Moonlight in a Jar: An Al-Andalus Timeline
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ACT VIII Part II: The War of the Navarrese Succession
Planet of Hats
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Excerpt: 14: The Century That Changed Everything - Christian Saldmare, Dragon's Hill Press, AD 2002
The reputation of Abd ar-Rahman the Seafarer comes not only from his promotion of overseas exploration, trade and settlement, but from his handling of the most serious conflict Al-Andalus would face in generations - the War of the Navarrese Succession.
Since the invasion of Guillermo del Toro, the northern border wars between Al-Andalus and the Christian kingdoms had settled into an almost performative routine of back-and-forth summer raids. The border changed little, with key losses being the city of Viguera from Al-Andalus to Navarre and the city of Braga from Santiago to Al-Andalus, but by and large, the Duero Valley remained in the hands of mostly Santiagonian nobles, who had begun to develop a series of villages and towns there around Norman-style motte-and-bailey forts. The border between Santiago and Navarre had also fluctuated, with Navarre gaining control of the disputed town of San Semilio during a time of dispute between the Normandos and the native nobility.
By 1387, however, it was Navarre's turn to struggle. The rule of the House of Austermane would prove entirely brief following the death of Gustavo II in 1382, sonless. His brother, Guillermo IV, succeeded him, but he too succumbed to an early death in 1386, leaving the kingdom in the tender hands of his son - a baby boy born just six months before Guillermo's untimely demise.
The infant - Gustavo III, or Gustavo the Young - was not particularly welcomed by the local Basque nobility, who tended to resent the House of Austermane anyway. A regency council was established, headed up by Gustavo's mother, Ynes of Santiago - herself a princess from Navarre's western neighbour. But suspicion of Ynes, who was viewed as a puppet of her brother, King Alfonso II of Santiago, led the nobility to move to topple her. A palace coup saw Ynes flee the palace with Gustavo and her retinue as a noble faction under Count Milian of Alava, a distant descendant of the former Navarrese noble house. Milian - fancying himself King Milian I - could further cite a claim inherited from his descent from Gustavo the Young's grandmother.
Ynes and Gustavo wound up in Santiago, and Ynes appealed to her brother Alfonso for help. The Santiagonian king responded, seeing the opportunity to settle old grievances with the Basques, and he promptly sent his men up the Duero in the spring of 1387 to lay siege to San Semilio. As a smaller kingdom than Santiago, Navarre struggled to respond.
An unspoken subtext came in the nature of Santiago's allies: Alfonso's wife was Melisende of France, sister to crown prince Jocelyn and son of Queen Clarimonde and King Jocelyn, Duke of Normandy. Prince Jocelyn himself was married to Agnes of Gascony, daughter of Duke Guy IV of the same, who had long sought to assert the old Williamate claims to Navarre. Milian feared that a conflict could see his kingdom dismantled, partitioned between Santiago and French Gascony.
These fears led to his appeal to an unlikely savior: The Umayyad Caliph.
It wasn't unprecedented for the Christian kings to turn to the Moors to help mediate their various disputes - it had been done on occasions past. Navarre, for its part, had been grumblingly paying tribute to Isbili for some time, and while Milian might have wished to escape that obligation, he found himself in the position of being a usurper king with mainly local allies and powerful external enemies, and with few options to end the war before France could get involved. At the time, Al-Andalus - flush with wealth and benefitting from new technologies as yet unknown or uncommon in Christendom - outweighed Santiago militarily and had the potential to turn the tide of the war.
The fall of San Semilio in late 1387 accelerated Milian's timetable. His emissary was welcomed to Isbili, agreeing to continue the tributary relationship in exchange for intervention by the Caliph's agent.
For Abd ar-Rahman, the pressure to get involved was obvious. A long-time worry for generations of Andalusian rulers was the prospect of the northern kingdoms unifying or forging an alliance with France. The absorption of Navarre by a Santiagonian king with ties to France would upset the status quo and create a more formidable foe in the north. After some deliberation, Abd ar-Rahman placed his brother Sadiq at the head of a small army of Saqaliba and Berbers and sent him north. Milian agreed to continue to pay tribute to Isbili, while Abd ar-Rahman agreed to try and force Alfonso to the table.
By 1388, Navarre's western border had crumbled inward with the fall of Burgos, with Soria threatened next. Sadiq took his troops to Madinat as-Salih, sending out his scouts to determine the location of Alfonso's army. His first play was to present the Santiagonian king with a letter from Abd ar-Rahman, inviting him to accept Andalusian mediation of the Navarrese succession question. Alfonso accepted the letter and promised to consider it overnight.
The moment Sadiq was out of sight, however, Alfonso continued his march on to Soria. When Sadiq awoke the next morning to word of the Santiagonian movement, he mustered his troops into a rapid march northward. What he did not know is that Alfonso had already identified where the Andalusian army was, the size of their force and what routes they could feasibly take to get to Soria, which he correctly deduced that Sadiq would try to reinforce. Alfonso slowed his march and let his troops rest as they continued along the Douro, waiting for Sadiq and his army to cross through the more rugged terrain south of the Muslim-controlled border town Al-Mazan, then to cross the Duero itself, and finally continue through more rugged terrain. The more demanding march of the Andalusian forces left them tired by the time they came within sight of Alfonso's army, encamped near Tardelcuende.
