[1] John IV Laskaris was acclaimed as Emperor of the Roman Empire at the age of eight after his father's death with the young Emperor initially being under the control of the regency of George Mouzalon, under which the Empire regained Constantinople from the Latin Empire, ending the Latin occupation of the city which had begun with the Fourth Crusade and the sacking of the city.
In 1266, at the age of sixteen, the young Emperor John IV would formally take control over the reins of state, the first Emperor of Rhomania to rule from Constantinople since Alexios V 62 years earlier. As Emperor, John IV's rule would prove to be in many ways a rule marked by an attempt to restore the Empire to its pre-1204 state with how John would energetically campaign in both Western Anatolia and Greece during his 39 years that he spent as Emperor with the Despotate of Epirus by the end of his reign essentially all but taken by the Empire by the time of his death. In his efforts to reclaim the European portions of Rhomania, both war and diplomacy being used by the energetic Emperor John IV to deal with the remnants of the Frankokratia and the Despotate of Epirus. Domestically, John IV would be a ruler who would spend much time and effort strengthening the central government at the expense of the dynatoi/nobility.
John IV would marry Mary of Hungary, seven years his junior, in 1275 with the couple having six children. John IV would die in 1305 and would be succeeded by his eldest son, Alexios VI
[2] Alexios VI, the result of his parent’s wedding night, was widely known and adored across Romania as a pious, intelligent prince and able commander. His only fault was his zealous hatred for his one year younger brother, John, born in 1277.
Thus, after Alexios's ascension, he needed to fight an rebellion from his brother's supporters, who claimed that Alexios is a bastard born from rape of Mary of Hungary by stableman and he, John is legitimate heir of John IV.
The rebellion lasted for a year, where Alexios hired a lot of Turkish mercenaries to fight his brother, who had most of his support in the European part of the state. John, although as able as his brother, was younger, less experienced and cocky - thus he lost.
Most of his supporters were zealously murdered and John himself with the group of closest aristocrats fled to Rome. Then he spent three years on Papal court, plotting his return and converting to Catholicism in hope of getting Papal support in gaining the Byzantine throne.
Years passed, during which Alexios mostly battled with Turks, gaining some minor border gains in Anatolia and solidifying Rhoman control there, but John's invasion - never came. In 1310, ban (governor) of Croatia, Pavao Subić, who wanted to put end to the anarchy which became widespread in Hungary (Croatia was part of this state back then) after Premyslids abdicated their claim to Hungary and the country was embroiled in civil war between Wittelsbach claimant and his opponents, with Wittelsbach claimant also leaving the country and opening 2-year interregnum, offered the crown to John, who had some claim to it as son of Mary, sister of Vladislaus IV. The Pope also offered to support him.
When the news about it reached Alexios, most people thought he was going to be furious. But he was unusually calm. In fact, he pledged to support his brother and forgive him for whatever he had done, if he pledged in return not to attack Byzantium.
Most of the courtiers acclaimed Alexios mad for wanting to help his hated brother, who tried to steal his crown - but there was a logic within it. As a king of Hungary John would have to stay Catholic and Catholic won't reign in Constantinople, ever.
John agreed and in 1312, despite protests from Henry of Carinthia, new king of Poland and Bohemia who was heir to Premyslid claim, John was crowned in Székesfehérvár as Janos I.
Alexios's next problem was Serbian attack, as Serbs ravaged northern Macedonia and temporarily occupied it, and it cause 5-year Serbo-Byzantine war to rise, ultimately ending with Stephen Uros II of Serbia being defeated, having to cede some border regions to Alexios and recognize himself as Alexios's vassal.
His grandson and heir, likewise named Stephen, was to be raised on court in Constantinople .
That all was done in 1317.
The rest of Alexios's reign was rather peaceful and uneventful, with Alexios passing away accompanied by his wife and three surviving children, to be succeeded by his son, Constantine.
[3] Constantine was the middle child of Alexios and only son. He was born in 1299 and known to be a scholarly boy who loved books and learning. When he became of age and had his own alliance, he commissioned a great library to be built in Constantinople, one to rival the library of Alexandria. He also had a university built, going as far to connect both buildings. Despite his sharp mind, he was no diplomat and actually hated interacting with people. However, his father believed he would rise to the occasion in time and so despite his protests, he continued to be his father's heir.
When his father died, Constantine ruled for three years in which he chose an heir, announced he would abdicate to join a monastery, made sure that the transference of power went smoothly, planned a grand ceremony where he handed the crown over, and then promptly left for a monastery. We know from letters that despite his rather flippant attitude to the crown, he remained on good terms with his family even giving his successor Anastasia advice.
