Roman 'Round the Med

Europe, 1194

Part the Eleventh, in which a Storm gathers

One day in April, 1195, during the siege of Judea, Emperor Isaac II Angelus went hunting. While he was away from camp, his older brother, Alexius, plotted with the army, and when Isaac returned, he was seized, blinded, and sent to a comfortable retirement prison in Constantinople. Without further ado, Alexius had himself crowned as Alexius III. Isaac's son, also named Alexius, fled to the Franks, where he plotted the overthrow of his uncle.

Meanwhile, seeing the weakness of the Crusader states during their war with the Empire, the Abbasid Caliph, supported by Fars, declared war against the Duchy of Antioch, with the Seljuk Empire joining them in July. In October 1196, with Jordan under occupation and unable to send a relief force through Roman territory, the Duchy accepted the inevitable and ceded Jordan to the Caliphate.

In May 1197 I met with the new Emperor. "Five years ago the Emperor Our brother made a pledge. Remind Us of what that pledge was." "Sire, Isaac pledged to conquer Syria." "We are much pleased that We have accomplished this task. It is Our will that Pinsk-Turov agree to become Our vassals within the next five years." "But You Majesty, we share no common borders with Pinsk-Turov. And do you really wish to become involved in the petty quarrels of the princes of the Rus? Is not the greatest threat and opportunity to the west, not the north?" "Still, this is Our will. Let it be so recorded."

In May of 1200, the first seeds planted by the exiled Alexius bore fruit, as the King of the Germans and so-called Holy Roman Emperor, Philip of Swabia, declared war, supported by his allies Mainz, Magdeburg, Luxemburg and Sweden. Serbia eagerly rallied to the Roman cause, as did Wallachia after some persuasion. Georgia decided to go their own way, allying with their Alan vassals. The storm was breaking.

Part the Elenventh, in which there is War on many fronts

After initial skirmishes with the Germans in Carpathia, Ruthenia and Galizien, war spread in January of 1201, as Venice declared war on Dalmatia, who were supported by Croatia, Hungary and Sicily, and the King of Jerusalem declared war on the Empire, with Antioch, Este and Provence supporting Jerusalem, and Wallachia and Serbia supporting the Roman realm. This war must not have been popular in Este, for the government fell in February. In March word came that the Abbasid Caliph, supported by Fars, made their bid for a piece of the Roman pie. This time Serbia willingly support us, but Wallachia needed some persuasion. Not to be left out, in August Styria declared war on Venice. After numerous indecisive skirmishes in central Europe and northern Italy, the German king agreed to a return to status quo ante, as did Provence after the Provencal province of Mantua was captured.

In February 1202, after the Roman capture of the Provencal province of Mantua, Provence agreed to In March of 1202, the Duchy of Antioch was annexed by Serbia. Apparently feeling that he wasn't involved in enough wars already, the doge of Venice joined King of Jerusalem in his war on the Romans in April.

In July of 1202, I was summoned to meet the Emperor in the Palace gardens, on which Alexius had lavished much of the treasury. "We are not pleased that Pinsk-Turov is not Our vassal." "Sire, things have been a little hectic lately, what with all the new recruits we've had to raise and equip. I'm afraid that dealing with minor Rus princelings has been a little under the horizon for us." "Nonetheless, We are not pleased. It is Our will that within five years that Bosnia shall be added to Our Empire." "Sire, Bosnia belongs to our ally Serbia. Are we not involved in enough wars already without turning on our allies?" "Nonetheless, that is Our will. Let it be so recorded."

In August 1202, the Seljuk Empire weighed in on the side of the Caliph and Fars. In January of 1203, gathering like jackals against a lion, Blois-Champaigne, Flanders (with Gotland), and Sicily (with Croatia, Dalmatia, and Hungary) declared a crusade against the Romans, while the Caliph, faced with a siege of Baghdad, accepted a return to status quo ante. In February Milan joined in the war on the side of the Flemish alliance, while in March Salzburg joined Styria in the war against the Venetians. In May Austria went to war against Styria (supported by Salzburg) while the Empire surrendered the unfortified and lightly populated provinces of Ruthenia and Moldova to Hungary for peace.

In July 1203, fearing a return to the rule of the Sicilian king, the people of Messina converted to the true faith of Orthodoxy; for naught, for the Italian legion was decimated in their attempts to break the siege, and the city would fall to the Sicilians in February of 1205. The remnants of the legion would hold out in Apulia awaiting reinforcements, while Romagna (captured September 1203) and Marche (captured July 1204) groaned under the Venetian yoke, and a mob of Papist rebels took control of the ancient city of Rome in April 1204.

