Paint it white : The life of the twelve czars
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Indeed, these are not the best of times for the Serbian Empire.
-DISCONTINUED CHAPTER-
Eighth book : Bardas I the cruel
Bardas Skleros was a sullen, melancholic boy of eight, who had had the most famous bishops Isaakios Sokolovic and Milosz von Ratzeburg as tutors. His calm, dignified demeanor and the excellent conselors who surronded him did much to apease the restive high lords of the realm. On their advice he bestowed some lands from the royal demesne to the more loyal of them, and pardonned those willing to forsake their rebellious ways. After a few months the Serbian Empire was whole and stabilized.
In 1273 he joined the war the kings of Georgia and Arabia were waging against the Seljuk empire. What began as a limited campaign over the Eastern shores of the Black Sea and a few towns of Andalucia progressively turned to a total war as Jamil contemptuously rebuffed his peace entreaties. With a fervor beyond his age Bardas gave the supreme command to his most loyal kinght sir Theodoros himself the grandson of a Turkish convert, ordering him that in the whole of Persia he was to "show no mercy, spare no effort and leave no enemy".
The attacks on the Seluks had been so far limited in scale and success to some undecisive fighting in Armenia and a failed attacked on Persia's mainland from the Easternmost marches of the Empire. Now, however, Theodoros mustered the whole of Serbian forces and marched on.
The following campaign was mostly successful but in 1275 a series of political mishaps forced the triumphant Serbian armies to a halt when Georgia and Arabia, distrustful of Bardas' increasing might, signed separate peaces with the Turks and abandoned to them several caucasian fortresses from which he would be able to flank the exposed catholic army. The duchy of Charsanion, besides, unexpectedly declared he would no longer submit to Byzantion and recalled his levies, which forced the young king to accept with the muslims a truce which gave him the southern third of Persia and various smaller estates.
-DISCONTINUED CHAPTER-
Eighth book : Bardas I the cruel
Bardas Skleros was a sullen, melancholic boy of eight, who had had the most famous bishops Isaakios Sokolovic and Milosz von Ratzeburg as tutors. His calm, dignified demeanor and the excellent conselors who surronded him did much to apease the restive high lords of the realm. On their advice he bestowed some lands from the royal demesne to the more loyal of them, and pardonned those willing to forsake their rebellious ways. After a few months the Serbian Empire was whole and stabilized.
In 1273 he joined the war the kings of Georgia and Arabia were waging against the Seljuk empire. What began as a limited campaign over the Eastern shores of the Black Sea and a few towns of Andalucia progressively turned to a total war as Jamil contemptuously rebuffed his peace entreaties. With a fervor beyond his age Bardas gave the supreme command to his most loyal kinght sir Theodoros himself the grandson of a Turkish convert, ordering him that in the whole of Persia he was to "show no mercy, spare no effort and leave no enemy".
The attacks on the Seluks had been so far limited in scale and success to some undecisive fighting in Armenia and a failed attacked on Persia's mainland from the Easternmost marches of the Empire. Now, however, Theodoros mustered the whole of Serbian forces and marched on.
The following campaign was mostly successful but in 1275 a series of political mishaps forced the triumphant Serbian armies to a halt when Georgia and Arabia, distrustful of Bardas' increasing might, signed separate peaces with the Turks and abandoned to them several caucasian fortresses from which he would be able to flank the exposed catholic army. The duchy of Charsanion, besides, unexpectedly declared he would no longer submit to Byzantion and recalled his levies, which forced the young king to accept with the muslims a truce which gave him the southern third of Persia and various smaller estates.
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Okay, it's retcon time. Both the autosave and oldautosave have crashed on me. 
And I do not generally bother to save manually in Crusader Kings except at the end of a session.
So here we go again, restarting at Bardas' coronement.
