DemonArchangel
02-21-2003, 21:44
OOC: alright chapter 2 of my legendary Byzantine campaign.
Chapter 2: The Neapolitan Rebellion, Byzantine Court Intrigue and other Business regarding Italy.
The people of sunny Naples had it all, lower taxes than the rest of the Roman Empire, the complete freedom to worship whatever religion they chose, low taxes and otherwise a generally high standard of living. Then, one fateful day in the spring of 1090, the Neapolitans decided they had to take up arms against the Emperor. The well-equipped, well armed rebels quickly routed the soldiers guarding the province and forced the commanding general into the castle.
Emperor Alexius, having just returned from campaign against the Seljuks recieved news of the rebellion by carrier pigeon whilist sitting upon his purple silk throne in Constantinople and flew into a mad rage, leaving his only son dead on steps of the Bukoleon Palace (ooc: I'm not sure that the word "Bukoleon" is correct, please correct me if i'm wrong.) (ooc: which increased his dread rating by 2. The Bad Temper Vice was the vice in question here.)
Emperor Alexius, after realizing what he had done, disemboweled himself in his bedroom with his sword (ooc: i know, i know, the Byzantines didn't really commit seppuku, but I thought it might look cool.)and his rotting, maggot eaten corpse was later found by the power-hungry Patriarch of Constantinople, who decided to rule temporarily in the Emperor's name before seizing power for himself, but of course, the Patriarch was finished off by a poisoned wine cooler by an Assassin working for the Commander of the Army, and conversely, the Commander of the Army was murdered by an Assassin working for Anna Comenus, the daughter of the late Emperor, who wanted to become Empress, mainly because she was about as full of herself as the Neapolitans were. In the end, Anna became Empress, but of course, many important nobles refused to acknowledge Anna as their ruler, mainly because she was a teenage girl, and the nobles, were as Anna herself wrote "sexist dogs." That being said, a civil war broke out between Anna's forces and the Nobles, where upon the rebellious Nobles were soundly crushed in both Greece and Anatolia, their bodies were impaled on pikes outside the city walls of Constantinople again as a warning to all, that quelled anyone else from protesting Anna's reign.
Anna's first order of business after securing the loyalty of her people was to recapture Naples from the rebels. An Imperial Army 20,000 men strong under the command of Manuel Bulgaroctonos set sail for Naples immediately. Meanwhile, both the Sicilians and the Papacy decided to invade Naples as well, now there were 4 armies in Naples, all vying for control of it, no one was about to back down.
The Neapolitans, who were primarily Catholic, requested aid from the Papacy and got it,upon which, all of the Neapolitan rebels swore fealty to Pope. Meanwhile the Sicilians, who were excommunicated the previous year seized the opportunity and invaded Naples, hoping to catch the pontiff with his pants down and force him to lift the excommunication. On May 21,1091 the Roman fleet landed its troops and 3 days later, the three armies met some where in the Neapolitan countryside...
The ground was quite flat with gently rolling hills and miles upon miles of olive groves. Again, heavy cavalry were useless, mainly due to all the trees. The Sicilians placed some catapults on top of 2 hills to south of Byzantine and Papal lines and placed a line of spearmen to prevent the catapults from being overrun by cavalry. Knights waited on the wings of the Sicilian force. The Imperial Army, looked disorderly, with no apparent organization in their ranks and the Papacy consisted mostly of Knights and Order Foot Soldiers, led by Pope Urban II himself.
Since the Roman army looked so shabby, Pope Urban and his knights charged, riding right over his foot soldiers. The front of the Imperial forces appeared to fall back in alarm, and knights surged foward, only to be hit from behind by Varangian axemen and Serbian Brigands. In the fierce fighting that followed, the pope lost his head to a well aimed swing of a sword and the Knights fighting in the Pope's vanguard fled, shreiking like little girls. The Sicilians, seeing their opportunity to advance did so, the Roman front collapsed again letting the soldiers on the flanks chew up the Sicilians while the front divided itself and attacked from behind. The Sicilians, trapped were captured by Byzantine troops and flogged through the streets of Constantinople.
