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What if ... Charles VIII and Anne of Britanny's first son lived?
King of France
1507-1534: Charles IX "Orlando" of France (House of Valois) [1]
1534-1550: Louis XII of France (House of Valois) [2]
1550-1561: Jean III of France (House of Valois) [3]
[3] Jean was the eldest son of Louis and his wife, and named so for his father's ally, confidant, and friend; John Calvin. Raised in the freedoms of the Calvinist court of his father, the young Dauphin has been extremely pious and obedient even as a child, in one instance where his tutor lamented the death of the Pope, the young Dauphin ordered him whipped, and uttered the infamous statement; N’épargnez pas le papiste, car il n’abrite que la corruption. When his father died, the ten year old Jean inherited both a throne and a war with England and Spain. The war rapidly turned against France, with the Anglo-Spanish Alliance, headed by William III of England, son of Henry VIII Tudor, and Joanna of Castile and Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile.
Jean III, his Regent, and his advisors were forced to rapidly seek a peace, and they found one in the Form of the Treaty of Toulouse in 1554, losing Guyenne and Calais to the English, with Calais being directly ceded to England, and Guyenne split off a new crown in the quiver of William III, and losing the majority of the Languedoc to Spain. After the Treaty of Toulouse, Jean III descends in religious extremism, finding Calvinism too lenient upon Popery, and he developed a merciless and extreme interpretation of the Doctrine, commonly called Jeanism (Puritanism), and in the year 1560, seventy five churches in France were following the Jeanist doctrine. In 1557, Jean III had taken a wife; Christine of Hesse, but their marriage was pained, and a single daughter; Christine of France, was born to the pair in 1559. At the age of 21, in 1561, Jean III did suffer a deep melancholy and after much soul-searching and thought, the King did end his life. He was succeeded by _________
King of France
1507-1534: Charles IX "Orlando" of France (House of Valois) [1]
1534-1550: Louis XII of France (House of Valois) [2]
1550-1561: Jean III of France (House of Valois) [3]
[1] Charles Orland was the first and only son of Charles VIII of France and Anne of Britanny, and one of their two children to live to adulthood with his sister Anne. He was born in 1492 and became the Dauphin to the French throne. Because of his father's absence and his mother's waning health after the late birth of Anne, he was mostly raised between Amboise with his godmother Jeanne de Laval and Moulins with his aunt Anne de Beaujeu and her husband. His father was often at war, mostly in Italy, where his three expeditions earned the French control over Milan through the Louis D'Orléans and some influence over Savoy, but at the cost of many lives. Charles Orland was really marked by the death of one of his older friends at court, Charles de Bourbon, who died in the Battle of Florence in 1506, imprinting on him a very negative idea of war. His godmother taught him all about French and Italian literature, influencing him in his future patronage.
He rose to the throne in June 1507, after his father died from horrible convulsions. His mother died in the same year, and his sister inherited the throne of Britanny, conforming to the clauses of the marriage between their parents. She got engaged to Ferdinand II of Naples, in order to appease the situation in Italy, and ensuring a match that benefited her brother without creating a potential dangerous alliance like the Austrian match that had thrown the diplomacy of her mother into disarray: Anne II was firmly on her brother's side, and did everything in her power to tie every loose Briton end with a French string.
The young King's ordre du jour in 1507 was simple: clean up his father's mess. His father had a political vision: he wanted to shoot an arrow through the Mediterranean that did have to transperce Naples in order to lodge itself deeply in the Ottomans' heart, before landing in Jerusalem. This vision, however, was essentially built on a muddy foundation of wishful thinking, and his son, already digusted from war by the death of his confident Charles de Bourbon only one year prior. He got engaged to Yolande, sister of the heirless Duke of Savoie, five years older than he was. The King's vision was not directed towards the East like his father's, but towards a consolidation of the French territory: he wanted to ensure peace and exchanges between France and the rest of Europe, and especially with Italy. To this end, he wanted to create a solid, cohesive estate in Italy (for which he married the unofficial heir apparent to the throne of Savoy and waited for his heirless and married to an unfertile wife uncle to die, ensuring a rich, cohesive and connected estate from Lyon to Milan and Arles to Crémone. With this powerful and legitimate collection of territories, the quarel with Naples squashed and burried through his sister's alliance (especially as the King of Aragon was starting to show displeasure at the idea of Naples belonging to this bastard line instead of them), he hoped to make France too big of a piece to chew, while being resolute to keep polite relations with everyone.
Being quite a seductive diplomat, he managed to sweet talk the Queen of Castille into an arbitration with her husband and her sisters: there, he let the conflicting interests of Juana, Philipp von Hapsburg, the Queen of Portugal and the still unmarried Princess of Aragon collide, while attempting to reconcile them to France if not to each others. It was thought for a very long time that he had masterfully played his hand to lead to an uneasy Regency by the for now unmarried Catherine of Aragon, designated to last until a potential marriage, making her, for now, a mostly neutral actor, effectively depriving the Hapsburgs of a major asset while making himself look like the neutral, benevolent, smiling arbiter of peace for his time. In fact, from a diary of his favourite, Lucien d'Albignac, retrieved in archives in Amboise in 1967, show that even to his most intimate partners, he declared to be very disappointed for the poor Queen who did seem quite lucid to him, especially taking into account her difficult situation, and that he wished he could have done more to satisfy everyone with a fair distribution.
It was also this sort of earnest enthusiasm and benevolence that led him to be the patron of many prominent thinkers, poets and writers at first, and then inventors, sculptors, painters, ... among them Leonardo da Vinci, the painter Raphaelle, botanist Giovanni Manardo, ... he saw the early beginning of his reign as an invitation to a long-term and ambitious vision for his Kingdom. He wanted to create a strong base, and has the charisma to invite to reflexion, but sadly little of the actual administrative competence to make it happen.
When Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans and Milan, died in 1527, he inherited the possessions of his uncle, and toured his newly acquired estates in Italy to meet his new subjects, promising to protect their way of life, and even inhabited Milan for a few months. He integrated much of his uncle's administration and personel to his own Court, hoping to acquire new talents, and recruited a bilingual secretary from Milan, André d'Alciat, for his correspondance with Italy. When in 1537 Charles II of Savoy died without issue from his legitimate wife Jeanne of Naples, Yolande, a very ambitious woman, claimed the Duchy for herself, against her brothers who were all excommunicated, ordinated to some ecclesiastical positions, or born illegitimate, and gained approval from the Pope and her illegitimate-born brother René. Happy to have time away from his wife, and her to finally own this Duchy she had seen falling from hands to hands for years without ever arriving in hers until now, the King and Queen were both very personally satisfied of this development.
The royal couple, despite the both's much more pronounced interest in older men than each other, was quite a harmonious household, and they managed to sire four children: Louis (B. 1510), Anne (B. 1512), Charles, Duke of Orleans (B. 1514), and Henri, Duke of Berry (B. 1517). The King died at the age of 42, being remembered in his Court for his charming personnality and Italian mannerisms, and was even more fondly remembered by his subjects who were glad to finally be awarded a generation without wars, without conscription and with lower taxes. After his death, he throne of France went to Louis XII.
[2] Louis XII ascended the throne in 1534 at the age of 24. At the time of his ascension Louis was a widower, with his wife, Princess Margaret (B. 1508), having died the previous year while giving birth to their third child, who died not long after their Mother. With no sons, Louis was eager to remarry, and would do so the next year when he married the Neapolitian Princess (and his cousin) Giovanna (B. 1517), which renewed the French alliance with Naples. The two would get along well throughout the ups and downs of Louis's reign and would share 5 children.
Louis continued his Father's cultural policies, hiring and sponsoring many artists, poets, playwrights, and writers. This would inevitably lead to him coming into contact with renowned reformer, John Calvin. John like Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon believed that the time of the Catholic Church had come to an end, and began preaching a new Christian sect known as Calvinism. Louis took an interest in this new sect, and would meet with John in 1538, to discuss theology with him. After several debates between the two, Louis, and his family converted to Calvinism, and were baptised in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, by John Calvin himself.
Some French Nobles, such as the Duke of Bourbon, Alencon, and Berry and the Count of Auveregne, Boulogne, Angouleme and St Pol, agreed with Calvin and the King and converted as well. Others such as the Count of Foix, Montpensier, and Duke of Nemours and Orleans, opposed the King and would raise against him in 1540, in what would become known as the First War of French Religion. The rebellious nobles wanted the King to revert to Catholicism and were supported by England and Spain, who sought to antagonise the French.
Louis would prove himself quite the general however, and would lead an army against the nobles, defeating them battle after battle. Many took this as a sign of Divine Backing and abandoned the Catholic Cause, while others fought on. Their efforts would prove futile however and in 1542, the Duke of Orleans would be killed in the Battle of Albi. With that the first War of French Religion came to an end.
Louis would soon begin instigating Calvin's reforms, weakening the power of the Church, reforming their practices, and introducing new ones, most notably the concepts of Predestination, a Vernacular Bible, and allowing the Clergy to marry. John Calvin was also appointed to the role of Archbishop of Reims, and would later crown Louis's successor, His eldest son.
In 1545, France would be invaded by England and Spain, who claimed they were invading in the name of the Pope. Louis would raise his armies to fight the invaders, and would personally lead a force to attack Calais, the last English possession on the continent. After a brutal and gruelling 500 day siege, which saw no more than 4 relief attempts by the English, Calais fell to Louis, who entered it in triumph. It was soon followed up by the French victory at the Naval Battle of Wight, which saw 34 English ships destroyed.
Meanwhile, thing were going less well on the Spanish front. The Duke of Berry was killed in battle by the Spanish, with his Dukedom being inherited by his son. The city of Toulouse and Bordeaux were also being besieged, with English forces assisting the Spanish. Louis would march down south with his army to stop them, and would request Neapolitan assistance. Naples would accept and would donate 20 ships and 10,000 Gold coins to the French cause. From 1547 to 1550, Louis fought the English and French in several battles, winning some and losing others. By the time of his death he managed to relieve Bordeaux and kick the English and Spanish out of Gascony, but failed to relieve Toulouse, which fell to the Spanish in 1549.
In early 1550, Louis would contract smallpox and would die on March 29th. He would be succeeded by his senior son; Jean, Dauphin of France, otherwise known as Jean III.
He rose to the throne in June 1507, after his father died from horrible convulsions. His mother died in the same year, and his sister inherited the throne of Britanny, conforming to the clauses of the marriage between their parents. She got engaged to Ferdinand II of Naples, in order to appease the situation in Italy, and ensuring a match that benefited her brother without creating a potential dangerous alliance like the Austrian match that had thrown the diplomacy of her mother into disarray: Anne II was firmly on her brother's side, and did everything in her power to tie every loose Briton end with a French string.
The young King's ordre du jour in 1507 was simple: clean up his father's mess. His father had a political vision: he wanted to shoot an arrow through the Mediterranean that did have to transperce Naples in order to lodge itself deeply in the Ottomans' heart, before landing in Jerusalem. This vision, however, was essentially built on a muddy foundation of wishful thinking, and his son, already digusted from war by the death of his confident Charles de Bourbon only one year prior. He got engaged to Yolande, sister of the heirless Duke of Savoie, five years older than he was. The King's vision was not directed towards the East like his father's, but towards a consolidation of the French territory: he wanted to ensure peace and exchanges between France and the rest of Europe, and especially with Italy. To this end, he wanted to create a solid, cohesive estate in Italy (for which he married the unofficial heir apparent to the throne of Savoy and waited for his heirless and married to an unfertile wife uncle to die, ensuring a rich, cohesive and connected estate from Lyon to Milan and Arles to Crémone. With this powerful and legitimate collection of territories, the quarel with Naples squashed and burried through his sister's alliance (especially as the King of Aragon was starting to show displeasure at the idea of Naples belonging to this bastard line instead of them), he hoped to make France too big of a piece to chew, while being resolute to keep polite relations with everyone.
Being quite a seductive diplomat, he managed to sweet talk the Queen of Castille into an arbitration with her husband and her sisters: there, he let the conflicting interests of Juana, Philipp von Hapsburg, the Queen of Portugal and the still unmarried Princess of Aragon collide, while attempting to reconcile them to France if not to each others. It was thought for a very long time that he had masterfully played his hand to lead to an uneasy Regency by the for now unmarried Catherine of Aragon, designated to last until a potential marriage, making her, for now, a mostly neutral actor, effectively depriving the Hapsburgs of a major asset while making himself look like the neutral, benevolent, smiling arbiter of peace for his time. In fact, from a diary of his favourite, Lucien d'Albignac, retrieved in archives in Amboise in 1967, show that even to his most intimate partners, he declared to be very disappointed for the poor Queen who did seem quite lucid to him, especially taking into account her difficult situation, and that he wished he could have done more to satisfy everyone with a fair distribution.
It was also this sort of earnest enthusiasm and benevolence that led him to be the patron of many prominent thinkers, poets and writers at first, and then inventors, sculptors, painters, ... among them Leonardo da Vinci, the painter Raphaelle, botanist Giovanni Manardo, ... he saw the early beginning of his reign as an invitation to a long-term and ambitious vision for his Kingdom. He wanted to create a strong base, and has the charisma to invite to reflexion, but sadly little of the actual administrative competence to make it happen.
When Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans and Milan, died in 1527, he inherited the possessions of his uncle, and toured his newly acquired estates in Italy to meet his new subjects, promising to protect their way of life, and even inhabited Milan for a few months. He integrated much of his uncle's administration and personel to his own Court, hoping to acquire new talents, and recruited a bilingual secretary from Milan, André d'Alciat, for his correspondance with Italy. When in 1537 Charles II of Savoy died without issue from his legitimate wife Jeanne of Naples, Yolande, a very ambitious woman, claimed the Duchy for herself, against her brothers who were all excommunicated, ordinated to some ecclesiastical positions, or born illegitimate, and gained approval from the Pope and her illegitimate-born brother René. Happy to have time away from his wife, and her to finally own this Duchy she had seen falling from hands to hands for years without ever arriving in hers until now, the King and Queen were both very personally satisfied of this development.
The royal couple, despite the both's much more pronounced interest in older men than each other, was quite a harmonious household, and they managed to sire four children: Louis (B. 1510), Anne (B. 1512), Charles, Duke of Orleans (B. 1514), and Henri, Duke of Berry (B. 1517). The King died at the age of 42, being remembered in his Court for his charming personnality and Italian mannerisms, and was even more fondly remembered by his subjects who were glad to finally be awarded a generation without wars, without conscription and with lower taxes. After his death, he throne of France went to Louis XII.
[2] Louis XII ascended the throne in 1534 at the age of 24. At the time of his ascension Louis was a widower, with his wife, Princess Margaret (B. 1508), having died the previous year while giving birth to their third child, who died not long after their Mother. With no sons, Louis was eager to remarry, and would do so the next year when he married the Neapolitian Princess (and his cousin) Giovanna (B. 1517), which renewed the French alliance with Naples. The two would get along well throughout the ups and downs of Louis's reign and would share 5 children.
Louis continued his Father's cultural policies, hiring and sponsoring many artists, poets, playwrights, and writers. This would inevitably lead to him coming into contact with renowned reformer, John Calvin. John like Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon believed that the time of the Catholic Church had come to an end, and began preaching a new Christian sect known as Calvinism. Louis took an interest in this new sect, and would meet with John in 1538, to discuss theology with him. After several debates between the two, Louis, and his family converted to Calvinism, and were baptised in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, by John Calvin himself.
Some French Nobles, such as the Duke of Bourbon, Alencon, and Berry and the Count of Auveregne, Boulogne, Angouleme and St Pol, agreed with Calvin and the King and converted as well. Others such as the Count of Foix, Montpensier, and Duke of Nemours and Orleans, opposed the King and would raise against him in 1540, in what would become known as the First War of French Religion. The rebellious nobles wanted the King to revert to Catholicism and were supported by England and Spain, who sought to antagonise the French.
Louis would prove himself quite the general however, and would lead an army against the nobles, defeating them battle after battle. Many took this as a sign of Divine Backing and abandoned the Catholic Cause, while others fought on. Their efforts would prove futile however and in 1542, the Duke of Orleans would be killed in the Battle of Albi. With that the first War of French Religion came to an end.
Louis would soon begin instigating Calvin's reforms, weakening the power of the Church, reforming their practices, and introducing new ones, most notably the concepts of Predestination, a Vernacular Bible, and allowing the Clergy to marry. John Calvin was also appointed to the role of Archbishop of Reims, and would later crown Louis's successor, His eldest son.
In 1545, France would be invaded by England and Spain, who claimed they were invading in the name of the Pope. Louis would raise his armies to fight the invaders, and would personally lead a force to attack Calais, the last English possession on the continent. After a brutal and gruelling 500 day siege, which saw no more than 4 relief attempts by the English, Calais fell to Louis, who entered it in triumph. It was soon followed up by the French victory at the Naval Battle of Wight, which saw 34 English ships destroyed.
Meanwhile, thing were going less well on the Spanish front. The Duke of Berry was killed in battle by the Spanish, with his Dukedom being inherited by his son. The city of Toulouse and Bordeaux were also being besieged, with English forces assisting the Spanish. Louis would march down south with his army to stop them, and would request Neapolitan assistance. Naples would accept and would donate 20 ships and 10,000 Gold coins to the French cause. From 1547 to 1550, Louis fought the English and French in several battles, winning some and losing others. By the time of his death he managed to relieve Bordeaux and kick the English and Spanish out of Gascony, but failed to relieve Toulouse, which fell to the Spanish in 1549.
In early 1550, Louis would contract smallpox and would die on March 29th. He would be succeeded by his senior son; Jean, Dauphin of France, otherwise known as Jean III.
[3] Jean was the eldest son of Louis and his wife, and named so for his father's ally, confidant, and friend; John Calvin. Raised in the freedoms of the Calvinist court of his father, the young Dauphin has been extremely pious and obedient even as a child, in one instance where his tutor lamented the death of the Pope, the young Dauphin ordered him whipped, and uttered the infamous statement; N’épargnez pas le papiste, car il n’abrite que la corruption. When his father died, the ten year old Jean inherited both a throne and a war with England and Spain. The war rapidly turned against France, with the Anglo-Spanish Alliance, headed by William III of England, son of Henry VIII Tudor, and Joanna of Castile and Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile.
Jean III, his Regent, and his advisors were forced to rapidly seek a peace, and they found one in the Form of the Treaty of Toulouse in 1554, losing Guyenne and Calais to the English, with Calais being directly ceded to England, and Guyenne split off a new crown in the quiver of William III, and losing the majority of the Languedoc to Spain. After the Treaty of Toulouse, Jean III descends in religious extremism, finding Calvinism too lenient upon Popery, and he developed a merciless and extreme interpretation of the Doctrine, commonly called Jeanism (Puritanism), and in the year 1560, seventy five churches in France were following the Jeanist doctrine. In 1557, Jean III had taken a wife; Christine of Hesse, but their marriage was pained, and a single daughter; Christine of France, was born to the pair in 1559. At the age of 21, in 1561, Jean III did suffer a deep melancholy and after much soul-searching and thought, the King did end his life. He was succeeded by _________
Great post. I love the irony of William III of England fighting against a French Calvinist.
@Jonathan, it appears that your post for the French list has been deleted. Would you like to repost it?
Must have been caught between the site opening and the closing again.
I’ll pass now as unable to go.
One hour left to post your turn.
Edit: Now it’s ten minutes left.
Edit: oops I ment twenty for the last edit, but now you have eight minutes left.
Last edited:
What if ... Charles VIII and Anne of Britanny's first son lived?
King of France
1507-1534: Charles IX "Orlando" of France (House of Valois) [1]
1534-1550: Louis XII of France (House of Valois) [2]
1550-1561: Jean III of France (House of Valois) [3]
1561-1565: Charles X (House of Valois) [4]
Duke Charles II of Orléans before his ascension
[4] Duke Charles of Orléans was born in 1514, to Charles IX "Orlando" of France and Princess Yolande Louise of Savoy. In 1527, he was made the Duke of Orléans, after the death of Louis, who was the Duke of Milan, but also the Duke of Orléans. Unlike his father, Charles aspired to be a warrior, like in the stories that were told to him by courtiers.
He opposed his brother’s conversion to Calvinism and was joined by several other nobles, thus kicking off the First War of French Religion. Charles distinguished himself in various battles. However, he always remained skeptical of his English and Spanish allies, fearing that they would take lands from France. His fears would finally be realized by the Treaty of Toulouse in 1554. After this, he pledged his services to his nephew, King Jean III. However, the French king continued to despise him and even imprisoned him once.
Upon the King’s suicide in 1561, Charles succeeded him as ruler of France. Immediately, after his ascension, he had to put down a revolt caused by revolting Calvinists and Puritans. Fearing swift reprisals, a plot was formed to install Jean III’s two-year-old daughter, Christine onto the throne, but this also failed.
After an exhausting four year reign, Charles X died in 1565, from a bad case of the fever, he was succeeded by _____________________.
King of France
1507-1534: Charles IX "Orlando" of France (House of Valois) [1]
1534-1550: Louis XII of France (House of Valois) [2]
1550-1561: Jean III of France (House of Valois) [3]
1561-1565: Charles X (House of Valois) [4]
[1] Charles Orland was the first and only son of Charles VIII of France and Anne of Britanny, and one of their two children to live to adulthood with his sister Anne. He was born in 1492 and became the Dauphin to the French throne. Because of his father's absence and his mother's waning health after the late birth of Anne, he was mostly raised between Amboise with his godmother Jeanne de Laval and Moulins with his aunt Anne de Beaujeu and her husband. His father was often at war, mostly in Italy, where his three expeditions earned the French control over Milan through the Louis D'Orléans and some influence over Savoy, but at the cost of many lives. Charles Orland was really marked by the death of one of his older friends at court, Charles de Bourbon, who died in the Battle of Florence in 1506, imprinting on him a very negative idea of war. His godmother taught him all about French and Italian literature, influencing him in his future patronage.
He rose to the throne in June 1507, after his father died from horrible convulsions. His mother died in the same year, and his sister inherited the throne of Britanny, conforming to the clauses of the marriage between their parents. She got engaged to Ferdinand II of Naples, in order to appease the situation in Italy, and ensuring a match that benefited her brother without creating a potentially dangerous alliance like the Austrian match that had thrown the diplomacy of her mother into disarray: Anne II was firmly on her brother's side, and did everything in her power to tie every loose Briton end with a French string.
The young King's ordre du jour in 1507 was simple: clean up his father's mess. His father had a political vision: he wanted to shoot an arrow through the Mediterranean that did have to transperce Naples in order to lodge itself deeply in the Ottomans' heart, before landing in Jerusalem. This vision, however, was essentially built on a muddy foundation of wishful thinking, and his son, already disgusted from war by the death of his confident Charles de Bourbon only one year prior. He got engaged to Yolande, sister of the heirless Duke of Savoie, five years older than he was. The King's vision was not directed towards the East like his father's, but towards a consolidation of the French territory: he wanted to ensure peace and exchanges between France and the rest of Europe, and especially with Italy. To this end, he wanted to create a solid, cohesive estate in Italy (for which he married the unofficial heir apparent to the throne of Savoy and waited for his heirless and married to an infertile wife uncle to die, ensuring a rich, cohesive and connected estate from Lyon to Milan and Arles to Crémone. With this powerful and legitimate collection of territories, the quarel with Naples squashed and burried through his sister's alliance (especially as the King of Aragon was starting to show displeasure at the idea of Naples belonging to this bastard line instead of them), he hoped to make France too big of a piece to chew, while being resolute to keep polite relations with everyone.
Being quite a seductive diplomat, he managed to sweet-talk the Queen of Castille into an arbitration with her husband and her sisters: there, he let the conflicting interests of Juana, Philipp von Hapsburg, the Queen of Portugal and the still unmarried Princess of Aragon collide, while attempting to reconcile them to France if not to each others. It was thought for a very long time that he had masterfully played his hand to lead to an uneasy Regency by the for now unmarried Catherine of Aragon, designated to last until a potential marriage, making her, for now, a mostly neutral actor, effectively depriving the Hapsburgs of a major asset while making himself look like the neutral, benevolent, smiling arbiter of peace for his time. In fact, from a diary of his favourite, Lucien d'Albignac, retrieved in archives in Amboise in 1967, show that even to his most intimate partners, he declared to be very disappointed for the poor Queen who did seem quite lucid to him, especially taking into account her difficult situation, and that he wished he could have done more to satisfy everyone with a fair distribution.
It was also this sort of earnest enthusiasm and benevolence that led him to be the patron of many prominent thinkers, poets and writers at first, and then inventors, sculptors, painters, ... among them Leonardo da Vinci, the painter Raphaelle, botanist Giovanni Manardo, ... he saw the early beginning of his reign as an invitation to a long-term and ambitious vision for his Kingdom. He wanted to create a strong base, and has the charisma to invite to reflexion, but sadly little of the actual administrative competence to make it happen.
When Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans and Milan, died in 1527, he inherited the possessions of his uncle, and toured his newly acquired estates in Italy to meet his new subjects, promising to protect their way of life, and even inhabited Milan for a few months. He integrated much of his uncle's administration and personel to his own Court, hoping to acquire new talents, and recruited a bilingual secretary from Milan, André d'Alciat, for his correspondence with Italy. When in 1537 Charles II of Savoy died without issue from his legitimate wife Jeanne of Naples, Yolande, a very ambitious woman, claimed the Duchy for herself, against her brothers who were all excommunicated, ordinated to some ecclesiastical positions, or born illegitimate, and gained approval from the Pope and her illegitimate-born brother René. Happy to have time away from his wife, and her to finally own this Duchy she had seen falling from hands to hands for years without ever arriving in hers until now, the King and Queen were both very personally satisfied of this development.
