbers were pushed back and soon all the army moved back to the western wall ,but the Canal inside the city prevented berbers from marching deeper in to the city, it was now or never Apacyrus and the byzantine commander Manuel charged and drove the berbers back the berbers who were entering the city clashed against their retreating commanrades and chaos ensued ,and the copts and romans began to push back , many Berbers died.
Seeing how the situation was developing, Yedder called off the assault, his troops demoralized wanted blood and were soon to turn off the emperor, so to avoid the soon to come mutiny and possibly saves his life, Yedder with thousands of dead and nothing to show for it had to lift it and start his shameful retreat back to Carthage, James who had been some couple of kilometers from the city used this fact and his troops began to harass the retreating Berbers all the way to Libya, as the Byzantine and Coptic ships pursued the Berber ships.
Still, the siege of Alexandria was over and Apacyrus received praise by everyone as a hero, even the greeks of the city who disliked him now praised him, Manuel and Apacyrus showed a sign of friendship to the public as both greek and copt had survived the Berber onslaught, even though the roman commander ponder to backstab and take back the city, he first sent word to Heraclonas, the roman emperor knowing that he did not have the resources or the will to send an expedition told that if he did the Copts would massacre him as his force, as he had no intention nor means to send reinforcements, the byzantine commander stayed a few weeks more until his navy came back from harassing the Berber navy and made his way back to Constantinople.
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the encounter that changed the east
As winter and the year of 860 began Heraclonas had already received news that Manuel was preparing to leave Alexandria leaving his preposterous idea to try to take the city, but then news arrived that the prince of Bulgaria had died after only 4 years of rule, Heraclonas suspected murder by the anti-roman faction of the nobles, so just in case an anti roman prince took power, he sent a force of 20 000 to the Danube front to aid the slavs that settled in the themes if the Bulgarian wanted to go on the offensive again, or just send them there to intimidate the Bulgarians in to support his choice of a successor.
Some 3 weeks later reports came that ships were coming to the Bosphorus, the emperor had few days to prepare, and thus in the morning of 9th of January Heraclonas looked down the city walls to see many ships, ships with dragons on their prows , the Rus knew about the army leaving and decided that this was the perfect moment to strike at the now "exposed" Constantinople.
Heraclonas knew who they were or at least had an idea since he had heard about stories from the rus and stories when he was very young and his father was still alive, he himself had saw rus merchants when they sent an embassy to Constantinople, he was impressed by the men's physical features and tales of their fighting prowess.
Heraclonas acknowledged that their timing was indeed perfect, indeed the city had no defense outside of the garrison as he had just sent his European army to move against the Bulgarians and Heraclonas did not want to recall them since the matters of Bulgaria were much more important, he could call for an Anatolian army but the was convinced Garrison of Constantinople could take on the 5000 Rus.
The true problem was the lack of the navy, as the Roman fleet, or at least what survived of it after the Berber's victory at Crete, was spread thin and sent to more important areas since Constantinople was such a secure area and none of the byzantine neighbors in the black sea had significant or any naval prowess he sent most of his ships to the Mediterranean, this limited heraclonas offensive options since the rus could just sack a place, return to their ships and flee, but the emperor was not worried that Constantinople would fall he knew that there was no way the Rus could take it they had no real siege engines and their boats were good for rivers and as transports but were not the best to assault a regular fortress much less the most defended city in the empire, they were definitely here to raid.
And thus as he predicted, the fleet of 200 Rus ships sailed into the Bosporus and started pillaging the suburbs of Constantinople setting homes on fire, drowning and stabbing the residents, and tried to loot the places, but it was hard for them as the imperial garrison showered them with their projectiles.
Some days later the emperor sallied out with 6000 men,
Gregory and many more sources mentioned the sheer ferocity of the fighting as Heraclonas ordered to show the rus that the romans where to be feared, as their troops smashed aside the rus who were, in reality, no match for a professional army.
The emperor and the protathignators fought in such unison and with such ferocity that it was said that the rus in fear would avoid them, after the small but bloody engagement the rus were shocked enough that they moved back to their ships, they went south passed to the Sea of Marmora and fell upon the Isles of the Princes, The Rus' plundered the dwellings and the monasteries, there and continued to raid for the next week.
As the week passed, Manuel returned from Alexandria, he had already been told about the Rus when he stopped in Rhodes to rest, so he intercepted the Rus fleet and used Greek fire against them while the other ships rained arrows against them or tried to smash their smaller ships, the rus longboats who stood no chance against the byzantine ships much less their flamethrowers quickly broke ranks but many of their vessels were destroyed and rus leaders captured.
The rus were finally defeated and forced to give back everything they looted, but Heraclonas did not order their execution after all these barberberians who just posed a minor inconvenience, he and their leader Oleg made trade negotiations beneficial to both parties but mostly the Romans and thus the rus while battered left with a good deal and the emperor got new trade deals to help me he accelerate the economic revival of his empire, but Heraclonas knew this was not going to be the last time the sons of Heraclius would meet the Vikings, and the black sea was not the only place they decided to wander to.
