Thlayli
Le Pétit Prince
Let's make as many excessive league-based states as possible and cram them into a PoD map. 
Alternate History Thread V
- Thread starter Dachs
- Start date
das
Regeneration In Process
Kraznaya - I literally can't remember anything just from looking at it (well, I could guess quite a lot, but not the specifics), so any more context would be greatly appreciated. 
Kraznaya
Princeps
The premise of it is "What if Timur the Lame was born in a different place?" That place being the Golden Horde.
Northern Europe looks very weird.
das
Regeneration In Process
Sorry. I do remember something along those lines, but don't have all that many details to share. Do you maybe remember what year it was supposed to be, at least?
It's probably very distantly Hanse-based, though Thlayli is right ofcourse.
Seriously, though, any additional context would help here.
It's probably very distantly Hanse-based, though Thlayli is right ofcourse.
Seriously, though, any additional context would help here.
Thlayli
Le Pétit Prince
Hey das, any progress on any secret projects? Any desire to dump said projects and go for a more traditional project?
Kraznaya
Princeps
das
Regeneration In Process
Hey das, any progress on any secret projects? Any desire to dump said projects and go for a more traditional project?
On the contrary on both counts!
And I still could use those ancient budgets I keep talking about, if you find anything useful.EDIT: Actually, if you or anyone else gets it into his mind to help with this, I could also use more and better army and population numbers, both for 1000 BC and for the pre-Christian period as a whole. I already collected a lot of different estimates, but the more data, the better; I'm not planning on using it in great detail, but it seems to me like one of those quantitative factors I really have to consider.
This is the problem with people who don't ask enough questions about Guess-the-PoD maps. Anyway, yeah, the Baltic state is the originally Hanse-based somewhat Greater Kalmar-tinged Visby League, and the Central European thing isn't all that hard to arrange except for Brandenburg, but I guess it might well be Czech, quite possibly even native. The Ottomans did better on the naval front especially and gained a foothold in Italy. The rest of Italy is probably ruled by the Viscontis. England entered a dynastic union with Burgundy, though this embroiled it in not entirely successful continental warfare for a longer period of time. Oh, and the Russian principalities remained relatively weak and splintered, while Lithuania was absorbed into Poland wholesale, both courtesy of alt-Timur. Mongols did better than OTL in other areas as well.
Though frankly, I still don't remember all that much about this; I certainly don't know what was going through my head when I made the Visby League.
das said:
Iunno. Visby could have been awesome, it kinda was for a while, if all its regional competitors lost out. Hansa biting the bullet and having a swipe at Skane wouldn't be a bad means of it taking over as the intermediary in the long haul trade, no? It would lose the trust of the victor, and the defeated, presumably, if it tried it alone. Granted, that's probably a touch late, unless you reorientated the Hansa's attention principally to the West, before they acquire substantial concessions from the states surrounding the Baltic (insofar, as it might help level the playing field).
In other words: screw with the Netherlands early.
Deus Volt
“Therefore gird yourselves manfully and take up joyful arms for the name of Christ.”
Bernard of Clairvaux
Great battles have always tended to fall into two categories: Those that stop an empire, and those that define one. In 1260, the Mongol loss at Ain Jalut forever halted the westward expansion of the largest and most vicious empire mankind had ever known, falling in the league of Poitiers, Stalingrad, and Leipzig. Had they not been checked, we can only postulate how wide their expansion could have ranged. In this alternative time line, the Mongol victory will become known with its peers, Austerlitz, Midway, and Granicus.
Book One: An Alternate Ain Jalut
Chapter I: Fall of the Mamelukes
“And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them.”
Isaiah XIX, 4
1259: Julian of Sidon was born with a larger amount of intelligence, thus he did not raid Mongol ruled Syria. In this raid during the historical timeline, he killed the Mongol general Kitbuqa’s grandson. As a result of this the Lordship of Sidon was raided in response, considerably chilling relations between the Ilkhanate and Outremer.
1260: The Mameluk Sultan, Qutuz, demands free passage through Outremer and the realms of Acre, in order to attack the diminished army of Hulagu which is also missing its general. He also requests free victuals and water rights for his army. In addition he proposes a possible alliance between Acre and Egypt. A meeting of the barons of Outremer is quickly convened, and there were a few who proposed an outright alliance, and even more who said that the Mamelukes should be granted free passage. But eventually, due to the persuasive arguments of the master of the Teutonic Order Anno of Sangerhausen (who had learned the benefits of a pro-Mongol policy in Armenia from King Hethouem of Cilicia) he convinced them the Mamelukes were the far greater threat, and the Mongols even had many Christians in their ranks. The Mamelukes thus sent a large army through the lands of Outremer, which ravaged it quite badly. Acre was sacked to an extent, and many small holds were destroyed. In response to this awful perfidy, the Barons of Acre sent a small force of around 500 Knights, and 4000 Men at arms to assist the Mongols against the Mamelukes. Due to information brought by the Christians, the Mongols could not be ambushed, and their numerical inferiority abetted somewhat. The Christians fought with a vengeance against the Mamelukes with their equally vicious Mongol allies. Qutuz was captured and executed immediately on the battlefield, but not before mocking Kitbuqa with how fleeting his accomplishments would be (he thought). In the midst of an inglorious retreat, Baibars was crowned new caliph of Egypt in the absence of Qutuz. At the end of the year the remnants of Kitbuqa’s forces seize Damascus and the rest of Syria.
1261: Kitbuqa launches an offensive into Egypt using the help of the Pisan and Genoese fleets. A combined Armenian-Mongol-Crusader-Cypriot force seizes Alexandria in February. Now using command of Egypt’s coastal ports, they attempt to starve out the Mameluke Caliphate. Egypt offers a conditional surrender to Kitbuqa, including surrender of Alexandria and the Sinai. He refuses, and offers Outremer extensive territorial incentives to them and Cilicia if they will stay in the war and aid him in his conquest of Egypt. With the help of an additional two tumens from Hulagu, complemented with a 15,000 man force mustered from Cyprus, Cilicia and Acre he commences his campaign. Also, King James I of Aragon and a small force sent by Louis IX came with armies, with whom was brought young Conradin, heir to the throne of Jerusalem and claimant to Sicily, which had been usurped by his bastard uncle. In a massive battle for Egypt, both sides were assembled on the banks of the Nile. Baibars’ army, and the man himself, acquitted themselves honorably. Yet in the end the victor was Kitbuqa. Cairo was razed, and given much the same treatment as of Baghdad (which was sacked, brought down the ground, and overall had their population annihilated three years prior). Egypt had been largely conquered by the end of 1261, as well as Syria. The allied forces were momentarily stifled at Homs and Hama, yet their resistance did not last long, for large reinforcements arrived. To the Kingdom of Jerusalem/Acre, she was given all land north of the Sinai, south of Aintab, west of Druz, and to the Mediterranean Coast. The issue of Cypriot independence was set to be resolved at a later date. In Byzantium, as opposed to our timeline, Baldwin II of Constantinople was never able to escape the clutches of Michael VIII Palaeologus because of Venetian conflict with the Genoans.
1262: The Golden Horde, upon hearing of the sack of Cairo, declared war on the Ilkhanate. They did so because of on top of the intolerable treatment given to Cairo, was the awful treatment of Baghdad, after which the Golden Horde outright demanded the Ilkhanate cease its wars against the Muslim world. Hulagu’s armies outright ignored this ultimatum, and the Muslim Golden Horde, led by pious Berke Khan, was enraged. Unless all Mameluke territory was immediately returned (they demanded) it would be war. This was an impossible ultimatum for the Ilkhanate. It was truly war, and the disintegration of the Great Khanate was upon the world. At the start of the year Hulagu returned from the Kuriltay which crowned Kublai as the new Grand Khan, and crowned Kitbuqa Lord of Egypt. He recognized that while the Ilkhanate was mighty it couldn’t single-handedly rule all of the Middle East. His official title is “The High King of Egypt, under the grand Royal Ilkhan”. Also, under pressure from the Mongols to resolve their civil disputes and unite under the legitimate ruler, Conradin is crowned the new King of Jerusalem, at 12 years of age. The coronation takes place in a regal ceremony in the Holy Sepulchre, retaken for the first time in decades for Christendom. The Patriarch presides over ceremonies. This was done under the condition Kitbuqa serves as regent during Conradin’s four year minority. He is also given the title of “Co-Protector of the Levant and the Near East” along with Kitbuqa. Towards the end of this year, skirmishes began in the Caucasus between the Golden Horde under Berke Khan and the Ilkhanate and the forces of Hulagu Khan.
Chapter II: Civil War
“No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” – Thomas Hobbes
1263: At the beginning of the year most of the crusading forces returned home, some stayed, optimistic about the chances of this truly new Kingdom of Jerusalem. A few, though, were unhappy about her state of semi-vassalization to the Nestorian (and thusly apostate) Mongol Kitbuqa. Kitbuqa also had recently wed Euphrosyne Palaiologina, only legitimate daughter of the newly reinstated Michael VIII Palaiologos. She was a Christian, of course, and further added to the complex religious tableaux that was Egypt. In Outremer, tensions rose between the realm of Cyprus and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. By this point Cyprus had become a fairly sovereign kingdom in its own right, and was not going to yield all authority to the Kingdom of Jerusalem without protest just because the Mongols told them to do so the way Antioch had. They also were still somewhat powerful in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, as the current king’s aunt (Isabella of Lusignan) was serving as the regent of Jerusalem right up until the arrival of Conradin. The current regent of Cyprus, Hughues de Poitiers, was quite an influential and forceful man. For a short time, tensions rose, for Hulagu Khan disliked the thought of an entirely independent (and possibly defiant) state existed so closely to his somewhat tenuous empire and so insisted that Cyprus be incorporated into either Jerusalem or Egypt. All parties involved (except perhaps Hulagu, he cared little for the intricacies of small-state diplomacy) knew incorporation into Egypt would not work, because Cyprus was by now thoroughly European. Neither Hulagu nor Hugh de Poitiers were men much for compromise. Luckily though, the current King of Cyprus Hugh II and Conradin were of the same age, and were both –in effect- orphans. They sympathized with each other to a great deal and formed a fast friendship. This led to Cyprus pledging, if not fealty, allegiance to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and defused a potentially sticky situation. Finally to pacify, Hugh (Regent of Cyprus) Conradin is betrothed to marry Hugh’s sister upon his majority of sixteen, Margaret of Antioch-Lusignan. By all accounts, she is the prettiest girl of her generation and Conradin was quite infatuated with here even before they were engaged. She is eight years his elder, but it matters little to them, for she is only nineteen now and well within childbearing age.
The war between the Ilkhanate and the Golden Horde began in earnest this year, when Hulagu Khan advanced with a large force north into the Caucasus Mountains to punish Berke Khan for his awful transgressions against the Ilkhanate. He amassed a large force, supplemented with reinforcements from Kitbuqa. He marched north, up through the pass of Derbend to punish the impertinent Berke. Hulagu surrounds and smashes Berke’s forces on the Terek River. In this battle the commanding Golden Horde general, Nogai Khan (nephew of Berke Khan) was taken prisoner, and treated quite well by Hulagu, due to their common relations. Most of Berke’s forces had managed to escape and he had begun to regroup his army in the large plains of the Golden Horde, yet before he had prepared for another battle Hulagu continued his advance threatening with thrusts into the center of the empire. This forced Berke to escape and attempt to regroup around the capital, Sarai. His foes advance was proving very difficult to stop once it had gained momentum, and now forces called up from the native Christians of Egypt and Syria, eager to prove their loyalty to the might Ilkhan, enlarged its size. Also around this time, the Genoese fell out of favor with the Mongols because they refused to stop their thriving trade with the Golden Horde. In response to this Conradin (with some slight “encouragement” from Kitbuqa, a dominating presence over the young king to be sure) declared a nullification of all Genoese trading rights in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and Kitbuqa also outlawed them from Alexandria. Most of these rights were either gone forever or given to the declining Pisans (Conradin and his advisors favored the Pisans, who were long-time Ghibellines, or supporters of the Holy Roman Emperor over the Papacy and his agents), but some had been to the hated Venetians. This made up somewhat for their recent loss in Constantinople, and escalated the already acute tensions between Venice and Genoa. The advance of the Ilkahanate’s armies continued largely unhindered, for Berke did not wish to risk another defeat, which could ruin him.
By the end of the year Berke was ready for terms. His empire was collapsing around him, as the opportunistic Russians now were rebelling against his rule in their lands, a burden they had always held resentfully. We now may turn our eye to Europe. As was mentioned earlier, tensions between Venice and Genoa have risen to high levels, and a Genoan raid on the Venetian Crete now only increased this. The Venetians were furious over this blatant disrespect of Venetian sovereignty, and demanded an apology and reciprocation immediately. The Genoese earlier had even helped topple the Venetian puppet, the Latin Empire. Many of their ports had switched places, the Genoese moving in the north and the Venetians in the south. Venice declared war between the two Republics, both bitterly jealous over each other’s successes. Conflicts began in the Aegean this year, with a Genoese landing on Crete. The powers-that-be in the Levant have declared in favor of the Venetians, and thus the Pisans signed an alliance with the Venetians against the Genoese. King James I of Aragon also arrived home now from his adventures in the Levant, ready to resume his conquest of the hated Moors as soon as he and his armies could recuperate. Conradin now finally reluctantly gave his rights up to Swabia, partitioning it between Rudolph of Habsburg (an old family friend and die-hard supporter of the Hohenstaufens and step-father Meinhard of Carinthia , yet Conradin still claimed himself as the true heir to the Kingdom of Sicily. He was unlikely to have such an unbelievable stroke of luck in claiming that title as he had his first one, for he was to have hard time of it between the powerful ruler ( and his uncle) Manfred of Sicily (who had stolen the title from Conradin five years prior), and the ruthlessly ambitious titular ruler Charles of Anjou.
