Planet of Hats
Donor
They like it because it's a key stronghold for their particular cultural group.
Moonlight in a Jar: An Al-Andalus Timeline
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Do we know why Denia in particular became a key stronghold instead of other cities?
Planet of Hats
Donor
We don't have that level of detail, but part of it seems to be that it's the port closest to the Balearic Islands, which it held control over during the taifa period. The site's fairly defensible, with a big castle on a crag overlooking the sea. It was also a Roman naval base centuries before.
ACT III Part XVI: The Life Cycle of the Saqaliba
Planet of Hats
Donor
Excerpt: Andalus During the Rule of the Slaves - Hazem al-Azraq, AD 1997
The ability of the Saqaliba to maintain dominance in Andalusian politics depended on a process of recruiting and training new, loyal Saqaliba to place priority on defending the state, rather than defending their ethnic station.
The original intention of the use of Saqaliba as professional slave-soldiers was to counterbalance the overuse of Berber tribes and Christian sellswords in the Andalusian military. The Saqaliba were intended to be intensely personally loyal to the Caliph of Córdoba, capable of providing him with an army not prone to flocking to the banner of tribal leaders or placing clan loyalties over the good of the Muslims of Iberia. Even as the Saqaliba sidelined the Caliph, however, their basic function never faded, as evidenced by the fact that there was always a Umayyad Caliph throughout the period known as the Rule of the Slaves, even as the Hajib - always the highest-ranking of the Saqaliba - held all the power.
While the first Hajib of this period, Wahb, originated the Safyatuslafid dynasty of Saqaliba rulers, in fact there were three broad groups of Saqaliba in al-Andalus in those days:
Regardless of their source, however, male Saqaliba almost always arrived in al-Andalus as children.
Purchasing of Saqaliba was directed by the Hajib on behalf of the Caliph. The Hajib was considered the Commander of the Sclavonian Guard, the highest-ranking Saqaliba, and thus controlled by far the largest number of Saqaliba; however, the subordinate emirs within Andalusia also purchased Saqaliba, particularly those emirs who were also Saqaliba. In practice, the Hajib did not make the purchases personally, delegating the responsibility of slavebuying to designated purchasing agents - almost always Saqlabi eunuchs trained to recognize good health and strong physical attributes.
Once purchased, young Saqaliba became the property of the Hajib. From Wahb's time onward, these youth grew up at the Madinat az-Zahra, the former Caliphal palace, which was repurposed as a great barracks, academy and training site for young Saqaliba on their way up into the ranks. Their education followed a process which came to be known as the Great Regimen. This Regimen concentrated not just on military education, but on cultural education; it was designed to produce loyal Muslim soldiers who were not only elite combat experts, but also experts in theology, jurisprudence and the arts.
THe military side of the Great Regimen focused on teaching young Saqaliba the comprehensive skill set associated with furusiyya - those skills associated with the Saqaliba in al-Muntasir's time, incorporating the lessons learned against Aquitanian and Frankish knights as well as from the Berbers and even the Greeks. While the training included a focus on horsemanship, the Saqaliba were taught to fight on foot as well.
Saqaliba were trained to fight with the horse which would become known as the Andalusian - in those days, the Iberian, a robust medium-sized warhorse. Each Saqaliba learned how to charge with a lance like a cataphract and how to throw the javelin from the saddle like a Berber, as well as how to fight with a close-ranged weapon, usually a shield and a curved sword. They also received lessons in archery, specifically in the use of the crossbow. By the time the typical Saqaliba graduated after years of training in this fashion, they were well-equipped to tangle with even the most elite of Frankish knights, even holding an advantage in discipline against the exceptionally-equipped Normans given the tendency of Saqaliba within a given barracks to train as a unit. This training came to be supported by horse breeders across al-Andalus, seeking to breed sturdier, swifter mares capable of carrying warriors farther and faster - the Saqaliba always rode mares, preferring them for their tendency not to go into business for themselves.
Beyond combat, however, Saqaliba were given an extensive education in arts and theology. While they were not expected to fully memorize the Quran, they were educated extensively in jurisprudence and religious deliberation, as well as given training in writing, music and literature. A number of the Saqaliba were moderately accomplished poets and even musicians, and they're associated with a number of religious songs. Through them, the tradition of Andalusian love poetry of the 11th century proliferated, giving rise to a sort of warrior-scholar-poet class.
Once the young Saqaliba completed his training and reached manhood, he was manumitted, but remained in the service of his patron. These manumitted Saqaliba joined the ranks of the Sclavonian Guard. They lived in their garrisons, forming strong group bonds within their units and spending their free time honing their skills through weekly sporting events, including riding competitions. These events ensured the Saqaliba remained vaunted equestrians throughout their lives, but also worked to maintain a strong spirit of the corps, ensuring that the men had both training and group cohesion working for them.
The Sclavonian Guard would form the core of the army under the Saqlabid Amirate. Supporting them would be the soldiers of the Emirs, particularly those who were themselves Saqaliba; some landholders still refused to send their troops upon the call of the Hajib early in the Amirate period. The next rank of the army would consist of hired companies - mostly Berbers of the Ifranids, the broader Zenata tribal grouping and some Barghawatas, but also Christian mercenaries, both Mozarabs and hired men from the north. The last layer of the military consisted of citizen-soldiers - particularly the new jund established by Ibn Qays, and another new jund of muwalladun from the southeast settled at Madinat as-Salih near the border. The incorporation of these new junds alongside the remnants of the Syrians represented the first large-scale incorporation of indigenous Andalusis into the military.
Not all Saqaliba became soldiers. Those who showed more proficiency in matters of organization were trained instead as administrators, joining the ranks of the bureaucracy. The Amirate saw the Andalusian bureaucracy expand significantly. While the Hajib remained the core office, new tax collectors were drafted and new officers were appointed to oversee trade and public works as Wahb applied the lessons he learned from the notoriously money-wise al-Azraq, using the newfound power of the Saqaliba to create a more functional bureaucracy. While outer regions remained in the hands of semi-autonomous Emirs, particularly in Saraqusta and Biqrah, life in the areas around Córdoba gradually began to run like a well-oiled machine.
Other Saqaliba - primarily those who proved to be weak in the art of battle, or those purchased as eunuchs - served in minor bureaucratic roles. Eunuchs in particular tended to remain slaves. However, these roles tended to be more conventionally filled by black slaves. Most of these slaves were Mande people imported up the Salt Road by way of the kingdom them known as Ghana, traded into Sijilmasa, then shipped north through the Maghreb, with salt going the other way. (Muhammad Sousse's book entitled Salt, Slaves and Gold is a preeminent source for further reading on this trade route.)
Male Saqaliba weren't the only ones purchased. Al-Andalus also did a brisk trade in female Saqaliba. While male slaves were generally manumitted into service, females tended to be trained as concubines, or sometimes manumitted as wives for high-ranking warriors. However, it's evident that they, too, received training in a number of disciplines, including music and theology. This training would result in a number of women of Siqlabi origin wielding quiet influence in Andalusian statecraft, even as female slaves came to heavily outnumber males in most households.
[1] Circa 850-934 AD - before the POD.
3. Lives of the Saqaliba
The ability of the Saqaliba to maintain dominance in Andalusian politics depended on a process of recruiting and training new, loyal Saqaliba to place priority on defending the state, rather than defending their ethnic station.
The original intention of the use of Saqaliba as professional slave-soldiers was to counterbalance the overuse of Berber tribes and Christian sellswords in the Andalusian military. The Saqaliba were intended to be intensely personally loyal to the Caliph of Córdoba, capable of providing him with an army not prone to flocking to the banner of tribal leaders or placing clan loyalties over the good of the Muslims of Iberia. Even as the Saqaliba sidelined the Caliph, however, their basic function never faded, as evidenced by the fact that there was always a Umayyad Caliph throughout the period known as the Rule of the Slaves, even as the Hajib - always the highest-ranking of the Saqaliba - held all the power.
While the first Hajib of this period, Wahb, originated the Safyatuslafid dynasty of Saqaliba rulers, in fact there were three broad groups of Saqaliba in al-Andalus in those days:
- Saqaliba originating from Kievan Rus', particularly from its southern principalities, and along the Baltic rim. A large influx of these Saqaliba occurred in the mid-11th century, following the havoc created by the arrival of the Cumans. Wahb and the other Safyatuslafids were members of this group. Members of this group typically arrived in al-Andalus by way of scattered trade routes ending in the Cuman-controlled enclaves along the Black Sea, particularly Chersonesus. Another trade route originated in Novgorod and the Baltic rim and followed the northern sea route, though this source - known as as-Slawiya to the Persian polymath al-Balkhi[1] - was generally one of the more remote sources.
- Saqaliba originating from the Haemus. These Saqaliba sometimes brought with them Greek ideas, but largely originated from the areas around Croatia and Sirmium. In the 11th century, many of them began as captured children and women taken as prisoners by the Pechenegs and sold in markets in the lands north of the Danube, arriving in al-Andalus by sea. While a core of Saqaliba from this group already existed and formed a powerful core of military leadership even during the time of al-Muntasir, more significant numbers of Saqaliba from the Haemus began to arrive in the 1070s and 1080s, during the period of havoc caused by the Pechenegs, Vlachs and Bulgars marauding through the region.
