Well on that one you can even get hints what were some of the base photos used. But if you want to get a little creative...
The eagle's left head
- Thread starter Lascaris
- Start date
By the way, there seems to have been a development that we haven't commented on yet. Before Theodore captured Attica, it seems that Patras or Cornith served at the administrative center of Lascarid Greece. However, after the fall of Acropolis, Andrianne moved there at the ducal palace. The baptism of Alexandros II also took place there. Soon, the lascarid administration will be too big to be housed in a small fort on the Acropolis. I expect they will build a new palace in Athens in the not so distant future.
Here is how medieval Acropolis looked like:
Then we got Philanthropenos and Theodore rebuilding the walls of Piraeus. The Conon Walls of Piraeus will be a significant undertaking. We are talking about 13km of fortifications, in addition to a citadel at Kastella hill. Such project will cost at least as much as the fortifications of Messina, with only the fortification of Syracuse being grander in scale. At that time, Piraeus - or Porto Leone as was known to the Italian merchants, was perhaps no bigger than a village.
It seems that Lascarid Greece has a new capital and its name is Athens and a new naval base is being developed in Piraeus.
Edit: Conon's Walls and the ancient city
Here is how medieval Acropolis looked like:
Then we got Philanthropenos and Theodore rebuilding the walls of Piraeus. The Conon Walls of Piraeus will be a significant undertaking. We are talking about 13km of fortifications, in addition to a citadel at Kastella hill. Such project will cost at least as much as the fortifications of Messina, with only the fortification of Syracuse being grander in scale. At that time, Piraeus - or Porto Leone as was known to the Italian merchants, was perhaps no bigger than a village.
It seems that Lascarid Greece has a new capital and its name is Athens and a new naval base is being developed in Piraeus.
Edit: Conon's Walls and the ancient city
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They have not refortified the entirety of Ancient Piraeus... at the moment.By the way, there seems to have been a development that we haven't commented on yet. Before Theodore captured Attica, it seems that Patras or Cornith served at the administrative center of Lascarid Greece. However, after the fall of Acropolis, Andrianne moved there at the ducal palace. The baptism of Alexandros II also took place there. Soon, the lascarid administration will be too big to be housed in a small fort on the Acropolis. I expect they will build a new palace in Athens in the not so distant future.
Here is how medieval Acropolis looked like:
Then we got Philanthropenos and Theodore rebuilding the walls of Piraeus. The Conon Walls of Piraeus will be a significant undertaking. We are talking about 13km of fortifications, in addition to a citadel at Kastella hill. Such project will cost at least as much as the fortifications of Messina, with only the fortification of Syracuse being grander in scale. At that time, Piraeus - or Porto Leone as was known to the Italian merchants, was perhaps no bigger than a village.
It seems that Lascarid Greece has a new capital and its name is Athens and a new naval base is being developed in Piraeus.
Edit: Conon's Walls and the ancient city
But tbf if they build the walls as the pic suggests it'd still be a very hard to crack but, especially if they just fortify the entire peninsula instead and make it hard for anyone to crawl up the walls.
Even so I think we'd see all this become less important once they gain Thessaloniki as the second city of the Empire would be a great capital for the Lascarids before they take Constantinople itself.
Except the Despotate is essentially a sea power and Thessaloniki is too much off-center relative to the Syracuse-Athens axis which is the center of gravity of the despotate, Syracuse for the Ionian sea and Athens for the Aegean. Even Constantinople is too far on the fringe of Lascarid realm... for the time being.
Thessaloniki makes only sense if the Lascarids become a Balkans power, and Constantinople only if they reconquer Anatolia AND the Balkans.
Thessaloniki makes only sense if the Lascarids become a Balkans power, and Constantinople only if they reconquer Anatolia AND the Balkans.
I mostly agree, but rather than a Thalassocracy, IMO, the Despotat appears to be a mixed one. A characteristic that only would be more manifest as the time would pass and/or the its controlled territories would increase. Cause, the key for the Vatatzés, success, until now is that they were/are able to balance both the Land side, with their key material and manpower resources and the Sea side, with their fleet key to protect and keep open the Despotat sea lanes between Greece and Sicily/Italy.
