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The Komnenian Restoration: A Legacy of Rome ARR

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You're doing well. I have a question though. In this last update on the administration you mention the Legion. These are obviously retinues, but what kind of retinues? Archers mixed with heavy infantry for assaulting purposes? I was wondering because I'm playing as the ERE right now, and I've always found the cataphracts more than sufficient, so my fighting force is composed solely of cataphracts and the Varangian Guard. Though I am thinking of getting a stack of archer retinues used for assaulting holdings.
 
DennisRoos said:
You're doing well. I have a question though. In this last update on the administration you mention the Legion. These are obviously retinues, but what kind of retinues? Archers mixed with heavy infantry for assaulting purposes? I was wondering because I'm playing as the ERE right now, and I've always found the cataphracts more than sufficient, so my fighting force is composed solely of cataphracts and the Varangian Guard. Though I am thinking of getting a stack of archer retinues used for assaulting holdings.
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yeah, and how is the Varangian Guard made up?
 
guillec87 said:
yeah, and how is the Varangian Guard made up?
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Good question both above-mine is: how do you even get retinues in the 1st place?
 
DennisRoos said:
You're doing well. I have a question though. In this last update on the administration you mention the Legion. These are obviously retinues, but what kind of retinues? Archers mixed with heavy infantry for assaulting purposes? I was wondering because I'm playing as the ERE right now, and I've always found the cataphracts more than sufficient, so my fighting force is composed solely of cataphracts and the Varangian Guard. Though I am thinking of getting a stack of archer retinues used for assaulting holdings.
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The Legion is made up of the Emperors personal demense troops plus his baron lvl vassals. Ten thousand Cataphracts supplement them, along with the Varaginian Guard
 
guillec87 said:
yeah, and how is the Varangian Guard made up?
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IRL at this time it was made up of Anglo Saxons displaced by the Normans and some Scandinavians. Loyalty till death is part of their culture, unlike the backstabbing Greeks
 
Nikephoros II said:
Aww, thanks.
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the Greeks would say that the Saxons are barbaric and warlike, solving all problems with fighting instead of diplomacy. Much easier to pay someone than kill them
 
Loved the update about the restructuring of the army by the way :happy:
 
Jarren said:
IRL at this time it was made up of Anglo Saxons displaced by the Normans and some Scandinavians. Loyalty till death is part of their culture, unlike the backstabbing Greeks
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'm sorry, I didn't explain myself... what I wanted to ask is which retinues form the Varangian Guard?
 
This AAR was an inspiration for me to start an Alexiad ERE playthrough last year. And restart it as ironman after the 2.0 patch. Thank you, Alexiad is a fantastic campaign, and this is a fantastic AAR too!

Sadly, the dynamic crusade system in 2.0 breaks a bit with Alexiad - one gets an automatic crusade for "Greece" (modern day Turkey west coast) immediately. Fortunately, its effects can be wiped out, and everything is as awesome as before after the first fifty years or so.

Now in 1200s - lost all my retinues (cap ~50K points) twice inside twenty years. Things will definitely get hot for ERE once the Mongols come in. Waiting to see how you handle them, cheers!
 
petrip said:
This AAR was an inspiration for me to start an Alexiad ERE playthrough last year. And restart it as ironman after the 2.0 patch. Thank you, Alexiad is a fantastic campaign, and this is a fantastic AAR too!

Sadly, the dynamic crusade system in 2.0 breaks a bit with Alexiad - one gets an automatic crusade for "Greece" (modern day Turkey west coast) immediately. Fortunately, its effects can be wiped out, and everything is as awesome as before after the first fifty years or so.

Now in 1200s - lost all my retinues (cap ~50K points) twice inside twenty years. Things will definitely get hot for ERE once the Mongols come in. Waiting to see how you handle them, cheers!
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The crusade thing wouldn't be so bad if the Templars didn't always win. Instead of just grabbing a claimant from whoeve wins and pressing for Greece, you have to do 1 war every ten years for one county. I do plan to launch another Komeneos game on Ironman. Just maybe not at 1081 ;)
 
Jarren said:
The crusade thing wouldn't be so bad if the Templars didn't always win. Instead of just grabbing a claimant from whoeve wins and pressing for Greece, you have to do 1 war every ten years for one county. I do plan to launch another Komeneos game on Ironman. Just maybe not at 1081 ;)
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Try one as Ioannes Komnenos. It would be rather interesting (Though I always found many of the non-bookmarked dates really interesting). I remember having a really interesting game as Michael VII.
 
Chapter IV: In Unam Ecclesiam​

With Rome once more under the Imperial aegis, and with a friendly Kaiser on the German throne, the Empire found itself without a worthy enemy for the first time in living memory. The forces of Islam had been shattered, and was consumed in petty in fighting in Persia and Arabia. The few remaining holdouts in Aswan were driven out by Depot Alexios shortly before his death, completing the reconquest of Aegyptus begun by Manuel in 1140. The Empress now turned her considerable diplomatic talents away from worldly matters and into the spiritual realm, focusing on the century’s old divide between the Latin and Greek Churches. The root causes of the Great Schism, as it has come to be called, go back to the founding of the faith under Constantine and his heirs. Even then, with an Emperor ruling in the East and the West, differences in custom and practice existed between the myriad Sees of the Church. As the West fell into chaos, the Bishop of Rome sought to claim supremacy over the other sees in the east, insisting that he was not simply first among equals but was supreme over the Pentarchy. This was of course contested by the Patriarch’s in Constantinople and elsewhere, and by the Emperor’s themselves, who assumed the position that they should also help govern the Church. The Bishop of Rome eventually decided to side with the German invaders, as they offered him more independence and power than submission to the Emperor would. This state of affairs served to deepen the divide between the East and West, and it was finally crystalized in 1054, when papal legates from Rome excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople, who in turn excommunicated them. The conduct of the Crusaders as they passed through Greece did nothing to endear the Roman public to the Latin’s, and their subsequent defeat was seen as a punishment for their actions and their perceived heresy.

