Yet Another Roman Empire: The Latin Empire of Constantinople
- Thread starter AltoRegnant
- Start date
quick note- part 15 is done, and hopefully i get faster as i get back in the swing of things. at the current rate i'd probably give it ~2 weeks before i get parts 16 and 17 done and can start the patreon thing. part 15 will come up on here and 16 and 17 will be on patreon to be released here after a week to two weeks repsectively
Update 2
okay, I promise this will be the last Patreon post before actual content. but since I want to make sure it's actually worth people's time to support it i have two quick questions:
- what is some stuff those of you who might be interested in supporting it would want in addition to early access to chapters? here's what I'm currently thinking of
- usernames mentioned at the end of chapters in thanks
- exclusive graphics (not sure what these would be yet,)
- early or exclusive maps and family trees
- chapter 16 is currently at 2k words and i hope to get it around 3.5K soon
Exclusive graphics would be nice, maybe works better showcasing the world you are describing to us? More detailed maps? Maybe videos of a sort? The possibilities are great when opening a Patreon.
Part Fifteen: Expansion and Turmoil
By 1400, the Latin Empire was facing a bit of a crisis. During the regency for the new Emperor, Charles III, the merchant class and the nobility had formed a potent bloc that limited the Crown’s dominance over the empire outside Thrace, Bulgaria, and western Anatolia. Traditionally, the governors of these provinces served at the discretion of the Emperor, but Charles II had grown lax on enforcing this, and the regency naturally struggled to do this herself. In effect, feudalism was quickly starting to reassert itself in the Latin Empire due to Charles II’s failure to reign it in. Charles III was aware of this problem, but was unproven and not yet practiced in the affairs of politics. However, he did establish the first standardized currency of the empire- the Petra, meaning stone in greek (specifically, there was a single stone that was used as the weight standard.) Unlike other currencies the Empire had used, the Petra was as consistent as the technology allowed; one Petra was always as close to 2 ounces of silver as possible. The law signing them into practice also stipulated the design on each side- a Greek Catholic cross on one side, and a simplified depiction of the Imperial Crown on the other. While traditionally, monarchs tended to style their coins with their bust, Charles III chose the Crown to ensure that “[his] power is felt long after death.”
Of course, even a few ounces of silver were still incredibly expensive during this period. As a result, Charles III also created the Miapetra, and Misipetra, one and half respectively, referring to the amount of silver in each coin. The standard, two ounce coins became known as Dyopetra, or two-stone. The two lesser coins were forged primarily in copper, with little fanfare to them, while the Dyopetra, in addition to a slightly more ornate design, was forged in iron to more readily distinguish it from the cheaper copper. The first implementation of these coins saw very limited circulation due to the fact that even half a gram of silver was rather expensive outside the trade and nobility classes. Despite this however, the trade system of the empire still became more stable and uniform. Prior to this it was very common for laborers to be paid in food or other crafts that naturally varied in value or usefulness.
However, while this helped the economy in the parts of the empire that Charles was able to manage more directly, the regions further out were still in relative disarray as the centralization that had defined the Latin Empire had broken down in the chaos surrounding Syria and the western frontier. While the army remained in comparable loyalty to the Emperor as before, the dampening economy had meant less central ability to supply them and as a result more reliance on local lords and townships. Charles III knew he needed to reverse course, but was not sure how to go about this. The Boy-Emperor was smart enough to know that if he tried to use military leverage against his vassals, they would rebel against and potentially even overthrow him.
However, Charles was not without allies in the aristocracy. The provinces of Armenia and Jerusalem were both stewarded by young men that Margaret, Charles’ mother, had managed to appoint, and as a result, were much more limited in their ability to amass power independent of the crown. Similarly, while Charles III didn’t have as dominant a presence as he would’ve liked, his power was still felt up and down the Aegean Sea. However, the problem was central Anatolia, Epirus, and even Syria. Despite having been put in the position recently, the Governor of Syria was a cousin to the “Duke” of Ankara, who was proving to be the figurehead of this new, more powerful nobility.
Charles III could only see one way out of this situation. Expand and install his own yesmen, so as to build a critical mass of nobility that would be loyal and subservient so he could force his will on the rest. One can argue how logical that is. So, citing supposed mistreatment of Serbian Catholics and his role as the Eastern Emperor to protect them, he raised his standard and readied his men. As a side note, the papacy never actually bestowed upon him the title “Defensor Fidei Orientalis,” or Eastern Defender of the Faith. The closest title that he had in a meaningful sense was the French “Protecteur de Terre Sainte,” or ‘Protector of the Holy Land,’ which was something posthumously given to Charles II after his reconquest of the region. Regardless, in claiming to defend Catholics in the east, Charles III had his casus belli. And so, his men marched to conquer.
And conquer they did. Charles III was indeed the embodiment of the Crusader King- he was a talented soldier and warmaker, and a pious Catholic with a potent mind for theology. And this informed how he waged his war. As many Kings and armies often did, Charles III had a small group of priests follow his forces. However, Charles’ devotion was very pronounced in how he treated his enemies. Whenever his army stood victorious, he made the surviving soldiers an offer- convert to Catholicism and join his army, and be spared, and most sources, both by Latin chroniclers and other historians seem to believe this was a sincere offer; however, if they chose to die true to their faith, he would honor that wish. A similar treatment was offered to most cities he encountered- cities that accepted conversion would be spared. If not… well, one can forgive an emperor in the early 1400s for not having complete control over his forces.
Charles also had a potent eye for talent. During a battle, about four days out from Belgrade proper, one of the Serbian soldiers he’d recruited, then known only as Jovan, caught his attention. A commander had been slain by a lucky shot from an enemy crossbow, and much of that part of the army had been on the verge of routing until Jovan picked up the royal standard and began commanding the army back into formation in his sputtering greek. While other, more rigid monarchs might’ve praised him but kept his reward small, Charles III had a different idea. He kept the young Jovan in mind as a governor for the Serbian province.
From here, he promoted Jovan as acting commander and began the final push to conquer all of Serbia. While he made his traditional offer of amnesty to the city if it surrendered and converted, he knew that the greatest city for the Serbs would not be one to go quietly into the night. The Battle of Belgrade proved fairly unremarkable in the end. The King of Serbia fought bravely, of course. But ultimately, Charles III had numbers and a better martial mind. The King was found at the end of the battle, slain. His queen was able to verify that it was him and requested he be buried in traditional Orthodox rites. Charles, in an act of zealotry he tried to avoid when dealing with other Christians but was no stranger to, refused and ordered the priest to conduct the funeral as though the King were catholic.
Later historians and students have had much to say on the action. Some say it is a legend, slander spread by the King’s numerous enemies to delegitimize his rule over Eastern Orthodox Christians. Others say it was meant as a final insult to a smaller kingdom and their faith. Little can be said of it, but the following passage is the official record of the court’s chronicler, “[Charles III] is, as Theodora was, The Lord of the Balkans. Dominus Balcanorum. This alone would legitimize his conquest of Serbia. As the Lord of the region and the Emperor of the Eastern Romans, he had the right to force their submission. That he chose to conduct his war as a Holy one shows his character and devotion to God. It is likely, I believe, that his majesty ordered the Serbian King buried in the true faith's rites as an effort to save his soul. On the question of if The Lord and his Son choose to accept this, I cannot say.”
Regardless, Charles III appointed Jovan as governor of Serbia, anointing him Jovan Tisservanis. Strictly speaking, the Latin Empire already held a few territories that had belonged to the kingdom of Serbia. This region, under Latin influence, had already been Catholicized. While Charles saw this as a good reason to unite the province and assimilate the north faster, he was eventually persuaded to keep them separated and appoint a new governor to both, for fear of a single one proving too powerful. Thus, Charles renamed Latin Serbia to the Province of Nisya. From here, Charles III departed from the Balkans, having left Jovan with a few orders: pacify the province, and begin Catholicization.