On paper, the Andalusian forces had numerical superiority: Sadiq commanded about 6,000 men, including 1,000 Saqaliba, most of them mounted, while Alfonso had peeled off about 4,500 men from a larger force, most of them infantry, with most of his army left behind to reinforce San Semilio. But Alfonso's men were fresher and better-rested, expecting an attack, while Sadiq's were exhausted from a long march and surprised to find Alfonso's army in position to meet them. Made arrogant by his numbers advantage and greater proportion of cavalry, Sadiq led into the battle by sending the Saqaliba in to attack while dispatching the Berbers to attack the flanks, at which point Alfonso feigned withdrawal, luring the Andalusians into pursuing him.
In fact, Alfonso drew the Andalusian army into a pincer, and his own cavalry swept around to attack the Andalusian flank, cutting them off. The fresher Santiagonian infantry managed to withstand the Saqaliba's charge and inflicted casualties mainly with polearms. The force Sadiq came north with was primarily cavalry, with comparatively few crossbowmen, while Alfonso's vanguard was heavily stocked with pikemen. A powerful pike charge led by the Count of Astorga killed many of the Saqaliba, while the Berbers' ability to throw javelins from range was curtailed when the Santiagonian knights cut them off.
The Battle of Tardelcuende was a humiliating rout for the Andalusian contingent, and by the time Sadiq called the retreat, he had left nearly half his army dead on the field, including two-thirds of his Saqaliba. He had lost almost 3,000 men compared to barely 1,000 for Alfonso. The victorious Santiagonian king sent word back to his army and continued on to begin laying siege to Soria, while reinforcements began to move up from San Semilio towards the border post of Al-Mazan. Santiagonian forces would proceed to lay siege to both settlements.
Word of the humiliation at Tardelcuende reached Abd ar-Rahman, along with word that Santiagonian forces were now camped along the Duero, seeking to wear down the fortifications at Al-Mazan. The Hajib set to work mustering a much larger army, one better-equipped to confront Santiago.
The years of trade with China had opened up new technologies to Andalusian knowledge, transmitted through the Muslim world through contacts unknown to Christians at the time. Fire lances had come into use already, but by the time of Abd ar-Rahman's reign, blackpowder weapons were becoming more common, and new varieties had begun to enter service. Beyond that, the breakup of the Northern Blue Army had made Berber mercenaries more available, and the post-Great Plague population boom and societal restructuring had enabled Al-Andalus to build a much stronger Andalusi army. Advances in metallurgy enabled Andalusi troops to field more powerful crossbows, among other equipment.
As Abd ar-Rahman mustered his forces, however, word arrived from France that Queen Clarimonde had died, and her son, Jocelyn II, had succeeded to the throne. While the young man would see to his coronation first, common wisdom was that Al-Andalus and Navarre were on the clock for a French intervention.
The reputation of Abd ar-Rahman the Seafarer comes not only from his promotion of overseas exploration, trade and settlement, but from his handling of the most serious conflict Al-Andalus would face in generations - the War of the Navarrese Succession.
Since the invasion of Guillermo del Toro, the northern border wars between Al-Andalus and the Christian kingdoms had settled into an almost performative routine of back-and-forth summer raids. The border changed little, with key losses being the city of Viguera from Al-Andalus to Navarre and the city of Braga from Santiago to Al-Andalus, but by and large, the Duero Valley remained in the hands of mostly Santiagonian nobles, who had begun to develop a series of villages and towns there around Norman-style motte-and-bailey forts. The border between Santiago and Navarre had also fluctuated, with Navarre gaining control of the disputed town of San Semilio during a time of dispute between the Normandos and the native nobility.
By 1387, however, it was Navarre's turn to struggle. The rule of the House of Austermane would prove entirely brief following the death of Gustavo II in 1382, sonless. His brother, Guillermo IV, succeeded him, but he too succumbed to an early death in 1386, leaving the kingdom in the tender hands of his son - a baby boy born just six months before Guillermo's untimely demise.
The infant - Gustavo III, or Gustavo the Young - was not particularly welcomed by the local Basque nobility, who tended to resent the House of Austermane anyway. A regency council was established, headed up by Gustavo's mother, Ynes of Santiago - herself a princess from Navarre's western neighbour. But suspicion of Ynes, who was viewed as a puppet of her brother, King Alfonso II of Santiago, led the nobility to move to topple her. A palace coup saw Ynes flee the palace with Gustavo and her retinue as a noble faction under Count Milian of Alava, a distant descendant of the former Navarrese noble house. Milian - fancying himself King Milian I - could further cite a claim inherited from his descent from Gustavo the Young's grandmother.
Ynes and Gustavo wound up in Santiago, and Ynes appealed to her brother Alfonso for help. The Santiagonian king responded, seeing the opportunity to settle old grievances with the Basques, and he promptly sent his men up the Duero in the spring of 1387 to lay siege to San Semilio. As a smaller kingdom than Santiago, Navarre struggled to respond.
An unspoken subtext came in the nature of Santiago's allies: Alfonso's wife was Melisende of France, sister to crown prince Jocelyn and son of Queen Clarimonde and King Jocelyn, Duke of Normandy. Prince Jocelyn himself was married to Agnes of Gascony, daughter of Duke Guy IV of the same, who had long sought to assert the old Williamate claims to Navarre. Milian feared that a conflict could see his kingdom dismantled, partitioned between Santiago and French Gascony.
