r/ByzantiumAltHistory

Pink-Red: route of main Roman army, Blue: route of Manuel's army, Orange: route of the German army.

November-December 1151

With Roman ambitions in Italy now becoming new nucleus of Constantinople's focus there was an outflow of emissaries to potential allies. One of the inherent problems to an invasion and annexation of Apulia was the threat of a wider hostile reaction from the Latin Christians. The arrival of a Roman army would naturally be viewed with suspicion and thus if the empire took a step too far the Norman menace would suddenly be supplanted by the Roman menace in the eyes of the Italians and Germans who would naturally seek to expunge such a threat.

In order to circumvent such a reaction Alexios would need to form alliances with adherents of the Latin rite, and in particular those with common cause against the Normans. Fortunately, his father had found such help in Conrad III, the so-called 'King of the Romans' and brother-in-law of Manuel's wife Bertha. Conrad's own lack of success in Italy had prompted him to acquiesce to Roman territorial demands and offer Apulia as a dowry for Bertha in exchange for the alliance that had so far kept Norman raids and Italian ventures in check.

Nevertheless, there were still issues, according to his spies Roger had attempted to acquire a concerted attack against the empire with the Hungarians during the Serbian Uprising of 1149. Naturally, his ministers were none too pleased with one remarking that a demon was more trustworthy than the Hungarian King, while Alexios would never let himself be guided by such hyperbolic prejudices he could hardly ignore the grain of merit in that statement. If an invasion was to occur there would have to be readily mobilised forces ready to punish a Hungarian attack.

It was on the advice of his Logothete tou Stratiotikou that Alexios opted to refrain from leading the campaign. Given his experience with the Hungarians in the 1120s he knew how to defeat them and the terrain at his disposal to materialise a victory and avoid the setbacks faced in the previous war. Thus, he decided to appoint three generals to lead the campaign in his stead: Kaisar and Protostrator Alexios Axouch, Michael Palaiologos and Sebastos John Doukas (the emperor's cousin through his aunt Anna). The reasoning for this had been simple enough, Doukas and Palaiologos were the experienced generals and Axouch had been a minor participant in fending off an earlier Norman attack on Greece which acquainted him with Norman tactics in combat.

The third reason being Alexios's discrete desire to keep his generals down, in spite of his close relationship with Doukas and Axouch this was still the first campaign he wasn't leading and it would do no good if such a tremendous feat was achieved by a single man, the accreditation alone could frustrate courtly politics more than he was willing to accept.

As for his foreign alliances Conrad III sent word agreeing to supply 8,000 men led by his nephew Frederick. Alexios further gained Venetian aid in transporting his intended army of 4,500 men to the North-Eastern coast of the Norman kingdom, far from where Roger could mobilise and close enough to rendezvous with his German allies. However, at the advice of his Megas Doux this landing site was replaced with Ancona which was seeking to ingratiate itself with Rhomania so as to deter Venetian aggression against themselves. Once the campaign intricacies were handled by the end of the year a general order for mobilisation was called, Alexios himself took 2,000 men from the Tagmata to settle in Serdica so as to prepare for a possible Hungarian offensive whilst also disseminating orders for men in the Theme of Boulgaria to prepare 2 weeks provisions.

January 1152

Doukas, Palaiologos and Axouch themselves assembled a force of 3,000 soldiers and supplemented it with 800 Serbians (who could only rely on Roman transports and thus not flee to their Grand Prince if he tried to rebel again), 500 Tourkopouloi and 200 Rus mercenaries. By the first week of January they had arrived in Thessalonike and by the second they had force marched to Dyrrhachium where they met the Venetian fleet. Around this time Conrad's army had arrived in northern Italy and began to make plans for a punitive expedition. Unfortunately, poor conditions had stalled the arrival of Venetian ships forcing the Romans to content themselves with stocking additional supplies and partaking in more training.

A fleet had also been dispatched led by Stephen Kontostephanos to the Theme of Nicopolis as an attempted counterbalance to the Norman raiders based in the boot of Italy. In doing so they had fallen directly into the trap of the much revered Greco-Norman admiral George of Antioch who led a fleet in a daring strike against Constantinople. However, In doing so he overplayed his hand with the naval squadrons at Abydos simply allowing him to pass through the Hellespont where his attack on the capital's suburbs was foiled by a hammer-and-anvil attack by ships from Chrysopolis and Abydos.

