The Byzantine Emperors - A DV AAR

[Lord Valentine]

Constantine X Doukas
Basileus of the Romans
1059 – 1067

Born: Nikaia, 1006; Crowned: Hagia Sophia; Died: Constantinople 1069; Buried: Doukid Mausoleum Nikaia
Married: 1047 Adrianopel Cathedral: Eudokia Makrembolitissa : 5 children
Titles: Basileus of the Romans 1059

The Byzantine Empire at the death of Basil II (1025).​

Constantine X was perhaps the most useless Emperor ever to bear this great name. In the 10th century a man of his “qualities” would never have stood a chance to gain the purple but things had changed. The death of Basil II “The Bulgarslayer” in 1025 had left the Empire in an awkward position. Basil had by all accounts been a strong Emperor. As a young man he had suppressed two major noble revolts against him. Later he had battled down a rebellion in the Bulgarian provinces of the Empire. At the same time he repelled several attacks from Fatamid Egypt and subdued both the Serbs and the Croatians making all major powers of the Balkan except the Hungarians subject to Constantinople. At the same time the Emperor had tried to battle the increasing power of the nobility in the provinces. Since he had never married and no children the future of the dynasty was in question when he died 1025. Initially Basil younger brother took the throne as Constantine VIII but he also died in 1028 without leaving a male heir. Between 1025-1057 the throne passed to a number of more or less forgettable rulers who acquired the throne through marriage to Zoe, the elderly daughter of Constantine VIII. The facts of these reigns are hardly thrilling:

Romanos III Argyos (1028-1034): Former Eparch* of Constantinople, described as an inactive glutton by the sources. Murdered, perhaps even by his wife.
Michael IV (1034-1041): Competent but an epileptic. Killed by his illness.
Michael V (1041-1042): Adopted by Zoe. He tried to force her into a monastery. This lead to a public riot. lynched by the populace of Constantinople.
Constantine IX Monomachos (1042-1055): Widely regarded as inept. Under his reign the loss of Sicily and Italy to the Normans who had originally been Byzantine mercenaries began.
Michael VI (1055-1056): Tried to even further decrease the military spending although the army was already unable to deal with the Normans and the ever increasing Turkish threat. Deposed and forced into a monastery by Isaac Komneons.

Under Isaac, a successful general, a short reaction began. The military spending was increased once again and discipline restored. However to finance this the Emperor needed to gain extra sources of income. To do this he seized belongings of the Church. The last Emperor who had been forced to do this had been Herakleios in the early 7th century! With this done Isaac had not only antagonized the court but also the church and at least certain segments of the population. Frustrated and sick Isaac abdicated in 1059 and retired to a monastery where he died a few weeks later. It was now with the throne vacant for the 8th time in a bit over 30 years that Constantine Doukas, the son of an influential provincial nobleman, ascended to the throne. He was strongly lobbied by the Empires leading intellectual and scholar Michael Psellos. Uninterested in the army Constantine at once destroyed all the work Isaac had done by once again severely cutting the military budget.

Consequently imperial authority everywhere broke down. On the Balkans the Croatians and Serbs threw off the Byzantine yoke, Italy was overrun by the Normans with only Bari holding out and in the provinces the imperial officials where completely unable to make a stand against the influential nobility. At the same time the imperial revenues where running towards an all time low with corruption reaching a terrifying scale. And yet life in the capital continued as if nothing had happened. The emperor attended the races in the hippodrome, hosted banquets and enjoyed himself with his numerous mistresses while the chaos around him increased.

The last two years of Constantine reign were a gloomy reminder of what a grim future the Romans might face. In the East the Turks had to be bought off through a huge tribute which did not stop them from raiding the border provinces but at least avoided full blown war. Nevertheless many in the provinces had had enough and on November 10th 1067 the Strategos of Trebizond Theodoros Gavras declared that he would no longer obey orders sent from the capital. Like so often before the old and sick Emperor felt unable to react to this. It was the last in a long row of failures. Only a few months later on January 18th 1068 Constantine X died in his sleep. Compared to the way it had stood at the death of Basil II some 40 years earlier the Empire was in a pitiful state.