A recurring feature in their campaigns, since the conquest of Achaea in the early 1300s has always been their ability to quickly shift manpower and resources between Sicily and Greece, to achieve local superiority.
When Frederick invaded and besieged Syracuse, Theodore stripped Achaea, leaving the Hospitalers behind, to crush the royal fleet outside Syracuse, and conversely now, Ioannis has sent considerable forces to speed up the conquest of Phocis and Thessaly...
Without their control of the Ionian sea in between and secure lines of communications, none of their big successes would have been possible I posit, hence my thinking of their fleet being even more crucial to their success than their land forces.
While we speak of it, I'd say the centralization policies of the Despotate and a helfty dose of administrative and bureaucratic practices inherited from Nicaea and Byzantine empires is another key to it. From it came the ability to collect taxes on a regular, coherent basis, which allowed a sound and stable enough financial footing that only could enable a standing army and fleet and in the long run, success provided compitent leadership, which they had; that is essential because, relative to their population and economy, I believe that enabled them to leverage a higher revenue on a longer time basis without compromising the socio-political bases of their domains.
Granted, I'm basing essentially off a parallel and analogy with the transition from feudal to centralized state under the Capetians in France during later stages of the HYW and the particular corollary between the evolution of fiscality and the advent of artillery and proper standing, professional militaries, but I believe that this can hold some truth to our case ITTL.
@Lascaris , speaking of artillery too, and siege warfare too, what's their status in the Despotate's armies?
- Cannons were still at a primitive stage around this time ITTL, but since they appeared in the late 1320s England, I suppose they must be known in some way in the eastern Mediterranean. And the strong politico-economic dynamics of the Despotate allow for not insignificant development and experiment of this technology.
- And with the various sieges across Greece, how has Philantropenos shaped his and the Lascarids' doctrine of poliorcetics, especially given the legacy of Byzantine art of warfare?
- Is Greek fire secret dead and burried for good, or is its death fresh enough someone in Vatatzes employment to rediscover it?
I do think the Vatatzes' greatest strength is them being able to move swiftly against their enemies, and I think this will be no exception. I think if the Vatatzes wants to pivot to retake the rest of the ERE (and Western Anatolia) they need to shift their focus on the Balkans (with Sicily being one of the regions that will be conquered ) and moving to Thessaloniki when the time comes would be a choice that I think will be a smart move until they get to constantinople.
I do think the smartest thing the Vatatzes could do is be an early adopter of guns. While I think cannon won't be that widespread during this period (its still the early days of gunpowder warfare) I think if the Vatatzes put them on boats they're basically going to have unparalleled strike capability against coastal cites like Palmero, Arta and Thessaloniki, and be really good at besieging islands. It was around 1340s where these weapons became more widespread too, and putting them on ships would make sense. After all, the first documented use of cannonry on ship was in 1338 and if a navally inclined admiral of the Vatatzes was present to put them on ships it'd be something that would allow them to pull ahead of their rivals.
This is why I think a major target for the Despotate will be Corfu. Possession of the island is vital to ensure communication between the two halfs of the Despotate. A direct crossing of the Ionian Sea was perilous in the vase majority of cases, the ships had to hug the coastline. Wind systems of both halves of the Mediterranean converge in the area, so Corfu as a safe haven was of paramount importance.
Corfu is fiercely coveted by the Venetians. In 1348, when Louis the Great invaded Naples, the Venetians tried to purchase the island. They also tried other methods, like dispatching officers of their fleet to negotiate directly with a group of anti-Angevin Corfiot nobles. Suffice to say, that Corfu under the control of a strong maritime power is a nightmare for the Despotate, that as you mentioned depends on maritime communications to fend off powerful enemies. It is worth noting that Corfu belonged to the Taranto branch.
Overall, it seems that Hungary could be a natural ally for the Despotate. They will be a major opponent to both Dusan and Venice. It will be difficult for them to control Naples for any long period of time. Better to have anarchy in Naples with weak control of the monarch, with the barons running wild. After all, there is the successful example of frederickian Sicily.