[4] Anastasia was the oldest of Alexios VI's children and was born in 1297. When she was born to Alexios VI and his wife, few expected her to one day rule as Empress, especially after her brother Constantine was born. However, Constantine would name her as his heir, especially with how he refused to marry and planned to retire to a monastery. As such, Anastasia and Romanos Skleros, a prominent general who had served alongside Alexios VI, would marry in 1320.
Her joint rule with Romanos Skleros would be marked by the elimination of the last remnants of the Frankokratia in mainland Greece with both the Duchy of Athens and the Duchy submitting to the authority of Constantinople during her joint rule with Emperor Romanos. In addition, her rule would see Roman rule over Western Anatolia consolidated with the border in Anatolia being pushed to where it was before the Fourth Crusade. In terms of domestic politics, Anastasia and Romanos would both prove to be capable and competent administrators, especially with Constantine XI's advice when it came to administration.
Anastasia and Romanos would have seven children, four of which would outlive the couple when Romanos died in 1348 from the bubonic plague and Anastasia died three years later from an accident while hunting. The next Emperor would be Basil.
[5] Basil was born in 1325, as the second son. His older brother, Romanos died of measles in 1330 so when his uncle declared his mother his heir, Basil was groomed from that point forward as a future monarch.
Basil grew up with a rigid education, learning administration along with military training. It was clear that Anastasia and Romanos wanted their son to be a contempt leader. Despite keeping warm relations with Constantine, they were not prepared to let Basil shrink his duties to their people as his uncle had. This was doubly important with their efforts to bring their empire back to its former glory before the Fourth Crusade.
His parents drummed it into Basil's head that he needed to be a leader worth following and he needed strong allies. One way to do this was to gain a good marriage. His older sister, Anastasia was married to King Jean of France while another of his sisters would marry the King of Hungary. As for Basil himself, he married Constance of Sicily in 1344.
Although the marriage was relatively happy, the couple had trouble conceiving and would only have two surviving children. Despite this, Basil and Constance's relationship would remain strong throughout the years and when Basil was out campaigning, he would often leave his wife as regent.
Throughout the 1350s, Basil was in conflict with the Ottoman Sultan Murad I. He sought help from his allies in pushing them back, even sending an envoy to the pope in hopes he would call for a crusade. Pope Innocent VI did not call it thus, however he did loan Basil money to hire mercenaries. King Jean of France and Navarre and his cousin, Edward III of England also agreed to send men against the Ottoman threat. However hostilities between the two cousins soon caused them to withdraw their support.
Following a decisive victory during the battle of Kallipolis, Basil managed to push the Ottomans back, away from the European mainland. Basil would have to deal with the Turkish raiders for years to come. However, he would use the money left over from his loan to strengthen his defenses.
Doing his final years, Basil would found a trading company that would establish trade routes in the east, including China and other Asian countries. By the time he had died, he had managed to pay back most of his loan, leaving his son, Andronicus to take care of the rest of his debt.
[6] Andronicus II was born in 1348 as the older of Constance's two surviving children and would grow up to be a capable and intelligent prince, a worthy heir to the throne one Basil III died in 1386 and left the 38-year old Andronicus the heir to the throne. Owing to his capable record as Crown Prince, Andronicus would prove to be a ruler who would be capable and popular in his rule, especially with how he sought to fight off the Turkish beyliks in Anatolia and reform the administration to embolden the central government at the expense of the landed aristocracy. His reign would also see a golden age of culture and the arts and a flourishing economy as Constantinople finally recovered its pre-Fourth Crusade population.
However, his reign would not be defined by the policies or achievements of the Emperor, but how it ended. In 1402, Timur, having carved a swathe of destruction from the Levant to India and forging the most powerful empire in the world at this point, after Turkish beyliks threatened by Rhomania's expansion begged him for aid, would invade Anatolia with Timur hoping to use said invasion of Anatolia to burnish his credentials as a warrior of Islam. Andronicus II would meet Timur in battle and would be killed in said battle along with almost all of his army with his daughter, Constantina being the new Empress after said catastrophe.
[7] The aftermath of the battle of Anatolia was devastating to the empire, it was much more personal to Constantina. She had not only lost her father, but also her only brother (after losing another to illness) and her husband Alexios Maleinos to the war.