1264At then dawn of the New Year, a peace was negotiated (rather, wrung) from the Golden Horde. Berke Khan relinquished all of his territory in the Caucasus, issued a formal apology to the Ilkhanate, renounced any claims as the Protector of Islam and any alliance he had with the Mamelukes, and also denied the legitimacy of the dubiously honest Al-Mustansir\, claimed descendant of the deposed Caliphs. Though likely not a true descendant, he was nonetheless a rallying point for the Muslims, and denial by Berke hurt the cause of the few who continued to resist the domination of the Tatar Hordes. Finally, he ransomed back the genius general Nogai Khan (he had been overwhelmed by vastly superior numbers and arms in the battle of the Terek) from the Ilkhanate. Nogai Khan had been greatly ashamed by what had happened, and became occupied with an obsession to regain his former feared and glorious reputation. The Novgorod Republic had commenced an invasion of the Golden Horde, knowing it was in no proper position to respond with adequate force. Unfortunately for them, peace concluded between the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate shortly after they begin their invasion of the Golden Horde. Several of the other small Russian feudal states also rose against the Golden Horde. Thus, the Golden Horde’s army was mobilized for a raid to teach these Russians a lesson for the impetuousness. They won a great victory, and forced new punishments and taxes upon the Duchies and Republics of Russia. Nogai Khan’s glory lust had been whetted, to an extent. Yet he still hungered for an exhibition against a more worthy opponent than the disunited and weak Russian vassal states. Also, the Armenians, Georgians, and Circassians rose in favor of the Ilkhanate, with its known high tolerance for Christians. Luckily for them, the Golden Horde was unable to strike back, for their lands were transferred to the Ilkhanate in the peace treaty.
In Egypt, Kitbuqa secured many of the remaining Muslim possessions in Syria, and is now adding most of them to his growing kingdom in Egypt, or gifting them to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. He staged minor operations in the Sultanate of Rum, to remind them where their loyalties lay. In the rest of the Middle-East, large backlashes against the native Christians, now being appointed to power across the territory of the Ilkhanate, required increase Tatar military presence in several large Middle-Eastern cities. Many leading Islamists were imprisoned and punished, and their property confiscated for the Ilkhanate. The Ilkhan also staged minor scouting raids into the Nejd. In the Kingdom of Jerusalem, all of the final hold out barons recognized the ultimate authority of Conradin as the new true king, even the powerful Ibelin’s, yet he may have to bribe them further in the future (particularly a possible marriage alliance). Back in Italy, Pope Urban IV realized this was as good a chance as he would have in a long time to finally rid Sicily of the bothersome Manfred, and recruited Charles to retake the island for the Pope. This was despite the many protestations of Conradin’s supporters, and the increasingly capable boy himself. Unfortunately, not only was he not a strong enough military leader to do so at this point, but he also lacked the support of the Pope, who still held an immature grudge against the Hohenstaufen. Charles of Anjou’s armies began landing in Naples towards the end of this year after a lengthy mobilization period, while Manfred seemed to not take this actually quite serious threat as any real concern to him or his kingdom. A minor setback occurs for Charles of Anjou when Pope Urban IV dies (no divergence from our time line). The necessity for a Papal conclave and thus a temporary stoppage of immediate extra funds to his forces makes him temporarily slow his campaign to oust Manfred from Sicily. Elsewhere in the Mediterranean the Venetian-Genoese war continues with increased fury from both sides. The Genoese suffered a minor blow with the surrender of their benefactors, the Golden Horde, but fought on capturing several key Venetian possessions in the Aegean and even staging a handful of minor raiding expedition in the Dalmatians and Adriatic Sea. The Venetians in turn launched some minor land expeditions against the Genoese in the peninsula itself (with the help of their allies the Pisans). They also responded in the Levant, encouraging punitive action by Conradin against the long-time ally of the Genoese, the Hospitallers. There was a minor shift in favor at the court of Jerusalem towards the Templars. Also, there were several major battles in the Aegean between the two mighty fleets, with several islands and colonies switching hands a few times. Despite attempts by several major Christian parties, such as the Pope and the Roman Emperor (the Eastern one, there still isn’t one in the West), their counter-productive and internecine war continued. Eventually they would force major players in the Mediterranean to take sides. Already the Pope, the Guelphs, and Charles of Anjou were showing small signs of support for the Genoese, if to just spite Conradin. Perhaps they were also motivated to prevent any one of the major merchant cities from gaining a dominant share in the power, as Venice was currently leading in the war by a good deal, and the Genoese were on their heels, reeling.
Back on other side of the Mediterranean, at the start of the year James I of Aragon and his two sons had returned from their adventures in Outremer with much experience and a wish to give the Muslims as good a hiding as they had received in the East back home in the West. He captured a great deal of the petty Moorish sultanates and beydoms to the south of Aragon, considerably expanding his power base in the name of all Christendom.
If we now turn farther north, in the Grand Principality of Vladimir Suzdal, the Golden Horde’s favored candidate for the throne Yaroslav of Tver falls out of favor, and instead his brother Andrey II of Vladimir takes power. He had a known record of opposing the Golden Horde, and with the Golden Horde’s power falling he became the stronger candidate.
Finally, the ever pious Louis IX began preaching for a new crusade, this time to North Africa. He forever regretted he had been incapacitated, unable to be in attendance in person when Jerusalem had been readmitted into the gracious open arms of Western Christendom. He now wished to gain glory for God, and forever push the dreaded Muslims out of the Mediterranean. If no one would join him, a shame, but he would do it all by himself. Yet he wished to gather a great exhibition to forever retake the precious North coast of Africa for the Christ. He managed to somehow wring a vow out of Charles of Anjou, but only once his “affairs” in Sicily had been settled, and he was comfortably able to supply a large crusading force. Edward Longshanks had expressed interest in this adventure, yet was unfortunately preoccupied by the English Civil War. Aragon also was too worn out against the Moors and its previous expedition to Outremer to provide any meaningful assistance to Louis IX. Castile expressed tentative commitments, and yet thus far it looked as if it might be solely fellow Angevins on this war of God.
“Therefore gird yourselves manfully and take up joyful arms for the name of Christ.”
Bernard of Clairvaux
Great battles have always tended to fall into two categories: Those that stop an empire, and those that define one. In 1260, the Mongol loss at Ain Jalut forever halted the westward expansion of the largest and most vicious empire mankind had ever known, falling in the league of Poitiers, Stalingrad, and Leipzig. Had they not been checked, we can only postulate how wide their expansion could have ranged. In this alternative time line, the Mongol victory will become known with its peers, Austerlitz, Midway, and Granicus.
Book One: An Alternate Ain Jalut
Chapter I: Fall of the Mamelukes
“And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them.”
Isaiah XIX, 4
1259: Julian of Sidon was born with a larger amount of intelligence, thus he did not raid Mongol ruled Syria. In this raid during the historical timeline, he killed the Mongol general Kitbuqa’s grandson. As a result of this the Lordship of Sidon was raided in response, considerably chilling relations between the Ilkhanate and Outremer.
1260: The Mameluk Sultan, Qutuz, demands free passage through Outremer and the realms of Acre, in order to attack the diminished army of Hulagu which is also missing its general. He also requests free victuals and water rights for his army. In addition he proposes a possible alliance between Acre and Egypt. A meeting of the barons of Outremer is quickly convened, and there were a few who proposed an outright alliance, and even more who said that the Mamelukes should be granted free passage. But eventually, due to the persuasive arguments of the master of the Teutonic Order Anno of Sangerhausen (who had learned the benefits of a pro-Mongol policy in Armenia from King Hethouem of Cilicia) he convinced them the Mamelukes were the far greater threat, and the Mongols even had many Christians in their ranks. The Mamelukes thus sent a large army through the lands of Outremer, which ravaged it quite badly. Acre was sacked to an extent, and many small holds were destroyed. In response to this awful perfidy, the Barons of Acre sent a small force of around 500 Knights, and 4000 Men at arms to assist the Mongols against the Mamelukes. Due to information brought by the Christians, the Mongols could not be ambushed, and their numerical inferiority abetted somewhat. The Christians fought with a vengeance against the Mamelukes with their equally vicious Mongol allies. Qutuz was captured and executed immediately on the battlefield, but not before mocking Kitbuqa with how fleeting his accomplishments would be (he thought). In the midst of an inglorious retreat, Baibars was crowned new caliph of Egypt in the absence of Qutuz. At the end of the year the remnants of Kitbuqa’s forces seize Damascus and the rest of Syria.
1261: Kitbuqa launches an offensive into Egypt using the help of the Pisan and Genoese fleets. A combined Armenian-Mongol-Crusader-Cypriot force seizes Alexandria in February. Now using command of Egypt’s coastal ports, they attempt to starve out the Mameluke Caliphate. Egypt offers a conditional surrender to Kitbuqa, including surrender of Alexandria and the Sinai. He refuses, and offers Outremer extensive territorial incentives to them and Cilicia if they will stay in the war and aid him in his conquest of Egypt. With the help of an additional two tumens from Hulagu, complemented with a 15,000 man force mustered from Cyprus, Cilicia and Acre he commences his campaign. Also, King James I of Aragon and a small force sent by Louis IX came with armies, with whom was brought young Conradin, heir to the throne of Jerusalem and claimant to Sicily, which had been usurped by his bastard uncle. In a massive battle for Egypt, both sides were assembled on the banks of the Nile. Baibars’ army, and the man himself, acquitted themselves honorably. Yet in the end the victor was Kitbuqa. Cairo was razed, and given much the same treatment as of Baghdad (which was sacked, brought down the ground, and overall had their population annihilated three years prior). Egypt had been largely conquered by the end of 1261, as well as Syria. The allied forces were momentarily stifled at Homs and Hama, yet their resistance did not last long, for large reinforcements arrived. To the Kingdom of Jerusalem/Acre, she was given all land north of the Sinai, south of Aintab, west of Druz, and to the Mediterranean Coast. The issue of Cypriot independence was set to be resolved at a later date. In Byzantium, as opposed to our timeline, Baldwin II of Constantinople was never able to escape the clutches of Michael VIII Palaeologus because of Venetian conflict with the Genoans.
1262: The Golden Horde, upon hearing of the sack of Cairo, declared war on the Ilkhanate. They did so because of on top of the intolerable treatment given to Cairo, was the awful treatment of Baghdad, after which the Golden Horde outright demanded the Ilkhanate cease its wars against the Muslim world. Hulagu’s armies outright ignored this ultimatum, and the Muslim Golden Horde, led by pious Berke Khan, was enraged. Unless all Mameluke territory was immediately returned (they demanded) it would be war. This was an impossible ultimatum for the Ilkhanate. It was truly war, and the disintegration of the Great Khanate was upon the world. At the start of the year Hulagu returned from the Kuriltay which crowned Kublai as the new Grand Khan, and crowned Kitbuqa Lord of Egypt. He recognized that while the Ilkhanate was mighty it couldn’t single-handedly rule all of the Middle East. His official title is “The High King of Egypt, under the grand Royal Ilkhan”. Also, under pressure from the Mongols to resolve their civil disputes and unite under the legitimate ruler, Conradin is crowned the new King of Jerusalem, at 12 years of age. The coronation takes place in a regal ceremony in the Holy Sepulchre, retaken for the first time in decades for Christendom. The Patriarch presides over ceremonies. This was done under the condition Kitbuqa serves as regent during Conradin’s four year minority. He is also given the title of “Co-Protector of the Levant and the Near East” along with Kitbuqa. Towards the end of this year, skirmishes began in the Caucasus between the Golden Horde under Berke Khan and the Ilkhanate and the forces of Hulagu Khan.
Chapter II: Civil War
“No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” – Thomas Hobbes
1263: At the beginning of the year most of the crusading forces returned home, some stayed, optimistic about the chances of this truly new Kingdom of Jerusalem. A few, though, were unhappy about her state of semi-vassalization to the Nestorian (and thusly apostate) Mongol Kitbuqa. Kitbuqa also had recently wed Euphrosyne Palaiologina, only legitimate daughter of the newly reinstated Michael VIII Palaiologos. She was a Christian, of course, and further added to the complex religious tableaux that was Egypt. In Outremer, tensions rose between the realm of Cyprus and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. By this point Cyprus had become a fairly sovereign kingdom in its own right, and was not going to yield all authority to the Kingdom of Jerusalem without protest just because the Mongols told them to do so the way Antioch had. They also were still somewhat powerful in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, as the current king’s aunt (Isabella of Lusignan) was serving as the regent of Jerusalem right up until the arrival of Conradin. The current regent of Cyprus, Hughues de Poitiers, was quite an influential and forceful man. For a short time, tensions rose, for Hulagu Khan disliked the thought of an entirely independent (and possibly defiant) state existed so closely to his somewhat tenuous empire and so insisted that Cyprus be incorporated into either Jerusalem or Egypt. All parties involved (except perhaps Hulagu, he cared little for the intricacies of small-state diplomacy) knew incorporation into Egypt would not work, because Cyprus was by now thoroughly European. Neither Hulagu nor Hugh de Poitiers were men much for compromise. Luckily though, the current King of Cyprus Hugh II and Conradin were of the same age, and were both –in effect- orphans. They sympathized with each other to a great deal and formed a fast friendship. This led to Cyprus pledging, if not fealty, allegiance to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and defused a potentially sticky situation. Finally to pacify, Hugh (Regent of Cyprus) Conradin is betrothed to marry Hugh’s sister upon his majority of sixteen, Margaret of Antioch-Lusignan. By all accounts, she is the prettiest girl of her generation and Conradin was quite infatuated with here even before they were engaged. She is eight years his elder, but it matters little to them, for she is only nineteen now and well within childbearing age.
The war between the Ilkhanate and the Golden Horde began in earnest this year, when Hulagu Khan advanced with a large force north into the Caucasus Mountains to punish Berke Khan for his awful transgressions against the Ilkhanate. He amassed a large force, supplemented with reinforcements from Kitbuqa. He marched north, up through the pass of Derbend to punish the impertinent Berke. Hulagu surrounds and smashes Berke’s forces on the Terek River. In this battle the commanding Golden Horde general, Nogai Khan (nephew of Berke Khan) was taken prisoner, and treated quite well by Hulagu, due to their common relations. Most of Berke’s forces had managed to escape and he had begun to regroup his army in the large plains of the Golden Horde, yet before he had prepared for another battle Hulagu continued his advance threatening with thrusts into the center of the empire. This forced Berke to escape and attempt to regroup around the capital, Sarai. His foes advance was proving very difficult to stop once it had gained momentum, and now forces called up from the native Christians of Egypt and Syria, eager to prove their loyalty to the might Ilkhan, enlarged its size. Also around this time, the Genoese fell out of favor with the Mongols because they refused to stop their thriving trade with the Golden Horde. In response to this Conradin (with some slight “encouragement” from Kitbuqa, a dominating presence over the young king to be sure) declared a nullification of all Genoese trading rights in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and Kitbuqa also outlawed them from Alexandria. Most of these rights were either gone forever or given to the declining Pisans (Conradin and his advisors favored the Pisans, who were long-time Ghibellines, or supporters of the Holy Roman Emperor over the Papacy and his agents), but some had been to the hated Venetians. This made up somewhat for their recent loss in Constantinople, and escalated the already acute tensions between Venice and Genoa. The advance of the Ilkahanate’s armies continued largely unhindered, for Berke did not wish to risk another defeat, which could ruin him.
