Our Fractured Crown: An Eastern Roman Timeline
- Thread starter Averious
- Start date
yep
I didn't meant for them to conquer it for themselves, but sending aid to help castile and aragon finish the reconquista.
Book 2; 1373 - Collapsing Front
John figured that had Michael still had his right arm, the man might have smashed it down onto the war table in frustration; something John shared, but kept in check, as he gazed over the maps of Anatolia.
Of course Murad, bastard that he was, wasn't willing to sit around any longer--all roads either led against Egypt of all things, or them, the Romans; he'd chosen the seemingly easier target.
"The arrogant wolflings are digging into our coops again, it's time we gave them a bloody nose!" Nikephoros, Duke of Nicaea, pressed; drawing a path of forces from Philadelphia to Denizli--his more dour brother, Sir John, silently countermanded it, softly drawing instead a line to Milas, then tapping it twice.
Khader, for his part, was silent--his eyes drifting on, and off, between the various 'players' of the room. He was not here to make suggestions, or demands; he knew he fully relied on the Romans, and wasn't quite a man of action himself.
The Emperor's eyes widened a tad, as he parsed out something no one else had noticed--and instead motioned to Efes.
This would be a long damned war.
1373
The news of Murad's invasion hadn't quite shocked the court of the Emperor, but it had been most unwelcome; it was a full-scale offensive, and now they were being dragged directly into it for many reasons--not least of all was that if it was allowed to continue the hated Turks would be able to launch ships into the Aegean.
And, off course, there was the fact that Aydin's Bey, Khader, was married to the sister of the Empress Helena, and had been for 30 years, in a longstanding alliance.
The Emperor would order the mustering of the Allagion, and come February the Romans would already be marching into Anatolia; connecting with the Duke of Nicaea, Nikephoros Artemiou, as well as the Duke's brother John Artemiou.
Meeting Hizir, eldest son of Khader, and nephew-by-marriage of the Emperor, at Manisa in mid-February, the Romans would be guided by the Aydinid princeling and his retinue into the lands held by their ally--even as, right then, Murad's potent force shattered past the walls of Denizli, the key fortress that had kept the Ottomans at bay from the corelands of Aydin for generations.
Time was running out.
Khader would meet with the Romans, having mustered his own forces, come the end of February in the Roman fortress-city of Philadelphia--therein they would coalesce and march out against Murad.
Differing opinions on what to do next would finally be settled by the Emperor, who deduced that rather than try and corner off the Aydinids by taking Milas, they would instead aim to split the lands of their enemies in half painfully at Efes.
Thus, in March, they would depart Philadelphia, and make south.
By the time the alliance had crossed into ostensibly Aydinid lands, having passed by Smyrna, their capital, the devastation wrought by Murad would become painfully obvious--as would the reason. The Sultan had detached his irregular forces and allowed them to pillage as they pleased across any of the nearby lands they could reach.
It was these irregular forces that would stall the advance of the alliance; regularly cutting into the marching lines, or simply causing chaos in passing. John had to fight to keep his forces organised, as it had been a generation since the Roman army itself had fought against the Turks in full--and it showed.
They were skittish--unused to horse archers. Only the Aydinid troops, themselves Turks, and the elite troops of the Duchy of Nicaea, held firm--as did the Emperor's own retinue.
All of this wasted time would prove deadly in due time--as the Romans had arrived far too late to save Efes in April; the terrain of the region, river valleys, and steep hills, not having helped either.
Efes had fallen, and from it, Murad had yet another fortress, while too having achieved his goal of cutting the Aydinid domains in half.
John cursed, and wheeled his troops around--this had turned bad and would turn worse--as troops began to be pelted, and then die, from Turkish arrow fire from the hills, as Murad himself, alongside his sons, led a deadly charge straight past the Roman-Aydinid lines in the environs of Efes.
They hadn't counted on this, and John's scouts had failed him.
The captains of the alliance rallied their men; Nikephoros yelling words of encouragement, and John rallying the flagging forces of the Romans besides, as Khadar did the same to his own troops, just as the Ottomans infantry burst from Efes, and took them by surprise yet again.
At the right flank, as the alliance tried to muster a break out to better ground, Nikephoros led an impassioned charge of the Nicaean cavalry; battering Murad's own charges aside for the time, and giving the Roman infantry time to lockstep, and stonewall their Turkish equivalents.
Then the Roman bowmen came into play, as the Aydinid horse archers duelled at range with their Ottoman counterparts. The Ottomans had no counter to the Roman archers, ensconced as they were behind a protective line of infantry, and the swinging defensive parries of the Roman cavalry.
Khader, while not a great statesman, or planer, was a great warrior--and led his riders ably.
But the battle dragged on.
Just as the Roman lines started to buckle, Murad rallied his infantry back a step--seemingly scared off by the collective efforts of Khader, and Nikephoros, while John himself rode across the lines to continuously rally his men.
They had a second to breathe, and rather than waste it, John ordered the troops to pull back to better ground; leading them himself alongside John Artemiou, as the cavalry wing of the alliance played rearguard.
It would prove to be a moot point.
The thundering sound of hooves came--not from Murad's own forces, but from a massing of his irregulars--irregulars John had been sure they'd displaced, but clearly, had not.
A volley of arrows from them followed, and the unprepared Romans, marching in order as they were for redeployment, were scythed by the blow--as was Nikephoros.
The Duke of Nicaea caught several arrows in the barrage--and dropped from his horse; choking on his own blood, and breaking cohesion, as his men instinctively rode around him to avoid trampling their commander.
And from there the Romans collapsed.
The window was open, and Murad's riders smashed aside Khader's--drawing sabres and cutting down any Roman infantry, and archers, as they struggled to rally a defence--John Artemiou's horse was killed under him here, and more chaos ensued, as still Nikephoros' contingent had yet to rejoin the fight; instead focused on pulling their dying commander back behind the lines.
The Emperor rallied, however--rallied everyone he could, and demanded they form--demanded they fight for Rome and Anatolia. They would not be beaten by the Turks, not here--not by some bastard like Murad.
Were it so easy.
