Renovation: An Eastern Roman Timeline

[Deleted member 67076]

so the aydinids are still around or did the empire annex them?

Still around as a weird anachronism. They'll almost certainly be gone soon enough.

And I'm back. Bit of a transitional chapter here, but I wanted to set up the counter reaction to the military reaction that will define the state's struggles.

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What comes next in the immediate history of the empire is a period of quietness, followed by yet another shock that no one in the palace saw coming. The following decade and a half within Romania saw another shift in government, or more bluntly, another palace coup against the reactionary military dominated government.

In 1417, a bout of plague had broken out in Greece. The casualties weren’t much in overall population, but they did have an important victim: ruling emperor Manuel II (and his wife). Manuel had been a man of weak constitution and meekness, one more cut out to be a theologian than a politician and as such was unable to stand against the tide of an increasingly powerful and upset military. He was dominated effortlessly by his generals, hard men of high birth who seeked to return the empire into their vision of an idealized Roman Empire dominated by the military. A society of virtue and austerity, beholden to the Classical ideals which they viewed as having been corrupted by the past near century of greedy bureaucratic and naval dominance.

Ironically, they weren’t far off to the Classical Roman ideals, and were in some ways justified. The cultural shifts following the effective decapitation of the Dynatoi in the 1330s meant the court had been dominated primarily by middle class urbanites, who were viewed by the remnants of the traditional aristocracy as too decadent, too western looking and straying too from the traditional ways (in addition to just being salty from not being included in the patronage system). Yet they could not hope to challenge this while their lands were small, and the navy was the dominant military organ.

But as Rome recovered both economically and territorially, these old school landed families (and plenty of new men who joined the Dynatoi) were able to claw their way back into power via capitalizing on the new land. The government focus on urban areas and the navy meant that often the countryside was more often than not ignored, thus once more creating the conditions for an aristocracy, albeit one far weaker than it was a century ago.

Yet still, strong enough to take advantage of public outcry following the fiasco with Timur and install themselves as the dominant faction of government. For as Constantine XI was discredited for surrendering, so too was the faction in power- the commercial elites. However, with their puppet emperor now gone, this position became tenuous.The ruling sovereign was a child, and a girl at that. One Maria Palaiologina. Thus a regency would immediately have been declared.

But who was to head that regency, and thus the empire until the child came of age?

We have 3 main actors in this crisis, each more or less corresponding to a faction of imperial politics. The Dynatoi (represented by the army), the Bureaucracy (who for the sake of convenience will be labeled as that despite also including most of the navy and the imperial state companies), the Church and Bulgaria, who for obvious reasons has a keen interest in a Roman state that benefits them.

For the first and the 3rd, enter Constantine XI’s /other/ siblings- the previously unimportant Michael and Andreas. During the brief military domination, both of these men attempted to work around the limits imposed to them (as potential threats to the new regime were) by allying themselves with a powerful faction of the Roman Court. Michael with the bureaucracy and thus the commercial elites, and Andreas with the church.

The past 2 decades has not served either men kindly, but they were able to cling on to some semblance of influence among their respective sectors (and amongst the nobility, given that they still are members of the royal family and know quite a lot of important people) and keep their heads down. While an annoyance, there was not much the military junta could do, given their initial focus on dealing with war against the Italians and the Turks. But now that there was an opening they are eager to stake a claim on the imperial throne, and the two had to be monitored. However, the factions each of the men have decided to endorse causes a rift between the two that will never fully heal.

Representing the military and the magnates was no one person, given the group dynamic of both of these organizations (who were keen to fight amongst themselves just as much as the other court factions), but perhaps their ‘representative’ could best be thought of as Manuel II’s Mesazon (Prime Minister) Basil (who was given the nicknamed “the Spaniard”, for his family’s origin the formerly Catalan controlled principality. Despite not actually having known or probable ancestry from the Iberian peninsula. One of the funny quirks of history) Nonetheless, Basil was very much a standard landed Aristocrat in the mold of the day, and was pushing to keep the direction of the empire flowing to a more hardline, oligarchal stance.

Up north, we've got the new Bulgarian Tsar, Simeon, who is also technically of the Palaiologoi family through maternal descent and who possesses a considerable amount clout in internal affairs, considering it is his grain that more often than not feeds the cities of Rome. This has been another reason for the reaction against the Commerce oriented policies of the Renovation Period, as many traders are seen as too friendly to foreigners. His stance on things is to keep Rome as friendly and docile as possible, and thus the return to a more hardline approach back in the capital was perceived as a threat.

And last but not least, is the current Patriarch of Constantinople, Nicephorus III, representing a rejuvenated Orthodox Church that has issues with both the Military-Aristocratic Faction and the Middle Classes. The Church is a myriad of different voices, but generally they seem to take a middle ground in the land vs commerce dispute, viewing both as avarice. Here at least, Nicephorus mostly stays in the background, using Andreas as his liaison between the Church and the Empress, hoping to sway the next generation into a more pious, Christian ruler.

