The Eternal Empire: Emperor Maurice dies before being overthrown
- Thread starter wcv215
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Probably. sometimes there’s just a large gap between updates. It’s worth the wait though
Part 100: Make Up Your Mind
Part C: Make Up Your Mind
When Petrus I ascended to the rank of sole Augustus in 1298 no one was quite sure what to make of him. The former heir was not well known in either the military or among the population. Indeed, his daughter, the three-year old Katerina was a more often seen figure among the military camps, where she was known for the child-sized uniform her grandfather had let her wear, gaining her the nickname of Stratiokore or soldier girl. As this child will one day be the Empress Katerina I, the first woman to rule the Roman Empire in her own name, it is worth remembering. Even after her father’s ascension the toddler remained a common sight, and it is commonly suspected that her mother was having an affair with a high-ranking foreign officer named Roger the Norman, a noble from Alba serving in the Roman Army. Upon her ascension Katerina will have him executed for unknown reasons.
Petrus himself was a rather indecisive figure, having no experience on campaign, and even having his marriage arranged for him. His reign will be marked by hesitation, and setbacks. The first of these occurred soon after Petrus’s elevation as the Bulgari King Krum took advantage to raid south into Thrace, extracting a ransom from Adrianople to avoid a siege. Petrus sent an army out to intercept, but upon hearing news of Russi raiders striking at the northern coast of Anatolia he pulled the army back and sent contingents off to Anatolia, instead.
Both the Bulgari and the Russi escaped with no Imperial force showing itself. This hesitation will be a hallmark of Petrus’s reign, as he vacillates between options and refuses to simply make a decision and stick to it. Had Krum had the resources to launch a major southern campaign it is likely he could have retaken Thessalonika in the aftermath of Petrus’s ascension, but of course he was distracted by events at home where his legitimacy was in severe doubt and that of his heirs almost non-existent. The raid had been carried out to bring back treasure to display for his own people, and to demonstrate his military prowess. But we will cover that in detail next time, as it will be Katerina who takes the instability in Bulgaria and turns it into an opportunity to snuff the kingdom out entirely.
The next year Petrus failed to secure an extension of the tonnage and poundage tax on merchant shipping in the Senate, leading to a shrinkage of Imperial revenue by nearly fifteen percent. This vote should have been symbolic, as no Emperor had ever failed to get the tax passed, but the Senators of Syracuze seeing an opportunity convinced the Emperor to put off putting his weight behind the vote until certain other interests were seen to, in particular negotiations with the Caliph to reduce the export taxes charge at Alexandria and on the Rhinos Peninsula for goods shipped across the southern trade routes. Principally this means goods from India and the lands south of Axum. Principally spices and slaves.
The Emperor agreed, thinking that such negotiations would be beneficial for all. This was a trick by the Syracuzans however, as the Caliph not only wasn’t planning to lower duties, but to raise them. Their own city’s trade was primarily with the rising power of the Mandia Empire which had overthrown the previous kingdom and was expanded across the region. The Mandia Empire was really more of a confederation at first of nine kingdoms, but as time passed and more regions were added it would be unified in the Roman fashion, with the ruler styling himself as an Augustus in correspondence with outsiders. It would not be until King Mari’s visit to the great court of John V that the title would be recognized in Constantinople however.
The rich gold mines of Mandia were enticing to the merchants of Syracuze, and they were now free to conduct their trade without Imperial taxation, something that merchants of the other Italian cites realized to their detriment too late. Efforts to bring the tax back floundered for several years as Petrus couldn’t be convinced to force the issue through the Senate. It would not be until 1308 that the tax would be passed once again, depriving the treasury of large quantities of revenue.
That revenue was badly needed too, as in the North the Russi of Kiev launched an assault on the Tauria, laying siege to the fortresses blocking access to the peninsula, and sailing ships around them to threaten Cherson itself. Petrus sent a force to relieve Cherson, but held back his main army in fear that the Bulgari would take advantage to raid Greece once again. They did not.
In the East however Arab raiders did cross the border on numerous occasions to steal livestock, and once again only a relatively small force was sent to relieve them.
Cherson was saved from falling in 1304, but a major phrourion to the north fell without more Roman reinforcement. Sieges and countersieges were conducted along the northern border of the peninsula, until finally in 1309 a Roman fleet brought the Rus to off of Manueliopolis in Armenia. In several hours of fighting the Rus fleet was badly beaten and retreated north into the rivers of Russia. This defeat led Kiev’s prince to the negotiation table, and in exchange for a Roman stipend he agreed to withdraw from captured fortresses and prevent future raiding.
As the prince was normally the man responsible for prior raids he was effectively just skipping the actual raiding to get his hands on Roman gold. The Taurian War of 1303-1310 was not a major conflict, and it was spun as a victory, but it really is hard to see it as one looking back so many centuries later. The Romans failed to actually dislodge the Russi from their positions on the Tauri peninsula and had to pay them to leave. Petrus should have deployed his legions in full, by 1305 at the latest. The border could have been resecured and peace obtained without the need for a foreign tribute. But it didn’t happen.
