[Bellum Crucis] HISTORIA RHOMAIKE - Chapter Twenty-Six

[Roman Heritage]

Just wanted to remind everybody that this, and other excellent AARs, is running in the current MAARC. Here's the volte thread for all those who are interested! Vote your favourite work!

[Lord_Imrahil]

I really like your new AAR, I just red all updates you posted so far.

One suggestion, you could add at the end of each chapter a spoiler with a list of the most important posts like mega doux and how is holding the position at the moment helpful would be as well to have the map of the current situation, like you have it in some of the chapers, with with the mark on the place of battle of the chapter, if it has one.

[Roman Heritage]

I really like your new AAR, I just red all updates you posted so far.

One suggestion, you could add at the end of each chapter a spoiler with a list of the most important posts like mega doux and how is holding the position at the moment helpful would be as well to have the map of the current situation, like you have it in some of the chapers, with with the mark on the place of battle of the chapter, if it has one.

Thank you for your kind reply and feedback, Lord_Imrahil! Maps will be a little trickier to implement (I was planning to redo much of them with a better format, and no doubt I'll try to add more specific maps on battlefields and so on) but, as a compensation, I added a spoilers for titles and their holders, as you suggested Thank you for the brilliant suggestion!

[McScottish]

If you're not already writing a book/novel, then please do so. If you are, then please give me a link or some such so that I can buy it.

Anyway, apart from that, keep this up and I shall follow.

[Lord_Imrahil]

Thank you for your kind reply and feedback, Lord_Imrahil! Maps will be a little trickier to implement (I was planning to redo much of them with a better format, and no doubt I'll try to add more specific maps on battlefields and so on) but, as a compensation, I added a spoilers for titles and their holders, as you suggested Thank you for the brilliant suggestion!

Your welcome and Thanks for adding the titel and holders, it makes it easier to follow the story.

[Roman Heritage]

CHAPTER FIFTEEN- Of the siege of Maarrat al-Nouman, and its aftermaths (1199-1200 AD)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

With Sayf-ud-Din's death in the battle of Curcurum, and the complete dissolution of his enormous host, John III and his Frankish allies readied themselves to cross the Orontes and seize the north-westernmost fraction of the Syrian Atabegate, meaning Aleppo and its surroundings, which now stood almost defenseless in front of Christian aggression.



Before any moves in such sense were made, however, John III, perhaps inspired by the precedents set up by his illustrious predecessor and ancestor John II Komnenos, began diplomatic ouvertures with the Franks of Outremer in order to safeguard his interests in the area and fully exploit a victory which he and his senior officers regarded as theirs. Once again, the matter of negotiations was byzantine suzerainty over the Principality of Antioch, something which had worried all Roman Emperors since its establishment as a sovereign State, in 1098. Throughout a century, Alexios I, John II and Manuel I had all tried to establish Roman yoke over the Principality and its outskirts, basing their claims on a pledge of fealty Bohemund of Hauteville, the Principality's founder, had sworn to Alexios I during the First Crusade.


Through his Protonotarioi tou Dromou (a sort of foreign relationships dedicated functionary) Andronikos Mourtzouphlos and John Diogenes, the Basileus struck a very favourable deal, similar to the one John II had tried to take advantage of during his Syrian campaign of 1138-1139, which terms included Prince Bohemund IV's surrendering of Antioch in exchange for Aleppo, which was to be stormed by the Christian army. Once such deal was struck, John III Komneno-Doukas finally agreed to cross the Orontes and invade the Atabegate.



Before the army could proceed against Aleppo, however, a first obstacle had to be removed from its path. The fortress of Ma'arrat al-Nouman, standing nearby the site of one of the most atrocious massacres perpetrated by the Franks during the First Crusade, was manned by an eight thousand men strong garrison, and as such constituted a formidable stronghold obstructing the road to Aleppo.