Yet the Romans rallied--and forced a potent shell that Murad's forces crashed into, but could not dislodge. Chaos entered into Murad's own lines now with the sudden mad rising of John Artemiou--who, covered in the gore of his own dead horse, pulled Murad's own son Savci Bey from his horse and then beat the Ottoman princeling to death with the broken edge of his hammer. Savci's brother, and hero of the Turks, Yakub Celebi, would be badly wounded by a swing from John, which shattered his shoulder.
John's death seemed certain--at least until the return of his brother's forces came, and forced back the Ottoman's own cavalry, allowing Khader to ride forth, and pull John up and into his saddle to be borne away back to Roman lines, still covered in gore.
The battle had gone on for hours now--and the Romans were starting to crumble.
But so too were Murad's forces--the Sultan's famous anger already boiling over at the death of his eldest, and the wounding of another. In his rage he ordered his infantry on, they would break the collapsing Roman lines, while he and his riders would outflank them, and kill the Emperor.
It was not to be, however.
John Artemiou, having returned to the Roman lines, took over the rallying of the infantry, and archers--allowing the Emperor to take full command of the Nicaean cavalry, and directly engage Murad's own charge.
Some sources say the Emperor and Sultan exchanged blows, much like their fathers had--but Murad himself would deny this until the day he died, as the fact that his charge had been broken and forced to retreat would remain a sore note throughout his remaining days.
Without the aid of the charge, and with the rallying calls of John Artemiou, the Turkish infantry were forced back--and then back again, as Khader crushed an attempted incursion of the Ottoman irregulars then, and made them flee.
Finally, the gap opened, and John called the retreat--mustering everyone left, and withdrawing them before Murad could rally against them again and perhaps finally break them.
The Battle of Efes had lasted a full day, nearly into the night, and had been a victory for the Ottomans--pyrrhic as it may have been in many cases.
A third of the Ottomans had died, half of the Romans had--yet, the fact that Khader's own forces had emerged largely unscathed tipped the scales into something amounting to an equal loss ratio.
Barely.
The Romans mourned the loss of Nikephoros as they retreated to Smyrna, yet the Emperor wouldn't allow them to wallow in their own mourning. He admonished the Nicaeans for failing him at a crucial time--regardless of their return, earning their loyal guilt in the matter--even as to ensure it never happened again, he had the scouts who had too so failed him hung for their laxness.
He would not allow this to happen ever again.
Both forces needed to recuperate; Murad forced to pull men from his garrisons in the north, even as John was forced to do the same--relying on his thankfully good relations with the Serbs, and Bulgarians, to accomplish this, although he left the Albanian fortresses fully garrisoned, of course.
Murad was able to do little more than pillage the lands around him until his forces pulled themselves back together in full.
As this went on, across Europe, Brittany would be forced back into the 100 Years War at the 'behest' of France, who invaded in May; pulling both John of Gaunt and the Black Prince back into war. It was here that Manuel would finally depart for home once more--having heard by now of the Ottoman invasions, and seeing no point in remaining, blissful as it might have been, in Aquitaine.
Manuel would give a fond farewell to his cousins, and his aunt, and then depart come June--for Genoa, wherein he heard the news of the daring 'escape' of Otto III of Montferrat for Naples. The young lad, only 15, and thus barely by some metrics old enough to exercise his rule, had come before Joan of Naples and begun his attempts to woo her.
The Prince of Hellas, as he departed Genoa with this information, couldn't help but laugh to himself at the image of a woman in her 40s being courted by some overly ambitious brat of only 15 years.
To say he was nothing short of disappointed, and perturbed, to hear that she was amenable to this once he arrived in Athens in late June, would be an understatement.
As Manuel made for Constantinople, Lisbon, capital of Portugal, would be building great walls to stave off Castilian invasion--and come his arrival in the city, the Bretons would, with English help, see off a strike into Brittany at the Battle of Rennes in July.
With his father's own writ, Manuel was made to stay in Constantinople and take over the governance as regent while the Emperor remained in Anatolia. It would be Manuel's job thus, for the remainder of the year, to funnel troops and resources to his father, and to keep the machines of power turning.
By the time the Roman-Aydinid alliance was ready to move once more, the lands of Aydin had been well and truly burned, and in this had Khader's eldest son and heir Hizir been killed, adding to the pain of that year.
December came and went, and come February of 1374, the Romans would once more go on the offensive; the Emperor baying for blood.
Of course Murad, bastard that he was, wasn't willing to sit around any longer--all roads either led against Egypt of all things, or them, the Romans; he'd chosen the seemingly easier target.
"The arrogant wolflings are digging into our coops again, it's time we gave them a bloody nose!" Nikephoros, Duke of Nicaea, pressed; drawing a path of forces from Philadelphia to Denizli--his more dour brother, Sir John, silently countermanded it, softly drawing instead a line to Milas, then tapping it twice.
Khader, for his part, was silent--his eyes drifting on, and off, between the various 'players' of the room. He was not here to make suggestions, or demands; he knew he fully relied on the Romans, and wasn't quite a man of action himself.
The Emperor's eyes widened a tad, as he parsed out something no one else had noticed--and instead motioned to Efes.
This would be a long damned war.
1373
The news of Murad's invasion hadn't quite shocked the court of the Emperor, but it had been most unwelcome; it was a full-scale offensive, and now they were being dragged directly into it for many reasons--not least of all was that if it was allowed to continue the hated Turks would be able to launch ships into the Aegean.
And, off course, there was the fact that Aydin's Bey, Khader, was married to the sister of the Empress Helena, and had been for 30 years, in a longstanding alliance.
The Emperor would order the mustering of the Allagion, and come February the Romans would already be marching into Anatolia; connecting with the Duke of Nicaea, Nikephoros Artemiou, as well as the Duke's brother John Artemiou.
Meeting Hizir, eldest son of Khader, and nephew-by-marriage of the Emperor, at Manisa in mid-February, the Romans would be guided by the Aydinid princeling and his retinue into the lands held by their ally--even as, right then, Murad's potent force shattered past the walls of Denizli, the key fortress that had kept the Ottomans at bay from the corelands of Aydin for generations.