By the way, at this point Monemvasia could have become a major commercial power. In OTL the Monemvasiots had founded mercantile colonies in Constantinople, Pegae and Heraclea and they were very active in the trade of staples from Thrace but also Macedonia. I would expect that Thedore will do his best for his subjects to maintain the commercial privileges that Andronikos II had bestowed. The Monemvasiots have now a many more commercial opportunities from Syracuse to Thasos. I can see the latter becoming an entrepot for the Serres, Christopolis and Evros valley trade.
Monemvasia at the time would have been larger than the late palaiologan era. The whole acropolis was occupied, while the lower city was much more extensive than the current walled one, covering all the south side of the island up to the port at the bridge connecting Monemvasia to the mainland. It has been estimated that the 13th century population of the city stood at 20,000 people. The Monemvasiots maintained subsidiary harbors at Kochylas, Gerakas, Agios Pavlos and Old Monemvasia. It seems also that the city's hinterland was rather extensive. At the very least, the Monemvasiots controlled the area up to Molaoi. The city influence the eastern seabord of the Peloponnese as north as Kastanitsa. However, I don't know how strong that influence was, since it seems that the leading families were holdings pronoias closer to the city (Molaoi, Neapoli etc).
It is also important to notice that the leading aristocratic families of the city (Mamonas, Daimonoiannis and Sophianos) have been described as being captains and merchants. Basically, they look very much like the patrician families of the italian mercantile cities.
Where am I getting at ? Let me make a comparison with 1330s Ragusa that had a similar population (although with its hinterland, I think Monemvasia was a bit larger).
At this point Monemvasia should be a second tier mercantile power in the same league as Ragusa. Or even better, not Monemvasia per se, but the Monemvasiots. I expect mercantile colonies/quarters of them in Glarentza, Patras, Corinth, Demetrias. Halmyros, Thebes, (or at least its export port at Livadostrata), Thasos, Chios and potentially at Sicily and Calabria as well. Now let's add Messina. Even under Frederick it was a prosperous commercial town. However now its economic ties with Calabria are not severed as in OTL and they have a ruler that promotes ship building, industry and commerce. Then we get Chios that can provide up to 24 galleys. If we add all three together, alongside the standing fleet of the Despot... we get a Tier 1 naval power.
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Well I could see the Angevin do it post anarchy bc otherwise the situation would be very hard for the Vatatzes to navigate.
Yeah I do think it'd be good for the Vatatzes to do something like that, but when the Anjou dyansty dies the Spanish and French probably will move in, and there is the question of if the Vatatzes should just take over and hold it as a third party (with garauntees against moving against the Pope). I could see it happening especially if France is any ally of the Vatatzes.
I do think it is too far off though, something like the Vatatzes not pushing against the other main houses much is something I could see especially if they move for Corfu.
It is very much still under the ERE though, and I'm not sure if the Vatatzes holds it or not. There is a possibility that the island is besiged when the Vatatzes fought the ERE, and with the navy being non-existent during the era I think they could do it. There just has been no indication of who is ruling them right now.
Part 49
Thrace, July 1331
Kantakouzenos called it restoration of legal authority. The nobles used to keeping taxes and pronoias to themselves called it Kantakouzenos infringing on their given rights. But Kantakouzenos had on his side the trust of the emperor and his newly recruited regular troops to quelch noble dissent. The local peasantry couldn't care less about the troubles of the nobility, their lot at worst remained the same and usually improved at least somewhat from Kantakouzenos actions so why should they complain? And Ioannis had enough of a political mind not to try reforming the whole lot in a single step. This year it would be Gallipoli. Next year some other province. It would likely take years to reform the entirety of Thrace, much less Macedonia a piece at a time. But it was the only way to tackle the task.
Serbia, September 8th, 1331
Stefan Uros IV Dusan was crowned sole king of Serbia. The young king had led a rebellion of the Serb nobles against his father Stefan Uros III Decanski, earlier in the year after the nobles had grown dissatisfied over Decanski not exploiting his victory against the Bulgarians to grab more Bulgarian land. Stefan III had not been the only king in the Balkans to lose his throne during the year. Tsar Ivan Stefan of Bulgaria, Dusan's cousin, who had been imposed by the Serbs as tsar had been overthrown by Ivan Alexander, a nephew of the previous tsar Michael Sisman, not compromised by the Serbs.