Some 3 weeks later reports came that ships were coming to the Bosphorus, the emperor had few days to prepare, and thus in the morning of 9th of January Heraclonas looked down the city walls to see many ships, ships with dragons on their prows , the Rus knew about the army leaving and decided that this was the perfect moment to strike at the now "exposed" Constantinople.
Heraclonas knew who they were or at least had an idea since he had heard about stories from the rus and stories when he was very young and his father was still alive, he himself had saw rus merchants when they sent an embassy to Constantinople, he was impressed by the men's physical features and tales of their fighting prowess.
Heraclonas acknowledged that their timing was indeed perfect, indeed the city had no defense outside of the garrison as he had just sent his European army to move against the Bulgarians and Heraclonas did not want to recall them since the matters of Bulgaria were much more important, he could call for an Anatolian army but the was convinced Garrison of Constantinople could take on the 5000 Rus.
The true problem was the lack of the navy, as the Roman fleet, or at least what survived of it after the Berber's victory at Crete, was spread thin and sent to more important areas since Constantinople was such a secure area and none of the byzantine neighbors in the black sea had significant or any naval prowess he sent most of his ships to the Mediterranean, this limited heraclonas offensive options since the rus could just sack a place, return to their ships and flee, but the emperor was not worried that Constantinople would fall he knew that there was no way the Rus could take it they had no real siege engines and their boats were good for rivers and as transports but were not the best to assault a regular fortress much less the most defended city in the empire, they were definitely here to raid.
And thus as he predicted, the fleet of 200 Rus ships sailed into the Bosporus and started pillaging the suburbs of Constantinople setting homes on fire, drowning and stabbing the residents, and tried to loot the places, but it was hard for them as the imperial garrison showered them with their projectiles.
Some days later the emperor sallied out with 6000 men,
Gregory and many more sources mentioned the sheer ferocity of the fighting as Heraclonas ordered to show the rus that the romans where to be feared, as their troops smashed aside the rus who were, in reality, no match for a professional army.
The emperor and the protathignators fought in such unison and with such ferocity that it was said that the rus in fear would avoid them, after the small but bloody engagement the rus were shocked enough that they moved back to their ships, they went south passed to the Sea of Marmora and fell upon the Isles of the Princes, The Rus' plundered the dwellings and the monasteries, there and continued to raid for the next week.
As the week passed, Manuel returned from Alexandria, he had already been told about the Rus when he stopped in Rhodes to rest, so he intercepted the Rus fleet and used Greek fire against them while the other ships rained arrows against them or tried to smash their smaller ships, the rus longboats who stood no chance against the byzantine ships much less their flamethrowers quickly broke ranks but many of their vessels were destroyed and rus leaders captured.
The rus were finally defeated and forced to give back everything they looted, but Heraclonas did not order their execution after all these barberberians who just posed a minor inconvenience, he and their leader Oleg made trade negotiations beneficial to both parties but mostly the Romans and thus the rus while battered left with a good deal and the emperor got new trade deals to help me he accelerate the economic revival of his empire, but Heraclonas knew this was not going to be the last time the sons of Heraclius would meet the Vikings, and the black sea was not the only place they decided to wander to.
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Viking sagas : Ireland
Ever since the first raids in the 790s on the English coast, things did not change that much for the Vikings, minor raids would continue for the next 3 decades Charlegmane campaign on Denmark severely limited raids as most of the Danish nobility was cut and the survivors were not keen on going to raid that far away, the Scandinavians became infamous, the franks called them the north men and the English called them Danes, both of them saw no distinction between the Scandinavians.
Despite the Norwegians raiding Denmark and helped free it from Frankish control, as soon as this was achieved the hostiles between some nobles continued, geography often shapes culture and there was little similarity between the flat river lands of Denmark and mountainous Norway also some of the recent converts of the Danes to Christianity was also another cause of fighting with the pagans Norwegians
this changed after the Frankish war was over in 833, Danish nobles now had a large number of warriors who did not really need now that the franks had given up hope to control Denmark and there was fear of another invasion, Louis was not a bad emperor but he was not his father and the Danes knew that all too well.
So they began to move to raid the Frankish coast and like the Norwegians went to attack the British isles in 830s the Vikings began to establish winter outpost that would become expeditionary bases, despite this the Vikings saw the island to the west as a better target, to understand why, we must understand that in the 9th century, Ireland was rich in precious metals and stones, the Irish made beautiful gold and silver jewelry and these were decorated with sapphires, emeralds, and pearls and despite the division of the island, since unlike most places abbots ruled the spiritual life and monasteries had many books, which they revered so much and due to the wealth of Irish church these bibles, religious text with old Greco roman classics where decorated with all kinds of jewels and precious stones.
Due to this, it was one of the first things that were looted, but this was where the difference where the Danes and Norwegians showed, some Danes showed more value to the holy books since so few people in Denmark knew Latin or how to read at all, so these books were usually stripped of their wealth and left alone, but they noticed that the Irish coveted the books and the scribes who made them, so their raids became capture and ransom missions were the books, monks and scribes where captured and ransomed, even though the scribes and monks were treated very well and somewhere allowed to teach about scripture since few Vikings could read or knew many prayers, of course, the Danes were not saints and killed anyone who resisted and not all people were treated kindly, whereas lucky as the scribes or monks would be treated with respect, poorer people were enslaved by them and some times the priest themselves were sold to slavery.
