Alternate History Thread II...
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Thlayli
Le Pétit Prince
Or even Poland!
Well, maybe not.
Well, maybe not.
Thlayli
Le Pétit Prince
I thought about it, and here are some more options:
1. Vasco de Gama dies, bloodily. At least he never gets to India. (This wouldn't really solve the problem with Columbus though.)
2. The Ottomans win at the Siege of Belgrade, and continue their rampage into Europe.
3. Lancaster wins in the War of the Roses, and then...does something, not sure what. At any rate, the Tudors never come to power. England is probably weakened as a result.
1. Vasco de Gama dies, bloodily. At least he never gets to India. (This wouldn't really solve the problem with Columbus though.)
2. The Ottomans win at the Siege of Belgrade, and continue their rampage into Europe.
3. Lancaster wins in the War of the Roses, and then...does something, not sure what. At any rate, the Tudors never come to power. England is probably weakened as a result.
Kentharu
Zebra Commander
just kill the ottomans for christ sake! how many times have they been screwed over, seriously!!
it makes me so sad!
it makes me so sad!
das
Regeneration In Process
I'm waiting for Panda...
IMHO you overestimate the importance of dynastical unions here - England and Spain have way too few interests in common to keep this lasting, although I suppose they could for long enough to forge a Habsburg Empire stretching across a good half of Europe, which will later collapse very spectacularily.
And btw, just why would Henry want to "go Catholic" despite being one in the first place?
Well, they, or rather their equivalents, don't - but as a result of an earlier PoD.
If anything, the reverse, in long-term anyway. The "Portuguese" will still have their great explorations, they never wanted a western route to India anyway.
Nothing to do with the Reconquista, but you are getting very warm indeed.
Nobody said anything about INDIA. And Vasco de Gama was of negligable importance, as was Columbus.
The latter portion is true, but was caused by a different PoD. Trully, the Ottomans in this world, now that I thought of it, are not necessarily weaker. Though they were somewhat more unsuccesful in the early 15th century, they will more than recoup from it in the late 15th and much of 16th centuries.
Thlayli
Le Pétit Prince
War of the Roses?
das
Regeneration In Process
Never happened, as one of the effects of the PoD.
das
Regeneration In Process
I'm working on it, just a few sentances left to go. 
das
Regeneration In Process
There exists a theory according to which the reason Transoceania was discovered so late was the sudden drowning of a man named Cristoforo Colombo - or, as he preffered it, Cristobal Colon - in the Tagus River, having been disillusioned in his crackpot quest to get the support in any country at all for support for an expedition across the Atlantic in the search of a new route to India. Why did he drown himself in the Tagus? Because it was the closest river he could find after his rather disastrous reception with the king of Iberia.
The above theory belongs to a few more-or-less confirmed madmen and some people they have misled. There are several reasons Cristoforo Colombo had no chance, despite his zealotic conviction - for one thing, nobody was about to support such a stupid scheme. The Avizes in Iberia had nothing to gain and much to lose if a western route were to be discovered, much like Venetian commerce was damaged by the Iberian discovery of the maritime eastern route to India in the first place; the Iberians would have risked being simply overwhelmed by hostile competition from the other countries on the Atlantic Seaboard. The Plantagenets were more interested in consolidating their empire and fighting off the various rebels. The Burgundian Valois were more interested, but in the end turned him down as well because the present king was more interested in war and shunned the very thought that money could be used in a manner unrelated to it; besides, Burgundian trade interests in India were not all that high.
Secondly, even if Colombo would have received state support for such an expedition, it was unlikely to reach Transoceania, as at the time the naval technology was too primitive to sail across all of the barren Atlantic Ocean. And thirdly, even had he reached Transoceania and returned to tell about it, it is unlikely that any permanent settlements could have been established there. It is now known that the Vikings had also reached Transoceania, but they too failed to hold on to it for too long. And even then, geopolitical situation at the time was not a one beneficient for serious development of Transoceania until much later.
Actually, perhaps that is what I should have started with - the geopolitical situation as of the very late 15th century, as the Age of Exploration begun. There exists a theory supported by many credible historians that one of the most important and defining events of the 15th century, and the one that, as we will see, delayed the discovery of Transoceania considerably through a variety of means, was the end of the Hundred Years War. It ended precisely a hundred years since it begun in 1337, but the final English victory was only assured in the 15th century itself. Since 1380, the war has quieted down due to the instability in both England and France, but by 1415, whereas Henry V - the Great - of England had already crushed the Lollards and the various noble conspiracies, France was in the throes of civil war between the Valois branches of Armagnac (supporters of the late Duke of Orleans) and the Burgundians (supporters of the Duke of Burgundy). Using this opportunity, Henry V extended claims to all the old Angevin possessions in France; when Charles VI, the mad king of France, or rather his Armagnac courtiers rejected the English demands, Henry V was already quite prepared to campaign.
It was during the ensuing war that he had confirmed his sobriquet "the Great". Immediately, he secured the neutrality, if not support, of the Burgundian Duke, Jean the Fearless. The English fleet secured predominance over the La Manche. At home, money was raised, and so was public enthusiasm, and finally, so was a new army that soon enough proved itself to be Europe's best. Immediately in 1415, the strategically-important Norman city of Harfleur was secured, and the English army confronted the French at Agincourt. Many have written, in detail, about the battle. Anyway, the English won, and it was one of history's most complete victories as the Armagnac forces were shattered. This victory elevated England, both in truth and in the eyes of the great powers. The Holy Roman Emperor, Sigismund I, signed an alliance and forced his Genoese allies to renege on their naval alliance with France; and together, they secured the election of Martin V as Pope, an event that will have important consequences later on.
But back in France, after Agincourt the Armagnacs no longer dared challenge the English army itself in a large battle, and thus had to keep falling back and wage a defensive war. Yet methodically and patiently, the English besieged the French fortresses and cities, and grinded away at hostile resistance. In 1419, a shattering defeat was suffered by the Armagnacs, as Rouen, one of France's largest cities, had fallen.
Yet the war was not yet over. Jean the Fearless was genuinely struck with fear (pun intended) as the English victory now seemed assured. That did not bode well for his own ambitions, as he had by then occupied the city of Paris itself, which Henry V certainly wanted for himself, having by then enlarged his claims to all of France. So in late 1419, the Dauphin Charles, who by then became a regent for his mad father, succesfully negotiated a pact of friendship with Jean the Fearless. The French civil war seemed over, as the Burgundians turned on the English.
But that proved insufficient. If anything, it damaged the Dauphin's prestige amongst the Armagnacs, who soon had a schism within their ranks, the more die-hard anti-Burgundians trying to get rid of the Duke no matter what the Dauphin says. Several assassination attempts were foiled, and this resulted in a growth of mis-trust between the Armagnacs and the Burgundians. A failure to forge an united strategy had followed, and the English retained the initiative. Back in Burgundy and the Burgundian Flanders, there was a growing pro-English faction, rallying around the Duke's heir apparent, Phillip the Good.
And Henry V, meanwhile, continued to win battles. He did not invade Flanders, to avoid antagonizing his sympathisers there. He did, however, march on Paris, and routed a Burgundian army outside of it, once more making good use of professional infantry, especially longbowmen against Burgundian knights. Paris was then seized with the help of traitors and advanced siege equipment, with the Dauphin, who had returned there after reconcilling with the Burgundians, fleeing back for Bourges and barely avoiding capture. Diplomatically, the English were also triumphant. Jean V of Brittany had then finally made up his mind, pledging support for Henry V. So had the French queen, Isabella of Bavaria, who, with her Troyes government, moved to Paris and recognized Henry V's claims, marrying off to him her daughter Catherine. Meanwhile, the Holy Roman Empire begun increasing the pressure on the Burgundian nobles...
In 1421, Henry V had laid siege to Orleans, having previously crushed the Burgundian army at Montargis. Again, problems of coordination prevented a joint Armagnac-Burgundian attack, the Armagnacs (contrary to the Dauphin's orders) instead waiting for the Burgundians to be slaughtered and THEN attacking. They, however, attacked too late and were similarily defeated. For Jean the Fearless, that was the last straw, but even had it not happened, it was increasingly obvious that things could not continue this way. Wounded at Montargis, he made the fateful decision to retreat with the remnants of his army to Burgundy, to Dijon where he was immediately approached by local magnates and nobles, and English and Imperial diplomats. Finally, they swayed him to break the "pact of friendship" with the Dauphin and instead to sign one with Henry V, and receive a recognition of the heretofore de facto independence of Burgundy, plus several eastern French territories. Reluctantly, he agreed.
And in the meantime, with the fall of Meaux in the north-east, the English were ready to concentrate their forces on the siege of Orleans. The stronghold of the Armagnacs, it was a well-defended fortress, and the English had no way to breach its walls even with their new cannons. The people and the garrison there were quite inspired, and stalwartly resisted the siege. Himself, the Dauphin had come to believe that the Siege of Orleans was to become a turning point if the Valois rule over France was to endure; not discouraged even by the Burgundian defection, he continued gathering all the forces he could find for the relief attack. Mercenaries, peasants, the Dauphin was desperate enough to try anything by now. He was further encouraged by a small victory, but victory nonetheless, at Chinon. In late 1422, the Battle at Ingre (west of Orleans) took place. The French force had operated quite well for once in this favourable terrain, and had some early successes, securing the village of Ingre itself (in part due to the English retreat from there to avoid being outflanked), and, despite heavy casualties, nearly forcing an English retreat, if not even a rout. But Henry V rallied his forces and drove off the French attackers. As the enemies fell back, arrows chased them, turning this retreat into a rout, which was made even worse when English knights crushed into the rear of the enemies just as the Dauphin had attempted to rally them. The Dauphin himself was soon captured, and signed the Treaty of Orleans (by then, the demoralized, starved city fell) in 1423, confirming Henry V as the heir to the French crown (Charles VI having already died by then), but allowing an independent Grand Duchy of Burgundy to exist in the east, from now on incorporating Champagne and the Ardennes, and letting the Dauphin keep southern France sans Aquitaine as a vassal of Henry V of England and II of France.
Yet this was, in truth, yet another of the many lulls in the war. Henry V knew it all too well, and used the time to consolidate his hold on France and befriend the local nobility; in that later aim, he was not too succesful, but he did find allies amongst the North French magnates, who were, with his help, undergoing a genuine renaissance. Crafts and trade (especially with England, ofcourse) boomed in the English-held territory. But the Armagnac (or, rather, Dauphinist - the Armagnacs themselves were decimated by then) south was also recovering, while Burgundy was even more prospering than England, and the aging Grand Duke was ever more convinced that a new war was in order. And he prepared well for it, reforming the Burgundian army and making it more-infantry based. Indeed, the Burgundian defeats were, perhaps, a blessing in disguise, as Jean the Fearless was now able to strenghthen his personal authority and curb the power of the greatly weakened and discredited feudals. In his centralizing reforms, he relied ever more on the Flemish magnates; from their cities, the new Burgundian infantry was raised, and they promised him war funds, themselves hoping to weaken and replace the burstling English commerce that was an ever more dangerous competition for them. Attempts to sign a secret pact with the Dauphin failed, however, as the Dauphin did not want to share power with anybody if he were to retake the French crown (and that, ofcourse, was his intention). He too was preparing for war, though he did not have the resources available to Jean. Everybody was only waiting for anything wrong to happen for the English.
They were in luck in 1428, more in luck than they had even dared to think of hoping. In the same year, Henry V suddenly fell ill with a fever in Paris (some say that his feverish activity to strenghthen the realm was the cause), and according to the rumours was on the brink of death, while in the countryside around Paris and Orleans, severe peasant risings took place, incited by the Dauphinists who made good use of the war-time devastation that was not fully alleviated yet. Immediately, the Dauphin reneged on the Treaty of Orleans, declaring Henry V unfit to rule due to his condition and declaring that his successors were not entitled to the royal French title. The Dauphin's forces immediately set out for Orleans, where the English forces, harrased by the peasants, were unable to stop him from commencing a siege. Henry V, who had not died after all, ignored his advisors and took personal command of the forces there, and at first set out to fight the Dauphin when Jean the Fearless also extended his claims to the French crown, being, after all, a Valois, and having not formally resigned his rights, unlike the Dauphin. The Burgundians were clearly a much more serious threat, as they beiseged Calais and marched towards Paris itself. Their fleet, however, was defeated by the English one at the Strait of Dover.
Henry V at first intended to lead troops into combat against the Burgundians, but as he was once more bed-bound by a resurgence of his fever, he instead ordered Earl Warwick. A competent commander, Earl Warwick was not quite the genius Henry V was, and even then, the Burgundian army of this last phase of the Hundred Years War was much better than the one Earl Warwick himself had defeated at Meaux and saw Henry V defeat at Montargis and at Orleans. The Burgundians still employed knights, but they were augmented by crossbowmen, pikemen and even handgunners. At Coullommiers, the English army suffered a defeat. It was not very severe, and in fact Earl Warwick showed remarkable skill in the retreat that followed, despite harrasment by the remaining rebel bands. Despite casualties, the English army soon regrouped and was as ready to stand firm as ever. And soon enough, news came of a victory in the south, where Humphrey Stafford, the Count of Perche, relieved Orleans. But it still was a defeat. Rebellions intensified, Burgundians pressed on, and the Dauphin, much like his father, went mad (the stress of preparing for and fighting so many "last, decisive battles" that turned out to be neither showed itself; as did, admittedly, genetics). He surrounded himself with mystics, including some mumbling holy idiot girl, Jeanne of Domremy, who was said to have contributed much to his insanity and influenced some of his decisions. Regardless, taking the English defeat at Coullommiers as a sign from above, the Dauphin retained enough good sense to understand that he needed to do something fast lest the Burgundians take over France themselves. And so he begun slaughtering noblemen and conscripting an army of newly-freed peasants, and with this army set out to once more attack Paris, followed by Jeanne and the others of his new "advisors". However, he quite obviously antagonized his nobility, which rebelled against him, while his peasant army melted away as it slowly slguged towards Orleans. Near it, the army was routed again and fell apart, Jeanne was raped and killed by some English knights, the other mystics ran away and the Dauphin himself disappeared, according to some becoming a hermit.