- Saqaliba originating from deep along the Steppe Edge. Unlike the other groups, these Saqaliba were not actually Slavs - they were, rather, largely Ugric-speakers, apparently Mordvins, Merya, Veps and others. These Saqaliba were by far the least numerous but tended to arrive by way of either the Volga Bulgars or the Novgorod route. Representatives of this group include the mother of Caliph Abdullah II, who is traditionally held to have been Mordvin.
Regardless of their source, however, male Saqaliba almost always arrived in al-Andalus as children.
Purchasing of Saqaliba was directed by the Hajib on behalf of the Caliph. The Hajib was considered the Commander of the Sclavonian Guard, the highest-ranking Saqaliba, and thus controlled by far the largest number of Saqaliba; however, the subordinate emirs within Andalusia also purchased Saqaliba, particularly those emirs who were also Saqaliba. In practice, the Hajib did not make the purchases personally, delegating the responsibility of slavebuying to designated purchasing agents - almost always Saqlabi eunuchs trained to recognize good health and strong physical attributes.
Once purchased, young Saqaliba became the property of the Hajib. From Wahb's time onward, these youth grew up at the Madinat az-Zahra, the former Caliphal palace, which was repurposed as a great barracks, academy and training site for young Saqaliba on their way up into the ranks. Their education followed a process which came to be known as the Great Regimen. This Regimen concentrated not just on military education, but on cultural education; it was designed to produce loyal Muslim soldiers who were not only elite combat experts, but also experts in theology, jurisprudence and the arts.
THe military side of the Great Regimen focused on teaching young Saqaliba the comprehensive skill set associated with furusiyya - those skills associated with the Saqaliba in al-Muntasir's time, incorporating the lessons learned against Aquitanian and Frankish knights as well as from the Berbers and even the Greeks. While the training included a focus on horsemanship, the Saqaliba were taught to fight on foot as well.
Saqaliba were trained to fight with the horse which would become known as the Andalusian - in those days, the Iberian, a robust medium-sized warhorse. Each Saqaliba learned how to charge with a lance like a cataphract and how to throw the javelin from the saddle like a Berber, as well as how to fight with a close-ranged weapon, usually a shield and a curved sword. They also received lessons in archery, specifically in the use of the crossbow. By the time the typical Saqaliba graduated after years of training in this fashion, they were well-equipped to tangle with even the most elite of Frankish knights, even holding an advantage in discipline against the exceptionally-equipped Normans given the tendency of Saqaliba within a given barracks to train as a unit. This training came to be supported by horse breeders across al-Andalus, seeking to breed sturdier, swifter mares capable of carrying warriors farther and faster - the Saqaliba always rode mares, preferring them for their tendency not to go into business for themselves.
Beyond combat, however, Saqaliba were given an extensive education in arts and theology. While they were not expected to fully memorize the Quran, they were educated extensively in jurisprudence and religious deliberation, as well as given training in writing, music and literature. A number of the Saqaliba were moderately accomplished poets and even musicians, and they're associated with a number of religious songs. Through them, the tradition of Andalusian love poetry of the 11th century proliferated, giving rise to a sort of warrior-scholar-poet class.
Once the young Saqaliba completed his training and reached manhood, he was manumitted, but remained in the service of his patron. These manumitted Saqaliba joined the ranks of the Sclavonian Guard. They lived in their garrisons, forming strong group bonds within their units and spending their free time honing their skills through weekly sporting events, including riding competitions. These events ensured the Saqaliba remained vaunted equestrians throughout their lives, but also worked to maintain a strong spirit of the corps, ensuring that the men had both training and group cohesion working for them.
The Sclavonian Guard would form the core of the army under the Saqlabid Amirate. Supporting them would be the soldiers of the Emirs, particularly those who were themselves Saqaliba; some landholders still refused to send their troops upon the call of the Hajib early in the Amirate period. The next rank of the army would consist of hired companies - mostly Berbers of the Ifranids, the broader Zenata tribal grouping and some Barghawatas, but also Christian mercenaries, both Mozarabs and hired men from the north. The last layer of the military consisted of citizen-soldiers - particularly the new jund established by Ibn Qays, and another new jund of muwalladun from the southeast settled at Madinat as-Salih near the border. The incorporation of these new junds alongside the remnants of the Syrians represented the first large-scale incorporation of indigenous Andalusis into the military.
Not all Saqaliba became soldiers. Those who showed more proficiency in matters of organization were trained instead as administrators, joining the ranks of the bureaucracy. The Amirate saw the Andalusian bureaucracy expand significantly. While the Hajib remained the core office, new tax collectors were drafted and new officers were appointed to oversee trade and public works as Wahb applied the lessons he learned from the notoriously money-wise al-Azraq, using the newfound power of the Saqaliba to create a more functional bureaucracy. While outer regions remained in the hands of semi-autonomous Emirs, particularly in Saraqusta and Biqrah, life in the areas around Córdoba gradually began to run like a well-oiled machine.
Other Saqaliba - primarily those who proved to be weak in the art of battle, or those purchased as eunuchs - served in minor bureaucratic roles. Eunuchs in particular tended to remain slaves. However, these roles tended to be more conventionally filled by black slaves. Most of these slaves were Mande people imported up the Salt Road by way of the kingdom them known as Ghana, traded into Sijilmasa, then shipped north through the Maghreb, with salt going the other way. (Muhammad Sousse's book entitled Salt, Slaves and Gold is a preeminent source for further reading on this trade route.)
Male Saqaliba weren't the only ones purchased. Al-Andalus also did a brisk trade in female Saqaliba. While male slaves were generally manumitted into service, females tended to be trained as concubines, or sometimes manumitted as wives for high-ranking warriors. However, it's evident that they, too, received training in a number of disciplines, including music and theology. This training would result in a number of women of Siqlabi origin wielding quiet influence in Andalusian statecraft, even as female slaves came to heavily outnumber males in most households.
[1] Circa 850-934 AD - before the POD.
Huh, interesting.
Ottoman Harems politics 500 years early?
Also: since the majority of the Slavs imported aren't castrated, they would form ethnic islands the longer this goes on right? ... But are their descendants treated as Muwalladun (native Iberian Muslims) or their own ethnie?
Random question to the saqaliba marry the female umayyads into there groups now as it would be prestigious and to keep a strong link between the umayyad and slave soldiers.
What influence do the female umayyad will?
Another question with some slaves being brought as adults are we getting a more hellenistic culture mixed in. So are the umayyads now using flags and greek style warfare, also art painting them people.
Also with byzantine in chaos could we get a crafty greek selling his knowledge on greek fire?
Its nice to see woman advancing if albeit just foreign woman.
Will there be france update last time important stuff was happening and its been years in timline since we known whats happened.
Harem politics always existed just not on the ottoman level, the umayyads (pre fitna) were very liberal when it came to politics and woman. Woman had alot of power under umayyads before the fitna. The abbasids changed it so woman were less powerful as they were more conservative.
What influence do the female umayyad will?
Another question with some slaves being brought as adults are we getting a more hellenistic culture mixed in. So are the umayyads now using flags and greek style warfare, also art painting them people.
Also with byzantine in chaos could we get a crafty greek selling his knowledge on greek fire?
Its nice to see woman advancing if albeit just foreign woman.
Will there be france update last time important stuff was happening and its been years in timline since we known whats happened.
Harem politics always existed just not on the ottoman level, the umayyads (pre fitna) were very liberal when it came to politics and woman. Woman had alot of power under umayyads before the fitna. The abbasids changed it so woman were less powerful as they were more conservative.
Planet of Hats
Donor
They technically are Muladies but form their own very prominent subclade.
I've got a long Francia update coming soon. We'll end the chapter on the HRE and Italy.
Interesting. So the education of the Saqbila is that of a military college, with compulsory minors in theology, law, and liberal arts. Reminds me a bit of some of the more cultured shoguns of Japan, though the latter probably would have very weird ideas about Andalusian society, if both sides ever meet.
On another note, I find it a bit sad that the Slavs among the Saqaliba would eventually drop their culture to the greater social fabric of al-Andalus, though I know why (cultural salad bowls are a soft pleasure of mine). Do any words or phrases from the Baltic tribes or the Kievan Rus manage to filter into the common tongue?
Also, Sviatoslav = Safyatuslaf. It sounds so odd, yet so... Andalusian. So fitting.
On another note, I find it a bit sad that the Slavs among the Saqaliba would eventually drop their culture to the greater social fabric of al-Andalus, though I know why (cultural salad bowls are a soft pleasure of mine). Do any words or phrases from the Baltic tribes or the Kievan Rus manage to filter into the common tongue?
Also, Sviatoslav = Safyatuslaf. It sounds so odd, yet so... Andalusian. So fitting.
Planet of Hats
Donor
Some words, I suspect, will creep into the lexicon, but what's really influencing things here is that many of the Saqaliba are purchased as boys and educated at a time when their minds are more malleable and prone to picking up the culture they're steeped in as they grow up. Some Slavicisms are creeping in via Saqaliba who arrive as teens, or as adult women; as mentioned in a previous post, there's a quiet tradition of egg-decorating that persists through the 11th and 12th centuries. You'll get things like this charming little gift-shop special:Interesting. So the education of the Saqbila is that of a military college, with compulsory minors in theology, law, and liberal arts. Reminds me a bit of some of the more cultured shoguns of Japan, though the latter probably would have very weird ideas about Andalusian society, if both sides ever meet.