These fears led to his appeal to an unlikely savior: The Umayyad Caliph.
*
It wasn't unprecedented for the Christian kings to turn to the Moors to help mediate their various disputes - it had been done on occasions past. Navarre, for its part, had been grumblingly paying tribute to Isbili for some time, and while Milian might have wished to escape that obligation, he found himself in the position of being a usurper king with mainly local allies and powerful external enemies, and with few options to end the war before France could get involved. At the time, Al-Andalus - flush with wealth and benefitting from new technologies as yet unknown or uncommon in Christendom - outweighed Santiago militarily and had the potential to turn the tide of the war.
The fall of San Semilio in late 1387 accelerated Milian's timetable. His emissary was welcomed to Isbili, agreeing to continue the tributary relationship in exchange for intervention by the Caliph's agent.
For Abd ar-Rahman, the pressure to get involved was obvious. A long-time worry for generations of Andalusian rulers was the prospect of the northern kingdoms unifying or forging an alliance with France. The absorption of Navarre by a Santiagonian king with ties to France would upset the status quo and create a more formidable foe in the north. After some deliberation, Abd ar-Rahman placed his brother Sadiq at the head of a small army of Saqaliba and Berbers and sent him north. Milian agreed to continue to pay tribute to Isbili, while Abd ar-Rahman agreed to try and force Alfonso to the table.
By 1388, Navarre's western border had crumbled inward with the fall of Burgos, with Soria threatened next. Sadiq took his troops to Madinat as-Salih, sending out his scouts to determine the location of Alfonso's army. His first play was to present the Santiagonian king with a letter from Abd ar-Rahman, inviting him to accept Andalusian mediation of the Navarrese succession question. Alfonso accepted the letter and promised to consider it overnight.
The moment Sadiq was out of sight, however, Alfonso continued his march on to Soria. When Sadiq awoke the next morning to word of the Santiagonian movement, he mustered his troops into a rapid march northward. What he did not know is that Alfonso had already identified where the Andalusian army was, the size of their force and what routes they could feasibly take to get to Soria, which he correctly deduced that Sadiq would try to reinforce. Alfonso slowed his march and let his troops rest as they continued along the Douro, waiting for Sadiq and his army to cross through the more rugged terrain south of the Muslim-controlled border town Al-Mazan, then to cross the Duero itself, and finally continue through more rugged terrain. The more demanding march of the Andalusian forces left them tired by the time they came within sight of Alfonso's army, encamped near Tardelcuende.
On paper, the Andalusian forces had numerical superiority: Sadiq commanded about 6,000 men, including 1,000 Saqaliba, most of them mounted, while Alfonso had peeled off about 4,500 men from a larger force, most of them infantry, with most of his army left behind to reinforce San Semilio. But Alfonso's men were fresher and better-rested, expecting an attack, while Sadiq's were exhausted from a long march and surprised to find Alfonso's army in position to meet them. Made arrogant by his numbers advantage and greater proportion of cavalry, Sadiq led into the battle by sending the Saqaliba in to attack while dispatching the Berbers to attack the flanks, at which point Alfonso feigned withdrawal, luring the Andalusians into pursuing him.
In fact, Alfonso drew the Andalusian army into a pincer, and his own cavalry swept around to attack the Andalusian flank, cutting them off. The fresher Santiagonian infantry managed to withstand the Saqaliba's charge and inflicted casualties mainly with polearms. The force Sadiq came north with was primarily cavalry, with comparatively few crossbowmen, while Alfonso's vanguard was heavily stocked with pikemen. A powerful pike charge led by the Count of Astorga killed many of the Saqaliba, while the Berbers' ability to throw javelins from range was curtailed when the Santiagonian knights cut them off.
The Battle of Tardelcuende was a humiliating rout for the Andalusian contingent, and by the time Sadiq called the retreat, he had left nearly half his army dead on the field, including two-thirds of his Saqaliba. He had lost almost 3,000 men compared to barely 1,000 for Alfonso. The victorious Santiagonian king sent word back to his army and continued on to begin laying siege to Soria, while reinforcements began to move up from San Semilio towards the border post of Al-Mazan. Santiagonian forces would proceed to lay siege to both settlements.
Word of the humiliation at Tardelcuende reached Abd ar-Rahman, along with word that Santiagonian forces were now camped along the Duero, seeking to wear down the fortifications at Al-Mazan. The Hajib set to work mustering a much larger army, one better-equipped to confront Santiago.
The years of trade with China had opened up new technologies to Andalusian knowledge, transmitted through the Muslim world through contacts unknown to Christians at the time. Fire lances had come into use already, but by the time of Abd ar-Rahman's reign, blackpowder weapons were becoming more common, and new varieties had begun to enter service. Beyond that, the breakup of the Northern Blue Army had made Berber mercenaries more available, and the post-Great Plague population boom and societal restructuring had enabled Al-Andalus to build a much stronger Andalusi army. Advances in metallurgy enabled Andalusi troops to field more powerful crossbows, among other equipment.
