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Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM |
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This Day in Alternate History Blog
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There’s something About Marriage Or No Gold For Blood Byzantium.
The very name conjures images of a mighty, advanced civilization; an empire with
a capital with a million inhabitants when London and Paris were market towns.
The Hagia Sophia; the Hippodrome; the Empire which the west hated even as it
envied its power. It may have been doomed to fall; could an empire so old really
hope to survive? In
1150, the Empire had been very diminished, but it was still strong and
prosperous. A few things caused the events which led to the fourth crusade; the
sacking of Cyprus by crusaders, and the defeat of the emperor in Cilicia. And
then there’s the battle against the Turks, which devastated the empire. So
let’s see how to avoid them. In
1150, the emperor of Byzantium was Manuel Commenus. His main focus was on
Cilicia and the Holy Land, both of which were in jeopardy. He sent his cousin,
Andronicus, to fight the Cilicians, but Andronicus was very incompetent and
defeated by the Armenian prince Thoros. He botched it up in the Holy Land too;
when his vassal, the Prince of Antioch, died, his widow asked for a replacement
husband. He sent John Roger, a trusted and skilled commander. Unfortunately, he
was twice as old as the Princess of Antioch, Constance, who sent him packing. He
ended up marrying Reynald. Reynald
was the one who attacked and devastated Cyprus, and proved faithless and
irresponsible. He was the one who cause Saladin an excuse to attack the
crusading states. So let’s see what we can do. The
POD: 1150. The Emperor, who was very cunning and skilled (hey, he was a
Byzantine) sends Andronicus Commenus to marry Constance. The two hit it off,
since Andronicus was considered very attractive in his youth. Meanwhile, John
Roger wages war in Cilicia. It takes three years, but all the Cilician cities as
far as Anzarbus, on the Taurus mountains, are taken. Prince Thoros of Cilicia is
executed and has his eyes gouged out, on order of the emperor. Meanwhile,
Cyprus never has to worry about an attack, and remains peaceful and prosperous. Thus,
the empire’s position is strengthened greatly. Andronicus, as in OTL, is a
cunning bastard (forgive my language, but this guy was responsible for the 4th
crusade) but not stupid; he will not attack Cyprus. With
Cyprus secure, and Cilicia subdued, the Emperor is free to look towards the
East. IT is no surprise then, when, in 1158, he travels to Antioch, to see his
vassal. Andronicus welcomes him, as does his wife, and a few days later King
Baldwin of Jerusalem arrives. Baldwin is married to the Emperor’s niece,
Theodora, and the two have dynastic ties. The two hit it off, and the
celebrations in Antioch ocntinue for a week. Manuel even organizes a tournament,
something the Byzantines have never done. Relations between Outremer and
Byzantium are better than ever before. In
exchange for the installation of Byzantine troops in the citadel in Antioch, and
the installation of a Greek partriarch instead of a Latin one, Manuel, with his
massive army, agrees to help King Baldwin against the leader of the Saracens to
the east, Nur ed-Din, who was the Atabeg of Aleppo. The army of the Emperor
prepares to march, and does so; until ambassadors from Nur ed-Din meet him, and
offer him a proposal. They will send an expedition against the Seljuk Turks, and
would release all prisoners. Manuel also demands tribute from ed-Din, who have
no choice but to pay it; the Byzantine army is larger than his, and he is not
aware of events at home, in Constantinople. The
Emperor withdraws, leaving the Franks of Outremer furious. The Emperor takes a
massive army to Syria, prepares to conquer Damascus, and… withdraws. They are,
needless to say, not amused. Their feelings are soothed over, however, when they
realize what has happened. The Emperor has made the tribute payable to the King
of Jerusalem. The Franks are still upset, but the tribute helps to smooth over
feelings between the two. The
Emperor’s fears would prove right. In the autumn of 1159, the Seljuk Sultan,
Kilij Arslan II, attacks. The
Seljuks had overrun most of eastern Anatolia in the 11th century,
devastating the region. They had beguna ping Byzantine styles, and raiding the
cities of the Greeks. But in 1159, the tide began to turn. A four-pronged attack
faces the Seljuk sultan. The Emperor’s troops sweep up the Meander valley,
troops under his general John Contostephanus sweep northwest through the Taurus
passes, Nur ed-Din advanced from the Europhrates, and the Danishmends, another
group of Turks invaded from the north-east.
