Chapter 77: Two Young Emperors (1234-1237)
"Simple but studious": young Fylkir Toste IV aged around 15, undertaking one of his lessons in stewardship. He evidently took his studies seriously, even though his limited intelligence and physical frailty meant he was never going to be a shining example of the strong Viking leader. [Leonardo AI, Phoenix 1.0, text prompt]
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Raiding in Egypt and Palestine: 1234-37
While the new war in support of Basileus Alexandros against ‘heretic’ rebels would be conducted in parallel, this would have virtually no effect on the conduct of the extensive raiding program by the Empire’s professional armies. Levies would conduct the war, while the Guard would refloat the dangerously eroded treasury.
In 1233-35, raids continued or started in Acre, Quena, Fustat, Aswan, Aksum, Asqalan and Darum and were finished by the end of 1236. Other than the odd small-scale skirmish with local troops, the main events during this time were the discovery of a key for one of those locked chests in Aswan in September 1235, which yielded a bonus of 200 gold. The other was a battle in Quena where a Suhailid army sought to defeat one of the dispersed raiding contingents and thus end the Russian raiding of their territory.
The danger was first spotted on 9 September 1236, with a large Suhailid army approaching Quena. On the 14th, Sigtrygg’s even larger army in Aswan finished its latest siege (where the key to the chest had been found) and then marched north to relieve his comrades.
The Russian defenders in Quena, commanded by Jomsvikings, would have to hold out for two weeks before the relief column would arrive. They were heavily outnumbered and the Suhailid attack was strongest in the centre. By 27 September, the centre had broken while the right held on desperately in a fierce melee, shortening their line in an attempt to hold out for the promised relief.
In this they were successful: when Sygtrygg arrived the pursuing enemy centre was itself struck by a strong counter-charge. Enemy casualties began to mount at the same time Russian morale had rallied. After a tough fight, the raid was saved and the field won on 16 October.
The Suhailids tried again at Fustat in April 1236, this time with a reduced army against defenders they only outnumbered by around 500. The Russians only manned two flanks and by 28 April the enemy melee was being pressed, with the centre again under heavy pressure. But this time the approaching relief army, under General Folki, numbered almost twice the original enemy host.
When they smashed into the tiring Suhailid ranks on 5 May the effect was overwhelming and instant: the whole enemy front broke into a panicked retreat. Russian casualties were even heavier this time, but the raid was again secured and the last Suhailid field army of any size badly smashed. They would not make a third attempt.
New raids started in 1236 in Buhairya and Hayya (both finished in the first half on 1237), in Akordat and Dotawo and then in 1237 in Asyut, Nubia and Tadjura, all five of these ongoing in August 1237. All these raids in total saw almost 50 holdings sacked, almost 4,400 raiders die in the sieges and thousands of gold added to the treasury.
By May 1237 smallpox was rampant through the entire area of the raid, but the exercise continued without change. By August, two new raids were initiated south of those indicated in the map below (the statistic relate to the entire period through to August 1237).
During this period, the budget balance had varied – mainly due to reinforcement rates for the retinues, which were increased back to the maximum rate once the treasury was deemed sufficiently refilled in April 1235. Income (other than raiding) remained fairly steady over this time. Steward and Regent Barid had presided over a period of treasury repair and retinue rejuvenation and was able to hand over a strong treasury hoard in August 1237, when Toste would reach his maturity.
Barid with the ‘golden hoard’ in Nygarðr, August 1237. [Leonardo AI, Phoenix 1.0, text prompt]
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Byzantine Civil War: 1234-35
Russia became involved in the Byzantine Civil War for Gavelkind in April 1234 to support Alexandros IV as a Germanic Basileus fighting an Orthodox-led rebellion in support of their alliance. With eh Guard off raiding in Egypt and Palestine, the fighting would be left to vassal levies within reasonable range of the various theatres – mainly in the trans-Danubian Balkans, also one army sent down to Tunisia.
[Inset: Leonardo AI, Phoenix 1.0, text prompt]
This time, no Imperial demesne troops were called out, in order to save troop support costs. The main potential cost was the goodwill of the Russian magnates so summoned. If the war could be concluded quickly, little or no ill will would be generated. Over 90,000 levies were mustered.