However, the young widow, who would wear black for the rest of her life, wasted no time on tears. Instead she acted fast to get herself elected as empress before any of her father's rivals could use the vacuum of power to their advantage.
Once her reign was secured, she began to look for a second husband. She received suits from all over Europe and even a few Muslims lords. She eventually would marry King Alexander of Georgia.
Constantina adhered to the old adage that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, sending envoys to China, India and Castile in hopes of making pacts. With China and India, she sealed the deal with trade while she sought to make a marriage alliance with Castile, by having one of her daughters marry King John II of Castile.
Bit by bit, the empire began to recover. Constantina was famous for declaring. "The empire may crumple, but as long as our people stay strong, we shall always persevere." However, despite this, she did not make an attempt to reclaim the lost lands of the empire, fearing it was too soon to tempt fate. "It took over a century for us to recover what we lost after the fourth crusade. We must be patient."
In 1416, Constantina would fall pregnant at age thirty-nine, much to the shock of everyone who had thought the empress past child bearing years. Unfortunately, the pregnancy took a toll on Constantina's health. She died nine months later, of childbed fever. Her husband would be regent for her successor Constantine XI
[8] Constantine XII, born as the son of Constantina and her second husband, Alexander of Georgia, was hailed as emperor shortly after his birth, with his Georgian-born father taking in the reins of regency, despite protests of various figures like Patriarch of Constantinople.
Patriarch was backed by a clique of powerful nobles, wanting to depose "barbarian" - and thus unworthy of wielding the throne Emperor and his more "barbarian" father. When Constantine was a year old, they figured out the plot to kill both him and his father, using servants in the palace as scapegoats. They wanted to install Patriarch's cousin and most wealthy from the conspirators, Michael Palaiologos as emperor.
The plot, according to rumor, was overheard by some old lady who reported it to the emperor.
Main plotters were executed and it began nation-wide purge of their supporters who lasted 3 years with Alexander of Georgia managing to poison the patriarch of Constantinople, replacing him with Constantine's tutor, Gregorios Maleinos, very cultured man (accused of being a "Hellen" crypto-pagan by many due to his love of classic antiquity), ardent supporter of reunification with western Church, and what's more - brother of Alexios Maleinos, Constantia's first husband, so sort of an "uncle" figure to Constantine.
Maleinos was very influential in Constantine's upbringing and he transferred much of his views to his students. By combined efforts of both Alexander of Georgia and Gregorios Maleinos old plan of having Constantia's daughter from first marriage to John II of Castile was finished.
Maleinos' half-sisters of Constantine were all married to rulers of Catholic West - namely France, England and Poland-Bohemia (who was also HRE and that time). Alexander didn't want to marry his stepdaughters to Romans, as he feared that Roman husbands of Constantine's sisters would attempt to overthrow his son.
At the time of marriage of the last of his sisters, Constantine (who was an eight-years-old boy) met and befriended Sophia Maleina, daughter of a distant cousin of Gregorios Maleinos, considered the most beautiful woman in the empire.
They were mere children at the time, but that event would shape Constantine's life forever..
Alexander's regency was all about stabilizing the country from the havoc caused by Timur's forces and fortifying the borders. Young Constantine started to have a visible militaristic streak at that time, asking his father to take him to the forts, vigorously training with sword, spear and lance, reading books about warfare almost of the time.
After Constantine turned 15, the council of an empire considered the question of his marriage. There were many proposals including the daughter of the king of Hungary, niece of the emperor (who was also king of Poland-Bohemia) and granddaughter of the king of France.
The debate lasted around two weeks, but Constantine one day arrived at the council meeting with wife at his side. It was none other than Sophia Maleina. Some counselors attempted to have this marriage set aside, but Gregorios Maleinos and Alexander of Georgia defended the Emperor's choice.
The council ultimately recognized the marriage as legitimate, but also the Emperor as adult.
Constantine, in the first year of his reign, just after turning 16, announced that he is going to war. Sophia Maleina was pregnant so he forced every member of the council and every provincial governor to swear fealty to her unborn child as next Emperor in event he'd die in the upcoming war.
His focus was the Ottoman sultanate, located in western Anatolia, where three brothers - Sulayman, Isa and Mehmed squabble for power. Isa's domain was next to the Byzantine border, so he attacked Nicaea - Isa's capital and old site of the Laskaris dynasty and besieged it for three weeks. He ultimately retook it, but he campaigned in Isa's land by next year, finishing the war in 1434.
