Antioch: Rise of the Crusader Kingdom of Anatolia
Year of our Lord 1187 - Outremer, Independent Duchy of Antioch
"We arrived trough much perils, following the footsteps of many a noble knight and pious soul, our predecessors in spirit, if not in blood. We came here, and we found that our Lord's work has but just begun, and the trials we must needs endure for our faith are a great many."
Peter d'Anjou, Duke of Antioch
I begin this tale, knowing full well that I might be scorned by my peers for putting to ink the life of Duke Peter of Antioch. I nevertheless feel it important for his actions to be preserved for the future generations, so that they may yet benefit from the wisdom of seeing how doing the Lord's work might require hard decisions upon men who are pure of soul and sound of mind, turning them into devils in the eyes of family and folk.
Duke Peter came from France on a mission to stabilize the Greek coastal counties of Aintioch, conquered a century ago by the holy assembly commissioned by His Holiness Urban II. His God given task was not made easy, as the King of Jerusalem had secured the loyalty of both the Hospitallier and the Templar Holy Orders, and he owed little respect to a newcomer to the Levant. The situation was, as my liege had assessed - most dire. Antioch was small, surrounded by hostile Muslim empires. Salah-ad-Din to the south, was biding his time and eyeing Jerusalem and all nearby Christian holdings, and the infidel Saracens of the East, the successors of Nur-ad-Din, had nothing to occupy them but their desire to scour from Syria those of us who had taken up the cross. Perhaps the greatest threat was the imminent calling of Jihad by the two Caliphs, which would amass a horde of Saracens upon our lands, that would rival the Plague of Locusts unleashed on the heathen Egyptians of ancient times.
The Duke, in his wisdom, decided to marry a most suitable young wife, not caring for her secular titles or standing amongst men, but seeing into her eyes the virtues which a wife and ruler must possess. His Grace was at the time, fifty years of age, but nevertheless an outstanding warrior, a genius and a man of patience. His wife, whilst not matching in his military expertise, was of a wit as nimble as my Lords', and with an uncanny talent for stewardship, which made it possible to perform miracles of the quill and ledger for our Duchy. It took but a simple glance at the impending storm to the east and south, and the cool relations with the Kingdom of Jerusalem, for our ruler and his wife to quickly decide and swear fealty to the Basileos of the Eatern Roman Empire. I believe this move, whilst opposed by those of Frankish descent and of the Catholic faith, was nevertheless important and the primary reason why we were not swept away before the terrible might of Islam and its hordes. The Basileos, Komnenos II, was an old man, yet capable and strong. His armies were at the time, vastly superior to those of Antioch and Jerusalem, and sufficient to deter all but the most organized aggression of the Muslims.
It is then, no doubt with the advice of his young, genius wife, that His Grace performed the first of his three crimes that so mar his name.This first crime, was of a secular nature, and happened not days after he climbed off the ship that had ferried him from Genoa to Antich. The decision, whilst in his right as Duke, was nevertheless seen as an outrageous display of tyrannical power by the then assembled court of the Duchy. His Grace Duke Peter stripped all of his vassals of their titles, imprisoned the then appointed Marshall of the Realm, and subsequently disinherited and forthwith banished most of them. Those whom he did not banish, he married off matrilineally, and the younglings he betrothed and did not care to appoint guardians to school them in proper courtly manners and Christian values. I must now add, that all who were married or betrothed, were done so to members of the high nobility of Europe, which was not required of my liege, but rather an act of benevolence which few now acknowledge.
In hindsight I can now see why my Liege had decided against swearing fealty to Baldwin of Jerusalem and instead looked to the more loosely governed realm of the Roman Empire. Baldwin was a strict and pious man, as was expected of those noble knights who would bear the cross to Outremer. He would not stand or allow Duke Peter's desires to revoke the titles of his vassals, nor would he sit idly as Antioch's levies grew in strength and number. I must also note, that while both our ruler and his wife remained Catholic and His Grace never betrayed the traditions of the Franks, the common folk in his Duchy were and still are to this day, Greeks (and only recently did they convert to Catholicism, under our current ruler Tristan d'Anjou, King of Anatolia).
