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Viden: You mean dead before his 40th birthday with a child as heir? No thanks. ;)

Specialist290: Very true. It won't be the last such clash either!

Stuyvesant: Hah, true! The Romans have had their ups and downs in this most recent war, a good reminder they are not invincible.

Still, to the Indus?

Asantahene: Thank you! :) It is hardly needs be said at this point but I am aiming recreate the old empire of Alexander and Seleuces in the east.
 
This was another superb post-what a shame about the young prince though and I wonder what the old Bishop had been up to-love how you weave the history together and create quite the page turner-bravo!
 
I like how you weaved the death of his heir, the random Assassin strike, and the blackmail together and had Konstas drift into paranoia. I also like that, even with the staggering power of the Roman Empire, it's always a reason for concern if there threatens to be another regency instead of a smooth succession. Narratively, it keeps the story that more interesting.

Nice scene with the death of Kallinikios (or whatever his exact name is. I get it confused with 'Calisthenics'...): the heir falling ill, the attempt to return to Edessa, the death in a deserted little village church... I know none of that is in the game (well, him dying is in the game, but the rest...), but the embellishment makes for a vivid scene, something that is alive (and yes, I appreciate the irony of talking about something being alive when it's about the death of a character).
 
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Stuyvesant stole the words right out of my mouth. It's those little garnishes that make the main work so enjoyable.

I know that this also isn't technically in the game, but I do have to wonder if, reading between the lines, one could link all these recent deaths (and, in part, the paranoia caused by them) to some sort of Assassin plot, as revenge for the Empire's war on Persia.
 
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Prince Pelagios, late 1152 AD.

Part Five - The Two Princes

Konstas had five living children, all by his beloved second wife Petronia and it was universally assumed that after Konstas died his son Pelagios would don the purple to which he had been born. So, at first was the Emperor's intention. There was, however, another candidate.

Prince Kallinikios had had a son of his own by his Armenian wife. This son was named Konstas after his grandfather, and he was nearly the same age as his uncle Pelagios but the two boys were very different in character. Pelagios had a talent for matters military and considerable skill with horse and sword and bore himself with a certain humility but his other virtues were little in evidence. The prince was greedy and gluttonous and had a particularly vile temper, flogging his servants for the least mistake. Despite his love of money he had no feel for it, running into debt easily (perhaps the ultimate sin for his father who had always been careful with his wealth.)

Young Konstas was of another breed altogether. He was also a soldier by inclination, maybe not as naturally gifted as the crown prince but with a gentler nature. If anything he was perhaps too trusting a soul, with little sense of intrigue in him. His relations with his slightly older uncle were polite but strained; the two were not rivals but neither could they be considered flaws. The Emperor Konstas, watching from a distance saw all and slowly but surely began to reconsider his plans.


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Young Konstas, shortly before being made co-emperor mid 1153 AD.

The turning point was the brief but bloody Romano-Persian War of 1151 to 1152. The Romans desired the eastern half of Tabaristan, the west having been in their hands for a generation. At this time the Persians were fighting the Cumans, the great Christian empire of the steppes that had for a time been a rival to Constantinople in terms of power. So great were the risks that Konstas broke the habit of a lifetime and marched with the army, though wisely he left the leadership on the field to others!

The Romans and Persians clashed in battle at Lavij on 20 December 1151. The Battle of Lavij, waged in biting cold weather and the darkness of an early sunset was the biggest and bloodiest of Konstas' reign. At one point a party of Persian cavalry broke through the Roman lines and raided Konstas' baggage camp. The Emperor himself, wearied by the journey (he had now passed his 50th year) was at prayers for success in the battle and was only alerted to the danger by the sounds of fighting directly outside the makeshift tent the services were being conducted in. Bishop Narses, the Emperor's dearest friend stepped outside and was killed at once by a Persian sword. Instinctively moving to aid his friend Konstas recieved a blow to the side that he survived but never truly recovered from. It was only thanks to his humble clothes worn for prayers, rather than distinctive ceremonial armour that he lived at all for the Persians did not recognise him[1].


