The Komnenian Restoration: A Legacy of Rome ARR
- Thread starter Jarren
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Thanks in part to your encouragement, and the assistance of the mighty King Wikepeida, I have defeated the evil Finals Empire. The story of Sohpia shall return sometime this week 
Thanks in part to your encouragement, and the assistance of the mighty King Wikepeida, I have defeated the evil Finals Empire. The story of Sohpia shall return sometime this week
those are two good news!! congratz!!
Read this all in one sitting. Completely engulfed in the story.
Incredible work man, looking forward to more.
Incredible work man, looking forward to more.
Loving what ive read so far
Im also looking forward to the confrontation between West and East, especially how the Kaiser Husband will deal with his Empress wife taking the seat of all Catholics and making it Orthodox again (seeing as how the HRE is a completly Catholic and were always suppose to have defended the Church of Rome) x3....imagine that would raise some interesting discussion around the dinner table, and the inevitable sibling rivalry between Gregorios and Alexios
I hope as well that you keep the West catholic, rather than letting the End of the Schism evet turn everything Orthodox, cos tbh, ive always found that event stupidly unrealistic for paradox to have put in. Instead they shouldve allowed a greater conversion rate for the chaplain and such, prestige and piety bonus, and better diplomacy for both the religious and secular leaders who reformed the Church into one again, to convert people over, slowly.
Im also looking forward to the confrontation between West and East, especially how the Kaiser Husband will deal with his Empress wife taking the seat of all Catholics and making it Orthodox again (seeing as how the HRE is a completly Catholic and were always suppose to have defended the Church of Rome) x3....imagine that would raise some interesting discussion around the dinner table, and the inevitable sibling rivalry between Gregorios and Alexios
I hope as well that you keep the West catholic, rather than letting the End of the Schism evet turn everything Orthodox, cos tbh, ive always found that event stupidly unrealistic for paradox to have put in. Instead they shouldve allowed a greater conversion rate for the chaplain and such, prestige and piety bonus, and better diplomacy for both the religious and secular leaders who reformed the Church into one again, to convert people over, slowly.
I finally caught up reading this AAR. I'm loving it, and looking forward to your next update.
Chapter III: Vae Victis
As the dust settled from the siege of Capua, the Bishop of Rome was growing increasingly nervous. He and his predecessors had ruled over the Eternal City for almost five hundred years. Once under the control of the Empire, the so called Pope had asserted his independence from the Emperor in the sixth century, as the Empire have been driven back from Italy by the Lombard’s. He had survived the Lombard’s, the Franks, the Germans and the Normans. His power had waxed in the West, claiming to be the supreme head of the Church and Christ’s representative on earth. This was of course nonsense, and the Papacy had degenerated into a den of sin and vice. The city of Rome mirrored the moral decay of the Papacy, its great monuments pillaged to build the stone hovels of the few remaining Romans. The aqueducts lay in ruins, and the great Coliseum was being used as a marketplace and the Forum was a den of whores and gamblers. The light of Rome was extinguished, and none in the West had managed to rekindle it. But now the armies of the Empire sat within a day’s march of the city walls, ready to bring the city of Rome back to its rightful owners.
The ruin's of past glory...
Sophia now stood poised to march on Rome, but she did not want to take the city over a mound of corpses if she could avoid it. She sent a letter to the Pope, reminding him of the Empire’s singular claim to Rome and its surrounding countryside, and implored him to vacate his claims to secular power and surrender the city to her without a fight. Stehpen at first seemed inclined to agree to these terms, but after the Doge of Genoa promised him an army of mercenaries he decided to make a stand. While this decision seems like absolute folly to our eyes, there was certain logic to his thinking. If the Pope could hold off the Imperial armies for long enough, the rest of the western lords would see a chance to curtail the rapid expansion of the Empire in the west. The various lords of the German Empire were particularly eager to fight against the “Greek Whore” who had seduced their Kaiser into abandoning the Holy Father. The stories in the west of Empress Sophia’s beauty went and in hand with tales of her debauched lifestyle, with an emphasis on adultery in the absence of her husband. I can attest from my research that these rumors are baseless, and that the Kaiser and Empress had a faithful and loving marriage. Despite this, Konrad was unable to prevent his Italian subjects from rallying to the banner of the Pope, and Sophia now faced an army of fifteen thousand Catholics stationed outside of Rome. The Emperors Legion numbered only ten thousand, so the Varagnian Guard was summoned from its station in Africa, to be joined by troops from Sicily and southern Italy.
