Part 1: Emperor Theodosius III
Yes, another Byzantine TL. But hopefully approached from at least a semi-original angle. I'm trying to mimic more of a podcast type tone, in particular the History of Byzantium podcast by Robin Pierson. Don't hold that against him though, as his work is better than mine. So anyway, here's my first attempt at a TL I've posted on here:
…And so when the army’s mutinous letter arrived, demanding the abdication of Maurice and the elevation of either Theodosius or Germanus as the new Emperor they discovered to their great delight that the now over sixty-year old Emperor had recently falled ill, and died before they had reached the capital. The disgruntled soldiers presented their grievances to the now Emperor Theodosius, who made promises of better treatment and ascension bonuses. Most importantly however, he ordered the army to return south of the Hemus mountains and remain in Roman territory over the winter.
Theodosius did all of this because he was looking east rather than north. His father might have secured Khosrow II as an ally, but that did not mean the Persian king would not attempt to assert his own authority now that Maurice was dead. But in this Theodosius worried for nothing. It would not be another decade until Khosrow made a move at overturning Roman hegemony. But we will discuss that topic later.
For now our attention must turn back to the West, where the army was set to the task of settling Armenian settlers into the depopulated parts of the Balkans, and ensuring the new Slavic migrants were on their best behavior. Roman troops also maintained their vigil against the Avars, but for now this was unnecessary.
The Avars had turned their own attention Westwards toward the Franks and the Lombards, and in a major battle in Verona a Lombard army was virtually annihilated. This victory secured the Avar khan a significant amount of treasure and a position that had been shaken badly by the Roman victories of prior years. Subsequently the Avars dealt a second defeat to the Lombards, including killing Agilulf, the Lombard king, and much of his nobility. The Lombards failed to elect a replacement king even with the Avar threat on their doorstep, and were a badly divided people. Temperorary measures put a king who’s name is lost to time in place after several months, and he dealt a minor defeat to the Avar khan, but was subsequently defeated near Milan. The Avars withdrew at the end of the year, taking a great deal of plunder and captives with them.
As soon as they withdrew the Lombard king was assassinated, and the surviving chieftains turned on one another in a civil war that would last the better part of the next decade.
While the Avars looked west Theodosius had made contact with Slavic leaders among the new migrants, and recruited many of them to act as envoys to their people who remained under Avar control. Sending these men north with gold he did his best to woo the Slavs to his side rather than the Avars. More importantly however, Roman diplomats used these channels to contact a more powerful tribe that the Avars had subjugated, the Bulgars. The Bulgars were a people from near the Black Sea who had long been dominated by Turkic tribes in the region, but as the power of those tribes had declined found themselves dominated by the Avars in the late 500s. The Bulgars were still the strongest of the Avar dominated tribes, and were willing to listen to Roman offers of friendship and support should the Bulgar khan turn on his overlords.
Flush with their victories in Italy the Avars turned their attention back toward the Romans, and invaded again in 608. Theodosius, now firmly entrenched in power sent his father-in-law Germanus to command the Roman field army in the Balkans against the attack. The Avars broke through the Roman fortresses along the Danube and advanced toward Thessaloniki once again.
The Roman army was slightly outnumbered on paper, but their diplomatic efforts paid off greatly when the Bulgar forces among the Avar army sent private emissaries to Germanus, indicating a willingness to switch sides. Germanus paid them off and sent similar gifts to the Slavic chiefs the Empire had been courting, securing their alliance as well.
Knowing how the battle would be lined up Germanus left only a token force on the Avar right, where the Bulgars and Slavs had assembled, concentrating all of his heavy cavalry on his own right, the Avar left. His heavy infantry was placed firmly in the center to act as the anvil of the battle.
The subsequent fight was a slaughter. As agreed the Bulgars and Slavs turned on their overlords as fighting commenced, ravaging the unsuspecting Avar flank and rear with arrows and charges. This had the effect of driving the Avar center forward and to the left, directly into the attacking Roman cavalry. Disorder set in among the Avars, and those who could escaped, but most were trapped inside the tightening noose of Germanus. The Roman Center held firm, allowing the Avars to be smashed against their shields and lances.
Firm numbers are of course impossible to come by, but the Avar khan was captured, as were thousands of his people, and dozens of nobles. Many captives were given to the Bulgars and Slavs who withdrew North of the Danube, where the Bulgars would subsequently destroy the Avar Khanate over the next few years. Eventually the Bulgars would set up their own kingdom in what had been Avar territory, settling near the Carpates mountains, and giving the modern region of Bulgari its modern name.