By the end of the year Berke was ready for terms. His empire was collapsing around him, as the opportunistic Russians now were rebelling against his rule in their lands, a burden they had always held resentfully. We now may turn our eye to Europe. As was mentioned earlier, tensions between Venice and Genoa have risen to high levels, and a Genoan raid on the Venetian Crete now only increased this. The Venetians were furious over this blatant disrespect of Venetian sovereignty, and demanded an apology and reciprocation immediately. The Genoese earlier had even helped topple the Venetian puppet, the Latin Empire. Many of their ports had switched places, the Genoese moving in the north and the Venetians in the south. Venice declared war between the two Republics, both bitterly jealous over each other’s successes. Conflicts began in the Aegean this year, with a Genoese landing on Crete. The powers-that-be in the Levant have declared in favor of the Venetians, and thus the Pisans signed an alliance with the Venetians against the Genoese. King James I of Aragon also arrived home now from his adventures in the Levant, ready to resume his conquest of the hated Moors as soon as he and his armies could recuperate. Conradin now finally reluctantly gave his rights up to Swabia, partitioning it between Rudolph of Habsburg (an old family friend and die-hard supporter of the Hohenstaufens and step-father Meinhard of Carinthia , yet Conradin still claimed himself as the true heir to the Kingdom of Sicily. He was unlikely to have such an unbelievable stroke of luck in claiming that title as he had his first one, for he was to have hard time of it between the powerful ruler ( and his uncle) Manfred of Sicily (who had stolen the title from Conradin five years prior), and the ruthlessly ambitious titular ruler Charles of Anjou.
1264At then dawn of the New Year, a peace was negotiated (rather, wrung) from the Golden Horde. Berke Khan relinquished all of his territory in the Caucasus, issued a formal apology to the Ilkhanate, renounced any claims as the Protector of Islam and any alliance he had with the Mamelukes, and also denied the legitimacy of the dubiously honest Al-Mustansir\, claimed descendant of the deposed Caliphs. Though likely not a true descendant, he was nonetheless a rallying point for the Muslims, and denial by Berke hurt the cause of the few who continued to resist the domination of the Tatar Hordes. Finally, he ransomed back the genius general Nogai Khan (he had been overwhelmed by vastly superior numbers and arms in the battle of the Terek) from the Ilkhanate. Nogai Khan had been greatly ashamed by what had happened, and became occupied with an obsession to regain his former feared and glorious reputation. The Novgorod Republic had commenced an invasion of the Golden Horde, knowing it was in no proper position to respond with adequate force. Unfortunately for them, peace concluded between the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate shortly after they begin their invasion of the Golden Horde. Several of the other small Russian feudal states also rose against the Golden Horde. Thus, the Golden Horde’s army was mobilized for a raid to teach these Russians a lesson for the impetuousness. They won a great victory, and forced new punishments and taxes upon the Duchies and Republics of Russia. Nogai Khan’s glory lust had been whetted, to an extent. Yet he still hungered for an exhibition against a more worthy opponent than the disunited and weak Russian vassal states. Also, the Armenians, Georgians, and Circassians rose in favor of the Ilkhanate, with its known high tolerance for Christians. Luckily for them, the Golden Horde was unable to strike back, for their lands were transferred to the Ilkhanate in the peace treaty.
In Egypt, Kitbuqa secured many of the remaining Muslim possessions in Syria, and is now adding most of them to his growing kingdom in Egypt, or gifting them to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. He staged minor operations in the Sultanate of Rum, to remind them where their loyalties lay. In the rest of the Middle-East, large backlashes against the native Christians, now being appointed to power across the territory of the Ilkhanate, required increase Tatar military presence in several large Middle-Eastern cities. Many leading Islamists were imprisoned and punished, and their property confiscated for the Ilkhanate. The Ilkhan also staged minor scouting raids into the Nejd. In the Kingdom of Jerusalem, all of the final hold out barons recognized the ultimate authority of Conradin as the new true king, even the powerful Ibelin’s, yet he may have to bribe them further in the future (particularly a possible marriage alliance). Back in Italy, Pope Urban IV realized this was as good a chance as he would have in a long time to finally rid Sicily of the bothersome Manfred, and recruited Charles to retake the island for the Pope. This was despite the many protestations of Conradin’s supporters, and the increasingly capable boy himself. Unfortunately, not only was he not a strong enough military leader to do so at this point, but he also lacked the support of the Pope, who still held an immature grudge against the Hohenstaufen. Charles of Anjou’s armies began landing in Naples towards the end of this year after a lengthy mobilization period, while Manfred seemed to not take this actually quite serious threat as any real concern to him or his kingdom. A minor setback occurs for Charles of Anjou when Pope Urban IV dies (no divergence from our time line). The necessity for a Papal conclave and thus a temporary stoppage of immediate extra funds to his forces makes him temporarily slow his campaign to oust Manfred from Sicily. Elsewhere in the Mediterranean the Venetian-Genoese war continues with increased fury from both sides. The Genoese suffered a minor blow with the surrender of their benefactors, the Golden Horde, but fought on capturing several key Venetian possessions in the Aegean and even staging a handful of minor raiding expedition in the Dalmatians and Adriatic Sea. The Venetians in turn launched some minor land expeditions against the Genoese in the peninsula itself (with the help of their allies the Pisans). They also responded in the Levant, encouraging punitive action by Conradin against the long-time ally of the Genoese, the Hospitallers. There was a minor shift in favor at the court of Jerusalem towards the Templars. Also, there were several major battles in the Aegean between the two mighty fleets, with several islands and colonies switching hands a few times. Despite attempts by several major Christian parties, such as the Pope and the Roman Emperor (the Eastern one, there still isn’t one in the West), their counter-productive and internecine war continued. Eventually they would force major players in the Mediterranean to take sides. Already the Pope, the Guelphs, and Charles of Anjou were showing small signs of support for the Genoese, if to just spite Conradin. Perhaps they were also motivated to prevent any one of the major merchant cities from gaining a dominant share in the power, as Venice was currently leading in the war by a good deal, and the Genoese were on their heels, reeling.
Back on other side of the Mediterranean, at the start of the year James I of Aragon and his two sons had returned from their adventures in Outremer with much experience and a wish to give the Muslims as good a hiding as they had received in the East back home in the West. He captured a great deal of the petty Moorish sultanates and beydoms to the south of Aragon, considerably expanding his power base in the name of all Christendom.
If we now turn farther north, in the Grand Principality of Vladimir Suzdal, the Golden Horde’s favored candidate for the throne Yaroslav of Tver falls out of favor, and instead his brother Andrey II of Vladimir takes power. He had a known record of opposing the Golden Horde, and with the Golden Horde’s power falling he became the stronger candidate.
Finally, the ever pious Louis IX began preaching for a new crusade, this time to North Africa. He forever regretted he had been incapacitated, unable to be in attendance in person when Jerusalem had been readmitted into the gracious open arms of Western Christendom. He now wished to gain glory for God, and forever push the dreaded Muslims out of the Mediterranean. If no one would join him, a shame, but he would do it all by himself. Yet he wished to gather a great exhibition to forever retake the precious North coast of Africa for the Christ. He managed to somehow wring a vow out of Charles of Anjou, but only once his “affairs” in Sicily had been settled, and he was comfortably able to supply a large crusading force. Edward Longshanks had expressed interest in this adventure, yet was unfortunately preoccupied by the English Civil War. Aragon also was too worn out against the Moors and its previous expedition to Outremer to provide any meaningful assistance to Louis IX. Castile expressed tentative commitments, and yet thus far it looked as if it might be solely fellow Angevins on this war of God.
Chapter III : The Fallout Begins
“Reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed. Faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding, and whatever it sees must be put out of sight and ... know nothing but the word of God.” - Martin Luther
1265: At the dawn of this new year a great tragedy struck the Mongol people. Their great leader Hulagu, who had lead them to myriad great victories and triumphs over their enemies, passed away. This would prove to be one of, if not the very last, of the traditional Mongol funerals for their princes. Hulagu was accompanied to his death by a large number of slaves and young women. Such funerals would soon go out of fashion due to the embrace of Christianity among the nobility of the Ilkhanate. His death was met with great mourning and consternation across Christendom, for the man who had saved Outremer from the evil Mamelukes and dealt numerous dreadful blows to the immortal enemy, Islam. Yet his successor Abaqa Khan was likely to be no great disappointment to the many who waited eagerly to see what traits this man, heir to one of the greatest empires on Earth, would possess. Abaqa Khan was Hulagu’s son, and embraced an odd mix of Buddhism infused with a few Christian principles. He was very sympathetic towards the Christian people, and his new wife, Maria Palaiologina, was a Byzantine Princess. After the death of Hulagu’s wife, former spiritual leader of the Ilkhanate, Maria has assumed this position. He has instituted several anti-Muslim policies, and tended to favor native Christians over Muslims for administrative positions in the Ilkhanate. Abaqa also began a program in the Ilkhanate to encourage the learning of Latin in selected positions in the Khanate, due to their newly increased close ties with the West. He even requested envoys be sent from the Pope (who’s selection I will touch on later) so that Mongols may better understand the ways of the Europeans. Abaqa was very friendly towards the Christians, and at times even contemplated a baptism prior to his coronation. He eventually did not because he feared the Great Khan Kublai may not like the religious “radicalization” of one of the largest vassal states of his Empire. He sent forces to the border of his rule with that of the Golden Horde, north of the Caucasus. He also condemned their extremely harsh treatment of the rebelling Russian feudatories. Nogai Khan did not listen to him, and continued to raid into Russia and even venture into the Ukraine and further East. Plans for an expedition into Poland were raised but declined to do so after considering the failure of their last attempt to invade Poland. Nogai Khan planned an invasion of Hungary and Lithuania which was largely accepted with demur. This was because Berke Khan had fallen ill this year and there was no strong, legitimate, heir to the throne from which to temporarily take power. Towards the end of this year they were putting together an invasion force, which took longer than normal due to the severe damage sustained in their defeat against the Ilkhanate. In the face of all this Nogai Khan became the most powerful figure and de facto, if not de jure, leader of the Golden Horde. Nogai Khan was a devoted Islamist, similar to his predecessor Berke Khan. He would let his faith often shape his foreign policy to large degrees, and thus he continued his hostility against the Ilkhanate, whom he perceived (correctly) as the oppressors of the Muslim people in the Middle East. He also welcomed Al-Hakim I, son of the dubious Al-Mustansir, claimant to the Abbasid Caliphate. As per the terms of the previous treaty between the Ilkhanate and the Golden Horde, the Golden Horde was to renounce these “caliphs”. Nogai’s failure to do so enraged Abaqa Khan who beat his chest and threatened war. Kublai Khan, who was newly confirmed as supreme ruler of the Mongols hordes commenced his invasion of Song China, sweeping far south (even farther than in our time line) cutting deep gashes into the Song Empire south of the Yangtze.
In Italy the Papal Conclave to replace Pope Urban IV there were two primary groups of debating cardinals: Those who wished to continue the Papacy’s vindictive war against the Hohenstaufen family and those who thought such a war would be inappropriate considering the presence of a Hohenstaufen as the supreme leader of the Crusading World. Ultimately the latter group prevailed, electing Bertrand de Saint-Martin as Pope Pius II. This was met with great contention among the other cardinals and in order to avoid even a possible civil war in the Church a compromise was reached- they would not openly support and encourage Charles of Anjou’s quest to conquer Sicily, yet they also would not deny nor discourage his ambitions. It was due to this decision Louis IX felt morally clear to aid his brother in his conquest of Sicily. Louis IX was going to do this because if Charles conquered Sicily, he promised within six months time he would raise a crusading army and aid Louis IX in his “liberation” of North Africa. Thus Louis IX commissioned a tax in his realm (met with much anger) that would seek to raise money for a new crusade to reclaim North Africa for the people of Christendom. Manfred’s armies immediately ceased their invasion of the Papal States to double back to Sicily in an attempt to protect it from the aggressors from France. On his way to assail Manfred’s armies, Charles of Anjou stopped in Rome. While the Papacy continued its ambivalence, the people loved him. They crowned him as an honorary senator, and gave him the keys to the city.
Curiously, Manfred stalled in Benevento, hunting wild game. He underestimated Charles’ armies, and thought he had been seriously demoralized by the loss of the Papacy. He had, but his brother’s aid seriously bolstered his confidence. Near the end of this year the armies were nearing a showdown in the hills of southern Italy. In Iberia, the armies of Castile were stopped by the Moors in their march south, while Aragon experienced several successes in their fight against the Muslims. This year the Genoese and Venetian conflict slowly waned to a conclusion, as both sides tired of fighting a counter-productive war. It was resolved by a general shift of power, with the Genoese being greatly strengthened on the Aegean but the Venetians taking a position of power in the Levant like never before. For their cooperation, Venice gifted Pisa some bits of the former Republic of Naxos. While there was a temporary peace, there was still a tremendous amount of shared enmity between these two maritime republics, and doubtless war would come again. Sweden and the Rus began forging ties against their shared enemy, the Golden Horde. They felt it had been critically weakened and was susceptible to a strong strike. Valdemar, King of Sweden, forged several secret alliances with Novgorod Republic and the Duchy of Tver. Europe was nervous, anticipating Nogai Khan’s future assault on them
1266: At the dawn of this year the Kingdom of Egypt was overjoyed with the birth of Kitbuqa’s first child, daughter Mary. The addition of potential heirs is aiding in the stabilization of Egypt after new rule, yet Kitbuqa remains nervous about his post-mortem state of affairs and those of his kingdom, and shall remain so unless he conceives a son. Also this year Kitbuqa has imposed a dhimmi-style tax on non-Christians (it is slightly less burdensome than those of the Ottomans. This is because Kitbuqa is merely testing the waters of anti-Muslim legislation and if this succeeds likely harsher taxes will come in the future. The tax is called Homage, and forces non-Christians (and some apostolic branches) to pay 10% of their income to the Egyptian government. This is mostly intended to be a raiser of revenue rather than the beginning of a movement to convert all Muslims. Egypt has long been a diverse and cosmopolitan state and this likely will not change now. The royal family is Nestorian, the Aristocrats and upper class are Orthodox and some Catholics, and the lower class (encompassing 75-80% of the population) is Sunni. It is a volatile situation to be sure, and Kitbuqa will not press his luck.