As for his young son Louis, he was tucked away by Georges de la Tremoille, an ambitious nobleman who then declared himself regent for "King Louis IX", and, along with his court allies, fled for the pretty safe county of Dauphine. From there, he soon entered negotiations with both the English and the Burgundians, using the young king as a bargaining card. And in the meantime, the rest of the lands held by the dead (or missing) Dauphin were falling apart, and the only reason the English did not take advantage of it was their busy struggle with Burgundy.
In 1430, the Burgundians, still led by Jean the Fearless, had finally crossed the Marne after a war of maneuver with the English. They were faced by the recovered Henry V at Le Pin. On the evening, as both armies readied for battle, it was unclear which of the great armies was to come out victorious. But as the sun rose, it suddenly became very obvious. For at morning, the Burgundians had found their old Grand Duke dead, having suffered a stroke in an incident oft-exaggerated by future playwrights. Some claim that it was a knife stroke, but really, Jean the Fearless was a very old man, and the stress of the coming battle proved too much for him. The leaders of the Burgundian army (which was, for once, not accompanied by the heir apparent, causing even more problems) immediately begun furiously debating as to what should be done now - whether they should give battle or retreat, or even surrender, and if they were to fight, what were they do exactly. While they bickered, the English struck, seeking to surprise their foe. The uncertainty that grasped the Burgundian commanders spread to the soldiers, and the English soon noticed it. Henry V also hesitated, considering this to be a trap, but finally made up his mind and struck out with his knights, outflanking the enemy and, with the support of his longbowmen, causing a rout. As for the commanders, many of them were captured altogether, not fleeing fast enough and instead trying to rally their troops.
When the news of this horrible defeat and the death of the Grand Duke reached Dijon and Brugges, it was obvious that a continued war was out of question. In theory, a new army could have been raised, but the new Grand Duke, Phillip III the Good, wanted to hear none of it. Negotiations with England soon begun, and the Burgundian diplomats managed to secure the minimal of losses - they gave to the Plantagenets the western half of Champagne that was considered rather untenable in the first place and a monetary contribution. Meanwhile, de la Tremoille contacted Henry V as well, and despite the latter's disgust, they soon worked out a deal, according to which Louis XI was to retain the country of Dauphine as a fully independent state, now styled a duchy, and all those of the nobles and courtiers who resisted the English rule (and were not yet executed, being deemed unworthy of that) were allowed to move there if they recognized de la Tremoille's regency. The pathetic remnants of the old Dauphin's treasury were also moved there, as were the shards of the Dauphinist army (the old one, not the peasant one). In exchange, Louis XI rejected all his claims to France west of the Rhone in the favour of Henry V and his lineage.
All that remained were the southern French lords that still refused to recognize the supreme English authority or even that of de la Tremoille and after they (or most of them, see below) were defeated (it took a lot of time because of all those castles), the disgruntled, displaced peasantry which waged a pretty fierce guerrila war that had to be stopped as well, but eventually, by 1437, the peasants wer also crushed. In the same year, the "Last Armagnac", Charles d'Bourbon, fell in battle during a desperate attack on some English troops with some of his followers, mostly from Bourbonnaise, with whom he previously waged a guerrila campaign of his own. For the sake of the name if not for anything else, this was declared the end of the Hundred Years War.
The above theory belongs to a few more-or-less confirmed madmen and some people they have misled. There are several reasons Cristoforo Colombo had no chance, despite his zealotic conviction - for one thing, nobody was about to support such a stupid scheme. The Avizes in Iberia had nothing to gain and much to lose if a western route were to be discovered, much like Venetian commerce was damaged by the Iberian discovery of the maritime eastern route to India in the first place; the Iberians would have risked being simply overwhelmed by hostile competition from the other countries on the Atlantic Seaboard. The Plantagenets were more interested in consolidating their empire and fighting off the various rebels. The Burgundian Valois were more interested, but in the end turned him down as well because the present king was more interested in war and shunned the very thought that money could be used in a manner unrelated to it; besides, Burgundian trade interests in India were not all that high.
Secondly, even if Colombo would have received state support for such an expedition, it was unlikely to reach Transoceania, as at the time the naval technology was too primitive to sail across all of the barren Atlantic Ocean. And thirdly, even had he reached Transoceania and returned to tell about it, it is unlikely that any permanent settlements could have been established there. It is now known that the Vikings had also reached Transoceania, but they too failed to hold on to it for too long. And even then, geopolitical situation at the time was not a one beneficient for serious development of Transoceania until much later.
Actually, perhaps that is what I should have started with - the geopolitical situation as of the very late 15th century, as the Age of Exploration begun. There exists a theory supported by many credible historians that one of the most important and defining events of the 15th century, and the one that, as we will see, delayed the discovery of Transoceania considerably through a variety of means, was the end of the Hundred Years War. It ended precisely a hundred years since it begun in 1337, but the final English victory was only assured in the 15th century itself. Since 1380, the war has quieted down due to the instability in both England and France, but by 1415, whereas Henry V - the Great - of England had already crushed the Lollards and the various noble conspiracies, France was in the throes of civil war between the Valois branches of Armagnac (supporters of the late Duke of Orleans) and the Burgundians (supporters of the Duke of Burgundy). Using this opportunity, Henry V extended claims to all the old Angevin possessions in France; when Charles VI, the mad king of France, or rather his Armagnac courtiers rejected the English demands, Henry V was already quite prepared to campaign.
It was during the ensuing war that he had confirmed his sobriquet "the Great". Immediately, he secured the neutrality, if not support, of the Burgundian Duke, Jean the Fearless. The English fleet secured predominance over the La Manche. At home, money was raised, and so was public enthusiasm, and finally, so was a new army that soon enough proved itself to be Europe's best. Immediately in 1415, the strategically-important Norman city of Harfleur was secured, and the English army confronted the French at Agincourt. Many have written, in detail, about the battle. Anyway, the English won, and it was one of history's most complete victories as the Armagnac forces were shattered. This victory elevated England, both in truth and in the eyes of the great powers. The Holy Roman Emperor, Sigismund I, signed an alliance and forced his Genoese allies to renege on their naval alliance with France; and together, they secured the election of Martin V as Pope, an event that will have important consequences later on.
But back in France, after Agincourt the Armagnacs no longer dared challenge the English army itself in a large battle, and thus had to keep falling back and wage a defensive war. Yet methodically and patiently, the English besieged the French fortresses and cities, and grinded away at hostile resistance. In 1419, a shattering defeat was suffered by the Armagnacs, as Rouen, one of France's largest cities, had fallen.
Yet the war was not yet over. Jean the Fearless was genuinely struck with fear (pun intended) as the English victory now seemed assured. That did not bode well for his own ambitions, as he had by then occupied the city of Paris itself, which Henry V certainly wanted for himself, having by then enlarged his claims to all of France. So in late 1419, the Dauphin Charles, who by then became a regent for his mad father, succesfully negotiated a pact of friendship with Jean the Fearless. The French civil war seemed over, as the Burgundians turned on the English.
But that proved insufficient. If anything, it damaged the Dauphin's prestige amongst the Armagnacs, who soon had a schism within their ranks, the more die-hard anti-Burgundians trying to get rid of the Duke no matter what the Dauphin says. Several assassination attempts were foiled, and this resulted in a growth of mis-trust between the Armagnacs and the Burgundians. A failure to forge an united strategy had followed, and the English retained the initiative. Back in Burgundy and the Burgundian Flanders, there was a growing pro-English faction, rallying around the Duke's heir apparent, Phillip the Good.
And Henry V, meanwhile, continued to win battles. He did not invade Flanders, to avoid antagonizing his sympathisers there. He did, however, march on Paris, and routed a Burgundian army outside of it, once more making good use of professional infantry, especially longbowmen against Burgundian knights. Paris was then seized with the help of traitors and advanced siege equipment, with the Dauphin, who had returned there after reconcilling with the Burgundians, fleeing back for Bourges and barely avoiding capture. Diplomatically, the English were also triumphant. Jean V of Brittany had then finally made up his mind, pledging support for Henry V. So had the French queen, Isabella of Bavaria, who, with her Troyes government, moved to Paris and recognized Henry V's claims, marrying off to him her daughter Catherine. Meanwhile, the Holy Roman Empire begun increasing the pressure on the Burgundian nobles...
In 1421, Henry V had laid siege to Orleans, having previously crushed the Burgundian army at Montargis. Again, problems of coordination prevented a joint Armagnac-Burgundian attack, the Armagnacs (contrary to the Dauphin's orders) instead waiting for the Burgundians to be slaughtered and THEN attacking. They, however, attacked too late and were similarily defeated. For Jean the Fearless, that was the last straw, but even had it not happened, it was increasingly obvious that things could not continue this way. Wounded at Montargis, he made the fateful decision to retreat with the remnants of his army to Burgundy, to Dijon where he was immediately approached by local magnates and nobles, and English and Imperial diplomats. Finally, they swayed him to break the "pact of friendship" with the Dauphin and instead to sign one with Henry V, and receive a recognition of the heretofore de facto independence of Burgundy, plus several eastern French territories. Reluctantly, he agreed.
And in the meantime, with the fall of Meaux in the north-east, the English were ready to concentrate their forces on the siege of Orleans. The stronghold of the Armagnacs, it was a well-defended fortress, and the English had no way to breach its walls even with their new cannons. The people and the garrison there were quite inspired, and stalwartly resisted the siege. Himself, the Dauphin had come to believe that the Siege of Orleans was to become a turning point if the Valois rule over France was to endure; not discouraged even by the Burgundian defection, he continued gathering all the forces he could find for the relief attack. Mercenaries, peasants, the Dauphin was desperate enough to try anything by now. He was further encouraged by a small victory, but victory nonetheless, at Chinon. In late 1422, the Battle at Ingre (west of Orleans) took place. The French force had operated quite well for once in this favourable terrain, and had some early successes, securing the village of Ingre itself (in part due to the English retreat from there to avoid being outflanked), and, despite heavy casualties, nearly forcing an English retreat, if not even a rout. But Henry V rallied his forces and drove off the French attackers. As the enemies fell back, arrows chased them, turning this retreat into a rout, which was made even worse when English knights crushed into the rear of the enemies just as the Dauphin had attempted to rally them. The Dauphin himself was soon captured, and signed the Treaty of Orleans (by then, the demoralized, starved city fell) in 1423, confirming Henry V as the heir to the French crown (Charles VI having already died by then), but allowing an independent Grand Duchy of Burgundy to exist in the east, from now on incorporating Champagne and the Ardennes, and letting the Dauphin keep southern France sans Aquitaine as a vassal of Henry V of England and II of France.
Yet this was, in truth, yet another of the many lulls in the war. Henry V knew it all too well, and used the time to consolidate his hold on France and befriend the local nobility; in that later aim, he was not too succesful, but he did find allies amongst the North French magnates, who were, with his help, undergoing a genuine renaissance. Crafts and trade (especially with England, ofcourse) boomed in the English-held territory. But the Armagnac (or, rather, Dauphinist - the Armagnacs themselves were decimated by then) south was also recovering, while Burgundy was even more prospering than England, and the aging Grand Duke was ever more convinced that a new war was in order. And he prepared well for it, reforming the Burgundian army and making it more-infantry based. Indeed, the Burgundian defeats were, perhaps, a blessing in disguise, as Jean the Fearless was now able to strenghthen his personal authority and curb the power of the greatly weakened and discredited feudals. In his centralizing reforms, he relied ever more on the Flemish magnates; from their cities, the new Burgundian infantry was raised, and they promised him war funds, themselves hoping to weaken and replace the burstling English commerce that was an ever more dangerous competition for them. Attempts to sign a secret pact with the Dauphin failed, however, as the Dauphin did not want to share power with anybody if he were to retake the French crown (and that, ofcourse, was his intention). He too was preparing for war, though he did not have the resources available to Jean. Everybody was only waiting for anything wrong to happen for the English.
They were in luck in 1428, more in luck than they had even dared to think of hoping. In the same year, Henry V suddenly fell ill with a fever in Paris (some say that his feverish activity to strenghthen the realm was the cause), and according to the rumours was on the brink of death, while in the countryside around Paris and Orleans, severe peasant risings took place, incited by the Dauphinists who made good use of the war-time devastation that was not fully alleviated yet. Immediately, the Dauphin reneged on the Treaty of Orleans, declaring Henry V unfit to rule due to his condition and declaring that his successors were not entitled to the royal French title. The Dauphin's forces immediately set out for Orleans, where the English forces, harrased by the peasants, were unable to stop him from commencing a siege. Henry V, who had not died after all, ignored his advisors and took personal command of the forces there, and at first set out to fight the Dauphin when Jean the Fearless also extended his claims to the French crown, being, after all, a Valois, and having not formally resigned his rights, unlike the Dauphin. The Burgundians were clearly a much more serious threat, as they beiseged Calais and marched towards Paris itself. Their fleet, however, was defeated by the English one at the Strait of Dover.
Henry V at first intended to lead troops into combat against the Burgundians, but as he was once more bed-bound by a resurgence of his fever, he instead ordered Earl Warwick. A competent commander, Earl Warwick was not quite the genius Henry V was, and even then, the Burgundian army of this last phase of the Hundred Years War was much better than the one Earl Warwick himself had defeated at Meaux and saw Henry V defeat at Montargis and at Orleans. The Burgundians still employed knights, but they were augmented by crossbowmen, pikemen and even handgunners. At Coullommiers, the English army suffered a defeat. It was not very severe, and in fact Earl Warwick showed remarkable skill in the retreat that followed, despite harrasment by the remaining rebel bands. Despite casualties, the English army soon regrouped and was as ready to stand firm as ever. And soon enough, news came of a victory in the south, where Humphrey Stafford, the Count of Perche, relieved Orleans. But it still was a defeat. Rebellions intensified, Burgundians pressed on, and the Dauphin, much like his father, went mad (the stress of preparing for and fighting so many "last, decisive battles" that turned out to be neither showed itself; as did, admittedly, genetics). He surrounded himself with mystics, including some mumbling holy idiot girl, Jeanne of Domremy, who was said to have contributed much to his insanity and influenced some of his decisions. Regardless, taking the English defeat at Coullommiers as a sign from above, the Dauphin retained enough good sense to understand that he needed to do something fast lest the Burgundians take over France themselves. And so he begun slaughtering noblemen and conscripting an army of newly-freed peasants, and with this army set out to once more attack Paris, followed by Jeanne and the others of his new "advisors". However, he quite obviously antagonized his nobility, which rebelled against him, while his peasant army melted away as it slowly slguged towards Orleans. Near it, the army was routed again and fell apart, Jeanne was raped and killed by some English knights, the other mystics ran away and the Dauphin himself disappeared, according to some becoming a hermit.