From here, Charles returned to Constantinople and married Princess Mary of Poland. The two were very close, having been friends since they were but seven. Their marriage was one of the more loving romances of the era, and they would go on to have five surviving children over the next ten years- the youngest being the surviving member of a pair of twins, unfortunately. The surviving sons were named Charles (by his mother’s choice, actually, the Emperor wanted to name him Theodore,) followed by actual Theodore, and Baldwin; their sisters bore the names Margaret and Mary. Regardless, Charles III also enjoyed a personal friendship with the Polish King, Casimir III- at one point even calling him his “brother in all the meaningful ways.” Regardless, after three years of time together, and having born Charles and Margaret, the Imperial couple knew that Charles had to return to conquest if he were to corral his nobility.
The next target of his expansion was the Noble Republic of Sicily. It had proven a viable state in the intervening decades, but its decentralization and lack of a prominent army meant it was seen as a reasonable target. Importantly, neither Empress-Regent Margaret of Austria or Emperor Charles III had ever actually recognized the country as independent, and officially this was merely a restoration of order to the rebellious provinces. Thus, he amassed the navy and army and set out from Constantinople, eager to bring southern Italy back into the fold. His plan was simple- take the island of Sicily and move on to Naples. From there, the plan was to take the capitals of the major nobility that refused to surrender.
This plan went off without a hitch… in Sicily. While Charles was off conquering Naples, much of the nobility raised their own personal armies and attempted to march on Constantinople, igniting a civil war. Their reasons varied, but largely it was to codify greater rights and power for the nobility at the expense of the crown, starting the Ducal War of 1406. There was, however, one rebel that was fighting for a different reason- Jovan Tisservanis, the lowborn commander Charles himself had rewarded with his command over the territory. Jovan declared himself King of all Serbia, laying claim to Nisya and part of Greece and Bulgaria. Thankfully, the Governor of Nisya, who had previously been hesitant to openly declare for either side, had his mind made by these bold claims by the upstart and false king.
In general, Emperor Charles III had a fair number of allies which meant the rebellious nobles weren’t quite able to get an easy victory- these alliances were either because of how recently they were put in charge weakening their position, or due to these regions seeing a strong monarch as important to defense of the Empire. The “Duke” of Ankara, Alexios d’Ankara, while being the de facto leader of the revolt and a prominent military commander, still had problems with actually advancing due to the Governor of Trebizond deciding to be a problem. Similarly, while the man calling the shots in Syria was also in rebellion, Antioch and Jerusalem were both favoring the Crown, meaning they were able to block out the Syrian navy.
When news of this revolt finally reached Charles III shortly after he took Naples, he was forced to make a hurried peace. He was unable to swallow the whole boot of Italy, but he was able to take much of the south- the island of Sicily in of itself, Calabria, and Apulia. From there, he made a hurried return to the imperial heartland, barely bothering to assign a governor. However, this is when he met his first real opposition himself- Jean of Epirus. Epirus was a rough mountainous region for fighting and made up much of the imperial coast. Meaning it would be hell to bring it to heel, but that it had to be done.
Over the next several months, the province was invaded and taken by force of arms. Most cities, thankfully, surrendered without too much bloodshed. But the capital, Arta, was proving more problematic. While Charles III had the imperial navy, Jean had built fairly impressive naval fortifications for the time period, making the actual advance difficult. After a fairly long period, the Emperor eventually had to leave the fleet under the command of another officer as he himself made haste to the capital to regroup his army and plan his move to reclaim his empire. Thankfully the city remained truly magnificent in its defenses and thus uncaptured by his enemies. Once Charles III was back in the capital, he was able to begin planning his next move. A strike into central Anatolia, where he would be able to break the d’Ankara family and their power in the Empire. While this offensive would prove successful and eventually win the war, it was also highly costly in terms of money and lives. The city of Ankara itself was nearly destroyed from the conflict, and it would take quite some time to rebuild it or its majestic university. But by 1413, Charles III had managed to expand his empire and reassert his control over it.
However, there was a problem. Charles had relied very heavily on his nobility to assert his control, only breaking Epirus and Ankara themselves, when Syria and Serbia had also seen defection. As a result, he was quite indebted to the nobility, and the most common demand to repay the debt was formally allowing them to hold their land as feudal personal fiefs. The very thing the rebels had demanded themselves. But years in campaign had tempered him, and Emperor Charles III also knew that if these nobles took up arms against him his chances of victory were much smaller than he was willing to risk. As a result, he acquiesced and allowed the governors who remained loyal to begin styling themselves “Doukas,” or dukes in Greek and pass their lands down by heredity. There was however one exception: Charles III took the territory of Jerusalem and south from the Doukas, though the noble was compensated and allowed to take the title Doukas of Jaffa. From there, Emperor Charles was able to distribute the remaining land as he saw fit. He did eventually appoint a new governor for the area around Jerusalem, as the Imperial Emissary to the Holy Land, but this position rotated out much more frequently than the old governors had, preventing power grabs.
Returning home at last, Charles III turned away from conquest. The motivations of his expansionism had not been in pursuits that benefitted Christendom, but his own personal greed, which caused an internal conflict he was unsure how to survive. As a result, he became more and more focused on inward affairs, stabilizing his realm with the help of his wife. He built new churches, ordered the construction of roads and forts, etcetera. Over the next few years, he realized that the French language that had dominated the court had gradually pivoted toward Greek. French was slowly being relegated to a language for the personal lives of the nobility, and not one typically used in ruling. Chroniclers are in dispute over how this was seen by the imperial family, but one thing was certain- Charles IV, and especially later Emperors would scarcely use French outside some ceremonies.
Speaking of, the Crown Prince Charles, even when he was but 13 in 1421 was already documented of preferring Greek to French. From one of his personal journals: “It is not that Frankish is a ‘savage’ tongue as some of the others have said. A savage tongue would not have survived. But Alexander was a better conqueror than Charlemagne. Justinian better than the Capetians. There is glory in all tongues- but some more glorious than others.”
Either way, Charles was finding at least one major advantage of allowing hereditary inheritance between the governors was that he could marry his children domestically and win allies at court. Of course, he and his ancestors had done this beforehand already, but the uncertainty of the family’s continued favor meant it was less common to actually bear fruit. Charles III had already betrothed Theodore to the daughter of the new Duke of Ankara, building a strong alliance in the center of the empire.
Portugal and Morocco had continued exploring up and down West Africa during this time, creating a few small outposts. The Moors were generally a little more successful during this period, due to having more in common with the Mali due to their shared Muslim faith and slightly closer proximity allowing them to supply colonies that little bit easier. However, it was Portugal that had a better time turning a profit- after all, the Moors couldn’t enslave fellow Muslims and were in competition with the Barbary pirates when it came to who they could sell to. The Portuguese, in contrast, could force both pagans and Muslims into bondage and sell to Europe without many rivals for the market. This situation was clearly untenable and would eventually lead to war between the two powers, but that was a little ways away.
https://www.patreon.com/alternishistoria/posts?filters[tag]=YARE
And we are back. Patreon is up and running, with chapters from now to part 17. My goal is one chapter a week, hopefully, every Wednesday, with patrons able to see up to two chapters ahead. Graphics and visual benefits will be in the works, and I hope to get a few of them posted there by Sunday night. I'm also hoping to start another timeline soon, which will likely begin posting by august.
Of course, even a few ounces of silver were still incredibly expensive during this period. As a result, Charles III also created the Miapetra, and Misipetra, one and half respectively, referring to the amount of silver in each coin. The standard, two ounce coins became known as Dyopetra, or two-stone. The two lesser coins were forged primarily in copper, with little fanfare to them, while the Dyopetra, in addition to a slightly more ornate design, was forged in iron to more readily distinguish it from the cheaper copper. The first implementation of these coins saw very limited circulation due to the fact that even half a gram of silver was rather expensive outside the trade and nobility classes. Despite this however, the trade system of the empire still became more stable and uniform. Prior to this it was very common for laborers to be paid in food or other crafts that naturally varied in value or usefulness.
However, while this helped the economy in the parts of the empire that Charles was able to manage more directly, the regions further out were still in relative disarray as the centralization that had defined the Latin Empire had broken down in the chaos surrounding Syria and the western frontier. While the army remained in comparable loyalty to the Emperor as before, the dampening economy had meant less central ability to supply them and as a result more reliance on local lords and townships. Charles III knew he needed to reverse course, but was not sure how to go about this. The Boy-Emperor was smart enough to know that if he tried to use military leverage against his vassals, they would rebel against and potentially even overthrow him.