The first troops were approaching the Byzantine border in Croatia and on the Black Sea costs at Karvuna by mid-July. At that time, the main Byzantine army of around 6,300 was being by over 11,000 rebel troops at Dorylaion in central Anatolia. It is estimated around 2,400 Loyalist and 900 Rebels were killed, giving the Revolt first blood.
But the score was more than evened up when the castle in Rebel Raugia
[11.3% warscore] was taken by Russian troops on 6 August, for the loss of around 192 besiegers. And a rebel regiment was wiped out in a skirmish in Mesembria a few weeks later by a large Russian army that blundered into them as they were besieging its rebel-held castle.
By October 1234, Russia had seven rebel counties under siege across the Balkans and in southern Italy. A Russian army of over 9,700 men had pushed south to besiege Adrianopolis in September and by 22 October were alerted to a somewhat larger rebel army under Count Apollonius approaching from Kaliopolis to its south. To be safe, a smaller force besieging Mesembria was ordered to join them.
Even before the reinforcements arrived on 7 November, the Russians had gained the upper hand in the centre and left, though had been losing ground on the right, where they were still outnumbered.
Though the Russians took some significant casualties, the rebel losses were far higher and a major victory was won, swinging the war more clearly in favour of the Loyalist cause, even as the victorious Vikings celebrated on the field of battle.
[Inset: Leonardo AI, Phoenix 1.0, text prompt]
By February 1235 the main theatre was set and it became a race between the two sides to see who could win the most sieges. Russia’s support meant the loyalists would quickly gain the upper hand. By this time, Russia had fully occupied Raugia and had ten other counties under siege (including Neapolis and Gaeta in Italy).
On 14 April 1235, the rebel leader Despot Pantoleon ‘the Holy’ knew his cause was lost: he surrendered to the Basileus and was imprisoned. Alexandros was pleased with the Russian support but still rankled at having been called into the previous war. The Russians would be a little bit more careful in making such requests in the future, on an ‘only if really needed’ basis.
This relatively brief war had seen two major battles, one involving the Russians and over 3,200 levies lost in sieges, with a little plunder taken along the way as each of the 14 rebel holdings taken fell.
It didn’t take long for Alexandros to come down hard on his vassals, forcing more conversions and issuing revocations against former enemies, one example being Queen Eustathia of Sicily. They considered him to be a cowardly and cruel tyrant, while he despised them as unforgiven traitors.
The consequences of this were soon made obvious, with a rebel ‘continuation war’ soon launched.
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2nd Byzantine Civil War: 1235-37
On 30 July 1235 Alexandros revoked another county from the defeated rebel leader Pantoleon but provoked a new rebellion the next day when demanding a vassal retraction from Doux Eudokimos II of Epirus, who now became the rebel leader against his tyranny.
Their demesne and vassal levy bases were almost identical, but Alexandros had been badly depleted from recent losses and was outnumbered by almost three-to-one. Once again, the call to arms was sent to ‘Great Emperor’ and Fylkir Toste and was accepted in aid of his ‘Brother in Odin’. A similar number of vassal levy troops from similar locations were mustered as for the recent war.
By early November, the rebel cause was ahead
[12.5% warscore] simply by still being in control of all their holdings. It would take a while to rectify that. Dorostotum, just over the Danube, was the first rebel stronghold besieged soon afterwards.
Then, an attack on Rama was led by leading Russian general Sigtrygg on 24 January 1236 to clear out a rebel vassal army and commence a siege by 7 February just as King Päiviö’s reinforcing army joined in. An easy victory was won
[though it did nothing to advance he warscore].
The siege program expanded through to April, where two more clearing skirmishes saw the small enemy contingents wiped out.
By then Dorostotum, Rama, Gaeta, Nikopolis, Naissos, Salerno, Lychnidos and Strymon were all under Russian siege. But the enemy still had not lost a holding so remained well ahead in the bargaining stakes.
This changed on 3 May with the fall of the castle of Dorostotum to Russian levies, putting the balance very slightly in the Loyalist’s favour
[+2% warscore]. By 1 June, the main rebel army, numbering a little over 19,000 men, had been sighted in central Anatolia, making for Dorylaion.
A month later the war was once more settling into a siege competition, with the Russians keeping the Loyalists in the game and just ahead.
