1284-1285

Game map by the end of 1285

## Major Events

### Political

* Romanos V Melissenos succeeds Skantarios Laskaris as Byzantine emperor, inaugurating the Melissenid dynasty
* Theodoric I crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope
* War breaks out between Osman of Nicaea and the Purple Horde
* Aedh mac Toirdelbach Ó Conċuḃair crowned High King of Ireland in opposition to the English House of Pale

### Religious

* Election of Pope Innocent V
* Papacy restored to Rome

### Military

* Battle of Seleucia: decisive Byzantine victory over the Latin Empire. Byzantine conquest of Cilicia.
* Jochid invasion of Georgia
* Nicaean conquest of the Emirate of Konya
* Irishmen lay siege to Dublin
* War of Limburg Succession breaks out
* The Teutonic Order adopts its doctrine of terror and extermination, which will make the order infamous in the Christian world in the following decades
* Venetian conquest of Southern Cyprus
* Nicaean Conquest of Eastern Anatolia
* Serbian invasion of Byzantine Albania

### Deaths

* Skantarios Laskaris, Byzantine emperor, at the Battle of Seleucia
* Pope Nicholas III
* Canute I of Norway

The following is the turn report covering the years of **1284 and 1285**, which took place from 17 April to 27 April 2017.

## Britain

In England continued during the years of 1284-1285 the continuing vegetative rule of William III, being neither good, nor bad, but doing nothing to awake England from it's stagnation.

While corruption was rooted out by the Lord High Chancellor it was quickly reintroduced as the king promoted his personal favourites, much to the disgust of his son and heir Richard, who as he grows into adolescene has been noted to spent much time in York, away from the capital, making many local dignitaries nervous for their future prospects as William III grows ever more obese.

Endeavours to invest into Guyenne have so far unfortunately been met with disappointment as the war in Iberia puts a damper on any trade passing through the region.

Meanwhile Arthur Prince of England has become convinced that the English armed forces are at a disadvantage when fighting "barbarians" and hence has ironically become a bit of a vocal "anti-war" proponent in the court, not because any dislike of fighting or liking of the Scots, but simply because he sees it as a waste of resource to fight the northern barbarians.​

In Scotland meanwhile the problem of royal absence has started to become more pronounced as Prince William has started shouldering more and more of the responsibilities of traveling the realm to meet with vassals as his father's continued frequent absences due to his duties in Holland leave the royal House of Scotland without a proper rallying figure for the nobles. This has started a bit of an alienation of the crown Prince from his father, whom he sees as not properly maintaining the core of royal power.
One of the aspects in which this can be seen as it is William, not Alexander who put his seal on a great bull that sought to establish some more legal frames to church jurisdiction and landownership. This bull so far has been met with little enthusiasm by the nobles of Scotland.

By far the greatest event of the years however, was the victory of the High King of Ireland, who drove Edward Longshanks over years of harassment to abandon most of the interior of the country and rely on the border castle of Ireland. By the end of 1285 Dublin is under siege as Edward Longshanks sends offers to make peace.

## France

In France meanwhile the golden peace of King Louis X continued as in Provence the royal capital was continued with most work on the royal castle finished as the city of Provence experienced some notable growth as the many officials of the royal court had to be supplied with all sorts of goods and services.

The Royal Bureaucracy of both governments also started to expand greatly, fed by the wealth of the peace years.
With the granting of a papal bull by Pope Innocent V a university has been founded in Montpellier out of various long existing schools. Already this has boosted the education of the priests of the region.

In Artois meanwhile a great tourney was held that ended with the groom of the wedding that also happened to take place winning.

## The Holy Roman Empire

Apart from several low intensity conflict that flared up in the absence of Emperor Dietrich, the peace seemed to hold in the HRE as reconstruction following the Interregnum continued.

The Duke of Lüneburg continued to focus on the literal meaning of rebuilding as he pushed on for his building projects in Braunschweig and Hannover. He however started so slowly feel the pinch of such expansive undertakings as stones, sand and other necessities had to be bought for years on as the Cathedral would no be finished. His grandsons, meanwhile due to the much varied education offers they received showed little interest in any of them, as they had little time to really gather an interest in either.

Meanwhile Otto and his commander Lord Wrangel have started writing up plans for general training of the village populations of their realm, but so far they have little idea how to finance such an idea.

In Thuringia meanwhile Duke Hermann continued the expansion of his military might, however soon seeing that he had reached the upper limit of what his lands and incomes could provide for in military affairs without going the risk of being unable to pay his soldiers in war time.

