An Alternate Ain Jalut
Chapter II: Civil War
No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Thomas Hobbes
1263: At the beginning of the year most of the crusading forces returned home, some stayed, optimistic about the chances of this truly new Kingdom of Jerusalem. A few, though, were unhappy about her state of semi-vassalization to the Nestorian (and thusly apostate) Mongol Kitbuqa. Kitbuqa also had recently wed Euphrosyne Palaiologina, only legitimate daughter of the newly reinstated Michael VIII Palaiologos. She was a Christian, of course, and further added to the complex religious tableaux that was Egypt. In Outremer, tensions rose between the realm of Cyprus and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. By this point Cyprus had become a fairly sovereign kingdom in its own right, and was not going to yield all authority to the Kingdom of Jerusalem without protest just because the Mongols told them to do so the way Antioch had. They also were still somewhat powerful in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, as the current kings aunt (Isabella of Lusignan) was serving as the regent of Jerusalem right up until the arrival of Conradin. The current regent of Cyprus, Hughues de Poitiers, was quite an influential and forceful man. For a short time, tensions rose, for Hulagu Khan disliked the thought of an entirely independent (and possibly defiant) state existed so closely to his somewhat tenuous empire and so insisted that Cyprus be incorporated into either Jerusalem or Egypt. All parties involved (except perhaps Hulagu, he cared little for the intricacies of small-state diplomacy) knew incorporation into Egypt would not work, because Cyprus was by now thoroughly European. Neither Hulagu nor Hugh de Poitiers were men much for compromise. Luckily though, the current King of Cyprus Hugh II and Conradin were of the same age, and were both in effect- orphans. They sympathized with each other to a great deal and formed a fast friendship. This led to Cyprus pledging, if not fealty, allegiance to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and defused a potentially sticky situation. The war between the Ilkhanate and the Golden Horde began in earnest this year, when Hulagu Khan advanced with a large force north into the Caucasus Mountains to punish Berke Khan for his awful transgressions against the Ilkhanate. He amassed a large force, supplemented with reinforcements from Kitbuqa. He marched north, up through the pass of Derbend to punish the impertinent Berke. Hulagu surrounds and smashes Berkes forces on the Terek River. In this battle the commanding Golden Horde general, Nogai Khan (nephew of Berke Khan) was taken prisoner, and treated quite well by Hulagu, due to their common relations. Most of Berkes forces had managed to escape and he had begun to regroup his army in the large plains of the Golden Horde, yet before he had prepared for another battle Hulagu continued his advance threatening with thrusts into the center of the empire. This forced Berke to escape and attempt to regroup around the capital, Sarai. His foes advance was proving very difficult to stop once it had gained momentum, and now forces called up from the native Christians of Egypt and Syria, eager to prove their loyalty to the might Ilkhan, enlarged its size. Also around this time, the Genoese fell out of favor with the Mongols because they refused to stop their thriving trade with the Golden Horde. In response to this Conradin (with some slight encouragement from Kitbuqa, a dominating presence over the young king to be sure) declared a nullification of all Genoese trading rights in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and Kitbuqa also outlawed them from Alexandria. Most of these rights were either gone forever or given to the declining Pisans (Conradin and his advisors favored the Pisans, who were long-time Ghibellines, or supporters of the Holy Roman Emperor over the Papacy and his agents), but some had been to the hated Venetians. This made up somewhat for their recent loss in Constantinople, and escalated the already acute tensions between Venice and Genoa. The advance of the Ilkahanates armies continued largely unhindered, for Berke did not wish to risk another defeat, which could ruin him. By the end of the year Berke was ready for terms. His empire was collapsing around him, as the opportunistic Russians now were rebelling against his rule in their lands, a burden they had always held resentfully.We now may turn our eye to Europe. As was mentioned earlier, tensions between Venice and Genoa have risen to high levels, and a Genoan raid on the Venetian Crete now only increased this. The Venetians were furious over this blatant disrespect of Venetian sovereignty, and demanded an apology and reciprocation immediately. The Genoese earlier had even helped topple the Venetian puppet, the Latin Empire. Many of their ports had switched places, the Genoese moving in the north and the Venetians in the south. Venice declared war between the two Republics, both bitterly jealous over each others successes. Conflicts began in the Aegean this year, with a Genoese landing on Crete. The powers-that-be in the Levant have declared in favor of the Venetians, and thus the Pisans signed an alliance with the Venetians against the Genoese. King James I of Aragon also arrived home now from his adventures in the Levant, ready to resume his conquest of the hated Moors as soon as he and his armies could recuperate. Conradin now finally reluctantly gave his rights up to the Duchy of Swabia to his step-father Meinhard of Carinthia, yet Conradin still claimed himself as the true heir to the Kingdom of Sicily. He was unlikely to have such an unbelievable stroke of luck in claiming that title as he had his first one, for he was to have hard time of it between the powerful ruler ( and his uncle) Manfred of Sicily (who had stolen the title from Conradin five years prior), and the ruthlessly ambitious titular ruler Charles of Anjou.