However, Charles was not without allies in the aristocracy. The provinces of Armenia and Jerusalem were both stewarded by young men that Margaret, Charles’ mother, had managed to appoint, and as a result, were much more limited in their ability to amass power independent of the crown. Similarly, while Charles III didn’t have as dominant a presence as he would’ve liked, his power was still felt up and down the Aegean Sea. However, the problem was central Anatolia, Epirus, and even Syria. Despite having been put in the position recently, the Governor of Syria was a cousin to the “Duke” of Ankara, who was proving to be the figurehead of this new, more powerful nobility.
Charles III could only see one way out of this situation. Expand and install his own yesmen, so as to build a critical mass of nobility that would be loyal and subservient so he could force his will on the rest. One can argue how logical that is. So, citing supposed mistreatment of Serbian Catholics and his role as the Eastern Emperor to protect them, he raised his standard and readied his men. As a side note, the papacy never actually bestowed upon him the title “Defensor Fidei Orientalis,” or Eastern Defender of the Faith. The closest title that he had in a meaningful sense was the French “Protecteur de Terre Sainte,” or ‘Protector of the Holy Land,’ which was something posthumously given to Charles II after his reconquest of the region. Regardless, in claiming to defend Catholics in the east, Charles III had his casus belli. And so, his men marched to conquer.
And conquer they did. Charles III was indeed the embodiment of the Crusader King- he was a talented soldier and warmaker, and a pious Catholic with a potent mind for theology. And this informed how he waged his war. As many Kings and armies often did, Charles III had a small group of priests follow his forces. However, Charles’ devotion was very pronounced in how he treated his enemies. Whenever his army stood victorious, he made the surviving soldiers an offer- convert to Catholicism and join his army, and be spared, and most sources, both by Latin chroniclers and other historians seem to believe this was a sincere offer; however, if they chose to die true to their faith, he would honor that wish. A similar treatment was offered to most cities he encountered- cities that accepted conversion would be spared. If not… well, one can forgive an emperor in the early 1400s for not having complete control over his forces.
Charles also had a potent eye for talent. During a battle, about four days out from Belgrade proper, one of the Serbian soldiers he’d recruited, then known only as Jovan, caught his attention. A commander had been slain by a lucky shot from an enemy crossbow, and much of that part of the army had been on the verge of routing until Jovan picked up the royal standard and began commanding the army back into formation in his sputtering greek. While other, more rigid monarchs might’ve praised him but kept his reward small, Charles III had a different idea. He kept the young Jovan in mind as a governor for the Serbian province.
From here, he promoted Jovan as acting commander and began the final push to conquer all of Serbia. While he made his traditional offer of amnesty to the city if it surrendered and converted, he knew that the greatest city for the Serbs would not be one to go quietly into the night. The Battle of Belgrade proved fairly unremarkable in the end. The King of Serbia fought bravely, of course. But ultimately, Charles III had numbers and a better martial mind. The King was found at the end of the battle, slain. His queen was able to verify that it was him and requested he be buried in traditional Orthodox rites. Charles, in an act of zealotry he tried to avoid when dealing with other Christians but was no stranger to, refused and ordered the priest to conduct the funeral as though the King were catholic.
Later historians and students have had much to say on the action. Some say it is a legend, slander spread by the King’s numerous enemies to delegitimize his rule over Eastern Orthodox Christians. Others say it was meant as a final insult to a smaller kingdom and their faith. Little can be said of it, but the following passage is the official record of the court’s chronicler, “[Charles III] is, as Theodora was, The Lord of the Balkans. Dominus Balcanorum. This alone would legitimize his conquest of Serbia. As the Lord of the region and the Emperor of the Eastern Romans, he had the right to force their submission. That he chose to conduct his war as a Holy one shows his character and devotion to God. It is likely, I believe, that his majesty ordered the Serbian King buried in the true faith's rites as an effort to save his soul. On the question of if The Lord and his Son choose to accept this, I cannot say.”
Regardless, Charles III appointed Jovan as governor of Serbia, anointing him Jovan Tisservanis. Strictly speaking, the Latin Empire already held a few territories that had belonged to the kingdom of Serbia. This region, under Latin influence, had already been Catholicized. While Charles saw this as a good reason to unite the province and assimilate the north faster, he was eventually persuaded to keep them separated and appoint a new governor to both, for fear of a single one proving too powerful. Thus, Charles renamed Latin Serbia to the Province of Nisya. From here, Charles III departed from the Balkans, having left Jovan with a few orders: pacify the province, and begin Catholicization.
From here, Charles returned to Constantinople and married Princess Mary of Poland. The two were very close, having been friends since they were but seven. Their marriage was one of the more loving romances of the era, and they would go on to have five surviving children over the next ten years- the youngest being the surviving member of a pair of twins, unfortunately. The surviving sons were named Charles (by his mother’s choice, actually, the Emperor wanted to name him Theodore,) followed by actual Theodore, and Baldwin; their sisters bore the names Margaret and Mary. Regardless, Charles III also enjoyed a personal friendship with the Polish King, Casimir III- at one point even calling him his “brother in all the meaningful ways.” Regardless, after three years of time together, and having born Charles and Margaret, the Imperial couple knew that Charles had to return to conquest if he were to corral his nobility.
The next target of his expansion was the Noble Republic of Sicily. It had proven a viable state in the intervening decades, but its decentralization and lack of a prominent army meant it was seen as a reasonable target. Importantly, neither Empress-Regent Margaret of Austria or Emperor Charles III had ever actually recognized the country as independent, and officially this was merely a restoration of order to the rebellious provinces. Thus, he amassed the navy and army and set out from Constantinople, eager to bring southern Italy back into the fold. His plan was simple- take the island of Sicily and move on to Naples. From there, the plan was to take the capitals of the major nobility that refused to surrender.
This plan went off without a hitch… in Sicily. While Charles was off conquering Naples, much of the nobility raised their own personal armies and attempted to march on Constantinople, igniting a civil war. Their reasons varied, but largely it was to codify greater rights and power for the nobility at the expense of the crown, starting the Ducal War of 1406. There was, however, one rebel that was fighting for a different reason- Jovan Tisservanis, the lowborn commander Charles himself had rewarded with his command over the territory. Jovan declared himself King of all Serbia, laying claim to Nisya and part of Greece and Bulgaria. Thankfully, the Governor of Nisya, who had previously been hesitant to openly declare for either side, had his mind made by these bold claims by the upstart and false king.
In general, Emperor Charles III had a fair number of allies which meant the rebellious nobles weren’t quite able to get an easy victory- these alliances were either because of how recently they were put in charge weakening their position, or due to these regions seeing a strong monarch as important to defense of the Empire. The “Duke” of Ankara, Alexios d’Ankara, while being the de facto leader of the revolt and a prominent military commander, still had problems with actually advancing due to the Governor of Trebizond deciding to be a problem. Similarly, while the man calling the shots in Syria was also in rebellion, Antioch and Jerusalem were both favoring the Crown, meaning they were able to block out the Syrian navy.
When news of this revolt finally reached Charles III shortly after he took Naples, he was forced to make a hurried peace. He was unable to swallow the whole boot of Italy, but he was able to take much of the south- the island of Sicily in of itself, Calabria, and Apulia. From there, he made a hurried return to the imperial heartland, barely bothering to assign a governor. However, this is when he met his first real opposition himself- Jean of Epirus. Epirus was a rough mountainous region for fighting and made up much of the imperial coast. Meaning it would be hell to bring it to heel, but that it had to be done.