In 1311 another major opportunity was missed as Bulgaria erupted into civil war on the assassination of Krum, a civil war that would last for nine years and see four different kings crowned in succession. Bulgari lords marched their armies north, across the Danube in support of claimants, or simply to pillage, and left their own lands ill-defended. Had the soldiers of Greece and the legions marched north the Danube might have been reclaimed twenty years early. But they weren’t, because Petrus was too afraid of another attack from the Rus, or a Turki betrayal, or an Arab invasion, or all three.
In 1313 the largest success of Petrus’s reign occurred, when a force of Roman troops landed north of Tauria, and began building group of phrourions on the mouth of the Danapris, defeating a local Rus lord in the process. The prince of Kiev was slow to respond, and by the time his own army arrived in 1314 the fortresses were already complete. Each fortress was well-stocked with artillery two on the Black Sea had small naval squadrons. A treaty was agreed at the end of the year, with the tribute paid to the prince increased, but the fortresses remained in place. Petrus heralded his expansion of the Empire as a major achievement, and in some ways it was. The fortification of the Danapris made Rus raids against Anatolia far more difficult, and allowed booty to be recaptured if the easiest return route could be blocked. When the Romans begin pushing north in the next century it will be from the Danapris forts that they will advance. And it will be the fall of those forts centuries later that will signal the, temporary, end of any Roman power in the north. Though by then it will only have made fact what was already understood.
On the heels of this success however a major revolt broke out in Africa, where abuses by Italian merchants and Imperial tax farmers, had gotten badly out of hand. Effectively what had happened was that in the years without the tonnage and poundage tax the land taxes in Africa had been increased significantly to make up for the revenue shortfall suddenly being faced. And as Africa had the fewest representatives, and they were all from Carthage, pleas for relief fell on deaf ears. In the end nearly twenty-thousand men were required to be shipped in from Italy and Greece to put down the revolt, which will last the next two years. The now adult Katerina accompanied her husband, the commander, to Africa and oversaw numerous skirmishes and was reported to at one point have rallied fleeing soldiers and taken the field herself when the rebels seemed to be gaining the upper hand. Such reports are doubtful, but the princess did her best to encourage them. The final rebels gave up in May 1316, and Katerina prepared to return to Constantinople in triumph when she receive the news. Her father, her brothers, and their sons were all dead. They had been sailing to Italy for an audience with the pope when the ship ran into a storm and sank with all hands.
Worse, in Anatolia a man was claiming to be the son of Leo VII, and was gathering support among disgruntled Anatolian troops, tired of the Arab raids being unanswered from Constantinople. Civil War loomed on the horizon. But Katerina was not a woman to shrink from war, and she sailed her army back to Thrace to prepare to put down the usurper. Her first triumph would have to wait.
For now though, Petrus I was 36 years old, and he had been emperor for 17 years. Petrus was ultimately a failure as an emperor. He had good qualities, and even achieved one noteworthy success. But his blunders at home, timidity abroad, and lack of decisive leadership made him a weak and ineffective ruler. His greatest contribution to the Romans going forward was leaving behind a single heir as civil war loomed. Had any of his sons lived it is likely they would have attempted to claim the throne, something that the deeply ambitious Katerina would never have abided. Rather than a single civil war the Romans could have faced a multi-sided affair that would drag on longer and be more draining too the state.
Part 101: Her Majesty
A/N: The Bulgarian Scandal is of course heavily based on the Tour de Nesle affair. A fun little scandal which you can read about in the Cursed King’s series, which is excellent.
Augustus Katerina arrived in Constantinople to a subdued atmosphere. Some people cheered her husband, assuming he would be elevated to the position of Emperor, but the procession that followed soon quieted them. Katerina’s husband was not there. This was by design, and Markos would arrive from his own port of call in Thessalonika a week later, a clear sign of just who was going to be in charge. To make it crystal clear Katerina had herself crowned Augustus, not Augusta, and Imperator in the Hagia Sophia, and her soldiers cheered her elevation.
Katerina was a popular woman in the army, and they knew from Africa that her bravery was a match for any of theirs, and the bonus she paid out was unlikely to have hurt her popularity. Katerina’s first act was to open talks with the Caliph, and looked to arrange raids on Turkic Anatolia during August of the next year, when her own army would move onto the plateau. Her hope was that in doing so the Turks would be too distracted to back the usurper, and Katerina would be able to put him down quickly.
The Caliph was receptive, but put feelers out for a long-term truce with the Romans, and more importantly a breaking of the alliance with the Turki Emperor, but Katerina categorically refused, as doing so would leave her eastern border too exposed when she launched on her real campaign in the West. Despite the failure Caliph Ali was confident that the Empress would come around to his way of thinking, and agreed to raid into Eastern Anatolia in exchange for a tribute paid the next year.
