Constantinople, March 25th, 1321
Andronikos II, proclaimed his grandson Manuel, the younger son of the late Michael IX co-emperor in the place of his recently deceased father. It was a decisive act by the old emperor effectively making Manuel instead of his elder brother Andronikos heir to the empire. How the elder prince, banished to the governorship of Adrianople after the fiasco between Theodore Lascaris and Adrienne would react remained to be seen.
Piraeus, April 10th, 1321
Theodore Doukas Lascaris, hopped off the ship. Two years away from Greece had been enough. He couldn't complain of course that his uncle had been idle during his absence. His victory in Corinth spoke of itself. Here in Piraeus Alexios had very practically start repairing what remained if the ancient walls around the port, giving himself a fortified base with access to the sea.
Adrianople, April 19th, 1321
Prince Andronikos proclaimed himself emperor on Easter day, rising in revolt against his grandfather. If the elder Andronikos wanted to disinherit his elder grandson he was not going to take it lying down. He would be immediately joined in the revolt by his friend
Theodore Synadenos.
Athens, April 25th, 1321
Alexios Philanthropenos marched north. Rizokastro, the fortress around the foot of the Acropolis was still holding out but the rest of Attica had switched sides to the Lascarids, neither the peasantry nor the handful of local Greek lords had any reason to stay loyal to the Catalans. Alexios would march into Boeotia with the bulk of the army, while Theodore would continue the siege.
Mount Parnassos, May 1321
News traveled slow but did travel and often got exaggerated on their way. Thus that the Franks had been crushed by a fellow Greek army back in fall had reached the mountain villages, and most of their new Catalan overlords failing to come back to their fiefs for the winter had been noticed. The mountaineers hadn't failed to add two and two together and come up with five. Then the tax farmers had come with even harsher demands than usual, Alfonso needed money and supplies to keep fighting, as much as he could get his hands on. The first refusals to pay and attacks on the tax farmers had brought the garrison of Salona out. But this only managed to make things worse. Soon the mountains were in revolt against the Catalans.
Athens, May 25th, 1321
The Acropolis of Athens finally surrendered to Theodore Lascaris. It was about time, the fortress had held out for nine months and he could not remain idle in front of it. The empire had fallen in civil war, Kantakouzenos had left to join his friend Andronikos in Adrianople as soon as the news had reached Athens, bringing along with him money and promises of further help from Theodore, who did not forget who was and who was not his friend in the imperial court. Theodore would soon move north to join his uncle in the siege of Thebes while Adrienne took up residence in the former ducal palace in the Acropolis and Parthenon, as church of the Holy Virgin of Athens returned back to the Greek rite after a century in Frankish hands.
Constantinople, June 6th, 1321
As civil wars went this one appeared to have ended fast. The elder Andronikos had been forced to recognize the younger Andronikos as co-emperor and give him rule of Macedonia and Thrace. But it should be obvious that the new situation with three different emperors ruling together was unstable while even the split of authority was questionable, Thessaloniki for example nominally fell with Macedonia to Andronikos III but her governor Constantine, was siding with his father Andronikos II against his nephew. But at least for the moment the fighting was over.
Larisa, June 1321
Alfonso Fabrique reviewed his gathered army. Four thousand men had escaped last year's debacle at Corinth. His own Catalans were thirteen hundred infantry and seven hundred cavalry. Another four hundred cavalrymen were locals mostly Thessalians who had given their fealty back during the conquest of Thessaly in exchange for keeping their lands. Which in effect meant that nearly half the fiefs of the duchy were lying empty as their holders lay dead in the fields outside Corinth. Bringing out older men and younger sons of the fallen men had allowed him to recruit another twelve hundred infantry and two hundred cavalry but these were a mix of 15 and 16 year olds, men in their fifties or worse Greeks, and could Greeks be trusted after last year? But he needed every man he could get his hands on so he couldn't be picky.
Getting many more Turkish mercenaries had been impossible, since Leo Kalothetos had shown up with a fleet outside Demetrias and blockaded the port and the Venetian bailli of Negreponte had closed the straits to armed ships, ostensibly an act of neutrality in truth aiming at the Catalans. Venice may not be entirely happy with Lascarid expansion but did good business with them while it was not on the best terms with the house of Barcelona. Thus he had turned to Serbia. King Milutin was in no position to campaign himself, he had just concluded a war with Hungary over Belgrade and was increasingly ill, but had allowed Alfonso to recruit about four hundred heavy cavalry and two hundred infantry as mercenaries he had not forgotten being gravely insulted by Theodore. Neither had despot Constantine the governor of Thessaloniki who had been forced to let Adrienne go at sword's point back at the time, thus he had let the Serbs cross to Thessaly. Which gave him an army of about six thousand men, half of them horse to try to break the siege of Thebes...
Off Genoa, July 1321
King Frederick had sailed in person at the head of a fleet of forty Sicilian galleys to come to the aid of
Matteo Visconti in his siege of Genoa. He had been taking a major gamble but one arguably worth it. If Genoa fell to Visconti it would mean bringing it back on the Ghibelline cause. And along with with Genoa would come her navy. The combined Genoese-Sicilian fleet would have every prospect of seizing command back of the sea from the Angevins and Lascarids, if it worked. Robert of Anjou would not let it work though as 83 Angevin galleys chased the Sicilian away. The Sicilians were chased away. Pope John XXII would not be amused by the episode though excommunicating Frederick once more and placing Sicily under a new interdict.
Aliartos, July 18th, 1321
Alexios Philanthropenos had seized Aliartos with four thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry as soon as the news of Alfonso advancing to the relief of Thebes had come while another thousand men maintained the blockade of Thebes. Now it was up to Alfonso to decide if he would risk an attack taking advantage of his superior cavalry numbers or not. In truth he did not have much of an option if he wanted to relieve Thebes. The Serbs led the charge driving off the lighter armed Greek cavalry only to be stopped cold by the Achaean infantry. Then the pike blocks moved forward and the Achaean heavy horse charged in turn. The Catalans retreated leaving over a thousand men on the field for less than a third as many Sicilians.
Thebes, August 27th, 1321
The castle garrison had fought on for forty more days after the battle of Aliartos. After no relief had come it had surrendered the castle, being allowed to leave with its arms. Philanthropenos and Theodore would march against Livadeia three days later with the main body of the army while a thousand men under Andronikos Asen would move through the mountains to join the Parnassus rebels at Arachova.
Mytiline, October 1321
Martino Zaccaria had succeeded his uncle as lord of Phokaia. He had managed to take control of Smyrna only for the bey of Aydin to capture both the city and the fortress. But Martino was an ambitious capable man. With the empire split he had taken his chances leading five hundred Latin mercenaries and seven ships to Lesbos seizing first Mytiline and then the rest of the islands. Andronikos II and Manuel II taken by surprise would fail to offer an immediate response. Then they would not be in position to offer one...
Constantinople, December 1321
Syrgiannes Palaiologos had sided with Andronikos III initially. Then he had clashed with Ioannis Kantakouzenos and fled to Constantinople where Andronikos II made him magas doux, commander of the imperial navy. It would had been more impressive had Andronikos not disbanded the fleet back in the 1280s, despite a halfhearted attempt to rebuild it the previous year. But either way Syrgiannes had convinced Manuel and the elder Andronikos to resume the civil war.