Eighth book : Bardas I the cruel
Bardas Skleros was a sullen, melancholic boy of eight, who had had the most famous bishops Isaakios Sokolovic and Milosz von Ratzeburg as tutors. His calm, dignified demeanor and the excellent conselors who surronded him did much to apease the restive high lords of the realm. On their advice he bestowed some lands from the royal demesne to the more loyal of them, and pardonned those willing to forsake their rebellious ways. After a few months the Serbian Empire was whole and stabilized.
In 1273 he joined the war the kings of Georgia and Arabia were waging against the Seljuk empire. What began as a limited campaign over the Eastern shores of the Black Sea and a few towns of Andalucia progressively turned to a total war as Jamil contemptuously rebuffed his peace entreaties. With a fervor beyond his age Bardas gave the supreme command to his most loyal kinght sir Theodoros himself the grandson of a Turkish convert, ordering him that in the whole of Persia he was to "show no mercy, spare no effort and leave no enemy". And to ensure the loyalty of the commander he gave him the hand of his elder sister Theophano the blind, a shy and melancholy maid.
The attacks on the Seluks had been so far limited in scale and success to some undecisive fighting in Armenia and a failed attacked on Persia's mainland from the Easternmost marches of the Empire. Now, however, Theodoros mustered the whole of Serbian forces and marched on.
This Crusade, at first, went beyond the even Bardas' optimistic expectations. Spurred by his hatred for muslims, his lust for glory and his new ties to the royal dynasty, Theodoros and his lieutenants successfully marched several armies straight East from Alexandretta to succor the Georgian and Arabian hosts. They burnt several towns and pillaged the lands, driving Jamil out of his very capital. Minor Pontine counts, meanwhile, attacked and secured the northern citadels of Kartli and Trapezous.
Next update soon(er).
And I do not generally bother to save manually in Crusader Kings except at the end of a session.So here we go again, restarting at Bardas' coronement.
Eighth book : Bardas I the cruel
Bardas Skleros was a sullen, melancholic boy of eight, who had had the most famous bishops Isaakios Sokolovic and Milosz von Ratzeburg as tutors. His calm, dignified demeanor and the excellent conselors who surronded him did much to apease the restive high lords of the realm. On their advice he bestowed some lands from the royal demesne to the more loyal of them, and pardonned those willing to forsake their rebellious ways. After a few months the Serbian Empire was whole and stabilized.
In 1273 he joined the war the kings of Georgia and Arabia were waging against the Seljuk empire. What began as a limited campaign over the Eastern shores of the Black Sea and a few towns of Andalucia progressively turned to a total war as Jamil contemptuously rebuffed his peace entreaties. With a fervor beyond his age Bardas gave the supreme command to his most loyal kinght sir Theodoros himself the grandson of a Turkish convert, ordering him that in the whole of Persia he was to "show no mercy, spare no effort and leave no enemy". And to ensure the loyalty of the commander he gave him the hand of his elder sister Theophano the blind, a shy and melancholy maid.
The attacks on the Seluks had been so far limited in scale and success to some undecisive fighting in Armenia and a failed attacked on Persia's mainland from the Easternmost marches of the Empire. Now, however, Theodoros mustered the whole of Serbian forces and marched on.
This Crusade, at first, went beyond the even Bardas' optimistic expectations. Spurred by his hatred for muslims, his lust for glory and his new ties to the royal dynasty, Theodoros and his lieutenants successfully marched several armies straight East from Alexandretta to succor the Georgian and Arabian hosts. They burnt several towns and pillaged the lands, driving Jamil out of his very capital. Minor Pontine counts, meanwhile, attacked and secured the northern citadels of Kartli and Trapezous.
Next update soon(er).
<3 Crusader Kings.
"Now that we've fought this minor war over this tiny port hundreds of miles from your home provinces, shouldn't we talk of-"
"DIE IN THE LIGHT OF A THOUSANDS SUNS."
"Ah, okay, well, how about-"
"I WILL EAT YOUR FACE."
"So, uh, a white peace then?"
Good phargle.
Ah well, I just hope your marshal shall not claim the throne.
Too bad we can not have disloyal generals in CK taking your armies.