Katerina agreed, and began gathering troops.
There were a number of skirmishes on the plateau as Katerina’s forces in Syria secured the Silicia Gates, and a siege of Dorylaeum was beaten back with reinforcements from out of Nicaea. The usurper himself was killed in the siege, but that wasn’t the end of the rebellion, as the Turks now simply tried to place one of their own leaders on the throne. This was a mistake, as it led to the Armenians, deeply hostile to Turks just as a general rule, to throw their shifting strength directly behind Katerina, and their control over the passes into Eastern Anatolia was vital for letting the Arab raiders through. And through they came. Led by the Caliph himself the Arabs ravaged Anatolia, and even laid siege to Caesarea itself. As the Armenians refused to intervene the Turks found themselves hardpressed to drive the Arabs back alone, and as they fought word came that the Empress herself had entered the plateau.
Faced with a difficult decision the Turk usurper decided to abandon his capital and confront Katerina, relying on Caesarea’s defenses, and the still somewhat nomadic lifestyle of his people to allow the city to either stand, or at least to fall without ruining his powerbase. So long as he could defeat the Empress before Caesarea fell there was still a good chance at victory.
Unfortunately for the Turks their age was by now definitely over. The Caesari army was now taking shape, with heavy pikemen forming squares immune to cavalry on all sides, while their heavy crossbows and fire arrows, protected by the massive tortoise shield. The shield was large enough to cover a man fully, with a spike on one end to be driven into the ground and then could be fired over or around, defending the archer or crossbowman from return arrow-fire. The Roman heavy cavalry meanwhile was so heavily armored that arrows did little to either the men or their horses, except with lucky shots. But at the same time their own fire lances ravaged any Turk cavalry they met.
In the decisive Battle of Ankyra the Romans destroyed the Turk rebels almost entirely, killing the usurper and scattering what remained of his army. In a show of her temper however Katerina kept going, seizing Turk flocks and fields at will, and then pursuing the Arabs after they withdrew before her. This particular bit of staged conflict however did not go off perfectly, as a number of skirmishes were fought between Katerina’s cavalry and Ali’s, and Katerina reclaimed a not insignificant part of the captured loot, which she would then have to secretly repay Ali for in exchange for him not revealing her complicity in the killing of Roman citizens and sacking of Roman towns.
For the Roman Turks things were bad however, as Katerina declared the Church of the East to be heretical within Roman territory, and levied additional taxes on adherents, causing protests from the Turk Emperor in Persia. When Katerina ignored these protests the Emperor of Turkia sent raiders into Armenia to harass the Romans, which soured relations between Constantinople and Esfahan immensely.
In 1320 Ali saw his opportunity as Roman raiders attacked Daylam, and once again sent feelers out to Katerina to break the anti-Arab alliance between the Turks and Romans. Given that the two Empires seemed on the verge of open war, his opportunity would never be better. Everyone counseled Katerina not to agree, as the Turks were the Roman trump card in case of another full-scale war with Arabia. Indeed, Markos was open in his desire to just give the Turki Emperor what he wanted and scale back the taxes being levied on Church of the East adherents, but Katerina would not budge.
After more negotiations the Empress and Caliph met in Tyre, supposedly to discuss taxes on goods shipped through Egypt, but in truth a secret treaty was signed pledging that Constantinople would not intervene in any conflict between Arabia and Turkia during Katerina’s reign. Less than a year later the two rival Empires would be at war, and Katerina would not lift a finger when called upon.
When told of the Empress’s actions the Turk leader supposedly cursed the Romans for duplicity. All of which might lead the reader to wonder why he was so surprised given the hostility between the two powers in the years of Katerina’s reign. To which the answer is, he probably didn’t expect it to be considered that important to Katerina, and it really wasn’t. The seemingly most pressing need of the Romans was a counterweight to the Arabs in the East, one which the Turks easily provided. A couple years of raids didn’t change that strategic calculus. Especially since the raids weren’t on territory that was exactly valuable.
Katerina should not have broken the agreement, and absent events the Emperor of Turkia was not aware of she probably would not have done so.
But the truth of Katerina’s motivations becomes crystal clear when we finally turn our attention not to the East, but to the North, with the Bulgari royal scandal. Now I’ve alluded to this repeatedly, but put off talking about it several times. But now we are here. No more putting it off.
The scandal has its origins in the reign of Simon, that Bulgari King who occupied Thessalonika under the reign of Marcus. You will recall that Simon married his youngest child, a daughter, off to the heir of the Kingdom of Polania. As he had three older sons this did not seem like a problem, but as it turned out it would absolutely be one, and would see the end of Bulgaria as an independent kingdom.
