Due to the updates taking a while, I may have to read it from the start (again) to re-fresh my memory, due to me forgetting names such as Korbuga and John II (I remember him from the last update, that is it). But I do love the updates when they come, don't get me wrong.
Otherwise, updates on the Ukraine and Russia tying in to Byzantium? I would like to see more of the world in this TL.
A detailed plan for developments in the wider world (well, Europe and the House of Islam) has been drawn up for the thirteenth century. A shock from the East will emerge after 1220, but it won't be Mongol. It'll prompt restructuring on a massive scale in all areas it hits, and two states will be particularly scarred by the impact of invasion and occupation.
To (very) briefly summarise the world known to Constantinople in the 1180s:
- Hungary and Bulgaria are uprising against the Empire, and a spirit of revolt is emerging in the cowed city states of Italy, too. None of these is strong enough to rebel alone though, yet.
- The Anglo-Norman and French kingdoms are embroiled in a particularly bitter war over which will eventually come to dominate Francia. At this stage, the "French" are winning, but the tide could easily turn. The two dynasties are French speaking and intermarried, so it's much more of a civil war between two rival Francian dynasties.
- Moorish influence in Spain is growing, and the Christians are back on the defensive.
- Germany remains relatively decentralised.
- The Rus, too, show no signs of uniting into any form of singular principality. Currently, Kiev is dominant, thanks to close trade links with the Empire and through there, the Islamic world.
- The Seljuks rule Iraq and Greater Iran too, and are putting down serious roots here. Western Europeans are coming to refer to Mesopotamia as "Turchia", though the Islamic world from Egypt to Afghanistan is really a Turkish one now.
