jon698
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Post by jon698 on Mar 7, 2018 23:34:03 GMT
Boldness signifies imperial status
Doukas Kamateros - Eirene Komnene Ruben III-Isabella of Toron
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Isaac Komnenos - Unnamed Armenian Princess | |
| Damsel of Cyprus - Hugues Fère
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| Theodore I Laskaris - Anna Komnena Angelina
| | Innocent "The Voyager" Komnenos - Eudokia Laskarina
| | _____________________________________________________________|__________________________________ Angelos Komnenos {Issac II Komnenos - Elizabeth of Sicily} Malik Komnenos { Doukas Komnenos - Alexis Espina} {Irene Komnenos - Baibars} | | | | | _______|_______
Nerio Commodious - Margaret Yolanda Xiolxi Komnenos Ioxi Komenos
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Sofia Commodious
Conquest of the Lion
June 23, 1191
 A cardinal shaken by news that he had recently heard bursts into Pope Celestine III`s room shouting "Pope Celestine! Celestine! Celestine! God has forsaken us and our crusaders! Richard and his army has been overcomed by the Saracens and their allies! They threaten to kill him and his army unless we pay a ransom of 185,000 silver marks." Celestine startled upon hearing of Richard the Lionheart`s defeat initially orders a exorcism of the cardinal, believing that demons have taken him over to spread lies to shaken the Christians. Afterwards Celestine asks "Tell me, how did Saladin overtake Richard?" with the cardinal responding that "Richard was not captured by him, he had not even reached the mainland when he stopped in Cyprus to retake treasure that its ruler had stolen from a fleet that had ran aground on his shores." The Pope, Cardinals and embassies that had gathered stood silent wondering what would become of Philip II and the entire crusade without Richard`s help and more importantly how an upstart in Cyprus had soundly defeated such an elite army. |
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jon698
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Post by jon698 on Mar 8, 2018 22:32:16 GMT
Battle of Troodos
June 4, 1191
 "Dismantle the houses, cut down all the trees, slay any who attempt to delay or interfere in the process of doing so." In the Troodos mountains the self-declared "Emperor of the Orient" Isaac Komnenos had moved his army of 4,600 infantry, 900 peltasts, 1,800 light cavalry and 600 Saracen refugees when Richard I of England started his conquest of Cyprus at the port of Lemesos after Isaac had refused to return Richard`s treasure that he had stolen from sunken treasure ships. Knowing that meeting Richard on a plain would resulted in his army`s annihilation, Isaac realized that he needed to force Richard to meet him on his field of battle. On June 2 he had sent 300 cavalry out to raid and harass the crusaders and to lead them to the Troodos mountains. On June 4 Richard reached Isaac after spending the past three days gathering the support of the local magnates with his 8,000 infantry and 2,000 knights. Isaac ordered that the logs that he had collected in the past two days to rolled down the mountain to temporarily cause disorder among the infantry that were protecting the knights. The peltasts started to harass the heavily armored knights, wounding a negligible amount and killing a few infantry, until the infantry reorganized themselves into a protective line and started to march upwards to Isaac`s position. Isaac delayed his cavalry from entering the battle, ordering them to have three hundred peltasts mounted with them to discourage Richard from using his slow moving knights. For the next three hours less than five hundred of his Richard`s infantry would be fired upon and killed by peltasts until the ammunition of the Cypriots ran out. Richard moved his knights on the right flank into the fighting to help the infantry break Isaac`s infantry and flank him. Isaac`s infantry routed when the knights` charge was coming close causing Richard to send the knights on his left flank to help the others on the right and flank the Cypriots. However, upon reaching the top of one of the hills, the knights were met by five hundred Saracens screaming war cries causing a strategic withdraw to reorganize. Upon seeing the knights` retreat the infantry followed suit, forcing Richard to head to the front to reorganize his army. Isaac then lead his cavalry into the battle centered almost entirely on Richard`s position. When the Cypriot cavalry killed Richard`s horse and captured him a general rout ensued with Isaac leading a charge to kill and capture thousands of infantry and knights. When the dead were counted Richard had lost 921 infantry and 321 knights and Isaac had lost 2,000 infantry and Saracens, 400 peltasts and 500 cavalry, but having captured the entirety of Richard`s army negated Isaac`s larger causalities. Loss at Acre
July 1191
King Philip II of France upon hearing of Richard`s capture was angered by another of Richard`s sidelines during the crusade in Sicily and Cyprus shouted "Richard and his islands! Sicily! Cyprus! What good are the small fish of the Mediterranean when we are hear in Acre, when we want to be there in Jerusalem!". With both Saladin`s army and the garrison of Acre pressuring the crusaders, Philip II, Guy of Lusignan and Leopold V would continue leading the siege for a few days before being forced by the dishearten crusaders, outnumbered without the English army and suffering from the restless heat of the sun in the July desert, threatened to hand over the kings and dukes in order to leave and head back to western Europe. Philip II sent an delegate to the Ayyubids promising to lift the siege and head home if the Saracens allowed them to do so peacefully. Saladin easily accepted the deal knowing that the crusader army was still a dangerous enemy. When the last of the crusaders left in August, Saladin sent ambassadors to Isaac praising him for both breaking the morale and might of the crusaders and invited him to Cairo to hold celebrations and to grant him great benefits for his service. |
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Mar 9, 2018 1:29:16 GMT
Battle of Troodos
June 4, 1191
"Dismantle the houses, cut down all the trees, slay any who attempt to delay or interfere in the process of doing so." In the Troodos mountains the self-declared "Emperor of the Orient" Isaac Komnenos had moved his army of 4,600 infantry, 900 peltasts, 1,800 light cavalry and 600 Saracen refugees when Richard I of England started his conquest of Cyprus at the port of Lemesos after Isaac had refused to return Richard`s treasure that he had stolen from sunken treasure ships. Knowing that meeting Richard on a plain would resulted in his army`s annihilation, Isaac realized that he needed to force Richard to meet him on his field of battle. On June 2 he had sent 300 cavalry out to raid and harass the crusaders and to lead them to the Troodos mountains. On June 4 Richard reached Isaac after spending the past three days gathering the support of the local magnates with his 8,000 infantry and 2,000 knights. Isaac ordered that the logs that he had collected in the past two days to rolled down the mountain to temporarily cause disorder among the infantry that were protecting the knights. The peltasts started to harass the heavily armored knights, wounding a negligible amount and killing a few infantry, until the infantry reorganized themselves into a protective line and started to march upwards to Isaac`s position. Isaac delayed his cavalry from entering the battle, ordering them to have three hundred peltasts mounted with them to discourage Richard from using his slow moving knights. For the next three hours less than five hundred of his Richard`s infantry would be fired upon and killed by peltasts until the ammunition of the Cypriots ran out. Richard moved his knights on the right flank into the fighting to help the infantry break Isaac`s infantry and flank him. Isaac`s infantry routed when the knights` charge was coming close causing Richard to send the knights on his left flank to help the others on the right and flank the Cypriots. However, upon reaching the top of one of the hills, the knights were met by five hundred Saracens screaming war cries causing a strategic withdraw to reorganize. Upon seeing the knights` retreat the infantry followed suit, forcing Richard to head to the front to reorganize his army. Isaac then lead his cavalry into the battle centered almost entirely on Richard`s position. When the Cypriot cavalry killed Richard`s horse and captured him a general rout ensued with Isaac leading a charge to kill and capture thousands of infantry and knights. When the dead were counted Richard had lost 921 infantry and 321 knights and Isaac had lost 2,000 infantry and Saracens, 400 peltasts and 500 cavalry, but having captured the entirety of Richard`s army negated Isaac`s larger causalities. Loss at Acre
July 1191