Ah well, I just hope your marshal shall not claim the throne.
Too bad we can not have disloyal generals in CK taking your armies.
You can have a backstabbing marshall though. And I don't complain since I was to conquer Persia sooner or later anyway. What I complain about is... Well, read on.
But the most devasting blows the Seljuk sultanate suffered at the hands of the duke of Itil, Nikolaos Paraspondylos, the Red Bear, duke of Itil, Bulgars and Khwarizm, a man of devious character and considerable ambition. King Manuel, twenty years before, had entrusted him the citadel of Saray. Arsenios, seeing him as the least threatening count in this part of Khazaria, had given him the Ducal crowns of Itil and Khwarizm, and soon thereafter Nikolaos persuaded the feeble and deluded king to let him annex the pagan tribe of Bulgar, which, he said, was showing growing signs of independence. Under Mathias he himself grew considerably restless and querulous, dignoring certain orders, declining to pay the royal scutage and regularly claiming new honors and privileges on every occasion.
Bardas himself, to some extent, had to put up with Nikolaos' attitude, given the numbers of his troops and his political leverage, but under his rule the duke was not as openly defiant ; on the first year of his reign, the king despite his young age had riden with half his armies as an escort to Nikolaos' fortress, and there officially confirmed him in the titles Arsenios had given him. He took advantage of the occasion to present him with gifts including two wondrous tapestries depicting the fates of Melanthius and Ganelon, and letters from his brothers who were had remained at his court as honoured guests. Nikolaos nevertheless did not ask for his approval when marrying Zoe Skleros, the granddaughter of that Theodoros Skleros who had been excluded from Zeno I's succession in favor of the younger Manuel and was later made Lord Protector of Little Serbia. Even more carelessly, when she gave him a son he started publicly remarking that the latter was from an elder branch of the Skleros family than the king himself, albeit only in female lineage.
In this war Seljuks Nikolaos was to play a considerable roles by skirting the Caspian sea with his levies and striking south to the unprotected shores of the Persian gulf. The three-month expedition through barren, wind-swept steppes, among ever-hostile locals cost many lives, including Nikolaos' own. But Bardas' assumption that the Emirates of Fars and Hormuz were largely undefended proved correct, and to save their captured families both emirs submitted and withdrew their commitments to Jamil's campaign, placing him in a very delicate situation.
The invasion of Persia
By that point, since Nikolaos' famous son Nikephoros was only three-year old, command of the expedition had fallen to Bardas' envoy, Arsenios Skleros, the natural son of his granduncle Ioannes, the archbishop of Bergslagen. At his father's death, already past his own prime and penniless, he had come to the Skleros court in Byzantion and gained the trust of the new king who appreciated his martial prowess and obedience. Few beside the king really appreciated him, because of his hideous, deformed face, with a twisted nose and a protruding jaw ; and because of his vile, ribald and vulgar character. But men feared his fierce temper and his deft sword, and he was an both a prodigious war leader and deft politician.
As I already said he enjoyed the royal favor. And Bardas contemplated to take adavantage from his prestigious victory to impose him as the king of Persia, but subjugating the independant Emirate of Kerrmanshah and ousting out the king of Mesopotamia Centle de Vergy, the last descendant of those Vergys who had threatened the Skleroi hald a century before.
This distant project, however, had to wait until the Turks were vainquished, and was further delayed in 1275 when from Spain came an alarming report : as his uncle Basileios had set sail to join the Crusade in Persia with most of his forces, the king of Zirid had mustered his forces and crossed the Gibraltar to reconquer the lands the muslims had lost in Spain since 1262.
My, it looks almost like a smart move from the AI.