The royal couple, despite the both's much more pronounced interest in older men than each other, was quite a harmonious household, and they managed to sire four children: Louis (B. 1510), Anne (B. 1512), Charles, Duke of Orleans (B. 1514), and Henri, Duke of Berry (B. 1517). The King died at the age of 42, being remembered in his Court for his charming personality and Italian mannerisms, and was even more fondly remembered by his subjects who were glad to finally be awarded a generation without wars, without conscription and with lower taxes. After his death, he throne of France went to Louis XII.
[2] Louis XII ascended the throne in 1534 at the age of 24. At the time of his ascension, Louis was a widower, with his wife, Princess Margaret (B. 1508), having died the previous year while giving birth to their third child, who died not long after their Mother. With no sons, Louis was eager to remarry and would do so the next year when he married the Neapolitian Princess (and his cousin) Giovanna (B. 1517), which renewed the French alliance with Naples. The two would get along well throughout the ups and downs of Louis's reign and would share 5 children.
Louis continued his Father's cultural policies, hiring and sponsoring many artists, poets, playwrights, and writers. This would inevitably lead to him coming into contact with renowned reformer, John Calvin. John like Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon believed that the time of the Catholic Church had come to an end, and began preaching a new Christian sect known as Calvinism. Louis took an interest in this new sect and would meet with John in 1538, to discuss theology with him. After several debates between the two, Louis, and his family converted to Calvinism and were baptised in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, by John Calvin himself.
Some French Nobles, such as the Duke of Bourbon, Alencon, and Berry and the Count of Auveregne, Boulogne, Angouleme and St Pol, agreed with Calvin and the King and converted as well. Others such as the Count of Foix, Montpensier, and Duke of Nemours and Orleans, opposed the King and would raise against him in 1540, in what would become known as the First War of French Religion. The rebellious nobles wanted the King to revert to Catholicism and were supported by England and Spain, who sought to antagonise the French.
Louis would prove himself quite the general however and would lead an army against the nobles, defeating them battle after battle. Many took this as a sign of Divine Backing and abandoned the Catholic Cause, while others fought on. Their efforts would prove futile however and in 1542, the Duke of Orleans would be killed in the Battle of Albi. With that the first War of French Religion came to an end.
Louis would soon begin instigating Calvin's reforms, weakening the power of the Church, reforming their practices, and introducing new ones, most notably the concepts of Predestination, a Vernacular Bible, and allowing the Clergy to marry. John Calvin was also appointed to the role of Archbishop of Reims, and would later crown Louis's successor, His eldest son.
In 1545, France would be invaded by England and Spain, who claimed they were invading in the name of the Pope. Louis would raise his armies to fight the invaders, and would personally lead a force to attack Calais, the last English possession on the continent. After a brutal and gruelling 500 day siege, which saw no more than 4 relief attempts by the English, Calais fell to Louis, who entered it in triumph. It was soon followed up by the French victory at the Naval Battle of Wight, which saw 34 English ships destroyed.
Meanwhile, thing were going less well on the Spanish front. The Duke of Berry was killed in battle by the Spanish, with his Dukedom being inherited by his son. The city of Toulouse and Bordeaux were also being besieged, with English forces assisting the Spanish. Louis would march down south with his army to stop them, and would request Neapolitan assistance. Naples would accept and would donate 20 ships and 10,000 Gold coins to the French cause. From 1547 to 1550, Louis fought the English and French in several battles, winning some and losing others. By the time of his death, he managed to relieve Bordeaux and kick the English and Spanish out of Gascony but failed to relieve Toulouse, which fell to the Spanish in 1549.
In early 1550, Louis would contract smallpox and would die on March 29th. He would be succeeded by his senior son; Jean, Dauphin of France, otherwise known as Jean III.
[3] Jean was the eldest son of Louis and his wife, and named so for his father's ally, confidant, and friend; John Calvin. Raised in the freedoms of the Calvinist court of his father, the young Dauphin has been extremely pious and obedient even as a child, in one instance where his tutor lamented the death of the Pope, the young Dauphin ordered him whipped, and uttered the infamous statement; N’épargnez pas le papiste, car il n’abrite que la corruption. When his father died, the ten-year-old Jean inherited both a throne and a war with England and Spain. The war rapidly turned against France, with the Anglo-Spanish Alliance, headed by William III of England, son of Henry VIII Tudor, and Joanna of Castile and Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile.
Jean III, his Regent, and his advisors were forced to rapidly seek a peace, and they found one in the form of the Treaty of Toulouse in 1554, losing Guyenne and Calais to the English, with Calais being directly ceded to England, and Guyenne split off a new crown in the quiver of William III and losing the majority of the Languedoc to Spain. After the Treaty of Toulouse, Jean III descends in religious extremism, finding Calvinism too lenient upon Popery, and he developed a merciless and extreme interpretation of the Doctrine, commonly called Jeanism (Puritanism), and in the year 1560, seventy-five churches in France were following the Jeanist doctrine. In 1557, Jean III had taken a wife; Christine of Hesse, but their marriage was pained, and a single daughter; Christine of France, was born to the pair in 1559. At the age of 21, in 1561, Jean III did suffer a deep melancholy and after much soul-searching and thought, the King did end his life. He was succeeded by _________
He rose to the throne in June 1507, after his father died from horrible convulsions. His mother died in the same year, and his sister inherited the throne of Britanny, conforming to the clauses of the marriage between their parents. She got engaged to Ferdinand II of Naples, in order to appease the situation in Italy, and ensuring a match that benefited her brother without creating a potentially dangerous alliance like the Austrian match that had thrown the diplomacy of her mother into disarray: Anne II was firmly on her brother's side, and did everything in her power to tie every loose Briton end with a French string.
The young King's ordre du jour in 1507 was simple: clean up his father's mess. His father had a political vision: he wanted to shoot an arrow through the Mediterranean that did have to transperce Naples in order to lodge itself deeply in the Ottomans' heart, before landing in Jerusalem. This vision, however, was essentially built on a muddy foundation of wishful thinking, and his son, already disgusted from war by the death of his confident Charles de Bourbon only one year prior. He got engaged to Yolande, sister of the heirless Duke of Savoie, five years older than he was. The King's vision was not directed towards the East like his father's, but towards a consolidation of the French territory: he wanted to ensure peace and exchanges between France and the rest of Europe, and especially with Italy. To this end, he wanted to create a solid, cohesive estate in Italy (for which he married the unofficial heir apparent to the throne of Savoy and waited for his heirless and married to an infertile wife uncle to die, ensuring a rich, cohesive and connected estate from Lyon to Milan and Arles to Crémone. With this powerful and legitimate collection of territories, the quarel with Naples squashed and burried through his sister's alliance (especially as the King of Aragon was starting to show displeasure at the idea of Naples belonging to this bastard line instead of them), he hoped to make France too big of a piece to chew, while being resolute to keep polite relations with everyone.
Being quite a seductive diplomat, he managed to sweet-talk the Queen of Castille into an arbitration with her husband and her sisters: there, he let the conflicting interests of Juana, Philipp von Hapsburg, the Queen of Portugal and the still unmarried Princess of Aragon collide, while attempting to reconcile them to France if not to each others. It was thought for a very long time that he had masterfully played his hand to lead to an uneasy Regency by the for now unmarried Catherine of Aragon, designated to last until a potential marriage, making her, for now, a mostly neutral actor, effectively depriving the Hapsburgs of a major asset while making himself look like the neutral, benevolent, smiling arbiter of peace for his time. In fact, from a diary of his favourite, Lucien d'Albignac, retrieved in archives in Amboise in 1967, show that even to his most intimate partners, he declared to be very disappointed for the poor Queen who did seem quite lucid to him, especially taking into account her difficult situation, and that he wished he could have done more to satisfy everyone with a fair distribution.
It was also this sort of earnest enthusiasm and benevolence that led him to be the patron of many prominent thinkers, poets and writers at first, and then inventors, sculptors, painters, ... among them Leonardo da Vinci, the painter Raphaelle, botanist Giovanni Manardo, ... he saw the early beginning of his reign as an invitation to a long-term and ambitious vision for his Kingdom. He wanted to create a strong base, and has the charisma to invite to reflexion, but sadly little of the actual administrative competence to make it happen.
When Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans and Milan, died in 1527, he inherited the possessions of his uncle, and toured his newly acquired estates in Italy to meet his new subjects, promising to protect their way of life, and even inhabited Milan for a few months. He integrated much of his uncle's administration and personel to his own Court, hoping to acquire new talents, and recruited a bilingual secretary from Milan, André d'Alciat, for his correspondence with Italy. When in 1537 Charles II of Savoy died without issue from his legitimate wife Jeanne of Naples, Yolande, a very ambitious woman, claimed the Duchy for herself, against her brothers who were all excommunicated, ordinated to some ecclesiastical positions, or born illegitimate, and gained approval from the Pope and her illegitimate-born brother René. Happy to have time away from his wife, and her to finally own this Duchy she had seen falling from hands to hands for years without ever arriving in hers until now, the King and Queen were both very personally satisfied of this development.
The royal couple, despite the both's much more pronounced interest in older men than each other, was quite a harmonious household, and they managed to sire four children: Louis (B. 1510), Anne (B. 1512), Charles, Duke of Orleans (B. 1514), and Henri, Duke of Berry (B. 1517). The King died at the age of 42, being remembered in his Court for his charming personality and Italian mannerisms, and was even more fondly remembered by his subjects who were glad to finally be awarded a generation without wars, without conscription and with lower taxes. After his death, he throne of France went to Louis XII.
[2] Louis XII ascended the throne in 1534 at the age of 24. At the time of his ascension, Louis was a widower, with his wife, Princess Margaret (B. 1508), having died the previous year while giving birth to their third child, who died not long after their Mother. With no sons, Louis was eager to remarry and would do so the next year when he married the Neapolitian Princess (and his cousin) Giovanna (B. 1517), which renewed the French alliance with Naples. The two would get along well throughout the ups and downs of Louis's reign and would share 5 children.
Louis continued his Father's cultural policies, hiring and sponsoring many artists, poets, playwrights, and writers. This would inevitably lead to him coming into contact with renowned reformer, John Calvin. John like Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon believed that the time of the Catholic Church had come to an end, and began preaching a new Christian sect known as Calvinism. Louis took an interest in this new sect and would meet with John in 1538, to discuss theology with him. After several debates between the two, Louis, and his family converted to Calvinism and were baptised in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, by John Calvin himself.
Some French Nobles, such as the Duke of Bourbon, Alencon, and Berry and the Count of Auveregne, Boulogne, Angouleme and St Pol, agreed with Calvin and the King and converted as well. Others such as the Count of Foix, Montpensier, and Duke of Nemours and Orleans, opposed the King and would raise against him in 1540, in what would become known as the First War of French Religion. The rebellious nobles wanted the King to revert to Catholicism and were supported by England and Spain, who sought to antagonise the French.
Louis would prove himself quite the general however and would lead an army against the nobles, defeating them battle after battle. Many took this as a sign of Divine Backing and abandoned the Catholic Cause, while others fought on. Their efforts would prove futile however and in 1542, the Duke of Orleans would be killed in the Battle of Albi. With that the first War of French Religion came to an end.
Louis would soon begin instigating Calvin's reforms, weakening the power of the Church, reforming their practices, and introducing new ones, most notably the concepts of Predestination, a Vernacular Bible, and allowing the Clergy to marry. John Calvin was also appointed to the role of Archbishop of Reims, and would later crown Louis's successor, His eldest son.
In 1545, France would be invaded by England and Spain, who claimed they were invading in the name of the Pope. Louis would raise his armies to fight the invaders, and would personally lead a force to attack Calais, the last English possession on the continent. After a brutal and gruelling 500 day siege, which saw no more than 4 relief attempts by the English, Calais fell to Louis, who entered it in triumph. It was soon followed up by the French victory at the Naval Battle of Wight, which saw 34 English ships destroyed.
Meanwhile, thing were going less well on the Spanish front. The Duke of Berry was killed in battle by the Spanish, with his Dukedom being inherited by his son. The city of Toulouse and Bordeaux were also being besieged, with English forces assisting the Spanish. Louis would march down south with his army to stop them, and would request Neapolitan assistance. Naples would accept and would donate 20 ships and 10,000 Gold coins to the French cause. From 1547 to 1550, Louis fought the English and French in several battles, winning some and losing others. By the time of his death, he managed to relieve Bordeaux and kick the English and Spanish out of Gascony but failed to relieve Toulouse, which fell to the Spanish in 1549.
In early 1550, Louis would contract smallpox and would die on March 29th. He would be succeeded by his senior son; Jean, Dauphin of France, otherwise known as Jean III.
[3] Jean was the eldest son of Louis and his wife, and named so for his father's ally, confidant, and friend; John Calvin. Raised in the freedoms of the Calvinist court of his father, the young Dauphin has been extremely pious and obedient even as a child, in one instance where his tutor lamented the death of the Pope, the young Dauphin ordered him whipped, and uttered the infamous statement; N’épargnez pas le papiste, car il n’abrite que la corruption. When his father died, the ten-year-old Jean inherited both a throne and a war with England and Spain. The war rapidly turned against France, with the Anglo-Spanish Alliance, headed by William III of England, son of Henry VIII Tudor, and Joanna of Castile and Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile.
Jean III, his Regent, and his advisors were forced to rapidly seek a peace, and they found one in the form of the Treaty of Toulouse in 1554, losing Guyenne and Calais to the English, with Calais being directly ceded to England, and Guyenne split off a new crown in the quiver of William III and losing the majority of the Languedoc to Spain. After the Treaty of Toulouse, Jean III descends in religious extremism, finding Calvinism too lenient upon Popery, and he developed a merciless and extreme interpretation of the Doctrine, commonly called Jeanism (Puritanism), and in the year 1560, seventy-five churches in France were following the Jeanist doctrine. In 1557, Jean III had taken a wife; Christine of Hesse, but their marriage was pained, and a single daughter; Christine of France, was born to the pair in 1559. At the age of 21, in 1561, Jean III did suffer a deep melancholy and after much soul-searching and thought, the King did end his life. He was succeeded by _________
Duke Charles II of Orléans before his ascension
He opposed his brother’s conversion to Calvinism and was joined by several other nobles, thus kicking off the First War of French Religion. Charles distinguished himself in various battles. However, he always remained skeptical of his English and Spanish allies, fearing that they would take lands from France. His fears would finally be realized by the Treaty of Toulouse in 1554. After this, he pledged his services to his nephew, King Jean III. However, the French king continued to despise him and even imprisoned him once.
Upon the King’s suicide in 1561, Charles succeeded him as ruler of France. Immediately, after his ascension, he had to put down a revolt caused by revolting Calvinists and Puritans. Fearing swift reprisals, a plot was formed to install Jean III’s two-year-old daughter, Christine onto the throne, but this also failed.
After an exhausting four year reign, Charles X died in 1565, from a bad case of the fever, he was succeeded by _____________________.
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What if ... Charles VIII and Anne of Britanny's first son lived?
King of France
1507-1534: Charles IX "Orlando" of France (House of Valois) [1]
1534-1550: Louis XII of France (House of Valois) [2]
1550-1561: Jean III of France (House of Valois) [3]
1561-1565: Charles X (House of Valois) [4]
1565-1594: Charles XI Amadée (House of Valois) [5]
[5] Charles Amedée was born in 1533, before his Grandfather's death to Charles, Duke of Orleans and his Savoyard wife, aged nineteen and eighteen respectively and sadly his birth resulted in the death of his mother. For much of the early years of his life, the Prince lived a relatively austere and Spartan life, as his father took a new wife and had further issue, and the young Charles Amedée was left to himself. At the age of sixteen, he purchased the Lordship of Becelaere in Flanders from the de la Woestyne, and moved his small band of retainers and friends to his new property. In 1553, Charles Amedée married Manuela, Princess of Portugal (B.1534) as part of the negotiations of alliance conducted between Portugal and France, and was a gift his father abdicated Milan to his son, who was crowned as Amadeo I, Duke of Milan.
The Young prince, both a sovereign Lord in Milan and a vassal of his cousin; Jean III, had to sit upon a fine line, preserving the interests of Milan and Becelaere, as well as maintaining the confidence his cousin had in him. In 1559, Charles Amedée officially sanctioned the Jeanist doctrine be expanded into Milan, despite toeing the line of Catholicism himself, and it was in 1560, during the 7 months of his fathers fourth imprisonment under Jean III, Charles Amedée did travel to Rome and meet his Holiness himself, and reconciled with the church, immediately banning the Jeanist doctrine in Milan.
During the reign of his father, Charles Amadée became a respected diplomat and representative of his father, notably signing the Truce of Winchester between England and France. After his father's reign, the Dauphin returned to Paris and was crowned as Charles XI Amadée, but the event was struck by more tragedy as his wife; Manuela, did collapse and pass after the coronation, leaving Charles Do and their four children without a wife or mother. It was in 1568 that Charles discussed remarriage, and so by the end of the year had taken the young Immaculeta of Lorraine (B.1545) as his second wife, and she would give him a further four children. The reign of Charles XI Amadée was a golden age of peace and prosperity, with a sword never raised in anger during the twenty nine years of rule. In 1594, the King passed and was succeeded by __________.
King of France
1507-1534: Charles IX "Orlando" of France (House of Valois) [1]
1534-1550: Louis XII of France (House of Valois) [2]
1550-1561: Jean III of France (House of Valois) [3]
1561-1565: Charles X (House of Valois) [4]
1565-1594: Charles XI Amadée (House of Valois) [5]
[1] Charles Orland was the first and only son of Charles VIII of France and Anne of Britanny, and one of their two children to live to adulthood with his sister Anne. He was born in 1492 and became the Dauphin to the French throne. Because of his father's absence and his mother's waning health after the late birth of Anne, he was mostly raised between Amboise with his godmother Jeanne de Laval and Moulins with his aunt Anne de Beaujeu and her husband. His father was often at war, mostly in Italy, where his three expeditions earned the French control over Milan through the Louis D'Orléans and some influence over Savoy, but at the cost of many lives. Charles Orland was really marked by the death of one of his older friends at court, Charles de Bourbon, who died in the Battle of Florence in 1506, imprinting on him a very negative idea of war. His godmother taught him all about French and Italian literature, influencing him in his future patronage.
He rose to the throne in June 1507, after his father died from horrible convulsions. His mother died in the same year, and his sister inherited the throne of Britanny, conforming to the clauses of the marriage between their parents. She got engaged to Ferdinand II of Naples, in order to appease the situation in Italy, and ensuring a match that benefited her brother without creating a potentially dangerous alliance like the Austrian match that had thrown the diplomacy of her mother into disarray: Anne II was firmly on her brother's side, and did everything in her power to tie every loose Briton end with a French string.
The young King's ordre du jour in 1507 was simple: clean up his father's mess. His father had a political vision: he wanted to shoot an arrow through the Mediterranean that did have to transperce Naples in order to lodge itself deeply in the Ottomans' heart, before landing in Jerusalem. This vision, however, was essentially built on a muddy foundation of wishful thinking, and his son, already disgusted from war by the death of his confident Charles de Bourbon only one year prior. He got engaged to Yolande, sister of the heirless Duke of Savoie, five years older than he was. The King's vision was not directed towards the East like his father's, but towards a consolidation of the French territory: he wanted to ensure peace and exchanges between France and the rest of Europe, and especially with Italy. To this end, he wanted to create a solid, cohesive estate in Italy (for which he married the unofficial heir apparent to the throne of Savoy and waited for his heirless and married to an infertile wife uncle to die, ensuring a rich, cohesive and connected estate from Lyon to Milan and Arles to Crémone. With this powerful and legitimate collection of territories, the quarel with Naples squashed and burried through his sister's alliance (especially as the King of Aragon was starting to show displeasure at the idea of Naples belonging to this bastard line instead of them), he hoped to make France too big of a piece to chew, while being resolute to keep polite relations with everyone.
Being quite a seductive diplomat, he managed to sweet-talk the Queen of Castille into an arbitration with her husband and her sisters: there, he let the conflicting interests of Juana, Philipp von Hapsburg, the Queen of Portugal and the still unmarried Princess of Aragon collide, while attempting to reconcile them to France if not to each others. It was thought for a very long time that he had masterfully played his hand to lead to an uneasy Regency by the for now unmarried Catherine of Aragon, designated to last until a potential marriage, making her, for now, a mostly neutral actor, effectively depriving the Hapsburgs of a major asset while making himself look like the neutral, benevolent, smiling arbiter of peace for his time. In fact, from a diary of his favourite, Lucien d'Albignac, retrieved in archives in Amboise in 1967, show that even to his most intimate partners, he declared to be very disappointed for the poor Queen who did seem quite lucid to him, especially taking into account her difficult situation, and that he wished he could have done more to satisfy everyone with a fair distribution.
It was also this sort of earnest enthusiasm and benevolence that led him to be the patron of many prominent thinkers, poets and writers at first, and then inventors, sculptors, painters, ... among them Leonardo da Vinci, the painter Raphaelle, botanist Giovanni Manardo, ... he saw the early beginning of his reign as an invitation to a long-term and ambitious vision for his Kingdom. He wanted to create a strong base, and has the charisma to invite to reflexion, but sadly little of the actual administrative competence to make it happen.
When Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans and Milan, died in 1527, he inherited the possessions of his uncle, and toured his newly acquired estates in Italy to meet his new subjects, promising to protect their way of life, and even inhabited Milan for a few months. He integrated much of his uncle's administration and personel to his own Court, hoping to acquire new talents, and recruited a bilingual secretary from Milan, André d'Alciat, for his correspondence with Italy. When in 1537 Charles II of Savoy died without issue from his legitimate wife Jeanne of Naples, Yolande, a very ambitious woman, claimed the Duchy for herself, against her brothers who were all excommunicated, ordinated to some ecclesiastical positions, or born illegitimate, and gained approval from the Pope and her illegitimate-born brother René. Happy to have time away from his wife, and her to finally own this Duchy she had seen falling from hands to hands for years without ever arriving in hers until now, the King and Queen were both very personally satisfied of this development.
The royal couple, despite the both's much more pronounced interest in older men than each other, was quite a harmonious household, and they managed to sire four children: Louis (B. 1510), Anne (B. 1512), Charles, Duke of Orleans (B. 1514), and Henri, Duke of Berry (B. 1517). The King died at the age of 42, being remembered in his Court for his charming personality and Italian mannerisms, and was even more fondly remembered by his subjects who were glad to finally be awarded a generation without wars, without conscription and with lower taxes. After his death, he throne of France went to Louis XII.
[2] Louis XII ascended the throne in 1534 at the age of 24. At the time of his ascension, Louis was a widower, with his wife, Princess Margaret (B. 1508), having died the previous year while giving birth to their third child, who died not long after their Mother. With no sons, Louis was eager to remarry and would do so the next year when he married the Neapolitian Princess (and his cousin) Giovanna (B. 1517), which renewed the French alliance with Naples. The two would get along well throughout the ups and downs of Louis's reign and would share 5 children.
Louis continued his Father's cultural policies, hiring and sponsoring many artists, poets, playwrights, and writers. This would inevitably lead to him coming into contact with renowned reformer, John Calvin. John like Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon believed that the time of the Catholic Church had come to an end, and began preaching a new Christian sect known as Calvinism. Louis took an interest in this new sect and would meet with John in 1538, to discuss theology with him. After several debates between the two, Louis, and his family converted to Calvinism and were baptised in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, by John Calvin himself.
Some French Nobles, such as the Duke of Bourbon, Alencon, and Berry and the Count of Auveregne, Boulogne, Angouleme and St Pol, agreed with Calvin and the King and converted as well. Others such as the Count of Foix, Montpensier, and Duke of Nemours and Orleans, opposed the King and would raise against him in 1540, in what would become known as the First War of French Religion. The rebellious nobles wanted the King to revert to Catholicism and were supported by England and Spain, who sought to antagonise the French.
Louis would prove himself quite the general however and would lead an army against the nobles, defeating them battle after battle. Many took this as a sign of Divine Backing and abandoned the Catholic Cause, while others fought on. Their efforts would prove futile however and in 1542, the Duke of Orleans would be killed in the Battle of Albi. With that the first War of French Religion came to an end.
Louis would soon begin instigating Calvin's reforms, weakening the power of the Church, reforming their practices, and introducing new ones, most notably the concepts of Predestination, a Vernacular Bible, and allowing the Clergy to marry. John Calvin was also appointed to the role of Archbishop of Reims, and would later crown Louis's successor, His eldest son.
In 1545, France would be invaded by England and Spain, who claimed they were invading in the name of the Pope. Louis would raise his armies to fight the invaders, and would personally lead a force to attack Calais, the last English possession on the continent. After a brutal and gruelling 500 day siege, which saw no more than 4 relief attempts by the English, Calais fell to Louis, who entered it in triumph. It was soon followed up by the French victory at the Naval Battle of Wight, which saw 34 English ships destroyed.
Meanwhile, thing were going less well on the Spanish front. The Duke of Berry was killed in battle by the Spanish, with his Dukedom being inherited by his son. The city of Toulouse and Bordeaux were also being besieged, with English forces assisting the Spanish. Louis would march down south with his army to stop them, and would request Neapolitan assistance. Naples would accept and would donate 20 ships and 10,000 Gold coins to the French cause. From 1547 to 1550, Louis fought the English and French in several battles, winning some and losing others. By the time of his death, he managed to relieve Bordeaux and kick the English and Spanish out of Gascony but failed to relieve Toulouse, which fell to the Spanish in 1549.
