Pt. 1, Edited and Expanded
Here be part one, edited and expanded:
The father of the Chancellor and Holy Man was named Geoffrey, and their mother Emma; both slender in rank and wealth, but abundant in virtue and cleverness. They were born in Flanders, and lived in Melfi. It was there that Simon and Raymond lived out their youth. Raymond as he began to grow to manhood, began to follow more prudent ways of life, and began to study, learn and exercise the rudiment of more subtle conceptions. Simon was apprenticed as a warrior and scribe to the clever Duke Robert to pay off a debt that Geoffrey owed to the Duke.
Gesta Normanni Sudensis, c. 1335. English translation by Robert FitzRoy.
***
OTL
ATL
Minor P.O.D. A merchant family from Flanders, the de Montay’s, moves to Melfi in Southern Italy. Their two sons come into the services of Robert Guiscard de Hauteville, Duke of Apulia. Everything is more or less the same as IOTL until Guiscard's invasion of the Byzantine Empire in 1081.
1050: Twin boys, Simon and Raymond, are born to Geoffrey and Emma de Montay in Flanders.
1051: The Montay's pack up and leave from Flanders to escape creditors. They travel to Melfi, in southern Italy, where they have relatives. Geoffrey reestablishes his business a cloth merchant
1063: Raymond enters the service of Robert 'Guiscard' de Hauteville, the Duke of Apulia.
1066: Simon enters the priesthood. He develops ideas on church reform in the following years. He writes a series of essays, sanctifying certain uses of violence. These prove useful in the crusades
1071: Raymond proves himself at the sieges of Bari and Palermo. At Bari, he learns the importance of naval warfare.
1076-77: Raymond fights in the siege of Salerno.
1079: Simon, a prominent supporter of Pope Gregory VII in the Investiture Controversy, is appointed bishop of Venosa. Raymond is granted a small fief in Apulia
1081: Guiscard sails against the Byzantine Empire. He achieves a key victory over Emperor Alexios Commenos at Durazzo. Both Montay brothers act as Guiscard's administrators.
1082: Guiscard takes the key Macedonian fortress at Kastoria.
Major P.O.D.: A Byzantine emissary meets with Guiscard, and convince him to withdraw from Byzantium, and attack Fatimid Egypt.***
Bari, 1071
Raymond de Montay glared at the last vestige of Greek power in Apulia, indeed all of Italy (discounting their relation with Venice), as he boarded his ship. The mighty fortress on the Adriatic was aglow with many torches and lanterns. According to Duke Robert’s spies in Greece and the city itself, they had been set by the defenders to guide the relief force from the Emperor that was sailing toward them at that moment. A few minutes earlier, it had become evident that the fore was closer than Raymond had thought.
He was in Duke Robert’s tent, laughing merrily at the stories he told of his early career as a brigand in Calabria. Suddenly, a messenger burst in, reporting that the watchmen on the ships saw many lights, undoubtedly coming from the Byzantine fleet. The leaders of the Norman siege leapt up at the news, yelling orders, cursing the Greeks, and getting armed and armored for the coming battle, all at the same time. Raymond himself left the tent for his own, in order to collect his mail, helmet, and sword. His page grabbed the banner, which he used to rally the Normans under his command. When they had gathered, he led them to the boats.
Raymond boarded his own vessel, and waited for the rest of the army to be off. It was not long before the oars began rowing, and the Norman fleet sallied forth to meet their Greek foes. The irony of said oars being manned by Greeks themselves was not lost on Raymond, as evidenced by a brief chuckle. Roger, the brother of Duke Robert and commander of the fleet, had hoped that the Greek flotilla would mistake the Norman’s for Bariot compatriots, coming out of the harbor to welcome them. The ruse worked, and the ensuing battle was one-sided, though fierce.
Raymond’s own ship drew up close to a Byzantine one. A Greek leapt over onto the deck wielding a spear, which was cut in half by Raymond, who proceeded to behead the unfortunate Greek. The Norman knights and levies charged onto the ship, which was soon taken. All around him, Raymond saw that the Normans were victorious in their battles. Archers on one ship had dipped their arrows in pitch, which they lit aflame. The rigging and sails of a Byzantine ship they managed to set on fire. However, his fellow Normans paid for their success dearly. Raymond witnessed on one ship over one hundred Normans, in their heavy armor and cuirasses, run to one end of the ship, sinking it.
The next enemy boat that Raymond boarded was the Greek flagship. He was able to tell by the dual mast lanterns. Fighting through the Byzantine ranks, Raymond came upon the leader of the relief force; it was none other than the wretched Jocelin, the former lord of Molfetta, and current Duke of Corinth. The traitorous Norman exile fled to the Byzantines after his failed rebellions against Duke Robert. He currently was issuing orders to his Greek lackeys, and has his back turned to Raymond. Raymond grabbed his back, and struck him on the face, knocking him unconscious. Raymond proceeded to drag the leader of the soon to be failed expedition back to Roger’s ship. The Norman lord grinned widely, saying “Good, my Flemish brother, good,”
Weeks later, the demoralized city of Bari surrendered to Guiscard after such a crushing blow. Raymond would latter say he learned two very valuable things form the months besieging the city; the usefulness of a navy, and mercy in triumph.