His next object was Sulayman, but the task was far easier than he thought. Sulayman, at that time endangered by Mehmed, converted to Christianity with his family (he was sympathetic to Christians even prior to his war with brothers), willingly submit himself to Emperor's authority in exchange for being confirmed governor of his former lands and his son being betrothed to eldest daughter of Constantine and Sophia Maleina.
There was another year of peace before Mehmed decided to attack, which saw Sophia Maleina falling pregnant again.
Mehmed's war was short and after four months of fighting Mehmed was forced into exile to Qara Qoyunlu tribe and his lands were added to Byzantine Empire. In 1436, Constantine returned to Constantinople, where he was hailed as one of the greatest commanders Rhoman Empire ever had.
Much of his successes could be attributed to graciously fusing old tactician's work with modern weapons like artillery. He was also noted to be extremely faithful to Sophia Maleina, widely considered one of the most beautiful women (if not the most beautiful) in the entirety of Christendom.
The troubles began again in 1440, where due to his troubles with Alexander of Georgia refusing to pay tribute to him, Jahan Shah, leader of Qara Qoyunlu decided to back Mehmed and attack Constantine's domain.
In 1441, Alexander of Georgia's forces faced Jahan Shah, Mehmed and his son Murad, being overwhelmed due to John IV Megas Komnenos supporting invaders, and Alexander of Georgia killed.
This greatly enraged Constantine who decided to avenge his father's death.
His enemies expected him to attack them upfront, waiting for him, while conquering much of Georgia, but Georgia was not the place he headed to. In 1442, he launched a surprise attack on "traitor usurper" as Constantine dubbed John IV and conquered Trebizond almost effortlessly, adding it's troops to the imperial army.
In 1443, most of Georgia except for the northwestern part was overwhelmed by invaders, who set traps on themselves, as they were heavily damaged by Georgian resistance and Constantine joined forces with free Georgians, as he was also king of Georgia as Alexander's heir. In the battle of Tiflis, he personally killed John IV, and Murad's head was destroyed by a horse, while elderly Mehmed was roasted alive by peasants trying to escape. Jahan Shah escaped, but in 1444 Constantine also went to his domains, capturing Jahan Shah's capital - Tabriz and granting the city imperial governor.
Shakh Rukh, Jahan Shah's nominal overlord and brother of Jahan Shakh - Ispend joined forces against Constantine, but without much success. In early 1445, Rhoman army took most of northern Mesopotamia with Mosul. Ispend died of heart attack after he heard about Romans taking Mosul and his successor betrayed Shakh Rukh and made peace with Constantine allowing him to rule what remained of islamic Iraq as imperial vassal, while Constantine himself, now dubbed "The New Heraclius'' went to Persia proper, when he destroyed Shakh Rukh's army, with the state of Shakh Rukh collapsing on itself with ruler's death in 1447. 1447-1449 period was spent on chasing Ulugh Beg, Shakh Rukh's eldest son. In 1450, when some semblance of stability after Ulugh's Beg's death was returned, with Constantine taking places as far east as Mazandaran and splitting Iran into 5 client kingdoms, he was murdered by peasant named Rostam while sleeping in some village in northeastern Iran.
[9] Empress Sophia was the oldest child of Emperor Constantine XII, being born on February 7, 1434 to Emperor Constantine XII and Empress Sophia and would end up being named after her mother, who would end up raising the young Princess as a result of her father being largely away at the front. However, Sophia would grow close to her father, being overjoyed every time he came to Constantinople to see his children. Owing to the agreement with Suleyman as part of his surrender to Constantine XII, the young Princess Sophia would marry Alexander Othmanos in February 1450, just a few months before news of her father's assassination reached Constantinople. With how Sophia's only surviving sibling was her younger sister Theodora as her brother Romanos had died in 1449 at the age of 14 from a fall from his horse, the young Sophia would find herself the new Empress and Autocratess of the Romans with Alexander by her side.
In the aftermath of her father's assassination, Sophia would spend her early reign dealing with opposition to her rule from those who still resented the Bagratid rule over Rhomania with a coup attempt on May 29, 1453 coming close to overthrowing the young Empress. With said coup attempt foiled, the young Empress would move towards consolidating her father's conquests and ensuring that what her father had achieved would not be quickly overturned. In this, while she was a ruler who was willing to use brutality against those who resisted her rule over Rhomania, especially as the conquest of Eastern Anatolia was done during her reign, she would prove to be magnanimous to those who submitted. In this, the Empress would also build a gunpowder-centered army during her reign, making heavy use of gunpowder to secure and consolidate her empire during her reign.
