Chapter IV Part A: Ascension of Andreas to the imperial throne and the rise of the military aristocracy.
By 1100 relations between Alexius and his generals were deteriorating rapidly. Many of the younger officers and strategoi in Anatolia viewed the emperor as someone who was in thier way to spread Orthodox Christianity to the heathens and destroy the arabs who had caused so much trouble for thier empire. The chief head of this faction was Andreas Psellus. Andreas was a war hero who had won many victories during the crusade and was one of the youngest Strategoi aged only 21. He was also half gypsy due to the fact that while his father was greek but he had a gypsy mother.
So the "somehow, God only knows why, the Byzantine generals become rabid crusaders" trend continues. Ugh. Also, the chief of this faction is a twenty one year old?!
His father was Nikephros Psellus a member of house Psellus a powerful Rhoman noble family, however his mother was a gypsy servant. they had a romantic relationship and he was born. However his mother died in childbirth but Nikephros had already been married to a noblewoman and so Andreas was in reality an illegitimate child better known as a royal bastard. Nikephros took pity on the boy and decided to raise him in the family, however his wife was completely against Andreas. She would torture the boy, feed him little food,and when her son was born his father paid more attention to the legitimate child and Andreas was ignored. We know now that during his childhood he was heavily beaten, starved, tortured, and virtually ignored by everybody and lived not in the palace but in the horse shed.
If Nicephorus sees him as part of the family, then there's not going to be any chance for his wife to mistreat him. And even if he pays more attention to his legitimate children, he's still "a" son and going to be raised accordingly - or if he is dropped like a hot iron, sent away.
In order to escape this terrible life Andreas turned to books and soon read many works on the art of war. By the time he was 18 he was a very accomplished military tactician and strategist who read the works of all the great heroes. In 1094 he joined the University of Constantinople military academy after scoring the highest marks on both the written and the physical tests. According to his Professors he was a charming man who got along with his classmates and even made them listen to him and was unbeatable when it came to mock battles. Andreas was so good that by 1096 he had graduated from the Academy when normally it would have taken 4 years of study with glowing recommendations and excellent credentials.
Books he's acquiring from where? And an eighteen year old in these circumstances being "a very accomplished tactician and strategist"? What is this, Garios Stu?
This whole section needs to be entirely rewritten.
He was then granted by Georgios Paleologs the veteran general the rank of Strategoi of the Trabzon thema. He now commanded an army and soon participated in the great anatolian campaign.
What. Why in God's name is Palaelogius granting a 21 year old bastard this high a rank?
Now Andreas had a friend who had stood up for him at the university. In 1095 both he and his friend Nikephros were caught by turkish raiders and imprisoned. The raiders planned to kill him but decided they would kill his firend in the most brutal way possible before his eyes to make him suffer and then ransom him off. The turkish raiders who had ambushed his soldiers and kidnapped him soon built a vat of boiling oil. They took his friend nikephros and before Andreas eyes they boiled him alive. The experience would further traumatize Andreas who had already been traumatized by birth and ridiculed by many. We know that this was the underlying cause of his hatred of the turks and why he committed those atrocities. He had lost his sanity during childhood but at the same time he was a competant general. Suffice to say Andreas soon was saved by his soldiers who destroyed the turkish encampment and soon won fame as he destroyed many turkish soldiers and sacked many turkish cities.
Okay, yeah, he's a f--king Sue. Kill this with fire now for the love of all reason, man.
However during his campaigns he was always watched by the emperor who hated him. In 1099 after the successful crusade and him pillaging and destroying the muslim populations, he heard that the emperor was planning to move against him. He immediately turned to help from his fellow generals.
Now Andreas had won the respect of many anatolian strategoi, plus his piety to the orthodox faith lead to him being backed by the church. Many of the generals in turn supported him and agreed with his policies. In 1100 Andreas called forth a meeting beetween the other junior strategoi to discuss hw to stop the emperor. He told them what was happening and made them fearful that if he gets sacked then it would serve as a precedent to sack them. This frightened many of the junior generals who were at the meeting. However he told them of a plot. They would rise in unison and overthrow the emperor. At first many junior officers were shocked and many were suspicious and nearly all of them started accusing Andreas of treason. However Andreas replied back that if they could unite and launch a successful revolt, then it would be they who would dictate the policy of the empire. He told them that if they supported his bid to becoming emperor then he would let them have free reign in Anatolia and have them advise him on how to run the state.
Um . . . what.
Many generals were suspicious of each other and didn't support one another but he convinced them that the revolt could only succeed if they acted in unison. he told them how in the past generals had revolted against the empire but most of the time it was only one or two generals. So they were crushed. But if 13-14 generals and thier armies revolted then they would have a greater chance to defeat the emperor. This was revolutionary and many of the generals agreed that if they united they could overthrow the emperor. Plus Andreas was giving them a great deal by having them rule. One must remember that most of these generals were in their 20s or early 30s and all wanted glory and greatness. They were also very ambitious and didn't want to pass by an opportunity by which they could expand their powers. After much deliberation the other junior strategoi agreed to revolt. Although many of them were suspicious of each other they decided that ones territory was his own and he should rule it as he sees fit. They promised not to interfere with another generals territory and partition the empire into various provinces governed by them but all loyal to Andreas who in turn would let them do as they wished.
