Tsardoms Total War - FACTION PREVIEW: Roman Empire
eep South in the Balkan Peninsula lays a realm older than any of its neighbors. With roots back in time, this realm has seen countless states and countries come and go, while “she” has survived as if untouched by time or due to divine intervention. Eras have come and passed, religions have been founded and forgotten, nations have immigrated and resettled, but these people have not lost their continuity with the past. Being established millennia ago in the ancient times, having witnessed the dark ages and middle ages, now the “Empire of the Romans” is about to get a small glimpse of the European Renaissance.
The lands of the Roman Empire extend from the far north at the Rhodope Mountains to the far south where the Aegean Sea meets the Isle of Crete, currently occupied by the Venetians; and from the East in Asia Minor to the West and the coasts of the Adriatic Sea. Alas, all these lands are not unified as they were in the past; the outcomes of the Fourth Crusade of the Latins, who captured Constantinople on their way to the Holy Lands and founded the Latin Empire of Romania, are still visible. Pieces of land are divided between numerous factions who fight each other with no end. The Peninsula of Morea in the south serves as an example: Romans, Angevins, Venetians, Franks and Catalans all possess smaller or bigger chunks of land in a mountainous region full of castles, towers and forts.
The situation was getting better in the near past with the reconquest of lost Roman lands, and the dream of a unified Empire was close to coming true, successfully consolidating Roman control over lands lost 150 years ago. Unfortunately the situation has changed greatly in the last few years. The Empire is currently being crippled by another devastating civil war on all levels: social, religious and administrational ones, and furthermore the neighboring realms have joined in to get whatever they can for their own advantage.
fter the sack of Constantinople in 1204, the Roman Empire has lost its former glory and its has followed what it seems to be a steady decline. Although the Imperial forces recaptured the Capital in 1261 and most of the European lands over the next century, the core of its military and financial power –Asia Minor – was abandoned and lost in the beginning of the 14th century, leaving the Empire with a handful of coastal cities in our timeframe. All the others have fallen one by one to the hands of the various Turkish beys and emirs, excluding the Romans from their recruitment pools and bringing them hordes of immigrants that need to be taken care of.
Despite the Empire successes in Europe the last years, the stability of the state is shaken by numerous civil wars between the nobles, between the Enotikoi (who want a union with the Pope) and the Anthenotikoi (who don’t), between the upper and lower social classes, and between the monks (on religious matters such as “Esychasmos”). In our timeframe the “Basileia ton Rhomaion” is facing all these various social struggles that are threatening to weaken her.
Four years ago, in 1341, the emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos passed away in the age of 45, leaving his heir, John Palaiologos, too young to rule. His best friend and Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Forces (Megas Domestikos) – John Kantakouzenos – who had persistently denied the rank of Co-Emperor when the Basileus was alive, offered to be the young emperor’s regent. Unfortunately after some months, Anna of Savoy – the Empress mother – John XIV Kalekas – the Ecumenical Patriarch – and Alexios Apokaukos – the Prime Minister (Mesazon) and Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Fleet (Megas Doux) – led a coup d’ etat against Kantakouzenos because they didn’t trust him and in order to influence the young Heir. So they forced the Megas Domestikos to flee to Didymoteichon with his family and other nobles.
The army opposing to this move, acclaimed him co-Emperor along with John Palaiologos, giving the newly formed Regency reason for conflict. When the operations began, the armies of the Regency had the upper hand and captured many cities in Macedonia and Thrace except Didymoteichon where the Grand Domestikos has set up his headquarters. The vast majority of the Aristocracy had joined forces with the Kantakouzenoi as they were opposed by the lower classes of the Empire, favoring the young Heir and the Regency (as in the case of the Zealots of Thessalonica), furthermore Kantakouzenos was a close friend of Gregory Palamas – the leader of the Hesychast movement – and soon the conflict took also a religious aspect.