John III and his Frankish allies, now led by no less than the Antiochene Prince himself, immediately began preparing for siegeworks, dugging trenches in front of the fortress' walls and cutting it off from supply routes, while Imperial engineers and carpenters built a number of siege towers and ladders in order to storm the walls. When the Imperial baggage train reached the besieged fortress, a heavy bombardment of the walls and towers began, which ultimately led to the opening of various breaches which the Christians then exploited to storm the stronghold. Thus, a Century after the first Crusade laid waste to the nearby town, Ma'arrat al-Nouman fell again, this time to a much more benevolent conqueror. John III, in fact,




"...prohibited any violence be done onto the Saracens, whom had fought valiantly to defend themselves and their families, whom too resided in the fortress. (...) The Emperor said onto them, "All of you who have surrendered to Our Imperial Majesty are thus free to go as they wish, or enlist into the ranks of the armies of Eternal Rome; this We promise you, that neither you nor your relatives will be harmed in this place, but rather you will be free to farm here and prospere as Our subjects". (...) And when Bohemondos of Antiocheia and Balianos, Lord of Ebeilin, heard of this, they were much displeased, for they had a mind of enslaving the captives, as they had done after the great battle of Curcurum, and dispose of them as they wished."




Despite the growing mistrust between John and the Frankish commanders, the Christian army nonetheless marched towards Aleppo, where it simply laid siegeworks in the await for the inevitable surrender of the meagre garrison.
However, once again collaboration between Crusaders and Greeks proved difficult to achieve. While John III supervised the establishing of siegeworks and trenches, Frankish barons entertained themselves with the looting of the countryside and jousting; according to byzantine sources, while John struggled to mantain the flow of supplies to the besieging army continuous, Balian and Bohemund placed bets on their favourites in the countless jousts and meleès they organized. Be it due to Bohemund's willing sabotage of the enterprise, so that he would not have to surrender Antioch to the schismatic Greek Emperor, or due to the outbreak of plague and famine, John III, much as his omonymous ancenstor, abandoned the siege after an half-hearted assault on the walls.







Despite the failure of the enterprise, John's Syrian campaign proved to be a fundamental event in the development of the region in the following decades. The Emperor managed to retain control over the north-westernmost and eastern fractions of the Principality, reinforcing his garrisons in Alexandreia and Curcurum, and establishing a military settlement in Ma'arrat al-Nouman; all of the course of the Orontes, therefore, passed under Roman control, and while Antioch itself still defied any direct Roman suzerainty, the de-facto situation greatly reduced the Principality's prestige and forced it to align to byzantine policy in the area.
John's campaign also provoked the downfall of the Zengid dinasty: Sayf-ud-Din's heirs, in fact, were simply unable to contain the rise of another seljuk clan, that of the Artuqids of Raqqa, to the rank of Atabegs of Syria; through the reigns of Nur-ed-Din II Memhed and his son Hajji I, the Artuqids would rule over Syria for the following two decades, before the Zengids could be restored as Atabegs. This, together with Salah-ed-Din's death in 1200 and the return of the Fatimids in Egypt, determined a general weakness of Middle Eastern Islam which ultimately allowed the Catholic recovery of Jerusalem in 1210, and a renewal of Abbasid power in the same time-span.




Thus, when John III returned to Constantinople in 1200 AD, after an incredibly vantageous peace treaty had been struck with the new overlords of muslim Syria, he did so in great style. He and part of the army marched through the city in a triumphal procession, culminating in front of the Basilica of the Hagia Sophia; the Emperor himself, dressed in gold and purple, entered the city on horse, carrying the relics and icons of the Virgin Ogiditria, and a considerable war-booty made up of shields, armours and tapestries he had seized on the battlefield of Curcurum. Celebrations lasted two weeks, during which the Emperor patronized daily races in the Hyppodromos and distributed large amounts of money between the common folk and the clergy.
Then, after celebrations were over, the Emperor, now over sixty years old and without a male heir, began laying ground for his succession.

TITLES AND KNOWN HOLDERS

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Megas Doux
Unknown holders


Megas Domestikos
- Alexios Palaiologos (tenure 1185-1199 AD)


Megas Logothethes
Nikephoros Palaiologos (tenure 1185-1205 AD)

Ecoumenical Patriarch of Konstantinopoulis
- John X Kamateros (tenure 1198-1206 AD)

[Roman Heritage]

If you're not already writing a book/novel, then please do so. If you are, then please give me a link or some such so that I can buy it.

Anyway, apart from that, keep this up and I shall follow.

Oooooh, McScottish, you're making me turn red Glad you enjoyed it so far. Unfortunately, all my wishes of sitting down and writing a book have been frustrated by real life issues and relative lack of creativity; as of now, I find it easier to roleplay and tell a story which has largely shaped itself out of the game's behaviour Maybe one day...

