It's page 2! In celebration, there is now a table of contents. Also, an update.
@Orjasmo : I'm confused about what is confusing you. But thanks!
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September 1024, Gondar
"Lllook at it, Vennaval! Lllook at it and WWEEP at its mmagnificence!"
King Merille was standing at the entrance of the royal treasury: inside was about seventeen hundred gold coins. His wife, Vennaval, was standing beside him with their ten-year-old son, Hakiem. "So it's a pile of shiny metal."
"Ha! Yyyes, shiny metal. Bbbut I have the mmmost! And the shiniest! And now, I have ssent out my ssteward on a survey of the entire lland, to determine exactly hhow much everyone hhas to pay mme!"
"Booooring." said Vennaval. "There's more to life than just money, Merille."
"Oh? Llike what."
"Well. There's land? Your family has been very enthusiastic about conquering land."
"Land. Yes... mmore lland, means mmore ppeople, means more ttax, means more ggold! Where should we conquer first, my dear?"
"Your mother conquered most of Egypt, but there is one part remaining: the Sinai peninsula."
July 1030, Gondar
In the treasury, King Merille had put a map on display, showing the spread of his lands. Sinai had been added after the successful war five years ago; it was followed by Ascalon, which was taken from the Sultan of Arabia. Now he waged war against the Kamran caliph to take Dhu Zabi: his mother had failed at this decades earlier. The caliph was still allied to the Ghaznavid Shah, who was currently Sabuktigin II, grandson of the conqueror. Sabuktigin II could not field as many troops as his namesake, but Merille had nevertheless been cautious, and called his wife's brother, Maharaja Nettabhanja II of Orissa and Tamilakam, to join the war.
Right now, however, Merille was reading a pair of letters. The first was from a preacher who had travelled far to the north, where people still followed pagan ways.
This was the first success Abyssinian preachers had had. The Tribe of Lendians was small, only three counties; but perhaps they would spread the Hindu faith to their neighbours. It did not benefit him, of course, but he supposed it was his duty to spread the faith.
The second letter was from his son Hakiem:
It seemed that Hakiem was determined to make his own decisions. Merille was slightly angry--the young indian princess he had found was gifted with a quick intellect and would have made a great queen--but perhaps it was for the best that Hakiem could decide for himself. He would, after all, rule one day.
August 1039, Gondar
Year after year, more territory was added to the map. Medina was taken (though the holy city itself was owned by the Zeydid caliph). Unfortunately one small county had been lost: Tobruk, part of Cyrenaica, was retaken by the Sultan of Africa, who had been able to field about thirty thousand troops. Merille had grudgingly ceded the patch of desert rather than lose most of his army.
For the army being intact allowed him to continue expansion: the duchy of Arabia was taken in a pair of wars, and the army then marched further east to attack the small Emirate of Basra, which owned a county in Nefoud.
"So nnow," he said to his wife, "the old Kamran caliph has bbeen overthrown, invalidating our tttruce; so it is time to ssstrike again! What shall I take nnext..."
"Merille, dear, I think you're getting somewhat obsessed." said Vennaval.
"Obsessed? Pplease, whatever ccould you mean?"
"You spend all your time looking at your gold and planning your conquests. I bet you can't remember your own childrens' names!"
"I ccan too! There's Hakiem, who married that Dilla person, and there's the baby, uh, Tessimidas or something..."
"Merille. Hakiem's wife died and he then married the Duchess of Nobatia. Our other children are Tessema and Fasilidas, and they're not babies, they're almost of age!"
"Oh really? They'll be nneeding some land soon then! But ffirst, we need to take this llast cccounty in Medina here, it's sstill owned by the Kamrans. Then the entire Red Sea ccoast will be mmmine!"
October 1040, Medina
Thousands of corpses stained the sand with their blood. Though the Kamran army had been driven off, nevertheless over half of the dead were Abyssinian.
Merille looked upon the desolate battlefield, overcome by the loss of life. He had not realized, in his heart, the cost that his continuous expansion could have.
He had left the capital, to travel with the army. Shortly after they attacked the Kamrans, the other Caliph, Zeyd II, had declared war on them, to take the duchy of Arabia. This was a major threat, as Zeyd II had recently won a Jihad against the powerful Romans: they conquered all of Roman Persia, doubling the size of the Zeydid caliphate.
As the army took heavy losses attacking the Kamrans, the Zeydids advanced into the Duchy of Arabia. "What dddo wwe do?" Merille wondered aloud. "Is ththis the end?"
"Oh please," said Vennaval. "It is hardly hopeless; you simply must find more troops somewhere. Hire mercenaries or something. My brother sent some Orissan troops too; they should arrive soon, so meet up with them."
