The unexpected return: an alternate history of the Kingdom of Sicily

Prelude Daz ich der jâre bin ein kint 1267
Prelude Daz ich der jâre bin ein kint (1267)



Ich fröi mich manger bluomen rôt
die uns der meie bringen wil.
die stuomdem ê in grôzer nôt:
der winter tet in leides vil.
der mei wils uns ergetzen wol
mit mangem wünneclîchem tage:
des ist diu welt gar fröiden vol.

Waz hilfet mir diu sumerzît
und diu vil liehten langen tage?
mîn trôst an einer frouwen lît
von der ich grôzen kumber trage.
wil sî mir geben hôhen muot,
dâ tuot si tugentlîchen an,
und daz mîn fröide wirdet guot.

Swann ich mich von der liben scheide,
sô muoz mîn fröide ein ende hân.
owê, sô stirbe ich lîht von leide
daz ich es ie mit ir began.
ichn weiz niht, frou, waz minne sint.
mich lât diu liebe entgelten vil
daz ich der jâre bin ein kint.



The many red flowers I welcome
Those that May will yield us.
Long have they been in plight:
Greatly did Winter wrong them.
But May will repay us in full
With many a wonderful day:
For this the whole world rejoices.

What help is to me the Summertime
With its long bright days?
My comfort lies entire with a Lady
Whom I receive great sorrows from.
Oh, could she raise my heart,
That would be a virtuous deed,
And my happiness would be complete.

When from my Love I part,
Then from Joy I leave too.
Woe, of pain I almost die
Ever since I gave myself to her.
I know not, Lady, what Love is.
And harshly my Love makes me pay
For of years I am but a child. (1)

---​

Burg Trausnitz, Landshut, Herzogtum Bayern-Landshut, February 1267

The castle room was small, and a log smoldered in the great fireplace, yet the cold winter wind seeped in from outside, making its way through the fissures between the great building stones. If that gust of wind had eyes and a brain, it could have peeked from beyond one of the heavy embroided clothes that ornated the otherwise bare walls and it would have assisted to a private conversation between two teenagers. A conversation that would set in motion a chain of events that would lead to a world far different from most others in the multiverse.

A young man, sitting on a finely carved oak stool, put down his lute as he finished singing. He was pleasant looking; tall, blond and with the air of refinement that distinguishes people of noble station and education from commoners who toil in day to day drudgery. A more attentive eye, however, would quickly notice that this young man was in truth just a boy, with no traces of a beard and with a delicate complexion which betrayed the tender age of Conrad, Duke of Swabia, rightful King of Jerusalem and Sicily and true heir of the last great Emperor of the Romans, but temporarily penniless ward to his powerful uncle, the Duke of Bavaria Ludwig II the Strict. Close to him stood another young dispossessed noble, his close friend Friederich von Baden, claimant to Austria and Styria.


“So, Friederich, what do you think of my little exercise?”

“My liege” the older boy spoke, half-serious and half-joking: “Should I give the opinion of the vassal, or that of the friend?”

“Don’t ask me this question ever again: you are a brother to me!” Conrad rose, closing to his friend: “And, besides, I won’t be no Caligula, who loves empty flattery; whatever God’s providence holds for my future I will always welcome an earnest counsel.”

“As you wish then… It was fairly good, but let’s say it was not like one of the ones from our great Walther (2), but I am curious…” The slightly older boy smiled mischievously: “who is the fortunate lady who stole your heart? Your betrothed? (3) Or one of the fair maidens who attend to our mothers?”

“None of them in truth, my heart is wholly given to that fair but far land which is my rightful heritage.” The young uncrowned king was now very serious: “Friederich, did you hear what the Italian ambassadors said about the bloodthirstiness and greed of Charles and his men? What man can sit still and not fight against such injustice? What Knight can close his ears to such a cry of sorrow from a downtrodden people?” Conrad, now flushed with excitation, paused for a moment, before continuing: “No, I have taken my decision, my fate lies to the South. Will you ride with me?”

“You shouldn’t have to ask, you know I am ready to die for you Conrad!”

“And I for you. We shall avenge my uncle Manfred’s unquiet ghost and once I am truly king you shall have the first place of honour at my court. But whatever the outcome of this quest, we shall ride together till the end of it.”

“So be it.”