As Abd ar-Rahman mustered his forces, however, word arrived from France that Queen Clarimonde had died, and her son, Jocelyn II, had succeeded to the throne. While the young man would see to his coronation first, common wisdom was that Al-Andalus and Navarre were on the clock for a French intervention.
Yo dawg I heard you like normans
so we dragged rouennais france into santiago's war, so you can fight normans while you fight normans
(France needs this win, here's hoping they capture some gunsmiths)
so we dragged rouennais france into santiago's war, so you can fight normans while you fight normans
(France needs this win, here's hoping they capture some gunsmiths)
Now, this is getting interesting. The first all-Iberian war with French intervention and the Saqaliba are on their way out.
Two questions though, what is Provence doing right now while all hell broke loose across their borders? And how exactly did the Normandos in Iberia influence the language and their culture, what do you think (or know, for that matter, since it's your timeline) they may have imported?
Two questions though, what is Provence doing right now while all hell broke loose across their borders? And how exactly did the Normandos in Iberia influence the language and their culture, what do you think (or know, for that matter, since it's your timeline) they may have imported?
Probably at the same manner as the Normans influenced the Anglo-Saxons IOTL.
The Norman Nobles are the Hapsburg equivalent of TTL honestly, constantly spreading around, reproducing and putting their people in places of power. Defeating them would be one small step for Andalusia and one giant step for the Ummah.
Also gunpowder will finally make its debut, what’s the chance of an Andalusian “fire lances” coming into then hands of the French, and eventually the rest of Europe.
Also gunpowder will finally make its debut, what’s the chance of an Andalusian “fire lances” coming into then hands of the French, and eventually the rest of Europe.
Planet of Hats
Donor
The Norman takeover of Iberia brought a few things. They brought in motte-and-bailey forts; French-style heavy cavalry; French concepts of vassalage and suzerainty; French-style currency; and liturgical reform on the order of that brought in OTL by the Cluniacs. They also fostered greater contact between northern Iberia and France, and, thereby, the rest of Europe.
They also brought in French names. You'll run into Santiagonians of both Normando and native-Iberian extraction who have names like Geofredo (Godfrey), Balduino (Baldwin), Luis (Louis), Felipe (Philip), Aucido (Alcide), Gustavo (Gustave), Leonor (Eleanor), Ines (Ynes/Agnes), Antonieta (Antoinette), Imengarda (Ermengarde), Manonna (Manone), et cetera. They're in there with the usual local assortment of Alfonsos, Bermudos, Munios, Jimenos, Garcias, Sanchos, Rodrigos, Veremondos and the like.
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Wishing nothing but the best for the Navarrese here, I have a soft spot for the Pyrenean language isolate kingdom. Hoping this will end with them maintaining their independence and living to get Newfoundland for their cod fishers. Speaking of Navarre, actually, should it be assumed that the Pamplona>Navarre shift happened roughly as OTL?
Nah, we need smaller Santiago, so hope a great victory for andalus
Given the supposed reputation of Abd ar-Rahman 'the Seafarer', I'm guessing this war shall have the first instance of large-scale naval attacks on Santiago.
@Planet of Hats whats the geopolitics of muslim Malta? Rise of even stronger italian merchant cities, greek ottomans expanding rapidly will they follow the ottomans and try and take malta, collapse of the abbasids, Egypt is still eating glue. Its gotta be some 4d chess.
They are essentially alone with no muslim back up. Egypt is well all you can eat meal for the bataids, the rightful caliphate is now a game of guess who, so have they made a pragmatic decision to know go with cordoba. Ifriqiya seems to weak to be able to do anything. They must be shitting themselves since italians took beleric islands and fought andalusia (side question has malta been building a navy?). Have they made moves to courting Andalusia? What about working with the germans in a alliance against the pro papal cities.
Also whats the government of malta?
They are essentially alone with no muslim back up. Egypt is well all you can eat meal for the bataids, the rightful caliphate is now a game of guess who, so have they made a pragmatic decision to know go with cordoba. Ifriqiya seems to weak to be able to do anything. They must be shitting themselves since italians took beleric islands and fought andalusia (side question has malta been building a navy?). Have they made moves to courting Andalusia? What about working with the germans in a alliance against the pro papal cities.
Also whats the government of malta?
Planet of Hats
Donor
I actually am alive, yes. The election started here in Canada and I'm working on a campaign, which has monopolized a lot of my time.
Malta's still Muslim and mostly Arabo-Berber, but it is ruled by a weak emir who is very much tributary to Sicily, and most commerce is controlled by the Italian merchant class out of Sicily and Genoa. Christianity is gaining ground there but it's never been formerly conquered.
Wait muslims are converting? Why the hell haven't the bataids or andalusia used that excuse to invade? For them there will be no backlash and would make them seem even more muslim by destroying the ex-muslim. Wouldn't this be top priority for both caliphs to nip this in the but as leader of the ummah and all that. Also for the Bataids they need to legitimise there caliph.
Btw since the move of the Abbasids have they become greek?
Also did Baghdad get sacked when the bataids took its the most important city after mecca and medina. The most important if you ignore the purley religious reasoning.
I'm guessing the Christianity there is of the Bataid-Vallahades flavoring instead of the Roman Catholic one? Though with that being said, I wonder how the Papacy's doing. I've been reading Faces of Muhammad by John V. Toland in my spare time and wow did Middle Age Europe miss the mark on understanding their religious neighbors! I'm guessing there are already Greek, Latin and French translations of the Quran floating around by now, though I bet their translator-authors also added disparaging commentary and false fables interleaved between the pages,just like OTL.