Order was quickly restored in Naples and every last rebel was executed, the empire would not be seeing another rebellion for a hundred years.
Chapter 2: The Neapolitan Rebellion, Byzantine Court Intrigue and other Business regarding Italy.
The people of sunny Naples had it all, lower taxes than the rest of the Roman Empire, the complete freedom to worship whatever religion they chose, low taxes and otherwise a generally high standard of living. Then, one fateful day in the spring of 1090, the Neapolitans decided they had to take up arms against the Emperor. The well-equipped, well armed rebels quickly routed the soldiers guarding the province and forced the commanding general into the castle.
Emperor Alexius, having just returned from campaign against the Seljuks recieved news of the rebellion by carrier pigeon whilist sitting upon his purple silk throne in Constantinople and flew into a mad rage, leaving his only son dead on steps of the Bukoleon Palace (ooc: I'm not sure that the word "Bukoleon" is correct, please correct me if i'm wrong.) (ooc: which increased his dread rating by 2. The Bad Temper Vice was the vice in question here.)
Emperor Alexius, after realizing what he had done, disemboweled himself in his bedroom with his sword (ooc: i know, i know, the Byzantines didn't really commit seppuku, but I thought it might look cool.)and his rotting, maggot eaten corpse was later found by the power-hungry Patriarch of Constantinople, who decided to rule temporarily in the Emperor's name before seizing power for himself, but of course, the Patriarch was finished off by a poisoned wine cooler by an Assassin working for the Commander of the Army, and conversely, the Commander of the Army was murdered by an Assassin working for Anna Comenus, the daughter of the late Emperor, who wanted to become Empress, mainly because she was about as full of herself as the Neapolitans were. In the end, Anna became Empress, but of course, many important nobles refused to acknowledge Anna as their ruler, mainly because she was a teenage girl, and the nobles, were as Anna herself wrote "sexist dogs." That being said, a civil war broke out between Anna's forces and the Nobles, where upon the rebellious Nobles were soundly crushed in both Greece and Anatolia, their bodies were impaled on pikes outside the city walls of Constantinople again as a warning to all, that quelled anyone else from protesting Anna's reign.
Anna's first order of business after securing the loyalty of her people was to recapture Naples from the rebels. An Imperial Army 20,000 men strong under the command of Manuel Bulgaroctonos set sail for Naples immediately. Meanwhile, both the Sicilians and the Papacy decided to invade Naples as well, now there were 4 armies in Naples, all vying for control of it, no one was about to back down.
The Neapolitans, who were primarily Catholic, requested aid from the Papacy and got it,upon which, all of the Neapolitan rebels swore fealty to Pope. Meanwhile the Sicilians, who were excommunicated the previous year seized the opportunity and invaded Naples, hoping to catch the pontiff with his pants down and force him to lift the excommunication. On May 21,1091 the Roman fleet landed its troops and 3 days later, the three armies met some where in the Neapolitan countryside...
The ground was quite flat with gently rolling hills and miles upon miles of olive groves. Again, heavy cavalry were useless, mainly due to all the trees. The Sicilians placed some catapults on top of 2 hills to south of Byzantine and Papal lines and placed a line of spearmen to prevent the catapults from being overrun by cavalry. Knights waited on the wings of the Sicilian force. The Imperial Army, looked disorderly, with no apparent organization in their ranks and the Papacy consisted mostly of Knights and Order Foot Soldiers, led by Pope Urban II himself.
Since the Roman army looked so shabby, Pope Urban and his knights charged, riding right over his foot soldiers. The front of the Imperial forces appeared to fall back in alarm, and knights surged foward, only to be hit from behind by Varangian axemen and Serbian Brigands. In the fierce fighting that followed, the pope lost his head to a well aimed swing of a sword and the Knights fighting in the Pope's vanguard fled, shreiking like little girls. The Sicilians, seeing their opportunity to advance did so, the Roman front collapsed again letting the soldiers on the flanks chew up the Sicilians while the front divided itself and attacked from behind. The Sicilians, trapped were captured by Byzantine troops and flogged through the streets of Constantinople.
Order was quickly restored in Naples and every last rebel was executed, the empire would not be seeing another rebellion for a hundred years.