Time was running out.
Khader would meet with the Romans, having mustered his own forces, come the end of February in the Roman fortress-city of Philadelphia--therein they would coalesce and march out against Murad.
Differing opinions on what to do next would finally be settled by the Emperor, who deduced that rather than try and corner off the Aydinids by taking Milas, they would instead aim to split the lands of their enemies in half painfully at Efes.
Thus, in March, they would depart Philadelphia, and make south.
By the time the alliance had crossed into ostensibly Aydinid lands, having passed by Smyrna, their capital, the devastation wrought by Murad would become painfully obvious--as would the reason. The Sultan had detached his irregular forces and allowed them to pillage as they pleased across any of the nearby lands they could reach.
It was these irregular forces that would stall the advance of the alliance; regularly cutting into the marching lines, or simply causing chaos in passing. John had to fight to keep his forces organised, as it had been a generation since the Roman army itself had fought against the Turks in full--and it showed.
They were skittish--unused to horse archers. Only the Aydinid troops, themselves Turks, and the elite troops of the Duchy of Nicaea, held firm--as did the Emperor's own retinue.
All of this wasted time would prove deadly in due time--as the Romans had arrived far too late to save Efes in April; the terrain of the region, river valleys, and steep hills, not having helped either.
Efes had fallen, and from it, Murad had yet another fortress, while too having achieved his goal of cutting the Aydinid domains in half.
John cursed, and wheeled his troops around--this had turned bad and would turn worse--as troops began to be pelted, and then die, from Turkish arrow fire from the hills, as Murad himself, alongside his sons, led a deadly charge straight past the Roman-Aydinid lines in the environs of Efes.
They hadn't counted on this, and John's scouts had failed him.
The captains of the alliance rallied their men; Nikephoros yelling words of encouragement, and John rallying the flagging forces of the Romans besides, as Khadar did the same to his own troops, just as the Ottomans infantry burst from Efes, and took them by surprise yet again.
At the right flank, as the alliance tried to muster a break out to better ground, Nikephoros led an impassioned charge of the Nicaean cavalry; battering Murad's own charges aside for the time, and giving the Roman infantry time to lockstep, and stonewall their Turkish equivalents.
Then the Roman bowmen came into play, as the Aydinid horse archers duelled at range with their Ottoman counterparts. The Ottomans had no counter to the Roman archers, ensconced as they were behind a protective line of infantry, and the swinging defensive parries of the Roman cavalry.
Khader, while not a great statesman, or planer, was a great warrior--and led his riders ably.
But the battle dragged on.
Just as the Roman lines started to buckle, Murad rallied his infantry back a step--seemingly scared off by the collective efforts of Khader, and Nikephoros, while John himself rode across the lines to continuously rally his men.
They had a second to breathe, and rather than waste it, John ordered the troops to pull back to better ground; leading them himself alongside John Artemiou, as the cavalry wing of the alliance played rearguard.
It would prove to be a moot point.
The thundering sound of hooves came--not from Murad's own forces, but from a massing of his irregulars--irregulars John had been sure they'd displaced, but clearly, had not.
A volley of arrows from them followed, and the unprepared Romans, marching in order as they were for redeployment, were scythed by the blow--as was Nikephoros.
The Duke of Nicaea caught several arrows in the barrage--and dropped from his horse; choking on his own blood, and breaking cohesion, as his men instinctively rode around him to avoid trampling their commander.
And from there the Romans collapsed.
The window was open, and Murad's riders smashed aside Khader's--drawing sabres and cutting down any Roman infantry, and archers, as they struggled to rally a defence--John Artemiou's horse was killed under him here, and more chaos ensued, as still Nikephoros' contingent had yet to rejoin the fight; instead focused on pulling their dying commander back behind the lines.
The Emperor rallied, however--rallied everyone he could, and demanded they form--demanded they fight for Rome and Anatolia. They would not be beaten by the Turks, not here--not by some bastard like Murad.
Were it so easy.
Yet the Romans rallied--and forced a potent shell that Murad's forces crashed into, but could not dislodge. Chaos entered into Murad's own lines now with the sudden mad rising of John Artemiou--who, covered in the gore of his own dead horse, pulled Murad's own son Savci Bey from his horse and then beat the Ottoman princeling to death with the broken edge of his hammer. Savci's brother, and hero of the Turks, Yakub Celebi, would be badly wounded by a swing from John, which shattered his shoulder.
John's death seemed certain--at least until the return of his brother's forces came, and forced back the Ottoman's own cavalry, allowing Khader to ride forth, and pull John up and into his saddle to be borne away back to Roman lines, still covered in gore.
The battle had gone on for hours now--and the Romans were starting to crumble.
But so too were Murad's forces--the Sultan's famous anger already boiling over at the death of his eldest, and the wounding of another. In his rage he ordered his infantry on, they would break the collapsing Roman lines, while he and his riders would outflank them, and kill the Emperor.
It was not to be, however.
John Artemiou, having returned to the Roman lines, took over the rallying of the infantry, and archers--allowing the Emperor to take full command of the Nicaean cavalry, and directly engage Murad's own charge.
Some sources say the Emperor and Sultan exchanged blows, much like their fathers had--but Murad himself would deny this until the day he died, as the fact that his charge had been broken and forced to retreat would remain a sore note throughout his remaining days.
Without the aid of the charge, and with the rallying calls of John Artemiou, the Turkish infantry were forced back--and then back again, as Khader crushed an attempted incursion of the Ottoman irregulars then, and made them flee.
Finally, the gap opened, and John called the retreat--mustering everyone left, and withdrawing them before Murad could rally against them again and perhaps finally break them.
The Battle of Efes had lasted a full day, nearly into the night, and had been a victory for the Ottomans--pyrrhic as it may have been in many cases.
A third of the Ottomans had died, half of the Romans had--yet, the fact that Khader's own forces had emerged largely unscathed tipped the scales into something amounting to an equal loss ratio.
Barely.