The battle is joined…
The Pope tried to strike first and Capua, but Imperial reinforcements arrived long before then, and the two armies met near the ancient town of Teano, just a few miles from the gates of Rome. Upon seeing the vast army arrayed against them, many of the Italians simply turned around and fled, only to be ambushed by a contingent of the Immortals and crushed back against the rear of their own army. The battle quickly tuned into a massacre, with some wounded drwoning in the blood of the slain as the Greeks and Norse decimated the Italian army. Only one in ten of the Papal soldiers managed to escape into the mountains, and they were subsequently crushed at Ascoli. After the battle of Terano, the Imperial Legion now set it sights on the now defenseless city of Rome, and by March 5th 1171 the assault was ready to begin...
Leading the defense of Rome was a guardsman named Marcus, the defense having fallen to him after the Pope and nobles of the city had fled. He faced an impossible task, but still sought to protect his home against what he feared would be a bloody sack of his city. But his fear soon turned to confusion when after setting up camp around the city and constructing siege equipment, the Greeks sent a general forward to ask for terms. Marcus was astonished, having been told to expect no mercy at the hands of the Greeks. The terms offered were generous to the extreme, and are preserved in the official document given by the herald to Marcus, dated 15th March 1171.
Marcus accepted the terms without a moment’s hesitation, and the Legion let out an earthshaking roar when their Strategos waved the news back to them. In the days that followed the remaining Papal loyalists were either hunted down or exiled from Rome and Latium, and Sophia’s brother John was named Patriarch of Rome. For his part Marcus was granted substantial lands around the city and remained commander of the garrison, and remains a beloved figure in the city to this day. When news reached Constantinople that Rome had been recaptured the city exploded in a fit of revelry. The parties and parades went on for days, with similar celebrations breaking out all across the Empire as the news spread. What Sophia’s immediate reaction was is unknown, but the vast public works she commissioned in Rome show that she was committed to restoring the city to its ancient glory. The aqueducts, baths and Coliseum were rebuilt in the following years, and the population of Rome grew steadily as the city recovered from centuries of neglect. Meanwhile the Pope, now residing in Avignon, found many of his western lords begin to question why they paid homage to him as the Holy Father. While he had held Rome he could claim to be the heir to Saint Peter, but now a Greek sat the throne of the Apostle. The Great Schism had endured for centuries between East and West, but now it seemed it just might be mended at last…
As the dust settled from the siege of Capua, the Bishop of Rome was growing increasingly nervous. He and his predecessors had ruled over the Eternal City for almost five hundred years. Once under the control of the Empire, the so called Pope had asserted his independence from the Emperor in the sixth century, as the Empire have been driven back from Italy by the Lombard’s. He had survived the Lombard’s, the Franks, the Germans and the Normans. His power had waxed in the West, claiming to be the supreme head of the Church and Christ’s representative on earth. This was of course nonsense, and the Papacy had degenerated into a den of sin and vice. The city of Rome mirrored the moral decay of the Papacy, its great monuments pillaged to build the stone hovels of the few remaining Romans. The aqueducts lay in ruins, and the great Coliseum was being used as a marketplace and the Forum was a den of whores and gamblers. The light of Rome was extinguished, and none in the West had managed to rekindle it. But now the armies of the Empire sat within a day’s march of the city walls, ready to bring the city of Rome back to its rightful owners.
The ruin's of past glory...
Sophia now stood poised to march on Rome, but she did not want to take the city over a mound of corpses if she could avoid it. She sent a letter to the Pope, reminding him of the Empire’s singular claim to Rome and its surrounding countryside, and implored him to vacate his claims to secular power and surrender the city to her without a fight. Stehpen at first seemed inclined to agree to these terms, but after the Doge of Genoa promised him an army of mercenaries he decided to make a stand. While this decision seems like absolute folly to our eyes, there was certain logic to his thinking. If the Pope could hold off the Imperial armies for long enough, the rest of the western lords would see a chance to curtail the rapid expansion of the Empire in the west. The various lords of the German Empire were particularly eager to fight against the “Greek Whore” who had seduced their Kaiser into abandoning the Holy Father. The stories in the west of Empress Sophia’s beauty went and in hand with tales of her debauched lifestyle, with an emphasis on adultery in the absence of her husband. I can attest from my research that these rumors are baseless, and that the Kaiser and Empress had a faithful and loving marriage. Despite this, Konrad was unable to prevent his Italian subjects from rallying to the banner of the Pope, and Sophia now faced an army of fifteen thousand Catholics stationed outside of Rome. The Emperors Legion numbered only ten thousand, so the Varagnian Guard was summoned from its station in Africa, to be joined by troops from Sicily and southern Italy.
