Part 63
Didymoteichon, Thrace, March 1352
Ioannis V Palaiologos was given an appanage over Western Thrace by Ioannis VI the senior emperor. Matthaios Kantakouzenos, Ioannis VI elder son would be moved to rule over Adrianople. The youngest of Ioannis VI sons, Manuel, had already been made governor of Lesbos, a much smaller holding compared to that of his brother and brother in law but nevertheless quite important given its large revenues and strategic position.
Constantinople, May 1352
With the Venetian fleet gone Ioannis VI was forced to come to terms with Genoa. The Genoese trade privileges within the empire would be renewed, their hold on Galata renewed and imperial ports closed to Venice. This would prove to have consequences...
Halmyros, Thessaly, July 1352
It had been the definition of what the Italians were calling bad war. The Serb army under Dusan had pressed on but between Sicilian naval raids, garrisons and commitments in Thrace had not been able to bring more that 19,000 men on the field. The Sicilians under Alexandros Doukas Lascaris had managed to bring together only slightly more men fielding 20,000 men. The Sicilians had the superior infantry and organization. the Serb heavy cavalry had proved itself to be among the best in Europe and unlike its counterparts in Western Europe was anything but alien to fighting light cavalry or horse archers. The end result had been a bloody had fought battle. The Sicilians would take three thousand casualties including Alexios Philanthropenos, Michael's elder son. But in the end the Moreot heavy horse under Michael Rallis had broken the Serb flank and the Serbs had been forced to retreat leaving four thousand dead in the battlefield.
Didymoteichon, July 1352
Ioannis V with a bit or perhaps more than a bit of prompting from Venice and Serbia attacked Matthaios Kantakouzenos. Patriarch Callistus would try and fail to mediate between the two rivals. Ioannis VI would try to mediate as well only to find himself also in conflict with the younger emperor as Ioannis V received an army of 4,000 men from the Serbs, further troops from Bulgaria and 20,000 ducats in financial aid from Venice.
Tzympe castle, Gallipoli, August 1352
The castle was surrendered to Suleiman pasha, Orhan's eldest son. It was the price Ioannis VI had to pay in exchange for Orhan's support as an army of 10,000 Ottomans under Suleiman marched into Thrace...
Thessaly, September 1352
The Sicilian advance in Thessaly came to a screeching halt in the face of Serb reinforcements. Alexandros had managed to push the Serbs out of most of the southern half of Thessaly but he would not risk a second battle against the reinforced Serb army...
Didymoteichon, October 1352
Ioannis V army was crushed by the Ottomans. The young emperor wiould be forced to flee to the little island of Tenedos. The renewed civil war appeared to have ended in triumph for Kantakouzenos.. But this had come at a cost as the Ottomans had looted yet again large sections of Thrace and perhaps worse were now refusing to leave Tzympe.
Avignon, December 1352
Innocent VI became the new pope. This was going to be unfortunate news for the Neapolitan Angevins as Innocent facing financial difficulties after the profligate spending of his predecessor cut the subsidies to the Angevins and begun negotiating for an accommodation with Louis of Hungary. Coming to terms with Sicily would prove more difficult as Theodore had no intention of paying tithes to the papacy and the Sicilian parliament and population after the multitude of excommunications thrown on their heads over the past 70 years stood behind Theodore on the matter. But even so Innocent would not show the unrelenting hostility of his predecessors.
Naples, February 1353
"No" The word, by Louis of Taranto king of Sicily, was almost a shout.
George Chrysaphis, Theodore's envoy to the Neapolitan cort gave a shrug. "I would strongly advise your majesty to reconsider. The despot's terms are only fair given your... circumstances."
"Release your master from his vassalage, and surrender to him the kingdom's holdings in Greece, Sicily, Terra di Otranto, Basilicata and Terra di Bari. And Theodore expects me to accept such terms?"