His sons were Krum, Peter, and Paul; in that order. All three would be kings of Bulgaria, and all would rule for under five years. But that in and of itself was not the scandal. No, the scandal was far worse. In 1294, during the first year of Krum’s reign. The ladies of the Bulgari royal family were caught in adultery. All of them. At the same time. The sheer number of positively juicy rumors are astounding about what the three got up to, but the reality is a fair bit more boring. Each one had a lover, and the trio had a habit of visiting a house the wealthiest of these lovers owned regularly, where the normal business would be carried out. The affair had been noticed however by a loyal servant, who brought the king and the king’ guards to the house one night while the affairs were going on, and all six were caught naked and in company with their partner’s.
Krum was furious, and over the next few days his men tortured the men caught in the act until they gave up names of those who had known and who had helped them, which caught up even more in the scandal. All three women were executed publicly soon after. Except that didn’t fix the actual problem, as suddenly all of Krum’s children, as well as those of Peter and Paul, were now under suspicion of illegitimacy. With some regret Krum ordered them all disinherited. Peter however refused, claiming firmly that his oldest son had been born before the affair could possibly have begun, and therefore was not illegitimate. Krum was unable to force his brother to consent, and so allowed the exception.
That was, as you might imagine, a terrible idea. It left the door open for Krum’s oldest children, who had also been born before the adultery could logically have begun angry and they began plotting revenge. Krum remarried, and in 1305 had a daughter, but this girl was born eight months after the marriage, and new rumors swirled around the court. It seems unlikely that Krum’s second wife was actually guilty of adultery, but the Bulgari king eventually bowed to public pressure and set his second wife aside as well.
She was killed by a mob, along with her child mere days later.
Krum was horrified, and never remarried. He would die in 1311 a broken man, assassinated by an unknown attacker. His standing orders that Peter succeed him were clear, and well understood by everyone. Except for the minor complication that Peter had in fact died on a hunting trip, also possibly assassinated the day before.
And suddenly there was no decided heir, a bunch of claimants, and civil war erupted. The first to try and claim the throne was named Mark, husband of Peter’s oldest daughter, Sophia. Sophia was more or less the heir to her father’s claim to the throne, but her claim was shaky due to the Scandal, and so instead of acquiescing Paul declared himself king, and laid siege to Pliska with his supporters. And now comes the really bad part for Bulgaria, because also alive were Krum’s oldest sons, all of whome had their own supporters, or at least those who wanted the rewards of victory, and they made their own plays. Bulgaria was consumed by civil war.
The war would rage for nine years, only ending in 1320 with the final victory of Paul, and his firm grasp on the throne. It was a pity then that Paul had been wounded in the last battle of the war, the wound grew infected, and he died a month after securing the throne.
The nobles of Bulgaria, well the nobles who weren’t dead or in hiding, met in Pliska and elected a king from their own ranks, also named Simon. He was the strongest and wealthiest of the remaining lords, and began incorporating the largest part of the Bulgarian royal family’s lands into his own, while rewarding his supporters with land as well.
Only, into this stepped Konrad, king of Polania, and grandson of the old king Simon, through his daughter. He pointed out that legally he was the heir to the Bulgari throne, and as such the election was invalid. And if Bulgaria didn’t accept him as king he was going to invade.
Simon dared him to do so, and Konrad marshalled his army on the border, only to have to pull back as the northern pagans launched a major offensive near the end of 1320, aiming to use Polani distraction and the winter to retake lost land.
Katerina had been paying close attention, and began gathering her army in Greece, with plans to invade Moesia when Konrad made his move. There was no formal alliance between Polania and the Rhomania, and would not be for many years. There wasn’t even an informal agreement at this stage, but Katerina was ready nonetheless in 1323 when Konrad turned his attention back to the south, and invaded. The Bulgari fought hard, but they were still weakened from the civil war, the Polani troops were at this point some of the most experienced and battle-hardened in Europe. In three major battles Konrad defeated Simon and pressed south, taking Pliska on Christmas Day 1323. As all of this was going on Katerina crossed the border of Thrace, and invaded Moesia. With the by now large and highly trained Roman artillery train the Empress laid waste to the old phrourions of the region, blasting the Bulgari garrisons from their fortifications with contemptuous ease. At this point firepowder had not yet penetrated much beyond the Roman border, though this war would change all of that. With the potency of the weapon in sieges now demonstrated every king wanted their own ignifera. And soon they would have them.
Simon had stripped the south of royal forces, and many of his lords had journeyed north as well when the king called. Those who remained were completely unable to stop the Empress’s assault, and by the end of the year all of Moesia was back in Imperial hands. The Empress wasn’t done, but she did pause. Administration needed to be worked out, and the province prepared for full return to the rule of Constantinople. Ships were brought in with bureaucrats to begin assessing taxes, though at reduced rates to acclimatize the populace. And local, non-Bulgari, leaders were brought before Katerina to do her homage and swear loyalty. The most important of these were our old friends the Magyar. Long-since Romanized the Magyar spoke Greek primarily, and were culturally more similar to their old rulers to the south. They also had lost significant power under Pliska’s rule compared to that of Constantinople, and now found themselves offered a chance to return to what they viewed as the better days, that is to say the days when they were in charge.