Over the next several months, the province was invaded and taken by force of arms. Most cities, thankfully, surrendered without too much bloodshed. But the capital, Arta, was proving more problematic. While Charles III had the imperial navy, Jean had built fairly impressive naval fortifications for the time period, making the actual advance difficult. After a fairly long period, the Emperor eventually had to leave the fleet under the command of another officer as he himself made haste to the capital to regroup his army and plan his move to reclaim his empire. Thankfully the city remained truly magnificent in its defenses and thus uncaptured by his enemies. Once Charles III was back in the capital, he was able to begin planning his next move. A strike into central Anatolia, where he would be able to break the d’Ankara family and their power in the Empire. While this offensive would prove successful and eventually win the war, it was also highly costly in terms of money and lives. The city of Ankara itself was nearly destroyed from the conflict, and it would take quite some time to rebuild it or its majestic university. But by 1413, Charles III had managed to expand his empire and reassert his control over it.
However, there was a problem. Charles had relied very heavily on his nobility to assert his control, only breaking Epirus and Ankara themselves, when Syria and Serbia had also seen defection. As a result, he was quite indebted to the nobility, and the most common demand to repay the debt was formally allowing them to hold their land as feudal personal fiefs. The very thing the rebels had demanded themselves. But years in campaign had tempered him, and Emperor Charles III also knew that if these nobles took up arms against him his chances of victory were much smaller than he was willing to risk. As a result, he acquiesced and allowed the governors who remained loyal to begin styling themselves “Doukas,” or dukes in Greek and pass their lands down by heredity. There was however one exception: Charles III took the territory of Jerusalem and south from the Doukas, though the noble was compensated and allowed to take the title Doukas of Jaffa. From there, Emperor Charles was able to distribute the remaining land as he saw fit. He did eventually appoint a new governor for the area around Jerusalem, as the Imperial Emissary to the Holy Land, but this position rotated out much more frequently than the old governors had, preventing power grabs.
Returning home at last, Charles III turned away from conquest. The motivations of his expansionism had not been in pursuits that benefitted Christendom, but his own personal greed, which caused an internal conflict he was unsure how to survive. As a result, he became more and more focused on inward affairs, stabilizing his realm with the help of his wife. He built new churches, ordered the construction of roads and forts, etcetera. Over the next few years, he realized that the French language that had dominated the court had gradually pivoted toward Greek. French was slowly being relegated to a language for the personal lives of the nobility, and not one typically used in ruling. Chroniclers are in dispute over how this was seen by the imperial family, but one thing was certain- Charles IV, and especially later Emperors would scarcely use French outside some ceremonies.
Speaking of, the Crown Prince Charles, even when he was but 13 in 1421 was already documented of preferring Greek to French. From one of his personal journals: “It is not that Frankish is a ‘savage’ tongue as some of the others have said. A savage tongue would not have survived. But Alexander was a better conqueror than Charlemagne. Justinian better than the Capetians. There is glory in all tongues- but some more glorious than others.”
Either way, Charles was finding at least one major advantage of allowing hereditary inheritance between the governors was that he could marry his children domestically and win allies at court. Of course, he and his ancestors had done this beforehand already, but the uncertainty of the family’s continued favor meant it was less common to actually bear fruit. Charles III had already betrothed Theodore to the daughter of the new Duke of Ankara, building a strong alliance in the center of the empire.
Portugal and Morocco had continued exploring up and down West Africa during this time, creating a few small outposts. The Moors were generally a little more successful during this period, due to having more in common with the Mali due to their shared Muslim faith and slightly closer proximity allowing them to supply colonies that little bit easier. However, it was Portugal that had a better time turning a profit- after all, the Moors couldn’t enslave fellow Muslims and were in competition with the Barbary pirates when it came to who they could sell to. The Portuguese, in contrast, could force both pagans and Muslims into bondage and sell to Europe without many rivals for the market. This situation was clearly untenable and would eventually lead to war between the two powers, but that was a little ways away.
https://www.patreon.com/alternishistoria/posts?filters[tag]=YARE
And we are back. Patreon is up and running, with chapters from now to part 17. My goal is one chapter a week, hopefully, every Wednesday, with patrons able to see up to two chapters ahead. Graphics and visual benefits will be in the works, and I hope to get a few of them posted there by Sunday night. I'm also hoping to start another timeline soon, which will likely begin posting by august.
Nice chapter. Can't wait to see what's next for you. Would love to see how Tartania is doing. Keep up the good work. Good to have you back.
Tartaria gets plenty of action in both of the current patreon chapters. And thank you for the support!
Last edited:
Not at the moment. I can probably get one done Tomorrow, since I hope to set it aside for most f the graphics
current map of the empire; white for the hereditary duchies, gold for imperial control.
heads up, I'll probably be removing the CK3 portraits and any images I didn't make or don't know to be in the public domain (so most photographs) since I don't think I can legally make money off the TL with them in a version of it. on that note, I would like those who can consider supporting me via Patreon, so that i can actually justify the amount of time going into the content I want to make. I hope to have the exclusive graphics up on Patreon tonight. so it'll probably be something like
Yare on wednesdays
mystery tl on fridays
graphics on sundays
the main graphic i've been trying to work on for patreon just isn't feasible due to how my software works (i either drew on the background or it compressed the layers.) so i guess have a now canned WIP of the countries i would've considered great powers
latins, tartary, marinids, france, britain, burgundy
latins, tartary, marinids, france, britain, burgundy
The way I was doing it I was coloring most of europe and africa in that dark blue and then replacing it with grey. I forgot to change the islands
Part Sixteen: Discovery And Conflict
The early 1400s were a time of great change in western Europe. The Plantagenet house was soon to lose its land in England, replaced by that of Norfolk and their allies in the Bourgogne dynasty. Morocco, Castile, and Portugal were exploring the Atlantic ocean, looking to circumvent the Latin Empire and their monopoly on eastern trade. France, for its part, had largely been stable as the King exerted more power over the realm than in prior histories. The Burgundians had still managed to carve out greater autonomy than they were supposed to however, their alliance with Britain bringing them bargaining power the French weren’t able to compete with at this point.
Speaking of Britain, since the Dubliner War, Queen Catherine’s reign had been fairly stable, without much problem. The conquest of Ireland had continued quietly, further securing the Kingdom. However, Catherine rarely used the title “Queen of Ireland,” instead incorporating it into her title Regina Britanniae, Queen of Britain. Her uncle, King Alexander I of England-Scotland, used the masculine version of this title occasionally, but largely informally. In contrast, as Catherine encouraged more political unity and solidified more laws that affected all parts of her realm, the more Catherine mandated its use. However, similarly to how Edinburgh retained a Scottish parliament that was able to hold specific powers over the Scottish part of the kingdom, Dublin hosted a similar institution for the region.
In 1402, Catherine bore her son, Henry of Anglia. Naturally, this pleased his father greatly, but Henry would never be king. The young prince would die of tuberculosis a meager few months after his birth. This broke his father, and ultimately his marriage to Catherine. Eventually, after quite a lot of personal fighting, the Queen and Prince-Consort Charles of Anglia began to live separately, only visiting every few weeks to make another attempt. After a few years of this uncomfortable arrangement, they did have success with having another child. However, it turned out to be a girl, named Anne. This also upset her father, but when the child survived her first year, he and the queen gave it one more chance. However, unfortunately for the prince consort, the queen miscarried and doomed the House of Anglia to obscurity and only two titles to their name.
Worse for the kingdom, Catherine died as a result of this miscarriage, which was very common at the time. Naturally, a regency formed, which quickly became headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Alexander Bridges. The next most prominent member of the regency was Henry Boilingbroke, the Duke of Lancaster (he was the half brother to the Castilian king, who was from Gaunt’s second wife.) These two men would prove quite adept at raising the young queen Anne. As she grew it was clear she was quite proficient in mathematics and architecture, as well as other matters of state, but she was not politically astute, at least domestically.
In 1413, Queen Anne was betrothed to John of Brabant, the heir to the Duchy of Brabant held by the house of Burgundy. It was after this that relations with France began to deteriorate quickly, as Paris was now encircled by the houses of Burgundy, Plantagenet, and Lancastre. This led to some very interesting developments- the French and Aragon had been on much better terms since the Lancastrian Conquest of Castile, but the Burgundians remained a problem. However, the Savoyard Duke Amadeus VIII found himself able to offer himself as an ally in that regard, and in exchange gained security against a potential French invasion. If France were to betray him, then Burgundy would have an easier time making their own pushes, after all.