The Romans mourned the loss of Nikephoros as they retreated to Smyrna, yet the Emperor wouldn't allow them to wallow in their own mourning. He admonished the Nicaeans for failing him at a crucial time--regardless of their return, earning their loyal guilt in the matter--even as to ensure it never happened again, he had the scouts who had too so failed him hung for their laxness.
He would not allow this to happen ever again.
Both forces needed to recuperate; Murad forced to pull men from his garrisons in the north, even as John was forced to do the same--relying on his thankfully good relations with the Serbs, and Bulgarians, to accomplish this, although he left the Albanian fortresses fully garrisoned, of course.
Murad was able to do little more than pillage the lands around him until his forces pulled themselves back together in full.
As this went on, across Europe, Brittany would be forced back into the 100 Years War at the 'behest' of France, who invaded in May; pulling both John of Gaunt and the Black Prince back into war. It was here that Manuel would finally depart for home once more--having heard by now of the Ottoman invasions, and seeing no point in remaining, blissful as it might have been, in Aquitaine.
Manuel would give a fond farewell to his cousins, and his aunt, and then depart come June--for Genoa, wherein he heard the news of the daring 'escape' of Otto III of Montferrat for Naples. The young lad, only 15, and thus barely by some metrics old enough to exercise his rule, had come before Joan of Naples and begun his attempts to woo her.
The Prince of Hellas, as he departed Genoa with this information, couldn't help but laugh to himself at the image of a woman in her 40s being courted by some overly ambitious brat of only 15 years.
To say he was nothing short of disappointed, and perturbed, to hear that she was amenable to this once he arrived in Athens in late June, would be an understatement.
As Manuel made for Constantinople, Lisbon, capital of Portugal, would be building great walls to stave off Castilian invasion--and come his arrival in the city, the Bretons would, with English help, see off a strike into Brittany at the Battle of Rennes in July.
With his father's own writ, Manuel was made to stay in Constantinople and take over the governance as regent while the Emperor remained in Anatolia. It would be Manuel's job thus, for the remainder of the year, to funnel troops and resources to his father, and to keep the machines of power turning.
By the time the Roman-Aydinid alliance was ready to move once more, the lands of Aydin had been well and truly burned, and in this had Khader's eldest son and heir Hizir been killed, adding to the pain of that year.
December came and went, and come February of 1374, the Romans would once more go on the offensive; the Emperor baying for blood.
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Great chapter @Averious, nice battle in Efes between the Romans and Turks, sad the amount of important Romans (and their allies) that died. The Turks gave the Empire a bloody nose, the counterattack will be great to see. It seems to me that Ottoman Anatolia will overall be more devasted when compared to Roman Anatolia due their constant pillaging of resources, they thought it be an easy fight to kick the Romans out permanently. The Ottomans are having to scrap the bottom of the barrel to throw whatever they have at the vengeful Romans. I believe Murad will face a great defeat, or possibly see a "victory", on the battlefield that causes the entire Ottoman Sultanate to flee for a new homeland.
Keep up the great work 👍 👍 👍
Keep up the great work 👍 👍 👍
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Instead of Pyrrhic Victory, the term is gonna change to Turkish Victory. It's gonna be a running joke, if just one Turk survives the battlefield they'll boast about it 🤣🤣🤣
Will the Byzantine reentry into Anatolia proper be somewhat bad for the Empire? It seems like it would be very underpopulated and unable to really pay for its own reconquest. What are the general population figures for the Empire? Do they have enough people to actively begin resettlement of Greeks into Asia Minor?
Glad you enjoyed it!
Otto III is certainly interesting, if not to be trusted, lol.
Ottomans aren't exactly in that dire of a situation, they haven't been looting and burning absolutely everything they've conquered--and as it stands they've only called their northern garrisons, not their western, central or eastern ones. They still have plently of manpower to call on, and won't be under any threat of losing their foothold in Anatolia for at least another generation yet.
I would, but I feel like Pyrrhus deserves the eternal legacy of at least being remembered by name 🤣
Anatolia as it stands still boasts a large population into the many millions, maybe as high as 4 or 5 million--but it's fractious and in many cases nomadic.
Of that, at least 300,000 or so are Roman or Aydinid.
In total, factoring in the various Balkan lands of the Empire, you get a population of at the lowest 1.2 million, and at its highest 1.7 million. The Roman-held Aegean Isles number around a rough 200,000--most of which would be on Crete, Lesbos, etc.
All of this together adds up to a population of, at most, around 2.2 million.
The Ottomans roughly control an equal amount, as much of the population is still under Karamanid or Mamluk/Mamluk vassal (Dulkadir) control.
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Speaking of Anatolia, what fate would the Trapezuntine Empire have ITTL? Might as well ask.
They'll cease to exist by the start of the 15th century; won't spoil much else, but the Komnenoi won't die with it.
It would be an insult if such an illustrious house were die out 😤😤😤
If the Byzzies more firmly reestablish themselves in Anatolia and offer an effective buy out package, the Komnenenoi would be fools to not take it.
Book 2; 1374 to 1375 - Counterattack Two Fronts
"Were it that I was able to be there myself, and lead the van' against the enemies of Christ, and you. Alas, that is not to be, for now; the duties of my own realm keep me rooted here, unpleasant as they may be.
Stand strong, my dear brother; the Almighty is watching, and I'm sure, in your favour,"
- Excerpt from a letter of Edward, the Black Prince, to the Emperor John V, c. 1375
1374 to 1375
On the offensive again come February, and having mustered around 16,000 men, John V would, alongside Khader and John Artemiou (who he had created Duke of Nicaea, considering the passing of his brother Nikephoros, and his heroics), lead a number of sorties into central Aydin; being met with several Ottoman irregulars, as Murad had resorted to public calls of 'ghazw' against Aydin, and the Roman lands, in order to cause mayhem while he mustered a rebuilding of his army.
The Ottomans hadn't been able to hold onto Efes under these conditions; with Murad effectively pulling out his entire garrison and leaving a skeleton guard--come March the Romans had retaken it for Aydin, and from there started counterattacking the irregulars gradually--pushing them further, and further, out of Aydinid territory.
