The de Lusignan Dream - Cyprus 1337

Outremer itself a French term that simply means "over seas". The word alone demonstrates how Europe once looked at the lands visited by crusaders in 1099. They were simply somewhere else, an almost fantasy land in which Christian ideals took physical form in the struggle against both the harsh Saracens and even harsher landscape. Christendom would watch enthralled as some of the great dramas of the age were played out and towering actors such as Godfrey of Bouillon, Richard the Lionheart and Guy de Lusignan made their mark on the region.

But there are few processes that work solely one way. Just as Europe influenced events across the sea then so too did Outremer affect the affairs of Europe. As the map of the Levant was once again redrawn in the 14th century it permanently ended the Muslim threat to the West. At the same time the success of the crusades would bolster a militant Church still seeking to exert its influence and temporal powers over a reluctant Christendom.

Naturally however it was within the lands surrounding the Eastern Mediterranean the rise of Cyprus had the greatest impact. The fluid borders of medieval Outremer would be changed irrevocably in the space of a few short decades. For some this would bring opportunity, for others despair.


Armenia Minor

The rise of Cyprus in 1339 was mirrored by the fall of Armenia Minor to the armies of Eretnid in the same year. It was almost two decades later before its restoration as a duchy under Cyprus, and later Jerusalem. Efforts by various Armenian lords to remove themselves from the rule of Franks would continue for decades and take on an increasingly nationalist tone. It would take the disruption caused by the War of Two Crowns for these dreams to be finally realised. While never matching the power or influence of previous incarnations of the Kingdom of Armenia, the Armenians would nonetheless play an important role in Outremer politics for centuries to come. In particular clashes with the Turks that had settled throughout the other regions of historical Armenia would continue unabated and eventually escalate into genocide in the early years of the 20th century.

Baghdad

As one of two Muslim Emirate to survive the tumultuous decades, the other being Medina, Baghdad remained largely unaffected by the advances of either the Franks or Mongols. With the spectacular collapse of the Mamluk Sultanate Baghdad would once again be the centre of the Arab world… and its last bastion of power. Caught between the twin powers of Jerusalem and Il-Khanat the Emirate would survive uneasily until the eruption of civil war amongst the Mongols. The chaos that erupted throughout the Persia effectively destroyed trade in the region when the Emirs in Baghdad needed its income more than ever. With the trade routes migrating north the city and its lands slowly lost their importance and began to stagnate. Centuries later a backwater Baghdad would prove an easy target for the next wave of European imperialism.

Byzantium

Both Ioannes and Heraklios Palaiologos would join that select group of "Few Good Emperors" that dotted the downward trajectory of the Roman Empire. Under Palaiologos leadership the Empire's territorial shrinkage was arrested but, like past Emperors, the underlying problems facing the Empire remained untouched. The decrepit and decaying Imperial structures would be incapable of dealing with the rising Balkan powers of Serbia and Bulgaria or its own vassals. The early death of an heirless Heraklios in a hunting accident in 1392 would precipitate the final civil war as the various Princes scrambled for power. By the time the Bulgarian army led by Ivan Sratzimir entered Constantinople in 1453 the title of Emperor of the Romans existed solely on paper. The later centuries would see intermittent warfare between the various Aegean states until the emergence of a unified Greek state, comprising lands in Greece and Western Anatolia, following Napoleon's 1809 campaign in the region.


Cyprus

Victory was not kind to Cyprus. The original campaign in Anatolia had been designed to safeguard the island's economic health. The success of Guy de Lusignan in re-establishing Christian rule on mainland Levant would do what the Turkish pirates never could have in destroying the island's economy. The reopening of ports in Acre, Tyre and Jaffa rendered Cyprus' strategic position obsolete and precipitated the mass migration of merchants and trading houses to the kingdom to the east. The War of Two Crowns saw the island's descent into an economic and political backwater complete as it was stripped of its kingdom status and relegated to a mere province within the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Egypt

Despite the collapse of the Plantagenet empire in 1385, less than a decade after it had reached its peak with the addition of the French crown, English rule would continue in Egypt well into the 16th century. Ultimately it would be Henry VIII's formation of a Church of England that would lead to conflict. The distances from Westminster had bred a powerful and independent minded class of nobles who took offence to Henry's crude attempts to use the Patriarch of Alexandria to further his divorce from Rome. With Jerusalem's aid a new King of Egypt was elected in 1537. There was little that Henry could do but watch.

