Victorious through God’s grace: de Hautevilles’ chronicle

He is. Apparently the campaign to grab the Iron Crown has increased dramatically my badboy.

I believe it's one of the most common triggers of "realm duress" event but I don't know if anything else may have an impact. IIRC also having some vassals with mid-low loyalty is a condition for the event. Whichever, I'm in the middle of a civil war now. Manageable, but a nuisance for sure ...

LXXV. Recovery and victory, more or less​

Given the loss of Agrigento and Salerno and the almost destruction of Lecce, Autumn 1392 is clearly the worst moment for the royalist party. But this is also the turning point of the civil war, as the number of rebelling nobles is not increasing and the king’s reputation is gradually improving.

The first series of events which providentially come to relieve Isaakios from his great distress occur in the Republic of Tuscany, until now the biggest contributor to the rebels’ campaign in terms of financial and human support: shocked by the sneak attack of the Genoese neighbours, the progress of the royalist forces under the Duke of Urbino and the sudden death of the Tuscan Governor Cosma Bobone, the Florentines resolve to enter into negotiation with the King, which is concluded by a treaty equally honourable to both in January 1393: by the payment of a sum of 1.200 gold ducats, the Tuscans receive a safe-conduct to allow them to travel back home from Salerno (still in their hands).

With the northern borders now quiet, Isaakios can gradually consolidate his positions. In July 1393 a crucial defence pact is sealed with the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II to protect the kingdom from foreign aggressions in such a difficult situation. The king continues his march southward, landing in Sicily and freeing Agrigento in December of the same year, but then has to hasten back to Apulia where the league of rebel North African vassals has disembarked another contingent. The assailants take by surprise and destroy without any mercy the army guarding Lecce, that has to suffer another siege in early 1394.

Though the hostilities drag on for another half year after the royalist liberation of Agrigento, the odds of the civil war have now switched dramatically in favour of Isaakios, as the rebel side does not succeed in coordinating a common strategy or winning any major breakthrough. Lecce again stands firm in the face of the siege while in springtime the king raises under an emergency call an overwhelming army from several continental provinces (Taranto, Bari, Reggio, Capua, Napoli, Orvieto, Spoleto and Siena). Impressed by this tremendous force ready to fall upon them, the insurgent leaders begin to vacillate: the first to defect – already in April – is the count of Quena, but when also the second siege of Lecce proves inconclusive despite all the looting and destruction, in July and August all other nobles surrender but are allowed to escape. Quite heroically, the last two to give up are the actual leaders of the North African rebels, Smbat of Homs and Landone of Cyrenaica.

The white peace reached with Smbat and Landone does not represent the end of the troubles: despite all Isaakios’ coaxing efforts, in 1396 Hermann von Urslingen, count of Spoleto, and Duke Henry of Apulia rise up against the king. Undaunted by this new challenge, Isaakios levies an army of 7.000 men from around Lecce and Salerno and valiantly heads them against these very last opponents. Bari is relieved in August, followed by other castles of northern Apulia in November. After the despoliation of Duke Henry and the reincorporation of his lands into the royal demesne, Isaakios begins marching north towards Spoleto to meet Count Hermann. Feeling himself trapped (as another host loyal to the king has been dispatched from Siena under Antonino de Hauteville), in early 1397 Hermann offers Isaakios an impressive tribute of almost 2.800 gold ducats to make peace and retain his title. With this agreement, the civil war which has raged for most of the last decade is actually put to an end.

So in 1397 peace finally comes to Isaakios’ triple kingdom, but at what price?