On another note, I find it a bit sad that the Slavs among the Saqaliba would eventually drop their culture to the greater social fabric of al-Andalus, though I know why (cultural salad bowls are a soft pleasure of mine). Do any words or phrases from the Baltic tribes or the Kievan Rus manage to filter into the common tongue?
Also, Sviatoslav = Safyatuslaf. It sounds so odd, yet so... Andalusian. So fitting.
I have one of those too, from Spain but is in ceramic not silver...Some words, I suspect, will creep into the lexicon, but what's really influencing things here is that many of the Saqaliba are purchased as boys and educated at a time when their minds are more malleable and prone to picking up the culture they're steeped in as they grow up. Some Slavicisms are creeping in via Saqaliba who arrive as teens, or as adult women; as mentioned in a previous post, there's a quiet tradition of egg-decorating that persists through the 11th and 12th centuries. You'll get things like this charming little gift-shop special:
@Planet of Hats How are the merchant republics doing i know they arent that powerful till later, but the butter flies surely it will have affected them, stronger baltic trading and stable andalusia heavy demand for slaves. How is venice, genoa, pisa doing? (not politically that complicated already but economically) hopefully they still grow into power houses but a stable sicily could tax them. Also Hansa wont grow so that will be some weird affects.
ACT III Part XVII: Francia, Aquitaine, Toulouse and the Age of the Warlords
Planet of Hats
Donor
Excerpt: Kings of Nothing: France in the Post-Carolingian Period - Amélie du Clos, Scholapresse, AD 2004
The rule of the Angevin House of Ingelger in France is largely representative of most of European history in the 11th century, and a major contributor to why this time period is known as the Age of the Warlords.[1] Keeping this period straight is a matter of almost impossible effort on the part of scholars, who must piece together conflicting loyalties and narratives incorporating hundreds of intertangled family trees of countless petty warlords, some controlling no more than a single town or castle.
While Fulk I was enthroned in Paris in 1044, in fact he had almost no control over the lands around the city, most of them being holdings of the Dukes of the Franks held by Adalbert the Young's descendants - the young king having died childless, most of the land being held at Fulk's accession by Adalbert's 21-year-old son Henry, who viewed himself as king by right and disputed Fulk's election.
Effectively, Fulk ruled France from his power base in Angers, where he controlled more extensive holdings, along with holding sway over the County of Maine. Nevertheless, Fulk found himself with little real control over his vassals. Most notable, of course, was the complex situation around William VI, Duke of Aquitaine, who stood to inherit the Kingdom of Pamplona from his mother within a few years of Fulk's rise to the crown. The Dukes of Anjou and Aquitaine had long been rivals, and William - ambitious and allied to the Counts of Toulouse, with Gascony also under his sway - exercised enormous power in the south of France, withholding taxes from Fulk for years.
In the east, meanwhile, Fulk's vassals busied themselves in petty feuds with the lordlings of the Holy Roman Empire. A constant state of war between the Counts of Blois and the Dukes of Lower Lorraine ground on for years as the descendants of the late King Charles IV - continued to assert their right by descent from Charlemagne to rule Francia. While Fulk could generally count on the support of the Duke of Normandy, Fulk's ability to project power largely depended on his ability to persuade the other warlords of Francia to rally to his banner - and most of them preferred to do anything but.
Records from Fulk's time are a little thin, but it would seem that he warred with William of Aquitaine over various jurisdictional disputes, particularly over the disposition of Deols and Issoudin. Soon enough, though, he faced a bid from Henry to seize the throne for himself. Rallying his relatives in Burgundy and his supporters in Vermandois, Henry launched a brisk war against Fulk, dragging on into the late 1040s and only ending when Henry was hit in the head with an axe and rendered comatose. The regency fell to his mother, Matilda of Normandy; Henry died in 1050, passing the Ile-de-France to his younger brother, Adalbert II, then approximately 13.
Sensing an opportunity to reclaim lands he viewed as rightfully belonging to the crown, Fulk set out to strip Adalbert of his holdings, but didn't count on Margaret's stiff-necked opposition to him, nor the opposition of her brother, Fulk's nominal ally Richard III of Normandy. Richard sent a floridly-worded letter to Fulk, effectively a veiled threat to raze Angers to the ground if he lifted a finger against Matilda; in the face of Matilda's stubborn defiance and the prospect of fighting the Normans, an embittered Fulk backed down, and Matilda was left to see her son to adulthood.
Meanwhile, in the south of France, the alliance between Aquitaine and Toulouse fell apart in 1049 as William sought to divorce his wife, Almodis of Toulouse, after the marriage produced no issue despite more than a decade of trying. Eventually William received papal sanction to divorce Almodis, infuriating the Counts of Toulouse. The young Duke threw into marriage with Ermengarde of Foix, a young lass of 18 renowned for her beauty. By 1052, she had borne him a son, William; by 1056, another - Geoffrey - followed, with a daughter, Eleanor, following shortly thereafter.
The marital situation would ultimately work to William's disfavour; a common alternate history trope concerns what might have happened if Almodis had given William a son, who would have had cause to claim lordship of Toulouse in due time. Instead, William found himself with more than one son, even as his mother died in 1056 to leave him as King of Navarre. This put William in a complex situation, sitting as a King in Navarre, yet acting as vassal of Fulk's in his capacity as Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitou.
Fulk, meanwhile, moved in 1055 to set up his 18-year-old son, Fulk II, as his co-monarch, winning the support of Archbishop Heribert of Reims in carrying out the coronation. In establishing his son as his successor, Fulk successfully performed the end-run around the nobility Hugh Capet had so disastrously failed to perform.
Tensions between Fulk and William flared again in 1061: With the Count of Blois felled by gout and rule of Blois passing to a three-year-old boy, William made his move to claim Blois for himself, on the strength of his descent from Emma of Blois on his father's side. Fulk quickly moved to support the boy count, and Frankish troops spent the next few years beating back the men of Aquitaine. Within a few months of William's departure for the front, his wife bore him a third son, Odo, whom William would never actually meet.
The war ended poorly for William; though he successfully retook Deols from Fulk, his forays into Blois were largely unsuccessful. Finally, in 1065, William moved to confront Fulk at Bourges. The battle saw the Navarrese host score a Pyrrhic victory, but the biggest casualty came when William was flung from his horse, breaking his leg. The King and Duke was helped from the field and taken for treatment.
William's wound, however, proved too grievous; it soon festered and spread, and by October of 1065 William was dead of the infection, leaving behind no clear plan for succession. His eldest son, William, was proclaimed King William II of Navarre, while Geoffrey claimed lordship over Aquitaine and the baby Odo was slated to reign in Gascony, effectively dividing William's realm. While some at court clamoured for the realm to be united, differences between the Frankish and Basque lords of both realms boiled over, and the matter became all the more complicated when Fulk attempted to push his advantage into Aquitaine, hoping to prey on the young Geoffrey at a moment of weakness. Moreover, the nobles of Gascony quickly rejected Odo and replaced him with Bernat II, a Gascon with descent from the Dukes previous to William. Gascony would remain a point of contention between William and Geoffrey for years to come, despite their mother and regent brokering peace between the two during their mutual regencies in the interest of preserving their inheritance.
While William's union of Aquitaine and Navarre would not fully come to pass, it did at least contribute to the Frankification of more of Iberia, with the Cluniac reforms finally beginning to spread throughout Navarre even as the Normans set the stage to bring them to Gallaecia. As for Fulk, he would be dead by 1067, passing of old age with his campaign for Aquitaine coming to naught, leaving Fulk II as sole ruler at the age of 30.
Fulk II - wedded to Bernice, a Princess of Arles - proved to be a less assertive man than his father, content to pursue a reputation as a man of faith and a builder. He spent much of a short reign putting down revolts among his power-hungry vassals before falling prey to dysentery in 1074 after just seven years, leaving the kingdom in the hands of his brother, Geoffrey the Good.
Uniquely among Frankish kings of his time, Geoffrey was well-liked among his vassals, known as a kindly and generous man prone to trying to make peace among those in the realm. However, while his vassals generally liked him, they didn't particularly respect him, and his efforts to expand his holdings generally ended poorly. His bid to claim Vermandois for himself saw him bested by Arnald, a cousin of the last childless count, and he found himself with few other opportunities for war.
However, Geoffrey was a patron of culture, and his court was known as a place of music and story, with poets and bards drawn from across the land to Paris and Angers. Much French literature from the Age of the Warlords dates from the reign of Geoffrey the Good.
Politically - conflicts with the Holy Roman Empire aside - Geoffrey's most lasting impact was his utter inability to exert control over anything south of the County of Poitou. Even as interfamilial conflict simmered between Aquitaine and Navarre, however, events of more sober consequence had begun to unfold in Toulouse.
