I had a bit of a sudden thought. Most scenarios involving a Roman restoration tends to think of it in terms of "Eliminate the Turkish Threat, or Conquer it", I've seen one TL create a sort of vassal relationship between the Turks and Romans, but I was thinking.
What if you had the two fuse?
So essentially the core idea would be the union of both the Roman Empire (in whatever state it is in) and the Sultanate of Rum into a single state, but at the same time maintaining a form of dual leadership. There is always a Sultan of the Rumi, and an Emperor of the Romans. This is mostly flavour as the two are fundamental equals, but seen as the leaders of the Muslim subjects and Christian Subjects respectively (other minorities being distributed or shared).
So fundamentally you have this Composite Diarchy, with some of the principles of the old Consul system applied. Each Monarch can veto the actions of the other, meaning that outside of religious matters there has to be an agreement. You have a common treasury, common (or at least united) armed forces, etc.
Perhaps the process of this could begin under Andronikos I Komnenos. He was held hostage under the Turks, and that could lead to him developing sympathies, and maybe (if we want to go that route) a love interest.
So could we see a potential Cross-Faith betrothal lead to the formation of an alliance of the Romans and Seljuk Sultanate of Rum? I can see it being worthwhile for the Roman Emperor, because then he has the Turks to help him eliminate his opponents if they rise up, and vice versa. Could we see a double marriage with Andronikos marrying one of his sisters/daughters to a Seljuk heir?
I'm curious to see what the impact this could have an explore what would be needed to overcome the more obvious problems.
What if you had the two fuse?
So essentially the core idea would be the union of both the Roman Empire (in whatever state it is in) and the Sultanate of Rum into a single state, but at the same time maintaining a form of dual leadership. There is always a Sultan of the Rumi, and an Emperor of the Romans. This is mostly flavour as the two are fundamental equals, but seen as the leaders of the Muslim subjects and Christian Subjects respectively (other minorities being distributed or shared).
So fundamentally you have this Composite Diarchy, with some of the principles of the old Consul system applied. Each Monarch can veto the actions of the other, meaning that outside of religious matters there has to be an agreement. You have a common treasury, common (or at least united) armed forces, etc.
Perhaps the process of this could begin under Andronikos I Komnenos. He was held hostage under the Turks, and that could lead to him developing sympathies, and maybe (if we want to go that route) a love interest.
So could we see a potential Cross-Faith betrothal lead to the formation of an alliance of the Romans and Seljuk Sultanate of Rum? I can see it being worthwhile for the Roman Emperor, because then he has the Turks to help him eliminate his opponents if they rise up, and vice versa. Could we see a double marriage with Andronikos marrying one of his sisters/daughters to a Seljuk heir?
I'm curious to see what the impact this could have an explore what would be needed to overcome the more obvious problems.