The Legacy of the Oungrikos Dynasty: A Romano-Hungarian Union from 1180 to c. 1290 CE

[Iacobus]

This is a sequel thread to an earlier thread about the rise and rule of the Hungarian Emperors of the Eastern Roman Empire from 1180 to the early 1300s: https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...the-six-emperors-–-1180-to-1330.490466/page-6

Modest retrospective changes will be made to the prior cannon of this timeline and explained as this thread progresses. Changes that have been decided upon as of now are:

• The name of the last Hungarian Emperor, named in the former thread as Marios I, has been changed to his OTL Hellenized Hungarian equivalent Ladislaous I which also means he is named Ladislaus IV of Hungary, just like his OTL mirror self was.
• I have decided to instigate some sweeping changes to the chronology of events during the later dynasty basically replicating the events of the later Arpad Dynasty in Hungary. This includes the shortened reign of Emperor Stephanos I (r.1270-72). He dies of an illness like in OTL and I now assume this is unavoidable. Such was life back in the Middle Ages. Congenital heart condition? Cancer? An infection? Doesn't really matter, it wasn't well recorded. But he was with an army up in Hungary at the time regardless as he was defending against the invasion of Ottokar II of Bohemia.
• Emperor Ladislaous I succeeds his father upon his death in 1272 and concludes the war with Bohemia with the assistance of an upstart Hapsburg Austria and retains control of Hungary. This is where much of the focus of his reign remains as Hungary remains dependent on Roman military support during the invasions of Cuman renegades and Mongols during the 1280s.

Ladislaous was still conceived in a union between his father and Elizabeth the Cuman which makes sense in the context of the Mongol invasions of the 1240s went Bela-Alexios II would've sought allies in and around Hungary. The Cumans and their knowledge of mounted warfare were invaluable to Romano-Hungarian warfare through the later 1200s. The young emperor developed an affinity and admiration for the Cumans as his OTL counterpart did. To explore how this would alienate him from his nobles in this radically different political context presents an interesting scenario in itself and one that will determine when the Oungrikos Era is brought to an end....

We can raise the likelihood that the Cuman sympathies of Ladislaous could be just as stigmatised by the ATL Roman aristocracy as by his OTL Hungarian contemporaries but there will still be two major differences to the environment an ATL Ladislaous I, Emperor of the Romans, finds himself. First he sits atop the imperial bureaucratic system of Eastern Rome merged with the unitary kingdom of Hungary, not the feudal system with powerful magnates which developed in Hungary after the reign of OTL Andrew II. Those reforms did not occur here, at least not to the radical extent they did in OTL. Secondly, ATL Ladislaous I was less beholden to pressure from the Pope and the Papacy was in a far more tentative position when dealing with the East now. Still engaged in the Levant with Roman support and after successful Crusader campaigns in Egypt, the status of a few Cuman pagans in Hungary is a relative non-issue way down the list of priorities.

So those caveats to a OTL-like deposition and assassination (as occurred in 1290) now acknowledged, the fate of Ladislaous is one determined less by cultural tensions and more by his personal competence in leadership and keeping his vassals and subject content....

I think before we lay out a legacy of this ATL dynasty and a future ERE timeline we have to resolve the problem of Ladislaous.

 

[Iacobus]

Suffice to say if Ladislaous does meet his end before he can produce an heir to the Arpad-Komnenos Dynasty then the next Emperor is likely his brother-in-law by marriage of his sister Anna, one Andronikos Palaiologos, head of a powerful Roman noble house with significant possessions in Anatolia, and based within the city of Nicaea. He would become Andronikos I Palaiologos.

(In OTL this was Andronikos II but in ATL, Andronikos I (r.1183-85) never reigned as Bela-Alexios I (atl r.1180-96), the first Hungarian Emperor, was reigning instead).

 

[Iacobus]

Reigns (updated)

Bela-Alexios (Alexios II) – r.1180-1196
Emerikos-Alexios (Alexios III) – r.1196-1205
Andros-Alexios (Alexios IV) – r.1205-1235
Bela-Alexios II (Alexios V "the Great") – r.1235-1270
Stephanos I – r.1270-1272
Ladislaous I – r.1272-TBD
----
Andronikos I - r. TBD

 

[Iacobus]

I'm reading around some implications and curious events that we should be mindful of at this time of transition between dynasties as we move into the 1290s and then the 1300s.

First off, Andrew III (the Venetian) of Hungary (r.1290–1301) who was a pretender to the throne of OTL Ladislaus IV of Hungary does not exist in ATL. He was the ultimate result of an unofficial liaison of Andrew II of Hungary (r.1205-1235) and one Beatrice d'Este. In a timeline like this any unions outside official diplomatic marriages (they did marry eventually mind you) and the occurrence of bastards are subject to improbabilities given the magnitude of difference between the lives of Andrew II and his ATL counterpart Alexios IV. It is true that the presence of Andrew the Venetian could've been a could device for prizing the Romano-Hungarian Union apart but alas the likelihood of butterfly assault here is too much to dismiss. We should carry on without him.