When 1324 began the Bulgari launched a major counter-offensive against Konrad, and in a battle near Pliska forced him to withdraw north to lick his wounds and prepare to return to the advance. Simon was now ready however, and with his full army gathered outnumbered the Polani nearly two to one. He aimed to deal a crushing blow to Konrad, turn south, and defeat Katerina as well, using overall superior Bulgari infantry. But he made a fatal miscalculation. While marching north his army was ambushed by Polani light infantry, backed by the fearsome Brittanni longbowmen. Caught out of armor and in a bad position the Bulgari were cut down and broke under a storm of arrows and ambush. Worst of all Simon himself was killed as he tried to retreat. His army got away with relatively light casualties, but their morale was shot and they had wound up divided into two armies. When Konrad launched a full attack a few days later, having rapidly crossed the distance between the armies. He fell on first the stronger force, and then the weaker. Both were shattered and many prisoners captured. These men often simply switched sides, and Konrad’s army grew in size as he came south again. He recaptured Pliska, and pressed south, all the way to the Danube. But there he stopped. He’s claimed to have remarked, “The Danube is a mighty barrier between that most ancient of kingdoms and the new kingdoms which lay to its north. Let us set the boundary at its depths once again. To the south the old. To the north, the new.”
It probably helped that he had no boats.
Katerina had not been idle, and she pressed westward with the same frantic pace that she had displayed the prior year, overrunning Dacia as well, and reestablishing the Danube border where it had been before Romanos. And here it will stay. To this day in fact, the border has not moved south of the Danube, nor north. Forever the great dividing line between the lands of Rome and those other European kingdoms. Even during the great upheavals of the Great Frankish War, the Century of Humiliation (though for reasons independent of military might of course), the Restoration Wars, and even the Three Emperors’ War itself. The Danube will remain the northern frontier in Central Europe.
Katerina left the full details of Dacia’s reincorporation to others as she returned to Constantinople for what she hoped would be her first but not last Triumph. Other events would prevent such a triumph however, first the birth of Katerina’s three children, Manuel, Petrus, and Paulus. All of whom one day will wear the purple. After they were born and the Empress had recovered however she was pulled away to the north, where Rus of Kiev were once again making trouble for Roman possessions in the region.
And that is where we will pick up next time, with the years of Katerina's domestic policy, such as it was, and then as Katerina leads the army north to fight the Rus, and there she will ultimately die. And unfortunately for all of Europe, not in battle.
Part CI: Her Majesty
Augustus Katerina arrived in Constantinople to a subdued atmosphere. Some people cheered her husband, assuming he would be elevated to the position of Emperor, but the procession that followed soon quieted them. Katerina’s husband was not there. This was by design, and Markos would arrive from his own port of call in Thessalonika a week later, a clear sign of just who was going to be in charge. To make it crystal clear Katerina had herself crowned Augustus, not Augusta, and Imperator in the Hagia Sophia, and her soldiers cheered her elevation.
Katerina was a popular woman in the army, and they knew from Africa that her bravery was a match for any of theirs, and the bonus she paid out was unlikely to have hurt her popularity. Katerina’s first act was to open talks with the Caliph, and looked to arrange raids on Turkic Anatolia during August of the next year, when her own army would move onto the plateau. Her hope was that in doing so the Turks would be too distracted to back the usurper, and Katerina would be able to put him down quickly.
The Caliph was receptive, but put feelers out for a long-term truce with the Romans, and more importantly a breaking of the alliance with the Turki Emperor, but Katerina categorically refused, as doing so would leave her eastern border too exposed when she launched on her real campaign in the West. Despite the failure Caliph Ali was confident that the Empress would come around to his way of thinking, and agreed to raid into Eastern Anatolia in exchange for a tribute paid the next year.
Katerina agreed, and began gathering troops.
There were a number of skirmishes on the plateau as Katerina’s forces in Syria secured the Silicia Gates, and a siege of Dorylaeum was beaten back with reinforcements from out of Nicaea. The usurper himself was killed in the siege, but that wasn’t the end of the rebellion, as the Turks now simply tried to place one of their own leaders on the throne. This was a mistake, as it led to the Armenians, deeply hostile to Turks just as a general rule, to throw their shifting strength directly behind Katerina, and their control over the passes into Eastern Anatolia was vital for letting the Arab raiders through. And through they came. Led by the Caliph himself the Arabs ravaged Anatolia, and even laid siege to Caesarea itself. As the Armenians refused to intervene the Turks found themselves hardpressed to drive the Arabs back alone, and as they fought word came that the Empress herself had entered the plateau.
Faced with a difficult decision the Turk usurper decided to abandon his capital and confront Katerina, relying on Caesarea’s defenses, and the still somewhat nomadic lifestyle of his people to allow the city to either stand, or at least to fall without ruining his powerbase. So long as he could defeat the Empress before Caesarea fell there was still a good chance at victory.