It was in 1415 when the armies of Britain and Burgundy invaded, making another claim to the French throne for the English queen. While Edward III had been forced to drop his claim to the throne of France due to his humiliating defeat, the British had never really intended to keep that deal, but Alexander had more important matters to attend to and Queen Catherine had died too soon to press the claim. The duke of Lancaster, and the 12 year old Queen Anne he served, however, seemed to have all the time in the world. That the house of Burgundy also had a claim to the throne of France also bolstered their cause, as it was hoped the betrothal between the two would be able to merge their two claims.
However, it seemed both the French themselves and their enemies underestimated their ability. As the French had ousted the Plantagenets from Normandy and Aquitaine, they had effectively become personal land of the crown, which made the kings much wealthier and more powerful, as well as allowed for a larger, more pertinent army. As a result, while the Savoyard and Aragonese help was appreciated, it did not tip the scales too greatly. The war would be famed for its stalemated nature as a result of this, exhausting the two kingdoms due to the issues of feudal logistics. In the end, by 1427, the two blocs were forced to make peace. The French weren’t able to make the British drop their claim to the throne, but the British themselves weren’t able to make any inroads into the country either.
King Alejandro of Castile, despite being allied dynastically to the Britano-Burgundian coalition remained neutral for now. This was because his primary interest at this time was developing the north of his realm so as to eventually find a sea route to Asia- the very region most likely devastated in the event of a war. King Alejandro, like his father, favored an internal peace, while engrossing themselves in as much Castilian culture and identity as possible, with some favor given to the Galicians who had backed the Lancastrian conquest. As a result, not only did he spend large quantities of money on developing the actual ports of Castile, but on making the surrounding towns larger and grander.
In the mid-1410s, King Alejandro received an interesting proposal. An Irish merchant had heard the King was looking to compete with the Portuguese and the Moroccans and offered his service. His idea was simple- the Norse had discovered the region of Vinland, but nothing had reasonably come from it. But the merchant rationalized that the island could be the outer region of an area more worthy of colonization than previously thought. It was a long shot, but perhaps even a route to China? Now, King Alejandro wasn’t an idiot, but the idea of crossing the Atlantic along the north and reaching china- as opposed to the much longer journey of going straight across- did seem somewhat enticing. As a result, the merchant, Gylles O’Donnel was given permission to attempt to chart the seas around Vinland, and anything else would depend on his success.
O’Donnel’s route was simultaneously simple and difficult. Sailing up the Bay of Biscay, and the Irish Sea, he would use the Faroes as a point to reach Iceland, part of the Kalmar Union via Norway, and then swing at Greenland and finally, Vinland. After charting the region, he would do the reverse route and return to Spain. Naturally, a journey such as this was difficult to prepare for and risky even if the French, British, and Burgundians were at peace. As a result, he was forced to spend nearly two years preparing for the journey, and frankly, a disgustingly large part of the crew’s diet would consist of pickled lemon and fish, as means of preservation. Thankfully, however, the small squadron was protected by the Castilian banner. Thus, O’Donnel made it to the island by 1418, but was forced to winter there.
It is here that O’Donnel describes the first contact between the Castilians and any Native tribes of the New World. “The skrealings, as the Norsemen called the people of this land- though they refer to themselves as the Mi’kmaq, are sedentary during the winter, and have graciously allowed us settlement before returning to Castile. However, our limited ability to communicate indicates they are less settled during the spring and the summer months. They do not know of our Lord Jesus Christ or God the Father. Due to the arduous conditions of the region’s winters, which are harsher than those of Spain and more in line with those of Scotland and Iceland, I recommend conversion and peaceful relations. To enslave them would endanger our attempt to find the Middle Kingdom, rather than engender the economy of any given settlement.”
O’Donnel was able to return to Castile by the summer of 1419. To make the journey so early into spring was considered risky, but O’Donnel felt that waiting until summer risked storms and delaying them further than needed. Upon his return to Castile, he had quite a bit to show the King. The first was of course his maps, having managed to chart the island of Vinland itself and much of the area around it. He had determined there to be a river to the west, but the current was too strong for him to launch any large expeditions of the area. He also brought back a few samples of fauna and flora he had found interesting, such as bearberries, which were not unheard of in northern Europe but were incredibly rare south of Iceland. He also brought with him a native man who he had hired to act as something of a diplomat, but unfortunately, this man died after a few short weeks in Castile due to disease. An omen, unrecognized at the time.
The idea of effectively cheating to reach China via the arctic circle and spreading Christianity is what ultimately solidified King Alejandro’s move to promote further exploration and settlement. In the winter of 1421, the King sent a few ships that would set up a colony in the area. The reason he chose the winter was the hopes that the colonists would have enough initial supplies to build their camps and spend the bulk of the year beginning agriculture. This worked to a limited extent, as most of the men survived, and roughly half the women did as well. While this population bottleneck would eventually correct itself, at present it made it so that marriageable women were in very high demand, surprisingly giving them quite some bargaining power in the colony’s earliest years.
Vinlania, as the colony came to be known, would prove able to survive over the next fear years, but it was somewhat touch and go. At numerous points, the small colony required extreme help from the Mi’kmaq people. For what it was worth, at this point the Castilians, under the leadership of Gylles O’Donnel attempted a policy of peace with the natives. This was both because O’Donnel saw them as essential if the colony wished to have a long-term future and because he wanted to encourage them to convert to Christianity. This is not to say there were no points of conflict though. The nomadic lifestyle of the Mi’kmaq during the warmer parts of the year led to tensions as the Castilians fenced off large areas of the island as theirs and proved quite willing to enforce this against the natives. That said, these skirmishes proved rare for the first five to seven years of Vinlania’s existence, as the Castilians were mostly confined to the northeastern part of the island.
However, over the early 1420s, things began to change. It was small at first, not the most apparent. But as trade between the two groups grew to be more equitable and the colonists began to give as well as receive, diseases became more common among the natives. Diseases they had no protection against, with Smallpox being the single largest example. It is fiercely debated how intentional the spread of diseases was, but it is generally regarded as less intentional than latter colonies would be with how they spread the illness. Part of the evidence is that Gylles O’Donnel had faith healers and anyone that was known to have survived or overseeing someone who had survived the disease attempt to help the stricken natives. (As an aside, by this point, Gylles’ name had wound up more than a bit hispanofied and pronounced more like Gyyes Odenel.)
Indeed, under Odenel, relations with the natives were fairly peaceful. While Odenel of course wanted to see his colony grow and expand, he also knew that pushing the natives while the colony was young was suicide. As a result, he kept treaties, and did his best to be fair with the natives that honored them. Of course, he was also a proponent of converting them to Christianity, but he ardently refused to accept coerced conversions. In fact, as the story goes, one Mi’kmaq young woman was rejected by most of her tribe after becoming a strong believer in Christ, and Odenel personally welcomed her into the colony. Versions after this vary, with some having her die a few months later, others saying she became the captain’s mistress or even wife, while others still say she became a nun. No conclusive exists either way, and weather this young lady existed, in either case, is up for very fierce debate.
Eventually, however, King Alejandro wanted more expeditions, and sent a new governor for Vinlania. Odenel was told to chart as much of the surrounding sea as possible, as the King intended to order a few more settlements. It was over those next few years, that the final push that enabled the explorer to chart most of El Golfo del Rey, or the Gulf of the King (typically anglicized as King’s Gulf) took place. Scouting the Rio del Rey, named at the same time as the gulf, proved both difficult to explore and very exciting for the colonists. Some even considered the possibility that it would be the start of a northwest passage.
It should be noted that while Portugal, Castile, and Morocco all had high-ranking nobility in favor of overseas exploration, King Alejandro was easily the most invested in it, seeing it as undermining the Latins and the Moors at the same time, and if he were successful, allowing him a monopoly on Chinese goods to sell to Europe for at least some time. Even his own son, Henry, was much less interested in the idea than his father. Henry, born and raised in Castile, sought one major goal from his own future reign: the Reconquista. But Henry was not yet the King. And while Alejandro was still aware that the Reconquista should be pursued, he also felt that such a move would be risky. Morocco remained a fairly powerful country in North Africa, stretching nearly halfway across the Mediterranean, and fighting them could prove to have disastrous effects on Castilian trade even if they were successful in taking Grenada.
