The Substance of Power: A Tuscan AAR

[RossN]

prussiablue: Probably yes...

King of Men & stnylan: Heh, indeed.

J. Passepartout: Well we are dealing with Roman Emperors afterall...

coz1: True, you just can't trust people to behave the right way these days...

Specialist290: Might be fun... certainly more orthodox than my route to Constantinople!

Above: The merchant used in the flight from Constantinople​

Part 23

Alexandre and his brothers had purposefully cultivated a dashing and martial image that was not entirely sham. The Emperor himself had fought against the Sofians (an irony that was thankfully not remarked upon by polite company) and Estienne had even been wounded during the siege of Thessalonica. When the initial shock wore off (who could have thought the princess would have such steel?) the de Bellièvre brothers set about looking to defend their throne.

Constantinople itself was almost siege proof... or would have been if they had the men to defend it. Unfortunatly for the Emperor he only had a handful of available troops - some of whom doubtless were sympathetic to the other side. For that matter the city itself shifted uneasily under its new master. The Princess was a popular figure after all and the populace might look askance at this non-Falconi pretender. A somewhat unfair charge: Alexandre was the great-grandson of Antonio I himself and quite as much a Falconi by blood as his cousin. Still what did that mean to the average uneducated citizen?

Much depended on the Imperial Navy, docked in the Golden Horn. If Alexandre could swing them to his side he could still be in with a chance. On the sixth day of Alexandre's reign Admiral Arbantenos found himself duly summoned to the Great Palace for an audience with the Emperor.

Alexandre was a tall and rather handsome rake and had used his not inconsiderable charisma to try and woo many a city grandee to his cause. One look at the Admiral told him that Arbantenos was likely immune to charm or turn of phrase. Salt water not blood probably ran in his veins. Still he had to try.

Frustratingly the Admiral was decidedly noncommital on whether he would support the Emperor, despite Alexandre's promises of great rewards. The most that Alexandre could coax out of him was that he was not about to jump ship (so to speak) and support Princess Caterina. It was therefore a bitter dissapointment when the morning of 2nd March arrived to dicover the fleet had sailed during the night. Unsuspected by all Admiral Arbantenos entertained Sofian sympathies and had decided the time was right to cross the Black Sea and approach 'Emperor' Alessandro, currently living in exile in Genoese territory.

It was a cruel blow, but worse followed a few hours later when members of Alexandre's faction informed him that the Senate had sent representatives to Caterina offering her the throne. It was clear that was the end. The Emperor summoned his brothers and a few loyalists to the palace and bluntly informed them they would have to leave the city - in disguise if neccessary.

"We must split up," he informed them, "too large a group will attract attention."

"Where will you go brother?" asked Guillaume the Younger softly.

The Emperor frowned thoughtfully. "I had thought to go East... but I could never live as the Sultan's pet Roman with the Empire across the straights. So it must be West then - Venice. I have many contacts in that city and I am sure I shall find my feet again. Then... who knows?"

Yes, the more he thought on it as the merchant ship smuggled him out of Constantinople the more his low spirits rose. A fresh start in a city of opportunity... perhaps all had not quite died in this disaster.

The ship made port at Venetian controlled Crete, where the governor upon hearing of his illustrious guest insited the Emperor dine with him. Suspecting nothing untoward Alexandre did so - and found that the governor had had the wine poisoned, intending to have Alexandre killed in an attempt to curry favour with the new Empress. However he had got the dose wrong and Alexandre retained enough strength to try and feebly escape. In their panic the Venetians hacked at the dying Emperor with their knives until finally he ceased the unequal struggle and seizing his ring and tattered cloak made haste to send word to Constantinople to of their deed.

The Emperor they left where he fell, the blood and spilled wine mixing and staining the flagstones till years later none could tell which was which.

 

[Specialist290]

Another good update.

Unfortunately, since the Byzantines have been tried already multitudes of times (by others such as yourself ) and the Bohemians haven't I decided to go w/ them, then chose to side w/ the Hussites in the Defenestration of Prague event (since I haven't seen one single Hussite AAR on the site). I'm wondering whether or not to try an AAR about it, but I do have some screenies (which, unfortunately, are on another comp).

Anyway, hope to see more of the Byzantine Empire and Princess (Empress now?) Caterina soon.

 

[stnylan]

So the Princess is getting her stuff together? Excellent, and another effective scene at the end of the piece.

@Specialist290 There is at least one narrative Hussite AAR around, called the Hussite Lament, iirc. Albeit the author appears to have stopped posting, it is a pretty good story if you can find it.

 

[unmerged(28944)]

Well, if Alexandre wanted to be remembered in history, his cause of death will surely insure that, eh?

The more I read of the new Emperess, the more I truly feel that I would be a most suitable consort for her. I will hereby officially offer the Great Lady my hand in marriage.

 

[J. Passepartout]

I agree with Draco Rexus, save that I would be the best consort.

Excellent way to die, quite Roman I would say.

