Most of you are, by now, familiar with Byzantine Emperor Maurice and the circumstances which led to the usurpation of his throne and deaths of him and his family by Phocas. You might also be aware of the will he wrote in which he named his eldest son, Theodosius, his successor in the Eastern empire, and his second son, Tiberius, co-emperor and ruler of Italy and the western islands, and divided the empire between the rest of his sons with Domitian of Melitene as their guardian. The main source for this is contemporary historian Theophylact Simocatta, who is generally regarded as trustworthy, but was writing during the reign of Heraclius, who had his own reasons for wanting to cement the legitimacy of his dynasty. And that's all I'll say on that.
Anyway, supposedly Maurice wrote this will in 597-598 when/after he fell severely ill. What if Maurice had died from that illness? Theodosius had been named co-emperor in 590, so he was the most likely choice to succeed his father. As for Tiberius, I'd reckon he'd be named co-emperor only until Theodosius had a son of his own. We know little to nothing about Theodosius' character, but I reckon if he was born and raised in Constantinople his whole life, he would act less like his father and grandfather (Tiberius II) and more like Justinian and Justin II, paying tribute and letting generals like his uncle Peter, Priscus, Narses, Philippicus, Comentiolus, and Heraclius the Elder and his family do the fighting.
In terms of enemies, there are the Persians & Lakhmids, the Avars and the Lombards in Italy. The province of Spania was pretty much lost to the Visigoths in this period, and I'm not too knowledgable about Moorish-Berber activites against the Byzantines in this period of history to make any comments. Persia is ruled by Khosrau II, who had been placed on the throne by Maurice in exchange for Armenia and other lands lost since the reign of Emperor Julian. IOTL, Khosrau used Maurice's usurpation and murder as an excuse to launch an invasion of the empire. Here, Khosrau doesn't have that excuse, but he may say that his agreement was with Maurice, not his sons, and use that as a pretext for invasion.
This POD would be before the incident where Maurice refused to pay ransom for troops captured by the Avars, but also before Maurice ravaged the lands north of the Danube, which may have contributed to the decline and fall of the Khaganate (for both points, correct me if I'm wrong). The Avars are also receiving pay-offs from the Franks. As for the Lombards, the north is currently ruled by King Agilulf, who IOTL would eventually convert from Arianism to Catholicism along with his newborn son, and who would also go to war in 599-600 when Callinicus, the Exarch of Ravenna, kidnapped his daughter. A smart emperor would focus on annexing the Lombard duchies of Sploeto and Benevento, getting the Franks to stop paying off the Avars and focus on the Lombards/their rivals.
In terms of religion (and I know I'm simplifying things a lot here, but honestly religion makes my brain hurt), one possibility I could see is Chalcedonianism and Zoroastrianism being supplanted by Oriental Orthodoxy (the kind seen in Armenia, Syria and Egypt) and Nestorianism respectively, over time. And I've already written a lot at the moment, so I won't go into Muhammed and Arabia now.
Any thoughts?
Anyway, supposedly Maurice wrote this will in 597-598 when/after he fell severely ill. What if Maurice had died from that illness? Theodosius had been named co-emperor in 590, so he was the most likely choice to succeed his father. As for Tiberius, I'd reckon he'd be named co-emperor only until Theodosius had a son of his own. We know little to nothing about Theodosius' character, but I reckon if he was born and raised in Constantinople his whole life, he would act less like his father and grandfather (Tiberius II) and more like Justinian and Justin II, paying tribute and letting generals like his uncle Peter, Priscus, Narses, Philippicus, Comentiolus, and Heraclius the Elder and his family do the fighting.
In terms of enemies, there are the Persians & Lakhmids, the Avars and the Lombards in Italy. The province of Spania was pretty much lost to the Visigoths in this period, and I'm not too knowledgable about Moorish-Berber activites against the Byzantines in this period of history to make any comments. Persia is ruled by Khosrau II, who had been placed on the throne by Maurice in exchange for Armenia and other lands lost since the reign of Emperor Julian. IOTL, Khosrau used Maurice's usurpation and murder as an excuse to launch an invasion of the empire. Here, Khosrau doesn't have that excuse, but he may say that his agreement was with Maurice, not his sons, and use that as a pretext for invasion.
This POD would be before the incident where Maurice refused to pay ransom for troops captured by the Avars, but also before Maurice ravaged the lands north of the Danube, which may have contributed to the decline and fall of the Khaganate (for both points, correct me if I'm wrong). The Avars are also receiving pay-offs from the Franks. As for the Lombards, the north is currently ruled by King Agilulf, who IOTL would eventually convert from Arianism to Catholicism along with his newborn son, and who would also go to war in 599-600 when Callinicus, the Exarch of Ravenna, kidnapped his daughter. A smart emperor would focus on annexing the Lombard duchies of Sploeto and Benevento, getting the Franks to stop paying off the Avars and focus on the Lombards/their rivals.
In terms of religion (and I know I'm simplifying things a lot here, but honestly religion makes my brain hurt), one possibility I could see is Chalcedonianism and Zoroastrianism being supplanted by Oriental Orthodoxy (the kind seen in Armenia, Syria and Egypt) and Nestorianism respectively, over time. And I've already written a lot at the moment, so I won't go into Muhammed and Arabia now.
Any thoughts?