King Philip II of France upon hearing of Richard`s capture was angered by another of Richard`s sidelines during the crusade in Sicily and Cyprus shouted "Richard and his islands! Sicily! Cyprus! What good are the small fish of the Mediterranean when we are hear in Acre, when we want to be there in Jerusalem!". With both Saladin`s army and the garrison of Acre pressuring the crusaders, Philip II, Guy of Lusignan and Leopold V would continue leading the siege for a few days before being forced by the dishearten crusaders, outnumbered without the English army and suffering from the restless heat of the sun in the July desert, threatened to hand over the kings and dukes in order to leave and head back to western Europe. Philip II sent an delegate to the Ayyubids promising to lift the siege and head home if the Saracens allowed them to do so peacefully. Saladin easily accepted the deal knowing that the crusader army was still a dangerous enemy. When the last of the crusaders left in August, Saladin sent ambassadors to Isaac praising him for both breaking the morale and might of the crusaders and invited him to Cairo to hold celebrations and to grant him great benefits for his service.Great work so far jon698, do you want me to move it to Alternate Timeline Writer’s Hub . |
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jon698
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Post by jon698 on Mar 9, 2018 1:49:07 GMT
Battle of Troodos
June 4, 1191
"Dismantle the houses, cut down all the trees, slay any who attempt to delay or interfere in the process of doing so." In the Troodos mountains the self-declared "Emperor of the Orient" Isaac Komnenos had moved his army of 4,600 infantry, 900 peltasts, 1,800 light cavalry and 600 Saracen refugees when Richard I of England started his conquest of Cyprus at the port of Lemesos after Isaac had refused to return Richard`s treasure that he had stolen from sunken treasure ships. Knowing that meeting Richard on a plain would resulted in his army`s annihilation, Isaac realized that he needed to force Richard to meet him on his field of battle. On June 2 he had sent 300 cavalry out to raid and harass the crusaders and to lead them to the Troodos mountains. On June 4 Richard reached Isaac after spending the past three days gathering the support of the local magnates with his 8,000 infantry and 2,000 knights. Isaac ordered that the logs that he had collected in the past two days to rolled down the mountain to temporarily cause disorder among the infantry that were protecting the knights. The peltasts started to harass the heavily armored knights, wounding a negligible amount and killing a few infantry, until the infantry reorganized themselves into a protective line and started to march upwards to Isaac`s position. Isaac delayed his cavalry from entering the battle, ordering them to have three hundred peltasts mounted with them to discourage Richard from using his slow moving knights. For the next three hours less than five hundred of his Richard`s infantry would be fired upon and killed by peltasts until the ammunition of the Cypriots ran out. Richard moved his knights on the right flank into the fighting to help the infantry break Isaac`s infantry and flank him. Isaac`s infantry routed when the knights` charge was coming close causing Richard to send the knights on his left flank to help the others on the right and flank the Cypriots. However, upon reaching the top of one of the hills, the knights were met by five hundred Saracens screaming war cries causing a strategic withdraw to reorganize. Upon seeing the knights` retreat the infantry followed suit, forcing Richard to head to the front to reorganize his army. Isaac then lead his cavalry into the battle centered almost entirely on Richard`s position. When the Cypriot cavalry killed Richard`s horse and captured him a general rout ensued with Isaac leading a charge to kill and capture thousands of infantry and knights. When the dead were counted Richard had lost 921 infantry and 321 knights and Isaac had lost 2,000 infantry and Saracens, 400 peltasts and 500 cavalry, but having captured the entirety of Richard`s army negated Isaac`s larger causalities. Loss at Acre
July 1191
King Philip II of France upon hearing of Richard`s capture was angered by another of Richard`s sidelines during the crusade in Sicily and Cyprus shouted "Richard and his islands! Sicily! Cyprus! What good are the small fish of the Mediterranean when we are hear in Acre, when we want to be there in Jerusalem!". With both Saladin`s army and the garrison of Acre pressuring the crusaders, Philip II, Guy of Lusignan and Leopold V would continue leading the siege for a few days before being forced by the dishearten crusaders, outnumbered without the English army and suffering from the restless heat of the sun in the July desert, threatened to hand over the kings and dukes in order to leave and head back to western Europe. Philip II sent an delegate to the Ayyubids promising to lift the siege and head home if the Saracens allowed them to do so peacefully. Saladin easily accepted the deal knowing that the crusader army was still a dangerous enemy. When the last of the crusaders left in August, Saladin sent ambassadors to Isaac praising him for both breaking the morale and might of the crusaders and invited him to Cairo to hold celebrations and to grant him great benefits for his service.Great work so far jon698 , do you want me to move it to Alternate Timeline Writer’s Hub . yes |
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jon698
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Post by jon698 on Mar 9, 2018 4:43:56 GMT
Entrance of the Knights Templar
and the Decadence of Isaac`s Reign
March 1192 - December 1199
"Saladin said that in order to maintain the benefits granted to me I must make friends with eastern leaders, Richard came from the west, I fought and rob him and his crusaders, but you my Templar friend come from Jerusalem and with Richard`s money our friendship shall be everlasting." Following the failure of the Third Crusade many of the knightly orders that were founded after the success of the First Crusade sought a new foothold in the east to reorganize and launch new crusades. In the previous months of his travel, Isaac had seen the large castles that these orders had built with funds much smaller than the riches that Isaac now possessed. The orders, seeing the strategic position of Cyprus and the wealth that they could accumulate from Isaac, accepted his offer with over fifty orders relocating to Famagusta and Nicosia, the largest being the Knights Templar. In March 1192 Isaac approached the Knights Templar with an offer of 140,000 silver marks in exchange for three large castles to surround Famagusta. The two smaller castles of Saint Naum and Abippus were completed by October 1194 and months later would be put into use.
After their betrayal in 1191, the magnates of Cyprus had become victims of Isaac`s murder sprees and following their killings all of their possessions would be seized and most of the female members of their families would be given away as gifts to Muslim harems. On February 2, 1195 Constantine Comens, a noblemen who had been warned of Isaac`s impending punishment and fled to the countryside, returned to his home of Nicosia with an army of 5,000 peasants and 1,000 mercenary knights. Having recently suffered from one of Isaac`s rampages, Nicosia rose up and opened the gates and upon his entrance to the church was given a crown of thorns by the priests and was christened as Emperor of the Cypriots in contrast to Isaac`s title of Emperor of the Orient. Emperor Constantine marched his army out, now bolstered by 3,000 additional peasants and 800 of the former garrison, towards Famagusta with plans to take the castles before assaulting the city. On February 4 Constantine reached the Castle of Saint Naum and laid siege to it not knowing that Isaac was inside the castle. Trapped inside the castle with only 200 infantry and 300 dismounted Templar knights, Isaac realized that he needed to convince the rebels to attack the incomplete Castle Ruben. When he heard of what had happen in Nicosia, Isaac disguised himself and led the entire garrison out blasting the sounds of trumpets and having his men shout "Death becomes of the Orient, new life of the Cypriots!". Isaac told Constantine that Isaac was overseeing newly constructed parts of Castle Ruben with a small group of infantry and knights and offered to lead the assault. Constantine followed behind Isaac and only realized that he had been deceived when he had reached the plains surrounding Castle Ruben and was in full sight of Isaac and 3,000 knights who in only a hour had massacred and routed the entire army. Constantine, 4,000 peasants and 700 knights were killed and in the following days the priests in Nicosia either fled or joined the 1,500 dead civilians.
However that was not the last rebellion that Isaac had to put down, on December 25, 1197 Alexios Xizi, a priest of a small parish from the countryside, roused the peasants of villages that were devastated by Isaac`s random murder sprees and robberies and managed to occupy the Castle Ruben with 900 peasants now well armed with weapons from the Templar armory. Isaac besieged the castle a day later and ordered that Alexios meet him on top on one of the walls saying that he will show God`s support of him and kill hundreds of his men without fighting. Hours later the stable wall Alexios stood on sank into the earth killing over half of the garrison with the rest surrendering. Isaac had had the Templars go under the wall and destroy the mine underneath it that was involved in construction of a different part of the castle. In December 1198 Castle Ruben, the largest castle and Isaac`s new administrative center for him due to his fear of being caught by rebels in an indefensible position, was completed and had been completely repaired.