In August 1203, Alexius, son of the deposed Emperor Isaac II, snuck into the City on a Genoan merchant vessel. Gathering the support of the Palace Guard, dissatisfied with Alexius III's dissolute rule during the time of war, he exiled his uncle, freed his blind father from the prison, and proclaimed himself co-emperor with his father, ruling as Alexius III. The Guard's support proved fickle, for Isaac and Alexius were dethroned the next January and replaced by the Guard commander, who ruled as Alexius V Dukas, called Murtzuflos for his bushy eyebrows. He only lasted until April, when the city mob, unhappy with the privations of the war, caught and killed him, leaving no clear successor.

Europe, 1205

Machiavellian said:

It looks like the Roman Empire is beginning to take a bit of a battering as the smaller nations of the world join in crusade against its warmongering quest for greater Empire.

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The Empire is taking a bit of a battering, but when asked if he was a warmonger by a reporter from the Constantinople Acta Dia, the Emperor quoted as saying, "We are not a warmonger. We are merely rescuing Our rightful subjects from usurpers, rebels, and other miscreants."

stnylan said:

Still, sounds if you're managing to keep your head about water so far.

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Yup. The overthrow of Alexius V Dukas was the low point. That would be an excellent place to throw in a civil war if the Empire is over a certain largish size (if a civil war can be caused by event, else raise revolt risk really high for a couple years), which probably means that there is a human player in charge.

Part the Twelfth, in which Jackals learn to fear the Lion

Despite the unsettled condition of the capital, the military situation started to stabilize. In September 1204, Styria and Salzburg, doing poorly in their war against Austria, agreed to an armistice with the Doge on the basis of the status quo ante. Austria annexed Styria in October 1204, and Salzburg in October 1205.

In December 1204, Croatia sued the Empire for peace, turning over their treasury and ceding the province of Croatia to Serbia, retaining only their capital of Krain. The commander of the army in Krain who accepted the Croatian's surrender was Theodorus Lascaris, who was hailed by his troops as Emperor and assumed the purple as Theodorus I.

Relations with Blois-Champagne returned to status quo ante in February 1206, while Dalmatia sued for peace the same month, surrendering their treasury and the province of Istria to the Empire. The cities subject to the King of Jerusalem were falling to Imperial arms one by one.

Not everything was going well, of course. The Serbian province of Aleppo fell to a combined crusader force of Dutch, Flemings and Venetians in March 1206. But this was becoming more and more of an isolated case, as Romagna was recaptured in May 1206, followed by Marche in June. Things were not looking well for the Doge, as Venice itself fell to a siege from a combined force of Wallachians, Serbs and Hungarians in September 1206, forcing Pietro Ziani to abdicate in favor of a Hungarian governor.

In August 1207 I met with Emperor Theodorus, who was on his way to Rome to remove the Papist rebels from their stronghold in the Lateran palace. "Five years ago, Our Imperial predecessor, Alexius III, made a pledge. Remind Us, what was that pledge?" "To conquer Bosnia, Sire." "We have been rather busy lately, and may not have noticed. Has Bosnia been added to Our realm?" "It has not, your Majesty." "We are not pleased. It is Our will that Pinsk-Turov acknowledge Us as their overlord within the next five years." "Sire, are there not better candidates for vassalage closer to home? Say, Serbia or Wallachia?" "Perhaps, but that is Our will. Let it be so recorded." (The rebels in Rome surrendered the next month.)

In June 1208, Serbia recaptured Aleppo from its Dutch occupiers. In August, Messina was recaptured from the Sicilians. On the down side, the fortress in the isolated province of Galizien was turned over to nationalist rebels by its mutinous garrison in September. With no way to send a relief force, the Emperor left it to its own devices.

In May 1209, after a lengthy siege, the Duke of Milan surrendered his palace to an Imperial governor. Georgia joined the King of Jerusalem in his war against the Empire in July 1210, but maneuvering around the main Georgian army en route to Syria, an Imperial army lay siege to the Georgian capital, inducing them to agree to a return to status quo ante in March 1211.

In August 1210 Sicily surrendered Malta to an Imperial governor and bowed to the Emperor as his liege lord. If the crusaders were jackals, the Empire was a lion, and the jackals had learned that the lion, though old, still had sharp claws. While not yet at peace, internal dissent posed a greater threat than any external enemy.