In early 1550, Louis would contract smallpox and would die on March 29th. He would be succeeded by his senior son; Jean, Dauphin of France, otherwise known as Jean III.
[3] Jean was the eldest son of Louis and his wife, and named so for his father's ally, confidant, and friend; John Calvin. Raised in the freedoms of the Calvinist court of his father, the young Dauphin has been extremely pious and obedient even as a child, in one instance where his tutor lamented the death of the Pope, the young Dauphin ordered him whipped, and uttered the infamous statement; N’épargnez pas le papiste, car il n’abrite que la corruption. When his father died, the ten-year-old Jean inherited both a throne and a war with England and Spain. The war rapidly turned against France, with the Anglo-Spanish Alliance, headed by William III of England, son of Henry VIII Tudor, and Joanna of Castile and Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile.
Jean III, his Regent, and his advisors were forced to rapidly seek a peace, and they found one in the form of the Treaty of Toulouse in 1554, losing Guyenne and Calais to the English, with Calais being directly ceded to England, and Guyenne split off a new crown in the quiver of William III and losing the majority of the Languedoc to Spain. After the Treaty of Toulouse, Jean III descends in religious extremism, finding Calvinism too lenient upon Popery, and he developed a merciless and extreme interpretation of the Doctrine, commonly called Jeanism (Puritanism), and in the year 1560, seventy-five churches in France were following the Jeanist doctrine. In 1557, Jean III had taken a wife; Christine of Hesse, but their marriage was pained, and a single daughter; Christine of France, was born to the pair in 1559. At the age of 21, in 1561, Jean III did suffer a deep melancholy and after much soul-searching and thought, the King did end his life. He was succeeded by his uncle; Charles of Orléans.
Duke Charles II of Orléans before his ascension
[4] Duke Charles of Orléans was born in 1514, to Charles IX "Orlando" of France and Princess Yolande Louise of Savoy. In 1527, he was made the Duke of Orléans, after the death of Louis, who was the Duke of Milan, but also the Duke of Orléans. Unlike his father, Charles aspired to be a warrior, like in the stories that were told to him by courtiers.
He opposed his brother’s conversion to Calvinism and was joined by several other nobles, thus kicking off the First War of French Religion. Charles distinguished himself in various battles. However, he always remained skeptical of his English and Spanish allies, fearing that they would take lands from France. His fears would finally be realized by the Treaty of Toulouse in 1554. After this, he pledged his services to his nephew, King Jean III. However, the French king continued to despise him and even imprisoned him once.
Upon the King’s suicide in 1561, Charles succeeded him as ruler of France. Immediately, after his ascension, he had to put down a revolt caused by revolting Calvinists and Puritans. Fearing swift reprisals, a plot was formed to install Jean III’s two-year-old daughter, Christine onto the throne, but this also failed.
After an exhausting four year reign, Charles X died in 1565, from a bad case of the fever, he was succeeded by his eldest son; Charles Amadée, Dauphin of France..
He rose to the throne in June 1507, after his father died from horrible convulsions. His mother died in the same year, and his sister inherited the throne of Britanny, conforming to the clauses of the marriage between their parents. She got engaged to Ferdinand II of Naples, in order to appease the situation in Italy, and ensuring a match that benefited her brother without creating a potentially dangerous alliance like the Austrian match that had thrown the diplomacy of her mother into disarray: Anne II was firmly on her brother's side, and did everything in her power to tie every loose Briton end with a French string.
The young King's ordre du jour in 1507 was simple: clean up his father's mess. His father had a political vision: he wanted to shoot an arrow through the Mediterranean that did have to transperce Naples in order to lodge itself deeply in the Ottomans' heart, before landing in Jerusalem. This vision, however, was essentially built on a muddy foundation of wishful thinking, and his son, already disgusted from war by the death of his confident Charles de Bourbon only one year prior. He got engaged to Yolande, sister of the heirless Duke of Savoie, five years older than he was. The King's vision was not directed towards the East like his father's, but towards a consolidation of the French territory: he wanted to ensure peace and exchanges between France and the rest of Europe, and especially with Italy. To this end, he wanted to create a solid, cohesive estate in Italy (for which he married the unofficial heir apparent to the throne of Savoy and waited for his heirless and married to an infertile wife uncle to die, ensuring a rich, cohesive and connected estate from Lyon to Milan and Arles to Crémone. With this powerful and legitimate collection of territories, the quarel with Naples squashed and burried through his sister's alliance (especially as the King of Aragon was starting to show displeasure at the idea of Naples belonging to this bastard line instead of them), he hoped to make France too big of a piece to chew, while being resolute to keep polite relations with everyone.
Being quite a seductive diplomat, he managed to sweet-talk the Queen of Castille into an arbitration with her husband and her sisters: there, he let the conflicting interests of Juana, Philipp von Hapsburg, the Queen of Portugal and the still unmarried Princess of Aragon collide, while attempting to reconcile them to France if not to each others. It was thought for a very long time that he had masterfully played his hand to lead to an uneasy Regency by the for now unmarried Catherine of Aragon, designated to last until a potential marriage, making her, for now, a mostly neutral actor, effectively depriving the Hapsburgs of a major asset while making himself look like the neutral, benevolent, smiling arbiter of peace for his time. In fact, from a diary of his favourite, Lucien d'Albignac, retrieved in archives in Amboise in 1967, show that even to his most intimate partners, he declared to be very disappointed for the poor Queen who did seem quite lucid to him, especially taking into account her difficult situation, and that he wished he could have done more to satisfy everyone with a fair distribution.
It was also this sort of earnest enthusiasm and benevolence that led him to be the patron of many prominent thinkers, poets and writers at first, and then inventors, sculptors, painters, ... among them Leonardo da Vinci, the painter Raphaelle, botanist Giovanni Manardo, ... he saw the early beginning of his reign as an invitation to a long-term and ambitious vision for his Kingdom. He wanted to create a strong base, and has the charisma to invite to reflexion, but sadly little of the actual administrative competence to make it happen.
When Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans and Milan, died in 1527, he inherited the possessions of his uncle, and toured his newly acquired estates in Italy to meet his new subjects, promising to protect their way of life, and even inhabited Milan for a few months. He integrated much of his uncle's administration and personel to his own Court, hoping to acquire new talents, and recruited a bilingual secretary from Milan, André d'Alciat, for his correspondence with Italy. When in 1537 Charles II of Savoy died without issue from his legitimate wife Jeanne of Naples, Yolande, a very ambitious woman, claimed the Duchy for herself, against her brothers who were all excommunicated, ordinated to some ecclesiastical positions, or born illegitimate, and gained approval from the Pope and her illegitimate-born brother René. Happy to have time away from his wife, and her to finally own this Duchy she had seen falling from hands to hands for years without ever arriving in hers until now, the King and Queen were both very personally satisfied of this development.
The royal couple, despite the both's much more pronounced interest in older men than each other, was quite a harmonious household, and they managed to sire four children: Louis (B. 1510), Anne (B. 1512), Charles, Duke of Orleans (B. 1514), and Henri, Duke of Berry (B. 1517). The King died at the age of 42, being remembered in his Court for his charming personality and Italian mannerisms, and was even more fondly remembered by his subjects who were glad to finally be awarded a generation without wars, without conscription and with lower taxes. After his death, he throne of France went to Louis XII.
[2] Louis XII ascended the throne in 1534 at the age of 24. At the time of his ascension, Louis was a widower, with his wife, Princess Margaret (B. 1508), having died the previous year while giving birth to their third child, who died not long after their Mother. With no sons, Louis was eager to remarry and would do so the next year when he married the Neapolitian Princess (and his cousin) Giovanna (B. 1517), which renewed the French alliance with Naples. The two would get along well throughout the ups and downs of Louis's reign and would share 5 children.
Louis continued his Father's cultural policies, hiring and sponsoring many artists, poets, playwrights, and writers. This would inevitably lead to him coming into contact with renowned reformer, John Calvin. John like Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon believed that the time of the Catholic Church had come to an end, and began preaching a new Christian sect known as Calvinism. Louis took an interest in this new sect and would meet with John in 1538, to discuss theology with him. After several debates between the two, Louis, and his family converted to Calvinism and were baptised in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, by John Calvin himself.
Some French Nobles, such as the Duke of Bourbon, Alencon, and Berry and the Count of Auveregne, Boulogne, Angouleme and St Pol, agreed with Calvin and the King and converted as well. Others such as the Count of Foix, Montpensier, and Duke of Nemours and Orleans, opposed the King and would raise against him in 1540, in what would become known as the First War of French Religion. The rebellious nobles wanted the King to revert to Catholicism and were supported by England and Spain, who sought to antagonise the French.
Louis would prove himself quite the general however and would lead an army against the nobles, defeating them battle after battle. Many took this as a sign of Divine Backing and abandoned the Catholic Cause, while others fought on. Their efforts would prove futile however and in 1542, the Duke of Orleans would be killed in the Battle of Albi. With that the first War of French Religion came to an end.
Louis would soon begin instigating Calvin's reforms, weakening the power of the Church, reforming their practices, and introducing new ones, most notably the concepts of Predestination, a Vernacular Bible, and allowing the Clergy to marry. John Calvin was also appointed to the role of Archbishop of Reims, and would later crown Louis's successor, His eldest son.
In 1545, France would be invaded by England and Spain, who claimed they were invading in the name of the Pope. Louis would raise his armies to fight the invaders, and would personally lead a force to attack Calais, the last English possession on the continent. After a brutal and gruelling 500 day siege, which saw no more than 4 relief attempts by the English, Calais fell to Louis, who entered it in triumph. It was soon followed up by the French victory at the Naval Battle of Wight, which saw 34 English ships destroyed.
Meanwhile, thing were going less well on the Spanish front. The Duke of Berry was killed in battle by the Spanish, with his Dukedom being inherited by his son. The city of Toulouse and Bordeaux were also being besieged, with English forces assisting the Spanish. Louis would march down south with his army to stop them, and would request Neapolitan assistance. Naples would accept and would donate 20 ships and 10,000 Gold coins to the French cause. From 1547 to 1550, Louis fought the English and French in several battles, winning some and losing others. By the time of his death, he managed to relieve Bordeaux and kick the English and Spanish out of Gascony but failed to relieve Toulouse, which fell to the Spanish in 1549.
In early 1550, Louis would contract smallpox and would die on March 29th. He would be succeeded by his senior son; Jean, Dauphin of France, otherwise known as Jean III.
[3] Jean was the eldest son of Louis and his wife, and named so for his father's ally, confidant, and friend; John Calvin. Raised in the freedoms of the Calvinist court of his father, the young Dauphin has been extremely pious and obedient even as a child, in one instance where his tutor lamented the death of the Pope, the young Dauphin ordered him whipped, and uttered the infamous statement; N’épargnez pas le papiste, car il n’abrite que la corruption. When his father died, the ten-year-old Jean inherited both a throne and a war with England and Spain. The war rapidly turned against France, with the Anglo-Spanish Alliance, headed by William III of England, son of Henry VIII Tudor, and Joanna of Castile and Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile.
Jean III, his Regent, and his advisors were forced to rapidly seek a peace, and they found one in the form of the Treaty of Toulouse in 1554, losing Guyenne and Calais to the English, with Calais being directly ceded to England, and Guyenne split off a new crown in the quiver of William III and losing the majority of the Languedoc to Spain. After the Treaty of Toulouse, Jean III descends in religious extremism, finding Calvinism too lenient upon Popery, and he developed a merciless and extreme interpretation of the Doctrine, commonly called Jeanism (Puritanism), and in the year 1560, seventy-five churches in France were following the Jeanist doctrine. In 1557, Jean III had taken a wife; Christine of Hesse, but their marriage was pained, and a single daughter; Christine of France, was born to the pair in 1559. At the age of 21, in 1561, Jean III did suffer a deep melancholy and after much soul-searching and thought, the King did end his life. He was succeeded by his uncle; Charles of Orléans.
Duke Charles II of Orléans before his ascension
He opposed his brother’s conversion to Calvinism and was joined by several other nobles, thus kicking off the First War of French Religion. Charles distinguished himself in various battles. However, he always remained skeptical of his English and Spanish allies, fearing that they would take lands from France. His fears would finally be realized by the Treaty of Toulouse in 1554. After this, he pledged his services to his nephew, King Jean III. However, the French king continued to despise him and even imprisoned him once.
Upon the King’s suicide in 1561, Charles succeeded him as ruler of France. Immediately, after his ascension, he had to put down a revolt caused by revolting Calvinists and Puritans. Fearing swift reprisals, a plot was formed to install Jean III’s two-year-old daughter, Christine onto the throne, but this also failed.
After an exhausting four year reign, Charles X died in 1565, from a bad case of the fever, he was succeeded by his eldest son; Charles Amadée, Dauphin of France..
[5] Charles Amedée was born in 1533, before his Grandfather's death to Charles, Duke of Orleans and his Savoyard wife, aged nineteen and eighteen respectively and sadly his birth resulted in the death of his mother. For much of the early years of his life, the Prince lived a relatively austere and Spartan life, as his father took a new wife and had further issue, and the young Charles Amedée was left to himself. At the age of sixteen, he purchased the Lordship of Becelaere in Flanders from the de la Woestyne, and moved his small band of retainers and friends to his new property. In 1553, Charles Amedée married Manuela, Princess of Portugal (B.1534) as part of the negotiations of alliance conducted between Portugal and France, and was a gift his father abdicated Milan to his son, who was crowned as Amadeo I, Duke of Milan.
The Young prince, both a sovereign Lord in Milan and a vassal of his cousin; Jean III, had to sit upon a fine line, preserving the interests of Milan and Becelaere, as well as maintaining the confidence his cousin had in him. In 1559, Charles Amedée officially sanctioned the Jeanist doctrine be expanded into Milan, despite toeing the line of Catholicism himself, and it was in 1560, during the 7 months of his fathers fourth imprisonment under Jean III, Charles Amedée did travel to Rome and meet his Holiness himself, and reconciled with the church, immediately banning the Jeanist doctrine in Milan.
During the reign of his father, Charles Amadée became a respected diplomat and representative of his father, notably signing the Truce of Winchester between England and France. After his father's reign, the Dauphin returned to Paris and was crowned as Charles XI Amadée, but the event was struck by more tragedy as his wife; Manuela, did collapse and pass after the coronation, leaving Charles Do and their four children without a wife or mother. It was in 1568 that Charles discussed remarriage, and so by the end of the year had taken the young Immaculeta of Lorraine (B.1545) as his second wife, and she would give him a further four children. The reign of Charles XI Amadée was a golden age of peace and prosperity, with a sword never raised in anger during the twenty nine years of rule. In 1594, the King passed and was succeeded by __________.
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I think it's a continuity error: Charles got the title in 1527 after Charles Orlando's uncle died, he can't both oppose vehemently Calvinism and die in Albi in one post, and become King in 1542 and converting to a moderate Protestantism
I've tried to logic it that Charles X is the son of the Duke of Berry, but this then mucks up the timeline for Charles XI
This is why it's so important to double check details, especially when we've ended up with a dead man being crowned King of France and his son then succeeding him
POD: Alexios Philanthropenos successfully overthrows Andronicus II
Emperors and Autocrats of the Romans
1282-1295: Andronicus II (House of Palaeologus)
1295-1341: Alexios VI (House of Tarchaneiotes) [1]
1341-1345: Alexios VII (House of Tarchaneiotes) [2]
1345-1374: Basil III (House of Laskaris) [3]
1374-1392: Oshin I (House of Lambron) [4]
1392-1402: Constantine XI (House of Lambron) [5]
1402-1432: Justinian III (House of Lambron) [6]
1432-1457: Maria I and Peter I (House of Lambron/House of Venatrovsky) [7]
1457-1481: Alexander II "The Conqueror" (House of Osmanos) [8]
1481-1482: Demetrios I (House of Osmanos) [9]
1482-1509: John V (House of Osmanos) [10]
1509-1521: Alexander III (House of Osmanos) [11]
1521-1573: Anastasia I (House of Osmanos) [12]
1573-1595: Nicephorus IV (House of Komnenoi) [13]
1595-1614: Constantine XII "The Pharaoh" (House of Komnenoi) [14]
1614-1678: Irene II (House of Komnenoi) [15]
1678-1713: Zoe II (Dynastic: House of Osmanos-Komnenoi/Agnatic: House of Medici) [16]
1713-1740: Alexios VIII (House of Osmanos-Komnenos) [17]
1740-1740: John VI ''The Ill-Fated'' (House of Osmanos-Komnenos) [18]
1740-1746: Alexander IV (House of Osmanos-Komnenos) [19]
1746-1760: Regency of Alexios IX (House of Osmanos-Komnenos)
1760-1834: Alexios IX (House of Osmanos-Komnenos) [20]
1834-1856: Demetrios II (House of Osmanos-Komnenos)[21]
1856-1863: Andronicus III House of Osmanos-Komnenos)[22]
[22] Andronicus, born in 1823, was the third child and first son of Demetrios II and Viktoria Helene of Prussia. He grew up with an interest in the military, which he would join in 1841, and fought in the War of the Saxon Succession, which ended with his granduncle Frederick III of Bohemia becoming King of Saxony. During it he met his future wife, Princess Maria Caroline of Saxony (b. 1822), sister of Maria Augusta, the future wife of Prince August, Frederick III’s heir. They married in 1845 and had eight children together.
Upon his father’s death in 1856, Andronicus became Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans and stopped the Liberals in the Senate from passing their proposed laws. This only increased the cause of the liberal radicals and their plan to oust the House of Osmanos-Komnenos.
The end of the Rhoman Empire would begin in 1861 when Andronicus sent an army to crush an rebellion in Syria and Assyria. The brutality the army used to crush the rebellion lead to wide scale uprisings across the empire in support of an constitutional monarchy, which Andronicus would also crush.
This started the Rhoman Revolution, which saw not only the collapse of Rhomania, but also the end of it’s royal house, which was replaced with the House of _______ in 1863. While many members of the Osmanos-Komnenos royal family either went to Pótamia, now an independent monarchy ruled by Andronicus’ uncle John (who was also the last governor of the former colony), or Egypt, lead by Pharaoh Constantine (another uncle of Andronicus), the now former Emperor and his family would go to Bohemia-Saxony to stay with his sister in-law’s family.
Andronicus the III was replaced with_______, and died in 1895 at the age of 72, his wife outlived him by six years, dying in 1901.
Emperors and Autocrats of the Romans
1282-1295: Andronicus II (House of Palaeologus)
1295-1341: Alexios VI (House of Tarchaneiotes) [1]
1341-1345: Alexios VII (House of Tarchaneiotes) [2]
1345-1374: Basil III (House of Laskaris) [3]
1374-1392: Oshin I (House of Lambron) [4]
1392-1402: Constantine XI (House of Lambron) [5]
1402-1432: Justinian III (House of Lambron) [6]
1432-1457: Maria I and Peter I (House of Lambron/House of Venatrovsky) [7]
1457-1481: Alexander II "The Conqueror" (House of Osmanos) [8]
1481-1482: Demetrios I (House of Osmanos) [9]
1482-1509: John V (House of Osmanos) [10]
1509-1521: Alexander III (House of Osmanos) [11]
1521-1573: Anastasia I (House of Osmanos) [12]
1573-1595: Nicephorus IV (House of Komnenoi) [13]
1595-1614: Constantine XII "The Pharaoh" (House of Komnenoi) [14]
1614-1678: Irene II (House of Komnenoi) [15]
1678-1713: Zoe II (Dynastic: House of Osmanos-Komnenoi/Agnatic: House of Medici) [16]
1713-1740: Alexios VIII (House of Osmanos-Komnenos) [17]
1740-1740: John VI ''The Ill-Fated'' (House of Osmanos-Komnenos) [18]
1740-1746: Alexander IV (House of Osmanos-Komnenos) [19]
1746-1760: Regency of Alexios IX (House of Osmanos-Komnenos)
1760-1834: Alexios IX (House of Osmanos-Komnenos) [20]
1834-1856: Demetrios II (House of Osmanos-Komnenos)[21]
1856-1863: Andronicus III House of Osmanos-Komnenos)[22]
[1] Alexios VI's reign would mark a "Second Alexiad" as he, after overthrowing the weak and incompetent leadership of Emperor Andronicus II, would spend his 46-year long reign as Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans trying his best to ensure that Rhomania, weakened by the Fourth Crusade, would regain a position as a major power in a long reign where the Emperor was largely on horseback, campaigning against Latin, Slav, rebel, or Turk. Amongst his greatest achievements as Emperor would be the conquest of the Despotate of Epirus and his crushing of the nascent Osmanli beylik, even if Rhomania by his death, while having recovered from the disaster of the Fourth Crusade, was a mere regional power.
Alexios VI would die in 1341 from ill health and would be succeeded by his son Alexios.
A 16th-century depiction of Emperor and Autocrat Alexios VII
[2] Born in 1300, Alexios was the first born son of Emperor Alexios VI’s second marriage. He was possibly made co-emperor in 1328, reigning alongside his father before being demoted once more, most probably to a defeat in battle against the Epirotes.
When his father died, Alexios succeeded him, though he had to put down a rebellion that was instigated by one of his younger brothers.
In early 1345, Alexios VII launched a campaign against the independent southern Greek states, however, due to his incompetence his army would soon be routed by a combined Greek army. A few days later succumbed to his injuries and was succeeded by his nephew-in-law, Basil Laskaris.
[3] Born in 1321, Basil Laskaris would be one of the last scions of the ancient Nicene house of the Laskarids, which had once ruled the Nicene Empire in Anatolia. Despite their fall to the Palaeologus, the recent rising of the Tarchaneiotes would see the Laskarids rise quickly in opportunity. The Laskarids had been famous for their deeds in Anatolia, beating back the turk often, and it was in this area that the Laskarids would expand and create a new base of power for themselves. The conquest of many Turkic beylics would see the Laskarids adquire many new lands in Bukellarion and Phlagonia. It would be through this that Ioannes Laskaris, strategos of Anatolikon, would see his son Basil married to the niece of Emperor Alexios VII.
Basil and his wife, Irene, would have a fruitful companionship, marked by Irene's intelligence and Basil's respect for her. Despite being more of a friendly "relationship", Basil and Irene would have 7 recorded children. It would be through Irene's claim that Basil would rise to the throne, and this would show during his reign, with Irene being far more than a mere consort during the rule of her husband.
Basil would prove himself up to the task of generalship and emperor-ship. Appealing to Dynastic continuation, Basil would take up the wars of his predecessor and would advance deeply into Southern Greece, restoring it back to the Empire, but an intervention by Venice would see an almost decade of on and off warfare between both states, which the Rhomans would eventually win, restoring their rule to all Greek islands, including Crete, although Cyprus remained in Crusader hands. His warfare-orientated reign would see the rise of a new class of Rhoman soldiery, based on conscription and professional service, mainly rewarded through promises of land in the depopulated Anatolia. Basil would also be the first Emperor to force the Turkish populations of the Empire to pay a blood tax - by giving at least one of their male children in service to the Empire.
Basil's never ending martial energy would see much of Anatolia recovered - with the Empire for the first time in generations reaching the Taurus mountains, with the Rhomans once more asserting dominance over the black sea. Many missionaries were sent into Circassia to Transcausia, and to Tartaria in the Golden horde by him. Basil would transplant many Greeks, Bulgarian and Latin mercenaries, as well as converted fleeing tribes from the North and the Steppes into Anatolia, giving the land a new appeal to the Rhoman state.
Despite his many victories against the westerners and the muslims, Basil would fail in his grandest campaign - the reconquest of Trebizond. The smashing of his army on the Pontic Mountains would see the aged Emperor enter a depression that would eventually take him to his grave. He would be succeeded by his son-in-law, Oshin
.
[4] Oshin, a Prince of Armenia, was son-in-law to Emperor Basil III by his eldest daughter, Rita. Having deemed all of his legitimate sons as lunatics and simpletons, systematically managing them off stage, Basil set Oshin up as defacto heir jure uxoris.
Born in 1341, married in 1369 and had already given Basil three grandchildren by the time he died in 1374. Despite some opposition to his rule from his brothers-in-law and nephews, collectively known as the Basilian Pretenders, Oshin had effectively secured his reign by 1380 which left the remaining decade of his rule for him to focus on civic improvements including reinforcing the defenses of Thessalonica and effectively moving the imperial seat from Constantinople to Thessalonica.
In 1390, Oshin would inherit the Kingdom of Armenian Cilicia from his elder brother and this claim, which could be inherited by a woman, would pass to his children even if they did not become Byzantine Emperor.
Empress Rita outlived her husband, to see him succeeded by their son, Constantine
[5] Constantine XI was born in 1370 as the oldest of Oshin's sons and would become Emperor in 1393 as a result of his father Oshin's death.
As Emperor, Constantine XI's reign, while short, would be one marked by the effective governance of the Empire, especially after returning the capital of the Empire to Constantinople during the first few years of his reign. His reign would also be marked by effective and competent administration, especially with the defeat of the Bulgarians and Serbs in the Haemus and continuation of the consolidation of the Rhoman presence in Anatolia.
While many have speculated about what would have happened had he had more time to be Emperor, it was not to be as he would be killed in Timur's invasion of Anatolia, leaving behind his brother, Justinian, as the new Emperor.