However, the next threat to Isaac`s reign came from inside his castle as on December 25, 1199 he collapsed and slowly suffered from its effects until on the twenty-ninth when he passed away. The people behind the poisoning were never discovered as no investigation was ordered by his daughter and successor, the Damsel of Cyprus. The bishops and priest that had been present had been accused of praising Constantine days earlier with their judgement by Issac to come in January, magnates that had been invited possibly for Isaac to punish them had servants related to the ones preparing Isaac`s wine and it was rumored that Isaac was planning to hand his daughter over to a Muslim emir in exchange for a trade deal. Two days after his death his daughter was crowed within Castle Ruben beginning her short reign. |
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Mar 9, 2018 8:09:08 GMT
Great work so far jon698 , do you want me to move it to Alternate Timeline Writer’s Hub . yes Has been done, keep the updates going. |
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James G
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Post by James G on Mar 9, 2018 9:41:00 GMT
Good story start. Quite engaging.
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jon698
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Post by jon698 on Mar 9, 2018 22:12:09 GMT
Relations With the WestJanuary 1191 - May 1202
 In the early days of her reign the Damsel of Cyprus chose to marry Hugues Fère, who despite having to leave the Knights Templar to marry would still be favored by the order, to both avoid a crusade being called upon them by the pope for helping Saracens and to prevent future Byzantine emperors from laying claim to Cyprus due to her father being a member of the Komnenian dynasty. During the crusades the Republics of Venice and Genoa had been expanding their trading influence throughout the eastern Mediterranean to gain access to the riches in the east and the Damsel used this to create a trade rout that would make Cyprus too important to have either Republic finance an invasion of it for fear of losing its easy access to Syrian and Egyptian goods to the other republic if they lost the war that would break out. The Genoese were granted the right to create a colony near Nicosia and the Venetians were given reduced duties. In 1201 she gave birth to her only child and chose to honor Pope Innocent III by naming her son after him, hoping to be excluded from the crusade that Innocent was preaching for. The following year the Fourth Crusade broke out following the preaching of Fulk of Neuilly. In 1202 the Damsel heard that the crusaders were lacking funds to hire the Venetians to travel to Egypt and sent 10,000 silver marks to gain favor among the crusaders to prevent an invasion similar to one done in 1191 from happening again. However, this would not go unnoticed by Sultan Al-Adil I, the man who the crusade was supposed to be directed against.Maintaining Relations
December 1202 - August 1203/April 1204
On November 24, 1202 the crusader and Venetian armies led by Enrico Dandolo, Boniface I of Montferrat and Simon de Montfort defeated the Hungarians and Croatians at the Siege of Zara. After hearing of this victory and mistakenly thinking that the 210 Venetian ships were almost entirely filled, giving him an estimate of 30,000 crusaders accompanied by 10,000 Venetians, Sultan Al-Adil I threaten to have the Islamic world launch a jihad against the Cypriots if any Egyptian land fell. The Damsel promised the sultan that if any crusaders were found near Cyprus would be attacked immediately, saying that she had sent the 10,000 silver marks to deceive the crusaders, have them weaken Christians on their way and make them unknowingly head to a massacre in Cyprus. Al-Adil accepted this as he was planning an invasion of Cyprus in order to fortify the eastern Mediterranean and was expecting to launch it in September or October in 1203. The Damsel fulfilled her promise by attacking Reynold of Montmirail and his group of crusaders who had refused to besiege Constantinople while they sailing north of Cyprus, killing somewhere below 5% of army. However, Al-Adil still planned his invasion and the relations between the Cypriots and the Saracens would only stabilize when, in August 1203, the crusaders overtook the defenses of Constantinople. Al-Adil chose to preemptively end the campaign as the Damsel`s lie about funding the crusaders to weaken the Byzantines was now believed by his ministers. The relations between the Saracens and Cypriots would reach its height when, in April 1204, the crusaders captured Constantinople and divided the empire between themselves. The Damsel of Cyprus was praised by Al-Adil`s ministers and celebrations by his people finally forced him to also praise the ailing Queen for her deceit of the crusaders.
The Magnates` Return to Power 1203 - 1204
Al-Adil`s threats of a jihad had successfully freighted the Damsel causing her fear that the magnates that her father had persecuted for fifteen years would play the same role in the Saracen invasion as they had done in the Frankish invasion. She granted the magnates land grants and administrative power in the Karpass Peninsula and allowed them to name leaders. On May 4, 1203, Theodosius Comens, the son of Constantine Comens who had only survived Isaac`s wrath by escaping to Rhodes, was declared by the magnates the "Lord of Karpass and Nicosia" and his title was accepted by the Damsel. Theodosius, who like his father was a devout Orthodox christian, proposed that if a regency was to happen, both Hugues Fère and leading priests in Nicosia would form a regency council for Innocent. Hugues Fère allowed this decision to happen believing that it would prevent another betrayal of the magnates and that his wife would live long enough to prevent a regency from happening. Tensions rose when the Damsel fell into a sickness in February 1204 and her condition continued to deteriorate and weeks after being praised by Al-Adil in Cairo, died on May 3, 1204 with her son, age 3, far too young to hold imperial power without a regency council. |
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jon698
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Post by jon698 on Mar 10, 2018 3:43:29 GMT
Contentious RegencyMay 1204 - January 1205
On May 5, 1204 the first meeting of the Regency Council met with the most important decision during the regency, at what age Innocent will take the throne, was to be decided. Hugues Fère, knowing that the expulsion of Islamic influence on the island could only happen if his son was on the throne, wanted him to be declared emperor at six. The priests chose eighteen causing a heated discussion that eventually ended with issue being dropped (when Innocent would take the throne would not be decided until 1206) due to Hugues Fère veto power and refusal to compromise. Foreign policy became almost nonexistence with the council`s inability to compromise, but over the next eight months the domestic policies of Hugues Fère and the priests would break Cyprus apart. In August Hugues ordered that the goods of Saracen merchants be repossession and granted to local magnates, this would continue until Theodosius, the strongest supporter of the priests, and the magnates under him invited many of the persecuted merchants into the Kerpass. In October the magnates that had received the repossessed goods, angry at Theodosius, voted and declared Hugues the "Lord of Cyprius genere Francorum" granting him all the land outside of the Kerpass peninsula and Nicosia. In December the priests at Famagusta ousted the local magnate and gave his possessions and titles to themselves. Hugues retaliated by ordering the destruction of Orthodox parishes and began to forcefully convert Cypriots to Catholicism. This caused the start of the Comens Hersey which declared that certain chants would give them victory against the Franks and that Richard the Lionheart, Constantine Comens and Theodosius Comens were angels fighting against the dynasty that had committed the sins of envy and lust through usurpation and avarice by helping the Saracens to gain trade deals. In January Valens, the magnate of Salamis, ordered the killing of all Saracens and heretics. The priests, angered by Hugues` actions during the past months, invited Valens and allowed Comens heretics, who they supported as they too were supporters of Theodosius, to torture and mutilated him. Upon seeing the blinded and noseless, Hugues gathered 3,000 knights and 7,000 infantry from the Knights Templar and other orders and had a Catholic bishop declare a crusade against the Comens heretics and the priests in Famagusta starting what the Franks called "The Cypriot Crusade" and the Cypriots, the "Frankish Revolt."