But the most devasting blows the Seljuk sultanate suffered at the hands of the duke of Itil, Nikolaos Paraspondylos, the Red Bear, duke of Itil, Bulgars and Khwarizm, a man of devious character and considerable ambition. King Manuel, twenty years before, had entrusted him the citadel of Saray. Arsenios, seeing him as the least threatening count in this part of Khazaria, had given him the Ducal crowns of Itil and Khwarizm, and soon thereafter Nikolaos persuaded the feeble and deluded king to let him annex the pagan tribe of Bulgar, which, he said, was showing growing signs of independence. Under Mathias he himself grew considerably restless and querulous, dignoring certain orders, declining to pay the royal scutage and regularly claiming new honors and privileges on every occasion.
Bardas himself, to some extent, had to put up with Nikolaos' attitude, given the numbers of his troops and his political leverage, but under his rule the duke was not as openly defiant ; on the first year of his reign, the king despite his young age had riden with half his armies as an escort to Nikolaos' fortress, and there officially confirmed him in the titles Arsenios had given him. He took advantage of the occasion to present him with gifts including two wondrous tapestries depicting the fates of Melanthius and Ganelon, and letters from his brothers who were had remained at his court as honoured guests. Nikolaos nevertheless did not ask for his approval when marrying Zoe Skleros, the granddaughter of that Theodoros Skleros who had been excluded from Zeno I's succession in favor of the younger Manuel and was later made Lord Protector of Little Serbia. Even more carelessly, when she gave him a son he started publicly remarking that the latter was from an elder branch of the Skleros family than the king himself, albeit only in female lineage.
In this war Seljuks Nikolaos was to play a considerable roles by skirting the Caspian sea with his levies and striking south to the unprotected shores of the Persian gulf. The three-month expedition through barren, wind-swept steppes, among ever-hostile locals cost many lives, including Nikolaos' own. But Bardas' assumption that the Emirates of Fars and Hormuz were largely undefended proved correct, and to save their captured families both emirs submitted and withdrew their commitments to Jamil's campaign, placing him in a very delicate situation.
The invasion of Persia
By that point, since Nikolaos' famous son Nikephoros was only three-year old, command of the expedition had fallen to Bardas' envoy, Arsenios Skleros, the natural son of his granduncle Ioannes, the archbishop of Bergslagen. At his father's death, already past his own prime and penniless, he had come to the Skleros court in Byzantion and gained the trust of the new king who appreciated his martial prowess and obedience. Few beside the king really appreciated him, because of his hideous, deformed face, with a twisted nose and a protruding jaw ; and because of his vile, ribald and vulgar character. But men feared his fierce temper and his deft sword, and he was an both a prodigious war leader and deft politician.
As I already said he enjoyed the royal favor. And Bardas contemplated to take adavantage from his prestigious victory to impose him as the king of Persia, but subjugating the independant Emirate of Kerrmanshah and ousting out the king of Mesopotamia Centle de Vergy, the last descendant of those Vergys who had threatened the Skleroi hald a century before.
This distant project, however, had to wait until the Turks were vainquished, and was further delayed in 1275 when from Spain came an alarming report : as his uncle Basileios had set sail to join the Crusade in Persia with most of his forces, the king of Zirid had mustered his forces and crossed the Gibraltar to reconquer the lands the muslims had lost in Spain since 1262.
My, it looks almost like a smart move from the AI.
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As can be observed to a few changes from now on I am on DVIP. Nice...
This unforeseen development forced Bardas to sign a hasty peace treaty with the Turks and to bring all his forces back in the West, lest his spanish conquests be lost. Zirid was the last sultanate in the West and quite a formidable opponent, which had already fended off two Serbian offensives in 1262 and 1271 ; and the latter had ended with several minor catholic cities surrendered to the heathens.
Determined to prevent a third failure, and aware that the mighty andalousian citadels of Granada, Almeria and Murcia could withstand siege for months if not years, the young king opted for a strategy similar to the one which had brought the Seljuk Turks to their knees.
Basileios and his veteran troops would return to Spain in all haste and secure whichever position deemed the most defendable, so as to fix the bulk of muslim armies without wasting men in inconsiderate attacks. Meanwhile, the rest of his forces, lead by Theodoros and under the nominal command of Bardas would disembark at Tunis and march through the Atlas to strike at the sultanate's heartland. Arsenios was to stay in Hormuz with a modest force to secure the land, train new levies and garner local allies.