Unfortunately for the Turks their age was by now definitely over. The Caesari army was now taking shape, with heavy pikemen forming squares immune to cavalry on all sides, while their heavy crossbows and fire arrows, protected by the massive tortoise shield. The shield was large enough to cover a man fully, with a spike on one end to be driven into the ground and then could be fired over or around, defending the archer or crossbowman from return arrow-fire. The Roman heavy cavalry meanwhile was so heavily armored that arrows did little to either the men or their horses, except with lucky shots. But at the same time their own fire lances ravaged any Turk cavalry they met.
In the decisive Battle of Ankyra the Romans destroyed the Turk rebels almost entirely, killing the usurper and scattering what remained of his army. In a show of her temper however Katerina kept going, seizing Turk flocks and fields at will, and then pursuing the Arabs after they withdrew before her. This particular bit of staged conflict however did not go off perfectly, as a number of skirmishes were fought between Katerina’s cavalry and Ali’s, and Katerina reclaimed a not insignificant part of the captured loot, which she would then have to secretly repay Ali for in exchange for him not revealing her complicity in the killing of Roman citizens and sacking of Roman towns.
For the Roman Turks things were bad however, as Katerina declared the Church of the East to be heretical within Roman territory, and levied additional taxes on adherents, causing protests from the Turk Emperor in Persia. When Katerina ignored these protests the Emperor of Turkia sent raiders into Armenia to harass the Romans, which soured relations between Constantinople and Esfahan immensely.
In 1320 Ali saw his opportunity as Roman raiders attacked Daylam, and once again sent feelers out to Katerina to break the anti-Arab alliance between the Turks and Romans. Given that the two Empires seemed on the verge of open war, his opportunity would never be better. Everyone counseled Katerina not to agree, as the Turks were the Roman trump card in case of another full-scale war with Arabia. Indeed, Markos was open in his desire to just give the Turki Emperor what he wanted and scale back the taxes being levied on Church of the East adherents, but Katerina would not budge.
After more negotiations the Empress and Caliph met in Tyre, supposedly to discuss taxes on goods shipped through Egypt, but in truth a secret treaty was signed pledging that Constantinople would not intervene in any conflict between Arabia and Turkia during Katerina’s reign. Less than a year later the two rival Empires would be at war, and Katerina would not lift a finger when called upon.
When told of the Empress’s actions the Turk leader supposedly cursed the Romans for duplicity. All of which might lead the reader to wonder why he was so surprised given the hostility between the two powers in the years of Katerina’s reign. To which the answer is, he probably didn’t expect it to be considered that important to Katerina, and it really wasn’t. The seemingly most pressing need of the Romans was a counterweight to the Arabs in the East, one which the Turks easily provided. A couple years of raids didn’t change that strategic calculus. Especially since the raids weren’t on territory that was exactly valuable.
Katerina should not have broken the agreement, and absent events the Emperor of Turkia was not aware of she probably would not have done so.
But the truth of Katerina’s motivations becomes crystal clear when we finally turn our attention not to the East, but to the North, with the Bulgari royal scandal. Now I’ve alluded to this repeatedly, but put off talking about it several times. But now we are here. No more putting it off.
The scandal has its origins in the reign of Simon, that Bulgari King who occupied Thessalonika under the reign of Marcus. You will recall that Simon married his youngest child, a daughter, off to the heir of the Kingdom of Polania. As he had three older sons this did not seem like a problem, but as it turned out it would absolutely be one, and would see the end of Bulgaria as an independent kingdom.
His sons were Krum, Peter, and Paul; in that order. All three would be kings of Bulgaria, and all would rule for under five years. But that in and of itself was not the scandal. No, the scandal was far worse. In 1294, during the first year of Krum’s reign. The ladies of the Bulgari royal family were caught in adultery. All of them. At the same time. The sheer number of positively juicy rumors are astounding about what the three got up to, but the reality is a fair bit more boring. Each one had a lover, and the trio had a habit of visiting a house the wealthiest of these lovers owned regularly, where the normal business would be carried out. The affair had been noticed however by a loyal servant, who brought the king and the king’ guards to the house one night while the affairs were going on, and all six were caught naked and in company with their partner’s.
Krum was furious, and over the next few days his men tortured the men caught in the act until they gave up names of those who had known and who had helped them, which caught up even more in the scandal. All three women were executed publicly soon after. Except that didn’t fix the actual problem, as suddenly all of Krum’s children, as well as those of Peter and Paul, were now under suspicion of illegitimacy. With some regret Krum ordered them all disinherited. Peter however refused, claiming firmly that his oldest son had been born before the affair could possibly have begun, and therefore was not illegitimate. Krum was unable to force his brother to consent, and so allowed the exception.
