What's your opinion about The Eagle and the Knight by miles

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Chapter One: Splintering Troubles and the Rebuild
Actually, my best timeline will get running soon...
The Eagle and the Knight or How could I learn to save Byzantium

Part I - Splintering Troubles and the Rebuild
In the beginning, Ottoman Interregnum began to splinter apart as it starts to rip apart with Musa Çelebi's forces began to win in several battles including the Kosmidion but the battles starts to turn bitter as the forces still fighting in 1405 to 1408. Mûsa was planning well with his supporters and encouraged to train and gather their forces to fight but he went to mosque to attend worship and he was thinking that he might killed by Mehmed so he was feared that his forces might be destroyed so he needs to use funds to raise his army to fight back against rival Ottoman brothers.

The armies of the rival Ottoman brothers met on the plain of Chamurli (today Samokov, Bulgaria). Hassan, the Agha of the Janissaries of Mehmed, stepped out before the ranks and tried to get the troops to change sides. Mûsa rushed towards Hassan and killed him, but was himself wounded by an officer who had accompanied Hassan. Mûsa's Ottomans fought well, but the battle was in complete stalemate. With Mûsa's victory, Mehmed had but no choice and declare himself as sultan of Amasya and the Ottoman Empire is now disintegrated in 1411 into two rival sons but however the luck was ended with a disaster and now, Ottoman Empire is now officially ceased to exist.

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With Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaiologos began to use funds to raise an army in effort to retake lost lands. John VIII began to plan to form uneasy alliances. To prepare for full crusade against the Ottoman remnants, he sent his envoys to Venice and Genoa to provide support in retaking their lands.

"To my brothers and friends, we know that our rival is no more and we could have more chance to retake our lost lands and we will arise again. this is my chance to survive my empire!". Emperor John VIII Palaiologos speaks to the crowd where he began to use church retake his lost lands from the remnant Ottomans. To secure crusade against the Ottoman remnants, he visited Pope Eugene IV and consented to the union of the Greek and Roman churches. The Union was ratified at the Council of Florence in 1439, which John attended with 700 followers including Patriarch Joseph II of Constantinople and George Gemistos Plethon, a Neoplatonist philosopher influential among the academics of Italy.

He raised his funds to build fortress and recruit knights in 1440 and he was planning to start a big blow war against the Ottoman remnants.

With the outbreak of Crusade of Varna in 1443, Emperor John VIII alarmed at increasing rate where he heard of possible chance so he seeks to recruit more forces and gather information to participate crusades against the Ottoman remnants.

In the spring of 1444, an army of not more than 10,000 Byzantine troops crossed the border and attacked Ottoman remnant forces, marching to Sofia. Indeed, an entire military campaign had just began and Byzantine forces fully engaged Ottoman remnant forces on August 16, 1444. his son was also present in the war, the first city retaken is Thessalonica.

With turning point began with Battle of Skopje with estimated numbers of Byzantine forces are 16,000 while the remnant Ottoman forces are at least 10,000, historians said that the battle was the bloodiest part with intense fighting and casualties. huge reinforcements of forces are from Constantinople but aided by Venetian and Genoese forces. the Byzantine forces managed to reinforce and assist crusaders at Varna officially.

With Ottoman Empire started to collapse apart as the Aq Qoyunlu began to invade the Anatolia and remnants has been fallen in 1432. a huge sweeping army of 20,000 Aq Qoyunlu's troops marched into plains of Anatolian mountains which signaled retreat and downfall.

However, huge Byzantine forces began to pour in 1447 during his last year of reign but the crusaders won the battle which led to final battle in 1448 in Edirne. estimated addition 16,000 forces began to reinforce the battle but Ottomans forced to withdraw from the Balkans and unable to deal with huge numbers of Byzantine forces and lead to withdrawal of troops.

Modern historians noted the Byzantine participation in the Crusade of Varna as "resurgence of Eastern Roman Empire" and sees the Byzantine's reconquest as comeback and definite success as rebirth of Byzantine hegemony. In a joint war, the Byzantines had managed to reverse the territorial loss and managed to retake their lost territories while the Aq Qoyunlu war with the Ottoman's led to consolidation of Aq Qoyunlu's power and dominance which led to rivalry with the Mamluks and curbed Ottoman influence.

It is unknown whether the Byzantines prepare for final conquest against the Ottomans in 1508 but the final job led to complete rebirth of Byzantine hegemony.

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Now, I noticed that Byzantines will reemerge again and recover from deep troubles and managed to reverse the lost territories.