The battle is joined…
The Pope tried to strike first and Capua, but Imperial reinforcements arrived long before then, and the two armies met near the ancient town of Teano, just a few miles from the gates of Rome. Upon seeing the vast army arrayed against them, many of the Italians simply turned around and fled, only to be ambushed by a contingent of the Immortals and crushed back against the rear of their own army. The battle quickly tuned into a massacre, with some wounded drwoning in the blood of the slain as the Greeks and Norse decimated the Italian army. Only one in ten of the Papal soldiers managed to escape into the mountains, and they were subsequently crushed at Ascoli. After the battle of Terano, the Imperial Legion now set it sights on the now defenseless city of Rome, and by March 5th 1171 the assault was ready to begin...
Leading the defense of Rome was a guardsman named Marcus, the defense having fallen to him after the Pope and nobles of the city had fled. He faced an impossible task, but still sought to protect his home against what he feared would be a bloody sack of his city. But his fear soon turned to confusion when after setting up camp around the city and constructing siege equipment, the Greeks sent a general forward to ask for terms. Marcus was astonished, having been told to expect no mercy at the hands of the Greeks. The terms offered were generous to the extreme, and are preserved in the official document given by the herald to Marcus, dated 15th March 1171.
Strategos Ibadi, 1st Legate of the Imperial Legion
To Capitain Marcus, commander of the city of Rome and its defense I send greetings and salutations. Your Bishop has abandoned you, your armies have been crushed and your city stands defenseless. I have been given orders from her majesty Sophia in Christ, Empress and Autocrat of the Romans, to offer terms of surrender to you. They are non negotiable, and refusal will trigger immediate assault upon your city.
I. All current residents of the city of Rome must swear allegiance to the Empire, and promise to never take up arms against its servants
II. All who refuse shall have their property confiscated and be banished from the city and Empire on pain of death
III. All who accept shall retain their property, and no new taxes or levies shall be imposed
IV. The property of those who refuse shall be divided amongst those who accept, as a reward for their loyalty
To Capitain Marcus, commander of the city of Rome and its defense I send greetings and salutations. Your Bishop has abandoned you, your armies have been crushed and your city stands defenseless. I have been given orders from her majesty Sophia in Christ, Empress and Autocrat of the Romans, to offer terms of surrender to you. They are non negotiable, and refusal will trigger immediate assault upon your city.
I. All current residents of the city of Rome must swear allegiance to the Empire, and promise to never take up arms against its servants
II. All who refuse shall have their property confiscated and be banished from the city and Empire on pain of death
III. All who accept shall retain their property, and no new taxes or levies shall be imposed
IV. The property of those who refuse shall be divided amongst those who accept, as a reward for their loyalty
Marcus accepted the terms without a moment’s hesitation, and the Legion let out an earthshaking roar when their Strategos waved the news back to them. In the days that followed the remaining Papal loyalists were either hunted down or exiled from Rome and Latium, and Sophia’s brother John was named Patriarch of Rome. For his part Marcus was granted substantial lands around the city and remained commander of the garrison, and remains a beloved figure in the city to this day. When news reached Constantinople that Rome had been recaptured the city exploded in a fit of revelry. The parties and parades went on for days, with similar celebrations breaking out all across the Empire as the news spread. What Sophia’s immediate reaction was is unknown, but the vast public works she commissioned in Rome show that she was committed to restoring the city to its ancient glory. The aqueducts, baths and Coliseum were rebuilt in the following years, and the population of Rome grew steadily as the city recovered from centuries of neglect. Meanwhile the Pope, now residing in Avignon, found many of his western lords begin to question why they paid homage to him as the Holy Father. While he had held Rome he could claim to be the heir to Saint Peter, but now a Greek sat the throne of the Apostle. The Great Schism had endured for centuries between East and West, but now it seemed it just might be mended at last…
Nicely done. After mending the schism, it'll be time to reform the Roman Empire (or at least make Europe acknowledge that this really is the Roman Empire).