The Norwegians being pagan had no problem ripping the pages of the books but once they saw that the Irish coveted the books copied the Danes did and held the scribes and books for ransom.
The raids began to augment but it was a mere foreshadowing of what was to come, at the time the kingdom of Tara and Munster along with their vassals were at war, hearing of this Olaf the grey made an alliance with Valdar a powerful Danish Viking, and in 842 they moved to Ireland with 140 longships, they were not here for simple harrying’s but complex river campaigns that striking deep into Ireland, but after some years cracks began to show in the alliance first big crack first was in 844, Olaf and Valdar personally led the attack on the shrine of Ireland in Armagh of Northern Ireland, the monks and seminarists failed to escape were all about to be killed, until Valdar intervened a heated discussion occurred between him and Olaf, the Irish sources say that Valdar could accept taking loot but not kill these men who were holy men and served in a holy place.
These accounts are however dubious as later Christian authors tried to present the barbarity of the pagan Olaf compared to the more reasonable and kind Christian Valdar, in reality, Valdar could have been motivated by the ransom money if the books and the monks were unharmed, and saw Olaf’s killing of them and his book burning as unnecessary and counterproductive.
What is not contested is that Valdar stopped Olaf’s men from desecrating the resting place of Saint Patrick, as they were planning to dig him up and desecrate the altar, but the Danish leader said:
“If you desecrate this holy place and its saint your men shall die by our sword and my men will be stricken down by God allowing you to do such a thing”.
After this Valdar became the new abbot, the Irish monks had problems with a heretic taking the seat of the abbot but they could not fight back and the heretic had saved their lives, and as long as the people pay the monastery’s rents.
As raids continued, the sources mention Oleg’s atrocity made him the most hated person to Irish people, they regarded this Viking pirate as Satan’s disciple who was cruel and evil and showed no respect to God, but they saw Valdar as a good man a peaceful and wise savage that despite his version of the faith was heresy, the man was closer to god and the sources even mention that if he just renounced his heresy they would have no qualms with him, of course like the events in Armagh these are most likely exaggerations to present Oleg as cruel pagan and to represent Valdar as a misguided noble heretic.
However both men could be just as cruel when the situation presented itself, but both men were not contempt with raids, they had a bigger plan and attempted to conquer and control the whole island, in 846 both Vikings took a harbor they built a wall and named the city after the black pools Dublin, Oleg declared himself king of Ireland but to appease Valdar he made him his co-ruler.
As the years passed the two Viking leaders began to bicker even in public, slowly Oleg began to view Valdar as a mere subject and important one but a subject nonetheless and began to show it ignoring his complaints and dismissing him, this caused a strain on their relationship and they agreed that each would part their ways to loot the island, but the alliance was still maintained and they need it to share what they looted.
In 849 Oleg went to Limerick raided the city, sacked Mungret, took his relics, killed the monks and scholars, burned the books and desecrated the altar and put his wife on top of it and she says prophecies of Odin, but the heathen was not done and he declares himself abbot to collect the monastery’s taxes.
That was the last straw for Valdar, Oleg had insulted him for the last time, not only did he break his agreement on them being equals and to share loot, but he also broke their agreement not to kill monks, burned the sacred books, and did not share their loot, But Oleg now committed sacrilege, the Danish – Norwegian alliance would not last long and it was the worst time to be divided because in the same time the high kings of Ireland knew the Viking had to be stopped and stopped their war, and they concentrated on Valdar and especially Oleg if both died the Danish - Norwegian alliance would dissolve, to their surprise Valdar and Oleg where now feuding and close to the fighting.
Despite the Norwegians raiding Denmark and helped free it from Frankish control, as soon as this was achieved the hostiles between some nobles continued, geography often shapes culture and there was little similarity between the flat river lands of Denmark and mountainous Norway also some of the recent converts of the Danes to Christianity was also another cause of fighting with the pagans Norwegians
this changed after the Frankish war was over in 833, Danish nobles now had a large number of warriors who did not really need now that the franks had given up hope to control Denmark and there was fear of another invasion, Louis was not a bad emperor but he was not his father and the Danes knew that all too well.
So they began to move to raid the Frankish coast and like the Norwegians went to attack the British isles in 830s the Vikings began to establish winter outpost that would become expeditionary bases, despite this the Vikings saw the island to the west as a better target, to understand why, we must understand that in the 9th century, Ireland was rich in precious metals and stones, the Irish made beautiful gold and silver jewelry and these were decorated with sapphires, emeralds, and pearls and despite the division of the island, since unlike most places abbots ruled the spiritual life and monasteries had many books, which they revered so much and due to the wealth of Irish church these bibles, religious text with old Greco roman classics where decorated with all kinds of jewels and precious stones.