Additionally in the Levant this year, large amounts of westerners have begun an emigration to Outremer, many excited by the entrepreneurial opportunities a Christian Egypt offers them. Now that open warfare between Venice and Genoa has waned to a virtual halt, trade is prospering throughout the Mediterranean. In the Kingdom of Jerusalem, it is clear King Conrad II (I de facto, II de jure after his absentee father. Called Conradin [little Conrad] by many of his friends, he discourages this sort of familiarity with his subjects. Correctly, he believes the show of familiarity undermines his authority. Yet, to the end of his days he was called Conradin by close friends and family) is attempting to assert his authority over Cyprus through his friendship with the submissive and sickly Hugh II. Eventually, he hopes to make a move similar to the one his ancient ancestor Godfrey de Bouillon did with the Duchy of Lower Lorraine and claim it for himself. Additionally in this year, the Kingdom of Jerusalem purchased some minor land to the East from the Ilkhanate, expanding into Syria, Lebanon, and Arabia further. Kublai Khan was pleased this year with the arrival of some curious emissaries from Europe named Niccolo and Mafeo Polo. They arrived, and he sent them back to Europe with request of official dignitaries from all notable European countries to come reside in the Mongol Court.
The Ilkhanate has stepped up raids into the Nejd, perhaps preparing for a full on invasion and conquest of Arabia. It is one of the few Middle Eastern lands that has denied them thus far, and would likely be an easy conquest for their hordes. Abaqa Khan also has officially proclaimed Christianity as one of the three official sanctioned religions of the Ilkhanate, along with Buddhism and traditional Mongol paganism. His wife this year gave birth to a son as well, whom he named John, and he was also baptized as Christian. This was in respect to the religion of his wife, mother, and allies. To the north, the armies of Nogai Khan commenced an invasion of Hungary, overrunning the country in a matter of months. Nogai Khan needs a distraction from his current power grab in the Golden Horde. He is fighting a minor civil war against Mengu-Timur, designated successor of the Golden Horde. Mengu-Timor supports the individual rights of the Mongol vassals, particularly the Russians. He also was close to courting the Genoese on his side. As a response, Nogai sold Caffa to the Genoese, expanding their dominions in the Black Sea. He has also staged some exercises even further to the south, damaging the interior territory of Romania, and threatening the newly reformed Byzantine Empire. This has been greeted with a great amount of bluster from Nogai Khan, and he threatens to pursue action against the Golden Horde and its leaders. Abaqa Khan is enraged by this action against the Christians of Europe, but also likely wants to prick Nogai in the side. Nogai Khan has flat out refused and rejects the authority of Abaqa. Abaqa has now sent emissaries to the court of the Great Khan Kublai to ask them to force Nogai to stop his actions against the “good Christians of Eastern Europe”. Nogai surprisingly adheres to the demands of Kublai Khan, likely because he wants to respect the authority of the central Mongol authority, and will gain much needed approval because the Great Khan was still upset over the Golden Horde’s support of Ariq Böke in his recent civil war. Al-Hakim is preaching Holy War against the Ilkhanate, and many Christian hot-heads share a like sentiment. War seems increasingly likely to break out again between these two empires, and this time the result is should be much more decisive. The Kingdom of Jerusalem is becoming very wealthy and prosperous, because there are many native Europeans there, and it is in perfect situation to exploit the new necessity and ease of trade between the multitude of European states and their Mongolian counterparts to the east. They are quickly regaining their powerful and profitable position of trading center in the Near East that they possessed in the 12th century.
Conradin finds himself hailed as the first true successor of Godfrey de Bouillon in the Kingdom since Fulk or even Amalric. Many of the once downright explosive elements in the Kingdom have quieted down, but everything could go to hell again if the local economic fortunes of Jerusalem take a turn for the worse. For now, much of the Near East is in a very tenuous position. When we turn back to Europe, Charles of Anjou (bolstered by the arms and money of his brother) has scored a decisive victory over Manfred. He has now advanced into Sicily, and more or less secured total control. At the end of the year, Pope Pius II somewhat happily invested him in Rome as the new King of Sicily and Naples. In Northern Europe, Haakon of Norway renewed military action against Scotland in their war over the Hebrides and the other Norse island possessions.
1267: It seems this decade is destined to go down as one of the most sanguinary in the history of all men living. The Eighth Crusade was launched out of Sicily in February of the year from Charles of Anjou’s bases in Sicily. Manfred was executed in January in Palermo, despite the protestations of many major figures. Conradin was both pleasured and disquieted by this development, as while he dislikes Manfred for stealing from his rightful crown as the King of Sicily, he also fears this new charismatic and ruthlessly ambitious Charles of Anjou. A large French force (with some Sicilian auxiliaries) landed in Tunis. They chose Tunis as the spot for their first siege because Kitbuqa was going to commit a large force sent west from Egypt. Him and Charles of Anjou planned to split much of the land conquered. The forces of France landed in Tunis in March, and planned to arrive at the same time as Kitbuqa’s force. Unfortunately, like many of the medieval expeditions poor communications plagued these forces. Kitbuqa’s force suffered some initial surprising defeats against Hebib tribes of Cyrenaica. Much of his hardened Mongol core had been softened by the life of luxury and ease that had been offered in Egypt, and this was a scary wake-up call to Kitbuqa, due to the former invincibility of his Mongol forces. Unfortunately for the armies of Egypt, their forces were now comprised of infamously disloyal Mamelukes (who were proving very difficult to get rid of, despite the best efforts of Kitbuqa. They were bringing in new slave boys from Rum all the time, and several semi-autonomous fealties were currently functioning along the Nile valley. Kitbuqa would just go for an all out purge of the Mamelukes, but he would likely then have a civil war in his hands in a hugely diverse country that could be impossible to ever reunify. So for now, he had to put up with them) and there was also a majority of weak Egyptian levy infantry. Besides the Mongols themselves, dedicated Coptic and Nestorian Christians formed the core of the army. They knew that if they wanted to maintain their elite social status in the new Egypt they would have to prove themselves.
There was also some contingent of knights from Jerusalem and Germany that had failed to link up with Louis the IX’s force. This military defeated changed Kitbuqa’s mind; if he had formerly been hesitant to pursue this campaign all the way across North Africa, he now knew that in order to maintain the élan of his fighting force (of nearly 50,000!) he would have to sate its internecine thirst for glory. After their grueling and slow march in Cyrenaica, the armies were tired and unready for another fierce resistance by the warriors of the Banu Sulaym (to be specific, the Debab tribe) in Tripolitania. They encountered savagery to a surprising level for many of the cosmopolitan Egyptians, but the Mongols responded in kind. They were delayed one month (and plus another three after Cyrenaica and a slower start than expected) off of their schedule, but pursued a near-genocidal path through Cyrenaica. This left the crusader force stranded and alone in Tunis, and many in the force lost heart. Louis IX and his armies laid siege to Tunis, but without the aid of Kitbuqa’s armies great progress was very difficult. Muhammed I Al-Mustansir (Lord of Tunis and the Hafsid Dynasty) was expected by Louis IX to convert to Christianity almost immediately upon assault, or landfall in North Africa. Unfortunately for the expedition, he did not. The crusader army laid siege to Tunis, and after one horribly unsuccessful attempt at storming the city, they had mostly settled in and were attempting to starve the city out.
Charles of Anjou was becoming increasingly impatient with this slow campaign, and was trying to bribe the Zayyanids to invade, in return for territorial concessions. Louis IX would have been opposed to his brothers unholy scheming, but he was far too busy leading his soldiers in group prayer sessions, begging Him to deliver Tunis into their deserving hands. The armies began to doubt that their Mongol allies would ever arrive, and the force teetered on the brink of mutiny even as the armies of Kitbuqa were mere weeks away. In Spain Castile and Portugal jointly launched new assaults in the crusader spirit against the Almohads, making some progress to the south. If we turn temporarily to the far north, Magnus VI has invaded Scotland in a dispute over the Hebrides and the Orkney islands. He has surprisingly met with success, calling up the massive Norse farmer levy for the first time in years and surprising the Scots. He has won a handful of decisive victories in the highlands Temporarily the campaigns have been stopped for winter, but it will not last very long. Towards late August, Kitbuqa’s force arrived in Tunis. The crusader armies were unified, and many began to refer to Kitbuqa as the new Prester John. As September dawned both armies began to make preparations for the breach and seizure of Tunis. As a preface, in North Africa September is still very hot, and very moist. If you were to sustain a wound, chances of it festering and becoming infected are tragically high. Of course the crusaders knew nothing of this, and even if they had they would have likely disregarded it. In the battle for Tunis, the fighting grew vicious, and at times it seemed like the depleted Egyptian and French armies might be repulsed. At this point both Louis IX and Kitbuqa entered the battle. This decisively improved morale and turned the tide of the fight. As the vanguards were storming the citadel though, Kitbuqa sustained an arrow wound to his left flank. Although he advanced with his soldiers, he was seriously wounded. After the battle, in the usual rapine that ensued after a key victory (abetted minimally by Louis IX) Kitbuqa was nowhere to be found. Charles of Anjou was about to behead Muhammad the caliph, but Louis IX intervened at the last moment and saved the life of their “honorable” opponent. Muhammad I-Al Mustansir became a captive of the crusader camp, but was treated with the utmost respect by the holy Louis. Returning to Kitbuqa, the morning after victory, he was found resting in his tent. He had a scar over a foot long, and had haphazardly removed the arrow himself. Yet even then he did not have much time to rest.
The Zayannid force recruited by Charles of Anjou had arrived a mere the very dawn of the second day after the fall of Tunis. They were given neither their allotted share or any sort of territorial recompense was even to be thought of. To pile tension on that, neither Louis IX nor Kitbuqa had any idea why they were here. Eventually the Zayannids demanded Tunis be granted to them (they also would have accepted a huge ransom, but that was beyond the current reach of all parties). The Crusader army outright refused this demand without any deliberation, and with their bluff called the Zayannids retreated to form up battle lines. The ensuing battle was won with Mongol shock tactics and French chivalry. With decisive victories over both the Zayannids, Hafsids, and Berber tribes the Eighth Crusade is destined to be remember as one filled with great successes. At a council of the three great leaders of this campaign, it was generally agreed that once the territory had been secured southward and westward, Tunisia would be given to Charles’ Sicilian Kingdom and most of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica would be added to Egypt. Sadly, sickness and the Devil would perhaps conspire to both sadden this great occasion and undermine the gains all of Christendom made. As he always did, to inspire his troops Kitbuqa entered the battle at the head of his army. As he fought his way through the Zayannid infantry, a spear drove through him, directly in the side that was so grievously injured in the siege and taking of Tunis. He withdrew with some of his bodyguard to the rear of the battle. Though the battle was won it became clear Kitbuqa’s health was in dire straits. At the end of this year Kitbuqa was holding on to his life by a thread, and prayers were sent from every corner of the world that his health would recover against all odds. In the Near East Jerusalem continued to prosper, and Cyprus asserted itself and its trading rights against the Genoans, because Outremer was no longer totally dependent on the Italians. The Genoese recouped many of these losses by pandering to the Byzantines and the Golden Horde.
Tension between the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate has now begun to broil over into near war, as the Golden Horde and Nogai Khan continue their brutal oppression of the Russian Christians. Abaqa Khan, leader of the Ilkhanate has demanded they stop, but he has largely been ignored much to his chagrin. While Nogai has continued to raid deeper and deeper into both Tver and has even sacked some of the cities of the Novgorod Republic the Ilkhanate has also committed its share of atrocities. It has recently pillaged its way into Anatolia, deposing the current Sultan of Rum and instituting a new more submissive puppet ruler. In Arabia, Mongol armies have threatened Medina and Mecca. The increasingly Islamized Golden Horde has given an ultimatum – If Medina and Mecca are sacked, it is war-. Upon receiving this message, Abaqa Khan is said to have laughed, and proclaimed “So much anger over a religion of lies and false magic.” In China the conquests of Kubilai continue, and he has now encountered fierce Song opposition on the Yangzhou River. If he can push across, it will be the death knoll for the Song dynasty. At the dawn of this year the capital was transferred from Karakorum to Beijing, sparking a revolt in Karakorum that successfully repulsed the forces of Kubilai. The coup members secured control and won a minor battle against a division of one of Kubilai’s minor tumens to wrest control of all of inner Mongolia. A Yuan strategy for an attack against these rebels has yet to be decided, and Kubilai may decide to come to terms with them yet.
“Reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed. Faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding, and whatever it sees must be put out of sight and ... know nothing but the word of God.” - Martin Luther
1265: At the dawn of this new year a great tragedy struck the Mongol people. Their great leader Hulagu, who had lead them to myriad great victories and triumphs over their enemies, passed away. This would prove to be one of, if not the very last, of the traditional Mongol funerals for their princes. Hulagu was accompanied to his death by a large number of slaves and young women. Such funerals would soon go out of fashion due to the embrace of Christianity among the nobility of the Ilkhanate. His death was met with great mourning and consternation across Christendom, for the man who had saved Outremer from the evil Mamelukes and dealt numerous dreadful blows to the immortal enemy, Islam. Yet his successor Abaqa Khan was likely to be no great disappointment to the many who waited eagerly to see what traits this man, heir to one of the greatest empires on Earth, would possess. Abaqa Khan was Hulagu’s son, and embraced an odd mix of Buddhism infused with a few Christian principles. He was very sympathetic towards the Christian people, and his new wife, Maria Palaiologina, was a Byzantine Princess. After the death of Hulagu’s wife, former spiritual leader of the Ilkhanate, Maria has assumed this position. He has instituted several anti-Muslim policies, and tended to favor native Christians over Muslims for administrative positions in the Ilkhanate. Abaqa also began a program in the Ilkhanate to encourage the learning of Latin in selected positions in the Khanate, due to their newly increased close ties with the West. He even requested envoys be sent from the Pope (who’s selection I will touch on later) so that Mongols may better understand the ways of the Europeans. Abaqa was very friendly towards the Christians, and at times even contemplated a baptism prior to his coronation. He eventually did not because he feared the Great Khan Kublai may not like the religious “radicalization” of one of the largest vassal states of his Empire. He sent forces to the border of his rule with that of the Golden Horde, north of the Caucasus. He also condemned their extremely harsh treatment of the rebelling Russian feudatories. Nogai Khan did not listen to him, and continued to raid into Russia and even venture into the Ukraine and further East. Plans for an expedition into Poland were raised but declined to do so after considering the failure of their last attempt to invade Poland. Nogai Khan planned an invasion of Hungary and Lithuania which was largely accepted with demur. This was because Berke Khan had fallen ill this year and there was no strong, legitimate, heir to the throne from which to temporarily take power. Towards the end of this year they were putting together an invasion force, which took longer than normal due to the severe damage sustained in their defeat against the Ilkhanate. In the face of all this Nogai Khan became the most powerful figure and de facto, if not de jure, leader of the Golden Horde. Nogai Khan was a devoted Islamist, similar to his predecessor Berke Khan. He would let his faith often shape his foreign policy to large degrees, and thus he continued his hostility against the Ilkhanate, whom he perceived (correctly) as the oppressors of the Muslim people in the Middle East. He also welcomed Al-Hakim I, son of the dubious Al-Mustansir, claimant to the Abbasid Caliphate. As per the terms of the previous treaty between the Ilkhanate and the Golden Horde, the Golden Horde was to renounce these “caliphs”. Nogai’s failure to do so enraged Abaqa Khan who beat his chest and threatened war. Kublai Khan, who was newly confirmed as supreme ruler of the Mongols hordes commenced his invasion of Song China, sweeping far south (even farther than in our time line) cutting deep gashes into the Song Empire south of the Yangtze.