That was, as you might imagine, a terrible idea. It left the door open for Krum’s oldest children, who had also been born before the adultery could logically have begun angry and they began plotting revenge. Krum remarried, and in 1305 had a daughter, but this girl was born eight months after the marriage, and new rumors swirled around the court. It seems unlikely that Krum’s second wife was actually guilty of adultery, but the Bulgari king eventually bowed to public pressure and set his second wife aside as well.
She was killed by a mob, along with her child mere days later.
Krum was horrified, and never remarried. He would die in 1311 a broken man, assassinated by an unknown attacker. His standing orders that Peter succeed him were clear, and well understood by everyone. Except for the minor complication that Peter had in fact died on a hunting trip, also possibly assassinated the day before.
And suddenly there was no decided heir, a bunch of claimants, and civil war erupted. The first to try and claim the throne was named Mark, husband of Peter’s oldest daughter, Sophia. Sophia was more or less the heir to her father’s claim to the throne, but her claim was shaky due to the Scandal, and so instead of acquiescing Paul declared himself king, and laid siege to Pliska with his supporters. And now comes the really bad part for Bulgaria, because also alive were Krum’s oldest sons, all of whome had their own supporters, or at least those who wanted the rewards of victory, and they made their own plays. Bulgaria was consumed by civil war.
The war would rage for nine years, only ending in 1320 with the final victory of Paul, and his firm grasp on the throne. It was a pity then that Paul had been wounded in the last battle of the war, the wound grew infected, and he died a month after securing the throne.
The nobles of Bulgaria, well the nobles who weren’t dead or in hiding, met in Pliska and elected a king from their own ranks, also named Simon. He was the strongest and wealthiest of the remaining lords, and began incorporating the largest part of the Bulgarian royal family’s lands into his own, while rewarding his supporters with land as well.
Only, into this stepped Konrad, king of Polania, and grandson of the old king Simon, through his daughter. He pointed out that legally he was the heir to the Bulgari throne, and as such the election was invalid. And if Bulgaria didn’t accept him as king he was going to invade.
Simon dared him to do so, and Konrad marshalled his army on the border, only to have to pull back as the northern pagans launched a major offensive near the end of 1320, aiming to use Polani distraction and the winter to retake lost land.
Katerina had been paying close attention, and began gathering her army in Greece, with plans to invade Moesia when Konrad made his move. There was no formal alliance between Polania and the Rhomania, and would not be for many years. There wasn’t even an informal agreement at this stage, but Katerina was ready nonetheless in 1323 when Konrad turned his attention back to the south, and invaded. The Bulgari fought hard, but they were still weakened from the civil war, the Polani troops were at this point some of the most experienced and battle-hardened in Europe. In three major battles Konrad defeated Simon and pressed south, taking Pliska on Christmas Day 1323. As all of this was going on Katerina crossed the border of Thrace, and invaded Moesia. With the by now large and highly trained Roman artillery train the Empress laid waste to the old phrourions of the region, blasting the Bulgari garrisons from their fortifications with contemptuous ease. At this point firepowder had not yet penetrated much beyond the Roman border, though this war would change all of that. With the potency of the weapon in sieges now demonstrated every king wanted their own ignifera. And soon they would have them.
Simon had stripped the south of royal forces, and many of his lords had journeyed north as well when the king called. Those who remained were completely unable to stop the Empress’s assault, and by the end of the year all of Moesia was back in Imperial hands. The Empress wasn’t done, but she did pause. Administration needed to be worked out, and the province prepared for full return to the rule of Constantinople. Ships were brought in with bureaucrats to begin assessing taxes, though at reduced rates to acclimatize the populace. And local, non-Bulgari, leaders were brought before Katerina to do her homage and swear loyalty. The most important of these were our old friends the Magyar. Long-since Romanized the Magyar spoke Greek primarily, and were culturally more similar to their old rulers to the south. They also had lost significant power under Pliska’s rule compared to that of Constantinople, and now found themselves offered a chance to return to what they viewed as the better days, that is to say the days when they were in charge.
When 1324 began the Bulgari launched a major counter-offensive against Konrad, and in a battle near Pliska forced him to withdraw north to lick his wounds and prepare to return to the advance. Simon was now ready however, and with his full army gathered outnumbered the Polani nearly two to one. He aimed to deal a crushing blow to Konrad, turn south, and defeat Katerina as well, using overall superior Bulgari infantry. But he made a fatal miscalculation. While marching north his army was ambushed by Polani light infantry, backed by the fearsome Brittanni longbowmen. Caught out of armor and in a bad position the Bulgari were cut down and broke under a storm of arrows and ambush. Worst of all Simon himself was killed as he tried to retreat. His army got away with relatively light casualties, but their morale was shot and they had wound up divided into two armies. When Konrad launched a full attack a few days later, having rapidly crossed the distance between the armies. He fell on first the stronger force, and then the weaker. Both were shattered and many prisoners captured. These men often simply switched sides, and Konrad’s army grew in size as he came south again. He recaptured Pliska, and pressed south, all the way to the Danube. But there he stopped. He’s claimed to have remarked, “The Danube is a mighty barrier between that most ancient of kingdoms and the new kingdoms which lay to its north. Let us set the boundary at its depths once again. To the south the old. To the north, the new.”