Due to this, it was one of the first things that were looted, but this was where the difference where the Danes and Norwegians showed, some Danes showed more value to the holy books since so few people in Denmark knew Latin or how to read at all, so these books were usually stripped of their wealth and left alone, but they noticed that the Irish coveted the books and the scribes who made them, so their raids became capture and ransom missions were the books, monks and scribes where captured and ransomed, even though the scribes and monks were treated very well and somewhere allowed to teach about scripture since few Vikings could read or knew many prayers, of course, the Danes were not saints and killed anyone who resisted and not all people were treated kindly, whereas lucky as the scribes or monks would be treated with respect, poorer people were enslaved by them and some times the priest themselves were sold to slavery.
The Norwegians being pagan had no problem ripping the pages of the books but once they saw that the Irish coveted the books copied the Danes did and held the scribes and books for ransom.
The raids began to augment but it was a mere foreshadowing of what was to come, at the time the kingdom of Tara and Munster along with their vassals were at war, hearing of this Olaf the grey made an alliance with Valdar a powerful Danish Viking, and in 842 they moved to Ireland with 140 longships, they were not here for simple harrying’s but complex river campaigns that striking deep into Ireland, but after some years cracks began to show in the alliance first big crack first was in 844, Olaf and Valdar personally led the attack on the shrine of Ireland in Armagh of Northern Ireland, the monks and seminarists failed to escape were all about to be killed, until Valdar intervened a heated discussion occurred between him and Olaf, the Irish sources say that Valdar could accept taking loot but not kill these men who were holy men and served in a holy place.
These accounts are however dubious as later Christian authors tried to present the barbarity of the pagan Olaf compared to the more reasonable and kind Christian Valdar, in reality, Valdar could have been motivated by the ransom money if the books and the monks were unharmed, and saw Olaf’s killing of them and his book burning as unnecessary and counterproductive.
What is not contested is that Valdar stopped Olaf’s men from desecrating the resting place of Saint Patrick, as they were planning to dig him up and desecrate the altar, but the Danish leader said:
“If you desecrate this holy place and its saint your men shall die by our sword and my men will be stricken down by God allowing you to do such a thing”.
After this Valdar became the new abbot, the Irish monks had problems with a heretic taking the seat of the abbot but they could not fight back and the heretic had saved their lives, and as long as the people pay the monastery’s rents.
As raids continued, the sources mention Oleg’s atrocity made him the most hated person to Irish people, they regarded this Viking pirate as Satan’s disciple who was cruel and evil and showed no respect to God, but they saw Valdar as a good man a peaceful and wise savage that despite his version of the faith was heresy, the man was closer to god and the sources even mention that if he just renounced his heresy they would have no qualms with him, of course like the events in Armagh these are most likely exaggerations to present Oleg as cruel pagan and to represent Valdar as a misguided noble heretic.
However both men could be just as cruel when the situation presented itself, but both men were not contempt with raids, they had a bigger plan and attempted to conquer and control the whole island, in 846 both Vikings took a harbor they built a wall and named the city after the black pools Dublin, Oleg declared himself king of Ireland but to appease Valdar he made him his co-ruler.
As the years passed the two Viking leaders began to bicker even in public, slowly Oleg began to view Valdar as a mere subject and important one but a subject nonetheless and began to show it ignoring his complaints and dismissing him, this caused a strain on their relationship and they agreed that each would part their ways to loot the island, but the alliance was still maintained and they need it to share what they looted.
In 849 Oleg went to Limerick raided the city, sacked Mungret, took his relics, killed the monks and scholars, burned the books and desecrated the altar and put his wife on top of it and she says prophecies of Odin, but the heathen was not done and he declares himself abbot to collect the monastery’s taxes.
That was the last straw for Valdar, Oleg had insulted him for the last time, not only did he break his agreement on them being equals and to share loot, but he also broke their agreement not to kill monks, burned the sacred books, and did not share their loot, But Oleg now committed sacrilege, the Danish – Norwegian alliance would not last long and it was the worst time to be divided because in the same time the high kings of Ireland knew the Viking had to be stopped and stopped their war, and they concentrated on Valdar and especially Oleg if both died the Danish - Norwegian alliance would dissolve, to their surprise Valdar and Oleg where now feuding and close to the fighting.
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Viking tales: Rise of Halfdan
In late 849, Olaf and Valdar had fought a small battle little is know about this but the danes won, in his retreat, Olaf was captured by the king of Meath who had him executed by drowning tying him as the men rowed, with Olaf the grey dead, the Norwegians and Danes alliance was doomed or at least this is what the high kings though and in some ways, it did as the Norwegians renewed hostilities with the Danes, but many Norwegians despite the killing of their leader joined Valdar due to his charismatic nature and him being the most powerful viking he soon became king of Dublin, yet he for a while maintaining good relationships with the other kingdoms it seemed peace had arrived but in reality he was consolidating by 846 he began to attack the other kingdoms he was dreaming of taking the hole of Ireland and making it his kingdom.
He showed both compassion and terror in his raids and expansion , he was being so successful that attracted native converts of course not to his heresy but his way of living as many Irish joined him to get rich or seek fame, and soon Dublin was with a generation of half Irish half Scandinavian Vikings,the high Kings were not happy they wanted them gone, at first they did no mind as he was asking for peace but when he started his raids and expansion they wanted him gone they reminded their subjects that he was a heretic but some didn't mind him as compared to his old ally Olaf was still remember and hated.