The Khan himself was put in chains alongside many of his remaining men and taken back to Constantinople, where they were paraded through the city and into the Circus Maximus. There are two versions of what happened next. In the first version, Theodosius had one eye of each Avar captive put out. Then he made them draw lots to determine whether he would remove their second eye or right hand. They were then unceremoniously thrown from the city and left to wander their way back home.
This is almost certainly a fabrication of later authors. The story does not appear until the early 1300s, and was a clear reference to Constantine X’s famous treatment of the survivors of the attempt to capture Constantinople half a century before. More likely is the second explanation, in which Theodosius had the Khan publicly executed and then had his body thrown into the Hellespont. The men were sold into slavery.
Regardless of which is true however, the Avar threat, and indeed any threat from the North was over. The Bulgars would remain north of the Danube for most of the century consolidating their new domain and raiding into the easier territory of the Franks, who were currently embroiled in one of their frequent civil wars. Theodosius’s successors would pay for peace with the Bulgars, which the khans were more than willing to accept.
With the Balkans secured, the Lombards in chaos, and the Persians still quiet Theodosius settled into what he hoped would be a long and peaceful reign. This time of peace was critical for what was coming. Over the previous decades war had drained the treasury once again, and while the Empire was not quite broke, it was becoming more and more difficult to pay the army on time and in full. Without the need to send soldiers out campaigning each year Theodosius saved money by stationing soldiers who were in the more devastated regions of the Balkans to setting up new farms and settlements, from which the soldiers could extract additional money.
As land was still something many soldiers dreamed of on retirement this quieted most of the grumblings about pay. This system would directly provide the foundation for the theme systems which would eventually come to infuse Anatolia and Egypt in the coming centuries. Well, maybe. There is some debate about whether Theodosius did any such thing. Certainly, some historians have argued that the army Theodosius inherited had already mutinied more than once over money, and likely wouldn’t have taken any cut in pay peacefully, suggesting instead that he had simply settled retired soldiers in the region, a long-standing Roman practice. Regardless of which interpretation is true, these new communities were in place, and expenses did decrease.
Eventually of course the Bulgars would become one of the empire’s most intractable opponents, and the Lombards would regroup. But until then Theodosius had bought nearly fifty years of peace for the Western parts of the Empire. This time would allow Italy in particular to recover from the near century of war that had ravaged the peninsula. The Lombards remained in control of the North, save for Roman holdout cities, but they would not be in a position to challenge Roman control south of the Tiber for many years.
At home Theodosius continued his father’s policy of tolerance toward the Monophosites, and cultivated better relations with the Pope in Italy. Much of his success in that area can be directly traced to the Lombards being distracted by their own internal affairs rather than the Emperor’s own actions however.
We know little of the rest of his domestic policies however. The economic problems that were present in the early years of Theodosius’s reign prevented any great architectural work, and the two wars that would define the end of his reign left little time or money for such things in the Emperor’s final years. Whatever these were Theodosius prevented the state from falling into bankruptcy, secured the Balkans to a greater extent than they had been in the past century, and even built up a reserve of gold for future emergencies. Emergencies that were rapidly approaching.
With the aid of his father’s old advisors Theodosius was turning out to be a decent emperor. Not great, but certainly not a tyrant or a madman. Unfortunately, much was about to change.
When Maurice had died his will had technically split the Empire between his heirs. While Theodosius would retain primacy of power his younger brothers were supposed to have received territories as well. But Theodosius had taken one look at this plan and disinherited his brothers. Not publically of course, but they had been underage on his ascension, and so he had been able to claim to be stewarding their territories. Now though Tiberius was a man, and Petrus was approaching his maturity as well. And both were agitating for control over their own realms of the Empire.
Finally, in 614 a plot was uncovered by Theodosius to have him killed and have his younger brothers split the Empire. In a rage the Emperor ordered his siblings seized, and ordered Tiberius himself killed. When Theodosius’s soldiers arrived however an overzealous soldier killed Tiberius and a younger brother named Paulus both, and in the subsequent struggle most of the rest of the Emperor’s siblings died. Only Petrus survived, and with the help of a eunuch he fled the palace, and eventually Constantinople and headed East. Initially, he likely planned to try and rally support in Syria, but the governor of Syria was Priscus, the general who had initially had such success against the Avars during the reign of Maurice.
Priscus had done well under the current Emperor, and had no interest in starting a rebellion. And so when his initial offers were rebuffed Petrus went further east to the his last hope for aid, the Sassanids. Khosrow took Petrus in eagerly, as the Persian King was looking for an excuse to go to war with the Romans, as a means of restoring his legitimacy if nothing else. But beyond that, Khosrow wanted nothing less than to conquer the entire territory of the Romans, and restore the old Achaemenid empire in its entirety, and if he could also to push on and secure the Roman territories as well.