May 1041, Fustat
Three mercenary companies had arrived in Egypt: two groups of Pechenegs, and a company of Bulgarians. All together they numbered just six thousand; but perhaps they would turn the tide somewhere.
Meanwhile, the survivors of the Battle of Yanbu had been transported by sea to Eilat; the direct path overland had been blocked by a Kamran army in the mountains. The Orissan troops had arrived as well. Ten thousand Kamran troops moved in to attack them in the mountains of Negev, but Abyssinian reinforcements arrived in time to turn the tide and rout them.
The battle forced the Kamran Caliph to surrender; now only the Zeydid Caliph needed to be dealt with. The mercenaries were sent east to join the main army.
April 1043, Damascus
With the full force of the Abyssinian army they outnumbered the Zeydids almost two-to-one. After a crushing victory at Dumat Al Jundat, the war turned in Abyssinia's favour, as they began to occupy the Zeydid land. After a year of sieging, and one more victorious battle, the caliph ceded the area around Damascus, one of the Shia faith's holy cities, to Merille.
"See?" Vennaval asked. "Everything worked out perfectly."
"Wwell, I ddid win." Merille brooded. "But wwas it wworth all those llives?"
"I think that's just the way the world is, dear."
"Pperhaps. But... now my warring days are behind me. I can get mmoney in other wways. Llike... increasing taxes! There's a ggood idea!"
"And what about this new land we have now? Tessema has come of age. He would make an excellent ruler."
"There's also the third one, rright? Fadilisas? He should get ssome of it, since I'm not cconquering any more. I'll ddivide it bbetween them."
Vennaval sighed. "Fasilidas, dear. But at least you remembered him this time."
"See? Improvement!"
February 1049, Gondar
The last six years had been entirely peaceful, as Merille had no more desire for war. However, as he neared his sixtieth birthday, his health was failing.
He was glad, though, that he lived long enough to see this day: his eldest grandson, Teferi, had just come of age, and Hakiem had made him his marshall. The boy was from Hakiem's first marriage to Dilla; his second marriage to the Duchess of Nobatia had produced another son, Hakeem, who was the new Duke after her recent death.
He had gotten to know all his children and grandchildren now. For he had realized that true wealth... well, true wealth was still gold. But family was pretty nice too.
King Merille passed away a few months later, leaving Abyssinia in Prince Hakiem's hands.
Abyssinia and neighbouring states upon the death of King Merille
@Orjasmo : I'm confused about what is confusing you. But thanks!
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The Reign of King Merille of Abyssinia
Born 990
Reigned from 1023
Born 990
Reigned from 1023
September 1024, Gondar
"Lllook at it, Vennaval! Lllook at it and WWEEP at its mmagnificence!"
King Merille was standing at the entrance of the royal treasury: inside was about seventeen hundred gold coins. His wife, Vennaval, was standing beside him with their ten-year-old son, Hakiem. "So it's a pile of shiny metal."
"Ha! Yyyes, shiny metal. Bbbut I have the mmmost! And the shiniest! And now, I have ssent out my ssteward on a survey of the entire lland, to determine exactly hhow much everyone hhas to pay mme!"
"Booooring." said Vennaval. "There's more to life than just money, Merille."
"Oh? Llike what."
"Well. There's land? Your family has been very enthusiastic about conquering land."
"Land. Yes... mmore lland, means mmore ppeople, means more ttax, means more ggold! Where should we conquer first, my dear?"
"Your mother conquered most of Egypt, but there is one part remaining: the Sinai peninsula."
July 1030, Gondar
In the treasury, King Merille had put a map on display, showing the spread of his lands. Sinai had been added after the successful war five years ago; it was followed by Ascalon, which was taken from the Sultan of Arabia. Now he waged war against the Kamran caliph to take Dhu Zabi: his mother had failed at this decades earlier. The caliph was still allied to the Ghaznavid Shah, who was currently Sabuktigin II, grandson of the conqueror. Sabuktigin II could not field as many troops as his namesake, but Merille had nevertheless been cautious, and called his wife's brother, Maharaja Nettabhanja II of Orissa and Tamilakam, to join the war.
Right now, however, Merille was reading a pair of letters. The first was from a preacher who had travelled far to the north, where people still followed pagan ways.
This was the first success Abyssinian preachers had had. The Tribe of Lendians was small, only three counties; but perhaps they would spread the Hindu faith to their neighbours. It did not benefit him, of course, but he supposed it was his duty to spread the faith.
The second letter was from his son Hakiem:
It seemed that Hakiem was determined to make his own decisions. Merille was slightly angry--the young indian princess he had found was gifted with a quick intellect and would have made a great queen--but perhaps it was for the best that Hakiem could decide for himself. He would, after all, rule one day.