I must state formally in these writings, that whilst undoubtedly harsh, these actions of revoking the lands and titles of his vassals are without a doubt what saved our Duchy's relative independence within the Empire, as well as ensured the well being of the house and set up the prosperity of this glorious bloodline. As he wrested control of all four Antiochean baronies, as well as a bishoparic and the city itself, Duke Peter secured his personal power with the unquestioned advantage of obtaining the full levy of all his holdings. Whilst he was not an involved mayor, the tax income and port tithes from the City of Antioch proved invaluable to our fledgling realm. So it is then, that this humble scribe asks you, the noble reader, to consider the actions of the future King of Anatolia on their merit, and not on the harsh words most would spill.
With the formidable troops he had outfitted, and the new court he quickly assembled, the Duke then set forth not to press his De Jure claim on the nearby county ruled by the Hashashin, but instead to turn his gaze on Cyprus. A claim had surfaced for Duke Peter, and he went on to press it, only to be beaten to the storming of Nicosia by a Greek Doux, who had similar intentions of expansion. Meanwhile the baronies of Antioch had seen an unprecedented boom of building, and many masons and woodworkers were assembled to undertake the vast projects of construction, with more arriving from Europe every day.
It is at that point that Duke Peter turned his gaze north, towards the never ending war the Basileos lead versus the hordes of the Seljuks. Much to our surprise, news reached us that His Holiness, following the completion of the Crusade for Andalusia, of which we had little news, had commissioned a new one, on Anatolia itself, in aid to the Orthodox Christians of the Eastern Roman Empire. Why my Duke had not received word of this glorious call to arms earlier, I may not speculate, though I think his personal matters of succession weighed heavily on his mind at the time. His wife, while quite worthy, had been still childless. My Lord the Duke of Antioch, whilst possessed of many fine qualities, had the vice of being quite lustful. As such, he laid with the wife of one of his courtiers, whose name now escapes me, and she took with child soon thereafter.
At the time when Antioch joined the Holy Crusade for Anatolia, the Duke had not one but two legitimate sons, as well as a bastard he formally recognized. Feeling secure with matters of succession for now, he set of to do God's work against the heathen Turks. However this adultery and betrayal of his wife, is considered by some, to be Duke Peter's second sin before Godand his noble wife. However, as she was possessed of an intellect peerless amongst Christians and heathens alike, only matched by that of the Duke himself, It was quite clear she well understood the need for a male heir, and why it had been necessary at the time, prior to her bearing her oldest son Tristan, for this transgression happened whilst we had not received the revelation that she had been with child. It is also my personal observation that the good Lady had forgiven her husband, as she had long since set her ambitions on expanding his influence.
The Holy Crusade for Anatolia was a bloody business of much turmoil and peril. Duke Peter was a genius commander, but the hordes of the Turks were well beyond what our levy could match. Only because of the mettle of our knights and the stern instruction of the realm's Marshall, were we able to win more victories for God than anyone expected of us. I think this is also the case, why later the new Pope would award the victory of the Crusade to His Grace Duke Peter, despite the efforts of the King of Sicily, who threw many men and horses into this war, as well as vast amounts of gold. One must also note the complete lack of involvement of Jerusalem and their two Holy Orders, which I will attribute to the Jihad called upon them by Salah-ad-Din, as well as the valorous deeds of our troops as well as some minor mercenary companies which the Duke employed, as his coffers were overflowing under the wise and cunning care of his wife.
I know of a specific scholar, employed by the King of Sicilly, who furiously defends his Liege's right to had been named victor of the Crusade, and to him I say - it was as much the will of God almighty, as was the skill at arms of our valorous Duke and his men, which determined the victor. That his Holiness would see our zealous involvement as a greater contribution than the vast armies which Sicilly levied and brought to the field, would speak of his unparalleled wisdom. To doubt him is to blaspheme.
