Lords
of the Earth Campaign 42
Turn 1
Newsfax 1101-1105 AD
GM Note: Where nations
have not submitted orders or are unplayed, I have simply marked them
"Slept". There's not much else I can do since I can't play them
myself and can't devote time to providing write-ups for playerless positions.
Nomenclature:
1
I/C/S: 200 men
1
FF: 2 strongholds
1
W: 2 ships
1NFP:
200 men
¨ Submissions by
players are welcome (encouraged, actually) though I reserve the right to play
with them if I feel like it.
¨ Name your cities.
No name = no city.
¨ Name your
leaders. Anyone who gives a leader a ridiculous name (such as Billyi-Dol) gets
an instant DF. (BTW, this really did happen and it annoys me a very great
deal).
¨ I've given a
certain amount of leeway on turn 1 (no DF's and such) but from now on the
gloves are off - CCR and PRA control webs will be enforced.
¨ King Auto Admin
is very much OFF as some of you will be finding out this turn...
The
Insei Government of
Go-Shirikawa, In No Cho
Capital: Heian Religion: Shinto/Buddhist
The In No Cho spent
1101 travelling between various Buddhist temples in Heian and the surrounding
The following year
saw Shirikawa In take a tour, with a respectable-sized retinue of saffron-clad
monks, of the southwestern provinces of
From the Minamoto there came not a contribution but a
request that the In No Cho should assist them in the establishment of a seaport
in Nigata, the clan's stronghold. Shirikawa was mildly surprised by this for
the Minamoto had long been thought the lapdogs of the Fujiwara yet now they
eagerly besought the assistance of Insei. Could this be evidence of some rift
between the two clans? Whatever might lie behind it, the In No Cho ordered that
funds be provided to assist the endeavours of the northerners and that monks and skilled artisans be sent forth at once with
the trusted Genma Saotome at their head.
The Fujiwara Kampaku
Fujiwara Morimichi, Imperial Kampaku, Daimyo of the Fujiwara Clan
Capital: Heian Religion: Shinto
The Fujiwaras
observed the activities of the In No Cho with an emotion that ran somewhere
between amusement and disdain. Pah! Let the cloistered twit run hither and yon
pretending that he had real power, let him convince
himself that
Morimichi took
himself off from his splendid estate in Yamato and visited the
With the marriage
ceremony completed, the Kampaku and his bride departed the capital for his
grandest estate. They were escorted during their journey by over 4,000
newly-recruited cavalrymen - this alone was proof of the supreme power of the
Fujiwaras but many new military preparations were made. Fortifications were
built around
For his success here, trouble was found from other sources - the charming Masako bore her husband three children, all sons, in as many years but the first was stillborn and the others died within a year of birth. The doctors and attendants debated whether a girl of such patent delicacy as Masako would every be capable of producing a healthy child. Morimichi, meanwhile, took things well. He already had a fine son and heir from his first marriage. It would certainly not be fatal, to himself or the clan, if the girl brought forth no child but, still, to have an Imperial Princess bear his child would be a blow to all those who challenged Fujiwara supremacy. Oh well. One can't have everything. So long as she kept her looks, Morimichi thought, that was the important thing...
Young Tadzane, the very son and heir in whom all of Morimichi's hopes rested, had been off to Aichi while his father visited Heian. The subject clans of that region, who retained a considerable degree of independence, were subjected to what was positively a torrent of diplomatic overtures. The foremost daimyo of the region was even offered the chance to provide Tadzane with a bride to cement the Fujiwara link to the region - the offer was snapped up with alacrity and Fujiwara Tadzane was wed to a plain but very pleasant and surprisingly intelligent young lady by the name of Nohime. The clans of Aichi gradually were integrated into the Fujiwara clan and the last semblance of local independence was shed.
The Minamoto Clan
Minamoto Yoshiie, Daimyo of the Minamoto
Capital: none Religion: Shinto
Development was the
order of the day in northern
While this was going
on, the young daimyo turned his eye to the fishing
To the south, an agreement
was reached with the rich and sneaky Fujiwara, traditional allies of the
Minamoto. Their relations would become closer than ever - they would defend one
another militarily and quite unprecedented cooperation would be allowed. In the months and years following this
agreement, the
Not all went well, though. The daimyo's wife, a girl of only 16 years, bore him a son but the labour was hard and she developed a fever and died a few days later. Yoshiie took comfort in the fact that he had offspring, a son and heir. Yet the baby was sickly; his right hand had been twisted during the birth and the doctors and all those who were wise in the ways of medicine told him, most apologetically, that the boy's hand would be withered when he grew and that he would never bear a sword or use a bow. The daimyo was perturbed. Worse, though, as his son grew a little older, his health grew worse and most doubted whether he could ever become leader of a clan such as this.
The Taira Clan
Taira Mosimori, Daimyo of the Taira
Capital: none Religion: Shinto
Slept (and paid their Imperial tax).
The
The Sung Empire
Hui Tsung Chao Chi, Divine Emperor of
Capital:
In the comfort of his
palace, the Son of Heaven passed his time with a serenity most can only dream
of attaining - he spent his days practising his already excellent calligraphy
and hunting out new items to add to his collection of objets
d'arte. Beneath so calm and civilised a facade, a philosophical
struggle for the soul of
In mid-January of 1101, as the officials of the Imperial Treasury were scurrying around and working as hard as they might to organise the coming year's expenditure, His Majesty, the Son of Heaven, issued a decree that henceforth no tribute would be sent to Liao or Hsi Hsia - instead, vast amounts of money were spent on the military to improve pay, food, equipment and even the quarters of the soldiers. As soon as they heard, a coterie of ministers flocked to the palace where they found Hui Tsung quietly painting a picture of some finches (truly, the Emperor was never happier than when indulging his art). By and by, the Emperor paused from his pursuit of the aesthetic and allowed the officials to interrupt his peace.
"Majesty," said the Imperial Councillor Ch'in Kuei tentatively, afraid of incurring Imperial wrath but more afraid of what the barbarians might do if they didn't get their money on time. "I and others have heard report of a decree of Your Majesty that no more tribute will be sent to the Juchen barbarians." The trepidation in the Counillor's voice was there for all to hear.
"The report is most correct," replied the Emperor cheerfully. "And I am urgently in need of more brushes and better brushes, I might add. These," he said, indicating the ones he had been using, "are terrible." At once, a eunuch scampered off to fine better brushes for the Divine Emperor of the Middle Kingdom.
"I am most apologetic that Your Majesty's brushes are unsatisfactory," said Ch'in Kuei. "Yet I do fear that the northern barbarians might be a more pressing issue. They are liable to see the refusal to pay tribute as a provocation."
The Emperor snorted. "That may be so, Esteemed Ch'in Kuei but I see their occupation of the sacred soil of the Motherland as a provocation. Let the barbarians leave Lu'an, let those damnable Tibetan Tanguts depart Huang, let them go where they belong - beyond the Great Wall and out of China. Then, if it pleases me, I shall contemplate whether these wretches warrant my generosity. If they will not leave, I shall drive them out with the arrow and the sword. But make no mistake - there shall not be one more brass coin in tribute to these dogs.
"I am not an ungenerous man," the Emperor added as an afterthought. "But, really, there are limits. Shall a man returning to his home and finding an intruder living in his house then be expected to pay rent to the intruder? Is this not what is happening here in our own country?"
"But,
Majesty," interjected another Neo-Confucianist minister. "
"I think,"
said Ch'in, casting a black look at his colleague, "that
Hui Tsung inclined
his head and said, simply: "We are indeed rich. And why should our wealth,
my wealth, go to line the pockets of barbarians when I could as easily raise an
army, a fine army of bold men, who will drive the foreigners out of
"Your Majesty's wisdom is as deep as the ocean and as all-encompassing as the air around us," stated Ch'in without a trace of irony. "We could indeed make war against the barbarian but why throw money away in an uncertain venture when we can, by paying only a little tribute, guarantee our security? We ought to use our finesse, our sophistication, our superiority to keep our foes in their place. By engaging in sordid war, we sink to the barbarians' level and become no better than they."
A eunuch scampered back in bearing brushes. His Majesty accepted them and examined them carefully. "These are much better brushes. Take the other ones away," he said to the eunuch then turned to Ch'in " Loyal Councillor, do you consider war for the defence of the Empire to be 'sordid'?"
"Of course not, Your Imperial Majesty, and a thousand apologies if I gave that impression. I lament that my foolishness and gauche inarticulateness are as great as Your Majesty's wisdom. I merely mean that soldiering is not a profession, if I may call it that, to which we, as civilised people, should sink. Our strength is in our coffers."
"No," said
the Emperor flatly. "Our strength is in the blades of our warriors. It is
to be lamented that this has escaped the attention of so many people
heretofore. In our eagerness to buy the love of our blood enemies, we have let
our Imperial Army lapse into a pitiable state but no more. We shall raise new
armies, Councillor Ch'in, and we shall conscript only the finest young men that
they may bring great honour to the name of
"Truly, Majesty, I counsel against such a policy. After all, is it not said 'as good iron is not used to make nails so good men are not used to make soldiers'?" asked Ch'in, quoting the common proverb.
"Do not say
that, Councillor. Say, rather, 'poor iron is not used to make swords; poor men
are not used to make soldiers'. Let no-one throughout this wide empire of mine
ever say the words you have just spoken, Ch'in Kuei. Let the stamp of shame be
removed from soldiering that all may recognise that the greatest good and most
honourable path for any Chinese is to defend the soil of the Motherland against
the jackals who prowl around us, jealous and avaricious. As our ancestors built
a Great Wall to defend us, let us build a great army and once more know what
security means. Mark you, Councillor, that had we kept our armies strong in
generations gone by, we would not now be in this pickle with Khitan tribesmen
squatting on Chinese land. You spoke of nails. I say that soldiers are the nails with which I shall rebuild
Ch'in was suitably abashed: "As Your Majesty decrees, so shall it be. May I be forgiven for my impudence and stupidity. Might I suggest, though, if new forces are to be conscripted, that the soldiers be branded on their faces that they may be marked out amongst the people..."
His Imperial Majesty cast a withering look. It was always the same with Neo-Confucianists - no matter how hard one reasoned with them, they were also too caught up in their dogma to realise to see what lay before them. "Guards, remove the loyal Councillor. And then remove the loyal Councillor's head." And it was done. (GM note: apparently, the Sung really did brand soldiers faces to mark them out because their profession was considered dishonourable)
The great
philosophical debate had ended with victory for the Reformist movement. They,
under the able leadership of Su Sung, were to reinstute Wang Anshi's reforms
and put an end to the policy of inactivity and grovelling appeasement of which
Ch'in Kuei had been the embodiment. Soon news drifted to Kaifeng of Liao
mobilisation. This had hardly been a surprise and, under General Yue's watchful
eye, dozens of long-abandoned forts and strongholds around
In a particularly
bold move, His Imperial Majesty decreed that pensioned soldiers would receive
grants of land in newly conquered regions. Not only was the Empire now
recognising and repaying the importance of her army but the Emperor obviously
envisioned that the Empire would be expanding. Truly, this was an exciting time
to live in
The Liao Empire of the Juchen
Yeliuy Tian-zo, Khan of the Juchen, Liao Emperor
Capital: Shen Yang Religion: Buddhist
The Liao were a powerful people. Only a fool could fail to see that. Assuredly, their land was poor and their cultural achievements were as nothing in comparison to those of the Chinese but, still, they were strong, their warriors powerful, their cavalry widely held to be invincible... T'would be a fool who'd provoke these Khitan tribesmen to war especially since their steppe primitivism was now overlaid by a patina of Chinese ingenuity and technical savvy. It was in tacit recognition of this that the Emperors of the Middle Kingdom had long paid tribute to the Juchen tribesmen but now, if the stories were to be believed, the Sung would no longer send their proper tribute, would no longer pay the Liao not to attack.
Tian-zo and his chief
men didn't put much store by this when first the rumour surfaced - stories,
rumours, exaggerations... They all meant nothing. The Sung would send the
tribute north and the warriors of Liao would leave
And then, one day, arrived a messenger from the
Yeliuy Tian-zo raged and railed against the perfidious Sung, these soft city-dwelling weaklings. In a display of arrogance beyond reason, the dogs not only refused to pay their rightful tribute but actually demanded the surrender of Lu'an and the withdrawal the Liao beyond the Great Wall. Well, they would pay and it would be a dear price.
The Liao Emperor
decreed that every Khitan man be conscripted and many Han Chinese as well. From
the distant corners of the steppe, boys as young as twelve years were called to
fight in the coming campaign alongside their fathers, brothers and
grandfathers. In Lu'an, all engineers, artisans and artificers whose skills
might be deemed useful to the war effort were dragged from their homes and
forced to march behind the Khitan horsemen. Contemptible and cowardly though
the steppe lords judged them to be, their knowledge of siegework would surely
be useful when the Liao army stood before the walls of
The Great Manchurian War
April-May 1101:
The Liao army moved south into Yen and, by the middle of May, the Liao were watering their horses in the Huang Ho. No opposition
was found so, at the order of Tian-zo, a few Han notables, who had either not
been able to flee in time or had purposely chosen to remain, were seized by the
invaders. Instead of harming them, the Liao Emperor ordered them to form a
provincial administration under the auspices of the Liao Empire. The locals saw
which way the wind was blowing and acceded to the wishes of their new master. With
this done, the Liao marched southwest along the great river's banks into
In the border
June-July 1101:
Liao outriders began to appear in eastern
August 1101:
The first blood was shed in
With the work of
reducing the region's many forts now engaged upon, Tian-zo and the Liao mounted
forces sought out the Sung army in order to bring them to battle. Yue Fei,
however, had massed the Imperial Army, which numbered almost 25,000 men, behind
a series of skillfully-devised earthworks strung out around the vicinity of the
capital. Occasional cavarly skirmishes took place as Yue sent out mounted
detachments to harass the enemy's conscripted Han infantry and Tian-zo moved,
with typical alacrity, to oppose these raids (for the Liao Emperor was aware
that his footmen were not dependable and might desert or defect if pushed).
Other than that, the war in
Towards the end of the month, spies reported to Yue Fei, one morning, that the greater part of the enemy army was deployed around a particularly troublesome group of hill forts perhaps fifty miles north of Kaifeng; so difficult was the action around these castles that the Liao had even had to dispatch some of their cavalry to support the attack. This had left an interesting situation, so the spies said, for the Liao Emperor was encamped only a few miles distant from the Imperial Army and he had fewer than 5,000 men with him! Yue held council with Di Qing and Minister Su Sung and, between them, they decided that the opportunity was too great to miss. Whilst the Sung did not want to face the Liao in open combat, Yue might expect to outnumber the foe by almost five Chinese men to every one Khitan warrior. Victory might deliver Tian-zo into Sung hands, severing the snake's head. So it was that General Yue Fei ordered his army to make haste and march forth to do battle. In an effort to avoid alerting the enemy to his intentions, he sent only minimal reconnaissance forces ahead...
The spies had told Yue that the Liao Emperor was encamped beneath the shattered walls of a recently razed fort overlooking the wide Huang Ho river. Sure enough, his parties of outriders reported that this was true - the enemy were exactly where the spies reported - but, to everyone's horror, there were twice as many Khitan warriors as the spies had said and they were ready for battle! Four thousand sturdy Khitan warriors mounted on fierce chargers, three thousand horse archers still brushing the steppe dust from their boots, about a thousand very heavily armoured hosemen and, above all, the Liao Emperor's personal bodyguard - almost two thousand formidable light cavalry and a thousand horsemen armed and armoured more heavily than any the Sung had ever encountered. Yue cursed his spies and wondered if this deception had been deliberate or if they were merely dolts... There was no way to tell and it didn't really matter for the effect was the same - the Sung now had to face the Liao in open battle.
The Sung hurriedly deployed, standing on the defensive with their right flank resting on the river and all of their cavalry on the left to see off any Khitan attempt to outflank them. In the early afternoon, the Liao assault began. The fight was brief and not particularly bloody. The Sung cavalrymen, perhaps 5,000 strong, fled the field at the approach of a single regiment of heavy Liao horsemen less than a fifth that number. Nor did the infantry stand up very well. Some of the sturdier spearmen boldly made their stand against the enemy's charges but most were concerned with saving their own lives and, to Yue's chagrin, fled the field and made their way back to the fieldworks with all haste.
General Di Qing,
although not the soundest of strategists, held his corps together impeccably.
Wherever he saw men looking shaky, he would ride up and shout hortations,
reminding them that they were defenders of their Motherland and that, if
The following morning saw a determined Liao attack on the excellent Sung earthworks. The attackers were outnumbered and, troublingly, consisted mainly of cavalry though perhaps 5,000 foot soldiers and a small number of artificers had been dragged from their work reducing the castles to assist in the assault. The Liao managed to pierce the Sung breastworks in several places, clearing ditches and tearing down barricades, but the fighting was brutal and the attackers didn't have it all their own way - the Chinese had built up their earthworks carefully for many months and were fighting in their preferred element (viz., from a prepared position) whilst the Liao horsemen had to dismount and fight on foot. The ditches around the Sung position were soon filling up nicely with enemy dead, both Khitan and their Han conscript infantry. The breaches of the Sung perimeter were, of necessity, piecemeal so that, even where the Liao seemed to be enjoying success, they posed no real threat to the overall Sung hold on the position.
All the same, before
evening fell, Yue beheld that his men were not going to hold out much longer.
They had acquitted themselves admirably, given the invader a bloody nose and,
most importantly, taught the barbarians that they could not attack the Sung
with impunity but their temperament was shaky and Yue fully expected the rather
unpredictable Sung army to run in the face of a renewed attack in spite of its
successes. In the darkest depths of the night, the Sung army abandoned its
position, except for a skeleton rearguard under the indefatigable Di Qing, and
withdrew to the defences of
Sept 1101-April
1102: This long period saw the Sung blockaded in their capital while the
Liao worked on subduing the countryside (no easy task for, despite the retreat
of the main Sung army, the region's many castles remained). Much Liao blood was
spilt in reducing these outposts. Disease ran rife through both the Liao and
the defenders of the castles. But in
Such was the case
within
May-August 1102:
Tian-zo was far from happy. The losses his army had suffered on Sung walls had
been far greater than he had envisioned and he resolved that never again would
he test his men against such fortifications. The Liao Emperor had planned,
originally, on moving north into Bao Ding and reducing it but the steppe riders
he had sent to reconnoitre had returned to him bearing news that the province
was as heavily fortified as
Sept 1102 -April
1103: Very little took place during this period - the northern Sung
provinces of Bao Ding, Yun and Shan'si and their great cities fell away from
all but nominal Imperial control for the simple reason that they had no means
of communication with the capital. None of the regions repudiated the rule of
His Imperial Majesty but they were now left to their own devices and there
would likely be no end to this situation until the Khitan dogs were swept out
of
But the Sung were not the only ones to suffer troubles of this kind. April saw the beginning of a revolt in Lu'an. The provincials had long smarted under the yoke of barbarian rule but now they heard tell of terrible losses in the southern war - of thousands of Khitan slain by the glorious Yue Fei and his loyal comrade-in-arms Di Qing and, worse, of thousands of Lu'an men driven to their deaths by Juchen whips in battle against their fellow Han Chinese and the Son of Heaven. Quite a few healthy men of fighting age remained in the region for the Liao had been slipshod in their conscription (a sign of the speed with which it had been undertaken) and, in any case, they had been most interested in drafting men whose skills might be utilised in sieges and had left many farmers and townsmen behind. Now they were in arms against the barbarians and calling out for the Sung armies to march and liberate them!