After his ally, the Serbian king Stefan Dushan abandoned him in order to join the Regency, along with the Bulgarian Tsar, Kantakouzenos turned to his personal friends, the emir of Aydin Umur and the Ottoman emir Orhan, for support. In the next years, Kantakouzenos with the help of his eastern allies turned the tide, besieged the second city of the Empire – the Symbasileuousa Thessalonike – and liberated more cities in Thrace, among them the capital of Thrace Adrianoupolis. Presently only Constantinople, the coastal cities of Thrace along with the islands remain in the hands of the Regency that is now in a difficult position. Only time will show if Kantakouzenos will prevail or if the Regency will be able once again to turn the tide and win this war…
he lands of the empire are situated in the middle of the Mediterranean, being a prized object to every conqueror. In the north lies the traditional enemy of the Romans – the Second Bulgarian Empire, led by Ivan Alexander, a quite competent Bulgarian Tsar, who does not hesitate to provide his troops to either side in return for territorial gains. In the North West lies the Kingdom of Serbia, with the cunning King Stefan Dushan; a man with ambitions high as the office of the Roman Emperor; a man who will do anything in his power to extend his rule all over the Balkans. And to the West are the Angevins of the Kingdom of Sicily, who possess lands in western coastal Greece and are very willing to follow the steps of Robert Guiscard several centuries ago against the Romans.
To the south the remnants of the Latin Empire are situated. The Principality of Achaea, the Angevins of Sicily, other various lords and barons, along with the Duchy of Athens, recently conquered by the Grand Catalan Company, pose an obstacle to the unification of all Roman lands. In the Aegean Sea, the two maritime republics – Venice & Genoa – strive for the ultimate control of the precious mercantile ports and stations of the isles along the routes of the Trade with the East and the Levant, and are eager to deprive the Empire from her few remaining insular possessions in the northern Aegean. In addition, the crusader knights of the Order of St. John make their appearance in the region, by occupying the Dodecanese Islands in the south and by launching attacks against the infidels in the East.
Then there’s the East where numerous Turkish beys have taken advantage of the power vacuum in the region in order to create their own states. The most powerful of them are the Ottoman, the Aydin and the Karaman Beys, whose principalities exceed all others in matters of size, strength and influence. They must be dealt with caution as, when they get out of lands to conquer, they will look to expand their rule to the remaining Roman coastal lands and if possible also to the West – Europe and the Greek isles.
In order to successfully confront all of these realms that try to one must try to find allies in the north and the west. The eastern principalities of Wallachia and Moldova do not see with a kind eye an expansion of the Bulgarians, nor do Bosnia and Hungary the growth of Serbia. A successful diplomat can use the hatred between Genoa and Venice and make fight each other for his own interest, and can also make the Turkish beyliks squabble with each other leaving the Roman lands at peace. Last but not least, one can use the events of the Sicilian Vespers and the fight between Trinacria and Sicily in order to distract the Angevins of their Roman possessions, so that the latin principalities can lack a necessary ally for their survival.
ince the fall of Constantinople into the hands of the Latins, there have been many changes in the government of the Romans. So, like many centuries ago during the dark ages of the Empire in the 7th century, the government and the bureaucracy of the Empire has to adapt. Thus the state has become more militarized whereas many of the civilian and social sectors of the government have diminished.
The overall government and all its branches are headed by the prime minister (called Mesazon) whose office is called Mesastikion, with the Megas Logothetes, Megas Protoproedros and Protascretes, heading each of the equivalent executive, legislative and judiciary branches. The governmental ministries of the Army and the Navy (Sekreton tou Stratiotikou & Sekreton tou Ploimou) have remained strong, whereas the foreign and several other financial ministries have eclipsed, leaving their respective ministers only with ceremonial duties. Another ministry currently operating is the one of the Maritime Shipping (Sekreton tes Thalasses) coordinating the merchant shipping all over the Empire. The Roman Senate is now unfortunatelly under functioning, with meetings now housed in the Imperial Palace, since the Senate houses have been burnt down. Most of the roman senators are also part of the government and some even close relatives of the emperor, and so only rarely do their voices are heard against him. Concerning the Judiciary, a new Supreme Court (Basilikon Sekreton) has been established in the capital after the reconquest of Constantinople in 1261. Also there are provincial and circuit judges in the provinces and many more in Constantinople delivering justice in the Land.
The Empire is divided into many different Themes and Kephalatikia each one headed by a Governor named Kephale with combined civil and military roles. Although they control the cities, the villages and the lands of the province, the army is now under a totally different system. With the old thematic armies long gone, the empire has now focused on a different recruitment system. The Imperial Army is now mainly based on the Pronoiai and the Allagia system. All the soldiers are now part of the central imperial army, headed by Megas Domestikos, either stationed in the capital or the provinces. Only the emperor’s own contigent, the Imperial Guard, is headed by Megas Primmikerios and is housed near the capital or even inside the emperor’s palace. Furthermore, with the steady decline of the Imperial Navy, all the remaining vessels are situated near the capital under the command of the Megas Doux.