The two youngsters were briefly joined by a tender embrace, then Conrad left his friend, full of newly found confidence and ready to put his uncle before his now irrefutable decision. There was so much to do to organize the campaign, but he felt that future smiled upon him, the last scion of the great House of Hohenstaufen.



Notes:

(1) Sorry for the terrible translation: Neither English nor (especially!) Mittlehochdeutsch are my native languages and I didn’t have time to make the metrics and rhymes square up, so I just gave a more or less literal translation. The poem was actually written by Conradin in his real life and I couldn’t help to make the connection between the distant Lady and Sicily or between the suffering flowers and the Ghibellines/Hohenstaufen loyalists in Italy.

(2) The famed Minnesänger Walther von der Vogelweide (1170-1230).

(3) Sophia, daughter of Margrave Dietrich von Landsberg. It is not clear whether theirs was only a betrothal or an actual marriage per procurationem. ITTL Conradin will manage to regain his kingdom and he will end up marrying someone different and probably more significant.
 
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Author's Note
So, here I am, with a small teaser for my new Timeline! It has been long in the making and I had many doubts on whether to go on with this story or with other projects, but, in the end, I couldn't help coming back to Conradin. I am an uncorregible Romantic, I know, but the young king, unjustly executed after failing to regain his realm from an usurper was a lure I could not resist. I hope I can give some poetic justice to Conradin, his descendants and Southern Italy as a whole, but I especially hope to write an enjoyable timeline!

Well, not sure whether the narrative prologue made any sense, the rest of the TL will be much more prosaic, but I hope this was somewhat enjoyable.

This is going to be an alternate history of the Kingdom of Sicily, starting with a success of Conrad II (IOTL Conradin Hohenstaufen) in defeating the usurper (well, in Hohenstaufen eyes at least…) Charles d’Anjou. The POD will thus be a different outcome of the Battle of Tagliacozzo and the story will mainly focus on Italy, especially the Mezzogiorno, but will obviously take into consideration divergence and butterflies in Europe, the Near East, and eventually the rest of the world.


In writing this Timeline I will make some assumptions, which I hope won’t detract from the readers’ enjoyment:


1- Conrad won’t be a “Mary Sue”, but he will be a very good leader. We don’t have many sources about his character and obviously iotl he died very young, but he was well cultured and he showed appreciable determination and calm in front of his sad fate for a sixteen-year-old, which points out to a magnanimous disposition, but ITTL he will be in the league of Philippe Augustus or little less in terms of capabilities. This might sound to verge a tad too much on the “Great Man” theory of history, but otherwise there would be little point in exploring this divergence.


2- This Timeline will strive for great realism, but it will also have a clear goal: A more prosperous Kingdom of Sicily, which in due time might lead to an earlier Italian unification.
This leads to one thing that I have predetermined will happen and that might require a bit of suspension of disbelief: Conradin will be persuaded (Louis IX will play a role in this) to renounce to his claims to the Imperial mantle and stay in Sicily. Any other course of action would, in my opinion, only lead towards a disaster.


3- About butterflies, I will use a somewhat conservative approach, especially in areas that are far from my sphere of knowledge. I won’t ignore them obviously, but I won’t either make profound changes to, say, pre-Columbian South America just for the sake of it. In general areas far from the Mediterranean won’t be much detailed unless I receive input from the readers, because I don’t want to get sidetracked too much and my time for research is limited, since this is, after all, “only” an hobby for me.


The next installment will come up shortly and will briefly describe the situation in Sicily and set the scene for the next chapter, the one with the actual POD and the detailed description of the alternate battle of Tagliacozzo.


In any case I very much welcome (civil) criticism and suggestions, so please comment!
 
I'm looking forward to this. Unless you've already got a candidate in mind, I could name some candidates whom Conrad II could marry in the future:

* Berengaria, eldest daughter of King Alfonso X of Castile.
* Blanche or Margaret, daughters of King Louis IX of France.
* Beatrice, eldest daughter of Charles of Anjou.
* Elizabeth, eldest daughter of King Stephen V of Hungary.
* Catherine, eldest daughter of Nikephoros Komnenos Doukas, Despot of Epirus.
* Isabella of Villehardouin, eldest daughter of William II of Villehardouin, Prince of Achaea.

But it's your story, and I'll gladly read about which direction you decide to go in.
 