William IV, Count of Toulouse, initially came to power in 1062 at the age of 19.[2] In relatively short order, he found himself inheriting more land upon the death of his aunt, the Count of Rouergue. This positioned William as one of the stronger landlords in the scarcely-unified Romance-speaking lands nominally loyal to France.
To the consternation of his courtiers, William put off marriage for awhile, seeing no advantageous matches. In 1071, though, he found one in the person of Douce of Narbonne, the only child of the elderly Viscount Matfred II - nominally a subject of William's, but in fact ruling more or less independently. With Matfred unlikely to bring a boy heir into the world, William undertook the marriage to Douce admiring her not so much as a person but as an investment in a prestigious city, once the centre of the old Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis.
In due time, Matfred died in 1073, and William began to rule Narbonne jure uxoris. At this point William bore the titles Count of Toulouse, Count of Rouergue, Viscount of Narbonne and titular Marquis of Provence, though in fact he controlled only a few holdings north of the River Durance, and nothing within the Arelat. His control of those counties nevertheless made him one of the stronger Provencal[3] landlords. His growing influence resulted in other warlords in the area beginning to form factions against him.
Working in William's favour was the marriage of his brother, Sans, to Oliva, daughter of Count Ponc of Empuries - giving him an ally in the region. William and Ponc soon found themselves going head-to-head with a handful of William's nominal vassals, tangling variously with the Counts of Foix and Comminges and the Viscount of Agde. Ultimately the campaign, dragging through the 1070s, resulted in William subordinating Beziers in 1077 and bringing Foix and Carcassonne to terms. Agde and Beziers were kept as part of William's holdings, increasing the power and prestige of his house and making him the strongest single landholder in the Provencal world.
With these independent principalities temporarily brought to heel, William - with the consent of Archbishop Peire-Raimond of Toulouse - elevated the Viscounty of Narbonne to a duchy. Thenceforth he would place it foremost among his titles, becoming known as William, Duke of Narbonne.
Contemporary sources give William the epithet "the Cruel," though this largely comes from sources hostile to him, namely learned men from lands William coveted. What does seem to be true, at least, is that William was a man of towering ambition and an incredibly strong personality, prone to thrusting aside those he considered in the way of his aims. Even as he accumulated land in the Narbonne, William strongly coveted control of Provence, then under the control of a line of Counts within the Kingdom of Arles - not a strong kingdom, and locked into its own succession disputes with the Holy Roman Emperors, but still nominally independent. William set his sights on gaining control of all of Provence.
With military means likely to prove difficult, William focused on cultivating good relations with his counterpart, Count Geoffrey III of Provence. While his first child by Douce was a girl, Eleanor, a son - Raimond - was to come in 1081. William's hope seems to have been to build up strong enough relations to one day marry William into Geoffrey's family, hoping perhaps to deliver his son his birthright by virtue of inheritance.
As affairs unfolded in the north, William bided his time, raising his son and keeping a hungry eye on the lands south of the Durance.[4]
[1] There's really not much difference between feudal lords and warlords. ITTL, feudal Europe doesn't get the polite term.
[2] He's still the son of Pons, though Pons was a different man, resulting in a different man being William and being born a bit later.
[3] "Occitan" is an artificial term spawned somewhere around the 14th century. At this time, the language continuum would've been called Limousin and Provencal.
[4] Feudal politics is hard to write. Phew.
The rule of the Angevin House of Ingelger in France is largely representative of most of European history in the 11th century, and a major contributor to why this time period is known as the Age of the Warlords.[1] Keeping this period straight is a matter of almost impossible effort on the part of scholars, who must piece together conflicting loyalties and narratives incorporating hundreds of intertangled family trees of countless petty warlords, some controlling no more than a single town or castle.
While Fulk I was enthroned in Paris in 1044, in fact he had almost no control over the lands around the city, most of them being holdings of the Dukes of the Franks held by Adalbert the Young's descendants - the young king having died childless, most of the land being held at Fulk's accession by Adalbert's 21-year-old son Henry, who viewed himself as king by right and disputed Fulk's election.
Effectively, Fulk ruled France from his power base in Angers, where he controlled more extensive holdings, along with holding sway over the County of Maine. Nevertheless, Fulk found himself with little real control over his vassals. Most notable, of course, was the complex situation around William VI, Duke of Aquitaine, who stood to inherit the Kingdom of Pamplona from his mother within a few years of Fulk's rise to the crown. The Dukes of Anjou and Aquitaine had long been rivals, and William - ambitious and allied to the Counts of Toulouse, with Gascony also under his sway - exercised enormous power in the south of France, withholding taxes from Fulk for years.
In the east, meanwhile, Fulk's vassals busied themselves in petty feuds with the lordlings of the Holy Roman Empire. A constant state of war between the Counts of Blois and the Dukes of Lower Lorraine ground on for years as the descendants of the late King Charles IV - continued to assert their right by descent from Charlemagne to rule Francia. While Fulk could generally count on the support of the Duke of Normandy, Fulk's ability to project power largely depended on his ability to persuade the other warlords of Francia to rally to his banner - and most of them preferred to do anything but.
Records from Fulk's time are a little thin, but it would seem that he warred with William of Aquitaine over various jurisdictional disputes, particularly over the disposition of Deols and Issoudin. Soon enough, though, he faced a bid from Henry to seize the throne for himself. Rallying his relatives in Burgundy and his supporters in Vermandois, Henry launched a brisk war against Fulk, dragging on into the late 1040s and only ending when Henry was hit in the head with an axe and rendered comatose. The regency fell to his mother, Matilda of Normandy; Henry died in 1050, passing the Ile-de-France to his younger brother, Adalbert II, then approximately 13.
Sensing an opportunity to reclaim lands he viewed as rightfully belonging to the crown, Fulk set out to strip Adalbert of his holdings, but didn't count on Margaret's stiff-necked opposition to him, nor the opposition of her brother, Fulk's nominal ally Richard III of Normandy. Richard sent a floridly-worded letter to Fulk, effectively a veiled threat to raze Angers to the ground if he lifted a finger against Matilda; in the face of Matilda's stubborn defiance and the prospect of fighting the Normans, an embittered Fulk backed down, and Matilda was left to see her son to adulthood.
Meanwhile, in the south of France, the alliance between Aquitaine and Toulouse fell apart in 1049 as William sought to divorce his wife, Almodis of Toulouse, after the marriage produced no issue despite more than a decade of trying. Eventually William received papal sanction to divorce Almodis, infuriating the Counts of Toulouse. The young Duke threw into marriage with Ermengarde of Foix, a young lass of 18 renowned for her beauty. By 1052, she had borne him a son, William; by 1056, another - Geoffrey - followed, with a daughter, Eleanor, following shortly thereafter.
The marital situation would ultimately work to William's disfavour; a common alternate history trope concerns what might have happened if Almodis had given William a son, who would have had cause to claim lordship of Toulouse in due time. Instead, William found himself with more than one son, even as his mother died in 1056 to leave him as King of Navarre. This put William in a complex situation, sitting as a King in Navarre, yet acting as vassal of Fulk's in his capacity as Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitou.
Fulk, meanwhile, moved in 1055 to set up his 18-year-old son, Fulk II, as his co-monarch, winning the support of Archbishop Heribert of Reims in carrying out the coronation. In establishing his son as his successor, Fulk successfully performed the end-run around the nobility Hugh Capet had so disastrously failed to perform.
Tensions between Fulk and William flared again in 1061: With the Count of Blois felled by gout and rule of Blois passing to a three-year-old boy, William made his move to claim Blois for himself, on the strength of his descent from Emma of Blois on his father's side. Fulk quickly moved to support the boy count, and Frankish troops spent the next few years beating back the men of Aquitaine. Within a few months of William's departure for the front, his wife bore him a third son, Odo, whom William would never actually meet.
The war ended poorly for William; though he successfully retook Deols from Fulk, his forays into Blois were largely unsuccessful. Finally, in 1065, William moved to confront Fulk at Bourges. The battle saw the Navarrese host score a Pyrrhic victory, but the biggest casualty came when William was flung from his horse, breaking his leg. The King and Duke was helped from the field and taken for treatment.
William's wound, however, proved too grievous; it soon festered and spread, and by October of 1065 William was dead of the infection, leaving behind no clear plan for succession. His eldest son, William, was proclaimed King William II of Navarre, while Geoffrey claimed lordship over Aquitaine and the baby Odo was slated to reign in Gascony, effectively dividing William's realm. While some at court clamoured for the realm to be united, differences between the Frankish and Basque lords of both realms boiled over, and the matter became all the more complicated when Fulk attempted to push his advantage into Aquitaine, hoping to prey on the young Geoffrey at a moment of weakness. Moreover, the nobles of Gascony quickly rejected Odo and replaced him with Bernat II, a Gascon with descent from the Dukes previous to William. Gascony would remain a point of contention between William and Geoffrey for years to come, despite their mother and regent brokering peace between the two during their mutual regencies in the interest of preserving their inheritance.
While William's union of Aquitaine and Navarre would not fully come to pass, it did at least contribute to the Frankification of more of Iberia, with the Cluniac reforms finally beginning to spread throughout Navarre even as the Normans set the stage to bring them to Gallaecia. As for Fulk, he would be dead by 1067, passing of old age with his campaign for Aquitaine coming to naught, leaving Fulk II as sole ruler at the age of 30.