A timeline where Sultan Mehmed killed in the battle against Musa's forces but ends with stalemate leaving Ottoman Empire weak and invaded by Aq Qoyunly which made Byzantine victorious and reemerge again.

Another thing is Tsardom of Russia could have fallen apart and leads to formation of Polish-Lithuanian-Muscovite Commonwealth.

So, if anyone notices my TL, I will continue it harder and faster.
 
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Here's the updated map where Ottoman Empire fell apart and collapses during Interregnum period.
map_of_remnant_ottoman_empire__tetk__by_lauramendezas-dcnk2uj.png

Map of Balkans with Byzantines reconquering lost lands.
 
Chapter Two: Byzantine Awakens
Part II: Byzantine Awakens
With the Ottomans completely pushed out from Europe even the successful Byzantine participation of Varna Crusade, the Byzantines didn't get enough of consolidating power and Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos began to initiate plan to establish strong navy to protect their trade routes. The Byzantines managed to reconquer lost lands and he began to negotiate with the Bulgarian rebels against Ottoman rule to cede back the lost lands where populated ethnically by Bulgarians.

Princess Mariam married to Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos and began to initiate his plan to reverse the decline and upgrade their navy to Western European levels and plans to renovate their historical landmarks to attract painters like Leonardo da Vinci and began to use their gunpowder weapons. his plan is to build docks and forts to defend against any potential future invasions and another one is reorganization of Imperial provinces. according to historians, Emperor Constantine XI began to send envoys to Aq Qoyunlu to negotiate their territorial claims, he was asking to bring Trebizond back to Byzantine rule. negotiations started until 1454.

With negotiations ended with official transfer of control of Trebizond to the Byzantine Empire and inhabitants celebrated with joy. Empress Mariam gave birth to his son Gregorius on June 9th 1454 and he will be known as "Builder Emperor" which historians called it for well-planned expeditions and planned reconstructions and military defense. his brother began to tell Emperor Constantine XI of concern that his fears that war with Aq Qoyunlu will happen later or in sometime so he began to reinforce plans to construct forts along the quarters of Trebizond and another concern is the Crimean Khanate where raids could happen and feared that the city could be pillaged and inhabitants could be enslaved, so he carried out plans to reinforce fort walls.

Another one when Empress Mariam gave birth to his daughter named Anastasia on August 4, 1455 and in 1456, she gave birth again to his daughter named Helena and another one when she gave birth again to his son named Manuel. Emperor Constantine continued to focus on foreign policy while focusing to restore Byzantine fortunes and continue to focus to rebuild infrastructure and managed to hire competent and obedient generals to the top ranks of Byzantine military and manged to stabilize the military manpower and managed to reinforced with well-skilled guards to defend against potential invasions.

He began to prioritize military discipline and positions with line-squared positions approved and began to influence ideals from West to boost the plans to reform the government and another ambition is respectful and well-trusted ruler but he feared that another conspiracy plan and false succession which will repeat the failures back in the previous past managed to enact reforms to avoid the repeat of previous rulers which was failed to implement or to trust citizens. "To my people, our empire is now crumbling but we want to stop our empire from crumbling again." Emperor Constantine XII speaks to the crowd in the autumn of 1457 which aimed to stop empire from collapsing.

Now in 1466, Gregorius began to dream of military man and tactician and he began to obsess with the military and the navy which historians noted that Gregorius began to enter military school and he was lover of maps and drawing which later in his life he used drawing to draw battle plans.

With the Great Prosperity of Byzantium has begun.
 
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Here's the next update:

"Quest wars may still never ends but quite different and ruthless battles plus
endless onslaughts however, the longest period of quest for claim."
- Irish scholar, John Bury, 1476
 
Because Castile is starting to rip apart which allows Granada to retake lost territories and undergoes reforms.

So, who will name the sultan of Granada who will implement reforms to match with the Europeans?
Can you come up with a name on your own?
 
Guys, we're sorry for intense delay due to Collaborative Future TL, so we will bring the power back to up on it's level and I apologize to everyone for not let me to post or to have next update due to other matters or activities needed to accomplish the task.

Chapter III: Fall of claimants

"Quest wars may still never ends but quite different and ruthless battles plus
endless onslaughts however, the longest period of quest for claim."
- Irish scholar, John Bury, 1476

King Henry IV of Castile died on December 1474, both candidates for the throne that proclaimed Queen of Castile by their respective supporters. Aware of their position weakness against Isabella's supporters, Joanna supporters proposed for the 43-year-old King Afonso V of Portugal, a widower for some 20 years, to marry Joana, his niece, and assume the throne of Castile with her. Throughout 15th century, merchants, explorers and fishermen of Portugal and Castile had been penetrating further into the Atlantic Ocean. The possession of the Canary Islands was a point of contention between the two Crowns. Later on, the control of commerce with the territories of Guinea and Elmina, rich in gold and slaves, grew to a dispute of even greater importance.