Remainder of
1103-1105: The revolt in Lu'an was at risk of spreading into neighbouring
newly-conquered Yen. The rebels might even make common cause with the Sung
hold-outs in Bao Ding. They would have to be crushed without mercy. Tian-zo
sent Boon Min off with a detachment of swift horsemen. By June, they had
arrived in Lu'an put down the revolt with surpassing brutality. The rebel
"forces" lacked weapons and had no formal training (too, as it turned
out, there were less than a couple of thousand of them) so they posed no real
threat to the Liao warriors but, still, they were crushed and an example was
made. Any rebel Han captive (not that many were actually taken prisoner) was
shot to death by Khitan archers in front of the assembled inhabitants of his
village; directly afterwards, the home of the rebel would be burnt to the
ground (if the Liao felt generous, they would allow the wife and children of
the rebel to leave the building first but they didn't always feel generous...).
By late Summer, the people Lu'an were cowed once more
and Boon Min could strike out for
Early 1104 saw a
sudden Khitan attack, brilliantly executed, on
From this point on, the war rather petered out - the Sung were secure behind their high walls and the Liao had the run of the countryside. Some, on either side, began to wonder if now was the time for negotiation.... (though, mostly, they wondered quietly for none wanted to go the way of Ch'in Kuei). Hui Tsung, imperturbable as always, made great strides with his calligraphy developing a style known as 'slender gold', a singularly elegant and visually pleasing script. Despite the war raging along the great river, the Emperor did not allow such worldly concerns to distract him from what was truly important - his art and scholarship.
The Tangut Khanate of Hsi
Hsia
Khan Tehu, Emperor of Hsi Hsia, Khan of the Tanguts
Capital: Xinghou Religion: Buddhist
With the ending of tribute from the south and the appearance of Liao warbands along the banks of the Huang Ho, Khan Tehu was contemplating what he ought to do. He was far from certain. Like the Liao, his poor kingdom relied on the tribute extracted from the Sung. Too, he was certain that his army, bold cavalry supported by foot soldiers armed and trained after the Chinese fashion, would best the Sung armies in any fight. Perhaps it was time for the Tanguts to march south and remind the Sung why they paid tribute in the first place...
Bah. In truth, Tehu was far from eager to embark on such a course for he was already confronted with an endless stream of troubles - the aggressive nobles were manouevring against him perhaps with the goal of overthrowing him; even his two brothers were, he knew, testing their support in the Empire and might at any time move against him. Tehu's hold on Hsi Hsia was tenuous at best and he needed no foreign adventures which might provide his domestic foes with an opportunity to move against him. Too, he doubted his ability to hold more Chinese land and foresaw that, were the Tanguts to move southwards, they would inevitably be drawn into conflict with Liao and that was a war Tehu Khan wanted to avoid at all costs for it would benefit none but the Sung. The Tangut nobles screamed, though, that war must be pursued, that the Sung must be punished, their lands taken and, if the Liao wished to stand against Hsi Hsia in battle, let it be so - the Tanguts would vanquish them and the Sung alike. But what Tehu wanted more than anything was peace, stability and a steady flow of Sung gold to his coffers. What to do, what to do.... To support the Liao in humbling the Sung? No, the Liao would not share the spoils of war with the Tanguts. To make war against Liao and Sung alike? No, that was a conflict whose outcome could not be foreseen. To sit back and do nothing? No, for the winner of the current war would emerge stronger than before - Tehu shrank before the vision of a Liao Emperor enriched by the lands along the Huang Ho or, if anything could be worse, a resurgent and revanchist Sung flushed with victory after driving the Liao invaders beyond the Great Wall.
While such cares attended the Emperor of Hsi-Hsia, news arrived that the Uighurs were on the move. This, of course, might foreshadow anything - an attack on his own domains, a migration westwards, a move against the Liao Empire while it was distracted... There was no way of telling whither they would head or what they would do but Tehu could offer their activity as an pretext for procrastinating over the Chinese war - even the most bellicose of nobles recognised that war could not be waged in China when the borders of Hsi-Hsia were not yet secure from Uighur raiders...
Before too long, it became apparent that the Uighurs were indeed riding for the borders of Hsi Hsi but not, as it turned out, to raid.
The Khaganate of the Uighurs
Temu-Lin, Khagan of the Uighurs
Capital: none Religion: Asiatic Pagan
Life on the Asiatic
steppe was hard. The winters would freeze a man to his bones and the summers
scorched the earth 'til both man and beast might die for want of water. Truly,
it took a special kind of man to live out here where the uncrowded earth
stretched out forever in all directions under the sky's blue dome. Only out here
could a man be free; only here might a man live and ride and fight as befitted
anyone worthy of the title "freeborn". Yes, even the lowest steppe
warrior was as an emperor when set against the dogs who sheltered in their
little houses and spent days without end breaking their backs as they scraped
in the dirt to raise a few worthless plants, never travelling, never taking up
arms in blood feud against their neighbours, gaining no glory, singing no
songs, never living! Aye, life on the steppe
was hard but it was real not like the half-blooded existence of the weakling
Sung lords or the skinny peasants and fat merchants of
...but perhaps a
reevaluation was in order, Temu-Lin decided. The flocks of the Uighurs were
diminishing season by season. The water holes were even drying up. The climate
had, for the past few years, worsened and the whole of the Uighur tribe could
no longer support themselves from their ancient lands. Something drastic would
have to be done if the Uighurs were to overcome their current hardships so the
Khagan turned to that most ancient of solutions - raid, war, conquest. The
Uighur tribes and their distant kin and allies were summoned to the yurt of the
Khagan that they might take counsel together. By and by, after a week of
deliberations, the Uighurs decided to strike out southwards into Hsi Hsia. They
would seek safe passage from the Tangut Emperor and head south into
The advent of this host put a holy terror into the hearts of the Tanguts who assumed the Uighurs came with hostile intent. They were relieved but perplexed when they saw that the Uighurs were causing no trouble as they travelled through Tangut lands but, instead, journeyed quietly, shunning settlements and seeking no interaction with the locals. The Uighurs rode with their banner of peace flapping overhead. In this way, they declared to all who saw them that they would do no harm to those through whose lands they travelled.
News of the horde's coming reached Xinghou, the Tangut capital, and left all in a terrible quandry. The arrival of this potentially hostile force could not be ignored and many clamoured for the army, which could perhaps equal the invader man for man, to be called out. Others called for dialogue to be opened for the Uighurs had, as yet, committed no overt act of hostility against Hsi Hsia unless one counted the crossing of the border. The Uighurs had been steadfast in their discipline - no farm had been raided, no flock stolen, no person slain. Whatever their goal, the Uighurs did not want to make an enemy of the Tanguts so why should the Tanguts make an enemy of the Uighurs? Tehu was encouraged by this argument and opted to wait at his great capital, Xinghou, with his army close by (just in case).
By mid-summer of 1101, the Uighurs arrived near Xinghou, peaceful enough but looking thoroughly bemused at the depths to which the once-proud steppe lords of the Tanguts had sunk - they dressed in silk, perfumed themselves and drank tea like the Sung; in fact, they only climbed on horses on the rare occasions when their steppe blood called them to hunt. Tehu Khan, Emperor of Hsi Hsia, adorned in his richest robes and accompanied by several hundred finely-dressed and grim-visaged spearmen met with the fleabitten Khagan Temu-Lin of the Uighurs in a royal hunting ground a few miles distant from the walls of Xinghou. The Khagan had eschewed all escort and had brought only his son, who went by name of Borat Bear-Killer on account of his favourite pastime (viz., killing bears for fun), and Khan Juc, leader of an allied tribe of Nestorian Uighurs.
In his polite way, Tehu Khan enquired why the Uighurs had come here, so many leagues distant from their own lands... Surely they had not come to do harm to Hsi Hsia? Temu-Lin Khagan explained, bluntly, that his warriors were going on a raid, that times were hard in the north and the Uighurs would take food and booty from the Sung to see them through another few seasons; they meant no harm to the Tanguts but meant to pass through their lands one way or another. The Tangut Emperor was most impressed by the Khagan's frankness but, more than anything, the sight of these tough steppe barbarians who feared nothing sparked an idea in Tehu's head... Since the Tanguts worried that they could not match the power of their rivals to the south and east, might he, Tehu Khan, not harness the power of these wild barbarians by buying their loyalty?
"Tomorrow, you shall come to Xinghou and enjoy the full measure of my hospitality. As to freedom to move through my lands, it is granted. If you are intent on making war against the Sung, you may pass through my lands just as you please," said Tehu with his oiliest smile.
The Uighurs were glad to receive free passage but Temu-Lin was anxious at the prospect of travelling to a city - all those walls and doors closing in on a man, restricting him... Truly, to live in a city must be like being buried alive, Temu-Lin reasoned. But hospitality had been offered and Temu-Lin knew two things about this concept - first, to spurn a man's hospitality was an insult equivalent to defecating on the tombs of his ancestors; second, hospitality meant free food and drink. So it was that the Khagan agreed to visit Xinghou and the palace of the Tangut Emperor...
The palace was a grand place to Uighur eyes and the hospitality of Hsi Hsia was lavish - food, drink, dancing girls were there for the delectation of the steppe lords. Not all Tanguts, though, were pleased to see barbarians feted. Many Tangut lords had adopted the mores and prejudices of the sophisticated Chinese from whose culture they borrowed so heavily and forgot that the Tanguts, only a few generations ago, had been uncultured tribesmen like the Uighurs. These lords muttered that, if their Emperor was going to allow the Uighurs safe passage, why did he not push them on toward their final goal instead of dragging them here to the city where they would pollute the whole place with their vile miasma?
At length, after many
hours of feasting, Tehu Khan leant close to Temu-Lin, that he might not be overheard,
and asked a question: "Great Khagan, why do you travel south to war in
"What have you in mind?" asked the Khagan whose simple worldview left him a trifle confused about what was on offer.
"I will give you
gold and food. You need not fight for it in
A mere week later,
Tehu sent forth wagons to the camp of the Uighurs who, for all their talk of
free passage, had made no attempt to leave the vicinity of Xinghou. The
contents of the wagons remained a secret to all but no sooner had the Khagan and his chief men set eyes upon them than a
picked force of a thousand warriors, with Temu-Lin at their head, rode directly
for the gates of Xinghou. The Tangut Emperor had declared that the city was
always to be open to the Uighurs whether they came bearing arms or not and they
were many or few in number so the sentries nervously stood aside and let the
cavalry ride through the gates, through the cobbled thoroughfares of the city
and directly to a large mansion house set in its own broad gardens near the
palace complex. It was the home of the Tangut Emperor's younger brother. Within
a quarter of an hour, the building was in flames and the Imperial Prince lay
dead with a dozen steppe arrows in him. The Khagan dragged the body behind his
own horse and rode straight to the
"No, they've repaid it," said Tehu in a calm voice. "Order the gates opened and the Uighurs admitted to the palace. And which brother did they kill? I told them to deal with both."
So began the great purge. Before the sun set that day, both the Emperor's brothers were dead along with their families. Within a month, the Uighurs were riding from one end of the realm to the other at the Tangut Emperor's direction, slaying whomever he commanded. Any noble whose loyalty was suspect received a visit from the Emperor's steppe hirelings. Elements of the army who were thought potentially rebellious were simply massacred. For the first time in his reign, Tehu Khan felt secure. He had been very wise in acquiring a private army who would do his bidding so long as the money held out. And, to keep the Uighurs tied to his cause, he had even given his daughter to be the bride of Temu-Lin; he was considerably older than she (no-one knew exactly how old the Khagan was because the steppe tribesmen didn't keep accurate count of their age), he was uncouth beyond all belief and he stank but what did the happiness of one girl matter when set against the security which, Tehu Khan believed, the marriage had bought?
The Uighurs had good cause to feel pleased too. Their position in Hsi Hsia was supreme - they virtually ruled the place; the Tangut nobles were either dead or too cowed to challenge them. Even the army of Hsi Hsia was, in no small part, dead, demobilised or deserting, their role in the Empire assumed by the Uighurs. To keep the Uighurs paid and their families fed, the Tangut Emperor squeezed his subjects cruelly, often to the point of starving them, but any dissent was crushed beneath the boots of the steppe lords. More and more Uighur noblemen came to take up residence in Hsi Hsia permanently; they contemned the softness of city-living but still enjoyed the pleasures of courtly life - plentiful food, endless drink and pliant slave girls.
Eventually, during the early months of 1103, Tehu Khan decided that the time had come to join the war in the south. The Liao and Sung were both exhausted by war and would fall easily before the Hsi Hsian assault (which would actually be an Uighur assault but we won't quibble about semantics...). So a council of war was called - the handful of Tangut officers still retained by the Emperor, some of Hsi Hsia's Chinese ministers and, most importantly, Temu-Lin and the chiefs of the Uighurs. In this council, the Emperor of Hsi Hsia voiced his desire to make bloody war upon Sung and Liao alike and claim the rich regions along the Huang Ho for himself. To his utter bewilderment, there was little enthusiasm for the exercise not even from his war-loving Uighurs. They felt that, having found an easy living as hired muscle for a quasi-Chinese king, they did not wish to throw it all away in some adventure down south. But it mattered not - Tehu Khan, Hsi Hsia Emperor of the Tanguts, had proclaimed that they would march to war within the month. He had spoken and his will would be done.
Or so he imagined. The Uighurs, though, had different ideas. During the first few years of their residence in Hsi Hsia, they had realised that the Tanguts did not truly rule this rich little land - the Tanguts issued orders but it was the Chinese administrators who kept the country ticking along. Even Temu-Lin's teenaged bride had explained to him, one night, that the Emperor of the Tanguts would issue dikats and decrees but it was left to his ministers to find ways of executing them. And so an idea had come to the mind of Temu-Lin - if the Hsi Hsia Tangut overlords were to disappear from the face of the earth, would not the kingdom remain in existence and run just as efficiently as before so long as the Chinese bureaucrats and ministers were left unmolested? It seemed that it would. And if the Tanguts were replaced by the Uighurs, would that affect the ability of the administrators to run the land? It seemed that it would not...
On a light evening
just after Midsummer 1103, a party of a few dozen Uighur warriors entered the
palace of the Tangut Emperor, strolling past the handful of Tangut guards
without so much as a by-your-leave; this in itself was nothing unusual for the
Uighurs generally behaved as though they owned the place. The group made
straight for the private chambers of Tehu Khan. An elderly chamberlain, with
many a bow, politely asked the band to wait while he sought the Emperor's leave
to admit them. Their answer was the slash of an Uighur
blade. A few handpicked Tangut soldiers had been retained by Tehu Khan as a
sort of honour guard but they were caught unawares by such vicious treachery
and, in seconds, they too were lying on the palace floor with their life's
blood emptying from their bodies. The Uighurs broke down the doors to the
In their assault, the
Uighur murderers acted with a single-minded determination - they were not
distracted by loot, though there was plenty in the
And so it was done... Before long, a steady stream of Uighurs was migrating southwards and assuming complete control over Hsi Hsia. The day-to-day running of the new Uighur Khaganate was taken over by the ex-Tangut ministers and the capital was effectively abandoned by the new Uighur nobles for Temu-Lin much preferred to rule from and hold court in a cluster of yurts in a royal hunting park a few miles distant from Xinghou's walls. Such Tangut and Chinese regiments as remained unharmed by the purges, demobilisations and massacres of the past few years were inducted into the army but they were few in number and miserably unhappy as, it must be said, were most of the Khaganate's subjects though their complaints were mostly exaggerated - the Uighurs had harmed few ordinary people and life under them was no more harsh than it had been under the Tanguts. In the Northern Chinese provinces of Huang and Ningsia, the locals accepted their new overlords with complete equanimity and continued to pay their proper taxes and send the levy which was asked of them.
Their time amongst the southerners had had quite an effect on the Uighurs. Though they would never become as weak or stupid as the Tanguts, they saw the attractions of a more certain lifestyle in which they, as the overlords, would live not by the hunt or their pastoral activities but from the fruits of their subjects' labours.
That, then, was how Hsi Hsia met its end and the Uighur Khaganate was born - in treachery, murder and avarice.
The
Sokjong Wang, King of Silla
Capital: Kai-Ching Religion: Buddhist
King Sokjong and his
chief minister, Byung Yung Kim, set out from the comfortable capital on a
diplomatic mission to the north - news had come of the increasing tensions
between the Sung and the Liao, rumours of impending war and the overweening
pride of Emperors. In such days as these,
The King reached Suifenhe late in 1101 and immediately sought out the foremost of the local chieftains. All of Sokjong's energies were put into securing the assistance of the clans that lived in this harsh coastal region; month after month, he travelled from village to encampment to township and back again seeking support and allies. Yet, despite his widely-acknowledged gift for the diplomatic arts, despite his mastery of cunning language and arguments, he could not convince the local Khitan tribes to ally with him. After several years of effort, all the King had to show for his troubles was a tentative agreement that the locals would not hinder his officials or soldiers should they need to pass through the region. It was a stark disappointment.
While the King sojourned in Suifenhe, Byung Yung Kim had carried on into Sikhote, further up the coast. He arrived in the Spring of 1102 and visited almost every chieftain of note (and many besides who were quite irrelevant) but they treated him with contempt. Why should the free men who lived amid the wild forests between the mountain and the sea agree to become the lackeys of the city-dwelling, earth-tilling Korean weaklings? Pah! The disappointed Byung Yung Kim met, in the end, with complete and abject failure; still, he counted his blessings - at least the locals had not killed him and one day, he was sure, he would return to civilisation and see the Court at Kai-Ching again. Oh happy day.
Back in Kai-Ching, Prince Yejong Wang, heir to the throne, undertook a sharp new reformist policy. The Prince had had quite enough of the constant bickering between the army and the court officials so both groups were pulled sharply into line - troublesome officers were cashiered, noisy ministers were dismissed - so that, within a short while, the whole Korean government was sharper, leaner and much more effective. The army too was in better shape than ever before - more men under arms and better, more obedient officers.
In this new atmosphere, people began to depend more on their family connexions for advancement instead of on their social class; while one's caste was still important, it was no longer the central aspect it had once been. Instead, it was the favours given and duties performed by the members of one's family years before that guaranteed royal favour. The highest offices, titles, commissions and honours went to those great families which were judged most loyal to the Crown while other equally noble families came to be passed over because their commitment to the Koryo Kings was in doubt.
Yejong looked on all
his work with satisfaction but he was not finished for, fearing that recent
social problems had led to a downturn in the cultural endeavours of the nation, generous endownments were granted to local Buddhist
philosophers and monks. On the whole, despite the diplomatic failures, people
in
The
King of Nan-Chao
Capital:
T'ai-Li Religion: Buddhist
Slept.
The
Mahendra Malla, King of
Capital:
Slept.
The
Jaya Indravarman II, King of the Cham
Capital: Vijaya Religion: Hindu
Slept.
The Khmer Empire of Kambuja
Jayavarman IV, the Deva Raja, God-Emperor of the Khmer
Capital:
Slept.