Fulk II - wedded to Bernice, a Princess of Arles - proved to be a less assertive man than his father, content to pursue a reputation as a man of faith and a builder. He spent much of a short reign putting down revolts among his power-hungry vassals before falling prey to dysentery in 1074 after just seven years, leaving the kingdom in the hands of his brother, Geoffrey the Good.
Uniquely among Frankish kings of his time, Geoffrey was well-liked among his vassals, known as a kindly and generous man prone to trying to make peace among those in the realm. However, while his vassals generally liked him, they didn't particularly respect him, and his efforts to expand his holdings generally ended poorly. His bid to claim Vermandois for himself saw him bested by Arnald, a cousin of the last childless count, and he found himself with few other opportunities for war.
However, Geoffrey was a patron of culture, and his court was known as a place of music and story, with poets and bards drawn from across the land to Paris and Angers. Much French literature from the Age of the Warlords dates from the reign of Geoffrey the Good.
Politically - conflicts with the Holy Roman Empire aside - Geoffrey's most lasting impact was his utter inability to exert control over anything south of the County of Poitou. Even as interfamilial conflict simmered between Aquitaine and Navarre, however, events of more sober consequence had begun to unfold in Toulouse.
William IV, Count of Toulouse, initially came to power in 1062 at the age of 19.[2] In relatively short order, he found himself inheriting more land upon the death of his aunt, the Count of Rouergue. This positioned William as one of the stronger landlords in the scarcely-unified Romance-speaking lands nominally loyal to France.
To the consternation of his courtiers, William put off marriage for awhile, seeing no advantageous matches. In 1071, though, he found one in the person of Douce of Narbonne, the only child of the elderly Viscount Matfred II - nominally a subject of William's, but in fact ruling more or less independently. With Matfred unlikely to bring a boy heir into the world, William undertook the marriage to Douce admiring her not so much as a person but as an investment in a prestigious city, once the centre of the old Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis.
In due time, Matfred died in 1073, and William began to rule Narbonne jure uxoris. At this point William bore the titles Count of Toulouse, Count of Rouergue, Viscount of Narbonne and titular Marquis of Provence, though in fact he controlled only a few holdings north of the River Durance, and nothing within the Arelat. His control of those counties nevertheless made him one of the stronger Provencal[3] landlords. His growing influence resulted in other warlords in the area beginning to form factions against him.
Working in William's favour was the marriage of his brother, Sans, to Oliva, daughter of Count Ponc of Empuries - giving him an ally in the region. William and Ponc soon found themselves going head-to-head with a handful of William's nominal vassals, tangling variously with the Counts of Foix and Comminges and the Viscount of Agde. Ultimately the campaign, dragging through the 1070s, resulted in William subordinating Beziers in 1077 and bringing Foix and Carcassonne to terms. Agde and Beziers were kept as part of William's holdings, increasing the power and prestige of his house and making him the strongest single landholder in the Provencal world.
With these independent principalities temporarily brought to heel, William - with the consent of Archbishop Peire-Raimond of Toulouse - elevated the Viscounty of Narbonne to a duchy. Thenceforth he would place it foremost among his titles, becoming known as William, Duke of Narbonne.
Contemporary sources give William the epithet "the Cruel," though this largely comes from sources hostile to him, namely learned men from lands William coveted. What does seem to be true, at least, is that William was a man of towering ambition and an incredibly strong personality, prone to thrusting aside those he considered in the way of his aims. Even as he accumulated land in the Narbonne, William strongly coveted control of Provence, then under the control of a line of Counts within the Kingdom of Arles - not a strong kingdom, and locked into its own succession disputes with the Holy Roman Emperors, but still nominally independent. William set his sights on gaining control of all of Provence.
With military means likely to prove difficult, William focused on cultivating good relations with his counterpart, Count Geoffrey III of Provence. While his first child by Douce was a girl, Eleanor, a son - Raimond - was to come in 1081. William's hope seems to have been to build up strong enough relations to one day marry William into Geoffrey's family, hoping perhaps to deliver his son his birthright by virtue of inheritance.
As affairs unfolded in the north, William bided his time, raising his son and keeping a hungry eye on the lands south of the Durance.[4]
[1] There's really not much difference between feudal lords and warlords. ITTL, feudal Europe doesn't get the polite term.
[2] He's still the son of Pons, though Pons was a different man, resulting in a different man being William and being born a bit later.
[3] "Occitan" is an artificial term spawned somewhere around the 14th century. At this time, the language continuum would've been called Limousin and Provencal.
[4] Feudal politics is hard to write. Phew.
hmm, Southern France warring between themselves mean no French help past the Pyrenees no?
I wonder if the Andalusians can reclaim the Marca Hispanica.
I wanna type out a long opinion piece and give my thoughts on what may happen next... but I know absolutely nothing about medieval European politics.
Um... think of something, think of something... did the Norman conquest of England went like OTL?
Um... think of something, think of something... did the Norman conquest of England went like OTL?
Planet of Hats
Donor
It sure didn't. The havoc created in Francia by Hugh Capet's failure to launch resulted in Ethelred the Unready being days late to a meeting in Normandy to try and bargain away the Normans' granting the Danish the right to launch raids on England out of Norman ports. OTL, he did manage to buy a reprieve; ITTL, he mostly just annoyed the Normans, and the Danes kept on raiding. Things went poorly enough that Sweyn Forkbeard managed to take England for the Danes. The realm was divided upon his death and England is currently ruled from the Danelaw by a line of Anglo-Danish kings beginning with Sweyn's son, Cnut the Rich. England is much more plugged into the Scandinavian world right now than it is to the continent.I wanna type out a long opinion piece and give my thoughts on what may happen next... but I know absolutely nothing about medieval European politics.
Um... think of something, think of something... did the Norman conquest of England went like OTL?
Oh, warring in the south of France isn't just this TL; it was OTL, too. All of France in this time period was basically a hellscape of feudal infighting, but those who say "oc" rather than "oïl" or "si" were among the worst offenders, with petty nobles going for each other's throats and bickering over land claims and claiming land they could never control. The difference here is that an avaricious Count of Toulouse is being a little more successful in carving out a more significant realm for himself, and he has ambitions for more. William the Cruel seems to be trying to bring some order to at least his little slice of the chaos. OTL, that never really happened; even by the time of the Albigensian Crusade, the Languedoc was a hilarious scattershot of little fiefdoms and de jure vassals who nevertheless acted independently, most of them nominally bending the knee to Paris but operating effectively as independent statelets.
That's probably a big part of why we never really got a unified Occitano-Romance language continuum, or even a real name for it before someone from outside came in and invented the term "Occitan" by slapping "oc" on the front of "Aquitaine." In fact at this time it might've been called Romance, or it might've been called Limousin in the north of the "oc" area and Provencal in the coasty part, but there are still a whole bunch of dialects.
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Poor william VI, thought he was leading to a independent southern france. At this point the marches are now fucked? North in turmoil, constant raids from the south. No french help and an andalusia which hasn't gone on a military adventure for a while might smell the blood in the water. Have the umayyad settlements in southern france been destroyed yet?
Planet of Hats
Donor
The Umayyad settlements in Provence got trashed roughly on schedule; the descendants of William the Liberator currently rule in Provence and the Arelat.
Actually, William VI did good things for Navarre; his reign allowed the Cluniac reforms to, belatedly, spread in that realm, and led to an increase in Navarre's prestige. In the end, though, he fell prey to what often happened in the medieval world: A promising monarch looks like he's about to go on a streak and carve out a realm for himself, but ultimately his realm does not outlive him. Navarre's stronger for his and Sancha's efforts, though, and Aquitaine will certainly rise again. And it's certainly clear now that the King of France has no real power from Poitiers on south.
William, Duke of Narbonne and Count of Toulouse, may have better luck. With Aquitaine between him and Paris/Angers, he's got a great big buffer he can use to cheerily go about carving out a realm in the south of France.
Please tell me the hashashin still exist? We need these baddasses also good plot device.
ACT III Part XVIII: Build-up to the Lateran Wars
Planet of Hats
Donor
Excerpt: De historia certamen in urbe Sancti - Heidrich of Liesborn, AD 1134
Note from Dr. Mirza: Heidrich of Liesborn is a German monk who died at the monastery at Liesborn in 1134. Prior, however, he was a minor functionary in Rome, where he seems to have consulted with his older peers on the events of the past century. He is one of the best sources for information on the Lateran Wars.
Now to fully reckon with the events which have transpired, yea to lead us even unto this place, upon the passage of history, it becomes necessary, by the grace of God, to reflect on the events which came before us. For it is said that history is the story of the deeds of great men, whose shoes in which the living walk. So it is for the disposition of the Church, and of the Empire, and how things came to pass.
It is thence from the reign of the Bishop of Rome, he called John XVIII, from which the root of the event springs, for it was he who instilled in the once and former emperor of the Romans, Otto IV, the thirst for Adventure in the north, and with him, the preoccupation of the Empire in the subordination of the pagan, and the adventure of these poor souls in Christ. Now it was in the year 1036 that John XVIII passed into the halls of the Lord, some years after the great recapture of Brandenburg, and the installation of Emelrich as Count of the Havelland, he who would reign over the lands of the Heveli.
