An Age of Miracles: The Revival of Rhomanion

[Arrix85]

I eagerly await the Lion in Winter section of the TL.

About the ToT, I think I've got some ideas about where the different theaters are going to be.

1. Demetrios will try to ride out the storm in Egypt due to lack of interest in being Emperor, but either one of Andreas' other sons will view him as a threat (he is firstborn son, after all) and pick a fight with him or whomever momentarily wins Constantinople will be such a monster that he feels honor-bound to go deal with the situation.

(Leo maybe?)

2. Andrew "Arpad" will make a claim of his own and push into Roman Italy or into Serbia. If he doesn't get involved until later, perhaps it's his son (who is a legit Apard AND a Komenenos). If the ToT has been devastating enough, the Byzantines might not care he's a foreigner and a Catholic.

(Although I imagine they might want him to convert.)

I suspect it might be a younger son, since a Hungarian-Byzantine dynastic union would be too big and unwieldy to last long.

I almost sure B444 has said it's going to be a son of Andrew to enter the fray, so I guess the most likely round for a hungarian intervention is the second.

I do think also the Milanese will be players , but I pick them to be active in the last round after the Hungarian pay dearly for their intervention.

 

[MerryPrankster]

I do think also the Milanese will be players , but I pick them to be active in the last round after the Hungarian pay dearly for their intervention.

Oh yeah, the Dukes of Milan have some kind of claim as well, which the Emperor who allowed it saying it would cost his grandchildren dearly.

 

[Arrix85]

Oh yeah, the Dukes of Milan have some kind of claim as well, which the Emperor who allowed it saying it would cost his grandchildren dearly.

the line was more or less "my grandchildren will curse me, but at least I'll have grandchildren". Anyhow the recognition of their claim sounds too good not be a seed planted to flower during the ToT.

 

[ed_montague]

Oh yeah, the Dukes of Milan have some kind of claim as well, which the Emperor who allowed it saying it would cost his grandchildren dearly.

Problem is, the Milanese were subjugated by Hungary very recently. Hell, Andrew now has the Iron Crown of Lombardy. If the Milanese do anything, then either a) it'll be as the result of a rebellion against Hungarian rule, or b) the Hungarians will already be reeling from military defeats and unable to control their Italian vassals/allies/subjects. Basically, I agree with Arrix.

 

[Basileus444]

We'll be seeing a lot of Andrew 'Arpad', and a good look at his ambitions/dreams in the next update.

As for the Milanese, their claim goes all the way back to the Laskarids, to Emperor Thomas I Laskaris, the Emperor who was overthrown by Demetrios Komnenos. So their claim is pretty weak, but still strong enough to excuse an intervention. An important thing to note about Milan though: its vassalage to Hungary is due to the fortuitous capture of its duke. Its military might was not destroyed on the battlefield, and Andrew wasn't able to do much dismantling because of Frederick's invasion. So while politically Milan has gone downhill, militarily it has been little weakened.



"Yes, I made a promise to Vlad Dracula. But I have been willing to give up my crown, my life in service of the Empire. And for that same cause, I am willing to give up my honor as well."-attributed to Andreas Komnenos, according to Eudoxia Komnena

1502: The sack of Cairo sends ripples throughout the Muslim world. Everywhere there are at least some rumblings, but the main explosions come from opposite ends of the House of Islam. In India, it helps trigger a mass Muslim revolt against the Vijayanagar Empire in the coastal cities of Gujarat and Maharashtra. There has already been much dissent against the oppressive and discriminatory Hindu rule (for starters, Muslims are not allowed to own horses or buildings with more than one story, and are taxed three times more heavily than Hindus). Vijayanagar’s collaboration with Ethiopia in the Meccan campaign is also remembered, and not forgiven.

The Sultanate of Delhi invades to support its co-religionists, making as far as Pune before it is met by the assembled might of the Vijayanagar Empire, forty thousand infantry, sixteen thousand cavalry, and two hundred and ninety armored war elephants. The trumpeting behemoths are decisive in the smashing victory, coupled with the mercenary Timurid gunners in their howdahs.

