Let Me Tell You about My Be-eeeesssst Friend! A Byzantine-Sasanian Re-approachment - 602 AD

[Alt History Buff]

602 AD

Ctesiphon, Capital of the Sasanian Empire

Image of King Khosrow II:

King/Shah Khosrow II of the Sasanian Empire (also called the Empire of Iranians) was getting damned tired of his Capital. Ctesiphon was perfectly pleasant in the summer but the endless problems associated with the throne plagued him from day to night.

1. The Onoq Khaganate (the Ten Arrows), comprised of Turkic peoples to the north, had done some raiding though reports from wherever the hell they called their capital these days held that it was only local chieftains, not another full-fledged war the Empire could hardly afford. The Turkics were pastoral people, settling north of the Empire from lands far to the east, near China. The Nestorians had been begging the King to allow them to proselytize the barbarians. By this point, the King was ready to let them if this could keep the tribemen off his back for a while.

2. Speaking of the Nestorians, the damned Christian sect which had received a protected status in the Zoroastrian-dominated Empire (though less dominant than before), were stirring up trouble. In theory, minority religions should just keep their mouths shut and be grateful to be allowed to exist. However, the Nestorians, led by his own finance minister Yazdin, wanted Khosrow to ban the Miaphysite Sect which was favored by his favorite wife, Shirin (and Gabriel, the Royal Physician). While nominally favoring the Miaphysites (one had to in order to keep his wife happy), the King didn't see a difference between the two.

In fact, he failed to see the difference between the two and the "Great Church" of the Byzantine Empire and other parts of the west. Apparently, there was some sort of divide over the "nature of Christ", whatever that meant. One thought that the man was fully divine, his mortal body borrowed or some sort of illusion. Another thought he was both a divide being AND a mortal man. Others thought the latter but somehow combined into one into one indivisible...but somehow seperate....form???

Honestly, the King couldn't give a damn. While persecution of the religion had been common for centuries by the Zoroastrian leaders of the Empire, recent decades had seen more moderation for the assorted sects....except of course for the "Great Church". Absolutely NO Sassanid King would allow a religion beholden to the Pope of the West and the Byzantine Emperor. These smaller sects had been persecuted in the Byzantine Empire and found toleration of a sort in the Sasanian Empire.

3. The nominal "allies" of the Empire, the Lakhmid peoples of the south, were apparently in the process of being Christianized. Normally, the King would not care but even the King, Al-Nu'man, professed Nestorian Christianity. Al-Nu'man had fallen out with his ally's ministers in recent years with some of Khosrow's ministers. Some of Khosrow's advisors were hinting that perhaps Al-Nu'man should be eliminated and the southern Kingdom be annexed.

4. The Zoroastrian priesthood was similarly complaining, which is about all they did other than live ostentatiously off of the wealth of the official church. More than once, the King wondered just how long the religion would dominate the Empire. In just a few centuries, Christianity had come to dominate half the world yet Zoroastrianism remained locked in Persia, the religion apparently uninterested in proselytizing foreigners. This seemed a poor strategy for the decadent priesthood. But Khosrow could only manage the situation as best he could.

5. More than one coup had been attempted by various generals over the years. There always seemed to be a plot around the corner.


It was in this state of mind that the initial rumors coming from the west arrived. Soldiers of Byzantium were rebelling against the Emperor. Well, that was common and initially Khosrow ignored it. He and Maurice had an understanding from long ago. Both would respect the current boundaries and leave the other to resolve internal disputes in peace.

Why, without the intervention of Emperor Maurice, Khosrow would never have regained his throne a decade past. The King and the Emperor had spent much time together in Constantinople as the Byzantine forces had built up to march up the Sasanian Empire and remove the usurper from the throne. Naturally, Maurice attempted to convert the then young Khosrow but to no avail. Still, the Emperor "adopted" Khosrow. Unlike other Byzantine Emperors or Roman Emperors before then, this was symbolic and Khosrow was not being made heir to the Byzantine throne.

But the Emperor was as good as his word and helped Khosrow crush the usurper. Khosrow, good to his own word, handed over the disputed provinces in Armenia (against some of his own ministers' advice and common expectation). In hindsight, this was a good thing as the Armenians were almost entirely Christian and devoted to the Church of Rome. Being controlled by the Sasanian Empire would lead to endless rebellion and ensure poor relations with the Byzantine Empire, which would no doubt invade again at the first opportunity.

Granted, the peace of the past decade allowed the Byzantines to regain much of the Balkans but the Christian Empire was entirely bankrupt and couldn't even pay its own soldiers. There seemed to be no threat in the short or medium term. If the Court rejoiced at news of another rebellion against the Byzantine Emperor, something sure to destabilize the King's neighbor for a few more years....so much the better.

Then news arrived that some in Ctesiphon applauded...but Khosrow mourned. Maurice had been murdered by his General, Phocus, whom also murdered the Emperor's sons and forced the Empress and daughters into a convent. Within days of assuming control, Phocus was publicly speaking of invading the Sasanian Empire. This was utterly unacceptable.

Though it would cost dearly, the King knew he must prepare for war. It was during these preparations that the King received two unexpected visitors: the prince Theodosius and Constantine Lardys, the Prefect of the Byzantine East.

The King recalled both well from his time in Byzantium though Theodosius had only been a young boy at the time. With a start, the King realized he was this age when he was reduced to begging at the court of Maurice.

Though some courtiers recommended executing the visitors or throwing them into a prison, the King ignored them. The reports of Phocus repeatedly threatening to invade the Sasanian Empire were getting irritating and, as his army was building up, the King made an offer to the young Prince: Khosrow II would put the boy back upon the Byzantine throne on a couple of conditions.

1. Any further attempts to proselytize the "Great Church" eastwards would stop...and that included to the north and south.

2. Once back upon the throne, the new Emperor would ensure that the Ghassanid Kingdom would halt its raids into the Lakhmid lands AND that the Byzantine Empire's attempts to convert the Ghassanids back from their own rite to the "Great Church" would end as well.

If there was one thing that the King feared, it was the idea of the Great Church gaining Hegemony to the north and south of the Kingdom and not just the west.

In truth, the King was uncertain if Theodosius would or even could follow through on such an agreement should he gain the throne from Phocus but, as the Sasanians were already going to be fighting this Phocus character, the King may as well have a legitimate heir to the Byzantine throne on his side. Indeed, Lardys, an experienced man with wide connections in the Byzantine Empire, was instrumental in pointing out the weaknesses of Phocus' character and how it would undermine his position in Byzantium.

By 603, the Sasanian force was already marching east with attachments of Lakhmid, Ghassanids (surprisingly these worked together well) and even some Turkic tribesmen hired from the Onoq Khaganate to the north. Barely into Byzantine territory with "Emperor" Theodosius at the fore, thousands of Byzantines were rallying to his side. Apparently, to consolidate his power, Phocus had removed many long-standing and powerful families from office and replaced them with his own relatives and lackeys. Even those supportive of the overthrow of Maurice were getting anxious about this usurping brute.

After a few sharp battles, Phocus would be defeated in Anatolia and see his army alternately collapse or change sides, throwing open the gates to Theodosius. The new Emperor, now only nineteen, did not even have to execute his father's killer as Phocus had been killed by his own troops after he, like Maurice, proved incapable of paying them.

Against expectation, King Khosrow II did not take advantage of the situation. Once he saw that Theodosius was safe on the throne, he turned his Sasanian, Turkic and Lakhmid allies around and marched home, much to the relief of the new Emperor and the people of Byzantium whom doubted that the city could protect itself from the long-standing enemy.

The King only had one additional request from his "brother", Emperor Theodosius. Having been freed from their convent, the Emperor's mother and three sisters arrived back in Byzantium. Spying the young women, the pretty Anastasia caught his eye and Khosrow inquired if she may return with him as one of his wives. Lacking any real capacity to refuse, and feeling to do so would be dishonorable, the Emperor granted his sister's hand in marriage to the Sasanian King.

Seeing the back of his "ally", Theodosius breathed sigh of relief and turned to consolidating his own power. Among the first things to do was finding himself a wife. His father's male line had been all but wiped out and Theodosius was but one illness or assassin's stab away from ending his line completely. While many of the Byzantine old families would be willing to provide a wife, the new Emperor opted for a political marriage to the Arab daughter of the Ghassamid King. Relations between the Byzantine Empire and the Ghassamid Kingdom had been poor in recent years due to the religious chasm between Great Church and the Miaphysite faith practiced in the Ghassamid Kingdom. Given the Ghassamid role in protecting the Empire's southern border from Arab raiders, this seemed a reasonable agreement though many Byzantines were horrified at the marriage of their Emperor to a "barbarian".

In the end, the Emperor didn't care. He had to learn how to rule, the Empire remained bankrupt and no doubt the Avars, Slavs and Lombards would soon attempt to take advantage of the situation (only internal tribal disputes prevented them from doing so in the past two years).

The nation needed stability and this helped provide it. That was good enough for Emperor Theodosius.

 

[Alt History Buff]

603 AD

Byzantium

"Emperor" Theodosius III was still getting used the idea of being emperor. Barely 20 Years old, he was the undisputed most powerful man in the Empire.....for whatever that was worth. The Empire was in tatters and utterly bankrupt. The army had been destroyed by a civil war and only the small remnant of loyalist soldiers (or just people whom didn't like Phocus) in Byzantium ensured that no other General would be overthrowing the youthful Emperor today.

Of course, that only stood until one of the senior officers of his "loyal" corps decided to try to overthrow him. Given that none of these soldiers had been paid in coin (only food, shelter, ample liquor and the use of some prostitutes borrowed from the local jails kept the soldiers under any semblance of control.

Theodosius knew that he needed to find at least SOME coin for the men...and perhaps more importantly something for them to do. Beyond the legitimate concern of a military coup, there was also the fact that the Senate hardly enjoyed having a defacto occupying army in the capital indefinitely. Phocus had been unpopular, incompetent and brutal. He'd alienated powerful men whom could have sustained his reign.

The young Emperor knew that he could not make the same mistakes. After removing virtually all of Phocus' supporters, Theodosius returned many of the old civic leaders to power. Many had been loyal to his father even when, in hindsight, Maurice had made poor decisions managing men. Unlike his father, Theodosius would at least attempt to court popularity.

In truth, Theodosius was not entirely unprepared. When he was six, Maurice made his eldest son "Co-Emperor". It was plainly a meaningless title merely intended to bring Theodosius into the public eye with the intent of eventually replacing Maurice when the latter died after a long reign. Even when he grew to the relative manhood of his late teens, Theodosius was given little authority by his father.

As the position of Emperor was not exactly hereditary, a two or three decade "apprenticeship" probably would have resulted in almost automatic ascension to the role. Indeed, Theodosius and his five murdered younger brothers were the first sons born to a reigning Emperor in nearly 200 years. After centuries of Emperor's "adopting" their preferred successors (often successful soldiers, of course), it seemed possible that the Empire would revert back into a hereditary succession.

Had the previous years been of peace, that may have helped Theodosius' cause. No one wanted a soldier in charge during peacetime. They were more useful when the Empire was under threat. Similarly, peace prevented the very development of popular soldiers (like Phocus had been with his men) whom might also find general support among the public and the Senate.

But God willed his life to be as it was and Theodosius dare not bleat to the heavens why he lost so many of his family members and been forced to take such responsibility years or decades before he was truly ready.

Ready or not, God would challenge the Byzantine Emperor. As he fully expected, the Slavs and Avars were already probing the now defenseless Danube. Years before, the barbarians had taken a terrible series of defeats from the Byzantine forces (perhaps the first good news in decades). If a proper response were not initiated soon, it was only a matter of time before the gains of the past were lost.

Unfortunately, the Empire was critically short of money. Taxation had fallen and fears of rebellion in Armenia and Egypt were whispered throughout the halls of Byzantium. The Lombards and their German allies were rumored to be plotting to sack Rome...again. It was painfully obvious that very little help could be dispatched from Byzantium.

Even before Phocus' military coup, the Empire had looooooooonnnnngggg been in dire financial straights. Even the decade of peace with Persia of the 590's had done little to improve this situation. A civil war certainly did not help.