It would take another month before the raids ceased into Aydin--but only because they now battered Roman lands; forcing John V to detach his forces from Khader's, and leave behind the Aydinid Bey to handle his own lands for a bit, in order to see off the raiders.
Thankfully, the garrisons of the Duchy had held--even if the lands around had been ravaged; forcing farmers, herdsmen and akin to flee to fortified positions again for the first time in decades. It was a sight the Emperor found disgusting--wrong, and in retaliation, he quickly led his forces deeper into the West Anatolian lands of the Ottomans; taking a number of lesser forts, and pushing the border further east, before being stopped firmly at Kotyaion in April.
Across Europe, and Africa, around this time the Death would remerge, and amongst those worst affected were the Mamluks of Egypt, and the lands of France contested between the English and French--the latter? Unfavourably for the English.
News reached John in late April that Trebizond had begun raiding the Ottoman lands in the vicinity of Amisos, and then later Kamacha, under the orders of Alexios III Megas Komnenos; the Emperor having seen an opportunity, and having Georgian backing.
This had been a key distraction of Murad's, and by the time he forced those of Trebizond to flee back through the 'Pontic Gates', John had developed a much stronger position than the Ottoman Sultan had intended.
He had wished for a quick, decisive, victory--and had been robbed of that by a hair's breadth; he intended to finish the job.
No less than a dozen inconsistent clashes met, and broke, over the environs of Prusa, and Nicaea--as Aydinid raids deep into Ottoman territory wrought havoc with their supplies. In retaliation, Murad himself led a raid that stabbed the very coastline of the Propontis, from which he arrogantly took a flask of water on the return back to his lands.
Finally, a decisive battle took place in the Meander Valley come June, as Murad led a force of 20,000 deep into Aydin and once more put it to the sword; killing Khader's last remaining son in a pitched battle prior.
John and Khader rode to meet Murad, and the battle was bloody; the Emperor being badly wounded as an Ottoman rider nearly disembowelled him with a lance blow that killed his horse. Khader was forced to take charge while John V regrouped; with Duke John leading a massive breakout effort that punched through a growing Ottoman encirclement as night began to settle.
Finally, however, the Romans were able to force Murad to retreat come the following morning, as news that the Mamluks were kicking around his southern border forced the Sultan's hand.
Picking back up the pieces, the Emperor left Duke John in charge of the Roman forces; retiring to Philadelphia for a time to heal, and recoup, before returning to the front in late July with several raids into the periphery of Ottoman Pisidia--which Murad responded to by sending a brutal force of radical ghazi's under his new de facto heir Bayezid; routing the Roman raiding force.
An uneasy calm settled over the battlefield for less than a month, as Bayezid then came like thunder over the hills and mountains; badly mauling the Aydinid forces, and killing Khader in a massive battle in the environs of Denizli, which he quickly put to siege once equipment arrived.
Hearing from Khader's surviving lieutenant, and the last male Aydinid, the now-dead Bey's nephew Selim, John rallied his forces and punched through several attacks by ghazi's to reach Bayezid's siege come August.
The terrain of Denizli, hilly and full of wild game, meant that the battle ended up broken into several skirmishes that dragged on over a full week--and by the time a pitched battle commenced, which the Romans narrowly won, Bayezid had torn down a large section of Denizli's walls; insultingly tossing bricks at the Romans as he departed with his surviving troops.
The Romans had been too exhausted to chase after him.
In letters written to Manuel by his father, the Emperor was quite open with his disdain for the Ottomans--proclaiming, "They don't even wish victory through conquest, only to trouble us as punishment for surviving them,"
Constantinople, which had been a slowly growing flurry of activity, was once again silenced when Plague burned through the city; undoing a number of the rebuilding efforts enacted by John, and Manuel--only to peter out just as quickly, once it had had its fill of death.
Manuel, who had been focused on supplying his father men and material, now had to work to stitch back together the city wherever tears had occurred; the Plague having claimed Basil of Lesbos, and left the Imperial Fleet without a leader.
October had seen the Ottomans launch the first of their Mediterranean ships from former Teke lands; causing havoc for all the polities involved--including the Hospitallers, as attempts to drive off the Ottoman corsairs had seen their own fleet crushed along the coasts of Myra in early November.
In Aquitaine, the Black Prince would be forced to depart from the lands he'd called his home for decades--as the Plague killed any it pleased in France, and he could not risk his own family there; leaving for England.
As he departed he swore to himself he'd return, although it would end up being under quite different circumstances.
December, and thus winter, set in; forcing an end to much of the hostilities in Anatolia. John found enough time then to return to Constantinople and have a quiet, and rather sombre, Christmas--before finally being forced to return after news of renewed raids by Murad into Bithynia came to Constantinople.
At the same time, the Black Prince was unravelling a large, tangled, web of sales, and downright thefts by a singular woman; Alice Perrers--the mistress of his, by now, ailing father.
Perrers had eased her way into Edward III's company in the aftermath of the death of his wife, Philippa of Hainault; the beloved, and active, Queen of England, in 1369. While at first a quiet affair, as Edward grew yet older and more infirm, she became more open in her cunning; convincing the King to afford her, on her own merit and thus not even reclaimable with ease by the Crown, several properties, incomes, and more.
When the Prince of Wales had returned to England, and found this out, it was needless to say he was quite livid--finding the general manner of the country agreeing with him.
Parliament had been on the verge of demanding her removal from the court, and the Black Prince--having long grown to dislike the growing power, and arrogance, of the Parliament, especially that of the Commons, due to their control over the taxes of the Crown (which had caused him no end of grief in the Aquitanian equivalent, thus necessitating Roman aid), would listen to the advice of his wife Maria, and play politics.
Presenting himself as unlikely to aid them, the Prince was able to gather a concession of increased powers over incomes in both Wales, and Cornwall, from Parliament [1], and in turn he would see to it that Perrers, who he had planned to deal with anyway, was banished from court.
Thereafter, while maintaining magnanimity despite his utter disgust at sullying his mother's memory, the Black Prince would still leave Perrers in possession of at least some of her estates upon her banishment in March.