But four days later the Muslim fleet annihilates the Vijayanagara navy off Kozhikode with the first known use of bomb ships outside of the Mediterranean. Without naval support, the Vijayanagara army is unable to reduce the coastal cities as Ottoman and Omani vessels make huge profits ferrying in food and armaments.

In North Africa, something too is stirring. Ali al-Mandari, one of the leading men of Tetouan, who had been ruined by Roman merchants in Al-Andalus and moved to Africa to rebuild, takes five galleys out into the Mediterranean to wage the jihad fil-bahr, the Holy War at Sea. In six weeks, he takes one Roman transport, laden with silk and sugar, and two Aragonese galleys. His example is immediately followed by sailors and tribesmen from Safi to Bizerte.

The overlord of all these jihadists, the Marinid Sultan in Marrakesh, does nothing to curb these raids, but instead encourages and shelters the raiders in exchange for a cut of the profits. With peace in Egypt, Carthage’s brief ascendancy as the premier supplier of plantation slaves for Rhomania is over, so he has little incentive to not harass Roman traders. These raids also serve to bolster his prestige as well as his coffers. The effective loss of al-Andalus without a fight is extremely embarrassing, and enforcing payments from the corsairs is a good way of reasserting his authority.

The rhetoric is couched in that of holy war, and for most of the participants, it is a holy war. But the jihadists soon begin attacking Andalusi vessels as well, viewing them as traitors to Islam. For they willfully exchanged a Muslim for a Christian ruler, and not only that, they chose the one responsible for the conquest of Jerusalem and the destruction of Cairo (in the Maghreb Andreas is viewed as the destroyer of Cairo due to ignorance about the Ethiopians). As such, they are treated as Christians; captives are impressed as galley slaves.

The Andalusi do not take kindly to being on the receiving end of a jihad. When two corsair ships are captured off Almeria in September, the crews are slapped into chains and then thrown into the sea.

In Constantinople, on April 19, Herakleios is crowned as junior Co-Emperor of the Romans, with the imperial mint issuing new coins showing both Andreas and Herakleios. Present are his two older sisters, Helena and Basileia, Queen of Russia and Crown Princess of Georgia respectively. Almost immediately Andreas turns over much of the Imperial administration into his son’s hands.

There is relatively little dissent. Few of Vlad’s appointees remain after all this time, and the few that do are part of the army and have long since come over to Andreas’ side. The clergy mutter, but for the most part are appeased by the Cairo Proclamation’s restriction on Catholics or Muslims in the tagmata. Also smoothing their feathers are several grants of land in the Holy Land to the church, including the Biblical towns of Hebron, Jericho, and Nazareth. All of them are placed under the authority of the church, providing taxes after a four-year remittance period are paid.

There is also the fact that there is no clear better choice. Some prominent priests, including the bishops of Adrianople, Dyrrachium, and Larissa, believe Demetrios to be a closet Copt. Others suggest Theodoros, and while Andreas has done much to support his son’s menagerie, he states that anyone placing Theodoros on the throne of Rhomania will do so over his dead body. A rumor spreads that the bishop of Adramyttion remarked that the suggestion wasn’t so bad. The next day a mob wrecks his house in Constantinople.

Andreas is not in the Queen of Cities when that happens. He spends most of the year back in Syria, overseeing the first major training exercises of the south Syrian tagma. His primary mission now is to get them and both Egyptian tagmata into fighting shape as soon as possible, as he is alarmed by the rapid increase in Ottoman domains. He also finds the warmer climate of Syria and Egypt to be much pleasant than Constantinople.

In Persia the formal investment of Fars begins in May, Konstantinos Komnenos again commanding, as Andrew of Hungary drives the last of the demoralized German forces out of his domains. The new twenty-two year old Holy Roman Emperor Manfred I Wittelsbach has managed to rally his Bavarian troops, but is having more difficulties in keeping the other German princes in line, particularly after his loyal ally and vassal Archduke Antoine, Lord of the Westmarch, is resoundingly defeated by a relief Dutch army at the siege of Rotterdam.