As for his young son Louis, he was tucked away by Georges de la Tremoille, an ambitious nobleman who then declared himself regent for "King Louis IX", and, along with his court allies, fled for the pretty safe county of Dauphine. From there, he soon entered negotiations with both the English and the Burgundians, using the young king as a bargaining card. And in the meantime, the rest of the lands held by the dead (or missing) Dauphin were falling apart, and the only reason the English did not take advantage of it was their busy struggle with Burgundy.
In 1430, the Burgundians, still led by Jean the Fearless, had finally crossed the Marne after a war of maneuver with the English. They were faced by the recovered Henry V at Le Pin. On the evening, as both armies readied for battle, it was unclear which of the great armies was to come out victorious. But as the sun rose, it suddenly became very obvious. For at morning, the Burgundians had found their old Grand Duke dead, having suffered a stroke in an incident oft-exaggerated by future playwrights. Some claim that it was a knife stroke, but really, Jean the Fearless was a very old man, and the stress of the coming battle proved too much for him. The leaders of the Burgundian army (which was, for once, not accompanied by the heir apparent, causing even more problems) immediately begun furiously debating as to what should be done now - whether they should give battle or retreat, or even surrender, and if they were to fight, what were they do exactly. While they bickered, the English struck, seeking to surprise their foe. The uncertainty that grasped the Burgundian commanders spread to the soldiers, and the English soon noticed it. Henry V also hesitated, considering this to be a trap, but finally made up his mind and struck out with his knights, outflanking the enemy and, with the support of his longbowmen, causing a rout. As for the commanders, many of them were captured altogether, not fleeing fast enough and instead trying to rally their troops.
When the news of this horrible defeat and the death of the Grand Duke reached Dijon and Brugges, it was obvious that a continued war was out of question. In theory, a new army could have been raised, but the new Grand Duke, Phillip III the Good, wanted to hear none of it. Negotiations with England soon begun, and the Burgundian diplomats managed to secure the minimal of losses - they gave to the Plantagenets the western half of Champagne that was considered rather untenable in the first place and a monetary contribution. Meanwhile, de la Tremoille contacted Henry V as well, and despite the latter's disgust, they soon worked out a deal, according to which Louis XI was to retain the country of Dauphine as a fully independent state, now styled a duchy, and all those of the nobles and courtiers who resisted the English rule (and were not yet executed, being deemed unworthy of that) were allowed to move there if they recognized de la Tremoille's regency. The pathetic remnants of the old Dauphin's treasury were also moved there, as were the shards of the Dauphinist army (the old one, not the peasant one). In exchange, Louis XI rejected all his claims to France west of the Rhone in the favour of Henry V and his lineage.
All that remained were the southern French lords that still refused to recognize the supreme English authority or even that of de la Tremoille and after they (or most of them, see below) were defeated (it took a lot of time because of all those castles), the disgruntled, displaced peasantry which waged a pretty fierce guerrila war that had to be stopped as well, but eventually, by 1437, the peasants wer also crushed. In the same year, the "Last Armagnac", Charles d'Bourbon, fell in battle during a desperate attack on some English troops with some of his followers, mostly from Bourbonnaise, with whom he previously waged a guerrila campaign of his own. For the sake of the name if not for anything else, this was declared the end of the Hundred Years War.
das
Regeneration In Process
Now, all this had much influence on many, many things in the 15th century and beyond it. For start, there was the obvious geopolitical change - a vast Plantagenet Empire was now uniting England and much of France, and it was only getting stronger over time as the anarchy in the south ended and Henry V received more support from the nobility and the magnates alike. On the other hand, this distracted English attention from Ireland and Scotland, giving these countries time to prepare in the event of the English turning their eyes back north. Burgundy, despite Jean the Fearless' unsuccesful military adventures, still was quite rich and strong, increasingly turning into an unitary state under the very capable Phillip III. Its complicated relations with England were compensated by good and improving relations with the ascendant House of Habsburg, which the Burgundians have greatly assisted against the rebellious Swiss cantons (albeit not out of sheer altruism - the Swiss were as much of a threat for the Burgundian ambitions as they were a frustrating nuisance for the Habsburgs), which by 1480 were forced back into the fold. And finally, there was de la Tremoille's Dauphine, a most peculiar state with an utterly unclear status and diplomatic relations, and the shards of the French army that was quite good by Italian standards (for Dauphine belonged to Italy geographically more to anything else), if not overwhelmingly so. But more on it later.
This geopolitical change also brought with it an economical one, especially, ofcourse, in the field of commerce. English trade was diverted from the North Sea, instead strenghthening in France. Burgundy, after the war, underwent a commercial decline, but recouped losses due to the rise of crafts and the riverine, especially Rhenish, commerce. But most importantly, French trade in the Mediterranean was crippled as the French merchants were diverted towards trade with Burgundy and England, creating a vacuum that was filled by the Catalan traders. More about the Mediterranean later - it was affected by other events, also connected to the Hundred Years War and especially to its outcome.
You see, Henry the Great had inadvertly triggered with some of his pretty unconnected actions an event of global significance. By supporting the election of Martin V as Pope, by eliminating the Valois France that was always one of the largest challenges to the authority of the Church, its kings constantly seeking greater religious autonomy (OOC: basically, this means no Gallicanism and no Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges that in OTL crippled Papal authority within France) and by personally drawing on the support of the Papacy against his domestic opponents, he triggered the Catholic Renaissance. That term has been associated with both the flowering of arts and sciences (especially theology) in most of Europe that begun anew in the late 15th century after an interruption caused by the Black Death and with the revival of the Catholic Church itself. It is believed that, indeed, it has started with an action of Henry V himself, in concert with the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund I. Together, they and the other delegates at the four-year (1414-1418) Council of Constance deposed the three Popes that were, at the time, perpetuating the Great Western Schism - John XXIII (who first had to be tracked down and captured, after his flight from Constance), Benedict XIII and Gregory XII, instead enforcing the election of the nonentity Oddone Colonna as Pope Martin V. However shaky, it was the first step to the Catholic Renaissance. The second was taken with the condemnation of Wycliff's old reformist demands and Jan Hus' new ones; unfortunately, Wycliff was already dead, but Jan Hus wasn't and thus was promptly burned down. The Conciliar Theory, which called for the supremacy of church councils over the Pope, was also rebuffed.
The true Catholic Renaissance came under Martin V's successor - Eugenius IV, formerly Gabriele Condulmer. Definitely one of the greatest Popes altogether, and THE greatest of all the 15th century Popes, Eugenius immediately upon his ascendance in 1431 cracked down on Martin's Colonna relations that took over many Papal lands and positions in the Catholic hierarchy. He took stern measures against all other corrupt elements as well, and enforced reforms in the monastic orders, particularily the Franciscan one. He also greatly influenced the war on the Hussites; although the crusading efforts of Cardinal Cesarini in Bohemia resulted in disaster, Eugenius IV, using the classical carrot-and-stick methods, managed to get an alliance with the moderate Hussites, or the Utraquists, who agreed to rejoin the Catholic Church if they keep the right to communion of both kinds, one of the key Hussite dogmas (it was later taken away anyway, but who cares). The Bohemian League of Utraquists and Catholics was formed and supported by Sigismund I, who, de jure, was the king of Bohemia and thus the archnemesis of the Hussites. This League defeated the radical Hussite - or Taborite - forces at Lipany in 1434, ending the Hussite Wars. Sigismund I was promptly recognized as king and died happy in 1437.
The reunion with the Utraquists was, however, but one of the issues discussed in the Council of Basel. One of the others was the conciliarist attempt to enforce the acceptance of the Conciliar Theory. Long story cut short, it failed - Eugenius IV simply dismissed the Council of Basel and moved with most of the people there to Ferrara, and later - to Florence. The conciliarists tried to restart the schism, but were promptly persuaded not to do that by Sigismund I and the aging Henry V. Meanwhile, in Florence, Eugenius IV had done the thing for which alone he could be declared one of the greatest Popes ever. In 1439, with the support of Henry V and Albert II (OOC: the first Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor and incidentally the king of Hungary, who owing to butterfly effect and the somewhat different course of the Council did not die in 1439 while campaigning against the Turks), and with a forcefully-reunited, strong Church behind him, he negotiated with the various Orthodox churches, most notably the Greek, the Armenian and the Russian, a reunion to end the Great Schism between the Catholic and the Orthodox churches. The Armenians, retaining some autonomy and some differences, generally agreed to take some ambigous steps towards a reunion. The Russians, despite initial acceptance, later - after the council itself - split quite badly until Vasily II the Dark of Muscovy had agreed to take an even more ambigous position, whilst avoiding making a firm commitment or rejecting the reunion straight out. The Greeks were the most important - after all, Constantinople was the de facto center of the Orthodox faith - and the least difficult for Eugenius to persuade to join his scheme. By then less than a shadow of its former self, all the Byzantine Empire had kept was prestige, influence and the prosperous city of Constantinople which, however, was surrounded by the Ottomans who were casting ever-more-greedy eyes upon it. The Byzantine Emperor, Ioann VIII Palaeologus, knew he had no way to survive without the Catholic backing. And so he, himself coming to Florence, enforced an union with the Catholics, having worked out a few fairly succesful compromises, such as the replacement of the "filioque" with "ex filio". In exchange for that, he got promises of help. And eventually, help as well.
This reunion strenghthened the Italian commerce in the Eastern Mediterranean further, at the expense of the Western. The aforementioned crippling of French trade there has contributed to the great strenghthening of Aragon. The Aragonese soon secured the assistance of the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, and thus were able to gain the Kingdom of Naples after Papal support resolved the issue of uncertain succession there, and thus the southern half of Italy was in Aragonese hands, as was, but for the Genoese and the Berbers, all of the Western Mediterranean. In the Eastern Mediterranean, meanwhile, the Ottomans were also becoming ever-stronger, and were tightening their grip around Constantinople as well as in the Balkans where by 1440 both Serbia and Wallachia were reduced to Turkish vassal states. Eugenius IV did not renege on his promise; he organized anti-Turkish crusades which were met with particular enthusiasm in Hungary, which was at the time ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. The German princes, the Venetians and the Poles supported it as well, and at a later point, Wallachians, Serbs and Skanderbeg's Albanians rose up against the Ottomans as well. One of the heroes of that war was the great Hungarian commander Janos Hunyadi, who defeated the Ottomans at Nish, allowing Serbia to rise up. The Ottomans nonetheless resisted competently. Murad II rallied his forces and stopped the crusaders at Pleven, although his victory there was indecisive as Janos Hunyadi and Albert II soon marched to Sofia. The Turks tried to stop them at Kostinbrod outside of the city, but were defeated before Murad II could arrive with his forces. However, with more reinforcements, the Sultan and Chandarli Khalil Pasha managed to semi-encircle and shatter the crusaders at Sofia itself with a well-planned multi-pronged attack, the only commanders that did not suffer a total defeat being Janos Hunyadi and Skanderbeg, both of whom, despite holding out against the flanking Turks of Khalil Pasha on the right flank of the crusader army (but still failing to make their own flank move that was intended to win the battle), soon had to retreat. Skanderbeg went on to wage a guerrila war in Albania; as for Janos Hunyadi, despite the defeat he returned to Hungary as a hero. A one that was sorely needed, for Albert had perished in battle. Ladislas V, the son of Albert II, came to power in Hungary, but as he still was extremelly young (four years old), Ulrich of Cilli, incidentally the archenemy of Janos Hunyadi, had de facto power as the governor of Hungary (in the king's name, ofcourse). Very unfortunately, soon after Janos' return said Ulrich died in mystirious circumstances, and power fell to corrupt, power-hungry nobles and magnates who upset all hope for a new crusade. Having gathered an army of his retainers and some mercenaries, Janos set out to "convince" them of the need for strong rule, and particularily for the kind that only he could provide. Sure enough, he soon became the Hungarian governor in Ulrich's stead and finally signed a truce with the Ottomans, according to which Serbia (under Durad Brankovic) and Wallachia (under Vlad II Dracul) received independence. The Albanians, however, struggled on, assisted by the Pope, the Venetians and the sudden death of Murad II in 1449 after several unsuccesful campaigns there. Naively, the Europeans sighed with relief as their direst enemy thus far has expired. Very naively, for his son, Mehmed II, soon proved to be even worse a threat to Christendom than his father - ruthless, brilliant and still quite young and healthy, he was, to boot, very, very ambitious, and immediately set about to the task of rebuilding his army. By 1455, he had already subdued the Karamanids once and for all after a lenghty campaign, prolonged by having to fight Skanderbeg and Dracula back in Europe and by Venetian meddling, and thus had freed up the Turkish forces for a new Balkan campaign. But he did not yet intend to fight the Serbs (whom he had succesfully alienated from the Hungarians), or even the Wallachians or the Serbs - he knew that, as long as the Turkish supremacy in the Straits was challengeable, as long as the Venetian commerce could go through the Black Sea and across it all the way to India across the Silk Route, as long as there was a thorn in the side of the Ottoman Balkan possessions, in other words, Constantinople held out, there would be no real hope for a long-term victory. If it were to hold out, the Venetians would have, with their naval might, been able to eventually separate the European part of the Sultanate from the Asian one, and thusly destroy it.
For their part, the Venetians knew all too well that if Constantinople were to fall to the Turks, they might never recover from that blow. Thanks to traitors and spies, they had learned of Mehmed's intentions, and begun taking precautions - for instance, warning the Byzantines, and gathering a fleet on Crete.