• Almost eight years of civil war have left the Two Sicilies (comprising the southern peninsula and the island itself) relatively unscathed, even if the capital Lecce has been hard hit during the two sieges of 1392 and 1394 and needs to be partially rebuilt;
  
  
• The proper Kingdom of Italy has seen its borders drastically reduced by the secession of the Republic of Tuscany (dismembered in 1395 by the joint forces of Norway and Genoa), even if the access to the rich plains of the Po Valley remains easy for the imposing forces of King Isaakios;
  
  
• Where Isaakios has to virtually concede defeat is in the Orient: the sedition of his vassals has deprived him of extensive territories and a metropolis like Alexandria. He is still King of Egypt, but his control on it is much weaker now given the concessions made and the few positions retained. Quite promisingly, at least two of the former rebels – the Duke of Cairo and the Count of Gabiyaha – swear back allegiance to Isaakios.

But what is worse is that Isaakios has spoiled his fathers’ legacy of fairness and humanity. The former boy king, whom everybody loved and wanted to protect as a tribute to the greatness of his great-grandfather Alexios, so far has shown to be only capable to rule by the sword and the gold. Will Isaakios be ever able to reconquer the hearts and minds of the people?

Lots of dramatic map changes in the second half of 14th century! Let’s get started from the big bangs …

• An empire has disappeared, precisely the Holy Roman Empire! Beleaguered by internal and external enemies, with the Renunciation of Nice (1360) the last Emperor Rudger von Hohenstaufen concedes defeat by accepting the dissolution of Charlemagne’s creation. In its place now stands the German Confederation spanning from the North and Baltic seashores down to Milan.
  
  
• This is also time to say goodbye to England: its Angevin rulers have succumbed to the neighbours of Scotland, that have unified the two crowns and even managed to get some room – in the shape of naval bases and inland castles – on the continent by defeating the French. Is an alternative re-edition of the Hundred Years’ War in sight, with the Scots in place of the English?
  
  
• Aragon has further expanded at the expense of a poor Portugal (its heydays in the mid 13th century have gone forever!). What's more, this picture taken in 1400 is misleading: in just seven years both Castile and the Papal States (white) will be absorbed into the newly formed Kingdom of All Spain.
  
  
• Nothing special has happened to Scandinavia, Poland and Hungary which remain stable and safe; even if the record for stillness surely belongs to the Almohad Caliphate (black), frozen within its own borders for two centuries now.
  
  
• Venice and Sicily have filled the vacuum created by the collapse of the imperial authority in northern-central Italy; with reference to the Hauteville kingdom, the success in Egypt has been partially offset by the losses in Greece to the Byzantine Empire.
  
  
• Finally, cast a last eye on the Kingdom of Jerusalem sitting between the Jordan and the sea, as in 1401 it will be definitively wiped out by the Muslims.

The year is 1402, Isaakios is firmly in power. Since the end of the civil war five years ago, few events have occurred that are truly significant but perhaps this is just good for Isaakios’ standing and popularity. With crown revenues ramping up again because of the reintroduction of the scutage tax, the king commits to a plan of public works for which he employs and patronises the greatest artists of the time: the naval harbour and the domed church of Bari, plus other civil buildings rebuilt in the capital Lecce, now recovered from the siege.

Isaakios assigns the Duchy of Apulia taken from Henry to a newborn prince, Konstantinos, but has to transfer the title to another son, Georgios, after the premature death of the former. Upon death of the friendly Pope Godfrey (1399), the conclave of cardinals elect the bishop of Schwyz, Albrecht II, who provisionally returns the bishopric to Isaakios before moving to the Holy See in Galicia. In the last five years the kingdom’s borders have remained intact apart few minor changes: the acquisition of the Duchy of Aquitaine thanks to a complex network of dynastic interconnections, and the harmless breakaway of the counties of Holstein and Djerba.

Probably the most important event of these years is the growing Hauteville involvement in the troubles of the Chersonid emperors of Byzantium. After a short period of Siculo-Byzantine enmity during the rule of Emperor Eusebios, in the last part of the century the relationship between the two Greek-speaking sovereigns Isaakios and Andronikos II has returned to be a close and good one. But the later rule of Andronikos and the initiation of his successor Mathias are crippled by internal strife.