Thessaly, September 1331
The Sicilian army begun the siege of Larisa. The Catalan garrison, with slightly more than 2,000 men was strong and well provisioned, but with Theodore leading about fifteen thousand men against the town and controlling the surrounding countryside, the Catalans would need luck, outside help or both to survive. Alfonso Fadrique had prudently already made his escape back to Palermo leaving someone else to lead the garrison.
Rusokastro, July 1332
Andronikos III had taken advantage of the continuing internal troubles of Bulgaria, where the uncle of tsar Ivan Alexander had rebelled against him to invade Bulgaria to recover the fortresses lost by his grandfather. But Ivan Alexander had finally managed to bring together an army of 8,000 men and move against Andronikos. The two armies had met near Rusokastron, but despite outnumbering Andronikos, who only had a bit over 5,000 men, Ivan Alexander had initially begun negotiations with Andronikos. A deal had almost been reached when the 3,000 Tatar mercenaries Ivan Alexander had been waiting for, had reached him and he attacked. The battle would prove much harder fought than Ivan had hoped though. The Byzantines had been pushed back but would inflict almost twice as many casualties on the Bulgarians as they had suffered themselves. The peace treaty signed after the battle would not much differ from the one being negotiated before the battle. The empire would get back Anchialos in exchange for Yambol and Ivan Alexander's son Michael would be married to Andronikos daughter Irene. Surprisingly enough peace between the two sides would hold out for quite a while...
Larisa, December 1332
The Catalan garrison had held out for fifteen months. But no aid had shown up from anywhere and Theodore and Alexios Philanthropenos had not given up, their army was well supplied from the plains of Thessaly after all. They had even been reinforced when Theodore had secured the allegiance of about 12,000 Albanians that had just moved into Thessaly. The Catalans had eaten up everything edible and many things non edible but in the end the survivors had given up and surrendered. The duchy of Athens and Neopatras was no more. Now it was time for Theodore to restore the peace...
Sicily, April 1333
Charles of Anjou was back on campaign in Sicily now that the threat from Louis IV of Bavaria had receded. His new campaign would produce only limited gains. But it shouldn't matter. Every castle lost by Frederick made the Aragonese hold on the island weaker and the Angevin one stronger.
Malta, May 1333
Alfonso Fadrique newly minted count of Malta looked in dismay at the ships bearing the all too familiar double headed eagle of house Lascaris-Vatatzes crowding his port. His father had appreciated his tying down of Theodore in Greece for several years investing him as count of Malta. But apparently Fredirick had not the only one thinking of Malta. With the conquest of Thessaly over Alexios Philanthropenos had sailed with the regular Sicilian army, escorted by twenty galleys to Syracuse. Ioannis was scrupulous in keeping to his part of the treaty with Robert. His Pronoia armies from Sicily and Calabria would march year after year looting Frederick's lands like clockwork and aiding Angevin forces on the island but would not take land in Val di Mazara. But the treaty said nothing about Malta. Thus as soon as Philanthropenos was back in Sicily he had been joined by forty more galleys and sailed south...
Kantakouzenos called it restoration of legal authority. The nobles used to keeping taxes and pronoias to themselves called it Kantakouzenos infringing on their given rights. But Kantakouzenos had on his side the trust of the emperor and his newly recruited regular troops to quelch noble dissent. The local peasantry couldn't care less about the troubles of the nobility, their lot at worst remained the same and usually improved at least somewhat from Kantakouzenos actions so why should they complain? And Ioannis had enough of a political mind not to try reforming the whole lot in a single step. This year it would be Gallipoli. Next year some other province. It would likely take years to reform the entirety of Thrace, much less Macedonia a piece at a time. But it was the only way to tackle the task.
Serbia, September 8th, 1331
Stefan Uros IV Dusan was crowned sole king of Serbia. The young king had led a rebellion of the Serb nobles against his father Stefan Uros III Decanski, earlier in the year after the nobles had grown dissatisfied over Decanski not exploiting his victory against the Bulgarians to grab more Bulgarian land. Stefan III had not been the only king in the Balkans to lose his throne during the year. Tsar Ivan Stefan of Bulgaria, Dusan's cousin, who had been imposed by the Serbs as tsar had been overthrown by Ivan Alexander, a nephew of the previous tsar Michael Sisman, not compromised by the Serbs.