In the Balkans, Sophia would prove to be as energetic as in the East with how she would be a ruler who would see Bulgaria and Serbia subjugated under her rule with her empire reaching from Tabriz in the East to Dalmatia in the West by the end of her reign, even intervening in Italy during the latter part of her reign as the Roman Empire was once more a power to be feared. Her reign would see a golden age in both culture/learning and the economy as Rhomania became a center of trade and was a realm which was a center of the Renaissance (with the "Eastern Renaissance" seeing a fusion of Greek and Perso-Arabic-Turkic culture developing as a result of the diverse empire Sophia ruled over) with the latter being boosted by Empress Sophia's patronage of culture and scholarship (including how the Empress was something of a scholar herself, supervising the translation of many Arabic and Persian texts into Greek).
However, all good things must come to an end with Sophia dying on September 1, 1505 at the age of 71 with the Empress having had seven children. She would be succeeded by her son Theodosius.
[10] Theodosius Augustus, first son of empress Sophia was born in 1450,just after her marriage to Alexander Othmanos. He was named after Theodosius the Great, thought to be founder of Eastern Empire at the time (incorrectly) and Octavianus Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome at all. Somewhat unconventional choice of naming was the result of growing interest of empress Sophia in history, something she passed upon to her son, as she was close with her son. The court rumours stated that she got too close to her son, in very inappropriate way...She was widowed in 1464, when her son turned 14 and despite various incitements from the council, didn't marry again at all, saying that all her heart will belong forever to her dead husband, despite almost all top Roman aristocrats, king of France and Holy Roman Emperor proposing to her. It was said that 30-years old Sophia took her son's virginity after his 14th birthday and they were said to be lovers, although it was never proven.
The one of main issues regarding Theodosius was the boy his mother adopted in 1470, when the rumours about her living with her son reached critical point and two of her three sons died, leaving Theodosius sole surviving male heir of the family.
All her daughters were married off to either Catholics or Muslims, unwilling to convert to Orthodoxy, so the council once again asked her to marry again and bring the male heir to the empire.
She refused to do so and instead, a week later she brought a 6 years old boy to the council meeting, very much resembling her and Theodosius. She said she adopts him as the emperors of old did, and that she bestows name Alexander upon him, and that she orders him to be treated equally with her natural born children, meaning that the boy would be Theodosius's heir if he didn't produce children of his own.
Many said that the boy was bastard son of Theodosius and his mother, while another said that most likely he was posthumous bastard son of Alexander Othmanos and some Maleinos woman, which would explain resemblance to Sophia (that part is still unexplained in XXIth century and the government strictly refuses to subject their remains to DNA tests).
Anyways, Theodosius married in 1471 to Giulia of Anjou, princess of Naples (she actually got along well with her mother-in-law and it was speculated she was having threeesomes with Theodosius and his mother) and that drove the prince close to the Latinophile faction at court, composed mainly from Vlach nobles from Balkans, the remains of Frankish houses from Frankokratia period and Italian immigrants, who came in many numbers to the empire.
Theodosius was enamored with his wife and her culture, which he saw as more Roman than Rhomans. Despite the fact he was not popular in the eastern part of the Empire, his participation in Italian, Serbian and Bulgarian campaigns was a success, and when coming to the throne, aged 55 almost everyone expected him to reign as happily as his mother.
That could be achieved, if king of France didn't attack Naples in 1506, deposing Giulia's half-brother and murdering most of her family. Theodosius swore vengeance and in 1507, he drove French out from Naples, proclaiming himself lord of that country. Pope Innocent VI was both pro-French (born Louis de Foix, younger son of pro-French king of Aragon) and worried by Theodosius taking Naples. He decried Theodosius as an unlawful usurper and recognized the king of France as the rightful king of Naples. Most northern Italian states supported the Pope's decision and together with Aragon and France they formed the first Holy League against Theodosius.
In early 1508 Theodosius took Rome, forcing the Pope to seek refuge in Avignon and defeated the forces of Louis XII of France and northern Italian dukes in battle of Florence, 21st April 1508. After that, Tuscany recognized Theodosius as it's overlord but he returned south as king of Aragon launched a naval invasion of Naples. That didn't end well for him, as most of his army got shipwrecked and he himself got captured by Theodosius, who forced him to sign the peace, abandoning his allies, giving up Sicily and Sardinia in favor of Theodosius, recognize Aragon as vassal of empire, and give his daughter and son - his only children as hostages. However, Theodosius treated them rather generously as he married Aragonese princess to his own, 12 years old grandson, and Aragonese heir received his niece (well, if you believe that Alexander adopted by Sophia was her and Theodosius's son, it was his half-sister and granddaughter). In mid-1509 he returned north and by end of that year he conquered all northern Italian states except Venice and made peace with Louis XII who agreed to abandon his allies, recognize Theodosius's overlordship over him and pay Byzantines yearly tribute. The petulant Venice was humiliated and forced to abandon Venetian part of Dalmatia.