Never trust a Greek bearing gifts.
-Proverb
Kastoria, April 1082
Robert stared across the Macedonian plain, pondering the coming campaign. He had once wished to seize the glory and splendor of Constantinople, but the corpulent ambassador from Alexius had convinced him that there was a greater prize to be had. His inner-Norman loved the sheer gall of a surprise attack. The Caliph would never expect legions of Franks charging down the Nile, paid for by Byzantine coin, and supported by Byzantine and Venetian ships.
The ink had barely dried on the treaty parchment when the Duke began to make preparations. The fifteen thousand or-so men under his command might be enough to best a host of effeminate Greeks, but to take Egypt from the Saracens would require a much larger army. For that reason, he had dispatched Bohemond and Count Raymond back across the Adriatic to gather more men to the cause. He instructed Raymond to travel through Italy to recruit Lombards, and sent Bohemond to southern France The Duke himself would stay in Kastoria, hiring Greek and Slav mercenaries.
To maintain the Greek and of the bargain, something that was quite difficult to achieve due to their lack of trustworthiness, Guiscard would leave garrisons at Kastoria and Dyrrhachium.
Indeed, like the light shining from the great lighthouse at Alexandria, the future seemed bright for the Duke of Apulia.
Outside of Toulouse, June 1082
“It is agreed then,” said Bohemond de Hauteville “You will finance the contingent of knights form Toulouse, in return for trading rights and privileges in Alexandria and Damietta,”
“True, and may the soldiers of Christ prevail over heathen and heretic,” replied William, the Count of Toulouse. Bohemond smirked inwardly at that assertion. It was doubtful that it was solely religious fervor that motivated the Count to endorse the expedition, especially considering that he would get to play landlord when his knights departed.
Bohemond was quite glad that the Count decided to stay in France, and not to go to the Nile delta on their little venture, despite William’s attempts at saying otherwise. His father Robert could give some feeble Tolosan knight some backwater village to run, but a Count would demand title, land and money, none of which father would be willing to part with easily.
With the formalities dealt with, the Count offered Bohemund a tour of the estate, which the Norman giant accepted. The lands around the manner were quite beautiful, but Bohemond would always prefer the orchards and mountains of Apulia to that of the home of his ancestors. [1]
Bohemond was telling the Count of his adventures during the campaign against the Greeks when he stopped suddenly. He nearly made the sign of the cross, as the vision of beauty standing before them could be nothing less than one of God’s angels.
“Ah, lady Eleanor. Has something delayed your departure back to Albi?” inquired the Count.
“Yes, your whores. My guards are making fools of themselves in front of your court wenches, again,” Spat back the lady angrily. Something in her tone of voice told Bohemond that she was referring to members of the counts family, and that this contention had arisen before.
“Do you know no end, woman?!” barked the Count. Lady Eleanor smirked.
The count calmed, wishing not to embarrass himself in front of the Norman. Bohemond did not care the least about what the count wished; He was in rapture gazing at the creature before him.
“Lady Eleanor, this is the son of the Duke of Apulia, Bohemond. Surely, you must have heard of his success against the Greek heretics,”
“Indeed,” tersely said the lady. She paused a moment before adding “Do you speak not because you are ill in the mind, or were you made mute by the parting of you and your tongue by a Saracen?”
Bohemond was taken aback at her wit. His towering height usually meant that not many would say such things to him. But while the count beside him fumed over her frankly insulting manner and insubordination, Bohemond found it enchanting.
Bohemond grinned widely, which seemed to throw the lady off.
“I beg your pardon, madam. In a great book, it was once written that a word is worth one coin, while silence is worth two. If you will excuse us, the count and I must be off. It of great pleasure to meet you,”
With a curt nod, the lady continued looking for her fornicating guards.
“God help and protect me in dealing with that defiant woman,” lamented the clearly frustrated Count “He late husband had amassed large estates outside of Albi when he died. They produced no heirs, thus she came into ownership of the property. Since then, she has refused to remarry, complaining that all of the honorable lords I present would be incapable of protecting her from the likes of me. I simply wish to get my fee, and restart normal taxing and levying, but she has the clergy on a string, and they won’t bless a marriage without her approval,” finished the Count
“She is a very well traveled woman, you know,” the Count added “She’s been amongst the Moors of Spain and Africa, rumors have it,” The warm feeling in Bohemond's cheeks grew
“My most honorable Count, I believe we have something else to discuss before lady Eleanor departs,” Bohemond said with a grin.
[1] Using ‘home’ very loosely here. Both Normandy and Toulouse are in France.
