Rome AARisen - a Byzantine AAR

[canonized]

An excellent chapter ! Manuel and his strumpet are a pair made for each other .

[VILenin]

I think Manuel has replaced cuckold with an adder. Basileia is far too scheming and clever for anyone's good, especially Manuel's. Considering the nature of his own rise to poser he should've known better. I suppose a pleasing package covers many an ill content, however. In time Manuel will reap what he's sown.

As for the upcoming invasion of Italy, the tip-off about the German ambassadors might have been a bluff but when byzantine boots hit the ground on the peninsula I wouldn't be surprised to see some sort of Catholic league spring up to oppose them. After all, Sicily and the HRE both maintain claims to the region. Not to mention those who just don't like the Byzantines.

[RGB]

You know, he should really know better than let the ambitious ones get what they want.

Unless you know, things were to happen to them as well if they lost their due reverence.

----

Nobody in the Byzantine party had a clue as to who the ambassadors were? A stunning failure of intelligence...

[Sled Dog]

I think Manuel has replaced cuckold with an adder. Basileia is far too scheming and clever for anyone's good, especially Manuel's. Considering the nature of his own rise to poser he should've known better. I suppose a pleasing package covers many an ill content, however. In time Manuel will reap what he's sown.

I really was hoping that Basileia was counting her chickens before the eggs were even laid. After all poison is king and all that and a knife cuts both ways (and a bunch of other cliches). But I suppose that Manuel is too besotted to do what he ought to, or even recognize that he ought to do be rid of his wife and his paramour.

[Enewald]

This story is huuuuuuuge! It took my only 2 days to read it through, but that included way too many hours...

This aar is the best one I have read during my short membership on paradox forums!

Btw, have any new citizens of Romanoi accepted greek language?

[Nikolai]

I really was hoping that Basileia was counting her chickens before the eggs were even laid. After all poison is king and all that and a knife cuts both ways (and a bunch of other cliches). But I suppose that Manuel is too besotted to do what he ought to, or even recognize that he ought to do be rid of his wife and his paramour.

Reminds me of one of the early Roman emperors, who IIRC correctly got poisoned by his wife.

[General_BT]

Happy 20,000 views everyone!

I had been hoping to have a full-fledged update done today, but I've become ill. So sadly the full update will have to be delayed until I can get out of my tight bundling of all the blankets in the apartment. However, there is something for you all at the end of this, after I do some replies:

Chief Ragusap - Okay, that was funny!

Cyreidel - That was one compelling reason to get rid of Yeva - Manuel had only one son by her, and he was a cripple, and would have likely been prey for the dynatoi and other Komnenids. Add to that Manuel is actually attracted to Basiliea, and suddenly the bargain is complete.

Mettermrck - Oh, she's full of trouble. The big question now is - who is she working for? Is she still working to get her father crowned, or has she begun working for herself?

canonized - Oh, they're certainly a match made in heaven - whichever heaven they're bound for, that is.

VILenin - That's an excellent analogy. I might have to use that quote at some point later on. As for the Catholic response to the Byzantine invasion - see the following map.

RGB - Indeed it was. Its a sign that while some people think they're running the bureaucracy fine, glaring weaknesses are beginning to show - holes that might bite them soon enough.

Sled Dog - Welcome to the AAR! Basiliea is counting on Manuel remaining besotted until she proves her worth, ie. by having a healthy son for him. Whether he remains besotted that long is up for grabs - he has just somewhat of a roving eye.

Enewald - Welcome to the story as well! I've had places like Palestine and Egypt long enough in game by this point that some of the culture changing events have fired. Alexandria, Palmyra, Damascus, and Acre, I believe, have all changed to Greek culture. What's interesting is that both Acre and Alexandria at this point are still Muslim...

Nikolai - There were rumors of several that fell at the hands of their wife - the most famous I can think of would be Claudius.


As I promised, there's a teaser here at the end - a visual one.

Does that brown arrow mean that Latin Europe is marching to the aid of the Pope? Or does Manuel have on last thing up his sleeve to persuade the Western Emperor, who already has squabbled with the Pope repeatedly, to move on Rome and split Italy between them?