[6] Justinian was the youngest child of Oshin and third son, born in 1384. When his older brothers, Emperor Constantine and Dux Augustine, (b. 1372,) were both killed in the Battle of Aydin in 1402, Justinian took the throne with the support of his mother, the Dowager Empress, Rita. He was not quite 18 years old.
His two older sisters, however, did not support him. Theodora, born in 1369, was the oldest child of Oshrin, and had been married to Empress Rita's nephew, _________________, the Dux of Epirus, in 1380, at that time the senior claimant of the Basilian Pretenders. This had confirmed their support for Oshrin's reign. But with the defeat of Constantine to Timur and the loss of Anatolia and Armenia to the Empire, Theodora and the Dux now proclaimed he was the rightful Emperor. Alexandria, born in 1379, was married to the Bulgarian Emperor, Ivan Umor. They threw their support to Epirus in exchange for a return of the Haemus to the Bulgarians.
The war with Timur was still occurring as the Amir was now battling for the northwest provinces of Asia Minor and the Black Sea coast and was besieging Nicaea. With a two-front war occurring with the Turco-Mongols to the east and south and the Epirus/Bulgaria alliance to the west and north, The Empire was not able to secure Crete, the Peloponnese, and up through the former Duchy of Athens and Venice swept in and swiftly conquered it.
Justinian saw his only hope for the Empire was to sue for peace with Timur. Surprisingly, the Amir was generous in his terms, as he wished to finish in the west and turn east to face China. He agreed to allow Christian pilgrims to visit the Holy Land, now part of the Timurid Empire, to cede the territory in northwest Asia Minor he was occupying in return for the Empire giving up its claims to the former Turkish Beyliks except the ones that bordered the Aegean or the Black Sea, yielding the interior of Anatolia again to Timur's Turkish vassals. (Timur championed the Ghuzz Turks of Mentese who now reformed the Sultanate of Rum in the interior of Anatolia and the southern Mediterranean coast.)
This allowed Justinian to invade the Haemus in 1403. Ivan Umor did not meet Justinian in battle but instead sent Alexandria to negotiate a peace. The Bulgarians sued for peace if they submitted to Constantinople, recognized Justinian as their Emperor, gave up the title Emperor for themselves but took the title of King of the Bulgarians. In return, Justinian recognized the Haemus Mountains as part of the Bulgarian Kingdom but as a vassal of Constantinople.
Now Justinian could turn his full attention to Epirus. Unlike Alexandria, Theodora did not encourage her husband to make peace. A bloody war followed from 1404 through 1408. A peace never was formed with a treaty, like with Timur or Bulgaria, but a ceasefire and truce ended hostilities in the late summer of 1408. All the territory that Epirus had taken from the Empire was restored, but a rump Epirus remained and was now de facto independent, although both sides claimed Epirus was part of the Roman Empire, they just disagreed which government was the legitimate government of the entire Empire.
All through this war, negotiations had occurred with Venice. They were formalized in the Treaty of Athens in 1410. The Greek Isles, except for Crete, were now under the direct control of Constantinople. The Duchy of Athens was restored to independence but formally a vassal of Constantinople, as was the new formed Duchy of the Peloponnese, but Venice was given full rights to trade and establish bases. In reality, the Duchies were under the control of Venice but officially were vassals of Rome. Crete itself was part of the Venetian Empire.
Finally, Justinian had peace on all borders and the Empire was secure, although much smaller than previously.
This was when the Dowager Empress died.
Justinian now knew he needed to marry. He was now 25 and expected many more years to reign. His bride was Anna Vasilievna of Moscow, daughter of Vasily I, the Grand Prince of Moscow. She was now 17 and Muscovy had been one of the only neighboring states to actually declare for Justinian when he took the throne. But now that all surrounding states did, it was to his first ally he turned for a marriage. (Even though that support had been nothing more than declaring a position.)
The Emperor and Empress started a family immediately and had a number of children.
Although it was humiliating that the Greek vassal states were only nominally vassals, the reality of peace with Venice and the presence of Venetian trade in them led to increase prosperity for the Empire. Also peace with the new Sultanate of Rum and the Timurid Empire, meant the Silk Road was re-opened and trade from there added to the Empire's prosperity.
However, the peace and prosperity of Justinian's reign was doomed to fail in 1432 on the death of the heir and grandson of Timur, Muhammad Sultan Mizra, who'd held all of Timur's empire together from Timur's death in 1405. The western portions of the Timurid Empire fell into chaos, the Silk Road closed again, the Ghuzz attacked the Empire's province of Trezibond, and a new threat demolished the Empire- the Black Plague.
Justinian died of the Plague in 1432 just as the Ghuzz attacked the Empire.
Empress and Autocratess Maria I and Emperor and Autocrat Peter I
[7] Born a sickly child in 1412, Maria was the first daughter and child of Emperor Justinian III and Princess Anna Vasilievna of Moscow. For most of Maria’s early life, she was confined indoors due to an unknown affliction that rendered her physically weak and nearly bald. Maria would often be the target of frequent insults by courtiers, which greatly affected the young girl. In 1428, she met Peter Venatrovsky, the son of one of the royal guards of Grand Prince Vasily I, who had previously visited Constantinople. They both fell in love, and Maria’s health rapidly improved, even though this is most probably a coincidence, and she remained near-bald for the rest of her life. At the age of 20, she and Peter finally married.
By the time of Justinian III’s death, Maria and her younger brother, John, were their father’s only surviving children. Briefly, it seemed that there was a possibility of a civil war between Maria and John. However, John, recognizing that he would hold many disadvantages if he waged war, struck a deal with Maria and Peter. John would relinquish his claim to the Roman throne, but, in exchange, he would become the King of Macedonia (roughly OTL Western Macedonia region in Greece and some parts of Central Macedonia).
The newly crowned imperial couple had to deal with the depopulation of the city of Constantinople and other surrounding areas caused by the Black Death. However, many lives were saved by the royal policy which was put in place which forced many inhabitants of cities to relocate to sparsely populated areas of the empire. A few years later, the Roman Empress and Emperor helped command a combined Roman-Macedonian-Timurid force which resulted in the Ghuzz being pushed out of the Roman Empire and the majority of the Timurid Empire’s eastern territories.
The remainder of their joint reign was relatively peaceful and prosperous, as Maria and Peter had implemented many policies that facilitated easier trade with the Venetians and other Italian maritime powers. During this time, Peter also introduced much Muscovite culture to the empire, especially in the imperial capital.
In 1457, Maria and Peter both died in their sleep together on the same day. They were succeeded by their nephew-in-law, Ioannes of the House of Osmanos.
[8] Alexandros of the Osmanoi would be the first-born son of Ioannes Dragases Osmanos, a famous governor of the Peleponese, born in early 1432. His family was of Turkish origin, as his family was itself descendant the defeated Ottoman Beylic two centuries before. His ancestors had entered Byzantine service and had rise steadily through the ranks, becoming great land-owners during the Anatolian reconquista. Alexandros himself had led his first contingent of troops by 1451 by the age of 19, defeating a raiding party of the Karamanid Sultanate of Syria in the battle of Adana, and led a contigent of Christian troops - a mixture of Greeks, Cilicians, Armenians and Turks all the way down to Antioch, city which he would swear to reconquer as a general one day. He would reconquer, not as a general, but as an Emperor.
Alexandros would rise to steady fame after this, joining the upper echelons of the Imperial military which would lead him to meet and marry Eudokia of Macedonia, only child of John of Macedon. It was Alexandro's first real thrust into the upper hierarchy of Imperial politics, and it would one in which he would not fail. The death of his father-in-law would have by all rights seen him rise to the occasion as King of Macedon, but Alexandros, a firm Imperialist, would refuse to take a title and land that "would disturb the law and power of the Empire". For many, it was seen as a moment of stupidity, as Macedonia held both Thessalonika and an immense spread of territory. But it was Alexandros' introduction to the Imperial family, who would grow to respect him. Maria and Peter never had children, and they would eventually decide to co-adopt Alexandros into their family and make him their successor, alongside their niece. Their deaths in 1457 would see Alexandros, perhaps the most important ruler of 15 century Byzantium, arise to the ocasion. Alexandros, who would come to be known in the future as the Conqueror, had just arisen to the purple.
Alexandros was a firm unificacionists, the party of the Byzantine Empire which believed that the many "statelets" Byzantine noblemen had successfully carved for themselves within the Imperial frontiers be ended, and it had been this with this party of talented, loyal and young "new blood" that Alexandros had allied himself with, and truly, they would become one of the pillars of his reign.
Alexandros was, however, not the only one who was paying attention. In Epirus, the old age Laskarid Despots of the region had laid in wait, content with slowly expanding their rule over Thessaly, Attica and Southern Albania and Macedonia, but they were not foolish. Manuel Laskaris, the old and wise Despot of Epirus, knew that Alexandros would end up coming for him, and declared himself Emperor with support of many European and Anatolian magnates. It would lead to a two-year civil war, in which Alexandros' military talent would come to the fore. Alexandros would first see action in Anatolia, soundly defeating the Rhoman magnates in Pontus and in the Lycian themes of Kybyrrhaotai and Opsikion, while his brother Michael held off the Epirotes in Macedonia. Michael had plenty of military talent of his own, and would hold off the numerically superior Epirotes for months before the arrival of his brother over the Hellespont. At this point, Manuel and Simeon of Bulgaria entered into an alliance, but it would be too late for Epirus. Alexandros would lead his professional army of over 50000 men into Macedonia, defeating Manuel at every turn, quickly subduing his territories. Venice's attempt to harbor Manuel in their Aegean cities would see the Emperor conquer them - but this would start the Roman-Veneto-Bulgarian war, which would last for one more year.
Michael ambushed the Bulgarian army in the Rhodopes, however, and this would see the Byzantines imprison over 20000 Bulgarian soldiers. It was a military victory the likes of Basil the III and that of Caesar, and it would see the fall of Bulgaria once more to the Rhoman Empire. The Venetian counter-invasion of Epirus would also end in disaster - Alexandros handing them a handy victory in the battle of Naufpakos, which would see Venice lose it's holdings in the Roman Empire - including Crete.
The annexation of Bulgaria and the re-incorporation of the Venetian concessions would see a surge of popularity for Alexandros, making him one of the most popular and powerful Autocrats since Alexios the I, and it would give Alexandros the space to introduce his greatest ambitions - reform at all levels, which would be seen blessed by God as he and the Basilissa, Eudokia, would have their first child that year.
The Codex Osmanoi - the greatest code of law since the Codex of Justinian almost a millenia prior, would be one of the greatest books of law of the time and is considered by most of historians as the Roman Empire's first constitution, as it sodified very well the role each official would have in their servitude to the Emperor. The Roman laws of Succession - turning the Roman Autocracy into a primogeniture, male preference-based succession, with usurpation - made "illegal" and co-emperorship as well. It would also reform much of Byzantine bureaucracy, making it clear and consise for the first time in forever. It would also make Sebastos the title of the Crown Prince of the Empire.
His military reforms, however, are also famous. The birth of the Byzantine armies (Imagine a less corrupt, more gun-based and less raiding prone Ottoman army) of the 15th century, known as the Scholarii, as each Rhoman soldier was given a firm education in any art of his choosing and in Greek. It was to be the birth of one of the most professional forces of the age.
On other fronts, though, Alexandros after his reforms would quickly move to end the subdued Turkic beylics, as they had become rather powerless since many Turks and turcomans had converted to Christianity and integrated into the Imperial system, becoming one of the greatest sources of soldiers for the Empire. The swift integration of Bulgaria into the Empire would also be of great use to Rome - as the Bulgarians would quickly come to enjoy the rule of Rome - as the Tsardom of Bulgaria had been decentralized and in constant internal warfare between nobles - and it quickly became a source of both soldiers and officials for Constantinople.
The next few years of Alexandros' reign would be peaceful - with much coin flowing into the Imperial treasury due to his reforms after the increased spending of the civil war, but it was a time for personal growth for Alexandros - in the peace established after 1462, he and his wife would become the parents to seven more children, all the way into 1472, the year the Empire would go to war once more. One must denote, however, Alexandros and his wife roles as patrons of the arts - to them is often attributed the start of the Renaissance, as, during their reign, Constantinople (Which had extensively recovered and expanded since the fourth crusade) would become a center of art and culture, reuniting several Latin, Slavic, Arab, Persian and Roman artists, historians, architects, musicians, inventors and more in the city. But Alexandros' greatest passion would definitely be architecture - the Emperor would be the patron of over one hundred architecture projects, but the most famous would be the restoration of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Parthenon of Athens and the Colossus of Rhodes, his greatest and most beloved project. He would build many new monuments, however, such as the Grand Mausoleum of Eudokia, named after his wife, which would become the resting ground of future Roman Emperors, the Grand Harbour of Thessalonika and Smyrna, the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Antioch and many statues of himself all over the Empire.
The following ten years of constant campaigning by Alexandros, which would earn him the title of the Conqueror, could be better explained, but the majesty and greatness of so many deeds would take much to explain. In less than 10 years, the Empire would expand into all directions, with the Emperor conquering deep into Serbia and Bosnia, winning the loyalty of the Danubian princes of Wallachia and Moldavia, the homage of the King of Hungary, while in the East, King David of Georgia would enter into Alexander's patronage, recognizing him as his sovereign, while the full extent of lower Caucasia and the Armenian lands would be integrated into the Empire. In the south, Basil would storm over the Cilician gates in 1476, while the Turkish Karamanid rulers of Syria were busy invading the remnants of the Mamluk caliphate in Egypt and Hejaz, bringing the whole of Syria under his control. The Emperor would have perhaps conquered further, but a bout of plague would take him, seeing him succeeded by his son Demetrios.
A statue of Demetrios I outside the National Roman Museum of History
[9] Demetrios was the second son but third child overall of Alexander II and Eudokia of Macedonia, born in 1460. A year after his birth, his elder brother, Alexios, died, and Demetrios became the first in line to the Roman throne. Unlike his father and most of the men at the royal court at the time, Demetrios held no interest in the military. However, his uninterest did not cause any problems for his father, but certainly for the army, as Demetrios was entirely hostile to it. In fact, when he became Emperor, he would try to restrict the army's power, but ultimately he did not live long enough to pursue his goal.
After his father died, Demetrios became Emperor of Rome. But, a month after he was crowned, he came ill with the plague. And, just like his father, died from it. Not much would be remembered from his short reign, one of the shortest in Roman history.
He was succeeded by his brother John.
[10] Born in 1465 as the third son and fifth child overall of Alexander II and Eudokia of Macedonia, John wasn't expected to become the next Roman Emperor, but with the death of his brother Demetrios just one year into his reign in 1482, he became Emperor at the age of 17. Unlike his brother, John was like most men of his time and had an interest in the millitary, and led an conquest of Rum in 1493, quickly followed by a war against the Crimean Khanate, which would see the annexation of the southern tip of Crimea.
John treated his now greatly expanded Muslim population fairly, allowing them to practice their religion in public, but some Muslims did leave the Roman Empire to other places, with an popular destination being the Mamluk Caliphate, which was focusing on spreading across the North African coast.
John married Maria of Naples, daughter of King Frederick II of Naples, which would start an alliance between Naples and Rhomania. John and Maria had an loving marriage and had five children together. John didn't died of the plauge like his father and brother, as he lived to the age of 54. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Alexander.
[11] Alexander was the third born child but first born son of John V and Maria of Naples, he was named after his maternal grandfather.
Like his father and grandfather, Alexander had a great interest for the military, however after two bad falls, during his early teenage years; the broken bones of his legs and right arm, never healed properly, and it became clear that it was permanent damage.
His large head and long torso were not helped by the crooked arm and shockingly bowed and stumpy legs. Many said if should have topped six feet, however his legs mean he barely reached over five.
On the day of his coronation, Alexander married Natia of Georgia, daughter of George XIV and his Turkish wife, Nazmiye Yakış. This was one of the rare occasions he was able to rise and walk unaided, although that night he managed only one dance with his wife, due to the pain that not even his usual drinking of wine could numb.
When it came to skirmishes along the borders, he left his bothers, to lead his men into battle, and wield the sword in his name.
His death at a relatively young age, was related to excessive alcohol poisoning and he was succeeded by his daughter Anastasia.
[12]
Empress Anastasia was born in 1511 as the only child of Emperor Alexander III and as such was proclaimed Empress after her father's death at the age of ten. As such, her early years as Empress would be spent under her mother Natia's regency, even with how her reign would prove to be one of the longest in the history of the Roman Empire.
Her reign would actually begin in 1529 as upon her 18th birthday, she would fully assume the position of Empress and Autocratess of the Romans with her reign being marked by a "golden age" of the Empire as Serbia was annexed into the Empire in the 1530s, the Empire became increasingly wealthy during her reign, and a flourishing culture with the 16th Century marked by a golden age of culture.
Anastasia would marry Nicephorus Komnenos, one of the last surviving Komnenoi, in 1532 with the couple having six children. Anastasia would die in 1572 from a heart attack with her son Nicephorus as her successor.
[13] Prince Nicephorus, born in 1535, was the second son of Anastasia I and Nicephorus Komnenos. His older brother, Sebastos Alexander, died in 1567, after he married Anges of Hungary, the only daughter of Andrew VI. Which meant that Nicephorus and Agnes' eldest son would be the heir to both the Roman Empire and Hungary.
After becoming Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans, Nicephorus continued the "golden age" that started during his mother's reign with the continuing expansion of the Roman Empire with an brief war against Aragon that ended with Rhomania annexing the island of Sicily, and the death of Anges of Hungary in 1589 which resulted in the union of Rome and Hungary and the estabishment of the Principality of Transylvania under an relative of the Emperor.
Nicephorus was an patron of the arts and supported the building of various strutures arcoss the empire. And he would die one day after he had a portrait of himself painted in 1595 at the age of 60. He was succeeded by his eldest grandson, Constantine the Greatest.
[14] Sebastos Konstantinos was born in 1584, the first son of Sebastokrator Alexios, eldest son of Nicephorus, and his wife, Mary of Russia. The young lad would soon be remarked as special - Konstantinos was born prematurely, and what he would gain in mental health, he would never be sound of mind again. But, we would not, not be sound of mind either. As everything during his long reign, Konstantinos' mind would be in a brink between fall and rising, but despite all of these hamperings, Constantine would live his life as he ended it - in ecstasy.
Konstantinos would only be seven when his father died, and only eleven when his grandfather did - throwing him onto the Imperial purple in earnest. Constantine would be brought up in the regency of his mother, Mary of Russia, who would draft Constantine's marriage with Louisa of France, daughter of the French King, Jean IV de Evreux, perhaps at that time, the most powerful and prestigious ruler of Medieval western Europe due to his vast Kingdom west of the Rhine. This was done on purpose by the Empress as to solidify the frontier of Hungary, as the Austrian Habsburg had claims on the Hungarian and Croatian thrones, establishing an alliance with the Holy Roman Empire's natural enemy of France. Louisa and Constantine would enjoy their marriage in 1600, when they were both sixteen. It was to be the start of a tense relationship based around lust, madness, love and fury.
Constantine's mental health issues would keep him off-balance on and off his reign - but his exceptionalism, his fascination with the classical age and his many strange, funny habits would endear him vastly to the population of Rhoma. Despite everything, Constantine would surround himself with a diverse, talented group of men, whose efforts into the reformation and continuation of the Roman state would be demarked in history as the "Second Komnenian Golden Age", which would last after Constantine's early death.
Constantine would get the news in early 1610 than he had developed an illness that would soon see him to heaven, and so the Emperor would summon the Imperial military in what he called "his great last show". In less than four years, the dying Autocrat of the Romans, King of the Hungarians and Croats, Sovereign of the Dacians and Georgians, Master of Syria and Bulgaria, Prince of Sicily and Cyprus, would invade and bulldoze through the armies of the Egyptian Sultanate, seeing, for the first time since the Muslim conquests, Egypt re-integrated into Rome. The Emperor, however, would follow his final victory with his own final defeat, dying of what modern historians and scientists attribute to a rare kind of cancer, leaving behind his daughter, Irene, as successor.
Portrait of Empress Irene, c. 1625
[15] Born in 1601 to Emperor Constantine XII and Louisa of France as the oldest of their 5 daughters, Irene would prove one of Rhomania’s most divisive empresses. Raised under the care of her grandmother since shortly after her birth, Irene grew into a woman with a keen eye for who to form alliances with and who to carefully antagonize. When her father died in 1614, the 13-year-old Irene was quickly crowned Empress and Autocratissa of the Romans.
In 1617, the Empress would enter into a proxy marriage with Lorenzo de’ Medici, a son of the Grand Duke of Tuscany by his second wife, Anna Claudia of Poland-Lithuania. The marriage proper would occur in 1621, after Lorenzo came of age. Irene and Lorenzo had a far healthier marriage than that of her parents, and, although Irene struggled with fertility, they would have four children.
Irene had a touch of her father’s mental health issues, often having hallucinations that she thought were angelic visions. These visions drove her to declare war against the powers of Arabia, and reclaim the eastern boundaries of the Mediterranean sea. The wars of Imperial Reconquest, as they would widely be known, were Pyrrhic victories, but by 1650, the eastern borders of the empire resembled those of the glory days of Rome, at the cost of a large percent of the serving populace.
Irene’s greatest contribution to the “Second Komnenian Golden Age” would be in bringing the ideologies and artists of Western Europe to Constantinople and sponsoring colonial endeavors, establishing New Athens in the Asiménio Potámi region. (OTL Río de Plata)
In 1675, Irene found out that she had a terminal illness. She spent her last three years withdrawn from court life and spending time with her family. Finally, in 1678, Empress Irene died from ovarian cancer, and was succeeded by her granddaughter, Zoe.
[16] Born as the older of two daughters to Prince Romanos in 1648, Princess Zoe would become heir to the throne in 1677 after Prince Romanos died at the age of 52 from a sudden hunting accident with many historians arguing that Irene's death was hastened by the depression caused by her son's death, being crowned Empress the next year after her mother's death.
Zoe II's reign would be marked by the consolidation of the realm that her grandmother and great-grandfather had built and the continuation of the golden age that they had forged for the Empire. As such, she would spend much of her reign in the Levantine and Egyptian portion of the Empire and would generally show a relatively open-minded and tolerant approach towards her Muslim subjects. However, her reign would see the loss of Mesopotamia after her grandmother's attempts at conquering it proved too much for the Empire's logistics train as the Safavids conquered it in the Battle of Baghdad of 1683.
In terms of culture, Zoe would prove to be a prominent patron of the culture and the arts, even being something of an artist herself during her reign. In her reign, she would also try to promote Rhomanian colonialism with an expansion of the colonies in the New World with the Southern Cone becoming known as the Hesperides during her reign as well.
In her personal life, Zoe would marry Alexander, third son of the Tsar of Russia, with whom she would have five children. Zoe would die from a stroke at the age of 65, being succeeded by her youngest child, Alexios the VIII.
[17] Alexios, Sebastrokator of Rome, would be born in 1692, the youngest child and only son of Empress Zoe Osmanos-Komnenos and Alexander Fyodorovich Godunov, Grande Duke of Russia. His birth was thoroughly celebrated in Constantinople as the nobility of the Empire, tired of the constant dynastic changes after the rise of the well-beloved Osmanoi and their matrilineal descendants in the second Komnenoi, had been thinking of pushing for a change of law that would forbid Alexios' elder sisters, Anna, Irene, Maria and Theodora from inheriting the throne due to their often rambuctious and infamous marriages - as Empress' Zoe's policy of marriages had been extremely unpopular, something that would deeply affect Alexios' reign.
Princess Anna, the eldest, had married Fernando, Duke of Badajoz, second son and regent of the Kingdom of Portugal-Leon in the Iberian Peninsula, with the intent of solidifying Constantinople's presence in Hesperida, as the general colony was now called after the expansion away in the Asiménio Pótami. Anna's marriage would secure the region, despite the loss of claims to the now Portuguese colony of Cisplatina (OTL Uruguay) and the loss of Parmenia to Portuguese Brasil as well (OTL North-Eastern Paraguay). The colony, would, however, continue to be problematic, as by this point Hesperida was dominated by Sicilian Catholic ranchers, whom had emigrated from Byzantine Sicily, one of the most problematic regions of the Empire due to the stern refusal of the locals to accept the Orthodox status quo the Constantinopolitan Church had attained in the region. Zoe, and then Alexios would attempt to calm the island, but the mark of oppression had been left there, which would eventually see Sicily sold to the Kingdom of Naples alongside a marriage between King Leopoldo de Berry, the widely popular first king of the Napolitan House of Evreux-Berry and Princess Irene. Princess Theodora would marry all the way into the Kingdom of Sweden-Norway, marrying Prince Sigismund Vasa, while princess Maria would marry into the longtime antagonists of the Romans in Hungary, the Austrian Habsburgs.
As a Prince, Alexios would be famous for his many travels and the solitary life he lived with his wife, the daughter of the King of Dacia, a vassal and ally of the Roman Emperor, Vlad Draculesti, descendant of Michael the Brave which had united all three principalities under Greek rule. A shy woman, Mary of Dacia would prefer the Imperial families' many provincial palaces than the bustle of Constantinople, which would make the couple extremely popular in the provinces proper. They would, during this time until the ascension of Alexios to the throne, have many children, almost all of them born in different regions of the realm.