In fact, given the further reach of the Bataids and Al-Andalus, there might be even more polemical texts regarding the Quran and especially Muhammad floating around, as learned priests and monks try their best to sway their congregations against Islam and why is the faith still knocking around at Europe's doors (and also to assuage themselves on whether they are actually "doing the right thing for the right faith".) Maybe ITTL these books are explicitly endorsed by the Papacy, in order to counteract the minds of their faithful against their new neighbors.
EDIT: Oops, went on a tangent there. Still wondering what kind of Christianity's gaining ground in Malta, tho.
Props catholic, orthodox have no muscle. Italians merchants are catholic and are doing the popes orders why share the victory with the greeks?
Excerpt: Crying Survivor: Last Centuries of the Eastern Roman Empire - Yunus Pagonis, International Scholastic Press, AD 2008
- Chapter 4 -
THE CRISIS OF THE 11th CENTURY
The Crisis of the 11th Century[1] is one of the more difficult time periods in the history of the Eastern Roman Empire to trace, often compared to the Crisis of the Third Century during the classical period. Much of the surviving history comes in fragments, and much more of it is editorialized to glorify claimants and conquerors; still more was lost in the Rape of Constantinople. This chapter attempts to tie together these disparate sources.
What is clear is that the Crisis is inextricably tied to events in the Holy Roman Empire, that of the German people. It is common in allohistorical fiction to hinge the Crisis entirely on the untimely death of Basileus Basil II Makedon[2] in 1005, struck on the head by a Bulgar axe while leading troops to intercept a raiding party in the shadow of Skopje after years of successfully beating back the Bulgars. However, the Crisis could not have happened without the intertwining of the Holy Roman succession with the Eastern Roman one, and the reactions of both parties to it.
The head injury didn't kill Basil; he was taken back to Constantinople in a deep coma and turned over to the court physicians. It did halt his campaign of conquest against the Bulgars and tie up imperial leadership in a fit of scheming. The heir apparent to Basil, in the event of his death, was his brother Constantine - a man with but three daughters issued from him, one of whom was married to Holy Roman Emperor Otto III.
THe matter was complicated further in 1006 when Otto died at a young age, leaving behind his youthful son Otto IV. This lad of just two was the son of the Saxon Emperor and the Empress Zoe, the daughter of Constantine. In 1006, with Constantine effectively serving as an indolent and unwilling regent to his comatose brother, Zoe stood as the heir apparent to the throne, her eldest sister having been disfigured by smallpox and standing ineligible to become ruler.[3] Simply following the family line would inevitably result in the crisis of a half-Saxon barbarian, heir presumptive to the Holy Roman Empire, taking the purple, under the guidance of his mother, herself tainted by Saxon exposure.
Even as Basil continued to cling to life, the dynatoi schemed and plotted around him, with many of them seeking ways to subvert Constantine. While Constantine busied himself with hunting and drink and left the affairs of state to his advisors, key figures wasted time and gold plotting against each other, diverting resources away from the Bulgar conflict.
Meanwhile, in the Holy Roman Empire, the electors of that kingdom faced a deeply divided succession, with many of the electors rallying behind the young Otto in the hopes of laying claim to Otto III's dream of reunifying the Roman Empire. The infant was hastily crowned King of Germany and placed under his mother's regency, but he faced an immediate challenge from Herman II, Duke of Swabia, who laid claim to the kingship in his own right. By 1007, with inconclusive battles wracking the Empire, Otto IV and Zoe were confronted with a series of peasant revolts in Rome as word of the tyrannical Otto III's death spread.
With the Holy Roman Empire grappling with the succession, back in Constantinople, Basil II finally succumbed to his injuries after a year and a half of clinging stubbornly to life. The regency of Constantine was made permanent, but the dynatoi already resolved to remove him, seeking far and wide for both strong candidates and the means to install them smoothly.
Perhaps a stronger Basileus could have navigated these challenges, but Constantine VIII is known to history as a venal, hedonistic man, given to frittering away time and gold on pleasures and hunts while neglecting the affairs of state. He seems to have been shockingly blind to the scheming of his nobles, leaving most of the work of running the empire to a handful of courtiers, themselves easily swept up in various schemes and plots. The war against the Bulgars fell into the hands of two generals: Nikephoros Xiphias, a man likely originating from a line of Italo-Greek nobility, and Theodorokanos, an Armenian who had served Basil loyally for many years.
A year into Constantine's rule, the Greeks received word that the Holy Roman revolt of Herman II had largely been put down, with the infant Otto IV now under the regency of Henry II, Duke of Bavaria and himself a pretender to the throne. In the east, trouble haunted the border with the Fatimid Caliphate, as Emir Mansur ibn Lu'lu of Aleppo, an unpopular man challenged by numerous factions, fell under the hegemony of Caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah.