Valdar did many raids and won many minor engagements against the Irish from his time with Oleg to 848 he augmented Viking settlement in kork , Waterford, Wexford, and other cities, 850 he defeated a force of the kingdom of Leinster in Leixlip but despite his victory he was murdered by one of his Norwegian mercenaries as he prayed, with his death, the danish - Norwegian alliance truly broke and factional rivalries between the Danish and Norwegians broke out, the Irish Vikings chose which side paid more, the factions divided into each of the previous leader's sons, this would continue for some years. But just as other Danes saw a new target the Vikings raids in 840s on Frankia grew since the death of King Louis, raiding both west and east Frankia and boomed after the civil war most raided east Frankia due to the request of Charles to distract his brother with the East Frankish forces moving to west Francia coastal defenses had nearly collapsed.
But Charlemagne's action was helping his grandson Louis, like the border and the surrounding coast was the most defended but Louis had left it undermined despite this the forts were strong and would not allow the Vikings to raid very deep into the country, despite that the Vikings ravaged the coast, one of these danish leaders was Halfdan he was an ally and vassal to Charles whom he allowed to settle in Northern west Frankia and now he used it as a base to raid the east Frankish coast.
In 851 he gathered 80 ships and went up defeated a local east Frankish force and took Urchent the city was sacked and Louis the German was forced to pay to get him to leave, but the sources mentioned that despite his victory and the weakening of Louis, he was worried since a rift grew between the Viking leader and king Charles, it had indeed grown ever since he was awarded lands in Frankia in 844 , the king had worried about his rising influence and some nobles outright hated him, he also caused problems
despite being a vassal and there to defend west Francia he could not always prevent his men from raiding much less other Vikings.
This culminated with the Viking leader asking for a mere 200 men and 10 ships which the king of France refused , these tensions soon found their way to Louis the German and he paid him to attack Charles , but despite his problems with the king of West Francia he did just planned to take Louis money and leave its not like he could do anything about it , but rumors began to circulate that Charles after the war was over would plan to have Halfdan killed , he would strike first it that was the case , he reunited a force of 6000 and 200 longships Seine , he attacked Rouen and sacked it as he moved south , Charles could barely send some couple of thousands to stop him , they encountered his forces some kilometers north of Paris and were promptly slaughtered, with that the Vikings moved to the city in may 852 ,they began their siege , the city was not prepared for an assault or a prolonged siege, the undermanned garrison and the lack of strong fortifications mean that the Danes took the city and sacked it .
Charles could try to send more forces to fend of the Vikings, but this was impossible as moving any more forces could give an advantage, he also could try to use his lords to attack him but these Frankish lords loyalty was dubious at best, having no option, Charles did what his brother did and paid Halfdan a ransom, with this he could buy himself time, 1200 kilograms of silver to get him to leave, and he did pillaging in his way back to the coast these events made Halfdan into a popular and well known figure . The sack of Paris and the sacks of east Frankia especially Utrecht proved just how vulnerable the Frankish kingdoms had become since Charlemagne's death less than 50 years ago.
He showed both compassion and terror in his raids and expansion , he was being so successful that attracted native converts of course not to his heresy but his way of living as many Irish joined him to get rich or seek fame, and soon Dublin was with a generation of half Irish half Scandinavian Vikings,the high Kings were not happy they wanted them gone, at first they did no mind as he was asking for peace but when he started his raids and expansion they wanted him gone they reminded their subjects that he was a heretic but some didn't mind him as compared to his old ally Olaf was still remember and hated.
Valdar did many raids and won many minor engagements against the Irish from his time with Oleg to 848 he augmented Viking settlement in kork , Waterford, Wexford, and other cities, 850 he defeated a force of the kingdom of Leinster in Leixlip but despite his victory he was murdered by one of his Norwegian mercenaries as he prayed, with his death, the danish - Norwegian alliance truly broke and factional rivalries between the Danish and Norwegians broke out, the Irish Vikings chose which side paid more, the factions divided into each of the previous leader's sons, this would continue for some years. But just as other Danes saw a new target the Vikings raids in 840s on Frankia grew since the death of King Louis, raiding both west and east Frankia and boomed after the civil war most raided east Frankia due to the request of Charles to distract his brother with the East Frankish forces moving to west Francia coastal defenses had nearly collapsed.
But Charlemagne's action was helping his grandson Louis, like the border and the surrounding coast was the most defended but Louis had left it undermined despite this the forts were strong and would not allow the Vikings to raid very deep into the country, despite that the Vikings ravaged the coast, one of these danish leaders was Halfdan he was an ally and vassal to Charles whom he allowed to settle in Northern west Frankia and now he used it as a base to raid the east Frankish coast.