All these ranks, positions and nobility titles are held by the same noble families for centuries, and although there are many new additions, the aristocracy has now de facto rights to the governance of state. Their attitude towards the lower classes of the society leaves a lot to be desired and most of the time they exploit the tax system for their own benefit. As a result when opportunity presents itself, “hoi polloi” rebel against their oppressors, as it happened also during our timeframe with the lower classes that joined the Regency side against Kantakouzenos and the noble families that support him. A notable example are the Zealots of Thessalonica who overthrew completely the governor and his lieutenants, establishing their own “popular” democracy in the Balkan region for the first time since ancient times, millenia ago.
he Eastern Roman Imperial Church headed by Constantinople continues to assert its universal authority. Despite the massive loss of lands in Asia Minor and Europe, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is still the spiritual leader of orthodox Christians everywhere, with the Roman Emperor being the temporal one. Unfortunately with this state of affairs many orthodox churches established their autonomy, like the Serbian church in 1219, the Bulgarian Patriarchate in 1203, the Moldovan Church in 1381, acknowledging only nominally Constantinople’s primacy in the Church. But within the Empire, all religious matters affect both the Church and the State, and thus are dealt by both of them to deter any future unrest that may do any harm. Specifically, during the 14th century the Church and the Empire were troubled by a theological dispute that came to be known as the “Hesychast Controversy” with dimensions reaching to the strangest of matters: from Aristotelism vs. Platonism, and nominalism vs. realism, to monastic vs. secular clergy, latin vs. byzantine churches, lower social classes vs. aristocrats, and eventually John Kantakouzenos’ supporters vs. the Imperial Regency.
Hesychasm (from grk. Ησυχασμός from Ησυχία “stillness, rest, silence”) is an eremitic tradition of prayer in the Orthodox Church practiced by monks. Based on Crhist’s injunction in the Gospel of Matthew to “when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray”, hesychasm is the process of retiring inward by ceasing to register the senses, in order to achieve an experiental knowledge of God. The Hesychast is to descend his mind into his heart (sometimes quite literally) so as to practice both the Jesus prayer and sobriety with his mind in his heart. By this exercise, the practitioner arrives at a continual practice of the Jesus Prayer («Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ, Υἱὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐλέησόν με τὸν ἁμαρτωλόν» or “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner”) where his consciousness is no longer encumbered by the spontaneous inception of images. This state of mind is the practice goal of the Hesychast through his life, and when he succeeds it, he is raised to contemplation by the Grace of God, usually experiencing it as light, the Uncreated Light of the eastern Theology, the same light that had been manifested in Jesus’ Disciples on Mount Tabor at the Transfiguration.
This monastical practice attracted the attention of a learned member of the Orthodox Church, Barlaam, a Calabrian monk who at the time held the office of abbot in the monastery of St. Saviour in Constantinople, in 1337 when he visited Mount Athos, encountering Hesuchasts and hearing descriptions of their practices, and also reading the writing of the teacher in Hesychasm of St. Gregory Palamas, himself an Athonite monk. Trained in Western Scholastic theology, Barlaam was scandalized by Hesychasm and began to combat it both orally and his writings, regarding this practice as heretical and blasphemous, propounding a more intellectual and propositional approach to the knowledge of God than the Hesychasts taught.
On the Hesychast side, the controversy was taken up by St. Gregory Palamas, afterwards Metropolitan Archbishop of Thessalonica, who was himself very well-educated in Greek Philosophy. St. Gregory defended Hesychasm in the 1340s at three different synods in Constantinople, and he also wrote a number of works in its defence. Specifically, in 1341 the dispute came before a synod held at the capital and presided over the late Emperor Andronikos III, which resulted in condemning Barlaam, who recanted and returned to Calabria, afterwards becoming bishop in the Roman Catholic Church. One of Barlaam’s friends, Gregory Akindynos, took up the controversy which also played a role in the civil war, with Kantakouzenos being sympathetic towards the Hesychasts, and the Regents being hostile towards them. Three other synods on the subject were held, at the second of which the Barlaamists gained a brief victory. But in 1351 at a synod under the presidency of the Emperor John IV Kantakouzenos, Hesychast doctrine was established as a dogma of the Orthodox Church.