In 1399 the Cypriots revolt against the imperial government and invite Ziemowit, the King of the Hungarians, to their aid. Bound by a treaty of alliance, Isaakios honours Mathias’ call and prepares for war. In August 1400 also the Bohemians move to war against Hungary, and many speculate that secret diplomacy has been carried on for this purpose, a suspicion reinforced by a great tournament subsequently held by Isaakios to announce the engagement of his daughter Ioanna with a member of the Bohemian House of Premyslid. With the beginning of the new century, more and more provinces rise up against Mathias’ harsh rule, to the point that the Byzantine Emperor (and consequently his ally Isaakios) has to make peace with Hungary to cope with the domestic challenges.

Thus now in 1402, with no internal or external threats to his position, Isaakios can project a strong force again towards East with the justification of helping the Byzantines in subduing the rebellion of the prince of the Archipelago and the count of Ephesos, on whom both the Hautevilles have had ancient claims. A first small expedition gathered from the king’s Greek vassals is baffled under the gates of Ephesos, but the Byzantines do the job for Isaakios and in March 1403 the ancient town surrenders to him. In the following autumn Isaakios reaches Abydos, which he besieges with 8.000 Sicilians and 11.000 Byzantines until the final surrender on 30th December. From there Isaakios sets sail for Lesbos to encounter the Prince of the Archipelago, Konstantinos, captured and forced to peace in June 1404: by the terms of the agreement, Isaakios acquires Abydos and a tribute of 500 gold bezants.

Rumours from distant lands – Unification of Spain under the Aragonese aegis​

The last decade of the 14th century sees the final triumph of the Aragonese kingdom over its Iberian rivals and the creation of a new, unified nation-state. This last evolution starts out with the aggressive policy of King Rexindo of Portugal, who - after the recent conquest of Plasencia and Caceres – assaults the Duchy of Sevilla in August 1395. Nominally independent but in the Aragonese sphere of influence, Duke Joan calls for the support of King Ramiro III and thus the Third Aragonese-Portuguese War begins. In few months Rexindo’s army is severely beaten, but then both contending kings die in short order: Rexindo in 1396, succeeded by Juan; Ramiro III the following year, succeeded by Garcia.

Thus it is Garcia d’Aragon that has the duty and honour of founding the Spanish kingdom. His troops invade Portugal again and overwhelm the weakening forces still backing Juan. The war concludes in September 1399 with another humiliating treaty for Portugal, as it surrenders vast tracts of land in Andalucía. Then Garcia’s forces easily overrun in just a year the puny northern kingdom of Castile under the rule of Dabi de Haro. In May 1402, shortly after the appropriation of the kingship of Castile and the reinstatement of the realm of Leon, a meeting of all the princes, prelates and cities is convened at Garcia’s court in Calatayud to declare him “King of all Spain”.

The triumphal proclamation does not stop the progress of the newly established nation-state in the attempt of unifying the whole Iberian peninsula. The last obstacle standing in the way is Pope Ulrich II’s temporal domain: a diplomatic rather than military annoyance, due to the entrenchment of ecclesiastical power in Iberia and the Christianity’s general dislike of attacks on the Holy Father. In order to overcome this issue and occupy Galicia, the Spaniards leverage on the mounting calls for the pope’s return to Roma after one century and half of captivity.

When in early 1406 the Pope’s health begins to decline, a swift expedition is undertaken by Garcia of Spain to put everybody in front of a fait accompli. Ulrich II actually dies in August and the conclave elects a Catalan Pope, Roger Berenguer, in a last attempt to appease the Spaniards. But this does not stop King Garcia’s troops and the newly appointed Holy Father has soon to plead with other Christian kings to arrange the transfer of the curia out of Galicia.