At the battle of Sebastiae, in 1161, the Emperor defeats Kilij’s
troops, and the Sultan agrees to peace. In the spring of 1162, the Sultan pays a
state visit to Constantinople. From
he beginning of the Sultan’s arrival, the emperor is determined to impress
him. He greets the Emperor on a throne covered in gold and set with sapphires
surrounded by pearls. Manuel wore a cloak of purple encrusted with pearls, and
held together by jewels. He was covered with so many precious gems that “he
glittered like Moses from on the high.” The sultan was so impressed that he
hardly dared to obey. And this was just the start. There
were banquets, tournaments, a water pageant, and circuses. Throughout it all,
however, the Emperor made it clear that Kilij was not a foreign monarch; but a
vassal prince. In fact, the
Empire’s victory was more decisive than in OTL, so Andronicus does not feel
the need to give Kilij quite literally almost a ton of gold and silver, in the
form of cutlerly, stating “There shall be no gold for Greek blood”. This is
obviously, of course, a reference to a speech by a Roman Senator in the Punic
Wars. The
Sultan did try to match this, by giving a demonstration of flying. The
demonstrator explained that the air trapped in pockets which he wore would
support him as he flew. When his body was carried away, the audience could not
contain its laughter. More
clouds are on the horizon. While her husband was campaigning in Anatolia,
Empress Irene passed away, leaving only two daughters. Emperor Manuel gave her a
splendid funeral, but he needed a son. He sends messengers to Baldwind, King of
Jerusalem, asking him to nominate a bride. He chooses Melisende, daughter of
Raymond of Tripoli and Constance of Antioch. This helps to solidify his claim to
Antioch. The Emperor agrees to the marriage, which goes off successfully.
Another effect is that without Reynold of Toulouse messing things up,
Baldwin doesn’t run through the desert trying to smooth relations, and does
not fall ill. This gives the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem a strong leader at a time when it desperately needed, and lacked it, in OTL. But meanwhile, Emperor Manuel’s thoughts were elsewhere. On June 2, 1161, King Geza II of Hungary passed away. The Hungarians had always been troublemakers; sandwiched between the Holy Roman Empire and that of Byzantium, and with interests in Croatia and Dalmatia, the two could not help but conflict. Geza, more to the point, had always distrusted Byzantium’s alliance with Germany, fearing that it was an attempt to partition his Kingdom. In 1156, the two negotiated a treaty of peace, but neither party had any delusions about its duration. Geza wanted a strong nation, and Manuel wanted to conquer Hungary. But
Geza’s death led to a succession crisis, and he sent weapons and money to
Stephen, a brother of Geza, but Stephen ailed and the throne passed to Geza’s
son, Stephen III. But Manuel then sends an offer to Stephen, in 1163: if Stephen
will recognize his brother, Bela, as the heir to Croatia and Dalmatia, then the
emperor would give Bela the hand of his daughter and would also make him heir to
the Imperial throne. Stephen agreed, and Bela is baptized into the Orthodox
Church and granted the title of Despot. He is thus one rank below the Emperor,
with precedence over the Caesar. This
does not, however, end the troubles between the two countries. In 1164, Manuel
and Bela crossed the Danube, on the basis that Stephen had broken his agreement.
The notable events in the campaign were the courage of the Seljuks provided by
Kilij under the terms of the treaty, and fighting lasted until 1166. This
victory left the Empire in possession of Dalmatia, Bosnia, and northern Croatia.
But
Bela is not to get the crown In 1167, Empress Melisende gives birth to a son,
Alexius Commenus. He breaks off Bela’s engagement, and marries him to a
Palaeologus, and demotes him to the rank of Caesar. He then named his son
Alexius co-emperor. Bela was, of course, upset by this. But his anger dissipated
when, in 1172, his brother Stephen died. Bela ascended the throne of Hungary,
and swore that he would always pay regard to the interests of the Empire. Manuel’s
success has another happy result; it removes Hungarian support for the Serbs
from the field, and the leader of the Serbs enters Constantinople as a defeated
rebel. Venice,
meanwhile, is not amused. She had claims over Dalmatia, and the reaction of the
merchants to the Emperor’s annexation of the coast can only be imagined. To
make matters worse, the merchants of Genoa, Pisa, and Amalfi steadily
consolidated their positions in Constantinople, and he was treating the city of
Ancona as if it was a Byzantine colony. Manuel, meanwhile, feels that the number
of Latins in Constantinople is getting absurdly high, about eighty thousand, and
all enjoyed special privileges. And the Venetians were most numerous
and most
objectionable. The Emperor, then, decided to teach them a lesson. In
1171, a Genoese settlement at Galata was attacked and destroyed. Manuel casts
the blame on the Venetians, and on March 12 decrees that all citizens of the
Serenissima should be placed under arrest, with their ships and property
confiscated. Some manage to escape, but thousands were seized. When the Genoans
declare that the Venetians had nothing to do with it, and when it becomes
apparent that all arrests, across the Empire, took place on the twelfth, and
that this is a major plot. The Venetian anger is increased by the fact that only
two years before, the Emperor had given the Venetians specific promises. The
last ties between Byzantium and the Empire are forgotten, and war breaks out. A
Venetian armada, of 120 sail sets out in September of 1172, and sails towards
the Pelopennese. Imperial ambassadors promise Doge Vitale that the Emperor had
no wish for war, and that the Doge should send a mission to Constantinople. He
accepted. It was the worst mistake o his life. While
his emissaries journeyed to the Queen of Cities, plague broke out in the
Venetian fleet. Thousands were dead by spring, and the survivors were too
weakened for war. The returning ambassadors reported that their mission had
proved a total failure. He returns to Venice, bringing the plague with him. A
mob gathers, calling for his blood. He is stabbed to death.