he Roman army of the Palaiologan era, despite its size, was much different from its foreign contemporaries. The recruiting system was divided between local troops, named Kastrenoi (from gr. kastron = castle), the professional troops, (both the smallholding soldiers and the more wealthy pronoiars), named Allagitai, who joined the imperial Allagia (=Regiments) which were the central imperial army stationed in the provinces, and the Palace and other Special troops, named Basilikoi [Anthropoi] (=Imperial [men=troops]), who were stationed in the capital. Some other categories of troops were the various mercenaries, grouped into Syntrophiai or Hetaireiai, who offered their services to the local governors and the emperor himself, and also the auxiliary troops who were given to the Romans by their allies.
This grown heterogeneity of composition was not in itself a negative trait for the roman army. Each of the major type of soldiers - pronoiars, mercenaries, smallholding soldiers, local troops and palace guards - had its own strengths which in aggregate compensated for the intrinsic weakness of each other type of soldier. Thus, Pronoia soldiers, unlike smallholding soldiers, were usually heavy cavalry and less expensive than mercenaries because they were paid "at the source" and could be given properties in pronoia that the state otherwise might have found difficult to administer. Pronoia soldiers, however, often held their pronoiai in out of the way places and this made them difficult to muster and their dependence on these revenues hindered their participation in long or distant campaigns. Mercenaries, on the other hand, campaigned as long their salaries were paid, but they were the most expensive troops (to maintain), and the state frequently found itself short of the ready cash to pay them. Smallholding soldiers were the best bargain, and their attachment to the land upon which they lived made them better suited to hold frontier positions than either pronoia soldiers or mercenaries. But smallholding soldiers were at best light cavalry, and since they were frequently backward, clannish foreigners, they were not the most reliable or disciplined troops. In addition, the Palace troops could form the core of the campaigning army, but with no other support, they couldn't be able for important results, due to their limited numbers. Finally, the Local troops - such as watchmen, peasants, levies and guards - could add to the total size of the army, giving it a view of strength, but their overall behaviour in battle was at best questionable.
A note: many of the upgrades below simply include partial plate armour, which will be available later in the game, through the technological progress
s far as the garrisoning of city walls & fortresses, and the guarding & safety of the surrounding areas, was concerned, the historical sources mention the "civilian duties" with many names. Terms such as Tzakonike Phylaxis (Tzakonian guard), Phylakes Politai (Citizen Guards), Viglai (<-lat. Vigiles= Watchmen) are mentioned. Concerning the name Tzakones or Tsakones, it appears in the sources , as far back as the 10th century by Constantine VIII Porphyrogennetos as certain troop divisions assigned to the Empire’s forts and composed of impoverished soldiers who were no longer able to maintain themselves properly. During the courses of centuries, the name was also applied to the light armed soldiers whom Michael VIII Palaiologos brought in the 13th century from the Peloponnese (specifically from Laconia=Tsakonia) to Constantinople, to fight as marines for the imperial navy and to guard the palace.
The duties of the people in charge of the Apoviglisis were sentinel duty at the gates, night-watch and process serving, the watch over the kastron, particularly at night and for the control of the fires (public lighting), the enforcement of orders of civil magistrates; plus patrols in rural areas and guarding of pyrgoi (towers) outside the city. These were the daily, tedious yet necessary paramilitary burdens that did not require the skills of a trained soldier, and thus they usually fell upon the inhabitants and civilians of the town, plus the inhabitants of the surrounding territory, to the extent to which they were dependent on the protection of the Kastron.
1. Akontistai (grk. Ακοντισταί)
2. Psiloi (grk. Ψιλοί)
3. Viglai Pezoi (grk. Βίγλαι Πεζοί)
4. Viglai Hippeis (grk. Βίγλαι Ιππείς)
5. Tsakones (grk. Τσάκωνες)
he units made up from pronoia holders (wealthy or poor), who were stationed in the provinces, were called Allagia (=Regiments). These Allagia could seen as an effort to reconstitute a provincial administrational apparatus composed of “thematic” regions for military, as well as, fiscal and administrational purposes. As a result, the status of these troops varied greatly, ranging from smallholding soldiers to powerful Magnates, who controlled vast areas of land and hailed from known aristocratic families. They reinforced the local defence and, unlike the kastrenoi, they participated in military campaigns, and manned the border garrisons of the roman camps and fortresses called Droungoi (Kleisourai, in older times).