* Eparch:Roughly the byzantine equivalent of a mayor.

...​

So as some of you might have already read my PC is broke and had to be sent in. It will be back in 2-3 weeks. This logically means that I cannot continue my Mega-Campaign for the time being. However I still have my fathers PC to use and since I have just recently purchased "Deus Vult" I thought I might aswell write a short DV AAR until my PCs back. As you can easily see the format is a imitation of queenimperials "The Medieval History of England".
My plan is to write a history of the Byzantine Emperors in this formate. Hopefully it will not be a story of "Decline and Fall". I know this little teaser doesn't look like a promising start but I have had little time to influence things yet. So wish me luck and I hope this AAR will help you bridge the time until I can continue my crusade through all Paradox titles.

~Lord Valentine~

 

[stnylan]

Good scene-setting post. Just a small piece of presentational advice - it helps readability if you leave a clear line between the paragraphs. Helps to break up the mass of text on screen.

 

[Lord Valentine]

Good scene-setting post. Just a small piece of presentational advice - it helps readability if you leave a clear line between the paragraphs. Helps to break up the mass of text on screen.

As a German saying goes: "Your wish is a command to me." I hope it makes better reading now.

 

[stnylan]

Yes that makes things look much clearer. Thanks

 

[Woody Man]

A good start, I'm interested to see whether you pull Byzantium back from the brink of destruction..

Will you have any goals for the game?

 

[Lord Valentine]

A good start, I'm interested to see whether you pull Byzantium back from the brink of destruction..

Will you have any goals for the game?

Well my general aim of course is to find out how DV works over a long term.

But gameplaywise my aims are:

1. Defend Asia Minor. This heartland of the empire must not be lost to infedil scum! No second Mantzikert!

2. Establish a royal dynasty (switch from elective law to salic primogeniture) with whichever character might manage to get the loyalty necessary for the law changes.

From that point on I will try to do very much what the Komnenids did and try to harmonize the relationship between the nobility and the emperor. This might include acknowledging their actual power in the provinces and a withdrawal of the imperial bureaucracy to the capital and the emperors personal holdings (might simulate this by changing to "feudal contract").
Another way of achieving this will of course marriages with the major families of the realm. The emperor must become the godfather of the most important royal families.

Where expansion is concerned I will very much look what prospects open up.

 

[Christian V]

Another Byzantine AAR? MG this is great!

 

[unmerged(59077)]

But the Byz are the Best. Glad to see another one!

 

[Piko]

Go Lord/Imperator Valentine! Hope this will be as good as your RTW AAR's!

 

[Lordban]

Those goals of yours are interesting, Lord Valentine, and should make for an equally interesting history.
Did you consider drawing a map of the Byzantine Empire at Constantine's death? (in likewise fashion as the map showing the state of the Empire at the end of Basil II's reign) We know most of what has been lost, but it could be interesting to see exactly where the Turks stood when you managed to buy peace from them

 

[Lord Valentine]

Christian V: I personally feared that my AAR would finally produce an overkill of Byzantine AARs but fortunately there seem to be more than enough people that just like me can't get enough of them!

RGB:Yes the Byzantine Empire is my also my absolute favorite faction. Whenever I play another kingdom I am always depressed to see it fall to pieces and to myself vow to recreate it. Which is sort of pointless since then I should have played the Byzantines in the first place.
So that is probably the reason I started this AAR:

Piko: Well I will definitely try to live up to your expectations. When RTR 7 is out I am quite determined to "remake" one of my old AARs. Well but thats still music of the future as we Germans say.

Lordban: I will probably make maps similar to the ones used in my Scottish mega-campaign so that you get a general idea of how the Empires borders develop. Under Constantine X however the borders didn't change since I was so lucky to make peace with the Turks before they had actually force peace upon one of my eastern vassals. Let's hope it stays like that.

Anyway I can announce that I am through the next reign and even have already written at least 1/3 of the next update. So tomorrow I'll hopefully just write my 4 hours history exam (the late roman antiquity, one of my favorite subjects ) and then come home and finish it.
So with a bit of luck before long you will be able to read about the reign of Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes.