Not long thereafter, the Black Prince would lull Parliament into naming him Regent in his father's name, as the by-now impotent, and unwilling, Edward III refused to govern now that his mistress had been ejected.
Many considered it a sad end to such a great, chivalric, King--many, including the Black Prince, pointing to the death of the Queen as the catalyst.
Things were effectively dashed in France however; the Plague, which the Prince of Wales and his family had thus so barely avoided, had destroyed the citizens and soldiers of Aquitaine, and from there Charles V of France would reclaim effectively all of France save the coastal possessions of the Plantagenets by late April; forcing the English to the table at the Treaty of Bruges.
Brittany, which had done well to cast away French incursions, was able to once more be confirmed as de facto independent, while the English were forced to concede to Charles his conquests--for now; the treaty for a single year, but would later be increased to continue into 1377.
What was left to the Black Prince now was to put right the various mismanagements of the corelands of England--and in this, he would renounce Aquitaine, what was left of it, to his brother John of Gaunt; both to firmly remove him from the politics of the Isle and to give the man something to govern himself in a bid to perhaps sate his need for something of his own.
John would, of course, begin to use Bordeaux as a nexus from which he planned to claim Castile--it mattered little to the Black Prince, who was simply glad to have him focused elsewhere.
The Prince of Wales was of course bitter about everything to do with this, as little as his brother mattered, after spending his entire youth fighting for those lands, and raising his boys there for much of their life thus far alongside his wife; but he put the needs of his own dynasty above that, and thus focused on the Isle.
To the Romans however, the year had been nothing but the same as a whole; inconsequential, back-and-forth, fighting--gains had been made, but the Turks simply continued to bypass fortresses and armies, to raid.
Only three times would John be able to bring them to a pitched battle, each harder than the last as the Aydinid Beylik gradually disintegrated without a real claimant (Selim having refused, and instead focused on aiding the Romans at sea against the Ottomans).
Finally, however, John pinned Murad down for a fourth, and final, confrontation in the lands of Phrygia; roughly 13,000 Romans, facing 16,000 or so Turks. The battle took place in August 1375.
By the end Murad had lost another son, Yakub Celebi, to Roman arrows--and had to be pulled away, frothing with rage, by his son Bayezid.
Both armies were thoroughly broken; 3/4's of both had died, and many important commanders and aristocrats on both sides had gone with them--including as many as 11 Knights of the Golden Fleece.
The Emperor had collapsed from exhaustion in the aftermath--the battle inconclusive in the end; having to be carried away at Duke John's order as the war effectively came to an end.
Having calmed from his rage in the weeks after, Murad would send terms to John V; status quo ante bellum--the Romans would keep the lands they'd taken from the Ottomans, the Ottomans would keep all the loot and slaves they'd taken.
It was to be a 5-year truce, but would later continue to be extended well past that.
Aydin was gone in all but name, and in organising the marriage of Khader's only daughter to Duke John, who converted to Christianity when becoming the bride, the Emperor annexed Aydin into the Empire in November of 1375.
Selim would too convert, taking on the Romaic 'rename' of Selimos Aidinoglou; being named as the new Megas Doux, and Lord of the Isles, to replace the deceased Basil of Lesbos. Selimos would bring with him the Aydin fleet, and markedly enlarge that of the Imperial one with it.
It would not be inaccurate to say that the Romans had paid with their army to in turn enlarge their fleet.
Only the environs of Smyrna emerged intact within what had once been Aydin--all the rest was ruined and would be a burden until they were brought back to form. In this, the Meander Valley was added to the Roman Empire too--adding a fertile region that would in time pay dividends.
In many ways the Romans had won the war with Murad--but in others? None could deny the fact that Murad had succeeded in at least effectively neutering the Roman field army--something that would take time to rebuild, and keep the Romans from doing to him what they'd done to the Balkans.
In the grand scheme of things, both John and Murad knew that the Ottomans would recover more quickly--but that would be a problem for later.
---
[1] This would start a growing trend, as the English Monarchy would begin to seek politically cunning avenues through which to limit the hold Parliament had on them. Seeking amendments to income rights over their own direct demesne, the Monarchy would gradually be able to develop an income that would give them more leeway when it came to financing their ventures, rather than scrape and bow towards Parliament for needed money. Often portraying this as an increase in their natural power as aristocrats of their own lands, the Monarchy would regularly be able to rally the similarly aristocratic House of Lords (although it wouldn't be known as this until the 1500s) in their favour against the 'overreaching Commons'.
Stand strong, my dear brother; the Almighty is watching, and I'm sure, in your favour,"
- Excerpt from a letter of Edward, the Black Prince, to the Emperor John V, c. 1375
1374 to 1375
On the offensive again come February, and having mustered around 16,000 men, John V would, alongside Khader and John Artemiou (who he had created Duke of Nicaea, considering the passing of his brother Nikephoros, and his heroics), lead a number of sorties into central Aydin; being met with several Ottoman irregulars, as Murad had resorted to public calls of 'ghazw' against Aydin, and the Roman lands, in order to cause mayhem while he mustered a rebuilding of his army.
The Ottomans hadn't been able to hold onto Efes under these conditions; with Murad effectively pulling out his entire garrison and leaving a skeleton guard--come March the Romans had retaken it for Aydin, and from there started counterattacking the irregulars gradually--pushing them further, and further, out of Aydinid territory.
It would take another month before the raids ceased into Aydin--but only because they now battered Roman lands; forcing John V to detach his forces from Khader's, and leave behind the Aydinid Bey to handle his own lands for a bit, in order to see off the raiders.
Thankfully, the garrisons of the Duchy had held--even if the lands around had been ravaged; forcing farmers, herdsmen and akin to flee to fortified positions again for the first time in decades. It was a sight the Emperor found disgusting--wrong, and in retaliation, he quickly led his forces deeper into the West Anatolian lands of the Ottomans; taking a number of lesser forts, and pushing the border further east, before being stopped firmly at Kotyaion in April.