[canonized]

Happy 20,000 ! Can't wait to see what happens next . A tense preview XD

[Mettermrck]

I think the arrow means something up his sleeve...

[jeffg006]

Oh my, the legions march while the Western Emperor comes from the north - who knows what omens these events doth portend?!
I am truly at the edge of my seat. Will this be the final tear in Christendom, or the partition that seals an agreement for the future?

This gamble for Italy is risky business for Manuel, but the possible rewards are extraordinary...!

Hm!

[Enewald]

After Italy to Hispania? Or Northern Africa? Normans won't realize what hit them before the peace is made....

Uhuuu, is a update coming this week....?

[Estonianzulu]

You people, with your pretty maps, makes me so jealous

And I wonder, the Emperor marching south through Rome, will he make a pit-stop to 'visit' the Pope, or is he going to try and end this struggle between East and West once and for all? Both sides have 32,000 troops coming to fight, but the Germans will likely have support from the Pope and the Kingdom of Siciliy, if only long enough to drive the Byzantines out.

[VILenin]

Hmm, tough call, but I'm leaning towards an army marching against the Byzantines. Nikolaios had fairly warm relations with the HRE because of his mother but there seems to have been no real communication between empires of late. Combine that with the resurgence of the Roman Empire and it's alarming increase of land/power and I think the Romaioi will find themselves without allies for this campaign. Sure, there are tensions between HRE and the Papacy but I see it more as an oppertunity for the King of the Romans to extort concessions from the Pope.

VILenin - That's an excellent analogy. I might have to use that quote at some point later on. As for the Catholic response to the Byzantine invasion - see the following map.

Which one? That post of mine was packed with cliched metaphors.

[General_BT]

Well, this week has been an interesting week, to say the least. Monday night I had the chills - I wrapped up in some blankets and didn't think much of it. By 3 AM that morning I was running a 102 fever, then it went away. I thought perhaps my body had brushed off a short flu bug or something.

Wrong.

Wednesday morning I had a high fever. We aren't sure how high, but it was high enough I was hallucinating - seeing things moving on the walls and such. My boyfriend finally got a temp reading as it was going down that said 103.6, it was likely above 104 prior to that. Officially what I have/had (fever's gone down, thank goodness) is the flu. I've never heard of the flu causing a fever like that.

So this week's update has been truncated in a way. What is below is what was intended to be only the first half. I'm going to try to finish the second half when I can, barring any other flareups of my "flu" (the doctors say by this weekend it should be gone. I hope they're right). For now though, enjoy what comes below. Hopefully the next part will be up this weekend!

February 8th, 1147

Archbishop Guiseppe Rimini, nuncio and Legate to His Holiness Pope Innocent II, tried his best not to stumble in the sloshed mud of the massive Imperial encampments in the Po Valley. Italy was far enough south that winters usually brought cold, steady rain instead of snow – a fact that made Rimini’s dismounting from the infernal wagon he had traveled in all the more difficult.

Emperor Hermann had only last year finished subjugating the unruly cities of northern Italy, and even now he had a mighty host, over 30,000 strong according to stories, camped on the plains of the Po. Rimini’s hope was that he could persuade the Emperor to take that host south. The Cumans needed time to ready – three years, they said, preferably four. Even an additional healthy sum of gold had not been able to lower this time threshold. The horse lords had to consult with the chiefs and their clans. Weapons had to be prepared. Calls for allies even further east would be made.

Yet Manuel had already landed. In force.

The fall of Taranto, which took place December 9th 1146

In August of 1146 the Romanoi had not invaded at one point, en masse, like Rimini, or even the Normans, had expected. Manuel had executed a brilliant, if complicated coordinated assault – five different invasions, striking all parts of the Norman Kingdom simultaneously. The Normans, predictably, had been overwhelmed – the sheer number of points of attack made Duke Tancred flee his lands in Campania, taking the increasingly ill Bohemond with him. Tancred’s son was slain in the defense of Taranto, and even now Rimini was expecting letters to arrive from Rome detailing the city’s fall. Duke William of Apulia was killed in a skirmish with troops under the command of Demetrios Komnenos, who was living up to the ferocity of his namesake. Now Apulia, largest and most important of the Norman duchies, was in the hands of William’s 13 year old son, Robert.