With the death of Empress Zoe, it was clear that change was in the horizon. Alexios was a quiet and unassuming man, with a simple austere lifestyle. He would, however, embrace the purple fully, taking on a much more abrasive step on the Imperial Throne.
Much of Alexios the VIII's recorded legacy as an Emperor is his effect of Syria, Assyria, Egypt and Cyrenaica. Once the center of the Empire, the Muslim conquests had seen the Romans relegated to Anatolia and the Balkans, which, even after the return of the Empire to these regions, had not shifted, with Anatolia and Europe becoming ever more important for the Romans. The dominance of Muslims in the Levantine and African promises, at a demographic level, and the refusal of previous Emperors to antagonize them, had led to the famous epoch of Byzantine tolerance, which would diminish effectively under Alexios. The Levant and Egypt of previous Emperors and that of Alexios were different, completely. While the native Christian populations of the area had been diminished for ages, they had bounced back under Byzantine rule, and were now starting to demand more attention from Constantinople, attention, Alexios, a devout Christian, was willing to give them:
- The Copts in Egypt, who now represent almost a third of Egypt's population, and the Orthodox community there, who represented 15% of Egypt's population, both descended from arab-coptic converts and descendants of mainly settled Greek, Turkish and Albanian soldiers, had allied each other, under the leadership of the Patriarch of Alexandria, Ioannes, a arab greek convert.
- In Cyrenaica, always a hotspot of Greek fishermen, the coast had been settled by Aegean, Cypriot and Ionian Hellenes, eager to get into the dye and olive trade, and despite the half-hazardous censuses of the time, it seems Christians were already a majority there by this time.
- In Syria and Assyria (OTL Jazira, aka, eastern Syria and North-western Iraq), muslims remained a majority, but a slim one, as the many native christian sects had expanded under Roman Guidance, with the Maronites receiving many funds in western Syria and expanding, while the Assyrians, under their patriarch, in essence governed Upper Mesopotamia. Many settled veterans, especially Bulgars, Pontics and Cappadocians (Both turks and greeks) were also in the region. Armenians were also prevalent in the region.
This complete demographic change, with a strong christian block in the Balkans, Anatolia, Georgia and Armenia (Both greater and lesser), saw a need of change in the way the Empire handled it's muslims. Muslims had been exempt from many taxes as a way to keep them happy, but had been blocked from offices of power and the military. During Alexios reign, muslims would allowed to go into politics and the military, but would have to pay hefty taxes, which would be used to replenish Roman coffers.
But there was one essential component to Alexios' desire as an Emperor - to break away from geographic limitations, and to dominate the Mediterranean sea and the Indian Ocean. It to do so that he fought a series of wars against Persia, defeating them in both, which would see Mesopotamia and Shirvan added to the Empire in the first, and the Persians themselves pushed all the way to the Zagros mountains, which would be the new Perso-Roman frontier. The access to the Indian Ocean through the Persian gulf was also guaranteed, and Basra and the newly founded "Nicatomani" (The Port of the Victor, in Alexios' honour), the first Roman deep water port in Mesopotamia.
However, there was one project that fascinated Alexios - just like his ancestor Alexander the II had rebuilt many treasures of antiquity and built many himself, Alexios had one single great ambition - to connect the mediterranean to the Red sea. During his reign, thousands of workers and slaves would begin a huge project that Alexios had envisioned, a single canal that directly connected the two seas. Alexios himself, however, would never see the result of it.
Alexios would further secure the allegiance of the Hejazi Hashimids, securing a new wave of income for Constantinople as the first Custodian of the two Holy cities of Islam. He would die in early 1740, after a fall that would cripple his legs and spine.
Emperor and Autocrat John VI, who would be remembered as The Ill-Fated
[18] Prince John was born in 1718, the first, but third child of Emperor Alexios VIII and Princess Mary of Dacia. As he grew, there was great expectation for him to live up to his father and his image. However, it seemed that the anxious John always failed no matter how much he tried. Failing many attempts to reform the navy or provincial administration even with the aid of his dying father, which frustrated the aging Emperor.
When his father died it was popularly rumoured that he had attempted to exclude John, singularly him, from the line of succession. Although, in the end, John VI did not reign for long as he was assassinated by an Protestant extremists.
Leaving almost no legacy the short-reigning Emperor was succeeded by his brother Alexander.
[19] Alexander was born in 1720, the second son and fourth child of Alexios VIII and Mary of Dacia. He was seen as an more appropriate successor to his father than his older brother John, as he was an expert in both the millitary and goverment administration. Some even thought he would become Alexios' heir in the event of him removing his brother's place in the line of succession.
Alexander became Roman Emperor after his brother's death by an Protestant extremist, and forced Protestants to pay hefty taxes that are similar to the ones that Muslins pay. His reign had not much happen expect in 1742 when his brother Peter became King of Bohemia following the death of the childless Wenceslaus VI, starting the Catholic branch of the House of Osmanos-Komnenos.
In his personal life, Alexander married Princess Elene of Georgia in 1741, but had only two children with her before dying of food poisoning in 1746. He was succeeded by his only son, Alexios.
[20] Alexios, was been in 1744, the second child but only son born to Alexander and Princess Elene of Georgia, at birth he was a sickly boy and many suspected his health would only deteriorate.
Just before his second birthday, his father died of food poisoning, striking fear among the royal family fearing that Alexander had been deliberately poisoned.
Elene quickly claimed the title of Empress Regent and locked down the Imperial Palace in Constantinople, only allowing unarmed allies to enter, Alexios and his older sister, Mary had a lonely childhood, with only themselves for company as Elene, didn’t trust any other child to infiltrate the palace.
Regarding his health, fearing that a single physician could assassinate her son, Elene, arranged for a wide range of doctors to care for him, this included three Chinese doctors, who brought with them ideas such as vaccinations and herbal medicine that were common in their homeland. While the head doctor, was Georgian physician, Giorgi Ioseb Jughashvili. Under these wise medical council, Alexios’s health greatly improved. This council would grow overtime would set up the Hippocratic Hospital in a former palace donated to the council in honour of their hard work.
Upon his 10th birthday, Alexios was able to attend council meetings, watching how his mother was able to use ministers against each other, acting as the levelheaded compromiser.
This would continue until 1760, when Alexios declared his majority on his 16th birthday, with his mother acting as royal advisor up until her death.
In 1761, his sister, Mary married their cousin, Peter II, King of Bohemia, in a magnificent ceremony, that was attended by many members of foreign royal families. It was during this wedding that Alexios would look for his future bride.
This came in the form of a distant cousin, Princess Katherine of Portugal-Leon, a beautiful and intelligent woman. The match was also chosen as it didn’t bring any disputes between neighbouring nations.
Their wedding took place a few years later in 1766 and was a happy marriage, resulting in twelve healthy births, due to the help of physicians and midwives, trained at the Hippocratic Hospital.
When it came to the military, Alexios took the same style as his mother’s regency council, rather than favouriting a few individual generals, Alexios chose to have a large staff of military minded men from all over the empire discuss their foreign policies, defence strategy as well as their army and naval reforms.
Major military events during Alexios’s reign include:
- 1770, support his cousin/brother-in-law, Peter II against aggression from Austrian Habsburg
- Putting down a rebellion led by Mehmet Nasser, who tried occupying the Alexios Canal (named after Alexios VIII)
- Naval assaults on pirates, who were active around the Red Sea and Arabian Sea.
His use of military staff and their reforms, the Imperial Navy and Army, became a force to fear, allowing the empire to stretch comfortably over the three continents.
In 1804, war would irrupt following a revolution in the Holy Roman Empire, saw a Prussian born individual, who came to prominence following strong victories against the Imperial forces, Johann von Yorck declare himself, High Chancellor of Germany, uniting the Germanic cultures, before dominating northern and central European affairs for nearly two decade while leading his German Republic against a series of coalitions in the Twenty Years Wars, winning most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, presiding over a large nation before its final collapse in 1825.
Alexios would find, having to join coalitions with former enemies like Austrian Habsburg to keep the Germanic Republic from pushing toward the Balkan region.
His wife, Empress Katherine, had died in 1810 and Alexios spent the remaining life, widowed, never remarrying, instead taking solace from spending time with his children, grandchildren as well as great grandchildren, claiming their youthfulness made him feel young.
During the last two years of his reign, his great health had started to show signs of breaking and on his 88th birthday, he declared that his successor, his eldest grandson Demetrios, would serve as co-emperor along side him, allowing Alexios, time to rest without fully abdicating, stating that his longevity was due to God’s support.
The death of Alexios in 1834, came two months before his 90th birthday, both his solo reign of 73 years, and full reign of 88 years, have been record breaking reigns.
His co-emperor, Demetrios, now took over full control.
[21] Born in 1803 to Sebastrokator Andronicus, eldest child and son of Alexios the IX enormous brood, Demetrios was raised in the environment of the Johannic age - where Germany united and fought off the whole of Europe for almost some straight twenty years. His mother was Princess Alexandra Godunova, daughter of the Russian Tsar Constantine I Godunov, and she would be the one responsible for his household as future Emperor due to the death of his father Andronicus during the war against Germany and it's allies.
From a young age, Demetrios was imbued with a sense of destiny, and it would be this sense of foreboding that would shape his hard, strong character in the future. In 1823, Demetrios would be marry Princess Viktoria Helene of Prussia, strenghtening Rhome's influence in the volatile Germany. Viktoria Helene would bring be as hard and stubborn as her husband, and they would have a rambuctious relationship, constantly snarking at each other, but they would develop a strange kind of love-hate relationship, and would not share any other lovers than themselves. Indeed, Demetrios and Viktoria's romance would be the hallmark of the third season of the modern show "Osmanoi-Komnenoi: The Keepers of an Empire", as their very over-lusting for each other made for much of the comedic tone of the season - Indeed, speaking historically, while the couple weren't as sexually prolific as depicted in the show, they were very atracted physically to each other and there are at least three confirmed writings of the Princely-and then Imperial couple, being caught copulating in "public".
His true character came ahead in 1832 and 1834 respectivelly, the years when he was made co-Emperor and then Emperor proper. A much more established and motivated monarch than his grandfather in his later years, and was very much the description of the word "Autocrat". The Imperial Senate, a hollow institution for much of it's history, had made a comeback as a ground for the Imperial administration to seek advice from, but the Liberal influences post-Twenty Years wars saw an upsurge in Liberal activity that pertubed Demetrios.
This did not mean Demetrios was not open to liberal ideas - he, who had the burden of an Empire that stretched from the Danube to Nubia (OTL Sudan) and the Zagros mountains and Cyrenaica, with Pótamia (OTL Argentina and Chile) was a beacon of Roman rule in the south of the American continent. Demetrios realised that a single mind could not rule such a huge swath of land, and thus welcome the advice of the Senate, but the many Liberals that occupied the Senatorial grounds took this and thought that they would be able to strong-arm Demetrios into handing more power away to the Senate. The famous "Act of 1840", the date when the Senate attempted to pass Rome's first constitution without the Emperor's knowledge or without the power to do so. It would a huge mistake as the Emperor Demetrios took offence and angered, ordered the purging of the senate and it's dissolution, forming his reign around a cadre of industrialists, military and civilian leaders.
On an economic level, however, Demetrios is famous for his obcession with innovation and he would be the supporter and officiator of many canals, rail-roads and factories, and a trend of massive population growth would start as Demetrios' reign sent Rome down the path of Industrialization at full speed.
The influence of Liberalism stayed alive, however, in the unknown underground of Roman society, and liberal radicals would plan an ambush of the Emperor and his wife Viktoria in their yearly summer retire to their "cottage" in Cilicia. The year of 1852 would thus bring horrible news to the Empire - as the assassins would manage to plant a bomb which would end up killing the somehow once more pregnant Empress Viktoria (One needs to remember that by this point, Viktoria, born in 1807, was at this point 45 years old, and nearly obese due to the more than 16 children she had during her marriage.) Demetrios would survive unscathed, but would enter into a deep depression that would see the Emperor age quickly. It would be a simple chill that the Emperor caught in 1856 that would see Demetrios the II die, leaving the throne to his son Andronicus.
Alexios VI would die in 1341 from ill health and would be succeeded by his son Alexios.
A 16th-century depiction of Emperor and Autocrat Alexios VII
[2] Born in 1300, Alexios was the first born son of Emperor Alexios VI’s second marriage. He was possibly made co-emperor in 1328, reigning alongside his father before being demoted once more, most probably to a defeat in battle against the Epirotes.
When his father died, Alexios succeeded him, though he had to put down a rebellion that was instigated by one of his younger brothers.
In early 1345, Alexios VII launched a campaign against the independent southern Greek states, however, due to his incompetence his army would soon be routed by a combined Greek army. A few days later succumbed to his injuries and was succeeded by his nephew-in-law, Basil Laskaris.
[3] Born in 1321, Basil Laskaris would be one of the last scions of the ancient Nicene house of the Laskarids, which had once ruled the Nicene Empire in Anatolia. Despite their fall to the Palaeologus, the recent rising of the Tarchaneiotes would see the Laskarids rise quickly in opportunity. The Laskarids had been famous for their deeds in Anatolia, beating back the turk often, and it was in this area that the Laskarids would expand and create a new base of power for themselves. The conquest of many Turkic beylics would see the Laskarids adquire many new lands in Bukellarion and Phlagonia. It would be through this that Ioannes Laskaris, strategos of Anatolikon, would see his son Basil married to the niece of Emperor Alexios VII.
Basil and his wife, Irene, would have a fruitful companionship, marked by Irene's intelligence and Basil's respect for her. Despite being more of a friendly "relationship", Basil and Irene would have 7 recorded children. It would be through Irene's claim that Basil would rise to the throne, and this would show during his reign, with Irene being far more than a mere consort during the rule of her husband.
Basil would prove himself up to the task of generalship and emperor-ship. Appealing to Dynastic continuation, Basil would take up the wars of his predecessor and would advance deeply into Southern Greece, restoring it back to the Empire, but an intervention by Venice would see an almost decade of on and off warfare between both states, which the Rhomans would eventually win, restoring their rule to all Greek islands, including Crete, although Cyprus remained in Crusader hands. His warfare-orientated reign would see the rise of a new class of Rhoman soldiery, based on conscription and professional service, mainly rewarded through promises of land in the depopulated Anatolia. Basil would also be the first Emperor to force the Turkish populations of the Empire to pay a blood tax - by giving at least one of their male children in service to the Empire.
Basil's never ending martial energy would see much of Anatolia recovered - with the Empire for the first time in generations reaching the Taurus mountains, with the Rhomans once more asserting dominance over the black sea. Many missionaries were sent into Circassia to Transcausia, and to Tartaria in the Golden horde by him. Basil would transplant many Greeks, Bulgarian and Latin mercenaries, as well as converted fleeing tribes from the North and the Steppes into Anatolia, giving the land a new appeal to the Rhoman state.
Despite his many victories against the westerners and the muslims, Basil would fail in his grandest campaign - the reconquest of Trebizond. The smashing of his army on the Pontic Mountains would see the aged Emperor enter a depression that would eventually take him to his grave. He would be succeeded by his son-in-law, Oshin
.
[4] Oshin, a Prince of Armenia, was son-in-law to Emperor Basil III by his eldest daughter, Rita. Having deemed all of his legitimate sons as lunatics and simpletons, systematically managing them off stage, Basil set Oshin up as defacto heir jure uxoris.
Born in 1341, married in 1369 and had already given Basil three grandchildren by the time he died in 1374. Despite some opposition to his rule from his brothers-in-law and nephews, collectively known as the Basilian Pretenders, Oshin had effectively secured his reign by 1380 which left the remaining decade of his rule for him to focus on civic improvements including reinforcing the defenses of Thessalonica and effectively moving the imperial seat from Constantinople to Thessalonica.
In 1390, Oshin would inherit the Kingdom of Armenian Cilicia from his elder brother and this claim, which could be inherited by a woman, would pass to his children even if they did not become Byzantine Emperor.
Empress Rita outlived her husband, to see him succeeded by their son, Constantine
[5] Constantine XI was born in 1370 as the oldest of Oshin's sons and would become Emperor in 1393 as a result of his father Oshin's death.
As Emperor, Constantine XI's reign, while short, would be one marked by the effective governance of the Empire, especially after returning the capital of the Empire to Constantinople during the first few years of his reign. His reign would also be marked by effective and competent administration, especially with the defeat of the Bulgarians and Serbs in the Haemus and continuation of the consolidation of the Rhoman presence in Anatolia.
While many have speculated about what would have happened had he had more time to be Emperor, it was not to be as he would be killed in Timur's invasion of Anatolia, leaving behind his brother, Justinian, as the new Emperor.
[6] Justinian was the youngest child of Oshin and third son, born in 1384. When his older brothers, Emperor Constantine and Dux Augustine, (b. 1372,) were both killed in the Battle of Aydin in 1402, Justinian took the throne with the support of his mother, the Dowager Empress, Rita. He was not quite 18 years old.
His two older sisters, however, did not support him. Theodora, born in 1369, was the oldest child of Oshrin, and had been married to Empress Rita's nephew, _________________, the Dux of Epirus, in 1380, at that time the senior claimant of the Basilian Pretenders. This had confirmed their support for Oshrin's reign. But with the defeat of Constantine to Timur and the loss of Anatolia and Armenia to the Empire, Theodora and the Dux now proclaimed he was the rightful Emperor. Alexandria, born in 1379, was married to the Bulgarian Emperor, Ivan Umor. They threw their support to Epirus in exchange for a return of the Haemus to the Bulgarians.
The war with Timur was still occurring as the Amir was now battling for the northwest provinces of Asia Minor and the Black Sea coast and was besieging Nicaea. With a two-front war occurring with the Turco-Mongols to the east and south and the Epirus/Bulgaria alliance to the west and north, The Empire was not able to secure Crete, the Peloponnese, and up through the former Duchy of Athens and Venice swept in and swiftly conquered it.
Justinian saw his only hope for the Empire was to sue for peace with Timur. Surprisingly, the Amir was generous in his terms, as he wished to finish in the west and turn east to face China. He agreed to allow Christian pilgrims to visit the Holy Land, now part of the Timurid Empire, to cede the territory in northwest Asia Minor he was occupying in return for the Empire giving up its claims to the former Turkish Beyliks except the ones that bordered the Aegean or the Black Sea, yielding the interior of Anatolia again to Timur's Turkish vassals. (Timur championed the Ghuzz Turks of Mentese who now reformed the Sultanate of Rum in the interior of Anatolia and the southern Mediterranean coast.)
This allowed Justinian to invade the Haemus in 1403. Ivan Umor did not meet Justinian in battle but instead sent Alexandria to negotiate a peace. The Bulgarians sued for peace if they submitted to Constantinople, recognized Justinian as their Emperor, gave up the title Emperor for themselves but took the title of King of the Bulgarians. In return, Justinian recognized the Haemus Mountains as part of the Bulgarian Kingdom but as a vassal of Constantinople.
Now Justinian could turn his full attention to Epirus. Unlike Alexandria, Theodora did not encourage her husband to make peace. A bloody war followed from 1404 through 1408. A peace never was formed with a treaty, like with Timur or Bulgaria, but a ceasefire and truce ended hostilities in the late summer of 1408. All the territory that Epirus had taken from the Empire was restored, but a rump Epirus remained and was now de facto independent, although both sides claimed Epirus was part of the Roman Empire, they just disagreed which government was the legitimate government of the entire Empire.
All through this war, negotiations had occurred with Venice. They were formalized in the Treaty of Athens in 1410. The Greek Isles, except for Crete, were now under the direct control of Constantinople. The Duchy of Athens was restored to independence but formally a vassal of Constantinople, as was the new formed Duchy of the Peloponnese, but Venice was given full rights to trade and establish bases. In reality, the Duchies were under the control of Venice but officially were vassals of Rome. Crete itself was part of the Venetian Empire.
Finally, Justinian had peace on all borders and the Empire was secure, although much smaller than previously.
This was when the Dowager Empress died.
Justinian now knew he needed to marry. He was now 25 and expected many more years to reign. His bride was Anna Vasilievna of Moscow, daughter of Vasily I, the Grand Prince of Moscow. She was now 17 and Muscovy had been one of the only neighboring states to actually declare for Justinian when he took the throne. But now that all surrounding states did, it was to his first ally he turned for a marriage. (Even though that support had been nothing more than declaring a position.)
The Emperor and Empress started a family immediately and had a number of children.
Although it was humiliating that the Greek vassal states were only nominally vassals, the reality of peace with Venice and the presence of Venetian trade in them led to increase prosperity for the Empire. Also peace with the new Sultanate of Rum and the Timurid Empire, meant the Silk Road was re-opened and trade from there added to the Empire's prosperity.
However, the peace and prosperity of Justinian's reign was doomed to fail in 1432 on the death of the heir and grandson of Timur, Muhammad Sultan Mizra, who'd held all of Timur's empire together from Timur's death in 1405. The western portions of the Timurid Empire fell into chaos, the Silk Road closed again, the Ghuzz attacked the Empire's province of Trezibond, and a new threat demolished the Empire- the Black Plague.
Justinian died of the Plague in 1432 just as the Ghuzz attacked the Empire.
Empress and Autocratess Maria I and Emperor and Autocrat Peter I
[7] Born a sickly child in 1412, Maria was the first daughter and child of Emperor Justinian III and Princess Anna Vasilievna of Moscow. For most of Maria’s early life, she was confined indoors due to an unknown affliction that rendered her physically weak and nearly bald. Maria would often be the target of frequent insults by courtiers, which greatly affected the young girl. In 1428, she met Peter Venatrovsky, the son of one of the royal guards of Grand Prince Vasily I, who had previously visited Constantinople. They both fell in love, and Maria’s health rapidly improved, even though this is most probably a coincidence, and she remained near-bald for the rest of her life. At the age of 20, she and Peter finally married.
By the time of Justinian III’s death, Maria and her younger brother, John, were their father’s only surviving children. Briefly, it seemed that there was a possibility of a civil war between Maria and John. However, John, recognizing that he would hold many disadvantages if he waged war, struck a deal with Maria and Peter. John would relinquish his claim to the Roman throne, but, in exchange, he would become the King of Macedonia (roughly OTL Western Macedonia region in Greece and some parts of Central Macedonia).
The newly crowned imperial couple had to deal with the depopulation of the city of Constantinople and other surrounding areas caused by the Black Death. However, many lives were saved by the royal policy which was put in place which forced many inhabitants of cities to relocate to sparsely populated areas of the empire. A few years later, the Roman Empress and Emperor helped command a combined Roman-Macedonian-Timurid force which resulted in the Ghuzz being pushed out of the Roman Empire and the majority of the Timurid Empire’s eastern territories.
The remainder of their joint reign was relatively peaceful and prosperous, as Maria and Peter had implemented many policies that facilitated easier trade with the Venetians and other Italian maritime powers. During this time, Peter also introduced much Muscovite culture to the empire, especially in the imperial capital.
In 1457, Maria and Peter both died in their sleep together on the same day. They were succeeded by their nephew-in-law, Ioannes of the House of Osmanos.
[8] Alexandros of the Osmanoi would be the first-born son of Ioannes Dragases Osmanos, a famous governor of the Peleponese, born in early 1432. His family was of Turkish origin, as his family was itself descendant the defeated Ottoman Beylic two centuries before. His ancestors had entered Byzantine service and had rise steadily through the ranks, becoming great land-owners during the Anatolian reconquista. Alexandros himself had led his first contingent of troops by 1451 by the age of 19, defeating a raiding party of the Karamanid Sultanate of Syria in the battle of Adana, and led a contigent of Christian troops - a mixture of Greeks, Cilicians, Armenians and Turks all the way down to Antioch, city which he would swear to reconquer as a general one day. He would reconquer, not as a general, but as an Emperor.
Alexandros would rise to steady fame after this, joining the upper echelons of the Imperial military which would lead him to meet and marry Eudokia of Macedonia, only child of John of Macedon. It was Alexandro's first real thrust into the upper hierarchy of Imperial politics, and it would one in which he would not fail. The death of his father-in-law would have by all rights seen him rise to the occasion as King of Macedon, but Alexandros, a firm Imperialist, would refuse to take a title and land that "would disturb the law and power of the Empire". For many, it was seen as a moment of stupidity, as Macedonia held both Thessalonika and an immense spread of territory. But it was Alexandros' introduction to the Imperial family, who would grow to respect him. Maria and Peter never had children, and they would eventually decide to co-adopt Alexandros into their family and make him their successor, alongside their niece. Their deaths in 1457 would see Alexandros, perhaps the most important ruler of 15 century Byzantium, arise to the ocasion. Alexandros, who would come to be known in the future as the Conqueror, had just arisen to the purple.
Alexandros was a firm unificacionists, the party of the Byzantine Empire which believed that the many "statelets" Byzantine noblemen had successfully carved for themselves within the Imperial frontiers be ended, and it had been this with this party of talented, loyal and young "new blood" that Alexandros had allied himself with, and truly, they would become one of the pillars of his reign.
Alexandros was, however, not the only one who was paying attention. In Epirus, the old age Laskarid Despots of the region had laid in wait, content with slowly expanding their rule over Thessaly, Attica and Southern Albania and Macedonia, but they were not foolish. Manuel Laskaris, the old and wise Despot of Epirus, knew that Alexandros would end up coming for him, and declared himself Emperor with support of many European and Anatolian magnates. It would lead to a two-year civil war, in which Alexandros' military talent would come to the fore. Alexandros would first see action in Anatolia, soundly defeating the Rhoman magnates in Pontus and in the Lycian themes of Kybyrrhaotai and Opsikion, while his brother Michael held off the Epirotes in Macedonia. Michael had plenty of military talent of his own, and would hold off the numerically superior Epirotes for months before the arrival of his brother over the Hellespont. At this point, Manuel and Simeon of Bulgaria entered into an alliance, but it would be too late for Epirus. Alexandros would lead his professional army of over 50000 men into Macedonia, defeating Manuel at every turn, quickly subduing his territories. Venice's attempt to harbor Manuel in their Aegean cities would see the Emperor conquer them - but this would start the Roman-Veneto-Bulgarian war, which would last for one more year.