It probably helped that he had no boats.
Katerina had not been idle, and she pressed westward with the same frantic pace that she had displayed the prior year, overrunning Dacia as well, and reestablishing the Danube border where it had been before Romanos. And here it will stay. To this day in fact, the border has not moved south of the Danube, nor north. Forever the great dividing line between the lands of Rome and those other European kingdoms. Even during the great upheavals of the Great Frankish War, the Century of Humiliation (though for reasons independent of military might of course), the Restoration Wars, and even the Three Emperors’ War itself. The Danube will remain the northern frontier in Central Europe.
Katerina left the full details of Dacia’s reincorporation to others as she returned to Constantinople for what she hoped would be her first but not last Triumph. Other events would prevent such a triumph however, first the birth of Katerina’s three children, Manuel, Petrus, and Paulus. All of whom one day will wear the purple. After they were born and the Empress had recovered however she was pulled away to the north, where Rus of Kiev were once again making trouble for Roman possessions in the region.
And that is where we will pick up next time, with the years of Katerina's domestic policy, such as it was, and then as Katerina leads the army north to fight the Rus, and there she will ultimately die. And unfortunately for all of Europe, not in battle.
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LeoII
Banned
As if Armenia hasn't had it bad enough, now you're throwing some of us into the Balkans?
Were they really trying this?
Forced population transfers were fairly typical Imperial policy, though usually later in history than happens here. Heretics in particular and those “rescued” from Muslim held regions were especially targeted. The Paulicians of Armenia were systematically relocated to Thrace. And the Christian population of Cyprus was moved as well during joint rulership.
Nikephorus I also undertook a major effort at population transfer that was intensely unpopular.
Sorry. That doesn't work.
Augustus and Augusta are the same word, just different genders.
It's not like king and queen, which are totally unrelated words, or even Rex and Regina, which while based on the same root ARE different words.
Sorry. That doesn't work.
Augustus and Augusta are the same word, just different genders.
It's not like king and queen, which are totally unrelated words, or even Rex and Regina, which while based on the same root ARE different words
Read through this whole thing in five days. Bravo. Bravo.
A few questions:
1) given this is the "Roman Empire," what continuity do these Romans now have with the Republic and the Empire of the Caesars (basically prior to Constantine)?
2) Given it is the original Eternal City, why is Rome itself such a backwater? You'd think with it being the papal seat and the Eternal City it would be one of the main cities of the empire
A few questions:
1) given this is the "Roman Empire," what continuity do these Romans now have with the Republic and the Empire of the Caesars (basically prior to Constantine)?
2) Given it is the original Eternal City, why is Rome itself such a backwater? You'd think with it being the papal seat and the Eternal City it would be one of the main cities of the empire
Its pretty much a straightline from their perspective. They can trace Emperors back to the Republic’s final days. This wasn’t super important under the prior dynasty who didn’t really care, as they were far more Greek focused. But for the current emphasizing ties with the old Empire is very important. Even though most institutions don’t have much in common with the older versions.
Mostly position. Rome just isn’t that great a sport for a city from a trade and governance perspective. Its not a major center of trade links to the north the way Ravenna, Venice, and Milan are. Its not in a great position for the African trade routes like Syracuse or Neapolis are because its inland. Its not particularly defensible, and its not used for governance. So the city basically just has the papacy going for it, and being the Eternal City. The prior dynasty didn’t care enough to spend the money restoring Rome, so it kept its less important status. And the Church in Rome gets significantly less money due to changed political changes in Western Europe, so the papcy overall isn’t able to spend the money to restore it to grand city status, though Rome is still probably one of the most well-kept up cities for its size. Since it is still wealthy, just not as wealthy as OTL. The current dynasty has increased funding to Rome’s upkeep as well, as its political importance, so it is growing back in relevance now, and will keep doing so. We just haven’t ducked back in on Italy much since its not yet threatened by external foes.
Gotcha. Personally I think it would be important given this is the "Roman Empire"
Branching off though, since there was never truly a complete collapse as it was after the Arab conquest in OTL, is technological development better ITTL than it was OTL? if so then I could imagine colonization of the New World to happen sooner.
Would be so awesome to see Roman pikemen fighting the Aztecs
Its a bit more advanced. Mostly in terms of armor and engineering. Seafaring is also a bit ahead because of increased trade. The advancements mostly come down to the increased wealth, as the trade routes recovered more quickly.
So 1200s ITTL = 1400s-1500s OTL. Oh that is wonderful.
I wonder which great power will meet the Aztecs
Who said anything about Great Power?
(Its actually already been heavily hinted in one of the asides who ends up meeting the Aztecs, ie the Mexica).