No Diversion 4th Crusade Timeline

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On June 1199, Eleanor of Brittany was betrothed to Louis VIII which meant that there would be an alliance between the Bretons and the French, and Constance of Brittany would allow the Archbishopric of Dol to be Subordinated to the Metropolitan of Dol.

Between 1198 and the time of her death due to complications from delivering twin daughters, Constance ruled with her son Arthur as co-ruler. Throughout these years, Constance advised her son towards a French alliance, pursuing the policy of her late husband Geoffrey II.

-Constance of Brittany, Freepedia

Eleanor of Brittany would marry Louis VIII as one of the conditions of the Treaty of Le Goulet in AD 1200 aside from breaking the alliance between Flanders and Boulogne with England.

In the Autumn of 1201, Constance of Brittany died at Nantes.

In 1200 after the marriage of Isabella of Angouleme and John I of England, Arthur of Brittany, Philippe II, and the Lusignans plotted against John I of England which would cause the capture and death of Arthur of Brittany in 1202 and the annexation of Anjou and Normandy by Philippe Auguste.

John would ally with Guy of Thouars as regent for his daughter, Alix of Thouars against her sister, Eleanor of Brittany preventing a French takeover of Brittany and later Alix would marry Henry III of England.

On 1204, Eleanor of Aquitaine would die and the Duchy of Aquitaine would end up being partitioned between Philip II of France and Alfonso VIII on 1205 after they annexed Aquitaine resulting in the County of Bordeaux and Gascony ending up in Castilian hands as Gascony is said to be the dowry of his wife, Eleanor of England and the rest of Aquitaine under French hands.

The County of Bordeaux and Gascony would be held by Alfonso VIII and his successors as fiefs to the French crown since 1205 for centuries after Aquitaine was seized from John I of England.

 

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On 1205, Jeanne I, Countess of Burgundy would recover from her ailment and was bethroted to her cousin, the King of Sicily, she would marry the King of Sicily on 1209, Countess Jeanne would ally with her uncle, the King of England and not her other uncle, the King of France which would the Hohenstauffens later alliance with the Kingdom of England.

On 1208, Irene of Swabia would give birth to a daughter named Elizabeth, she would never give birth to another child again, during the same year, the betrothal between Otto VIII of Bavaria and Kunigunde of Swabia was confirmed and created another ally for Philip of Swabia or Philip I of HRE, they would be able to attend the wedding of Jeanne I, Countess of Burgundy aside from the wedding of her sister Beatrix with the Count of Merania.

Jeanne would give birth to two sons named Henry I of Sicily(1210) and Otto III of Burgundy(1213), before she succumbed to Malaria on 1220.

Children of Philip of Swabia
Beatrix (April/June 1198 – 11 August 1212), who married Otto VIII of Bavaria
Maria (1199/1200 – 29 March 1235), who married Duke Henry II of Brabant before 22 August 1215 and had issue.
Kunigunde (February/March 1202 – 13 September 1248), who married King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia in 1224 and had issue.
Frederick, Duke of Swabia(March/May 1205 – 5 November 1235)
Elizabeth born in August 1208

 

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On June 1203, the Crusaders led by Boniface of Montferrat would land in Alexandria and took control of Alexandria from the Ayubbids creating the Crusader State of Egypt which would take the city of Cairo in the next year on May 1204 which would result in the death of Al Aziz and the complete Crusader take over of Egypt which was helped by the Kingdom of Jerusalem which was ruled by Queen Isabella of Jerusalem.

The crusaders would crown Baldwin I as the King of Egypt on 1204, he would pass the Kingdom of Egypt to his brother, Henry on 1205.
The destruction of the Ayubbids in 1204 would result in the Split of the Iberian and North African Muslims from the Muslims of Arabia which would also result in the defeat of the Christians in the Las Navas de Tolosa and the Survival of Al Andalus despite the fact that Portugal would be able to complete its expansion later on to Algarve but Castile and Aragon would be prevented to expand further south in the Almoravid Territory.