Across Europe, and Africa, around this time the Death would remerge, and amongst those worst affected were the Mamluks of Egypt, and the lands of France contested between the English and French--the latter? Unfavourably for the English.
News reached John in late April that Trebizond had begun raiding the Ottoman lands in the vicinity of Amisos, and then later Kamacha, under the orders of Alexios III Megas Komnenos; the Emperor having seen an opportunity, and having Georgian backing.
This had been a key distraction of Murad's, and by the time he forced those of Trebizond to flee back through the 'Pontic Gates', John had developed a much stronger position than the Ottoman Sultan had intended.
He had wished for a quick, decisive, victory--and had been robbed of that by a hair's breadth; he intended to finish the job.
No less than a dozen inconsistent clashes met, and broke, over the environs of Prusa, and Nicaea--as Aydinid raids deep into Ottoman territory wrought havoc with their supplies. In retaliation, Murad himself led a raid that stabbed the very coastline of the Propontis, from which he arrogantly took a flask of water on the return back to his lands.
Finally, a decisive battle took place in the Meander Valley come June, as Murad led a force of 20,000 deep into Aydin and once more put it to the sword; killing Khader's last remaining son in a pitched battle prior.
John and Khader rode to meet Murad, and the battle was bloody; the Emperor being badly wounded as an Ottoman rider nearly disembowelled him with a lance blow that killed his horse. Khader was forced to take charge while John V regrouped; with Duke John leading a massive breakout effort that punched through a growing Ottoman encirclement as night began to settle.
Finally, however, the Romans were able to force Murad to retreat come the following morning, as news that the Mamluks were kicking around his southern border forced the Sultan's hand.
Picking back up the pieces, the Emperor left Duke John in charge of the Roman forces; retiring to Philadelphia for a time to heal, and recoup, before returning to the front in late July with several raids into the periphery of Ottoman Pisidia--which Murad responded to by sending a brutal force of radical ghazi's under his new de facto heir Bayezid; routing the Roman raiding force.
An uneasy calm settled over the battlefield for less than a month, as Bayezid then came like thunder over the hills and mountains; badly mauling the Aydinid forces, and killing Khader in a massive battle in the environs of Denizli, which he quickly put to siege once equipment arrived.
Hearing from Khader's surviving lieutenant, and the last male Aydinid, the now-dead Bey's nephew Selim, John rallied his forces and punched through several attacks by ghazi's to reach Bayezid's siege come August.
The terrain of Denizli, hilly and full of wild game, meant that the battle ended up broken into several skirmishes that dragged on over a full week--and by the time a pitched battle commenced, which the Romans narrowly won, Bayezid had torn down a large section of Denizli's walls; insultingly tossing bricks at the Romans as he departed with his surviving troops.
The Romans had been too exhausted to chase after him.
In letters written to Manuel by his father, the Emperor was quite open with his disdain for the Ottomans--proclaiming, "They don't even wish victory through conquest, only to trouble us as punishment for surviving them,"
Constantinople, which had been a slowly growing flurry of activity, was once again silenced when Plague burned through the city; undoing a number of the rebuilding efforts enacted by John, and Manuel--only to peter out just as quickly, once it had had its fill of death.
Manuel, who had been focused on supplying his father men and material, now had to work to stitch back together the city wherever tears had occurred; the Plague having claimed Basil of Lesbos, and left the Imperial Fleet without a leader.
October had seen the Ottomans launch the first of their Mediterranean ships from former Teke lands; causing havoc for all the polities involved--including the Hospitallers, as attempts to drive off the Ottoman corsairs had seen their own fleet crushed along the coasts of Myra in early November.
In Aquitaine, the Black Prince would be forced to depart from the lands he'd called his home for decades--as the Plague killed any it pleased in France, and he could not risk his own family there; leaving for England.
As he departed he swore to himself he'd return, although it would end up being under quite different circumstances.
December, and thus winter, set in; forcing an end to much of the hostilities in Anatolia. John found enough time then to return to Constantinople and have a quiet, and rather sombre, Christmas--before finally being forced to return after news of renewed raids by Murad into Bithynia came to Constantinople.
At the same time, the Black Prince was unravelling a large, tangled, web of sales, and downright thefts by a singular woman; Alice Perrers--the mistress of his, by now, ailing father.
Perrers had eased her way into Edward III's company in the aftermath of the death of his wife, Philippa of Hainault; the beloved, and active, Queen of England, in 1369. While at first a quiet affair, as Edward grew yet older and more infirm, she became more open in her cunning; convincing the King to afford her, on her own merit and thus not even reclaimable with ease by the Crown, several properties, incomes, and more.
When the Prince of Wales had returned to England, and found this out, it was needless to say he was quite livid--finding the general manner of the country agreeing with him.
Parliament had been on the verge of demanding her removal from the court, and the Black Prince--having long grown to dislike the growing power, and arrogance, of the Parliament, especially that of the Commons, due to their control over the taxes of the Crown (which had caused him no end of grief in the Aquitanian equivalent, thus necessitating Roman aid), would listen to the advice of his wife Maria, and play politics.
Presenting himself as unlikely to aid them, the Prince was able to gather a concession of increased powers over incomes in both Wales, and Cornwall, from Parliament [1], and in turn he would see to it that Perrers, who he had planned to deal with anyway, was banished from court.
Thereafter, while maintaining magnanimity despite his utter disgust at sullying his mother's memory, the Black Prince would still leave Perrers in possession of at least some of her estates upon her banishment in March.
Not long thereafter, the Black Prince would lull Parliament into naming him Regent in his father's name, as the by-now impotent, and unwilling, Edward III refused to govern now that his mistress had been ejected.
Many considered it a sad end to such a great, chivalric, King--many, including the Black Prince, pointing to the death of the Queen as the catalyst.
Things were effectively dashed in France however; the Plague, which the Prince of Wales and his family had thus so barely avoided, had destroyed the citizens and soldiers of Aquitaine, and from there Charles V of France would reclaim effectively all of France save the coastal possessions of the Plantagenets by late April; forcing the English to the table at the Treaty of Bruges.