Thessaly, September 1331
The Sicilian army begun the siege of Larisa. The Catalan garrison, with slightly more than 2,000 men was strong and well provisioned, but with Theodore leading about fifteen thousand men against the town and controlling the surrounding countryside, the Catalans would need luck, outside help or both to survive. Alfonso Fadrique had prudently already made his escape back to Palermo leaving someone else to lead the garrison.
Rusokastro, July 1332
Andronikos III had taken advantage of the continuing internal troubles of Bulgaria, where the uncle of tsar Ivan Alexander had rebelled against him to invade Bulgaria to recover the fortresses lost by his grandfather. But Ivan Alexander had finally managed to bring together an army of 8,000 men and move against Andronikos. The two armies had met near Rusokastron, but despite outnumbering Andronikos, who only had a bit over 5,000 men, Ivan Alexander had initially begun negotiations with Andronikos. A deal had almost been reached when the 3,000 Tatar mercenaries Ivan Alexander had been waiting for, had reached him and he attacked. The battle would prove much harder fought than Ivan had hoped though. The Byzantines had been pushed back but would inflict almost twice as many casualties on the Bulgarians as they had suffered themselves. The peace treaty signed after the battle would not much differ from the one being negotiated before the battle. The empire would get back Anchialos in exchange for Yambol and Ivan Alexander's son Michael would be married to Andronikos daughter Irene. Surprisingly enough peace between the two sides would hold out for quite a while...
Larisa, December 1332
The Catalan garrison had held out for fifteen months. But no aid had shown up from anywhere and Theodore and Alexios Philanthropenos had not given up, their army was well supplied from the plains of Thessaly after all. They had even been reinforced when Theodore had secured the allegiance of about 12,000 Albanians that had just moved into Thessaly. The Catalans had eaten up everything edible and many things non edible but in the end the survivors had given up and surrendered. The duchy of Athens and Neopatras was no more. Now it was time for Theodore to restore the peace...
Sicily, April 1333
Charles of Anjou was back on campaign in Sicily now that the threat from Louis IV of Bavaria had receded. His new campaign would produce only limited gains. But it shouldn't matter. Every castle lost by Frederick made the Aragonese hold on the island weaker and the Angevin one stronger.
Malta, May 1333
Alfonso Fadrique newly minted count of Malta looked in dismay at the ships bearing the all too familiar double headed eagle of house Lascaris-Vatatzes crowding his port. His father had appreciated his tying down of Theodore in Greece for several years investing him as count of Malta. But apparently Fredirick had not the only one thinking of Malta. With the conquest of Thessaly over Alexios Philanthropenos had sailed with the regular Sicilian army, escorted by twenty galleys to Syracuse. Ioannis was scrupulous in keeping to his part of the treaty with Robert. His Pronoia armies from Sicily and Calabria would march year after year looting Frederick's lands like clockwork and aiding Angevin forces on the island but would not take land in Val di Mazara. But the treaty said nothing about Malta. Thus as soon as Philanthropenos was back in Sicily he had been joined by forty more galleys and sailed south...
Thessaly is such a valuable addition to the Despotate. The Ottomans could procure 3,000 sipahi cavalry from the Sanjak of Trikala, that also included the Spercheios Valley.
And that brings us to ... Trikala, held by a certain back-stabbing Orsini. This kinslayer of a despot has already betrayed the Lascarids once and has now snatched a corner of Thessaly, while Theodore fought a long and bloody war for it.
Orsini cannot hope to compete with the Lascarids in Thessaly. Or Arta in general. After Orsini got murdered, Andronikos was able to easily subjugate Epirus. Considering his OTL field army rarely reached or exceeded 4,000 men, that says a lot.
The islands will be easier to reform since there were not many powerful nobles there. The biggest landowners were monasteries.
Malta is a very valuable addition to the Despotate. It was a source of cotton and sugar, even though the available land for such crops was much smaller than that of Sicily.
It's nice to see Ioannis instituting a program of centralization actually picking up within the empire, instead of in newly acquired territories, especially beginning in Gallipoli, which has roughly 20 years before the earthquake hits it...