And so the 4 sides scramble to deal with the vacuum of power. The Bulgarians make the first overt moves, doing some saber rattling across the border and declaring young Maria is under the protection of her “uncle”, the Tsar. While in practice this means nothing, it does signal that any attempts against the Empresses’ life will not be taken kindly, possibly (though very unlikely) inciting military action that would most certainly spiral into civil war (given that a good faction of the Roman court would support the Bulgarians in restoring the pre Junta status quo).

Nobody wants this but especially not Basil the Spaniard. He knows the state’s strength is focused on Anatolia, and the Bulgarians have been growing far stronger than anyone wants to admit. Thus, he is forced to make hold off any attempts on installing a client in power- or himself- and keep the regency council at bay. This hesitation amongst the Military Faction allows the other factions, principally the Commercial one to make a de facto alliance with the Bulgarians, and politically strong arm the Military into allowing several representatives into the Regency Council, and as key players in the young Empresses life. Critically Andreas, who will serve as her main tutor.

This does not mean the military is out of power, but it does mean that they no longer hold the monopoly on who gets to control the empress. Basil remains Mesazon, but other key government positions now have to be divided amongst the varying factions. It’s a tightrope, but one he and his colleagues are willing to walk to get the best deal that ends in the least amount of Roman bloodshed. Of course, this is Eastern Rome. None of this happened without a few assassinations, excommunications and exiles, but the state avoided imploding into civil war, if at the cost of being somewhat paralyzed between its own factions.

And that’s a happy ending.

Political intrigue aside, there’s another noticeable event that is occurring in Romania in the decade of the 1410s- the introduction of the cannon into the military. Initially imported from Westerners, the Romans have been quick at work modifying and exporting the machinery for their own uses. Its an excellent anti seige and all around anti cavalry weapon, which makes it perfect for defending against the raiding of various nomads in the Anatolian frontier. Combined with the general military presence on the frontier beginning to adapt to nomadic tactics in the same vein as the Germans and the Magyars a few centuries earlier, raiding has become less and less profitable. The tide is slowly but surely turning in Anatolia, even if to contemporaries this doesn’t seem the case.

This is in turn replicated to the north, where Timur’s destruction of the Golden Horde and a number of weak remnant states has left a vacuum that is beginning to be filled by Muscovy. While at the time, Muscovy is still weak, the 1380s-1410s have allowed it to begin pushing south and enter regular contact with Byzantium. Again, not much considering the time, but the future will speak about the natural alliance between Rome and Russia.

 

[Deleted member 67076]

This was long overdue. Apologies for being so... out of the loop and infrequent with these things.

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A child is on the imperial throne once more. This is never a good sign, for children are often isolated from the harsh realities of the imperial court. They are dominated by the few figures they see, and the few who they can trust. They are normally ignorant of the realities of their gatekeepers. Or perhaps, the children than that are exposed too early to the great game of politics; their innocence warping into paranoia, megalomania, and the mild sociopathy inherent in the cutthroat world of politics.

Lady Maria Palaiologina begins as the former. Her father Manuel II had been indulgent to her, giving her the best childhood one could offer at this time period. For Manuel had been too good of a man to be emperor, and had shielded his daughter from both the day to day affairs of government and its seedy underbelly. Nonetheless, he had been prudent enough to see her educated by the finest tutors that he could find. Her world is a happy one, if somewhat dull. But Manuel had inadvertently become her gatekeeper- serving as a block between the political realm and herself. She knew nothing of dignitaries and meetings beyond the imagination of a child. With the death of her father, the role of gatekeeper had passed on to the Mezazon, Basil.

It is not known if the two had ever met much beforehand; plenty of idle speculation on this has been the subject of centuries, yet there has been little concrete evidence given Manuel’s attempts to shield his daughter from government affairs. It would seem reasonable to believe the two must have met at some point, but it would be unlikely there had been much contact until Manuel’s untimely death to plague. Regardless of familiarity, the two would have to be in contact with one another; Basil was now her regent, and in practice, her new gatekeeper. Or so he tries to be. Her uncles would say otherwise, and in the end, they would end up having the most personal influence on her than anything else.

Still, decades would pass before she would leave the shadow of his rule. The Mezazon had been a middle aged man, well into his 40s on the day he ascended to the power behind the throne. But regardless of years he was still in great shape for a man of his age, with clarity of mind and a robustness to his health, and would lead the empire for 2 more decades to come. This -as with any period in history- is a time of change.

Basil’s rule is characterized by his loyalties. The man was walking a very thin line between the military-aristocratic complex, between the commercial-bureaucratic axis (and their patron the Bulgarian Empire), and the church. It is a tense position; we cannot fault the man for wanting security in such a high stakes environment. He knows that to obtain legitimacy, he must benefit the empire and/or his own allies while sidelining the others. And while he cannot simply dispossess peasants of their land, he can sell off state lands to private actors, and bribe his way into obtaining some extra support. Additionally, new lands that have come into Roman possession during his rule, were also given first pick to his support base.