Interlude: The Imperial AdministrationAs the dust settled from the reconquest of Rome, the people of the Empire could once again walk with pride. In ninety years the Komnenian Emperors had taken a shattered, disheartened people and reshaped them once more into the most powerful state in the known world. Their able and noble rule had seen the lands of the Empire double, then triple in size. The Black Sea was no longer the den of pirates and pagan horse lords who raided Into Greece at will. Instead, it was a new Roman lake, kept clear by the Imperial Navy, which was rebuilt by John the Apostle. From Antioch the armies of Alexios had struck out across the desert into the heart of Anatolia and Syria, driving a dagger into the neck of the infidel. And finally, Manuel the Blessed reclaimed Alexandria and broke the back of the last great infidel kingdom in Roman lands, securing at last the eastern front of the Empire.
An aged scribe hard at work...
All these new lands had to be administered after the armies had moved on, and the Komnenian Imperial bureaucracy at first struggled to keep up. It was John II's able tutor and adviser Narses who was the driving force for reform as the frontiers advanced. He recognized that the local rulers could not be trusted, even those who still spoke Greek and kept the faith. Instead, all lands acquired in military campaigns would be ruled by men who had proved their loyalty to the Emperor and Empire, with no distinction given to those with wealth or title behind them. This meant that the old family's of Greece, such as the Doukas or Angelos, could not simply expect to gain titles on the basis of name. All those who wished for land would have to swing a sword to claim it, and all land would be granted only by the Emperor. This had a side effect as well, favoring those family's who had always served well in he army over those who didn't, and favoring younger more dynamic men over their elders. Since many of the Emperors family also accompanied him on campaigns, a large proportion of them also gained lands in the eastern provinces. Accusations of nepotism have been voiced, but the record of able and loyal administration gives these little credence.
Finally, the structure of the army was changed radically from the pre existing structure. Aside from the Emperors Legion, most troops could expect to serve in the province they were born into, excepting those times when every man was needed on some distant battlefield. The local governors were responsible for maintaining these reserves, but were also heavily policed by the administration in what these men could be used for. The Despots and Dux were legally prohibited from waging independent wars by Manuel the Blessed, although this was somewhat relaxed for those provinces near the frontier. The exception to these local armies was the Emperors Legion, known informally a simply "The Legion". Made up of veterans from across the Empire, these men were loyal only to the reigning Emperor, and formed the tip of the spear in any invasion. The units were divided into cohorts of five hundred men, and were stationed in and around Constantinople in peacetime.
Above the footmen of the Legion was a force of ten thousand known as the Immortals, comprised only of the heavy Cataphracts and light horse archers. This army was the true heart of the Emperors power, and in almost a century of operation it had never been defeated in battle. While the Legions number eventually grew so large that it had to be divided into forces of five thousand, the Immortals never increased their number beyond ten thousand. They even required new recruits to take the first name of a fallen comrade, so that his memory would live forever. Aside from these mostly Greek fighters stood a force of axe wielding Northmen known as the Varangian Guard, who swore loyalty to the reigning Emperor. Established almost 100 years before the rise of Alexios, these foreign fighters had proved completely loyal to the Emperor Diogenes at the Battle of Manzikert. These three forces formed the core of the Imperial Army, and succeeded in both expanding the borders of the Empire and keeping the peace within it for almost a century. But now our story turns westward, away from the lands of the infidel to the forests and cities once ruled by Rome. Here the local elites could not be displaced as easily as the Turks had been, and the governance of the Empire would become far more difficult...
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Poor Mithrandir.
Actually Angelos family is not that old. I think they rose up first during Komnenid restoration?
Actually Angelos family is not that old. I think they rose up first during Komnenid restoration?
Poor Mithrandir.
Actually Angelos family is not that old. I think they rose up first during Komnenid restoration?
By old I meant established. in game they are Dux at the 1066 start, but lose it to the Seljuks in 1076 or so
Great to see this is back up and running, Jarren. Even better to see Rome restored to the Pentarchy! I'm very much looking forward to the day when the Schism is mended once and for all.