Yet Mehmed II knew better than to think that his intentions will remain a secret, much less that the Venetians will be an easy prey. He worked to build up a new, powerful Turkish fleet, but realized that it would not be enough to defeat the Venetians. In a somewhat risky move, he contacted the Genoese. Said Genoese were theoretically at least perfectly willing to sign an alliance (and a trade agreement) with the Devil if that would have helped them against the Venetians. Mehmed II was slightly worse than Devil, being Turkish, but in the end, the Genoese agreed, in exchange for maintenance of all their trade priveleges in Constantinople and retention of Galata, to assist the Turks by distracting the Venetians, whilst the Genoese troops in Galata were to, if not assist the Turks, then maintain strict neutrality. Yet that was not enough. Mehmed II also knew that a long siege would do him no good, as the crusaders will take advantage of the Turkish concentration around Constantinople, whereas although he was very confident in his Janissaries and his artillery, he still was quite awed by the strenght of the Byzantine walls. A donkey loaded with gold could take any fortress, as was said; but Mehmed II knew an even more powerful siege weapon - grudge. The present Emperor, Constantine XI, was fairly popular, but his strict commitment to the decisions of the Council of Florence undermined his popularity and won him enemies in the die-hard Orthodox circles, where an opinion was spreading that even the Ottomans (who since the Council of Florence became even more tolerant towards the Orthodox Church, using the remaining anti-Florentine elements in it to bolster his prestige in the Balkans) were better than subservience to the Pope.
In 1456, King Ladislaus V, having recently come of age, died. Although Janos Hunyadi was able to keep order, it was clear that the Hungarian magnates and noblemen did not want another Habsburg; neither did Hunyadi. The Habsburgs did not agree, however. The situation was further complicated by the Jagiellon claim on Hungary. For a moment, indeed, it seemed as if Hungary was to become a battlefield of Habsburgs (who, by the way, ascended to the Bohemian throne in the face of Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich III) and Jagiellons. Now, soon after that little moment the Habsburgs and the Jagiellons and their supporters agreed to a compromise by electing a neutral candidate, Janos I Hunyadi, founder of the Hunyadi Dynasty. But before that agreement took place, the war begun with Mehmed II's investment of Constantinople. For disinformation (and just in case something goes wrong), he begun preparing for a long siege; the former part, at least, had worked, as the Venetian fleet set out to relieve Constantinople... and suddenly came under Genoese attack, as Genoa made its desperate bid to get back at the Venetians. Surprised, the Venetians were defeated badly in the Battle at Gokceada, and the relief attempt had to be cancelled. And meanwhile, the anti-Florentine Orthodoxals begun their rebellion in Constantinople; Constantine, after nearly dying during his attempt to reason with them, ordered a brutal suppression, but it was too late - Orthodoxal supporters in the garrison opened the gates, in yet another moment that will later be greatly exaggerated by playwrights. Oh, sure, Constantine immediately reacted; sure, his troops immediately held up the Turkish advance into the city; sure, the traitors were soon slaughtered by their own comrades in the garrison; sure, sure, the Byzantine garrison still was ready to - and still did - fight to the last drop of blood. That did not matter, for slightly over six thousand men were attacked by one hundred thousand, the former having with them only high morale to counter the numbers, the training, the leadership, the weaponry, the organization and also the high morale of the latter. The Ottomans carried the day. The city was looted for three days and nights, save for Hagia Sophia, Galata and a few quarters populated by the surviving anti-Florentines.
Mehmed II immediately moved to consolidate his victory, finding good allies amongst the anti-Florentines, especially in the clergy. A new Patriarch of Constantinople was appointed by him; this position was to become the one most associated with Orthodox collaborationism with the Ottomans, and for a good reason. Hagia Sophia became a mosque, but all other Orthodox churches were left alone, as Mehmed II intended to not just win over the Orthodoxals to his side, but to keep them there as well. Ideas of an Ottoman-led Islamic revival of the Roman Empire were propagandized, especially through Mehmed's Greek court historian, Critobulus of Imbros. Mehmed himself assumed the title of Kayser-i Rum.
But it would be foolish to say that the late Eugenius IV's efforts went to waste with that. Although Constantinople rapidly reverted back to Orthodoxy, and in some isolated cases even converted to Islam, many Catholic refugees fled, fled for Italy where they bolstered the Catholic Renaissance. Armenia retained some of the Florentine agreements, and the Serbian clergy has also recognized the reunion. Under the Polish-Lithuanian royal pressure, the Patriarch of Kiev had also recognized the decisions of the Council of Florence, although this later caused problems with the newly-appointed Patriarch of Moscow. And the Greek clergymen in, well, Greece, in many cases (though not in their majority) continued to be pro-Florentine, especially in Morea.
Meanwhile, the present Pope, an Aragonese by the name of Alfonso de Borja (as Pope, Calixtus III), worked feverishly to gather a new anti-Ottoman coalition, despite his old age. He got the support of Janos Hunyadi and the traditional Balkan allies of the crusaders in Albania, Serbia and Wallachia; Poland-Lithuania, however, at the time was ruled by Casimir IV, who was too busy struggling against the various rebels and the crumbling Teutonic Order to send any support to this new anti-Turkish crusade. Venice was a natural supporter, as were the Morean despots who refused to surrender to Mehmed II. What infuriated the Pope and the Venetians most was the Genoese treachery, ofcourse. The Genoese thought that the Pope would not dare actually excommunicate them, due to their financial influence; but Calixtus signed a new agreement with the Medici family in Florence, who agreed to become the new creditors of the Papacy; then the Aragonese Pope contacted King Alfonso V of Aragon, from whose court he had come and who was, to boot, a born crusader with a grudge against the perfidious Genoa. The Pope excommunicated the ruling Genoese oligarchs, and recognized the newly-extended Aragonese claims to "Corsica and Liguria". With the Venetian assistance, the Aragonese soon crushed the Genoese fleet off Corsica, and using the perennial anarchy on the island to quickly secure it. An assault on Genoa itself in 1457, however, failed - the Genoese had prepared well and drove off the invaders.
Back in the Balkans, the Turks were now free to press on. The Serbian-Hungarian forces were beaten badly in the Second Battle of Kosovo Pole, and Durad Brankovic perished soon after, allowing the Turks to finally conquer Serbia. Despite Venetian and local Latin and Byzantine resistance (poorly-coordinated, it must be said), the Ottomans also overran practically all of mainland Greece by 1458, and in Anatolia enforced tributary status on Trebzond. The sparkling new Ottoman fleet then scored a great victory over the Venetians at Euboea, securing temporary naval supremacy in the Aegean, although the Siege of Rhodes had to be raised eventually due to fierce resistance of the Knights Hospitaller. In Albania, the Ottomans were faced with a guerrila war led by Skanderbeg and assisted by the Venetians; but things were even worse in Wallachia, where Vlad III Dracula, a member of the declining, but still famous (in the Ottoman Empire - infamous) anti-Turkish Societas Draconistrarum, routed an entire Ottoman army, using a guerrila war to exhaust it, impaled corpses of his domestic enemies and captured Turks to demoralize it and a final night attack to destroy it and capture Chandarli Halil Pasha (who was promptly impaled as well, along with all the other captured Turks, and arranged at the main bridges and crossings over the River Danube across which the Turks had invaded Wallachia).
In 1459, Hungary was yet again foiled by its domestic problems, as Janos Hunyadi died of old age. His son Laszlo II took power, but had problems controlling Hungary, coming immediately under attack of the magnates who demanded greater powers. His brother Matthias, however, persuaded Laszlo to take a firm stance; in the end, Laszlo succesfully defended his power and priveleges, but Hungary was paralyzed by this for the year and much of 1460. Meanwhile, Mehmed II consolidated his gains and launched a methodic elimination of Albanian resistance. The important castle of Berat was captured, and Skanderbeg was forced to flee for the northern part of the country; it was captured over the two years in a fairly costly, but succesful campaign. Having rooted out resistance in Greece as well, Mehmed II was now ready for his most ambitious undertaking - the Italian campaign.
This geopolitical change also brought with it an economical one, especially, ofcourse, in the field of commerce. English trade was diverted from the North Sea, instead strenghthening in France. Burgundy, after the war, underwent a commercial decline, but recouped losses due to the rise of crafts and the riverine, especially Rhenish, commerce. But most importantly, French trade in the Mediterranean was crippled as the French merchants were diverted towards trade with Burgundy and England, creating a vacuum that was filled by the Catalan traders. More about the Mediterranean later - it was affected by other events, also connected to the Hundred Years War and especially to its outcome.
You see, Henry the Great had inadvertly triggered with some of his pretty unconnected actions an event of global significance. By supporting the election of Martin V as Pope, by eliminating the Valois France that was always one of the largest challenges to the authority of the Church, its kings constantly seeking greater religious autonomy (OOC: basically, this means no Gallicanism and no Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges that in OTL crippled Papal authority within France) and by personally drawing on the support of the Papacy against his domestic opponents, he triggered the Catholic Renaissance. That term has been associated with both the flowering of arts and sciences (especially theology) in most of Europe that begun anew in the late 15th century after an interruption caused by the Black Death and with the revival of the Catholic Church itself. It is believed that, indeed, it has started with an action of Henry V himself, in concert with the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund I. Together, they and the other delegates at the four-year (1414-1418) Council of Constance deposed the three Popes that were, at the time, perpetuating the Great Western Schism - John XXIII (who first had to be tracked down and captured, after his flight from Constance), Benedict XIII and Gregory XII, instead enforcing the election of the nonentity Oddone Colonna as Pope Martin V. However shaky, it was the first step to the Catholic Renaissance. The second was taken with the condemnation of Wycliff's old reformist demands and Jan Hus' new ones; unfortunately, Wycliff was already dead, but Jan Hus wasn't and thus was promptly burned down. The Conciliar Theory, which called for the supremacy of church councils over the Pope, was also rebuffed.
The true Catholic Renaissance came under Martin V's successor - Eugenius IV, formerly Gabriele Condulmer. Definitely one of the greatest Popes altogether, and THE greatest of all the 15th century Popes, Eugenius immediately upon his ascendance in 1431 cracked down on Martin's Colonna relations that took over many Papal lands and positions in the Catholic hierarchy. He took stern measures against all other corrupt elements as well, and enforced reforms in the monastic orders, particularily the Franciscan one. He also greatly influenced the war on the Hussites; although the crusading efforts of Cardinal Cesarini in Bohemia resulted in disaster, Eugenius IV, using the classical carrot-and-stick methods, managed to get an alliance with the moderate Hussites, or the Utraquists, who agreed to rejoin the Catholic Church if they keep the right to communion of both kinds, one of the key Hussite dogmas (it was later taken away anyway, but who cares). The Bohemian League of Utraquists and Catholics was formed and supported by Sigismund I, who, de jure, was the king of Bohemia and thus the archnemesis of the Hussites. This League defeated the radical Hussite - or Taborite - forces at Lipany in 1434, ending the Hussite Wars. Sigismund I was promptly recognized as king and died happy in 1437.
The reunion with the Utraquists was, however, but one of the issues discussed in the Council of Basel. One of the others was the conciliarist attempt to enforce the acceptance of the Conciliar Theory. Long story cut short, it failed - Eugenius IV simply dismissed the Council of Basel and moved with most of the people there to Ferrara, and later - to Florence. The conciliarists tried to restart the schism, but were promptly persuaded not to do that by Sigismund I and the aging Henry V. Meanwhile, in Florence, Eugenius IV had done the thing for which alone he could be declared one of the greatest Popes ever. In 1439, with the support of Henry V and Albert II (OOC: the first Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor and incidentally the king of Hungary, who owing to butterfly effect and the somewhat different course of the Council did not die in 1439 while campaigning against the Turks), and with a forcefully-reunited, strong Church behind him, he negotiated with the various Orthodox churches, most notably the Greek, the Armenian and the Russian, a reunion to end the Great Schism between the Catholic and the Orthodox churches. The Armenians, retaining some autonomy and some differences, generally agreed to take some ambigous steps towards a reunion. The Russians, despite initial acceptance, later - after the council itself - split quite badly until Vasily II the Dark of Muscovy had agreed to take an even more ambigous position, whilst avoiding making a firm commitment or rejecting the reunion straight out. The Greeks were the most important - after all, Constantinople was the de facto center of the Orthodox faith - and the least difficult for Eugenius to persuade to join his scheme. By then less than a shadow of its former self, all the Byzantine Empire had kept was prestige, influence and the prosperous city of Constantinople which, however, was surrounded by the Ottomans who were casting ever-more-greedy eyes upon it. The Byzantine Emperor, Ioann VIII Palaeologus, knew he had no way to survive without the Catholic backing. And so he, himself coming to Florence, enforced an union with the Catholics, having worked out a few fairly succesful compromises, such as the replacement of the "filioque" with "ex filio". In exchange for that, he got promises of help. And eventually, help as well.