Of all the various sovereigns called to help, Isaakios is the most powerful and credible if for no other reasons that he is the actual liege of Roma. So on the night of 25th May 1407, Pope Roger Berenguer escapes Santiago disguised as a monk while the Spanish soldiers storm the papal palace and seize all the treasure (estimated at more than 1.700 gold bezants). The re-establishment of the Papal court in Roma after a vacancy of 11 months will be covered later. For now, it suffice to say that following the ousting of the pope all his former territories are annexed to Spain and Garcia is even declared head of the Iberian Church. Unfortunately, the young king would not enjoy long this glory, as he dies shortly after in September of the same year, succeeded by his 2-year-old son Bernardo. Anyway, in Garcia’s relatively brief rule (just 10 years) great accomplishments have been achieved!

The end of the Kingdom of Jerusalem gives Isaakios another opportunity to expand his power and sphere of influence. Some background here: the descendants of the last great Lusignan king, Odon, have remained perilously perched on a tiny strip of land for roughly 170 years. Of them only few have been worthy to hold the glorious title, including Enzio ruling from 1359 to 1391 with some dignity; his successor Eriprando has to face Muslim invasions and dies with honour during the momentous siege of Acre of 1400.

The last crusader knights flee with the young heir, Michele de Lusignan, but on 22nd August 1401 the fall of the last bastion of Tyrus marks the end of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Its disappearance does not fill Europe with much sorrow: after all, it is since David de Hauteville’s occupation of Jerusalem in 1337 that all the Christian pilgrims have gained the Norman protection for the passage to the Holy Sepulchre. Nonetheless, this dramatic event gives Isaakios a chance to expand the Hauteville holdings in Palestine (so far limited to the neighbourhood of Jerusalem) and eventually one day claim the title once held by Godfrey of Bouillon.

Isaakios’ first target is Hebron, lying to the south of Jerusalem, which is easily conquered in May 1404. An increased commitment comes only in 1406 from a diversion of forces away from the principal campaign in support of the Byzantine Emperor Mathias. It happens that a contingent of more than 4.000 soldiers is heading from Bari to the island of Cyprus (home of the most staunch opponents of the legitimate emperor, and base of pirates who have raided Ephesos with impunity in May 1405 and will hold it for more than a year before being forced to flee back to sea). In July this Apulian contingent lands near Limisol and beat the outnumbering defenders, who then retreat beyond the secure walls of the town. Incapable of continuing the siege of such a formidable fortress, the Apulian army lifts the siege in Autumn 1405 before weather becomes severe for navigation.

Thus comes the king’s decision to divert this army to Jerusalem, where it arrives in March 1406. With these reinforcements, the Christians march north towards Tiberias, captured in September and given to the bishop of El-Arish, Hugh Lopez, who two years later would make it the seat of the Archbishopric of Galilee, the highest ecclesiastical authority in the Holy Land. Unluckily by this time the Hauteville’s efforts in the Levant have to be reduced because of King Isaakios’ meddling in the thorny affairs concerning the papal re-establishment in Roma and the subsequent illness and death of the great sovereign in the summer 1408. Thus the enlargement of Hauteville domains is half-accomplished: there is still missing a direct connection to both Egypt and the sea (setting aside the small port of El-Arish), and furthermore to the north there is the limit to expansion set by the tough Emirate of Kirkuk.

Apart from 1406 talks for the reincorporation of Tuscany, in his last couple of years of rule Isaakios is mainly busy with church matters and particularly with the relocation of the papal residence to Italy. Already in September 1405, during the inauguration of the dome of St. George in Bari (a church built for the growing Armenian community which has established itself in Apulia in the wake of Queen Ardai) King Isaakios summons Pope Ulrich II to return to Roma, a warm invitation repeated shortly after through the abbot of the rebuilt monastery of Lecce. Then comes Isaakios’ cautious diplomatic backing to Ulrich’s successor, Roger Berenguer, in the struggle with the Spanish kingdom. In 1407 with the pope’s ousting from Santiago the events accelerate in favour of Isaakios’ influence over the Church. While the pontifical court is leaving Iberia in a hurry, the Hauteville monarch munificently prepares Roma for the restoration of its glory: great artists are retained for rebuilding palaces, temples and gardens, the plebs are given work and food. Everything is done and ready but there is a problem: who will be the Pope? Isaakios dislikes a Catalan pontiff, and by the way Roger Berenguer is seriously considering to resign after the humiliating treatment received by Garcia of Spain. Thus a new conclave meets in Roma in April 1408 – the first after a century and a half of Galician captivity – and an Italian cardinal is elected Pope taking the name Giulio II.