Cypriot Crusade/Frankish RevoltJanuary 1205 - March 1206
  On January 8, 1205 Hugues and his knights declare Cyprius genere Francorum as an independent kingdom with most of the island under his control due to his popularity among the magnates and began their march on Famagusta. The Comens heretics rose up, took control of the northern peninsulas with a small enclave in the middle of Cyprius genere Francorum`s western coast and pledged their loyalty to Theodosius, who despite never acknowledging their support gave orders to never attack them. Theodosius and the magnates who made up the Lordship of Karpass pledged their loyalty to the priests and Emperor Innocent, with Theodosius pledging to burn every Catholic church he came upon.
On January 16, after raiding and burning Orthodox and heretical villages on the way, Hugues arrived at the outskirts of Famagusta and with 1,000 knights and 4,000 infantry besieged the Castles of St. Naum and Abippus with 200 of his knights guarding Castle Ruben to prevent the garrison from sallying out. The rest of his army that he had not taken was divided to fight on the other fronts, 800 knights and 1,000 infantry sent against the heretics and 1,200 knights and 2,000 infantry against Theodosius.
On February 12 the western army, led by Leonard Le Puy, reached the heretical enclave and on the outskirts of the villages in the area were surprised to see that 6,000 peasants, led by Ionxi the Devout, had arrived praying, chanting and marching towards the better armed and armoured Franks. Le Puy sent his 800 knights into a charge against the peasants and within the hour had routed almost the entirety of the army. Ionxi and five hundred devout peasants had stayed and were massacred within twenty minutes. 3,700 peasants fell in order to kill eleven knights, most of which were killed by Ionxi in his final stand.
Six days later the army sent against Theodosius, led by Baldwin of Salamis, was met by Theodosius with his 3,000 infantry, 300 peltasts and 900 light cavalry north of Iskele at the lordship`s border. Theodosius organized his army into three 1,000 infantry sections, two 150 peltast sections with the entirety of the cavalry in the center at the base of the Kyrenia Mountains to force the Frankish army to attack uphill and give his infantry-based army terrain to use as cover. Baldwin marched his infantry uphill in a line with the cavalry divided in half on both sides. The peltasts were sent to harass the knights on the left and right flanks causing two hundred knights to rush forward to attack. The central section of infantry retreated with the peltasts to their front and the knights to their backs. Once the infantry had reached far enough they turned around and fought the knights as parts of the two other sections closed in to surround the knights. After pushing the knights together and massacring them, the infantry strategical redrew and reorganized as the Frankish infantry was slowed down by their heavier armor. Theodosius continued his plan of harassing the knights with peltasts, having the peltasts retreat with the center section and then surrounding and massacring the knights for five more hours, killing an additional two hundred knights, until the Frankish army retired. Theodosius would not press the Franks anymore and chose to instead retreat further into his territory. Baldwin would choose to follow him and met him two days later.
On February 20 Baldwin`s starved and weaken army caught up with Theodosius and pressed an attack. Theodosius had sent three hundred of his light cavalry to harass Baldwin and prevent him from resting for gathering supplies for the previous two days. Theodosius rode out with six hundred cavalry with two sections of 1,900 infantry to his left and 1,100 to his right. Baldwin with his remaining eight hundred knights rushed towards Theodosius who stayed in place as his infantry approached. Baldwin reached Theodosius and after killing half of cavalry and coming close to killing Theodosius, was forced back by the approach of Theodosius` infantry who he feared would surround and massacre him. Upon seeing their leader retreat with his strongest units, the already demoralized infantry routed as Theodosius finally ordered his much lighter infantry to rush towards the routing units. Theodosius would allow the men he had not killed to return to Cyprius genere Francorum as he had killed sixty knights and nine hundred infantry to his losses of three hundred cavalry and one hundred fifty infantry.
On March 3 after spending the past nineteen days assessing his situation in the region and deciding if he should launch a campaign against the heretics in the most westward peninsula with his rather small army or he should wait for Hugues` victory in Famagusta to receive reinforcements against a large peasant army, Leonard marched his army to the areas under heretical control and upon seeing an army of 8,000 - 9,000 peasants chose to send out three hundred infantry to test the army`s willingness to fight. The peasants rushed and quickly overtook and killed seventy Franks before Le Puy`s infantry retreated. Le Puy retreated from the area and instead chose to fortify the areas under Frankish control and wait for a peasant army to attack.
In the ensuing months Le Puy would build palisades in the villages near heretical areas, Baldwin would head towards Famagusta to ask for reinforcements from Hugues` army, Hugues would continue his siege of Famagusta and its castles and continue his strategy of starving the garrisons, the heretics would celebrate their "major" victory and the pushing back of the Franks and Theodosius` victories in the Kyrenia mountains and Theodosius would continue guarding the Kyrenia mountains until Baldwin left the area and then moved back to Iskele.
On October 16 after serving with Hugues and taking St. Naum, Baldwin was given four hundred knights and one thousand infantry as Hugues continued the Siege of Famajusta.
Four days later Baldwin reached the city of Iskele and laid siege to it. Theodosius had sent out six hundred cavalry to raid the Frankish lands and draw men away from Baldwin`s force, but Baldwin was afraid of weakening his force and chose to allow the raids to continue instead.
On December 25 a priest in Agia Eirini organized the peasantry into an army, rousing them with a story that Richard and Constantine had come to him in a dream to tell him that if Orounda was taken, the Franks would recede and sink into the sea. Over the weeks Dobromir Spyridonakes` peasant army surged with every village he went to and eventually reached 4,900 by January 20, 1206. After marching down the plains between the Kyrenia and Troodos mountain ranges for two days the peasant army was met by a small Frankish army of levy spearmen that numbered around eight hundred. After chanting and burning incest the peasants scrambled towards the Franks and easily routed the demoralized Franks with their war cries and massacred six hundred of them. For the next two weeks Dobromir Spyridonakes and his peasants would celebrate, slaughter Catholics and raze all Frankish structures before continuing their march.
On February 5 Dobromir Spyridonakes was again met by a Frankish force, but this time much larger with 1,000 levy spearmen and 1,200 slingers led by Walter Manfred. Dobromir Spyridonakes once more ordered chanting and the burning of incest. The peasants broke the road below them apart to give themselves simple ammunition to throw before using their farming equipment in melee combat. Dobromir Spyridonakes ordered the assault one hour later the slingers threw three volleys before retreating as the peasants` war cries came closer. The spearmen would maintain their positions and continued fighting until Walter Manfred ordered a retreat in order to use the remaining men to garrison Orounda for a siege. After their second victory the peasants once more celebrated, slaughtered and razed and by February 24 had reached Orounda. However the peasants would later disperse as the siege continued and by March 12 most of the peasants and even Dobromir Spyridonakes himself had left the siege.
The Franks would receive their greatest loss on March 20 when Hugues was assassinated by a servant while he was waiting for an impending victory in his siege as the priests had ran out of supplies a few days before. On March 21 when his funeral was held, a delegate from the priests promising pardons and treasure if the army pledged its loyalty to Innocent and by proxy the priests. The offer was easily offered the tired and leaderless army. Upon hearing of this Leonard Le Puy realize that he could take leadership of the Templars for he had only fought against heresy and not against the priests directly and moved his army to join the rest at Famagusta. Baldwin too heard of Hugues death and knowing that, for fighting against Theodosius, he would be punished tried to escape, but when his army discovered his attempted escape, he was instead strangled and burned. The army would surrender to Theodosius the same day. In the following weeks the vast majority of Franks would pledge their loyalty to the priests with the rest either escaping or setting up holdouts that would be destroyed by Innocent in a decade.