[Alwyn]

Great chapter! The contrast between the behaviour of John III and the Frankish commanders creates some interesting tension. I wonder what will happen about the succession, as the Emperor is over sixty and there is no male heir - will there be an Empress?

[theSilentKiller]

An heirless, very old Emperor? Sounds like someone will be adopted, or -as Alwyn mentioned- an Empress... if the Emperor doesn't die too early...
Great chapter! Can't wait to read what is going to happen next, especially who will be the next Emperor/Empress!

[Roman Heritage]

An heirless, very old Emperor? Sounds like someone will be adopted, or -as Alwyn mentioned- an Empress... if the Emperor doesn't die too early...
Great chapter! Can't wait to read what is going to happen next, especially who will be the next Emperor/Empress!

Great chapter! The contrast between the behaviour of John III and the Frankish commanders creates some interesting tension. I wonder what will happen about the succession, as the Emperor is over sixty and there is no male heir - will there be an Empress?

Thank you both for your praise! Glad you enjoyed the chapter, as I felt I might have rushed it a bit...but it seems I didn't, after all

Who knows...mayhaps you're not so far from the solution of the enigma. Stay tuned for an update likely to come in mid-week

[Lord_Imrahil]

The new chapter did end the campaign into the Levante to a nice end. And I am looking forward to what will happen in the succession crisis.

[Roman Heritage]

CHAPTER SIXTEEN - Of the matter of Ioannis successor (1200-1202 AD)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Though victorious on such ominous foes of the Empire such as the Hungarians, the Serbs, the Seljuks and the Syrians, John III Komneno-Doukas could not rule forever. Well knowing this, and conscious of the risks tied to his eventual death without heirs be proclaimed, the ageing Basileus began preparations for the Empire be handled onto a capable successor.




Through his marriage with Anna Botaneiatina, Emperor John had had only three daughters; of these, only the youngest, Zoe Porphyrogenneta Komnena-Doukaina, reached adult-hood in 1199 AD. In the words of Eumenes Argyros, John's personal confessor and Abbot of the Pantokrator Monastery, she was




"...tall and well proportioned, surely the most beautiful and fascinating creature living in the Imperial gynaeceum, and a maiden sought after by many of those powerful ones living in the Queen of Cities. She had dark hair and a fair complexion, and a mind which resembled that of her father: she was keen, smart, and ambitious. Had she been born as a men, she would have been worthy of the highest places in the administration of the State; but the was not, and thus the Emperor her father had to take arrangements for her marriage so that she could rule jointly with an husband worthy of her status."




Apart from the quite misogynistic approach of the chronicler, it is a fact John III could not directly make Zoe his sole heir without major criticism sparking from amongst the ranks of Imperial bureaucracy and aristocracy. Though precedents for female rulership were to be found in VIIth Century Empress Eirene and XIth Century Empresses Zoe and Theodora, the people and aristocracy were still rememberful of the disastrous rule of Mary of Antioch, and the corruption and hardships which it had brought upon the Empire. Thus, the Emperor began to look after a suitable husband from within his extended relatives, so that power may reside within the extended Komnenian family connections.



While no direct male heir was born out of John and Anna's marriage, several were spawned through John's sisters' marriages with prominent members of byzantine aristocracy. For example, through his sister Eudocia Komnena-Doukaina's marriage to the ill-fated Megas Doux Andronikos Kontostephanos, a potential heir had been spawned in the person of Simeon Kontostephanos, a skilled and capable soldier who had given proof of great virtue and valour during the reign of Andronikos Komnenos; however, due to the Kontostephanoi's backing of John's claim on to the throne, both he and his father had been blinded on Andronikos I Komnenos' orders, and as such he was uneligible to the throne according to the byzantine custom which did not allow for any maimed or mutilated man to serve as Emperor or as husband of an Empress.


Thus, John had to turn his attention towards his other sister, kaisarissa Maria Komnena-Doukaina's, marriage to one of the most prominent figures of John's regime, his best-friend and lieutenant Alexios Palaiologos. Alexios himself had been already been bestowed the rank of Sebastokrator, Kaisar and, in 1195 AD, that of Symbasileus. According to such title, Alexios had already been recognized as co-ruler and potential heir to John III; but both Palaiologos and his wife Maria died in a shipwreck in 1199 AD, while they travelled from Nikaia to the Queen of Cities.