But it is in southern France that sees the most action of the year. The armies of France-England move rapidly, even as Louis I moves equally as fast to marshal the Arletian lances. The French-English offensive is focused on the west, both to avoid the war in Lotharingia and to forestall a rumored Arletian plot to seize the main convoy bearing Bordeaux wine to England with the help of the Castilian navy. Their primary target is Toulouse.

Louis’ son and heir, Prince Charles, commands the main Arletian army, seventeen thousand strong accompanied by thirty Bernese battle cohorts, three thousand men. Leo Komnenos, commanding another three thousand men, has orders first to spoil a large raiding party rampaging along the Rhone before meeting with the main body. This he does quickly, smashing the two thousand French-English at Valence and inflicting quintuple the number of casualties he receives. Marching hard, he has almost joined Charles at the town of Merles when thirty thousand French-English assault Charles.

The heavily outnumbered Arletians and Bernese are quickly thrown on the defensive, even though three sharp ripostes from the cohorts stagger the Plantaganet right. The roar of the battle comes as a surprise to several of Leo’s officers, as it is coming east of the expected rendezvous point. When they ask Leo what to do, he replies in words forever remembered by the Arletian people. “We march to the sound of the guns.”

Ninety minutes into the fray, Prince Charles has been outflanked and the Bernese are on the verge of being surrounded, though they bitterly contest every inch of ground. The French-English commander, the Duke of Berry, has every expectation of victory when the west explodes with a mass crescendo of hellfire. Three arquebus volleys blast the Plantaganet right flank at point-blank range, trumpets screaming as Leo charges at the head of twelve hundred heavy Arletian lancers.

A modern rendition of Leo Komnenos at the Battle of Merles, for the game Century of Blood​

The French-English line does not waver, bend, crack, break, crumple, or shatter. Instead it ceases to exist. As Leo rolls up the Plantaganets, Charles and the Bernese immediately counterattack, the onslaught of the Habsburg knights killing the Duke of Berry as he desperately tries to restore order. When he dies, all hope of saving the army dies with him. Between the battle and the five-hour pursuit until sunset that follows, the French-English host is effectively destroyed as a fighting force.

Still the Arletians and Bernese suffered heavily, over twenty five hundred casualties. One of those is a man whose arm was broken by Leo for looting. His crime was not the looting itself, but that he had dismounted whilst the enemy was still on the field to do so. Once they have been cleared though, Leo has no problems with his men pillaging the enemy camp and raping the camp followers.

Though somewhat disgusted by Leo’s post-battle activities, Charles does concede that the Roman prince turned certain defeat into a smashing victory. And the Bernese League also remembers its sons who were saved, including no less than nineteen scions of the Habsburg family. So two months after the battle, Maximilian von Habsburg, Count of Breisgau, Zurichgau, Thurgau, and Aargau, formally legitimizes Leo’s wife Klara.

Basileios von Habsburg-Komnenos, son of Leo Komnenos and Klara.​

 

[brokenman]

Nice update.

I was particularly intrigued by the spread of Komnenian blood. I would be hoping for the greatest succession wars in the future.

Also, an early Barbay Piracy.

 

[ed_montague]

Well, Leo's actions were not unexpected. The Vijayanagara seem to be in a bit of a tight spot, but as long as Swati Kashmir pulls through alright I doubt anyone would complain.

Can't help but remember the Roman promise to the Andalusi about protecting them above the line. With the Maranids acting up, the probability of a conflict (and the Mediterranean becoming a Roman lake) skyrockets.

Even though Leo is a right bastard, and even though he probably won't end up with his descendents in Constantinople for an extended period of time, the narration suggests that he'll end up an Arletian national hero, just as Dragos cel Mare was to the Romans. Obviously, there are some key differences, but I can't help but feel some irritation at how Leo's dodging karma. (Of course, how many great national heroes of any nation have been complete scumbags? Most of them, because we tend to rationalize or ignore their nastier sides.)