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The Battle of Lavij, 20th December 1151 AD.

The battle proper was a tremendous victory, the Persian strength broken in a matter of hours and victory in the war a certainty. Tabaristan, perhaps the lovliest province of Persia was in Roman hands - and a wounded, grieving Emperor returned to Constantinople. His close brush with death had brought the succession question to the forefront; Pelagios was his son, the child of of his beloved Petronia... but he was not the stuff of which emperors are made. So Konstas turned to his grandson.

Young Konstas turned sixteen in August 1153, eight months after Pelagios. Entering manhood had made them more the men they had always seemed. After much thought the Emperor made Young Konstas co-emperor - in effect his successor[2]. The decision provoked suprisingly little public disagreement in the Imperial Family. The Empress loved her son but she had no illusions about his abilities. Pelagios was made Doux of Tabaristan as a compensation. The Romans would have need of his skill in future.

In October of that year the great Kaisarios Makedon died. The Exarch of Mesopotamia had fallen into hedonism in his middle years and his subjects had taken to calling him Kaisarios the Fat but he had been a successful ruler and dear friend and Konstas wept bitterly at the news, especially as he was now too infirm to contemplate a journey to Baghdad for the funeral. For a man who had many close friends like Konstas the loss of yet another cut away at him far more than a Persian sword. He appeared visibly more faded on the rare occassions he showed his face in public, ten or twenty years older than years. At such times his faith remained a great comfort. The Emperor's Memoirs ultimately unfinished but believed written around this time begins not with his coronation or the death of his father but with an elegant and moving account of his journey to Antioch as a young pilgrim. His injuries at Lavij left him unable to wield a pen easily but he dictated to his second and cleverest daughter Princess Alexandra.

Surrounded by faith, friends and family Konstas III died on 31 May 1154 at the age of 53. His last years were not easy but he had reigned of an era of wealth and expansion when Roman power stretched in lands it never reached before. He had left the throne to a man, young admittedly but an adult. He would be deeply mourned, privately and publically, one of those who had decisively impacted on history. Konstas IV had a great name to live up too...


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The Roman Empire at the death of Konstas III, 1154 AD.



[1] Yes Konstas was at Lavij, thanks to a bit of oversight on my part. I'd raised levies from Tigris which was at that point part of his personal demense and forgot to double check.

[2] In game terms I gave Young Konstas the honourary title of 'despot' (not to be confused with the Makedon kings of Italy who use a similar but not honourary title) . Despot - the honourary one - makes the recipient count as being born in the Purple, thus shifting Young Konstas into position as my heir.
 
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Asantahene: Thank you! Yes a pity about Kallinikios. Konstas III really put up with a lot of heartbreak over his life actually. :(

Stuyvesant: Thanks! In fairness it fit surprisingly well with Konstas' blackening mood. He also lost his Charitable trait over time, obviously feeling increasingly beaten by the world.

Specialist290: My thoughts exactly, which means they might grow worse in the reign of Konstas IV!

I'll do a post looking at the changed nature of the Empire with all this fairly rapid eastern expansion.
 
A sad end for Konstas (the third), but it seems to fit his character as it developed in the latter part of his life. Still, he died peacefully, surrounded by family, and the empire is at peace.

I assume with the fast and vast conquests in the east, Roman control can't extend much beyond the upper layers of power: certainly not all the way down to the populace, and probably not even down to the day-to-day administrators, the clergymen, the bureaucrats, the mayors, etc. I imagine the inland east as an area where the Romans rule from cities, while the poor and the rural are either sullen or seething, depending on how heavy-handed their overlords are. It could be some birthing pangs that will soon give way to a smooth ride, or it could be an explosion waiting to happen. I look forward to learning more about it. :)
 
Have you already mended the Schism? And what about becoming the unified Roman Empire once again?
 
Have you already mended the Schism? And what about becoming the unified Roman Empire once again?
Technically speaking, Zeno abolished the division of the Empire thus it is already unified.
 