After the completion of this most Holy task, Peter d'Anjou was given sovereignty over the crown of the Kingdom of Anatolia, and even at his advanced age of 70, he knew then that there was much work to be done in this realm, in the name of God and his liege-lord the Basileos. Of the Greeks I must say, they strike me as an odd mix. They are constantly fighting amongst one another, grabbing at power and bickering over laws, yet when a horde of thirty thousand Saracens comes battering down the doors of Antioch, the Basileos raises mighty armies and swiftly crushes them with the force of united Christendom.
And now, when talking of laws, I must mention the third, and most grave crime that my lord did commit, before the eyes of God and his subjects, but most harshly seen in the eyes of his noble lady wife, the Queen of Anatolia and Duchess of Antioch. In the quarter of a century in which we have been a part of the Eastern Roman Empire, we had enjoyed respite from their incessant internal bickering, most probably because my liege never vied for power and never sought a consular position nor lusted at the throne in Constantinople. And while I suspect thoughts of independence did cross his mind at times, the ever present Muslim threat saw it that our benefit from the hosts of the Basileos was vastly superior to the temptation of ruling alone. As such, we had, and still must, abide by Imperial law. It is quite unfortunate then, that due to the Basileos being too lax with his vassals (of which we were reaping the benefits of lower taxation and freedom for our levies), His Majesty the King of Anatolia could not set his own laws of succession.
For those of you who are not versed in such scholarly matters, the succession most favoured by the House of Anjou has been Gavelkind. Unfortunately, because Peter was King and owned the titles of two duchies, his oldest son Tristan would inherit them, but not the vital counties in Antioch or the baronies contained within. And yet these counties and especially the castles in the baronies, are what has made us so formidable and such a powerful vassal of the Basileos as to discourage meddling in our internal affairs. The situation at the end of King Peter's life was such, that his younger son and his legitmized bastard would inherit the two Counties, and thus would wield more power than their older brother, who would be King in title, but not by force of arms. Considering the fact that the two younger boys were born much later, and were still adolescent, their powerful counties would be ruled by regents. As such, the well being of the Kingdom and indeed the whole House of Anjou in Outremer hanged in the balance. In order for the Lord's work to be continued and for our good Christian realm to subjugate the heathens of Rum once and for all, as well as in answer to the now vast threat of the Abbasid Calihpate, who had conquered all the way north to Syria proper, my King and liege took action.
In a single night of horror and despair, he ordered his two young boys seized, thrown in prison and executed, even as he was incapable of actual ruling (as he was already of very advanced age and bedridden, his old wounds of war now taking their toll on his frail health). I know there would be no way to redeem such actions before God and men alike, and I shall remember for ever with horror the bitter screams of sorrow and the days of crying of the Queen Mother after the deed had been done. My liege spent the last of his days praying, with a plain wooden crucifix barely held in his weak hands. He was unable to stand and he spoke with barely but a whisper on his lips. His eyes stared without understanding, either at the ceiling or outside the tiny window in his dank room, yet sometimes, on rare occasion, they would gleam with the clarity and edge I remember from the days of youth of this most remarkable man. I should also mention that at the time, I was the one left to attend him, as all the servants had abandoned King Peter for his young, charismatic son Tristan, who was the de-facto ruler of Anatolia and Antioch.
There were new wars to lead, new diplomacy to consider, levies to raise... And yet, I think that even as his brothers' tiny, blond haired heads rolled on the courtyard floor, Prince Tristan knew full well why this had been a most necessary evil. Then, at the year of our Lord 1261, as we were discussing the recent news of a new warlord to the far east, King Peter I of Anatolia, Duke of Antioch, and count and baron to so many peerages I shan't even attempt to list them, passed away in his bedchamber, shunned by all but this most loyal scribe and historian. And while we must be thankful that the court and the petty nobles saw young Tristan as a liberator and had fresh hopes invested in him, we must nevertheless, remember the man who fashioned a Kingdom out of a duchy which most had long since condemned to Islamic conquest.
Written in the Year of our Lord 1264, by Abbot Bernard Cantor, royal historian of House Anjou and he Kingdom of Anatolia.