 

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On 1204, after the disolution of the marriage of Berengaria of Castile with the King of Leon, she was married to Peter II of Aragon which was for the Kingdom of Castile and Aragon to have an alliance this marriage would result in the birth of James I of Aragon in 1208, this was negotiated prior to disolution of the marriage with the Leonese King and Blanche of Castile would marry Ferdinand of Leon, the son of Alfonso IX of Leon and Theresa of Portugal, a marriage that would produce issue.

Berengaria’s children, Ferdinand and James would have ended ruling Castile and Aragon and the marriage would have resulted in Aragon not allying with the County of Toulouse which was targetted by the Albigensian Crusade in 1209-1229 which resulted in France gaining control of the County of Toulouse completely and its dukes not regaining control of the County of Toulouse which was sold to the French King by Simon de Montfort.

 

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The Treaty of Le Goulet was signed by Kings John of England and Philip II of France in May 1200. It concerned bringing an end to the war over the Duchy of Normandy and finalising the new borders of what was left of the duchy. The treaty was a victory for Philip in asserting his legal claims to overlordship over John's French lands. A consequence of the treaty was the separation of the Channel Islands from Normandy.
The terms of the treaty signed at Le Goulet, an island in the middle of the Seine river near Vernon in Normandy, included clarifications of the feudal relationships binding the monarchs. Philip recognised John as King of England, heir to his brother Richard I, and thus formally abandoned his prior support for Arthur I, Duke of Brittany, the son of John's late brother, Geoffrey II of Brittany. John, meanwhile, formally recognised the new status of the lost Norman territories by acknowledging the Counts of Boulogne and Flanders as vassals of the kings of France, not those of England, and recognised Philip as the suzerain of the continental lands in the Angevin Empire. John also bound himself not to support any rebellions on the part of the counts of Boulogne and Flanders.
Philip had previously recognised John as suzerain of Anjou and the Duchy of Brittany, but with the treaty of le Goulet he extorted 20,000 marks sterling as "relief" in payment for recognition of John's sovereignty of Brittany.
The treaty also included territorial concessions by John to Philip. The Vexin (except for Les Andelys, where Château Gaillard, vital to the defence of the region, was located) and the Évrécin in Normandy, as well as Issoudun, Graçay, and the fief of André de Chauvigny in Berry were to be removed from Angevin suzerainty and put directly into that of France.
The Duchy of Aquitaine was not included in the treaty. It was still held by John as heir to his still-living mother, Eleanor. The treaty was sealed with a marriage alliance between the Angevin and Capetian dynasties. John's niece Eleanor, daughter of his brother Geoffrey and Constance of Brittany, married Philip's eldest son, Louis VIII of France (to be eventually known as Louis the Lion). The marriage alliance only assured a strong regent for the minority of Louis IX of France. Philip declared John deposed from his fiefs for failure to obey a summons in 1202 and war broke out again. Philip moved quickly to seize John's lands in Normandy, strengthening the French throne in the process.

Treaty of Le Goulet
Freepedia

 

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The Breton barons recognized Alix as Duchess of Brittany after the presumed death of Arthur instead of Eleanor. This was due to fears that Philip II would claim to rule Brittany as regent for his daughter in law, Eleanor and the absorption of Brittany to France. Alix’s father Guy became the regent for Alix until 1206, when John I of England made himself the regent of the duchy in Alix’s name. King John I broke the betrothal of Alix and the Breton prince Henry of Penthievre, and turned to his son Henry, as Alix’s husband. In 1208, Philip II permitted Eleanor and her husband, Prince Louis to take the title of Duke and Duchess of Brittany and Count and Countess of Richmond. Henry would marry Alix on 1220. In 1216, Philip II recognized Alix as Duchess of Brittany, renouncing the claim of his daughter in law, Eleanor after the Louis VIII lost the barons war.

Children of Alix, Duchess of Brittany and Henry III of Engalnd
John II of England and I of Brittany (c. 1223–1259), married Eleanor of Provence
Yolande of England (1223–1272), married Henry II of Sicily
Arthur of England (1226–1234), betrothed to Jeanne de Craon, daughter of Amaury I de Craon and Jeanne des Roches

 

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On 1216, King John I would encounter disentery, and would die in shame of losing his continental lands although he was able to gain a betrothal to gain Brittany for England as his son, Henry, would marry Alix of Brittany himself.