While
this is going on, there is a struggle in the church. The pope lay dead, and
Frederick Barbarossa had engineered an election that would create a schism in
the papal Curia. When Pope Alexander III was preparing to be enthroned, Cardinal
Octavian of S. Cecilia seized the mantle of the Papacy and put it on.
Aleander’s supporters snatched it back, but Octavian had brought another, and
made a dash for the throne. Sitting on it, he proclaimed himself Pope Victor IV.
(This is historically accurate, despite its absurdity). It
works. Barbarossa’s ambassadors report Victor’s election as the rightful
one, and when Victor dies he has another anti-pope declared. To Manuel, this is
the perfect opportunity for Byzantium to reestablish its supremacy throughout
Christendom. Since his rival was unwilling to fulfill the role as protector, he
would do it. In
1160, he receives two envoys requesting support against victor, and maintains
negotiations with the Pope and Louis of France, in hopes of forming an alliance
which would eliminate Frederick. This proved disappointing, and in 1166 Manuel
offered to make a series of concessions on theological and liturgical matters
with the object of ending the schism, and would provide subsidies to the Pope.
Alexander would then give him the htrone of the Holy Roman Empire, reuniting the
Empire of Rome. But
by now the churches were too far apart for any agreement to be possible, and
Manuel was far too unpopular in much of the west. And the Pope felt that,
whether there were two Empires or one, the Vicar of Christ would always come
first. By
1773, Emperor Michael had reached the pinnacle of his career; he had brought the
Seljuk Sultan to heel, he had made huge gains at the expense of Hungary, he had
broken the power of Venice, and his only major failure had been to fail at
reconquering Southern Italy. But he could not be everywhere at once, and after
his treaty with Kilij Arslan he had turned his back on the region for a decade.
During this time, Killij had not been idle. He had been attacking other Muslim
rivals in Anatolia, and in 1173, word reaches Constantinople that the Sultan was
intriguing with the Atabeg of Mosul, and the two were on the point of allying.
He confronts the Sultan, who explains that Nur ed-Din had not forgiven him his
Christian alliance, and assures Manuel that Byzantium had nothing to fear. But
the Atabeg of Mosul dies in 1174, and the Danishmends are defenseless. Kililj
annexes their territories, but Manuel is ready. In OTL, his empire was a bit
poorer, and there were problems in Outremer. Here, the Emperor’s focus is
concentrated. In 1175, Manuel marches on Iconium, capital of the Seljuk
Sultanate. He receives envoys from the sultan, who offers peace on generous
terms. Many officers favored its acceptance, pointing out the dangers of a long
journey with heavy equipment, but the army presses forward. Now,
one effect of Crusader support means that there are more Western mercenaries in
the armies of the Emperor. The convince the Emperor to avoid his route through
the pass of Tzybritze, and he takes an alternate route. The battle of Meander
takes place, and it is a Byzantine victory; the Sultan is captured, his army
broken. What happens, essentially, is that the Byzantines appear to withdraw,
and the Turks follow, sensing victory. But it’s an envelopment; heavy cavalry
captures the Sultan’s army, and the Sultan himself. The Emperor returns to
Constantinople for a triumphant procession, and the Sultan is in chains. (He was
hindered by a lack of funds; in OTL, he received money by pawning the cutlery
the Emperor gave him, hence the title “No Gold for Blood”). The
Sultan’s empire will collapse on his death, into a number of small rulers who
hate one another more than Byzantium, and the Byzantine Empire will advance
eastward in Anaotlia again, retaking Iconium. Manuel’s
victory is glorious, and it ends the Seljuk threat. No longer will Greeks fear
anything from the Seljuks, and the east. (For now). The Emperor has finally
recovered from the setback of Manzikert. Manuel’s
next major diplomatic success was the marriage between Alexius, now a strapping
lad of 14, and Princess Agnes of France, who is ten. The marriage is hoped to be
a prosperous one, but there are rumblings of discontent. Manuel has made himself
unpopular for his support of the Latins, and his marriage of one. Of
course, things are not easy for the Empire; it comes under attack once more,
soon enough. In
1185, the Arab traveler Ibn Jubair was at the port of Trapani in western Sicily,
have taken passage on a Genoese ship to return to Spain. Before he was due to
report, the King of Sicily sent an order; until further notice the harbor was
closed to outgoing traffic. Ibn Jubair reports, in his log, that few people
seemed to know what was happening, but it was apparent a fleet was being raised.
William of Sicily wanted the crown of Byzantium, and he was determined that the
force he sent out to attain it should be worthy of such a prize. The fleet
carried eighty thousand men, and there were several hundred ships. William of
Tancred’s brother in law, Richard of Acerra sets sail. It headed straight for
Durazzo, the largest Imperial port on the Adriatic. Manuel, being more competent
than his OTL successor, Andronicus, has the city fortified weeks in advance, and
it takes several weeks to take the city. It will ultimately fall on the 22 of
July. Manuel hastily calls back his army, and harasses the army of William for
several months. The armies face outside of Thessalonica, a key city |