The Normans were in chaos. Their armies were retreating, pell-mell, to Benevento. Which is why the Western Emperor, and his large, battle-hardened army, were so vital – it literally represented the only significant force that could stop the Eastern invasion cold, and drive them back from whence they came.

Yet such an arrangement would prove – difficult to make. In 1054 Emperor Henry IV was forced to grovel before the Pope at Canossa to make amends for his transgressions against Papal authority, and recognize the Papacy was the supreme spiritual authority within the kingdom – supreme enough that it had the right to appoint bishops to vast landholdings and immense wealth outside of royal review or control. The point had been a sore one for all succeeding Emperors, and Rimini had no doubt the continued hard feelings would be a fly in the eye of negotiations this day.

To make matters worse, His Holiness had made clear he did not want the Greeks to know he had sent an envoy to the Germans, lest they gain ideas of their own. Hence Rimini slipping out of Rome, hidden beneath the hay of a grain wagon. The trip was entirely unpleasant from all possible senses, long, bumpy, and filled with bad food and even worse company. The two ‘drivers’ of the wagon in fact were paid members of the small Papal army, but Rimini found their company low-brow and even uncouth.

“Greetings, Archbishop!” a great booming voice greeted Rimini’s ears, and the archbishop saw for the first time that all the stories about Emperor Hermann were true. Standing before the silk and gold tent that bore the Arpad imperial standard was a giant of a man, easily almost six and a half feet tall. Like a figure out of pagan legend he wore a massive red mane of a beard, and piercing grey eyes. Rimini could easily imagine the man wielding a Saxon axe one handed with ease – an image that utterly frightened the priest.

Some of the soldiers of Hermann’s imperial army

“Your Majesty,” Rimini bowed politely, and the two exchanged the Kiss of Peace.

“How was your trip?” the Emperor asked as teamsters led the wagon that was Rimini’s bane away from them.

“I have endured far better,” Rimini said wryly, which provoked a great, rumbling imperial laugh.

“I can imagine. Come, have a look at this,” Hermann led the priest towards a position beside the Imperial tent where the entire Po Valley, it seemed, was visible. As far as Rimini could see in the thin early morning haze, there were tents, and soldiers.

“It’s a splendid force, don’t you think, Excellency?” the King of the Romans said with obvious pride. Rimini shivered as he looked out into the sea of perfectly arrayed tents, the knights in their gleaming mail, the sergeants with their spears pointed brazenly at the sky. “They’ve fought well for me, those boys,” Hermann laughed. With a man that large, the laugh sounded like a thunderclap. “They’ve earned a rest!”

“An excellent army,” Rimini agreed. “You have conquered many lords and rulers of this earth, Majesty. The time is ripe for you to do the work of God, and protect the Holy City from those who threaten her. Give these men a chance to do something holy, that will be recorded for all time!” It was a bold statement, to basically tell Hermann what he should do, but Rimini hoped it would put the Emperor off – make him think the Papacy had some alternative, some backup, something that didn’t make their desperate situation appear so desperate.

“Indeed,” Hermann smiled, and Rimini realized immediately the Arpad ruler had seen through the ruse. “But my men are tired, Excellency. We’ve campaigned hard all across northern Italy for the past year.”

Rimini looked out across at the force arrayed. Even his non-military eyes knew the Emperor spoke a brazen lie. So Hermann wanted concessions. The Holy Father, through Rimini, was prepared to negotiate.

“What is your opinion of the Eastern Emperor? Have you met the man?” Hermann asked. The tall man waved his attendants aside and gestured towards his tent.

Rimini entered the tent of silk and cloth. Its interior was sumptuously appointed, though immediately Rimini recognized the work of the fabric design as being Milanese – another spoil of war. Apparently Hermann was making a point – in a somewhat overbearing manner.