Isaakios and his beloved queen Ardai both attend the ceremony of proclamation of Giulio II, held on 12th April, but this would be the last public events of the royal couple, and one of the last political deeds of an impressive reign. The festivities are saddened three days later by the death of the queen, who induces a heart-stricken Isaakios to hastily return from Roma to Apulia for the funerals. Ardai predeceases her husband of just three months. The king, now in his mid-forties, gets another spate of pestilence on 6th July and dies after eleven days of agony.

So passes away Isaakios, the greatest of the Hauteville kings and one of the most powerful Christian rulers of the time: endowed in childhood with the crown of Sicily, in his youth he managed to complement it with other two, those of Egypt and Italy. But only to have to defend them valiantly in a tough struggle against both felon magnates and his own vices intensified by the exercise of an unlimited power. But Isaakios has stood fast, defeated the enemies and recovered the esteem, if not the affection, of his subjects. This last majestic showdown at Roma for the return of the papacy after 150 years of captivity perfectly seals the life of a great man.

Iain Wilson said:

An ignoble end to a brilliant monarch. May his heir reign as wisely!

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Morrell8 said:

Here come the Armenian De Hautevilles!

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Sorry to disillusion you, but the successor Ashot has plague also.
Unfortunately, there isn't much hope that he will rule for long time or be an effective king.

Update coming next week. Have a nice week end.

Obviously, it is the king’s eldest surviving son, Ashot, who inherits all the three crowns. Apparently, the succession seems to be painless: he is young and has already had a son (Theodoros, born by his second wife Anna in 1407) to continue the royal bloodline; Ashot has achieved a good level of reputation and experience as Duke of Calabria; furthermore, he is an elusive shadow, as clearly shown by the easiness with which even his cousin Smbat II immediately recognises his sovereignty, after the dead father Smbat I has long defied all Isaakios’ efforts to reassert royal control over Alexandria. But a single black spot – literally – is enough to ruin hope: for the reason that King Ashot is plagued, like his father and many others in the realm during a new wave of contagion which mounts since the second half of 1408. In such circumstances, Ashot’s four years of reign are clearly marked by idleness.

Among the few successes is the 1409’s expansion of the Hauteville sphere of influence to include the County of Spoleto and the Duchy of Genoa (a small feudal territory spanning across the Apennines from Parma to the Tyrrhenian coast that, quite strangely, does not comprise the homonymous city).

The only military endeavour recorded during Ashot’s reign is actually the continuance of an expedition launched by Isaakios the Great few months before death: the conquest of Famagusta in eastern Cyprus. The island has long been divided into two sections: an Orthodox south-west (breaking away from the Byzantine Empire) and a Muslim north-east. During spring 1408, Isaakios has hired 5.000 Welshmen to wage war against the Muslims of Famagusta, but his death has come before the contingent can reach Anatolia. When the mercenaries reach Ephesos in November 1408, Ashot orders them to sail for Cyprus, where they land in early 1409 without managing to grab any foothold. When a second, reinforced wave of attacks fails in July, it becomes clear that what is missing is a siege leader: thus the following year Smbat II – the king’s cousin and strongest lieutenant in the Levant at this time – lands there with his army, wins an open battle and force the defenders to abandon the outer posts and retreat into the inner bastions of Famagusta.