This plan was promptly and masterfully executed. In Tunis Bardas met his cousin William I Khoury , who had succeded Humphrey Khoury. William was the nephew of Pope Roger II, and gave Bardas full hospitality and assistance. Without waiting for the late troops, the Serbian entered during fall 1275 the mosaic of disparate sheikdoms and baronies into which a century of aborted Crusades and confuse infighting had turned the High Atlas.
Their progress was fast but Spain Basileios' 20 000 had to retreat toward Lusitania and the Aragonese cities abandoned the fight. This allowed Murtaza of Zirid to sail back to North Africa with over 60 000 men in two armies, flanking the Serbian host who had dwindled to only half of this total. As the first snows started to block the mountain passes of the Atlas both camps had to conclude an uneasy truce.
This unforeseen development forced Bardas to sign a hasty peace treaty with the Turks and to bring all his forces back in the West, lest his spanish conquests be lost. Zirid was the last sultanate in the West and quite a formidable opponent, which had already fended off two Serbian offensives in 1262 and 1271 ; and the latter had ended with several minor catholic cities surrendered to the heathens.
Determined to prevent a third failure, and aware that the mighty andalousian citadels of Granada, Almeria and Murcia could withstand siege for months if not years, the young king opted for a strategy similar to the one which had brought the Seljuk Turks to their knees.
Basileios and his veteran troops would return to Spain in all haste and secure whichever position deemed the most defendable, so as to fix the bulk of muslim armies without wasting men in inconsiderate attacks. Meanwhile, the rest of his forces, lead by Theodoros and under the nominal command of Bardas would disembark at Tunis and march through the Atlas to strike at the sultanate's heartland. Arsenios was to stay in Hormuz with a modest force to secure the land, train new levies and garner local allies.
This plan was promptly and masterfully executed. In Tunis Bardas met his cousin William I Khoury , who had succeded Humphrey Khoury. William was the nephew of Pope Roger II, and gave Bardas full hospitality and assistance. Without waiting for the late troops, the Serbian entered during fall 1275 the mosaic of disparate sheikdoms and baronies into which a century of aborted Crusades and confuse infighting had turned the High Atlas.
Their progress was fast but Spain Basileios' 20 000 had to retreat toward Lusitania and the Aragonese cities abandoned the fight. This allowed Murtaza of Zirid to sail back to North Africa with over 60 000 men in two armies, flanking the Serbian host who had dwindled to only half of this total. As the first snows started to block the mountain passes of the Atlas both camps had to conclude an uneasy truce.
today's spoiler : muslims lose
In the fall of 1277 the war resumed but this year saw little fighting. In Spain the city of Niebla fell into Basileios' hands, while Bardas was strengthening his power base in the Atlas. Recalling his brother Ioannes from his monastery in Anatolia, he gave him the Archbishopric of Alger to administer these lands.
At the same time his comportment began to alter for the worse. Never a very generous person, he showed now signs of greed and outright cruelty. He reveled in battle and pillage to such an extent that his own nobles, reminded of Prince Basileios the Black, and murmured that his lust for blood and gold bordered on madness, that the burden of royalty had been imposed on him too young for his own sake and that maybe the more gentle and level-headed Ioannes would have proved a better choice, being, after all, the elder.
The full extent was made clear in 1278, when the Serbian troops finally invaded the Zirid heartland. After more than two years of strenuous marches and punishing fights, the soldiers were eager for pillage and plunder, of which he gave them plenty. Despite their surrendering he burned and raped the towns of Hanyan and Figuig, putting both Muslims and Christians to the sword, so much that marshall Theodoros, who had been promised the two cities as a reward for his services, found himself ruling over little more than bone and ashes.