Taxes had not been collected and whole regions of the Empire only sporadically contributed. Many cost far more to maintain a tenuous hold than they ever paid back to the Metropolis:

1. Armenians seemed to enjoy rebellion against whomever their master was that decade (Armenia was now split between Persia and Byzantium). Knowing he could not put down another rebellion, the young Emperor told his governor to avoid annoying the Armenians no matter what.
2. Both Syria and Egypt appeared intent on their heretical Miaphysite practices despite vigorous attempts to stamp them out and return the people to the "Great Church". As Emperor, it was incumbent upon Theodosius to bring these heretics to heel. In reality, he told his governors to halt anything which would incite the people further.
3. Heraclius (and his son also named Heraclius) were serving ably as the Exarch of Africa (Carthage) and the Emperor saw no particular reason to recall them despite the Elder being a skilled General. The occasional barbarian horde made it to Africa and Heraclius was more than capable of protecting the prosperous region.

Thinking of the Exarchate of Africa, Theodosius recalled it had been his father Maurice whom had formed the Exarchate of Africa as well as the Exarchate of Ravenna. Both were intended to empower local officials of remote (or non-contiguous) regions which could not be easily aided by the rest of the Empire. Yes, it meant delegating a great deal of power but, given the financial weakness and military brittleness of the Empire, it seemed a wise option.

Theodosius would consider over the next year empowering these Exarches even more. Particularly Ravenna, he considered. With the damned Lombards at Rome's throat, anything to strengthen the local Catholic hand against the miserable Arian (anti-trinitarian) heathens was acceptable.

Little did the Emperor know that events were already in motion in Italy which would alter the fate of the peninsula.

Milan, Capital of the Lombard Kingdom

Theodelinda, Queen of the Lombards, lay dying. A plague had ripped through northern Italy, one which even her friend Pope Gregory (the Great) had witnessed with unmitigated joy. The Lombard Kingdom seemed to be hit worse than the remnants of the domains still under Byzantine Catholic control.

Having given birth to a healthy son only a few months prior, the Frankish-born Catholic Queen was in poor shape. Her husband, Agilulf, retained the Arian ways and the Queen quietly sought to turn the Lombards to the true faith. Already, the King had allowed her to baptize their three-year old daughter and newborn son as a Catholic. Letters exchanged with the Pope were filled with hope that the Lombards may be converted in her lifetime.

But that was not to be. Theodelinda would expire in 603. The grief-stricken Agilulf would hear of the Pope's ill-considered words stating the plague was god's wrath on the Arian Lombards. Then and there, Agilulf vowed never to allow his people to enter the Catholic church. Having tolerated the Catholics for his reign (even allowing his late wife to actively support the "Great Church"), Agilulf had quite enough of the Pope, of the Byzantine Empire....of damned near everything.

The Lombard Kingdom was not, in fact, only Lombards. A diverse group of Germanic tribes from Saxons to Bavarians and a dozen others had joined the Germanic Lombards in their trek to Italy. There they would mix with the Ostrogoths and others to control most of the peninsula by 603.

Immediately, the King would summon his allies, even those in Bavaria and the land of the Franks (whom had fought the Lombards in the past). Promises were made of land for the migrating Germanics if they fought well and loyally.

By 604, Pope Gregory would gaze on with horror as a Germanic Army marched first upon Ravenna....then Rome.

 

[Alt History Buff]

603

Visigoth Kingdom (Hispania)

King Liuvigild of the Visigoths had reigned for decades. Now in his eighties, the King had spent decades attempting to reconcile his Arian Gothic subjects with the native Chalcedonian Catholics. However, nothing had ever managed to close this breach.

Even his own sons had adopted the Catholic religion...and been executed when they rebelled against their father.

Now aged, the King despaired what would occur when he died. The Visigoth aristocracy, which was slowly becoming indistinguishable from the natives, probably would be willing to convert to Catholicism if that maintained their tenuous position over the Iberians. When the King died in 603, he chose his nephew to replace him. Granted, this did not mean automatic succession but the powerful King's word meant a lot.

Unfortunately, the nephew never got the chance to reign as he was assassinated by a Catholic....a Catholic Visigoth. Within weeks, the whole of the Visigoth Empire was facing civil war. Dozens of indigenous peoples in the sprawling Empire, for religious or political reasons, rose up against both Visigoth factions (Catholic and Arian). A dozen pretenders to the throne would rise up, splintering the Visigoth nobility, leaving the Empire incapable of putting down the rebellion.

By 604, the Empire built by King Liuvigild had collapsed and tens of thousands of Visigoths had been slaughtered by the vengeful Catholic natives. 200,000 Visigoths were forced to flee the Iberian peninsula and seek refuge in Gaul. However, the Franks and Burgundians, both having largely moved away from Arianism would refuse sancutary. By 606, the Visigoths travelled to further east into the Kingdom of the Lombards where they were welcomed by the still-Arian Lombards, Saxon, Ostragoths and others. Joining this migration were the last of the Vandals whom had, years before, taken sanctuary in Iberia. Other professors of the Arian faith, including some Franks, Burgundians and Bavarians, would similarly travel onto the Italian Peninsula where they received a warm reception by the King of the Lombards, Agilulf, whom desired additional warriors to wipe the Pope and the remnants of Byzantine power from Italy.

604

Ravenna

The Exarchate of Ravenna had been formed out of several local Duchies in hopes of unifying the remaining Italian provinces under Byzantine control against the Lombard invaders. This was only partially effective. The northernmost remaining city under Byzantine control, the effective frontline against the barbarians of the north, would be the well-defended city of Ravenna under the Exarch Kallinikos.

Kallinikos has been Exarch for many years to some good effect. He maintained a longtime truce with the Lombards, giving the Italians a seldom-found peace. For reasons no one quite understood, in 601, Kallinikos had kidnapped Agilulf's daughter and her husband while travelling from Parma. Shortly, Agilulf would battle to the gates of Ravenna, defeating the Byzantines.

When Agilulf's wife died in 603, the Lombard King renewed his assault on Ravenna, seizing the countryside around the seaside town. Unlike before, little help would be forthcoming from Byzantium as Emperor Theodosius remained bankrupt and the Byzantine military utterly shattered. What few troops were available were already dispatched to the Danube in 604 when pleas for help reached the Imperial capital.

Within a year, Liguria, Annonaria and the remnant of Emilia under Byzantine control fell with the exception of the well-protected city of Ravenna, whose natural defenses and strong walls left it the last real bastion of power in northern Italy for the Empire. Several towns attempted to hold out. When they fell, Agilulf offered no mercy and sacked them, settling the towns with Lombards and other "Barbarian" migrants from Germany, Gaul and Iberia.

Pope Gregory would look on in horror as half the Exarchate of Ravenna fell. It was obvious that Rome could only be the next target.

It was at this point, when the barbarians were at the gates of Rome that the aged Pope expired, ironically of the same plague which had claimed the Lombard Queen. One vicious and decisive battle outside of Rome convinced the defenders that the city was sure to fall. Over the course of the next few months, as the siege wore on, the city fathers and the terrified Papal officials opted to flee via the sea with whatever they could carry, including church records, precious artifacts and pieces of art.

Naturally, this shattered the morale of the Romans and, seeing the Byzantine soldiers and Catholic clergy escaping, the locals opted to seek a negotiated settlement with the King of the Lombards. By this point, seeing his own army withering from the plague, Agilulf was willing to guarantee personal property and lives. He even offered to allow the Romans to maintain their Catholic faith. For the most part, he'd intended to be magnanimous. However, once the gates opened, there was an orgy of looting by the Lombard Army. Within a few years, the King also closed down the Catholic convents and monasteries. By 608, when he was wiping out the last of Byzantium's Italian domains in the south and over half a million "barbarian" Visigoths, Vandals, Burgundians, Bavarians and Franks arrived in Italy by invitation of the King of the Lombards, Agilulf would decide to put an end to the right to worship of the Catholics and made Arianism the official religion of the Italian Peninsula.

 

[Alt History Buff]

604

Byzantium

The Papal College would issue formal protests, threats and assorted whinging but the young Emperor only dispatched messengers from the Danube. Having marched what little of the Byzantine Army remained under arms north to halt the latest incursions by the Avars and Slavs, the Emperor knew that he could not possibly find funds or forces to invade Italy at this point anyway so what would be the point of even acknowledging the pontificating would-be pontiffs whom demanded that the Emperor "DO SOMETHING".

As it was, the assortment of Cardinals and old Roman Senate-types were hardly in a position to do much of anything.

Of course, the whole point was that the Emperor wasn't in a position to do much of anything either.

Over the course of 603 and 604, the young Emperor, attempting to stamp his own authority on the Empire, instead found himself beset by enemies in virtually all regions.

1. The Lombards took the eternal city and all of northern Italy, leaving only a few isolated settlements on the "heel" of Italy.

2. The Avars and Slavs crossed the Danube...again...and the Emperor was forced to march what was left of the Byzantine Army in the Balkans and Anatolia north to evict them. As it was, the initial incursion was repulsed quickly but hopes of returning home were quickly dashed as raids continued and the Emperor was forced to remain until the situation was under control. Recalling what happened to his father when unhappy soldiers were ordered to billet in the north (Phocus led a rebellion and killed him, that was what happened), the Emperor decided to make an example by remaining north with his own army....as much to keep an eye on them as on the barbarians.

3. The Province of Syria was immediately beset by thousands of Arab raiders from western Arabia. The Ghassamids, long a client state which had protected Byzantine Syria from the Arabs, had not reacted well to the lack of subsidies in recent years and weren't going out of their way to preserve their ally's borders. The Syrian were forced to defend themselves.

4. Coptic riots in Egypt against a particularly ineffective governor would wrack the "breadbasket" of the Empire. Egypt provided grain, manufactured goods and much else for the Empire, not to mention being a primary source of taxes. Unfortunately, the Miaphysites had largely taken hold of both Egypt and large parts of Syria. The young Emperor recalled his governor in hopes that this would forestall the Copts from rioting.

Theodosius knew his Empire was tottering. His army was poorly paid and disgruntled even after purging Phocus' supporters. The Cardinals still could not organize in order to choose a new Pope and the Patriarch of Byzantium was hardly helping, hardly wishing to see a new Pope crowned in HIS city.

Happy to remain near the Danube, Theodoaius would leave his loyal friend Constantine Landys in command in Byzantium.

It became increasingly clear that the Empire could not carry on as it had for centuries.

Kingdom of the Lombards

Agilulf would look on as yet another town fell to his army. Already, the Lombards and other tribes were settling in these areas once dominated by the Catholics. Hundreds of thousands of Germanic and other tribesmen were pouring into the Peninsula. The only significant requirement was that the migrants bear the Arian faith...though even that would often be ignored if the tribesmen would prove useful to the King.

Thousands of soldiers were placed at his command and, by the end of the year, only a few remote regions protected by their isolation rather than the Byzantine Army or Catholic Church remained out of his control.

Out of these new migrants, many soldiers and chieftains were granted noble titles and place over the Latin natives. Oddly, the linguistic war had long been won by the Latin natives. No one tribe, starting with the Ostragoths, had ever numerically or culturally displaced the native Latins. The Ostragoths, then the Lombards, the Vandals, the Burgundians, Bavarians, Franks, Gepids (now under Avar-Slavic authority) and other largely Germanic peoples which migrated to the region would be assimilated by the Latins whose obvious superiority in technology, bureaucracy, art and other fields would lead to Latin becoming the defacto common language. Few even commented upon this.

However, Agilulf would make one particular decision which would severely affect the remainder of his reign. Seeing the Byzantine Empire and the Catholic Church as hand in hand, he opted to shut down huge numbers of Catholic convents and monastaries. Virtually, the entirety of the old Latin ruling classes were disinherited, expelled or simply slaughter. Bereft of their priests and nobles, the commoners were aghast to also learn that the Arian priests were placed in the old churches. In some regions, riots were common, even outright rebellions. In others, the commoners shrugged and entered the churches to learn the new liturgy. Who did they care about the esoteric debates on the hypostatic nature of god and Christ?