The siege lasts the whole 1410, during which Smbat II’s besiegers are reinforced by the main army up to 8.000 men. An apparent improvement in the king’s health (to the point that he and Queen Anna conceive a daughter named Theophano) even creates the illusion that he could join the expedition. But Ashot’s recovery is just a temporary illusion, because at the beginning of 1411 the king suffers a new health blow, just few days before the surrender of Famagusta (27th January). His strong fibre defies the disease for more than one year, but Ashot is left almost completely comatose and unable to react to any stimulus (including the birth of another daughter, Maria, born by the queen in August 1411).

Ashot’s last year is unreal, as everyone in the kingdom is waiting for his end: while the public works commissioned by him (for instance those at the castles of Ephesos and Bari) are being carried on, the power of the monarchy weakens in the face of the centrifugal forces building in some provinces: the defection of Duke Archambaud of Aquitaine is avoided (at least temporarily), but not that of the Archbishop of Galilee, Hugh Lopez, who breaks free in October 1411.

In April 1412 the king makes his ultimate appearance at court to salute all his subjects, horrifying everyone by his appalling look. Ashot dies in mid-May in his 26th year, leaving behind a 5-year-old hereditary prince, Theodoros: not exactly a great way to stabilise the dynasty.

The years of the minority of King Theodoros mirror Isaakios the Great’s regency period in the early 1370s, and like those are featured by weak royal control and renewed external threats.

By the last will of King Ashot, Queen Mother Anna becomes regent for Theodoros. Despite her skills and the good nature of the child king which brings hope that the succession will be smooth, these are hard days for Anna: she has lost husband and, shortly after, also infant daughter Theophano. In addition to this, and to her administration duties, the Regent Queen has to take care alone of other three daughters and step-daughters Ardai, Helene and Maria (as Ashot had had another wife before Anna).

It is clear that the regency needs a prop, naturally found in the Holy Father Louis II. Elected in 1408, this political Pope has always shown a strong sense of authority, and consequently hardly worked for increasing the Church’s influence on worldly affairs. Such a sway is particularly felt in Sicily because of Louis II’s spiritual tutelage of the young Theodoros, sent to receive an ecclesiastical education upon advice of the fervent diocese bishop Gillaeoin, who has gained a powerful ascendancy over Queen Anna. Thus, particularly after 1416, the Church is able to recover those rights – including great amounts of tithes and offerings – previously surrendered in 1408 by Pope Giulio II to an assertive ruler like Isaakios.

The regency counts also on the support coming from the Polish allies, but here a step back is needed: also that distant kingdom has undergone dynastic problems, even bigger than the Hauteville’s. Around the turn of the century the Piasts have extinguished with their last representative Yevstafii and the foreign dynasty of Marsvin has come on the Polish throne. Unfortunately the Marsvin claims are embodied by two infant brothers, Hakon and Hardeknut (the latter crowned at the age of two after the death of the former in 1413), that cause a power shift from the monarchy to the sejm (parliament) controlled by the nobility. Despite the respective dynastic quandaries, the Hautevilles remain loyal to the alliance with the Polish crown, but it is quite clear that such two big nations cannot stay both governed by minor kings and wavering regencies without creating instability in the region.

Years pass by quite unexcitingly until 1415: few events come to pass in the kingdom, mainly of administrative or dynastic significance. Due to the weakness of the crown, some vassals break free, like for instance the count of Cremona (who then joins the German Confederation still led by the same Milanese consul, Igino, since 1371!) and Archambaud, Duke of Aquitaine and count of Napoli; while others swear back allegiance to Theodoros (namely the newly appointed archbishop of Galilee, Guy Malaspina, and the Duke of Sardinia) who in 1414 also inherits the lands of his great-aunt Pulcheria, Duchess of Capua.

In late 1415, early 1416 the so-feared coupling of the Sicilian and Polish dynastic instabilities materialises with two wars erupting in few weeks: first Poland attacks Hungary (calling for Hauteville support), then the Emperor of Byzantium Nikolaos declares war on the Two Sicilies. Despite these wars engage the forces of the Hauteville kingdom in the midst of a critical dynastic transition (a minority regency following the long period of illness of the predecessor, Ashot), the generals’ competent management shows that the nation has become resilient and capable to stand the challenges independently from the presence of great leaders like Robert Guiscard, Roger II, the two Geoffroys or Isaakios the Great.