Dai Co Viet
Capital: Thang Long Religion: Buddhist
Slept.
The
Malay Empire of Sri Vijaya
Nyalatengorak, The Flaming Skull, Malayu Great King of Sri Vijaya
Capital: Sri Vijaya Religion: Buddhist
The recent past had been hard on Sri Vijaya - wars, defeats, internal divisions had all conspired to push this once-great empire into a decline, to rob her of her place in the sun. A brief civil war had ended only the previous year earlier bringing to the fore a new King, Nyalatengorak, "The Flaming Skull". No-one had high hopes for the new King - he was a stripling of only 21 years and a scholar to boot who had never once led an army into battle nor a fleet to raid across the High Seas. His ascendancy to the throne had been brought about more because of the military talents of his elder brother and heir, Prince Hukumantaring, "Doom Fang", and few doubted that, sooner rather than later, the brothers would come to blows and Sri Vijaya would fall back into its usual cycle of bloodshed and dynastic sparring while foreign powers hovered nearby waiting to take advantage. So it was that Nyalatengorak's reign began with only the lowest expectations on the part of the subjects of Sri Vijaya yet the King had set himself the task of restoring the Empire to its rightful place of dominance and the year 1101 saw the beginnings of a new and vigorous policy as Sri Vijaya threw off the indolence of the past...
The Great King's first act was to raise a regiment of heavily-armoured foot soldiers and a smaller regiment of sappers (numbering some four hundred skilled engineers and artificers); to these forces, and the whole of the army and fleet, Nyalatengorak gave a special gift - they were to march, sail, fight beneath the King's personal flag, the Fanged Skull, an ancient symbol of power which the King had resurrected and made his own. The chittering courtiers of Sri Vijaya were hardly surprised at what they believed was an attempt by the new King ("the boy" as they called him when he wasn't around to hear) to consolidate his hold on the military. Having come to power through war, the King would surely move to crush his rivals which meant destroying his brother Hukumantaring and purging his supporters or so, at any rate, the court politicians said. What happened next, therefore, was most surprising - Nyalatengorak summoned his brother, with great solemnity, handed over command of the whole fleet and army and set a task before him - the loyal Prince Hukumantaring was to go forth on campaign. The primitive tribesmen of Aceh had retained their independence for too long. It was now time for them to bow before the power of Sri Vijaya. The courtiers sniggered; a thankless campaign against an unworthy enemy - surely a clear indication of the King's contempt for his sibling.
Doom Fang set out
from the
While the northern campaign was being waged, the King had been busied himself with reorganising the government of the Empire. As Sri Vijaya's Empire had increased, as more subject princes paid homage to the Malayu Great King, the ministries and officials of the central government had proved themselves unable to keep up with the task of administering the wide realm. Nyalatengorak took matters in hand. New officials were recruited, incompetents were weeded out and new ministries were brought into being. To assist matters, grants of money were given to improve the capital's education system for it was a matter of shame that Sri Vijaya, once famed throughout the world as beacon of learning, was now known only for its bordellos and gambling dens. In this way, then, competent men were trained and brought into the service of the government. Soon, tax collectors and royal agents were travelling the length and breadth of the Empire ensuring that all proper revenues were collected and that corruption among lower-ranking provincial officials was stamped out. At this point, the courtiers began to get the message that the new King meant to change things for the better.
Diplomats were sent
forth from the capital - the court functionary Pembantantuan was sent to Java
while Ikanbayang was dispatched to the Malay peninula to visit the client
states and bring them more fully into the Empire. His first stop was the
Ikanbayang's next
stop on his diplomatic tour was the
That was how things stood in Sri Vijaya at the end of 1105.
The
Kameswara I, Salendra King of Java
Capital: Sunda Religion:
Buddhist
The Javans were afraid. News had reached them of the wide-ranging ambitions of the new Sri Vijayan King and, worse still, his envoy, Pembantantuan, was already en route. Stories circulated in the capital of the massing in Sri Vijaya of a great war fleet and a grand army perhaps for some distant campaign or perhaps for an invasion of Java. Worst of all, those who spoke the Malay tongue of Sri Vijaya explained the meaning of "Pembantantuan" in hushed whispers - the word meant "Lord of Slaughter". Far from surprising, then, that the coming of this new ambassador was met with anything except joy.
In midsummer, a small ship flying the Fanged Skull penant that was the emblem of the King of Sri Vijaya docked in Sunda and there disembarked a very dapper short young man who announced with a smile that he was none other than Pembantantuan come to Sunda on a mission of peace. In short order, the ambassador was presented to King Kameswara to whom he spoke winged words about the respect Nyalatengorak felt for his southern neighbour, about the need for peace between the Javans and Sumatrans, about how the fates of the two empires were intertwined and how nothing could be gained by conflict... It almost seemed too good to be true and, daily, Kameswara and his ministers waited for the demands to start - territorial concessions, tribute, levies of men, perhaps more. Yet the demands never came. Instead, the Lord of Slaughter announced to the Javan King and Court that his master, the Great King of Sri Vijaya, would be pleased and grateful if the Salendra King would consent to a treaty guaranteeing that neither signatory would make war upon the other. "And His Majesty, King Nyalatengorak, would be more honoured than I could ever express if Your Majesty were to consent to give the hand of the Princess Mahendradatta in marriage," Pembantantuan added.
Swiftly, Kameswara agreed and packed his daughter, a very pretty and endearing young lady, off to Sri Vijaya. One day, he hoped, his grandsons would sit on the thrones of both Sri Vijaya and Java but that was for the distant future - what mattered most was that Java's safety was guaranteed for at least a few more years.
Pembantantuan stayed
on in Java for several years to come, becoming a permanent feature at the
The
Kyanzittha, King of Pagan
Capital: Pagan Religion: Buddhist
From his rich and
temple-filled capital, the King struck out for Mon. Instead of taking the
landward route, His Majesty took ship in Pegu and crossed the
As it happened, the
King was not the only one doing diplomatic duty - Prince Yarza Komer boarded a
ship at Pegu and sailed all the way to
But it was not all diplomacy - during the Summer of 1101, General Bohmu Aung, as vicious and ruthless a man as ever walked the earth, raised dozens of new regiments and marched, at the head of 12,000 men, over the mountains and into the rugged little region of Kayah. The natives were scarcely capable of defending themselves and were smacked into line with ease. In the aftermath of this "conquest", 10 strong castles were built in the area before the General pulled back into Thaton leaving the locals to wonder what had just happened and why.
The
Rampala, Maharaja of
Capital:
From east and west,
the Hindus were pressing in upon Rampala. He was distinctly nervous and fully
expected an assault at any time; it was, therefore, rather lucky for him that
the Muslims of the far west chose this time to begin rattling their sabres. So
long as the western Hindu princes were busy trying to defend against these
expected incursions, they would be unable to harm
As time passed,
ambassadors came to the thriving metropolis of
Rampala was generally
level-headed and patient so he paused before responding (lest he act in the
heat of the moment and come to regret it later). "Chamberlain," he
said, turning to his chief courtier after due deliberation. "Have this
buffoon's heart cut out and thrown in the
So it was said and so it was done! All the Assamese envoys were put to death and their skulls were used to decorate the the Maharaja's throne. Rampala decided there was only one option left open to him - he had to take advantage of the distraction the Ghaznavids were affording and of the pacific nature of the wise Raja of Kanauj, who was, in Rampala's judgment, unlikely to trouble himself over the fate of the Assamese. The Palas would crush the Sena upstarts once and for all. In 1104, the Bengali general, Mushara, marched forth to liberate Palas...
Whilst this war was
being fought, word was brought to
The War for
April 1104: Mushara set out from Gaur at the head of around 14,000 Buddhist warriors (of whom almost half were mounted). Before he had even crossed the frontier, news came of uprising - the Buddhist population, tired of languishing beneath the Sena yoke, had risen up and begun slaughtering the oppressor. The rebellious Buddhists had even managed to take a few of the enemy's castles. Encouraged, Mushara moved into Palas.
When news of the
rebellion reached
May 1104: The whole of Mushara's Buddhist Bengali army had now crossed into Palas where they were welcomed as liberators from Hindu oppression. Mushara's scouts reported that many of the Hindu forts in the region had already fallen to local Buddhist rebels. Some had even been infiltrated by Bengali agents and their local Buddhist collaborators who ensured that convenient gates and portes were left open for Mushara's men. In the end, the 20 or so castles that defended this region proved to be no impediment at all to the Bengali advance. The handful that were unaffected by the rebellion were swiftly overrun by Mushara's preponderance of engineers and sappers.
When this news reached Vijaya, he summoned his officers and ministers and demanded to know why his own agents had failed to crush this rebellion before it got off the ground. The answer (namely that his agents had tried very hard but, lamentably, failed in their task) brought the Sena Raja no satisfaction. Now there was no other option but to engage the enemy and drive them back by main force.
June 1104:
With the rest of Palas effectively his control, Mushara had been turning his
mind to the question of Sonargaon, a very well fortified and predominantly
Hindu city. Since he had no ships, he would have to take the city by storm and
he was contemplating this very thing when his spies brought news of Vijaya's
arrival on the eastern bank of the
Vijaya crossed the river via the bridge at Sonargaon and marched out, with his usual confidence, seeking a foe with whom to do battle. Mushara avoided him for a little while though he knew that an engagement would have to be come before the monsoons began in a few weeks time. All the same, Mushara had good reason to seek a brief delay for he knew something that the Sena Raja didn't....
Vijaya was in hot pursuit of the Buddhist army but his enemy always remained a couple of days march ahead of him. His absolute self-assurance was buoyed by the Buddhists' unwillingness to fight for surely it meant they were afraid to face him in battle. On a monstrously hot June night, Vijaya and his senior officers were holding a council to plan the route of march for the following day and debate how they might best force the enemy to meet them in open combat. With the heat so severe, Vijaya drank regularly and deeply from a gourd of sweet water proferred by a slave. As the council drew to a close, Vijaya complained of dizziness. This in itself was not all that worrisome for the weather was oppressive; the Raja would undoubtedly feel better in the morning after rest so he and his generals retired to their tents for the night.
With the coming of dawn, a shriek tore through the camp - it originated in the Raja's own pavillion where one of his coterie of personal servants had found the youthful Raja very dead indeed. Soon, the whole encampment was astir and a stream of high nobles and officers was winding its way to the late Vijaya's bedside. The Raja had apparently died, quite suddenly and, from all appearance, peacefully, in his sleep. While the officers and princes were debating precisely what could have caused it, the Raja's water-bearer interjected: "If it pleases Your Highnesses, I know how His Majesty died," said the soon-to-be-executed slave with respectful bows towards the grandees and the late Raja's mortal remains. "I have been administering a poison to His Late Majesty's water for some weeks now. Yesterday, I increased the dose and you behold the result. The oppressor of my people is vanquished."
To compound their already vast troubles, later that day Assamese outriders and pickets reported that the Buddhist retreat had ended and they were now advancing rapidly on the leaderless Hindu army. The officers squabbled amongst themselves over what course to pursue. The heir (who was now Raja of Assam though he didn't know it) had been far north in the foothills of the Himalayas, in Gtsang province, and it might take weeks before he could even be informed of what had happened let alone return to lead the army. Vayu Sabha, formerly the chief of Vijaya's council-of-war, stepped forward and announced that he would assume command of the army arguing, saliently, that he had been the Raja's most trusted officer. A few others were dissatisfied with this but even the most dense of the Assamese officers recognised that a single leader was need to extract them from this mess. Vayu decided that retreat would bring no advantage - they would meet the enemy and drive them out of this province.
Within a couple of days of the Raja's death, the Buddhist and Hindu armies clashed. The monsoon clouds were starting to gather even as the first arrows were put to the bow-strings. Vayu Sabha led 7,000 footmen of mixed type onto the field backed by 1,500 heavily-armoured horsemen and the same number of mounted skirmishers with less than a thousand sappers and engineers. Mushara's Buddhists numbered a touch over 6,000 mixed foot, about 3,500 heavy cavalry and 2,500 lancers and a strong contingent of artificers. The battle these armies fought was singularly brutal - the Assamese had a definite edge in quality though the numbers and weight of the Bengali mounted regiments turned out to be the decisive factor. After a day of bloody murder, Vayu Sabha led his army off the field at dusk; of the nearly 11,000 men who had fought that day for the Senas, less than 3,000 marched away. The Buddhists had not got off very lightly either for their losses ran to almost 6,000 dead, wounded and missing.
In their retreat, the
Assamese left behind most of their baggage including Vijaya's body. When
Mushara was told what his men had found, he immediately ordered the corpse
embalmed with honey and personally sent the carcass north to
July 1104:
Vayu Sabha's force reached
Outside Sonargaon, Mushara decided that he lacked enough forces to make an attempt on the walls so he settled for controlling the region around it.
The war now petered out, more or less, as both sides tried to gather the energy for the next round of fighting.
The
Rahamjit Sena, Raja of
Capital: none Religion: Hindu
Rahamjit had been on
a mission to Gtsang when news of his dear brother's death reached him. He at
once rode to
The assassination of
the Raja had not been the only piece of trouble in
The only piece of
good news was that the coastal tribes in Arakan agreed to pay tribute to
The
Prakramabahu Lambakanna, King of
Capital: none Religion: Hindu
Slept.
The Tamil Empire of the Cholas
Kollutunga Chola Maharaja, the King of Kings, Emperor of the South
Capital:
The thriving seaside
town of Mangaloboho, in the province of Chera, was on the receiving end of the
Emperor's attention - if only it were expanded a little, Kollutunga thought, it
would make a fine port astride the Malabar coast. And so it was done. Before
long ships from all around the
Kollutunga sent off
his diplomats to the capitals of empires near and far - to
The Emperor dwelt on this rejection while he reclined on the silken couches of his palace; perhaps the Cholas had become too soft and no longer held the respect of their subjects. If that were the case, he wondered what might be done to regain some of the Empire's ancient glory and prestige. Since pondering such things was seldom rewarding, the Emperor spent the greater part of his time working on his lastest literary composition - a new epic poem based stylistically on the Mahabharat but with the history of the Chola family as its subject. Untroubled by the burdens of government, he managed to get a great deal written though he was not at all confident about its artistic merit and, so, refused to show it to anyone. Funds were allocated, since the Emperor was in a scholarly mood, for the hiring of fine teachers and scholars. The teachers based themselves in the grounds of the great temple at Trivandrum which already had a peerless collection of Sanskrit, Hindi and, above all, Tamil manuscripts (in a curious episode, one of the new teachers was shocked to find an Arabic translation of Galen lurking in the depths of the library vaults and wondered what on earth such an item was doing there).
The
Vikramaditya VI, Raja of Kalyana, Head of the Clan of the Chalukyas
Capital: Manyakheta Religion: Hindu
The opening of 1101 saw the Raja of Kalyana marching out of his capital at the head of almost 20,000 soldiers. He struck out northeastwards into Kakitiya, a dependency of the Chalukyan clan, and there Vikramaditya and his army spent the remainder of the year. The local ruler, Samirjit, and his nobles were somewhat unsettled by the presence of so many Chalukyan soldiers. Soon, Vikramaditya began waxing lyrical about the benefits and advantages which, he alleged, would accrue if the local grandees allowed the province to be annexed to Kalyana in a formal manner. The Kakityans listened and at least pretended to be convinced. Vikramaditya, though, was a most perceptive man and during his sojourn, it dawned on him that the allegiance of the natives was given grudgingly, at best, and that they were from satisfied at the prospect of Chalukyan overlordship. After a great deal of thought, he came to understand that they were afraid of being sidelined in their own land - the rulers of Kakitya were not kin to the Chalukya clan; indeed, they were far more closely-related to the neighbouring Chandelas. The solution was obvious - marriage to bind the rulers together and ensure that the blood of Samirjit of Kakitya would flow through the veins of Vikramaditya's descendents.
Indulala, the
youngest daughter of the Kakityan Raja was wed to Vikramaditya though she was
20 years his junior. The ceremony was lavish but the wealth of the Chalukyas
was well-known. In a fit of generosity (or extravagance), new temples were even
endowed in the region and a few intinerant poets who happened to be passing
through the region were conscripted to write verses extolling the great love
Vikram felt for his new bride. The rest of the year was spent idling in Kakitya,
enjoying the sport offered by the region's fine hunting grounds, partaking of
the hospitality of nobles and worshipping in the great temple complexes which
proliferated in this part of
The army crossed over
into the neighbouring
Vikramaditya had a
deserved reputation for his mastery of the arts of war yet he employed no
cunning strategems in this campaign - he marched directly for
Perhaps 30 miles
northwest of the
What followed was predictable. The gallant Chandelans stood their ground but they were never in a position to win - as well as being outnumbered, they were outclassed by the veteran Chalukyans; too, they were outmanouevred as the Chalukyan cavalry chased the local horsemen from the field after a brief and bloody melee. The footmen held out for as long as they could, standing shield-to-shield against the fierce assault of the armoured Chalukyans but, in the end, they stood their ground just a little too long for, when they finally decided to withdraw, they found their route of escape cut off by the victorious enemy cavalry. All order collapsed among the Chandelan regiments - men ran this way and that with no hope of escape. After a couple of hours, the Chalukyans tired of the butchery and began to take prisoners - it was then that they discovered, hiding among the heaped up dead, Vidyarha Chandela himself. He was dragged before Vikramaditya who ordered that he be placed in chains and dragged behind the victorius army.
Now that the battle
had been won, the Chalukyan army turned away from the capital and fixed its
attention on reducing a handful of Chandelan castles which dotted the region.
Once these fell, only
The Chandelas of Khajuraho
Vidyarha Chandela, Raja of Khajuraho, Head of the Clan of the Chandelas
Capital:
With the Raja in chains and the capital occupied by the treacherous Chalukya clan, the royal family and most of the leading nobles had fled northeast into the remaining provinces where they swore they would continue the war until their lands were liberated.
Munja Paramara, Raja of Malwa, Head of the Clan of the Paramaras
Capital: Dhar Religion: Hindu
The Paramaras, like the Chauhans, were most worried by the words coming from Ghazna. Many new troops were raised to drive the fanatics back should they come and a tentative defensive agreement was reached with neighbouring Ajaimeru by which each would defend the other in the event of a Muslim incursion.
The
Ajaipal Chauhan, Raja of
Capital:
The Raja of Ajmer, rattled by what amounted to a Ghaznavid declaration of war, order that many fortifications be built throughout the kingdom. Ajaipal was determined that the Muslim horde would find Ajaimeru no easy target for their evil depredations.
Chandraveda Gahadwala, Raja of Kanauj
Capital: Kanauj Religion: Hindu
The Raja took a tour
of the outlying regions which had not yet fully accepted His Majesty's gracious
and benevolent rule. First, he went to Chandela on the southern banks of the
Jihjoti was a far
less welcoming place; the locals recognised the suzerainty of the Raja of
Kanauj and they performed military duties on his behalf with all due propriety
but they guarded their independence fiercely; they could accept Kanauj's
overlordship but not direct rule. In any case, it took a great deal of effort
before the natives would countenance a change in the status quo. Another
dynastic marriage was offered -this time, His Majesty suggested that a Jihjoti
noblewoman might provide a suitable for his brother and heir, Dalavayi.