By the time of Agilulf's death, large numbers of Latins were, almost without realizing it, being transferred to the Arian faith.

 

[Alt History Buff]

605

The Danube

The Avar Khaganate was, in fact, an alliance of the Avars, Slavs and assorted other tribes which barely qualified as a coherent organization much less an actual state. However, the tribal leaders would manage to survive the internal disputes naturally arising after repeated defeats to the Byzantines south of the Danube and the Lombards to the west. Too many dead tribesmen had resulted in lowered ambitions. Seeing the Byzantine Army at the Danube, the prospect of losing more warriors than they already was hard to justify.

As it was, the Avars would soon find themselves under attack from another direction.

The Bulgars great Kingdom lay to the east of the Avar Khaganate. Seeing the potential for claiming additional lands, the Bulgars interpreted the Avar defeats at the hands of the Byzantines as weakness. However, the Avar-Slavic tribes were still strong enough to mount 8000 warriors and crush the Bulgar invasion in the Eastern Carpathians.

By this point, the Avars were now thinking better of making peace and agreed to remain north of the Danube. As it was, the depopulated region south of the Danube had been providing a paltry bounty of slaves, plunder and tribute payments (given the Byzantine bankruptcy).

Peace, the Emperor was willing to make. However, the two years spent in the north would endear him to at least some of the army, pushing aside fears that of another coup.

Also, the Bulgarian invasion would begin a dialogue with the Bulgars. Theodosius' Generals would advise that the Emperor encourage another Bulgarian invasion of the Avar Khaganate. However, Theodosius had another idea. With the troubles in other parts of the Empire, picking a fight with the suddenly peaceful Avars would be a poor use of resources.

Instead, the Emperor would dispatch emissaries to the Bulgarian Kingdom, one of the few barbarians groups with which the Empire had no history of aggression. Related to the Turkic peoples of the East, the Emperor realized that perhaps it was time to fight fire with fire in the Levant. The Ghassimids were not doing their historic job against the Arabs of the Peninsula. Too many cavalry raids emerged from the south and raided Syrian cities.

Ever short of cash, the Emperor was forced to come up with creative solutions to his problems in the east. The Balkan forces in his army were returned home in order to keep them near should the Avars invade again...or if the Empire finds the resources to attempt to reconquer Rome (something virtually impossible given the finances of the nation).

The Anatolian forces along the Danube (a few thousand) would be returned home and, if funds could be made available, be sent to support Syria.

But perhaps the most important decision was to combat the raids of the Arabs with people of similar cavalry capacity. For the first time, the Emperor would encourage several thousand Bulgar and related Turkic peoples to enter the eastern Byzantine Empire as allies against the Arabs of the south.

1. The arrive of Turkic horsemen may encourage the Ghassamids to do their jobs better if they they that there is another potential contender for the role of Byzantine client.
2. The Bulgar/Turks riding south through Armenia and Syria were wiling to fight for spoils taken from the Arabs, not coin the Empire could ill-afford.

The Black Sea

Though the Byzantine Navy was but a shadow of its former glory, the fact that it had no natural contenders in the Mediterranean or Black Sea would allow the Empire to maintain naval superiority. This led to sense of complacency which easily allowed the bureaucrats in Byzantium to allow hundreds of powerful ships to rot over the past decades.

However, enough of these ships were in adequate working order to allow the first settlers from Armenia and even some Georgians from the scattered petty states to the north to be sailed across the Black Sea and populate the desolated but fertile lands south of the Danube.

Alexandria
By the time of his death in 605, Pope Damian of Alexandria, leader of the Coptic Church had managed to incense the latest Governor of Egypt to such a point that he nearly had the Pope arrested. Arguably only the Damian's death prevented an outright rebellion by the Egyptian Coptic Church (Miaphysite) majority against the Greek Catholic rulers.

Anastasius of Alexandria was chosen to be the next Pope of the Coptic church. Given that high-ranking Bishops (and, obvious, a Pope) of the Coptic Church were not allowed by law to set foot in Alexandria, the new Pope grasped how tenuous the Coptic Church's hold could be on the nation. The Chalcedonian Catholics had the army and much of the aristocracy.

Not desiring a rebellion, the new Pope would instead opt to seek closer ties to the Church of Antioch, which had been in schism with their Egyptian brethren for many years. Rather that warfare, the new Pope wanted to build up a power base of non-Chalcedonian Miaphysites to challenge the Byzantine Empire. This reconciliation was completed outside of Alexandria in 605, oddly with the full support of the Egyptian Governor whom thought that reconciling the two non-conforming groups would both keep the peace and perhaps bring them back to the Great Church.

It was to be determined if this would occur. However, the closer ties did allow the governor to justify to the restless Egyptians the dispatch of several thousand soldiers east to "aid their religious brethren in defending their southern flank against the idol-worshipers of Arabia".

By 606, a bizarre alliance of Syrians, Egyptians, Anatolians, Bulgar-Turks and Ghassamids were forming to teach the Arab raiders a lesson.

 

[Alt History Buff]

606

Byzantium

Emperor Theodosius was already tired of his damned position. Having returned almost against his will from the Danube front the previous winter, the Emperor was actually starting to look fondly of the days when he only had to worry about barbarians crossing the river to kill him or, more likely, another coup by the soldiers under his command.

Now back in the capital, the Emperor was forced to deal with worse sorts: namely the Senators of Byzantium who all seemed to have an opinion about things and the damned Cardinals whom couldn't even make up their minds about selecting a new Pope much less anything else.

Everyone, however, was certain that their problems were all Theodosius' fault. It was the Emperor's fault the Empire was broke. It was the Emperor's fault that the Barbarians had crossed the Danube (at least Theodosius could claim to have solved that issue). It was the Emperor's fault that Rome and Ravenna (and, for all intents and purposes, the entire Italian Peninsula) had fallen to the Lombards. It was the Emperor's fault that the tribesmen of Arabia were raiding the rich provinces of Asia (Syria). It was the Emperor's fault that so many in Syria and Egypt were following that heretical sect.

The more Theodosius studied the history of the Empire, the more he realized that rickety foundations on which it stood. For nearly half a millennium the Empire seemed to be in imperceptible but steady decline due to a mix of internal political strife, economic chaos, inflation, barbarian invasions, Persian rivalry, religious divisiveness, etc.

Where once the Roman Empire had stood for order and the vast resources could be directed to resolve regional concerns, thus making it perhaps MORE than the sum of her parts, now it appeared that the center appeared to be weakening the assorted regions. Whenever funds or resources were needed in one region, the the others were weakened by a disproportionate amount. Instead of being a central customs house governing the chaos throughout the Empire, Byzantium would, in fact, be virtually superfluous to the events worldwide.

In truth, Syria, Egypt, Anatolia and Africa were the wealthiest of the Provinces, eclipsing even Greece and Anatolia. Had the center of religion not been to the north of the Mediterranean in Rome, it is possible that some Emperor may have decided to relocate to Asia or Egypt at some point in the past. Now, with the European provinces seemingly under perpetual attack, it was the African and Asian provinces which were called upon to pay for their relief. Unsurprisingly, this proved unpopular in Africa and Asia.

Still, with a year of peace under his belt, the young Emperor had hope for the future to bring economic stability, return the army and navy to strength and reconquer Rome (politically the most important re-acquisition if not economically). There was reason to hope for the future. After all, Egypt and Africa had years of peaceful prosperity. Anatolia was in good shape. The Armenians hadn't rebelled in a while and the peace with the Sasanians, to the shock of many, still remained in place.

By some standards, a modest invasion of the Balkans by the Avars and another large-scale raid of Arabs into Syria made for a quiet year in the Byzantine Empire.

But Theodosius was beginning to see that the Empire simply was not responsible enough to regional problems. Granting more authority to local governors to react to developing situations would both increase the rate of success of these initiatives but also prevent needless request for money from Byzantium (which was plainly NOT available).

His own father Maurice had seen the wisdom and created the Exarchates of Ravenna and Africa. Now it was time to expand upon that theme.

Carthage

Heraclius the Elder had been a loyal soldier and administrator under Maurice. Now commanding one of the Empire's crown jewels, Heraclius worked hard to maintain the peace with the Berber Kingdoms to the south of the Exarchate of Africa. Naturally, priests were sent to attempt to convert these peoples but that was only partially successful (at best). Most retained their animist or polytheist practices. Byzantium was hardly in a position to force the Berbers to do anything.

However, Heraclius did many to turn many of these chieftains into allies or clients. He was beginning to see an opportunity. With the taxable wealth of Africa, Byzantium had long depended upon this region to maintain her power. Heraclius began to see that Byzantium provided next to nothing directly to Africa itself. Indeed, when news arrived of Maurice's execution, Heraclius prepared to invade the capital by sea using only African resources. Soon, this proved unnecessary but the power of his command was not quickly forgotten.

Having next to no relationship with Theodosius, Heraclius was seeing himself as an aging man apparently about to die a useful but forgettable public bureaucrat. At this point, his son (also named Heraclius) would make a daring recommendation. With modest financial and military support, an army could be crafted from the Berber peoples to regain power over the whole of Hispania. Currently, the only remnants of Byzantine power over the peninsula were some isolated southern cities.

With the Visigoths apparently well along the way of being ejected from Hispania...

Well, Byzantium may not have any resources to act but Africa did. With a letter to the Emperor explaining that he was sending forces west to "protect" the remaining Iberian possessions, Heraclius would send his own son west in command of a combined Berber and Exarchate force. The Berbers were enticed with promises of land and noble titles in Iberia should the campaign go well. A side benefit was that only those tribesmen who had converted to the Chalcedonian Catholic Church were allowed to join. Many, with dreams of conquest, converted solely to join the expedition. Indeed, many Berbers would bring along their families, sometimes entire tribes trekked by land or sea to Iberia.

By any contemporary standard, this was exceeding his authority. However, to Heraclius' shock and a remarkable coincidence, the Emperor would formally send a letter to Heraclius on the same day his forces sailed from Carthage (some travelled by land, particularly the cavalry, but most sailed on Berber and African ships) investing the Governor with additional powers and authority.

It would also announce the proposed formation of two additional Exarchates: Egypt and Syria.

 

[Alt History Buff]

Year 607

Ghassanid Lands

For decades, the Ghassanids had protected the southern flank against the Bedouin nomads of the Arabian Peninsula but also against their traditional rivals, the Lakhmids (clients of the Sasanian Empire). However, in 586 under the reign of Maurice, the Ghassanid Confederation had largely fallen apart into a mixed assortment of tribes and proved only partially capable of organized opposition to the Bedouin raiders passing through to assault Syria.

Finally irritated by the lack of protection by the Ghassanids, the Emperor in 606 called in reinforcements from an unexpected region: the Turkic peoples called the Bulgars, enemies of the Avars north of the Danube, dwelt north of the Black Sea. A pastoral nation, the Bulgars were expert horsemen something the Byzantines lacked in any great numbers. Too many people of the Byzantine Empire had become too "civilized", giving up the advantages of a swift army.

It was hoped that the Bulgars (lured by promises of plunder and lands rather than Byzantine coin) would be able to secure the frontier better than the Ghassanids. The early battles against southern raiders went well. Offering up large amounts of land in southern Syria as well as those in desolated Ghassanid and even some Bedouin territories, the Bulgars were told to be at home.

Of course, these arid regions were hardly hospitable, even to those used to the harsh northern Steppes. Still, the Bulgars took to the work. Unlike many armies, tens of thousands of women and children followed, effectively entire tribes on the move. Over 20,000 Bulgars had arrived in the southern lands by 607 and more would trickle in over the years, including some Turkic-peoples from the east.

It was feared that the Ghassanids would resist this migration. However, there was a rather different reaction. The Ghassanids had mostly practiced the "officially" heretical Miaphysite faith. This was an irritation to Byzantium and Rome but most Emperors were willing to ignore this out of convenience. If they couldn't get the Syrians and Egyptians to worship the proper faith, why bother with the Ghassanids?