August 1039, Gondar
Year after year, more territory was added to the map. Medina was taken (though the holy city itself was owned by the Zeydid caliph). Unfortunately one small county had been lost: Tobruk, part of Cyrenaica, was retaken by the Sultan of Africa, who had been able to field about thirty thousand troops. Merille had grudgingly ceded the patch of desert rather than lose most of his army.
For the army being intact allowed him to continue expansion: the duchy of Arabia was taken in a pair of wars, and the army then marched further east to attack the small Emirate of Basra, which owned a county in Nefoud.
"So nnow," he said to his wife, "the old Kamran caliph has bbeen overthrown, invalidating our tttruce; so it is time to ssstrike again! What shall I take nnext..."
"Merille, dear, I think you're getting somewhat obsessed." said Vennaval.
"Obsessed? Pplease, whatever ccould you mean?"
"You spend all your time looking at your gold and planning your conquests. I bet you can't remember your own childrens' names!"
"I ccan too! There's Hakiem, who married that Dilla person, and there's the baby, uh, Tessimidas or something..."
"Merille. Hakiem's wife died and he then married the Duchess of Nobatia. Our other children are Tessema and Fasilidas, and they're not babies, they're almost of age!"
"Oh really? They'll be nneeding some land soon then! But ffirst, we need to take this llast cccounty in Medina here, it's sstill owned by the Kamrans. Then the entire Red Sea ccoast will be mmmine!"
October 1040, Medina
Thousands of corpses stained the sand with their blood. Though the Kamran army had been driven off, nevertheless over half of the dead were Abyssinian.
Merille looked upon the desolate battlefield, overcome by the loss of life. He had not realized, in his heart, the cost that his continuous expansion could have.
He had left the capital, to travel with the army. Shortly after they attacked the Kamrans, the other Caliph, Zeyd II, had declared war on them, to take the duchy of Arabia. This was a major threat, as Zeyd II had recently won a Jihad against the powerful Romans: they conquered all of Roman Persia, doubling the size of the Zeydid caliphate.
As the army took heavy losses attacking the Kamrans, the Zeydids advanced into the Duchy of Arabia. "What dddo wwe do?" Merille wondered aloud. "Is ththis the end?"
"Oh please," said Vennaval. "It is hardly hopeless; you simply must find more troops somewhere. Hire mercenaries or something. My brother sent some Orissan troops too; they should arrive soon, so meet up with them."
May 1041, Fustat
Three mercenary companies had arrived in Egypt: two groups of Pechenegs, and a company of Bulgarians. All together they numbered just six thousand; but perhaps they would turn the tide somewhere.
Meanwhile, the survivors of the Battle of Yanbu had been transported by sea to Eilat; the direct path overland had been blocked by a Kamran army in the mountains. The Orissan troops had arrived as well. Ten thousand Kamran troops moved in to attack them in the mountains of Negev, but Abyssinian reinforcements arrived in time to turn the tide and rout them.
The battle forced the Kamran Caliph to surrender; now only the Zeydid Caliph needed to be dealt with. The mercenaries were sent east to join the main army.
April 1043, Damascus
With the full force of the Abyssinian army they outnumbered the Zeydids almost two-to-one. After a crushing victory at Dumat Al Jundat, the war turned in Abyssinia's favour, as they began to occupy the Zeydid land. After a year of sieging, and one more victorious battle, the caliph ceded the area around Damascus, one of the Shia faith's holy cities, to Merille.
"See?" Vennaval asked. "Everything worked out perfectly."
"Wwell, I ddid win." Merille brooded. "But wwas it wworth all those llives?"
"I think that's just the way the world is, dear."
"Pperhaps. But... now my warring days are behind me. I can get mmoney in other wways. Llike... increasing taxes! There's a ggood idea!"
"And what about this new land we have now? Tessema has come of age. He would make an excellent ruler."
"There's also the third one, rright? Fadilisas? He should get ssome of it, since I'm not cconquering any more. I'll ddivide it bbetween them."
Vennaval sighed. "Fasilidas, dear. But at least you remembered him this time."
"See? Improvement!"
February 1049, Gondar
The last six years had been entirely peaceful, as Merille had no more desire for war. However, as he neared his sixtieth birthday, his health was failing.
He was glad, though, that he lived long enough to see this day: his eldest grandson, Teferi, had just come of age, and Hakiem had made him his marshall. The boy was from Hakiem's first marriage to Dilla; his second marriage to the Duchess of Nobatia had produced another son, Hakeem, who was the new Duke after her recent death.
He had gotten to know all his children and grandchildren now. For he had realized that true wealth... well, true wealth was still gold. But family was pretty nice too.
King Merille passed away a few months later, leaving Abyssinia in Prince Hakiem's hands.
Abyssinia and neighbouring states upon the death of King Merille