“No, I haven’t, I only have what others say and his reputation by which to judge him,” Rimini said simply. Hermann lumbered in behind him, and motioned for the priest to sit down – an act Rimini did gladly after such a long and painful journey.

“Pity,” Hermann said quietly, still standing. “I met him once – back when my father’s cousin Nikolaios was Emperor.”

“Really? What do you remember?” Rimini asked, intensely curious. Another perspective on Manuel could shine more light on his motivations, what made him tick, something important to deducing what his next move would be.

“He had very cold, very distant eyes,” Hermann said quietly. “He was very polite, spoke a smattering of vernacular German, if you would believe it, but was flawless in Latin. An accomplished swordsman, though he never seemed to like to wield the blade. And he had his nose perennially stuck in an old book from Mitratoncus or someone,” Hermann waved off the name, as if he could banish it for not coming into his mind.

“That would fit in line with the behaviors I have heard about him as an adult,” Rimini said. “He is very ruthless, shrewd, and loves schemes rather than battle. Some in his own family have called him heartless to my ears.”

“Oh really? That stands in contrast to what I’ve heard,” the King of the Romans said fetching two cups for wine. “They say he dotes over his new wife, and before he left, she gave birth to a son some say will be his heir. Appropriately named child too.”

“Oh?”

“Basilieos,” Hermann said with a wry smile. “You cannot have a more imperial name for an emperor than ‘Emperor.’”

Rimini permitted himself a small grin. “Of course.”

“But enough about that, Father. Let’s talk about why you are here, visiting me, in the north of Italy, instead of Rome, at His Holiness’ side. I assume you need me because the Cumans need time to prepare?” Hermann said simply, pouring a goblet of wine for Rimini.

“How did you know?” Rimini asked. Immediately the bishop’s mind started running through names, faces, people who might have seen the Cuman ambassadors and told Hermann, and who might have seen and run to the Romanoi…

“I didn’t, until you just confirmed it for me,” Hermann smiled, handing the goblet to the bishop. “It was merely a guess on my part. A conversation between His Holiness and the Turk would be impossible, if only because the Turk are in chaos, as always. You are seeking my help, here and now, so that leaves the Cumans as the only other major power on the Romanoi border.”

“We could have asked the Ethiopians,” Rimini said sourly. He’d been outmaneuvered by a giant German brute, and it stung. The bishop took a sip from his cup and fought hard not to spit it out. The wine was clearly from Germany, and akin to putrid water.

Hermann hid a sputter of laughter. “The wine disagrees with you as much as the Ethiopians would have!” The Emperor took a long draught from his own cup, then tossed it aside. “Now, let us be frank, Father. You need my help, and I want yours. We can help each other!”

“Blackmailing the papacy?” Rimini asked darkly.

“Oh, come come! This isn’t blackmail!” The Emperor kicked a stool to just across from Rimini, and collapsed into it. “Think of it, as new friends helping each other with old problems.”

“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” Rimini said harshly. He was boxed in, and he knew it.

“That may be, but my men are tired,” Hermann gestured towards the tent flap. “They’re weak. By all rights of Christian charity I should march them back over the Alps to hearth and home…”

“What do you want?” Rimini sighed. ‘If you wish to be frank, be frank.”

“The Western Empire has continually had problems with the nobility, especially the great dukes, shirking their responsibilities to the Emperor, or even becoming outright rebellious. I would like a papal bull excommunicating seven of the worst offenders, to set an example for the rest as to how God expects them to ‘render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.’”

Rimini looked down in defeat. “Done.”

“I want a papal bull confirming that His Holiness firmly believes that my eldest son Arnulf should be the next Emperor.”

“Done.”

“Some bishops have proven cantankerous and ill-suited to be shepherds of Christ’s flock. I want the power to appoint and dismiss bishops as I see fit in my realm to curb those excesses.”

Rimini blinked hard. The first two requests had been anticipated by His Holiness, but the last – an attack on the very sovereignty of the Church within the Western Empire – he had not. Hermann, was asking the Pope to undo almost a century of Papal control over the clergy within Germany, an arrangement that had come about only after Emperor Henry had come across the mountains to Canossa.