 

[Lord Valentine]

Romanos IV Diogenes
Basileus of the Romans
1067– 1082

Born: Herakleia, 1032; Crowned: Hagia Sophia; Died: Constantinople 1082; Buried: Diogenes Mausoleum Constantinople
Married: (1) 1060 Saint Irenes Church Herakleia: Maria of Bulgaria, no children; (2) 1069 Hagia Sophia: Theodora Komnenos, daughter of John Komnenos, strategos of the Armeniacon : 5 children
Titles: Basileus of the Romans 1059, Defender of the Faithful 1074, Strategos of the Empire 1046​

The death of Constantine X although or perhaps because he had been a weak emperor left a certain power vacuum. Constantine left behind three sons, the oldest of which was Michael with 17 years. Although educated by the knowledgeable Michael Psellos the boy had shown little talent and qualification for emperorship. Uninterested in politics, the military and the administration of the realm he preferred to enjoy the fruits of his royal status and let others do the work for him. Furthermore he was unsteady in his views and decisions and easily manipulated. That he was also afflicted with a serious stutter of course also did not increase his standing.

In spite of these obvious inadequacies most people at court, including Psellos, wanted Michael to succeed his father. The army in the province however was on the brink of revolt after decades of neglection and made it quite clear that they would only accept a proven general as new emperor. When a considerable amount of the guard regiments in the capital followed their suit the court faction had to back down. After a short while the army selected Romanos Diogenes, the son of a important nobleman from Cappadocia, to wear the purple. To gain at least a certain legitimacy Romanos had planned to marry the dowager empress Eudokia and accept Michael as his heir. But against this the aging Patriarch John VIII Xiphilinos intervened and Romanos not wanting to make even more enemies backed down. On February 27th he was crowned as Romanos IV in the Hagia Sophia and publicly declared that he would honor the rights of the late emperors sons by naming them as his heirs.

At this point it is important to pause for a brief moment and take a deeper look at Romanos personality and past. The contemporary historian Michael Attaleiates described him as follows:
“He surpassed everyone not only trough his great abilities but also through his most handsome appearance, his broad chest and shoulders and his elegant, if not even godlike voice. His great eyes even more added to his pleasant physical appearance. His faces color was neither pale nor very dark. All of his characteristics gave weight to his dignity, which as the comedypoet [Aristophanes] says, where workshipable.”*

We need not take this description at face value. Although of noble birth Romanos was to some degree an outsider within the Byzantine nobility. As a youth his life had not been dominated by education in classical Greco-Roman culture but rather in the practical needs of a military life. Romanos himself at several occasions boasted about the fact that his entire youth had been dominated by military drill. Therefore although a great general Romanos never was and never would be a good diplomat. He lacked the interest and talent for the subtle ways of diplomacy where flattery and knowing the wink and the nod is just as important as determination and self confidence. Romanos always remained the straightforward and very much provincial soldier. He was an honest and trusting nature and quite unaware of the huge amount of animosity the seizure of the throne had earned him. Nevertheless Romanos also had quite a wild temper which he was unable to control and in times of stress and frustration often lead to violent outbreaks against his surrounding. In short Romanos was not the kind of person one would have expected to last in a city as infected with intrigue as Constantinople.

Romanos first actions as Emperor are characteristic for his military outlook. As one of the most experienced generals of the empire and being the only Emperor in the last 40 years, if you don’t count the short lived Isaac Komnenos, with practical military experience he knew about the dire situation of the Empire. The army had been under funded for decades leading to a decline in both equipment and discipline, not to mention morale. With these forces it was clearly impossible to fight of all the Empires numerous enemies. Rightly concluding that the Empires most formidable enemies lay in the East, in form of the Seljuk Turks, Romanos tried to gain a freedom of action to concentrate against them. As early as March he concluded a treaty with Robert Guiscard, leader of the Normans who had virtually overrun all of Byzantine Sicily and Southern Italy. In return for an end of hostilities Romanos officially acknowledged the Norman hold over Italy and even handed the last Byzantine stronghold, the city of Bari, over to Robert. Although this move infuriated both the court and the people it was cunning and necessary. For in another part of the treaty the Normans promised not to ally themselves to enemies of the Empire and even support the Emperor should he ever be attacked out of the West. Not only was the potential threat of a Norman invasion of the Balkans thereby excluded but also the safety of the Empires European holdings further enhanced. The alliance concluded with the Rus of Chernigov served a similar purpose. The alliance put the pagan Petschnegs, the Empires second potential enemy on the Balkans, under the threat of an attack from two sides thereby greatly decreasing their interest in conflict with the Empire.