However, the locals knew about Dalavayi - he was deformed with a cleft palate
which was surely a sign that he had done great evil in a past life. It was
tantamount to an insult to suggest that he could take a Jihjoti woman as wife.
On the other hand, there was no getting around the fact that, deformity or not,
Dalavayi was a man of great political power. After long debates amongst
themselves, the provincial nobles agreed to a marriage and even to allow tax
collectors from Kanauj to impose their dues here in Jihjoti. In return,
however, they withdrew all military service from the
During the Raja's
absence, Prince Dalavayi (he of the cleft palate) had seen to the day-to-day
governance of the country. He had also overseen the construction of a fine
fortress in the province of Uttar Pradesh for rumours were sweeping the Ganges
valley of an iminent Muslim invasion and Dalavayi was determined that no-one
would catch Kanauj napping. Too, given the new, cosier relationship with
Chandela, the heir decided that the time had come to oversee the construction
of a new urban centre in the province. He settled on the site of the old shrine
at Ratanpur. It was already a fair-sized town and contained many temples of
significance so it would surely be the ideal location for a provincial capital.
Work began, officials of the government were installed, new edifices were
constructed and many workers were attracted to the place. Within a few years,
the place was bustling though it had the feel of being rather
"rough-and-ready" - the water supply left much to be desired and many
of the houses were shoddily constructed. Around Ratanpur, new walls were built
and this was the case in the Kingdom's other larger and more important cities -
By the time the Raja had returned to the capital, preparations were being made for the grand weddings. The Raja's uncle, the kindly but inept Padavalu, had taken charge of all preparations for he was widely acknowledged to have the most marvellous taste and a discerning eye for colour. With Padavalu at the helm, Chandraveda's marriage passed off easily; he had not, as yet, seen his wife-to-be and he was quite relieved when she turned out to be a very fine-looking girl.
Prince Dalavayi's marriage, on the other hand, did not go smoothly. To begin with, the Prince was afflicted by a recurring dream - a great voice from far away spoke to him but he could not clearly understand the message it imparted (though he had no doubt it was a message of the utmost import) and whenever he awoke, he had the clearest sensation that he should turn his attentions to the east. The brahmins could offer but little help in trying to unravel this conundrum and, as time went by, the unfortunate Prince became certain that some supernatural force, whether god or evil spirit, was toying with him. Then, of course, there was his wedding....
Uncle Padavalu had ensured that everything was done with the greatest pomp and circumstance - the bride and groom were to be transported to the ceremony on the backs of elephants, accompanied by regiments of royal lancers; from the walls of the city, great saffron-coloured banners would be flown; the magnificence of Dalavayi's clothing and jewellery would be such that no-one would even notice his hideous personal appearance and the countless sins he must surely have committed in a previous incarnation. Such a grand affair would be spoken of for decades to come! And, to be sure, Padavalu's preparations went off without a hitch. It was every bit as glorious as he had imagined. Even the grubby denizens of the city who turned out to watch had tried to tidy themselves up for the day. There was only one problem - the noble lady from Jihjoti who was to wed the deformed prince turned out not to be quite so attractive as Chandraveda's wife. In fact, some wags and rascals even remarked that when the lady stood beside her elephant, the only way one could distinguish her from the animal was that she did not have a howdah on her back. It was an exaggeration, of course, but she was on the large side and had been left scarred in her childhood by smallpox.
Curiously, neither marriage resulted in issue and eyebrows began to be raised. Of course, uncle Padavalu had never married or produced children but people usually skirted around that sensitive point.
The Sultanate of Ghazna
Masud III, Sultan of Ghazna, Scourge of Allah
Capital:
Decree of His Imperial Majesty, the Sultan Masud III of Ghazna
In
the name Allah and the Prophet and of His Most August Majesty, the Sultan Masud
III, Scourge of Allah, Right Arm of Government, Successor to Mahmud, We declare
a holy struggle against the tyranny and oppression of the heathen Hindu Rajas
of Ajaimeru and Malwa. Time and again they have robbed Our
merchants, raided our borders, and spat upon the Faithful to an extent which no
Believer may tolerate any longer. To prepare ourselves for this arduous
struggle, We decree that taxes be increased for the
next term of five years and, to show the craven Hindu dogs that We know no fear
of their prowess, Our imperial capital shall be transferred from Ghazni to the
city of
Know
that the struggle shall be long but shall end in victory and, in the wake of Our triumphant arms, all that we have sacrificed shall be
returned to us five fold. Not one man, from the highest noble to the lowest
peasant, shall find himself denied in the land and riches which shall fall to Us. Yet know that those who oppose this sacred endeavor
shall be as Our enemies and share their fate.
The issuing of the
above decree caused quite the stir in the Ghaznavid Sultanate. Not only had the
Sultan made a declaration of jihad against the cow-worshipping Chauhans and
Paramaras but he was shifting the capital of the Empire from Ghazna, deep in
the valleys of
As if to leave no doubt that the future of the Sultanate lay in India, Masud summoned one of his loyal and learned ministers, Lakhud, to the grand palace of Ghazna; there, quite without warning, Masud announced that the provinces of Sistan, Registan, Siahan, Shadad and Baluchistan would be severed from the empire; together, these regions would form the Beylik of Registan and Lakhud would become their new ruler, the Leyerbey. Of course, the provinces in question were poor and not vastly significant in the grand scheme of things but, all the same, to be made a Great Prince, the ruler of one's own empire, was something beyond Lakhud's wildest imaginings and not a gift to be sneezed at. In due course, he received the pearl diadem which was the marker of royal authority from the hand of the Sultan and, having done great obeisance before the throne of Masud and sworn eternal fealty to his benefactor, Lakhud departed for his personal fiefdom. For most members of the court and royal council, the shedding these provinces was largely symbolic, a sign that Iran and the western marches of the Empire held no attraction for Masud and that his attention would, hereafter, be fixed eastwards.
While such business
was being conducted in Ghazna, the indefatigable Vizier Mehmet had begun the
mammoth task of shifting the government and ministries from Ghazna to
While all this was going on, the Sultan himself took over the reins of government completely in the absence of his most important officials and acquitted himself very well. In accordance with his decree, the Sultan sent forth his soldiers to extract extra taxes from the people - stored grain was seized, the merchants were bled dry, aristocratic estates were compelled to pay a full fifth more than was their legal obligation. Any who objected received a good beating from the Sultan's men. None of this made Masud especially popular but the Mullahs and Imams assured everyone that it was a short-term solution, that it would not continue for long and that, above all, it was a necessary evil for the good of Islam and the Faithful. Most of the populace muttered that they were Faithful and they were seeing no benefits from Masud's extortion but, on the whole, no real damage was done - the attendant economic problems were relatively minor.
In happier news, Artaq, a Ghaznavid minister, swept into Edrosia during the summer of 1101 on a diplomatic mission. The local nobles and grandees were delighted by Artaq's honeyed words as he spoke of the great prosperity which Edrosia would enjoy - a great port and university would be built and all the produce of the world would be traded in the bazaars and markets of Edrosia. It sounded fine but they were far from convinced that the benefits outweighed the disadvantages they would incur for few in Edrosia had the stomach for a war against the Rajputs yet, they reasoned, if they accepted Masud's suzerainty they would be committing to just such a war. In the end, the offer of a marriage between the Sultan and a local princess went some way to encouraging them but only just - they agreed to pay tribute to the distant Sultan but nothing more than that. Just as Artaq had promised, a new port was begun at the village of Karachi - the local fishing docks were extended to make something suitable for mercantile activity, new settlers (from the Punjab mainly) were brought down to inhabit the place and several nearby coastal villages were forced to combine with Karachi and become a part of this the Sultan's newest project. For all that, ships were soon sailing into what was, in effect, the only real entrepot for goods from overseas to reach the Ghaznavid Empire; too, a steady stream of merchants came from the north to establish places of business in the port in the hope that there might be opportunities to sell their wares to traders from Egypt, Arabia and the Malabar coast.
In less materialistic
matters,
The only other news of import was the arrival of the Tamil diplomat, Koothbiran, from the distant Chola dynasty who spent a long time attending the Sultan's court. Although he was a Hindu and, thus, innately the enemy of Ghazna, most courtiers agreed that he wasn't a bad sort and he was probably the kind of man the Ghaznavids could do business with.
The Seljuk Great Sultanate
Berk Yaruk, "The
Despoiler", the Great Sultan, Qhaqhan of the Seljuqs, Shahanshan of
Capital:
The Great Sultan was
restless. He had known the luxury and temptations which courtly life in
So
it was that Berk Yaruk ordered preparations for war and the raising of new
troops - fierce horse archers were recruited from among the Turkish tribes and,
in equal number, noble cataphracts covered from head-to-toe in brilliant armour
and each bearing an axe and heavy scimitar. These new troops were placed under
the command of the Qhan of Khurasan, Jamuka, a trusted
kinsman of the Great Sultan, who immediately set off northwards from
September saw the
answer to that question as Qhan Jamuka led his army across the frontier to
March 1102. As the
snows of Winter began to clear, Jamuka took his
raiding force back across the border looking for more loot. He had expected the
enemy to be waiting but they were not; that being so, he and his men set about
visiting those areas which had escaped his attentions the previous year. By the
time he left, Turkmen was a wasteland - its population, such as were not dead
or dragged off to the slavepens of Merv or
In fact, they waited the whole year out and some rogues even remarked that perhaps the Sultan had lost his taste for war now that he saw its dangers stretching out before him; perhaps he preferred to idle his months away in the rich palaces, pleasure gardens and harems of Merv where his ego could be massaged by sycophantic poets and empty-headed slave girls... But this was a gross calumny. The Great Sultan was a man with many a cunning strategem up his sleeve - he waited because he expected the Khwarizimi to pursue the raiders back into Kophat Dagh where he and his great army would pounce. But, for all his cunning, he was disappointed. The Shah of Khwarizim had refused to be drawn out into a pursuit; instead, he kept his army close by Khiva awaiting the real invasion.
As 1103 opened, the Great Sultan saw no other option than to begin the conquest of Khwarizim in earnest (though he was sorely disappointed that he hadn't been able to tempt the enemy into the trap so carefully laid). No sooner had the Persian host, who numbered almost 30,000 men, begun to cross the frontier in March than Khwarizimi riders hared off to Khiva to report that the time had come. The Shah Qutb al-Din Muhammed had massed such forces as he had at his disposal; they numbered 4,000 footmen drawn largely from Khiva, around 2,000 Turkish light horse of the finest type, armed with both bow and lance and drawn from the Shah's own clan, more than 4,000 tribal horse archers and about 2,000 askari lancers mounted on heavy chargers.
By April the two
armies were facing one another across the great open plains of
A confused cavalry melee developed as each side's askaris clashed and the masses of extremely mobile light horse darted hither and yon. Into this fray, Qhan Jamuka led a massed charge of the Persian cataphracts which drove the Khwarizimi askaris from the field in short order. Though the Khwarizimi horsemen were both courageous and skillful, they were simply not a match for the impossibly-heavy Seljuk cataphracts. Taking advantage of the one thing in their favour (their greater mobility), the survivors of this combat fled the field hoping to regroup and return but it was not to be. The Shah Qutb had led the men of his clan, almost 2,000 strong, throughout the battle and they had acquitted themselves admirably proving to be bolder and more skillful than any who stood against them. Even Berk Yaruk and his officers were impressed and dearly wished that they could field regiments of such obvious excellence. But none of this was enough to save the day. The sheer weight of Seljuk numbers pressed upon them - while the Khwarizimi had concentrated on (and suceeded at) killing as many foot soldiers as possible, the 7,000 Seljuk horse archers had done their damage to the Khwarizimi army (as had the charge of those damnable cataphracts). As more and more of the Shah's warriors died or fled, whether to seek their homes or an opportunity to regroup, the Shah and his kinsmen became increasingly isolated until, at last, they were surrounded on the field. Those survivors who had stopped to observe the final outcome of the great battle saw the Shah's banner fall. It did not rise again. So the battle ended and so too did Qutb al-Din Muhammad Shah. His body was never found among the piles of the slain but there was no doubt that he had fallen, on the bloody field of Ashgaban, alongside the other men of his clan. 1,500 Seljuk horsemen were left dead on the field or injured and more than 4,000 Persian infantry; no-one was ever able to get a proper estimate of the Khwarizimi dead.
With this great victory gained, Berk Yaruk finished subjugating the region and then he dug in and waited for a possible counter-attack, wintering in Turkmen. No attack came and, in March of 1104, the march on Khiva, golden city of the Khwarizimi, began. He met no resistance for Arslan's son, now Shah, had fled north towards the desert or the steppe taking many refugees and all of his surviving warriors. The Khwarizimi state had effectively collapsed when Qutb al-Din Muhammed died on that bloody Turkmeni battlefield. This left the Sultan in a quandry - he had planned to loot rich Kwharizim and take every last thing of value but, now that it had fallen into his lap without any resistance, he opted to spare the unfortunate natives feeling that this was a province which might easily be integrated into his own Empire. So, he turned his attention on Khiva and made ready for a siege... Yet, no siege was necessary. The gates of the city were opened to the conquering Sultan; the ministers and administrators came to pay obeisance to the Sultan who, they said, was now their new lord and master; the Vizier even presented Berk Yaruk with the keys to the Khivan treasury. Berk Yaruk was fairly pleased with his achievements.
So ended the conquest of Khwarizim.
The Qara Khanate
Jibril Arslan, the Qara Khan of Samarkhand
Capital: Samarkhand Religion: Sunni Islam
The Qara Khan heard news of the war in neighbouring Khwarizim and became greatly distressed. Jibril had no wish to see his wonderful realm wrecked, looted and burnt as Khwarizim had been so, though a peaceful man by nature, he ordered the construction of many castles and strong towers with which he might resist invaders (from whatever direction they might come!).
In more pacific affairs (which was always where the Black Khan felt most at home), Jibril began investing money in attempts to lure scholars to Samarkhand. Indeed, he practically emptied the Khanate's vast coffers to draw learned men of every stamp to his heavenly capital city - Sufi mystics came to debate with Sunni theologians; Persian poets arrived to impress upon the city's youth the importance of getting one's metre right; even critics followed close behind to teach how best to pick apart the works of the poets; Greek philosophy was taught alongside Orthodox Islamic theology (mathematics and science were also taught but they are not very interesting and, for the most part, students dodged these lessons whenever they could so that they might spend their time in the study of racy Persian poems about the pleasures of wine and women). It was a most cosmopolitan environment and, in a short while, Samarkhand's already fabulous reputation had grown yet further and the princes of nearby realms began to contemplate sending their sons to receive an education in the Qarakhanate.
So cultured was the Black Khan Jibril Arslan that, in the confines of the palace, the women and girls of the harem were tutored in the poetic arts (alway under close supervision by eunuch guards lest the tutors get ideas from their close proximity to so many attractive young ladies). Too, in a move that made some wonder whether Jibril Arslan's fierce steppe blood had been diluted by the ease of life in Samarkhand, he ordered that the sons of the Royal House be schooled in the "Kutadgu bilig" (The Wisdom of Royal Glory), a book with many distinctions - finished in Kashgar, in the year 1070, by Yusuf Khass Hajib, this was one of the only books written in the Turkish language. It was a manual for Princes and contained the radical proposition that the Prince ruled with the consent of his subjects and it was his duty, first and foremost, to ensure the happiness and prosperity of the people.
While such enlightened things were taking place in the capital, the heir to the Qarakhanate, Ahmed Jibril Tigin, struck out for the as-yet independent region of Tadzikistan. Here, he met many chieftains who were willing to talk but few who were willing to commit themselves to join the Khanate. At last, he was able to extract a promise to pay tribute but only after committing himself to a marriage to the pretty and demure teenage daughter of the foremost of the Tadzik Khans.
Overall, this was a period of peace and considerable happiness for the Black Khanate yet, over it all, lay the shadow of events in neighbouring Khwarizim and an unspoken fear that, perhaps, the Seljuks were seeking to secure the northern marches of their empire in which case one had to face the possibility that Samarkhand could be the next city to attract the attention of the Great Sultan's horde....
The Empire of Khwarizim
Qutb al-Din Muhammed, Shah of Khwarizim
Capital: Khiva Religion: Sunni Islam
After the great defeat and death of the Shah, the boy heir, Ala al-Din Aziz, proclaimed himself Shah and, with all his available cavalry (who were few in number) and Turkmeni refugees (who numbered many thousands), he abandoned the city and all that he had known and set out northwards to find sanctuary in the empty lands whence his ancestors had first come. One day, he or his son or his son's son would return and take vengeance but, for now, he would survive and that would be a kind of vengeance all by itself.
The
The Seljuk Sultanate
of Rum
Kilij Arslan, Seljuk Sultan of Rum
Capital: none Religion: Sunni Islam
The encroachments of
the Franks had left the Sultan worried and angry. The infidels had to be
answered decisively. For three decades, the Turks had been pushing the Christians
back and had made
All the horsemen
currently in the service of the Sultanate were massed together and handed over
to Malik Shah in preparation for a new expedition. With over 10,000 such
warriors, Malik wandered down from Psidia to arid Pamphyla and, from there, he
launched what he and the Sultan hoped would be a great raid into Byzantine
Phrygia, a province which those feeble Greek cowards held only because the
Franks had captured it on their behalf! He was to be disappointed. The
Byzantine Emperor had established very many strong fortifications in
Kilij Arslan, meanwhile, had been erecting a great number of castles and strongholds in Psidia. And when that work was done, he began overseeing changes to the rather slipshod Seljuk governmental structure but he had no great success (pretty much par for the course with the Seljuks of Rum at the moment).
The
Danishmendid Emirate
Emir Malik Danishmend Ghazi
Capital: none Religion: Sunni Islam
A chieftain of the Seljuks of Rum, Hudayi by name, arrived as an envoy to the Danishmendid Turks in the late summer of 1101. His presence in the camp of Malik Danishmend was tolerated but not welcomed; the two Turkish states had fought each other in the past and, most people reasoned, would do so again. On the occasion when they had united to drive back the Crusaders, their alliance had borne no great fruit for the Crusaders had beaten them and pushed on to the Holy Land (shoring up the collapsing Byzantine Empire at the same time). After several years in residence, Hudayi's patient efforts had some kind of effect - while strong suspicions continued to be held, the Danishmendids were at least willing to contemplate talking with their Seljuk neighbours. And that was something, wasn't it?
The
Burid Emirate of
Emir Tughtigin
Capital:
Slept.
The
Seljuk Emirate of
Mahmud Nur, Atabeg of
Capital:
Slept.
The
Abassid Sultanate of
Al'Mustahzir Sultan, Commander of Commanders, the Caliph
Capital:
Things were fairly
quiet and uneventful in
The Caliph himself
saw to the reformation of his cavarly. Having heard of the general
ineffectiveness of Muslim light cavalry against the Franks, it was decreed that
the army's large contingent of light horse should be re-armed with the heavier
weapons of the askaris. Prince Al 'Khalam, meanwhile, began the dull and
laborious process of overhauling the tax system, setting it back on track after
many decades of neglect and disruption. Too, large amounts of money and
manpower were invested in clearing new land for agricultural use, extending the
irrigation canals and generally repairing much of the damage that had accrued
in
Little else of import happened though, many noted, there was a distinct hint that the Abassids were inching away from their traditional spiritual role in Islamic life and towards a more completely secular existence. Al 'Mustahzir spent very little time performing his duties as Caliph and delivered fewer and fewer religious judgments and pronouncements to the faithful as the years went by. He did not formally renounce the Caliphate but, still, he did nothing to promote its power or to suggest that he took it at all seriously. There were even rumours (ridiculous, of course) that he had attempted to engage in usury and that great sums of money had been set aside to fund loans (charged at interest!). No-one really believed these stories but, still, it made people think....