On the Bulgar front, meanwhile, Roman forces suffered a sharp defeat at Polikastro,[4] being pushed back to Thessalonica as the Bulgars took advantage of confusion and mistrust in the Greek ranks to rebound and push their case. Later in 1009, though, a body of Greek men under Nikephoros Xiphias dealt the Bulgars a defeat at the Battle of Veria and continued to push against the enemy. Xiphias managed to rally the troops and resume the annual raids against the Bulgars in earnest, and though actual progress was slow, he could return to Constantinople with at least some positive reports of his progress.
The successes in the west raised the hopes of some among the dynatoi, still struggling to push Constantine VIII into the necessary duties of running the empire. The indolent emperor's forays into politics were increasingly viewed with terror; while the histories don't name names most of the time, it's apparently that several palace eunuchs were put to death after being found to be plotting against Constantine, while at least two high-ranking noblemen were blinded and castrated after Constantine accused them of some conspiracy. Among the most irksome executions was that of John the Orphanotrophos, Basil II's former protonotary and confidant, whom Constantine accused of attempting to scheme with a usurper. Beyond that he spent much of his time in the hippodrome and out at hunt, to the point that actual power lay with whichever court functionary could be found to go around Constantine.
The situation abruptly changed in 1011, when word came that Constantine VIII had died. Surviving accounts suggest he was assassinated, but no assassin is named, and most seem to have rejoiced in his demise and thrown themselves with gusto into the ensuing power struggle.
Two factions quickly emerged: A group of old Basil loyalists supporting the patrikios Romanos Argyros, and a group of Basil's enemies, led by Nikephoros Phokas, surnamed Barytrachelos, supporting the general Nikephoros Xiphias. Yet a third faction supported Theodora, the youngest daughter of Constantine. No faction supported Zoe; though an emissary from Otto IV arrived and made her case, the message merely galvanized opposition towards anyone but her, and the Greeks scrambled to find any option that would end up with someone on the throne who would not pass on the purple to a half-Saxon barbarian.
Ultimately Barytrachelos attracted greater support to his faction owing to the purging of some of Romanos's key supporters during the paranoid years of Constantine; the loss of John the Orphanotrophos, who supported Romanos before his death, was keenly felt in the Romanos faction's slow reactions. Buoyed by a wave of reports about his success in the west, Xiphias also boasted the loyalty of the troops on the Bulgar front.
The military support of Xiphias left many at court reluctant to act against him. He was hastily wed in a ceremony to Theodora, who was apparently less than pleased with the situation. Nevertheless the two were crowned Empress Theodora and Emperor Nikephoros III Xiphias in an extravagant ceremony intended to win over the Romanos faction, emphasizing Xiphias's military successes and the public's willingness to embrace him.
Almost the day Nikephoros III was crowned, the dynatoi went right back to scheming, particularly as hostilities with the Bulgars continued to demand Nikephoros's attention in the west. With the new emperor expected to be regularly away, factions continued to maneuver to outfox Barytrachelos, who held a great deal of power in Nikephoros's court, and to maneuver around Theodora, herself showing a high degree of ambition to govern.[5]
[1] Want to see the Pendulum Fallacy slowly put to death?
[2] He didn't live long enough to become known as Bulgaroktonos. I sense an army of Basil lovers mobilizing with pitchforks even as I type.
[3] No physically imperfect people allowed! Only perfectly pretty people get to wear the purple.
[4] Analogous to a Byzantine loss at the Battle of Kreta OTL.
[5] I'm thinking it's about time to get back to al-Andalus, what do you say? Falling dominos from our original POD have cascaded through Europe and placed the ERE on a very different course. We'll come back to Byzantium, Nikephoros III, the Fatimids and the Crisit of the 11th Century later - we didn't quite get to 1021 with either the HRE or the Byzantines - but the al-Andalus stuff is where the main story is, and I don't want to spend too much time away from it.
I applaud the high quality of your timeline. It's a worthy contender for the Harry Turtledove award. But I’m a little confused as to the story’s point of divergence. Why would the departure of Zoe from the Byzantine Empire turn Basil into a different man ? Did Basil and Zoe share a close bond ?
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Planet of Hats
Donor
Nah, he's the same guy but events played out differently enough after Zoe left that he happened to be in a position where a dude could thump him in the head. Butterflies sometimes have unpredictable outcomes. This is one of them.
As it happens, by the way, my hope is to get another chapter out this week. As some of you know, the election started here in Canada, and I'm doing a whole bunch of campaigning this time around, which is eating a lot of the time and energy I'd dedicate to writing. Once I can find a few free hours and claw together enough creativity to punch through election-induced writer's block, we'll get into the War of the Navarrese Succession.
I agree with you that the butterfly effect is unpredictable - inherently so. It's just that your other points of divergence were explained in more detail. I think a more plausible explanation for Basil taking an axe to the head might be the aristocracy attempting to overthrow him, in reaction to the possibility of Otto III (or his eventual son) inheriting the Byzantine throne. Unless, of course, such a conspiracy did happen, and it involved leading Basil into a Bulgarian ambush?
At any rate, I really look forward to the next update. With the addition of gunpowder to its arsenal, it seems Al-Andalus has an opportunity to completely change the political and military equation in Spain.
At any rate, I really look forward to the next update. With the addition of gunpowder to its arsenal, it seems Al-Andalus has an opportunity to completely change the political and military equation in Spain.
