Introduction: The Palaiologoi Civil Wars and Pleas for Help, 1347-1444 AD
Civil War, The Council of Florence, and the Crusade of Varna
John VI’s great victory in the Palaiologoi Civil War, if you could consider his achievement a great victory – for in his “victory” he laid the seeds for the Mohammedan conquest into Greece by bringing political and economic turmoil to the empire. John VI was the undisputed emperor of Rome, but unlike past emperors, he did not have the young John V imprisoned or blinded (as was a Roman custom in dealing with pretenders to the throne). This was a fatal mistake by John VI, and for that, perhaps he should be considered a saint among a litany of otherwise brutal rulers who were supposed to be God’s vicars on earth and acting in a manner befitting of Satan himself. John VI soon had a son, Mattheos, which complicated the growing succession crisis after his victory, since John V Palaiologs still had a strong claim to the throne, which was now potentially usurped with the arrival of Mattheos.
John V, who was now of age to rule but was still co-emperor (if you could really call him that since John VI wielded all the power), was married to John VI’s daughter, thus making him his son-in-law. The birth of Mattheos meant that the Kantakouzenos line was secure and the Palaiologos line was to end – seemingly an unfortunate result since the family was instrumental in restoring the Roman Empire to some degree of power, prestige, and prosperity. Another civil war erupted in the 1350s. Both son, and son-in-law, was vying for power, and both appealed to the Mohammedans for support. Naturally, the more intelligent Mohammedan Beylik supported the efforts of John V at first, and later the appeals of Mattheos, not because he had a keen love for either, but because their internal war meant that Mohammedan soldiers would cross into Greece and help weaken their rivals from within.
John VI lost control of his empire. The people of Constantinople were in fear. Trying to resolve the issue, John VI abdicated the throne but did not declare a successor. He exiled himself to a secluded monastery in Thrace where he proceeded to detail a history of the Palaiologoi Dynasty up to the point of his reign. The new crisis was heightened when John V gathered Italian mercenaries to help him secure the throne, which he did. But Mattheos did not go down without a fight. He petitioned for Mohammedan support, which he received, but before he could set out to capture Constantinople, he was caught by supporters of John V. Mattheos renounced his claims and John V, at long last, secured his position as emperor of the Romans, albeit at a terrible cost of men and gold. The empire was on the verge of bankruptcy, and having recently been ravaged by plagues, few men were left to fill ranks of the army, which dwindled into insignificance – as did the navy. Furthermore, the economically capability of the empire was also drained, and a shortage of persons from the preceding plague meant that economic productivity would continue to dissipate at worse, or at best, remain stagnant – the former happened, so the worse of the two scenarios only hastened the crumbling empire. Some of the pious faithful claimed that God was punishing them for the civil wars, murder, lust, and otherwise sinful acts the recent emperors had been delving into.
Also, the use of Mohammedan soldiers in the civil war meant the enemies of the faith were now at the gates of Constantinople. Turkic peoples migrated into Greece to repopulate the lands, and in doing so, weakened Roman authority throughout much of Greece, confining Imperial authority to the few areas that remained mostly Greek, this was Constantinople, Athens, and Morea. The Mohammedans threat was now nearly irreversible. John V, who could comprehend the threat being posed to his rule, appealed once again to the Latin West for help, but the Latins rebuked him unless he would surrender church independence and come under the subjugation of the Latin Church and proclaim the Bishop of Rome as the head primate of all Christendom. John V was sympathetic to such calls, mostly out of self-interest, but the Greek clergy and Roman people were adamantly opposed to such actions. Thus, John was caught in a great game of chess between heaven and hell.
The crossing of the Bosphorus and the arrival of Mohammedan forces into Thrace and the rest of Europe - a direct result of the Roman civil wars, would spell disaster for the Romans and Europeans for the next 100 years. One must commend the cunning and deceptive measures the Turks took to seize every advantageous opportunity presented to them. This was followed by a massive wave of Turkish immigration into Europe mainly into Greece).
The Mohammedan advance was not slowed, their victories against the Bulgars and Serbians were extremely impressive, which created a cause for greater fear and concern among the Romans, who were quickly seeing any hope of reclaiming their Greek homelands slipping away before their eyes. A final insult was added when John had no choice but become a vassal to the Mohammedan Beylik, Murad who had previously aided him in becoming emperor. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The Romans were too narcissistically proud to be the vassal of heathens. Another civil war erupted, led by John’s eldest son, another Andronikus, this being the fourth to claim the throne.