On March 31 Leonard Le Puy was made the leader of the Knights Templar in Cyprus and was accepted as the de facto leader of the other smaller orders. For the next eight years the priests of Famagusta would restore the foreign policy of the Damsel of Cyprus and continue increasing the already massive treasury. The priests and would also attempt to weaken the Comens heresy to no avail with it gaining the support of 20,000 Cypriots by the time that Innocent was crowned emperor at age thirteen in 1214. |
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Mar 10, 2018 9:08:38 GMT
Contentious RegencyMay 1204 - January 1205
On May 5, 1204 the first meeting of the Regency Council met with the most important decision during the regency, at what age Innocent will take the throne, was to be decided. Hugues Fère, knowing that the expulsion of Islamic influence on the island could only happen if his son was on the throne, wanted him to be declared emperor at six. The priests chose eighteen causing a heated discussion that eventually ended with issue being dropped (when Innocent would take the throne would not be decided until 1206) due to Hugues Fère veto power and refusal to compromise. Foreign policy became almost nonexistence with the council`s inability to compromise, but over the next eight months the domestic policies of Hugues Fère and the priests would break Cyprus apart. In August Hugues ordered that the goods of Saracen merchants be repossession and granted to local magnates, this would continue until Theodosius, the strongest supporter of the priests, and the magnates under him invited many of the persecuted merchants into the Kerpass. In October the magnates that had received the repossessed goods, angry at Theodosius, voted and declared Hugues the "Lord of Cyprius genere Francorum" granting him all the land outside of the Kerpass peninsula and Nicosia. In December the priests at Famagusta ousted the local magnate and gave his possessions and titles to themselves. Hugues retaliated by ordering the destruction of Orthodox parishes and began to forcefully convert Cypriots to Catholicism. This caused the start of the Comens Hersey which declared that certain chants would give them victory against the Franks and that Richard the Lionheart, Constantine Comens and Theodosius Comens were angels fighting against the dynasty that had committed the sins of envy and lust through usurpation and avarice by helping the Saracens to gain trade deals. In January Valens, the magnate of Salamis, ordered the killing of all Saracens and heretics. The priests, angered by Hugues` actions during the past months, invited Valens and allowed Comens heretics, who they supported as they too were supporters of Theodosius, to torture and mutilated him. Upon seeing the blinded and noseless, Hugues gathered 3,000 knights and 7,000 infantry from the Knights Templar and other orders and had a Catholic bishop declare a crusade against the Comens heretics and the priests in Famagusta starting what the Franks called "The Cypriot Crusade" and the Cypriots, the "Frankish Revolt."
Cypriot Crusade/Frankish RevoltJanuary 1205 - March 1206
On January 8, 1205 Hugues and his knights declare Cyprius genere Francorum as an independent kingdom with most of the island under his control due to his popularity among the magnates and began their march on Famagusta. The Comens heretics rose up, took control of the northern peninsulas with a small enclave in the middle of Cyprius genere Francorum`s western coast and pledged their loyalty to Theodosius, who despite never acknowledging their support gave orders to never attack them. Theodosius and the magnates who made up the Lordship of Karpass pledged their loyalty to the priests and Emperor Innocent, with Theodosius pledging to burn every Catholic church he came upon.
On January 16, after raiding and burning Orthodox and heretical villages on the way, Hugues arrived at the outskirts of Famagusta and with 1,000 knights and 4,000 infantry besieged the Castles of St. Naum and Abippus with 200 of his knights guarding Castle Ruben to prevent the garrison from sallying out. The rest of his army that he had not taken was divided to fight on the other fronts, 800 knights and 1,000 infantry sent against the heretics and 1,200 knights and 2,000 infantry against Theodosius.
On February 12 the western army, led by Leonard Le Puy, reached the heretical enclave and on the outskirts of the villages in the area were surprised to see that 6,000 peasants, led by Ionxi the Devout, had arrived praying, chanting and marching towards the better armed and armoured Franks. Le Puy sent his 800 knights into a charge against the peasants and within the hour had routed almost the entirety of the army. Ionxi and five hundred devout peasants had stayed and were massacred within twenty minutes. 3,700 peasants fell in order to kill eleven knights, most of which were killed by Ionxi in his final stand.
Six days later the army sent against Theodosius, led by Baldwin of Salamis, was met by Theodosius with his 3,000 infantry, 300 peltasts and 900 light cavalry north of Iskele at the lordship`s border. Theodosius organized his army into three 1,000 infantry sections, two 150 peltast sections with the entirety of the cavalry in the center at the base of the Kyrenia Mountains to force the Frankish army to attack uphill and give his infantry-based army terrain to use as cover. Baldwin marched his infantry uphill in a line with the cavalry divided in half on both sides. The peltasts were sent to harass the knights on the left and right flanks causing two hundred knights to rush forward to attack. The central section of infantry retreated with the peltasts to their front and the knights to their backs. Once the infantry had reached far enough they turned around and fought the knights as parts of the two other sections closed in to surround the knights. After pushing the knights together and massacring them, the infantry strategical redrew and reorganized as the Frankish infantry was slowed down by their heavier armor. Theodosius continued his plan of harassing the knights with peltasts, having the peltasts retreat with the center section and then surrounding and massacring the knights for five more hours, killing an additional two hundred knights, until the Frankish army retired. Theodosius would not press the Franks anymore and chose to instead retreat further into his territory. Baldwin would choose to follow him and met him two days later.
On February 20 Baldwin`s starved and weaken army caught up with Theodosius and pressed an attack. Theodosius had sent three hundred of his light cavalry to harass Baldwin and prevent him from resting for gathering supplies for the previous two days. Theodosius rode out with six hundred cavalry with two sections of 1,900 infantry to his left and 1,100 to his right. Baldwin with his remaining eight hundred knights rushed towards Theodosius who stayed in place as his infantry approached. Baldwin reached Theodosius and after killing half of cavalry and coming close to killing Theodosius, was forced back by the approach of Theodosius` infantry who he feared would surround and massacre him. Upon seeing their leader retreat with his strongest units, the already demoralized infantry routed as Theodosius finally ordered his much lighter infantry to rush towards the routing units. Theodosius would allow the men he had not killed to return to Cyprius genere Francorum as he had killed sixty knights and nine hundred infantry to his losses of three hundred cavalry and one hundred fifty infantry.
On March 3 after spending the past nineteen days assessing his situation in the region and deciding if he should launch a campaign against the heretics in the most westward peninsula with his rather small army or he should wait for Hugues` victory in Famagusta to receive reinforcements against a large peasant army, Leonard marched his army to the areas under heretical control and upon seeing an army of 8,000 - 9,000 peasants chose to send out three hundred infantry to test the army willingness to fight. The peasants rushed and quickly overtook and killed seventy Franks before Le Puy`s infantry retreated. Le Puy retreated from the area and instead chose to fortify the areas under Frankish control and wait for a peasant army to attack.
In the ensuing months Le Puy would build palisades in the villages near heretical areas, Baldwin would head towards Famagusta to ask for reinforcements from Hugues` army, Hugues would continue his siege of Famagusta and its castles and continue his strategy of starving the garrisons, the heretics would celebrate their "major" victory and the pushing back of the Franks and Theodosius` victories in the Kyrenia mountains and Theodosius would continue guarding the Kyrenia mountains until Baldwin left the area and then moved back to Iskele.
On October 16 after serving with Hugues and taking St. Naum, Baldwin was given four hundred knights and one thousand infantry as Hugues continued the Siege of Famajusta.
Four days later Baldwin reached the city of Iskele and laid siege to it. Theodosius had sent out six hundred cavalry to raid the Frankish lands and draw men away from Baldwin`s force, but Baldwin was afraid of weakening his force and chose to allow the raids to continue instead.