I shall endeavour to make these events brief, for the years are long and complex. Nevertheless, in the wake of the death of the holy John, there were three men weighed to take from him the Throne of St. Peter. In the end, however, the supporters of Bishop Ranerius of Lucera - they were mostly the Italians - struck a bargain with the supporters of the Emperor, and they cast into nomination the name of Villano, he who was Bishop of Brescia at the time, and he took for himself the name of Benedict VIII. Now this Benedict was a good man, but a man with no strong opinions of the role of the Holy See, and a man with no strong opinions of the Emperor, but he was viewed by all concerned as a man acceptable to most parties.
Spurned in all of this was Octavianus, the younger brother of the pontiff John, and one of the House of Tusculum, an uncle to the Count of Tusculum, the young Theophylact III. Now resentful of the turn of events which had seen him off of the throne, did Theophylact the avaricious young man favour the impressionable pontiff with gifts and favours, and Benedict did favour the young Count for his gifts, and grant privileges to him within Rome, until the power of his line there sat above the Emperors. For the house of Theophylact was never one that had favoured the Teutons, and had long sought unto themselves the power. And it was said of Benedict that he allowed church offices to be bought and sold, and took drink from Theophylact even in the Lateran, and neglected in some ways the business of the spirit. And under him the church continued upon the bleak course, where the simony was not condemned or seen as sin, and the word of God the almighty was muted even in the basilicas and the priories.
Now the one great act of Benedict was an act not great in his time, for in his wisdom he did mediate between the sons of the Margrave Boniface III of Tuscany in their dispute. For Boniface lay upon his deathbed, and his sons squabbled over his inheritance, and with it the disposition of many vast estates in the lands of Tuscany. Now finding the elder brother Guy to be a man of sin who had gambled with dice and acted with shame towards his spouse and his father, did the pontiff take the side of Lambert in their dispute. By writ of Benedict, then, was Lambert granted the Margravinate and lordship over Tuscany, and the lands of Florence, and Lucca, and Crema, and Arezzo, and Reggio, and Siena, and Guy was granted the right to rule in Mantua, and Verona, and Brescia. And so were the lands of Boniface divided, and Guy made the greater.
Now in 1041 did Otto busy himself in the north, with the raids of the Rugian Slavs, who savagely burned without let in the north, and they adopted the ways of the Northmen, sailing in boats and savaging the shores with neither mercy, and their ways were pagan and cruel. And as the young emperor did so, he bore a daughter upon the body of Anna of Poland his wife, and celebrated her birth with some joy.
And it was that in 1042 did Benedict perish unto the Lord, and Otto did return to Rome to appoint in his stead Innocent II, but the warm air of Rome did not agree with him, and he perished by summer's height. Now upon the death of Innocent did some in the church chafe at the continued insistence of the Germans, and sought to place a pontiff of Roman backing upon the throne, but instead Otto exercised his prerogative, and chose instead he would be Innocent III, a man of no true offense, yet despised in the city for his Germanness, and his loyalty to the Emperor overall. And he did rule in a minor stead for some five years, and perished unto his death in time.
Nor as Otto was at war in the north once more, did Theophylact dispense his largesse upon the cardinals and the men of the church, and many of the churchmen were more loyal to he than even to God. And with Otto yet to arrive in Rome, did these churchmen place upon the throne Hildebrand Scudoverde, he who was a close friend and mentor to Theophylact, and he took for himself the name of Clement III, but it would better that he be called the Son of Lucifer, for he was the most evil man ever to sit upon the Throne of St. Peter, and a man enticed by the corporeal wealth. It is said that Clement did turn the Lateran into a brothel, and defied the holiest of holies with prostitutes and wines, and that he inflicted vile ravishment upon the bodies of no less than four different women, and bore upon them no less than five children, and even that he partook in sodomy. And he consulted with Lucifer himself, and crafted from bronze a brazen head, which spake in the tongue of the Evil One, and it is said that he made vile oaths with him, and promised the Teutons unto the service of Hell, and sacrificed a goat to seal his pact.[1] And he spent the gold of the Lateran like water, and he defiled the Holy See with his wantonness. And so grievous were his deeds that the people of Rome did rise against him and cry out, "Get ye behind me, Satan!" And they cast Clement from the walls of Rome, and drove him into the wilderness, but he returned with paid men, and restored himself to the throne of Peter, and granted largesse upon them.
Yet in time the immorality of Clement was apparent even to Otto, and the Emperor did travel to Rome and unseat his chosen man, and Clement did take shelter in the Castel Sant'Angelo. There did Otto, weary from years of travel, send men to seize him, and Clement was dragged from the tor, and placed in the gaol, there to expire.
Now through all of this grew a steadier resentment of the Teutons among the people of Rome, and those of Italy, and the Holy See came to be seen as little more than appendage of the Teutonic throne, even as the ailing Otto did place upon the throne his chaplain Bruno, who styled himself John XIX. And yet, it was Otto who perished unto his death in this time, on campaign to drive the Obotrites and the Luticii from their lands, where he was struck down by camp fever. And the realm was thrown into uncertainty, for Otto had no male issue unto himself, and merely three daughters. And John did seek the appointment of another Saxon to the throne, for he was loyal to those men.
But the nobles of the Teutons chose instead Hermann, the Duke of Swabia, he who had made his name in the Adventures in the lands of the Slavs. Now perhaps the age of 40, with a young son growing well, Hermann was seen as a man of integrity and piety, and committed to the mastering of the cold north, and the adventure of the Slavic race into the bosom of Christ. Now tensions ran high between John and Hermann, and John delayed Hermann's coronation for many months, until John's death in 1056, after a pontificate of two years.
Swiftly did Hermann move to endorse a loyal man, and his choice was Conrad, the Bishop of Passau, and the loyalists among the Cardinals acceded to this choice, and Conrad did become Pope Benedict IX. But the Romans were wroth with this choice, and chose in his stead a Roman, who styled himself Innocent IV, and with the consent of Theophylact, did rise against Benedict, and drive him from the city walls. Now the Teutons attempted to retake the city, but were resisted mightily, and Innocent did take for himself the Lateran. But the next year did Hermann arrive in person, and with him a great host of men. And they stormed the city gates, and took Innocent prisoner, and beheaded Theophylact unto his dead, and Innocent was permitted to live out his days in a monastery. And Benedict was restored to the Lateran, and Hermann returned to the north, to see to the wars against the Obotrites.
Now in those days the German, Rudolfus, was left to see to affairs in Rome, with some number of men. Yet the mightiest lord of the land was Lambert of Tuscany, Margrave of that great land. And Lambert had been loyal to Otto, but found in Hermann a man more concerned with Adventure and glory than with the affairs of the Italians, and he felt the Emperor to intrude overmuch in his affairs. And his contempt for Hermann grew.
In the north, the campaign dragged on against the Obotrite, and the son of Hermann - the brave young man Heinrich - he was slain unto his death by a mob of pagans some years later, and Hermann was wracked with grief, and rent his clothes and wept, and Hermann's younger children wept with him. For his second son had entered the church, and he had no other sons, and unready to succeed him should diaster fall. But all was not shadow, and before the reign of Benedict was out, in 1067 perhaps, did the Romans drive the pagan into the sea, (yet the island of Rugen was left unmolested,) and divided up the pagan realm, and counts were placed over Schwerin and Riedegost, and chaplains sent to convert the heathens, and speed their adventure in Christ.
Now the reign of Benedict was longer than some in his time, and in his passage came Marinus III, who was also a Teuton. And he reigned for some nine years, and assessed the situation in the Empire of the Greeks as they warred with their fellow Christians, (but then the ways of the Greeks are strange!,) and was in all ways loyal to Hermann, but continued the abuses of his predecessors, and the appointment of the bishops by the noble class, and the sale of church offices, and the wanton spending of gold on frivolities.
In those days, desperate for a boy heir, did Hermann wed Emma of Champagne. And even as he feuded with the King of Arles over the Imperial claim to Upper Burgundy, did Hermann celebrate in 1069 the birth of his son, also named Hermann. And the boy was to be given a great education, that he would one day succeed his father.
Now in those days rose a churchman of Francia, and he was Amalric of Cambrai. And he had been once a monk at the great abbot of Cluny, before coming to Rome as a legate and deacon under Benedict IX, and eventually became Cardinal-Bishop of Velletri-Segni and Ostia, and was known far and wide as a man of true principle and stiffness of spine. And he saw in the church great corruption, and detested the heavy hand of the Teutons upon its affairs, and the scheming of the Counts of Tusculum, and of the Romans, and sought to restore the Church and bring back the old ways, (for in truth it is said he was blessed by God himself, and once beheld a dove when he was a boy, and the dove gave upon him a holy task,)[2] and many of the French bishops and cardinals agreed with him, and among them some of the Lombards, and those who decried the rank corruption brought upon the Church.
Now upon the death of Marinus in 1078 did another German follow him, and he took for himself the name of John, the twentieth to be so named. And his deeds were few, in his time, some four years, but it is his death that was important. For in 1081 did Hermann die, and the twelve-year-old son of the old emperor was raised as Hermann II, and his mother Adela was his regent, and with her Conrad, greatest of the barons of Swabia, and Hermann's trusty retainer. And Marinus did plan eventually to crown the lad, but in the winter of 1083 did old age take him.