In 851 he gathered 80 ships and went up defeated a local east Frankish force and took Urchent the city was sacked and Louis the German was forced to pay to get him to leave, but the sources mentioned that despite his victory and the weakening of Louis, he was worried since a rift grew between the Viking leader and king Charles, it had indeed grown ever since he was awarded lands in Frankia in 844 , the king had worried about his rising influence and some nobles outright hated him, he also caused problems
despite being a vassal and there to defend west Francia he could not always prevent his men from raiding much less other Vikings.
This culminated with the Viking leader asking for a mere 200 men and 10 ships which the king of France refused , these tensions soon found their way to Louis the German and he paid him to attack Charles , but despite his problems with the king of West Francia he did just planned to take Louis money and leave its not like he could do anything about it , but rumors began to circulate that Charles after the war was over would plan to have Halfdan killed , he would strike first it that was the case , he reunited a force of 6000 and 200 longships Seine , he attacked Rouen and sacked it as he moved south , Charles could barely send some couple of thousands to stop him , they encountered his forces some kilometers north of Paris and were promptly slaughtered, with that the Vikings moved to the city in may 852 ,they began their siege , the city was not prepared for an assault or a prolonged siege, the undermanned garrison and the lack of strong fortifications mean that the Danes took the city and sacked it .
Charles could try to send more forces to fend of the Vikings, but this was impossible as moving any more forces could give an advantage, he also could try to use his lords to attack him but these Frankish lords loyalty was dubious at best, having no option, Charles did what his brother did and paid Halfdan a ransom, with this he could buy himself time, 1200 kilograms of silver to get him to leave, and he did pillaging in his way back to the coast these events made Halfdan into a popular and well known figure . The sack of Paris and the sacks of east Frankia especially Utrecht proved just how vulnerable the Frankish kingdoms had become since Charlemagne's death less than 50 years ago.
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Viking tales : The sea with no tide
After Halfdan raids he became a legend this inspired many Vikings to sack west and east Francia inspired many more Vikings to raid deep into the country,
“The number of ships per year increases, the endless flood of Vikings has no ends, the heathens and heretics have no mercy for the people of Christ, no one can stop them”
The Vikings sacked many cities,Paris its self was attacked again in 856, and in 858 some while others attacked,Vannes, Indre,Melun, and much more cities during this period, also during these years Erik a Norwegian Viking who had been raiding Frankia since the 830s made an alliance with Ivar son of Halfdan but the young one was more ambitious and in early 859 Ivar son of Halfdan along with one of his ally and friend Erik led 250 ships with 7500 men to go to an area that Vikings feared the lands of the south.
Hispania was an area that few Vikings wanted to go to sure the survivors of that raid in 844 were richer than any other Vikings but stories were still told on Gwafas II with his grey beasts slaughtering the north men and made an example of them by putting their heads on steaks in the coast so that the survivors could see what would happen to them if they returned and it worked, Frankia was closer and an easier target than having to risk dying in Hispania.
The Vikings took the same route and some veterans of the past expedition guided them but they now were ready and repulsed them,they entered the same route to attack the same city Gwafa II had defeated them 16 years ago, but this time ispalis would not be taken, Askel III had prepared if the kingdom and Alfonso met them with, the walls and extra defenses were too much and the Vikings were forced to surrender.
The but Alfonso had use of them, he did not kill them, in fact, he offered them free passage to attack the North African coast, the great Berber empire was in the brink of another civil war , as the failed siege of Alexandria damaged Yedder II prestige and weakened his position as loyal and professional soldiers.
Alfonso was ready to fulfill his father's promise to Munatas and make him the emperor, which the senior king could not fulfill despite the pleas of Munatas to attack during the Berber civil war due to him being busy with the kingdom of Aquitaine, but now with the Frankish kingdoms weakened and Yedder in a bad position now was the time to strike.
He had been gathering a large force from all around his kingdom, from Basque and Hispanic infantry, his famous heavy cavalry and slingers they were told that this was not the North African the Vikings planned to raid in 844 when Gwafa ruled but a weaker North Africa that suffered civil war and now was weakened due to the siege of Alexandria, despite this, the great Berber empire was still strong he needed to distract them.
So Erik was sent with half of the ships and men to raid the North African coast adjacent to the territory of Mauretania, the Vikings had some success raiding coastal towns and even Cesarea but a few days later they were met by the Berber governor of the city Asafar with reinforcements he forced the Vikings to flee killing and capturing 500 of them, despite their fierceness and the recent civil wars the great Berber empire still had many professional soldiers that were too much for the Vikings to handle, they were used to Frankish peasant levies and some professional not a whole army of them, still, the Viking raids caused the Berbers to send more troops there leaving a secure crossing for Alfonso.
A few weeks Alfonso, crossed the straits of Askel with 15 000 infantry including his slingers, 5000 heavy cavalry, 60 elephants, and the Vikings, he was joined by the governor of Mauretania Tingitana, Areksi with 5000 more troops.
The Hispanic army moved to the east to Carthage, and Yedder with 30 000 men came to intercept them, both armies had the same composition of infantry and archers in the center with the king and emperor with his guards along with elephants, with the flanks with heavy and light cavalry with the extreme flanks with elephants.