As it was, a few thousand Ghassanids of various tribes were hired by the Byzantines to aid the Bulgars, Syrians and Egyptians in punishing some of the Bedouin tribes by attacking deep into their lands. As the only ones who knew the area, the Ghassinids were vital despite their weakness. However, within a few years, the faith of these Miaphysite peoples would soon start influencing the Bulgars. As more and more Turkic peoples migrated southward into northern Arabia, this would prove to be the preferred faith for converts from the native Turkic religion (Tengrism).

Lakhmid Lands

The Lakhmids had served a similar purpose to the Sasanian Empire as did the Ghassamids to the Byzantines. However, here the prevailing religion was Nestorianism (encouraged by the Sasanians in order to split the Christian faith).

As it happened, the Sasanian Empire had been followed the example of the Byzantines. Throughout the two previous years, the endless wars with the Gokturks (Western Turkic Khaganate) along the northern frontier had continued (and taken much of Khosrow II's attention). Many were surprised that he didn't take advantage of the weakened Byzantine position in the west but the Emperor, having already lost his throne once to usurpers, were more interested in strengthening his center of power. By what he saw in the west, the Byzantine was hardly going to be a threat in the near future. If necessary, they could be dealt with later.

As it was, the relationship between Khosrow and his client in the Lakhmid Kingdom, Al-Nu'man, deteriorated despite many years of good service.

Al-Nu'man quarreled with Sasanian diplomats even as he dealt internally with his own tribal rivalries. In 602, Khosrow II was ready to kill Al-Nu'man when yet another raid by from the eastern mountain people occurred. Knowing that Al-Nu'Man was not going to help much, the Khosrow looked north for help. Naturally, the Turks were not the answer. Usually, the Sasanians would attempt to divide and conquer the northern barbarians. However few tribes could challenge the Western Turkic Khaganate, which now ruled the steppes north of the Empire.

There was one group of people, though, who Khosrow thought he could hire. The Magyars spoke a northern Uralic language (that of the FAR north) betraying their origins and relations in northern Europe. For whatever reason, they'd migrated down from the mountains into the Turkic-dominated plains. A strong nation, the Magyars were hardly capable of tackling the Khaganate. However, as a horse-people, they would prove useful to the Sasanians. Tens of thousands of Magyars, including their families, would be called into the Sasanian Empire and dispatched to the east to battle the people of the mountains (including the Hephthalites who crushed the Persians in 603 after years of raiding).

The Magyars inflicted a terrible defeat upon the Hephthalites in 605 and spent much of 606 on a retribution campaign.

By the winter of 606, the Magyars had returned and Khosrow II realized that he didn't particularly WANT tens of thousands of these people in Persia. Thus he sent them southwards into Mesopotamia and then on to the Lakhmid Kingdom. Here Al-Nu'man would be informed of his new "allies" to be used against the Bedouin raiders also attacking the Lakhmids. Though he hardly wanted the "help", Al-Nu'man realized to refuse would probably result in the Sasanian Emperor attempting to exterminate him....again.

Thus, the Magyars would be put to use against the assorted northern Arab tribes.

Like the Bulgars in the Ghassanid lands, the Magyars would be exposed to Christianity, this time Nestorianism.


Note: Both of these maps are courtesy of wikipedia.

 

[Alt History Buff]

608

Alexandria

Patriarch Eulogius, head of the Catholic Church in Egypt, would look on in concern first as Rome fell to the Lombard heretics and second as it appeared that the Cardinals were hardly swift to replace the late Pope Gregory in their new conclave in Byzantium.

Fortunately, the Patriarch was given a new ally in the military and civil governor whom had been named the new Exarch of Egypt (the first in the role). Unfortunately, the new Exarch was apparently a political choice and managed to alienate the entirety of the Coptic population within weeks of arriving in Alexandria. The timing could not be worse as much of the Egyptian Army was currently in the east, helping to protect Syria from Arab Bedouin incursions.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a rebellion rose up among the general population against the Greek Catholic minority ruling class. Within a few weeks, the Byzantine political system collapsed under a peasant rebellion. The last holdouts of the Byzantine Army (mainly Greek but some Copts as well) would be relegated to certain fortified locations.

As it so happened, the Egyptian Army dispatched east to aid Syria was returning to Egypt in the fall of 608. Initially, this was received as salvation to the besieged Chalcedonians but this soon turned to dismay as the majority of that force turned out to be (by design in order to keep the Greek Catholic forces in Egypt) Copts whom killed their officers and promptly joined the rebellion.

By winter, over 80,000 men were under arms, besieging key regions. The larger cities of Alexandria and Memphis had flung open their gates and allowed the rebels in. Naturally, there were thousands of lives lost but the Coptic Pope Anastasius managed to calm his people enough to halt at least some of the bloodlust. Still, the Greek Catholics (and many Jews) found their residences ransacked by rioters.

Lacking space or supplies in their fortresses, the 10,000 or so Byzantine-loyalist were unable to do much of anything to aid their civilian co-religionists.

When Emperor Theodosius learned of the new rebellion, he was forced to call off his planned invasion of Italy (in truth, he had no money or troops available for the campaign so cancelling it was somewhat easy). Over the past years, Theodosius had, in fact, economized greatly in Byzantium and slowly reduced the army by offering land to his ex-soldiers as some sort of compensation. This reward would increase his popularity (and reduce the chances of a Coup) but it also meant that the size of forces available from the Danube to Armenia and Anatolia were less than 15,000 poorly paid soldiers, most serving at the extreme edges of the Empire and difficult to consolidate.

While he sought to forge a meaningful army to retake the wealthy province, Theodosius would dispatch orders to the Exarches of Syria and Africa to form their own armies and march on Alexandria.

The Emperor would be shocked by the response:

Heraclius of Africa would inform the Emperor that the majority of the military power of Africa had already been dispatched to Hispania under the command of his son. With them were thousands of Berber allies and the treasury of Africa had been emptied for the campaign, thus preventing any significant attempt to reclaim Africa from the west.

Similarly, the Exarch of Syria would write to the Emperor that the bulk of the Syrian Army (comprised mainly of Miaphysites themselves, patently refused to march on their co-religionists in Egypt. Indeed, the Exarch was terrified that another revolt was imminent and informed the Emperor that maintaining his own position was the best he could currently do.

Even the Bulgar Turks "hired" by the Empire to help defend the frontier were less than interested in marching on Egypt. Paid in plunder and land, the Bulgars were more interested in determining if some of this desolate land was worth settling upon.

The Ghassanids, which had devolved into ineffectual feuding factions, decades before had witnessed the success of the Bulgars and belatedly realized that their own position was under threat. For the first time in a generation, the Ghassanid tribal leaders met with the intent of selecting a new King. With the aid of the beleaguered new Exarch, this new Confederation was raised to a Kingdom bearing not only the old Ghassanid tribes but the Kalb, Salih and Judham, all of which were well along the way to converting to the Miaphysite faith and similarly feared the arrival of these new Bulgars tribesmen (of which another 70,000 Bulgar and related Turkic men women and children would arrive in Syria and the southern desert regions by 608-609).

When a King tolerable to these tribes was chosen, he received a belated approval from the Byzantine Emperor. On paper, the Ghassamid Kingdom was larger than the Ghassamid Confederation of the prior generation but politically, it remained weak and owed its existence to the fear of the Bulgars.

As it so happened, the Bulgars were proving less and less impressed by the arid wastes and were already looking vaguely about for better pastures (literally). However, the greatest event to take place was the remarkably quick conversion of these Bulgars to the Miaphysite faith, oddly due to Ghassamid preaching. In 610, at imperial urging another 40,000 Bulgars/Turks arrived in the region even as several thousand travelled back to the lands north of the Black Sea, taking their new faith with them.

By 610, these vast group of "southern" Bulgars in Syria and Arabia determined that their land was too harsh for properly raising horses and were happy to leave them to their Ghassamid "allies".

Hispania

At the head of over 20,000 Byzantine Africans and Berber allies, Heraclius (the younger) sailed into Hispania. Another 8000 would travel along the coast of Africa until reaching the Pillars of Hercules and crossing there.

For the past several years, the last of the Visigoths on the Peninsula battled with the native Iberians for control. In truth, the Arian Visigoths could easily have been stamped out had the Iberians been unified. Unfortunately for them, the lack of unity would lead to rivalries for the throne and allow some semblance of hope for the Visigoths.

The arrival of Heraclius and his allies would put a stop to this. For generations, the Visigoths had dominated most of the Peninsula (and part of Gaul). Most of the nobility by the 7th century had been Visigoth, leaving the peninsula bereft of leadership. Every minor Iberian noble proclaimed himself a King not only of his region but the entirety of Hispanania.

As the first major Catholic commander to arrive on the peninsula in 608, Heraclius bore the authority of the church, long dominated by the Arian Visigoth minority. Heraclius' arrival was applauded by the Roman Catholic clergy whom promptly recognized the young General as the true authority in the region. With ease, Heraclius made allies with assorted nobles and crushed those who opposed him. His army swelled to 60,000 due to the continued arrival of Berbers and shifting loyalties of local potentates.

Most of the first two years was spent defeating Catholic claimants to power. However in 610, the last significant Visigoth-Arian forces was defeated in northern Iberia and forced across the Pyranees into Gaul, from whence they were forced on into the Lombard Kingdom of Italy. By 610, the General had consolidated his force in Iberia, raising local allies and Berber chieftains to noble ranks as vassals.

By this point, Heraclius didn't bother to report to the Emperor as his father, Heraclius the Elder, had already declared independence of Africa as a sovereign Kingdom.

Byzantium

To his horror, Emperor Theodosius watched through 608 to 610 as both the Exarchate of Africa and the Egypt declared independence while the army of the Exarchate of Syria practically mutinied at the demand for them to march to Egypt.

Heraclius' treason and duplicity hurt terribly but not as much as the Miaphysite rebellions. The poorer and war-ravaged lands of the north (Europe south of the Danube, Anatolia and Armenia) simply could not form armies large enough to force the issue on all three of these regions.

Theodosius knew that another invasion of the Avars and Slavs norther of the Danube may come at any moment as could war with Persia. The Byzantine Empire simply lacked the resources to assert her authority in Italy, Hispania, Africa, Egypt and Syria.

Theodosius opted to deal with Egypt first. It was the most populous and wealthiest region in the Empire. Regain that and both Syria and Africa could be brought to heel. Italy and Hispania would simply have to wait.

The Emperor gathered up as much funding as he could scratch together and formed an army of 15,000 to sail to Egypt in 611. In the meantime, he ordered his Bulgarian "subjects" in southern Syria to join with whatever manpower the resurgent Ghassanids were willing to spare and invade Egypt via land.

This would be perhaps the Emperor's most grievous error.

 

[Alt History Buff]

609

Northern Egypt

For the past several months, Organa, leader of the Bulgarian tribesmen who travelled south at the bidding of the Byzantine Emperor, would lead his 150,000 Bulgarian people (and another 8000 or so Syrians or Ghassanids) west through the deserts, crossing from Asia into Africa.

During this time, virtually the entirety of his tribe had converted to the Miaphysite Church, hearing many sermons (heavily translated) lambasting the Byzantines for their view of God's two natures being somehow different than the Miaphysite's view of God's two natures.

In truth, it all seemed the same to him but Organa did not tell that to the Miaphysites clergy and his Syrian friends. What DID matter to Organa was the tales of fertile lands, huge populations and great riches of Egypt. Learning that 30,000 Greek Catholics ruled over a land of 5 million Coptic Miaphysites....well, that was interesting wasn't it.

Organa arrived in Egypt to find the nation wracked in rebellion. The Greeks, Jews and whatever other minorities present in the land were being suppressed, humiliated and often slaughtered. A handful of fortresses remained in Byzantine hands but were already feeling the strain of waiting for the Emperor's forces to arrive.

Only a week prior to the Bulgarians reaching Alexandria, 15,000 Byzantine troops made their belated arrival. The Byzantines would fight one quick, bitter engagement with the Coptic rebels before belatedly realizing the true threat. In the plains outside the city, the Byzantine Empire Army was routed utterly and completely, the survivors fleeing for their ships.