Thus it was, after the customary three days of mourning, did the bishops assemble in Rome, and with them came the French Bishops all as one, and many of the Lombards, and the Romans, (though in truth it may be said that they simply chose this path for expediency,) and some of Hispania, and they did beseech their fellows: "The corruption of the Teutons can no more trouble mother church! Come, let us restore the Holy See to the ways of God! Let us no longer traffic in vile corruption!"
Thus was the name of Amalric placed into nomination, and the cardinals did acclaim him to the pontificate, and he took for himself the name of Urbanus, the second to be so named. Now the rules in those days called for the Bishop of Rome to be affirmed by the Emperor. Yet Urbanus traveled south, and parlayed with the Normans of Benevento, and when he returned to Rome, he decreed that no temporal monarch had the right to stand above the Vicar of Christ, and that the authority of the Emperor came from God, not the authority of Rome from the Emperor. And he said that the title of Emperor of the Romans was given to Charles the Great by the Bishop of Rome, not the Roman see by Charles the Great, and that the pontificate was by right no sovereign of Hermann's, nor of any emperor of the Teutons.
Upon hearing of the saying of Urbanus, the boy Hermann was sore wroth, and it is said he threw his schoolbooks from the highest tower in Swabia. And a letter was composed on his behalf, (for the boy was still but 14 or 15 at the time,) and it was addressed: "To the false monk Amalric," and declared instead the German, Hunoald, to be the true pontiff of Rome, and the German Bishops did support him, and proclaimed him John XXI.
Now the armies of Hermann did begin to assemble, but the boy was but a lad, and locked in war for Upper Burgundy besides, and could spare fewer men than he needed. And Urbanus, (for he was a man of great ambition and charisma,) did go unto Tuscany, and sent swift rider to Robert the Norman of Benevento, and called upon his allies, when he heard of the Teutons approaching. And thus it was that the Teutons were met upon the field by a host of Romans, and the Tuscans, and a host of Normans besides, and the Teutons were turned back upon the field of Fidenza, and no German host came within sight of Rome.
Now as the winter turned, did Hunoald the false bishop who called himself John XXI declare Urbanus and all his supporters to be excommunicated. And Urbanus in his righteousness did declare Hunoald and Hermann to be excommunicated, and chastened them for the act of robbing the right of investiture from the church, and chastened them for the selling of church offices. And he declared all of Hermann's vassals the right to rise against him, though many would not hear of it beyond the bounds of Italia.
Those who were strongest in the support of Urbanus were the Normans of the southern peninsula, who had battled the Greeks and the Saracens, and with them the Tuscans, and some of the Lombards. And thus it was that the wars over the occupant of the Lateran became one beyond the Empire, for with the Kingdom of Arles still under threat of Imperial annexation should Hermann emerge victorious, Duke William of Narbonne found himself watching these events with worry, fearing that his claim to rule Provence may be in jeopardy should Hermann defeat the Italians and win the sanction of a tame Pontiff in returning to his family's Burgundian wars. Even as he struggled to choose a side, however, these Wars for the Lateran would scorch the face of Christendom for years, and the fate of Europa would turn upon them.[3][4]
[1] It's safe to say that Clement's reputation may be exaggerated by his political enemies, mainly those with an interest in breaking the hold of the Holy Roman Emperor upon the Papacy.
[2] You might be beginning to understand that Heidrich is not all that friendly to the Imperial faction.
[3] Who's up for an Italian revolt wrapped around the Investiture Controversy wrapped around papal corruption becoming associated with Imperially-appointed German pontiffs? This is nothing less than a battle for the fate of the Papacy and it has the potential to consume Europe in the years ahead.
[4] I'll have a map post coming after this.
Note from Dr. Mirza: Heidrich of Liesborn is a German monk who died at the monastery at Liesborn in 1134. Prior, however, he was a minor functionary in Rome, where he seems to have consulted with his older peers on the events of the past century. He is one of the best sources for information on the Lateran Wars.
Now to fully reckon with the events which have transpired, yea to lead us even unto this place, upon the passage of history, it becomes necessary, by the grace of God, to reflect on the events which came before us. For it is said that history is the story of the deeds of great men, whose shoes in which the living walk. So it is for the disposition of the Church, and of the Empire, and how things came to pass.
It is thence from the reign of the Bishop of Rome, he called John XVIII, from which the root of the event springs, for it was he who instilled in the once and former emperor of the Romans, Otto IV, the thirst for Adventure in the north, and with him, the preoccupation of the Empire in the subordination of the pagan, and the adventure of these poor souls in Christ. Now it was in the year 1036 that John XVIII passed into the halls of the Lord, some years after the great recapture of Brandenburg, and the installation of Emelrich as Count of the Havelland, he who would reign over the lands of the Heveli.
I shall endeavour to make these events brief, for the years are long and complex. Nevertheless, in the wake of the death of the holy John, there were three men weighed to take from him the Throne of St. Peter. In the end, however, the supporters of Bishop Ranerius of Lucera - they were mostly the Italians - struck a bargain with the supporters of the Emperor, and they cast into nomination the name of Villano, he who was Bishop of Brescia at the time, and he took for himself the name of Benedict VIII. Now this Benedict was a good man, but a man with no strong opinions of the role of the Holy See, and a man with no strong opinions of the Emperor, but he was viewed by all concerned as a man acceptable to most parties.
Spurned in all of this was Octavianus, the younger brother of the pontiff John, and one of the House of Tusculum, an uncle to the Count of Tusculum, the young Theophylact III. Now resentful of the turn of events which had seen him off of the throne, did Theophylact the avaricious young man favour the impressionable pontiff with gifts and favours, and Benedict did favour the young Count for his gifts, and grant privileges to him within Rome, until the power of his line there sat above the Emperors. For the house of Theophylact was never one that had favoured the Teutons, and had long sought unto themselves the power. And it was said of Benedict that he allowed church offices to be bought and sold, and took drink from Theophylact even in the Lateran, and neglected in some ways the business of the spirit. And under him the church continued upon the bleak course, where the simony was not condemned or seen as sin, and the word of God the almighty was muted even in the basilicas and the priories.
Now the one great act of Benedict was an act not great in his time, for in his wisdom he did mediate between the sons of the Margrave Boniface III of Tuscany in their dispute. For Boniface lay upon his deathbed, and his sons squabbled over his inheritance, and with it the disposition of many vast estates in the lands of Tuscany. Now finding the elder brother Guy to be a man of sin who had gambled with dice and acted with shame towards his spouse and his father, did the pontiff take the side of Lambert in their dispute. By writ of Benedict, then, was Lambert granted the Margravinate and lordship over Tuscany, and the lands of Florence, and Lucca, and Crema, and Arezzo, and Reggio, and Siena, and Guy was granted the right to rule in Mantua, and Verona, and Brescia. And so were the lands of Boniface divided, and Guy made the greater.
Now in 1041 did Otto busy himself in the north, with the raids of the Rugian Slavs, who savagely burned without let in the north, and they adopted the ways of the Northmen, sailing in boats and savaging the shores with neither mercy, and their ways were pagan and cruel. And as the young emperor did so, he bore a daughter upon the body of Anna of Poland his wife, and celebrated her birth with some joy.
And it was that in 1042 did Benedict perish unto the Lord, and Otto did return to Rome to appoint in his stead Innocent II, but the warm air of Rome did not agree with him, and he perished by summer's height. Now upon the death of Innocent did some in the church chafe at the continued insistence of the Germans, and sought to place a pontiff of Roman backing upon the throne, but instead Otto exercised his prerogative, and chose instead he would be Innocent III, a man of no true offense, yet despised in the city for his Germanness, and his loyalty to the Emperor overall. And he did rule in a minor stead for some five years, and perished unto his death in time.
Nor as Otto was at war in the north once more, did Theophylact dispense his largesse upon the cardinals and the men of the church, and many of the churchmen were more loyal to he than even to God. And with Otto yet to arrive in Rome, did these churchmen place upon the throne Hildebrand Scudoverde, he who was a close friend and mentor to Theophylact, and he took for himself the name of Clement III, but it would better that he be called the Son of Lucifer, for he was the most evil man ever to sit upon the Throne of St. Peter, and a man enticed by the corporeal wealth. It is said that Clement did turn the Lateran into a brothel, and defied the holiest of holies with prostitutes and wines, and that he inflicted vile ravishment upon the bodies of no less than four different women, and bore upon them no less than five children, and even that he partook in sodomy. And he consulted with Lucifer himself, and crafted from bronze a brazen head, which spake in the tongue of the Evil One, and it is said that he made vile oaths with him, and promised the Teutons unto the service of Hell, and sacrificed a goat to seal his pact.[1] And he spent the gold of the Lateran like water, and he defiled the Holy See with his wantonness. And so grievous were his deeds that the people of Rome did rise against him and cry out, "Get ye behind me, Satan!" And they cast Clement from the walls of Rome, and drove him into the wilderness, but he returned with paid men, and restored himself to the throne of Peter, and granted largesse upon them.