That was the end of the First War of the Holy League and everyone expected Theodosius to return to Constantinople, but he didn't do that. He said that the Roman emperor must reside in Rome and so he stayed in Rome, making it capital of the Roman empire, restoring the Roman senate and granting Roman commoners privileges akin to that Roman plebs had in Antiquity.
5 years later he also forced captive Pope Innocent to recognize him as universal head of the Church, thus "ending" the Great Schism. However, HRE Waclaw VI (also king of Poland-Bohemia, which at that time reached as far as Riga and Dnieper on east and as far as Meissen and Bohemian-Bavarian border on east), king of Hungary Stephen X Laskaris didn't recognize the changes with clergy in HRE electing antipope, one Zbigniew Oleśnicki hailing from small village Wadowice near Kraków in Poland. He took the name of John Paulus after his election.
That sparked the Second War of the Holy League. In 1515, Venetian-Hungarian army conquered much of Dalmatia and an angry mob tore Louis XII to pieces in Paris, with his successor Charles IX rejecting French dependence on Byzantium and recognizing HRE's Pope as legitimate. In 1516, Theodoisus faced Venetians and Hungarians near Belgrade and destroyed their armies with Stephan X escaping from the battlefield only to be murdered by his power-hungry cousin John.
1517 was spent over slowly retaking Dalmatia and besieging Venice. Charles IX was about to attack when Aragon attacked Gascony, acting as loyal vassal of the Empire. Aragonese didn't gain much, but they stopped Charles from attacking Italy, giving Theodosius much needed time to finish siege of Venice in 1518, and launching famous Hungarian expedition of 1519-1520, when he defeated John V and Vaclav VI in battle of Buda, placing Stephan X's son in charge of Hungary reduced to all non-Roman lands that state contained, while former provinces of Pannonia and Dacia were re-annexed to Roman Empire.
He also took Carinthia from Vaclav and arrived in 1521, after crossing the Alps in France. He defeated Charles IX in battle of Dijon, executing captured king after the battle under the assumption that Charles was behind the mob who murdered his vassal Louis and nominated king's cousin, Francis as king of France reduced to lands north of Loire, while he divided lands south of Loire equally between him and king of Aragon. Vaclav accepted the loss of Carinthia and didn't attempt to mess with Theodosius any further, and he left him alone.
Thus ended the Second War of the Holy League and Theodosius began awarding his Italian and Latinophile veterans lands in newly-conquered provinces, as he believed that Italians are close to old Romans and Latinophiles are the backbone of his political power.
He also attempted to tie the new aristocracy to the old one with moderate success. Rome enjoyed great prosperity under him and he became beloved across Romans. In 1530, however, he attempted the action which brought his downfall. He replaced Greek in his chancellery with Latin and Italian and outlawed use of Arabic and Turkic as he believed those languages are barbaric and unworthy of Roman.
In 1533, where those decrees began to be properly implemented he announced that he intended to head from Rome to the east, intending to make purges on Arabic and Turkic nobles. In Constantinople, in 1535 when he was on his way to the east, he was ambushed by a clique of Greek nobles, captured and forced to sign an abdication. He died in unknown circumstances in prison leaving east of the country from Tabriz to Ankara on the verge of rebellion, Francis I of France attacking newly conquered provinces north of Alps, Italy and Balkans full of Theodosian loyalists and still angry HRE to his successor, his son, Alexander.
[11] When his father died, Alexander was in England for a state visit, in hopes of making an alliance by marrying one of his younger grandsons to the newborn princess. He raged upon learning of his father's death and immediately sailed back to Constantinople, to bury his father, be crowned, and then meet with his generals.
Alexander had married three times. His first wife was Archduchess Margaret who he married in 1487. The couple had three children before she died of childbed fever. His second wife was an Italain noblewoman named Katrina in 1500. They had only one child before Katrina died after falling and hitting her head (dark rumors swirled around that she was murdered by Alexander himself). His third wife was Althea, the daughter of a Greek general. They were wed in 1505 and had eight children.