The Azeri Emirate
Eldigiz, Yazdid of Shirvan
Capital:
Slept.
The
Crusader States of Outremer
Baldwin I, Latin King
of
Capital:
Praise be to God Almighty!
Through His grace and succour the faithful pilgrims had prevailed. The infidel
had been put to flight on every occasion they had confronted the armies of the
Christian West. Now fair
As King Baldwin looked out over the
For the victorious advance of the Crusaders had
delivered unto them lands of much potential. The soil was rich, the markets
prosperous and the natives cooperative. Now a firm
hand was needed that this rich bounty might be turned to the advantage of the
Latin East. In this,
So it was that, from the four corners of Christendom,
stout-armed and well-horsed knights flocked to Outremer - from England rich in
ships, from cultured Aquitaine, from the rich Low Countries and the Rhine
Valley, from the Kingdom of Italy and the Calabrian and Apulian Duchies...
Franks, Normans, Flemings, Germans and others besides rushed to place
themselves in the service of the King of Jerusalem. Count Baldwin of
But, in equal measure, the men of surrounding lands,
infidel and heretic alike, sent signs that they would not accept God's judgment
and the victory of
When first the news reached Bohemond of Taranto, now
styled Prince of Antioch, that
"CRUSADE! Let us march
against Constaninople, let us take it by storm and visit the Lord's retribution
upon those heretics!" cried Bohemond in council with the great Crusader
princes.
Fortunately (or not depending on one's perspective),
cooler heads prevailed. There was not a single Crusader who was not wounded to
his heart by the arrogance of the Greekling Emperor but, still, there were more
important matters at hand than avenging this slight. For all his words and
ultimata, Alexius was simply incapable of threatening Outremer; the worst harm
he could ever inflict would be to close the Byzantine treasury to the
Crusaders. Of infinitely greater concern were the Fatimids who might
counterattack at any time or the Damascenes who might attempt to push God's
warriors back into the sea; too, there were the
Atabegs and the Turks to the north... Those were the true enemies of Outremer's
bold knights not the bloated, perfumed, silk-wearing Byzantines. Still, perhaps
some rapprochement could be reached for Byzantine gold would be useful in the
furtherance of God's Holy labours.....
More troubling than the news from
While such travails had been afflicting the other parts
of the Crusader states, in the mountains of
The
David II the Builder, King of
Capital: Tblisis Religion: Eastern Orthodox
Slept.
The
Alexius I Komnenus, Basileus kai Autokratos, Head of the Eastern Rite
Capital:
The Empire was
gearing up for war. The infidel Turk was played the stalking tiger to the east,
waiting for some opening, some sign of weakness which would give the
opportunity to pounce. From the west, the ruthless
The Emperor himself
set out on a trip to
Early in 1102,
accompanied by the massed Byzantine army, Alexius arrived in
To Isauria the
Emperor had sent the learned envoy Eumathios Philokales. This rich and
important frontier province had, lamentably, slipped further and further away
from Byzantine rule over the past few years so that now her governor and
magnates were virtually independent - such a state of affairs had to be
remedied. Eumathios approached the most powerful of the nobles of Isauria but
they were far from inclined to integrate further into the
The couple were wed in short order but they were not happy. Anna had hoped for a far better match than this provincial bumpkin while Leo, who was no intellectual heavyweight, felt himself truly out of his depth with such a clever and strong-willed wife. Just to rub salt into the wound, when John Comnenus came of age, he was swiftly designated heir by the Emperor. For Anna, who had hoped and expected that she would receive the Imperial Crown upon Alexius's death, the appointment of John (who was, to her way of thinking, a witless temperamental little sneak) was a slap in the face - a sign, in conjunction with this worthless marriage, of exactly how little her father valued her. She spent much of her time sulking and even more time hoping that something painful would happen to John. But it didn't (at least, not yet).
In
In foreign affairs, a non-aggression treaty was established between the Norman Duchies of Southern Italy and the Empire. Alexius was glad to see such a pact in place but he wondered whether it would truly prevent the Normans from attacking - he well remembered the treachery of Robert Guiscard and how, only a generation ago, these same Duchies which now espoused peace had been set up over the ruins of Byzantine Italy.
With the treaty in
order, the Emperor decreed that a a tax would be
levied upon the Pisans and Venetians who traded in
The Great Ecclesiastical Council of
At the order of the
Emperor and under the authority of the Patriarch, Nicholas III Kyrdiniates Grammatikos, a Grand
Church Council was convened to discuss the differences in doctrine and dogma
between the Armenian and
The Council went ahead during the summer of 1102. The
Patriarch took great care to ensure that such Orthodox clergy as attended could
be depended on to fudge any areas of contention - no controversial theologists
or idealogues would be allowed to upset the proverbial apple cart. Yet, on the
Armenian side, no such restraint was in evidence - the elderly Catholikos of
the Armenian Church, Gregory II Martyrophile, had come all the way from Cilicia
to the great city because he hoped that something concrete might come from the
convocation and he brought with him his most fierce and argumentative
theologians to debate the Greeks into rejecting the false doctrines of
Chalcedon. In addition to the Cilicians, some bishops even managed to reach the
city from the Turkish territories, risking their lives in a journey through
lands groaning beneath the chains of the infidel. Still others came from the
recently-liberated Crusader County of Edessa. But, wherever they came from, the
Armenian clergy had at this one thing in common - they believed that the
Council of Constantinople was to be a genuine effort to solve the differences
between the churches.
The first issues touched on by the Council concerned
things which, to the Armenians, seemed quite irrelevant - both Churches
reaffirmed their opposition to the Latin filioque,
recognised the Roman Pope as "first in honour" among the Churches but
dismissed his claim to be Vicar of Christ; similarly, they confirmed that the
Conciliar system was the proper method for all Church matters to be settled and
they reiterated their rejection of the Roman Monarchical system. Many long days
and weeks were spent dwelling over these fine points of ecclesiastical polity.
This was all very bothersome to the Armenians since they saw no point in
worrying over things held in common - indeed, things held in common by all the non-Roman Churches; the Greeks, on the other hand,
wanted to emphasise the common ground as heavily as they could, to minimise the
differences and disputes.
By and by, the question of Hesychasm was raised by the
Armenians, a controversial form of monastic meditation which had found a degree
of popularity but not formal doctrinal acceptance after its promotion by
Simeon, the "New Theologian", during the previous century. Here, too,
the Armenians could get nothing from the Greeks but clever avoidance of the
issue and failure to commit one way or the other - the Greek theologians
refused either to accept or to condemn the practice but instead pontificated
about the need to balance the spiritually-positive aspects against any
potentially negative consequences such as the added concentration of power in
the hands of the monks. When one Armenian bishop, a pro-Latin logician and
long-time critic of Hesychasm, voiced his distaste for the superstitiousness
which, he felt, was embodied in the rite, the Greeks rushed to concede that
there was most assuredly a need to consider whether the practice was truly holy
or was mere superstition yet the Greeks simply would not come down on one side
or the other on this or any other topic.
Whatever the theological views of the individual
Armenian clergymen, they all realised that the Greeks had no intention of
addressing the true fundamental issues at stake. The fudging of the issues
became so vexatious that, at last, the Armenians themselves raised the most
vital question - the dogma relating to Christ's divine and human natures. In
effect, the Armenians wanted to debate the Council of Chalcedon, the findings
of which they, and all other Monophysites, rejected. Yet the Greeks were not
prepared to discuss this divisive topic - one particular Greek logician even
went so far as to argue that the doctrine of One Nature, as espoused by the
Armenians, was not incompatible with the Chalcedonic view of a Dual Human and
Divine Nature if only the Armenians were prepared to accept that the One Nature
was the Nature of the Word Made Flesh - thus, a united One but not a numerical
"one". Such sophistry and casuistry had no effect on the Armenians
other than to convince them of the fruitlessness of the whole endeavour. In
desperation, the Greek delegates declared that no benefit could accrue from
arguing these centuries-old points - what mattered, what was truly important,
was to present a united front against the invaders, Catholic and Mahometan
alike. Irrespective of their differences, the two branches of Orthodoxy has infinitely more in common with each other than they ever
would or could with the Latins Heretics or the Infidel Turk.
At all events, by the end of the year, the Council had
broken up with no firm outcome though, in some areas, the event provoked a
great deal of theological debate and the revisiting of old issues which had
long been thought to have been dealt with. Some Armenians agreed that their
interests lay more in aligning with Constantinople than with the Crusaders; others
acrimonioulsy pointed out that it had not been the Catholics nor even the hated
Turks who had destroyed Bagratid Armenia but these self-same mealy-mouthed
Greeks who now came begging for friendship and fudging their own religious
doctrine to gain it. In the aftermath of the Council, the Armenian Church began
to appear less united than it had formerly been and, worse still, there was a
very obvious polarisation of opinion between those who opposed cooperation with
the Greeks and those who opposed cooperation with the Catholics; some felt it
was significant that the factions defined themselves not in terms of what they
supported but of what they opposed. In this unfortunate environment, with the
Church's whole philosophy, policy and worldview up for debate,some
bizarre new ideas began to appear in the more isolated areas. (see Outremer entry).
The
Grand Principality of
Sviatopolk II, Grand Prince of the Kievan Rus
Capital:
The sprawling and
unwieldy Kievan realm saw tremendous reforms. Administrators and advisors under
the leadership of the minister Stavros Dukas arrived from distant
Stavros the
Byzantine, renowned as much for his bad luck as for his good looks, was less
pleased. He had been enjoying life in the
Sviatopolk aspired to
rule a centralised state akin to
The Grand Prince's
retainer, Rostislav, was dispatched to the far north of the Rus confederacy
where he met with the Prince of Novgorod and tried to convince him of the need
to align more closely with
This was, indeed, a
time of great activity and change in
The
Wladyslaw I Herman Piast, King of
Capital: none. Religion: Roman Catholic
The aging King
Wladyslaw was most alarmed by events in the Empire. The Piasts had no truck
with the Franconians or their challenge to Papal authority but they did fear
the aggression of the Saxon Welfs and wondered whether the warlike Magnus might
turn his attention to the Empire's eastern marches one day soon. While he
brooded over such matters, His Majesty concluded a treaty with the Kievan Rus
which guaranteed that the two realms would maintain the peace for a period of
25 years; too, each recognised the other's claim to certain lands - Poland
recognised Kiev's claim to Estonia and Latvia while, in return, the Rus
recognised the Polish claim to the lands immediately to the south of those
regions. With the treaty concluded, the King assumed the title Defender of the
While such exciting
affairs were taking place, a collection of scribes, clerics and monks arrived
in
Scribes were not the
only people to arrive in
The Swedish lady was
not the only Scandinavian emissary to arrive in
In other news, Prince Boleslaw, the teenaged heir of the King, was wed to a lady of the court (she was a few years older than him, as it turned out). In five years, five children were born - all survived but, regrettably, only one was male. The Duke of Volhynia, meanwhile, pledged himself and his fief to the Polish Crown.
The
Koloman, King of the Magyars
Capital: none. Religion: Roman Catholic
Slept.
The
Peter Svacic, King of
Capital: none. Religion: Roman Catholic
Slept.
The
Khanate of the
Khan of the
Capital: none. Religion: Sunni Islam
Slept.
The
Duchy of
Borivoi II
Przemyslid, Duke of
Capital:
Duke Borivoi observed
the blood-letting in the neighbouring Empire with dismay. Theoretically, he was
a Prince of the
His Grace married a young cousin of the Przemyslid dynasty and, to general delight, bore him two sons - Jozef and Danousek. While such personal joy attended the Duke, the peasants had much cause to praise the Duke as a wise and caring ruler - out of every twenty parts which were due in taxation to the Duchy, His Grace took only nineteen. As a result of this unwonted generosity, the Moravian peasantry and gentry found themselves with a deal more income than they had expected. Most of it was, very wisely, invested in efforts to drain local marshes and clear woods to make room for more farmland. The effects of this undertaking were limited but at least a start had been made and the Duke and many of the local feudal landowners could look forward to the myriad advantages that would accrue with the clearing of the forests.
In
The
Erik I the Evergood, King of
Capital: none Religion: Roman Catholic
Poor King Erik, like
everyone else in this part of
In other affairs, a
Swedish fleet under the Co-King Philip put in at
The Crown Prince, Niels, went off on a trip to the distant Polish court where he provded quite popular in some quarters.
The
Magnus II "Bareleg", King of
Capital: Christiana Religion: Roman Catholic
Slept.
The
Inge II the Younger and Philip Halstensson, Co-Kings of
Capital:
none. Religion: Roman
Catholic
Excerpt from the Apologia of Blaen Fornasson, a Pagan of
I am Blaen, named by the elders after the
raven - the messenger of Odin, wisest of Gods. The elders believed at my birth
that I would aspire to great things yet I am but a humble man in training -
training to remember the stories of my people.
As I write these words, the world is changing.
We see now the end of our old world and the beginning of a new one. The Christ
Child has come to our lands and he challenges our old gods. Already many bow
down to the God of the Romans rather than chant for the glory of the Old Gods.
The past few years have been a turbulent time
for my people. Inge I was challenged by his brother in law for the Crown of
Sweden. The events of those years - armies marching across hill and dale,
brother pitted against brother... These were dark years. The priests of the Green Christ sang of peace and
love but they have brought to our lands only war and hatred. For this I weep
but cannot act to change for the fate of our people lies not in my hands but in
the hands of those chosen by the gods. If the choice was made by Odin or the
Christ child, I know not, but the Fates will have the final say.
When the brothers fought over the Crown, the
people cried out for peace, and the Landstig called the claimants to task. Many
voices called for reason, and reason was spoken. Now the lands of
While I see why they support Philip, I have
seen much of the ways of the world and worry for my Gods if they are protected
by his hand. He is indeed a great warrior, but he speaks as he fights - with
directness and force and, all too often, with cruelty. He is a wise man to
defend the people but not one to unite them.
But the Gods will be heard. We are lucky in
Philips directness and distaste for the forms and rules of court. In his
younger years he took a lover Ástdís, a woman of common birth who has used her
influence with Philip wisely and has gained for herself a place in court.
As I write these words though, the Fates are
leading us along a treacherous path. Inge has shown his ability as a leader -
but he has been influenced by the shadow of his father, for he concerns himself
greatly with the stability of the kingdom. Truly, this is no bad thing yet it
is the tree which bends that weathers the storm and I fear that Inge may break
when the storm reaches our shores for, while Inge has taken a wife from among
the nobles and slowly gathers support amongst the people, Philip has reached
for the traditions, to grasp the hearts of the people. If only Ástdís had had
more care with her words and deeds. For Philip and Ástdís have disappeared in
the night - claiming to sail to
As for Ástdís. She spends too
much time in the company of Philip for an unmarried woman, but seeks to
influence the Christian King of
But it is here that I must rest my quill, and
return to my lessons, as the words of our forefathers must be kep true in our
minds to pass on to our children, and only once I am acceptable to the Gythia
and Skalds shall I carry on this holy task and, perhaps, have a chance to
influence the Fates and see my people through this coming storm.
But for now we must wait - wait for the return
of Philip and his hotheads, as well as to hear word of what Ástdís has brought
back from the Court of Denmark.
Blaen Fornasson.
Things were quiet in
In
King Inge, as a good and even devout Catholic, naturally wanted to see his subjects introduced to God's Grace and he was willing to take the soft approach and allow the pagans to meld slowly into the Christian faith instead of having it imposed by Christian blades. It was hardly the stuff of epic poems but, still, it suited Inge's more peaceful nature. A great assembly, the Landstig, was held and many things of no importance were debated; bickering continued between pagan and Christian though it was, many noted, less heartfelt than in the past; a wife was taken by Inge from one of the prominent Christian families and three sons were born in as many years.
As a result of the
very careful attention Inge paid to the government of the kingdom, more
ministers were appointed and the hand of officialdom found it could reach ever
further into the distant regions of the realm. This was a time when the power
of the great nobles was obviously being curtailed and the King's role, as
centre of government was being more clearly defined; in truth, it was a time
when servants of the King, ministers and monks, might exercise more power than
a nobleman or chieftain of ancient and honourable lineage. The great nobles
were not happy about it but there was little they could do and everyone had to
admit that the political scene in
...until that rambunctious
pagan, Philip Halstensson, the Co-King, showed up in Stockholm in the Spring of
1105 with great squads of followers (most of whom, to Inge's displeasure, were
warriors). They didn't stay long but poured ungodly amounts of gold into the
pockets of local hosteliers and victuallers, bought up every barrel of ale,
side of beef and barrel of salted fish in the city of
The
Capital: none. Religion: Roman Catholic
Slept.
The
Henry I Beauclerc, King
of
Capital:
It was a typically
wet February night; heavy brooding skies had emptied a sleety rain over the
south of
Such soldiers as were present were, in any case, not guarding against
danger from without but from within for the Tower was now home to an
august guest. Within one of its higher cells was incarcerated Rannulf Flambard,
Prince Bishop of
A couple of hours
after
The horsemen didn't even pause. As they bustled past, the lead rider barked at the guard in a thick Norman accent, "We are about the King's business! Out of the way, stupid boy!". That answer was good enough for the guard who had a deep understanding of his purpose in life - namely, to do whatever the nobles ordered.
So it was that the
horsemen rode in unmolested and stopped only when they were beneath Flambard's
cell in the great
It was morning before
the villain's escape was even noticed. Almost simultaneously, a
sergeant-at-arms spotted the still dangling rope and a sentry within the tower,
bringing Flambard's breakfast, found the cell empty. As the whole story
emerged, there were many red faces at the Tower. When King Henry heard the
news, he exploded at the unwonted idiocy and incompetence of his guardsmen.
Though not normally a vindictive man, the King ordered that all those who had
stood guard at the Tower that night be inducted into the force being prepared
for the expedition to
The Conquest of
1101: As soon
as the winds were favourable, ships packed with Anglo-Norman soldiery began
slipping out of
On the final night before his departure with the vanguard, a most curious event took place. His Majesty was feasting with his most loyal vassals and ministers; it happened that there was a Scottish envoy present, having come to Henry's Court to secure English acquiescence for a treaty. By and by, as talk to turned to affairs on the Continent, a servant brought a new flask of wine for His Majesty but Henry, being moderate by nature, had already taken more than his fill and demurred; the Scot, though, could always find room in his gullet for more liquor (as is the way with Scots) and so commandeered the flask and set about downing it.
Before an hour had passed, the Canmore envoy complained of feeling unwell and, sure enough, a sheen of sweat covered his face and he had become unnaturally pale. As he rose from the table to retire, he collapsed! Servants and noble guests alike rushed to his side - he was alive but his breathing was shallow. A doctor was sent for and, at the King's direction, the ambassador was carried off to an antechamber to be treated. While the Court waited to hear whether the Scot would live or die, the Steward of the Royal Household approached King Henry bearing in his hands the flask from which the ambassador had been drinking so liberally; his countenance was graven and he whispered something in the King's ear....