I'm looking forward to this. Unless you've already got a candidate in mind, I could name some candidates whom Conrad II could marry in the future:

* Berengaria, eldest daughter of King Alfonso X of Castile.
* Blanche or Margaret, daughters of King Louis IX of France.
* Beatrice, eldest daughter of Charles of Anjou.
* Elizabeth, eldest daughter of King Stephen V of Hungary.
* Catherine, eldest daughter of Nikephoros Komnenos Doukas, Despot of Epirus.
* Isabella of Villehardouin, eldest daughter of William II of Villehardouin, Prince of Achaea.

But it's your story, and I'll gladly read about which direction you decide to go in.

1- This would be a reasonable match, in continuity with the policy of friendship with the Iberian kingdoms, but it would offer little material gain and not that useful political support. I suppose Henry of Castile might be tge one lobbying for such a match.

2- This is the biggest match in terms of prestige and it would be the consequence of some sort of alliance with France, likely over a crusade. But would Louis marry one of his daughters to his brothers' enemy?

3- She is already betrothed to Philippe de Courtenay, titular latin emperor, but that shouldn't be a great problem. I am not sure however if a reconciliation between the House of Hohenstaufen and Anjou is possible after Charles' defeat.

4- She (or her younger sister Mary) could mean an anti Byzantine alliance and eastern focus, but I'd prefer to avoid to murror the otl hungarian dinastic entanglements of the House of Anjou...

5- Clear Eastern focus, would mean securing the Albanian holdings. I hadn't thought about this match, I think that Conradin in the short term needs more support from Catholic powers to be honest...

6- Since her father is Charles' vassal and fought at his side with 400 lances this marriage would be the cover for a victor's peace and firmly tie Acaia to Sicily, and to a continuation of Charles' anti byzantine policies. She is also only a child and it would need at least 7/8 years before reaching child bearing age. The Kingdom needs an heir sooner than that.

I thought that she could be married to the late Manfred's elder son. In general his widow and children are both a possible dinastic threat and good marriage material. (They cannot be disposed of or "forgotten" in prison: the powerful Lancia family, Manfred's maternal family, would have none of that).
 
1- This would be a reasonable match, in continuity with the policy of friendship with the Iberian kingdoms, but it would offer little material gain and not that useful political support. I suppose Henry of Castile might be the one lobbying for such a match.

Such a match could offer an alliance, or at least the threat of an alliance, against Aragon, whose current king, James III, was married to Manfred's eldest daughter, Constance. IOTL, James' marriage to Constance was how and why he claimed Sicily in his war against Charles of Anjou and his sons.

2- This is the biggest match in terms of prestige and it would be the consequence of some sort of alliance with France, likely over a crusade. But would Louis marry one of his daughters to his brothers' enemy?

Well, all I know for certain was that Louis, at least personally, was against the Sicilian venture from the start.

3- She is already betrothed to Philippe de Courtenay, titular latin emperor, but that shouldn't be a great problem. I am not sure however if a reconciliation between the House of Hohenstaufen and Anjou is possible after Charles' defeat.

Well, the OTL War of Sicilian Vespers made enemies of the houses of Anjou and Barcelona, and that didn't stop them intermarrying.

4- She (or her younger sister Mary) could mean an anti Byzantine alliance and eastern focus, but I'd prefer to avoid to murror the otl hungarian dinastic entanglements of the House of Anjou...

Fair enough. Actually, my thoughts were of an anti-Austrian alliance, if Rudolph of Hapsburg still becomes King of Germany and Duke of Austria as in OTL, or more likely an anti-Bohemian alliance. The Hungarian gold and silver mines aren't booming yet, but could provide the basis for a nice dowry.

5- Clear Eastern focus, would mean securing the Albanian holdings. I hadn't thought about this match, I think that Conradin in the short term needs more support from Catholic powers to be honest...

True.

6- Since her father is Charles' vassal and fought at his side with 400 lances this marriage would be the cover for a victor's peace and firmly tie Acaia to Sicily, and to a continuation of Charles' anti byzantine policies. She is also only a child and it would need at least 7/8 years before reaching child bearing age. The Kingdom needs an heir sooner than that.

I guess Isabella, or her sister Margaret, when they've both grown up, could possibly be a second wife if Conrad's first wife dies.

