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Orient Yourself Correctly: A Komnenian Tale
The year 1081 was a time of great upheaval for the Eastern Roman Empire. An economic crisis started with a devaluing of gold and a masse influx of refugees from Anatolia bringing production in the east to a standstill rocked the Empire just as much as numerous aristocrats who seemed to rise and fall as many times as waves crashing into a pier. Turkish raids into the interior of the Empire made their way as far east as past Nikaia where they could physically see the Queen of Cities rising up from the shores of Thrace from across the Sea of Marmara. The brutal forces of the Pecheneg tribes made their way nearly into Makedonia from their stronghold across the Danube. On top of this, the ever-ferocious and ruthless Norman Duke, Robert Guiscard led an invasion through Kerkyra and to the mainland, with one thing on his mind and one thing only—the complete subjugation of the City of Constantinople. With all these barbarians at the very Gates of Rome, could the Empire make it out alive? The answer is yes. However, they could have done better. It took decades more to force the Pecheneg tribesman to cease-and-desist their activities (mostly by slaughtering most of their people in the year 1091 at the Battle of Levounion). The Turkish tribesman and the Eastern Roman Empire played a game of hot-potato with Anatolia for centuries to come, coming out the losers nearly four hundred years later. Robert Guiscard practiced a policy of sore-losing and did all in his power to make sure that if he could not rule Rome, that he would make it suffer. While one could argue that the self-appointed Emperor did the best that he could, his numerous defeats towards the end of his reign left a little something to be desired with his people. This timeline will be an examination of what if the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos successfully utilizes the uncounted thousands of Turkish men of fighting-age within Anatolia for the benefit of the Empire, and the Empire coming out on top. In writing this, my goal is to create a timeline with the most Turkic Eastern Roman Empire written (although the concept is not new and has been successfully used in the famous timeline The Unholy Roman Empire). Romans and Turks and Orthodox Christianity and Islam have not always been at odds with each other, far from it. This will be the case in my own work until its completion.


Author’s Note: My title comes from the most illustrious Peter Ball, of Congleton. The Roman Empire is re-orienting itself in a different direction of governing and politicking, and the very name “Anatolia” literally means “east,” but “Anatolia” is generally translated “Land of the Rising Sun” or “the Orient.” See what he did there? As puns are his metier, hopefully he can design a few more titles for me for my upcoming chapters. I’d also like to thank Luis Salcedo for his years of advice, information, and positive encouragement. Without him and my other Bacchanalian lads, I wouldn’t be able to write this.
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