This reunion strenghthened the Italian commerce in the Eastern Mediterranean further, at the expense of the Western. The aforementioned crippling of French trade there has contributed to the great strenghthening of Aragon. The Aragonese soon secured the assistance of the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, and thus were able to gain the Kingdom of Naples after Papal support resolved the issue of uncertain succession there, and thus the southern half of Italy was in Aragonese hands, as was, but for the Genoese and the Berbers, all of the Western Mediterranean. In the Eastern Mediterranean, meanwhile, the Ottomans were also becoming ever-stronger, and were tightening their grip around Constantinople as well as in the Balkans where by 1440 both Serbia and Wallachia were reduced to Turkish vassal states. Eugenius IV did not renege on his promise; he organized anti-Turkish crusades which were met with particular enthusiasm in Hungary, which was at the time ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. The German princes, the Venetians and the Poles supported it as well, and at a later point, Wallachians, Serbs and Skanderbeg's Albanians rose up against the Ottomans as well. One of the heroes of that war was the great Hungarian commander Janos Hunyadi, who defeated the Ottomans at Nish, allowing Serbia to rise up. The Ottomans nonetheless resisted competently. Murad II rallied his forces and stopped the crusaders at Pleven, although his victory there was indecisive as Janos Hunyadi and Albert II soon marched to Sofia. The Turks tried to stop them at Kostinbrod outside of the city, but were defeated before Murad II could arrive with his forces. However, with more reinforcements, the Sultan and Chandarli Khalil Pasha managed to semi-encircle and shatter the crusaders at Sofia itself with a well-planned multi-pronged attack, the only commanders that did not suffer a total defeat being Janos Hunyadi and Skanderbeg, both of whom, despite holding out against the flanking Turks of Khalil Pasha on the right flank of the crusader army (but still failing to make their own flank move that was intended to win the battle), soon had to retreat. Skanderbeg went on to wage a guerrila war in Albania; as for Janos Hunyadi, despite the defeat he returned to Hungary as a hero. A one that was sorely needed, for Albert had perished in battle. Ladislas V, the son of Albert II, came to power in Hungary, but as he still was extremelly young (four years old), Ulrich of Cilli, incidentally the archenemy of Janos Hunyadi, had de facto power as the governor of Hungary (in the king's name, ofcourse). Very unfortunately, soon after Janos' return said Ulrich died in mystirious circumstances, and power fell to corrupt, power-hungry nobles and magnates who upset all hope for a new crusade. Having gathered an army of his retainers and some mercenaries, Janos set out to "convince" them of the need for strong rule, and particularily for the kind that only he could provide. Sure enough, he soon became the Hungarian governor in Ulrich's stead and finally signed a truce with the Ottomans, according to which Serbia (under Durad Brankovic) and Wallachia (under Vlad II Dracul) received independence. The Albanians, however, struggled on, assisted by the Pope, the Venetians and the sudden death of Murad II in 1449 after several unsuccesful campaigns there. Naively, the Europeans sighed with relief as their direst enemy thus far has expired. Very naively, for his son, Mehmed II, soon proved to be even worse a threat to Christendom than his father - ruthless, brilliant and still quite young and healthy, he was, to boot, very, very ambitious, and immediately set about to the task of rebuilding his army. By 1455, he had already subdued the Karamanids once and for all after a lenghty campaign, prolonged by having to fight Skanderbeg and Dracula back in Europe and by Venetian meddling, and thus had freed up the Turkish forces for a new Balkan campaign. But he did not yet intend to fight the Serbs (whom he had succesfully alienated from the Hungarians), or even the Wallachians or the Serbs - he knew that, as long as the Turkish supremacy in the Straits was challengeable, as long as the Venetian commerce could go through the Black Sea and across it all the way to India across the Silk Route, as long as there was a thorn in the side of the Ottoman Balkan possessions, in other words, Constantinople held out, there would be no real hope for a long-term victory. If it were to hold out, the Venetians would have, with their naval might, been able to eventually separate the European part of the Sultanate from the Asian one, and thusly destroy it.
For their part, the Venetians knew all too well that if Constantinople were to fall to the Turks, they might never recover from that blow. Thanks to traitors and spies, they had learned of Mehmed's intentions, and begun taking precautions - for instance, warning the Byzantines, and gathering a fleet on Crete.
Yet Mehmed II knew better than to think that his intentions will remain a secret, much less that the Venetians will be an easy prey. He worked to build up a new, powerful Turkish fleet, but realized that it would not be enough to defeat the Venetians. In a somewhat risky move, he contacted the Genoese. Said Genoese were theoretically at least perfectly willing to sign an alliance (and a trade agreement) with the Devil if that would have helped them against the Venetians. Mehmed II was slightly worse than Devil, being Turkish, but in the end, the Genoese agreed, in exchange for maintenance of all their trade priveleges in Constantinople and retention of Galata, to assist the Turks by distracting the Venetians, whilst the Genoese troops in Galata were to, if not assist the Turks, then maintain strict neutrality. Yet that was not enough. Mehmed II also knew that a long siege would do him no good, as the crusaders will take advantage of the Turkish concentration around Constantinople, whereas although he was very confident in his Janissaries and his artillery, he still was quite awed by the strenght of the Byzantine walls. A donkey loaded with gold could take any fortress, as was said; but Mehmed II knew an even more powerful siege weapon - grudge. The present Emperor, Constantine XI, was fairly popular, but his strict commitment to the decisions of the Council of Florence undermined his popularity and won him enemies in the die-hard Orthodox circles, where an opinion was spreading that even the Ottomans (who since the Council of Florence became even more tolerant towards the Orthodox Church, using the remaining anti-Florentine elements in it to bolster his prestige in the Balkans) were better than subservience to the Pope.
In 1456, King Ladislaus V, having recently come of age, died. Although Janos Hunyadi was able to keep order, it was clear that the Hungarian magnates and noblemen did not want another Habsburg; neither did Hunyadi. The Habsburgs did not agree, however. The situation was further complicated by the Jagiellon claim on Hungary. For a moment, indeed, it seemed as if Hungary was to become a battlefield of Habsburgs (who, by the way, ascended to the Bohemian throne in the face of Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich III) and Jagiellons. Now, soon after that little moment the Habsburgs and the Jagiellons and their supporters agreed to a compromise by electing a neutral candidate, Janos I Hunyadi, founder of the Hunyadi Dynasty. But before that agreement took place, the war begun with Mehmed II's investment of Constantinople. For disinformation (and just in case something goes wrong), he begun preparing for a long siege; the former part, at least, had worked, as the Venetian fleet set out to relieve Constantinople... and suddenly came under Genoese attack, as Genoa made its desperate bid to get back at the Venetians. Surprised, the Venetians were defeated badly in the Battle at Gokceada, and the relief attempt had to be cancelled. And meanwhile, the anti-Florentine Orthodoxals begun their rebellion in Constantinople; Constantine, after nearly dying during his attempt to reason with them, ordered a brutal suppression, but it was too late - Orthodoxal supporters in the garrison opened the gates, in yet another moment that will later be greatly exaggerated by playwrights. Oh, sure, Constantine immediately reacted; sure, his troops immediately held up the Turkish advance into the city; sure, the traitors were soon slaughtered by their own comrades in the garrison; sure, sure, the Byzantine garrison still was ready to - and still did - fight to the last drop of blood. That did not matter, for slightly over six thousand men were attacked by one hundred thousand, the former having with them only high morale to counter the numbers, the training, the leadership, the weaponry, the organization and also the high morale of the latter. The Ottomans carried the day. The city was looted for three days and nights, save for Hagia Sophia, Galata and a few quarters populated by the surviving anti-Florentines.
Mehmed II immediately moved to consolidate his victory, finding good allies amongst the anti-Florentines, especially in the clergy. A new Patriarch of Constantinople was appointed by him; this position was to become the one most associated with Orthodox collaborationism with the Ottomans, and for a good reason. Hagia Sophia became a mosque, but all other Orthodox churches were left alone, as Mehmed II intended to not just win over the Orthodoxals to his side, but to keep them there as well. Ideas of an Ottoman-led Islamic revival of the Roman Empire were propagandized, especially through Mehmed's Greek court historian, Critobulus of Imbros. Mehmed himself assumed the title of Kayser-i Rum.
But it would be foolish to say that the late Eugenius IV's efforts went to waste with that. Although Constantinople rapidly reverted back to Orthodoxy, and in some isolated cases even converted to Islam, many Catholic refugees fled, fled for Italy where they bolstered the Catholic Renaissance. Armenia retained some of the Florentine agreements, and the Serbian clergy has also recognized the reunion. Under the Polish-Lithuanian royal pressure, the Patriarch of Kiev had also recognized the decisions of the Council of Florence, although this later caused problems with the newly-appointed Patriarch of Moscow. And the Greek clergymen in, well, Greece, in many cases (though not in their majority) continued to be pro-Florentine, especially in Morea.
Meanwhile, the present Pope, an Aragonese by the name of Alfonso de Borja (as Pope, Calixtus III), worked feverishly to gather a new anti-Ottoman coalition, despite his old age. He got the support of Janos Hunyadi and the traditional Balkan allies of the crusaders in Albania, Serbia and Wallachia; Poland-Lithuania, however, at the time was ruled by Casimir IV, who was too busy struggling against the various rebels and the crumbling Teutonic Order to send any support to this new anti-Turkish crusade. Venice was a natural supporter, as were the Morean despots who refused to surrender to Mehmed II. What infuriated the Pope and the Venetians most was the Genoese treachery, ofcourse. The Genoese thought that the Pope would not dare actually excommunicate them, due to their financial influence; but Calixtus signed a new agreement with the Medici family in Florence, who agreed to become the new creditors of the Papacy; then the Aragonese Pope contacted King Alfonso V of Aragon, from whose court he had come and who was, to boot, a born crusader with a grudge against the perfidious Genoa. The Pope excommunicated the ruling Genoese oligarchs, and recognized the newly-extended Aragonese claims to "Corsica and Liguria". With the Venetian assistance, the Aragonese soon crushed the Genoese fleet off Corsica, and using the perennial anarchy on the island to quickly secure it. An assault on Genoa itself in 1457, however, failed - the Genoese had prepared well and drove off the invaders.
Back in the Balkans, the Turks were now free to press on. The Serbian-Hungarian forces were beaten badly in the Second Battle of Kosovo Pole, and Durad Brankovic perished soon after, allowing the Turks to finally conquer Serbia. Despite Venetian and local Latin and Byzantine resistance (poorly-coordinated, it must be said), the Ottomans also overran practically all of mainland Greece by 1458, and in Anatolia enforced tributary status on Trebzond. The sparkling new Ottoman fleet then scored a great victory over the Venetians at Euboea, securing temporary naval supremacy in the Aegean, although the Siege of Rhodes had to be raised eventually due to fierce resistance of the Knights Hospitaller. In Albania, the Ottomans were faced with a guerrila war led by Skanderbeg and assisted by the Venetians; but things were even worse in Wallachia, where Vlad III Dracula, a member of the declining, but still famous (in the Ottoman Empire - infamous) anti-Turkish Societas Draconistrarum, routed an entire Ottoman army, using a guerrila war to exhaust it, impaled corpses of his domestic enemies and captured Turks to demoralize it and a final night attack to destroy it and capture Chandarli Halil Pasha (who was promptly impaled as well, along with all the other captured Turks, and arranged at the main bridges and crossings over the River Danube across which the Turks had invaded Wallachia).
In 1459, Hungary was yet again foiled by its domestic problems, as Janos Hunyadi died of old age. His son Laszlo II took power, but had problems controlling Hungary, coming immediately under attack of the magnates who demanded greater powers. His brother Matthias, however, persuaded Laszlo to take a firm stance; in the end, Laszlo succesfully defended his power and priveleges, but Hungary was paralyzed by this for the year and much of 1460. Meanwhile, Mehmed II consolidated his gains and launched a methodic elimination of Albanian resistance. The important castle of Berat was captured, and Skanderbeg was forced to flee for the northern part of the country; it was captured over the two years in a fairly costly, but succesful campaign. Having rooted out resistance in Greece as well, Mehmed II was now ready for his most ambitious undertaking - the Italian campaign.
das
Regeneration In Process
Italy at the time was at its least confusing, perhaps. Genoa was clearly an enemy, the Pope, the Aragonese and the Venetians had united the rest of Italy against it. However, some uncertainty yet remained in northern Italy, where Milan and Savoy, token support aside, still avoided a firm commitment. Things were further complicated there soon after the Turkish invasion, so before we could get to that, some mention is needed of the career of the Duke-Dauphin Louis II (OOC: in OTL - King Louis XI of France). A cunning, ambitious man, he could have become a great French king had dice fallen differently at Agincourt. As it was, in theory at least he had to be content with the Duchy of Dauphine. But that he was not content with - he had ambitions, though not ones aimed at the reconquest of France. After the death of de la Tremoille in 1449, Louis begun taking power into his hands; utilizing the assets at hand, he salvaged and rebuilt his army, replenished the treasury and, in 1457, made his first step with the assassination of Rene, Count of Provence, which then reverted to his reign. In 1460, as the Duke-Dauphin smelt an opportunity, he readied his assets (meaning the soldiers, the mercenaries, the diplomats and the assassins), and struck out. Francesco Sforza, the Duke of Milan whose reign was of a questionable legitimacy (he came to power after a coup d'etat in the conditions of republican chaos), died suddenly - either of old age, either of poison, and soon enough the North Italian duchy descended into the chaos of the Second Ambrosian Republic. Angevin claims that the Duke-Dauphin had towards Milan were immediately renewed, and support amongst some of the local elite was procured. Mercenaries soon captured Milan itself with the help of the aforementioned elite. Fearful, Ludovico of Savoy tried to prevent the creation of a Valois superstate in northern Italy and declared war; he was captured in the battle at Cuneo, and... forced to abdicate in the favour of Louis II. This somewhat rash move, even without the ensuing invasion and conquest of Milan, would have brought all the Mediterranean power against Louis, but for their life-and-death struggle with the Ottoman Empire.
In 1461, while Matthias Corvinus, the brother of King Laszlo II and a brilliant commander, led a campaign that succesfully retook the Serbian capital of Smederevo and caused a recidive of Albanian uprisings (though, disorganized and badly-led as they were, the Albanians were easily defeated), the Italian campaign of Mehmed II had begun. A good half of the Ottoman fleet infiltrated the Adriatic Sea and launched a suicide attack towards Venice that, through its daring, actually reached the city and was only stopped there after a very fierce battle. The Venetians thusly distracted were unable to intercept Mehmed II with the other half of the Ottoman fleet that, having defeated an Aragonese flotilla, has disembarked the finest of the Ottoman army at Otranto. The small garrison there was overwhelmed quickly, and, having left a small garrison, the Ottomans marched out, crossing the Appenines before anyone could react and taking Naples. Despite the rising attrition and the logistical problems that by then begun to come up, the Ottomans had soon set out for Rome. In early 1462, having defeated the Papal-Aragonese armies at Campoleone, Mehmed II has besieged Rome.
Meanwhile, back in North Italy, Genoa's end was clearly coming. The Aragonese were besieging the city, and the Ligurian countryside was held either by them, either by the Duke-Dauphin. Overseas Genoese assets were either in Venetian hands, either (that went, mostly, for their Black Sea colonies) under de facto Turkish control, local specialists indeed agreeing to serve as advisors for the Ottomans, particularily assisting in the construction of the fleet. The Genoese leaders, having no illusions about their future, decided to die proudly along with their city. However, popular pressure was increasing as the situation was getting worse. Finally, the noble family of the Dorias launched a desperate diplomatic gamble. They agreed to give up Genoa without a battle, if they were to become dynastic rulers of the city, ofcourse recognizing the supreme authority of... Louis II, who, knowing all too well that as soon as the Turks and the Genoese were dealt with it would be his turn, has agreed and entered the war on the Turkish-Genoese side, relieving Genoa from the Aragonese siege and then helping the Doria coup d'etat. His forces soon also besieged Mantua and Pisa, while the Venetians were badly beaten at Bergamo, which then defected to the new "Duke of Milan", being, after all, a Milanese possession less than four decades ago.