Brittany, which had done well to cast away French incursions, was able to once more be confirmed as de facto independent, while the English were forced to concede to Charles his conquests--for now; the treaty for a single year, but would later be increased to continue into 1377.
What was left to the Black Prince now was to put right the various mismanagements of the corelands of England--and in this, he would renounce Aquitaine, what was left of it, to his brother John of Gaunt; both to firmly remove him from the politics of the Isle and to give the man something to govern himself in a bid to perhaps sate his need for something of his own.
John would, of course, begin to use Bordeaux as a nexus from which he planned to claim Castile--it mattered little to the Black Prince, who was simply glad to have him focused elsewhere.
The Prince of Wales was of course bitter about everything to do with this, as little as his brother mattered, after spending his entire youth fighting for those lands, and raising his boys there for much of their life thus far alongside his wife; but he put the needs of his own dynasty above that, and thus focused on the Isle.
To the Romans however, the year had been nothing but the same as a whole; inconsequential, back-and-forth, fighting--gains had been made, but the Turks simply continued to bypass fortresses and armies, to raid.
Only three times would John be able to bring them to a pitched battle, each harder than the last as the Aydinid Beylik gradually disintegrated without a real claimant (Selim having refused, and instead focused on aiding the Romans at sea against the Ottomans).
Finally, however, John pinned Murad down for a fourth, and final, confrontation in the lands of Phrygia; roughly 13,000 Romans, facing 16,000 or so Turks. The battle took place in August 1375.
By the end Murad had lost another son, Yakub Celebi, to Roman arrows--and had to be pulled away, frothing with rage, by his son Bayezid.
Both armies were thoroughly broken; 3/4's of both had died, and many important commanders and aristocrats on both sides had gone with them--including as many as 11 Knights of the Golden Fleece.
The Emperor had collapsed from exhaustion in the aftermath--the battle inconclusive in the end; having to be carried away at Duke John's order as the war effectively came to an end.
Having calmed from his rage in the weeks after, Murad would send terms to John V; status quo ante bellum--the Romans would keep the lands they'd taken from the Ottomans, the Ottomans would keep all the loot and slaves they'd taken.
It was to be a 5-year truce, but would later continue to be extended well past that.
Aydin was gone in all but name, and in organising the marriage of Khader's only daughter to Duke John, who converted to Christianity when becoming the bride, the Emperor annexed Aydin into the Empire in November of 1375.
Selim would too convert, taking on the Romaic 'rename' of Selimos Aidinoglou; being named as the new Megas Doux, and Lord of the Isles, to replace the deceased Basil of Lesbos. Selimos would bring with him the Aydin fleet, and markedly enlarge that of the Imperial one with it.
It would not be inaccurate to say that the Romans had paid with their army to in turn enlarge their fleet.
Only the environs of Smyrna emerged intact within what had once been Aydin--all the rest was ruined and would be a burden until they were brought back to form. In this, the Meander Valley was added to the Roman Empire too--adding a fertile region that would in time pay dividends.
In many ways the Romans had won the war with Murad--but in others? None could deny the fact that Murad had succeeded in at least effectively neutering the Roman field army--something that would take time to rebuild, and keep the Romans from doing to him what they'd done to the Balkans.
In the grand scheme of things, both John and Murad knew that the Ottomans would recover more quickly--but that would be a problem for later.
---
[1] This would start a growing trend, as the English Monarchy would begin to seek politically cunning avenues through which to limit the hold Parliament had on them. Seeking amendments to income rights over their own direct demesne, the Monarchy would gradually be able to develop an income that would give them more leeway when it came to financing their ventures, rather than scrape and bow towards Parliament for needed money. Often portraying this as an increase in their natural power as aristocrats of their own lands, the Monarchy would regularly be able to rally the similarly aristocratic House of Lords (although it wouldn't be known as this until the 1500s) in their favour against the 'overreaching Commons'.
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@Averious ! Amazing work! Very happy that Selim converted!
Yet another draw, hope that the romans can resist when the ottomans come back for trouble. Glad that the navy was streghtened at least
Man, edward BP really saved his family by a hair there! Hope his boys continue to grow strong and good riddance to that vile mistress.
Poor edward III what a way for the greatest plantagenet to end up as, Philipa'a death truly broke him. Thankfully his heir is healthy and able here.
Yet another draw, hope that the romans can resist when the ottomans come back for trouble. Glad that the navy was streghtened at least
Man, edward BP really saved his family by a hair there! Hope his boys continue to grow strong and good riddance to that vile mistress.
Poor edward III what a way for the greatest plantagenet to end up as, Philipa'a death truly broke him. Thankfully his heir is healthy and able here.
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Great chapter, the war between the Romans and Ottomans has concluded, sad the amount have died all over border raids by Murad. A lot of rebuilding is going to be needed for future battles, the Romans will surely win them 😤😤. Like what's happening in England with the Black Prince now as regent for Edward III, good job in getting rid of Alice Perrers 😎😎. With John of Gaunt being given Bordeaux, it will be interesting to see his adventures into Castile, another Kingdom friendly to the Romans isn't such a bad thing. You think we can get a map of if possible?
Keep up the great work 👍 👍 👍
Keep up the great work 👍 👍 👍
Hopefully the Mameluks offer a good distraction to the Turks. Are the Ottomans the biggest power in Asia Minor besides Byzantium? Would be cool if something like a reverse Manzikert happens that forces the Ottomans out, leaving a vacuum that the Byzzies (and to a lesser extent, the Trebies) fill up. With what happened in Aydin, it seems like there's a bigger precedent of Turks converting to Christianity.
I just remembered that Charles V of France dies soon at 1380 and his son, Charles VI, would be a minor at the time. He'd have to deal with mental illness and all the infighting between his regents IIRC. If England wasn't plagued by similar issues, they could actually try to strike back land France. When the Black Prince becomes Edward IV, I'm positive he's gonna lead an army during all the division in France to retake his lands.
It will be interesting seeing the cultural and social effects of so many Turks simply converting and joining the Roman Empire.
For my part i just hope that his son John II cuts his loses with France and focuses on the british isles themselves since Edwars BP is too invested to pull out now