On December 25 a priest in Agia Eirini organized the peasantry into an army, rousing them with a story that Richard and Constantine had come to him in a dream to tell him that if Orounda was taken, the Franks would recede and sink into the sea. Over the weeks Dobromir Spyridonakes` peasant army surged with every village he went to and eventually reached 4,900 by January 20, 1206. After marching down the plains between the Kyrenia and Troodos mountain ranges for two days the peasant army was met by a small Frankish army of levy spearmen that numbered around eight hundred. After chanting and burning incest the peasants scrambled towards the Franks and easily routed the demoralized Franks with their war cries and massacred six hundred of them. For the next two weeks Dobromir Spyridonakes and his peasants would celebrate, slaughter Catholics and raze all Frankish structures before continuing their march.
On February 5 Dobromir Spyridonakes was again met by a Frankish force, but this time much larger with 1,000 levy spearmen and 1,200 slingers led by Walter Manfred. Dobromir Spyridonakes once more ordered chanting and the burning of incest. The peasants broke the road below them apart to give themselves simple ammunition to throw before using their farming equipment in melee combat. Dobromir Spyridonakes ordered the assault one hour later the slingers threw three volleys before retreating as the peasants` war cries came closer. The spearmen would maintain their positions and continued fighting until Walter Manfred ordered a retreat in order to use the remaining men to garrison Orounda for a siege. After their second victory the peasants once more celebrated, slaughtered and razed and by February 24 had reached Orounda. However the peasants would later disperse as the siege continued and by March 12 most of the peasants and even Dobromir Spyridonakes himself had left the siege.
The Franks would receive their greatest loss on March 20 when Hugues was assassinated by a servant while he was waiting for an impending victory in his siege as the priests had ran out of supplies a few days before. On March 21 when his funeral was held, a delegate from the priests promising pardons and treasure if the army pledged its loyalty to Innocent and by proxy the priests. The offer was easily offered the tired and leaderless army. Upon hearing of this Leonard Le Puy realize that he could take leadership of the Templars for he had only fought against heresy and not against the priests directly and moved his army to join the rest at Famagusta. Baldwin too heard of Hugues death and knowing that, for fighting against Theodosius, he would be punished tried to escape, but when his army discovered his attempted escape, he was instead strangled and burned. The army would surrender to Theodosius the same day. In the following weeks the vast majority of Franks would pledge their loyalty to the priests with the rest either escaping or setting up holdouts that would be destroyed by Innocent in a decade.
On March 31 Leonard Le Puy was made the leader of the Knights Templar in Cyprus and was accepted as the de facto leader of the other smaller orders. For the next eight years the priests of Famagusta would restore the foreign policy of the Damsel of Cyprus and continue increasing the already massive treasury. The priests and would also attempt to weaken the Comens heresy to no avail with it gaining the support of 20,000 Cypriots by the time that Innocent was crowned emperor at age thirteen in 1214. A nice map of Cyprus and another good update. |
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jon698
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Post by jon698 on Mar 10, 2018 20:10:01 GMT
Destruction of the Chi-Rho March 1214 - June 1214
On March 8, 1214 Emperor Innocent had a dream where upon destroying a chi-rho the ground beneath him rose up. He believed that it symbolized that if he defeated Theodosius, whose father shared his name with Emperor Constantine who used the symbol on his military standard, he would be able to expand his empire across the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean seas. Innocent would spend the next three months building up his army by increasing the levies, recruiting knights that had formerly fought against his regents eight years ago and ordered the improvements to roads that connected Famagusta and Iskele. On May 29 he ordered that Theodosius join him in Famagusta with his army, planning to attack him as he crossed one of the bridges on the way. However by the time that Theodosius reached Famagusta a revolt had broken out in the countryside, forcing Innocent to have Theodosius fight with him. Kyrenia RevoltJune 1214 - November 1214
Throughout April and May Dobromir Spyridonakes preached to the peasantry, telling them that the return of Christ was approaching and that they would form the ranks of his heavenly army. The peasantry were roused when Theodosius began his journey to Famagusta and Dobromir traveled the countryside, gathering supporters as he told the villagers that Theodosius angelic army was heading to destroy the Frankish Innocent and his army comprised of knights that had killed the devout years earlier. His army soon surged to 12,000 and on June 4 his "army of God" had broken through the unsuspecting garrison of the town of Kyrenia. Upon hearing of the revolt, Leonard Le Puy, one of Hugues former generals and now one of Innocent`s, implored Innocent to hold off fighting Theodosius in order to put down the heretics unless more peasants join if he was defeated by Theodosius in battle. On June 9 Theodosius and Innocent marched off towards Kyrenia with 13,000 men, 3,500 knights and 3,000 infantry under Innocent and 4,000 infantry and 1,500 light cavalry under Theodosius. After marching for two days the army was met by Dobromir at the town of Halevga. During the chanting of the peasants Innocent, Le Puy and Theodosius began organizing the army. The seven thousand infantry were formed into a line with every section of one thousand men having three sections, six hundred men would hold their positions and the four hundred remaining men moved back to form a crescent. The five thousand knights and light cavalry were to be divided with two thousand on each flank and the remaining one thousand under Le Puy were to be sent around Halevga to attack the peasants from behind. After one hour the peasants were ordered by Dobromir to break the Franks as they had done eight years ago and as the middle sections of each infantry section retreated the peasants would eagerly march forward believing that Theodosius` men would break rank and help them defeat the Franks. However soon the peasants were surrounded by Theodosius` men and were being killed in the thousands starting a general rout. Dobromir and another one thousand peasants were cut down by the knights from his rear and at the end of day eight thousand peasants had been killed and nine hundred infantry died with most of them being from Theodosius` army. Innocent sent Theodosius and Leonard out to hunt down the remaining heretics and over the next five months the numbers of the Comens heretics fell below one thousands and when Kyrenia fell to Le Puy he slaughter the populace by the hundreds and gain the title "The Heretic Slayer", but despite continued persecution under Innocent`s reign the heresy would never be fully stamped out and would continue its existence in the villages in the Kyrenia and Troodos mountains for the next one hundred years. Magnate UprisingDecember 1214 - January 1215
On December 8 Theodosius was informed by one of Innocent`s ministers that Innocent was planning to kill him and take over the lordship. Angered by this betrayal and in control of a strengthen army after mopping up the heretics, Theodosius rose up and with the additional support of the magnates of the Kormakitis peninsula started the Magnate Revolt. Wanting to gain vengeance against the House of Komnenos for what was done to his father, Valens II, the magnate of Salamis, rallied the support of the surrounding magnates and formed the Oligarchy of Salamis with him as its leader. In the southwest the Franks that were still holding out from the Cypriot Crusade heard of this uprising and did so too, but only played a negligible role in the war. Innocent quickly organized his army and marched out with Le Puy towards Salamis to put down Valens II and planned to march on Iskele afterwards, but Theodosius shared the same plan and marched on Salamis. On December 10 the armies of Theodosius, Innocent and Valens II met each other at Salamis. Theodosius, with 3,300 infantry and 1,500 light cavalry, organized his army in front of Innocent and his army of 3,500 knights and 2,900 infantry as Valens and his 1,300 peltasts and 300 light cavalry looked on from the protection of Salamis. Innocent organized his infantry into four ranks of infantry in close order in the front and four ranks of infantry in close order at the back with one thousand of his knights, under Le Puy`s leadership, formed into three groups of three hundred to be in wedge formations to break Theodosius` infantry line while the rest were to be held for later use. Theodosius formed his army into ten cavalry groups of one hundred fifty men to stay behind the infantry in six groups of six hundred sixty men in crescent formation with the bend in front of the arcs and wait for a break in Innocent`s line to break. Valens II gave orders for his peltasts to fire upon anyone that came close to the town and kept himself and his cavalry near the gates to escape if Theodosius, who would be more gracious to Valens, started losing the battle. After three hours of organizing Innocent ordered a general march towards Theodosius with Theodosius following suit. Le Puy launched an assault on Theodosius` left flank with seven hundred knights to attack six hundred sixty infantry and the one hundred fifty light cavalry behind them. The front section of the infantry crescent attempted to fall back and allow the rest to surround the knights, but instead