Despite attempts to relieve it, Rome remained under siege for 1462; but regardless of the Ottoman efforts, it has held out. The Pope, in another moment oft-exaggerated by those future playwrights I love to rant about, personally supervised the defenses, or involved himself in the supervision anyway. This was the Papacy's toughest hour, but also, perhaps, its finest, as the new Pope, Pius II, rapidly grew in popularity as the "Crusader Pope". Though not Eugenius, or even an ordinary genius for that matter, he used the Siege of Rome quite well to rally the Christian world around him. Poland-Lithuania still refused to send any but the most token of support, but many szlacht men volunteered, and brought their levies with them. Hungary pressed on in the Balkans, while volunteers from here also went to gather at Padua. The Italian peasantry rose up behind Turkish lines, and Venice, perhaps more out of fear of Ottoman victory rather than out of piety, donated vast sums of money to the war effort, and decimated, with token Aragonese help, the Turkish fleet in a decisive battle at Capo Santa Maria di Leuca. The Holy Roman Emperor, despite his problems with resistant vassals back at home, also sent troops, including the famed Swiss pikemen that showed themselves quite well in the eventual Battle at Rome. Even the Plantagenets, who were alittle too busy slaughtering their fellow Christians to deal with the Turks, contributed a sizeable force under the good Duke of Poitiers, Crown Prince Charles Plantagenet, which, though not reaching Rome itself, helped much against Louis II. Needless to say, the Aragonese had also contributed much to the eventual victory. Castillian hidalgos also volunteered, finding the gradualy conquest of Grenada back at home way too boring.
In 1463, Louis II's empire begun coming apart under enemy blows. Oh, he had dealed with the external ones quite fine; although the Duke of Poitiers has taken Lyons and Grenoble by the end of the year, elsewhere his forces were victorious, besieging the Venetian-held city of Brescia and, after the fall of Pisa, investing Florence itself as well. A combined army of Central Italian princes, the Venetians and the assorted mercenaries was beaten at Molozzana. Yet his forces were increasingly overstretched, and treachery also greatly damaged his cause. The Duke of Poitiers was greeted by Dauphinian nobility and urban folk alike as a liberator; peasant risings raged in the conquered territories; and the Dorias, seeing that the tides are beginning to turn, defecte to the Aragonese and provided the remnants of the Genoese fleet to them in exchange for autonomy. In 1464, having foiled numerous assassination attempts, Louis II was betrayed and killed during an attempt of capture in the Battle at Empoli. By 1465, his empire had come apart; Corsica and Liguria, indeed, became Aragonese possessions, Savoy was recreated and entered a personal union with Dauphine, while Provence became a vassal state of the Savoyards, ruled by the de la Maine dynasty (this strenghthening of the Savoyards was a result of much bickering in Milan (where the post-Louisian War peace treaty was hammered out), which clearly displayed the detirioration of Platagenet-Aragonese relations, the former wishing to gain a greater foothold in southern France and the latter wishing to minimize the Plantagenet access to the Mediterranean Sea; this Greater Savoy was intended as a buffer state). Eastern Milanese lands and Mantua went to Venice, which also reclaimed Bergamo; the rest of Milan regained independence under a Torriani pretender.
But in 1463, there were much more important events afoot aside from that. After Capo Santa Maria di Leuca, the Aragoense landed in and recaptured Otranto and Naples. Massive crusader forces were coming by the sea across the Western Mediterranean, from the north (from Padua, the main crusader gathering point) and now from the south as well. Mehmed II had no choice but to launch a general assault on Rome. Weakened by artillery bombardment, the Roman walls were assaulted and taken by the Janissaries, but only with appaling casualties. Yet there was no retreat, so Mehmed II pressed on. His forces broke into Rome itself, but the Pope made good use of barricades and the fanaticism that had been aroused in the city population to halt and force back the enemy somewhat. After two days of skirmishes, the Ottomans, having rested, resumed the assault, but it too has failed to secure all of Rome, Vatican, most notably, still holding out. Mehmed II decided to rest and try to starve his enemies out, but the anti-Turkish crusading forces had then converged on Rome. Mehmed II himself and a few of his loyal Janissaries managed to escape, but the rest were killed or captured after a brutal battle in and out of Rome.
And in the Balkans in the same year, an Ottoman counter-attack on Smederevo was defeated by Matthias, who went on to subdue much of northern Serbia and Herzegovina. A Venetian expedition got some moderate Albanian support and secured the territory, though in 1464, decimated by disease and a new Ottoman invasion, the Venetians had to pull out.
Mehmed II himself was tracked down and captured outside of Bari, the last Italian city where Ottoman presence, how ever minor, lingered. However, despite some proposals that he should be executed, Mehmed II was taken captive. When asked to concede all of his conquests, he refused but was kept alive.
Had the crusaders struck against the Ottomans in full force now... perhaps they could have brought down their empire once and for all. But as it was, they thought it not to be an urgent concern; they hoped that it will soon begin to crumble anyway. Venetians did re-invade the Aegean and once again landed in Albania; and the Hungarians did press on in Serbia, though not very decisively having come into conflict with Vlad III Dracula who did not much preffer Hungarian hegemony to the Turkish one. But the Ottomans were soon reorganized by Mehmed II's brother Orhan (OOC: in this world, he did not flee for Constantinople, instead agreeing to reocgnize Mehmed's ascendance in exchange for an important military post) and the new Graeco-Turkish buerocratic elite. Orhan did not officially claim the title of Sultan, but he was not particularily eager to have his brother come back, especially as the price of such vast territorial concessions. So instead, he continued the renovation of Constantinople, rebuilt, with the help of Genoese advisors, a navy, and levied more troops to whom he had promised land in the Balkans. The Venetian fleet was defeated at Galipoli; the Hungarians, unable to overcome the fortifications of Nish and weakened by an outbreak of a plague, fell back for Smederevo and Belgrade. But it was not the military strenght that saved the Ottoman Empire - indeed, its military was quite weakened by Mehmed's opportunistic invasion. The crusaders - much as Orhan expected - soon begun bickering after the victory in Italy. The Plantagenets had their aforementioned complications with the Trastamaras of Aragon. Venetians begun carving up the unkilled bear of the Ottomans with Aragon. Laszlo Hunyadi was increasingly challenged by the magnates and the pro-Habsburg nobility at home, not to mention the Habsburgs themselves, the Jagiellons with their Danubean ambitions and, ofcourse, Vlad III Dracula. The latter was the first to back out, seeing that the Ottomans had other things to do instead of attacking him; eternal peace was sworn, and Vlad III turned around to deal with his boyars and to prepare for a Hungarian invasion that was, indeed, inevitable (but delayed by Vlad's betrayal and the war in Serbia). The Hungarians stole Mehmed II from the Venetians (who were holding him previously) in 1466, and signed a good deal with him, letting him go in exchange for cession of the formerly-autonomous northern half of Serbia, Herzegovina and Bosnia. Orhan, recognizing this treaty as he wanted to concentrate on the Aegean theatre, intercepted Mehmed II to "ensure his safety on his return to Constantinople", and after a brief discussion the somewhat humbled Mehmed II agreed to abdicate in exchange for a military command (specifically, he became one of the Ottoman Empire's first great naval commanders); Orhan thus became Orhan II.
By then, the Pope's efforts have re-arranged, at least partially, the Mediterranean portion of the coalition. Venice and Aragon have transported a rag-tag international crusader army, backed up by their own troops, to Greece. There they were, at first, succesful, even taking Athens in a daring assault, but "surprising" local hostility and Mehmed II's devastating night attack (called, quite appropriately, the Night Attack or the Battle of the Night) on the crusading fleet at Aiyina have doomed this effort. The last great action of the war, and Mehmed's greatest triumph as an admiral, was the Second, and succesful, Siege of Rhodes (1473). It was a very brutal battle, but the Ottomans, with the assistance of the Genoese and primitive naval gunpowder artillery, came out victorious. So angry was Mehmed that, after allowing the Knights Hospitaller to flee for Malta, he had them tracked down and sunk, saying that he never promised that he will actually let them get there. The war died down afterwards, leaving the Ottomans to rebuild and reorganize, Italy to similarily rebuild and become the center of the Catholic Renaissance with many destroyed buildings, especially in Rome, being replaced by new, far better ones ([insert a certain North King quote here, you know, the one about the pillaged cities]), Aragon to involve itself ever-more in Italian and Mediterranean matters as it became, with Venice and the Ottoman Empire, one of the three Mediterranean Great Powers, Hungary to come, after Laszlo II's death, under the brief, but very exciting reign of Matthias I the Bloody (or the Great) who slaughtered rebelling magnates and noblemen wholesale, kicking Hungary into an era of strong, centralized monarchy, and the Pope to gloat as his plan for global domination advanced.
Now on to the details of the post-Mehmedian 15th century.
The Plantagenet Empire, or, as it was increasingly reffered to, the Anglo-French Kingdom, was in a consolidative stage. Henry V the Great died in 1443. Henry VI had a long, quiet reign (1443-1479) during which powerful favourites, most importantly the Count of Perche (though by then the said Count was already the Duke of Orleans and of Buckingham, to the consternation of the court), ascended and were overthrown. Despite that and the simmering unrest, this was not too bad a reign for the Plantagenets, as the economy was generally strenghthened, especially commerce and agriculture, while the army, for the most part staying out of questionable continental adventures (the only exception being the Count of Poitiers' "Italian expedition"), subdued, de jure if not fully so de facto, Ireland and Scotland (though the latter retained much autonomy). The court during this time moved southwards, to Paris, much to the consternation of the English. Soon after the death of Henry VI, this spilled out into a popular Reilly's Rising and a noble conspiracy, both of which have been dealt with most severely by the former Count of Poitiers, now King Charles I. He also put down a South French rebellion. Perhaps it is, however, good for the kingdom(s) that he died so early in 1484, for evidently he had grand ambitions in Europe itself, involving, as evidenced by his diplomatic probing in Germany, his ascension as the Holy Roman Emperor. His brother Edward IV was also an active monarch, but not a one so rash; much more patient and pragmatic, he maintained the balance between his two courts - in Paris and in London - and worked to bring the country closer together, whilst stomping down on Irish rebels and building up dynastic ties with the Burgundian Valois. Edward's son Charles II, who came to power in 1493, would be the one to taste the bittersweet fruit that came from these ties. Not literally, he was not a cannibal contrary to some rumours!
In the Pyrenean Peninsula, momentous events were afoot. Long story cut short, the wars with the Turks and expansion into Italy greatly increased Aragonese influence in the Mediterranean, to the detriment of their influence in the dynastically-connected Kingdom of Castille. Instead, the Castillian Trastamaras became increasingly Anglophile, damaging the relations with Aragon further. Plans of a greater dynastic union with Aragon disappeared; instead, relations improved with the prosperous Portugal of the Avizes. After the death of Henry V the Childless (actually, the Sonless) of Castille in 1491, the long-standing Portuguese influence and the previous royal marriage of the then-prince, now-king Joham II of Portugal to Henry's eldest daughter Leonor, bore fruit as well - Joham II ascended the Castillian throne. An Aragonese-incited rebellion against him soon begun, but was defeated; a new one started in 1492, when the newly-united and newly-declared Kingdom of Iberia's court and capital were moved to Lisbon. It was more serious, but the Iberians cracked down on it too.
The Aragonese Trastamaras were not amused, but they were too busy in the Mediterranean and agreed to recognize the new royal couple. The Treaty of Tordesillas was signed; the Aragonese withdrew all claims on Castille, instead getting Iberian neutrality in Aragon's dealings with England and the partition of the Barbary Coast, Morocco being in the Iberian sphere, and everything east being in Aragonese sphere. The Iberians continued the wars with the Moors left unfinished by both of the nations that were united to create this new one - by 1500, Grenada was subjugated with a good use of artillery, and Morocco, broken by wars, forced to pay tribute. The Iberians, meanwhile, were also enriched and strenghthened by their daring operations in Africa and in the Indian Ocean, which they were only beginning to infiltrate at the time.
As for Aragon, it just continued to become ever more prosperous from the trade and to fight the Berber pirates and the rebellions Italian vassals.
Valois Burgundy was also positively dull in these times. Phillip IV (r. 1474-1501) has led the strenghthening and centralization of the grand duchy to the logical conclusion, and defeated a heretical rising of Flemish craftsmen in late 1490s. Lorraine, through military campaigns and diplomacy, was added to the Burgundian possession, with the help of Habsburgs.
Indeed, the Habsburgs were getting ever stronger. The rule of "Bella gerant alii, tu felix Austria nube" was still working, as was the one about manipulating elections when just marrying wasn't enough. After the death of Ladislas V of Hungary, Bohemia was added to the main Habsburg possessions. Of far more long-term importance were royal marriages with Aragon (an useful ally) and, even more importantly, Burgundy, which was vital to the Habsburg plan of Imperial Reform (basically, a plan to moderately centralize the Habsburg-dominated Holy Roman Empire under their control). Since Friedrich III, all the Habsburg Emperors tried to enforce just such a reform, but their efforts were resisted by central and northern German princes; but between Austria and Burgundy, they will have no choice but to surrender. Admittedly, the Habsburgs hadn't many friends apart from Aragon and Burgundy - Venice and the Pope were vaguely allied with the Habsburgs, but relations were increasingly strained, and Hungary and Poland-Lithuania were utterly unreliable, not to speak of those perfectly wretched Plantagenets who, as Emperor Maximillian II (r. 1496-1512) raved while insane, probably still nourished their dream of winning the Imperial elections.
Venice, for a power officially victorious in the war against the Ottomans, has been badly short-changed, having only lost land and vital trade links. The city was in stagnation and decline, as was its trade network, and only the lack of serious competition kept it a trade center. Iberian invasion of the Indian Ocean, however, made things increasingly difficult...