With the Norman admiral forced on the backfoot it seemed the time was ripe for an attack. Maddeningly, it was the month of February that Conrad decided to succumb to illness all while placing his nephew Frederick (hardly outspoken in his anti-Greek sentiment) as his heir instead of his infant son. As a result Frederick had wheeled his army back north to Frankfurt in order to secure his election as emperor.

In desperation Alexios dispatched John Makrembolites to Rome in order to persuade the Pope to extract an oath from Frederick that he would provide Bertha's dowry in his uncle's name. Eugene, anxious to dispossess the Normans agreed to the Roman request after being supplied a hefty bribe.

In his letter he agreed to provide no resistance to Frederick's accession as Holy Roman Emperor should he be elected, though in order to avoid appearing too aggressive in acquiring the oath he stipulated that there was no obligation for Frederick to personally lead the forces or win any land for the Romans. Eager to augment his primacy Frederick sent envoys to Venice to meet with the emperor's men and begin talks.

After intensive negotiation Frederick agreed to send men on a punitive expedition against the Normans, in exchange the Romans supplied a (much reduced) outline of their intended conquests. Since it was blatantly apparent that neither the Pope nor the Germans would accept a restored Catepanate of Italy it was better to restore the Theme of Longobardia and in doing so create a buffer against Norman invasion whilst remaining a distant and seemingly uninterested power in the long-run.

March-May 1152

With the imperial election concluding near the end of March and 7,000 Germans en-route for Italy the Roman forces prepared to depart. But the Venetian sailors warned of the perils of landing in Ancona, claiming that such a distance risked far more than simply crossing directly into Apulia. Unsure of whether the Venetians were genuine in their warnings or simply seeking to wedge Ancona out of possible imperial favour Palaiologos opted to advocate for a direct crossing. In his mind cities like Bari in Apulia would be likely to open their gates to their fellow Orthodox Christians and that secure conquests would be good for morale in the first few weeks of war, no point bothering with senseless looting in central Eastern Italy.

Following frankly lacklustre opposition to the idea, spies were sent out to meet with urban leaders in many settlements with large Greek speaking populations so as to test the waters regarding restored Roman rule. When such and idea was met with ardent support the crossing was set for mid-April when the German army would be due to arrive.

Against the planned date of arrival the Venetians further delayed citing the inadequacy of their waiting transports due to weathering damage and thus it was only in late April that the crossing was made. Within a week of the arrival Roman forces seized Brindisi and advanced onto Taranto, exploiting Roger's delayed mobilisation as he levied men from lands stretching from Capua to North Africa. Axouch left Doukas and Palaiologos behind in order to advance on Bari which threw open its gates to the Kaisar.

Simultaneously the German army had arrived at the northern fringes of the kingdom destroying the mustering levies and retinues of Norman nobles. Emboldened by this advance the Roman commanders re-united their forces and spilled into the towns and cities that still opposed them in Apulia. Fortune did not favour the empire for long though, after exerting some mediocre effort in suppressing Norman forces and looting their towns the German commander pivoted back north. Upon his arrival in Rome he was angrily questioned by Makrembolites inquiring as to why he wasn't still campaigning.

Unbeknownst to the Romans, Barbarossa and Pope Eugene III had already formed an agreement to disrupt the creation of a Roman foothold in Southern Italy. Instead this army was merely a front for collaboration, so the German commander simply informed Makrembolites that he lacked the logistics to render continued aid to the imperial army. He further claimed that the Commune of Rome's hostility to the Pope and Barbarossa's impending arrival to subjugate the unruly Northern Italians required his presence.

Seeing the departure of the German army Roger re-grouped his scattered forces and began to expel Roman forces from their coastal stronghold.

Initially, he contented himself with containing scattered bands of mounted raiders pillaging the estates of his nobility as a means by which he could gauge the quality of Roman forces. Then, just outside Brindisi, he defeated Palaiologos and in doing so captured the commander. The citizens, seeing the unfolding disaster expelled their Roman garrison and renewed their fealty to Roger. Palaiologos's capture was thankfully short-lived though and the general was able to engineer an escape from Roger's retinue by stealing a horse and riding out to the nearest Roman garrison.

It was not long after that Taranto was evacuated after a fleet of transports bypassed the Roman fleet in the mouth of the Adriatic and managed to land in the city which assumed their presence meant that Konotstephanos's fleet had been defeated.

By the end of May the invasion force had coalesced at Bari, having abandoned all other settlements that they had captured. Upon hearing of the travesty that had unfolded Alexios packaged together whatever money he could and sent Manuel to Ancona with 1,000 men, there he was to recruit knights and sellswords and attempt to relieve the blockaded city. In the meantime Kontostephanos attacked the Norman fleet helping besiege the city, though its size forced him to rely on hit-and-run tactics to whittle it down.