"I would note your majesty that you have lost the war. The war you had started I might note. Losing a war comes at a cost. And my lord has instructed me to warn you that if you fail to accept peace now his terms the next time he sends me over here are going to be worse."
"No"
Thessaly, March 1353
Stefan Dusan gave a sigh as he jumped on his horse. One more campaign was just about to begin. Theodore had not accepted peace on the status quo. He had not accepted to give up his Thessalian conquests in exchange for peace. The war would continue. Despite the costly defeats in Halmyros and Didymoteichon he still led 20,000 men for this year's campaign in Thessaly, as many as his spies claimed Alexandros had in the south.
Constantinople, April 1353
Ioannis VI proclaimed his son Matthaios co-emperor. There would be some trouble with patriarch Callistus refusing to crown Matthaios, which would be solved by the simple expedient of replacing Callistus with a new patriarch Philotheus. The new patriarch would duly crown Mattheos co-emperor the next February. But the Ottomans were still refusing to leave Tzympe and Ioannis V was still holed up in Tenedos. Manuel who had inherited his father's abilities was busily building up a fleet in Lesvos but as long as the Venetian navy was in the Aegean and allowed by Ioannis V to use Tenedos as a base was not in position to attack his brother in law.
Ascoli, June 1353
Theodore had avoided for the past couple of years to directly aid the Hungarians. But now he was angry. If Louis and Joanna were too stupid to come to terms then they had to be forced to terms. Thus he had linked up with the Hungarians and marched up from Basilicata forcing the Neapolitans to battle. Gregoras in his "Sicilian History" would not fail to note that back 16 centuries ago another Greek army under Pyrrhus had defeated the Latins in the same place carefully avoiding to point the Latins in question were the Romans. But if the Romans could afford the casualties inflicted on them by Pyrrhus, Louis did not have the strategic depth to survive losing half his army...
Port De Comte, Sardinia, August 1353
A Genoese fleet of 33 galleys under Antonio Grimaldi was crushed by the joint Aragonese-Venetian fleet with two thousand men killed and twice as many taken prisoner. But just the next month from the victory Marianus IV the judge of Arborea would rise up in revolt fearing the increase in Aragonese influence. Before the end of the year he would be joined in the revolt by the Doria family in the north of the island.
Athens, Ocrober 1353
Alexandros Doukas Lascaris took the baby in his hands. A second daughter. They would name her Ioanna after Agnes mother the late queen of Navarre. It was the only good thing to happen in an otherwise frustrating year. Over the previous months Dusan had stopped cold every single Sicilian advance in Thessaly. It was true that Alexander and his lieutenants had stopped in turn every Serb attempt to push south but this wasn't making things any less frustrating for him. At his age his grandfather had just liberated Siciy...
Naples, November 1353
Louis I put his signature of the document accepting a ten year truce with Sicily. It wasn't as if he could do much about it. After the defeat of Ascoli Sicilian and Hungarian armies had ranged unopposed for most of the year, taking several castles and looting the countryside. Innocent VI had excommunicated him, along with Joanna for refusing to send ecclesiastical tithes over to Avignon, with war ranging he could ill afford to do so. He needed to cut his losses and hopefully deal with the Hungarians and that little upstart in Abruzzo. As soon as they were dealt with he could revisit his relation with that Greek heretic and the Sicilian traitors who preferred him over their god anointed kings...
Messina, February 1354
Theodore Doukas Lascaris looked over the fleet assembling in Messina. With the war in Italy it had been reasonably easy to convince the Sicilian parliament to help finance for one more, hopefully final push to bring the war in Greece at an end. After all no person in Sicily could forget the Greek armies and fleets coming to the aid of Sicily earlier in the war. And even the ones willing to pretend to forget that, or the large Greek population in Sicily and South Italy being increasingly self concious of their ties to their brethren in the east of the Ionian sea thank to the growth in learning, were not as willing to forget the lively trade going between the two halves of the realm and the profits coming out of it...