I thought that she could be married to the late Manfred's elder son. In general his widow and children are both a possible dynastic threat and good marriage material. (They cannot be disposed of or "forgotten" in prison: the powerful Lancia family, Manfred's maternal family, would have none of that).

I'm not certain, but I think Manfred's sons might have already been blinded and imprisoned by Charles around Tagliacozzo. That might diminish their "marketability". Manfred's widow and younger daughters could be released just fine thoigh.
 

Deleted member 67076

I like this idea. Keeping Sicily prosperous and active is something Id have liked to see written here for a while.

Worth noting in terns of butterflies, by blocking Charles of Anjou you just saved the Byzantine Empire as it was his invasion to Greece that exhausted the army and forced Asia to be strapped of its garissons.
 
Such a match could offer an alliance, or at least the threat of an alliance, against Aragon, whose current king, James III, was married to Manfred's eldest daughter, Constance. IOTL, James' marriage to Constance was how and why he claimed Sicily in his war against Charles of Anjou and his sons.

Alfonso of Castille still claim the title of King of Romans againsy Richard of Cornwall by 1268, it would interesting to see the developments between Conradin and Castille on this topic, because even if OP wants Conrad to abandon the German cause (which is the best outcome for him) it will take some time.
 
First of all, my thanks go to all that commented so far, expressing interest and appreciation for the idea: it made me happier with my decision to start this counterfactual.

I had hoped to post the first real chapter yesterday, but I found a better source about Conradin's campaign that made me reconsider some assumptions about the days preceding the battle of Tagliacozzo and lead me to slightly change the pod and rewrite the chapter.
I think I can post this improved version in some hours.

(1)Such a match could offer an alliance, or at least the threat of an alliance, against Aragon, whose current king, James III, was married to Manfred's eldest daughter, Constance. IOTL, James' marriage to Constance was how and why he claimed Sicily in his war against Charles of Anjou and his sons.



(2)Well, all I know for certain was that Louis, at least personally, was against the Sicilian venture from the start.



(3)Well, the OTL War of Sicilian Vespers made enemies of the houses of Anjou and Barcelona, and that didn't stop them intermarrying.



(4)Fair enough. Actually, my thoughts were of an anti-Austrian alliance, if Rudolph of Hapsburg still becomes King of Germany and Duke of Austria as in OTL, or more likely an anti-Bohemian alliance. The Hungarian gold and silver mines aren't booming yet, but could provide the basis for a nice dowry.



True.



(5)I guess Isabella, or her sister Margaret, when they've both grown up, could possibly be a second wife if Conrad's first wife dies.



(6)I'm not certain, but I think Manfred's sons might have already been blinded and imprisoned by Charles around Tagliacozzo. That might diminish their "marketability". Manfred's widow and younger daughters could be released just fine thoigh.

1- Fair point, but I doubt that the Aragonese claim will gain much traction when there is a legitimate Hohenstaufen on the throne, since Constance shares Manfred at best questionable legitimacy.

2- Yes, he seemed to respect Conradin's hereditary rights and was in any case more interested in a crusade against true infidels rather than one against a king excommunicated for purely political reasons. Let's alsonnot forget that Conradin is titular king of Jerusalem, this could give additional leverage to Luis for persuading him to go crusading.

3- That's true. It would be hilarious if down the line a Hihenstaufen would end up inheriting Peovence... (not likely to happen ittl, but still cool).

4- Add anti-venetian to that. Your points for an hungarian match are good. Even if no real attempt is made on the Imperial Crown there wouod still be a degree of hostility against Ottokar of Bohemia, given Frederick's of Baden's claims and his close friendship with Conradin. Still, I don't feel like an hungarian match would be the first choice.

6- While it is true that Henry was blind around ~1310 when he died, that's after several decades in prison in harsh conditions. Charles was ruthless, but blinding a four year ood boy of royal blood would have caused outcry that would have left some traces in the chronicles, while Manfred's children just "disappear" for them for a long time. There are also credible accounts of Frederick escaping custody later on and journeying through various european courts, as well as less credible ones about him settling in Egypt.
How could he escape if he had been blinded?




5- Yeah, that's a possibility I have to keep in mind too
 
Oh, one of Federico's most beloved sons, Enzo of Sardinia, is still alive isn't he?

Conrad can demand his release in exchange of ending hostilities (for now) with the Guelphs.
 