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ACT VIII Part III: Dragon's Flame
Planet of Hats
Donor
The weapon of the Moor is not mere steel, for he does call forth the great billows of fire, and they consume the host with a great cacophony and a most awesome terror. He brings forth great spouts and cupolas that are said to contain the breath of dragons, yea, that it is said their wise men have tamed, and have found a means to capture their flame and cast it forth. In this way it is not merely sail and steed that do deliver victory to the Moor, but also alchemy.
- Memoirs of Ilduin de Becerrea, 1419
~
Excerpt: Sail, Steed and Alchemy: Reflections on the Andalusian Experience During the War of the Navarrese Succession - Jean-Marc Laframboise, for the Journal of Transpyrenean Histories, 2018
For more than one reason, the War of the Navarrese Succession is considered the war that marked the definitive transition from the Middle Ages to a new age. It is the first war in which blackpowder weapons were widely used (predominantly by one side) and it is the first war in Iberia in generations to include massive changes in territory and balance of power. For Andalusian history, it is important because it marks a definitive transition out of old paradigms and into a new, more stable position.
Much of Andalusian history following the Berber Revolt was marked by periods of economic prosperity balanced by gradual territorial decline and border stagnation. Gains in the Atlas Islands and discoveries in the Western World were counterbalanced by the expansion of Christian powers into the so-called Duero Desert, a former no-man's-land left behind as the Andalusian border gradually receded southward. Into that gulf had moved Normando and Iberian settlers, establishing motte-and-bailey fortifications and new towns and expanding the Christian universe.
But the Andalus across the Central System of mountains was not the same Al-Andalus that existed in the Great Plague period. In the aftermath of that mass die-off, society had been reshaped by a massive transition of institutional power from Saqaliba and Arabo-Andalusians to indigenous Andalusis. The need to rely on mercenary armies almost exclusively was greatly diminished, mitigated by the ability of the Hizamids to raise citizen soldiers and produce weaponry, and enabling slave-soldier castes to be reduced to mere elite soldiers rather than holding an absolute monopoly on the use of force. The prosperity and expansion of trade which followed the Plague, together with the transmission of Chinese technology to Andalusia both through existing Islamic trade routes and Andalusian contact with India and the Arabian Peninsula, resulted in the region experiencing a flying leap in technological sophistication, particularly in terms of shipbuilding, metallurgy and the use of blackpowder.
Perhaps for the first time in centuries, Al-Andalus found itself in the position of having prohibitive military advantages over its northern neighbours. The conditions existed in which Abd ar-Rahman the Seafarer could break the ancient stalemate in the Iberian Peninsula and begin to roll back the slow decline of Al-Andalus's territorial boundaries.
*
Al-Andalus's entrance into the War of Navarrese Succession was fumbling, with an advance force humiliated at the Battle of Tardelcuende. With the fortifications at Al-Mazan besieged, Abd ar-Rahman hustled to raise his forces in defense.
Working to his advantage was that overtures between Santiago and France were slow. The recent death of Queen Clarimonde saw her son, Jocelyn II, seeing first to his coronation and the pacification of his more restive vassals. While Jocelyn was seen as likely to come to the aid of Santiagonian King Alfonso II, married as he was to Jocelyn's sister Melisende, it would take him time to consolidate himself in Paris and Rouen - time in which Abd ar-Rahman hoped to decide the fate of Navarre as a continued tributary to the Caliph and his agent.
Seeking to quickly turn the tide of the war, Abd ar-Rahman looked to the advantages Al-Andalus had over its rivals: Technology and mobility. Mustering his armies, he sent a force northward to relieve Al-Mazan, managing to break the Santiagonian siege after some months. This force largely consisted of Andalusian infantry and cavalry led by the remnants of the Saqaliba guard, eager to avenge the loss of their kinsmen. Santiagonian troops withdrew from Al-Mazan after dealing significant damage to the city's fortifications, but failed to capture it, and the Andalusian army swung to attempt to liberate a few Navarrese border towns.
But this would not be all of Abd ar-Rahman's forces. The Hajib personally joined a more select force of men, consisting primarily of the Black Guard and numerous Berber auxiliaries brought up from Al-Maghrib. Mustering a hundred ships from harbours along the southern coast - mostly of the tur type - the Hajib and his key field commanders set sail from Isbili with an army of several thousand men.
Muslim ship technology had begun to filter northward, but by and large, most navies at this time consisted of coast-hugging galleys. Santiago's own experiments with saqin-type ships were in their infancy. As such, Alfonso was totally unprepared when, in mid-1388, a hundred sail ships came sweeping out of the open ocean, made landfall at Corunna and captured a city that was supposed to be fully behind the lines and unassailable. The Andalusian army had simply sailed out into the ocean, looped around any potential interference by Santiago's coast-hugging galleys and dropped an army of thousands off behind the lines.
The sudden capture of Corunna put Moorish forces within striking distance of Santiago de Compostela, throwing Alfonso's war plans into chaos. Santiago struggled to mount a response, and a clumsy attempt by local forces to restore the city was beaten back with little difficulty. Abd ar-Rahman declined to advance on Santiago de Compostela directly, holding back the Black Guard and sending his Berbers out in mounted war parties to raid towns and villages throughout the northwest of the kingdom. Betanzos and Ferrol were captured in short order, while an attempt by Santiagonian galleys to destroy the Andalusian ship fleet was thwarted when the sailships revealed that they could fight: Galleys attempting to get close and ram found themselves barraged with fire arrows launched from the faster sailships' castles, while a contemporary report also documents the first use of fireballs (kurat naria) in the Iberian theatre.[1] These early fireballs were not dissimilar to the old naft weapons known among Muslims for centuries through contact with the Eastern Roman Empire, but adapted to utilize blackpowder - a design more akin to Chinese-style weapons, likely transmitted via steppe nomads like the Tabans through trade with Egypt and Ar-Rumaniyah.