What we do still have though is the marriage of one of the daughters of Stephanos I, Maria Arpad-Komnenos (OTL Mary of Hungary) to Charles II of Naples of the House of Anjou which makes her Queen Consort of Naples from 1285 to 1309. She is the sister of Ladislaous I, our current Romano-Hungarian Emperor. There is another sister, Anna Arpad-Komnenos who is married to Andronikos Palaiologos. Now that's interesting. Cause it might be relevant, Maria is the older of the two sisters (b.1257) and Anna the younger (b.1260). Maria had her first son, Charles Martel of Anjou in 1271 (yeah she was 14 :/) and Anna had her first son, Michael Palaiologos in 1277. There you have two matrilineal claimants to the throne of Eastern Rome and Palatine Hungary. Both are grandsons of Stephanos I and nephews of Ladislaous I. One is growing up within the Empire and Hellenised while the other is an Angevin noble based in Naples with a claim to seniority...

 

[mane]

looks good so far

 

[Iacobus]

Also to add to the aforementioned circumstances we have yet another clamant. Stephanos I had another daughter, his eldest of four Katerina Arpad-Komnenos (OTL Catherine of Hungary) who married Stefan Dragutin, the Prince of Serbia which was a prosperous mining region wedged alongside the Banate of Bosnia between Romania proper and Palatine Hungary in a strategically important region. He was caught up in a power struggle with his brother Stefan Milutin in the 1280s which would weaken his power base somewhat so he would be a lower probability claimant to the throne of the ERE but the conflict he and his brother were embroiled in could play a major strategic role the Angevin-Palaiologian war of succession if he is still relevant by 1290.

 

[Iacobus]

Claimants to the throne of Eastern Rome c.1290

• Andronikos I Palaiologos - Megas Doux and Despotes of the Roman Empire. Brother-in-law to Ladislaous I through marriage to Anna Arpad-Komnenos. The legal claimant. Greek Orthodox.
• Charles II of Naples - King of Naples. Brother-in-law to Ladislaous I through marriage to Maria Arpad-Komnenos. Foreign claimant. Catholic.
• Stefan Dragutin - Prince of Serbia. Brother-in-law to Ladislaous I through marriage to Katerina Arpad-Komnenos. Minor claimant. Serbian.

Other Potential Belligerents

• Venice - Mercenaries. Bribery.
• Genoa - Mercenaries. Bribery.
• France - Liege of Angevin Lands.
• Papacy - Supports Catholic clamant.
• Aragon - Claims on Naples.

 

[Iacobus]

Another matter of great import in the context of a succession struggle is the ecclesiastical future of the Empire. The Oungrikos would've pursued a Unionite cause through the 1200s with some concession to resistant elements of the Orthodox faithful stalling the overall mending of the Schism. This until the Second Council of Lyon which was held 1272-74 during which the Romans under the guidance of influential Unionite Patriarch John Bekkos accepted the Filioque clause to be added to the Nicaean Creed as part of Orthodox services. This would form a controversy throughout the reign of Ladislaous I with rising Orthodox resistance.

Amidst this conflict Andronikos Palaiologos, being a Greek Anatolian noble, would sit firmly on the Orthodox side I believe therefore if the Pope wishes to intervene he would support a Catholic claimant in the form of Charles II of Naples but but it still might be seen as a long shot to secure the Empire as a whole. It could be that the Papacy tries to prevent Hungary from slipping outside the Catholic orbit though...

The Stefan Dragutin will likely lean heavily Orthodox as Serbs generally did. It'll not really matter. Andronikos Palaiologos will be the winner of the throne. The question is what does he lose for it.

 

[Iacobus]

Well Ladislaus IV of Hungary was quite a character in OTL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladislaus_IV_of_Hungary
Don't know how I'd be able to replicate this. Would the allure of the culture of Rome be enough to distract him from being a massive Cumanaboo?
I've a feel things would be rather different with this guy if he grew up in Constantinople and was born to the purple. Yes he would know his Cuman heritage and would fight alongside Cumans but he would also know of his illustrious forbears and he hopefully would've received an education on the exploits of Julian the Apostate.

Interestingly in OTL he was married to Elisabeth of Sicily (d.1303) from the start of his reign in 1272, who was a sister of Charles II of Naples. They traded sisters it seems. If they did have issue in this ATL then not only would the Arpad-Komnenos Dynasty continue but their children would have a claim on Naples potentially (and as an extension of that claim Sicily as well).

 

[Iacobus]

Two paths then:

1. Ladislaous I dies without issue and Andronikos Palaiologos is crowned Andronikos I Palaiologos, Emperor of the Romans and Magyars, King of Hungary. This is contested by Charles II of Naples at the least. A succession crisis ensues, Hungary potentially secedes from the Empire ending the Union. The Great Schism reopens as the Eastern Rite is made official over the Latin Rite.
2. Ladislaous I has an heir who survives him. The Oungrikos Dynasty continues another generation. The Unionite cause remains influential and the Latin Rite continues to receive official support at the expense of the Eastern Rite. The Arpad-Komnenos line subsequently holds a weak claim on the lands of Naples and Sicily.