disorganized the formation as they were changing their position too early for the rest of the infantry to surround the knights. The infantry and cavalry fought a small skirmish with Le Puy before routing after losing two hundred infantry and ninety cavalry. Theodosius quickly order the two sections closest to Le Puy to form a defensive line to protect the others. After failing to break through the line, Le Puy retreated to the rest of Innocent`s army as the infantry right flanks were successfully breaking through Innocent`s lines and were disorganizing the surrounding units. After wreaking havoc and inflicting heavy casualties while taking minor losses, the two sections retreated and reorganized themselves as Le Puy was coming. Upon seeing both the retreat of Theodosius` infantry, and mistakenly taking it as a general rout due to Le Puy`s earlier victory, and the arrival of more knights Valens II realized that if he helped Innocent mop up the remainder of Theodosius` army he could be given forgiveness by Innocent. Valens ordered lead his cavalry towards Theodosius` infantry and quickly disorganized and routed the unprepared men. With more of the army falling apart the rest of the infantry broke and were chased down by knights. According to Comens priests Theodosius, upon seeing the cowardice of his men, leapt off his horse and as he approached the oncoming knights and infantry cut down the routing men that came close enough. When he reached Innocent`s infantry he began cutting them down, protected from their blows by angels, and would continue to do so until he was surrounded for then the angels took him and rose to heaven. After the fighting was over Theodosius, who had died during the fighting, but his body was never found, had lost 1,800 infantry and 800 cavalry to Innocent`s 1,400 infantry and 200 knights. Valens was given Theodosius` title of the Lord of Karpass for helping Innocent, but Innocent would order the execution of the magnates who had supported him and two years later Valens would be poisoned. Innocent and Le Puy would spend the remainder of the Magnate Revolt fighting the Frankish holdouts who easily fell to Innocent`s much larger army, the largest holdout army only had one hundred knights and three hundred infantry. After defeating the Franks Innocent would prohibit the magnates from hiring mercenaries or forming armies from the local populace and forced all magnates to report to local administrators the amount of people on their payroll. |
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jon698
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Post by jon698 on Mar 11, 2018 1:15:53 GMT
The Development of Cyprus and the τα οχυρά του Θεού April 1215 - March 1216
 Following the Kyrenia and Magnate revolts Innocent saw that his empire lacked the necessary fortifications that his regents had used a decade earlier to gain victory in the Frankish revolt. He also saw that he needed a system of churches that was dependent on him to be used to lead the populace away from heresy and on April 6, 1215 he commanded the development of τα οχυρά του Θεού (forts of God) along with the improvements of dirt roads between Famagusta, Nicosia, Iskele, Orounda, Kolossi, Akamas and Kyrenia. The plans involved building three hundred fifty miles of stone roads across the plains and the Kyrenia and Troodos mountains so that Innocent could travel easily throughout the island from any point if it was needed and in order to maintain stability in the region and supply any army, every five miles a οχυρά του Θεού would be built. The people in charge of the military and religious functions would be captains and priests selected by the emperor himself and local administrators would be given housing in the building. Each οχυρά του Θεού would be allocated one hundred light infantry, twenty priests and five horseback messengers. Over the next twelve months eleven thousand silver marks were spent in the construction of Innocent`s plans with minor opposition rising up to attempt to stop its completion. After the completion of the seventy οχυρά του Θεού no major insurrection would occur for one hundred years and many of the future invaders would be hampered by these. Karpathos And Syrna
July 1216
After spending the past two years cementing his rule, eliminating the threat of the magnates, Franks, and peasants, developing Cyprus and expanding his army Innocent was now able in 1216 to fulfill his vision and expand is empire across the Mediterranean and Aegean seas. On July 2, 1216 Innocent, Leonard Le Puy and Valens II boarded alongside an army of 1,000 knights, 800 light cavalry, 1,400 heavy infantry, 1,000 light infantry, 400 peltasts and archers and 2,000 craftsmen heading towards the Venetian controlled Dodekanissos archipelago. Ten days later the navy reached Karpathos, the second largest island in the archipelago, and landed close to Olympos. Innocent sent an ultimatum to the Venetians commanding them to surrender and join his empire. The Venetians gathered their weapons and organized the mercenaries that were in the area. The Venetians chose Enrico Gradenigo, an experienced mercenary who had fought in the Fourth Crusade, to lead the defense. Innocent ordered the 2,400 infantry to surround Olympos, Le Puy was in command of 1,700 cavalry and Valens II was given command of a negligible 100 light cavalry and were ordered to patrol the lines in case of the 900 Venetians sallying out. Innocent sent five hundred craftsmen to mine under the walls and within five days ten percent of the wooden walls had collapsed. On July 23 forty Venetian merchants traveling towards Constantinople stopped at Olympos and were quickly captured by the Cypriots. Realizing that his defenses had become indefensible and with the threat of merchants being executed, Enrico gave in to Innocent`s demands and left Olympos with the garrison and traveled to Athens using the merchant`s ships. Innocent then garrisoned the town with five hundred light infantry under the command of Valens and sent one thousand five hundred of his craftsmen to work building stone walls before he left with the remainder of his army towards Syrna. On July 26 Innocent was nearing the shore of Syrna was he was informed of a nearby and smaller merchant fleet. Innocent disembarked his knights, sending them to alert the garrison causing it to notice the upcoming attack. When the merchants came within the view of the Venetian trading post Innocent launched his assault and within the hour the entirety of the merchant fleet was sunk with few casualties on his side. The Venetians realized that outside help would not be able to break the Cypriot blockade and surrendered without a fight and would be given ships to sail to Athens. Despite having taken control of multiple islands under Venetian control and having attacked two groups of Venetian merchants, the Republic of Venice did not contest Innocent`s campaign due to the profitable trade the Venetians had in Cyprus and since he had allowed the garrisons to sail to areas under Venetian influence. |
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jon698
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Post by jon698 on Mar 11, 2018 21:49:03 GMT
Venetian-Cypriot War
March 1217 - August 1221
After reorganizing the islands Karpathos and Syrna into supply bases Innocent was able to start the campaign that he had sought for the past three years. The Duchy of the Archipelago held the most strategic position in the Aegean Sea as whoever controlled the Cyclades archipelago could control the trade coming to and from Constantinople and the Black Sea. On March 3, 1217 Innocent and Le Puy left the Dodekanissos archipelago and sailed towards the administrative and military center of the duchy, Naxos, with 1,200 knights, 300 light cavalry, 1,800 heavy infantry, 1,500 light infantry and 600 peltasts. On his way to Naxos Innocent took the islands of Paros, Antiparos, Milos, Sifnos, Kythnos, Ios, Amorgos, Kimolos, Sikinos, Syros, and Pholegandros as they were the personal possessions of Duke Marco I Sanudo.
Innocent reached Naxos after six days of sailing and issued an ultimatum to Sanudo ordering him to transfer his vassalage from the Republic of Venice to the Empire of the Orient. Sanudo, knowing that the Cypriots couldn`t take Naxos by themselves, rejected the demand. Le Puy was put in charge of 2,500 infantry and was sent to besiege the three land walls while Innocent lead the navy to blockade and attempt landings from the sea. Sanudo stood a better chance than the defenders of Karpathos as he could distribute his 700 heavy infantry and 1,200 light infantry across three walls while his 80 strong galley navy could stand against the 60 Cypriot galleys. Ten Venetian galleys were able to break through the Cypriot blockade and began their voyage to inform the Doge and the Great Council of Venice of the Cypriot attack. In late March a Genoese fleet of 50 ships containing 300 light infantry and 100 crossbowmen intercepted the Venetian galleys. The commander of the Genoese realized that if he gave his country control of the trade in Cyprus he would be given praise and promotions and attacked and sank one of the Venetian galleys, allowing the rest to escape to while he sailed to Naxos. In early April the Genoese reached Naxos and upon seeing the Cypriots, weaken and demoralized after losing hundreds in failed assaults to the Venetians tens, offered to help Innocent break the Venetian fleet in exchange for exclusive trading rights in Cyprus and the right to take any Venetian land outside of the Aegean. Innocent accepted and with the support of the Genoese, broke the Venetian galleys and after a few hours of fighting the numerically stronger armies captured both Naxos and Sanudo. Sanudo was once more given the option to accept the ultimatum with the added demand of removing all duties on Genoese merchants. After Sanudo accepted the ultimatum, Innocent took control of Paros, Antiparos, Milos, Sifnos, Kythnos, Ios, Amorgos, Kimolos and Naxos for himself, leaving the rest for Sanudo to keep.