Michael ambushed the Bulgarian army in the Rhodopes, however, and this would see the Byzantines imprison over 20000 Bulgarian soldiers. It was a military victory the likes of Basil the III and that of Caesar, and it would see the fall of Bulgaria once more to the Rhoman Empire. The Venetian counter-invasion of Epirus would also end in disaster - Alexandros handing them a handy victory in the battle of Naufpakos, which would see Venice lose it's holdings in the Roman Empire - including Crete.
The annexation of Bulgaria and the re-incorporation of the Venetian concessions would see a surge of popularity for Alexandros, making him one of the most popular and powerful Autocrats since Alexios the I, and it would give Alexandros the space to introduce his greatest ambitions - reform at all levels, which would be seen blessed by God as he and the Basilissa, Eudokia, would have their first child that year.
The Codex Osmanoi - the greatest code of law since the Codex of Justinian almost a millenia prior, would be one of the greatest books of law of the time and is considered by most of historians as the Roman Empire's first constitution, as it sodified very well the role each official would have in their servitude to the Emperor. The Roman laws of Succession - turning the Roman Autocracy into a primogeniture, male preference-based succession, with usurpation - made "illegal" and co-emperorship as well. It would also reform much of Byzantine bureaucracy, making it clear and consise for the first time in forever. It would also make Sebastos the title of the Crown Prince of the Empire.
His military reforms, however, are also famous. The birth of the Byzantine armies (Imagine a less corrupt, more gun-based and less raiding prone Ottoman army) of the 15th century, known as the Scholarii, as each Rhoman soldier was given a firm education in any art of his choosing and in Greek. It was to be the birth of one of the most professional forces of the age.
On other fronts, though, Alexandros after his reforms would quickly move to end the subdued Turkic beylics, as they had become rather powerless since many Turks and turcomans had converted to Christianity and integrated into the Imperial system, becoming one of the greatest sources of soldiers for the Empire. The swift integration of Bulgaria into the Empire would also be of great use to Rome - as the Bulgarians would quickly come to enjoy the rule of Rome - as the Tsardom of Bulgaria had been decentralized and in constant internal warfare between nobles - and it quickly became a source of both soldiers and officials for Constantinople.
The next few years of Alexandros' reign would be peaceful - with much coin flowing into the Imperial treasury due to his reforms after the increased spending of the civil war, but it was a time for personal growth for Alexandros - in the peace established after 1462, he and his wife would become the parents to seven more children, all the way into 1472, the year the Empire would go to war once more. One must denote, however, Alexandros and his wife roles as patrons of the arts - to them is often attributed the start of the Renaissance, as, during their reign, Constantinople (Which had extensively recovered and expanded since the fourth crusade) would become a center of art and culture, reuniting several Latin, Slavic, Arab, Persian and Roman artists, historians, architects, musicians, inventors and more in the city. But Alexandros' greatest passion would definitely be architecture - the Emperor would be the patron of over one hundred architecture projects, but the most famous would be the restoration of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Parthenon of Athens and the Colossus of Rhodes, his greatest and most beloved project. He would build many new monuments, however, such as the Grand Mausoleum of Eudokia, named after his wife, which would become the resting ground of future Roman Emperors, the Grand Harbour of Thessalonika and Smyrna, the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Antioch and many statues of himself all over the Empire.
The following ten years of constant campaigning by Alexandros, which would earn him the title of the Conqueror, could be better explained, but the majesty and greatness of so many deeds would take much to explain. In less than 10 years, the Empire would expand into all directions, with the Emperor conquering deep into Serbia and Bosnia, winning the loyalty of the Danubian princes of Wallachia and Moldavia, the homage of the King of Hungary, while in the East, King David of Georgia would enter into Alexander's patronage, recognizing him as his sovereign, while the full extent of lower Caucasia and the Armenian lands would be integrated into the Empire. In the south, Basil would storm over the Cilician gates in 1476, while the Turkish Karamanid rulers of Syria were busy invading the remnants of the Mamluk caliphate in Egypt and Hejaz, bringing the whole of Syria under his control. The Emperor would have perhaps conquered further, but a bout of plague would take him, seeing him succeeded by his son Demetrios.
A statue of Demetrios I outside the National Roman Museum of History
[9] Demetrios was the second son but third child overall of Alexander II and Eudokia of Macedonia, born in 1460. A year after his birth, his elder brother, Alexios, died, and Demetrios became the first in line to the Roman throne. Unlike his father and most of the men at the royal court at the time, Demetrios held no interest in the military. However, his uninterest did not cause any problems for his father, but certainly for the army, as Demetrios was entirely hostile to it. In fact, when he became Emperor, he would try to restrict the army's power, but ultimately he did not live long enough to pursue his goal.
After his father died, Demetrios became Emperor of Rome. But, a month after he was crowned, he came ill with the plague. And, just like his father, died from it. Not much would be remembered from his short reign, one of the shortest in Roman history.
He was succeeded by his brother John.
[10] Born in 1465 as the third son and fifth child overall of Alexander II and Eudokia of Macedonia, John wasn't expected to become the next Roman Emperor, but with the death of his brother Demetrios just one year into his reign in 1482, he became Emperor at the age of 17. Unlike his brother, John was like most men of his time and had an interest in the millitary, and led an conquest of Rum in 1493, quickly followed by a war against the Crimean Khanate, which would see the annexation of the southern tip of Crimea.
John treated his now greatly expanded Muslim population fairly, allowing them to practice their religion in public, but some Muslims did leave the Roman Empire to other places, with an popular destination being the Mamluk Caliphate, which was focusing on spreading across the North African coast.
John married Maria of Naples, daughter of King Frederick II of Naples, which would start an alliance between Naples and Rhomania. John and Maria had an loving marriage and had five children together. John didn't died of the plauge like his father and brother, as he lived to the age of 54. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Alexander.
[11] Alexander was the third born child but first born son of John V and Maria of Naples, he was named after his maternal grandfather.
Like his father and grandfather, Alexander had a great interest for the military, however after two bad falls, during his early teenage years; the broken bones of his legs and right arm, never healed properly, and it became clear that it was permanent damage.
His large head and long torso were not helped by the crooked arm and shockingly bowed and stumpy legs. Many said if should have topped six feet, however his legs mean he barely reached over five.
On the day of his coronation, Alexander married Natia of Georgia, daughter of George XIV and his Turkish wife, Nazmiye Yakış. This was one of the rare occasions he was able to rise and walk unaided, although that night he managed only one dance with his wife, due to the pain that not even his usual drinking of wine could numb.
When it came to skirmishes along the borders, he left his bothers, to lead his men into battle, and wield the sword in his name.
His death at a relatively young age, was related to excessive alcohol poisoning and he was succeeded by his daughter Anastasia.
[12]
Empress Anastasia was born in 1511 as the only child of Emperor Alexander III and as such was proclaimed Empress after her father's death at the age of ten. As such, her early years as Empress would be spent under her mother Natia's regency, even with how her reign would prove to be one of the longest in the history of the Roman Empire.
Her reign would actually begin in 1529 as upon her 18th birthday, she would fully assume the position of Empress and Autocratess of the Romans with her reign being marked by a "golden age" of the Empire as Serbia was annexed into the Empire in the 1530s, the Empire became increasingly wealthy during her reign, and a flourishing culture with the 16th Century marked by a golden age of culture.
Anastasia would marry Nicephorus Komnenos, one of the last surviving Komnenoi, in 1532 with the couple having six children. Anastasia would die in 1572 from a heart attack with her son Nicephorus as her successor.
[13] Prince Nicephorus, born in 1535, was the second son of Anastasia I and Nicephorus Komnenos. His older brother, Sebastos Alexander, died in 1567, after he married Anges of Hungary, the only daughter of Andrew VI. Which meant that Nicephorus and Agnes' eldest son would be the heir to both the Roman Empire and Hungary.
After becoming Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans, Nicephorus continued the "golden age" that started during his mother's reign with the continuing expansion of the Roman Empire with an brief war against Aragon that ended with Rhomania annexing the island of Sicily, and the death of Anges of Hungary in 1589 which resulted in the union of Rome and Hungary and the estabishment of the Principality of Transylvania under an relative of the Emperor.
Nicephorus was an patron of the arts and supported the building of various strutures arcoss the empire. And he would die one day after he had a portrait of himself painted in 1595 at the age of 60. He was succeeded by his eldest grandson, Constantine the Greatest.
[14] Sebastos Konstantinos was born in 1584, the first son of Sebastokrator Alexios, eldest son of Nicephorus, and his wife, Mary of Russia. The young lad would soon be remarked as special - Konstantinos was born prematurely, and what he would gain in mental health, he would never be sound of mind again. But, we would not, not be sound of mind either. As everything during his long reign, Konstantinos' mind would be in a brink between fall and rising, but despite all of these hamperings, Constantine would live his life as he ended it - in ecstasy.
Konstantinos would only be seven when his father died, and only eleven when his grandfather did - throwing him onto the Imperial purple in earnest. Constantine would be brought up in the regency of his mother, Mary of Russia, who would draft Constantine's marriage with Louisa of France, daughter of the French King, Jean IV de Evreux, perhaps at that time, the most powerful and prestigious ruler of Medieval western Europe due to his vast Kingdom west of the Rhine. This was done on purpose by the Empress as to solidify the frontier of Hungary, as the Austrian Habsburg had claims on the Hungarian and Croatian thrones, establishing an alliance with the Holy Roman Empire's natural enemy of France. Louisa and Constantine would enjoy their marriage in 1600, when they were both sixteen. It was to be the start of a tense relationship based around lust, madness, love and fury.
Constantine's mental health issues would keep him off-balance on and off his reign - but his exceptionalism, his fascination with the classical age and his many strange, funny habits would endear him vastly to the population of Rhoma. Despite everything, Constantine would surround himself with a diverse, talented group of men, whose efforts into the reformation and continuation of the Roman state would be demarked in history as the "Second Komnenian Golden Age", which would last after Constantine's early death.
Constantine would get the news in early 1610 than he had developed an illness that would soon see him to heaven, and so the Emperor would summon the Imperial military in what he called "his great last show". In less than four years, the dying Autocrat of the Romans, King of the Hungarians and Croats, Sovereign of the Dacians and Georgians, Master of Syria and Bulgaria, Prince of Sicily and Cyprus, would invade and bulldoze through the armies of the Egyptian Sultanate, seeing, for the first time since the Muslim conquests, Egypt re-integrated into Rome. The Emperor, however, would follow his final victory with his own final defeat, dying of what modern historians and scientists attribute to a rare kind of cancer, leaving behind his daughter, Irene, as successor.
Portrait of Empress Irene, c. 1625
[15] Born in 1601 to Emperor Constantine XII and Louisa of France as the oldest of their 5 daughters, Irene would prove one of Rhomania’s most divisive empresses. Raised under the care of her grandmother since shortly after her birth, Irene grew into a woman with a keen eye for who to form alliances with and who to carefully antagonize. When her father died in 1614, the 13-year-old Irene was quickly crowned Empress and Autocratissa of the Romans.
In 1617, the Empress would enter into a proxy marriage with Lorenzo de’ Medici, a son of the Grand Duke of Tuscany by his second wife, Anna Claudia of Poland-Lithuania. The marriage proper would occur in 1621, after Lorenzo came of age. Irene and Lorenzo had a far healthier marriage than that of her parents, and, although Irene struggled with fertility, they would have four children.
Irene had a touch of her father’s mental health issues, often having hallucinations that she thought were angelic visions. These visions drove her to declare war against the powers of Arabia, and reclaim the eastern boundaries of the Mediterranean sea. The wars of Imperial Reconquest, as they would widely be known, were Pyrrhic victories, but by 1650, the eastern borders of the empire resembled those of the glory days of Rome, at the cost of a large percent of the serving populace.
Irene’s greatest contribution to the “Second Komnenian Golden Age” would be in bringing the ideologies and artists of Western Europe to Constantinople and sponsoring colonial endeavors, establishing New Athens in the Asiménio Potámi region. (OTL Río de Plata)
In 1675, Irene found out that she had a terminal illness. She spent her last three years withdrawn from court life and spending time with her family. Finally, in 1678, Empress Irene died from ovarian cancer, and was succeeded by her granddaughter, Zoe.
[16] Born as the older of two daughters to Prince Romanos in 1648, Princess Zoe would become heir to the throne in 1677 after Prince Romanos died at the age of 52 from a sudden hunting accident with many historians arguing that Irene's death was hastened by the depression caused by her son's death, being crowned Empress the next year after her mother's death.
Zoe II's reign would be marked by the consolidation of the realm that her grandmother and great-grandfather had built and the continuation of the golden age that they had forged for the Empire. As such, she would spend much of her reign in the Levantine and Egyptian portion of the Empire and would generally show a relatively open-minded and tolerant approach towards her Muslim subjects. However, her reign would see the loss of Mesopotamia after her grandmother's attempts at conquering it proved too much for the Empire's logistics train as the Safavids conquered it in the Battle of Baghdad of 1683.
In terms of culture, Zoe would prove to be a prominent patron of the culture and the arts, even being something of an artist herself during her reign. In her reign, she would also try to promote Rhomanian colonialism with an expansion of the colonies in the New World with the Southern Cone becoming known as the Hesperides during her reign as well.
In her personal life, Zoe would marry Alexander, third son of the Tsar of Russia, with whom she would have five children. Zoe would die from a stroke at the age of 65, being succeeded by her youngest child, Alexios the VIII.
[17] Alexios, Sebastrokator of Rome, would be born in 1692, the youngest child and only son of Empress Zoe Osmanos-Komnenos and Alexander Fyodorovich Godunov, Grande Duke of Russia. His birth was thoroughly celebrated in Constantinople as the nobility of the Empire, tired of the constant dynastic changes after the rise of the well-beloved Osmanoi and their matrilineal descendants in the second Komnenoi, had been thinking of pushing for a change of law that would forbid Alexios' elder sisters, Anna, Irene, Maria and Theodora from inheriting the throne due to their often rambuctious and infamous marriages - as Empress' Zoe's policy of marriages had been extremely unpopular, something that would deeply affect Alexios' reign.
Princess Anna, the eldest, had married Fernando, Duke of Badajoz, second son and regent of the Kingdom of Portugal-Leon in the Iberian Peninsula, with the intent of solidifying Constantinople's presence in Hesperida, as the general colony was now called after the expansion away in the Asiménio Pótami. Anna's marriage would secure the region, despite the loss of claims to the now Portuguese colony of Cisplatina (OTL Uruguay) and the loss of Parmenia to Portuguese Brasil as well (OTL North-Eastern Paraguay). The colony, would, however, continue to be problematic, as by this point Hesperida was dominated by Sicilian Catholic ranchers, whom had emigrated from Byzantine Sicily, one of the most problematic regions of the Empire due to the stern refusal of the locals to accept the Orthodox status quo the Constantinopolitan Church had attained in the region. Zoe, and then Alexios would attempt to calm the island, but the mark of oppression had been left there, which would eventually see Sicily sold to the Kingdom of Naples alongside a marriage between King Leopoldo de Berry, the widely popular first king of the Napolitan House of Evreux-Berry and Princess Irene. Princess Theodora would marry all the way into the Kingdom of Sweden-Norway, marrying Prince Sigismund Vasa, while princess Maria would marry into the longtime antagonists of the Romans in Hungary, the Austrian Habsburgs.
As a Prince, Alexios would be famous for his many travels and the solitary life he lived with his wife, the daughter of the King of Dacia, a vassal and ally of the Roman Emperor, Vlad Draculesti, descendant of Michael the Brave which had united all three principalities under Greek rule. A shy woman, Mary of Dacia would prefer the Imperial families' many provincial palaces than the bustle of Constantinople, which would make the couple extremely popular in the provinces proper. They would, during this time until the ascension of Alexios to the throne, have many children, almost all of them born in different regions of the realm.
With the death of Empress Zoe, it was clear that change was in the horizon. Alexios was a quiet and unassuming man, with a simple austere lifestyle. He would, however, embrace the purple fully, taking on a much more abrasive step on the Imperial Throne.
Much of Alexios the VIII's recorded legacy as an Emperor is his effect of Syria, Assyria, Egypt and Cyrenaica. Once the center of the Empire, the Muslim conquests had seen the Romans relegated to Anatolia and the Balkans, which, even after the return of the Empire to these regions, had not shifted, with Anatolia and Europe becoming ever more important for the Romans. The dominance of Muslims in the Levantine and African promises, at a demographic level, and the refusal of previous Emperors to antagonize them, had led to the famous epoch of Byzantine tolerance, which would diminish effectively under Alexios. The Levant and Egypt of previous Emperors and that of Alexios were different, completely. While the native Christian populations of the area had been diminished for ages, they had bounced back under Byzantine rule, and were now starting to demand more attention from Constantinople, attention, Alexios, a devout Christian, was willing to give them:
- The Copts in Egypt, who now represent almost a third of Egypt's population, and the Orthodox community there, who represented 15% of Egypt's population, both descended from arab-coptic converts and descendants of mainly settled Greek, Turkish and Albanian soldiers, had allied each other, under the leadership of the Patriarch of Alexandria, Ioannes, a arab greek convert.
- In Cyrenaica, always a hotspot of Greek fishermen, the coast had been settled by Aegean, Cypriot and Ionian Hellenes, eager to get into the dye and olive trade, and despite the half-hazardous censuses of the time, it seems Christians were already a majority there by this time.
- In Syria and Assyria (OTL Jazira, aka, eastern Syria and North-western Iraq), muslims remained a majority, but a slim one, as the many native christian sects had expanded under Roman Guidance, with the Maronites receiving many funds in western Syria and expanding, while the Assyrians, under their patriarch, in essence governed Upper Mesopotamia. Many settled veterans, especially Bulgars, Pontics and Cappadocians (Both turks and greeks) were also in the region. Armenians were also prevalent in the region.
This complete demographic change, with a strong christian block in the Balkans, Anatolia, Georgia and Armenia (Both greater and lesser), saw a need of change in the way the Empire handled it's muslims. Muslims had been exempt from many taxes as a way to keep them happy, but had been blocked from offices of power and the military. During Alexios reign, muslims would allowed to go into politics and the military, but would have to pay hefty taxes, which would be used to replenish Roman coffers.
But there was one essential component to Alexios' desire as an Emperor - to break away from geographic limitations, and to dominate the Mediterranean sea and the Indian Ocean. It to do so that he fought a series of wars against Persia, defeating them in both, which would see Mesopotamia and Shirvan added to the Empire in the first, and the Persians themselves pushed all the way to the Zagros mountains, which would be the new Perso-Roman frontier. The access to the Indian Ocean through the Persian gulf was also guaranteed, and Basra and the newly founded "Nicatomani" (The Port of the Victor, in Alexios' honour), the first Roman deep water port in Mesopotamia.
However, there was one project that fascinated Alexios - just like his ancestor Alexander the II had rebuilt many treasures of antiquity and built many himself, Alexios had one single great ambition - to connect the mediterranean to the Red sea. During his reign, thousands of workers and slaves would begin a huge project that Alexios had envisioned, a single canal that directly connected the two seas. Alexios himself, however, would never see the result of it.
Alexios would further secure the allegiance of the Hejazi Hashimids, securing a new wave of income for Constantinople as the first Custodian of the two Holy cities of Islam. He would die in early 1740, after a fall that would cripple his legs and spine.
Emperor and Autocrat John VI, who would be remembered as The Ill-Fated
[18] Prince John was born in 1718, the first, but third child of Emperor Alexios VIII and Princess Mary of Dacia. As he grew, there was great expectation for him to live up to his father and his image. However, it seemed that the anxious John always failed no matter how much he tried. Failing many attempts to reform the navy or provincial administration even with the aid of his dying father, which frustrated the aging Emperor.
When his father died it was popularly rumoured that he had attempted to exclude John, singularly him, from the line of succession. Although, in the end, John VI did not reign for long as he was assassinated by an Protestant extremists.
Leaving almost no legacy the short-reigning Emperor was succeeded by his brother Alexander.
[19] Alexander was born in 1720, the second son and fourth child of Alexios VIII and Mary of Dacia. He was seen as an more appropriate successor to his father than his older brother John, as he was an expert in both the millitary and goverment administration. Some even thought he would become Alexios' heir in the event of him removing his brother's place in the line of succession.
Alexander became Roman Emperor after his brother's death by an Protestant extremist, and forced Protestants to pay hefty taxes that are similar to the ones that Muslins pay. His reign had not much happen expect in 1742 when his brother Peter became King of Bohemia following the death of the childless Wenceslaus VI, starting the Catholic branch of the House of Osmanos-Komnenos.
In his personal life, Alexander married Princess Elene of Georgia in 1741, but had only two children with her before dying of food poisoning in 1746. He was succeeded by his only son, Alexios.
[20] Alexios, was been in 1744, the second child but only son born to Alexander and Princess Elene of Georgia, at birth he was a sickly boy and many suspected his health would only deteriorate.
Just before his second birthday, his father died of food poisoning, striking fear among the royal family fearing that Alexander had been deliberately poisoned.
Elene quickly claimed the title of Empress Regent and locked down the Imperial Palace in Constantinople, only allowing unarmed allies to enter, Alexios and his older sister, Mary had a lonely childhood, with only themselves for company as Elene, didn’t trust any other child to infiltrate the palace.
Regarding his health, fearing that a single physician could assassinate her son, Elene, arranged for a wide range of doctors to care for him, this included three Chinese doctors, who brought with them ideas such as vaccinations and herbal medicine that were common in their homeland. While the head doctor, was Georgian physician, Giorgi Ioseb Jughashvili. Under these wise medical council, Alexios’s health greatly improved. This council would grow overtime would set up the Hippocratic Hospital in a former palace donated to the council in honour of their hard work.
Upon his 10th birthday, Alexios was able to attend council meetings, watching how his mother was able to use ministers against each other, acting as the levelheaded compromiser.
This would continue until 1760, when Alexios declared his majority on his 16th birthday, with his mother acting as royal advisor up until her death.
In 1761, his sister, Mary married their cousin, Peter II, King of Bohemia, in a magnificent ceremony, that was attended by many members of foreign royal families. It was during this wedding that Alexios would look for his future bride.
This came in the form of a distant cousin, Princess Katherine of Portugal-Leon, a beautiful and intelligent woman. The match was also chosen as it didn’t bring any disputes between neighbouring nations.
Their wedding took place a few years later in 1766 and was a happy marriage, resulting in twelve healthy births, due to the help of physicians and midwives, trained at the Hippocratic Hospital.
When it came to the military, Alexios took the same style as his mother’s regency council, rather than favouriting a few individual generals, Alexios chose to have a large staff of military minded men from all over the empire discuss their foreign policies, defence strategy as well as their army and naval reforms.
Major military events during Alexios’s reign include:
- 1770, support his cousin/brother-in-law, Peter II against aggression from Austrian Habsburg
- Putting down a rebellion led by Mehmet Nasser, who tried occupying the Alexios Canal (named after Alexios VIII)
- Naval assaults on pirates, who were active around the Red Sea and Arabian Sea.
His use of military staff and their reforms, the Imperial Navy and Army, became a force to fear, allowing the empire to stretch comfortably over the three continents.
In 1804, war would irrupt following a revolution in the Holy Roman Empire, saw a Prussian born individual, who came to prominence following strong victories against the Imperial forces, Johann von Yorck declare himself, High Chancellor of Germany, uniting the Germanic cultures, before dominating northern and central European affairs for nearly two decade while leading his German Republic against a series of coalitions in the Twenty Years Wars, winning most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, presiding over a large nation before its final collapse in 1825.
Alexios would find, having to join coalitions with former enemies like Austrian Habsburg to keep the Germanic Republic from pushing toward the Balkan region.
His wife, Empress Katherine, had died in 1810 and Alexios spent the remaining life, widowed, never remarrying, instead taking solace from spending time with his children, grandchildren as well as great grandchildren, claiming their youthfulness made him feel young.
During the last two years of his reign, his great health had started to show signs of breaking and on his 88th birthday, he declared that his successor, his eldest grandson Demetrios, would serve as co-emperor along side him, allowing Alexios, time to rest without fully abdicating, stating that his longevity was due to God’s support.
The death of Alexios in 1834, came two months before his 90th birthday, both his solo reign of 73 years, and full reign of 88 years, have been record breaking reigns.
His co-emperor, Demetrios, now took over full control.
[21] Born in 1803 to Sebastrokator Andronicus, eldest child and son of Alexios the IX enormous brood, Demetrios was raised in the environment of the Johannic age - where Germany united and fought off the whole of Europe for almost some straight twenty years. His mother was Princess Alexandra Godunova, daughter of the Russian Tsar Constantine I Godunov, and she would be the one responsible for his household as future Emperor due to the death of his father Andronicus during the war against Germany and it's allies.
