The Glorious Angelii Saviors of Rhomaion a Tl

"The form shows forth the place and manner whence you came. Being yourself temperate, you teach your dearest friends self control earning alone the glory that emanates from the palace, by taking sovereignty from the dying man, Oh most excellent one and you shall shortly prosper and rule." Niketas Choniates Histories verse 355

Alright now hear me out here. Yes most of us know the Angelli were the worst Byzantine dynasty and all of them were incompetents. But I agree with Treadgold, Liliee, Angold, and Ostrogorsky that Isaac II Angelus at least was an average emperor.

Essentially the POD is that the Vlach-Bulgarian rebellion does not happen. Isaac II decides that stable environment for the wedding is preferable to unrest in Bulgaria and accepts Peter and Asen's request and incorporates the Bulgarians into the Byzantine army and grant them their land nearby.

1185
Peter and Asen arrive at the court of the Emperor Isaac Angelus and after prostrating themselves before the emperor and flowing court protocol pleasing him and his advisers they are allowed to join the Byzantine army and given land in Haemus. Now why did the emperor agree so willingly to their request? Because he was in a rush to see his marriage to Bela's daughter Margaret so as to secure the Hungarian alliance of course. He could afford to give some insignificant land to the Asen brothers. Plus they had acted right and proper within his prescience.

Isaac and Maragat were married lavishly and Bela signed the treaty of Nis with the Romans whereby Nis and Barancs were given as dowry.

Feeling secure on the Western front with the Hungarian alliance Isaac returned to Constantinople and continued living a carefree lifestyle. It was then that in the summer of that year the Turks launched several vicious raids against the Byzantine cities in Asia minor. Something had to be done. The Normans were no longer a threat and so a Byzantine army of ten thousand strong was raised. After calling for aid from Bela some 5000 Hungarian soldiers joined the roman army and this combined force was put under the command of Alexius Branas the conqueror of the Normans.

Accompanying him were also Isaac's relatives Conrad of Montferrato and Alexius Angelos. Initially Branas who had been Andronikos staunch supporter was contemplating rebellion against Isaac, but due to the Hungarian contingent within his army it would be best to not revolt lest the Hungarians report back and he earns himself the ire of the powerful Hungarian king.

When Kilij learned of the Byzantine counteroffensive he quickly rounded up a force of 16000 strong and marched to meet the roman armies on the outskirts of Eskisher. Here a fierce battle was fought but in a striking turn of events Kilij was shot by an arrow and he died of infected wounds shortly thereafter. However the Byzantines also suffered thousands of casualties and unfortunately one such casualty was the young Alexius Angelos. But the Turkish army was beaten and by August Eskisher had fallen. Back in Constantinople celebrations broke out following Isaac's miraculous victory.

MeanwhileKilijes death plunged Iconium into civil war as his nine sons battled it out for the throne.

The Egyptians under Saladin who should have come to the Sultanates aide were unable to do so citing other matters. In reality Byzantines diplomats had bribed Saladin with many pounds of gold and treasure in return for not coming to the aide of his Rum allies and eager to strengthen is own forces to drive out the hated crusaders, and at the same time he was busy dealing with the bastard Reynauld of Chatlion who had the nerve to raid the holy cities of Islam and he readily agreed.

With no aid forthcoming form the Egyptions the romans successfully marched upon Ankara which after bitter fighting fell by December. Meanwhile another roman army from the south retook the southern coast that had been recently captured by the Turkish forces. Killij'es eldest son wwho came out the victor in the civil war sued for peace with he Romans returning to them the Black sea coastal province of Sinop as well as Eskisher, Ankara and the southern coast as well as paying an indemnity. Isaac who by this point heard of rumors the gathering of another crusading army in the west readily agreed to the truce in early 1186.

In reward for his services Alexius Branas was granted as his pronoia the former Seiuk province of Eskisher. Satisfied with the reward any thoughts Branas retained of rebellion dissipated. Meanwhile the victories against the Turks had won for Isaac the begrudging respect of those at the court.

Further still a Byzantine fleet in the Aegean had successfully destroyed an opposing Norman fleet trying to ambush it and this victory crippled Norman force projection in the Aegean.

Meanwhile relations between the Byzantines and HRE under Barbarossa were growing worse daily but in early 1187 using Bela as his mediator betrothed Irene to Philip Fredrick's son. though in Isaac's eyes such a marriage was made solely to keep the specter of the HRE away from his own lands and rather divert Frederick's attention back to Italy and Germany where he was quarelling with the Popes and the German Princes. Isac turned his attention back to Anatolia for unless he returned the estates lost to the turks back to the great families rebellions were prone to occur.

Yet the Byzantine state was in a terrible state of affairs. A declining economy, threat form west and east, potential rebels, and a lack of centralization and corruption at every level plagued the state. Not to mention the HRE, the Italians and the Pope were still to be dealt with. Isaac though would not change, he remained as before enamored to his eununchs, slaves, and corrupt advisers but at least he kept the system going regardless of how wretched it had become.
 
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I'll be watching this thread. Keep it up. I don't hold as much bile for Isaac II as I do his brother or son. There's still Cyprus under Isaac Komnenos to deal with.
 
I can't believe the Angelii just managed to bungle through all that considering just how incompetent they are.They must have extraordinary luck in this timeline.
 
darth, the angelii werent the ones who won those victories, it was conrad and branas mainly but since both served under the Angelii, Isaac gets credit.

"O how small a portion of earth will hold us when we are dead, who ambitiously seek after the whole world while we are living."-Philip Augustas King of France


In 1187 at Hattin, the Crusading armies lead by the valiant and most noble Guy suffered a crushing defeat. Guy himself was captured after leading a brave charge into enemy lines and the army was destroyed. The news reverberated as a shock across Christendom with Pope Clement himself calling it the darkest day in all history.