In early 615 the Persians stormed out of their lands and in the south besieged Dara, while another, smaller force smashed through Roman Armenia and were soon besieging the key city of Theodosiopolis.
The Last Roman/Persian War had begun.
Part I: Emperor Theodosius
…And so when the army’s mutinous letter arrived, demanding the abdication of Maurice and the elevation of either Theodosius or Germanus as the new Emperor they discovered to their great delight that the now over sixty-year old Emperor had recently falled ill, and died before they had reached the capital. The disgruntled soldiers presented their grievances to the now Emperor Theodosius, who made promises of better treatment and ascension bonuses. Most importantly however, he ordered the army to return south of the Hemus mountains and remain in Roman territory over the winter.
Theodosius did all of this because he was looking east rather than north. His father might have secured Khosrow II as an ally, but that did not mean the Persian king would not attempt to assert his own authority now that Maurice was dead. But in this Theodosius worried for nothing. It would not be another decade until Khosrow made a move at overturning Roman hegemony. But we will discuss that topic later.
For now our attention must turn back to the West, where the army was set to the task of settling Armenian settlers into the depopulated parts of the Balkans, and ensuring the new Slavic migrants were on their best behavior. Roman troops also maintained their vigil against the Avars, but for now this was unnecessary.
The Avars had turned their own attention Westwards toward the Franks and the Lombards, and in a major battle in Verona a Lombard army was virtually annihilated. This victory secured the Avar khan a significant amount of treasure and a position that had been shaken badly by the Roman victories of prior years. Subsequently the Avars dealt a second defeat to the Lombards, including killing Agilulf, the Lombard king, and much of his nobility. The Lombards failed to elect a replacement king even with the Avar threat on their doorstep, and were a badly divided people. Temperorary measures put a king who’s name is lost to time in place after several months, and he dealt a minor defeat to the Avar khan, but was subsequently defeated near Milan. The Avars withdrew at the end of the year, taking a great deal of plunder and captives with them.
As soon as they withdrew the Lombard king was assassinated, and the surviving chieftains turned on one another in a civil war that would last the better part of the next decade.
While the Avars looked west Theodosius had made contact with Slavic leaders among the new migrants, and recruited many of them to act as envoys to their people who remained under Avar control. Sending these men north with gold he did his best to woo the Slavs to his side rather than the Avars. More importantly however, Roman diplomats used these channels to contact a more powerful tribe that the Avars had subjugated, the Bulgars. The Bulgars were a people from near the Black Sea who had long been dominated by Turkic tribes in the region, but as the power of those tribes had declined found themselves dominated by the Avars in the late 500s. The Bulgars were still the strongest of the Avar dominated tribes, and were willing to listen to Roman offers of friendship and support should the Bulgar khan turn on his overlords.
Flush with their victories in Italy the Avars turned their attention back toward the Romans, and invaded again in 608. Theodosius, now firmly entrenched in power sent his father-in-law Germanus to command the Roman field army in the Balkans against the attack. The Avars broke through the Roman fortresses along the Danube and advanced toward Thessaloniki once again.
The Roman army was slightly outnumbered on paper, but their diplomatic efforts paid off greatly when the Bulgar forces among the Avar army sent private emissaries to Germanus, indicating a willingness to switch sides. Germanus paid them off and sent similar gifts to the Slavic chiefs the Empire had been courting, securing their alliance as well.
Knowing how the battle would be lined up Germanus left only a token force on the Avar right, where the Bulgars and Slavs had assembled, concentrating all of his heavy cavalry on his own right, the Avar left. His heavy infantry was placed firmly in the center to act as the anvil of the battle.
The subsequent fight was a slaughter. As agreed the Bulgars and Slavs turned on their overlords as fighting commenced, ravaging the unsuspecting Avar flank and rear with arrows and charges. This had the effect of driving the Avar center forward and to the left, directly into the attacking Roman cavalry. Disorder set in among the Avars, and those who could escaped, but most were trapped inside the tightening noose of Germanus. The Roman Center held firm, allowing the Avars to be smashed against their shields and lances.
Firm numbers are of course impossible to come by, but the Avar khan was captured, as were thousands of his people, and dozens of nobles. Many captives were given to the Bulgars and Slavs who withdrew North of the Danube, where the Bulgars would subsequently destroy the Avar Khanate over the next few years. Eventually the Bulgars would set up their own kingdom in what had been Avar territory, settling near the Carpates mountains, and giving the modern region of Bulgari its modern name.
The Khan himself was put in chains alongside many of his remaining men and taken back to Constantinople, where they were paraded through the city and into the Circus Maximus. There are two versions of what happened next. In the first version, Theodosius had one eye of each Avar captive put out. Then he made them draw lots to determine whether he would remove their second eye or right hand. They were then unceremoniously thrown from the city and left to wander their way back home.