"Poison?!?" Henry blurted out with a look of sheer incredulity on his face.
"So it would seem, Majesty," answered the Steward. "I cannot explain how such a thing could come to pass but someone in the kitchens would appear to have introduced a noxious drug. It is quite beyond me."
Henry was shaken.
That his brother would stoop to cold-blooded murder was barely comprehensible.
Surely His Holiness would excommunicate him for this piece of treachery. In the
meantime, with Henry's absence approaching, the task of hunting out the
would-be assassin devolved to his Chamberlain, Hervey de Gistellas, who went to
the job with a kind of zeal. Before long, all the servants in the kitchen had
undergone examination within the Tower and all manner of suspicious characters
- foreigners and poor people and other unpleasant elements - were being rousted
out of their homes by the King's men. It did not take long for the trail to
lead to a very minor merchant from the Continent who resided in
(The envoy, for those who are interested, lingered for a day and a half before succumbing to the drug and shuffling off this mortal coil).
1102: Having
arrived in
No sooner had Henry's advance begun than rumours swept through the rebel army. The Pope had, by all accounts, sworn to excommunicate Robert if he didn't bow before Henry forthwith; not only that but all those who supported the Duke would be damned to Hell by the See of Peter. Desertions at once struck the Ducal army. Many of the deserters argued that they had, in any event, fulfilled all their feudal obligations by serving Robert in repulsing the Vikings. The law, they said, was on their side. Others made no bones about their reasons for abandoning their Duke's cause - Robert was opposed by the Holy See and, while they might imperil their lives in Robert's cause, they would not risk their immortal souls. And what a cause it was that Robert fought for! He had already been promised rich compensation by the Pope if he acknowledge Henry's suzerainty but that was not enough for him. No, he had to pursue this pointless war against King Henry and spill other men's blood to soothe his overweening pride...
By the time Henry and
Robert met in June, at the town of
With the Ducal foot
soldiers defeated on field, Robert was disinclined to commit his knights to
what could only be a losing battle so he withdrew them from the field (losing
about half to the fierce Anglo-Norman pursuit). Robert arrived in
With the completion
of the reconquest/ liberation of his French possessions, King Henry began the
laborious process of embarking his armies onto the ships that would return them
to
In matter of government, Henry found that many things had been done in his absence - Hervey de Gistellas had taken himself off to Bristol where he soothed the nerves of the merchants and burghers, convincing them that, under the wise and benificent rule of Henry the Scholar, they would not be subject to the same extortion they had suffered under the villainous Rufus. Indeed, it seemed like life for the city-dwellers was good all over with Henry as King - in East Anglia, the the town of Lynn was thriving and it was widely believed that the Town Council might soon petition the King for a Royal Charter granting them the much sought-after status of City.
The only other pieces
of news of any account came from
The
Duchy of
William IX "the Troubadour", Duke of
Capital:
The Duke was most
pleased to be back in the heart of his beloved
Each year, at
Whitsun, His Grace would take pleasure in announcing that he would personally
provide stipends for a number of poets and troubadours (His Grace, after all,
was widely recognised as one of, if not the, most
accomplished of minstrels). There was a goodly proliferation of Occitan love
poetry throughout the Duchy and, even in neighbouring
At home, a daughter
(Petronella) was born to the Duke and, in international affairs,
treaties were concluded with the Burgundians and Navarrese which added to the
general feeling of security in southern
The
Philip I Capet "The Amorous", King of
Capital:
The French observed
events in neighbouring
During October of
that year, to the horror of all
For the benighted
French, their only bright spot came when they realised that they alone had
escaped the depredations of the Norse raiders. Soon, though, a second source of
joy was found when messengers from
In
In his personal life,
Philip spent a good deal of time with his wife, Bertrade of Anjou, which
resulted in the birth of three children to the couple (sons Charles and Francis
and a daughter, Melissante). These births, in normal times, would have been
happy events but for Philip they caused great political concerns - Bertrade,
according to the laws of France and the Church, was still married to Count Fulk
of
The Kingdom of the Scots
Edgar Canmore "the Peaceable", King of Scots
Capital: none Religion: Roman Catholic
The Canmore realm was
far removed from the troubles of the continent - the dynastic squabblings in
The merchants of Berwick got singularly excited about the new business opportunities that might be open to them if they were allowed to operate from English ports. King Edgar went up even further in their estimation when he poured a considerable amount of gold and manpower into improving Berwick - could there be a more obvious demonstration of Edgar's understanding of the importance of the merchants?
Little else happened
to the Scots. Prince David went off on a diplomatic mission to
The
Serene
Ordelafo Falier, Doge of the Serene Republic
Capital:
The city of
In other respects,
the Republic was no less vigorous. Through cunning manouevrings and not a
little bribery,
In the
The
Duchy of
Henry V, Duke of
Capital:
It seemed that the
time had come for the Salians and Welfs to settle things once and for all. For
decades now, they had sparred using the vexatious question of the investiture
of bishops as a perpetual casus belli
but, at last, the Emperor and the Papacy, the two branches of God's authority
on earth, had laid aside their differences and had begun working towards some
manner of final solution. For that much, all of Christendom was pleased but the
essential differences between
One dark morning in
November of 1101, before the sun had even risen over the horizon, the
increasingly melancholy Emperor went out to hunt near his great
"I shall tell
you," said the lead figure (for there were four, the Emperor saw) who, to
Henry's discomfiture, had his sword drawn. "We are knights of Christ come
to lay the Lord's vengeance upon thee!" And he struck the Emperor down.
The other men dismounted and hacked away at the Emperor, now prostrate in the
snow. In the most horrifying act of brutality, the top of His Imperial
Majesty's head was lopped off and his brains spilt upon the snowy forest floor.
Before mounting and departing, the lead murderer spat upon the desecrated
corpse of the Holy Roman Emperor, the greatest of the Kings of Christendom. It
was some hours before there was sufficient light for Henry's body and fate to
be uncovered. Riders were sent at once to Prince Henry, who was busily occupied
with martial business in
It was rumoured but could not be proven definitively that Henry IV's last words were 'Vulnera plango fortunae'. Since none but his assassins could have heard these words, it was generally dismissed as a fabrication of the poets and romantics.
All that winter, the
young man, now Emperor Henry V, met with the foremost nobles of
Edict
of the Emperor Henry V at
In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity, I, Henry, by the
grace of
God august emperor of the Romans, for the love of God and of the
holy Roman
church and of our
master pope Paschal, and for the healing of my soul, do
remit to God, and to
the holy apostles of God, Peter and Paul, and to the
holy catholic church,
all investiture through ring and staff; and do grant
that in all the
churches that are in my kingdom or empire there may be
canonical election and
free consecration. All the possessions and regalia
of
whether in the time of
my father or also in mine, have been abstracted, and
which I hold: I
restore to that same holy Roman church. As to those things,
moreover, which I do not
hold, I will faithfully aid in their restoration.
As to the
possessions also of all other churches and princes, and of all
other lay and clerical
persons which have been lost in that war: according
to the counsel of
the princes, or according to justice, I will restore the
things that I hold; and
of those things which I do not hold I will
faithfully aid in the
restoration. And I grant true peace to our master
pope Paschal, and to
the holy Roman church, and to all those who are or
have been on its
side. And in matters where the holy Roman church shall
demand aid I will grant
it; and in matters concerning which it shall make
complaint to me I will
duly grant to it justice.
With the
ecclesiastical matters dealt with, His Majesty turned his attention to
Edict
of the Emperor Henry V
In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity, I, Henry, by the
grace of
God, august
emperor of the Romans, declare any Duchy of the Empire to be “Traitor to the
Crown”, who provides aid or succor to the Pariah state of
Edict
of the Emperor Henry V
In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity, I, Henry, by the
grace of
God, august
emperor of the Romans, declare
All lands of
Those who had
believed that the coming of this young man to the throne might herald a new
period of peace throught the Imperium were shown to have been most sadly
mistaken. More bloodshed and more tears added to the endless sea already shed.
As new soldiers were concripted, most knew not whether they fought for the
rights of investiture or for this dynasty against that. All they knew was that
they were being torn from their homes to be thrown against the fortresses and
swords of a merciless foe. Dark times to be a German....
A strange moment for
the new Emperor came when, just as he was preparing for the initiation of the
campaign, richly-attired emissaried arrived from far-off Constantinople bearing
a fine golden crown as a gift to Henry V (it had, originally, been intended for
Henry IV but now it would make a magnificent coronation gift). And, in
fairness, it was a beautiful ornament of gold and pearl fabricated with all the
skill and mastery of artifice for which the Byzantines were so rightly famous.
Imagine the Emperor's horror, however, as he uncovered the inscription: 'Rex Germanorum Romanorumque de manu Imperatris Romanorum' -
King of the Germans and the Romans from the hand of the Emperor of the Romans.
Young Henry exploded with all the passion of his youth - the crown declaimed,
for all the world, that he ruled
"I am Emperor of the Romans!" he shrieked. "Go back to your Greekling master who cannot even defend himself against the Turk and tell him that I rule the Romans! I, not he, am the Imperator and he will learn to mind his manners before I am finished with him. Mark you my words, the Comnenus will learn to respect my authority!"
The emissaries shuffled off with very little concern about the rage of the boy emperor. Henry, though, stewed and brooded and ground his teeth and kicked servants and swore that, once he had driven the Welf filth into the ground where they belonged, he would teach these upstart Comneni what it meant to be an Emperor. But first he had a war to win....
The
Duchy of
Lothar Billung, Duke of
Capital: none. Religion: Roman Catholic
It was clear enough that war would come so Magnus Billung did what any self-respecting German Duke would do - he ordered a general conscription. His knights and sergeants-at-arms went from farm to farm, village to village dragging out every single Saxon male over the age of fifteen and inducting them into the motley army being raised for the defence of the Duchy. The few Jewish moneylenders who had survived the passage of the Crusaders and still dwelt and did business within Welf lands were also visited and huge sums extracted from them. Most expected that they would never see their money again but willingly surrendered their gold (taking the Duke's promisory notes in return) for fear of the violence that might be unleashed against them were they to refuse.
Soon enough, the war began...
The Salian War
August 1101-1102:
The first blood in this German Civil War was spilt not by a German at all but
by the Poles who invaded the Eastern Marches of the Billungs (specifically,
Lausatia). There were no Saxon forces present to defend the
region nor, to everyone's surprise, did any Ducal forces move to repulse
this invasion of the Empire. The Lausatian nobility could scarcely rattle up
more than a few hundred ill-armed levies who promptly surrendered to the Poles
as soon as the two forces met. The Polish commander, Ladislas, in an act of
magnanimity released all the peasants back to their homes and paroled all the
nobles. Unfortunately, Ladislas' generosity was not to be rewarded in this
world. A Saxon knight, Thomasin von Zerclaere, with only a few personal guards
at his side, ambushed Ladislas in a Lausatian forest and slew the Polish
invader! According to Thomasin's report, he challenged the Pole to single
combat and smote him a mighty blow with an axe separating head from body;
according to the more popular version, Thomasin shot Ladislas in the back with
a shortbow while the latter chevalier was stooping over a stream to water his
horse. Whatever the truth, Ladislas was dead and Thomasin was feted as a hero
in
March 1102:
The Boy Emperor, Henry V, began leading 13,000 men across the frontier into
On the Saxon side of
the fence, Magnus was giving serious consideration to what he would wear at his
coronation when the Pope himself came from
And so it was that, while he contemplated his ineluctable triumph, some trouble broke out in the main encampment of the Saxon host... As was natural, few of the Saxons truly wanted to be fighting and some even had the temerity to ask why they were now warring. Some religious zealots had started the first protests and they had been joined by the conscripts, boys and old men, who wanted nothing more than to return to the calm certainty of life at home with their families whence Magnus had dragged them.
"We do not fight
this war for the Pope! Nor do we fight for God! The Holy Father has made peace
with the Boy Henry. The son bows before the Pope and pays him the respect that
his father never would! Why, therefore, do we make war upon the Emperor when the
Emperor has committed no sin?" cried the leader of the zealots (a man by
the name of Ludwig of whom little was known except
that he had once been a farmer in the little
Irrespective of whether one believed the rhetoric of Ludwig (and the others like him), he did present a very attractive case for the average Saxon soldier and soon the army was immobilised by internal dissent as soldiers refused to obey their lords. Magnus would have none of it. He was a tough man and he knew his place in the great scheme of things - he was the Duke and Grand Marshal and he would be obeyed. At his order, a dozen of the troublemakers were seized and whipped, each man receiving fifty lashes from the knout (Ludwig managed to escape this punishment as his faithful followers hid him away, quite against his will, when the Duke's sergeants came looking for the chief troublemakers). The whippings did little to end the dissent within the army and Magnus became afeared - the Salians were getting closer day by day and the Saxons must move to oppose them. A proper example had to be made and the man who had started this whole mess needed to be removed - Magnus decreed that Ludwig of Hersfeld would be executed. Common soldiers were seized by Henry's knights and beaten in an effort to get them to reveal the man's location; when the beatings proved ineffective, they gave way to branding and mutilations but these, too, were to little avail. By now, a full week had passed and the whole Saxon army, with the exception of the knights, noblemen and professional soldiers, was refusing to obey orders. At last, the men became fed up with the whole affair and simply began deserting (actually, they dumped their weapons at the feet of their sergeants and walked out of the great encampment quite openly). The trickle of deserters very quickly became a flood...
In a rage, Magnus and a squadron of his cavaliers blocked the path of one group of a few hundred deserters and demanded that they return and do their duty for their lord and master. A tall, saturnine man stepped out of the grubby mob of conscripts and said, calmly: "Your Grace, we are doing our duty. The Lord has commanded us to have no part in this un-Christian slaughter. We will follow you wherever you may lead so long as you lead us not against brother Christians."
"Hang the bastard," said Magnus. So it was said and so it was done. Only a little while later did the Duke find out that the bastard in question was Ludwig of Hersfeld, the zealot who had sparked this whole affair. When Magnus found out, he was delighted - the mutiny was surely now over and he could get on with the business of conducting the war. Squadrons of gallant knights charged off at high speed to capture the deserters and bring them back. Soon the army was close to its proper strength and Magnus was ready for war...
...but it was not to be. Ludwig's death, in the very act of explaining the Lord's Will to the overweening Duke, accorded him the status of a hero and martyr amongst the common soldiery and they were moved to take revenge. Jammed together in the camp, they plotted together and soon blood was shed as the mutineers set upon Ludwig's murderers - the sergeants, knights and nobles. One band of doughty Believers even managed to secret themselves in ambush near the Duke's pavillion and, when he stepped out, they rushed him. Most were cut down before they got near Magnus the Murderer but one man, whose name was never discovered, got close enough to jam a poorly-made knife into the Duke's chest. Mangus was dead within the hour.
When it became apparent that their Duke was lying dead, the strife calmed a little. It began to dawn on the peasants that they had risen up and murdered their lord, their Duke, a high noble of the Empire. Even the most pious and faithful mutineers had to have some doubts about so extreme a course of action. Command of the army was assumed by Margrave Gero of Brandenburg who moved to quiten things - he ordered no reprisals and sent a messenger to the new Duke, Lothar Billung, who had remained at home organising the governance of the state while his father had led the army to war. Gero requested that Lothar come at once and assume leadership of the Duchy's defence as well as to arrange the many issues that were now resting upon Lothar's decisions as Duke. The army waited but Lothar did not come. As the end of the month neared, Gero sent more riders to beg him to come quickly. To Gero's horror, they returned with a message that Lothar had departed within an hour of hearing of his father's fate but he had not arrived yet.... Had he been murdered? Had he been kidnapped? No-one knew. He seemed to have vanished into thin air!
April 1102:
Gero was now in effective charge of the Saxon army though he could not, for the
life of him, motivate them to move and actually do anything. Worse,
news came that the van of the Franconian army was now well inside
In
It wasn't long before
the Saxons were aware of their Duke's fate and the Duchy would likely have
collapsed but for the intervention of Magnus' daughter, Wulfehilde. She was an imposing
woman, married off to Welf of Bavaria, but she had happened to be resident at
the ancestral lands in
May-July 1102: The war truly began. Henry swept over the Saxon castles - many men fell beneath their walls or in fierce combat upon their craggy battlements but the inevitable advance of the Franconian army seemed unstoppable. A few half-hearted combats took place between Gero's rabble and elements of the Imperial army but they ended, uniformly, in Franconian victory. The Boy Emperor proved himself a soldier of great skill, courage and subtlety. As the end of July drew ever closer, almost the whole province of Saxony was under the Emperor's control and Gero fell back to Westphalia with Wulfhilde harping on at him all the while.
Henry calculated that
the subjugation of his foe had cost him less than 3,000 men. Shockingly, he did
not press his victory. The Salian War, as it had come to be called, wound down
to nothing. Lothar was in a cell in
June 1104: In
1105: With the war, the lawlessness and the general collapse of the Duchy of Saxony, the spectre of famine stalked the lands still under Welf control.
The
Duchy of
Frederick I Hohenstaufen, Duke of
Capital: none Religion: Roman Catholic (Imperial)
Slept (and kept a careful eye out for Bavarian
trickery).
The Duchy
of
Welf IV, Duke of
Capital: none Religion: Roman Catholic
Slept (and pretended the Salian War was not happening).
The Duchy
of
Dietrich II, Count of Chatenois, Duke of
Capital: none. Religion: Roman Catholic (Imperial)
Strassburg,
thankfully, fell into
The
Margravate of
Matilda di Canossa,
Margravine of Tuscany, Guardian of the
Capital:
News that the Papacy
had settled its dispute with the Emperor left Matilda in a quandry. She was a
subject of the Emperor and governed
The loyal emissary,
Nicola di Montisanti, was dispatched to
While such successionary
issues were being dealt with, vast new estates, farms and vineyards were marked
out for development in
In other news, Her
Grace provided stipends for some of the more conservative Catholic scholars and
theologians who taught a very traditional approach to doctrine and theology in
stark contrast to the philosophical casuistry being pushed in the iniquitous
schools of
The
Robert II, Count of
Capital:
First of all, almost
500 of the stoutest knights in
In March 1102, a
fleet of 62 ships of mixed hulls sailed out of the still frigid
In May, the devils
appeared in the
By June, the raiders
were in
A full year later, in July 1103, the raiders returned and sailed along the Flemish coast retracing their original path raiding first Flanders, then Brabant and then Holland before sailing away into the North Sea and, presumably, to the den of iniquity whence they came. In the aftermath of the raids, Flanders became a nervous place - constantly raids were expected and, during the Summers of 1104 and 1105, Count Robert led his army out to patrol the coasts while his son and heir, Baldwin, took the fleet out to stop these vicious Norse dogs ever from setting foot upon the soil of Flanders again. No raids came but, still, the anxiety persisted.
The
Duchy of
Odo the Red, Duke of
Capital: none. Religion: Roman Catholic
Duke Odo's 85 year old grandmother, Helia, showed absolutely no sign of departing the Vale of Tears yet. Indeed, she celebrated 5 more birthdays and was still as bad-tempered as ever. She had been a horror to the middle aged Duke since his earliest memory. Still, one day soon....