In early 1416, while Poles and Hungarians are fighting inconclusive battles along the border, the strongest Sicilian commitment goes to counter the Byzantine threat in the Aegean Sea. The town of Ephesos is particularly exposed to danger because of its closeness to the enemy positions: in March a sortie manages to break the Byzantine ranks and keep them away for several months, in the face of an increasing commitment of men by Emperor Nikolaos (who in April leads in person another unsuccessful attack against the walls).

With the fight for Ephesos at a stalemate, two new fronts open with more success for the Sicilian (and Egyptian) colours: a 4.000-strong army raids and occupies the region of Thessalia in August, while Smbat II marches out of Alexandria to capture in September an isolated Byzantine outpost in the oasis of Buhairya. In addition to this, in summer-autumn 1416 a marginal Sicilian involvement in the so-far balanced Polish-Hungarian war takes place in the shape of another naval incursion, this time conducted against the Dalmatian port of Split.

Regrettably, with this good news comes also the gloomier message of an unsustainable Byzantine pressure on Ephesos: the many defeats have infuriated Emperor Nikolaos to the point of pouring more and more soldiers into the effort. Overwhelmed by more than 40.000 Byzantines, in August the defenders take shelter behind the walls but only to surrender amongst ruins on 29th November 1416, despite many truce calls sent out to a merciless Nikolaos.

In 1417 the Byzantine counteroffensive becomes more pressing with the recapture of Thessalia and even the preparation of a fleet to cross the straits of Otranto. Emperor Nikolaos himself leads a contingent that lands near Lecce in August but is then beaten off and forced to retreat to sea in October by a 3:1 outnumbering force collected from all quarters of the Sicilian kingdom to defend the capital.

While the war with Hungary drags on eventless for the Sicilian banners (not so for the Poles, as they have to bear enemy pressure on their capital, Krakow) up to its conclusion in October 1418, other two Byzantine raids are successfully repulsed: one against Lecce (February 1418) and the other against Bari. The latter is particularly important because of the numbers involved: in late May / early June 1419 a Byzantine contingent stronger than 13.000 soldiers sets foot on Apulian soil after centuries since the 1155-58 expedition of Emperor Manuel I against William the Bad. Facing them there is an army of some 22.000, mixed of Sicilians and mercenaries. The decisive engagement takes place near Bari on 4th June and results in such a defeat for the Byzantine attacking forces that henceforth Emperor Nikolaos will not dare to send any more big armies across the sea.

Encouraged by the victory at Bari, the Sicilians push the war back into the Balkans: around 9.000 men land in Epirus and win the day at the battle of Arta. With Thessalia and the core of his empire again under threat, a shaken Nikolaos is forced to offer a white peace in October 1419, readily accepted by the regency of the child king Theodoros King.

Once the war with Nikolaos of Byzantium is over, the rest of the regency – which ends in 1424 when Theodoros officially comes of age – could seem a cakewalk to many. The most striking evidence of this fact is that, apart from the war and the minor exceptions described below, between 1416 and 1427 there is little to record in the triple kingdom of Two Sicilies, Italy and Egypt:

• One of the most changing aspects relates to the volatility typical of feudal allegiances: three vassals come (the commune of Verona, squeezed between Venice and the German Confederation; Archambaud, Duke of Aquitaine, count of Napoli, but also owner of vast estates throughout the north of Ireland; and Ulrich, count of Djerba), one goes away (the count of Hebron in 1422);
  
  
• In 1420-21 the regency institutes new land titles for Theodoros’ strict relatives and other relevant high-ranking governors: the king’s sisters Ardai and Helene get the county of Ephesos (later augmented by the addition of the bountiful island of Naxos) and the Duchy of Bavaria, respectively; the devoted count of Gabiyaha is elevated Duke of Aswan;
  
  
• Soon after Theodoros’ becoming of age in early 1424, an expedition is commanded to extirpate the Muslim presence from Monferrato and recover it to the crown, a mission successfully accomplished by Gaspare d’Altaville by November (for which he receives the title of count that province).