Chapter 1 Setting the Scene (1266-1268)
Chapter 1 Setting the Scene (1266-1268)


Part I La mala segnoria 1266-1268



Charles, since the lightning campaign that brought an end to king Manfredi’s reign - it took the Anjou little more than a month from their departure from Rome to defeat and kill Emperor Frederick’s beloved, but illegitimate, son - had ruled quite harshly on his newfound subjects, a ruthlessness that showed in the brutal sacking of Benevento even though no organized resistance was offered by the city after Manfredi’s death.

220px-Charles_de_France_(1220-1285),_comte_d'Anjou.jpg

Charles d'Anjou before his conquest of Sicily.

Only in the Terra di Lavoro (1), a part of the Kingdom traditionally hostile to Hohenstaufen rule, he had been welcomed with any enthusiasm and, in fact, it was probably this antipathy from the Campanian barons and burghers that caused the sudden and catastrophic failure of the system of border castles and defenses on which Manfredi had put so much confidence and that costed him his life in the battle of Benevento, when most of the local cavalry defected. Without the treason by the Count of Acerra Riccardo d’Aquino (2) at the ford of Ceprano and the subsequent quick fall of the castles of Rocca d’Arce and san Germano it is likely that Charles d’Anjou would have been bogged down in an extenuating series of sieges in the middle of winter and with his funds running dry while Manfredi continued to collect reinforcements from Abruzzi, Apulia and Sicily.


In the rest of the kingdom it was another story, and Charles pecuniary exactions contributed to rising unrest, as well as his imposition of rapacious Provencal and French officials at all levels of the feudal and bureaucratic (3) hierarchy. Their methods must have been particularly ruthless, if even a Guelph-aligned chronicler, Saba Malaspina of Padua, describes the plight of the Sicilian people in the bleakest of terms, although the emphasis he uses is probably exaggerated and typical of his writing style:


“Oh, King Manfredi - they complain, their eyes full of tears – you have been misunderstood! We believed you to be a hungry wolf, and you were a gentle lamb, compared to the new masters that our inconstancy gave us. Too late we recognize how light was your scepter in the place of the yoke that now weighs upon us. We are reduced to misery; our goods and our lives are at the mercy of foreigners.” (4)


Even Pope Celestine IV, main sponsor of Charles’ expedition, French, and an avowed enemy of the Hohenstaufen cause, criticized Charles’ excessive fiscalism (although this was likely caused more by the Anjou king’s encroachment on Church rights in defiance of the treaty signed before the conquest of Sicily), recommending him to obtain the consent of barons, clergy and city representatives instead of arbitrarily imposing new taxes.


It is thus no great wonder that already in 1267 Lucera, the Muslim city in northern Apulia, rose in armed revolt, confident in the strength of her fortifications and fearful of losing the religious privileges and favoured status in the army her inhabitants had enjoyed under Federico II (5) and Manfredi. Soon after, as the news of a descent in Italy by the rightful king at the head of a host of German knights spread, more and more cities in Apulia and Abruzzi expelled their Anjou and Guelph garrisons, while in Calabria royal control collapsed entirely.


In the island of Sicily itself the situation was more complicated: it had not yet been visited by her new king, who had shunned the traditional Norman-style crowning ceremony in the Dome of Monreale, but had already experienced the “lovely” attentions of his exactors, causing understandable resentment among the populace. There was however a strong Guelph party in the island, so that, even when a Pisan fleet disembarked a small army lead by Corrado Capece (who had been given this task by Corradino and entrusted with the title of Vicar for Sicily) and Frederick of Castile, brother of that Henry who would play a decisive role in Rome and in the battle of the Palentine Plains, several cities, including Palermo, were still in Guelph hands and resisted strongly, giving time to Charles’ representative there, Foulques de Puy-Richard to fortify himself in Messina.




Part II The road to the Palentine Plains 1267-1268



After listening to the complaints and pleas of the Ghibelline supporters that had reached him in Bavaria, chief among them Manfredi’s relatives Galvano and Federico Lanza (6), Corrado Capece and the Salernitan physician Giovanni da Procida, who had been one of Manfredi’s closest advisors, the “last Hohenstaufen” resolved, against his mother’s counsel, to reclaim his birthrights in the lands of southern Italy, as made clear by his address to the peoples of Italy, probably written by Manfredi’s former Protonotaro (7) Pietro de Prece:


“We have disposed, with God’s help, the consent and supports of the lords of the Empire to bring to your country a considerable force, to recover our heritage, raise again the honor of Italy and the dignity of the German name. Be ready to receive us and the prince who will escort us: Prepare horses and arms, join your forces with ours so that we can inflict the deserved punishment to the oppressors of Italy those who, against all justice have seized what belongs to us.”

corradino-di-Svevia1.jpg

Statue of Corrado as he must have appeared at the time of his Italian campaign. It is an highly romanticised portrait, as usual in the age of nationalism.