Organa simply let them go. He then dispatched messengers to the few remaining Greek or Byzantine loyalist holdouts and informed them that they had three choices:

They may join their cousins on their ships without further incident.
They may put down their arms and return in freedom to their homes (including the Greek Catholics).
They may try to hold out longer and be slaughtered.

Unsurprisingly, most choose options 1 or 2. Those few remaining held out a bit longer but soon saw the writing on the wall and would later receive the same generous terms from Organa.

Having crushed the Byzantines....and seen the riches of the northern Nile Delta, Organa approached the gates and "requested" that Pope Anastasius come out to greet him. Having absolutely no knowledge of Bulgars (he'd only heard of them a few months prior), the Pope bravely exited the city with only a few attendants to meet this new conqueror. To his shock, Organa knelt (and signaled his largely newly converted army to do the same) and requested that the Pope bless his new disciples.

Stunned, Anastasius agreed and was warmly welcomed by Organa, whom calmly explained that he was the new King of Egypt. The Pope was then personally requested to baptize Organa's three year old nephew, Kubrat, and bring him directly into the faith.

The Copts would be no less confused than Anastasius. However, when they learned that a Miaphysite King, controlling a vast army, had slaughtered the hated Byzantines in battle, the gates were thrown open. Under Organa's strict command, the city was not pillaged. Instead, promises were made of good grazing land near the Nile for the Bulgarian (and Syrian/Ghassamid) soldiers and families.

Organa entered the city, receiving homage from his new subjects. Surrounded by his subjects (and a very good translator), King Organa removed his helmet, bent over and used it to dig several handfuls of soil from the ground. He proclaimed that, on this spot, the Miaphysite Church (later mainly just called "Coptic") would raise a new cathedral here in the city where Coptic clergy had been forbidden by law to enter.

Toledo, Hispania

Heraclius the Younger, having crushed the remnant of the Arian Visigoths, would attempt to consolidate his power over 609 and 610 over the various factions of the peninsula. Even the term Latin term "Hispania" and Greek Term "Iberia" tended to cause problems. The peninsula had spoken Latin for centuries and, seeking to differentiate between the former Western Roman Empire and the Greek-led Byzantine Empire, Heraclius the Younger would tend to present himself as the "Latin" candidate.

The General would find a certain level of assistance by the fortuitous lack of clerical leadership emerging from the east. With Rome fallen and Byzantium in such dire political and economic straights that a new Pope could not even be selected, there was precious little competition from Byzantium for the attention of the Hispanian people.

Heraclius, whom hadn't exactly been confident that the coup launched by his father, the former Exarch of Africa and now King of Cathage, would go so long without Byzantine interference. It appeared, however, that the Byzantine Empire was perhaps on its last legs.

Byzantium

Though it would be months before Theodosius would receive news of the defeat in Egypt, that did not mean that the ensuing months were not chaotic and soul-crushing.

Over the course of the past two years, Theodosius would allow the clergy to try to resolve the issue of the Papacy having lost the Eternal City to the Arian heretics. With many assuming that the Holy City would soon be reclaimed (by 610, it was apparent that it would not, at least not by Byzantium's sword. Rumor had it that the Italian Catholics had repeatedly risen up against the Lombards only to be crushed again and again.

Theodosius would order the bishops of the Empire to Byzantium by Christmas in order to select a new Pope. The Roman Clergy had historically chosen the new Pope (after receiving the blessing of the Roman nobles). However, the exiled Roman Clergy and Nobles in Byzantium soon learned that the rest of the church had never been particularly happy with that arrangement and would eagerly convene to select the next leader.

Humiliated and outraged, over a hundred Roman priests and nobles would convene across town with the intent of selecting their own Pope, publicly dismissing even the possibility that anyone else had a say in the matter. Naturally, that merely encouraged their rivals and ensured a break between factions.

Rome

The King of the Lombards, Agilulf, would quickly tire of these rebellions. No matter how brutally they were put down, the Italians only rose up again. Priests were removed from their churches, the buildings handed over to Arian settlers. It was hoped by the King that the Latins would see reason after a while if their priests could be made to stop inciting the riots. But nothing worked.

In desperation, the King went to the remaining Roman clergy and offered a deal. He would allow them to select a Pope among them...if they found a way to reconcile the Non-Trinitarian Arian Church with their own faith.

The idea was so absurd that several of the priests present laughed in the King's face. While many of the clergy would be willing to compromise on esoteric wording (like the minor differences between the Miaphysite and Catholic Chalcedonian Churches), the Arians were so far beyond heretical that no common ground could possibly exist.

Agilulf, who was willing to compromise on the Arian faith itself if the priests could have bent a LITTLE, flew into a rage and slaughtered every Roman clergymen present. He then ordered every Catholic church closed within the confines of Rome.

The response was a predictable rebellion, once again brutally put down with the aid of hundreds of thousands of Visigoths, Vandals, Bavarians, Burgundians and others arriving from the rest of Europe. Indeed, the death toll was so high that there were good lands available to all of these peoples to settle, thus providing the King with a secure base of support the length of Italy.

Agilulf, seeing the futility of forcing people to a new faith, opted to simply cut off access to the old one. With the priests rounded up, the largely illiterate peasants would have no one to teach them the Catholic liturgy. With Arian priests then set up in the churches, it was believed that the peasants would naturally gravitate to them to learn the word of god. In another generation or two, the old faith would be gone.

However, this would prove more difficult than Agilulf imagined. He began to see the benefits of an organized church and began conceiving of unifying the somewhat disparate groups of Arians.

 

[Alt History Buff]

610

Byzantium

Over the past several years, fearing a military uprising, Emperor Theodosius had quietly reduced the standing Byzantine Army to an economically viable state. Much of what was left of the army were posted to the Danube to ensure that the Avar-Slavs to the north had learned their lesson. Through 610, there seemed to be precious little signs of yet another incursion. Apparently being defeated at the Danube and then facing an invasion from the east by the Bulgars (though the latter were handily defeated) was enough to keep the fragile multi-ethnic barbarian collective's ambitions modest. The Avar-Slavs resided in one of the most fertile regions of Europe and suppressed a much larger indigenous Dacian-Roman population. Having lost tens of thousands of their people in recent wars, including the so many of their best warriors, the leaders of the Avars would deem peace preferable at this time.

This allowed the Byzantines to continue their colonization of the lands south of the Danube, having been desolated in the past decades, by Armenians and, increasingly, Georgians. The latter in particular would be coveted as settlers as the Georgians were dedicated Chalcedonian Catholics. Eventually, the Miaphsyite Armenians were banned from entering the region and many of those whom had settled either converted or sullenly returned to Armenia.

Of course, the northern region was hardly the most pressing in 610. The Emperor had painstakingly scratched together 15,000 men and much of the remains of the Byzantine Navy and sent them south to Egypt. It was assumed that the poorly led Miaphysite Copts would be defeated quickly enough. It never crossed the Emperor's mind that the Bulgars, the very people which he'd invited to fight for him in Syria, would decide to march west into Africa. By the time that the Byzantines knew what was happening, their forces in Egypt had been overthrown and the 15,000 strong reinforcements were crushed.

When the remnant of the Byzantine Army and thousands of Greek Catholic civilians arrived in Byzantium, the Emperor was reportedly so devastated that he withdrew into seclusion for months.

He even meekly gave his tepid "support" for the unapproved Exarchate of Africa's invasion of Hispania, though it was obvious to all that Heraclius the Elder was effectively making himself an independent King, something his son plainly intended to do as well.

Carthage

As it so happened, the new name of the King of Africa would not be Heraclius.....but Theodore. Heraclius the Elder would die of natural causes having ceased pretending to take direction from Byzantium.

While the eldest son, Heraclius the Younger, would be consolidating his Kingdom in Hispania, the second son Theodore would pronounce himself King of the new Punic Empire.

Alexandria

As Organa toured the vast distances of the Nile, exploring his new Kingdom, he was astonished with the wealth and population, the latter estimated to be near five million. He could not comprehend how it was possible how thirty thousand Greeks managed to maintain a hold over such a vast area.

Helpful Copts would apparently rise out of the woodwork to advise him. Indeed, Organa could not comprehend a situation where a conqueror was greeted with such fervent enthusiasm. The Miaphysite Coptic population truly.....TRUUUUUUUUUUUULLLLLYYYYYY...hated the damn Greeks.

The Bulgars and their Syrian/Ghassanid allies would be satisfied with gaining access to rich grazing lands far superior to those in Syria and Arabia. The loot from the Greek residents of Egypt largely satiated the Bulgar demand for plunder. Even opening the Egyptian treasury and handing over grain, gold and other goods to the Bulgars was barely noticed by the Egyptians. The land was so rich that annual tribute to Byzantium in taxes was greater than anything the Bulgars would take by 610.

In short order, the King would begin to grasp the economic, political and military situation of Egypt. It could all be explained in a single word: NILE.

Whoever controls the Nile, controls Egypt. It was that simple. The Byzantine Navy was the strongest in the western world and dominated the Mediterranean. This allowed them to maintain the initiative throughout the region. This was particularly bad for Egypt as the Byzantines could easily shut off virtually all Egyptian trade with only a few warships situated at the mouth of the river. By 610, most Egyptians, whom were relatively self-sufficient, probably would have been happy to lose trade for a few years in exchange for independence.

Organa knew, however, that Navies could be used for actions other than blockades. And the Byzantine Navy may yet prove the undoing of Egypt, whose capital lay at the most exposed position. The Copts, whom represented some of the finest engineers, architects and manufacturers of the Empire, would fall over themselves to prevent a Byzantine invasion.

Within months of his ascension to the monarchy, Organa would put the Copts at work building powerful new defensive fortifications along the mouth of the Nile. New ideas like using enormous chains to block the entrance were approved for trial as well as situating large numbers of catapults and other weapons in key positions from which they can hurl Greek fire upon invading ships.

There was a debate between factions as to how else to supplement the defense of Egypt. Some advocated using the nation's wealth to build a new and powerful navy. However, this was dismissed as impractical as skilled sailors were not adequately available and the navy would probably just rot at anchor on the Nile anyway. Instead, an idea of a "brown water" force comprised of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of old-style galleys which would theoretically run rings around any large Byzantine ship in the confines of the Nile. This was approved as the galleys would be cheap and easy to man as any able-bodied man could prove useful where unskilled landsmen would be little more than ballast on a true sailing ship. This idea was approved by the King and the various cities would practically compete with another to form volunteer "sea-militia" battalions.

A second proposal to improve Egyptian defenses included forming the semi-nomadic herdsmen of Egypt into a cavalry force tens of thousands strong. The new King deemed a fully defensive war to be an abomination and he wanted the flexibility and speed of a powerful cavalry force to move men and material quickly should the Byzantines invade.

Or anyone else, for that matter. The Persian may yet cast their covetous eyes upon the Egyptians while this new "Punic Kingdom" to the west may also prove a problem. Organa also made an effort to use both his own and the Coptic Church's contacts in the Levant to maintain a level of communication with his co-religionists in Syria and the newly refounded Ghassanid Kingdom. He had a feeling he may need some help someday.

Who knew who else would menace his new Kingdom as the years unfold?

Mecca

In a mountain cave near Mecca, a forty-year-old man received what he deemed a message from God.

 

[Alt History Buff]

 

[Alt History Buff]

611

Caucasus

Khagan Sheguy of the Western Turkic Khaganate had spent enough years at peace. Having divided into two groups in a civil war a generation prior (the Western and Eastern Turkic Khaganates), Khagan Sheguy was ready for some profitable raiding. Peace between east and west had long bee maintained (partially due to the Eastern Khagate having enough problems with the Tang Dynasty of China) but eventually the tribesmen wanted some fun.

Rather than try to raid the WHOLE Caucasus, the Khagan attempted to seek an alliance between the two major powers of the region:

1. the Byzantine which nominally ruled the Armenians and had influence over the Georgians
2. the Sasanian Dynasty which ruled Albania (the lands of the Azeris).

Both were tempting but Sheguy preferred to ally with the Byzantines. First, they were less dangerous if the rumors of large-scale rebellions in the Byzantine Empire could be believed. Second, the actual wealthy parts of the Sasanian Empire were closer and more easily accessed for raiding.