In Italy the Papal Conclave to replace Pope Urban IV there were two primary groups of debating cardinals: Those who wished to continue the Papacy’s vindictive war against the Hohenstaufen family and those who thought such a war would be inappropriate considering the presence of a Hohenstaufen as the supreme leader of the Crusading World. Ultimately the latter group prevailed, electing Bertrand de Saint-Martin as Pope Pius II. This was met with great contention among the other cardinals and in order to avoid even a possible civil war in the Church a compromise was reached- they would not openly support and encourage Charles of Anjou’s quest to conquer Sicily, yet they also would not deny nor discourage his ambitions. It was due to this decision Louis IX felt morally clear to aid his brother in his conquest of Sicily. Louis IX was going to do this because if Charles conquered Sicily, he promised within six months time he would raise a crusading army and aid Louis IX in his “liberation” of North Africa. Thus Louis IX commissioned a tax in his realm (met with much anger) that would seek to raise money for a new crusade to reclaim North Africa for the people of Christendom. Manfred’s armies immediately ceased their invasion of the Papal States to double back to Sicily in an attempt to protect it from the aggressors from France. On his way to assail Manfred’s armies, Charles of Anjou stopped in Rome. While the Papacy continued its ambivalence, the people loved him. They crowned him as an honorary senator, and gave him the keys to the city.
Curiously, Manfred stalled in Benevento, hunting wild game. He underestimated Charles’ armies, and thought he had been seriously demoralized by the loss of the Papacy. He had, but his brother’s aid seriously bolstered his confidence. Near the end of this year the armies were nearing a showdown in the hills of southern Italy. In Iberia, the armies of Castile were stopped by the Moors in their march south, while Aragon experienced several successes in their fight against the Muslims. This year the Genoese and Venetian conflict slowly waned to a conclusion, as both sides tired of fighting a counter-productive war. It was resolved by a general shift of power, with the Genoese being greatly strengthened on the Aegean but the Venetians taking a position of power in the Levant like never before. For their cooperation, Venice gifted Pisa some bits of the former Republic of Naxos. While there was a temporary peace, there was still a tremendous amount of shared enmity between these two maritime republics, and doubtless war would come again. Sweden and the Rus began forging ties against their shared enemy, the Golden Horde. They felt it had been critically weakened and was susceptible to a strong strike. Valdemar, King of Sweden, forged several secret alliances with Novgorod Republic and the Duchy of Tver. Europe was nervous, anticipating Nogai Khan’s future assault on them
1266: At the dawn of this year the Kingdom of Egypt was overjoyed with the birth of Kitbuqa’s first child, daughter Mary. The addition of potential heirs is aiding in the stabilization of Egypt after new rule, yet Kitbuqa remains nervous about his post-mortem state of affairs and those of his kingdom, and shall remain so unless he conceives a son. Also this year Kitbuqa has imposed a dhimmi-style tax on non-Christians (it is slightly less burdensome than those of the Ottomans. This is because Kitbuqa is merely testing the waters of anti-Muslim legislation and if this succeeds likely harsher taxes will come in the future. The tax is called Homage, and forces non-Christians (and some apostolic branches) to pay 10% of their income to the Egyptian government. This is mostly intended to be a raiser of revenue rather than the beginning of a movement to convert all Muslims. Egypt has long been a diverse and cosmopolitan state and this likely will not change now. The royal family is Nestorian, the Aristocrats and upper class are Orthodox and some Catholics, and the lower class (encompassing 75-80% of the population) is Sunni. It is a volatile situation to be sure, and Kitbuqa will not press his luck.
Additionally in the Levant this year, large amounts of westerners have begun an emigration to Outremer, many excited by the entrepreneurial opportunities a Christian Egypt offers them. Now that open warfare between Venice and Genoa has waned to a virtual halt, trade is prospering throughout the Mediterranean. In the Kingdom of Jerusalem, it is clear King Conrad II (I de facto, II de jure after his absentee father. Called Conradin [little Conrad] by many of his friends, he discourages this sort of familiarity with his subjects. Correctly, he believes the show of familiarity undermines his authority. Yet, to the end of his days he was called Conradin by close friends and family) is attempting to assert his authority over Cyprus through his friendship with the submissive and sickly Hugh II. Eventually, he hopes to make a move similar to the one his ancient ancestor Godfrey de Bouillon did with the Duchy of Lower Lorraine and claim it for himself. Additionally in this year, the Kingdom of Jerusalem purchased some minor land to the East from the Ilkhanate, expanding into Syria, Lebanon, and Arabia further. Kublai Khan was pleased this year with the arrival of some curious emissaries from Europe named Niccolo and Mafeo Polo. They arrived, and he sent them back to Europe with request of official dignitaries from all notable European countries to come reside in the Mongol Court.
The Ilkhanate has stepped up raids into the Nejd, perhaps preparing for a full on invasion and conquest of Arabia. It is one of the few Middle Eastern lands that has denied them thus far, and would likely be an easy conquest for their hordes. Abaqa Khan also has officially proclaimed Christianity as one of the three official sanctioned religions of the Ilkhanate, along with Buddhism and traditional Mongol paganism. His wife this year gave birth to a son as well, whom he named John, and he was also baptized as Christian. This was in respect to the religion of his wife, mother, and allies. To the north, the armies of Nogai Khan commenced an invasion of Hungary, overrunning the country in a matter of months. Nogai Khan needs a distraction from his current power grab in the Golden Horde. He is fighting a minor civil war against Mengu-Timur, designated successor of the Golden Horde. Mengu-Timor supports the individual rights of the Mongol vassals, particularly the Russians. He also was close to courting the Genoese on his side. As a response, Nogai sold Caffa to the Genoese, expanding their dominions in the Black Sea. He has also staged some exercises even further to the south, damaging the interior territory of Romania, and threatening the newly reformed Byzantine Empire. This has been greeted with a great amount of bluster from Nogai Khan, and he threatens to pursue action against the Golden Horde and its leaders. Abaqa Khan is enraged by this action against the Christians of Europe, but also likely wants to prick Nogai in the side. Nogai Khan has flat out refused and rejects the authority of Abaqa. Abaqa has now sent emissaries to the court of the Great Khan Kublai to ask them to force Nogai to stop his actions against the “good Christians of Eastern Europe”. Nogai surprisingly adheres to the demands of Kublai Khan, likely because he wants to respect the authority of the central Mongol authority, and will gain much needed approval because the Great Khan was still upset over the Golden Horde’s support of Ariq Böke in his recent civil war. Al-Hakim is preaching Holy War against the Ilkhanate, and many Christian hot-heads share a like sentiment. War seems increasingly likely to break out again between these two empires, and this time the result is should be much more decisive. The Kingdom of Jerusalem is becoming very wealthy and prosperous, because there are many native Europeans there, and it is in perfect situation to exploit the new necessity and ease of trade between the multitude of European states and their Mongolian counterparts to the east. They are quickly regaining their powerful and profitable position of trading center in the Near East that they possessed in the 12th century.
Conradin finds himself hailed as the first true successor of Godfrey de Bouillon in the Kingdom since Fulk or even Amalric. Many of the once downright explosive elements in the Kingdom have quieted down, but everything could go to hell again if the local economic fortunes of Jerusalem take a turn for the worse. For now, much of the Near East is in a very tenuous position. When we turn back to Europe, Charles of Anjou (bolstered by the arms and money of his brother) has scored a decisive victory over Manfred. He has now advanced into Sicily, and more or less secured total control. At the end of the year, Pope Pius II somewhat happily invested him in Rome as the new King of Sicily and Naples. In Northern Europe, Haakon of Norway renewed military action against Scotland in their war over the Hebrides and the other Norse island possessions.
1267: It seems this decade is destined to go down as one of the most sanguinary in the history of all men living. The Eighth Crusade was launched out of Sicily in February of the year from Charles of Anjou’s bases in Sicily. Manfred was executed in January in Palermo, despite the protestations of many major figures. Conradin was both pleasured and disquieted by this development, as while he dislikes Manfred for stealing from his rightful crown as the King of Sicily, he also fears this new charismatic and ruthlessly ambitious Charles of Anjou. A large French force (with some Sicilian auxiliaries) landed in Tunis. They chose Tunis as the spot for their first siege because Kitbuqa was going to commit a large force sent west from Egypt. Him and Charles of Anjou planned to split much of the land conquered. The forces of France landed in Tunis in March, and planned to arrive at the same time as Kitbuqa’s force. Unfortunately, like many of the medieval expeditions poor communications plagued these forces. Kitbuqa’s force suffered some initial surprising defeats against Hebib tribes of Cyrenaica. Much of his hardened Mongol core had been softened by the life of luxury and ease that had been offered in Egypt, and this was a scary wake-up call to Kitbuqa, due to the former invincibility of his Mongol forces. Unfortunately for the armies of Egypt, their forces were now comprised of infamously disloyal Mamelukes (who were proving very difficult to get rid of, despite the best efforts of Kitbuqa. They were bringing in new slave boys from Rum all the time, and several semi-autonomous fealties were currently functioning along the Nile valley. Kitbuqa would just go for an all out purge of the Mamelukes, but he would likely then have a civil war in his hands in a hugely diverse country that could be impossible to ever reunify. So for now, he had to put up with them) and there was also a majority of weak Egyptian levy infantry. Besides the Mongols themselves, dedicated Coptic and Nestorian Christians formed the core of the army. They knew that if they wanted to maintain their elite social status in the new Egypt they would have to prove themselves.
There was also some contingent of knights from Jerusalem and Germany that had failed to link up with Louis the IX’s force. This military defeated changed Kitbuqa’s mind; if he had formerly been hesitant to pursue this campaign all the way across North Africa, he now knew that in order to maintain the élan of his fighting force (of nearly 50,000!) he would have to sate its internecine thirst for glory. After their grueling and slow march in Cyrenaica, the armies were tired and unready for another fierce resistance by the warriors of the Banu Sulaym (to be specific, the Debab tribe) in Tripolitania. They encountered savagery to a surprising level for many of the cosmopolitan Egyptians, but the Mongols responded in kind. They were delayed one month (and plus another three after Cyrenaica and a slower start than expected) off of their schedule, but pursued a near-genocidal path through Cyrenaica. This left the crusader force stranded and alone in Tunis, and many in the force lost heart. Louis IX and his armies laid siege to Tunis, but without the aid of Kitbuqa’s armies great progress was very difficult. Muhammed I Al-Mustansir (Lord of Tunis and the Hafsid Dynasty) was expected by Louis IX to convert to Christianity almost immediately upon assault, or landfall in North Africa. Unfortunately for the expedition, he did not. The crusader army laid siege to Tunis, and after one horribly unsuccessful attempt at storming the city, they had mostly settled in and were attempting to starve the city out.
Charles of Anjou was becoming increasingly impatient with this slow campaign, and was trying to bribe the Zayyanids to invade, in return for territorial concessions. Louis IX would have been opposed to his brothers unholy scheming, but he was far too busy leading his soldiers in group prayer sessions, begging Him to deliver Tunis into their deserving hands. The armies began to doubt that their Mongol allies would ever arrive, and the force teetered on the brink of mutiny even as the armies of Kitbuqa were mere weeks away. In Spain Castile and Portugal jointly launched new assaults in the crusader spirit against the Almohads, making some progress to the south. If we turn temporarily to the far north, Magnus VI has invaded Scotland in a dispute over the Hebrides and the Orkney islands. He has surprisingly met with success, calling up the massive Norse farmer levy for the first time in years and surprising the Scots. He has won a handful of decisive victories in the highlands Temporarily the campaigns have been stopped for winter, but it will not last very long. Towards late August, Kitbuqa’s force arrived in Tunis. The crusader armies were unified, and many began to refer to Kitbuqa as the new Prester John. As September dawned both armies began to make preparations for the breach and seizure of Tunis. As a preface, in North Africa September is still very hot, and very moist. If you were to sustain a wound, chances of it festering and becoming infected are tragically high. Of course the crusaders knew nothing of this, and even if they had they would have likely disregarded it. In the battle for Tunis, the fighting grew vicious, and at times it seemed like the depleted Egyptian and French armies might be repulsed. At this point both Louis IX and Kitbuqa entered the battle. This decisively improved morale and turned the tide of the fight. As the vanguards were storming the citadel though, Kitbuqa sustained an arrow wound to his left flank. Although he advanced with his soldiers, he was seriously wounded. After the battle, in the usual rapine that ensued after a key victory (abetted minimally by Louis IX) Kitbuqa was nowhere to be found. Charles of Anjou was about to behead Muhammad the caliph, but Louis IX intervened at the last moment and saved the life of their “honorable” opponent. Muhammad I-Al Mustansir became a captive of the crusader camp, but was treated with the utmost respect by the holy Louis. Returning to Kitbuqa, the morning after victory, he was found resting in his tent. He had a scar over a foot long, and had haphazardly removed the arrow himself. Yet even then he did not have much time to rest.