Initially supported by his powerful uncles, he quickly managed to put together a sizeable army, mostly made up of landless knights, the so-called more milites viventes as well as outright mercenaries, payed for by loans secured from his uncles by pledging most of his hereditary Swabian lands.

More funds and military forces had been promised by the Italian Ghibellines, so, in autumn 1267, Corrado marched south, passing the Brenner and reaching Verona on the 20th of October, where he was warmly welcomed by one of the last Ghibelline podestà still in power in the Po valley, the powerful Mastino I della Scala.


At this point, however, the momentum of the expedition stalled, since both the road of Romagna and that of Lombardy, through which the German host had to pass to reach the southern half of the Italian peninsula, were firmly in Guelph hands. The strongest force was that of Milan, where the Ghibelline Pelavicini had been expelled and the leadership of the Comune was held by the Guelph della Torre family. The situation was so dire that both Dukes of Bavaria left Corrado, after extracting from him further territorial concessions in exchange for the sums necessary for the upkeep of the army, while Mastino was becoming quite nervous at the prospect of a great and idle army camped in and around his city and making him a target for Guelph retribution.


If Charles had marched north, linked with the Lombard Guelphs and attacked Corrado and his shrinking army close to Verona he would withal likelihood have nipped in the bud the Staufer menace to his kingdom. That he didn’t do so cannot be faulted to a lack of initiative or strategic vision, both qualities that Charles d’Anjou had demonstrated to possess in abundance. It was instead political and internal constraints that forced him to inaction: firstly, neither the Pope nor the Lombard communes wanted the Sicilian king to expand his power in northern Italy after he had become the arbiter of Tuscany after, counting on the title of Patiarius (peacemaker) for Tuscany bestowed by Clemens to Charles, his militias had contributed to the expulsion of the Ghibelline faction of Guido Novello from Florence and then sacked Porto Pisano and the town of Poggibonsi.

Secondly, as has been seen above, most of his kingdom was in chaos, the Saracen fortress of Lucera was a very dangerous thorn in his side and Sicily had almost completely fallen into Ghibelline hands.

Thirdly, Rome itself had fallen into Ghibelline hands when Henry of Castile, an old supporter of Charles who had turned against him after having been denied the kingship of Sardinia or, at least, the hand of Manfredi’s widow Helene and her dowry in Epirus. Henry had with him 300 well-armed and experienced Spanish mercenary knights and had used both violence and political ability to bring the Romans to his side and get elected Senator of the Urbs.



If the temporal sword remained, for the moment, sheathed, not the same could be told of the spiritual one, and, after several warnings and menaces, on the 19 of November Clemens IV excommunicated Corrado, his supporters and the Ghibelline cities of Pisa and Siena. Corrado was also stripped of his title of King of Jerusalem.


Unexpectedly, however, the situation in Lombardy improved for Corradino, with Milanese troops not contesting his passage to Pavia and then Lodi in January 1268, casting doubts on the genuinity of the Torrense loyalty to the Guelph cause and Conradin could reach Savona, where he embarked with some chosen knights towards Pisa (reached 31 March), while the bulk of the army marched towards it through the Lunigiana. A new Pisan fleet was sent, under the leadership of Federico Lanza, towards the Sicilian coasts, ensuring naval superiority for the Ghibellines and more and more volunteers joined the army (thanks to access to generous Pisan and Senese funding, obtained in exchange for the promise of significant trade privileges).