Il-Khanat

The devastating march of the Il-Khanat armies across both the Near East and Europe would shape the European world on a scale not seen since the fall of Rome. At its peak in 1375 the Khan controlled a vast expanse of land stretching from Persia to Lyon in France. As the Golden Horde slowly folded under Russian and Lithuanian pressure, the Holy Roman Empire disintegrated at the appearance of the Il-Khanat armies. After finally being halted at the Battle of Lyon in 1375, the Mongol advance would slowly be rolled back in a two decade campaign that would largely define the end of the 14th century.


In the face of their first military setbacks in decades it was the turn of the Il-Khanat leadership to splinter and fragment. The process had already begun when Abagha of Esfahan eschewed tradition by dividing his lands amongst his two sons, Yakut and Tolun, on his death. The divisions would erupt into open warfare in1394 as dissatisfaction with Yakut's prosecution of the war in the West reached explosive levels. The resulting war would devastate vast tracts of Persia and the Near East and would ultimately result in the complete destruction of the unified Mongol horde. A century later all that remained of the mighty Khanate were over a dozen petty warlords warring with each other throughout Persia.

Mamluk Sultanate

The disintegration of the Mamluk Sultanate was one of the most significant processes in Near East history. Without the chronic instability within the Mamluk ranks it is doubtful as to whether the de Lusignans could ever have taken, much less hold, Jerusalem. The final campaign of 1368 destroyed the final bastion of Mamluk power and the last Sultan would die six years later in a small fishing village on the Libyan coast. Nothing would remain of the Mamluk's once dominant empire.

Religious Orders

Despite Guy de Lusignan's chequered history with the Orders both the Knights Hospitaller and Knights Templar would retain their holdings in the Levant. Neither would be permitted to amass the wealth or status that they once commanded however and without the Muslim threat their purpose slowly faded. In the absence of a frontier to police and guard both would eventually be reduced to elements of the Jerusalem honours system. The concept of military orders, and that of the holy warrior itself, was an anachronism that had no place in the new stable and secure society the de Lusignans would build around Jerusalem.

I've just resized some of the above pics to add to the update's readability. Just so you know tomorrow's update, covering the next few centuries of Jerusalem's history, will be the last.

As always a very big thank you for the comments and feedback. These Epilogue updates have been very enjoyable to write. A few specific comments:

Fnuco: That idea did cross my mind when I was writing these. Its something that I'd like to do sometime but will depend a lot on the modability of the EUIII engine. Certainly its something that I won't attempt for a few months.

RGB: Well that's CK for you and, despite my best efforts, Guy's kingdom is indeed a bit "blobby". All the same I'd recommend the scenario to anyone looking for a challenge. Establishing a foothold in Anatolia was difficult and I confess that I was very lucky that the game did not end in 1341.

Vincent Julien: I wasn't aware that Colin Farrell was a fan

Anyways, here's where it ends. Hopefully you'll enjoy this last update. I'd love some feedback and pointers on how the AAR as a whole went and any advice is always welcome. I'll stick an index on the first page as well just to make it easier to navigate.

On the death of Guy de Lusignan on 27 November 1380 the lordship of the impressive realm that he had built was passed on to his eldest son, Hugues de Lusignan. The Duke of Cyprus, who would become Hugues V, immediately travelled to the mainland where he was crowned as King of Jerusalem on the 13th December 1380. In the coming months he would also travel to Fagamusta and Palmyra to receive the crowns of Cyprus and Syria respectively. This would mark the final transformation of the de Lusignan realm into the fully restored Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Hugues had long been regarded as a capable military commander. Like his father before him he had served as the Marshal of Cyprus before being granted his own lands following the successful campaign against Eretnid in 1356. Despite his martial background Hugues enjoyed a far more peaceful reign than his predecessor. Military campaigns were largely limited to small-scale interventions as chaos enveloped both Byzantium and the Il-Khanat. Without the distraction of constant campaigning Hugues was free to focus on securing the political and legal foundations of the kingdom. In this regard Hugues' reign was very much a consolidating regime, albeit a highly successful and productive one. Successive kings would follow in the same vein.