Alfonso's efforts to break the naval link between Al-Andalus and the Bay of Corunna failed, and his troops began to pull back to try and mitigate some of the damage Abd ar-Rahman's select force was causing. By the end of 1388, the Berbers had burned much of Lugo and sacked villages and towns throughout the northwest, and troops and supplies continued to flow into Corunna as Andalusian ships simply swung wide of the coast to avoid entanglements with Alfonso's galleys. The Christian navy managed to retaliate in 1389 by attacking and burning the harbour of Porto, in Muslim hands for several years, an attack answered by a similar sacking of Vianna later that year.
By that point, the main army under the Andalusi general Abdullah ibn Gharsiya al-Marchuni had joined up with that of King Milian to break the Santiagonian siege of Soria and retake San Semilio. The Navarrese and Andalusian armies divided from there, proceeding on a steady march westward. Al-Marchuni's army swung down the Duero Valley, capturing several cities and laying siege to the key fort of Valladolid.
It was here that Al-Marchuni would be intercepted by a large force headed up by the Knights of Saint James. The Battle of Valladolid would prove decisive - and it would demonstrate just how far Andalusian technology had come.
*
The numbers involved at the Battle of Valladolid are a bit vague, but likely come down to about 15,000 Christians against a similar number of Muslims. Of these two forces, the Santiagonian force had the advantage of training and discipline: Leading the army were 2,000 Knights of Saint James, well-equipped Church Knights armed with high-quality horses and armour and well-trained in their effective use. While the Andalusian army was led by some thousand Saqaliba, their numbers had been thinned by the catastrophic loss at Tardelcuende, and most of their force consisted of Andalusi regulars and auxiliaries.
What the Christians were not counting on was the effectiveness of new weapons. These are famously attested by the historian Ilduin de Becerrea, who was along with the Santiagonians as an archer and had a good view of most of the field.
Al-Andalus had made use of the firelance in prior wars, but advancements in the technology resulted in the weapon becoming somewhat more widespread by this time: The fire lances utilized at the Battle of Valladolid boasted metal barrels. The cavalry engagement turned decisively towards the smaller number of Saqaliba as repeated attacks by firelance-wielding ranks left the Knights of Saint James disoriented and caused their horses to buck and come up short in panic. Crossbow fire similarly took its toll on the Knights as their attacks on the centre faltered.
The Christian infantry advance, meanwhile, found itself confronting something entirely new: A weapon described by Ilduin de Becerrea as a spout containing dragon's breath, and by other sources as the "infernal machine" or "Mahomet's organ." Indeed, the Andalusian name for the tool was the tanin - a series of roughly ten iron barrels set up on a wheeled base, capable of firing salvos of ten anti-personnel iron pellets with explosive force.[2] It's likely that Al-Marchuni's army had more than one tanin on the field, with sufficient blackpowder to fire numerous volleys.
On its own, the use of the tanin would not stop an army - but it proved to be both frightening and damaging when it was employed. The Santiagonian centre rapidly crumbled under sustained blackpowder attack, decimating the Knights of Saint James. The repeated noise and fire of the attacks terrified many of the Santiagonian levies: Ilduin reports that hundreds of otherwise brave men fled rather than face what they assumed to be sorcery.
The Battle of Valladolid proved decisive, shattering Santiago's main army and leading to the surrender of Valladolid itself and of nearby Valdestillas. Through 1389 and into 1390, Al-Marchuni swept up the Duero, capturing towns and storming cities as he went, splitting off several detachments to besiege Salamanca while he set his sights on Zamora. Meanwhile, in the northwest, a Santiagonian attempt to recapture Arzua from Berber occupants bogged down. Pressure had been taken off of Navarre, bringing Santiago rapidly close to surrender.[3]
In the autumn of 1390, however, Alfonso got the news he needed: A missive from his brother-in-law, Jocelyn II of France, promising to secure the Way of Saint James and drive the Moors back over the mountains.
After years of anxious stalemate, Andalusia's biggest war in the north in generations had become a romp against a much smaller and less sophisticated foe. But France was an entirely different animal, outnumbering Andalusia in manpower, with a significant amount of wealth to pour into its armies, and a new king with his roots in the most powerful and prosperous part of the kingdom. Abd ar-Rahman viewed the entry of France into the war grimly and set to work trying to find some way to emerge victorious against what Al-Andalus had dreaded for centuries: A grinding war against one of the great powers of Christian Europe.
[1] The name used for a grenade.
[2] The Andalusians roll out the ribaldequin. OTL, Granada had cannon by the 1330s, and the English had a ribaldequin by 1340 and trotted them out during the mid-1400s as well, so this isn't too much of a stretch in my mind.
[3] This stretch of story and some of what's ahead may slake the thirst of those in the audience who like decisive battles.