At the time of their departure, the couple left three children: Eirene Palaiologina, Isaac Stephanos and Manuel. Once again, it is thanks to Eumenes Argyros, personal confessor of the Basileus, and later author of a panegyric on his person and confessor of Manuel Palaiologos, that we may read a vivid description of the Palaiologoi brothers.


"...out of Symbasileus Alexios' marriage with kaisarissa Maria, three children were born. The eldest, Isaakios Stephanos Palaiologos, was a valiant man, hale and vigorous, swift in both mind and action; he had well served in Ioannis' campaign in Syria, leading the infantry from the first rank, and was a worthy soldier and a rider of the finests. He was honest, rightful and pious, though sometimes impulsive and prone to an impatience which made him look as if even the shortest await he indulged in was some kind of a torture for his body and soul (...)
His brother Manouil, who had just turned into adulthood at the time his most beloved parents drowned into the Straits, enjoyed most of the virtues God had bestowed onto his elder brother, but to these he added an austerity which was more atypical for a youth of his age and much more akin to that of a monk or a scholar of the Epicurean school. He rarely if seldom spoke in public or at court festivities, often preferring to spend his time in the Magnaura library, but when he joined his Imperial uncle in feasts and hunts, even the Emperor delighted to hear his opinions and speeches; for this Manouil was, as we've said, of delightful company and therefore a favorite of the Basileus."




Thus, when John III discreetly approached his daughter in order for her to choose between the two brothers, he must have been quite delighted of her preference towards Manuel, which seemed to sport all the qualities needed by an Emperor in times of peace, and to these added a resemblance of his brother's military prowess. As the engagement was between the forbidden degree of consanguignity, it required a special dispensation from Patriarch John X Kamateros, which John III discreetly purchased through Argyros.




Thus, when John formerly appointed Manuel Palaiologos as his new Symbasileus and heir, few, if any, cast doubts about the legitimacy of such choice. After all, he came from a family which had played a major role in byzantine politics through the previous half of a Century, was the Basileus' nephew and the son of the most trusted of the Emperor's men, and met the favour of the largest part of the Imperial bureaucracy and elites; moreover, his closest relatives - his brother Isaac Stephanos and his brother, the Logothethes Nikephoros - were key characters in Imperial military and administration, and would brilliantly lead the young couple into the transition to power, which was soon to come.



Shortly after the official proclamation of his daughter's engagement to the young Manuel Palaiologos, in fact, John III's health slowly began to worsen, as if the ageing Emperor's body had waited for final dispositions be made before surrendering to death. It is doubtful whether he died of a stroke, or as a consequence of a fever; on 18th June 1202 AD, the powerful Basileus exhaled his last breath. He had reigned for sixteen years, putting an end to one of the most violent and paranoid reigns of Roman history with the defeat of his life-long arch-enemy Andronikos Komnenos, recovering large swathes of territory and managing to achieve victory over some of the Empire's fiercest enemies; when he felt death approaching, he undertook every possible measure to conciliate his fatherly wish of letting his daughter inherit power, and the need to deliver the Empire in capable hands, something which would surely be needed in the times to come. His death truly marked the end of the Komnenian period, and opened up a new era of Roman history; a new dinasty was on the rise.

TITLES AND KNOWN HOLDERS

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Megas Doux
- Unknown holders


Megas Domestikos
- Unknown holders


Megas Logothethes
- Nikephoros Palaiologos (tenure 1185-1205 AD)


Ecoumenical Patriarch of Konstantinopoulis
- John X Kamateros (tenure 1198-1206 AD)

[Alwyn]

Nicely done, I like the way that you take us through the potential successors (I feel bad for Simeon and his father, considering what happened to them despite Simeon's brave military service) and show us how the daughter of John III made her choice.

[Lord_Imrahil]

CHAPTER SIXTEEN - Of the matter of Ioannis successor (1200-1202 AD)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Though victorious on such ominous foes of the Empire such as the Hungarians, the Serbs, the Seljuks and the Syrians, John III Komneno-Doukas could not rule forever. Well knowing this, and conscious of the risks tied to his eventual death without heirs be proclaimed, the ageing Basileus began preparations for the Empire be handled onto a capable successor.