It is a slow, grinding process... but a successful one. The decades of commercial rule that had so characterized Rhomania’s Renovation were coming to an end, and a new generation of Dynatoi had once more come to power.

One might be asking, why is this so? Why hadn’t they been stopped in their tracks by the institutions of the government designed to (initially) break the back of these elites? And why hadn’t the other classes of Romania competed with them?

An important reason, is that like all elites, they began to adapt to the changing times.

These new breed of men were different than the aristocrats of old, despite their constant harping of “classical values”. They were not carbon copies of their Western counterparts, living merely off the land and joining the army as in the olden days. A large contingent of these were men and women who were business owners, who came from the caste of Romans who had seen their fortunes rise with the state owned commercial businesses, and by marrying into Middle Class families that had their claim to fame backed by capital, not land. They are, in a sense, the synthesis of the classical Roman Elites of land and army, and the New Roman Elites of the navy and business. As time passed, the stigma of trade had simply removed itself from the cultural consciousness, and more and more of the nouveau riche began to dip their toes into mercantile activities- setting up banks, cottage industries, shipping businesses, and generally diversifying their portfolios. Similarly, many rising families were eager to solidify their prestige by marrying into prestigious clans, and this gave them a much needed injection of capital.

But perhaps the main reason for the gross expansion in power of the Dynatoi (that ones that initially brought much ruin to Rhomania) ironically comes from her successes. The 1420s and 1430s would see something that had been long awaited centuries by the Roman Empire: the reconquest of Central Anatolia. Now freed from constraints in the west, the establishment of a robust economy, and increasingly well adapted to the combat of the frontier Rome finally found herself with the strength needed to break the back of the Turks that plagued her for centuries.

This process was at first more of a way to shore up support for the regime of Basil the Spaniard; curbing raids and clearing land was a solid choice to get support from the border guards and militias of the frontier. However then came surprising success against unruly tribesmen in counter raids. New weapons, new tactics, and a steady system of fortifications had managed to push against light cavalry and take the fight to the invaders themselves.

These small victories in the late 1410s/early 1420s had led Basil to decide to gamble on a much larger, much riskier move. And this was an initially limited invasion of Karaman territory, aiming principally for Ancyra (as a best case scenario). The result however, was far better than expected.

Unlike its predecessors, the Karamanids did not innovate their government or military to a large extent, resorting to a rather… basic Persianate military composition where tribes provided the bulk of the forces. These forces however were unable to counter the slow, methodical approach of the Roman invasion. Roman cannons, rocketry (an innovation heartily accepted by the Romans as a means to break enemy lines in narrow passes) and the extensive use of pikemen were a perfect counter to traditional tactics of Turkmen style light cavalry. Roman troops usually did not fall to false retreats, and were perfectly content to play the long game, holding down whatever land they’ve earned.

Rome did not advance swiftly; Basil and his generals were not arrogant enough for that. They knew they’re victory at home dependent on victory abroad, and took the least amount of risks. The bulk of available troops were steadily relocated to Asia before the campaigning, and were ensured to be well supplied and well provisioned.

Once on the frontier they marched, town after town, building fortification after fortification and conserving their troops wisely. And they were merciless. Roman troops were like lava, a slow yet deadly force. What happens here would by modern standards be considered ethnic cleansing, as countless resisting tribesmen (particularly nomads) were captured, enslaved and deported all throughout the empire. Those that ran away were pushed to the mountains and whatever marginal territory available for them, but even there they were periodically harassed and labeled mere bandits, fit for extermination. Those that chose to submit were used against their ethnic kinsmen as auxiliaries and scouts, and well rewarded for their efforts.

The game was total war, and Basil and his men could not accept defeat. This set of policies led the Karamanids to get risky and take a gamble on a mass assault to attempt to push back the Romans. Yet this maneuver would prove to be their downfall. The flower of the Karamanid nobility was decisively broken on the outskirts of Konya.

Their collapse meant the sultanate’s collapse. As the Seljuqs before them, a decisive destruction of their army led to a demolition of legitimacy, and numerous warlord emirates popped up, seeking fortune. Here, is the deathblow to any real resistance to the Roman approach.

This was a long war, beginning in 1421 and ending in 1429. Yet it was worth it. Cappadocia, the traditional power base of the Eastern Roman Empire from the fall of Yarmouk to the ascent of Alexios Komnenos, was finally regained. Basil the Spaniard had obtained vast amounts of land to dole out to his followers, and the military was vindicated with a tremendous victory. And with this land, came the vital rearrangement of the balance of power; the nobility was given the land first and foremost, and the citizens of the conquered territory were reduced to tenants at best.