Ioannis V Palaiologos was given an appanage over Western Thrace by Ioannis VI the senior emperor. Matthaios Kantakouzenos, Ioannis VI elder son would be moved to rule over Adrianople. The youngest of Ioannis VI sons, Manuel, had already been made governor of Lesbos, a much smaller holding compared to that of his brother and brother in law but nevertheless quite important given its large revenues and strategic position.
Constantinople, May 1352
With the Venetian fleet gone Ioannis VI was forced to come to terms with Genoa. The Genoese trade privileges within the empire would be renewed, their hold on Galata renewed and imperial ports closed to Venice. This would prove to have consequences...
Halmyros, Thessaly, July 1352
It had been the definition of what the Italians were calling bad war. The Serb army under Dusan had pressed on but between Sicilian naval raids, garrisons and commitments in Thrace had not been able to bring more that 19,000 men on the field. The Sicilians under Alexandros Doukas Lascaris had managed to bring together only slightly more men fielding 20,000 men. The Sicilians had the superior infantry and organization. the Serb heavy cavalry had proved itself to be among the best in Europe and unlike its counterparts in Western Europe was anything but alien to fighting light cavalry or horse archers. The end result had been a bloody had fought battle. The Sicilians would take three thousand casualties including Alexios Philanthropenos, Michael's elder son. But in the end the Moreot heavy horse under Michael Rallis had broken the Serb flank and the Serbs had been forced to retreat leaving four thousand dead in the battlefield.
Didymoteichon, July 1352
Ioannis V with a bit or perhaps more than a bit of prompting from Venice and Serbia attacked Matthaios Kantakouzenos. Patriarch Callistus would try and fail to mediate between the two rivals. Ioannis VI would try to mediate as well only to find himself also in conflict with the younger emperor as Ioannis V received an army of 4,000 men from the Serbs, further troops from Bulgaria and 20,000 ducats in financial aid from Venice.
Tzympe castle, Gallipoli, August 1352
The castle was surrendered to Suleiman pasha, Orhan's eldest son. It was the price Ioannis VI had to pay in exchange for Orhan's support as an army of 10,000 Ottomans under Suleiman marched into Thrace...
Thessaly, September 1352
The Sicilian advance in Thessaly came to a screeching halt in the face of Serb reinforcements. Alexandros had managed to push the Serbs out of most of the southern half of Thessaly but he would not risk a second battle against the reinforced Serb army...
Didymoteichon, October 1352
Ioannis V army was crushed by the Ottomans. The young emperor wiould be forced to flee to the little island of Tenedos. The renewed civil war appeared to have ended in triumph for Kantakouzenos.. But this had come at a cost as the Ottomans had looted yet again large sections of Thrace and perhaps worse were now refusing to leave Tzympe.
Avignon, December 1352
Innocent VI became the new pope. This was going to be unfortunate news for the Neapolitan Angevins as Innocent facing financial difficulties after the profligate spending of his predecessor cut the subsidies to the Angevins and begun negotiating for an accommodation with Louis of Hungary. Coming to terms with Sicily would prove more difficult as Theodore had no intention of paying tithes to the papacy and the Sicilian parliament and population after the multitude of excommunications thrown on their heads over the past 70 years stood behind Theodore on the matter. But even so Innocent would not show the unrelenting hostility of his predecessors.
Naples, February 1353
"No" The word, by Louis of Taranto king of Sicily, was almost a shout.
George Chrysaphis, Theodore's envoy to the Neapolitan cort gave a shrug. "I would strongly advise your majesty to reconsider. The despot's terms are only fair given your... circumstances."
"Release your master from his vassalage, and surrender to him the kingdom's holdings in Greece, Sicily, Terra di Otranto, Basilicata and Terra di Bari. And Theodore expects me to accept such terms?"