“I… am not authorized to negotiate on that affair,” Rimini said quickly. It was best he could think of in the circumstances. He had not received instructions on that matter from Pope Innocent, so he couldn’t comment on it in theory. He knew what the Pope would say anyway.

“Not authorized?” Hermann rose out of his stool to his full imposing height and laughed. “Rimini, you are a talented negotiator, but even these foolish eyes can tell when you are stalling.”

“I speak the truth, Majesty,” Rimini cleared his throat. “The first two points I was authorized to negotiate and talk about on His Holiness’ behalf. On the subject of ecclesiastical appointments, however… I can promise I will bring it up with His Holiness, and it will receive due consideration.”

Hermann looked down darkly at the priest. “I can promise my army will march back over the Alps with due consideration.”

Hermann Arpad, First of That Name, King of the Romans, King of Germany, Italy, Hungary and Burgundy, Emperor of the Western Roman Empire

Rimini sighed, trying to find a way out of the problem, until an idea hit him. Something simple, that would hopefully solve the Papacy’s current conundrum without yielded to such an onerous demand.

“What if, you marched your army to near Rome. I will accompany you, and we’ll see what His Holiness says. That way, if he says yes, you’ll be able to quickly march against the Greeks. If he says now, you can then do as you see fit.”

Rimini watched as Hermann weighed the idea, and knew what was going through the German’s mind – that if his army was outside of Rome, the Pope would have no choice but to agree. And Rimini would tell the Emperor that the Pope had agreed.

Rimini just wouldn’t tell the Pope such.

By the time Hermann found out, the immediate threat from the Greeks would be at an end, and it would not be hard to encourage the German nobility to check Hermann once again. Rimini just had to make sure the German did not discover the ruse until he was safely over the Alps. Procedural concerns could hold up the last papal bull, he would say. The first to could be put out immediately – a sign of good faith, that would probably keep Hermann appeased.

As Rimini and the Emperor continued to negotiate, neither had any idea of the drama unfolding hundreds of miles to the south. Hounded on all sides, outnumbered, and unable to escape, the ragtag Norman army, led by Tancred, had finally turned to face its pursuers on a field west of Salerno that was well known to soldiers of all the nations in the Known World.

Cannae.

========== ==========


The battlefield at Cannae, as it appears today.

So the Normans have been battered and beaten, and are making their last stand in perhaps the most infamous place possible. Will they whittle the Imperial army down enough for Hermann to make a difference? Does Hermann have any plans up his sleeves? Find out in part two of the update!

[Cyreidel]

Great update! Good job.

Can't wait for the next chapter.

[Estonianzulu]

Wow, the Romans got lucky in killing off the Norman rulers so quickly. And I wonder, with two Imperial Armies within striking distance of Rome, will the Pope have any choice but to hand over what the HRE wants.

[Mettermrck]

west of Salerno

See if I have my geography correct. Salerno's over on the west coast, where the Allies landed in 1944...and Cannae should be eastward right?

Other than that, I really liked the negotiations between the West and the Papal envoy. Even at this late hour, with doom hanging over Rome, the Pope will still hold back on critical issues such as investiture. Love it!

[Enewald]

Yay, pope loses power!

Btw, should't the western emperor be aswell the king of hungary?

[It's Amazing]

Yes, with him being an Arpad and all. In fact, were I playing Hermann, I might be tempted to send a nice-sized force over the Danube while the Eastern army was wandering around Apulia…I doubt Byzantion could be taken, but perhaps some of Bulgaria or northern Greece, somewhat isolating the Serbo-Croatian part of Romanion.

I give Manuel about five years' survival, maximum, now that Basileus is born. Somehow I think that Basilea would much rather be regent than Empress…

[VILenin]

Yikes, hope you feel better and don't suffer any more instances of your mystery flu!

The King of the Romans tries to extort the Pope and largely succeeds, but will lay investiture prove a sticking point or will the threat of true Roman arms be enough to force a compromise? The success or failure of the Normans at Capua could be quite influential; a victory over the Romans even if it's a minor one could be incentive enough for Herman to bring his troops in quickly.