All of this however did not improve his public standing and few people would have seen any difference between Romanos and his useless predecessor. What had this provincial done after all except make friends with the barbarians which he should have been fighting? Just like all Emperors after Basil II this man, who was supposed to be a great soldier, remained in Constantinople while things in the provinces increasingly got out of hand. However this was an unjust judgment. Romanos actually had been determined to lead a campaign into the East in person to strengthen imperial authority and force Trapenzunt back into the Empire, but his friends and advisers had talked him out of it. He was after all a unmarried, unpopular and heirless emperor of shaky legitimacy. Leaving the capital under these circumstances would have been suicidal.

Instead he sent a trusted strategos with a small force of troops from his native theme into the east who after considerable difficulties managed to reinforce imperial rule, at least nominally, in both Trapenzunt and Mesopotamia. In spite of this success the Emperors future looked anything but bright. In the capital the Doukas family was more or less openly planning a revolt to restore the sons of Constantine X to their "rightful inheritance" while more and more nobles in the provinces reacted in a hostile way to Romanos overtures to unify against the Turkish threat. Furthermore the imperial financial reserves had been completely depleted by the expedition into Mesopotamia and the income was low in general due to the incredible corruption within the bureaucracy. Being without a powerbase of his own it seemed to be only a question of who would depose the Emperor.

It was in this desperate situation that through a brilliant Romanos move at once transformed his position in early 1069. Although the Doukas family was very powerful there where others to be reckoned with, most notably the Komnenos family which possessed substantial estates in Central Asia Minor, along the Black Sea Coast and around Antioch. He bound this highly powerful family to his cause by marrying Theodora Komnenos, the youngest daughter of John Komnenos, imperial strategos of the theme of Armeniacon. With John and his sons, especially the youngest and most gifted Alexios, the Emperor now had strong collaborators to help enforce his will in the provinces. Another positive side effect of the marriage was that it considerably eased Romanos financial troubles since Theodora came to him with a dowry of no less than 27,000 solidi.

Now that he had found such powerful allies there was no reason for the Emperor to continue to play the charade that he was ruling in the name of sons of Constantine X and when his own firstborn son Leo was born in February 1070 Romanos openly announced the disinheritance of the Doukids and created his own son "kaisar". The next years saw Romanos battle for his rule on all possible fields. In the administration, in spite of his own shortcomings, he tried to fight corruption with mixed results, even going so far that he confiscated the property of corrupt civil servants. In 1071 the birth of his second son Michael was overshadowed by the death of Leo at the age of one. But the greatest test for Romanos was yet to come.

From 1072 to 1074 the empire was rocked by provincial rebellions and open civil war. It began with the rebellion of the central Armenian provinces of the Empire. It's citizens had always longed for a state independent both of the Muslim powers in the region and the Byzantines. A force of over 5,000 men from the Asian themes was at once dispatched under Alexios Komnenos. Alexios proved himself to be a inspired appointment. He quickly defeated the Armenians in two encounters. Yet these victories where undone by the rebellion of two themes in Asia Minor against Byzantine rule. It was in this situation that Manuel Angelos attempted to seize the purple. Although his forces where to weak for a direct attack on Constantinople by now over one third of Asia Minor was in arms against Romanos that it took Alexios over 1 1/2 years even with the support of the tagmata ** to destroy the rebellion.