I wonder if the slighted son will try to do anything with the succession...
 
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A cultural-linguistic map of the Roman Empire in 1154 AD.

Appendix - The Roman Empire in the Twelfth Century

Between the beginning of the personal reign of Basileios II and the death of Konstas III, an era of just over half a century, the Roman Empire grew in size by almost a quarter. With the exception of the city of Rome itself all this hard won land was in the east, in territories than had not seen Roman control in centuries or increasingly had never before been under the sway of the eagles and the cross.

The reforms of the Emperor Eusebios II had created a vastly powerful class of regional governors who were more like temporary kings - the exarchs. Their number fluctuated but by the time Konstas IV donned the purple there were, in theory, a dozen of them, including the Despotate of Italy which was functionally a true kingdom that acknowledged the authority of Constantinople. Italy with her wealth, her history of independence and her proud Franco-Italian nobles had not proven shy of using her strength. Twice, first under Orestes and then under his grandson Theophylaktos the Italians had invaded the Exarchate of Sicily, supposedly their equal. Bowing to the inevitable and preoccupied by events in the east Konstas had accepted the Italian Makedon supremacy over the peninsula - quarrelsome as they were the legitimate heirs of the House of Karling.

No other exarchate exhibited the power or independence of the Italians and Konstas was careful to keep the posts in different hands after the death of the old holder. Even so a potent exarch could be enormously influential in his own borders. Kaisarios the Fat, ruler of Mesopotamia for over twenty years is a great example. Dismissed as a mindless hedonist by many contemporaries he was a determined advocate Romanisation. Baghdad, much diminished for her peak and further shrunken by the Roman sack became a centre of Greek speaking culture as merchants eagerly settled in the city to enjoy the riches trade brought up the Tigris and Euphrates. By the time of Kaisarios' death urban Baghdad was largely Greek speaking, with many of the inhabitants Romanised Syrians from Damascus rather than from the distant Aegean.

Baghdad was an exception however, as were Roman colonies like Kallinikia. For the vast majority of the new eastern inhabitants of the Roman Empire Arabic and Persian remained the spoken languages. Into this seeming barren landscape stepped the Orthodox Church.

With the exception of Edessa where Monophysitism held sway and scattered enclaves of other traditions the Orthodox Church was the overwhelmingly dominant faith. Even under Konstas who was tolerant of and interested in Islam conversion was seen as step towards wealth, power, authority - Romaness. Above all only Christians were allowed to serve in the army and navy, still seen as paths to the top. A Persian or Bedouin citizen might have little Greek but if he followed the cross that mattered suprisingly little. Which is not to say many converts were not drawn to the faith by genuine spiritual conviction, undoubtely many were, just that there were tangible benefits for doing so.


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A religious map of the Roman Empire in 1154 AD.

Much of the success of the Church in this period was thanks to Pavlos Sebastopolous, the Patriarch of Antioch from 1128 to 1152. Patriarch Pavlos, a close friend of the Emperor Konstas was a prelate of great learning and a zealous proselytiser. The Patriarchs of Antioch had had a chequered history; one of Pavlos' predecessor's had blinded the Patriarch of Constantinople after a quarrel but Pavlos was a man of faith, happy to play the political game in the never ending rivalry between the Pentarchs and enjoy the friendship of Konstas and Kaisarios but committed to spreading the faith. To his subordinates Pavlos' zeal could be exhausting. His successor, Innokentios of Archa complained that Pavlos:

"...Promoted unlettered converts to lead great monasteries and librarians to oversee bishoprics because they impressed him with their simple faith!"
Irritating as it could be, and alienating to some of the more politically minded priests Pavlos' micromanagent of his Church produced an astonishingly high quality of priests appointed to the distant frontiers of the Empire. If Constantinople remained the political centre of the Church Antioch was, for a while at least, it's heart and soul.