Hermann's granddaughters meanwhile found quite mixed results in their education, the elder being a capable household organiser, but the younger sickly one, having the true talent for politics and intrigue.

Along the Rhine, the city of Heidelberg continued to grow as trade along the route became more secure and more nobles and merchants of the region used it to funnel their trade. The Swabians of the region however also started to get more attentive to Habsburg extension of power and have started to see overtures with suspicion.

In the Habsburgs' Swiss lands meanwhile the peasants have started complaining of the harsh taxes that have been imposed on them, respond with frequent foot dragging and non compliace with authority figures.

In Luxembourg meanwhile Waleran's dreams of a standing force beyond what he already had have been shown the reality that such undertaking at this time is far too expensive. Luckily his reaffirming of alliances with the local allies has made sure that the dark number of troops the House of Luxembourg can raise remains as high as ever.
Young Henry meanwhile seems to be growing up into a quite haughty young man, thinking others of lower or even higher rank to be beneath his notice, even as he himself struggles with numbers and words. That only makes his remarkable skill with the Morning star and his ability to impress on others his likability all the more extraordinary.​

### War of Limburg Succession

However, even as the peace of Emperor Dietrich ruled in most lands, it did not in all, as west of the Rhine a bloody war of succession errupted following the death of Arnulf IV/I, Count of Loon and Duke of Limburg.
Arnulf had intended for both his duchy and his county to pass to his only daughter and hence to her husband Godfrey Reginar, half-brother of the Duke of Brabant, Henry III.

Now however, two claimants appeared. First was Arnulf II, Count of Chiny, first cousin-once removed of the late Count-Duke Arnulf and most senior member of the House of Looz alive. The claimed the county of Loon based on that as his great uncle, Arnulf's father had been a minor cadet branch of the main family.

He was joined by an unexpected ally, Otto III of Wassenberg, Count of Guelders. He was married to Irmgard of Berg, last heiress of the former House of Limburg (parent house of the House of Luxembourg). He claimed that since his father-in-law had only given up his claims to the Duchy of Limburg in favour of *male* heirs of his sister and further only with Berg as compensation, which by now had been lost to Saxony. Thus Otto III of Wassenberg claimed the title, "Duke of Limburg" for himself.

In the few months since August 1285 troops across the region have mobilized as the Duchy of Brabant in alliance with the Archbishop of Cologne, the Bishop of Liege and the Count of Hainaut takes control of large parts of the disputed lands, though Guelders and Chiny still hold on to large swathes of land. In a surprising twist the County of Cleves has turned against his brother-in-law the Count of Guelders in return for a marriage between his heir and the Duke of Brabant's granddaughter Princess Henrietta Wettin of Rome.

Letters have been sent by Godfrey Reginar and his brother the Duke Henry of Brabant to Luxembourg demanding that Godfrey's presumtive heir Henry of Luxembourg and his family join them in their war for his inheritance.
The Archbishop of Cologne has meanwhile greatly supported the ascention of Waleran of Luxembourg's elder brother Henri as his heir presumptive as elector.

## Italy

In Italy peace also is maintained as the various groups settle into the new rules. A border dispute between the County of Monaco and the Kingdom of Burgundy has arisen consisting of a few acres near a small river.

Innocent V has spent the last years strengthening the papal position within the Papal States, bullying the Roman nobles into accepting some quite limiting bulls. Not too many are happy.

In Sicily meanwhile the crown Prince Conrad has undertaken a project to root out corruption only to find that most of it is already only the good king of corruption the noble family wishes to encourage. he however does find, that his kingdom seems to have a slight demographic problem due to the continued warfare of the past few decades, that saw many young men either die or desert in far away lands. This became especially pressing as the royal plans to escort Sicilians with the royal fleet proved to be a costly plan with little if any profits being gained from it. Add to this the great castles constructions in Palermo and the kingdom of Sicily has....well not financial troubles, for that the kingdom is too rich, but it is feeling it's money bags getting lighter.

## Iberia

The Fourth Martinian rebellion fortunately proved to be a short and decisive fight. Given the far greater logistics and experience of the Portuguese army, the allied forces managed to take most of Leon before the year 1284 was out. While crown Prince Henry of Castille did manage to lay siege to Santiago during that year, he was forced to retreat back towards Castille the next year as the army lead by the old Prince Fernando threatened to cut off his resupply, while the young Prince Fernando had taken control of the seas. Henry was decisively beaten not long after, only retaining some territories within Galicia as the old Fernando died soon after the battle and thus left his army leaderless for a few months. Still it seems likely that this war Shall soon be over.​

## Scandinavia

A great tourney is held in Malmo, though much to the king's disappointment it ends up being quite small as few Danes have interest in such German fashions, while few tourney prone warriors are particularly looking towards Denmark to make a name for themselves. Still the great Melee king Valdemar ends up holding does create a small influx of recruits into his royal guard.