From a young age, Demetrios was imbued with a sense of destiny, and it would be this sense of foreboding that would shape his hard, strong character in the future. In 1823, Demetrios would be marry Princess Viktoria Helene of Prussia, strenghtening Rhome's influence in the volatile Germany. Viktoria Helene would bring be as hard and stubborn as her husband, and they would have a rambuctious relationship, constantly snarking at each other, but they would develop a strange kind of love-hate relationship, and would not share any other lovers than themselves. Indeed, Demetrios and Viktoria's romance would be the hallmark of the third season of the modern show "Osmanoi-Komnenoi: The Keepers of an Empire", as their very over-lusting for each other made for much of the comedic tone of the season - Indeed, speaking historically, while the couple weren't as sexually prolific as depicted in the show, they were very atracted physically to each other and there are at least three confirmed writings of the Princely-and then Imperial couple, being caught copulating in "public".
Sebastokrator Demetrios posing for a paiting in 1833, after the birth of his eight child.
One cannot judge Demetrios and Viktoria's mismanagement of their sexual relationship, their lust and their breaking of contemporary social norms as a complete characterization of their character. As stated before, Demetrios (outside of the bedroom) was a hard character, strong of build and very martial, and was a talented orator who managed to entice a whole room with just his words.
His true character came ahead in 1832 and 1834 respectivelly, the years when he was made co-Emperor and then Emperor proper. A much more established and motivated monarch than his grandfather in his later years, and was very much the description of the word "Autocrat". The Imperial Senate, a hollow institution for much of it's history, had made a comeback as a ground for the Imperial administration to seek advice from, but the Liberal influences post-Twenty Years wars saw an upsurge in Liberal activity that pertubed Demetrios.
This did not mean Demetrios was not open to liberal ideas - he, who had the burden of an Empire that stretched from the Danube to Nubia (OTL Sudan) and the Zagros mountains and Cyrenaica, with Pótamia (OTL Argentina and Chile) was a beacon of Roman rule in the south of the American continent. Demetrios realised that a single mind could not rule such a huge swath of land, and thus welcome the advice of the Senate, but the many Liberals that occupied the Senatorial grounds took this and thought that they would be able to strong-arm Demetrios into handing more power away to the Senate. The famous "Act of 1840", the date when the Senate attempted to pass Rome's first constitution without the Emperor's knowledge or without the power to do so. It would a huge mistake as the Emperor Demetrios took offence and angered, ordered the purging of the senate and it's dissolution, forming his reign around a cadre of industrialists, military and civilian leaders.
On an economic level, however, Demetrios is famous for his obcession with innovation and he would be the supporter and officiator of many canals, rail-roads and factories, and a trend of massive population growth would start as Demetrios' reign sent Rome down the path of Industrialization at full speed.
The influence of Liberalism stayed alive, however, in the unknown underground of Roman society, and liberal radicals would plan an ambush of the Emperor and his wife Viktoria in their yearly summer retire to their "cottage" in Cilicia. The year of 1852 would thus bring horrible news to the Empire - as the assassins would manage to plant a bomb which would end up killing the somehow once more pregnant Empress Viktoria (One needs to remember that by this point, Viktoria, born in 1807, was at this point 45 years old, and nearly obese due to the more than 16 children she had during her marriage.) Demetrios would survive unscathed, but would enter into a deep depression that would see the Emperor age quickly. It would be a simple chill that the Emperor caught in 1856 that would see Demetrios the II die, leaving the throne to his son Andronicus.
[22] Andronicus, born in 1823, was the third child and first son of Demetrios II and Viktoria Helene of Prussia. He grew up with an interest in the military, which he would join in 1841, and fought in the War of the Saxon Succession, which ended with his granduncle Frederick III of Bohemia becoming King of Saxony. During it he met his future wife, Princess Maria Caroline of Saxony (b. 1822), sister of Maria Augusta, the future wife of Prince August, Frederick III’s heir. They married in 1845 and had eight children together.
Upon his father’s death in 1856, Andronicus became Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans and stopped the Liberals in the Senate from passing their proposed laws. This only increased the cause of the liberal radicals and their plan to oust the House of Osmanos-Komnenos.
The end of the Rhoman Empire would begin in 1861 when Andronicus sent an army to crush an rebellion in Syria and Assyria. The brutality the army used to crush the rebellion lead to wide scale uprisings across the empire in support of an constitutional monarchy, which Andronicus would also crush.
This started the Rhoman Revolution, which saw not only the collapse of Rhomania, but also the end of it’s royal house, which was replaced with the House of _______ in 1863. While many members of the Osmanos-Komnenos royal family either went to Pótamia, now an independent monarchy ruled by Andronicus’ uncle John (who was also the last governor of the former colony), or Egypt, lead by Pharaoh Constantine (another uncle of Andronicus), the now former Emperor and his family would go to Bohemia-Saxony to stay with his sister in-law’s family.
Andronicus the III was replaced with_______, and died in 1895 at the age of 72, his wife outlived him by six years, dying in 1901.
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Sorry to bother you mate, but you just ended the timeline, right?POD: Alexios Philanthropenos successfully overthrows Andronicus II
Emperors and Autocrats of the Romans
1282-1295: Andronicus II (House of Palaeologus)
1295-1341: Alexios VI (House of Tarchaneiotes) [1]
1341-1345: Alexios VII (House of Tarchaneiotes) [2]
1345-1374: Basil III (House of Laskaris) [3]
1374-1392: Oshin I (House of Lambron) [4]
1392-1402: Constantine XI (House of Lambron) [5]
1402-1432: Justinian III (House of Lambron) [6]
1432-1457: Maria I and Peter I (House of Lambron/House of Venatrovsky) [7]
1457-1481: Alexander II "The Conqueror" (House of Osmanos) [8]
1481-1482: Demetrios I (House of Osmanos) [9]
1482-1509: John V (House of Osmanos) [10]
1509-1521: Alexander III (House of Osmanos) [11]
1521-1573: Anastasia I (House of Osmanos) [12]
1573-1595: Nicephorus IV (House of Komnenoi) [13]
1595-1614: Constantine XII "The Pharaoh" (House of Komnenoi) [14]
1614-1678: Irene II (House of Komnenoi) [15]
1678-1713: Zoe II (Dynastic: House of Osmanos-Komnenoi/Agnatic: House of Medici) [16]
1713-1740: Alexios VIII (House of Osmanos-Komnenos) [17]
1740-1740: John VI ''The Ill-Fated'' (House of Osmanos-Komnenos) [18]
1740-1746: Alexander IV (House of Osmanos-Komnenos) [19]
1746-1760: Regency of Alexios IX (House of Osmanos-Komnenos)
1760-1834: Alexios IX (House of Osmanos-Komnenos) [20]
1834-1856: Demetrios II (House of Osmanos-Komnenos)[21]
1856-1863: Andronicus III House of Osmanos-Komnenos)[22]
[1] Alexios VI's reign would mark a "Second Alexiad" as he, after overthrowing the weak and incompetent leadership of Emperor Andronicus II, would spend his 46-year long reign as Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans trying his best to ensure that Rhomania, weakened by the Fourth Crusade, would regain a position as a major power in a long reign where the Emperor was largely on horseback, campaigning against Latin, Slav, rebel, or Turk. Amongst his greatest achievements as Emperor would be the conquest of the Despotate of Epirus and his crushing of the nascent Osmanli beylik, even if Rhomania by his death, while having recovered from the disaster of the Fourth Crusade, was a mere regional power.
Alexios VI would die in 1341 from ill health and would be succeeded by his son Alexios.
A 16th-century depiction of Emperor and Autocrat Alexios VII
[2] Born in 1300, Alexios was the first born son of Emperor Alexios VI’s second marriage. He was possibly made co-emperor in 1328, reigning alongside his father before being demoted once more, most probably to a defeat in battle against the Epirotes.
When his father died, Alexios succeeded him, though he had to put down a rebellion that was instigated by one of his younger brothers.
In early 1345, Alexios VII launched a campaign against the independent southern Greek states, however, due to his incompetence his army would soon be routed by a combined Greek army. A few days later succumbed to his injuries and was succeeded by his nephew-in-law, Basil Laskaris.
[3] Born in 1321, Basil Laskaris would be one of the last scions of the ancient Nicene house of the Laskarids, which had once ruled the Nicene Empire in Anatolia. Despite their fall to the Palaeologus, the recent rising of the Tarchaneiotes would see the Laskarids rise quickly in opportunity. The Laskarids had been famous for their deeds in Anatolia, beating back the turk often, and it was in this area that the Laskarids would expand and create a new base of power for themselves. The conquest of many Turkic beylics would see the Laskarids adquire many new lands in Bukellarion and Phlagonia. It would be through this that Ioannes Laskaris, strategos of Anatolikon, would see his son Basil married to the niece of Emperor Alexios VII.
Basil and his wife, Irene, would have a fruitful companionship, marked by Irene's intelligence and Basil's respect for her. Despite being more of a friendly "relationship", Basil and Irene would have 7 recorded children. It would be through Irene's claim that Basil would rise to the throne, and this would show during his reign, with Irene being far more than a mere consort during the rule of her husband.
Basil would prove himself up to the task of generalship and emperor-ship. Appealing to Dynastic continuation, Basil would take up the wars of his predecessor and would advance deeply into Southern Greece, restoring it back to the Empire, but an intervention by Venice would see an almost decade of on and off warfare between both states, which the Rhomans would eventually win, restoring their rule to all Greek islands, including Crete, although Cyprus remained in Crusader hands. His warfare-orientated reign would see the rise of a new class of Rhoman soldiery, based on conscription and professional service, mainly rewarded through promises of land in the depopulated Anatolia. Basil would also be the first Emperor to force the Turkish populations of the Empire to pay a blood tax - by giving at least one of their male children in service to the Empire.
Basil's never ending martial energy would see much of Anatolia recovered - with the Empire for the first time in generations reaching the Taurus mountains, with the Rhomans once more asserting dominance over the black sea. Many missionaries were sent into Circassia to Transcausia, and to Tartaria in the Golden horde by him. Basil would transplant many Greeks, Bulgarian and Latin mercenaries, as well as converted fleeing tribes from the North and the Steppes into Anatolia, giving the land a new appeal to the Rhoman state.
Despite his many victories against the westerners and the muslims, Basil would fail in his grandest campaign - the reconquest of Trebizond. The smashing of his army on the Pontic Mountains would see the aged Emperor enter a depression that would eventually take him to his grave. He would be succeeded by his son-in-law, Oshin
.
[4] Oshin, a Prince of Armenia, was son-in-law to Emperor Basil III by his eldest daughter, Rita. Having deemed all of his legitimate sons as lunatics and simpletons, systematically managing them off stage, Basil set Oshin up as defacto heir jure uxoris.
Born in 1341, married in 1369 and had already given Basil three grandchildren by the time he died in 1374. Despite some opposition to his rule from his brothers-in-law and nephews, collectively known as the Basilian Pretenders, Oshin had effectively secured his reign by 1380 which left the remaining decade of his rule for him to focus on civic improvements including reinforcing the defenses of Thessalonica and effectively moving the imperial seat from Constantinople to Thessalonica.
In 1390, Oshin would inherit the Kingdom of Armenian Cilicia from his elder brother and this claim, which could be inherited by a woman, would pass to his children even if they did not become Byzantine Emperor.
Empress Rita outlived her husband, to see him succeeded by their son, Constantine
[5] Constantine XI was born in 1370 as the oldest of Oshin's sons and would become Emperor in 1393 as a result of his father Oshin's death.
As Emperor, Constantine XI's reign, while short, would be one marked by the effective governance of the Empire, especially after returning the capital of the Empire to Constantinople during the first few years of his reign. His reign would also be marked by effective and competent administration, especially with the defeat of the Bulgarians and Serbs in the Haemus and continuation of the consolidation of the Rhoman presence in Anatolia.
While many have speculated about what would have happened had he had more time to be Emperor, it was not to be as he would be killed in Timur's invasion of Anatolia, leaving behind his brother, Justinian, as the new Emperor.
[6] Justinian was the youngest child of Oshin and third son, born in 1384. When his older brothers, Emperor Constantine and Dux Augustine, (b. 1372,) were both killed in the Battle of Aydin in 1402, Justinian took the throne with the support of his mother, the Dowager Empress, Rita. He was not quite 18 years old.
His two older sisters, however, did not support him. Theodora, born in 1369, was the oldest child of Oshrin, and had been married to Empress Rita's nephew, _________________, the Dux of Epirus, in 1380, at that time the senior claimant of the Basilian Pretenders. This had confirmed their support for Oshrin's reign. But with the defeat of Constantine to Timur and the loss of Anatolia and Armenia to the Empire, Theodora and the Dux now proclaimed he was the rightful Emperor. Alexandria, born in 1379, was married to the Bulgarian Emperor, Ivan Umor. They threw their support to Epirus in exchange for a return of the Haemus to the Bulgarians.
The war with Timur was still occurring as the Amir was now battling for the northwest provinces of Asia Minor and the Black Sea coast and was besieging Nicaea. With a two-front war occurring with the Turco-Mongols to the east and south and the Epirus/Bulgaria alliance to the west and north, The Empire was not able to secure Crete, the Peloponnese, and up through the former Duchy of Athens and Venice swept in and swiftly conquered it.
Justinian saw his only hope for the Empire was to sue for peace with Timur. Surprisingly, the Amir was generous in his terms, as he wished to finish in the west and turn east to face China. He agreed to allow Christian pilgrims to visit the Holy Land, now part of the Timurid Empire, to cede the territory in northwest Asia Minor he was occupying in return for the Empire giving up its claims to the former Turkish Beyliks except the ones that bordered the Aegean or the Black Sea, yielding the interior of Anatolia again to Timur's Turkish vassals. (Timur championed the Ghuzz Turks of Mentese who now reformed the Sultanate of Rum in the interior of Anatolia and the southern Mediterranean coast.)
This allowed Justinian to invade the Haemus in 1403. Ivan Umor did not meet Justinian in battle but instead sent Alexandria to negotiate a peace. The Bulgarians sued for peace if they submitted to Constantinople, recognized Justinian as their Emperor, gave up the title Emperor for themselves but took the title of King of the Bulgarians. In return, Justinian recognized the Haemus Mountains as part of the Bulgarian Kingdom but as a vassal of Constantinople.
Now Justinian could turn his full attention to Epirus. Unlike Alexandria, Theodora did not encourage her husband to make peace. A bloody war followed from 1404 through 1408. A peace never was formed with a treaty, like with Timur or Bulgaria, but a ceasefire and truce ended hostilities in the late summer of 1408. All the territory that Epirus had taken from the Empire was restored, but a rump Epirus remained and was now de facto independent, although both sides claimed Epirus was part of the Roman Empire, they just disagreed which government was the legitimate government of the entire Empire.
All through this war, negotiations had occurred with Venice. They were formalized in the Treaty of Athens in 1410. The Greek Isles, except for Crete, were now under the direct control of Constantinople. The Duchy of Athens was restored to independence but formally a vassal of Constantinople, as was the new formed Duchy of the Peloponnese, but Venice was given full rights to trade and establish bases. In reality, the Duchies were under the control of Venice but officially were vassals of Rome. Crete itself was part of the Venetian Empire.
Finally, Justinian had peace on all borders and the Empire was secure, although much smaller than previously.
This was when the Dowager Empress died.
Justinian now knew he needed to marry. He was now 25 and expected many more years to reign. His bride was Anna Vasilievna of Moscow, daughter of Vasily I, the Grand Prince of Moscow. She was now 17 and Muscovy had been one of the only neighboring states to actually declare for Justinian when he took the throne. But now that all surrounding states did, it was to his first ally he turned for a marriage. (Even though that support had been nothing more than declaring a position.)
The Emperor and Empress started a family immediately and had a number of children.
Although it was humiliating that the Greek vassal states were only nominally vassals, the reality of peace with Venice and the presence of Venetian trade in them led to increase prosperity for the Empire. Also peace with the new Sultanate of Rum and the Timurid Empire, meant the Silk Road was re-opened and trade from there added to the Empire's prosperity.
However, the peace and prosperity of Justinian's reign was doomed to fail in 1432 on the death of the heir and grandson of Timur, Muhammad Sultan Mizra, who'd held all of Timur's empire together from Timur's death in 1405. The western portions of the Timurid Empire fell into chaos, the Silk Road closed again, the Ghuzz attacked the Empire's province of Trezibond, and a new threat demolished the Empire- the Black Plague.
Justinian died of the Plague in 1432 just as the Ghuzz attacked the Empire.
Empress and Autocratess Maria I and Emperor and Autocrat Peter I
[7] Born a sickly child in 1412, Maria was the first daughter and child of Emperor Justinian III and Princess Anna Vasilievna of Moscow. For most of Maria’s early life, she was confined indoors due to an unknown affliction that rendered her physically weak and nearly bald. Maria would often be the target of frequent insults by courtiers, which greatly affected the young girl. In 1428, she met Peter Venatrovsky, the son of one of the royal guards of Grand Prince Vasily I, who had previously visited Constantinople. They both fell in love, and Maria’s health rapidly improved, even though this is most probably a coincidence, and she remained near-bald for the rest of her life. At the age of 20, she and Peter finally married.
By the time of Justinian III’s death, Maria and her younger brother, John, were their father’s only surviving children. Briefly, it seemed that there was a possibility of a civil war between Maria and John. However, John, recognizing that he would hold many disadvantages if he waged war, struck a deal with Maria and Peter. John would relinquish his claim to the Roman throne, but, in exchange, he would become the King of Macedonia (roughly OTL Western Macedonia region in Greece and some parts of Central Macedonia).
The newly crowned imperial couple had to deal with the depopulation of the city of Constantinople and other surrounding areas caused by the Black Death. However, many lives were saved by the royal policy which was put in place which forced many inhabitants of cities to relocate to sparsely populated areas of the empire. A few years later, the Roman Empress and Emperor helped command a combined Roman-Macedonian-Timurid force which resulted in the Ghuzz being pushed out of the Roman Empire and the majority of the Timurid Empire’s eastern territories.
The remainder of their joint reign was relatively peaceful and prosperous, as Maria and Peter had implemented many policies that facilitated easier trade with the Venetians and other Italian maritime powers. During this time, Peter also introduced much Muscovite culture to the empire, especially in the imperial capital.
In 1457, Maria and Peter both died in their sleep together on the same day. They were succeeded by their nephew-in-law, Ioannes of the House of Osmanos.
[8] Alexandros of the Osmanoi would be the first-born son of Ioannes Dragases Osmanos, a famous governor of the Peleponese, born in early 1432. His family was of Turkish origin, as his family was itself descendant the defeated Ottoman Beylic two centuries before. His ancestors had entered Byzantine service and had rise steadily through the ranks, becoming great land-owners during the Anatolian reconquista. Alexandros himself had led his first contingent of troops by 1451 by the age of 19, defeating a raiding party of the Karamanid Sultanate of Syria in the battle of Adana, and led a contigent of Christian troops - a mixture of Greeks, Cilicians, Armenians and Turks all the way down to Antioch, city which he would swear to reconquer as a general one day. He would reconquer, not as a general, but as an Emperor.
Alexandros would rise to steady fame after this, joining the upper echelons of the Imperial military which would lead him to meet and marry Eudokia of Macedonia, only child of John of Macedon. It was Alexandro's first real thrust into the upper hierarchy of Imperial politics, and it would one in which he would not fail. The death of his father-in-law would have by all rights seen him rise to the occasion as King of Macedon, but Alexandros, a firm Imperialist, would refuse to take a title and land that "would disturb the law and power of the Empire". For many, it was seen as a moment of stupidity, as Macedonia held both Thessalonika and an immense spread of territory. But it was Alexandros' introduction to the Imperial family, who would grow to respect him. Maria and Peter never had children, and they would eventually decide to co-adopt Alexandros into their family and make him their successor, alongside their niece. Their deaths in 1457 would see Alexandros, perhaps the most important ruler of 15 century Byzantium, arise to the ocasion. Alexandros, who would come to be known in the future as the Conqueror, had just arisen to the purple.
Alexandros was a firm unificacionists, the party of the Byzantine Empire which believed that the many "statelets" Byzantine noblemen had successfully carved for themselves within the Imperial frontiers be ended, and it had been this with this party of talented, loyal and young "new blood" that Alexandros had allied himself with, and truly, they would become one of the pillars of his reign.
Alexandros was, however, not the only one who was paying attention. In Epirus, the old age Laskarid Despots of the region had laid in wait, content with slowly expanding their rule over Thessaly, Attica and Southern Albania and Macedonia, but they were not foolish. Manuel Laskaris, the old and wise Despot of Epirus, knew that Alexandros would end up coming for him, and declared himself Emperor with support of many European and Anatolian magnates. It would lead to a two-year civil war, in which Alexandros' military talent would come to the fore. Alexandros would first see action in Anatolia, soundly defeating the Rhoman magnates in Pontus and in the Lycian themes of Kybyrrhaotai and Opsikion, while his brother Michael held off the Epirotes in Macedonia. Michael had plenty of military talent of his own, and would hold off the numerically superior Epirotes for months before the arrival of his brother over the Hellespont. At this point, Manuel and Simeon of Bulgaria entered into an alliance, but it would be too late for Epirus. Alexandros would lead his professional army of over 50000 men into Macedonia, defeating Manuel at every turn, quickly subduing his territories. Venice's attempt to harbor Manuel in their Aegean cities would see the Emperor conquer them - but this would start the Roman-Veneto-Bulgarian war, which would last for one more year.
Michael ambushed the Bulgarian army in the Rhodopes, however, and this would see the Byzantines imprison over 20000 Bulgarian soldiers. It was a military victory the likes of Basil the III and that of Caesar, and it would see the fall of Bulgaria once more to the Rhoman Empire. The Venetian counter-invasion of Epirus would also end in disaster - Alexandros handing them a handy victory in the battle of Naufpakos, which would see Venice lose it's holdings in the Roman Empire - including Crete.
The annexation of Bulgaria and the re-incorporation of the Venetian concessions would see a surge of popularity for Alexandros, making him one of the most popular and powerful Autocrats since Alexios the I, and it would give Alexandros the space to introduce his greatest ambitions - reform at all levels, which would be seen blessed by God as he and the Basilissa, Eudokia, would have their first child that year.
The Codex Osmanoi - the greatest code of law since the Codex of Justinian almost a millenia prior, would be one of the greatest books of law of the time and is considered by most of historians as the Roman Empire's first constitution, as it sodified very well the role each official would have in their servitude to the Emperor. The Roman laws of Succession - turning the Roman Autocracy into a primogeniture, male preference-based succession, with usurpation - made "illegal" and co-emperorship as well. It would also reform much of Byzantine bureaucracy, making it clear and consise for the first time in forever. It would also make Sebastos the title of the Crown Prince of the Empire.
His military reforms, however, are also famous. The birth of the Byzantine armies (Imagine a less corrupt, more gun-based and less raiding prone Ottoman army) of the 15th century, known as the Scholarii, as each Rhoman soldier was given a firm education in any art of his choosing and in Greek. It was to be the birth of one of the most professional forces of the age.
On other fronts, though, Alexandros after his reforms would quickly move to end the subdued Turkic beylics, as they had become rather powerless since many Turks and turcomans had converted to Christianity and integrated into the Imperial system, becoming one of the greatest sources of soldiers for the Empire. The swift integration of Bulgaria into the Empire would also be of great use to Rome - as the Bulgarians would quickly come to enjoy the rule of Rome - as the Tsardom of Bulgaria had been decentralized and in constant internal warfare between nobles - and it quickly became a source of both soldiers and officials for Constantinople.
The next few years of Alexandros' reign would be peaceful - with much coin flowing into the Imperial treasury due to his reforms after the increased spending of the civil war, but it was a time for personal growth for Alexandros - in the peace established after 1462, he and his wife would become the parents to seven more children, all the way into 1472, the year the Empire would go to war once more. One must denote, however, Alexandros and his wife roles as patrons of the arts - to them is often attributed the start of the Renaissance, as, during their reign, Constantinople (Which had extensively recovered and expanded since the fourth crusade) would become a center of art and culture, reuniting several Latin, Slavic, Arab, Persian and Roman artists, historians, architects, musicians, inventors and more in the city. But Alexandros' greatest passion would definitely be architecture - the Emperor would be the patron of over one hundred architecture projects, but the most famous would be the restoration of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Parthenon of Athens and the Colossus of Rhodes, his greatest and most beloved project. He would build many new monuments, however, such as the Grand Mausoleum of Eudokia, named after his wife, which would become the resting ground of future Roman Emperors, the Grand Harbour of Thessalonika and Smyrna, the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Antioch and many statues of himself all over the Empire.
The following ten years of constant campaigning by Alexandros, which would earn him the title of the Conqueror, could be better explained, but the majesty and greatness of so many deeds would take much to explain. In less than 10 years, the Empire would expand into all directions, with the Emperor conquering deep into Serbia and Bosnia, winning the loyalty of the Danubian princes of Wallachia and Moldavia, the homage of the King of Hungary, while in the East, King David of Georgia would enter into Alexander's patronage, recognizing him as his sovereign, while the full extent of lower Caucasia and the Armenian lands would be integrated into the Empire. In the south, Basil would storm over the Cilician gates in 1476, while the Turkish Karamanid rulers of Syria were busy invading the remnants of the Mamluk caliphate in Egypt and Hejaz, bringing the whole of Syria under his control. The Emperor would have perhaps conquered further, but a bout of plague would take him, seeing him succeeded by his son Demetrios.