The Empires borders at the height of the "Asian Revolt" in early 1073. All territories marked red where held by rebels.​

After this costly victory the Romanos took a step that was highly fateful for the future development of the Empire. In a grand declaration in February 1074 Romanos officially recognized the nobles powers in the provinces, calling them his "beloved brothers" and "interpreters and executers of the imperial and divine will". The implications where clear. The imperial bureaucracy would no longer interfere in the provinces. The nobles where now free to rule and exploit them as viceroys of the Emperor very much like their Latin kinsmen had already done for centuries. In exchange the Emperor expected them to support him in the "defense and stabilization of the realm". Through these concessions Romanos tried to replace the fruitless battle between nobility and Emperor which had nearly ruined the Empire with collaboration.

The consequences of the actions where tremendous. From now on the nobles no longer had to fear a strong emperor but rather profited from strong government since it provided inner stability and the prospect of lucrative expansion. This change in the structure of the empire which to some degree lead to a Latin style feudalisation of the realm also opened the Empire to other nations which otherwise had never considered taking orders from Constantinople. Over the course of the year the princes of Rashka (modern day Serbia) Polotsk, Kiev, Novgorod, Peryslav and Novgorod-Seversky all swore fealty to the Emperor, bringing in effect most of Russia under Byzantine sovereignty and uniting almost all orthodox Christians under Romanos rule. This fact was celebrated by the Emperor by taking the title "Defender of the Faithful" in 1074.

The Lands of the Byzantine Rus in 1075.​

Although the provincial rebellions in Asia Minor did not stop they slowly died down and never again became a serious threat to the Emperor, whose dynasty seemed secured with the birth of his third son Nikephoros in 1075.

However Romanos faced one last dangerous rebellion in the Capital itself when in 1077 the elderly general Nikephoros Palaelogos attempted to force Romanos into abdication via a military coup. Nikephoros had secretly brought a greater amount of his supporters into the city and bribed a considerable number of soldiers in the guard. This was possible since the imperial finances where still strongly affected by corruption and the Emperor therefore unable to pay any more than average salaries to his soldiers. However when Nikephoros tried to arrest Romanos after the races in the Hippodrome the Emperor somewhat managed to escape and fought his way into the palace where he took shelter in the barracks of the Varanguian Guard. At this point many people in the city had heard of the plot and a angry mob assembled determined to fight the traitors. By now Romanos popularity with the citizens of Constantinople had considerably increased since not only his battles against corruption had shown first results but also his economic programs had created a great number of new jobs. Nikephoros tried to flee but was sat upon by the mob and lynched. Romanos regime had been saved. On the following day most of the traitors where publicly executed. In spite of this successful defense of his rule Romanos suffered a severe setback the same year as his eldest son and heir Michael died of illness.

In 1082 the Emperor celebrated both his 50th birthday and his 15th throne anniversary in a magnificent ceremony. Great games, parades, and banquets lasted for several weeks with the Emperor taking a bath in the masses at every occasion. He was more popular than ever. The Empires economy was beginning to recover and Romanos policy towards the nobles was bearing fruits. Emperor and nobility stood together for the first time since centuries and consequently none of the Empires enemies, not even the Turks dared to make a move. But yet now at the hight of his power Romanos Diogenes fell victim to an assassination attempt. The murderer struck as the Emperor once again paraded through the city shaking hands everywhere he came. The man managed to suddenly leap out of the crowd and pierce the Emperors chest. He was at once slain by the Emperors guard but it was to late to save Romanos life. It remains unclear until today who was behind the assassination. Some say it was the Turkish Sultan Alp Arslan that ordered Romanos death, others speculate that it was a supporter of either the Doukas family or Nikephoros Palaelogos. No matter what might be right, the Emperor was now dead and the rule now passed to Romanos only remaining son Nikephoros who was a minor of 6 years at that time.