Anyways, his son is going to be interesting, I presume.

 

[Alexandria Eschate]

A suggestion, B444, can you have something going on in Central Asia, between all these long wars,we then can have the Time of Troubles happen all across the Old World.
Leo seems to be doing well. How much of a setback is this for the Plantagenets?

 

[cimon]

A suggestion, B444, can you have something going on in Central Asia, between all these long wars,we then can have the Time of Troubles happen all across the Old World.
Leo seems to be doing well. How much of a setback is this for the Plantagenets?

Do you actually want the world at war by...arrangement?

 

[Alexandria Eschate]

Hey,some people just want to see the world burn.

 

[cimon]

Very nice update,B444,
where I identified three things:
1) the castle Haspsburg is near Bern.
2) the " three volleys fired" from Leo's side,probably not terribly important for you,but it is for military history believe me,so please indulge me as to how was it done with those slow-loading fire arms;(I am sure someone impetuous like Leo wouldn't wait for them to reload three times...)
3) nice repeat of Dessaix's famous words,when he spoke to his corps that force-marched to assist Napoleon at the battle of Marengo:"We march to the sound of the Guns"

Observation:the last moment event you played at Cannae as well,very successful and impressive,next time though something new is called for...

 

[cimon]

Hey,some people just want to see the world burn.

Ya,bloody Neros magnified...

 

[Elfwine]

I'm not sure it would be that long - minutes, to be sure, but is Leo so impulsive as to be unable to wait a few minutes before ordering the charge?

http://greatestbattles.iblogger.org/Renaissance/03_Infantry_Missiles.htm

 

[Tandderyn]

My interpretation of the three volleys being fired was rather than every arquebusier firing 3 round individually (which would cause Leo to lose the initiative due to the amount of time it would take to do this) i assume there was something like 3 waves of troops firing one after the other in quick succession.

 

[cimon]

Precicely Tandderyn

That is my point exactly;The volleys have to be fired by the infantry arrayed in three lines,kneeling,standing and standing(the second line firing and kneeling to reload),regiment strength,the system appearing in the Thirty Years War for a first time,(Gustavus Adolphus added a fourth line that gave him an edge-along with other innovations of course),but that is more than a hundred years to the future.


What do we have here B444? Leo as a military innovator?his character actions and history doesn't really cut it...

 

[Derekc2]

So's Leo's a asshole but at least he's a competent one at war. I'm surprised by that actually.

 

[Tandderyn]

I don't think that the tactic of firing by rank is massively innovative, rather the use of massed firearm formations and the tactics / drilling associated with them was what changed the ways wars were fought in the early 17th century.

Considering Leo's approach to warfare is maximum shock value I don't think it's too far fetched for him to think of concentrating his firepower on a relatively narrow section of the flank so he could penetrate as deeply as possible into the enemy army to cause mass confusion and slaughter etc, although it might be better if B444 explained his thoughts behind this.

 

[Alexandria Eschate]

Well,regardless, we'll have to wait and see how the Plantagenets react, and how they adapt to the situation.

 

[Avitus]

Very interested in the western events, and curious about what is being foreshadowed by giving us a picture of Basileios, since you have said that that's a sign of future importance in the TL (Interestingly I havn't seen one for Demetrios or Nikephoros, and this is Leo's first as well).

 

[Arrix85]

Whoa! that name... Von Hapsburg-Komnesos, little chance of ambition, uh?

Interesting to see those "marinid" pirates... enough to spring the roman empire to the defence of the andalusi and (maybe more importantly) their commercial interests in the area? The last major engagement of the navy was the last crusade and that was 30 years ago... Not for conquest, but some bloodying would be good for proficiency.


We see the HRE blowing up (as expected), I wonder if the Lotharingian will manage to integrate again the Dutch, they were not particularly happy to be ruled by Dijon before...