But with competition ends with out of luck, on May 10, 1475, a huge numbers of Portuguese forces initiated and entered the territory of the Crown of Castile under the command of Afonso V on May 10, 1475, and advanced to Plasencia, where Joanna was expecting him. Joanna and Afonso were proclaimed sovereigns of Castile on May 25 and were married; the required Papal dispensation (Joanna was Afonso's niece) arrived few months later. From Plasencia, they marched to Arévalo, with the intention of heading towards Burgos. There, Afonso hoped to be able to unite with any troops sent by his ally, Louis XI of France. numerous castles are now controlled by supporters of Joana while the entirety of city of Burgos now controlled by Isabella.

With surprise counterattack began as Isabella's supporters attempted to fend off the Joana supporters by taking Trujillo and gaining control of the lands of Order of Alcantara, a significant portion of those of the Order of Calatrava and of the Marquisate of Villena. garrison of Zamora attempted to rebel against King Afonso V but unfortunately, King Afonso managed to flee to Toro and called all troops to launch surprise attacks against Isabella's supporters but the castle of Burgos has been fallen at the hands of Isabella on January 1476.

On February 1476, contingents of Portuguese army led by Afonso son, John II managed to reinforce their troops and surround Ferdinand in Zamora and lay their siege as Joana supporters gathered there and tried to reinforce their troops during siege but the siege turns into bloody battle as Afonso V together with John II managed to chase Isabella supporters and King Ferdinand. while they are attempted to breach or pass into siege walls which led to increase in casualties. according to Irish scholar, John Burry, he said "There was a bloody battle that serves as a prolonged siege but an attempted chase can led to more deaths in the ruthless siege." while Ferdinand managed to chase away from facing Afonso and his son, John II. while new reinforcements are from France while Alain I of Albret managed to organize strong units to bypass Ferdinand's forces while his troops attempted to seeking help to Afonso V.

Ferdinand had bad situation: the Navarre was occupied by French forces while Granada managed to take situation by besieging Seville and Cordoba. he was ordered to assist troops to repel Granadan incursions. Sultan Ali Abu I-Hasan formally entered alliance with King Afonso V. while at the sea, numerous Portuguese and Spanish ships clashed unfortunately most of Castilian ships were sunk by deadly storms which failed their operation to annihilate the Portuguese dominance in the Atlantic. estimated 60 or 50 ships were sunk by deadly storm and most of Castilian fleets are damaged or wrecked by intense surges during storms. Alvaro de la Nava was killed when his main ship was sunk, allowing Isabella and Ferdinand to call off the operation and unable to fight against Portuguese fleets as most of Portuguese ships ordered by King Afonso V to blockade their ports while assisting Granadan ships. In the end, numerous Castilian caravels and galleys were lost during naval battles with Portugal or deadly storms.

With Castile unable to combat against Portuguese at sea, on November 19, 1477, Isabella suffered creeping flu and dies suddenly while bloody siege had ended as Portuguese becomes superior in initiating counterattack against the Castilian which leaves King Ferdinand killed by Portuguese forces and leaves them unable to deal with huge influx of Portuguese and French reinforcements especially Granadan reinforcements and Toro has been fallen at the hands of Portuguese forces. On January 1478, with Portuguese began to win at every battles, the troops moved closer to western part and as a result, a open way to Toledo while Aragon suffered intense instability which began in 1477 but didn't end until 1490 where Aragon suffers same fate as Navarre. but on the other side, Castilian cities of Seville, Murcia, and Cordoba has been fallen at the hands of Granadan forces.

With peace talks had concluded with the Treaty of Oviedo, under the terms of peace treaties, Castile forced to renounce all claims in Extremadura, Galicia, and Asturias, while Granada will take southern portions of Castile, and uses money to compensate war reparations. however, the treaty was concluded with ascension of Beltran into throne of Castile while Lluis ascended as King of Aragon in 1479.
 
Tomorrow, I will return back to our TL:

"Our magical gifts from the Eastern Rome has arrived to our marvelous city of Garnatah and the generous leader gave us an reward for letting the Byzantines to unlock the access."

- Muhammad Ibn Yusuf, a historian who recorded the Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI's visit to Al-Andalus
 
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