This is almost certainly a fabrication of later authors. The story does not appear until the early 1300s, and was a clear reference to Constantine X’s famous treatment of the survivors of the attempt to capture Constantinople half a century before. More likely is the second explanation, in which Theodosius had the Khan publicly executed and then had his body thrown into the Hellespont. The men were sold into slavery.
Regardless of which is true however, the Avar threat, and indeed any threat from the North was over. The Bulgars would remain north of the Danube for most of the century consolidating their new domain and raiding into the easier territory of the Franks, who were currently embroiled in one of their frequent civil wars. Theodosius’s successors would pay for peace with the Bulgars, which the khans were more than willing to accept.
With the Balkans secured, the Lombards in chaos, and the Persians still quiet Theodosius settled into what he hoped would be a long and peaceful reign. This time of peace was critical for what was coming. Over the previous decades war had drained the treasury once again, and while the Empire was not quite broke, it was becoming more and more difficult to pay the army on time and in full. Without the need to send soldiers out campaigning each year Theodosius saved money by stationing soldiers who were in the more devastated regions of the Balkans to setting up new farms and settlements, from which the soldiers could extract additional money.
As land was still something many soldiers dreamed of on retirement this quieted most of the grumblings about pay. This system would directly provide the foundation for the theme systems which would eventually come to infuse Anatolia and Egypt in the coming centuries. Well, maybe. There is some debate about whether Theodosius did any such thing. Certainly, some historians have argued that the army Theodosius inherited had already mutinied more than once over money, and likely wouldn’t have taken any cut in pay peacefully, suggesting instead that he had simply settled retired soldiers in the region, a long-standing Roman practice. Regardless of which interpretation is true, these new communities were in place, and expenses did decrease.
Eventually of course the Bulgars would become one of the empire’s most intractable opponents, and the Lombards would regroup. But until then Theodosius had bought nearly fifty years of peace for the Western parts of the Empire. This time would allow Italy in particular to recover from the near century of war that had ravaged the peninsula. The Lombards remained in control of the North, save for Roman holdout cities, but they would not be in a position to challenge Roman control south of the Tiber for many years.
At home Theodosius continued his father’s policy of tolerance toward the Monophosites, and cultivated better relations with the Pope in Italy. Much of his success in that area can be directly traced to the Lombards being distracted by their own internal affairs rather than the Emperor’s own actions however.
We know little of the rest of his domestic policies however. The economic problems that were present in the early years of Theodosius’s reign prevented any great architectural work, and the two wars that would define the end of his reign left little time or money for such things in the Emperor’s final years. Whatever these were Theodosius prevented the state from falling into bankruptcy, secured the Balkans to a greater extent than they had been in the past century, and even built up a reserve of gold for future emergencies. Emergencies that were rapidly approaching.
With the aid of his father’s old advisors Theodosius was turning out to be a decent emperor. Not great, but certainly not a tyrant or a madman. Unfortunately, much was about to change.
When Maurice had died his will had technically split the Empire between his heirs. While Theodosius would retain primacy of power his younger brothers were supposed to have received territories as well. But Theodosius had taken one look at this plan and disinherited his brothers. Not publically of course, but they had been underage on his ascension, and so he had been able to claim to be stewarding their territories. Now though Tiberius was a man, and Petrus was approaching his maturity as well. And both were agitating for control over their own realms of the Empire.
Finally, in 614 a plot was uncovered by Theodosius to have him killed and have his younger brothers split the Empire. In a rage the Emperor ordered his siblings seized, and ordered Tiberius himself killed. When Theodosius’s soldiers arrived however an overzealous soldier killed Tiberius and a younger brother named Paulus both, and in the subsequent struggle most of the rest of the Emperor’s siblings died. Only Petrus survived, and with the help of a eunuch he fled the palace, and eventually Constantinople and headed East. Initially, he likely planned to try and rally support in Syria, but the governor of Syria was Priscus, the general who had initially had such success against the Avars during the reign of Maurice.
Priscus had done well under the current Emperor, and had no interest in starting a rebellion. And so when his initial offers were rebuffed Petrus went further east to the his last hope for aid, the Sassanids. Khosrow took Petrus in eagerly, as the Persian King was looking for an excuse to go to war with the Romans, as a means of restoring his legitimacy if nothing else. But beyond that, Khosrow wanted nothing less than to conquer the entire territory of the Romans, and restore the old Achaemenid empire in its entirety, and if he could also to push on and secure the Roman territories as well.
In early 615 the Persians stormed out of their lands and in the south besieged Dara, while another, smaller force smashed through Roman Armenia and were soon besieging the key city of Theodosiopolis.
The Last Roman/Persian War had begun.
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