 

[unmerged(28944)]

Passepartout, you wound me, sir. I dare say that I feel that my honor may have just been insulted! ( )

I fear that I will have to issue you a challenge, good sir, to a duel for the Great Lady's hand. I'll have my seconds approach yours for your choice of weapons, sword or daggers. The winner to be the Empress' consort. ( )

 

[J. Passepartout]

Very well, sir. I regret that I will have to attend your funeral so many years before it ought to take place.

 

[stnylan]

Aren't you two concerned that while you are squabbling over who will get to ask her, someone might not have just gone ahead and done just that?

 

[unmerged(28944)]

Well, there is that... but that poor sod will just find themselves in the same place as Passepartout, in a plain pine wood box with the hole from my rapier clearly evident in their chest.

 

[Specialist290]

@Specialist290 There is at least one narrative Hussite AAR around, called the Hussite Lament, iirc. Albeit the author appears to have stopped posting, it is a pretty good story if you can find it.

Thanks, I'll look for it. I only checked the LibrAARy Thread (which I suppose hasn't been updated that recently), so it's entirely possible there's one I missed, which is why I figured I'd be safer to say that I hadn't seen one than that there weren't any. Thanks for the info

Meanwhile, it looks like, even before the next update, Empress Caterina seems to have already acquired something of an Elizabethan charm. Perhaps she'll use her perpetual lack of matrimonial ties as a political weapon, like her English soon-to-be-contemporary?

 

[RossN]

Specialist290: Thank you. Incidentally Elizabeth is a few months old now... (in 1534) I wonder if the mistakes and/or successess of Empress Caterina will have any influence on the future English Queen?

stnylan: Thank you, and well said.

Draco Rexus & J. Passepartout: Hmm... a very interesting situation. Perhaps two of the slightly more disreputable sort of suitors might be making an appearance soon.

Above: The new Empress at study​

Part 24

Princess Caterina (as she technically still was) entered Constantinople on horseback to a shower of rose petals from the citizenry. It was the morning of the 4th March and with the brothers de Bellièvre having fled the city the previous day there was little to oppose her, had indeed anyone wished too. There could be little doubt how the common people felt, as they turned out in force to cheer the pretty young princess. If some of the elite felt differently they decided on balance not to say anything. What words would do after Alexandre's flight?

Caterina at once returned to the Palace and once there quickly sent for her her friends, advisors and followers to help her walk through this delicate situation.

"I am afraid the situation is a little... unusual," the Princess actually blushed at this understatement. "Legally cousin Alexandre is still Emperor: the Senate appointed him and no one has the authority to strip him of his title."

Some of those present who had thrown their hats into the Legitamist camp without really knowing the Princess were a little puzzled by this. Plainly whatever the technical situation was Caterina was defacto Empress with no serious opposition, and hence no impediment to being crowned. Those he knew her knew better: though intelligent and strong willed Caterina had a very strong sense of personal patriotism and virtue. Alexandre had been, and still was Emperor, and no matter how just her cause might have been Caterina felt a deep sense of guilt for marching on her capital, guilt that could be lessened if the legality of her actions could be proven. Besides which it was sound political sense: abolish the crown of Alexandre and it removed any hope of another pretender (one was quite bad enough as it was).

Caterina's closest ally and childhood friend Count Bartolome of Attica nodded solemnly. "It is true, we must find a way to... 'normalise' her Highness's status." The meeting took a downbeat turn as each pondered the implications of the mess they found themselves in. Finally a thought occured to the Princess herself. "My cousin called the Senate into session to have himself crowned; but at the time he had no authority to do so... therefore the case could be made that the Senate illegally met. Their descisions are void, so in other words... Alexandre was not and is not the legal Emperor."

To universal relief everyone was prepared to accept this compromise and the Chancellor hurriedly called a new session of the Senate into session. Recognising the way the wind was blowing the Senators - who a few weeks previously had voted for Alexandre unanimously declared their own earlier decision defunct and appointed Caterina Falconi Imperatrix Romaniae. The twenty-two year old girl was now, at last legally ruler of millions.

There was an even more serious problem for the new Empress: what to do with the de Bellièvre brothers. Alexandre had disappeared but his brothers had been apprehended attempting to reach Serbia (evidently Guillaume the Younger had intended to make his titular 'King/Prince of Serbia' a reality). They were brought to be housed in the dungeons of the Great Palace were the question at once arose: what could or should be done with them?

"Execute them," said Count Bartolome bluntly. The rest of the Council agreed. To the horror of the Empress. Traitors or not, would be usurpers or not Estienne and Guillaume the Younger where her cousins! Relatives she'd grown up with... members of the Imperial Falconi family. Which was why, with terrible logic, her advisors begged her to execute the brothers.

"Whenever they live your crown will always be insecure, it is the only way to be safe."

"Very well," said the Empress looking very shaken and upset, "they are proven traitors. But God forgive me - how will I ever look them in the eye at the execution?"