However, Theodosius proved less than eager to ally against his Empire's ancient enemy. Sheguy shrugged and determined to attack the Sasanians without help. After all, they had been fighting the tribesmen of the east for years anyway and even had to call upon the Magyars for help. Surely, they would not be a threat?

If the Sasanians put up a good fight, Sheguy could just withdraw knowing that his horsemen could easily outrun the Persians.

With this in mind, he invaded Albania at the first thaw of 611.

Albania

Khosrow II hated these damned tribesmen. However, the mobile nature of their cultures made invading sedentary Empires like Persia so easy.

Worse, he knew that the Turkics had communicated with the Byzantines though he did not know the outcome of this. Having been warned of the impending invasion, Khosrow had not been idle. He organized 25,000 Persian soldiers plug 5000 Magyars and personally led them north to confront the invaders. Though he knew defeat to the barbarians was certainly possible, the greater fear was a dual invasion of the Turkics to the north and the Byzantines to the west. Theodosius had been true to his word in keeping the peace while Persia fought to the east but that didn't prove much. It was possible that the Byzantines simply had no resources to stab the Sasanian Empire in the back due to their own rebellions in Africa and their own barbarian invasions by the Avars at the Danube.

Khosrow was only days away from engaging the main body of the Turkic forces when the worst news arrived. Thousands of Byzantines were marching upon his position from the west. Six Byzantine officers, obviously noblemen, arrived in his camp and Khosrow prepared for some threats or ultimatums. To his shock, the Byzantines knelt before him and announced that their Emperor Theodosius, in gratitude for Khosrow's aid in maintaining his own throne, had marched twenty thousand troops east to be put under the King's command.

Searching the faces for artifice, Khosrow slowly began to comprehend. Yes, the Byzantines COULD have stabbed him in the back but hardly could have followed up with adequate forces to take advantage of the situation and hold any significant amount of Persian territory.

This way, the Byzantines could ensure that the Persian forces were directed northward, away from their own troubled Empire.

Also, the Turkics probably would have invaded Armenia and possibly Syria if they could defeat the Persians. Better from a Byzantine standpoint to cooperate with the Persians in this matter and evict the Turkics from the Caucasus.

As the "Byzantines" arrived in his camp, Khosrow began to get a better idea of his rival's capabilities. There were no "20,000 Byzantine soldiers" but 2000 actual experienced Byzantines, 8000 Armenians who no doubt feared for their own lands and 2000 Georgian hirelings. Khosrow expected that the Danube, Egypt, Africa (Carthage) and probably Syria and the Ghassanid Kingdom were where the bulk of Byzantium's limited resources were being sent these days. Only locals like the Armenians and Georgians with an actual stake in the battle were sent, probably men who could not be forced into doing anything else against their will.

The remnant of the "20,000 Byzantine soldiers" would prove to be roughly 8000 Bulgars currently riding south to join them from their lands north of the Black Sea. This was perhaps even more confusing to the Persian King. Why would Bulgars, of all people, ally with Byzantium? Didn't the Bulgars just betray the Emperor and invade his Province of Egypt (or Exarchate as the province had been renamed apparently before the Byzantines were ousted by the native Copts and the invading Bulgars)?

Then Khosrow recalled that barbarian tribes were seldom united polities. The Bulgars who invaded Europe may be a different group than those remaining in the north. Indeed, once Khosrow thought more of it, the more it made sense from a Byzantine standpoint. The Bulgars of the north, whether related or not to those in Egypt, were a potential threat to Byzantium be it to the Balkans or Armenia. By getting the Bulgars to ally with Byzantium and Persia against THEIR old rulers, the Turkics, Theodosius effectively reduced the threats on two fronts with very little outlay of resources on his own part.

The naive teenager who arrived in his court all those years ago must be growing into a cunning administrator, Khosrow surmised, oddly proud of the boy (now in his thirties). He wondered if Emperor Maurice had felt the same way about Khosrow when the late Byzantine Emperor put Khosrow back upon the throne of the Sasanian Empire.

With a start, Khosrow realized that it had been nearly three decades since Persia and the Byzantines truly warred upon one another. In that time, they actually had COOPERATED and ALLIED three times.

Khosrow was too cunning to believe this would last forever but found that the peace in the west had greatly aided Persia in sustaining its own borders against barbarians and returning the Empire to solvency after decades of wars. Persia was in a stronger position economically than at any point in his lifetime and, irritating as they may be, few of the Barbarian invasions from the north (Turkics), West (Hephthalites) and south (Arabs) had yet to produce any long-term threat to Persia. The relative peace had allowed Khosrow to reform, place trusted men in administrative and military positions (less likely to lead another coup) and prepare his own sons for a peaceful transition to power when his own time came.

Now, with 45,000 men under his command, the King was feeling far, far better about his chances against the Turkic tribesmen heedlessly riding past the Albanian border.

Over the course of the next six months, Khosrow would decisively crush the Turkic invaders on several occasions, inflicting huge casualties not only on their warriors but upon the civilians whom followed them en masse. Just as devastating to the Turkics, tens of thousands of horses, sheep, goats and other livestock fell into the hands of the Persians.

By winter, the campaign was clearly over except for the Bulgars who continuously raided the retreating Turkics to the north.

Still fearing some sort of trick by the Byzantines, Khosrow was pleased to see the Byzantine, Armenian, Georgian soldiers march westward for home without incident. Out of gratitude, he granted them a measure of reward, mainly in loot taken from the Turkic tribesmen (usually horses, sheep, cattle and several thousand women and children taken as slaves or "tribute" to Armenia).

Khosrow returned to the capital in triumph, this time knowing that no faction dared plot a coup against the man firmly in command of his Empire.

Lands of the Uyghurs

For decades, the Uyghur peoples had been under the thumb of the Eastern Turkic Khanate. A Turkic people themselves, the Uyghurs had often cooperated with the Tang Dynasty against their kinsmen when it was deemed prudent. For the moment, peace remained in place though the Uyghurs knew it would not last forever. Sooner or later, the Eastern Khanate would face the Tang again.

However, in this time, the religion of the west, Manichaeism, had reached the Uyghur towns and villages. Like most Turkic peoples, Tengrism remained the most common faith. However, Manichaeism proved quite popular with several tribes as well as other Eastern Turkic Khaganate vassals, like the Mongols to the east.

 

[Alt History Buff]

612

Alexandria

Organa would personally invest the architects of his new Coptic Church in Alexandria. This would endear him both to the Miaphysite Church and the common people who had hated the Greek overlords. Indeed, Coptic clergymen had been forbidden from even entering the city of Alexandria under Byzantine rule.

"King" Organa would largely leave much of the government functions alone, including many of the laws. Those laws he DID change were actually quite popular. While the Greeks were not slaughtered and their Catholic Church banned, naturally all restrictions against the Copts were withdrawn. The Copts were rapidly trained into an army. Indeed, so many volunteered that there were near riots in some cities when the army was fully embodied and disappointed volunteers were told to go home. Patriotic militias were popular. As one of the predominant manufacturing centers of the old Byzantine Empire. This allowed the army to be well-armed.

It was considered only a matter of time before the Byzantines invaded. While nearly a third of the 150,000 Bulgarian tribesmen could be classified as warriors, the Copts soon made up the majority of the army and navy (reaching 40,000 and 10,000 respectively, in 612, as they prepared to defend themselves). The Coptic language rapidly replaced the Greek in the bureaucracy (often the Miaphysite priests served as the literate bureaucrats). Certainly, the Bulgarian dialect of the Turkic language were never considered to be the language of state. Therefore, the Copts would serve in virtually all civil positions.

The Bulgarians, whom some feared would loot the entire nation, were surprisingly satisfied with the lands they were given. Indeed, the nation was so populous and rich that the Bulgarians would be astonished at the riches handed to them. They would have been even more astonished to find out that this tribute represented only a fraction of the annual taxes extorted from Egypt by the Byzantines over the years.

Waiting the entire year of 612 for the Byzantines to attack again (it was not immediately clear just how limited Byzantine resources were in Egypt), the King would shrug and decide to test his army's mettle by marching them upon Cyrenaica as it was feared the coastal province would fall into the hands of the Exarchate of Africa (it was still unclear if this was a breakaway kingdom yet and only by 613 would "King" Theodore of Africa send a delegation to Egypt). Evidently, Theodore was more interested in protecting his vast coastline from the Byzantine Navy than picking a fight with a neighbor (and adding to its vast coastline).

Hispania

For the winter of 611-612, Heraclius the Younger would debate marching south and retaking Africa from his brother, Theodore, who made himself a King. Heraclius was certain his father intended Africa and Hispania both for the elder brother. But Heraclius would determine not to face his brother for two reasons:

1. His grasp over Hispania was weak to say the least. The heretic Arian Visigoths were largely pushed out of the Peninsula and no longer a threat but that was hardly the same as claiming full control over the natives. Should he depart, the native peoples may overthrow him or one of his generals may determine to take the throne in his absence.
2. Heraclius had been gone from Africa for some time and he was unsure if he had any support among the Romanized populace of the cities or the Berbers of the hinterlands. It was a bad idea to pick a fight one could not win.

In the end, Heraclius determined to stay in Hispania. He married the daughter of a local dignitary and went about forming a dynasty in the usual way.

Byzantium

King Theodosius would soon find his political problems multiplying. In some ways, the Byzantine Empire was getting back on its feet. The Danube remained quite secure as the Avars were willing to enjoy the peace. New settlers from Georgia, Armenia, Anatolia and Greece were granted lands (nearly 100,000 migrants in just the a few years) along the Danube, the population making it more secure. New fortresses along the Danube would ensure future barbarian incursions would be modest in scale....or really, really big....as the fortresses would be able to dominate the supply lines of any invader. The larger population would be adequate to fight of modest raiders. And large-scale invasions by hundreds of thousands of invaders seemed unlikely in 612.

The economy of Byzantium was stabilizing...at least in what was left of Byzantium (mainly the Balkans, Anatolia, Armenia and Syria). The new Ghassanid Kingdom was proving adequate to protecting Syria from Arab raiders.

Peace with Persia, to the surprise of many, remained in place and had reached nearly 30 years (minus those wars in which Maurice put Khosrow back upon the Persian throne and Khosrow put Theodosius upon the Byzantine throne). Both had greater problems than one another. Fighting over border territories in Mesopotamia or Armenia, provinces which normally were problematic anyways for whichever Empire "controlled" them, would seem of secondary importance.

Theodosius was battle endless demands from citizens, soldiers and priests to retake the Empire. The wealthy African provinces had declared effective independence (Carthage would formally declare so in late 612). Lacking resources to invade Egypt, which reportedly had 50,000 Bulgarian warriors and 50,000 well-armed Copts under arms, the Emperor would quietly condemn the "rebels" but do little to nothing. Indeed, Byzantium continued to import Egyptian grain throughout 612. The last thing Theodosius needed was a famine in the capital.

As it was, the greatest crisis was within the capital itself. Years after Pope Gregory's death, the Roman priests in exile would gather with Roman nobles in exile and announced they had selected a new Pope. Hearing rumors of this, the Byzantine Catholics would summon a number of bishops home and select their own Pope. The two parties would both demand the Emperor's support. The city would be divided between the "Roman" Pope and the "Byzantine" Pope.

Eventually, the Emperor would pronounce that the "Byzantine" Pope had his support. Outraged, hundreds of Roman priests, nobles and various supporters would sail away from Greek shores for the only reasonable destination: Carthage. Here the "Roman" Pope was declared the one true leader of the Catholic Church by King Theodore of Africa.

Rome

King Agilulf of the Lombards would see the problems associated with forcing the Latins of the Italian Peninsula to the Arian Church. Instead, he opted to close down the Catholic monestaries, usually exiling the priests from Italian shores just to be rid of them. Arian priests were given local churches. Violence continued, however the rising number of Arian settlers would reduce the efficiency of this rebel activity. As the Latins were not forced to attend the Arian church, the amount of organized resistance would quietly subside in the absence of clergy and noble leadership.