Isabella of Angouleme would remarry to Hugh X of Lusignan who was her original betrothed on 1220, a marriage which would produce many further children and her descendants from her second marriage would inherit the County of Angouleme, not her children from her first marriage. [1]

1. She still gives birth to her OTL children.

 

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Peter II of Aragon would originally be betrothed with Infanta Blanche of Castile to promote an alliance with Castile, however as Peter II would hear that the marriage of Berengaria and Alfonso IX of Leon is being dissolved by Innocent II, Berengaria would marry Peter II of Aragon instead of Blanche of Castile due to her proven fertility and she would be chosen as the replacement bride for her sister, Mafalda of Castile who had died.

Infanta Blanche of Castile would marry Ferdinand of Leon on 1206, a marriage that would produce two issues Berengaria(1210) and Alfonso X of Leon(1213), her husband would die on 1214.

Infanta Blanche of Castile would be influential after the death of her father in law in 1230, in the reign of her son, Alfonso X of Leon until her death on 1252.

 

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The Albigensian Crusade or the Cathar Crusade (1209–1229; French: Croisade des albigeois, Occitan: Crosada dels albigeses) was a 20-year military campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, in southern France. The Crusade was prosecuted primarily by the French crown and promptly took on a political aspect, resulting in not only a significant reduction in the number of practicing Cathars, but also a realignment of the County of Toulouse in Languedoc, bringing it into the sphere of the French crown.
The Cathars originated from an anti-materialist reform movement within the Bogomil churches of the Balkans calling for what they saw as a return to the Christian message of perfection, poverty and preaching, combined with a rejection of the physical to the point of starvation. The reforms were a reaction against the often perceived scandalous and dissolute lifestyles of the Catholic clergy in southern France. Their theology, neo-Gnostic in many ways, was basically dualist. Several of their practices, especially their belief in the inherent evil of the physical world, conflicted with the doctrines of the Incarnation of Christ and Catholic sacraments. This led to accusations of Gnosticism and attracted the ire of the Catholic establishment. They became known as the Albigensians because there were many adherents in the city of Albi and the surrounding area in the 12th and 13th centuries.
Between 1022 and 1163, the Cathars were condemned by eight local church councils, the last of which, held at Tours, declared that all Albigenses should be put into prison and have their property confiscated. The Third Lateran Council of 1179 repeated the condemnation. Innocent III's diplomatic attempts to roll back Catharism were met with little success. After the murder of his legate Pierre de Castelnau in 1208, and suspecting that Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse was responsible, Innocent III declared a crusade against the Cathars. He offered the lands of the Cathar heretics to any French nobleman willing to take up arms.
From 1209 to 1215, the Crusaders experienced great success, capturing Cathar lands and systematically crushing the movement. From 1215 to 1225, a series of revolts caused many of the lands to be regained by the Cathars. A renewed crusade resulted in the recapturing of the territory and effectively drove Catharism underground by 1244. The Albigensian Crusade had a role in the creation and institutionalization of both the Dominican Order and the Medieval Inquisition. The Dominicans promulgated the message of the Church and spread it by preaching the Church's teachings in towns and villages in order to stop the spread of alleged heresies, while the Inquisition investigated people who were accused of teaching heresies. Because of these efforts, all discernible traces of the Cathar movement were eradicated by the middle of the 14th century.

Albigensian Crusade
Freepedia

The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, known in Islamic history as the Battle of Al-Uqab (Arabic: معركة العقاب), took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the Reconquista and the medieval history of Spain. The Christian forces of King Alfonso VIII of Castile were joined by the armies of his rivals, Sancho VII of Navarre and Peter II of Aragon, in battle against the Almohad Muslim rulers of the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula. The caliph al-Nasir (Miramamolín in the Spanish chronicles) led the Almohad army, made up of people from all over the Almohad Caliphate.
The crushing defeat of the Christians by the Almohads would enable the Muslims in Iberia to survive after the Almohads.

Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa
Freepedia

Note
The Iberian Muslim States survive and Occitan language have a better vitiality in this timeline because the Iberian Christians are not encourage to war with the Iberians and Occitania is not a war zone, the OTL role of the Occitan states would be filled up by Brittany.

 

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On 1212, Joan I of Flanders and her husband were taken by the French and forced to sign a treaty taking the county of Artois from them, Joan I of Flanders would give birth to two daughters from her husband, named Eleanor(1215) and Marguerite(1220), Joan would be forced to marry her daughter Eleanor to the future Louis XI of France to ensure peace between the Flemish and the French while Joan I of Flanders would betroth her daughter Marguerite to the second son of Joanna I, Countess of Burgundy and Frederick I of Sicily, Otto II, Count of Burgundy(1213), the younger brother of Henry II of Sicily(1210) which would give an imperial alliance to the next Countess of Flanders and Hainault.

On 1221, her first husband Ferrand would die and Joan I of Flanders would remarry to Pierre Mauclerc who would sire the heir that Joan I of Flanders wanted herself on 1223, who would be named Baldwin named after her father.

 

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Alexios III Angelos would be happy that the Eastern Roman Empire would have an ally with the new Crusader Kingdom of Egypt, he would not have any sons that would succeed him but he himself would pick his successor from the husband of his three daughters, he would choose Alexios Palaiologos as his own successor as he has proven himself to be the successor that has the most potential and he would be able to strategize in reclaiming the lost lands of the Eastern Roman Empire and he believes that he would be able to make strategies to improve the Eastern Roman Empire.

On 1220, when Alexios III Angelos died Alexios Palaiologos would be the new ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire with his wife starting the Palaiologian dynasty.

 

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So basically to sum up what happened in this timeline
-Louis VIII married Eleanor of Brittany and Blanche of Castile married the heir to Leon who does not succeed the King, which resulted in the Plantagenet lands being divided between the Castilians and the French and Leon remaining separate from Castile.
-The Christians lose the Las Navas de Tolosa.
-The Cathar Crusade is still devastating but not devastating to Occitan speakers because Occitania is not a warzone between the English and French.
-The Bretons reject Eleanor of Brittany's claims and still choose Alix's claims as having Eleanor as duchess means that France would annex Brittany, however, Brittany becomes an English continental possession instead.
-The 4th Crusade is diverted but the Empire still passes to the Palaiologos.
-Philip of Swabia not assassinated so Frederick I of Sicily stays Frederick I of Sicily.
-Flanders and Hainault remain united and Margaret of Flanders is irrelevant in this timeline even if she has issue with her husband who she never separates

 

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On the death of Genghis Khan, his empire would be divided between his sons after his death and Ogodei was chosen as the leader of the Mongols, the Song Dynasty would avoid reconquering the lands of the Jin Dynasty after it collapsed which would have resulted in the Song Dynasty surviving after the Mongols have weakened centuries later and reconquering the former lands of Jin until the great wall.

The Western Ulus of the Mongolian Empire would gradually transition to the Islamic religion but the Eastern Ulus would have adopted Tibetan Buddhism as their official religion and would have nestorian minorities which it would maintain even after the loss of their Chinese lands.

 

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The first half of the thirteenth century is dominated by two women, as proud and ambitious as they were beautiful, yet different in all other qualities. Isabella is flamboyant and passionate, a medieval Helen of Troy - wife to King John and mother to Henry III...Eleanor of Brittany is the scheming and vengeful Queen of France, wife of Louis VIII and mother of Louis IX...The two women hated each other on sight. Eleanor would stop at nothing, not even murder, in her passion to destroy the English Queen.

Back Cover description of Jean Plaidy’s Battle of the Queens

 

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Constance, Queen of Castile(1204)
Her betrothal was arranged by Eleanor of Brittany and Berengaria of Castile in correspondence to ally against the English before the First Barons war and would go to Castile in 1219 and their marriage would have been fruitful and would have ten children including Alfonso X (1221).

Louis IX(1214)
Pious and vengeful and would have a truce with Henry III and his wife Alix of Brittany in the treaty of Paris after he tried to reassert his claims to Brittany inheriting the attitude and claims of his own mother, he dislike that his parents preferred the dead Philip over him, he is married to Eleanor of Flanders due to the truce between Flanders and France itself regarding the status of Flanders.