A few days before the fall of Naxos the nine remaining galleys reached Venice and the Great Council of Venice declared war on both the Republic of Genoa and the Empire the Orient causing Genoa to do so to Venice in retaliation. The Venetians organized an navy of 250 ships to sail 10,000 men to retake the Cyclades and Dodekanissos and to then directly attack Cyprus. The Genoese sent an additional 60 ships and 4,000 men to Innocent as they planned an invasion of Athens, Crete or Morea.
In early May the Venetian fleet was spotted in the Sea of Crete causing the Genoese and Innocent to organize their navies abruptly to combat the threat. On May 7 the Venetians and the combined navies of Genoa and Cyprus met each other off the coast of Kythira. The Genoese attempted to force the Venetians closer to the shore, but the Venetians refused to throw away their numerical advantage. The navies would continue at this stalemate for three hours until Innocent ordered ten of his galleys to attack and attempt to disorganize the Venetians. The captains of the ships tried to set fire and damage the ores and sails of the Venetians, but had to head back after losing eight galleys to one Venetian ship sunk and two partially damaged. Innocent and the Genoese admiral chose to withdraw and attempt to attack the Venetians later in the Cyclades where their numerical advantage could be lost. However, the Venetian in charge of the expedition chose to change his plans from attacking the Cyclades and Dodekanissos and then heading to Cyprus to attacking Cyprus directly now that it was cut off from Innocent`s main army.
The Venetians continued their voyage to Crete and garrisoned it with 4,000 men if Innocent was to attack while they were in Cyprus and left in late June, planning to land at Akamas, march to Orounda and then take Famagusta with Iskele to be attacked if Innocent refused to surrender. On July 8 the 6,000 Venetians landed on the shore of Akamas and were met by an ungarrisoned town and took Akamas without any opposition. The Venetians gathered supplies and continued their march to Orounda for five miles before they came across a τα οχυρά του Θεού which fired upon seeing the Venetians. The Venetians laid siege to the fortification, but as the main quarters of the garrison was placed in an area where rams and mining couldn`t be used were stuck fighting one hundred light infantry and twenty priests for three months.
The siege of the τα οχυρά του Θεού was ended when an army composed of 5,600 light infantry, 80 percent from each τα οχυρά του Θεού, and 500 light cavalry surprised the Venetian camp forcing a disorganized retreat. The Venetian commander was able to reorganize 4,000 men and launched a counter attack against the reinforcements and the garrison which by now had sallied out. The lighter Cypriots were able to avoid the better armed and armored Venetians as the light cavalry cut down any who were separated from the main group. After losing thousands the Venetians began a forced night march to save what little men they had. Over the next weeks the Venetians would slowly move back to Akamas and after reaching their galleys sailed back to Crete in late August with only 1,600 men.
The Venetian, Genoese and Cypriots would the spend the next months building up their forces while fighting small navy skirmishes that mostly ended with ships being partially damaged and few casualties following stalemates.
In March 1218 Valens II was given permission by Innocent to lead an expedition in the Duchy of Athens with 1,100 light infantry and 700 hundred Genoese crossbowmen. Valens reached the Attica peninsula within two days and built palisades to defend his camp at Vravrona. Othon de la Roche quickly organized 800 knights to combat the expedition and by March 12 had reached the outside of Valens` camp. Valens lead his army out of the camp, leaving 300 hundred of the Genoese back in the camp, Formed a simple line to fight the numerically weaker Othon. Othon, however, organized his knights into four two hundred men groups that took a wedge formation and after twenty minutes of organization, ordered a charge. The knights broke through the light infantry causing a general retreat that prevented the crossbowmen from firing. As Valens and his army escaped to their camp, it caught fire causing the remaining 1,400 infantry and crossbowmen to dash towards the sea to swim away. Following a massacre on the beach the knights returned to Athens after killing 700 light infantry and 400 Genoese crossbowmen. Valens would later be poisoned during a military council and died in July with his title "Lord of Karpass" being passed onto a Genoese merchant before it was given to one of Innocent`s sons.
The Massacre of Attica stalled the land campaigns that Innocent and the Genoese had planed to do in Attica and the Morea which lead to most of 1218 being spent fighting naval campaigns.
In July Othon sent twenty galleys to harass Genoese merchant and Cypriot supply ships in the Cyclades and after a month of raiding were met by thirty Cypriot ships. The Athenian admiral, despite having less men, kept his fleet in the open straights as the Cypriots came closer. The Athenians were lead by their largest galley and when it reached the Cypriots it was set on fire, causing five Cypriot ships to catch fire with three of them sinking, and the remaining nineteen began boarding the captain`s ship. The Athenians threw fire onto the ships trying to reinforce the captain, sinking one, and continued fighting until the Cypriots had destroyed six Athenian ships. The Athenians fled, but the Cypriots could not follow suit as the damage sustain to the fleet was too much to continue fighting without repairs.
The remainder of the year would spent by the Genoese and Cypriots fighting off Venetian raids in the Cyclades and the Sea of Crete and vice versa. The Genoese would capture Kythira in December and would use it as a base for raids into the Morea.
In April 1219 the Genoese besieged Corfu with 800 heavy infantry mercenaries, 600 crossbowmen and 300 Cypriot light infantry against the 500 heavy Venetian infantry. The Genoese and Cypriots attempted to mine under the walls, but stopped their attempts after difficulty with flooding. The besiegers would chose to instead starve the Venetians out and would wait fifteen months for the city to finally run out of supplies.
In August 1220 Pope Honorius III authorized attacks on Venice, which was not participating in the Fifth Crusade, after Genoa, which was participating in the Fifth Crusade, pleaded and then threatened to abandon the crusaders in Egypt. From October 1220 to May 1221 the Venetian army and navy defending Venice would be preoccupied with fighting armies that had come from states in the Holy Roman Empire that chose not to participate in the crusade.
In May 1221 the Genoese and Cypriots sailed to Venice and landed outside of the city with 3,500 light infantry, 2,000 heavy infantry, 2,500 peltasts and crossbowmen and 500 dismounted knights and surrounded the city from land and sea to besiege the 3,000 heavy infantry and 6,000 light infantry inside. The besiegers chose to build a causeway to reach the city and as they were building it the Genoese galleys would be used to defend it by traditional methods and by using heated sand and boiling water against Venetian sailors. In early June 3,000 Venetians sailed out during the night and attacked the armies, damaged the causeway and retreated with minimal causalities after killing nine hundred soldiers. The Venetians would continue this strategy throughout June, killing three thousand soldiers, until mounting casualties made it untenable. By early July the besiegers had taken control of several of the islands that made up Venice and were setting fires using oil to damage the areas not under their control. The Venetians used fire ships to destroy tens of Genoese and transport ships with night attacks returning with the Venetians setting fire to areas under the besiegers control. By early August both sides had reached a stalemate and sign a treaty where the Venetians would pay for Cyprus` war costs, which were only 10,000 silver marks, instead of the total cost of 50,000, would have Corfu returned to their control and would be allowed to keep their trade in Cyprus.
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