In June, the Hohenstaufen host started moving again and, after defeating in an ambush the small Anjou rearguard left in Tuscany and capturing his leader, the Marechal de Beselve, Corrado could finally enter Papal territory. Around mid-July, Viterbo, the papal seat, was reached and Corrado, while refraining from an attack on the very strong fortifications, which would have been difficult and would have broken any chance of reconciliation with the Holy See, ordered his troops to march within sight of the Papal palace, singing martial airs and with flags and banners unfurled. Clemens IV was not particularly shaken by this display of military might and, underestimating Corrado for his tender age, is reported to have declared “Iste juvenis a malis hominibus, sicut ovis, ducitur ad mortem.” (8)

image-4.jpg

The Papal palace in Viterbo. Not assaulting it was not a difficult decision to take...

Rome was now very close and in the hands of the friendly Henry of Castile. Corrado decided, against the counsel of Galvano Lanza, who pressed for a coronation ceremony in the city and to gather support from the local Ghibellines, to avoid the city, since he had received news that a pestilence seemed to be brewing in Rome, with dozens dying daily. Giovanni da Procida had warned him that camping an army in a plagued city could very well lead to disaster. (9) In reality the plague rumors were probably exaggerated, since there is little documentary evidence of large number of deaths in Rome at the time. It is possible that a minor outbreak was exaggerated by Guelph agents interested in keeping Corrado away from the Urbs.


In any case, the Ghibelline army reached Tivoli on the 26th of July, where he met reinforcements lead by the Senator of Rome and, after resting for four days while the leaders held a council of war on the next steps to take, it was agreed to enter the Kingdom of Sicily along the via Valeria, passing through the harsh terrain of the Abruzzi towards Apulia. This was considered less risky than going straight against the fortified and Guelph-leaning Terra di Lavoro and opened the opportunity to link with Hohenstaufen supporters in Apulia before meeting with Charles, who was thought to be still besieging Lucera, for the decisive battle.


The Anjou king had been made well aware of the Ghibelline movements by his spies in Latium and had immediately left the siege, forced marching through Apulia and Abruzzi and camping in the highlands of Fucino on the 1st of August just before Corrado’s army reached that area. The next day the two army would meet and arms would decide the fate of the Kingdom of Sicily.



Notes


0- This chapter uses as main sources the following works (I know they are outdated, but they include many primary sources that would otherwise be difficult to get for me: a- Histoire de la lutte des papes et des empereurs de la Maison de Suabe, by De Cherrier, Paris, 1851; b- Storia di Manfredi, Re di sicilia e di Puglia, de Cesare, Napoli, 1837; c- (the best one, on which I will draw heavily for the next chapter) Die Schlacht bei Tagliacozzo, Peter Herde, in Zeitschrift für Bayerische Landesgeschichte, München, 1962.

1- One of the Kingdom’s continental provinces, roughly corresponding to modern south Latium and northern Campania. Naples, Capua and Gaeta were its chief cities.

2- I went with the treason explanation for his role at Ceprano and later, although that’s quite debated. Some Guelph-sympathetic chroniclers give as a justification for the treason the fact that Manfredi had had an adulterine and incestuous relationship 8or had raped) his wife, and Manfredi’s sister Violante. This is probably baseless slander, because Violante had already been dead for a couple of years at the time of the events and it seems to me just another one of the unlikely accusations against Manfredi, like the one that would have him smothering his father with a cushion or poisoning his brother.

3- Not in the sense of a modern bureaucracy, but the Norman kingdom had already been quite centralized and Frederick II had created a comprehensive bureaucracy, including Justiciars for the various provinces, Secreti, Camerarii, Baiouli and many other figures with various judicial and fiscal responsibilities. Charles mostly kept the offices, added some offices from the French tradition but made the error that often occupiers do in completely wiping out the preexisting bureaucracy, leaving the country in chaos. IOTL after the defeat of Conradin no one could challenge him on the mainland, but it costed him his richest province, Sicily, which revolted in 1282, opening a long series of war with Aragon.

4- This is an OTL quote, badly translated by myself, as all other OTL quotes.

5- The Saracens of Lucera had been deported there from Sicily by Emperor Frederick II in the 1220-1230s to put an end to their frequent revolts and to avoid possible contacts with the Muslim polities in North Africa. Notwithstanding the traumatic origins of the settlement they quickly became among the staunchest Hohenstaufen loyalist and an important part of the imperial army, both because of the employement opportunities given by military service and out of self-preservation, because, being a Muslim “island” among Christians, they were utterly reliant on Royal protection (thet were formally servi camerae regis) for their survival and the protection of their properties. More will be said on them later.

