Maybe Maniaces successor doesnot petitions the Pope to call for a Crusade...May 11th, 2008 02:54 PM
i don't see why he would. my best guess is after a regime change in the 1040's, Asia Minor would be consolidated by Maniakes, which would mean there would be no point in calling for a crusade. Maniakes would leave his successor (perhaps Isaac Komnenos, the uncle of Alexius?) to expel the Normans from South Italy and Sicily in the 1060's. The closest you would get to a crusade would probably be a Byzantine-Papal alliance against the Normans... that is assuming there has not been a Great Schism, which, if Maniakes is a poor diplomat as i guessed is not unlikely.
Anyway as a best case scenario I would have Maniakes appoint Isaac Komnenos as his successor as Emperor, who is followed by his nephew Alexios. The Komnenoi then rule, as in OTL, until 1180, over an intact empire that has expanded to take Sicily. Perhaps with Asia Minor consolidated, Emperors John or Manuel may feel they can expand southwards after the Seljuk collapse into Palestine? Any thoughts?