. . . I don't even know where to begin here.
Afterwords Andreas met with an assassin and hired him to slay the emperor.
Now Alexius was a relatively open man who didn't fear anybody and liked to take strolls at night through the palace gardens.
On may 5th, Alexius as usual was taking a stroll through the gardens with his wife and was enjoying them when he came across a gardener. He was at first surprised to see a Gardner at this late in the night but didn't worry too much. Alexius had no bodyguards with him at the time either. After all he was walking in his own garden. The Gardner suddenly took out a knife and attacked Alexius who failed to react in time. The Gardner slit Alexius throat. The emperor fell to the ground and his wife shrieked. The noise alerted the guards who immediately slew the gardener but it was too late. Alexius had died. The emperor was dead. The next day a funeral was held for the great emperor who many revered for what he had done. Alexius had lead the empire through a time of great crisis and restored much of its power. However his son John was still not old enough to rule so a regency was proclaimed.
There is no chance that any Emperor of the Romans who enjoys living is going to stroll through his gardens, alone, at night.
At this moment Andreas struck. In Anatolai the junior officers soon turned on the senior officials whom they slew. Andreas called the senior officers lead by veterans Georgios Paleologs and Nikephros Melissanos to convene with the junior officers to discuss what they should do now that the emperor was dead. That night wine was brought in which was poisoned. Soon this poisoned wine was given to the senior officers including Georgios Paleologos and Nikephros Melissanos. Now the junior officers respected the senior officers and viewed them as heroes but to many junior officers, if the senior officials and high commanders were killed their positions would open up to the junior officers. By next morning the senior officers were dead killed by poison. When news reached Constantinople of the death of the senior officers the regency lead by Empress were stunned. Immediately a weak later they received news that the junior stategoi had taken command of nearly all the roman forces in Anatolia and had revolted against the empire. They declared that the Komnenoi were not good Christians and very un pious as their pretext and proclaimed Andreas as being a true Rhoman emperor.
Suspension of disbelief left a long time ago. This sounds great - for what Andreas believes will happen.
Now how could Andreas fight for a throne that he had no ties to...w ell it was because of Rhoman law which stated that regardless of who a person is, as long as they are orthodox Christians they have the right to become emperor or seize it from the ruling dynasty. This was what the generals used as their pretext for justifying the revolt.
. . . what.
Never before had multiple officers revolted at the same time and put up a united front against the empire. After many skirmishes by 1102 the royal forces were crushed by the revolters who were all very competent military commanders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_I_Komnenos
By 1103 the revolters arrived at the gates of COnstantinople. Here they bribed some of the guards who opened the gates for them and they stormed Constantinople. They soon arrived at the palace and executed the Komnenoi family members. They killed the boy emperor John Komnenos and the empress was exiled to a monastery as a nun. The regency fell apart and John Doukas who was one of the leaders of the regency realized the Komnenoi were doomed and so surrendered to the Rebels lead by Andreas who spared him. On May 6th 1103 in Constantinople at the Hagia Sophia the Patriarch crowned Andres Psellus as the new Emperor of the Rhomans and Andreas became known as Andreas I Psellus emperor of the Rhomaion.
Man, the loyalists are the most incompetent fools ever.
Now Andreas was a half gypsy and he was also a bastard who had become emperor. Although their was much opposition among the aristocracy to Andreas becoming emperor the aristocracy in thrace was held at swordpoint by the junior officers who had taken the city. Immediately after his coronation Andreas awarded these officers high positions in command, administration, and other such prominent positions and loaded them with titles. Due to these acts they supported him even more. Andreas then turned to the next business what to do with his former family. He had his stepmother dragged to the Blachernae palace along with his father and forced them to grovel at his feet and acknowledge him as emperor. He had suffered terribly in childhood and he had no mercy for his stepmother who was blinded and sent off to a monastery. His father pleaded with him to be spared but Andreas simply replied " where were you when my stepmother tortured me, where were you for the most of my life, why was i neglected by you so much, i detest to call you my father". He soon had his father blinded as well and sent off to a monastery.
Yeah, Andreas's fantasy world is well detailed and all, but this is not going to work.
Within the next couple weeks Andreas was acknowledged by the rhoman nobility as being the emperor. Many of their sons were junior officers and because of their convincing the families agreed to recognize Andreas as emperor.
In order to solidify his rule Andreas married Anna Komnena the daughter of the previous emperor aged 16 years, With this marriage he legitimized his role as the emperor. He soon agreed to the terms set by his fellow strategoi and allowed them freedom to do what they wished, how they wished,and what they wanted to do in Anatolia and the levant as well as advise him on key issues.
One remarkable thing about Andreas was that he was a half gypsy emperor. Never before had a person with gypsy blood become a Rhoman emperor. He was also a bastard child.
Now Andreas reign would last 25 years during which great changes would take place in Rhoman society.