After the battle duke Zahak of Charsanion asked leave from him, saying it had been four years since he had left his lands ; his elder son, he added, had died in his absence and he had never seen the grandson that would success him. Incense at that desertion Bardas struck him in the head with a big candelstick and killed him. His anger not quenched he commanded his grandson in Charsanion to be strangled, so that indeed they would soon meet each other ; at which the duke's younger sons hid the boy and fully entered in rebellion against the throne.
The situation was kept worsening on October 1279 when the Russian and Roman Emperor, sensing the weakness of Serbia, exploited a series of border incidents to attack the Northern dukes in Khazaria.
Disregarding the report of alarming progress made by russian troops in Crimea the ling continued with accrued rashness the campaign against Zirid, now clearly outmatched but resolved to drag the war down in the moroccan moutains. Finally the 19th of september 1281 Zirid the last Ziridan fortress in Cebta fell, and the Sultan fled to Oman where he had some relatives.
Now master of the westernmost mediterranean shores, Bardas consolidated them under the new title of Mauretanian King, and bestowed him to his uncle Basileios for his heroic and steadfast behavior in the western conquests. Basileios, who had fought the whole war in mainland Spain while his nephew was in Africa, accepted the title with gratitude but declined Bardas' offer to crown him himself and instead suggested that the emperor would return to Byzantion where his command was undoubtedly sorely needed.
In the fall of 1277 the war resumed but this year saw little fighting. In Spain the city of Niebla fell into Basileios' hands, while Bardas was strengthening his power base in the Atlas. Recalling his brother Ioannes from his monastery in Anatolia, he gave him the Archbishopric of Alger to administer these lands.
At the same time his comportment began to alter for the worse. Never a very generous person, he showed now signs of greed and outright cruelty. He reveled in battle and pillage to such an extent that his own nobles, reminded of Prince Basileios the Black, and murmured that his lust for blood and gold bordered on madness, that the burden of royalty had been imposed on him too young for his own sake and that maybe the more gentle and level-headed Ioannes would have proved a better choice, being, after all, the elder.
The full extent was made clear in 1278, when the Serbian troops finally invaded the Zirid heartland. After more than two years of strenuous marches and punishing fights, the soldiers were eager for pillage and plunder, of which he gave them plenty. Despite their surrendering he burned and raped the towns of Hanyan and Figuig, putting both Muslims and Christians to the sword, so much that marshall Theodoros, who had been promised the two cities as a reward for his services, found himself ruling over little more than bone and ashes.
After the battle duke Zahak of Charsanion asked leave from him, saying it had been four years since he had left his lands ; his elder son, he added, had died in his absence and he had never seen the grandson that would success him. Incense at that desertion Bardas struck him in the head with a big candelstick and killed him. His anger not quenched he commanded his grandson in Charsanion to be strangled, so that indeed they would soon meet each other ; at which the duke's younger sons hid the boy and fully entered in rebellion against the throne.
The situation was kept worsening on October 1279 when the Russian and Roman Emperor, sensing the weakness of Serbia, exploited a series of border incidents to attack the Northern dukes in Khazaria.
Disregarding the report of alarming progress made by russian troops in Crimea the ling continued with accrued rashness the campaign against Zirid, now clearly outmatched but resolved to drag the war down in the moroccan moutains. Finally the 19th of september 1281 Zirid the last Ziridan fortress in Cebta fell, and the Sultan fled to Oman where he had some relatives.
Now master of the westernmost mediterranean shores, Bardas consolidated them under the new title of Mauretanian King, and bestowed him to his uncle Basileios for his heroic and steadfast behavior in the western conquests. Basileios, who had fought the whole war in mainland Spain while his nephew was in Africa, accepted the title with gratitude but declined Bardas' offer to crown him himself and instead suggested that the emperor would return to Byzantion where his command was undoubtedly sorely needed.
The situation he found at his return was indeed extremely serious : in his absence the russian armies had progressed virtually unchecked to the very gates of his capital, as felon vassals joined sides with the Charsanion dukes.