Robert(1216)
The Count of Artois, more pious than his brother, Louis IX, known as Saint Robert of France.

Alphonse(1220)
Married Joanna, Countess of Toulouse as a condition to end the war with Raymond VII of Toulouse, would have no issue which would result in Toulouse going to France due to Louis IX’s claim which came from Eleanor of Brittany.

Philip Dagobert(1222)
Married Margaret of Provence, became the Count of Provence and Forcalquier, Margaret of Provence’s younger sisters, Eleanor of Provence is married to John II of England and Beatrice of Provence is married to Conrad of Sicily(son of Isabella Plantagenet and Frederick I of Sicily) which would cloud the judgement of Philip Dagobert making him more neutral over the fights between Henry II and his brother.

Isabelle(1223)
Married to Henry of Swabia, son of Frederick of Swabia and Margaret of Austria, her eldest daughter, Constance of Swabia(1250) would marry Albert I of Germany of the Habsburgs carrying the Hohenstauffen lineage to the Habsburgs.

Children of Eleanor of Brittany with Louis VIII
Constance (May, 1204), who married King Ferdinand III of Castile on 30 November 1219 and had issue.
Philip (9 September 1209 – before July 1218), betrothed in July 1215 to Agnes of Donzy.
Alphonse (b. and d. Lorrez-le-Bocage, 26 January 1213), twin of John.
John (b. and d. Lorrez-le-Bocage, 26 January 1213), twin of Alphonse.
Louis IX (Poissy, 25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270, Tunis), King of France as successor to his father.
Robert (25 September 1216 – 9 February 1250, killed in battle, Manssurah, Egypt), Count of Artois.
Philip (20 February 1218 – 1220).
John (21 July 1219 – 1232), Count of Anjou and Maine; betrothed in March 1227 to Yolande of Brittany.
Alphonse (Poissy, 11 November 1220 – 21 August 1271, Corneto) by marriage, Count of Toulouse.
Philip Dagobert (20 February 1222 – 1285) Count of Anjou and Maine, by marriage Count of Provence and Forcalquier
Isabelle (March 1224 – 23 February 1270) married to Henry of Swabia
Etienne (end 1225 – early 1227).

 

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On 1205, Baldwin I of Egypt would die and would be replaced by Henry I of Egypt, the Kingdom of Egypt that was established in 1204 would tolerate the Miaphysites in Egypt and would have given them a breathing space but they would not be tolerant of their muslim subjects which would be the cause of their later downfall later on.

The Nubian Christian Kingdoms would have recognized and were happy that the Crusader Kingdom of Egypt was established and immediately established relations with the Crusader Kingdom of Egypt as that would enabled them to make pilgrimage to the Catholic sites, the Nubian Christian Kingdoms both aligned with both the Greek Orthodox and the Miaphysites, however the Abyssynian Kingdom to their east would be staunchly Miaphysite compared to them and were quite dissatisfied of them.

The existence of the Crusader Egypt would have enabled to continue the existence of the Eastern Roman Empire and the Nubian Christian Kingdoms as it created the environment that made them flourish.

 

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Eleanor of Flanders, Queen of France would convince her husband, Louis IX to have a treaty with the English under the reign of Henry III which would improve the relationship between the English and the French and Eleanor of Flanders would point out that it has been a long time since the two countries has peace and Louis IX should not claim England and Brittany anymore.

Treaty of Paris 1259

Under the treaty, Henry acknowledged loss of the Duchy of Normandy. Regarding the Norman islands in the channel, the treaty held that "islands (if any) which the King of England should hold" would be retained by him "as peer of France and Duke of Brittany" (the islands came to be collectively called the Channel Islands, consisting of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark and some smaller islands).
Henry agreed to renounce control of Maine, Anjou, and Aquitaine which had been lost under the reign of King John, but remained Duke of Brittany, and he kept the lands of Brittany but only as a vassal to Louis.
In exchange, Louis withdrew his support for English rebels.

Treaty Paris 1259
Freepedia