Through his marriage with Anna Botaneiatina, Emperor John had had only three daughters; of these, only the youngest, Zoe Porphyrogenneta Komnena-Doukaina, reached adult-hood in 1199 AD. In the words of Eumenes Argyros, John's personal confessor and Abbot of the Pantokrator Monastery, she was




"...tall and well proportioned, surely the most beautiful and fascinating creature living in the Imperial gynaeceum, and a maiden sought after by many of those powerful ones living in the Queen of Cities. She had dark hair and a fair complexion, and a mind which resembled that of her father: she was keen, smart, and ambitious. Had she been born as a men, she would have been worthy of the highest places in the administration of the State; but the was not, and thus the Emperor her father had to take arrangements for her marriage so that she could rule jointly with an husband worthy of her status."




Apart from the quite misogynistic approach of the chronicler, it is a fact John III could not directly make Zoe his sole heir without major criticism sparking from amongst the ranks of Imperial bureaucracy and aristocracy. Though precedents for female rulership were to be found in VIIth Century Empress Eirene and XIth Century Empresses Zoe and Theodora, the people and aristocracy were still rememberful of the disastrous rule of Mary of Antioch, and the corruption and hardships which it had brought upon the Empire. Thus, the Emperor began to look after a suitable husband from within his extended relatives, so that power may reside within the extended Komnenian family connections.



While no direct male heir was born out of John and Anna's marriage, several were spawned through John's sisters' marriages with prominent members of byzantine aristocracy. For example, through his sister Eudocia Komnena-Doukaina's marriage to the ill-fated Megas Doux Andronikos Kontostephanos, a potential heir had been spawned in the person of Simeon Kontostephanos, a skilled and capable soldier who had given proof of great virtue and valour during the reign of Andronikos Komnenos; however, due to the Kontostephanoi's backing of John's claim on to the throne, both he and his father had been blinded on Andronikos I Komnenos' orders, and as such he was uneligible to the throne according to the byzantine custom which did not allow for any maimed or mutilated man to serve as Emperor or as husband of an Empress.


Thus, John had to turn his attention towards his other sister, kaisarissa Maria Komnena-Doukaina's, marriage to one of the most prominent figures of John's regime, his best-friend and lieutenant Alexios Palaiologos. Alexios himself had been already been bestowed the rank of Sebastokrator, Kaisar and, in 1195 AD, that of Symbasileus. According to such title, Alexios had already been recognized as co-ruler and potential heir to John III; but both Palaiologos and his wife Maria died in a shipwreck in 1199 AD, while they travelled from Nikaia to the Queen of Cities.


At the time of their departure, the couple left three children: Eirene Palaiologina, Isaac Stephanos and Manuel. Once again, it is thanks to Eumenes Argyros, personal confessor of the Basileus, and later author of a panegyric on his person and confessor of Manuel Palaiologos, that we may read a vivid description of the Palaiologoi brothers.


"...out of Symbasileus Alexios' marriage with kaisarissa Maria, three children were born. The eldest, Isaakios Stephanos Palaiologos, was a valiant man, hale and vigorous, swift in both mind and action; he had well served in Ioannis' campaign in Syria, leading the infantry from the first rank, and was a worthy soldier and a rider of the finests. He was honest, rightful and pious, though sometimes impulsive and prone to an impatience which made him look as if even the shortest await he indulged in was some kind of a torture for his body and soul (...)
His brother Manouil, who had just turned into adulthood at the time his most beloved parents drowned into the Straits, enjoyed most of the virtues God had bestowed onto his elder brother, but to these he added an austerity which was more atypical for a youth of his age and much more akin to that of a monk or a scholar of the Epicurean school. He rarely if seldom spoke in public or at court festivities, often preferring to spend his time in the Magnaura library, but when he joined his Imperial uncle in feasts and hunts, even the Emperor delighted to hear his opinions and speeches; for this Manouil was, as we've said, of delightful company and therefore a favorite of the Basileus."




Thus, when John III discreetly approached his daughter in order for her to choose between the two brothers, he must have been quite delighted of her preference towards Manuel, which seemed to sport all the qualities needed by an Emperor in times of peace, and to these added a resemblance of his brother's military prowess. As the engagement was between the forbidden degree of consanguignity, it required a special dispensation from Patriarch John X Kamateros, which John III discreetly purchased through Argyros.