The Zayannid force recruited by Charles of Anjou had arrived a mere the very dawn of the second day after the fall of Tunis. They were given neither their allotted share or any sort of territorial recompense was even to be thought of. To pile tension on that, neither Louis IX nor Kitbuqa had any idea why they were here. Eventually the Zayannids demanded Tunis be granted to them (they also would have accepted a huge ransom, but that was beyond the current reach of all parties). The Crusader army outright refused this demand without any deliberation, and with their bluff called the Zayannids retreated to form up battle lines. The ensuing battle was won with Mongol shock tactics and French chivalry. With decisive victories over both the Zayannids, Hafsids, and Berber tribes the Eighth Crusade is destined to be remember as one filled with great successes. At a council of the three great leaders of this campaign, it was generally agreed that once the territory had been secured southward and westward, Tunisia would be given to Charles’ Sicilian Kingdom and most of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica would be added to Egypt. Sadly, sickness and the Devil would perhaps conspire to both sadden this great occasion and undermine the gains all of Christendom made. As he always did, to inspire his troops Kitbuqa entered the battle at the head of his army. As he fought his way through the Zayannid infantry, a spear drove through him, directly in the side that was so grievously injured in the siege and taking of Tunis. He withdrew with some of his bodyguard to the rear of the battle. Though the battle was won it became clear Kitbuqa’s health was in dire straits. At the end of this year Kitbuqa was holding on to his life by a thread, and prayers were sent from every corner of the world that his health would recover against all odds. In the Near East Jerusalem continued to prosper, and Cyprus asserted itself and its trading rights against the Genoans, because Outremer was no longer totally dependent on the Italians. The Genoese recouped many of these losses by pandering to the Byzantines and the Golden Horde.
Tension between the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate has now begun to broil over into near war, as the Golden Horde and Nogai Khan continue their brutal oppression of the Russian Christians. Abaqa Khan, leader of the Ilkhanate has demanded they stop, but he has largely been ignored much to his chagrin. While Nogai has continued to raid deeper and deeper into both Tver and has even sacked some of the cities of the Novgorod Republic the Ilkhanate has also committed its share of atrocities. It has recently pillaged its way into Anatolia, deposing the current Sultan of Rum and instituting a new more submissive puppet ruler. In Arabia, Mongol armies have threatened Medina and Mecca. The increasingly Islamized Golden Horde has given an ultimatum – If Medina and Mecca are sacked, it is war-. Upon receiving this message, Abaqa Khan is said to have laughed, and proclaimed “So much anger over a religion of lies and false magic.” In China the conquests of Kubilai continue, and he has now encountered fierce Song opposition on the Yangzhou River. If he can push across, it will be the death knoll for the Song dynasty. At the dawn of this year the capital was transferred from Karakorum to Beijing, sparking a revolt in Karakorum that successfully repulsed the forces of Kubilai. The coup members secured control and won a minor battle against a division of one of Kubilai’s minor tumens to wrest control of all of inner Mongolia. A Yuan strategy for an attack against these rebels has yet to be decided, and Kubilai may decide to come to terms with them yet.
1268: Tragically so soon after their last civil war, internecine conflicts have yet again erupted amongst the great Mongol empires. When news of the sack of Medina reached Nogai Khan, he entered into a terrifying rage, destroying much of his valuables in his chambers. Almost immediately, a large invasion horde was deployed, preparing for an invasion of the Ilkhanate through the Caucasus. Abaqa Khan was surprised upon hearing the news, and immediately moved all of his available forces north for a confrontation in the Caucasus. Among the semi-independent vassals of the Ilkhan, Antioch, and Cilicia were among the first to answer, being the most grateful and loyal of the Ilkhan’s vassals. Rum sent a small monetary sum, and the forces in Egypt were temporarily indisposed, due to their participation in the Eighth Crusade. This left the Kingdom of Jerusalem as the sole protected vassal who had not sent a contingent of knights or men-at-arms to aid in the fight against the Golden Horde. While a small amount of their nobles had embarked on the Eighth Crusade, it was not nearly a significant enough number to prevent a general levy from being called up. When notified of this in the fall of 1268, Abaqa was furious, and immediately sent a letter demanding forces be sent to aid in the fight. After briefly convening with his advisors and regent council Conradin realized it any declaration of independence would be extremely premature, and sent a small army north under the nominal command of the Grandmaster of the Teutonic Order, Anoo of Sangerhausen. He was chosen because of his close ties with Cilicia. From there forth, this would be known as the Humiliation of Jerusalem. It is unclear whether Conradin and his regents expected the Mongols to permit such egregious violations of their feudal treaties due to the somewhat elevated and “different” status of their relationships, or whether they merely misinterpreted the nature of the states relationship. Regardless, this incident made it clear that the Ilkhanate expected Jerusalem’s obedience, and it was resentfully given, at least for now. The forces collided south of the Caucausus, after Nogai Khan’s armies spread rapine and destruction throughout much of Abaqa’s land. Unfortunately for the Ilkhanate, the first battle of the war was a disaster. Luckily, it was little more than a skirmish. A minor raiding force sent by Abaqa under the command of a minor cavalry commander, through poor communication, ran directly into the middle of the Golden Horde’s army. Needless to say they were smashed. Most of the gains Nogai Khan’s armies have made have been reversed, yet his armies have raped and murdered there ways through the lands they come in. It will likely take decades for the Armenian population to fully recover here. There were no decisive military battle, yet Abaqa’s force is hot in pursuit and gaining, and it seems likely the conflict will see a key exchange by next year.
The other conflict between Mongols this year (but not the only other one involving them!) occurred in the Far East. As the Yuan Dynasty under Kublai Khan pursues an extermination of the Ming, their forces have been largely distracted from ongoing troubles in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia. The arrival of Muslim engineers from the periphery of the empire has allowed the armies of the Yuan Dynasty to create massive siege weapons capable of destroyed the walls of the Song fortresses that have denied them thus far. The Yuan triumphed in the siege of Xianyeng and are making deep, strong, hard, and long thrusts into the Song heartland. So while the Yuan are making great successes in their conquests of China, it has become a strategic impossibility for them to send a large enough force to reclaim Mongolia from the clique supported by the Chagatai Khanate currently ruling. This clique in Mongola is mainly comprised of Torghut elders, and old-school Mongolian families opposed to settling down and assuming the sedentary Chinese lifestyle. The leader of this clique was named Kaidu, head of the Ogodei family and a hardcore Mongol traditionalist. He had been a staunch support of the late Ariq Böke in his civil war against Kublai Khan. While Kublai was alarmed by these developments in Mongolia, the clique had merely claimed independence from the Yuan, and did not purport Kaidu as the new Great Khan of the Mongol Khanates. This would also delay a Yuan response to this rebellion against their authority. Reactions from the other Mongol Khanates were varied; The Chagatai Khanate and Ilkhanate resumed their traditionalist and pro-Kublai positions respectively. The Golden Horde was at first hesitant to declare in support of the Mongolian clique, because of how sorely Ariq Böke and his supporters were defeated in the previous war. But, after the Ilkhanate denounced the members of the clique and Kaidu, the Golden Horde was quick to make clear their support for the members of the coup. The Chagatai Khanate began raiding on the periphery of the Ilkhanate, with Abaqa Khan largely unable to respond due to his commitments against the Golden Horde. This year, many of the sticky strategic difficulties of defending and maintaining such a massive empire have become apparent to the Ilkhan.
Later this year even Egypt was to add to his woes, as I will elaborate upon now. In Tunisia the Eighth Crusade has begun to wind down, and while there was some talk of conquering Zayannid Africa most talk of such an expedition ended when it became clear Kitbuqa was totally incapable of any further campaigning. Indeed Kitbuqa’s health continued to deteriorate until he was capable of nothing except breathing and lying in bed. Some of his leading Mongol generals began to assert their claims to superiority, knowing that likely the whole state of Egypt would begin to collapse if their iron-fisted ruler were to pass away. Finally, on the ides of March in the year of our lord 1268 Kitbuqa passed away in his bed, ceding his kingdom’s regency (for his beloved daughter Maria) to Khugen, one of his most trusted lieutenants and devoted Nestorian Christian. Immediately, Toghrul, an independent power, refused to become subordinate to Khugen unless Abaqa Khan was to personally confirm as King of Egypt. Khugen recognized the weakness of his position, and temporarily recognized Toghrul and his tribes sovereignty. To Khugen’s surprise, they elected to stay in North Africa and try and establish a separate nation for themselves in Tripolitania. Also, it was clear the Toghrul had conspired with some of the Coptic members of the army, promising them land if they stayed with him. A large minority did, infuriating Khugen who was incapable to stop this defection. It was decided that Kitbuqa’s corpse would travel with Louis IX (who was leaving Tunisia in the hands of his brother Charles, and travelling to Jerusalem for pilgrimage) and his fleet and small group of elite retainers, so that Kibuqa might be swiftly preserved and prepared for funeral in Alexandria. After this, the armies of France largely returned to France (there was a small amount of military settlers who decided to stay) and only the Sicilian soldiers and other retainers of Charles, King of Sicily and Africa remained. Charles was able to fairly easily incorporate Tunisia into his growing Kingdom (for those of who have lost track, Naples, Sicily, and now Tunisia) because it was a prosperous region and the crushing of the previous regime had already been done quite handily and thoroughly for him. He also this year began to supply the few remaining Latin Kingdoms in the Aegean in their defense against the onslaught from Michael VIII Palaiologus, who this year launched an expedition to attempt to conquer the Genoese supported Duchy of Athens. Extremely surprisingly, this expedition featured collaboration between Venetians and Byzantines.
Returning to North Africa, a handful of weeks into the Egyptian armies return journey, on a hunting expedition with some of his Coptic, Mameluke, and Mongol officers the Mamluks (true to form) made a near successful attempt on Khugen’s life. Immediately the Mamluks, realizing their failure, separated their regiments loyal to them from the general army. It was now clear to everyone, upon arrival there would be civil war in Egypt. And indeed there was. With the aid of mercenaries from the Italian maritime states, and at the end of the year a slow trickle of soldiers from the military orders (especially the Hospitallers) Khugen has managed to establish basic rule over the north of Egypt, centered around Alexandria. Unfortunately, he is being beaten badly, and is begging the Ilkhan for a force of several tumens (which Abaqa can currently ill-afford with his conflicts with both the Golden Horde AND the Chagatai Khanate). In the south, there are two principal Mameluke successor states, one stretching as far north, tenuously holding Cairo. There is another, more entrenched and southerly one centered around Aswan. The Coptics have also made moves to establish their own seat of government (based around Al-Qusair) near the Red Sea, which is currently engulfed in anarchy and fighting between Crusaders, Coptics, and Mamelukes. In Cyrenaica, the Mongols and Mamelukes are fighting over influence each with their own set of Berber allies. In Jerusalem, Conradin was wed a week after his sixteenth birthday to the twenty-four year old Margeret of Lusignan. She is a beautiful girl, and they are truly in love as Conradin is one of the handsomest young men of his generation. This marriage unifies the elder and younger houses of Jerusalem, through Yolanda and Alice respectively. Generally, chaos reigns across the East.
If we turn to Germany, there has been a momentous occasion and reason for celebration for all of those who prize unity across Christendom. Acknowledging the huge power of Rudolph I, head of the house of Habsburg, the various petty lords of Germany convened a council to elect a new emperor. By a slim margin Rudolph was elected, and is immediately making new bulls to reassert imperial power. The opponents of centralized imperial power, centered under Ottakar of Bohemia have promised war. Hungary has also joined the fray in this conflict, attacking their traditional enemy Ottakar in a land grab. It is thought Stephen, king of Hungary, may have poisoned his elderly father Bela to get into this war, because Bela was opposed to any war against Ottokar, who was the husband of his favorite daughter. He died in a very timely fashion, yet Stephen consolidate his power quickly enough that he was still able to act decisively against Ottokar. An army was on the march to lay siege to Vienna by the end of this year. Norway has continued its war against Scotland, winning major victories and asserting hegemony over large swathes of the highland. Fearing English intervention, the Scottish king has granted Norway all of the Hebrides, Orkney, Shetland, the Isle of Man, and most surprisingly, granted them the port of Wick.
1269: Egypt continued its collapse into statelessness this year, with the addition of yet more factions and armies. Early this year, Gaza and the Suez fell to one of the Mameluke revival states. While previously, Jerusalem had been somewhat apathetic to Egypt, even happy to see it tear itself apart so that Jerusalem may pick up the pieces, Conradin has realized a few things: One, that a Mameluke dominated Egyptian could likely dominate them in the future as they have done in the past, two, that the Ilkhanate’s current annoyance with Jerusalem may be somewhat assuaged by seeing them to intervene to protect the Mongols in Egypt, and finally that there were border territories completely up for the taking. With those thoughts in mind Conradin (or as he will be referred to from now on, Conrad II of Jerusalem, Conrad I being his absentee father) led an army into the Suez with the intention of both stabilizing Egypt and enlarging Christian Outremer. His forces arrived in the Suez on his seventeenth birthday, March 25th. In the battle of the Sinai there were roughly 6000 Mamluk soldiers, while the Kingdom of Jerusalem had a host of around 1,500 knights and 12,000 men-at-arms. The men loved Conrad, and he was a dynamic and youthful leader. They won a decisive victory over the Mamelukes, yet it was at a high cost of men. Conrad II was an inexperienced military leader but not a stupid one. There are high hopes all over Outremer that his rules would prove to be a long and sagacious one. The newly conquered lands were set up as a the new County of the Sinai, under the deposed Balian of Ibelin.