Mahdia in Tunisia was under siege by then, with Russian levies assisting a Byzantine force leading the operation. Sigtrygg would seek to elevate the tempo by advancing on the rebel capital of Árta, arriving there on 7 September.
The strategy was paying off by early November, as more rebel holdings fell. It was a week after Prince Bersi arrived in Kaliopolis with a strong force on 13 November that a similarly sized rebel army was sighted just over the strait to the south, with another even larger force following up through eastern Anatolia.
Hoping to be able to hold the favourable position until reinforcements could arrive – a tactic repeatedly used during this period both in Greece and Egypt – Bersi held his ground.
In early December the main rebel army, under Eudokimos himself (a very skilled commander), was already crossing the strait to Kaliopolis. The Russian army in Strymon was ordered to march as soon as their siege of Skopje was finished, while those in Naissos and Nikopolis were already in motion. It would be a race to see if Bersi could hold long enough for these reinforcements to arrive.
The battle was joined at Madtya in Kaliopolis on 17 December, with the initial skirmishing quite even despite the great disparity in numbers. Notably however, as these were Russian levies rather than the elite Guard armies off in raiding in Egypt, the skill and equipment levels were closer to the average standards of the time.
By the end of December and into early January, Prince Bersi’s centre broke and then so did the left and right as the casualties mounted. With the enemy due to push on to Adrianopolis anyway, the first reinforcement army made the fateful decision to keep on marching in the hope they could turn the battle enough for the next two armies to close up.
Arriving on 9 January, as Eudokimos’ pursuit of Bersi’s army was nearing its end, the Russian reinforcements briefly delayed the enemy but were soon also routed, having found themselves simply reinforcing defeat. On 18 January, the rout began after one of the worst Russian defeats in many decades: a bloodbath where over 10,000 Russian levies perished.
Inset: defeated Russian stragglers retreat along an old Roman road after the Battle of Madyta, January 1237. [Leonardo AI, Phoenix 1.0, text prompt]
The next Russian army turned around in Adrianopolis and sought to withdraw to their compatriots now waiting in Moesia, but would not be able to escape in time, as yet another sizeable rebel army approached Thrake.
The ensuing defeat in Adrianopolis on 18 January 1237 saw another 1,000 Russian troops killed, but only in the pursuit as contact was broken immediately on engagement outside Skalothe.
Another 16,000 levies from the Kingdom of Könugarðr were mustered in Belo Ozero on 1 February and began their long trek to the front. Meanwhile, the retreat to Moesia was completed on the 12th as Bersi’s shattered army headed towards Sigtrygg’s main army encamped in Árta.
The now joined Russian field army in the north under veteran General Einarr shadowed the similarly united rebel army of now almost 27,000 men as it also headed to their capital along the Aegean coast. If necessary, they would join with Sigtrygg for a decisive showdown with the rebels, though their inland route may take longer to navigate.
During this period, only the sieges of Gaeta, Salerno, Mahdia and Árta continued for the Russians, with the Byzantine main army just to their north. On 5 March another of the Russian subsidiary armies reached Nikopolis and would restart the siege there
[warscore at +62%].
As it happened, there was no great showdown - a great relief for Sigtrygg, who would have been force to withdraw in advance of the rebels' arrival. Eudokimos sued for peace and on 17 March 1237 the 2nd Byzantine Civil War of this period ended in his surrender. Alexandros was again happy with the support and though battle casualties this time round were very heavy, the sieges were not so costly even though more holdings were taken than in the previous war.
And despite these casualties, because they were vassal levies no upkeep was charged and there would be no increased replacement costs to refill the ranks. All this would be borne by the magnates used and the war was again over quickly enough for only minimal resentment to have grown.
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Domestic, Vassal and Foreign Affairs: 1234-37
The reason for the large numbers of Mongol troops ranging south through Egypt was discovered in July 1234: a Shi’a Caliphate rising in Abyssinia against Suhailid Badshah Asim II the Unready had drawn the Mongols in as an ally! This meant most of the Mongol army was far away from the homeland seeking to retrieve the Badshah’s losing position
[-27% warscore]. This would eventually be done, but the details were of little interest to the Russian court and are lost to history.
Old King Dan of Noregr died of consumption aged 70 in October 1234. The new King Gunnarr’s heir Kolbjörn was soon betrothed to Toste’s 11-year-old half-sister Iliana to cement a non-aggression pact and take Noregr back out of the pagan defensive pact.