Such adverse odds did not, however, lead him to a fatal despair as they had emperor Otho. Seeking a diplomatic solution to this crisis he espoused the Byzantine emperor's estranged aunt Evkodia, then 29 and a mother of two. To the grandees' surprise that move met considerable success as she gradually curved his impetuous and sanguinary temper, prompting him to pardon and conciliate his rebellious dukes.
While pregnant by him she made the long journey to Kiev and persuaded her nephew to consent to an honourable peace. Later that year she gave birth to his son Eleutheros and, at his baptism, Bardas issued a blanket pardon to all who had betrayed him in the past, provided they swore allegiance to him once again.
The turn that war had taken, however, made him wary of how vulnerable his capital was. Therefore, the same year, he ordered to start a genereal overhaul of the city defenses, on the model of his uncle Basileios' fortress in Cadiz.
Eleutherios died in strange circumstances during the summer of 1284. In 1285 the duke of Athens rebelled once again ; Bardas was caught in an ambush, his chest pierced by several arrows. He drowned in the blood he had so liberally shed during his life, and was succeeded by his brother Ioannes.
Sounds like the end of a french dynasty.
Such adverse odds did not, however, lead him to a fatal despair as they had emperor Otho. Seeking a diplomatic solution to this crisis he espoused the Byzantine emperor's estranged aunt Evkodia, then 29 and a mother of two. To the grandees' surprise that move met considerable success as she gradually curved his impetuous and sanguinary temper, prompting him to pardon and conciliate his rebellious dukes.
While pregnant by him she made the long journey to Kiev and persuaded her nephew to consent to an honourable peace. Later that year she gave birth to his son Eleutheros and, at his baptism, Bardas issued a blanket pardon to all who had betrayed him in the past, provided they swore allegiance to him once again.
The turn that war had taken, however, made him wary of how vulnerable his capital was. Therefore, the same year, he ordered to start a genereal overhaul of the city defenses, on the model of his uncle Basileios' fortress in Cadiz.
Eleutherios died in strange circumstances during the summer of 1284. In 1285 the duke of Athens rebelled once again ; Bardas was caught in an ambush, his chest pierced by several arrows. He drowned in the blood he had so liberally shed during his life, and was succeeded by his brother Ioannes.
Sounds like the end of a french dynasty.
Ninth book : Ioannes I the reformer
Of all three sons of Arsenios, Ioannes was by far the most quiet and peaceful. Weak and shy as a child, he prefered books to the laughs and plays of his two brothers. From the age of 8 he spent most of his times in various monasteries, growing in erudition but estranged from the world.
During the Spanish Wars he served his brother and uncle diligently as archbishop of Algiers, commanding and administrating most of the Atlas region. His was a reputation of humility, leniency, and vast erudition. In 1284 he wrote his anagrammic and doctoral treatise Religio habens, a comprehensive study of creeds throughout Europe and Africa, according to a variety of sources.
The tome provide insight on the collapse of islam as political power, slowly followed by its collapse as an organized religion. By that time it became clear that despite episodic and local uprisings there was no longer any power able to spread the word of Mohammed on a significant scale.
Orthodoxy meanwhile had known some success in the North ; both in Lappland and Scandinavia missionaries had been spreading the true faith. As soon as 1124, while czar Romanos of Serbia had interrupted his crusading in the Middle East, the great saint Oleg had baptised the hunters and reindeer-herders of Kola, before founding a monastery at the northernmost point of Europe.
Yet the rise of Serbia had not been without consequences for orthodoxy, by extirping the old faith from much of its former extent, so much that outside of its two bastions of Armenia and Russia it was reduced to a few isolated communauties. The former kingdom, Armenia, under the rule of Theodoros I, had actually seen an increase in the numbers of Orthodox, as many of them fled persecution to the safety of Vaspurakan and Theodosiopolis. So great was the tolerance the king showed toward them that he had been rumoured for some time to be a covert convert, under the influence of his first wife Batara Mickaelian, an Armenian of ancient and prestigious lineage.