Once Manuel landed in Ancona he did as he had been ordered and marched towards Bari. His plan was to capture Siponto as a base for the Roman fleet to operate and from there accrue any additional forces he could muster to relieve the siege. It was at Monte Sant'Angelo that his march was broken by a Norman army which, while unsuccessful in stopping Manuel's advance, delayed his forces and inflicted injuries to one of his arms and legs. Forgoing the capture of Siponto due to his limited time corridor Manuel pressed on and was able to catch a portion of the besieging Norman host unprepared allowing him to enter the city.

At sea Kontostephanos finally brokered a victory and soon after George of Antioch passed away from natural causes. With one of their best admirals gone the Norman fleet lost its cohesion and was annihilated. In Bari a new debate had emerged as to how the campaign ought to continue. Manuel favoured a sally out, having seen the weakness of some Norman forces he believed there was a chance to slowly break the Norman ranks until a blockade would become unfeasible. Doukas and Palaiologos wanted to wait for Alexios to send reinforcements now that the naval blockade was over. Axouch seemed to have lost all faith in the campaign, the men were exhausted, there morale was in tatters and with the German withdrawal it would be impossible to recover momentum.

In the meantime Roger would only add to his army's ranks and the possibility of negotiating terms would swiftly disintegrate. In the midst of this Axouch and Manuel broke completely, Manuel accused Axouch of cowardice and having been a liability to the entire operation. Axouch had countered the Sebastokrator calling his plan delusional and 'out of touch with reality as always', the latter remark briefly severing any communication between the two. As reinforcements finally arrived Axouch's nerve seemed to return as did that of the beleaguered soldiery. In an ironic twist the reinforcements completely changed the stance of Doukas and Palaiologos.

When the former attempted to sally out against enemy siege engines with fresh troops he was met with a reprisal so brutal that he outright refused to sally out of the city again. Instead he advocated for negotiations, in his mind it was better to leave, end the war, spare Bari and her loyalists from destruction and return later than to continue prosecuting a disaster. The result was two commanders now wanting to make peace and leave, one with renewed confidence but with a desire to stay on the defensive and one who wanted to break out of the gates and wreak havoc.

With such a broken high command Manuel tried to pull rank as a Sebastokrator, Axouch countered that he was Kaisar, Protostrator and the emperor's son-in-law. Manuel retorted that he was the emperor's brother and the more experienced general. The two other men now stuck like children between their bickering parents. Thus, it was in the dead of night that Doukas departed the city, making haste for Roger's tent. There he began talks to surrender the city in exchange for safe passage out and assurances of the peoples' safety. When news of this reached his co-commanders they had tried to denounce the talks but a dressing down by their subordinates and increasingly disdainful (and underpaid) mercenaries forced them to accept the necessity of talks, if not to spare the city then at least delay further onslaught.

Within a week their mercenaries negotiated separate exit from the city and their native soldiers began to mutiny against further campaigning. At this time Manuel opted to descend into one of his worst habits, his reliance on astrology. He had several astrologers in his retinue try to determine whether there was any value in Doukas's talks. When Palaiologos got word that his superior was using the stars to determine their fate he had a bit of a nervous breakdown and wrote to the emperor pleading to order their withdrawal.

In the meantime Kontostephanos was forced to withdraw from Bari as his ships ran low on supplies thus dampening the hitherto limited Roman successes. By late June Doukas was able to conclude an agreement with Roger and several days later an envoy bearing the emperor's seal arrived to ratify it. Despite Manuel's protests Roman ships began scurrying into Bari's harbour to evacuate Roman soldiers and recall the Roman commanders to the capital.

Mid-July-September 1152

The reception was naturally a tricky affair, how exactly did an emperor welcome back the men who had produced the first major failure of his reign? Upon being regaled on the nature of the whole affair he was inclined to sympathise with the humiliated cadre of generals. The court on the other hand had spiralled into chaos, many called for the commanders to be punished, others began to position themselves for political advancement and there was a general collapse in the peace that had been otherwise maintained between courtiers.

Though under no obligation to take any action against his men Alexios was conscious about the confidence his government could command. If, at this moment, he proved inflexible he would risk projecting persistent governmental weakness internally and externally, but if he went too far in his reaction he would be seen as readily willing to dispose of just about anyone, and in doing so creating unwanted distance between potential future ministers and himself.