In happier news, the Duke's son and heir, Hugh, was married to a Burgundian girl, by the name of Priscilla, the daughter of one of Odo's many vassals.After a slow start, a son was born to Hugh and Priscilla followed very quickly by twins (a boy and a girl). The eldest son was named Odo, in honour of his grandfather, and the twins were christened Gilbert and Beatrice.
Hugh's younger brother, Henry, came of age and was appointed to perform various official duties by Duke Odo though, in truth, he and most others at court were disappointed by Henry's dimwittedness and general inability ever to do anything correctly. If only he could be more like his elder brother...
To the loyal baron, Sicard de Puylaurens, was given the troublesome task of reorganising tax collection throughout the Duchy. As always, heads were counted and dues calculated. Eventually the task was performed to the Duke's satisfaction and a clearer idea was gained by Odo of exactly how many people lived in his wide desmaines and how much they owed him.
The
Free Commune of
Azzo Marignani, Consul of the
Capital:
As soon as the winds
of 1101 allowed, Senator Ugolino della Gharardesca set
out from
Senator de Capasca
took a no less dangerous trip to the heathen region of
The
The Dowager Countess
Adelaide di Savona, Regent for Count Simon de Hauteville of
Capital: none Religion: Roman Catholic
But not all was peace
and plenty. Guy de Courtenay, a knight renowned for his skill-at-arms and
brilliance in politics along with his complete and utter lack of scruples,
spent the early months of 1101 in close council with the Dowager Countess (and
much gossip attended them even though she was old, almost 40, and he was still
in his prime at 25). By and by, Guy assembled a force of some 4,000 sturdy
Norman swordsmen, all well-armed and battle-tested. As soon as the weather
allowed, he loaded these men onto a fleet of 50 ships of mixed hull and sailed
off westwards. Her Ladyship watched the departure with a knowing smile on her
face but, some noted, there was a distinct hint of sadness as she watched the
gallant Chevalier de Courtenay sail off into the sunset. (see
Tunisian entry for what these rascally
At all events, with
this contingent sent forth on some mysterious expedition,
In the middle of
1105, during a hot summer in which everything and everyone seemed to wilt, Guy
de Courtenary returned with most of his men and ships intact. He related
stories of daring battles along the Tunisian coast, of infidel temples looted,
of gory battles against vastly superior enemies... Of course,
The
Duchies of
Roger Borse de Hauteville, Duke of Calabria and
Capital: none Religion: Roman Catholic
To
the surprise of none and with the blessing of the Duke, a contingent of
Knightly Pilgrims set off for the
In more prosaic
matters, the Duke took care of the government of his realm and concluded
treaties of non-aggression - one with the Byzantines, who had good reason to
fear the Twin Duchies, and another with the
Sure enough,
Hildebrand took command of over 6,000 soldiers - mostly well-girded men-at-arms
supplemented by more than a thousand Italian levies who wore no armour and bore
a motley assortment of weapons but who were enthusiastic and could prove
useful. They were all loaded onto a flotilla of about 60 hulls and promptly set
out for the west like their Sicilian cousins. It was 1103 before they returned
to
The
Paschal II, Pope, Bishop and Supreme Metropolitan of Rome, Vicar of Christ, Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, Temporal Lord of the Papal States, Servant of the Servants of God
Capital:
His Holiness saw a
Paschal wanted saw
two tasks set before him - the preservation of
Privilege
of Pope Paschal II
I, bishop Paschal, servant of the servants of God, do grant to
thee beloved
son, Henry IV - by
the grace of God august emperor of the Romans - that the
elections of the bishops
and abbots of the German kingdom, who belong to
thy kingdom, shall
take place in thy presence, without simony and without
any violence; so
that if any discord shall arise between the parties
concerned, thou, by the
counsel or judgment of the metropolitan and the
co-provincials, may'st give
consent and aid to the party which has the more
right. The one
elected, moreover, without any exaction may receive the
regalia from thee
through the lance, and shall do unto thee for these what
he rightfully
should. Be he who is consecrated in the other parts of the
empire shall, within six months, and without any exaction, receive the
regalia from thee
through the lance, and shall do unto thee for these what
he rightfully
should. Excepting all things which are known to belong to the
Roman church. Concerning
matters, however, in which thou dost make
complaint to me, and dost
demand aid, according to the duty of my office,
will furnish aid to
thee. I give unto thee true peace, and to all who are
or have been on thy
side in the time of this discord.
For many, it had the
air of a fudge - a deliberate attempt to blur the
edges of the dispute so that both sides could pretend that they had won. It
mattered not - Paschal wanted and needed a united Christendom; the Emperor
needed an end to the wars which wracked his domain and had cost him so much
land and power. This provided the solution and if it was a fudge, it was one
both sides embraced happily. Much bitterness remained - the Duchies which had
supported the Emperor and lay investiture acknowledged the Pope but only
grudgingly while in
The Norman Cardinal
Gilbert was sent north to bring the churches within the cities of
In matters not
connected to
The
Alfonso VI "El Valiente", King of
Capital: Ciudad
Slept.
The
Pedro I, King of
Capital: none Religion: Roman Catholic
The energetic
Aragonese undertook many tasks. New castles were built in
The King himself
visited the subject city of
During his various
sojourns in the city, Pedro had come to know many of the local Muslim emirs
fairly well and one, a moderate and highly educated fellow who was a long time
enemy of the Almoravids, was known to have a daughter. The girl, ungainly in
her youth, had blossomed into a remakable young lady - not beautiful but pretty
and with a fine head on her shoulders. King Pedro actually suggested that this
girl might make a suitable wife for his younger brother and heir, Alfonso
"El Battalador". Alfonso was well respected and everyone in
But perhaps God's pleasure was not absolute for the King's own son, also called Pedro, was killed at the age of 17 in a tragic accident. Shortly before Candlemas in 1104, the Prince had been training on horseback with the Captain of the King's Guard. Whilst demonstrating to the youth how one ought to employ one's weapons in mounted combat, the Captain had struck young Pedro with a blunted lance (from which, for safety's sake, the sharp metal head had been removed) only for the shaft to break and shatter. Three great wooden splinters had been driven into the boy's face - one had pierced his eye, a second his throat and a third had torn a deep gash across the boy's cheek on which the down of his first beard was growing. It was a terrible accident and all were at pains to say that it couldn't have been prevented. For two days, young Pedro lingered in a terrible fever before going to the embrace of the Lord whose ways are mysterious to us who dwell in this Vale of Tears.
No sooner had the boy
been entombed than the gossips started and many vicious words were directed at
Alfonso but, plainly, it was absured to imagine he had had any part in his dear
nephew's demise for there was no more honourable or chivalrous cavalier in all
of Spain than Alfonso the Warrior. The Captain of the Guard,
distraught at the accident, at first thought of the
In other news, the
young Prince Garcia Ramirez was shuffled off to
Up in distant
Little else happened
in the Kingdoms (some would say enough had already happened!). Alfonso took
over the reins of government and overhauled the taxation system. At his
instigation, even the fish ponds of
The al-Murabit Berber Sultanate
Sultan Yusuf ibn Tashufin
Capital: none Religion: Sunni Islam
Yusuf beheld his
domain and was afeared. Much work was required if his people's rule over
However it may turn out, the Sultan appointed his uncle, the fierce fat warhorse, Faouzi ibn Abd-Allah al-Murabit, as his heir. Faouzi was a full ten years older than his nephew but that mattered not. To Faouzi fell many dull duties attached to the governance of so wide and poorly-administered a realm. He acquitted himself well - though prone to eat and talk excessively, he was scrupulously honest and would not rest until every last tribe, village or municipality on the tax rolls had paid its full due of tax.
To Talavera, the Sultan granted effective independence under his loyal vizier Waffi ibn Abu-Bakr. This chafed some of the Andalusian Moors but, still, Talavera was a rough place never fully exposed to the light of Islamic civilisation and some of the sophisticates reckoned that the Talaverans would be happier under a Berber Emir than under a Moorish one.
Back in Cordova, the
Sultan shocked the local scholars by actively seeking their opinions on the
powers and religious basis of the old Ummayad Caliphate - how had it come into
being? Why had it fallen? Above all, was it right or were
the Ummayads heretic upstarts? The professors were gratified and shocked that
their opinions were wanted and explained to the Sultan that the Ummayids had
faltered and collapsed in the year 1031 of the Infidel's reckoning. It had been
the first dynasty to succeed to the Caliphate after the Rashidun Caliphs and
had ruled from
The
Zirid Emirate of
Tamin ibn Zirid, Emir of Tunisia
Capital:
But worse was to
come. Just as the full extent of these raids reached Emir Tamin in
Still, there was worse to come! July saw the appearance off Kabilya of a fleet flying the ensigns of the Hautevilles of Apulia. The natives fled as far as they could expecting that this presaged new raids. They were wrong. The Apulians unloaded their men, slowly and methodically, for they had come not to raid but to conquer. In short order, the Emir led his men westwards into Kabilya arriving in September; he was disappointed to find the infidel invader had largely completed his landing. And, the Emir was terrified to see, the invaders outnumbered the Zirid force by a factor of 3-2. But there was nothing for it - the Infidel could not be allowed to land on the Zirid coast with impunity. The coming of these men was undoubtedly a foreshadowing of the coming of others and that would mean the end of Zirid rule, the end of the Emirate and the end of Islam in this corner of the world. While such affairs lay in the hands of Allah, Tamin could ensure that he fought the Christians and made their triumph a costly one. At worst, he would die with honour.
The two armies met in
this difficult region at the end of September near a series of ruined villages
about 20 miles from the coast (the villages had been destroyed many years
before by the Bedouin). If the place had a name, it had been forgotten. The Autumn skies emptied just as battle was met; the rain was
usually heavy at this time of year in this part of
The battle did not
last long - the
With the conquest
complete and the Zirids driven back eastwards to
As soon as it became
clear that the
The
Fatimid Caliphate of
Al'Mustali, Commander
of the Faithful, Whirlwind of God, Caliph of All Islam
Capital:
The Caliph Al
'Mustali was feeling decidedly vulnerable. In the space of a few short years,
the world had turned upside down. Now malodorous Franks were camped at the very
gates of
While such building
work was going on, Al 'Mustali personally saw to a reorganisation of the tax
system. The allotments of the peasants were counted and their dues calculated
(such a task had not been undertaken in many years and caused some resentment
amongst the Sunni peasant who now found their taxes spiralling upwards). Too,
this administrative task
resulted in a marked increase in available manpower as those who
had been able to dodge their duties were uncovered and forced to serve the
Caliph. As usual, the Egyptian peasantry grumbled as they foresaw the
inevitable conscription of many of their sons, fathers and brothers for the
Caliph's bloody wars. The life of a peasant is not a happy one, the Egyptians
concluded. Their fellow peasants in
The distant desert
provinces of Al'Diffah, Ghebel Gharib,
The only other
significant news was the capture of the heir, al-'Amir, while on a diplomatic
excursion along the
The Kanem Empire
Sefawa King of the Kanemi
Capital: Ngazargumu Religion: Sunni Islam
Slept.
The
Hausa States
Dunama Dibbalemi, Sarkis of Daura, Paramount Chieftain of the Hausa tribes
Capital: none Religion: African Pagan
Slept.
The
Nkruma Muhammad, Emir of Gao
Capital: none Religion: Sunni Islam
The Emir watched the
resurrection of
Fresh levies were
raised and, at the head of almost 6,000
While such excitement was going on, Nkruma sent the vizier Okoto, a eunuch who had been promoted to high office because of his outstanding administrative abilities and devotion to the Emir, to bring the tribes of Gorouol into the realm. The locals, being both animists and quite insular, were not at all keen to join the Emirate for the feared that their ancestral ways would be threatened and they objected strongly to any loss of independence. By and by, they agreed to pay tribute to the distant Emir and to allow his armies safe passage but it was done grudgingly.
The
Ghanaian Empire
Niyabinghi, King of
Capital: Kumbi Saleh Religion: African Pagan
Niyabinghi was very
busy. His loyal minister, Kwabena, was set to the task of counting heads. Land
which had been abandoned since the coming of the Muslims was put back into us
and villages were resettled. The King's cousin, the hard-headed and
ever-practical Mawulawde, was appointed heir. Everywhere, energy was being
expended and the King hoped, in the depths of his heart, that peace had at last
come to
In mid-April, runners
came from Segu to report that an army from
To Tourmani, Prince
and General of Songhai Gao, it was clear that the armies were fairly evenly
matched except in one important respect - cavalry. The Ghanaians had none and,
more importantly, they were inexperienced when it came to dealing with and
countering cavalry attacks. Of course, the
In any case, on the
scorching afternoon of the battle, in June 1101, the
On the field, neither
side was able to gain the upper hand completely - the massed
Niyabinghi, though no warrior, realised that he was in danger and ordered a general withdrawal. This was carried out in fairly good order - the Songhai foot soldiers were too tired, after a hard few hour's fighting, to harass the retreating Ghanaians while the cavalry, as has been noted, were scattered over the field and unable to prevent the withdrawal. Once off the field, Niyabinghi led his army southwards at high speed to defend Kumbi-Saleh.
Almost 3,000
Ghanaians had been left behind dead or wounded (the wounded were soon
despatched by the victorious army). The victory had cost Tournami about 2,000
men almost entirely infantry. In the aftermath of victory, a few local
chieftains who saw which way the wind was blowing were appointed by Tournami to
govern the region in the name of the Emir of Gao. He, himself, was now to
advance on
It was early in the
following year before the
In non-war related
news, a scandal swept Kumbi-Saleh when it was reported that the King's
ministers had been appropriating funds from the treasury to purchase slaves for
use on their own estates! No doubt, with the enemy driven off and
The
Edewa, Oba of
Capital:
Slept.
The
Oranmiyan, Oba of Oyo and
Capital:
Slept.
The Akan States
Paramount Chieftain of the Akan Tribes
Capital: none Religion: African Pagan
Slept.
Eastern
and Southern
The
Eparchate of Makouria
Praetextatus I, the Negus Negesti, Eparch of Makouria
Capital: Dunquhla Religion: Coptic Christian
The Negus had
annouced his intention of leaving the dusty old city of
Before departing,
Praetextatus set military affairs in order. He summoned his son and heir, the
Domestikos Nazares, and granted him command of a great part (though not the
entirety) of the army - perhaps 10,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry came under
the 16-year old Domestikos' command. A further detachment of almost 3,000 horse was granted to the hard-faced young noble, Timurat
Nicetius. Yet more warriors of Christ were retained by the Negus as a guard
while he went on his tour of places which had either rejected Christ's
teachings or rejected his rule (which was tantamount to the same thing).
Thousands more troops, strong-armed infantry and well-horsed cavalry, were
brought from the distant
So it was that the
Negus set off in fine spirits. It took several months of travelling over rough
terrain before he reached
Praetextatus had been
encouraged by his modest success so far but it was upon entering prosperous Adulis on
the shores of the
While the Negus had
been busy, the Domestikos had been engaged on tasks of his own. There was truly
only one thing for a 16-year old boy with more than 15,000 men under his
command to do - invade someone. Nazares scanned the maps of the realm and
contemplated, briefly, an invasion of the high plateau to bring the wild
Abyssinians to heel but then he hit on an even more glorious idea - he would
crush
By the end of 1101,
his army was storming into
As the Makourians
pacified their newest possession, they uncovered something absolutely
fascinating - the Fatimid Prince, al-Amir, hiding out in the home of a local
Muslim sheikh. He had been sent by the Caliph of Cairo to secure the friendship
of
While all this excitement had been going on, Timurat had taken his swift cavalry and gone haring off into the desert. This activity was widely met with trepidation at Dunqulah for the oases had never been part of Makouria's traditional sphere - they were the domain of the Bedouin, the Tuaregs and whatever other of the Infidel tribes were stupid enough made their home in so hellish a place. In any case, Timurat arrived at the oasis of Ayn al-Ghazal and swiftly convinced the local Mahometans (who were Sunni and, hence, not nearly so annoying as the Shi'ites) that they should allow the Makourians freedom of passage. This was duly granted (a concession granted perhaps rather more in view of the several thousand Makourian horsemen who now occupied the oasis rather than because of Timurat's cogent arguments and silver-tongued diplomacy).
Timurat pushed on to Al Kufrah where the Bedouin were far more aggressive and refused even to contemplate parleying with the Christian dogs. In short order, Timurat annihilated the oasis' defenders and even pursued a few escapees into the desert. Planting almost a thousand horsemen to hold the place, he pushed on to Yanaka Dinga where the local traders and tribesmen were a mixture of pagans and Sunnis. They refused to discuss any possible involvement with the distant Makourian kingdom - a place they had barely even heard of and with which they had no interest whatsoever in being associated. Indeed, some of the locals began to encourage Timurat to leave the service of the Negus and settle among the oases where there was much money to be made by those who were canny. Timurat admitted that there were attractions to the idea but he really couldn't do what they asked so he and his men departed peaceably and returned to the oasis of Ayn al-Ghazal and remained on the lookout for any Cairene raiders who might venture this way. None came. Yet.
The
Christian Empire of
Marari, All-Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, King of the Highlands, Guardian of the Ark of the Covenant, Emperor of Abyssinia
Capital:
Early in 1102, after
a very long journey, the Makourian diplomat Ephrem Bassus appeared at
Relations between the
two Coptic kingdoms had always been mercurial though seldom had there been open
hostility. To be sure, the Makourians had never been very happy about
Abyssinian ownership of Sennar while the Abyssinians always resented the
Makourian tendency to treat Abyssinia as a vassal rather than equal; such
sources of tension had long led the two neighbours to eye one another with a
healthy degree suspicion but rarely had war been resorted to. Now, Ephrem was
trying to convince the Abyssinians that there were great advantages for both
sides if only they could put aside their natural distrust and work for the
common good. He remained with the King of the
The Zanj Emirate
Emir of
Capital:
Slept.
The
the Cwezi Great Chieftain
Capital: none. Religion: African Pagan
Slept.
The
Sulahyid Emirate of
Sayyida Arwa, Queen of
Capital: none. Religion: Shi'a Islam
Slept.
The
Sultanate of Adal
Sultan of Adal
Capital: Saylac Religion: Sunni Islam
Slept.
The
Chewa King of the Marawi
Capital: none. Religion: African Pagan
Slept.
The Xhona Tribes of Mwene Mutapa
Great King of the Mutapa Tribes
Capital: none. Religion: African Pagan
Slept.
The
Imbudu, King of Kongo
Capital: none. Religion: African Pagan
King Imbudu stood down all the warriors of the Kingdom and resettled them and their families, who numbered several thousand, along the Kongolese coast in a series of villages and hamlets all very close to one another. Further, the King absolved the tribes of Cuango from their oath of loyalty to him. For many years, the primitive jungle folk of Cuango had been required to demonstrate their loyalty to the King of Kongo by placing many of their troops at his disposal but no longer - now they were completely free.
The heir, Abwanze, and the minister Mbudu went south on a diplomatic mission to the tribes of Mbundu. Things went well and finished with the locals agreeing to swear allegiance to the King of Kongo and to provide troops to assist the Kongolese should the need arise.