By 1417, after decades of war, the Golden Horde finally had stood reunited. Ozbeg II had captured what remained of the eastern horde and was able to begin rebuilding the region. With this reconstruction, the country grew much more centralized as Ozbeg brought in a more feudal system of government. It was at this point that “Kral of Tartary” became the most common title used by the leaders of the region, and that the titles of Golden Horde and Ulug Ulus were relegated mostly to ceremonies and the history books. Ozbeg II was also quick to begin reasserting power over the periphery of his domain, pushing into the former Rus territories as well.
Around 1425, Ozbeg II had become known as Ozbeg The Great, having restored the power of the Kral over all of Tartary and expanded his domain, but he dreamed of more. The Golden Horde, and thus Tartary, drew legitimacy from the partition of the Mongol Empire, and if Ozbeg II were able to stretch it all the way back to the homeland, or simply take over the Turkish homeland of central Asia, his legacy would be assured as one of the greatest. Thus, the Tartar-Chagatai war began. While the eastern part of the Kraldom was still being rebuilt, it had perhaps the strongest soldiers on the planet, versed in both western and nomadic styles of warfare, and in countering them as well. As a result, the Chagatai were overwhelmed without too much issue, and Sarai’s power began to grow.
And at this point, Tartary had a choice: expand further east and grow their dominance over the silk road but into regions with little other value, or push south and into Persia, gaining a coastline at the cost of sewing even more conflict with the Latin Empire? At the same time, the prospect of black sea expansion, reclaiming Crimea and securing the caucuses would be quite enticing… However, it seems the choice was eventually made for them. Akbar I, the third Shah of the Kanetian Dynasty, was of one mind- the martial. As a result, seeing this empire that had once only been a concern to the petty warlords in the west of Persia suddenly gain a massive border naturally alarmed him and saw him push for war. And while the Iranian plateau was rich and Akbar a powerful general, he was shortsighted and grossly underestimated the Tartarian armies, thus launching his invasion in 1427. This would prove the undoing of his entire empire.
The two armies met at Merv, and the resulting battle was… unusual. At first it seemed the Kanetian cavalry were able to encircle and route the Tartarian infantry, this was actually all according to plan, and Akbar would later note that the infantry routed in an unusual, almost organized fashion. The Tartarian cavalry kept to the back of the fields, closer to the city. As a result, the Tartars were able to lead the Kanetians to their demise as their enemies got too far from the rest of the army to actually help. As the cavalry pursued the Kanetians, the infantry returned to a fighting position, and the Persian cavalry was cut down. All that was left was the infantry, which the tartars cut through like a warm knife on butter due to a newly gained numbers advantage and greater mobility.
This defeat was especially bad as Shah Akbar was captured in his attempt to flee. As a result of this, many governors, especially in India and the southern part of the Kanetian empire, declared independence and their own kingdoms, fully cementing the warlordism in Iran that had been going on for a few decades in the west while the Kanetians favored eastern expansion. However, Tartaria used this chaos to extract a very harsh peace from Shah Akbar, taking most of the northeastern part of their empire, such as the regional center of Kabul. This war, and the fracturing of Persia, would direct the expansion of Tartary for the next several decades.
It also spelled further chaos for India. The subcontinent was still in a period of chaos surrounding the Kanetian-Delhian war, and the collapse of the Kanetians was not helping. One of the more powerful states to break out of the Kanetian empire was the Emirate of Hindustan, which took up most of the former Delhian lands. The Emir of Hindustan, Ali Desam, deliberately avoided claiming the Delhi sultanate for a few reasons. One of the major factors was that he was of Sindhi descent despite being affiliated with the Persianate Kanetian Empire. As a result, he did not hold Delhi in the same respect that a Turkish or Iranian man might. Instead, he sought to build his own kingdom.
However, his chief rival in the area, Mustafa Hakimi, was another who threw himself out of the Kanetian collapse. And he declared himself a new Sultan of Delhi, seeking to rebuild and expand. As a result, the two most powerful states in India were immediately at each other's throats. And without the threat of Kanetian intervention, the other major states in India were free to act as they saw fit. The two great empires of the south, Bahmanhis and Vijayanagar, were quick to pounce at each other, seeing this as the only way either of them would be able to compete with a potentially reunited Delhi Empire.
Even the Latin Empire and Egypt were affected, despite neither having bordered Kanetian Persia. The collapse of the empire and a large amount of infighting led to quite a few migratory groups. One of the largest, and a problem for both Egypt and the Latins, were the Kurds. Already split between some Iranian warlords, Constantinople and Egypt, as more groups tried to flee Persia and thus into western regions, the Kurds saw a massive spike in population between the two powers. And, much to the chagrin of the Latins, most of these Kurdish refugees were Muslim. Worse still, with this immigration, there was a decline in general order near the Latin-Egyptian frontier. As a result of this, there was an uptick in raiding and violence on both sides.
With the reunification of Tartary, Charles III had wanted to push north in order to limit their ability to be a threat. However, he had been stalled due to needing to sort out internal issues. Either way, he did not seek war with Egypt and was actively attempting to find a solution to the Kurdish matter and maintain peace. But, unfortunately for him, Caliph Farouk I was of a very different mind. With Tartary, Iran, and even the Latins all having had notable internal issues, it seemed clear to him that he was being given a very rare chance. One that would allow him to reverse the humiliating peace that his father had been forced to make with Charles II.
Speaking of Britain, since the Dubliner War, Queen Catherine’s reign had been fairly stable, without much problem. The conquest of Ireland had continued quietly, further securing the Kingdom. However, Catherine rarely used the title “Queen of Ireland,” instead incorporating it into her title Regina Britanniae, Queen of Britain. Her uncle, King Alexander I of England-Scotland, used the masculine version of this title occasionally, but largely informally. In contrast, as Catherine encouraged more political unity and solidified more laws that affected all parts of her realm, the more Catherine mandated its use. However, similarly to how Edinburgh retained a Scottish parliament that was able to hold specific powers over the Scottish part of the kingdom, Dublin hosted a similar institution for the region.
In 1402, Catherine bore her son, Henry of Anglia. Naturally, this pleased his father greatly, but Henry would never be king. The young prince would die of tuberculosis a meager few months after his birth. This broke his father, and ultimately his marriage to Catherine. Eventually, after quite a lot of personal fighting, the Queen and Prince-Consort Charles of Anglia began to live separately, only visiting every few weeks to make another attempt. After a few years of this uncomfortable arrangement, they did have success with having another child. However, it turned out to be a girl, named Anne. This also upset her father, but when the child survived her first year, he and the queen gave it one more chance. However, unfortunately for the prince consort, the queen miscarried and doomed the House of Anglia to obscurity and only two titles to their name.
Worse for the kingdom, Catherine died as a result of this miscarriage, which was very common at the time. Naturally, a regency formed, which quickly became headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Alexander Bridges. The next most prominent member of the regency was Henry Boilingbroke, the Duke of Lancaster (he was the half brother to the Castilian king, who was from Gaunt’s second wife.) These two men would prove quite adept at raising the young queen Anne. As she grew it was clear she was quite proficient in mathematics and architecture, as well as other matters of state, but she was not politically astute, at least domestically.
In 1413, Queen Anne was betrothed to John of Brabant, the heir to the Duchy of Brabant held by the house of Burgundy. It was after this that relations with France began to deteriorate quickly, as Paris was now encircled by the houses of Burgundy, Plantagenet, and Lancastre. This led to some very interesting developments- the French and Aragon had been on much better terms since the Lancastrian Conquest of Castile, but the Burgundians remained a problem. However, the Savoyard Duke Amadeus VIII found himself able to offer himself as an ally in that regard, and in exchange gained security against a potential French invasion. If France were to betray him, then Burgundy would have an easier time making their own pushes, after all.