Agilulf, believing that the Arian Church needed to be codified, pronounced that Rome would have a new Pope. Naturally, this was a Lombard Arian Pope.

Few Latins would immediately recognize this church. Some, lacking a Catholic clergyman, would almost have to engage the Arian priests for weddings, etc. A few would willingly convert for lack of other options. Commoners did not care overly much for nitpicking the nature of the Trinity and one priest was as good as another. The new Latin bureaucrats and ambitious men willing to serve the new administration would take the lead in quiet, unforced religious conversion.

As Latin religious fervor was hardly universal, some Italians would simply go along to get along and give their nominal allegiance to the Arian church.

By the end of the second decade of the 7th century, the Arian Church was proving quite well installed among the people of Italy, even if most of the Latin natives only gave sullen obedience and lip-service while secretly longing for their Catholic Pope.

One of the most devastating developments for the Catholic majority (soon to be minority) in Italy was the diversion of Papal Authority between two contenders, one in Byzantium and one in Carthage. This prevented any unified front against the Arians in Italy.

Indeed, the battle between the two Popes (and Papacies as both East and Western Popes would die after a few years and the institutions would continue the battle over the course of many Papacies in future generations) would lead to a diplomatic cold war as the assorted Popes and their allied temporal rulers would fight for influence among the thrones and peoples of Hispania and the rapidly evolving Frankish Empire.

 

[Alt History Buff]

613

Burgundy

King Theoderic II of Burgundy had fought his cousin Chlothar II of Neustria and his own brother Theudebert II of Austrasia for years, turning the Frankish Kingdoms inherited from his great grandfather into blood-soaked grounds.

Despite a state of mutual exhaustion, Theoderic was preparing to invade his brother's domains again when he fell sick with dysentery. Fortunately, he recovered swiftly but his campaign was suspended.

By the end of 613, the trio of Frankish Kings would be seeking allies wherever they could find them.

Among those contacted were the King of the Lombard Kingdom, the Avar Khagan, the new King of Hispania and other Germanic tribes to the east, including the King of Bavaria. Already, nominal Frankish vassals of all three Kingdoms were proving restless including the Alemanni.

Cyrenaica

King Organa arrived in Cyrenaica uncertain what to expect. Much more lightly populated than Egypt itself, the isolated Cyreniacans were a mix of Coptic and Greek Orthodox. For the most part, the Bulgar was accepted as the new ruler. There was reportedly some attempt by Greek Orthodox citizens to entice the Byzantine Emperor or King of Carthage to assume power but to no avail, apparently. The King of Carthage had already sent emissaries to Alexandria with the promise of peace.

Organa got the impression that Theodore of Africa was more concerned with his brother in Hispania...or at least keeping Heraclius IN Hispania.

Toledo, Hispania

King Heraclius of Toledo would find assuming power over the local Latin nobles more difficult than he expected. Having evicted the heretical Arian Visigoths from the Iberian Peninsula, he would have expected more gratitude.

But the nobles would fight for ever advantage. Eventually, Heraclius would have to make an example out of a few of them.

By 614, he would receive multiple requests for aid from each of the Frankish Kingdoms, all offering significant territorial concessions. Though tempted, Heraclius knew his throne was already fragile enough. He could not risk leaving Iberia, nor his wife (the daughter of a local Latin Duke) and newborn son. For the time being, Heraclius would consolidate his holdings.

Rome

Though it took some time, the transfer of the Lombard Kingdom capital to Rome was achieved. King Agilulf would find that the ancient capital was a hotbed of dissent and resistance. Though the troublesome Catholic priests had been ejected, the Latin population remained largely uncowed. Even the arrival of tens of thousands of Visigoths, Vandals and other Arian peoples (or just Germanic Catholics or pagans willing to obey) did little to crush the Latins. Rather than force them into Arian churches, the King opted to let matters stand for the time being.

Even the entreaties by the various Frankish Kings would do little to withdraw his attention from the Italian Peninsula.

 

[Alt History Buff]

 

[Alt History Buff]

614

Septimania (Southern France)

The King of Hispania, Heraclius, would invade Septimania not so much for additional lands but with the intent of pushing the last of the Visigoths out of western Europe. There was still a base of support, no matter how tenuous, in Hispania for the old guard including some Arians and men who owed their power and position to the old Visigoth era.

In truth, the King was tired of dealing with intransigent Latin nobles and regional politics and saw the invasion of Septimania as a public relations coup as well as a chance to get the hell away from Toledo.

Of course, the King would not dare do so if the Franks had not been at one another's throats.

Not for the first time, Heraclius would wonder if perhaps he might use this new territory as a platform to invade and reconquer Italy for what he perceived as the Roman Empire.

Carthage

King Theodore had already taken a wife and produced an heir. His wife was already pregnant a second time and he was quite well along to producing a dynasty.

Multiple threats abounded though. There was always the fear that his brother Heraclius would return from Hispania with the intent of regaining Carthage (even though Carthage or the "Exarchate of Africa" had never been an official Independent Kingdom prior to his departure from Africa to Europe).

Similarly, the Byzantine Navy, though a specter of what it once was, remained the most powerful in the Mediterranean. Perhaps only the fact that more important regions like Italy and Egypt had fallen from the Byzantine grasp in recent years kept the Byzantine Navy from Carthaginian shores.

Seeking an ally, Theodore reached out to the only power without any particular interest in conquering Carthage: Egypt.

The new King of Egypt, Organa, was apparently willing to make an alliance...or at least presented one region which did not prove a threat.

Theodore also worked hard to make allies of the Berbers to the south, offering missionaries to convert those of native tribes, economic opportunities for trade and the occasional bribe to important chieftains. This kept any major insurrection from the nomadic peoples south of the coast from attacking the vulnerable port cities.

Byzantium

After the Byzantine failure to reconquer Egypt, the Emperor would spend months in isolation, fearing that he'd failed his predecessors. Fortunately, his wife provided yet another heir and that brought Theodosius from his doldrums.

The Emperor was forced to reevaluate just what he COULD do in this era of apparent Byzantine collapse (for which many blamed Theodosius). Though he longed to regain Italy, Egypt and Carthage, Theodosius doubted any of these things were possible at the moment. Indeed, he could barely contain his Ghassanid client state which appeared to be strengthening. On the surface, that was a good thing.

Of course a stronger Ghassanid Dynasty also meant it may prove more independent. Already thousands of Ghassanids had joined the Bulgars in Egypt. How many more may join the Egyptians...or Persians....or Arabs...or....god forbid...the Miaphysite majority in Syria.

With a minimal amount of funds available for the army, a cross-Mediterranean invasion seemed impossible for the moment. Thus Theodosius chose to wait...uncertain when he would be able to act again.

Meanwhile, the Pope selected by the Byzantines (who happened to be the old Patriarch of Byzantium) would formally declare those supporters of the Pope selected by the exiled Roman clergy and nobles to be a heretic. This was easy for the Emperor to support as this same Pope had declared the Emperor a heretic and sailed off for Carthage, apparently in hopes of forming an army in Carthage to invade Byzantium. No matter what the general populace of Byzantium thought of the Emperor, they were never going to support an invasion of their city.

Thus, the spiritual civil war ended as quickly as it began.

Theodosius would quietly (and ever so slowly) gather his resources over the coming years.

Ctesiphon, Persian Empire

Khosrow II of the Sassanian Empire would similarly see the weakness of his own Empire. Unlike the Byzantine, however, the Persian Empire was newly solvent despite years of war. Taxes from Mesopotamia, long the wealthiest portion of the Empire, flowed in an debts were paid.

More than any time in his life, Khosrow realized that the wars against the Byzantine seldom brought in adequate revenues to justify their costs. Indeed, they very, very seldom did and usually proved to be expensive wastes of blood and treasure which brought rebellion upon the Empire and Coups upon the Royal Family.

Perhaps he was just growing up, Khosrow thought, amused that a man of his advanced years was only now growing up.

With the wars to the northeast, northwest and south largely won, the Empire was at peace for the first time in years. Proddings from court personnel to invade the Byzantine would fall upon deaf ears. Wars between Persia and the Byzantine usually fell upon Armenia (largely Byzantine) and Mesopotamia (largely Persian). As Mesopotamia was far richer, it seemed likely that any war with the Byzantine would prove a waste of time and money.

Besides, Khosrow's sons were still growing up. He'd prefer they be men before they were forced into war.

Let time take its course and Persia regain its breath.

 

[Alt History Buff]

615

Lombard Kingdom

King Agilulf would look on in despair as his son began acting more and more erratically. Agilulf was aging and bore hope that his son would be elected his replacement. Indeed, Agilulf wanted to end this "election" nonsense among the Lombards. He wanted a direct hereditary succession, no matter how at odds that was with tradition. Oh, eldest sons of previous kings usually had the advantage. But maintaining a direct line was difficult with so many children failing to survive to adulthood.

But with only one son and one daughter...if the son fails to recover....then perhaps his son-in-law may assume control of the Kingdom.

Prince Adaloald must recover. But the King knew if he did not, then he must start uniting the Lombard tribes and their allies behind his son-in-law, Arioald.

In truth, Agilulf did not require much time to make his decision. Within a few weeks, Adaloald would pronounce that he was converting to Catholicism after receiving a "vision", suddenly proclaiming he would recall the Catholic Pope someday and suppress the Arian faith. Knowing his nobles would crucify his son, Agilulf had Adaloald quietly put into capitivity in the hills outside Rome.

He proclaimed his intention to make his son-in-law his successor. He'd arrange with his allies over the winter to ensure that Arioald would receive their support should Agilulf expire.

Northern China

Li Yuan, Duke of Tang, would spend half his life serving the recent Sui Dynasty of China, often in ever higher positions such as governor and even General. His current assignment, to protect the northern frontier against the northern neighbors of China, the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, would prove almost impossible for the Empire's resources had been expended building the Great Canal and on what was increasingly seen as a fruitless war against the Goguryeo, one of the three Korean Kingdoms.

Heavy taxation and compulsory labor would bring several regional governors, nobles and Generals to rebellion against the second Sui Emperor, Yang. Li Yuan would be slow to join this movement but would eventually rebel himself when he learned of the Emperor's intention to remove him from office (possibly as a precursor to execution). Thus the Duke would reach out to several of the primary tribes of the Eastern Khaganate for assistance, offering more land (which the Khaganate already had) and, more tangibly, gifts of gold, silver, horses, captives, women, silk, etc.

This proved a better offer and Li Yuan was soon gathering a significant force of rebel soldiers and Turkics when he received a delegation of Uighurs, one of the western tribes. Li Yuan would pronounce his support for Tengrism among the Turkics (as opposed to the dominant Buddhism growing in China) and expected the Uighurs to fall into line. What he did not realize was that these Uighurs had converted to the new western religion of Manichaeism and found Li Yuan's faith and open betrayal of his own master offensive. They cut the man to pieces and fed him to the wolves.

The Uighurs then dispatched a party to the beleaguered court of Emperor Yang offering their services against the other Turkic peoples of the Eastern Khaganate. This Emperor Yang accepted without hesitation and even offered aid in making the other Turkic tribes beholden to the Uighurs.

Though Yang had been defeated several times over the past two years by rebels, the tide would begin to turn in 615, and several key rebel centers were retaken.

Sui China in 615 (courtesy of Wikipedia)

 

[Alt History Buff]

616

Paris, Neustria

The Kingdom of Neustria, the northwestern remnant of the Kingdom of Clovis, and the southeastern Duchy of Aquitaine would remain in the hands of Chlothar II. His wars against his cousins in Burgundy and Austrasia had failed miserably and only served to unite the two brothers against him.

With only one surviving some, the young teen Dagobert, he desired some spares. His first wife was dead thus Chlothar married Bertrude, a noblewoman. By 616, Bertrude was already pregnant but, in 617, would sadly deliver a son who only lived a few weeks. In 618, she would deliver a daughter before expiring herself.

With his throne tenuous at best, Chlothar desired to strengthen his position. He sought terms with the new King of Hispania (sometimes called Iberia) who had also recently conquered Septimania. Through intermediaries, Chlothar received a treaty of friendship...but not alliance. Sometimes that was all one could hope for.