"I would note your majesty that you have lost the war. The war you had started I might note. Losing a war comes at a cost. And my lord has instructed me to warn you that if you fail to accept peace now his terms the next time he sends me over here are going to be worse."
"No"
Thessaly, March 1353
Stefan Dusan gave a sigh as he jumped on his horse. One more campaign was just about to begin. Theodore had not accepted peace on the status quo. He had not accepted to give up his Thessalian conquests in exchange for peace. The war would continue. Despite the costly defeats in Halmyros and Didymoteichon he still led 20,000 men for this year's campaign in Thessaly, as many as his spies claimed Alexandros had in the south.
Constantinople, April 1353
Ioannis VI proclaimed his son Matthaios co-emperor. There would be some trouble with patriarch Callistus refusing to crown Matthaios, which would be solved by the simple expedient of replacing Callistus with a new patriarch Philotheus. The new patriarch would duly crown Mattheos co-emperor the next February. But the Ottomans were still refusing to leave Tzympe and Ioannis V was still holed up in Tenedos. Manuel who had inherited his father's abilities was busily building up a fleet in Lesvos but as long as the Venetian navy was in the Aegean and allowed by Ioannis V to use Tenedos as a base was not in position to attack his brother in law.
Ascoli, June 1353
Theodore had avoided for the past couple of years to directly aid the Hungarians. But now he was angry. If Louis and Joanna were too stupid to come to terms then they had to be forced to terms. Thus he had linked up with the Hungarians and marched up from Basilicata forcing the Neapolitans to battle. Gregoras in his "Sicilian History" would not fail to note that back 16 centuries ago another Greek army under Pyrrhus had defeated the Latins in the same place carefully avoiding to point the Latins in question were the Romans. But if the Romans could afford the casualties inflicted on them by Pyrrhus, Louis did not have the strategic depth to survive losing half his army...
Port De Comte, Sardinia, August 1353
A Genoese fleet of 33 galleys under Antonio Grimaldi was crushed by the joint Aragonese-Venetian fleet with two thousand men killed and twice as many taken prisoner. But just the next month from the victory Marianus IV the judge of Arborea would rise up in revolt fearing the increase in Aragonese influence. Before the end of the year he would be joined in the revolt by the Doria family in the north of the island.
Athens, Ocrober 1353
Alexandros Doukas Lascaris took the baby in his hands. A second daughter. They would name her Ioanna after Agnes mother the late queen of Navarre. It was the only good thing to happen in an otherwise frustrating year. Over the previous months Dusan had stopped cold every single Sicilian advance in Thessaly. It was true that Alexander and his lieutenants had stopped in turn every Serb attempt to push south but this wasn't making things any less frustrating for him. At his age his grandfather had just liberated Siciy...
Naples, November 1353
Louis I put his signature of the document accepting a ten year truce with Sicily. It wasn't as if he could do much about it. After the defeat of Ascoli Sicilian and Hungarian armies had ranged unopposed for most of the year, taking several castles and looting the countryside. Innocent VI had excommunicated him, along with Joanna for refusing to send ecclesiastical tithes over to Avignon, with war ranging he could ill afford to do so. He needed to cut his losses and hopefully deal with the Hungarians and that little upstart in Abruzzo. As soon as they were dealt with he could revisit his relation with that Greek heretic and the Sicilian traitors who preferred him over their god anointed kings...
Messina, February 1354
Theodore Doukas Lascaris looked over the fleet assembling in Messina. With the war in Italy it had been reasonably easy to convince the Sicilian parliament to help finance for one more, hopefully final push to bring the war in Greece at an end. After all no person in Sicily could forget the Greek armies and fleets coming to the aid of Sicily earlier in the war. And even the ones willing to pretend to forget that, or the large Greek population in Sicily and South Italy being increasingly self concious of their ties to their brethren in the east of the Ionian sea thank to the growth in learning, were not as willing to forget the lively trade going between the two halves of the realm and the profits coming out of it...