However the crusaders had inflicted one notable casualty upon the Saracens, for the great Saladin while rallying his men decided to counter charge the crusader lines and in the process found himself trapped amidst enemy line due to being too hasty and found himself fighting three well armored Frankish knight who promptly cut him down though it was told that he struggled quite a bit and managed to slay two of his opponents.

So enraged was his brother Al-Adil that he vowed to drive the crusading dogs back to the sea when news reached him of the Sultan's death at the hands of crusaders. Guy and his vassals were all executed in retaliation and the remaining crusaders were forced into slavery, converted to Islam or were killed.

Yet dark times were ahead for Egypt, for with Saladin's death the line of succession to the Syrian and Egyptian thrones was held in question for though Al Afdal was to succeed according to Salah's wishes, his other progeny had their own designs for the throne. Al Adil too had his own plans for the throne but unlike Saladin's sons he realized now was no time to fight amongst themselves. Regardless of how much disagreement the princes and emirs had over the succession they all agreed on one thing, the crusaders needed to be driven back to the sea and Saladin was to be avenged. What followed was the great campaign against the infidel. With Al Adil holding nominal command the largest ever Saracen army to date was assembled and it marched upon Jerusalem

Back in Jerusalem chaos reigned. Raymond was the only leader on the failed expedition to return to the Kingdom for all others had died. The creme of the crusading forces perished at Hattin and their were few left to defend the crusader strongholds. When words reached them of the large army marching upon them, the council was thrown into chaos. Bailin and Sibylle who had taken over tried negotiating with Al Adil to no avail. When asked what the saracens wanted, he returned to them their messenger with one ear cut off and a note calling for them to abandon completely the holy land and return from whence they came.

In late 1187 the council in Jerusalem fled for Acre abandoning the city to the Saracens who promptly took it. Soon thereafter Kerak and Ostreloujordan were overrun and the Saracens advanced unhindered upon the coast. The other crusader states as well as the Hospitallers and knights Templar tried to desperately aide the kingdom but they were heavily outnumbered and suffered a stinging defeat near Tiberias. In desperation Bailin sent word to the Pope to call forth aide from the west.

After much negotiations for roughly a year the Pope was able to convince the Kings of England, France, and the HRE to come to the aide of the crusader states in 1188.

But their was another player as well, the Romans. For Isaac Angelus had deep mistrust for the west and when he heard of the new crusade was at first adamantly against it but then his relative Conrad convinced him that if he were to support the crusading cause, perhaps the bad blood between the Greeks and Franks could be mitigated though slightly. Not to mention the wonders a large crusading army could do in Anatolia.

Yet Isaac need not have worried, for as it turned out the Sultan of Rum sensing an opportunity to expand his domains invaded the Crusader Kingdom of Armenia Cilicia then at war with the Saracens supporting Jerusalum.

At the behest of the pope Fredrick Barbarossa moved first raising the largest ever assembled Christian army of 100,000, which marched overland arriving in late 1188 at the gates of Constantinople. Isaac and Fredrick mistrusted each other but than again due to being in-laws the two met within the city with Conrad acting as mediator.

After heated discussions between the German and Roman councilors and their monarchs, it was agreed that the Romans would provide some of their own men on the crusade as well as provide supplies and transportation for the crusader forces in return for Fredrick first marching upon the Turks of Rum. After all Conrad informed Frederick, the Rum had to be dealt with anyway so why not get rid of them now so as they dont trap his forces from behind later on. Frederick readily agreed to the plan and soon the crusading and roman armies set off for Anatolia.

Now one may be asking form whence did the supplies for Barbarossa's army come form, well it came form plundering of Turkish cities, supplies bought and made by the Romans and further still food, drink, and other necessities were paid for from the Holy Roman Empire and Roman coffers.



When the Rum sultan heard of the massive crusader army it was said that he had nearly fainted. By early 1189 the massive crusading army had siezed the Rum provinces in South central Anatolia and were marching upon Iconium. here after a pitched battle the Sultan of Rum was killed and the outnumbered Turkish force was defeated and after a bitter siege Iconium, the Rum capital fell to the crusader forces and after paying Frederick many pounds of gold was returned to the Romans. Initially the Roman and German forces mistrusted each other and at the start their was little cohesion, but after fighting together on the battlefield against common foes views of each other slowly began to change.

Frederick began realizing the Greeks may not have been swindlers or two timers as he had heard and Isaac for his part began to believe at least for now Fredrick did not have immediate designs for his throne

Yet both knew that eventually the two sovereigns would have to fight each other for their can only be one emperor of the Romans, but at least for now both had common foes to deal with and their on internal affairs to sort out.

The Roman and Crusading armies marched through the Armenia Cillica(Wherein it's king "grateful" for aide pledged loyalty to the Romans in return for protection. it helped that a massive german force was also at his doorstep and by July 1189 the army had arrived in the holy land.

The crusader situation on the other hand deteriorated rapidly. The interior of the Kingdom had already been overrun by the Saracens and only the coastal cities remained in Crusading hands but one by one they were failing. Tyre, tiberias, and Beirut had already fallen. Edessa was overrun and Tripoli was besieged though the great Krak fortress held out for many a months. But when Bailin learned of the Crusading armies reaching Antioch, he praised the lord in relief.

Al Adil on the other hand hearing of the massive crusading army decided it was time to settle affairs with the Franks and he soon brought together all the troops from across his empire including those already on campaign and this massive army met on the outskirts of Antioch in December of 1189 the Roman-Crusading army. The largest battle in the crusading era to date had begun.
 
So how come Tyre fell in this timeline?In real life,it was defended successfully by the Marquess of Montferrat.
 
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