A Roman Army led by Andronikos III almost twice as large (5k vs. 3k) than its OTL counterpart, leading to a peace deal much better than OTL (Anything is better than territorial concessions in my opinion)! A solid peace, if it holds, on the Empire's Northern border will be nice if Andronikos/Ioannis do not need to detour Umur (or their own soldiers, if things go well?) north to deal with the Bulgarians in the 1340s.
Would we be seeing pronoia being established in Anchialos' hinterlands due to its status as a newly reincorporated state of the Empire? Or perhaps another port which would aid in Andronikos' ship rearmament program?
Tbh I think Malta's main value is that if the Lascarids hold it it removes a potential staging point from which others could attack Sicily from the south
That and the control of both entry points into the eastern Mediterranean from the western Mediterranean. Of course, the Otranto strait are not theirs.... Yet.
So the Greek front of this war is at last closed. I really had to go back to see when this war started as it felt it was a really protracted one and I was right. From 1320 the first stages of the war with the battle at the Isthmus till now 12 years later those pesky Catalans are finally eliminated. Now Greece is at peace but for how long really (looking at you Stefan!)? Well in reality Athens and the Boeotia once they were liberated they didn't face a lot of raids but still the strain of keeping the army up for so long and supplied would have an effect on the taxes or the supplies of the peasants and merchants. Now with the defensible Olympus in the north and Pindos in the west the Kapetanate is at a very secure point to truly prosper.
On the topic of long wars, how on Earth is Frederick even capable of sustaining for so long? Between constant raiding from land and sea and not even able to fight against Ioannis how are his barons still by his side?
I wonder if the capture of Malta will lead to a Tunisian expedition. Not for conquest of land, maybe a fortified port, but mainly for tribute.
On the topic of long wars, how on Earth is Frederick even capable of sustaining for so long? Between constant raiding from land and sea and not even able to fight against Ioannis how are his barons still by his side?
I wonder if the capture of Malta will lead to a Tunisian expedition. Not for conquest of land, maybe a fortified port, but mainly for tribute.
Indeed!
It is worth mentioning that the Strait of Messina used to be the major route between the two halves of the Mediterranean. The reason is simple enough: during the sailing season, the seas at the Sicily Strait and central Ionian Sea were quite rough for oared ships and the primitive mediterranean round ships. The Strait of Messina controls also the food supply of Naples since in OTL the city imported grain from Apulia and sometimes Calabria as well. Certainly Naples can import grain from the western Mediterranean but it would be more expensive with export duties. In case of war with Syracuse, they could import grain from Angevin-held Sicily, but the region is worn-torn and is going through a demographic collapse.
Lascarid control of Calabria must have been a great blow to the Angevins compared to OTL. In the early 15th century, Calabria Ultra had 13% of the total population. We also know that Calabria Citra was densely populated. Granted, Syracuse doesn't control all of Calabria Citra, but at least the region around Longobucco is in lascarid hands. I would say that the Regno has lost around 1/6th of its OTL population. Moreover, Calabria was very economically important, integrated to international and regional markets and a major exporter of silk, quality wine (it exported wine even to places with a quality wine production of their own, e.g. Tuscany), good quality timber, cotton, wool, sugar, hides, grain and textiles. The impact on tax revenues via custom duties would have been high. Just the calabrian raw silk production tax provided 200 onze in 1386. The export taxes on raw silk, silk textiles or taxes on manufacturing of textiles would add more income.
Lascarid Calabria should be richer than the OTL Angevin, since the vital trade with Messina is not severed.
It is interesting that Naples used to import great quantities of calabrian timber for shipbuilding. Yet there were forests of suitable wood in Basilicata and Campania. My educated guess, would have been that calabrian timber was cheaper to transport, with forests very close to the shore and suitable ports, with Aspromonte being a major timber source. We know from the author that a galley cost 2,300 ducats to build. In an example of Aspromonte timber exported to Naples for building a galley, timber felling cost 333 ducats and 352 ducats to transport it. Lascarid galleys will be a bit cheaper to build.
Source: Sakellariou's "Southern Italy in the Late Middle Ages"
I wonder how many of the unemployed sailors found their way to Messina and Syracuse. There is after all the example of Alexandros attracting part of the demobilized byzantine crews back in the 1280s.