Nine Thousand Humble Lances: The Rise of the Order of Saint Lazarus

Fully Updated and Fixed Timeline

February 5, 1198: Leo I, King of Cilicia accidentally inhales the sneeze of one of his subjects, and contracts leprosy.
April 2, 1206: King Leo is finally diagnosed with leprosy by his Hospitallers, after attempting to hide the disease for years under masks and veils. The Hospitallers contact the Leper Knights of Saint Lazarus to care for the King.
April 3, 1206-November 10, 1225: As crusades and battles continue to rage around the Cilician Kingdom, but the state itself is relatively untouched save for minor raids and incursions from Turkish Empires in the region. Throughout the half decade, King Leo is cared for by the Knights of Saint Lazarus, and grows attached to them. As his condition continues to develop, the King finds his connection with family and friends deteriorating as they subconsciously work to avoid him. Leo becomes close with the regional Brother-Commander of Antioch and Cilicia, Don Paolo Sgrillo da Avellino.
December 24, 1225: King Leo I dies at the age of 55 of leprosy after officially leaving his Kingdom to the Order of Saint Lazarus. After some initial deliberation, the Court of Cilicia agrees to peacefully grant their King’s final act, in exchange for keeping a role in government.
January 10, 1226: The Kingdom of Cilicia is re-christened The Sovereign Monastic Realms of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus the Beggar. As the Knights move into their new position, they gain much popularity in western Europe, and are hailed as the most merciful of the orders.
January 11, 1226-September 6, 1226: The Monastic Realms utilize their new treasury to expand both their military and hospitaller capabilities. The Cilician Militia is reformed under the banner of the Knights of Lazarus, and the Armenian nobles in the region swear fealty to the order. Many of these nobles join the Order itself. In a strange occurrence known in the future as the Lazarian Migration, begins during which lepers from throughout Europe and the Middle East moving to Cilicia to join the Order of Saint Lazarus. The Knights capitalize upon this new stream of manpower, and conquer the island of Cyprus in July. The Byzantines sue for peace after losing the island, fearing that the Latin empires might use the incident to launch a crusade against them. The Order is particularly noted internationally as relatively peaceful and tolerant towards locals and Saracens.
November 8, 1226: Turkish Ghazis, flying the flag of Jihad, slaughter several Christians in the lands of the Ilkhanate. The Sultans of Rhum and Aleppo publicly condemn the action, and join the Fatmids in Egypt in announcing the rights for the Christians to engage the Ilkhanate. The Order of Lazarus promptly demands that the Ilkhanate surrender those Ghazis responsible. The Turks refuse.
March 5, 1226-December 12, 1227: A Crusader host of forty-thousand soldiers led by nine thousand knights from the lands of the Order of Lazarus and Principality of Antioch invades the Ilkhanate. In one month’s time, the city of Edessa is seized by Latin forces. The Franks lose only a single battle in over a year’s time. By December of 1092, the Ilkhanate has lost a large portion of land to the Lazaran host, and sue for peace. The Lazarans agree to only take half of their conquests in exchange for the assurance that no other crimes against Christians will be permitted in Turkish lands.
December 20, 1227: The Order of Saint Lazarus is among several Latin factions which contribute to the Council of Genova, during which Catholic states discuss the prospects of the Crusader states, and the potential for losing the Holy Land. Central to the discussion is the nature of the Muslim nation, having been separated into Seljuk, Turkic, Saracen, and Moorish culture groups. The Council hopes that they will be able to pit the various factions against each other, and condones diplomacy from the Latin states to that end.
February 8, 1227: In accordance with the goals of the Council of Genova, the Principality of Antioch and Order of Lazarus enter into a secret agreement with the Ayyubid Caliphate and Seljuk Sultanate of Rhum. In the agreement, the Ayyubid and Rhumians will allow the Franks to attack the Sultanate of Aleppo and the Khwarazm Empire. In accordance, Rhum and the Caliphate will claim part of the lands of the Aleppo and Khwarazm, whilst Antioch and Lazaria will seize the rest. The agreement is sealed, and the Order requests that a new crusade be called to liberate Aleppo from the Muslims.
March 17, 1227: After hearing of the Lazran plan for consolidating Latin power in the middle east, the Pope declares the Lazaran Crusade, aimed at securing Aleppo and diminishing the power of the Khwarazmians in the region.
March 18, 1227-January 5, 1228: Over several months, the powers of Europe pool soldiers and knights in search of retribution in the Holy Land. The Orders of the Knights Templar, Teutonic, Hospitaller, Santiago, and Calatrava all depart en masse to attack the Muslims beside their Lazaran allies. The Frankish force soon numbers nearly 100,000 men led by 40,000 knights.
 