Yet in time the immorality of Clement was apparent even to Otto, and the Emperor did travel to Rome and unseat his chosen man, and Clement did take shelter in the Castel Sant'Angelo. There did Otto, weary from years of travel, send men to seize him, and Clement was dragged from the tor, and placed in the gaol, there to expire.
Now through all of this grew a steadier resentment of the Teutons among the people of Rome, and those of Italy, and the Holy See came to be seen as little more than appendage of the Teutonic throne, even as the ailing Otto did place upon the throne his chaplain Bruno, who styled himself John XIX. And yet, it was Otto who perished unto his death in this time, on campaign to drive the Obotrites and the Luticii from their lands, where he was struck down by camp fever. And the realm was thrown into uncertainty, for Otto had no male issue unto himself, and merely three daughters. And John did seek the appointment of another Saxon to the throne, for he was loyal to those men.
But the nobles of the Teutons chose instead Hermann, the Duke of Swabia, he who had made his name in the Adventures in the lands of the Slavs. Now perhaps the age of 40, with a young son growing well, Hermann was seen as a man of integrity and piety, and committed to the mastering of the cold north, and the adventure of the Slavic race into the bosom of Christ. Now tensions ran high between John and Hermann, and John delayed Hermann's coronation for many months, until John's death in 1056, after a pontificate of two years.
Swiftly did Hermann move to endorse a loyal man, and his choice was Conrad, the Bishop of Passau, and the loyalists among the Cardinals acceded to this choice, and Conrad did become Pope Benedict IX. But the Romans were wroth with this choice, and chose in his stead a Roman, who styled himself Innocent IV, and with the consent of Theophylact, did rise against Benedict, and drive him from the city walls. Now the Teutons attempted to retake the city, but were resisted mightily, and Innocent did take for himself the Lateran. But the next year did Hermann arrive in person, and with him a great host of men. And they stormed the city gates, and took Innocent prisoner, and beheaded Theophylact unto his dead, and Innocent was permitted to live out his days in a monastery. And Benedict was restored to the Lateran, and Hermann returned to the north, to see to the wars against the Obotrites.
Now in those days the German, Rudolfus, was left to see to affairs in Rome, with some number of men. Yet the mightiest lord of the land was Lambert of Tuscany, Margrave of that great land. And Lambert had been loyal to Otto, but found in Hermann a man more concerned with Adventure and glory than with the affairs of the Italians, and he felt the Emperor to intrude overmuch in his affairs. And his contempt for Hermann grew.
In the north, the campaign dragged on against the Obotrite, and the son of Hermann - the brave young man Heinrich - he was slain unto his death by a mob of pagans some years later, and Hermann was wracked with grief, and rent his clothes and wept, and Hermann's younger children wept with him. For his second son had entered the church, and he had no other sons, and unready to succeed him should diaster fall. But all was not shadow, and before the reign of Benedict was out, in 1067 perhaps, did the Romans drive the pagan into the sea, (yet the island of Rugen was left unmolested,) and divided up the pagan realm, and counts were placed over Schwerin and Riedegost, and chaplains sent to convert the heathens, and speed their adventure in Christ.
Now the reign of Benedict was longer than some in his time, and in his passage came Marinus III, who was also a Teuton. And he reigned for some nine years, and assessed the situation in the Empire of the Greeks as they warred with their fellow Christians, (but then the ways of the Greeks are strange!,) and was in all ways loyal to Hermann, but continued the abuses of his predecessors, and the appointment of the bishops by the noble class, and the sale of church offices, and the wanton spending of gold on frivolities.
In those days, desperate for a boy heir, did Hermann wed Emma of Champagne. And even as he feuded with the King of Arles over the Imperial claim to Upper Burgundy, did Hermann celebrate in 1069 the birth of his son, also named Hermann. And the boy was to be given a great education, that he would one day succeed his father.
Now in those days rose a churchman of Francia, and he was Amalric of Cambrai. And he had been once a monk at the great abbot of Cluny, before coming to Rome as a legate and deacon under Benedict IX, and eventually became Cardinal-Bishop of Velletri-Segni and Ostia, and was known far and wide as a man of true principle and stiffness of spine. And he saw in the church great corruption, and detested the heavy hand of the Teutons upon its affairs, and the scheming of the Counts of Tusculum, and of the Romans, and sought to restore the Church and bring back the old ways, (for in truth it is said he was blessed by God himself, and once beheld a dove when he was a boy, and the dove gave upon him a holy task,)[2] and many of the French bishops and cardinals agreed with him, and among them some of the Lombards, and those who decried the rank corruption brought upon the Church.
Now upon the death of Marinus in 1078 did another German follow him, and he took for himself the name of John, the twentieth to be so named. And his deeds were few, in his time, some four years, but it is his death that was important. For in 1081 did Hermann die, and the twelve-year-old son of the old emperor was raised as Hermann II, and his mother Adela was his regent, and with her Conrad, greatest of the barons of Swabia, and Hermann's trusty retainer. And Marinus did plan eventually to crown the lad, but in the winter of 1083 did old age take him.
Thus it was, after the customary three days of mourning, did the bishops assemble in Rome, and with them came the French Bishops all as one, and many of the Lombards, and the Romans, (though in truth it may be said that they simply chose this path for expediency,) and some of Hispania, and they did beseech their fellows: "The corruption of the Teutons can no more trouble mother church! Come, let us restore the Holy See to the ways of God! Let us no longer traffic in vile corruption!"
Thus was the name of Amalric placed into nomination, and the cardinals did acclaim him to the pontificate, and he took for himself the name of Urbanus, the second to be so named. Now the rules in those days called for the Bishop of Rome to be affirmed by the Emperor. Yet Urbanus traveled south, and parlayed with the Normans of Benevento, and when he returned to Rome, he decreed that no temporal monarch had the right to stand above the Vicar of Christ, and that the authority of the Emperor came from God, not the authority of Rome from the Emperor. And he said that the title of Emperor of the Romans was given to Charles the Great by the Bishop of Rome, not the Roman see by Charles the Great, and that the pontificate was by right no sovereign of Hermann's, nor of any emperor of the Teutons.
Upon hearing of the saying of Urbanus, the boy Hermann was sore wroth, and it is said he threw his schoolbooks from the highest tower in Swabia. And a letter was composed on his behalf, (for the boy was still but 14 or 15 at the time,) and it was addressed: "To the false monk Amalric," and declared instead the German, Hunoald, to be the true pontiff of Rome, and the German Bishops did support him, and proclaimed him John XXI.
Now the armies of Hermann did begin to assemble, but the boy was but a lad, and locked in war for Upper Burgundy besides, and could spare fewer men than he needed. And Urbanus, (for he was a man of great ambition and charisma,) did go unto Tuscany, and sent swift rider to Robert the Norman of Benevento, and called upon his allies, when he heard of the Teutons approaching. And thus it was that the Teutons were met upon the field by a host of Romans, and the Tuscans, and a host of Normans besides, and the Teutons were turned back upon the field of Fidenza, and no German host came within sight of Rome.
Now as the winter turned, did Hunoald the false bishop who called himself John XXI declare Urbanus and all his supporters to be excommunicated. And Urbanus in his righteousness did declare Hunoald and Hermann to be excommunicated, and chastened them for the act of robbing the right of investiture from the church, and chastened them for the selling of church offices. And he declared all of Hermann's vassals the right to rise against him, though many would not hear of it beyond the bounds of Italia.
Those who were strongest in the support of Urbanus were the Normans of the southern peninsula, who had battled the Greeks and the Saracens, and with them the Tuscans, and some of the Lombards. And thus it was that the wars over the occupant of the Lateran became one beyond the Empire, for with the Kingdom of Arles still under threat of Imperial annexation should Hermann emerge victorious, Duke William of Narbonne found himself watching these events with worry, fearing that his claim to rule Provence may be in jeopardy should Hermann defeat the Italians and win the sanction of a tame Pontiff in returning to his family's Burgundian wars. Even as he struggled to choose a side, however, these Wars for the Lateran would scorch the face of Christendom for years, and the fate of Europa would turn upon them.[3][4]
~
END OF ACT III "WEST AND EAST"
STAY TUNED FOR
ACT THE FOURTH
"THE MATTER OF EUROPE"
STAY TUNED FOR
ACT THE FOURTH
"THE MATTER OF EUROPE"
~
[1] It's safe to say that Clement's reputation may be exaggerated by his political enemies, mainly those with an interest in breaking the hold of the Holy Roman Emperor upon the Papacy.
[2] You might be beginning to understand that Heidrich is not all that friendly to the Imperial faction.
[3] Who's up for an Italian revolt wrapped around the Investiture Controversy wrapped around papal corruption becoming associated with Imperially-appointed German pontiffs? This is nothing less than a battle for the fate of the Papacy and it has the potential to consume Europe in the years ahead.
[4] I'll have a map post coming after this.
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The church is so hypocritical. They accuse the HRE of being responsible for the corruption, when in fact the most corrupt popes were usually the ones nominated by the Romans. The Germans tended to nominate competent but weak popes. By "corruption", they just mean whatever encroaches on their power, not the real corruption. I'm sure they won't do much about simony or indulgences.