Attempts to encourage intermarraige between Danes and Mecklenburgians have also shown to be mostly in vain, as few of the disparate parts of the Valdemar's rule have an interest in greater intergrating themselves with each other.
The king has however been quite successful in slowly building up a gate consisting of two castles at each side of the Sund. He hopes that eventually those two castles will upon completion give him eternal control of the entrance to the Baltics.

In Sweden meanwhile also slow progresses towards greater wealth were made. Slowly the border in the east was pushed westwards, aided by the royal house giving out grants to young nobles of the border to explore the regions of the forests, growing into the core of what could become a specialized form of soldier in Sweden. However as the expansion of Sweden continues eastwards, there is discussion going on, if the expansion of the realm should try to circumvent the many lakes of Finland or, counting on the firmness of the Finnish ice and the low threat from Russian and natives use sleds and boats to cross across those hindrances.

The building of a fleet meanwhile has proven to be a bit of a problem, as while lumber and such are not in low supply, labour is as are sails and ropes. Thus any great expansion of the fleet shall likely be highly expansive.

In Norway meanwhile king Canute Lagman passes, leaving the crown to his son Canute II.

## The Slavic Lands

Nothing of great note happens in Poland or Russia, but in Bulgaria the war of the Teutonic Order intensifies as the wholesale slaughter of villages has become by now policy for the Germans. This has lead to a great loss of resources as people flee, die or when they are conquered are unable to pay good or reliable taxes. Similarly the attempts to recruit soldiers from this population has proven to be mostly a failure. Further the atrocities have caused the Principality of Wallachia to start their own extension into Bulgaria attempting to save as many Orthodox Christians as possible from the Latin Scourge.​

## The East

Jerusalem 1099, The Field of Blood 1119, Hattin 1187, Jaffa 1192, Damietta 1206, The Nile 1242, Ascalon 1270, Seleucia 1285, these are the battles that turned the tides in the history of the Holy Land.

The Roman-Crusader war had started out not too bad for the Latin warriors as they managed to quell Cypriot attacks and hold out against Roman invaders.

However as the years of war went on the balance slowly shifted.

Throughout the year of 1284 both sides dug in on their respective sides of the river Saleph content to let the opponent break themselves on their defenses. Exploratory raids took the place of large scale battles.

As this happened however, outside of Armenia the world kept turning. In Anatolia Osman of Nicea went from victory to victory, eventually compelled Tekuder Khan to abandon Bohemond to his fights in Armenia if he wished to save his realm. He could not and had to accept a humiliating defeat in late 1284.

Meanwhile in Georgia and Albania, Rome's other enemies got closer to her borders as the Jochids forced the Georgians into tributary submission, while in Albania king Stefan II of Serbia invaded renewing his family's old claims to the Roman Empire (or at the very least Albania).

In the Mediterranean meanwhile the Venetians armed with letters by the king Bohemond invaded the island of Cyprus, conquering most. By late 1285 only a few rebellious nobles in the east held out. King Hugh and his wife have fled to exile in Sicily.

In Cyrenaica and Baghdad meanwhile the Mamluks could celebrate great victories as they extended their lands, laying siege to Basra by the end of 1285.

Under such pressure the centre could not hold.

Where other Emperors would have panicked and immediately weakened his army to defend against the Serbian invasion Skantarios kept his cool and the pressure on Outremer.

The dire economic situation had already forced Bohemond to debase his currency to make ends meet, now his finances came to a crashing halt as the Romans intensified their blockade of Latin ports, the Egyptians and Turks found themselves unable to be paid and trade came to an almost complete standstill.

Desperate times called for desperate measures. Prince Leo knew that his family had been forced into a sink or swim situation and he was determined to win through it. Thus he set his army into motion seeking the decisive battle.
In the night before the battle an attempt was made on the life of Emperor Skantarios by what turned out to be royal Latin bastards. Skantarios had them publically castrated, blinded and wheeled before carrying their heads before his army into battle. What followed was the slaughter of Seleucia where Leo found many parts of his army, including the Turks and many Armenians abandoning his army. Yet, he fought on, repeatedly charging with his personal guard. An explosion by some unknown Mongol wizardry fired a rain of fire down on the Imperial guard. The Emperor was left disorientated, when suddenly out of the smoke and fire of those demons mongrels, that his father had so often told him about came the warriors of hell, charging, screaming the name of his opponent.

By the end of the day, Skantarios had both won the war and given his life for it.

