WI: Crusades under a Byzantine Papacy

In this scenario, the Byzantines maintain (or retake) a presence in Italy, with strog influence over the Papacy. However, they still face troubles in Anatolia, losing ground to he Turks as in OTL. Assuming that they feel the need for help as in OTL, how might the whole 'ask the Pope to get us some military support' project play out?
 
In this scenario, the Byzantines maintain (or retake) a presence in Italy, with strog influence over the Papacy. However, they still face troubles in Anatolia, losing ground to he Turks as in OTL. Assuming that they feel the need for help as in OTL, how might the whole 'ask the Pope to get us some military support' project play out?

Well presumably if the Pope lives in Rome, and the Byzzies have Rome, he won't be the 'Pope' in our sense.
 
Not if the Byzantines control Rome. Then he's just the Patriarch of the Rome.

Not really. So long as the Byzantines held power in Rome, they afforded the Bishop of Rome the honor of being first. When you look at Justinian's conception of a Pentarchy, you see that the See of Rome held jurisdiction over almost the entirety of Christendom; even Greece was under the See of Rome in Justinian's day.

Canon 36 of the Quinisext Council (AD 692)
Renewing the enactments by the 150 Fathers assembled at the God-protected and imperial city, and those of the 630 who met at Chalcedon; we decree that the see of Constantinople shall have equal privileges with the see of Old Rome, and shall be highly regarded in ecclesiastical matters as that is, and shall be second after it. After Constantinople shall be ranked the See of Alexandria, then that of Antioch, and afterwards the See of Jerusalem.

Even when promoting the See of Constantinople, they still considered it second to Rome, which was, other than this, just a minor frontier outpost for all intents and purposes. Italy had long been over-run by the Lombards, and the rest of the Pentarchy had already fallen to the Arabs.
 
If we maintain a large byzantine influence on Central Italy (not only some ports in Southern Italy as OTL) after the 8. and 9. Century, and assume, that Turkish people invade Anatolia in the 11. or 12. century, then a lot could happen in 300 years.
Italy would probably look entirely different than OTL, for example a lesser or no influence of the OTL Holy Roman Empire which would be in TTL probably only the Kingdom of Eastern Francia.
It is then important to find out (As Lampiao said), if the Churches of "England", "France" and "Germany" are in communion with the Roman church.
(Even the formation of these kingdoms could happen entirely different than OTL, therefore the quotation marks)
Then we should find out, how powerful the papacy is, in comparison to OTL. Is he still important for the deeds which confirm the possessions of different monasteries? What about the right of investiture? Does the pope think about himself as the highest ruler of Christianity?
Or is he only a ceremonial head of the church and only important in theological discussions?

How important is the higher and lower aristocracy in the western kingdoms and in the (byzantine) Roman Empire?
What about the diplomatic relations between the Romans (byzantines) and the western kingdoms.
If, for example "Germany" or "France" want to increase their influence over northern Italy, then the Roman (byzantine) Empire is a natural rival, and therefore a support for some kind of crusade from these kings is unlikely. But maybe the Emperor don't want foreign kings in his territory, but the support of the European Nobility.
If there is some common christian identity in Europe, and the possibility to conquer land in Anatolia (as vassals of the Emperor) then support from the Higher and Lower Aristocrarcy/Nobility is possible.

The support of the Papacy for the Empire is of course really important for the Emperor in such a critical situation. But depending on the circumstances the call for some kind of "crusade" could either only bring some few fanatical peasants or in the best case a "real" "crusade" with substantial support towards the empire.

But if the pope want to gain more independence from the Emperor, he could also decline any support to the Emperor, arguing that the defeats by the Turks are a sign of sin of the Emperor. This scenario would lead instead towards some independent papacy with control over large parts of Italy.
 
The Byzantines asked for aid, iOTL, yes. They did NOT ask for a 'Crusade', and people who know about Orthodoxy than I do say the concept is antithetical to their approach.

So. No, the Pope won't be calling for a Crusade, at least not in the OTL sense. Could he ask Westerners to sign up with the Byzantine army? Sure. Could he call for whole Western units to serve under the Emperor? Sure. But it won't be a bunch of 'Franks' independently their own military expedition.
 
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