It was no help that men like one Grammatikos Theodore Styppeiotes had began to clamber for higher posts with their own various power circles vying for royal favour. Unwilling to concede ground to these self-serving and unfamiliar bureaucrats but accepting the need to re-shuffle his ministers he opted for a half-baked solution:

Logothete tou Dromou, Michael Hagiotheodorites, father-in-law to Doukas (the emperor's cousin having taken Michael's daughter as his second wife) was removed as collateral damage relating to his son-in-law. This was much to the glee of his older brother John's enemies. Though this joy was diminished by the fact that Michael was simply re-assigned to a provincial governorship.

Alexios Axouch was removed as Protostrator, the act vaguely justified by the fact that he was always a placeholder for the office. Otherwise the Kaisar was left unscathed by his father-in-law.

John Doukas, seeing the way the wind was blowing offered his resignation as an officer but was rejected and simply re-appointed to a lesser post. Palaiologos, who seemed to be touted as a nervous wreck and feckless had managed to gain some sympathy as a 'victim' of the incompetence of his superiors and narrowly escaped any major consequences.

Manuel was given a private dressing down and scolding by his older brother but otherwise was also left unscathed albeit sent to the presence of scholars assigned to put Manuel off his ridiculous astrological fixations.

Styppeiotes, having hoped for a greater position was simply ignored so as to avoid any controversy around promoting a rival of one his former ministers. John Poutza, the highest ranking senior official who had been unaffected by the affair achieved a pseudo-ascendancy as one of the most powerful officials in the empire. John Hagiotheodorites was demoted albeit to a senior post and the office of Mesazon was left permanently vacant ahead of schedule.

As for new arrivals there were two from the imperial family: John Euphorbenos, another cousin, took the office of Kanikleios and, as part of an experiment, the Protosebastos John Doukas Komnenos was appointed as Protovestiarios for 2 years. A eunuch named Orestes was appointed as Parakoimomenos and lastly a new Ethnarches was appointed to command all Latin mercenaries on field expeditions.

In a more surprising move Alexios also released his cousin John 'Tzelepes' from house arrest. Whether he had use to the emperor or if it was mere pity for his cousin remained unknown to the court but the man scarcely enjoyed much more freedom in court than he did in his exile.

Of course internal reform couldn't gloss over one important detail, seniority of titles and offices. The campaign had clearly shown weaknesses in the current system; at what point did a title take precedence over office and did all imperial family titles hold primacy over officeholders? To resolve this it was decided that dignities below that of Sebastokrator held no guaranteed precedence over senior officials and that command would be formally structured on an ad-hoc basis by the emperor for campaigns.

With his internal re-shuffling complete there was now consideration for the future of Norman relations. After much heated debate about the next course of action it was decided to focus on returning to a 'peaceful' relationship and bide their time until another opportunity for Apulia presented itself. To this measure Roman diplomats signed the Treaty of Brindisi agreeing to hand over 13,000 Hyperpyra worth of compensation in both looted goods and coin. As for Barbarossa, while Alexios was unaware as to how genuine his original pledge to aid the Romans was there was certainly not going to be an amiable relationship between the two emperors.

October 1152

Alexios's struggles were not yet finished though, instead his governmental troubles were supplanted by family drama. According to a friend of the emperor's niece Eudokia (daughter of the Sebastokrator Andronikos), there had been an attempt by Andronikos (cousin to the emperor and aforementioned Sebastokrator via their uncle Isaac) to seduce Eudokia. Initially the veracity of this claim was held in doubt, especially by Manuel who denied that their cousin would ever engage in such a sinful act. Nevertheless, once accounts were compiled from several reluctant witnesses the truth behind the claim seemed irrevocable.

Andronikos (the Sebastokrator) had attempted to retain some degree of calm but could hardly hide his lividness while his wife became implacable in her hatred for her cousin-in-law in what she perceived as him exploiting her widowed daughter's grief for his own pleasure. Once summoned Andronikos denied such attempts at seduction or improper conduct. In order to test this defence Alexios summoned Eudokia and harangued her in private. In doing so he vented his frustrations perhaps too far and brought the poor girl to tears begging for forgiveness. It was only after he left the room for a breather that his attitude was adjusted by Adrianos who, in a shocking disregard of decorum with his master, reprimanded the emperor for being so harsh on the most innocent party in this whole incident.

Once he returned to speak with Eudokia the tables had quickly turned with him asking for her forgiveness and securing a promise from her to never engage in such behaviour again. Andronikos was appointed as Doux of Kilika, nominally as 'training' for governorship though in actuality Alexios just needed a respite from further antics. Eudokia meanwhile was sent to live with Eirene Bryennia Komnene, it was the emperor's hope that his cousin, widowed soon after marriage, would be able to provide his niece with a view and solace that neither he nor her parents could provide.