It was in 1415 when the armies of Britain and Burgundy invaded, making another claim to the French throne for the English queen. While Edward III had been forced to drop his claim to the throne of France due to his humiliating defeat, the British had never really intended to keep that deal, but Alexander had more important matters to attend to and Queen Catherine had died too soon to press the claim. The duke of Lancaster, and the 12 year old Queen Anne he served, however, seemed to have all the time in the world. That the house of Burgundy also had a claim to the throne of France also bolstered their cause, as it was hoped the betrothal between the two would be able to merge their two claims.
However, it seemed both the French themselves and their enemies underestimated their ability. As the French had ousted the Plantagenets from Normandy and Aquitaine, they had effectively become personal land of the crown, which made the kings much wealthier and more powerful, as well as allowed for a larger, more pertinent army. As a result, while the Savoyard and Aragonese help was appreciated, it did not tip the scales too greatly. The war would be famed for its stalemated nature as a result of this, exhausting the two kingdoms due to the issues of feudal logistics. In the end, by 1427, the two blocs were forced to make peace. The French weren’t able to make the British drop their claim to the throne, but the British themselves weren’t able to make any inroads into the country either.
King Alejandro of Castile, despite being allied dynastically to the Britano-Burgundian coalition remained neutral for now. This was because his primary interest at this time was developing the north of his realm so as to eventually find a sea route to Asia- the very region most likely devastated in the event of a war. King Alejandro, like his father, favored an internal peace, while engrossing themselves in as much Castilian culture and identity as possible, with some favor given to the Galicians who had backed the Lancastrian conquest. As a result, not only did he spend large quantities of money on developing the actual ports of Castile, but on making the surrounding towns larger and grander.
In the mid-1410s, King Alejandro received an interesting proposal. An Irish merchant had heard the King was looking to compete with the Portuguese and the Moroccans and offered his service. His idea was simple- the Norse had discovered the region of Vinland, but nothing had reasonably come from it. But the merchant rationalized that the island could be the outer region of an area more worthy of colonization than previously thought. It was a long shot, but perhaps even a route to China? Now, King Alejandro wasn’t an idiot, but the idea of crossing the Atlantic along the north and reaching china- as opposed to the much longer journey of going straight across- did seem somewhat enticing. As a result, the merchant, Gylles O’Donnel was given permission to attempt to chart the seas around Vinland, and anything else would depend on his success.
O’Donnel’s route was simultaneously simple and difficult. Sailing up the Bay of Biscay, and the Irish Sea, he would use the Faroes as a point to reach Iceland, part of the Kalmar Union via Norway, and then swing at Greenland and finally, Vinland. After charting the region, he would do the reverse route and return to Spain. Naturally, a journey such as this was difficult to prepare for and risky even if the French, British, and Burgundians were at peace. As a result, he was forced to spend nearly two years preparing for the journey, and frankly, a disgustingly large part of the crew’s diet would consist of pickled lemon and fish, as means of preservation. Thankfully, however, the small squadron was protected by the Castilian banner. Thus, O’Donnel made it to the island by 1418, but was forced to winter there.
It is here that O’Donnel describes the first contact between the Castilians and any Native tribes of the New World. “The skrealings, as the Norsemen called the people of this land- though they refer to themselves as the Mi’kmaq, are sedentary during the winter, and have graciously allowed us settlement before returning to Castile. However, our limited ability to communicate indicates they are less settled during the spring and the summer months. They do not know of our Lord Jesus Christ or God the Father. Due to the arduous conditions of the region’s winters, which are harsher than those of Spain and more in line with those of Scotland and Iceland, I recommend conversion and peaceful relations. To enslave them would endanger our attempt to find the Middle Kingdom, rather than engender the economy of any given settlement.”
O’Donnel was able to return to Castile by the summer of 1419. To make the journey so early into spring was considered risky, but O’Donnel felt that waiting until summer risked storms and delaying them further than needed. Upon his return to Castile, he had quite a bit to show the King. The first was of course his maps, having managed to chart the island of Vinland itself and much of the area around it. He had determined there to be a river to the west, but the current was too strong for him to launch any large expeditions of the area. He also brought back a few samples of fauna and flora he had found interesting, such as bearberries, which were not unheard of in northern Europe but were incredibly rare south of Iceland. He also brought with him a native man who he had hired to act as something of a diplomat, but unfortunately, this man died after a few short weeks in Castile due to disease. An omen, unrecognized at the time.
The idea of effectively cheating to reach China via the arctic circle and spreading Christianity is what ultimately solidified King Alejandro’s move to promote further exploration and settlement. In the winter of 1421, the King sent a few ships that would set up a colony in the area. The reason he chose the winter was the hopes that the colonists would have enough initial supplies to build their camps and spend the bulk of the year beginning agriculture. This worked to a limited extent, as most of the men survived, and roughly half the women did as well. While this population bottleneck would eventually correct itself, at present it made it so that marriageable women were in very high demand, surprisingly giving them quite some bargaining power in the colony’s earliest years.
Vinlania, as the colony came to be known, would prove able to survive over the next fear years, but it was somewhat touch and go. At numerous points, the small colony required extreme help from the Mi’kmaq people. For what it was worth, at this point the Castilians, under the leadership of Gylles O’Donnel attempted a policy of peace with the natives. This was both because O’Donnel saw them as essential if the colony wished to have a long-term future and because he wanted to encourage them to convert to Christianity. This is not to say there were no points of conflict though. The nomadic lifestyle of the Mi’kmaq during the warmer parts of the year led to tensions as the Castilians fenced off large areas of the island as theirs and proved quite willing to enforce this against the natives. That said, these skirmishes proved rare for the first five to seven years of Vinlania’s existence, as the Castilians were mostly confined to the northeastern part of the island.
However, over the early 1420s, things began to change. It was small at first, not the most apparent. But as trade between the two groups grew to be more equitable and the colonists began to give as well as receive, diseases became more common among the natives. Diseases they had no protection against, with Smallpox being the single largest example. It is fiercely debated how intentional the spread of diseases was, but it is generally regarded as less intentional than latter colonies would be with how they spread the illness. Part of the evidence is that Gylles O’Donnel had faith healers and anyone that was known to have survived or overseeing someone who had survived the disease attempt to help the stricken natives. (As an aside, by this point, Gylles’ name had wound up more than a bit hispanofied and pronounced more like Gyyes Odenel.)
Indeed, under Odenel, relations with the natives were fairly peaceful. While Odenel of course wanted to see his colony grow and expand, he also knew that pushing the natives while the colony was young was suicide. As a result, he kept treaties, and did his best to be fair with the natives that honored them. Of course, he was also a proponent of converting them to Christianity, but he ardently refused to accept coerced conversions. In fact, as the story goes, one Mi’kmaq young woman was rejected by most of her tribe after becoming a strong believer in Christ, and Odenel personally welcomed her into the colony. Versions after this vary, with some having her die a few months later, others saying she became the captain’s mistress or even wife, while others still say she became a nun. No conclusive exists either way, and weather this young lady existed, in either case, is up for very fierce debate.
Eventually, however, King Alejandro wanted more expeditions, and sent a new governor for Vinlania. Odenel was told to chart as much of the surrounding sea as possible, as the King intended to order a few more settlements. It was over those next few years, that the final push that enabled the explorer to chart most of El Golfo del Rey, or the Gulf of the King (typically anglicized as King’s Gulf) took place. Scouting the Rio del Rey, named at the same time as the gulf, proved both difficult to explore and very exciting for the colonists. Some even considered the possibility that it would be the start of a northwest passage.
It should be noted that while Portugal, Castile, and Morocco all had high-ranking nobility in favor of overseas exploration, King Alejandro was easily the most invested in it, seeing it as undermining the Latins and the Moors at the same time, and if he were successful, allowing him a monopoly on Chinese goods to sell to Europe for at least some time. Even his own son, Henry, was much less interested in the idea than his father. Henry, born and raised in Castile, sought one major goal from his own future reign: the Reconquista. But Henry was not yet the King. And while Alejandro was still aware that the Reconquista should be pursued, he also felt that such a move would be risky. Morocco remained a fairly powerful country in North Africa, stretching nearly halfway across the Mediterranean, and fighting them could prove to have disastrous effects on Castilian trade even if they were successful in taking Grenada.