For there was no question that she would stay away. It was the least she owed them to be there. Oh but it was all so fast! The trial was swift, the evidence overwhelming and two weeks after the coronation the brothers de Bellièvre were beheaded by sword, as befitting their royal blood. As nothing ever really came easy to the Falconi family the nasty story of Alexandre's death had reached Caterina's ears. A sad and squalid end for a prince of the blood. As the deeply depressed Empress confessed to her younger sister Princess Florentia:

"Oh sister just think... We are the very last of the Falconi family. What has become of our dynasty?"

 

[J. Passepartout]

What's this about disreputable suitors? Draco Rexus is going to show up in your next update?

Looks like everything is going smoothly so far, now all we have to do is the wedding and the funeral of whoever loses this fight for the wedding.

 

[unmerged(35685)]

last of the Falconi heh..... well the new Empress can get married and have a lot of kids and the same go for her sister.

 

[stnylan]

I am getting a several overtones of Elizabeth I in Caterina. As for the dynasty, it looks like it is acting perfectly normal for an Imperial dynasty, engaging in that most Byzantine of practices: dynastic 'cannibalism'.

 

[unmerged(28944)]

I agree with stnylan, I have a strong sense of Queen Bess, which can be a good thing, seeing what sort of impact Bess had on England.

Disreputable suitors? Passepartout, RossN was clearly speaking of yourself and some other misguided soul that thinks that they would be a better match for the Empress than myself.

 

[stnylan]

Of course Draco, too strong a sense of Gloriana and both Passepartout and yourself are out of luck

 

[J. Passepartout]

I can live with niether, since it will keep that Dragon from getting the Empress.

Boy, this argument has gone farther than I would have guessed.

 

[unmerged(28944)]

To true, stnylan, to true!

Hey, Passepartout, why don't we skip this little duel thingy over the Empress, and just go down to a local pub, have a few ales, and flirt with the serving wenches instead?


Unless, of course, the Empress is showing a strong interest in my proposal, and then in that case, all bets are off, eh?

 

[RossN]

J. Passepartout & Draco Rexus: Settle down you two, or else certain readers might find themselves written in - and not in a flattering way.

prussiablue: Probably a pretty good idea!

stnylan: The Elizabeth parallels are an influence I admit, but not I hope to the extent Caterina is overshadowed as a character. I enjoy writing young, beautiful, intelligent, strongwilled female leaders - a fact long time readers will know!

Above: Courtiers of Empress Caterina: (i) Maximilian of Stolberg, (ii) Mathis of Neuberg, (iii) Niccolò of Pisa, (iv) Juan of Barcelona, (v) Maurice of Dublin​

Part 25

Caterina was young and beautiful and though not as rich or populous as Spain or Burgundy Romania was still one of the greatest prizes in Christendom. As soon as she ascended to the purple the Empress was deluged by a wave of marriage proposals.

Every minor princeling from Poland to Portugal was prepared to declare his undying love for Caterina of the Romans. Not that the field was entirely to the minor royalty of Europe. Amongst the more doubtful candidates were a French knight of dubious lineage and an Athenian politician with claims to royal ancestry. The less said about such flotsam the better. Suffice to say there was no immidiate stand out candidate and despite her comittment to maintaining the dynasty Caterina was unwilling to wed any old rake and insisted on choosing a prince to her liking.

Happily one of the spurned suitors, Jocaim of Bremen, encountered Princess Florentia in Constantinople and the two were so enchanted by each other that marriage soon followed. All who knew the couple marvelled - and envied their good fortune. Love matches are rare in politics.

Something larger than choosing a husband was occupying the Empress's mind however. The hated Turks were enganged in a war with their own co-religous Karaman and the Mamluks. A happy event for the Latin Empire but Caterina saw it as something more - a chance that might not come again. To the horror of her advisors she proposed a war with the Ottoman Empire.

She may as well have declared her intention to invade Hell so great was the outcry amongst the great nobles who made up her council. No figure save the Devil himself was more feared than the Sultan and should that figure ever openly stride through Constantinople many a citizen would sigh in relief that mere demons not jannisaries followed in his wake. In short challenging the Sultan was an act of ruinous folly. As Caterina's advisors made very clear. However she held firm.

"We may never get this chance again," she said simply. "I may be a mere woman men - and not so accustomed to wafare as your good selves but it strikes me as a good idea in war to kick the enemy when he's down. To make sure he stays down."

In the end Caterina had her way. In November 1534 the Latin Empire declared war. The army of pike, cavalry and crossbowmen (guns had not yet caught on in large numbers) crossed into Asia and took the fight to the enemy. For the next year Latin armies marched and sieged across Anatolia and Smyrna fighting a few battles with those Ottomans that could be spared from the Eastern war - and winning most. The Spanish too arrived in large numbers, faithful to their alliance and hammered the foe mercilessly. The Imperial armies even managed the supreme feat of capturing the Turkish capital! By the beginning of 1536 the Turks were willing to settle: Smyrna, captured by the Empire during the war was to be annexed to Constantinople.

The Roman Empire had a toe hold in Asia once again.

Above: The Latin Empire, January 1536​

 

[King of Men]

Yay! Death to the infidel! Love your description of the fear engendered by the Sultan.