The Papacy, despite the war's devastation, emerged only stronger from it, retaking land and, more importantly, influence. Central Italy was dominated by the Papal-Florentine alliance. The Byzantine setback was regrettable, but the Papacy, with Hungarian help, had gained Romania for the Catholic Church, and with Polish - Southern Rus (i.e. Ukraine).
The Kalmar Union, in its distant north, was cheerfully marching to oblivion as the kingdom was torn by social strife and occasional Swedish risings; however, the Kalmarese commerce begun to recover in the North and Baltic Seas as the English were distracted by the southern direction of commerce, while the Hanseatic League crumbled and declined, and Hans I put down Sten Sture's and other rebellions against his rule.
Casimir IV, while passive in foreign affairs, was very active in domestic ones, working to strenghthen royal authority and to Catholicize the largely-pagan Lithuanian lands, and the Orthodox Russian realms, where the official hierarcy, at least, accepted the Union of Florence, though a popular neo-Orthodox movement inspired by the Muscovites soon emerged. He also ensured the subjugation of the Teutonic Knights. In the south, though, he was not quite as succesful, having found himself a bad enemy in Matthias the Bloody of Hungary, who defeated both Vlad III Dracula and conquered Polish Moldavia, resisting all Polish attempts to retake it and briefly taking Lvov (thankfully, Matthias soon enough was killed there by a son of one of the countless nobles that he had "wronged" by killing).
Hungary, as mentioned before, underwent forceful centralization under Matthias I, who had also showed himself well on the military field, conquering both Wallachia and Moldavia. Although his domestic policies were ruthlessly efficient and his military efforts were brilliant, diplomatically Matthias I left the country (after his death in 1485) in semi-isolation, as the Habsburgs and the Jagiellons alike were at the knives with him, as were, ofcourse, the Turks. The centralization also claimed the lives of many nobles and magnates, leaving Hungary a bit short on educated cadres while the new buerocracy was yet being picked out. Mismanagement and corruption after Matthias' death made Hungary pretty vulnerable, despite Janos II's capable diplomacy that kept it afloat for now.
The Ottoman Empire, under Orhan II and later under his son Mehmed III (r. 1488-1523), underwent a more moderate program of modernization. The Ottomans had subdued all of Anatolia under Orhan II, as for Suleyman he had reformed and modernized the Turkish army, and campaigned against the Mamlukes in Egypt and the Ak Koyunlu in Persia, conquering the former (but allowing them to retain some power in Egypt itself, under Ottoman supervision ofcourse) and shattering the latter (having also taken Iraq from them). Persia descended into anarchy, allowing Suleyman to grab a large part of Aizerbaijan as well. On the sea, the Ottomans were less fortunate, however - the Venetians held on both to Crete and to Cyprus, and raided into the Aegean frequently. Matthias I's antigonization of his neighbours was a welcome break - Hungary had to watch its back and thus did not dare press further into the Balkans, Poland-Lithuania was too busy fighting Hungary and Muscovy, not being even able to punish the Ottoman Tartar vassals in Crimea for their incessant raiding, and the Habsburgs had no way to reach the Ottomans even if they wanted to. However, towards the end of 15th century things were moving towards a war again. Hungary begun to reconcile with its enemies, and said enemies begun to grow more united. Ottoman influence in North Africa came into conflict with Aragonese ambitions there. And in a sudden flanking move, Iberia, though rather more neutral than otherwise in the wars of Turks and the Mediterranean Christians, has entered the Indian Ocean. The Ottoman Empire was increasingly surrounded by a circle of enemies, though for now, at least, Persia was not a threat and neither were the Caucasian or Tartar tribes and principalities. And decisive action was needed to break out of it. Before such action could take place, though, an ally was needed. None could be found in Italy, obviously enough. Plantagenets were fairly neutral and maybe could even make allies out of necessity by the principle of an enemy of one's enemy being an ally. The Barbary Coast states were natural allies, or rather vassals, but apart from pirates and distractions they were of no use at all. An ally was found via the Patriarch of Constantinople, though...
Ivan III, the Velikiy Knyaz of Muscovy, had been carrying out yet another centralization program. He was greatly inspired by the Ottoman Empire, especially by the way the clergy was subservient to the Sultan. He also was quite anti-Catholic, quite reasonably because the pro-Florentine clergy in Russia - the more important of its hierarchs, anyway - was extremelly Polonophilic, and in Polish- (well, Lithuanian-) held territory formed one of the pillars on which Jagiellon power rested. So Ivan III took strong measures against "Florentianism", denouncing the results of the Council altogether during one of his brushfire wars with Poland-Lithuania. But he did not want the Orthodox church to continue as before. So he reformed it, with the help of the "nestyazhateli" puritan faction. The church was put under state control, de facto; and all its lands were confiscated by the Knyaz, to avoid the clergymen "falling into sin". The Metropolitian of Moscow, Iosif, has tried to fight back, by arranging a conspiracy of the nobles (which backfired, as after the executions the Knyaz was more powerful and feared than even before) and trying to incite peasant risings, which did not occur on a large scale due to the fair amounts of contempt accumulated by the peasants towards "the popes", as ignited by Nil Sorsky, the leader of the nestyazhateli and the new Metropolitian. On the wave of the religious revival ignited by this, Ivan III managed to tear a few borderlands out of Lithuania, and to conquer Kazan'. An obvious enemy of the Catholic Europe, Muscovy had established an alliance with the Crimean Khanate - a Turkish vassal - against the other Tartars. This allowed the Ottomans to create an alliance with Muscovy, how ever informal at this stage.
Thus as the 15th century closed, numerous conflicts and enemities within and outside Europe were moving towards violent, bloody resolution in an all-out, decisive clash. In such a situation, who the hell would care about some mad Genoese expatriate and his ideas?! Who needed the western route to India, or indeed Transoceania itself with all its riches and venereal diseases, when there were wars to be fought and colonies to contest? Who? Nobody. There you go Andis, on to the 16th century and lots of blood-shed whenever I find the time for it.
In 1461, while Matthias Corvinus, the brother of King Laszlo II and a brilliant commander, led a campaign that succesfully retook the Serbian capital of Smederevo and caused a recidive of Albanian uprisings (though, disorganized and badly-led as they were, the Albanians were easily defeated), the Italian campaign of Mehmed II had begun. A good half of the Ottoman fleet infiltrated the Adriatic Sea and launched a suicide attack towards Venice that, through its daring, actually reached the city and was only stopped there after a very fierce battle. The Venetians thusly distracted were unable to intercept Mehmed II with the other half of the Ottoman fleet that, having defeated an Aragonese flotilla, has disembarked the finest of the Ottoman army at Otranto. The small garrison there was overwhelmed quickly, and, having left a small garrison, the Ottomans marched out, crossing the Appenines before anyone could react and taking Naples. Despite the rising attrition and the logistical problems that by then begun to come up, the Ottomans had soon set out for Rome. In early 1462, having defeated the Papal-Aragonese armies at Campoleone, Mehmed II has besieged Rome.
Meanwhile, back in North Italy, Genoa's end was clearly coming. The Aragonese were besieging the city, and the Ligurian countryside was held either by them, either by the Duke-Dauphin. Overseas Genoese assets were either in Venetian hands, either (that went, mostly, for their Black Sea colonies) under de facto Turkish control, local specialists indeed agreeing to serve as advisors for the Ottomans, particularily assisting in the construction of the fleet. The Genoese leaders, having no illusions about their future, decided to die proudly along with their city. However, popular pressure was increasing as the situation was getting worse. Finally, the noble family of the Dorias launched a desperate diplomatic gamble. They agreed to give up Genoa without a battle, if they were to become dynastic rulers of the city, ofcourse recognizing the supreme authority of... Louis II, who, knowing all too well that as soon as the Turks and the Genoese were dealt with it would be his turn, has agreed and entered the war on the Turkish-Genoese side, relieving Genoa from the Aragonese siege and then helping the Doria coup d'etat. His forces soon also besieged Mantua and Pisa, while the Venetians were badly beaten at Bergamo, which then defected to the new "Duke of Milan", being, after all, a Milanese possession less than four decades ago.
Despite attempts to relieve it, Rome remained under siege for 1462; but regardless of the Ottoman efforts, it has held out. The Pope, in another moment oft-exaggerated by those future playwrights I love to rant about, personally supervised the defenses, or involved himself in the supervision anyway. This was the Papacy's toughest hour, but also, perhaps, its finest, as the new Pope, Pius II, rapidly grew in popularity as the "Crusader Pope". Though not Eugenius, or even an ordinary genius for that matter, he used the Siege of Rome quite well to rally the Christian world around him. Poland-Lithuania still refused to send any but the most token of support, but many szlacht men volunteered, and brought their levies with them. Hungary pressed on in the Balkans, while volunteers from here also went to gather at Padua. The Italian peasantry rose up behind Turkish lines, and Venice, perhaps more out of fear of Ottoman victory rather than out of piety, donated vast sums of money to the war effort, and decimated, with token Aragonese help, the Turkish fleet in a decisive battle at Capo Santa Maria di Leuca. The Holy Roman Emperor, despite his problems with resistant vassals back at home, also sent troops, including the famed Swiss pikemen that showed themselves quite well in the eventual Battle at Rome. Even the Plantagenets, who were alittle too busy slaughtering their fellow Christians to deal with the Turks, contributed a sizeable force under the good Duke of Poitiers, Crown Prince Charles Plantagenet, which, though not reaching Rome itself, helped much against Louis II. Needless to say, the Aragonese had also contributed much to the eventual victory. Castillian hidalgos also volunteered, finding the gradualy conquest of Grenada back at home way too boring.
In 1463, Louis II's empire begun coming apart under enemy blows. Oh, he had dealed with the external ones quite fine; although the Duke of Poitiers has taken Lyons and Grenoble by the end of the year, elsewhere his forces were victorious, besieging the Venetian-held city of Brescia and, after the fall of Pisa, investing Florence itself as well. A combined army of Central Italian princes, the Venetians and the assorted mercenaries was beaten at Molozzana. Yet his forces were increasingly overstretched, and treachery also greatly damaged his cause. The Duke of Poitiers was greeted by Dauphinian nobility and urban folk alike as a liberator; peasant risings raged in the conquered territories; and the Dorias, seeing that the tides are beginning to turn, defecte to the Aragonese and provided the remnants of the Genoese fleet to them in exchange for autonomy. In 1464, having foiled numerous assassination attempts, Louis II was betrayed and killed during an attempt of capture in the Battle at Empoli. By 1465, his empire had come apart; Corsica and Liguria, indeed, became Aragonese possessions, Savoy was recreated and entered a personal union with Dauphine, while Provence became a vassal state of the Savoyards, ruled by the de la Maine dynasty (this strenghthening of the Savoyards was a result of much bickering in Milan (where the post-Louisian War peace treaty was hammered out), which clearly displayed the detirioration of Platagenet-Aragonese relations, the former wishing to gain a greater foothold in southern France and the latter wishing to minimize the Plantagenet access to the Mediterranean Sea; this Greater Savoy was intended as a buffer state). Eastern Milanese lands and Mantua went to Venice, which also reclaimed Bergamo; the rest of Milan regained independence under a Torriani pretender.
But in 1463, there were much more important events afoot aside from that. After Capo Santa Maria di Leuca, the Aragoense landed in and recaptured Otranto and Naples. Massive crusader forces were coming by the sea across the Western Mediterranean, from the north (from Padua, the main crusader gathering point) and now from the south as well. Mehmed II had no choice but to launch a general assault on Rome. Weakened by artillery bombardment, the Roman walls were assaulted and taken by the Janissaries, but only with appaling casualties. Yet there was no retreat, so Mehmed II pressed on. His forces broke into Rome itself, but the Pope made good use of barricades and the fanaticism that had been aroused in the city population to halt and force back the enemy somewhat. After two days of skirmishes, the Ottomans, having rested, resumed the assault, but it too has failed to secure all of Rome, Vatican, most notably, still holding out. Mehmed II decided to rest and try to starve his enemies out, but the anti-Turkish crusading forces had then converged on Rome. Mehmed II himself and a few of his loyal Janissaries managed to escape, but the rest were killed or captured after a brutal battle in and out of Rome.
And in the Balkans in the same year, an Ottoman counter-attack on Smederevo was defeated by Matthias, who went on to subdue much of northern Serbia and Herzegovina. A Venetian expedition got some moderate Albanian support and secured the territory, though in 1464, decimated by disease and a new Ottoman invasion, the Venetians had to pull out.
Mehmed II himself was tracked down and captured outside of Bari, the last Italian city where Ottoman presence, how ever minor, lingered. However, despite some proposals that he should be executed, Mehmed II was taken captive. When asked to concede all of his conquests, he refused but was kept alive.
Had the crusaders struck against the Ottomans in full force now... perhaps they could have brought down their empire once and for all. But as it was, they thought it not to be an urgent concern; they hoped that it will soon begin to crumble anyway. Venetians did re-invade the Aegean and once again landed in Albania; and the Hungarians did press on in Serbia, though not very decisively having come into conflict with Vlad III Dracula who did not much preffer Hungarian hegemony to the Turkish one. But the Ottomans were soon reorganized by Mehmed II's brother Orhan (OOC: in this world, he did not flee for Constantinople, instead agreeing to reocgnize Mehmed's ascendance in exchange for an important military post) and the new Graeco-Turkish buerocratic elite. Orhan did not officially claim the title of Sultan, but he was not particularily eager to have his brother come back, especially as the price of such vast territorial concessions. So instead, he continued the renovation of Constantinople, rebuilt, with the help of Genoese advisors, a navy, and levied more troops to whom he had promised land in the Balkans. The Venetian fleet was defeated at Galipoli; the Hungarians, unable to overcome the fortifications of Nish and weakened by an outbreak of a plague, fell back for Smederevo and Belgrade. But it was not the military strenght that saved the Ottoman Empire - indeed, its military was quite weakened by Mehmed's opportunistic invasion. The crusaders - much as Orhan expected - soon begun bickering after the victory in Italy. The Plantagenets had their aforementioned complications with the Trastamaras of Aragon. Venetians begun carving up the unkilled bear of the Ottomans with Aragon. Laszlo Hunyadi was increasingly challenged by the magnates and the pro-Habsburg nobility at home, not to mention the Habsburgs themselves, the Jagiellons with their Danubean ambitions and, ofcourse, Vlad III Dracula. The latter was the first to back out, seeing that the Ottomans had other things to do instead of attacking him; eternal peace was sworn, and Vlad III turned around to deal with his boyars and to prepare for a Hungarian invasion that was, indeed, inevitable (but delayed by Vlad's betrayal and the war in Serbia). The Hungarians stole Mehmed II from the Venetians (who were holding him previously) in 1466, and signed a good deal with him, letting him go in exchange for cession of the formerly-autonomous northern half of Serbia, Herzegovina and Bosnia. Orhan, recognizing this treaty as he wanted to concentrate on the Aegean theatre, intercepted Mehmed II to "ensure his safety on his return to Constantinople", and after a brief discussion the somewhat humbled Mehmed II agreed to abdicate in exchange for a military command (specifically, he became one of the Ottoman Empire's first great naval commanders); Orhan thus became Orhan II.