Finally, the rich merchant cities and the vast, fertile plains of Russia still followed the Rurikovich emperors, glorious and powerful heirs of the roman empire, old foes of the Skleroi and still bent on contesting the fall of the Second Rome into their hands. King Zeno's peace, long ago, had limited the rivalry between the two families to a series of limited conflicts in the region of Sarkel ; Bardas' marriage had guaranteed a lasting truce, and many, for the sake of civil concord, expected Ioannes to remarry her.
Instead, with the pope's approval, Ioannes espoused his own cousin and his former liege's daughter, a vain and spiteful woman named Zoe, whose disobediance to and quarrels with the king soon were a subject of gossip for the court. To placate her jealousy he sent his brother's widow to Chandax in Crete, a move which aggravated the tensions between Skleroi and Rurikovich. He also took a strong stance against his armenian uncle, helping the latter's enemy Louis, king of Mesopotamia against the emirate of Poland.
For all his science and zeal however he was at first little loved by his vassals, in whose eyes he lacked the pump and majesty of a true sovereign, and during the first years of his reign faced general unrest which forced him to strongly reshape the kingdom.
Of all three sons of Arsenios, Ioannes was by far the most quiet and peaceful. Weak and shy as a child, he prefered books to the laughs and plays of his two brothers. From the age of 8 he spent most of his times in various monasteries, growing in erudition but estranged from the world.
During the Spanish Wars he served his brother and uncle diligently as archbishop of Algiers, commanding and administrating most of the Atlas region. His was a reputation of humility, leniency, and vast erudition. In 1284 he wrote his anagrammic and doctoral treatise Religio habens, a comprehensive study of creeds throughout Europe and Africa, according to a variety of sources.
The tome provide insight on the collapse of islam as political power, slowly followed by its collapse as an organized religion. By that time it became clear that despite episodic and local uprisings there was no longer any power able to spread the word of Mohammed on a significant scale.
Orthodoxy meanwhile had known some success in the North ; both in Lappland and Scandinavia missionaries had been spreading the true faith. As soon as 1124, while czar Romanos of Serbia had interrupted his crusading in the Middle East, the great saint Oleg had baptised the hunters and reindeer-herders of Kola, before founding a monastery at the northernmost point of Europe.
Yet the rise of Serbia had not been without consequences for orthodoxy, by extirping the old faith from much of its former extent, so much that outside of its two bastions of Armenia and Russia it was reduced to a few isolated communauties. The former kingdom, Armenia, under the rule of Theodoros I, had actually seen an increase in the numbers of Orthodox, as many of them fled persecution to the safety of Vaspurakan and Theodosiopolis. So great was the tolerance the king showed toward them that he had been rumoured for some time to be a covert convert, under the influence of his first wife Batara Mickaelian, an Armenian of ancient and prestigious lineage.
Finally, the rich merchant cities and the vast, fertile plains of Russia still followed the Rurikovich emperors, glorious and powerful heirs of the roman empire, old foes of the Skleroi and still bent on contesting the fall of the Second Rome into their hands. King Zeno's peace, long ago, had limited the rivalry between the two families to a series of limited conflicts in the region of Sarkel ; Bardas' marriage had guaranteed a lasting truce, and many, for the sake of civil concord, expected Ioannes to remarry her.
Instead, with the pope's approval, Ioannes espoused his own cousin and his former liege's daughter, a vain and spiteful woman named Zoe, whose disobediance to and quarrels with the king soon were a subject of gossip for the court. To placate her jealousy he sent his brother's widow to Chandax in Crete, a move which aggravated the tensions between Skleroi and Rurikovich. He also took a strong stance against his armenian uncle, helping the latter's enemy Louis, king of Mesopotamia against the emirate of Poland.
For all his science and zeal however he was at first little loved by his vassals, in whose eyes he lacked the pump and majesty of a true sovereign, and during the first years of his reign faced general unrest which forced him to strongly reshape the kingdom.