Romanos IV had become at Emperor at a point when it seemed that the Empire would descend into inner chaos and fall easy prey to its enemy. Although he lacked talents both in the field of administration and diplomacy Romanos battled with tireless energy to preserve the Empire and rescue imperial authority. His marriage to Theodora Komnenos but especially his harmonizing policy towards the nobility proved to become a effective way out of the crisis of the 11th century. At the same time the Empire won a considerable manpower reserve through it's new Russian vassals. Romanos great achievement is not that the empire prospered under his rule but rather that it survived and gained a new stability. For this Romanos deserves to be reckoned among the most important Byzantine rulers of all times.

* This actually is a historical description of the Emperor Romanos IV which I found in one of my history books and translated into English. I hope I have to some degree conserved it's eloquence.
**Tagmata:The strong, fully professional troops which usually served as the guard of the Emperor or central reserve in Constantinople. Their numbers where considerably increased by Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas in the 10th century. They where the elite force of the Byzantine army.

~Lord Valentine~

 

[stnylan]

Quite the reforming Emperor. But I wonder if those Russian lands might caus trouble later on.

 

[Lordban]

That's quite a nice portion of Russia Romanos managed to secure

And now, the Byzantine Empire has to deal with the woe of having an infant ruler

 

[unmerged(59077)]

Somehow this looks familiar. Whoever was the Emperor's ambassador to the Rus must have been one impressive fellow.

Good moves for the immefiate4 future but deep feudalism has its price, of course.

 

[Lord Valentine]

stnylan: Yes when you consider Romanos stats (0 Intrigue and 3 Diplomacy if I remember them correctly) he managed to reshape the empire in quite an impressive way. And with the Russians you never know. For the moment I am sticking to Frederick the Greats saying: "It is useful to cultivate the friendship of these barbarians."

Lordban: Yep the Russian masses will come in quite handy if the Seljuk Sultan should decide to go rampaging along the imperial border once again. And where the minority is concerned, well now we will see how successful Romanos policy truly was.

RGB: I too couldn't help but think of your marvelous Russo-Byzantine AAR. Who knows perhaps someday we will see a Russian rule the Roman empire.
And where feudalism is concerned only time can tell whether the Emperors of the future will be able to control the forces they have unleashed...

~Lord Valentine~

 

[VILenin]

Good stuff so far, Lord V, (though to be fair I never met a Byzantine AAR I didn't like! ) especially taking Romanos' mediocre DIP and INT stats and vassalizing all those orthodox princelings. Though of course switching to feudal law probably played a big part in that.

I just hope that this new found authority amongst the nobles doesn't lead to trouble further down the road. The last thing you want is an errosion of Imperial power or ridiculous notions of independence among the provinces. Romanos is the Basileus after all, heir to Augustus and Caesar, Equal of the Apostles and God's Vice-Regent on earth, not some Latin Barbarian chieftain.

 

[Lord Valentine]

Good stuff so far, Lord V, (though to be fair I never met a Byzantine AAR I didn't like! ) especially taking Romanos' mediocre DIP and INT stats and vassalizing all those orthodox princelings. Though of course switching to feudal law probably played a big part in that.

Actually I would have never dreamt of vassalizing all of Russia. It was more like they really wanted to be part of the Roman Empire and how could I say no to that? As long as the Russians don't get discussions of grandeur and think they can rule it.

I just hope that this new found authority amongst the nobles doesn't lead to trouble further down the road. The last thing you want is an errosion of Imperial power or ridiculous notions of independence among the provinces. Romanos is the Basileus after all, heir to Augustus and Caesar, Equal of the Apostles and God's Vice-Regent on earth, not some Latin Barbarian chieftain.

Very true. The feudal rights where a privilege which the almighty emperor mercifully chose to grant. And just like he has made it he can unmake it at any time. Well anyway thats what the imperial ideology says. How it works out in practice we will have to see.

~Lord Valentine~

 

[unmerged(58610)]

You certainly got more out of Romanos than I thought could be squeezed. Sad to see him fall to an assassin. A decent successor should be able to turn that Russo-Byzantine state into a real powerhouse that grinds the Bulgars and the Seljuks into dust.

 

[General_BT]

Excellent AAR once again - you got quite a bit from Romanos, but I'm concerned how the Empire is going to deal with a child ruler...