Above all kings of Jerusalem hung the knowledge of what had occurred to the Old Kingdom. With an absence of external threats the focus of successive rulers would be on discouraging the development of a cripplingly myopic and feuding nobility that had doomed the previous kingdom. The structures and laws laid down by Guy and his son would be stringently enforced and the dominance of the Crown above questioning. This strong bureaucratic state would alienate many of the lords and peoples who lived within its borders, yet the Crown would remain strong enough to quell any voices of discontent. It was only when the de Lusignans themselves were weakened that the troubles began.


The War of Two Crowns, as it would become known, would mark the end of Jerusalem's "golden age". The personal ambitions of Philippe de Lusignan, Prince of Cyprus, coupled with growing dissatisfaction amongst the aristocracy at autocratic rule from Jerusalem, would lead to disaster. Urged on by the trading houses of Venice and Genoa, who sensed an opportunity to regain their former status in the Eastern Mediterranean, Philippe, nephew to the King and fifth in line of succession, declared himself to be King of Cyprus on 14 October 1664. His cause found widespread support amongst the nobility and the incumbent King Henri II was even forced to endure a brief siege within his citadel in Jerusalem.

Over the course of the next six years armies would once again crisscross the Levant plains. Eventually Henri de Lusignan, drawing from his large personal demesne and relying on the support of Egypt, would emerge successful in defending his realm by forcing his nephew's armies to retreat to their stronghold of Cyprus. It would be a further decade before the Jerusalemite navy could wrest command of the waves away from the Cypriots and Italians and finally put an end to the pretender King of Cyprus.


Despite ultimately failing, the upstart young Philippe de Lusignan would change Outremer to a degree not seen since the days of Guy de Lusignan. The Jerusalem holdings in Anatolia were largely liquidated as Henri promised the Armenians independence in exchange for support. The warfare in Anatolia would continue for the next several years as he attempted to renegade on this promise. In Cyprus the reprisals were harsh as, aside from being stripped of its kingdom status, the province was subjected to a reign of terror designed to permanently subjugate it - economically, politically and culturally. It was an ignominious end to the kingdom where the de Lusignan resurgence had begun.

While victorious in battle Henri would be forced to accept limits in his power as both the bourgeoisie and the clergy demanded a price for their support. The passing of the bureaucracy from royal hands would mark a new phase of Jerusalem's long history as the first stirrings of the modern nationstate began to become noticeable. As for Philippe, he was executed for treason before the Tower of David on 14th February 1671.

The War of Two Crowns, and its resultant reforms, would have profound effects on Jerusalem's relation with Europe but would not have an impact across the Mediterranean. Ironically this can be attributed to the very success of the crusades themselves. In the centuries following Guy's last crusade the Frankish Levant would no longer appear quite so mysterious to its European pilgrims and visitors. The medieval religious notion of Jerusalem as centre of the world, a concept that had inspired generations of crusaders, would fade with time. In the coming centuries Jerusalem would be increasingly perceived as an outpost on the edge of Europe; close enough to be familiar and lose its mystique, yet too far removed to influence or contribute to the great events on the continent that would shape the future of both Europe and the world.

Again many thanks to all for the constant comments and interest. It was an enjoyable experience writing up Guy's struggles and I've learned quite a bit from it. If I had to do it again I'd do things differently perhaps but once you enjoyed reading it...

Kapi (yes): Well I had to channel my "creative urges" somewhere

coz1: This certainly won't be the last AAR from me. I'm eager to try out as many styles of writing as possible. I'm currently running a rather enjoyable game of CK that might make for interesting reading. We'll see how things go over the next few weeks.