By then, the Pope's efforts have re-arranged, at least partially, the Mediterranean portion of the coalition. Venice and Aragon have transported a rag-tag international crusader army, backed up by their own troops, to Greece. There they were, at first, succesful, even taking Athens in a daring assault, but "surprising" local hostility and Mehmed II's devastating night attack (called, quite appropriately, the Night Attack or the Battle of the Night) on the crusading fleet at Aiyina have doomed this effort. The last great action of the war, and Mehmed's greatest triumph as an admiral, was the Second, and succesful, Siege of Rhodes (1473). It was a very brutal battle, but the Ottomans, with the assistance of the Genoese and primitive naval gunpowder artillery, came out victorious. So angry was Mehmed that, after allowing the Knights Hospitaller to flee for Malta, he had them tracked down and sunk, saying that he never promised that he will actually let them get there. The war died down afterwards, leaving the Ottomans to rebuild and reorganize, Italy to similarily rebuild and become the center of the Catholic Renaissance with many destroyed buildings, especially in Rome, being replaced by new, far better ones ([insert a certain North King quote here, you know, the one about the pillaged cities]), Aragon to involve itself ever-more in Italian and Mediterranean matters as it became, with Venice and the Ottoman Empire, one of the three Mediterranean Great Powers, Hungary to come, after Laszlo II's death, under the brief, but very exciting reign of Matthias I the Bloody (or the Great) who slaughtered rebelling magnates and noblemen wholesale, kicking Hungary into an era of strong, centralized monarchy, and the Pope to gloat as his plan for global domination advanced.
Now on to the details of the post-Mehmedian 15th century.
The Plantagenet Empire, or, as it was increasingly reffered to, the Anglo-French Kingdom, was in a consolidative stage. Henry V the Great died in 1443. Henry VI had a long, quiet reign (1443-1479) during which powerful favourites, most importantly the Count of Perche (though by then the said Count was already the Duke of Orleans and of Buckingham, to the consternation of the court), ascended and were overthrown. Despite that and the simmering unrest, this was not too bad a reign for the Plantagenets, as the economy was generally strenghthened, especially commerce and agriculture, while the army, for the most part staying out of questionable continental adventures (the only exception being the Count of Poitiers' "Italian expedition"), subdued, de jure if not fully so de facto, Ireland and Scotland (though the latter retained much autonomy). The court during this time moved southwards, to Paris, much to the consternation of the English. Soon after the death of Henry VI, this spilled out into a popular Reilly's Rising and a noble conspiracy, both of which have been dealt with most severely by the former Count of Poitiers, now King Charles I. He also put down a South French rebellion. Perhaps it is, however, good for the kingdom(s) that he died so early in 1484, for evidently he had grand ambitions in Europe itself, involving, as evidenced by his diplomatic probing in Germany, his ascension as the Holy Roman Emperor. His brother Edward IV was also an active monarch, but not a one so rash; much more patient and pragmatic, he maintained the balance between his two courts - in Paris and in London - and worked to bring the country closer together, whilst stomping down on Irish rebels and building up dynastic ties with the Burgundian Valois. Edward's son Charles II, who came to power in 1493, would be the one to taste the bittersweet fruit that came from these ties. Not literally, he was not a cannibal contrary to some rumours!
In the Pyrenean Peninsula, momentous events were afoot. Long story cut short, the wars with the Turks and expansion into Italy greatly increased Aragonese influence in the Mediterranean, to the detriment of their influence in the dynastically-connected Kingdom of Castille. Instead, the Castillian Trastamaras became increasingly Anglophile, damaging the relations with Aragon further. Plans of a greater dynastic union with Aragon disappeared; instead, relations improved with the prosperous Portugal of the Avizes. After the death of Henry V the Childless (actually, the Sonless) of Castille in 1491, the long-standing Portuguese influence and the previous royal marriage of the then-prince, now-king Joham II of Portugal to Henry's eldest daughter Leonor, bore fruit as well - Joham II ascended the Castillian throne. An Aragonese-incited rebellion against him soon begun, but was defeated; a new one started in 1492, when the newly-united and newly-declared Kingdom of Iberia's court and capital were moved to Lisbon. It was more serious, but the Iberians cracked down on it too.
The Aragonese Trastamaras were not amused, but they were too busy in the Mediterranean and agreed to recognize the new royal couple. The Treaty of Tordesillas was signed; the Aragonese withdrew all claims on Castille, instead getting Iberian neutrality in Aragon's dealings with England and the partition of the Barbary Coast, Morocco being in the Iberian sphere, and everything east being in Aragonese sphere. The Iberians continued the wars with the Moors left unfinished by both of the nations that were united to create this new one - by 1500, Grenada was subjugated with a good use of artillery, and Morocco, broken by wars, forced to pay tribute. The Iberians, meanwhile, were also enriched and strenghthened by their daring operations in Africa and in the Indian Ocean, which they were only beginning to infiltrate at the time.
As for Aragon, it just continued to become ever more prosperous from the trade and to fight the Berber pirates and the rebellions Italian vassals.
Valois Burgundy was also positively dull in these times. Phillip IV (r. 1474-1501) has led the strenghthening and centralization of the grand duchy to the logical conclusion, and defeated a heretical rising of Flemish craftsmen in late 1490s. Lorraine, through military campaigns and diplomacy, was added to the Burgundian possession, with the help of Habsburgs.
Indeed, the Habsburgs were getting ever stronger. The rule of "Bella gerant alii, tu felix Austria nube" was still working, as was the one about manipulating elections when just marrying wasn't enough. After the death of Ladislas V of Hungary, Bohemia was added to the main Habsburg possessions. Of far more long-term importance were royal marriages with Aragon (an useful ally) and, even more importantly, Burgundy, which was vital to the Habsburg plan of Imperial Reform (basically, a plan to moderately centralize the Habsburg-dominated Holy Roman Empire under their control). Since Friedrich III, all the Habsburg Emperors tried to enforce just such a reform, but their efforts were resisted by central and northern German princes; but between Austria and Burgundy, they will have no choice but to surrender. Admittedly, the Habsburgs hadn't many friends apart from Aragon and Burgundy - Venice and the Pope were vaguely allied with the Habsburgs, but relations were increasingly strained, and Hungary and Poland-Lithuania were utterly unreliable, not to speak of those perfectly wretched Plantagenets who, as Emperor Maximillian II (r. 1496-1512) raved while insane, probably still nourished their dream of winning the Imperial elections.
Venice, for a power officially victorious in the war against the Ottomans, has been badly short-changed, having only lost land and vital trade links. The city was in stagnation and decline, as was its trade network, and only the lack of serious competition kept it a trade center. Iberian invasion of the Indian Ocean, however, made things increasingly difficult...
The Papacy, despite the war's devastation, emerged only stronger from it, retaking land and, more importantly, influence. Central Italy was dominated by the Papal-Florentine alliance. The Byzantine setback was regrettable, but the Papacy, with Hungarian help, had gained Romania for the Catholic Church, and with Polish - Southern Rus (i.e. Ukraine).
The Kalmar Union, in its distant north, was cheerfully marching to oblivion as the kingdom was torn by social strife and occasional Swedish risings; however, the Kalmarese commerce begun to recover in the North and Baltic Seas as the English were distracted by the southern direction of commerce, while the Hanseatic League crumbled and declined, and Hans I put down Sten Sture's and other rebellions against his rule.
Casimir IV, while passive in foreign affairs, was very active in domestic ones, working to strenghthen royal authority and to Catholicize the largely-pagan Lithuanian lands, and the Orthodox Russian realms, where the official hierarcy, at least, accepted the Union of Florence, though a popular neo-Orthodox movement inspired by the Muscovites soon emerged. He also ensured the subjugation of the Teutonic Knights. In the south, though, he was not quite as succesful, having found himself a bad enemy in Matthias the Bloody of Hungary, who defeated both Vlad III Dracula and conquered Polish Moldavia, resisting all Polish attempts to retake it and briefly taking Lvov (thankfully, Matthias soon enough was killed there by a son of one of the countless nobles that he had "wronged" by killing).
Hungary, as mentioned before, underwent forceful centralization under Matthias I, who had also showed himself well on the military field, conquering both Wallachia and Moldavia. Although his domestic policies were ruthlessly efficient and his military efforts were brilliant, diplomatically Matthias I left the country (after his death in 1485) in semi-isolation, as the Habsburgs and the Jagiellons alike were at the knives with him, as were, ofcourse, the Turks. The centralization also claimed the lives of many nobles and magnates, leaving Hungary a bit short on educated cadres while the new buerocracy was yet being picked out. Mismanagement and corruption after Matthias' death made Hungary pretty vulnerable, despite Janos II's capable diplomacy that kept it afloat for now.
The Ottoman Empire, under Orhan II and later under his son Mehmed III (r. 1488-1523), underwent a more moderate program of modernization. The Ottomans had subdued all of Anatolia under Orhan II, as for Suleyman he had reformed and modernized the Turkish army, and campaigned against the Mamlukes in Egypt and the Ak Koyunlu in Persia, conquering the former (but allowing them to retain some power in Egypt itself, under Ottoman supervision ofcourse) and shattering the latter (having also taken Iraq from them). Persia descended into anarchy, allowing Suleyman to grab a large part of Aizerbaijan as well. On the sea, the Ottomans were less fortunate, however - the Venetians held on both to Crete and to Cyprus, and raided into the Aegean frequently. Matthias I's antigonization of his neighbours was a welcome break - Hungary had to watch its back and thus did not dare press further into the Balkans, Poland-Lithuania was too busy fighting Hungary and Muscovy, not being even able to punish the Ottoman Tartar vassals in Crimea for their incessant raiding, and the Habsburgs had no way to reach the Ottomans even if they wanted to. However, towards the end of 15th century things were moving towards a war again. Hungary begun to reconcile with its enemies, and said enemies begun to grow more united. Ottoman influence in North Africa came into conflict with Aragonese ambitions there. And in a sudden flanking move, Iberia, though rather more neutral than otherwise in the wars of Turks and the Mediterranean Christians, has entered the Indian Ocean. The Ottoman Empire was increasingly surrounded by a circle of enemies, though for now, at least, Persia was not a threat and neither were the Caucasian or Tartar tribes and principalities. And decisive action was needed to break out of it. Before such action could take place, though, an ally was needed. None could be found in Italy, obviously enough. Plantagenets were fairly neutral and maybe could even make allies out of necessity by the principle of an enemy of one's enemy being an ally. The Barbary Coast states were natural allies, or rather vassals, but apart from pirates and distractions they were of no use at all. An ally was found via the Patriarch of Constantinople, though...
Ivan III, the Velikiy Knyaz of Muscovy, had been carrying out yet another centralization program. He was greatly inspired by the Ottoman Empire, especially by the way the clergy was subservient to the Sultan. He also was quite anti-Catholic, quite reasonably because the pro-Florentine clergy in Russia - the more important of its hierarchs, anyway - was extremelly Polonophilic, and in Polish- (well, Lithuanian-) held territory formed one of the pillars on which Jagiellon power rested. So Ivan III took strong measures against "Florentianism", denouncing the results of the Council altogether during one of his brushfire wars with Poland-Lithuania. But he did not want the Orthodox church to continue as before. So he reformed it, with the help of the "nestyazhateli" puritan faction. The church was put under state control, de facto; and all its lands were confiscated by the Knyaz, to avoid the clergymen "falling into sin". The Metropolitian of Moscow, Iosif, has tried to fight back, by arranging a conspiracy of the nobles (which backfired, as after the executions the Knyaz was more powerful and feared than even before) and trying to incite peasant risings, which did not occur on a large scale due to the fair amounts of contempt accumulated by the peasants towards "the popes", as ignited by Nil Sorsky, the leader of the nestyazhateli and the new Metropolitian. On the wave of the religious revival ignited by this, Ivan III managed to tear a few borderlands out of Lithuania, and to conquer Kazan'. An obvious enemy of the Catholic Europe, Muscovy had established an alliance with the Crimean Khanate - a Turkish vassal - against the other Tartars. This allowed the Ottomans to create an alliance with Muscovy, how ever informal at this stage.
Thus as the 15th century closed, numerous conflicts and enemities within and outside Europe were moving towards violent, bloody resolution in an all-out, decisive clash. In such a situation, who the hell would care about some mad Genoese expatriate and his ideas?! Who needed the western route to India, or indeed Transoceania itself with all its riches and venereal diseases, when there were wars to be fought and colonies to contest? Who? Nobody. There you go Andis, on to the 16th century and lots of blood-shed whenever I find the time for it.
das
Regeneration In Process
Oh, and comments, questions, constructive criticism and thusly forward are encouraged, as usual.
Swissempire
Poet Jester
Simply Ingenious, though i would like more of a commentary on the Iberians in the Indian Ocean Thing. Someone has already called this NES right
That's one of the 1337357 althists I've ever seen. Bleedin' amazing...
I really like it, but the lack of a Byzantium requires me to start yet another rebellion...to get me on your side, allow me to play the real Byzantine Empire, you know, before Andronicus Ducas destroyed it.
I really like it, but the lack of a Byzantium requires me to start yet another rebellion...to get me on your side, allow me to play the real Byzantine Empire, you know, before Andronicus Ducas destroyed it.
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