Less than two years later, he marched with his army towards France, having decided that the Greek nobles (that had been swiftly rounded up and executed) had been paid by the French King. A temperamental and bloodthirsty man (it is long suspected that his mental unbalance is result of him being inbred if the rumors were to be trusted), Alexander had nothing, but ruthless vengeance on his mind, having his prisoners executed with parts of them being sent to the French king, promising a similar fate to him.
King Francis took him seriously enough that he sent his family members into hiding. Francis also made an alliance with the Holy Roman Empire, with the two longtime enemies uniting against a common foe.
In 1542, the three rulers would face off in a battle. The aftermath left the Holy Roman Emperor dead, Francis captured and Alexander badly wounded. One of his last acts was to be carried out to see the French King executed. He ordered his rival to be hanged, drawn and quartered. Fortunately, he died before his orders could be carried out, and King Francis was taken to Constantinople for his fate to be decided by_____
[12] When Francis I of France was brought to Constantinople, the council of empire domined by Greek-Rhoman having captured king and authority over central provinces decided to reject absent Theodosius, Alexander's eldest son in favor of Loukas Notaras, descendant of John IV and richest man on the council . Loukas was recognized as legitimate emperor by western Anatolia, Macedon and Thrace but no more. Italy, most of Balkans and new conquests in the west recognzied Theodosius and the eastern-central Anatolia , Caucasus and northern Mesopotamia hailed Alexander of Mosul, son of Alexander whom Sophia adopted as new Emperor, as he was very friendly to Arabs, Turks and Persians. The upcoming year woill decide fate of empire ...
[13] Alexander of Mosul was acclaimed as Basileus in Trebizond, taking Zoe Komnena, one of the last surviving members of the Komnenoi, as his wife to boost his credentials as Emperor to appease those who felt someone who spent too much time with Turks and Persians was not worthy of being Emperor on February 4, 1543. As Emperor, Alexander of Mosul would seize control over the Empire in the Battle of Nicomedia, where he defeated the followers of Loukas Notaras and paved the way for the taking of Constantinople by September 1, 1543 with Theodosius being killed by his own troops by the end of the year, who promptly surrendered to Alexander of Mosul. After winning the civil war, he would prove to be magnanimous in victory, largely confining executions and imprisonments to the major leaders and allowing for lesser figures in the leadership of the two sides that had fought against him in the Year of the Three Emperors to bend the knee to him.
After consolidating his power as the new Emperor, Alexander of Mosul would march on Syria, where he would deal the Mamluk Sultanate, increasingly decrepit and weak, a massive defeat which saw the Levant taken by the Roman Empire and the Mamluk Sultanate collapse in a civil war which resulted in the "Abbasid Restoration'' occur as the Abbasid Caliph becoming the ruler of Egypt once more. Domestically, Alexander of Mosul would preside over a restoration of peace and stability in the Empire, doing his best to ensure the various factions within Rhomania were satisfied and reorganizing an Empire which was now the largest and most diverse on Earth with the rest of Mesopotamia being annexed by the Empire. With France and the HRE still being bitter foes, Alexander would ally with Portugal and the Protestant realms of Northern Europe against the French and Habsburgs as well in terms of his foreign policy.
While Alexander of Mosul's reign would be long and marked by many great successes, his reign would ultimately end with his death at the hands of the Suri Empire, which had consolidated its rule over Northern India, invading and taking much of Persia and defeating Alexander in 1575, with the Emperor dying of an infected wound after the retreat in Mosul, being succeeded by Nicephorus IV.
[14] Nicephorus was the eldest surviving son of Alexander III and was born four years before his father’s victory in the Civil War. His older brother Alexander had died of what historians believe to have been a brain aneurysm, making Nicephorus the heir. While studying in Italy he would meet the young noblewoman Maddalena de Medici, the daughter of the Duke of a Rhoman vassal state in Tuscany. Despite her being over five years his senior (he was 14 and she was 19 when they met), the two would fall madly in love with each other and before Alexander had even considered finding his son a bride it was discovered that Maddalena had become pregnant. In order to avoid a scandal the emperor immediately demanded Maddalena’s father to betrothe her to Nicephorus and they would marry shortly after, although the word did quickly get out since it was obvious that she was heavily pregnant by the time of the marriage ceremony. Their relationship was said to have been extremely passionate as Nicephorus would never take another partner as long as he lived, and their romance would be the subject of Romances for centuries to come. It would turn out that Maddalena’s womb was almost abnormally fruitful, with the couple going on to have an impressive 14 children (five sons and nine daughters) in the span of two decades and miraculously all of them would outlive both of their parents.