Both armies met near Cartennae, the Vikings were sent as vanguard they advanced with the Balearic slingers, as the latter rained stones upon the Berbers covering the Viking advance the hail of stones caused some substantial casualties there was a reason why the Balearic slingers were the most famous troops in the empire, the rest of the Hispanic army moved forward
The Vikings clashed with the Berbers these were getting the better of them and soon they sent their elephants in the center which terrified most of the Vikings but did not cause a mass route, but after some time had to retreat then both Hispanics and Berber met, but this was just a distraction for Munatas had bribed one of the commanders of Yedder army to betray him, he moved his elephants in the right to attack Yedder center causing the cavalry panic and the female elephants in the center to flee from the males of the right causing massive chaos with that the whole of the Hispanic army attacked, 7000 Berbers died and 2000 Hispanics with some 200 Viking deaths.
Yedder II did not die but had to flee with the surviving troops, with the cities giving up and claiming Munatas as the new emperor, after some weeks the armies entered Carthage to discover that Yedder II had been assassinated and with that Munatas was declared emperor and tried to delay on the promise made to Askel III about changing his vassal oath, but Alfonso who still had his army in the city threaten to depose him if he didn't and install a puppet, with this the new emperor caved and accept the terms.
The new vassal’s oath declared that Alfonso had to pay fewer taxes or tribute to the Berber emperor and Alfonso could choose how much taxes he would pay in a certain year, the treaty also liberated him of any obligation to send troops to the Berber emperor and now he could choose to send troops if he wanted to and of course, the document also made concessions to give the Hispanic province even more freedoms.
During their stay in Carthage the Vikings were amazed at what they saw, nothing in Scandinavia and nothing in what they had seen at Frankia could compare the city was marvelous aqueducts brought fresh water to the city, the markets were filled with commerce and they even traded some of their furs and whale meat for salt, gold from Ghana and something else form Ghana that brought their attention.
The Vikings saw sub-Saharan Africans for the first time, they found them so intriguing in the sources they are called the blaman or blue men, these were slaves sent from Ghana, and the Vikings bought some of them.
Another thing that caught their attention where the animals While in some other parts exotic animals like giraffes, leopards, lions, zebras, were being sold.
They also saw constructions with men oxen and elephant alike lifting many weights for new buildings, the elephants this was animal that intrigued and terrified the Vikings in the city those used for construction seemed peaceful but they knew they could be aggressive animals, and yet the great stables of Carthage could have 300 of them.
The Vikings were also marveled at the streets houses and baths, the great church of Carthage, and the imperial palace, their descriptions were nearly identical to that of Idder nearly 100 years ago of course, not all Vikings entered the city but all of them did in different times and turns, even outside of the walls the farmland of Carthage that fed the city and many other parts of the great Berber empire.
After some time Alfonso paid the Vikings handsomely for their contributions and moved back to Hispania, as the Vikings left the capital of the Berbers a debate began some wanted to go back to the king of Hispania and what they raided from the north African coast meant that the Vikings had so much wealth that the ships where low in the water, but others argued that the south of Frankia Italy and the lands beyond were still ripe for plunder and they would be remembered as the first ones to navigate all the Mediterranean.
Erik and Ivar convinced the men to keep going and thus The Vikings continued their way and were given safe harbor in Corsica from there they moved to the kingdom of Aquitaine to raid the Frankish realm, they sacked the city of Narbonne and set up a camp in the Camargue area its marshes and its defensible island was a good place to rest for the winter, by spring Nimes and Arles where sacked, the north men did not stop and also sacked Valence, they were paid to stop and left for Italy.
“The number of ships per year increases, the endless flood of Vikings has no ends, the heathens and heretics have no mercy for the people of Christ, no one can stop them”
The Vikings sacked many cities,Paris its self was attacked again in 856, and in 858 some while others attacked,Vannes, Indre,Melun, and much more cities during this period, also during these years Erik a Norwegian Viking who had been raiding Frankia since the 830s made an alliance with Ivar son of Halfdan but the young one was more ambitious and in early 859 Ivar son of Halfdan along with one of his ally and friend Erik led 250 ships with 7500 men to go to an area that Vikings feared the lands of the south.
Hispania was an area that few Vikings wanted to go to sure the survivors of that raid in 844 were richer than any other Vikings but stories were still told on Gwafas II with his grey beasts slaughtering the north men and made an example of them by putting their heads on steaks in the coast so that the survivors could see what would happen to them if they returned and it worked, Frankia was closer and an easier target than having to risk dying in Hispania.
The Vikings took the same route and some veterans of the past expedition guided them but they now were ready and repulsed them,they entered the same route to attack the same city Gwafa II had defeated them 16 years ago, but this time ispalis would not be taken, Askel III had prepared if the kingdom and Alfonso met them with, the walls and extra defenses were too much and the Vikings were forced to surrender.
The but Alfonso had use of them, he did not kill them, in fact, he offered them free passage to attack the North African coast, the great Berber empire was in the brink of another civil war , as the failed siege of Alexandria damaged Yedder II prestige and weakened his position as loyal and professional soldiers.
Alfonso was ready to fulfill his father's promise to Munatas and make him the emperor, which the senior king could not fulfill despite the pleas of Munatas to attack during the Berber civil war due to him being busy with the kingdom of Aquitaine, but now with the Frankish kingdoms weakened and Yedder in a bad position now was the time to strike.