1264: At then dawn of the New Year, a peace was negotiated (rather, wrung) from the Golden Horde. Berke Khan relinquished all of his territory in the Caucasus, issued a formal apology to the Ilkhanate, renounced any claims as the Protector of Islam and any alliance he had with the Mamelukes, and also denied the legitimacy of the dubiously honest Al-Hakim, claimed descendant of the deposed Caliphs. Though likely not a true descendant, he was nonetheless a rallying point for the Muslims, and denial by Berke hurt the cause of the few who continued to resist the domination of the Tatar Hordes. Finally, he ransomed back the genius general Nogai Khan (he had been overwhelmed by vastly superior numbers and arms in the battle of the Terek) from the Ilkhanate. Nogai Khan had been greatly ashamed by what had happened, and became occupied with an obsession to regain his former feared and glorious reputation. The Novgorod Republic had commenced an invasion of the Golden Horde, knowing it was in no proper position to respond with adequate force. Unfortunately for them, peace concluded between the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate shortly after they begin their invasion of the Golden Horde. Several of the other small Russian feudal states also rose against the Golden Horde. Thus, the Golden Hordes army was mobilized for a raid to teach this Russians a lesson for the impetuousness. They won a great victory, and forced new punishments and taxes upon the Duchies and Republics of Russia. Nogai Khans glory lust had been whetted, to an extent. Yet he still hungered for an exhibition against a more worthy opponent than the disunited and weak Russian vassal states. Also, the Armenians, Georgians, and Circassians rose in favor of the Ilkhanate, with its known high tolerance for Christians. Luckily for them, the Golden Horde was unable to strike back, for their lands were transferred to the Ilkhanate in the peace treaty. In Egypt, Kitbuqa secured many of the remaining Muslim possessions in Syria, and is now adding most of them to his growing kingdom in Egypt, or gifting them to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. He staged minor operations in the Sultanate of Rum, to remind them where their loyalties lay. In the rest of the Middle-East, large backlashes against the native Christians, now being appointed to power across the territory of the Ilkhanate, required increase Tatar military presence in several large Middle-Eastern cities. Many leading Islamists were imprisoned and punished, and their property confiscated for the Ilkhanate. The Ilkhan also staged minor scouting raids into the Nejd. In the Kingdom of Jerusalem, all of the final hold out barons recognized the ultimate authority of Conradin as the new true king, even the powerful Ibelins, yet he may have to bribe them further in the future (particularly a possible marriage alliance). Back in Italy, Pope Urban IV realized this was as good a chance as he would have in a long time to finally rid Sicily of the bothersome Manfred, and recruited Charles to retake the island for the Pope. This was despite the many protestations of Conradins supporters, and the increasingly capable boy himself. Unfortunately, not only was he not a strong enough military leader to do so at this point, but he also lacked the support of the Pope, who still held an immature grudge against the Hohenstaufen. Charles of Anjous armies began landing in Naples towards the end of this year after a lengthy mobilization period, while Manfred seemed to not take this actually quite serious threat as any real concern to him or his kingdom. A minor setback occurs for Charles of Anjou when Pope Urban IV dies (no divergence from our time line). The necessity for a Papal conclave and thus a temporary stoppage of immediate extra funds to his forces makes him temporarily slow his campaign to oust Manfred from Sicily. Elsewhere in the Mediterranean the Venetian-Genoese war continues with increased fury from both sides. The Genoese suffered a minor blow with the surrender of their benefactors, the Golden Horde, but fought on capturing several key Venetian possessions in the Aegean and even staging a handful of minor raiding expedition in the Dalmations and Adriatic Sea. The Venetians in turn launched some minor land expeditions against the Genoese in the peninsula itself (with the help of their allies the Pisans). They also responded in the Levant, encouraging punitive action by Conradin against the long-time ally of the Genoese, the Hospitallers. There was a minor shift in favor at the court of Jerusalem towards the Templars. Also, there were several major battles in the Aegean between the two mighty fleets, with several islands and colonies switching hands a few times. Despite attempts by several major Christian parties, such as the Pope and the Roman Emperor (the Eastern one, there still isnt one in the West), their counter-productive and internecine war continued. Eventually they would force major players in the Mediterranean to take sides. Already the Pope, the Guelphs, and Charles of Anjou were showing small signs of support for the Genoese, if to just spite Conradin. Perhaps they were also motivated to prevent any one of the major merchant cities from gaining a dominant share in the power, as Venice was currently leading in the war by a good deal, and the Genoese were on their heels, reeling. Back on other side of the Mediterranean, at the start of the year James I of Aragon and his two sons had returned from their adventures in Outremer with much experience and a wish to give the Muslims as good a hiding as they had received in the East back home in the West. He captured a great deal of the petty Moorish sultanates and beydoms to the south of Aragon, considerably expanding his power base in the name of all Christendom. If we now turn farther north, in the Grand Principality of Vladimir Suzdal, the Golden Hordes favored candidate for the throne Yaroslav of Tver falls out of favor, and instead his brother Andrey II of Vladimir takes power. He had a known record of opposing the Golden Horde, and with the Golden Hordes power falling he became the stronger candidate. Finally, the ever pious Louis IX began preaching for a new crusade, this time to North Africa. He forever regretted he had been incapacitated, unable to be in attendance in person when Jerusalem had been readmitted into the gracious open arms of Western Christendom. He now wished to gain glory for God, and forever push the dreaded Muslims out of the Mediterranean. If no one would join him, a shame, but he would do it all by himself. Yet he wished to gather a great exhibition to forever retake the precious North coast of Africa for the Christ. He managed to somehow wring a vow out of Charles of Anjou, but only once his affairs in Sicily had been settled, and he was comfortably able to supply a large crusading force. Edward Longshanks had expressed interest in this adventure, yet was unfortunately preoccupied by the English Civil War. Aragon also was too warn out against the Moors and its previous expedition to Outremer to provide any meaningful assistance to Louis IX. Castile expressed tentative commitments, and yet thus far it looked as if it might be solely fellow Angevins on this war of God.
Note- I would really appreciate some feedback, or even expressions of interest. I will (in the next chapter) begin have to deal with butterflies, and that should be difficult. Any advice, suggestions, or ideas for improvement are greatly appreciated.
Succinctly put, the British succession situation.