Andronikus IV attempted to overthrow his father but failed, and was imprisoned and blinded. However, through a sheer stroke of luck, Andronikus managed to escape his imprisonment and lobbied before Murad for assistance in overthrowing his father, to which the Mohammedan king accepted. Thus, Andronikus returned to lay siege to Constantinople with a mixed army which included many Mohammedans. His conquest was successful, and he had his father imprisoned. But just as Andronikus had escaped, so too did John, who fled to Murad and promised a larger tribute in return for helping him reclaim his throne, and to no one’s surprise, the ever plotting Murad agreed. Now it was Andronikus who was besieged by a mixed army and was forced to capitulate and renounce his claim to throne. John V continued in the next decade, through the turmoil of the 1370s and into the 1380s, to quell one rebellion after another, with Turkic help of course, furthering weakening long-term Roman prospects of regaining the Greek heartlands, which were slowly being given to the Mohammedans for their support in defeating the rebels opposing the emperor.
Finally, John V grew weak and died. The empire he inherited was nothing more than a single city along the Bosphorus Straights. John’s second son, Manuel, was crowned emperor, becoming Manuel II. God must have been on Manuel’s side, because he immediately ended the tribute his father was paying to the Bey of the Turks, and refused to answer any letters sent questioning the direction he was taking the empire. The Mohammedans quickly gathered an army to put this insolent insult to rest, but were turned back by the mighty walls of Constantinople, yet another Mohammedan army was kept outside the city by the fabled walls and towers that protected Constantine’s decaying city. Although the siege had lasted for 8 years, the city was relatively unscathed, but the people who inhabited the city grew ever weaker by disease, hunger, and general discontent with the realities of their lives.
Lightning struck twice for the Romans, for after the failed siege the Mohammedans were defeated by another empire of Mohammedans, who were led by a warrior prince named Timur – who hailed somewhere east of Eden, probably in the lands of Nod. Timur’s victory changed the will of the Romans, who once again believed themselves to be invincible – if anything, this caused them to view their religion as the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ and his apostles – thus hurting the continued attempts of the Palaiologoi emperors from reuniting with the Latin Church, which would bring insurmountable benefits to the decaying empire. Timur’s victory also caused a civil war in Anatolia, to which Manuel was quick to capitalize on and regained small strips of land outside of the walls of Constantinople, giving the Romans some claim to be more than just an empire of a single city – which of course, they still were. Manuel eventually retired into peaceful seclusion and his son, John VIII, ascended to the throne.
A period portait of John VIII Palaiologos, the newest Roman emperor who found the situation of the empire in an almost impossible location by the time he ascended to the throne.
John embarked on a policy of appeasement toward the Latins in hopes of securing Western aid in combating the Mohammedans, who had recovered from their interregnum after their defeat at the hands of Timur and were once again on the march throughout the Balkans and patiently eyeing the city of the world’s desires. During his travels to Italy, he met with the Pope, and with many wealthy Italian nobles, who were also introduced to his entourage of philosophers who had been reading the classics of the Roman Republican era and Ancient Greece. When meeting with the Italians, he pleaded for a new crusade to be called to save his people. Again, the attempts to reunify the two churches came to an impasse because of discontent from the Greek faithful in Constantinople. The real tragedy is that the Council of Florence had been accepted by both camps, which included the Patriarch of Constantinople, Joseph II. Some Greek Christians retained the agreement, and formed the Greek Catholic Church. However, the agreement was eventually rejected as mentioned above, thus the divorce between the Latin and Greek Churches was made manifest and official – both declared one another heretical and broke off communion, deciding to go their separate ways, the schism between east and west was finalized.
However, John’s actions had preserved the city of Constantinople from falling into Mohammedan hands. Despite the failure to unify the churches, the Europeans looked at the inability of the Mohammedans to capture Constantinople as a sign of weakness, and a new crusade was launched with the King of Poland – Vladislaw III, leading the way. A grand army of Poles, Hungarians, Bohemians, and Lithuanians had gathered to expel the Mohammedans from Europe – which was also the dream of the Romans as much as it was to the Europeans. The Crusader army gathered at Varna, but the resulting battle was not the victory the Europeans expected. The Hungarian forces led by John Hunyadi managed to turn the flanks of the Mohammedan forces, it was at this point in during the battle, King Vladislaw was killed, and the Crusader army descended into chaos with nobles and kings from across Europe fleeing like a whipped dog as confusion and panic gripped the combined Crusader army. The Mohammedans had defeated yet another Crusader army, and a new nightmare for the Romans had come to fruition. The enemy was at the gates of Constantinople, and nothing appeared to be standing in their way – except for the walls of Theodosius, which had been protecting the city for the past 1000 years.
A romanticized painting of the Battle of Varna, depicting the height of the battle. The Crusader defeat left the floodgates of Europe wide open to impending Ottoman advancement. The failure of the Crusader army to expel the Mohammedan threat meant the task of defending Europe fell to an incredibly weak and declining Roman Empire.
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This is the end of the introduction updates, which I hope helped all readers and commentatAARs who may not be familiar with Roman history as to how the "Byzantines" found themselves in the position that we all are familiar with by the start of the game. For those who know this history, I thank you for reading along when you could have just waited for the proper start of the AAR. From hereon, the content of the AAR will be focusing on the history of my current game with the Byzantines.
Thanks,
volksmarschall