Welcome back class! Before we begin today, I will just congratulate Cora for an excellent paper on Guy I’s reign, seldom have I seen better grasp of the academic approach in such a young student! Now, if you guys on the third row could only do half as well…
Right! Today’s topic is the rule of Guy II, which would to a great degree be formed by the looming threat of the Mongol Empire as well as internal consolidation and improvement. Guy II was important not for his conquest, but for his internal legacy.
Young Blair! Leave poor Cora alone and take out those earphones! Don’t think I don’t see you!
Ahem. Guy II. Yes. His expansion in his early reign was slow and small. However, he did some impressive expansion within his realm. Throughout his domain, cities, baronies, and churches were built in an impressive speed. No less than twelve major new settlements were built during his reign, keeping what would elsewise have been a large treasury small. It would, however, prove important for the ever-growing economy of Normannia, resulting in a more than doubling economy within his reign and really booming in the decades after his demise.
A demise that despite his already relatively advanced age of 41 when he became Emperor, would last another 41 years. As he ultimately died, the realm was transformed, as was the world around him. Especially the East.
Lewis! Pay attention! And for heaven’s sake Blair, leave Cora alone! Last warning!
Right. July 23rd, 1254 AD. An important date in the history of Normannia. This was the date when Emperor Guy II decreed that all his titles, from his lowly counties and duchies, to the kingdoms and the Empire itself, all would go to one heir – his eldest son. Of course, this son would never inherit, but we’ll come to that later. In the next few years, Guy II also created several new kingdoms for his heir to inherit. But the major turning point was this date in 1254. No longer would the inheritance split. For better or for worse, the next generation’s future would all rely on the eldest son – or in case of only daughters, the eldest daughter.
With this change made and the economy improving, a real test would come to the Empire. The Mongol Empire was at this point huge, stretching from their core territories of Mongolia, south to deep into India and west all the way through Persia to the borders of Christendom, in Syria and Jerusalem in the Levant.
The Mongol Empire had as you well know left their Tengri past and embraced the Hindu faith, spreading the Shavite version of this religion far and wide. The Great Khan had at this time died, and his successor was eager to prove his mettle and expand into the west. On July 31st, 1256 Emperor Guy II received an emissary from the Great Khan, demanding his submission. What went through the Emperor’s mind at this point is impossible to know, but we do know that the military might of the Mongols were almost twice as large as Normannia’s, and close to similar with the added might of her allies.
Guy II refused the demand, however, and soon war was declared. The very existence of Normannia was in danger. Throughout all of Christendom, the call for allies went out, and the entire might of Normannia was called upon. In Syria and Jeruslalem, the armies gathered and went into Mesopotamia to meet the Mongols.
But no armies would meet them. Shortly after the declaration of war, the Mongol Empire went into a massive civil war that would soon result in its almost complete dissolution. As the Great Khan fought for his very survival, the Christian armies swept into Mesopotamia. The Khan soon offered a white peace, something Guy II accepted. The cost of the campaign was seriously draining the treasury, deep in the red, and Mesopotamia was far away from Normannia. Peace was made, and Guy II went back to his internal improvement program. Less than a year later, he founded the University of Napoli, one of the oldest Universities in the world.
Then disaster struck. One fateful day in 1265, assassins struck. The Emperor survived the attack, slaying one of the assassins, while his royal guard slayed the rest. However, his son and heir Bertan was not so lucky. Before the day was over, he was no more. The Empire’s future now laid in his eldest son, also named Bertran, who at the tender age of nine was now the Emperor’s heir.
Bertran I would in his turn inherit the Empire in 1273, aged 17, when Guy II died in his sleep. He was 82 years of age, healthy and sound of mind to the last. He reigned 41 long years and oversaw both the biggest threat to he Empire thus far and the start of a time of prosperity that would last well beyond his time. Bertran I, on this side, would meet his own kind of struggles, and solve them with a hard and firm hand.