Thus, when John formerly appointed Manuel Palaiologos as his new Symbasileus and heir, few, if any, cast doubts about the legitimacy of such choice. After all, he came from a family which had played a major role in byzantine politics through the previous half of a Century, was the Basileus' nephew and the son of the most trusted of the Emperor's men, and met the favour of the largest part of the Imperial bureaucracy and elites; moreover, his closest relatives - his brother Isaac Stephanos and his brother, the Logothethes Nikephoros - were key characters in Imperial military and administration, and would brilliantly lead the young couple into the transition to power, which was soon to come.



Shortly after the official proclamation of his daughter's engagement to the young Manuel Palaiologos, in fact, John III's health slowly began to worsen, as if the ageing Emperor's body had waited for final dispositions be made before surrendering to death. It is doubtful whether he died of a stroke, or as a consequence of a fever; on 18th June 1202 AD, the powerful Basileus exhaled his last breath. He had reigned for sixteen years, putting an end to one of the most violent and paranoid reigns of Roman history with the defeat of his life-long arch-enemy Andronikos Komnenos, recovering large swathes of territory and managing to achieve victory over some of the Empire's fiercest enemies; when he felt death approaching, he undertook every possible measure to conciliate his fatherly wish of letting his daughter inherit power, and the need to deliver the Empire in capable hands, something which would surely be needed in the times to come. His death truly marked the end of the Komnenian period, and opened up a new era of Roman history; a new dinasty was on the rise.

TITLES AND KNOWN HOLDERS

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Megas Doux
- Unknown holders


Megas Domestikos
- Unknown holders


Megas Logothethes
- Nikephoros Palaiologos (tenure 1185-1205 AD)


Ecoumenical Patriarch of Konstantinopoulis
- John X Kamateros (tenure 1198-1206 AD)

Great chapter. I like that for once even so there is not a direct descendant as an heir there will not be much trouble or even civil war.. I am looking forward to the reign of Manuel Palaiologos and what plans and conquests he will have and make.

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

Let's hope Zoe and Manuel can live up to the descriptions of them we've been given!

[Roman Heritage]

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - On the accession of Zoe Porphyrogenneta and Manouil her husband, and what happened thereafter (1202-1204 AD)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

John III's death marked a moment of deep change into byzantine Imperial politics, both inside and outside the Rhomania's borders. Manuel and Zoe quickly seized the Imperial regalia, with the support of the filo-Palaiologan elites, and undertook strict measures in order for the transition of power to take place as smoothly as possible. They, under the advise of Manuel's uncle Nikephoros, the all-powerful Logothethes, even went as far as confining the only perceived rival claimant, the blind Simeon Kontostephanos, in his palace, so that he could neither be strumentalized by any potential enemies nor advance a claim onto the throne. In a way, Zoe and Manuel's precautions were unjustified, as Kontostephanos had already sworn an oath of fealty to the soon to be crowned Imperial couple, and could have never boasted a serious claim because of his phisical menomation; reconciliation would follow, but the event left a major strain on the relationship between Kontostephanos and the Palaiologoi elites, which was to be turbolent, at best.



While the new rulers' relationship with some circles of the aristocracy was uneasy, that between Empress Zoe Porphyrogenneta Komnena-Doukaina and her husband and co-Emperor Manuel proved to be a functional one. Their first daughter, Maria Porphyrogenneta, was born in 1202 AD; four years later, the Empress gave birth to a male heir, Alexios Porphyrogennetos, who was in turn followed by two other males, Nikephoros - in 1210 AD - and Andronikos, in 1213 AD. Their relationship was also proficient in many other aspects, as the two ruled jointly without major dissent despite the changes Manuel introduced in the ruling of the Basileia.



With Manuel II Komneno-Palaiologos' accession to the throne, in fact, the old Komnenian practice of favouring kinship ties over others in regard to the management of the State reached a new apex. Not only was the sexagenarian Nikephoros Palaiologos confirmed in his title of Megas Logothethes, but many other relatives of the young Manuel were entrusted with senior roles in Imperial administration and military, including his own eldest brother, thirty-four years old Isaac Stephanos, who was made Megas Domestikos and therefore the most influential man in the Empire's military. Thus, it is evident how the transition of power from the last Komnenoi to the early Palaiologoi resulted in a change in Imperial administration, monopolized by affiliates and relatives of the new Imperial House, with the notable exception of the newly entitled Megas Doux Alexios Kantakouzenos, who was still tied to the old administration.