Then, an expedition was sent into Egypt, to aid the Mongol state in northern Egypt. Upon arrival in Alexandria (intended to relieve a siege of Alexandria by Muslim forces) Conrad II of Jerusalem met with Khugen, Khan of Egypt. It was decided that Euphrosyne Palaeologus and her three year old daughter Maria of Egypt would return to Jerusalem with Conradin’s army, because Northern Egypt was a dangerous warzone, and an improper place for a queen and the heiress to Egypt to be residing. After some minor raids down the Nile River Valley, most of the armies of Conradin returned to Jerusalem. Some continued to defend the Mongol state in north Egypt which was now nearing collapse. In addition to the two Mameluke states, an Ayyubid successor state had been established on the Red Sea, promising fair treatment to the Coptic Christians who had been oppressed. It was ruled by the exiled Ayyubid sultan of Hama, Al-Muzaffer Umar. This Ayyubid state had also begin to consolidate some territory on the eastern side of the Red Sea, and was attempting to take Mecca and Medina. Many of the petty states of this area willingly joined the Ayyubid dynasty, because it was a stronger state, more likely to be able to resist Mongol raids in the Holy Land than the weak and small tribes of the area. Of the two Mameluke states, one was smaller, centered around the middle Nile valley with its capital at Cairo. It largely fought with the Ayyubids and the Ayyubid successor state and had a temporary alliance with the other Mameluke state to the south. The southern Mameluke state was less populated but covered a far greater area. It was more a coalition of minor warlords who were dedicated to driving out the Christians, while the Cairo state was nominally a regency for Baibars’ firstborn and only son Al-Said Barakah. This other state stretched from a few miles north ofthe second cataract of the Nile River, and held its capital at Aswan. This state tenuously held some territory on the Red Sea, and even stretched northwards into Cyrenaica and fought with the Mongols of Tripolitania over the dessert of Fezzan. One of the major threats to them was the resurgent state of Makuria to the south. Having been a victim of Egyptian raids for hundreds of years, it was now attempting to repay the favor and raiding up the Nile. Despite the high hopes of so many after its conquest by Kitbuqa, Egypt was degenerating into a war-torn state, where the chances for reunification appear to be more and more dismal.
Elsewhere in North Africa, the Khanate of Tripolitania signed an agreement defining their borders with Charles of Anjou. Speaking of Charles of Anjou, he had recently signed a guarantee of protection from the Byzantines to the Duchy of Naxos and the Duchy of Achaea. He also ransomed Baldwin II of Constantinople from Emperor Michael VII Palaeologus for a hefty sum, delivering Baldwin and his family to Palermo. Charles forced Baldwin to betroth his son to Charles’ daughter and sign a treaty largely partitioning his rights (if he were to succeed to power in Constantinople once again) between him and Charles. In a further flurry of activity, Charles sent a small expedition to the Duchy of Athens, in an attempt to help them resist Byzantine aggressions. Ironically, the very money that Charles paid to secure Baldwin II’s release gave the Byzantines funds to fight off his own forces in Athens. In December of 1269 Athens was besieged by Byzantine forces, and Charles of Anjou was calling for a crusade against the Byzantines, which largely fell on deaf ears. In north Italy Charles continues to make moves trying to consolidate his power, worrying some (the Papacy, cough) that he may be aiming for a single unified Italian Kingdom.
Farther east, the massive wars between the Mongol Khanates continue to rage. As many predicted, the forces of the Ilkhanate and the Golden Horde met this year in a tremendous battle right before the Zangezur Mountains, entrance into the heartland of the Ilkhanate. If the Golden Horde would win this battle, they would have a basically clear path to the Ilkhanate’s capital of Marageh. There were already some tentative preparations for evacuation, and the garrison had been reinforced. In the battle of Kapan, the forces of the Ilkhan and Nogai met. There were tens of thousands of men on each side, and Nogai Khan was a brilliant general in his own right, while Abaqa Khan (the Ilkhan) was surrounded by some of the brightest military council ever. The Ilkhanate had roughly 100,000 men on their side, while the Golden Horde had under their command some 80,000. The army of the Ilkhanate was diverse, well motivated, and supplied. The Golden Horde’s army was in a state of near starvation, for the Ilkhanate had adopted a scorched earth policy intended to deny them much needed victuals for their horses and men. Ultimately in the battle the Ilkhanate triumphed, winning the battle with the arrival of their loyal Armenian reserve of thousands. This fresh group of men broke the morale of the Golden Horde’s armies and secured a defining victory for the Ilkhanate. Casualties on both sides were tremendous. Clergy on both sides had proclaimed this a holy war and raiding forces of the Golden Horde had been destroying churches in Turkey, the Caucasus, and in Cilicia (where some minor raiding forces arrived, and scared the life out of Hethouem). In Trebizond, the Golden Horde sacked the wealthy trading city out of sheer malice and greed, because it was not even affiliated with the Ilkhanate. The Ilkhanate also had blood on its hands, with its vicious oppression of the Muslims under their rule across the Middle-East, and their razing of Medina and Baghdad. Both of these factors made for a vicious battle, and there were terrible atrocities on both sides. Ultimately the Golden Horde suffered a defeat, albeit not an insurmountable one. In other fronts of their war with the Ilkhanate, they were also driven back. By the end of the year, most of the forces of Nogai Khan were on the northern side of the Caucasus and preparing a defense of their homeland from the massive armies of the Ilkhan. On the eastern front of the Mongol Civil War, the Chagatai Khanate invaded eastern Persia and Turkestan, encountering only modest resistance from the Ilkhanate, which was mostly occupied with dealing with the Golden Horde. They made some progress at heavy expenses in life. On the northern front of the Mongol War the Duchy of Tver has made some good progress on reclaiming much of the land the Golden Horde has occupied. The Novgorod Republic has also been enticed into the war upon hearing of the Golden Horde’s defeat in the battle of Kapan, yet they had not dispatched any major military force yet. Rebellions erupted across the Golden Horde, including a particularly violent one in Suzdal. The Vladimir-Suzdal principality has taken on a sanguinary policy towards Mongol bureaucrats, killing any they can find. Largely the collaborationist policies of Alexander Nevsky have been forsaken, and he will likely never take a spot as a revered figure in Russian history the way he did in our time-line.
On another front of the Mongol civil wars, Kaidu, leader of independent Mongolia began fighting with the forces of the Yuan dynasty when he attempted to assert himself and his clique in Manchuria. Already they have established their rule in Mongolia and into some of Siberia and the great plains. This rebellion has come at bad time for Kublai Khan, who is in the middle of his (albeit successful) push into Song China. The Song dynasty is on its last legs, and having lost the wealthy Yangtze River basin is in dire straits. Fortunately for them, it seems they may have found temporary relief as Kublai dispatches more of his forces northwards to deal with the rebellion of the Mongolian traditionalists. He finally realizes the seriousness of this rebellion, and is even experiencing some minor discontent among his own soldiers. He realizes that it would be difficult to simply ignore this power on his northern border, and does not think he will be able to maintain his gains in China for long if his homeland is not secure. It is already somewhat effected his manpower reserves, and the Golden Horde and Chagatai Khanate have renounced him as the Great Khan. Venturing far to the west now, the Marinid Dynasty of Morocco is now the supreme Muslim power in all of North Africa, and possibly even the world. They have invaded the Zayannids, who were crushed by the Crusader forces the previous year, and have made good progress in conquering their kingdom. In Germany their civil war rages on. The Hungarians have won a battle against Ottokar II of Bohemia, undermining his claims in Hungary. Stephen V has been sent monetary support from Rudolph Habsburg to bribe some of his more troublesome and disloyal vassals. A joint force of Hungarians and the forces of Rudolph Habsburg, threatening Ottokar’s hold over southern Germany, besiege Vienna. Across the Empire there is war, yet the forces of Rudolph I have gained a decisive advantage by now. It seems that an end to the long Interregnum is nearing. In France, King Louis IX has returned to his kingdom after several lengthy absences, restoring order and appears rejuvenated and has the energy of a man half his considerable age.
End of Book One
The other conflict between Mongols this year (but not the only other one involving them!) occurred in the Far East. As the Yuan Dynasty under Kublai Khan pursues an extermination of the Ming, their forces have been largely distracted from ongoing troubles in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia. The arrival of Muslim engineers from the periphery of the empire has allowed the armies of the Yuan Dynasty to create massive siege weapons capable of destroyed the walls of the Song fortresses that have denied them thus far. The Yuan triumphed in the siege of Xianyeng and are making deep, strong, hard, and long thrusts into the Song heartland. So while the Yuan are making great successes in their conquests of China, it has become a strategic impossibility for them to send a large enough force to reclaim Mongolia from the clique supported by the Chagatai Khanate currently ruling. This clique in Mongola is mainly comprised of Torghut elders, and old-school Mongolian families opposed to settling down and assuming the sedentary Chinese lifestyle. The leader of this clique was named Kaidu, head of the Ogodei family and a hardcore Mongol traditionalist. He had been a staunch support of the late Ariq Böke in his civil war against Kublai Khan. While Kublai was alarmed by these developments in Mongolia, the clique had merely claimed independence from the Yuan, and did not purport Kaidu as the new Great Khan of the Mongol Khanates. This would also delay a Yuan response to this rebellion against their authority. Reactions from the other Mongol Khanates were varied; The Chagatai Khanate and Ilkhanate resumed their traditionalist and pro-Kublai positions respectively. The Golden Horde was at first hesitant to declare in support of the Mongolian clique, because of how sorely Ariq Böke and his supporters were defeated in the previous war. But, after the Ilkhanate denounced the members of the clique and Kaidu, the Golden Horde was quick to make clear their support for the members of the coup. The Chagatai Khanate began raiding on the periphery of the Ilkhanate, with Abaqa Khan largely unable to respond due to his commitments against the Golden Horde. This year, many of the sticky strategic difficulties of defending and maintaining such a massive empire have become apparent to the Ilkhan.
Later this year even Egypt was to add to his woes, as I will elaborate upon now. In Tunisia the Eighth Crusade has begun to wind down, and while there was some talk of conquering Zayannid Africa most talk of such an expedition ended when it became clear Kitbuqa was totally incapable of any further campaigning. Indeed Kitbuqa’s health continued to deteriorate until he was capable of nothing except breathing and lying in bed. Some of his leading Mongol generals began to assert their claims to superiority, knowing that likely the whole state of Egypt would begin to collapse if their iron-fisted ruler were to pass away. Finally, on the ides of March in the year of our lord 1268 Kitbuqa passed away in his bed, ceding his kingdom’s regency (for his beloved daughter Maria) to Khugen, one of his most trusted lieutenants and devoted Nestorian Christian. Immediately, Toghrul, an independent power, refused to become subordinate to Khugen unless Abaqa Khan was to personally confirm as King of Egypt. Khugen recognized the weakness of his position, and temporarily recognized Toghrul and his tribes sovereignty. To Khugen’s surprise, they elected to stay in North Africa and try and establish a separate nation for themselves in Tripolitania. Also, it was clear the Toghrul had conspired with some of the Coptic members of the army, promising them land if they stayed with him. A large minority did, infuriating Khugen who was incapable to stop this defection. It was decided that Kitbuqa’s corpse would travel with Louis IX (who was leaving Tunisia in the hands of his brother Charles, and travelling to Jerusalem for pilgrimage) and his fleet and small group of elite retainers, so that Kibuqa might be swiftly preserved and prepared for funeral in Alexandria. After this, the armies of France largely returned to France (there was a small amount of military settlers who decided to stay) and only the Sicilian soldiers and other retainers of Charles, King of Sicily and Africa remained. Charles was able to fairly easily incorporate Tunisia into his growing Kingdom (for those of who have lost track, Naples, Sicily, and now Tunisia) because it was a prosperous region and the crushing of the previous regime had already been done quite handily and thoroughly for him. He also this year began to supply the few remaining Latin Kingdoms in the Aegean in their defense against the onslaught from Michael VIII Palaiologus, who this year launched an expedition to attempt to conquer the Genoese supported Duchy of Athens. Extremely surprisingly, this expedition featured collaboration between Venetians and Byzantines.
Returning to North Africa, a handful of weeks into the Egyptian armies return journey, on a hunting expedition with some of his Coptic, Mameluke, and Mongol officers the Mamluks (true to form) made a near successful attempt on Khugen’s life. Immediately the Mamluks, realizing their failure, separated their regiments loyal to them from the general army. It was now clear to everyone, upon arrival there would be civil war in Egypt. And indeed there was. With the aid of mercenaries from the Italian maritime states, and at the end of the year a slow trickle of soldiers from the military orders (especially the Hospitallers) Khugen has managed to establish basic rule over the north of Egypt, centered around Alexandria. Unfortunately, he is being beaten badly, and is begging the Ilkhan for a force of several tumens (which Abaqa can currently ill-afford with his conflicts with both the Golden Horde AND the Chagatai Khanate). In the south, there are two principal Mameluke successor states, one stretching as far north, tenuously holding Cairo. There is another, more entrenched and southerly one centered around Aswan. The Coptics have also made moves to establish their own seat of government (based around Al-Qusair) near the Red Sea, which is currently engulfed in anarchy and fighting between Crusaders, Coptics, and Mamelukes. In Cyrenaica, the Mongols and Mamelukes are fighting over influence each with their own set of Berber allies. In Jerusalem, Conradin was wed a week after his sixteenth birthday to the twenty-four year old Margeret of Lusignan. She is a beautiful girl, and they are truly in love as Conradin is one of the handsomest young men of his generation. This marriage unifies the elder and younger houses of Jerusalem, through Yolanda and Alice respectively. Generally, chaos reigns across the East.
If we turn to Germany, there has been a momentous occasion and reason for celebration for all of those who prize unity across Christendom. Acknowledging the huge power of Rudolph I, head of the house of Habsburg, the various petty lords of Germany convened a council to elect a new emperor. By a slim margin Rudolph was elected, and is immediately making new bulls to reassert imperial power. The opponents of centralized imperial power, centered under Ottakar of Bohemia have promised war. Hungary has also joined the fray in this conflict, attacking their traditional enemy Ottakar in a land grab. It is thought Stephen, king of Hungary, may have poisoned his elderly father Bela to get into this war, because Bela was opposed to any war against Ottokar, who was the husband of his favorite daughter. He died in a very timely fashion, yet Stephen consolidate his power quickly enough that he was still able to act decisively against Ottokar. An army was on the march to lay siege to Vienna by the end of this year. Norway has continued its war against Scotland, winning major victories and asserting hegemony over large swathes of the highland. Fearing English intervention, the Scottish king has granted Norway all of the Hebrides, Orkney, Shetland, the Isle of Man, and most surprisingly, granted them the port of Wick.
1269: Egypt continued its collapse into statelessness this year, with the addition of yet more factions and armies. Early this year, Gaza and the Suez fell to one of the Mameluke revival states. While previously, Jerusalem had been somewhat apathetic to Egypt, even happy to see it tear itself apart so that Jerusalem may pick up the pieces, Conradin has realized a few things: One, that a Mameluke dominated Egyptian could likely dominate them in the future as they have done in the past, two, that the Ilkhanate’s current annoyance with Jerusalem may be somewhat assuaged by seeing them to intervene to protect the Mongols in Egypt, and finally that there were border territories completely up for the taking. With those thoughts in mind Conradin (or as he will be referred to from now on, Conrad II of Jerusalem, Conrad I being his absentee father) led an army into the Suez with the intention of both stabilizing Egypt and enlarging Christian Outremer. His forces arrived in the Suez on his seventeenth birthday, March 25th. In the battle of the Sinai there were roughly 6000 Mamluk soldiers, while the Kingdom of Jerusalem had a host of around 1,500 knights and 12,000 men-at-arms. The men loved Conrad, and he was a dynamic and youthful leader. They won a decisive victory over the Mamelukes, yet it was at a high cost of men. Conrad II was an inexperienced military leader but not a stupid one. There are high hopes all over Outremer that his rules would prove to be a long and sagacious one. The newly conquered lands were set up as a the new County of the Sinai, under the deposed Balian of Ibelin.