100 thousand soldiers on crusade? including 40,000 knights? That seems a bit much, for several reasons. The military orders alone cannot raise more than a small fraction of that. So i suppose the rest are going to be recruited from a number of nations. which evidently aren't paying much attention to the crusade itself, seeing that the crusading orders appear to be running the affair. Which makes us wonder why they are sending off such a large amount of their military might in the first place. One also wonders why the rest of europe is so interested in a crusade aimed at... Aleppo (not as well known a target as, say, Jerusalem, or Damascus, or Antioch (yes, I realize that it is in european hands), or Egypt). One could also wonder why the militant orders are following the lazarian lead (although I suppose their power and the pope might do the trick). Finally, the logistics of that force are going to be terrible.

And, out of curiosity, how is Cicilia reacting to being put under the rule of a bunch of Latin knights? Should be interesting to watch it play out.
 
100 thousand soldiers on crusade? including 40,000 knights? That seems a bit much, for several reasons. The military orders alone cannot raise more than a small fraction of that. So i suppose the rest are going to be recruited from a number of nations. which evidently aren't paying much attention to the crusade itself, seeing that the crusading orders appear to be running the affair. Which makes us wonder why they are sending off such a large amount of their military might in the first place. One also wonders why the rest of europe is so interested in a crusade aimed at... Aleppo (not as well known a target as, say, Jerusalem, or Damascus, or Antioch (yes, I realize that it is in european hands), or Egypt). One could also wonder why the militant orders are following the lazarian lead (although I suppose their power and the pope might do the trick). Finally, the logistics of that force are going to be terrible.

And, out of curiosity, how is Cicilia reacting to being put under the rule of a bunch of Latin knights? Should be interesting to watch it play out.

Yes it shall! And we will catch a glimpse of that Very Soon ;)
 
Oooh, this is gonna be good, I can feel it in me waters. The fact that knights (crusader knights especially) fascinate me to no end helps too :3
 
Hello,

This is a tremendously promising idea; and I salute you for coming up with it.

However, I must stress that Cyprus was not a possession of the Byzantines in the first quarter of the 13th century - it was a Catholic Kingdom under the House of Lusignan under the theoretical suzerainty of Holy Roman Emperor.

So an attack by the Lazarenes upon a fellow Catholic power will have consequences in the West - not least with the Hohenstaufen Emperors.

Also, as has been referred to already, the Ilkhanate does not exist during this period; it only comes into the scene (if at all) in the second half of the 13th century. If you want to have a strong (but non-Mongol) Islamic power extend its authority to eastern Anatolia, I suggest that this should be the state of the Khwarizm-Shahs; their relative weakness would then be logical: this far west they would arguably have overextended themselves.

And don't forget the power of Orthodox Georgia: if the Mongols do not come west, but the Khwarizm-Shahs do, Georgia will be a much stronger power and have a major role to play in Near East affairs.

And I am assuming that in your TL, the Fourth Crusade never happens (hooray! :)); therefore, perhaps the Byzantine Empire can struggle on for a while until it maybe renews itself - at which point it may have something to say about Lazarene Cilicia and its influence in the Levant.

But please do continue your story; I like your alt-Crusader Order very much. :cool:
 
Thanks for your interest Megas!
To be honest, this was my first timeline, posted here without editing during a period of writer's block. I wrote this piece five or so yyears ago, and lacked much of my current knowledge.

Despite this, I love this premise as much as you do, and mag going to unveil a new version of the timeline that I've edited properly within a day or two.

Stay tuned!

-Askelion
 

Onyx

Banned
Sweet Lazarus of the Leper Knights! IT HAS RETURNED!!!!
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Please get this TL back in place, yours and I's tl are probably the only Crusader tls recently (Mines on hiatus, Ive been working on other issues lately)
 
Top