Overall, to say the year had been an utter travesty for Alexios would be an understatement, just over half a decade of momentum had been sullied by the Normans. His government had to reorganised at the top just to maintain some credibility as the 'best possible ministers' for the emperor to be surrounded by and now his cousin had been lusting after his niece. Thankfully, he had partaken in a share of his father's failures and knew full well that being overwhelmed by his frustration and disappointment ought to never detract from his greater designs.

Whether Roger II liked it or not Alexios would return with a vengeance and that German upstart Barbarossa would never find a true friend in the Romans so long as Alexios drew breath. But for now at least he would yet again switch from warmongering to focusing on the needs of his state.

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Note: some side stuff I've been working on, the table is allowances for imperial relatives (assuming they don't have jobs like governorships, military offices or something like being a provincial judge to draw a salary from). The second is a partially-done dictionary of byzantine fiscal terms.

Relationship to Basileus	Allotment at birth	Stipend until majority	Settlement at majority	Stipend until marriage	Marriage settlement	Stipend henceforth
Son	120	36	500	72	500	102
Daughter	120	36	400	60	600	-
Grandson	60	18	250	40	500	58
Granddaughter	60	18	200	32	600	-
Other Dependents	18-24	10	80	18	150	24

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Making this for myself, but if anyone else just wants to learn some words or have something to quickly glance at during long reads here you go:

Taxes

1. Telos
2. Ennomion
3. Kapnikon
4. Limeniatikon

 

Secondary Charges and Corvées

1. Kaniskion- a charge on taxpayers to provide food and fodder for tax collectors and their animals.
2. Mitaton- a hospitality charge to take care of tax collectors.
3. Aplekton- a hospitality charge to take care of tax collectors.
4. Kastroktisia- to provision labour for the construction of fortifications.
5. Katergoktisia- to provision labour for shipbuilding.
6. Strateia- a duty to provide service, either military or for the upkeep of the dromos. the former being entirely fiscalised (stratiotika ktemata linked soldiers being vaguely replaced by smallholder troops).
7. Epereia- term for secondary charges
8. Angareia- term for corvées
9. Ploimoi- a charge on regions to supply sailors for the navy.
10. Phonos- fine for murder
11. Parthenophthoria- fine for rape

Exemptions

1. Ateles- a status for paroikoi meaning they were partly untaxed because they lacked immovable property or it wasn't recorded in registers. Thus they paid no telos, it could also be granted as a status by the emperor for the benefit of individuals or institutions who held these paroikoi.
2. Eleutheros- a status for paroikoi denoting no fiscal obligation to the state or any other party
3. Exkousseia- an exemption from any tax and secondary charge barring the telos.
4. Logisima- rare exemptions from the property tax (telos)
5. Solemnia- a cash or in-kind grant to religious foundations, the former variant declined as Manuel sought to appropriate gold to finance Pronoia.

Fiscal Officials

1. Logothete ton Oikeiaka
2. Exisotes
3. Protovestiarios

Pronoia and Pronoia Adjacent

1. Pronoia- a grant that developed from the 11th century. Under Manuel I provincial cavalrymen received parcels of state land to settle gifts of paroikoi on, the revenues from this were their salaries. Later on evolved under Nicaea to included the right to collect taxes and labour dues.
2. Pronoia modules- gifts of paroikoi, right to collect taxes (under Nicaea as emperor's ran short on land for grants), right to collect labour dues, tax exemptions (like those granted by Michael VIII to Akritai), hereditary rights (Michael VIII's measure to maintain army numbers), right to improve grants.
3. Oikonomia
4. Gifts of Paroikoi
5. Gifts of Sekreta
6. Charistikia- in the case of imperial monasteries it was the grant of administration over said monastery. Usually their revenues didn't reach the treasury or were hard to collect, by granting this to a layperson the emperor could provide a salary at no real loss to the treasury
7. Grants of Sekreta-

Miscellaneous Terms

1. Hikanosis
2. Klasmata
3. Epibole
4. Episkepsis/Kouratoria
5. Palaia kai Nea Logarike- the old and new tax codes, the latter created by Alexios I to process taxation with the new currency system.
6. Aktemon- designation for those with no draft animals and little to no real property, but owned some livestock.
7. Enoche tou Dromou- a duty for the exkoussatoi tou dromou, similar to strateia holders it involved service to the state and in particular the imperial mail.