Then, an expedition was sent into Egypt, to aid the Mongol state in northern Egypt. Upon arrival in Alexandria (intended to relieve a siege of Alexandria by Muslim forces) Conrad II of Jerusalem met with Khugen, Khan of Egypt. It was decided that Euphrosyne Palaeologus and her three year old daughter Maria of Egypt would return to Jerusalem with Conradin’s army, because Northern Egypt was a dangerous warzone, and an improper place for a queen and the heiress to Egypt to be residing. After some minor raids down the Nile River Valley, most of the armies of Conradin returned to Jerusalem. Some continued to defend the Mongol state in north Egypt which was now nearing collapse. In addition to the two Mameluke states, an Ayyubid successor state had been established on the Red Sea, promising fair treatment to the Coptic Christians who had been oppressed. It was ruled by the exiled Ayyubid sultan of Hama, Al-Muzaffer Umar. This Ayyubid state had also begin to consolidate some territory on the eastern side of the Red Sea, and was attempting to take Mecca and Medina. Many of the petty states of this area willingly joined the Ayyubid dynasty, because it was a stronger state, more likely to be able to resist Mongol raids in the Holy Land than the weak and small tribes of the area. Of the two Mameluke states, one was smaller, centered around the middle Nile valley with its capital at Cairo. It largely fought with the Ayyubids and the Ayyubid successor state and had a temporary alliance with the other Mameluke state to the south. The southern Mameluke state was less populated but covered a far greater area. It was more a coalition of minor warlords who were dedicated to driving out the Christians, while the Cairo state was nominally a regency for Baibars’ firstborn and only son Al-Said Barakah. This other state stretched from a few miles north ofthe second cataract of the Nile River, and held its capital at Aswan. This state tenuously held some territory on the Red Sea, and even stretched northwards into Cyrenaica and fought with the Mongols of Tripolitania over the dessert of Fezzan. One of the major threats to them was the resurgent state of Makuria to the south. Having been a victim of Egyptian raids for hundreds of years, it was now attempting to repay the favor and raiding up the Nile. Despite the high hopes of so many after its conquest by Kitbuqa, Egypt was degenerating into a war-torn state, where the chances for reunification appear to be more and more dismal.
Elsewhere in North Africa, the Khanate of Tripolitania signed an agreement defining their borders with Charles of Anjou. Speaking of Charles of Anjou, he had recently signed a guarantee of protection from the Byzantines to the Duchy of Naxos and the Duchy of Achaea. He also ransomed Baldwin II of Constantinople from Emperor Michael VII Palaeologus for a hefty sum, delivering Baldwin and his family to Palermo. Charles forced Baldwin to betroth his son to Charles’ daughter and sign a treaty largely partitioning his rights (if he were to succeed to power in Constantinople once again) between him and Charles. In a further flurry of activity, Charles sent a small expedition to the Duchy of Athens, in an attempt to help them resist Byzantine aggressions. Ironically, the very money that Charles paid to secure Baldwin II’s release gave the Byzantines funds to fight off his own forces in Athens. In December of 1269 Athens was besieged by Byzantine forces, and Charles of Anjou was calling for a crusade against the Byzantines, which largely fell on deaf ears. In north Italy Charles continues to make moves trying to consolidate his power, worrying some (the Papacy, cough) that he may be aiming for a single unified Italian Kingdom.
Farther east, the massive wars between the Mongol Khanates continue to rage. As many predicted, the forces of the Ilkhanate and the Golden Horde met this year in a tremendous battle right before the Zangezur Mountains, entrance into the heartland of the Ilkhanate. If the Golden Horde would win this battle, they would have a basically clear path to the Ilkhanate’s capital of Marageh. There were already some tentative preparations for evacuation, and the garrison had been reinforced. In the battle of Kapan, the forces of the Ilkhan and Nogai met. There were tens of thousands of men on each side, and Nogai Khan was a brilliant general in his own right, while Abaqa Khan (the Ilkhan) was surrounded by some of the brightest military council ever. The Ilkhanate had roughly 100,000 men on their side, while the Golden Horde had under their command some 80,000. The army of the Ilkhanate was diverse, well motivated, and supplied. The Golden Horde’s army was in a state of near starvation, for the Ilkhanate had adopted a scorched earth policy intended to deny them much needed victuals for their horses and men. Ultimately in the battle the Ilkhanate triumphed, winning the battle with the arrival of their loyal Armenian reserve of thousands. This fresh group of men broke the morale of the Golden Horde’s armies and secured a defining victory for the Ilkhanate. Casualties on both sides were tremendous. Clergy on both sides had proclaimed this a holy war and raiding forces of the Golden Horde had been destroying churches in Turkey, the Caucasus, and in Cilicia (where some minor raiding forces arrived, and scared the life out of Hethouem). In Trebizond, the Golden Horde sacked the wealthy trading city out of sheer malice and greed, because it was not even affiliated with the Ilkhanate. The Ilkhanate also had blood on its hands, with its vicious oppression of the Muslims under their rule across the Middle-East, and their razing of Medina and Baghdad. Both of these factors made for a vicious battle, and there were terrible atrocities on both sides. Ultimately the Golden Horde suffered a defeat, albeit not an insurmountable one. In other fronts of their war with the Ilkhanate, they were also driven back. By the end of the year, most of the forces of Nogai Khan were on the northern side of the Caucasus and preparing a defense of their homeland from the massive armies of the Ilkhan. On the eastern front of the Mongol Civil War, the Chagatai Khanate invaded eastern Persia and Turkestan, encountering only modest resistance from the Ilkhanate, which was mostly occupied with dealing with the Golden Horde. They made some progress at heavy expenses in life. On the northern front of the Mongol War the Duchy of Tver has made some good progress on reclaiming much of the land the Golden Horde has occupied. The Novgorod Republic has also been enticed into the war upon hearing of the Golden Horde’s defeat in the battle of Kapan, yet they had not dispatched any major military force yet. Rebellions erupted across the Golden Horde, including a particularly violent one in Suzdal. The Vladimir-Suzdal principality has taken on a sanguinary policy towards Mongol bureaucrats, killing any they can find. Largely the collaborationist policies of Alexander Nevsky have been forsaken, and he will likely never take a spot as a revered figure in Russian history the way he did in our time-line.
On another front of the Mongol civil wars, Kaidu, leader of independent Mongolia began fighting with the forces of the Yuan dynasty when he attempted to assert himself and his clique in Manchuria. Already they have established their rule in Mongolia and into some of Siberia and the great plains. This rebellion has come at bad time for Kublai Khan, who is in the middle of his (albeit successful) push into Song China. The Song dynasty is on its last legs, and having lost the wealthy Yangtze River basin is in dire straits. Fortunately for them, it seems they may have found temporary relief as Kublai dispatches more of his forces northwards to deal with the rebellion of the Mongolian traditionalists. He finally realizes the seriousness of this rebellion, and is even experiencing some minor discontent among his own soldiers. He realizes that it would be difficult to simply ignore this power on his northern border, and does not think he will be able to maintain his gains in China for long if his homeland is not secure. It is already somewhat effected his manpower reserves, and the Golden Horde and Chagatai Khanate have renounced him as the Great Khan. Venturing far to the west now, the Marinid Dynasty of Morocco is now the supreme Muslim power in all of North Africa, and possibly even the world. They have invaded the Zayannids, who were crushed by the Crusader forces the previous year, and have made good progress in conquering their kingdom. In Germany their civil war rages on. The Hungarians have won a battle against Ottokar II of Bohemia, undermining his claims in Hungary. Stephen V has been sent monetary support from Rudolph Habsburg to bribe some of his more troublesome and disloyal vassals. A joint force of Hungarians and the forces of Rudolph Habsburg, threatening Ottokar’s hold over southern Germany, besiege Vienna. Across the Empire there is war, yet the forces of Rudolph I have gained a decisive advantage by now. It seems that an end to the long Interregnum is nearing. In France, King Louis IX has returned to his kingdom after several lengthy absences, restoring order and appears rejuvenated and has the energy of a man half his considerable age.
End of Book One
That's a good read.
Given that I've read it, I might as well discuss its plausibility. Of course, these detract very little on the whole from your excellent writing.
I doubt that the Golden Horde would care that much about Egypt and the Middle East, even if they shared a religion.
I think, generally, the Khans are treated in your history a bit too much like normal, relatively sensible, European sovereigns. I can't quite imagine the Khan allying by marriage with the Byzantine Empire (which would, no doubt, have been wanted by the Mongols as a source of plunder). Again, they seem to be remarkably cosy with Jerusalem a lot of the time, and when they aren't, it's a simple matter of what the duties of a vassal should be.
Would the Golden Horde really have put up with Andrey II of Vladimir being elected in 1264, and especially given that the Horde had just put the Russians down anyway, would he realistically have been elected? I would have thought that the Russians would have been too terrified.
Why would anyone want to raid or conquer Nejd? There's nothing there!
To a small extent, the "County of the Sinai" sounds a bit unlikely, for the same reason. In history, I mainly know about the Hellenistic world, and neither the Seleucids nor the Ptolemies ever bothered to conquer this barren land except the northern coast.
I find the deteriation of the Mongol armies through the luxury of Egypt extremely entertaining, and likely enough too.
Overall, I think that the complete (and rather early) Christianisation of the Mongols is extremely unlikely. They would never, I think, have come to accept it as normal to give their children names such as Mary and John, especially not that soon.
Given that I've read it, I might as well discuss its plausibility. Of course, these detract very little on the whole from your excellent writing.
I doubt that the Golden Horde would care that much about Egypt and the Middle East, even if they shared a religion.
I think, generally, the Khans are treated in your history a bit too much like normal, relatively sensible, European sovereigns. I can't quite imagine the Khan allying by marriage with the Byzantine Empire (which would, no doubt, have been wanted by the Mongols as a source of plunder). Again, they seem to be remarkably cosy with Jerusalem a lot of the time, and when they aren't, it's a simple matter of what the duties of a vassal should be.
Would the Golden Horde really have put up with Andrey II of Vladimir being elected in 1264, and especially given that the Horde had just put the Russians down anyway, would he realistically have been elected? I would have thought that the Russians would have been too terrified.
Why would anyone want to raid or conquer Nejd? There's nothing there!
To a small extent, the "County of the Sinai" sounds a bit unlikely, for the same reason. In history, I mainly know about the Hellenistic world, and neither the Seleucids nor the Ptolemies ever bothered to conquer this barren land except the northern coast.
I find the deteriation of the Mongol armies through the luxury of Egypt extremely entertaining, and likely enough too.
Overall, I think that the complete (and rather early) Christianisation of the Mongols is extremely unlikely. They would never, I think, have come to accept it as normal to give their children names such as Mary and John, especially not that soon.
Thlayli
Le Pétit Prince
Oh, Bernard of Clairvaux. Europe's resident snark-meister. Are you looking for 'Deus' Vult?
Anyhow, I'm still reading through. It's nice to see a new TL every now and then.
Anyhow, I'm still reading through. It's nice to see a new TL every now and then.
I'm so excited to see all this feedback. I think I may make some changes, but I would like to address everyone's concerns first.
Perhaps this is true. Maybe its also true the Golden Horde was merely looking for an excuse to go to war over the Caucasus with the Ilkhanate, and advance their own position.
Well historically, there were marriage alliances between the Ilkhanate and the Byzantine Empire. Also, I think Jerusalem realizes that the Ilkhanate controls their destiny so totally, that no shrewd leader of Jerusalem would ever try and embarrass one of the khans.
Maybe. I don't know my Russian history too well.
Mecca and Medina, perhaps?
Well, the main wife of the Ilkhanate, for two Khans successively OTL was an avowed Christian, and the Golden Horde seemed to convert to Islam easily enough. And with the cases for naming, I think it showed to the Coptic majority that was absolutely essential to maintaining Mongol rule in Egypt that they took Christianity seriously. As far as the County of the Sinai goes, okay. Maybe I'll just convert it into a crown territory ruled by the coast. Thanks for your feedback sprylino.
Thanks for reading Karalysia and Azale, I really appreciate it. I plan to develop this to 1360 (which I should have done in a week or so, maybe less) and then convert it into a NES that will begin in early June.
Perhaps this is true. Maybe its also true the Golden Horde was merely looking for an excuse to go to war over the Caucasus with the Ilkhanate, and advance their own position.
Well historically, there were marriage alliances between the Ilkhanate and the Byzantine Empire. Also, I think Jerusalem realizes that the Ilkhanate controls their destiny so totally, that no shrewd leader of Jerusalem would ever try and embarrass one of the khans.
Maybe. I don't know my Russian history too well.
Mecca and Medina, perhaps?
Well, the main wife of the Ilkhanate, for two Khans successively OTL was an avowed Christian, and the Golden Horde seemed to convert to Islam easily enough. And with the cases for naming, I think it showed to the Coptic majority that was absolutely essential to maintaining Mongol rule in Egypt that they took Christianity seriously. As far as the County of the Sinai goes, okay. Maybe I'll just convert it into a crown territory ruled by the coast. Thanks for your feedback sprylino.
Thanks for reading Karalysia and Azale, I really appreciate it. I plan to develop this to 1360 (which I should have done in a week or so, maybe less) and then convert it into a NES that will begin in early June.
Would they bother with the excuse?
I don't really know much Mongol or Russian history anyway. All the same, I think that the Mongols are a bit nice and reasonable: they don't savagely plunder Alexandria and kill all the Copts, for example, and they go to war for political reasons against each other, rather than plundering the clear enourmous wealth of Jerusalem or eastern Asia Minor. About Jerusalem, I was saying not that Conradin was foolish for keeping his head down, but that the Ilkhan was a bit odd for not just savagely plundering Jerusalem on some trivial pretext or on no pretext at all.
That's Hejaz, not Nejd. Nejd is the desert area in the middle of the peninsula.
Hooray! I prematurely reserve the Byzantines
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