When the news of his father's death had reached the capital Nicephorus immediately ordered for reinforcements to be sent and was crowned the week later. Nicephorus himself was not much of a military man and much like Augustus and Justinian before him he would delegate most military affairs to his most skilled and loyal general, Abraám Karamanos, a close childhood friend of Nicephorus. He would instead continue his father’s legacy of administrative reform and he would spend much of his time dedicated to establishing an efficient system of Bureaucracy to run the empire with the help of the revitalized Senate. He would with the help of his military advisors and Abraám reorganize the military into one of the most well-organized and formidable armies of the world at the time, with them even reviving the term “Legion”. In fact, much of the army was composed of mixed Turkish-Cappadocian Christian converts from Anatolia and one of the leading generals during the reconquests was a descendant of the Karamanids. Thankfully after two long years of fighting the Suri were driven back to the Zagros where they would eventually be finished off by a native Persian revolt a decade later.
One of his first acts as Emperor was to return the empire's primary capital to Constantinople due to its strategic importance, however Rome would still have the honor of being the Empire's ceremonial second Capital and would grow to be one of the largest cities in Rhomania. Shortly after his accession he would break with conventional naming tradition and rename the Imperial house Osmanos-Komnenos to honor his late mother and to tie his family deeper into the history of the Empire. As the ruler of an extremely diverse Empire he would be known for his great tolerance for the time and he would even controversially allow the Jews to build a Third Temple in Jerusalem shortly after its reconquest, although it would be accompanied by an even larger Orthodox Basilica on the other side of the city. In 1591 the Rhomans would ally with Portugal and Aragon in their war with Castle-Leon, which would lead to the House of House of Luxembourg inheriting the throne of Castile and the Rhoman annexation of Gibraltar. Using Gibraltar as a launching point he would launch several expeditions to the new world which had been discovered several decades earlier by lost Moroccan Merchants. They would be successful and Rhomania would go on to establish the Viceroyalties of Aurelia (ORL Southern USA), Nova Italia (Texas/Northern Mexico), and Theodorica (Argentina). Also worth mentioning was that Basil III's Rhoman Oriental Trading Company at this point had established forts on the East African Coast, Ceylon, and Sumatra. Nicephorus would also send envoys across the known world and make contact with the leaders of Japan, Joseon, Oman, Bengal, the Great Jin Dynasty of China, Ayutthaya, Kongo, Timboctou (greater Mali), Abyssinia, Nicaragua (Pan-Mesoamerican Empire), and Quechica (Tawantinsuyu).
He would adopt a new set of male preference primogeniture succession laws to avoid another civil war over and would also make payment of the army to a government matter so that no general would ever be able to usurp the throne. However, his greatest achievement would be the Rhoman reconquest of Egypt and North Africa. The Neo-Abbasid Caliph was in the middle of a civil war so the Rhomans would use this as an opportunity to strike at the Nile and would quickly overrun the Abbasids before turning to the West. After only five years of fighting, Rhomania would be firmly established in Egypt, Libya, and Carthage. After the War Abraám would be hailed as the "Avenger of Heraclius” and a third Scipio and would be awarded the first triumph held in Rome in over a Millennium, though only a few weeks later he would die of a stroke. After the War Nicephorus would appoint a distant relative of the last Neo-Abbasid ruler as the new Caliph, who would act as the Custodian for Muslims within the Empire. Many Sunnis would not accept this “puppet Calph” and as a result local Sunni clerics would declare a state of Jihad against the Romans. However, Nicephorus would not live to see the Rhoman victory in this war, as soon after the word of the uprising came to Constantinople he suffered a fatal heart attack. Upon his death he would be succeeded by his eldest son and third born child, John.
[15] John was born the oldest son of Emperor Nicephorus in 1580 and would prove to be an intelligent, charming, and competent Prince, a worthy successor to his father Nicephorus as Emperor. As Crown Prince, he would be someone who would gain a great deal of prominence as heir to the throne during the last few years of his father's life, even if his reign would be ultimately short-lived. As Emperor, his nine months as Basileus would prove to be ones marked by a great deal of energy and drive with John seeking to eliminate corruption and reform the government and military. However, his reign would prove to be short-lived as he would die from smallpox at the age of 42 in 1622, leaving his younger brother Alexios Ferdinand as Emperor.