By analyzing the sources, which only speak about the cavalry units of the Allagia (as Kantakouzenos puts it: “only the wealthy cavalrymen (stratiotai) and Latin mercenaries are soldiers worthy of respect”), the bigger formations, like those of Thessalonica etc, called Megala Allagia (Grand Regiments), also contained corps of heavy cavalry, made up from Stratiotai, Kavallarioi & Dynatoi, who according to Pseudo-Kodinos, were called Megaloallagitai. These corps were, as we seen in the sources, well-to-do soldiers, who could afford to participate in lengthy campaigns, bringing with them several mounts and beign accompanied by one or to servants. The other, less “respectable” soldiers were mentioned by Pseudo-Kodinos as Trikavalloi, Dikavalloi and Monokavalloi (these with three, two and one mount respectively), and generally were smaller pronoiars and smallhodling soldiers, who had smaller Pronoiai that led to fewer resources and therefore to them being lighter armoured and with fewer mounts.
Apart from the cavalry, we can indirectly extract from the historical texts that not all allagitai were wealthy or even well-to-do soldiers, having to serve not only in the city named after the allagion but also in the wider district and performed garrison duties as well in forts, towers and castles. The roman authors divided the army soldiers to Psiloi (light armed soldiers), Hoplites (standard infantry) and Kataphraktoi (heavy armoured cavalry), and focus their descriptions only to the latter group. As a result, there were many archers and infantrymen of course, who formed the basis of the professional army, and are omitted from the sources due to them not being heavy cavalrymen.
1. Toxotai (grk. Τοξόται)
2. Peltastai (grk. Πελτασταί)
3. Oikonomiai (grk. Οικονομίαι)
4. Tzangratores (grk. Τζανγκράτορες)
5. Kontaratoi (grk. Κονταράτοι)
6. Spathatoi (grk. Σπαθάτοι)
7. Stratiotai (grk. Στρατιώται)
8. Kaballarioi (grk. Καβαλλάριοι)
9. Dynatoi (grk. Δυνατοί)
ue to the limited number of available information, the exact organization of the palace troops, as well as their specific functions and their importance during the late period of the empire, cannot be established with much certainty. Although we see them in many cases fighting on the battlefield, along with emperors like Theodore II, Andronikos III, John IV, and also guarding the capital as some Cretan Guards in the 1422 siege by Murad II and in 1453 siege by Mehmet II, we cannot assess the strength of the Palace guard units, because we know thing about their size. From a single reference by Kantakouzenos, we know that after the death of Andronikos III in 1341 a palace guard, composed of the Kantakouzenos’ Oikeioi and the Basilikoi, reaching 500 men was installed in the palace to protect the heir. Later it was reduced to its customary strength, meaning that the palace garrison usually had a size of 300-400 soldiers.
From what we can gather, the units of the guard that still appear in our timeframe are the famous axe-bearing Varangians that have survived for more the 350 years, plus some other guard units that are much less known. These are the Paramonai guards who were equipped with swords and have regiments on foot and horseback, the Mourtatoi that were foot archers and came from mixed Turkish and Roman families, the Tzakones who were armed with clubs and wore distinctive blue surcoat with white lions, the Vardariotai that had police duties and were armed with a whip, and the Kortinarioi who served in the imperial tent and we know nothing of their weapons.
In addition to these troops, some other special units were recruited for the much reduced imperial navy stationed in the capital. These included the Gasmouloi who came from mixed Latin and Roman families who were armed with crossbows, the aforementioned Tzakones and the Prosalentai. The first two groups were used as marines for the navy, and were settled mostly around Constantinople and in Thrace, while the latter were the rowers of the navy and were settled near the sea throughout the northern Aegean.
1. Englinovarangoi (grk. Ενγκλινοβάραγγοι)
2. Paramonai Pezoi (grk. Παραμοναί Πεζοί)
3. Paramonai Hippeis (grk. Παραμοναί Ιππείς)
4. Tzakones (grk. Τζάκωνες)
5. Mourtatoi (grk. Μουρτάτοι)
6. Gasmouloi (grk. Γάσμουλοι)
7. Siphonatores (grk. Σιφωνάτορες)
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Proud Tsardoms Total War: Historian - Coder - Scripter - Mapper
Originally Posted by Cyprian2