6- They are from the family of Bianca Lancia, Manfred’s mother, who came from an allegedly Aleramic Piedmontese noble family who had settled in Sicily in early 1200. I use the “Lanza” version of the surname to show the increased influence of the Sicilian variant of the Italian language ITTL.

7- Like a chancellor, he writes royal documents, proclamations, laws etc. Famous protonotari of the Kingdom of Sicily were the poet Jacopo and Petrus Vineus (Pier delle Vigne) who was immortalized in Dante’s Divina Commedia.

8- “This youngster is like a sheep, led by evil men towards his death.”

9- Finally, the POD! There was no plague iotl and Corrado spent almost a month in Rome, giving time to Charles to organize and to the crusade veteran Erard de Valery to reach him. In OTL’s battle of Tagliacozzo, Erard’s battleplan, which included an hidden reserve and simulated retreats (both stratagems usual in the east and recently used at Ain Jalut by the Mamluke army) proved decisive for Charles’ victory.


EDIT: well, things got a bit out of hand, but a bit of background information was needed. Next update will be briefer and bloodier!
 
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Quite a good start Yanez.
I'm still on the skeptic side (not so much in terms of a possible victory by Conrad at Tagliacozzo but more in terms of the difficulties the young king will meet in terms of squaring the circle of his multiple loyalties and finding a reasonable accommodation with the Church.
This said, I'll certainly follow with interest this TL: keep on and don't disappoint your readers :)
 
The younger daughter of Manfred and eldest from Helena Doukina married to the Count of Saluzzo..
True, but that happened in otl and after several years of imprisonment. She might still have a similar marriage or marry into another Italian Ghibelline family, depending on which ones have suitable sons and how the alliance network evolves. In any case no marriage to royal or other "first tier" families: those are reserved for Conrad's eventual daughters.

Quite a good start Yanez.
I'm still on the skeptic side (not so much in terms of a possible victory by Conrad at Tagliacozzo but more in terms of the difficulties the young king will meet in terms of squaring the circle of his multiple loyalties and finding a reasonable accommodation with the Church.
This said, I'll certainly follow with interest this TL: keep on and don't disappoint your readers :)

Thanks, I hope I won't disappoint!

Obviously your concerns about Conradin are well founded and this TL will not explore the most probable path that history could take, but, at the same time, I hope I can keep things grounded on reality enough not to turn you or other readers away from this.
You are all welcome to tell me if I stray too far away from plausibility, for it is easy to grow too fond of an idea to be able to see faults that are clear to an external observer.

The Church will clearly be a problem, a wise King of Sicily should avoid the temptation to expand northward and he should also be open to compromise on things like Ecclesiastical jurisdiction unless he wants outright war with the papacy and feels so strong to be able to take more or less permanent control of Rome, which is not going to happen in the foreseeable future. In this light, I wouldn't say that Charles' Balkanic policy was so stupid, and I wouldn't rule out Conrad trying something similar. Obviously overextending by trying to rebuild the Latin empire would not be so clever. Initial priority will necessarily be internal consolidation.
 
You actually just inspired me to read more about Conradin. I had but superficial knowledge about him (didn't know that he was exactly the last scion of the Hohenstaufen, I thought they had somehow survived in Swabia even after the Sicilian/Svevian house died out), and he seems to have been a remarkable character, with a lot of potential. Indeed, and his early death gives a tragic picture of him, even so because it was conducted by Charles of Anjou, an individual I've never really appreciated :/

Also, that sculpture is absolutely marvelous (even if idealized).
 
You actually just inspired me to read more about Conradin. I had but superficial knowledge about him (didn't know that he was exactly the last scion of the Hohenstaufen, I thought they had somehow survived in Swabia even after the Sicilian/Svevian house died out), and he seems to have been a remarkable character, with a lot of potential. Indeed, and his early death gives a tragic picture of him, even so because it was conducted by Charles of Anjou, an individual I've never really appreciated :/

Also, that sculpture is absolutely marvelous (even if idealized).

I am very happy to have caused that!
I don't like Charles, mainly because I think that the Anjou dinasty brought much more bad than good on Sicily and Apulia (and also Italy as a whole), but he was a fascinating person in his own right and a great war leader.

The statue is designed by Thorvaldsen for the monument commissioned by Maximillian III of Bavaria in 1847 when the remains of Conradin were found under the floor of the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Naples.
 
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