All these factors contributed to the impression that, after the hardships of the anarchy which followed Manuel I Komnenos' demise, and thanks to John III's intense military activity, the Empire was to live a new golden age of relative tranquility, power and stability. However, this impression couldn't hava been more wrong: conflicts were about to soon come, as the Danubian frontier was about to be threatened by the Empire's northern neighbour, the Hungarians.




With the deaths of his uncle Ladislaus II and his brother Stephen III, Kowacz Arpàd had seized the Hungarian Crown in 1200 AD, virtually without any opposition. The humiliating experience of Roman captivity in 1189-1191 and the trauma of losing his father, Geza II, in battle against John III at Scutari, had left a permanent mark on Kowacz's personality and made it so that his tenure as King of Hungary was clearly an anti-byzantine one. Ever since his accession, he began to plot with Serbian magnates for an uprise against their Roman overlords; with news of John's death, and the accession of the young and inexperienced Imperial couple, Kowacz saw the chance to take his revenge against the hated Rhomaioi and re-establish Hungary as a major power in the Balkan area.


Hostilities with the Hungarians openly broke out in 1204 AD, while celebrations were being held in Constantinople for the birth of Maria Palaiologina, Manuel and Zoe's first born daughter: Miroslav Zavidovic Frangepan, Conestable of Hungary and Count of Baranya and Pècs, crossed the Danube at the head of a rather sizeable host of 19.000 men, while the Serbian magnates rose up in revolt against their Roman overlords and overthrew the Basileus' representatives in the region. In short time, the whole of the Basileia's european frontier was on fire, with the Hungarian Conestable in Northern Boulgaria, Serbia in revolt, and Roman enclaves on the Adriatic threatened by Kowacz's Dalmatian and Croatian subjects.





Roman reaction was coordinated by the Basileus' paternal uncle Andronikos Makrodoukas Palaiologos, who ruled over the theme of Boulgaria and Paristriou and thus the very sector threatened by Frangepan. Makrodoukas marched his army towards Sirmium, where he engaged the Hungarian Conestable and was soundly defeated: casualties were high, and forced Makrodoukas to whitdraw in all haste towards Thrake and Makedonia, where he could replenish his forces.
Makrodoukas' whitdrawal, however, provoked the collapse of Roman positions in Boulgaria, allowing Frangepan to advance as far as Sardika, the region's capital, which he laid siege to. The event prompted caused great sensation in the Queen of Cities, and prompted Manuel and Zoe to undertake great efforts to restabilize the situation, which seriously threatened to undo everything that had been achieved in Europe during John III's reign with sweat, tears and blood.

LIST OF TITLES AND KNOWN HOLDERS

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Megas Doux
- Alexios Kantakouzenos (tenure 1202-1213 AD)


Megas Domestikos
- Isaac Stephanos Palaiologos (tenure 1202-1209 AD)


Megas Logothethes
Nikephoros Palaiologos (tenure 1185-1205 AD)


Ecoumenical Patriarch of Konstantinopoulis
- John X Kamateros (tenure 1198-1206 AD)

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

Oh, dear. And things were going reasonably well at the start of the chapter...

Well, I'll look forward to seeing how Zoe and Manuel (I have faith in them) succeed in their restabilisation.

(I like the way you describe their relationship as "functional". It conjures up images of a rather formal professional relationship. Not hostile, just distant...)

[Scottish King]

I've always found that Byzantine AARs tend to always be epic and awesome! I hope the new rulers of the Empire can keep it together. Or perhaps not. That would make for a more exciting AAR. Great work.

[Lord_Imrahil]

I am looking forward how the situation plays out and if the forces in the east see an opportunity in it. The chapter got me excited for more.

[Alwyn]

Good chapter! I can imagine the celebrations for the birth of Zoe and Manuel's first daughter being interrupted with terrible news. Like Caillagh, I look forward to seeing whether the efforts of Zoe and Manuel will succeed.