As Leo's battered and bruised army retreated eastwards to Sis, they found noble after noble rising up against them, city after city being denied to them, as the Roman army followed them, anxious for revenge. Bohemond and Leo, cutting their losses abandoned Armenia in great fashion, stealing the entire royal treasury of the country to settle outstanding debts.

In Constantinople meanwhile Romanos V Melissenos, grandfather-in-law and co-Emperor of Skantarios, seamlessly took over, but soon despite nobody doubting his legitimacy or capability of filling the Empire found himself under pressure on foreign as well as domestic policy.

On the foreign front, while the Senate supported the ongoing war in Armenia as well as the retaking of Caesarea Maritima and succeeding raids into the kingdom of Jerusalem, they asked Romanos to bring the conflict to fast victorious close, essentially, making peace in the south to focus on Serbia and Georgia.

On the domestic front the Senate wished for a clarification of the line of succession and the question who Skantarios' sisters should marry. Further the settlement of Turks who had defected from Armenia, the settling of Alans and Bulgars as well as private financial contacts between Armenian and Roman family had lead to a big land speculation bubble, that was making many family fear for their livelihoods should the land market collapse, so many asked for assurances should they indebted themselves.​

In the far East meanwhile the Christian-Buddhist faction won the civil war in the Ilkhanate bringing with the deaths of their cousins all of Persia under their rule.

In Egypt meanwhile the succession of Prince Barakah has been all but assured. Prince Badr al-Din Solamish has meanwhile become a religious radical and ascetic.

## Other Events

#### High King of Ireland

Hoping to rally further support throughout the clans for his campaign against the English, and moreover to give the Irish a figure to rally behind, Aedh mac Toirdelbach Ó Conċuḃair has made his way to the Hill of Tara, a site not far from his forces in Norman Ireland, and seen himself crowned High King at the Lia Fáil. Crying out as it had for Brian Bóruma and the High Kings of Ireland of old, or so the new High King's supporters claim, it remains the hope of Aedh mac Toirdelbach that falling heavily upon tradition and crowning himself at the Lia Fáil will serve to strengthen his cause and give courage to his supporters.​

### Papal Conclave of 1284

In the early months of 1284 Pope Nicholas III died of old age. He looked back on a legacy of failure, as his almost his entire tenure of twelve years was consumed by his fights with the Holy Roman Empire. Rome rejected papal authority more than ever, the loyal lapdog of Sicily had risen up to bite the hand that fed them, French and Polish overtures of support had proven to be short lived. The grand papal prestige that had been to laboriously created by the like of Innocent III now was in many ways weaker than it had been in decades. It was however not lost and soon the Cardinals gathered to debate how best advance. Generally observers say that the nine Cardinals could be split into three general factions: Those that favoured continued reliance on French backing, those that supported a compromise with the Empire and those that favoured a great focus on the city of Rome and Sicily. It took them almost two months, but by May 1284 the second Portuguese Pope of all time was crowned: Innocent V, formerly Cardinal João Pedro Julião, an old and weak man is by many seen as little more than a gap filler, but already the man has made great overtures to king Dietrich of Germany inviting him to come to Rome for his election. How long his tenure lasts is uncertain, but for now it seems like the Imperials have won out.​

#### The College of Cardinals in 1284:

* Frollo de la Rouge (b.1203, a.81) , Archbishop of Paris, French faction
* Simon De Brie (b.1212, a.72), French faction
* Goffredo Da Aletri (b.1220, a.64), Roman faction
* Gerrardo Biancho (b.1227, a.57), son of a plower, Cardinal priest of Ss. XII Apostol, French faction
* Girolamo Masci (b.1227, a. 57), Imperial Faction
* Matteo Orsini (b.1230, a.54), nephew of Nicholas III, Roman Faction
* Gregorio Bentiventis (b.1232, a.52) cardinal bishop of Albano, Imperial faction
* Giacomo Colonna (b.1249, a.35), Roman Faction

### The Jochid-Georgian war

In late 1284 there was a great upseat on the European edge as the Sultan of Kiev invaded the kingdom of Georgia, taking almost half of the country before the year was over.

Meanwhile, Osman, on his way to fight the Purple Horde conquered the Emirate of Konya in another great upset, declaring himself "Sultan of Rum" as heir of the Seljuks.

### Imperial Coronation

In great procession alongside a Sicilian guard Pope Innocent V enters Rome establishing his court at the Vatican. Late in that year king Dietrich arrives, being crowned Emperor of Rome in presence of his uncle and some other chosen imperial princes.​

## References

https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/before-the-fall.36591/page-38#post-8383637