By Sophia’s time however things had changed. Her husband Konrad, despite marrying Sophia and loving her deeply, did not adopt the Greek customs of worship. However, he harbored no love for the Pope, who had sought block his accession to the throne of the Kaiser on the grounds that he had fallen to heresy. Thus, when Konrad was secure on the German throne, he began a program of decentralization from Rome in the German church, giving much more autonomy to the local bishops than they had enjoyed under his father. The Pope again accused him of heresy, and threatened to excommunicate the Kaiser if he continued these actions. Konrad simply ignored him, as he had no more drastic changes in mind than simply rendering the Pope impotent inside his realm. Other monarchs in the west took note of these actions, and some followed the Kaisers example to a limited extent. The one glaring exception was England, whose Norman overlords depended on the papacy to legitimize their claim to the throne. Having just recovered from a prolonged era of civil war, England was in no mood to change the status quo.

As the dust settled from the Siege of Rome, the fate of the western church stood on the edge of a knife. Would the Pope recover his lost prestige, or would the western church fall into anarchy and true heresy. Already in the south of France, many priests had begun to speak of a new doctrine, one which had no central authority or guiding force. This region had been sacked repeatedly by the infidel from Spain, then falling into the hands of Konrad’s father in the 1150’s. The region had descended into lawlessness and was now a hotbed of revolutionary idea’s. The Knights Templar had sought to curb this heresy by taking control of the region, but their heavy handed tactics only served to fuel the fire. Sophia knew that if this heresy were to spread it could bring down not only the western church but the entire fabric of society. If all men are answerable only to God, where does an Emperor fit in?

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A Cathar lord burns some of his “heretical” subjects

With all these factors in mind, in the fall 1176 Sophia called for any and all clergy to assemble in Rome, for a great council the likes of which had not been seen in centuries. Bishops and clerics from across the Empire and Europe came, some from as far away as Iceland and Scotland. The stated purpose of the meeting was to combat the growing Cathar heresy, but Sophia had a much grander purpose in mind. Her opening statement came as a shock to many, as it swiftly became clear what the empress was advocating was not mere anti-heresy cooperation, but full integration of the Western and Eastern churches. The English delegation even began to heckle the empress, prompting the surrounding Varangian Guardsmen to forcibly remove them from the chamber. Negotiations dragged on for weeks, with many individual bishops and rulers worried that their own positions would suffer from this merger. Sophia worked tirelessly, persuading, cajoling and in some cases outright bribing bishops to accept her plan. Her husband proved to be a great help in this, persuading many of his most powerful vassals to make a show of accepting the Eucharist from the Greek Patriarch of Rome, John Komnenos. This, along with promises of continued independence and the unlikelihood of Papal reprisals, led to the final accord being signed on Christmas Day, 1176.

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The Basilica of St. Peter, built by Consantine the Great

Here follows an account of the signing written by Patriarch John Komnenos, recorded shortly before his death in 1190

Christmas Day began with a promise of rain, and by midafternoon it was as dark as night outside the basilica of Saint Peter. All the bishops had assembled for the ceremony, where both the Kaiser and Empress would sign the Proclamation of Unity already signed by the Bishops. Many muttered that God showed his displeasure in sending rain and thunder to mark the occasion, but none dared to sugest the ceremony be postponed. Konrad signed quickly and without incident, his hand steady and firm despite the momentous nature of the occasion. Privately I could tell the strange weather was unnerving him, and I myself had begun to have some doubts until I laid eyes on my sister. She wore her full regalia, the gold seeming to capture the fait light of the candles and amplify it. The purple fabric also seemed to be unnaturally bright, its color clearly evident even in the gloom. As she approached the alter, the storm outside increased in strength, and a tremendous thunderclap sounded right over the church. Suddenly the doors of the church flew open, and the rush of wind extinguished most of the candles instantly. Pandemonium ensued as the churchmen began tripping over one another in the dark and wind, and I myself felt a hint of panic creed up my spine. Then the doors slammed shut again, and we were plunged into total darkness. The shouting and shoving continued for several long moments, until a voice sounded from all around us. “SILENCE MEN OF GOD! LOOK AND BEHOLD!” We all turned to the alter and were nearly blinded by what we saw. On the dais stood my sister, and before her stood the shape of a woman. My sister stood straight, seeming frozen as the figure raised its arm to us and disappeared. The light vanished, and again we plunged into darkness. Then, slowly a shape began to emerge from the shadow, and I saw my sister standing in the center. She had turned to face us, and I saw my sister as she had been in her youth, beautiful and serene as any angel. She smiled warmly at us, and held up the treaty she had just signed. From within the parchment shone another light, in the shape of the labarum, the ancient sign shown to Constantine himself. The light grew more radiant than the sun, and banished all hint of shadow from out midst. “Sanctus!” cried an Italian as he knelt before this miracle. “Hagios!” I felt myself exclaim as I too knelt. The cries were echoed by each member of the council as he knelt, and the word of this miracle spread like wildfire across the city. Saint Sophia said nothing of this experience, but those who witnessed it would never forget it as long as they lived….”

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