Apart from that, the only real excitement in this little empire came from a perplexing number of disappearances. For no reason that anyone could fathom, individuals - men, women, children alike - would simply vanish sometimes while hunting or fishing and sometimes from the safety of their own huts in the middle of the night. Usually, no trace was found and the event could be ascribed to the attacks of wild animals (if only the disappearances were less frequent). On occasion, however, human remains turned up horribly mutilated leading the Kongolese to assume that witches were at work in their land. A goodly number of suspicious types were butchered out of hand by angry mobs; even animals were not safe (for it was well-known to the Kongolese that witches could assume animal forms) and many pet dogs were killed in case they were secretly witches. Eventually, the rash of disappearances abated and the people grew a little calmer and assumed that they had killed the witches or, at least, had frightened them off.
The Anasazi
Eototo, Father of Ceremonies
Capital: none Religion:
The Great Spirit had sent a vision to Eototo, the most respected of the kikmongwi (village chieftains) - a vision of the villages sharing their burdens, linked together like one of the great webs of the Spider Woman. In rain or in drought, food would be available to all and the warriors of every village would unite to bring protection to all the Hisatsinom against the cannibal raiders of the south.
So it was that Eototo sent forth his nephew, the young Aholi, to tell all the Hisatinsom of the vision sent to the Father of Ceremonies. Aholi went first to the arid region of Hopi where only a few of the kindred villages were located; there, he spoke of the vision and of Eototo's plan for uniting all the villages in peace and plenty. Aholi's words were fiery and full of passion but the desert folk had no interest in them - indeed, they poured scorn on him for they were too concerned with the struggle to survive, from one day to the next, to worry about Eototo's fanciful ideas. To be sure, Aholi was disappointed but he persevered with the tasks he had been set and oversaw the construction of a new fortified cliff dwelling in Hopi so that the people, though they might spurn Eototo, should still have a place of safety and a defence against raiders.
That done, Aholi returned to Anasazi and the more populous regions and set about making the vision of the Father of Ceremonies' come true - food and tribute was gathered and stored in a far more systematic way than ever before; heads were counted and dues were calculated. At first, there was resistance to such developments - such radical changes were most unwelcome and not a few of the kikmongwi asked in the councils of the tribe by what right did Eototo place such demands on their villages. It was Aholi, ever patient, who explained the vision to the tribal council and, this time, he was rewarded with a more pliant audience, more eager listeners. Soon, word of the vision was spreading throughout all the Anasazi villages and Aholi followed close behind, preaching at every pueblo and gathering yet more followers. The complaints in council stopped and Eototo hoped that Great Spirit would be pleased with his first steps towards uniting the villages in peace and plenty. The message of the Great Spirit was mixed - Eototo's beloved wife bore him twin sons, strong and healthy beyond all hope, yet the exertions of childbirth killed the woman. Eototo was devastated by his wife's death and began to shun the company of others using the excuse that he must concentrate on his spiritual duties and seek guidance from the Great Spirit for the good of the villages. Seeing this, Aholi stepped in and oversaw the rearing of Eototo's twin sons.
The Hohokam Villages
Hawikuh, First Among the Elders
Capital: none Religion:
The Hohokam watched events to their north with curiosity and wondered why the Great Spirit hadn't sent a vision to any of their chieftains.
The Aztalan Mississippians
Unbowed-Moose,
the Peace Chief
Capital:
Aztalan Religion:
Slept.
The Moundbuilders of
Arrow Keeper, White Chief of the Ani-Kutani
Capital:
Dark Wolf, a high chieftain of the Cahokian Moundbuilders, set out in a canoe from the great city by the banks of the Snake - his destination the Caddoan riverport of Hahiwai. And he was only the first of many Cahokian grandees to visit the Caddoans during the following years.
In
While Arrow Keeper
had been trying and failing to count heads, Black Bear, the Red Chief of the
Ani-Kutani (this being the title given to the White Chief's heir) took over the
reins of government and saw to the day-to-day administration of
The Caddoan Confederation
Mankiller, Great Father of the South
Capital: Hahiwai Religion:
Mankiller, the Great Father of the Caddoans, was a trifle bemused to be receiving so much attention. First, Dark Wolf came and he was a big man among the Cahokians. Then, the following year, the Cahokian White Chief arrived - the lord of the great city of the Moundbuilders himself! Both men seemed just about ready to set up home in Hahiwai; they and their functionaries attended the lodge of Mankiller on a daily basis, always bombarding him with requests, always petitioning. It was a good thing Mankiller was patient (more patient than his name suggested for he had only ever killed on man and that guy really deserved it); a lesser man might easily have become annoyed at constantly tripping over these Cahokians but not Mankiller (not even when the Red Chief blithely sailed in and proceeded to explain in detail why it would a wonderful thing for the Caddoan Confederacy if they would only accede to the wishes of the Cahokians).
Of course, it was not all bad. Great gifts were brought from the north - elaborately woven robes, ornaments and beads, excellent flint knives and axes and other fine things. Too, the White Chief took a wife from among the Caddoans - Mankiller's own sister, Blue Raven. Within a few seasons, a son was born at Hahiwai (the child was named Quick Otter) - the future ruler of the Moundbuilders, Mankiller's own nephew, was born among the Caddoans. When something like that happens, one really has no option - Mankiller agreed to establish a much closer relationship with the Cahokians; rafts and canoes of tribute would be taken north and Mankiller would pledge Caddoan warriors to fight alongside the Cahokians whenever the White Chief asked.
However, westwards along the Arkansas River, the local tribes and villages had traditionally had far less contact with the Moundbuilders and, consequently, they cared little for the attention and gifts the Moundbuilders had lavished on the chieftains of Hahiwai. In this way, tensions and a very stark division began to develop between those Caddoans who were enthusiastic about their new relationship with the Cahokians and those who saw it as an intrusion on their traditional liberties and ways of life. "Why should we send tribute to men who live so far away? Why should our labour enrich those who live on the sunrise side of the Snake? What have they ever done for us? What will they do for us in return for this tribute?" - these were the questions posed by many who lived in Onate. And no satisfactory answer was forthcoming...
The Adena Moundbuilders
Wild-Eagle, the Great Sun
Capital: Adena Religion:
Slept.
The Atakapaw Ishak Tribes
Otsitat, Lord of the
Tribes of the
Capital:
Ayoel Religion:
Slept and wondered why they did not warrant the kind of attention the Caddoans were receiving.
The Jatibonicu Taino of Capa
Kelepi, Great Chieftain of the Taino
Capital: Capa Religion:
The Taino tribe did pretty much what they always did which wasn't much - the population slowly increased, more fish were caught, more sugar cane juice was fermented and the sun shone mostly always.
The only break from
the old routine came when Kelepi sent his brother, Teo, on a mission to the
Carib tribes across the
Teo arrived among the
Caribs who acknowledged that they and the Taino were kin and shared much in
common - their cults, their language and, to a degree, their blood (although
their lines had split many long generations ago). They even accepted that there
might be wisdom in holding common council under the leadership of the
Jatibonicu Chieftain for this would surely allow the neighbouring islands to
avoid warring with each other unnecessarily. Yet, for all that they accepted in
theory, the Caribs refused to commit to anything in practice. Teo ended his
time among the Caribs with nothing to show for all his efforts.
Toltec Empire of
Topiltzin, Birth of
the Fifth Sun, Emperor of
Capital:
The Emperor departed the sacred capital, Tula, and set off across the mountains for Totonac with less than a thousand Jaguar knights, a string of porters and a nobleman by the name of Teotihua but all was well for Topiltzin went on a mission of peace not war. The local Totonac princes heard the words of the Emperor politely, accepted the generous gifts he had brought, looked nervously at the obsidian blades of the Imperial bodyguards and, at length, agreed to a dynastic marriage which locked their relatively minor region into the great and holy Empire of Tula Tollan.
While the Emperor was
so engaged, his brother, Quetzalcoatl, renowned already for his exploits as a
warrior, took command of about 8,000 warriors and marched them out of
While all this was
going on, some people in
By the autumn of
1105, dissatisfaction in Tula had reached its peak - increasingly, the city's
religious scholars had been preaching to their students that Topiltzin was
acting contrary to the interests of Tula and of the Empire of which Tula was
the heart. A few of these students, fired up by religious rhetoric, staged an
impromptu demonstration. At first, they wanted to march to the Emperor's
ministers and lay their outrage at the feet of these officials but this proved
impossible for all the most important officials had gone away to the shores of
The Itza Mayan Empire
Ah-Kan-Xul, Lord of the Night, Halach Uinic of the Itza Maya
Capital:
Ah-Kan-Xul was most
concerned about the encroachment of the jungle on the farmland of his subjects.
It was the curse of the Mayans that no sooner was a piece of land cleared than
the jungle began to reclaim it. Things around
In 1101, Ak-Kan-Xul had sent one of his more prominent nobles, Ah-Pacal-Balam on a diplomatic mission to Popoluca. Frankly, the Halach Uinic had no real interest in securing the place but he simply wanted to be rid of the man for a little while - Ah-Pacal-Balam was handsome, popular, clever, brave, equally skilled both in war and diplomacy... In short, he was the epitome of everything that a King could hate in a subject.
So it was that Ah-Pacal-Balam set out for the rich region of Popoluca at the head of a personal guard of 400 grim-faced Itza Maya warriors and 400 lightly-armed skirmishers plus a train of porters carrying the many gifts which the Lord of the Night was sending to the princes and lords of Popoluca. Unfortunately, Pacal arrived in the Popoluca at almost exactly the same time as the Toltec envoy, Teotihua. Neither was particularly happy at the other's presence but they both did their best to hide it (not always successfully) as they competed to win the local nobles over. Worst of all, from the perspective of the locals, neither ambassador looked likely to depart - they both remained for several years, they both visited the same nobles and villages over and over, they both employed similar arguments warning of the need to defend Popoluca against encroaching neighbours. Pacal, who brought presents when he came to visit, was always well-received by the local princes but he didn't speak their language very well and it was always something of a struggle to carry on a conversation with him (oddly enough, he had very interesting things to say and was full of amusing anecdotes but it took real exertion for the Popolucans to understand what he was actually saying). Teotihua, on the other hand, was less instantly likeable but at least when you spoke to him you didn't have to resort to sign language.
In the end, the rulers of Popoluca decided to align with the Mayans who, whatever their faults, had shown great largesse. Too, there was a fear that the Toltec empire was unstable, that it was exerting itself too heavily and that Popoluca might suffer from joining such a state. So it was that that Popoluca became formally allied to the Lord of Chichen Itza.
The
Xolotl, the Great Seer, Blood King of
Capital: Mitla Religion: Meso-American
Things were fairly
quiet in the land of the Zapotecs. The Blood King Xolotl looked after matters
both spiritual and temporal with a steady hand and the only blot on the horizon
was the sudden interest the Toltecs were taking in the southern end of the
The arrival of the beaming young man was met with much enthusiasm for he came as a messenger of peace at a time when many Zapotecs feared invasion and war. Quetzelcoatl spent the greater part of the year in residence at the great cultic centre of Mitla and he managed to make a very good impression (no doubt due to the enthusiasm the Zapotecs felt for friendlier relations with their powerful northern neighbours); indeed, when Quetzelcoatl expressed, in an offhand manner, that he would not be averse to taking a bride from among the Zapotecs, a people whose name was as ancient and as glorious as any in the world, Xolotl could scarcely conceal his glee - his own daughter had turned 15 that very year and would surely make a fitting bride for the great warrior! So it was that the Toltec heir found a bride among the Zapotecs (the bride was not, in fact, very happy about the match as Quetzel, though as brave a warrior as ever walked the earth and wiser in his counsel than most, was a charmless man who would bore the poor girl for hours on end with stories of his fantastic exploits in battle).
When, by and by, Quetzel raised the question of perhaps forming a closer relationship between the two neighbouring kingdoms, Xolotl smiled politely and explained that he would be delighted to agree to some manner of treaty but he could, unfortunately, never consent to compromising the independence of ancient Mitla. So sorry. Quetzel showed no outward sign of disappointment but, before the year was out, he departed for home with his new bride. He headed off into the mountains with his small retinue and promptly disappeared.
The Tarascan Empire of Purepecha
Tangaxoan, the Lord of the Men of the Wind, Warrior King of Tzin Tzun Tzan
Capital: Tzin Tzun Tzan Religion: Meso-American
Slept.
The Huari Empire
Anquimarca,
the Ciquic, Supreme King and Overlord of the Wari
Capital: Huari Religion:
The denizens of Huari awoke, one day, to find that teams of slaves, labourers and even soldiers had set to work tearing down the ancient walls of their city. Not unnaturally, upon seeing the destruction of what they perceived as their only bulwark against their myriad enemies, they called for the Supreme King to end this madness and at once begin repairing the damage that had already been done. But Anquimarca was not to be moved. The city had been growing steadily for a long while now and it was already overcrowded - new room had to be made for the city dwellers and so it was. Over time, new dwelling were built beyond the traditional limits of the city. New market places and the shops of cunning artisans sprang up in this new area and everyone agreed that the place was far less crowded than it had been when the walls still stood (though most would have preferred to retain their walls and suffer a little discomfort in return for increased security). As it was, the Ciquic didn't think anyone had the right to complain for he ordered that more hill forts be built in strategic spots throughout the realm. Anyway, it wasn't as if the Huari had ever had any need to man the walls. Bloody whiners.
Thoroughly fed up, Anquimarca left Huari behind and strode off to the rich region of Inca with many thousands of warriors and his finest general - Atoc. (GM note - I refuse to use the term "Incans" when referring to the inhabitants of the Lote region of Inca. So there). The locals were mildly afeard to see this horde arrive although, in fairness, Atoc maintained a discipline as rigid as iron and not a single Huari warrior misbehaved while visting Inca. The Ciquic's purpose soon became apparent - to secure the region for his own empire though, praise be to all the gods, he did not want to conquer the people of Inca. Instead, he offered gifts of the greatest and most generous kind (lots of silver llamas, oddly enough) which the local nobles accepted with smiles; too, he discussed the many advantages that might be offered by peaceful union with Huari - roads, trade, fierce Huari warriors to defend the region... The local nobles thought about what this would mean in practice - tribute, conscription, Huari warriors to oppress the region... The Supreme King and Overlord of Huari express his wish to take a local woman as wife - what more could he do an earnest of his goodwill? Still, this pleased the locals less than one might have expected for they wondered whether, in a generation or two, some Huari warlord might come haring into their independent land shrieking about having a claim to the place because of his lineage. On the other hand, the optimists argued that linking the bloodlines through marriage would render war less likely. By and by, the Ciquic was wed to a fine local princess and a recognition was given that Inca was now connected to the Huari Empire by bonds of blood and kinship. Anquimarca wasn't happy with this outcome but there was nothing to be done so he wandered back home again and no doubt kicked his guinea pig to relieve the stress of Royal Authority.
In
In Huari itself, after the furore about the city walls had died down, rich benefactions were doled out by the palace to scholars, poets and priests in an effort to revitalise the intellectual life of the city. Sure enough, these subsidised teachers soon began disseminating knowledge to small classes on the steps of the palace or one of the temples.
The Aymara Hegemony of
Tiwanaku
Coyllas,
Yatiri of the Gateway of the
Sun God, First Among the Great Chiefs
Capital:
Tiwanaku was a fragmented place. In an attempt to cement the bonds between the Aymaran clans, the Yatiri wed a woman from one of the more prominent local tribes. In the course of four years, she bore him four children, only one of which was a son, before succumbing to a fever and dying suddenly. Coyllas and his court observed all the proper rites and made the appropriate sacrifices, both animal and human, in honour of her departed soul and of the gods who had created man and looked after him all the days of his life. Soon after, portents came - great lights were seen in the night sky over Tiwanaku. The population panicked. It could only be a sign of divine displeasure but why were they unhappy? What more could be done to propitiate them? Perhaps, argued some sages and wise hierophants, it was not an indication of displeasure... Perhaps it was a warning from the Sun God that evil times were coming...
Whatever its meaning, some of the Yatiri's brave warriors deserted fearing that the lights presaged civil war in which case they ought to return to their individual clans and tribes to defend their own people. Over all the empire, a thick cloud of uncertainty settled. The heir apparent, Curi-Paucar, in an attempt to allay fears (and, if truth be told, to stave off the civil strife which he believed would inevitably follow the portents) took a wife from one of the larger but more distant Aymaran clans (indeed, her kinsmen had often been at the forefront of opposition to the rule of the Yatiri and, by the union of their bloodlines). It seemed to work, for the great clans, though anxious about the direction things would take, made no overtly hostile moves and peace continued throughout the land. After a little while, with no obvious danger on the horizon, the people settled down and life began to get back to normal.
One of the effects of
this period of disquiet was to cause an increase in the urban population. The
people flooded to the towns and cities seeking security from the close
proximity of so many oftheir kinsmen and, naturally, the cities grew
exponentially in a very short time. In
While such troubles had beset the empire, the great minister Cusi went north to the people of Pucara. The Pucarans were not Aymaran. They spoke the Huari language, Quechua, and had no blood connexions with the clans of Tiwanaku. However, they recognised the supremacy of Tiwanakan culture and the many links which their two societies shared - they worshipped the same gods in the same way, their clothes, their pottery, their art, their stonework, their statuary... All were obviously sprung from a common root and the Pucarans were not so arrogant that they denied their debt to the southerners. By and by, a formal agreement was reached under which the local Quechua-speakers would supply a contingent to serve the Yatiri of Tiwanaku. All agreed that this was a very fair way of recognising the importance and ascendancy of Huari without infringing excessively on Pucaran liberty. Soon after, as news of the troubles in the south filtered across the mountains, the Pucarans began to rethink their stance for they had no wish to find themselves dragged into an Aymaran civil war but, in the end, they did not renege on their agreement.
The
Iawi,
the Sun Chief
Capital:
none Religion:
Iawi was the Sun Chief, foremost among all the chieftains of all the many Marajoara villages. Despite his relative youth, he alone commanded the respect of all the tribes and clans who made their home in the region of Terembembe. Yet that was not enough for Iawi. He looked up the Amazon to less densely-populated Pacaja and earnestly wished that the tribes there, for the most part very distant kin to his own people, would join the councils of the Marajoara for, if these regions could become united, there would be more land and, hence, more food for the burgeoning Marajo population. And so it was that Iawi sent his uncle, Moie, off on a mission to Pacaja.
Moie, accompanied by
a coterie of wise advisors, reached the Pacajan villages and sought out the
elders and chieftains and told them of the Sun Chief's wish that their regions
and peoples should be united. He broughts gifts - the finest Marajoara pottery,
made with such consumate skill that even the most brilliant Pacajan potters
could not duplicate it - and he spoke of the wisdom that lay in uniting the
tribes by mingling their blood. The local chieftains were most impressed with
Moie's words and gift and, without much ado, they
agreed to join with the
While Moie was about his diplomatic business, Iawi stayed at home and demonstrated the goodness of his intentions by ordering that all the proud warriors, all the men who fought with the bow and the blowpipe and all those who crewed the war canoes, should put aside their weapons and, instead, concentrate on clearing more land and settling more villages. Though few were truly happy at this, they demurred to the will of the Sun Chief and set about the tasks he had allotted them.
In due course, Iawi's new bride arrived. She proved herself a good wife and, within a year, she bore a daughter but, not long after, she fell ill, sickened further and died.
Mercenaries,
Condottieri, Swords-for-Hire, Dogs-of-War and assorted vagabonds...
Mercenary Captains will become available as the game progresses.