A statue of Demetrios I outside the National Roman Museum of History
[9] Demetrios was the second son but third child overall of Alexander II and Eudokia of Macedonia, born in 1460. A year after his birth, his elder brother, Alexios, died, and Demetrios became the first in line to the Roman throne. Unlike his father and most of the men at the royal court at the time, Demetrios held no interest in the military. However, his uninterest did not cause any problems for his father, but certainly for the army, as Demetrios was entirely hostile to it. In fact, when he became Emperor, he would try to restrict the army's power, but ultimately he did not live long enough to pursue his goal.
After his father died, Demetrios became Emperor of Rome. But, a month after he was crowned, he came ill with the plague. And, just like his father, died from it. Not much would be remembered from his short reign, one of the shortest in Roman history.
He was succeeded by his brother John.
[10] Born in 1465 as the third son and fifth child overall of Alexander II and Eudokia of Macedonia, John wasn't expected to become the next Roman Emperor, but with the death of his brother Demetrios just one year into his reign in 1482, he became Emperor at the age of 17. Unlike his brother, John was like most men of his time and had an interest in the millitary, and led an conquest of Rum in 1493, quickly followed by a war against the Crimean Khanate, which would see the annexation of the southern tip of Crimea.
John treated his now greatly expanded Muslim population fairly, allowing them to practice their religion in public, but some Muslims did leave the Roman Empire to other places, with an popular destination being the Mamluk Caliphate, which was focusing on spreading across the North African coast.
John married Maria of Naples, daughter of King Frederick II of Naples, which would start an alliance between Naples and Rhomania. John and Maria had an loving marriage and had five children together. John didn't died of the plauge like his father and brother, as he lived to the age of 54. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Alexander.
[11] Alexander was the third born child but first born son of John V and Maria of Naples, he was named after his maternal grandfather.
Like his father and grandfather, Alexander had a great interest for the military, however after two bad falls, during his early teenage years; the broken bones of his legs and right arm, never healed properly, and it became clear that it was permanent damage.
His large head and long torso were not helped by the crooked arm and shockingly bowed and stumpy legs. Many said if should have topped six feet, however his legs mean he barely reached over five.
On the day of his coronation, Alexander married Natia of Georgia, daughter of George XIV and his Turkish wife, Nazmiye Yakış. This was one of the rare occasions he was able to rise and walk unaided, although that night he managed only one dance with his wife, due to the pain that not even his usual drinking of wine could numb.
When it came to skirmishes along the borders, he left his bothers, to lead his men into battle, and wield the sword in his name.
His death at a relatively young age, was related to excessive alcohol poisoning and he was succeeded by his daughter Anastasia.
[12]
Empress Anastasia was born in 1511 as the only child of Emperor Alexander III and as such was proclaimed Empress after her father's death at the age of ten. As such, her early years as Empress would be spent under her mother Natia's regency, even with how her reign would prove to be one of the longest in the history of the Roman Empire.
Her reign would actually begin in 1529 as upon her 18th birthday, she would fully assume the position of Empress and Autocratess of the Romans with her reign being marked by a "golden age" of the Empire as Serbia was annexed into the Empire in the 1530s, the Empire became increasingly wealthy during her reign, and a flourishing culture with the 16th Century marked by a golden age of culture.
Anastasia would marry Nicephorus Komnenos, one of the last surviving Komnenoi, in 1532 with the couple having six children. Anastasia would die in 1572 from a heart attack with her son Nicephorus as her successor.
[13] Prince Nicephorus, born in 1535, was the second son of Anastasia I and Nicephorus Komnenos. His older brother, Sebastos Alexander, died in 1567, after he married Anges of Hungary, the only daughter of Andrew VI. Which meant that Nicephorus and Agnes' eldest son would be the heir to both the Roman Empire and Hungary.
After becoming Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans, Nicephorus continued the "golden age" that started during his mother's reign with the continuing expansion of the Roman Empire with an brief war against Aragon that ended with Rhomania annexing the island of Sicily, and the death of Anges of Hungary in 1589 which resulted in the union of Rome and Hungary and the estabishment of the Principality of Transylvania under an relative of the Emperor.
Nicephorus was an patron of the arts and supported the building of various strutures arcoss the empire. And he would die one day after he had a portrait of himself painted in 1595 at the age of 60. He was succeeded by his eldest grandson, Constantine the Greatest.
[14] Sebastos Konstantinos was born in 1584, the first son of Sebastokrator Alexios, eldest son of Nicephorus, and his wife, Mary of Russia. The young lad would soon be remarked as special - Konstantinos was born prematurely, and what he would gain in mental health, he would never be sound of mind again. But, we would not, not be sound of mind either. As everything during his long reign, Konstantinos' mind would be in a brink between fall and rising, but despite all of these hamperings, Constantine would live his life as he ended it - in ecstasy.
Konstantinos would only be seven when his father died, and only eleven when his grandfather did - throwing him onto the Imperial purple in earnest. Constantine would be brought up in the regency of his mother, Mary of Russia, who would draft Constantine's marriage with Louisa of France, daughter of the French King, Jean IV de Evreux, perhaps at that time, the most powerful and prestigious ruler of Medieval western Europe due to his vast Kingdom west of the Rhine. This was done on purpose by the Empress as to solidify the frontier of Hungary, as the Austrian Habsburg had claims on the Hungarian and Croatian thrones, establishing an alliance with the Holy Roman Empire's natural enemy of France. Louisa and Constantine would enjoy their marriage in 1600, when they were both sixteen. It was to be the start of a tense relationship based around lust, madness, love and fury.
Constantine's mental health issues would keep him off-balance on and off his reign - but his exceptionalism, his fascination with the classical age and his many strange, funny habits would endear him vastly to the population of Rhoma. Despite everything, Constantine would surround himself with a diverse, talented group of men, whose efforts into the reformation and continuation of the Roman state would be demarked in history as the "Second Komnenian Golden Age", which would last after Constantine's early death.
Constantine would get the news in early 1610 than he had developed an illness that would soon see him to heaven, and so the Emperor would summon the Imperial military in what he called "his great last show". In less than four years, the dying Autocrat of the Romans, King of the Hungarians and Croats, Sovereign of the Dacians and Georgians, Master of Syria and Bulgaria, Prince of Sicily and Cyprus, would invade and bulldoze through the armies of the Egyptian Sultanate, seeing, for the first time since the Muslim conquests, Egypt re-integrated into Rome. The Emperor, however, would follow his final victory with his own final defeat, dying of what modern historians and scientists attribute to a rare kind of cancer, leaving behind his daughter, Irene, as successor.
Portrait of Empress Irene, c. 1625
[15] Born in 1601 to Emperor Constantine XII and Louisa of France as the oldest of their 5 daughters, Irene would prove one of Rhomania’s most divisive empresses. Raised under the care of her grandmother since shortly after her birth, Irene grew into a woman with a keen eye for who to form alliances with and who to carefully antagonize. When her father died in 1614, the 13-year-old Irene was quickly crowned Empress and Autocratissa of the Romans.
In 1617, the Empress would enter into a proxy marriage with Lorenzo de’ Medici, a son of the Grand Duke of Tuscany by his second wife, Anna Claudia of Poland-Lithuania. The marriage proper would occur in 1621, after Lorenzo came of age. Irene and Lorenzo had a far healthier marriage than that of her parents, and, although Irene struggled with fertility, they would have four children.
Irene had a touch of her father’s mental health issues, often having hallucinations that she thought were angelic visions. These visions drove her to declare war against the powers of Arabia, and reclaim the eastern boundaries of the Mediterranean sea. The wars of Imperial Reconquest, as they would widely be known, were Pyrrhic victories, but by 1650, the eastern borders of the empire resembled those of the glory days of Rome, at the cost of a large percent of the serving populace.
Irene’s greatest contribution to the “Second Komnenian Golden Age” would be in bringing the ideologies and artists of Western Europe to Constantinople and sponsoring colonial endeavors, establishing New Athens in the Asiménio Potámi region. (OTL Río de Plata)
In 1675, Irene found out that she had a terminal illness. She spent her last three years withdrawn from court life and spending time with her family. Finally, in 1678, Empress Irene died from ovarian cancer, and was succeeded by her granddaughter, Zoe.
[16] Born as the older of two daughters to Prince Romanos in 1648, Princess Zoe would become heir to the throne in 1677 after Prince Romanos died at the age of 52 from a sudden hunting accident with many historians arguing that Irene's death was hastened by the depression caused by her son's death, being crowned Empress the next year after her mother's death.
Zoe II's reign would be marked by the consolidation of the realm that her grandmother and great-grandfather had built and the continuation of the golden age that they had forged for the Empire. As such, she would spend much of her reign in the Levantine and Egyptian portion of the Empire and would generally show a relatively open-minded and tolerant approach towards her Muslim subjects. However, her reign would see the loss of Mesopotamia after her grandmother's attempts at conquering it proved too much for the Empire's logistics train as the Safavids conquered it in the Battle of Baghdad of 1683.
In terms of culture, Zoe would prove to be a prominent patron of the culture and the arts, even being something of an artist herself during her reign. In her reign, she would also try to promote Rhomanian colonialism with an expansion of the colonies in the New World with the Southern Cone becoming known as the Hesperides during her reign as well.
In her personal life, Zoe would marry Alexander, third son of the Tsar of Russia, with whom she would have five children. Zoe would die from a stroke at the age of 65, being succeeded by her youngest child, Alexios the VIII.
[17] Alexios, Sebastrokator of Rome, would be born in 1692, the youngest child and only son of Empress Zoe Osmanos-Komnenos and Alexander Fyodorovich Godunov, Grande Duke of Russia. His birth was thoroughly celebrated in Constantinople as the nobility of the Empire, tired of the constant dynastic changes after the rise of the well-beloved Osmanoi and their matrilineal descendants in the second Komnenoi, had been thinking of pushing for a change of law that would forbid Alexios' elder sisters, Anna, Irene, Maria and Theodora from inheriting the throne due to their often rambuctious and infamous marriages - as Empress' Zoe's policy of marriages had been extremely unpopular, something that would deeply affect Alexios' reign.
Princess Anna, the eldest, had married Fernando, Duke of Badajoz, second son and regent of the Kingdom of Portugal-Leon in the Iberian Peninsula, with the intent of solidifying Constantinople's presence in Hesperida, as the general colony was now called after the expansion away in the Asiménio Pótami. Anna's marriage would secure the region, despite the loss of claims to the now Portuguese colony of Cisplatina (OTL Uruguay) and the loss of Parmenia to Portuguese Brasil as well (OTL North-Eastern Paraguay). The colony, would, however, continue to be problematic, as by this point Hesperida was dominated by Sicilian Catholic ranchers, whom had emigrated from Byzantine Sicily, one of the most problematic regions of the Empire due to the stern refusal of the locals to accept the Orthodox status quo the Constantinopolitan Church had attained in the region. Zoe, and then Alexios would attempt to calm the island, but the mark of oppression had been left there, which would eventually see Sicily sold to the Kingdom of Naples alongside a marriage between King Leopoldo de Berry, the widely popular first king of the Napolitan House of Evreux-Berry and Princess Irene. Princess Theodora would marry all the way into the Kingdom of Sweden-Norway, marrying Prince Sigismund Vasa, while princess Maria would marry into the longtime antagonists of the Romans in Hungary, the Austrian Habsburgs.
As a Prince, Alexios would be famous for his many travels and the solitary life he lived with his wife, the daughter of the King of Dacia, a vassal and ally of the Roman Emperor, Vlad Draculesti, descendant of Michael the Brave which had united all three principalities under Greek rule. A shy woman, Mary of Dacia would prefer the Imperial families' many provincial palaces than the bustle of Constantinople, which would make the couple extremely popular in the provinces proper. They would, during this time until the ascension of Alexios to the throne, have many children, almost all of them born in different regions of the realm.
With the death of Empress Zoe, it was clear that change was in the horizon. Alexios was a quiet and unassuming man, with a simple austere lifestyle. He would, however, embrace the purple fully, taking on a much more abrasive step on the Imperial Throne.
Much of Alexios the VIII's recorded legacy as an Emperor is his effect of Syria, Assyria, Egypt and Cyrenaica. Once the center of the Empire, the Muslim conquests had seen the Romans relegated to Anatolia and the Balkans, which, even after the return of the Empire to these regions, had not shifted, with Anatolia and Europe becoming ever more important for the Romans. The dominance of Muslims in the Levantine and African promises, at a demographic level, and the refusal of previous Emperors to antagonize them, had led to the famous epoch of Byzantine tolerance, which would diminish effectively under Alexios. The Levant and Egypt of previous Emperors and that of Alexios were different, completely. While the native Christian populations of the area had been diminished for ages, they had bounced back under Byzantine rule, and were now starting to demand more attention from Constantinople, attention, Alexios, a devout Christian, was willing to give them:
- The Copts in Egypt, who now represent almost a third of Egypt's population, and the Orthodox community there, who represented 15% of Egypt's population, both descended from arab-coptic converts and descendants of mainly settled Greek, Turkish and Albanian soldiers, had allied each other, under the leadership of the Patriarch of Alexandria, Ioannes, a arab greek convert.
- In Cyrenaica, always a hotspot of Greek fishermen, the coast had been settled by Aegean, Cypriot and Ionian Hellenes, eager to get into the dye and olive trade, and despite the half-hazardous censuses of the time, it seems Christians were already a majority there by this time.
- In Syria and Assyria (OTL Jazira, aka, eastern Syria and North-western Iraq), muslims remained a majority, but a slim one, as the many native christian sects had expanded under Roman Guidance, with the Maronites receiving many funds in western Syria and expanding, while the Assyrians, under their patriarch, in essence governed Upper Mesopotamia. Many settled veterans, especially Bulgars, Pontics and Cappadocians (Both turks and greeks) were also in the region. Armenians were also prevalent in the region.
This complete demographic change, with a strong christian block in the Balkans, Anatolia, Georgia and Armenia (Both greater and lesser), saw a need of change in the way the Empire handled it's muslims. Muslims had been exempt from many taxes as a way to keep them happy, but had been blocked from offices of power and the military. During Alexios reign, muslims would allowed to go into politics and the military, but would have to pay hefty taxes, which would be used to replenish Roman coffers.
But there was one essential component to Alexios' desire as an Emperor - to break away from geographic limitations, and to dominate the Mediterranean sea and the Indian Ocean. It to do so that he fought a series of wars against Persia, defeating them in both, which would see Mesopotamia and Shirvan added to the Empire in the first, and the Persians themselves pushed all the way to the Zagros mountains, which would be the new Perso-Roman frontier. The access to the Indian Ocean through the Persian gulf was also guaranteed, and Basra and the newly founded "Nicatomani" (The Port of the Victor, in Alexios' honour), the first Roman deep water port in Mesopotamia.
However, there was one project that fascinated Alexios - just like his ancestor Alexander the II had rebuilt many treasures of antiquity and built many himself, Alexios had one single great ambition - to connect the mediterranean to the Red sea. During his reign, thousands of workers and slaves would begin a huge project that Alexios had envisioned, a single canal that directly connected the two seas. Alexios himself, however, would never see the result of it.
Alexios would further secure the allegiance of the Hejazi Hashimids, securing a new wave of income for Constantinople as the first Custodian of the two Holy cities of Islam. He would die in early 1740, after a fall that would cripple his legs and spine.
Emperor and Autocrat John VI, who would be remembered as The Ill-Fated
[18] Prince John was born in 1718, the first, but third child of Emperor Alexios VIII and Princess Mary of Dacia. As he grew, there was great expectation for him to live up to his father and his image. However, it seemed that the anxious John always failed no matter how much he tried. Failing many attempts to reform the navy or provincial administration even with the aid of his dying father, which frustrated the aging Emperor.
When his father died it was popularly rumoured that he had attempted to exclude John, singularly him, from the line of succession. Although, in the end, John VI did not reign for long as he was assassinated by an Protestant extremists.
Leaving almost no legacy the short-reigning Emperor was succeeded by his brother Alexander.
[19] Alexander was born in 1720, the second son and fourth child of Alexios VIII and Mary of Dacia. He was seen as an more appropriate successor to his father than his older brother John, as he was an expert in both the millitary and goverment administration. Some even thought he would become Alexios' heir in the event of him removing his brother's place in the line of succession.
Alexander became Roman Emperor after his brother's death by an Protestant extremist, and forced Protestants to pay hefty taxes that are similar to the ones that Muslins pay. His reign had not much happen expect in 1742 when his brother Peter became King of Bohemia following the death of the childless Wenceslaus VI, starting the Catholic branch of the House of Osmanos-Komnenos.
In his personal life, Alexander married Princess Elene of Georgia in 1741, but had only two children with her before dying of food poisoning in 1746. He was succeeded by his only son, Alexios.
[20] Alexios, was been in 1744, the second child but only son born to Alexander and Princess Elene of Georgia, at birth he was a sickly boy and many suspected his health would only deteriorate.
Just before his second birthday, his father died of food poisoning, striking fear among the royal family fearing that Alexander had been deliberately poisoned.
Elene quickly claimed the title of Empress Regent and locked down the Imperial Palace in Constantinople, only allowing unarmed allies to enter, Alexios and his older sister, Mary had a lonely childhood, with only themselves for company as Elene, didn’t trust any other child to infiltrate the palace.
Regarding his health, fearing that a single physician could assassinate her son, Elene, arranged for a wide range of doctors to care for him, this included three Chinese doctors, who brought with them ideas such as vaccinations and herbal medicine that were common in their homeland. While the head doctor, was Georgian physician, Giorgi Ioseb Jughashvili. Under these wise medical council, Alexios’s health greatly improved. This council would grow overtime would set up the Hippocratic Hospital in a former palace donated to the council in honour of their hard work.
Upon his 10th birthday, Alexios was able to attend council meetings, watching how his mother was able to use ministers against each other, acting as the levelheaded compromiser.
This would continue until 1760, when Alexios declared his majority on his 16th birthday, with his mother acting as royal advisor up until her death.
In 1761, his sister, Mary married their cousin, Peter II, King of Bohemia, in a magnificent ceremony, that was attended by many members of foreign royal families. It was during this wedding that Alexios would look for his future bride.
This came in the form of a distant cousin, Princess Katherine of Portugal-Leon, a beautiful and intelligent woman. The match was also chosen as it didn’t bring any disputes between neighbouring nations.
Their wedding took place a few years later in 1766 and was a happy marriage, resulting in twelve healthy births, due to the help of physicians and midwives, trained at the Hippocratic Hospital.
When it came to the military, Alexios took the same style as his mother’s regency council, rather than favouriting a few individual generals, Alexios chose to have a large staff of military minded men from all over the empire discuss their foreign policies, defence strategy as well as their army and naval reforms.
Major military events during Alexios’s reign include:
- 1770, support his cousin/brother-in-law, Peter II against aggression from Austrian Habsburg
- Putting down a rebellion led by Mehmet Nasser, who tried occupying the Alexios Canal (named after Alexios VIII)
- Naval assaults on pirates, who were active around the Red Sea and Arabian Sea.
His use of military staff and their reforms, the Imperial Navy and Army, became a force to fear, allowing the empire to stretch comfortably over the three continents.
In 1804, war would irrupt following a revolution in the Holy Roman Empire, saw a Prussian born individual, who came to prominence following strong victories against the Imperial forces, Johann von Yorck declare himself, High Chancellor of Germany, uniting the Germanic cultures, before dominating northern and central European affairs for nearly two decade while leading his German Republic against a series of coalitions in the Twenty Years Wars, winning most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, presiding over a large nation before its final collapse in 1825.
Alexios would find, having to join coalitions with former enemies like Austrian Habsburg to keep the Germanic Republic from pushing toward the Balkan region.
His wife, Empress Katherine, had died in 1810 and Alexios spent the remaining life, widowed, never remarrying, instead taking solace from spending time with his children, grandchildren as well as great grandchildren, claiming their youthfulness made him feel young.
During the last two years of his reign, his great health had started to show signs of breaking and on his 88th birthday, he declared that his successor, his eldest grandson Demetrios, would serve as co-emperor along side him, allowing Alexios, time to rest without fully abdicating, stating that his longevity was due to God’s support.
The death of Alexios in 1834, came two months before his 90th birthday, both his solo reign of 73 years, and full reign of 88 years, have been record breaking reigns.
His co-emperor, Demetrios, now took over full control.
[21] Born in 1803 to Sebastrokator Andronicus, eldest child and son of Alexios the IX enormous brood, Demetrios was raised in the environment of the Johannic age - where Germany united and fought off the whole of Europe for almost some straight twenty years. His mother was Princess Alexandra Godunova, daughter of the Russian Tsar Constantine I Godunov, and she would be the one responsible for his household as future Emperor due to the death of his father Andronicus during the war against Germany and it's allies.
From a young age, Demetrios was imbued with a sense of destiny, and it would be this sense of foreboding that would shape his hard, strong character in the future. In 1823, Demetrios would be marry Princess Viktoria Helene of Prussia, strenghtening Rhome's influence in the volatile Germany. Viktoria Helene would bring be as hard and stubborn as her husband, and they would have a rambuctious relationship, constantly snarking at each other, but they would develop a strange kind of love-hate relationship, and would not share any other lovers than themselves. Indeed, Demetrios and Viktoria's romance would be the hallmark of the third season of the modern show "Osmanoi-Komnenoi: The Keepers of an Empire", as their very over-lusting for each other made for much of the comedic tone of the season - Indeed, speaking historically, while the couple weren't as sexually prolific as depicted in the show, they were very atracted physically to each other and there are at least three confirmed writings of the Princely-and then Imperial couple, being caught copulating in "public".
Sebastokrator Demetrios posing for a paiting in 1833, after the birth of his eight child.One cannot judge Demetrios and Viktoria's mismanagement of their sexual relationship, their lust and their breaking of contemporary social norms as a complete characterization of their character. As stated before, Demetrios (outside of the bedroom) was a hard character, strong of build and very martial, and was a talented orator who managed to entice a whole room with just his words.
His true character came ahead in 1832 and 1834 respectivelly, the years when he was made co-Emperor and then Emperor proper. A much more established and motivated monarch than his grandfather in his later years, and was very much the description of the word "Autocrat". The Imperial Senate, a hollow institution for much of it's history, had made a comeback as a ground for the Imperial administration to seek advice from, but the Liberal influences post-Twenty Years wars saw an upsurge in Liberal activity that pertubed Demetrios.
This did not mean Demetrios was not open to liberal ideas - he, who had the burden of an Empire that stretched from the Danube to Nubia (OTL Sudan) and the Zagros mountains and Cyrenaica, with Pótamia (OTL Argentina and Chile) was a beacon of Roman rule in the south of the American continent. Demetrios realised that a single mind could not rule such a huge swath of land, and thus welcome the advice of the Senate, but the many Liberals that occupied the Senatorial grounds took this and thought that they would be able to strong-arm Demetrios into handing more power away to the Senate. The famous "Act of 1840", the date when the Senate attempted to pass Rome's first constitution without the Emperor's knowledge or without the power to do so. It would a huge mistake as the Emperor Demetrios took offence and angered, ordered the purging of the senate and it's dissolution, forming his reign around a cadre of industrialists, military and civilian leaders.
On an economic level, however, Demetrios is famous for his obcession with innovation and he would be the supporter and officiator of many canals, rail-roads and factories, and a trend of massive population growth would start as Demetrios' reign sent Rome down the path of Industrialization at full speed.
The influence of Liberalism stayed alive, however, in the unknown underground of Roman society, and liberal radicals would plan an ambush of the Emperor and his wife Viktoria in their yearly summer retire to their "cottage" in Cilicia. The year of 1852 would thus bring horrible news to the Empire - as the assassins would manage to plant a bomb which would end up killing the somehow once more pregnant Empress Viktoria (One needs to remember that by this point, Viktoria, born in 1807, was at this point 45 years old, and nearly obese due to the more than 16 children she had during her marriage.) Demetrios would survive unscathed, but would enter into a deep depression that would see the Emperor age quickly. It would be a simple chill that the Emperor caught in 1856 that would see Demetrios the II die, leaving the throne to his son Andronicus.
[22] Andronicus, born in 1823, was the third child and first son of Demetrios II and Viktoria Helene of Prussia. He grew up with an interest in the military, which he would join in 1841, and fought in the War of the Saxon Succession, which ended with his granduncle Frederick III of Bohemia becoming King of Saxony. During it he met his future wife, Princess Maria Caroline of Saxony (b. 1822), sister of Maria Augusta, the future wife of Prince August, Frederick III’s heir. They married in 1845 and had eight children together.
Upon his father’s death in 1856, Andronicus became Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans and stopped the Liberals in the Senate from passing their proposed laws. This only increased the cause of the liberal radicals and their plan to end the Rhoman monarchy.
The end of the Rhoman Empire would begin in 1861 when Andronicus sent an army to crush an rebellion in Syria and Assyria. The brutality the army used to crush the rebellion lead to wide scale uprisings across the empire in support of an constitutional monarchy, which Andronicus would also crush.
This started the Rhoman Revolution, which saw not only the collapse of Rhomania, but also it’s monarchy, which was replaced with an Republic in 1863. While many members of the royal family either went to Pótamia, now an independent monarchy ruled by Andronicus’ uncle John (who was also the last governor of the former colony), or Egypt, lead by Pharaoh Constantine (another uncle of Andronicus), the now former Emperor and his family would go to Bohemia-Saxony to stay with his sister in-law’s family.
Andronicus the III died in 1895 at the age of 72 in the German Empire (which was formed by Bohemia-Saxony in 1888), his wife outlived him by six years, dying in 1901.