Does the new Turkish army mean the Pronoia system will be butterflied away, or will it be modified as a means to ensure loyalty by the Roman's new army?
That is a very good question, one that I haven't thought of too much until this afternoon when I got a break from Christmas shopping. There was no one more into patronage than Alexios; in the real world, he gave his family literally everything that he could. His policies toward the aristocracy are confusing to say the least. The previous Macedonian Dynasty tried very hard to neuter the power of the aristocracy, so I suppose it's a tad bit ironic that the rising star of one of Rome's most powerful aristocratic families came to power. He certainly was not into completely neutering the power of the aristocracy, but he was clever and decided that if he scattered them to the various corners of the Empire, they might be less of a threat than if they were all concentrated in the City. Thus the system of pronoia was born, as I see it, which reminds me more of the modern-day Islamic Republic of Iran's bonyad system than it does European feudalism. I think it's a brilliant idea, since the State still owns the land, but the nobility are giving an economic incentive to curry favour with the Emperor. However, Alexios buggered up this system by blatantly favouring his family, so go figure (but then again, would we not do the same in his position? I know I would. Hindsight is 20/20, as they say). Fortunately, Alexios will just gain entire army to work with, so that gives him much more leeway to build up a new system in the East. Thus, Alexios will not be able to show favour as much to his own family; he has thousands of Turks to woo. Rome loves playing Minoritybowl Shuffle; expect Greeks to be moved back east, Armenians and Turks west, and a new rising ethnic group that hopefully none of you will see coming to move somewhere crucial
.
Beautiful TL. It works well. Turks really can go either way at this point. Have you read "The Woman Warrior" about Sarmatian and Turkish steppe society? The Turks---and all steppe people---really are VERY different than Arabs, particularly when it comes to the status of women. Women CAN be warriors in Turkish steppe society, just as they sometimes were amongst the Mongols. It's differences such as this that cause the Arab Muslim way not to sit well with Turks and will make Turks much closer to Northern/Western Christians than they are to Arabs---for whom they are expected to fight for and yet submit to. And now Emperor Alexios is giving them an alternative to that.
The truly interesting things will happen when Pope Innocent III calls for a Crusade to retake the Holy Land--if it even occurs to him to do so if Alexios does not send the Pope that letter.
If the Franks are going to crusade to take the Holy Land ITTL, they will need to go about it very differently indeed---like maybe via North Africa and Egypt.
Thank you for your kind words.
There will be no Crusade. The East will be the safest (if the most precarious) part of the Empire. The Emperor will have no reason to write to the Pope in Rome (I think it was Urban V at the time, but I can't think of his name of the top of my head), who thus will never have an impetus to come up with the idea of a Crusade—at least in the East...
wow nice thread i'm gonna follow
Thank you, friend. It's always nice to hear that a new reader finds my work interesting.
What is the name of the book you are looking for? Also, if it means more information about the period, I wouldn't mind the edits.
Unfortunately, I can't even remember. It was quite difficult picking up my story again after four months of inactivity. I lost a lot of the knowledge I had gleaned from my books, like how exactly Roman-Seljuk policy would be shaped. I implore anyone with any knowledge on Seljuk history to contact me immediately, please; I am quite desperate for a crash course on the Malik Shah period of the Seljuk Dynasty. I
think it was
The Alexiad, but I can't remember for sure. It's not a book that one can scan, so I suppose if I want my information hard enough, I'll have to just sit down and start reading from page one again.
Also, I wouldn't want to make you check over my edits, since you'd be undoubtedly bored out of your mind. I have this nasty habit of refusing to check over my own writing for mistakes; I hate what I write and I find it all to be so insincere. It's a major flaw of mine, I know, but usually I can make do by seeking out an editor. I'm a rough writer (see what I did there
?), and it reflects in my work.
Dang! I almost missed it.
Superb job my friend!
Thank you.