The final tie stretching across the Empire, already mentioned in passing, was trade. As exciting as the idea of trade with India was both to contemporaries and later historians the first half of the Twelfth century saw the Mediterranean Sea remain the key to the Roman economy. The three great merchant republics of Venice, Pisa and Genoa remained locked in bitter rivalry but it would be a mistake to discount other centres of trade. Konstas controlled some of the most important points of the Levant: Jaffa, Ascalon, Tripoli and Tortosa. So important were the Levant ports that they were not part of the exarchates of Syria and Jerusalem but were directly Imperial territories, administered by personal apointees of the Emperor. Trade flowed back and forth from the Mediterranean into Mesopotamia but much of their money came from pilgrims sailing to the Holy Land.


Above them all remained Constantinople, still the greatest city in the world.
 
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Stuyvesant: Good point about Konstas III. A rather sad end but it could have been worse. With the Empire the most remarkable factor has been the religious shift which has far outpaced the cultural one and which I've tried to comment on in my last post. In 'reality' I do wonder how many conversions are lip service!

Viden: No, in game terms the schism still exists and with the Romans still focused on the east 'reunifying' the Roman Empire is unlikely anytime soon!

DKM: Hah, true! the empire of Konstas II (and IV) is very much a Greek speaking Asian focused one, even with the acquisition of Rome itself. That might change someday but probably not soon.

Nikolai:
Yikes! :eek: We'll have to wait and see...
 
Nice to see another Imperial overview. I have to say that I'm rather surprised at how Egypt is almost completely assimilated (though, in an amusing inversion from history, it looks like Alexandria remains stubbornly Egyptian).

The Empire certainly looks strong enough to take on any challengers from the outside at this point -- but then, it's always seemed like it's internal strife that's been the great millstone around the Byzantine neck. Hopefully Konstas IV's reign will prove to be the exception that tests the rule.
 
Volume XII - Konstas IV


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The Edessene rebel Vahag is brought to Constantinople in chains for his excution, September 1160 AD.

Part One - Stargazing


Konstas IV did not much resemble his predecessor save in appearance, for he was dark haired and bearded in the manner of the Makedon's. He was taller than his grandfather, more martial in body and mind. Conventially pious he lacked the strong spirituality of Konstas III. The young Emperor displayed an interest in learning at odds with his education, which had been sparse when it came to academics. In particular he was willing to draw upon the learning of the Arabs. At his insistence an observatory was constructed in Kallipolis to indulge the Emperor's passion for stargazing, something he eventually gave up after quarrelling with the Church and questioning dogmatic assumptions on the movements of the earth and heavens. It would be excessive to label Konstas an unbeliever but after this incident his writings do indicate a more cynical shift[1].


More traditional, though equally dangerous, was Konstas' interest in war. At the beginning of his reign he organised a tournament in Constantinople in which he himself participated, recieving an injury in the process when an over enthusiastic Bulgarian soldier took him in the side with a spear. The wound was not serious but Konstas was slow to recover. When war with Persia broke out again in June 1155 the Emperor entrusted the fighting to his uncle Prince Pelagios, who he also appointed Caesar, despite his youth. The Romans now looked greedily on the province of Khorosan, pushing ever further into the east and splitting the Persian heartland from Khiva. It would a slow and painful war of sieges and small battles but with the Persians still not recovered from the last war the outcome was never in doubt and the Caesar conducted himself admirably. If anything the sheer weakness of Persia now began to cause difficulty for Konstas; though a peace signed in April 1158 gave the Romans Khorosan (save the eastern most elements, ruled by the Ghaznavid shah - a potentially disturbing new neighbour for the Romans) it would not end the fighting. In January 1159 Anatolios Makedon, the young Doux of Hamadan and a grandson of Basileios II (and thus a kinsman of the current Emperor) invaded Persia on his innovative, seeking the rich province of Esfahan. There had been private wars before but never on so grand a scale and Anatolios was not even an exarch and his adventurism created concern in Constantinople. For the moment the Emperor was forced to await developments before intervening, though rumours flowed like wine in the Forum that Konstas was planning on making his cousin 'Exarch of Persia'[2].