Basileus Alexandros came of age in November 1234 and, though he was Germanic and keen to marry, there were no eligible Rurikid candidates left. The Regency slightly regretted the earlier match with Noregr but did not seek to break it: the Byzantine alliance was well locked in by that stage anyway.
In vassal news, the big event of 1235 was the conclusion of the claim by King Haraldr (now of Aquitaine) to retake Italy from his young kinsman Knut. His victory gave him a massive realm, making him now the clear second strongest ruler in the realm after the Emperor himself. Knut was forced to swear fealty as a jarl, retaining two jarldoms of his old kingdom.
Inset: Knut swears fealty to King Haraldr ‘the Pious’ at spearpoint, Modena, 21 February 1235. [Leonardo AI, Phoenix 1.0, text prompt]
Factionalism remained negligible through 1235 under the watchful eye of Regent Barid and would remain so for the rest of his term – which lasted without further turmoil until Toste’s majority in August 1237.
Another ‘background conquest’ was won by Grand Mayor Halsten of Ferrara in May 1235, increasing the Russian encroachment along the southern shore of the Red Sea down to Assab.
A new major civil war broke out in Germany in June 1235, pitting to Hjort dynasty members against each other in a bid to institute gavelkind succession laws. The rebels had the early advantage in numbers on the outbreak of the war.
King Kettil would die in July 1236 at the ripe age of 77. The rebels were winning the war narrowly on paper, but Kettil had called in Sviþjod and Volga Bulgaria as allies. And these allied armies were just beginning to appear on the scene as King Baldr assumed the German throne. With this assistance, the loyalists would emerge victorious about a year later.
In September 1236, Toste had just turned 15 and was being acknowledged as a diligent young man, striving to overcome his mental and physical disadvantages. Through persistence and hard work, he had managed to show at least some skill in all five of his main governing characteristics and was becoming quite well liked as he continued to be well supported by his very able regent.
Later that year, it came to Toste’s attention that almost all the Council was now under obligation to Spymaster Freyr – including Barid himself plus the two Loyalist members Seer Hæsteinn and Marshal Dag. A gift to Freyr was due and quickly paid, while a marriage was also arranged for the lovesick spy. It seemed prudent to have the man on side, even though no legislative initiatives or war declarations were in train.
While distracted in Abyssinia, a Buddhist uprising in Kucha against Mongol rule had run rampant by 2 May 1237. But rebel hopes were dashed by 15 May: a Mongol force must have returned in time to snuff out their hopes.
As noted earlier, Basileus Alexandros had managed to inspire two civil wars in quick succession, sparked by religious and political tensions within the Byzantine elites and his reputation as a cruel tyrant. In May 1237 he was hailed as ‘the Mutilator’ and was busy for the next few months force-converting vassals and progressively stripping his old foe Despot Pantoleon of counties.
But no new civil war was sparked – yet – and as long as this was all being done under the auspices of a Germanic ruler, his Fylkir (and regent) were happy enough. Even if he did seem to be quite an unpleasant chap.
Alas, another of the Rurikids’ dynastic arrangements came undone, this time with Skotland, as Toste’s sister Ulfhildr died from rabies and her husband’s father-in-law King Birger dissolved the non-aggression pact. Within a month he had taken Skotland back into the pagan pact.
As Toste’s majority approached, he had Barid find the smartest young woman in the realm and bring her to court. Toste officially came of age on 14 August, when it was decided that the betrothal with Khorijin, daughter of Genghis Khan Temujin, would proceed. The marriage would be held on 22 August, by which time Toste had already taken Þyra Veðr as his first concubine.
After the halcyon days of Barid’s regency, demesne and vassal scope fell back a bit, but not too badly. Some room for vassal transfers existed but the long policy of retaining all the highly developed demesne counties would stand. Toste’s stewardship studies had been mildly productive and he would embark on a period of stewardship focus in the early years of his reign, to retain as many powerful vassals under his direct control as possible. And he naturally sought to groom an heir of his own.
Against the odds, Toste had made it through in one piece as a not completely incompetent young Emperor who would try to do his best to improve himself over time.
There had been no new buildings or religious expansion in the last three years of his long Regency, but the Empire had grown slightly, remaining strong with a replenished treasury and formidable army.