By 1417, after decades of war, the Golden Horde finally had stood reunited. Ozbeg II had captured what remained of the eastern horde and was able to begin rebuilding the region. With this reconstruction, the country grew much more centralized as Ozbeg brought in a more feudal system of government. It was at this point that “Kral of Tartary” became the most common title used by the leaders of the region, and that the titles of Golden Horde and Ulug Ulus were relegated mostly to ceremonies and the history books. Ozbeg II was also quick to begin reasserting power over the periphery of his domain, pushing into the former Rus territories as well.
Around 1425, Ozbeg II had become known as Ozbeg The Great, having restored the power of the Kral over all of Tartary and expanded his domain, but he dreamed of more. The Golden Horde, and thus Tartary, drew legitimacy from the partition of the Mongol Empire, and if Ozbeg II were able to stretch it all the way back to the homeland, or simply take over the Turkish homeland of central Asia, his legacy would be assured as one of the greatest. Thus, the Tartar-Chagatai war began. While the eastern part of the Kraldom was still being rebuilt, it had perhaps the strongest soldiers on the planet, versed in both western and nomadic styles of warfare, and in countering them as well. As a result, the Chagatai were overwhelmed without too much issue, and Sarai’s power began to grow.
And at this point, Tartary had a choice: expand further east and grow their dominance over the silk road but into regions with little other value, or push south and into Persia, gaining a coastline at the cost of sewing even more conflict with the Latin Empire? At the same time, the prospect of black sea expansion, reclaiming Crimea and securing the caucuses would be quite enticing… However, it seems the choice was eventually made for them. Akbar I, the third Shah of the Kanetian Dynasty, was of one mind- the martial. As a result, seeing this empire that had once only been a concern to the petty warlords in the west of Persia suddenly gain a massive border naturally alarmed him and saw him push for war. And while the Iranian plateau was rich and Akbar a powerful general, he was shortsighted and grossly underestimated the Tartarian armies, thus launching his invasion in 1427. This would prove the undoing of his entire empire.
The two armies met at Merv, and the resulting battle was… unusual. At first it seemed the Kanetian cavalry were able to encircle and route the Tartarian infantry, this was actually all according to plan, and Akbar would later note that the infantry routed in an unusual, almost organized fashion. The Tartarian cavalry kept to the back of the fields, closer to the city. As a result, the Tartars were able to lead the Kanetians to their demise as their enemies got too far from the rest of the army to actually help. As the cavalry pursued the Kanetians, the infantry returned to a fighting position, and the Persian cavalry was cut down. All that was left was the infantry, which the tartars cut through like a warm knife on butter due to a newly gained numbers advantage and greater mobility.
This defeat was especially bad as Shah Akbar was captured in his attempt to flee. As a result of this, many governors, especially in India and the southern part of the Kanetian empire, declared independence and their own kingdoms, fully cementing the warlordism in Iran that had been going on for a few decades in the west while the Kanetians favored eastern expansion. However, Tartaria used this chaos to extract a very harsh peace from Shah Akbar, taking most of the northeastern part of their empire, such as the regional center of Kabul. This war, and the fracturing of Persia, would direct the expansion of Tartary for the next several decades.
It also spelled further chaos for India. The subcontinent was still in a period of chaos surrounding the Kanetian-Delhian war, and the collapse of the Kanetians was not helping. One of the more powerful states to break out of the Kanetian empire was the Emirate of Hindustan, which took up most of the former Delhian lands. The Emir of Hindustan, Ali Desam, deliberately avoided claiming the Delhi sultanate for a few reasons. One of the major factors was that he was of Sindhi descent despite being affiliated with the Persianate Kanetian Empire. As a result, he did not hold Delhi in the same respect that a Turkish or Iranian man might. Instead, he sought to build his own kingdom.
However, his chief rival in the area, Mustafa Hakimi, was another who threw himself out of the Kanetian collapse. And he declared himself a new Sultan of Delhi, seeking to rebuild and expand. As a result, the two most powerful states in India were immediately at each other's throats. And without the threat of Kanetian intervention, the other major states in India were free to act as they saw fit. The two great empires of the south, Bahmanhis and Vijayanagar, were quick to pounce at each other, seeing this as the only way either of them would be able to compete with a potentially reunited Delhi Empire.
Even the Latin Empire and Egypt were affected, despite neither having bordered Kanetian Persia. The collapse of the empire and a large amount of infighting led to quite a few migratory groups. One of the largest, and a problem for both Egypt and the Latins, were the Kurds. Already split between some Iranian warlords, Constantinople and Egypt, as more groups tried to flee Persia and thus into western regions, the Kurds saw a massive spike in population between the two powers. And, much to the chagrin of the Latins, most of these Kurdish refugees were Muslim. Worse still, with this immigration, there was a decline in general order near the Latin-Egyptian frontier. As a result of this, there was an uptick in raiding and violence on both sides.
With the reunification of Tartary, Charles III had wanted to push north in order to limit their ability to be a threat. However, he had been stalled due to needing to sort out internal issues. Either way, he did not seek war with Egypt and was actively attempting to find a solution to the Kurdish matter and maintain peace. But, unfortunately for him, Caliph Farouk I was of a very different mind. With Tartary, Iran, and even the Latins all having had notable internal issues, it seemed clear to him that he was being given a very rare chance. One that would allow him to reverse the humiliating peace that his father had been forced to make with Charles II.
So Spain is colonizing North America, hopefully that will work out for them, without the massive influx of silver, they won't have as much trouble settling in the region.
As for the French Burgundian/Anglo war, in the long run I see France winning in the long run as they continue to centralize and keep up with the alliances in Savoy (and look for some in the HRE), Burgundy during it's existence had to give mutiple privileges to many parts of the realm and could accumulate quite a few internal enemies, and when the French appear to be more reasonable...(something Louis XI actually did, guarantee the rights of conquered lands to better integrate them in the realm, and something other monarchs could do too) So we might actually see a France that ends up with more/all of the Burgundian Inheritance if they can play smart and use their larger resources to their advantage (aka, what won them the hundred year war).
Also, here's hoping for Byzantium to integrate the Kurds well, it won't do well for them to have unruly subjects, so obvious religious freedom as well as organizing somewhere they can stay and feed their families would be a good way of ensuring loyalty.
As for the French Burgundian/Anglo war, in the long run I see France winning in the long run as they continue to centralize and keep up with the alliances in Savoy (and look for some in the HRE), Burgundy during it's existence had to give mutiple privileges to many parts of the realm and could accumulate quite a few internal enemies, and when the French appear to be more reasonable...(something Louis XI actually did, guarantee the rights of conquered lands to better integrate them in the realm, and something other monarchs could do too) So we might actually see a France that ends up with more/all of the Burgundian Inheritance if they can play smart and use their larger resources to their advantage (aka, what won them the hundred year war).
Also, here's hoping for Byzantium to integrate the Kurds well, it won't do well for them to have unruly subjects, so obvious religious freedom as well as organizing somewhere they can stay and feed their families would be a good way of ensuring loyalty.
Nice chapter, interesting that Castile is colonizing North America (Vinlania) TTL instead of Central/South America. Will Morocco and some other country (maybe Britain) conquer the Aztecs and Incas? Could we see an Iberian Union in the future, maybe one that is more long lasting than OTL, the kingdoms could unite under the banner of trying to complete the Reconquista with Granada still in Muslim hands. I like what is happening in Tartary, centralizing power and becoming an actual kingdom. Will they go East and conquer like the Russians of OTL? India and Persia are in shambles leading to many people (Muslim Kurds) migrating West. Could we see a Kurdish state arise that is hostile to both the Romans and Egyptians? Caliph Farouk is having ideas, let's hope he doesn't die because of them. Keep up the good work.
I wonder if it will be Morocco that sails across Africa and establishes TTL Cape of Good Hope or whatever is the ATL South Africa port? Could we possibly see South and Central Africa and Asia more influenced by Muslims and Islam? Muslim colonization will be interesting to explore.