He had been gathering a large force from all around his kingdom, from Basque and Hispanic infantry, his famous heavy cavalry and slingers they were told that this was not the North African the Vikings planned to raid in 844 when Gwafa ruled but a weaker North Africa that suffered civil war and now was weakened due to the siege of Alexandria, despite this, the great Berber empire was still strong he needed to distract them.
So Erik was sent with half of the ships and men to raid the North African coast adjacent to the territory of Mauretania, the Vikings had some success raiding coastal towns and even Cesarea but a few days later they were met by the Berber governor of the city Asafar with reinforcements he forced the Vikings to flee killing and capturing 500 of them, despite their fierceness and the recent civil wars the great Berber empire still had many professional soldiers that were too much for the Vikings to handle, they were used to Frankish peasant levies and some professional not a whole army of them, still, the Viking raids caused the Berbers to send more troops there leaving a secure crossing for Alfonso.
A few weeks Alfonso, crossed the straits of Askel with 15 000 infantry including his slingers, 5000 heavy cavalry, 60 elephants, and the Vikings, he was joined by the governor of Mauretania Tingitana, Areksi with 5000 more troops.
The Hispanic army moved to the east to Carthage, and Yedder with 30 000 men came to intercept them, both armies had the same composition of infantry and archers in the center with the king and emperor with his guards along with elephants, with the flanks with heavy and light cavalry with the extreme flanks with elephants.
Both armies met near Cartennae, the Vikings were sent as vanguard they advanced with the Balearic slingers, as the latter rained stones upon the Berbers covering the Viking advance the hail of stones caused some substantial casualties there was a reason why the Balearic slingers were the most famous troops in the empire, the rest of the Hispanic army moved forward
The Vikings clashed with the Berbers these were getting the better of them and soon they sent their elephants in the center which terrified most of the Vikings but did not cause a mass route, but after some time had to retreat then both Hispanics and Berber met, but this was just a distraction for Munatas had bribed one of the commanders of Yedder army to betray him, he moved his elephants in the right to attack Yedder center causing the cavalry panic and the female elephants in the center to flee from the males of the right causing massive chaos with that the whole of the Hispanic army attacked, 7000 Berbers died and 2000 Hispanics with some 200 Viking deaths.
Yedder II did not die but had to flee with the surviving troops, with the cities giving up and claiming Munatas as the new emperor, after some weeks the armies entered Carthage to discover that Yedder II had been assassinated and with that Munatas was declared emperor and tried to delay on the promise made to Askel III about changing his vassal oath, but Alfonso who still had his army in the city threaten to depose him if he didn't and install a puppet, with this the new emperor caved and accept the terms.
The new vassal’s oath declared that Alfonso had to pay fewer taxes or tribute to the Berber emperor and Alfonso could choose how much taxes he would pay in a certain year, the treaty also liberated him of any obligation to send troops to the Berber emperor and now he could choose to send troops if he wanted to and of course, the document also made concessions to give the Hispanic province even more freedoms.
During their stay in Carthage the Vikings were amazed at what they saw, nothing in Scandinavia and nothing in what they had seen at Frankia could compare the city was marvelous aqueducts brought fresh water to the city, the markets were filled with commerce and they even traded some of their furs and whale meat for salt, gold from Ghana and something else form Ghana that brought their attention.
The Vikings saw sub-Saharan Africans for the first time, they found them so intriguing in the sources they are called the blaman or blue men, these were slaves sent from Ghana, and the Vikings bought some of them.
Another thing that caught their attention where the animals While in some other parts exotic animals like giraffes, leopards, lions, zebras, were being sold.
They also saw constructions with men oxen and elephant alike lifting many weights for new buildings, the elephants this was animal that intrigued and terrified the Vikings in the city those used for construction seemed peaceful but they knew they could be aggressive animals, and yet the great stables of Carthage could have 300 of them.
The Vikings were also marveled at the streets houses and baths, the great church of Carthage, and the imperial palace, their descriptions were nearly identical to that of Idder nearly 100 years ago of course, not all Vikings entered the city but all of them did in different times and turns, even outside of the walls the farmland of Carthage that fed the city and many other parts of the great Berber empire.
After some time Alfonso paid the Vikings handsomely for their contributions and moved back to Hispania, as the Vikings left the capital of the Berbers a debate began some wanted to go back to the king of Hispania and what they raided from the north African coast meant that the Vikings had so much wealth that the ships where low in the water, but others argued that the south of Frankia Italy and the lands beyond were still ripe for plunder and they would be remembered as the first ones to navigate all the Mediterranean.
Erik and Ivar convinced the men to keep going and thus The Vikings continued their way and were given safe harbor in Corsica from there they moved to the kingdom of Aquitaine to raid the Frankish realm, they sacked the city of Narbonne and set up a camp in the Camargue area its marshes and its defensible island was a good place to rest for the winter, by spring Nimes and Arles where sacked, the north men did not stop and also sacked Valence, they were paid to stop and left for Italy.
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