The Emperor's first wife, the French woman Judith de Joinville gave birth to a daughter in October 1156. However Princess Ioanna was a sickly girl and would not live long. Nor would her mother. Empress Judith took poorly to the climate of Constantinople and pined for Francia; weakened by a difficulty pregnancy she would die aged only 20 in April 1157. Though he grieved the Emperor did remain alone for long; his second wife was Evantia of Acre. The new Empress was a shrewd and capable woman, though she was much more conventially devout than her husband and may have appointed herself his unofficial chaplain. There are even some historians who suggest she was behind the so called 'Timotheoseon Epistle', a personal letter to the Emperor from the Ecumenical Patriarch Timotheos II. The letter itself has not survived but the Thirteenth Century historian Romanos Choirosphaktes alluded to a letter that 'shamed the Emperor from his stargazing'. The gossipy Romanos is considered a problematic source by modern historians but after the death of the great Diodorus in the late years of Konstas III he is almost the only insider insight on the Roman Empire of the late Twefth Century.


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The so-called 'Timotheoseon Epistle'.


Whatever Empress Evantia's political dealings she did succeed in gifting Konstas with heirs, a daughter Euphrosyne in February 1158, and a boy Kallinikios in September 1159. The infant prince was of course named for his late grandfather, the man who should have succeeded Konstas III. Konstas IV had never forgotten how his father died even though he had been little more than an infant himself. It may have been this abiding memory that provoked the Emperor's supposed coldness towards Edessa. Romanos claimed Konstas IV despised the Edessenes, blaming them for his father's death. That is likely an exaggeration but it is true Konstas was the first Roman ruler since Eusebios II to not visit the 'second city' of the Roman Empire. The tradition, started by the Emperor Symeon saw the reigning Emperor visit the city on the feast day celebrating the translation of the Mandylion to Constantinople. For other Emperors a delay would not have mattered so much; Anthemios 'the Blessed' had worn the purple for over thirty years before first setting foot in Edessa. Konstas IV however was known, or feared, by the Edessenes to hold a grudge against them. The religious situation may have been a factor too. Nominally Edessa was the see of Bishop Adrianos of Bile but in truth the vast majority of the populace were Armenian followers of the Monophysite church and ultimately Pope Agatho of distant Alexandria. In ordinary times this religious unorthodoxy was tolerated by both sides but in January 1160 a former soldier named Vahag managed to stir the supicious population into rebellion.

The Romans were no stranger to peasant uprisings and Vahag's six thousand or so were no threat to Roman authority or military might, but it was a blow to Konstas' prestige. The rebellion would finally be stamped out in September, but the wounds lingered. Therefore it was little surprise that the Emperor entrusted Diogenes of Rhodes, the great historian to chronicle his reign. Diogenes' book would later be ordered burned but sufficent copies evidently survived to the time of Romanos as he alludes to it (in often frustatingly vague terms.)

What neither man knew was that the single greatest crisis in Roman religious history was about to sweep across the Empire.


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Bishop Helias of Heraclea, the Emperor's Ecclesiarch or court chaplain, March 1162 AD.


[1] Konstas gained the Cynical and Diligent traits thanks to his stargazing.


[2] I'm far from having enough provinces to usurp Persia but I will say the prospect of an Exarchate of Persia appeals to me!
 
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Specialist290: Yes I noticed Alexandria too. Weird!

The Empire is going through an interesting phase now, with Persia fading and the dream of a border on the Indus becoming more realistic. To say nothing of internal matters...
 
Now, we just need a good ol' fashioned Roman Civil War. It's even in my signature!
 
Oh dear... Will the Emperor convert?
 
Oh no, not the Iconoclasts! I know: send the Ecclesiarch to Edessa! Then the heretics can concentrate on making their respective lives miserable, and the rest of the Empire can continue on as usual.

Without an in-game map, I'm not entirely sure where the border with Persia currently lies, but if you're coveting Khorasan, then you are far, far east indeed.
 
Just caught up! Great stuff! I see trouble brewing for our young Emperor...and from within