However, Chlothar knew that his cousin-rivals for the lead of the Frankish Empire would also be seeking allies. The heretic King of the Lombards was willing to offer tepid support to the brothers, if the reports were true, on the condition that they ceased fighting one another (evidently, the Arian minorities were being persecuted in these regions).

Thus a system of vague and weak alliances were starting to form. Chlothar would prefer stronger allies, like the Avars or the Byzantines to the east but were declined. The Avars were uninterested in anything so far from home (and would have to fight through several Germanic tribes to even reach the Frankish Kingdoms) and the Byzantines were hardly a possibility given the Neustrian alliance with Hispania.

Exhaust, bankrupt and fearing an internal rebellion by other Frankish nobles or even the native Latins, Chlothar II would spend most of the next decade reaffirming his grip in the west.

Byzantium

Emperor Theodosius would face similar problems with maintaining power on Byzantium. Insurrections were rife in the Senate and even among some junior officers. A wholesale rebellion against his reign had yet to occur but too many people were unhappy with the effective loss of a third of the Empire during his short reign (Africa, Egypt and Italy).

Fortunately, even the few years of peace had allowed the Byzantine treasury to strengthen enough to pay the army (always a prime reason for revolt) and bribe key nobles.

The new Pope (who also happened to be the Patriarch of Byzantium) would naturally give the Emperor moral support as well.

All was not lost. The Miaphysite Armenians and Syrians were largely quiet. Theodosius had long feared a rebellion and did all he could to prevent a religious uprising in these regions (akin to the Egyptian rebellion) and ordered many of the laws discriminating against Miaphysites to be quietly withdrawn as well as other irritations like unpopular taxes.

Still, the Empire had returned to solvency even without the Egyptian or African tax revenues.

As more resources were available, the general urging was to reconquer Egypt (once the greatest jewel in the Byzantine crown). However, Theodosius was absolutely certain that he lacked the funds for a campaign powerful enough to regain the Nile, not with an estimated 100,000 soldiers and militia ready to defend their Coptic faith.

If anything, he feared that the Egyptians would encourage rebellion among Ghassanids, Syrians and Armenians and Theodosius was quite certain that he could not fight in all these regions at once.

Thus Theodosius would earn the unflattering sobriquet of "Theodosius the Idle".

 

[Alt History Buff]

617

Land of the Avars

Having sustained terrible blows by the Byzantine Army over the past ten years (which pushed them north of the Danube) and taking terrible casualties from the Bulgars in the successful repelling of those people from their eastern borders, the Avar Khaganate would spend the 2nd decade of the 7th century attempting to consolidate their power over the native Latin-speaking peoples of their new lands.

As a "barbarian" race, reading and writing in their own language was nearly impossible (though many tried to form a written language). Almost by default, the Avars moved towards Latin whenever reading and writing was necessary (or diplomacy). As a diverse group, the "Avars" were in fact a mix of Turkic, Mongolian, Slavic and other peoples whom consolidated together to form a mobile army capable of threatening their neighbors and suppressing the majority native latins of the former Dacia.

In relatively swift order, the Turkic language was being replaced as the common language by Latin, the tongue of the majority. Intermarriage (or at least interbreeding) continued so swiftly that even the Avar leaders realized that any semblance of identity by the diverse Avar hierarchy was doomed. Native Latins were promoted to leadership positions and in virtually every profession requiring learning.

Indeed, so many Avar chieftains were marrying into the Slavic elite families of the north that, within a generation, the Avars would begin being viewed as a Latin-speaking Slavic group (or at least the upper classes). Even the lower classes of the 20,000 or so mixed barbarian invasion force had intermarried to such an extent by the middle of the 7th century that Turkic was almost forgotten as a language.

By 617, Khagan Bayan II of the Avar Regna (as it was known among the Latin speakers and throughout Latin Europe) had long ago married a Slavic Princess while raising his children to speak Slavic...and Latin. His son and heir was raised speaking Slavic but increasingly culturally Latin.

Bayan II died in 617. His eldest son, Bayan III, after putting off a revolt of two of his younger brothers, would summon priests from south of the Danube. Having learned from Greek and Italian tutors, the young King would convert to Catholicism, the majority religion of the country. Over the next decades, the limited number of bureaucratic positions, military offices and schools would teach the Latin Language. Often these teachers were Catholics sent from Byzantium to "aid" the Empire's northern "friends" in civilizing themselves.

The early to mid seventh century was an odd time for the region as the waves of barbarian invaders had largely halted. On occasion, Slavic peoples from the north would seen the Avars becoming more and more Latin and sent invaders. Similarly, the Bulgars, Khazars and other tribes would ride forth in modest numbers. But the Avars, increasingly resembling the native Latins of the old Dacia whom their nominally ruled, were becoming natives and opted to ally with Byzantium not to draw tribute...but accept charity and aid that the Byzantines were happy to deliver as they realized the Avars were no longer a threat.


South of the Danube

Decades (if not centuries) of barbarian invasions had decimated the Balkans north of Greece itself. But continuous settling of Greek, Anatolian, Armenian and Georgian migrants would repopulate the area within a generation. It was a fertile region and many settlers were happy to arrive especially with the peace.

Ethiopia

Several hundred followers of this self-proclaimed Prophet, Muhammed, had taken shelter from oppression in Mecca and Medina in the most unlikely of places, the Christian land across the sea, Ethiopia.

By 717, these religious reformers would hear of relaxed suppression and opted to return home to the Hejaz and their native cities. The prophet had a plan for them the following years.

The lands east of the Persian Empire

Though the Persians had occasionally attempted to press their Zoroastrian faith upon the mountain peoples of the east, few actually converted and attempts were largely halted. These were poor mountain folk and largely weren't worth the cost of invading from the wealthy Persian Empire. If they stayed in the mountains, Persia cared little.

However, Nestorian Christians from the Lakhmid Kingdom and the Persian province of Asoristan (Assyria and Babylonia) would commence prostlyzing in great numbers their own faith. Though it would take decades or generations, these Nestorians would soon conquer a region never before threatened by the Persian Empire.

 

[Alt History Buff]

618

Mecca

For the past two years, Muhammad had been sheltered by the tribe of Banu Hashim, one of the powerful clans of the Quraysh tribe. Since receiving his visions, Muhammad has preached endlessly to the masses of western Arabia, condemning the worship of idols in place of God.

Most of his own tribesmen in the Quaraysh, whom had long controlled the Kaaba (and grown wealthy from it), were livid that he would risk their livelihoods by condemning the "pagan" idolatry. Though Judaism and Christianity had been introduced to the Hejaz, the wealth of Mecca remained tied to these ancient traditions. Few of his friends and family understood why he wished to undermine it.

Fortunately, the worst of the region's suppression of his new faith had passed and many followers were returning from their exile in Aksum (Ethiopia).

In order to pressure the Banu Hashim into relinquishing their protection of Muhammad, the other clans of the Quraysh had implemented a trade boycott with the Hashemites. Thus far, the Hashemites didn't seem to care.

In the meantime, Muhammad preached his word to any who would listen.

Yemen

The southwestern corner of Arabia was called by many names, most recently Yemen. In the early 6th century, the Himyarite rulers had converted to Judaism of all religions, perhaps to maintain their neutrality between Catholic Rome/Byzantium and Zoroastrian Persia. Yemen not only produced precious spices but was an ideal depot for the greater Indian Ocean spice, silk and other precious material trade. This made the region quite wealthy...and coveted.

Eventually, the Himyarites were conquered by the Kingdom of Aksum when the Himyarites unwisely suppressed a Christian (Miaphysite) minority which had quietly sprung up. The Ethiopians ruled for half a century, largely leaving the region alone provided it produced taxes, without forcing a change in religion upon the majority.

In 598, Yemen became a vassal of the Persian King, who sought to use it as a bulwark against the Byzantines and the expansion of Christianity. Even less of an attempt was made to convert the natives to Zoroastrianism (Persia largely failed to extend her native religion far beyond her borders in any direction).

For years, Khosrau II had quietly allowed the local rivalries to fester under a light governmental hand. However, by 610, these petty blood feuds were hindering business (and taxes) and Khosrau determined to unite the local tribes under a more powerful central government.

Though the Persian governor was given explicit instructions not to interfere with the Jewish Majority and Christian minority affairs, he was directed to create a sort of "council" of like-minded locals whom desired these unprofitable quarrels to end. The Council (comprised of 3 Jews and 2 Christians) would serve as a sort of peacemaker backed by the power of Persia's Army. As an incentive, locals were granted more lower-level offices, token taxes were reduced and some additional adjudication powers were delegated to the various religious or noble authorities. Initially, this faced resistance but the profitable offices given to local nobles would ensure an upper class source of support.

This process worked and peace was maintained despite occasional bouts of tribal violence. In many ways, the early 7th century was something of a Golden Age for Yemen. Peace and prosperity reigned and the local Jewish Majority would begin to refer to Yemen as a new Israel (despite the historical Israel was far to the north in the Byzantine province of Syria).

In 618, a new Persian governor arrived to assume control. This was Sayf Yazan II, the great-grandson of the legendary Himyarite King who had ended Aksumite rule over Southern Arabia. Sayf was only 25 years old but had grown up in the mighty metropolis of Ctesiphon, capital of the Sasanian Persian Empire.

This was a cunning choice as Sayf Yazan I's reputation remained strong among all Jewish Yemenites and granted the young Governor a great deal of deference which would not ordinarily be given to a Persian Governor.

Ctesiphon, Sasanian Empire

Over the past decades, Khosrau II had spent a great deal of effort both fortifying his borders and expanding at the margins. No place was this more true than along the Arabian coast. Yemen was proving more governable with the recent reforms. The settlement of Hatta and Mazun (the eastern coast of Arabia) was granted to the Lakhmid King who settled both is own people and the Magyars under his service. The latter found most of Arabia too arid for their tastes but Mazun was much more fertile and the Magyars happily took the lands granted to them.

In the early years of the 7th century over 100,000 Magyars and 200,000 Arabs/Babylonians would migrate along the eastern coast to Arabia. Most would follow the Nestorian faith. Soon tax revenues would increase in the region for Persia, making Khosrau II quite pleased.

With peace in the south with the Arabs who often raided out of the Najd, peace in the west with Byzantium, peace to the north (the Western Turkic Khaganate) and peace with the mountain peoples of the east, Khosrau II should have felt quite secure.

However, Khosrau was getting increasingly concerned with the rise of Nestorianism to the north and east. With Nestorian already prevelent in the Province of Asoristan (Assyria and Babylonia) and Persia's Lakhmid client state to the south and the Miaphsyite and Catholic provinces of the Byzantine Empire to the west, Khosrau would begin to realize that his Empire was quietly being surrounded.

For years, his wife, his financial advisor and many other powerful figures had supported Christianity. Khosrau found this tolerable as long as the Christianity was not Catholic (the religion of the Byzantines). But the Empire faced the prospects of being surrounded someday by Christian states, a daunting prospect for the Zoroastrian-majority Empire. Just as the Byzantine Emperor feared his Miaphysite Provinces (Assyria and Armenia) may someday rebel, so Khosrau feared his Nestorian provinces (the wealthy Asoristan) may do the same.

Khosrau knew better than to suppress Asoristan's faiths (Nestorianism in Assyria and a mix of Nestorianism, Mandaeism, Zoroastrians, old Mesopotamian religion, Judaism and others in Babylonia). However, he could put an end to the expansion of Christianity throughout the rest of the Empire.

Thus, Khosrau relieved several key Christians from his government and put a stop to further construction of churches in most of the Empire. He also ordered a review of the decadent and corrupt Zoroastrian priesthood whose incapacity was leading to public dissatisfaction to the religion and prompting Persians to look away from the state religion.

Khosrau would deem this the "Zoroastrian Reformation" and fought hard to purge the priesthood of their decade lifestyle in hopes that this would halt or even reverse the move away from the faith. While not a terribly devout man himself, Khosrau knew that religious civil war was inevitable if he did not do something before it was too late. Khosrau used the power of the throne to put like-minded priests in charge of the Zoroastrian Church.