The later years of the regency are marked by a general improvement of state revenues and lots of public works to aggrandize the demesne cities (particularly those last added like Agrigento, Capua, Naxos) and beautify Messina for the visit of the Pope during the great jubilee of 1421. In 1420 a colony of Greeks displaced by the war with Byzantium is ordered to settle near Capua to expand the town, drain swamps and fight malaria.

Theodoros grows up witnessing an impressive flourishing of court studies (just to name one example, in 1416 a Sicilian scholar discovers and translates into Latin a Muslim work on optics which leads to the widespread diffusion of eyeglasses). In spite of the clerical education imposed on him by the Pope’s legates, the young king is a sincere and open-minded boy, lover of a mistress who bears him a natural son, Petros, in 1423. Theodoros has a complete and intimate religiousness, but he is not bigoted; he does not go against the Church, but more for a political calculus rather than for an adherence to dogmatism. In any case Anyhow Theodoros offers his capital city to host an ecumenical council called by Pope Louis II. Undoubtedly the Council of Lecce (May 1425) marks the high point of the movement that wants to reform the Church after the crisis of the 14th century, embodied not only by the Galician captivity but also by the spread of corruption and heresies.

If you really want to find a problem, then you might consider the complex efforts to preserve a proper balance among the three estates of the realm, as the traditional social division (“prayers, fighters, workers”) is going in crisis with the emergence of a modern and dynamic bourgeois class. Commoners like artisans and traders, often organised in guilds, are less and less inclined to accept the privileges of the Church and the nobility. On the other hand, the architecture of the state remains inherently feudal (with much appreciation by the nobles) and the Pope, now close again in Roma, can exercise over Italy a political influence unseen for a long time. The regency first, and then Theodoros, have to make every effort to keep a delicate equilibrium among the three social orders, sometimes even playing them one against the other with subtlety.

What has occurred in Iberia in the first years of the 15th century is unbelievable: in 1402 the creation of Spain, in 1407 the annexation of the former Papal States. The dynasty that made all this happen, the House of Aragon, would not enjoy the glory for long; in contrast, the great losers of two centuries of Iberian wars – the House of Borgonha which has ruled intermittently Castile and Portugal since the 12th century – gain unexpectedly the upper hand through the exploitation of an intricate spider web of marriages and privileges.

With Garcia d’Aragon death in 1407, the crown of Spain passes on to his 2-year old son Bernardo. During the childhood of the new king, the armies of Spain manage to defeat again the Portuguese and occupy the towns of Porto and Braganza (1409). Another conflict erupts eight years later leading to new territorial gains for Spain, but in 1422 Bernardo, the last ruler of the line of Aragon, dies in his late teens leaving only a small daughter, Princess Leonor.

At this key juncture, the complex line of succession favours the dynastic links of the House of Borgonha, with its most representative member Affonso holding the closest claim to the kingship of Spain. Despite the lack of a serious contender, the switch is not trouble-free: while some of the nobility (particularly in the areas traditionally controlled by the pretender’s family) side with the claim of Affonso III de Borgonha, he must endure the fierce opposition of both the Aragonese faction – the noblemen and the rich towns jealous of their autonomies – and of the King of Portugal Felipe I. In addition, the willingness of France to check the Spanish weight causes a long dispute for the ownership of Rosello to break out into open warfare, ending up with the 1427 loss of that border province. Anyhow, in 1428 Affonso III of Spain manages to seize Coimbra, dethrone Felipe I and be acclaimed king (as Affonso IV of Portugal), joining the last two Iberian realms in a personal union. Now he can focus on defending his domains against the attacks coming from northeast.