BYZANTINE IBERIA


A New Case Study of Iberia in the 12th and a little bit of the 13th centuries.

Chapter IV - The Great Byzantine War

Isaakios, son of Isaakios, son of Alexios, son of Alexios had reaped the better part of Iberia by 1200.
Prince Dinis, son of Henrique, son of Pedro, son of Alfonso, son of Alfonso, son of Sancho and Maria would inherit nothing more than a futile struggle in his nation's throes of death.

The war with Venice had brought horrible, fatal calamities upon the Kingdom, but King Henrique, now 62, was determined to see the war finished.

In this chapter of Iberia's history, we will look solely at the war between the Eastern Roman Empire and Portucale, from the first battles of Morocco until the time of Henrique's retreat and conquest of southern England.

At the beginning of the fighting, it seemed that some agreement might be reached before the Greek entered the mainland. But the bargaining could not last.

The Legend of Taos Texeira

Since Morocco's conquest, one army had held her Atlas borders consistently, which army Texeira, son of Lord Texeira inherited.
Due to the naval power of Portucale, it was suspected that the first main attack would come from Algeria and strike to Gibraltar.

Texeira led his 1455 men out into the rocky, barren hills and awaited the Greek.

The Iberians, mostly covered with heavy armour, truly began to burn under the radiation, and the ground became a hotplate.
Nevertheless they watched as 2300 Byzantines came, some from the eastern road, others to the shore from distant galleys.

The First Battle for the Bianca Pass



The Men-at-arms and archers ranged themselves on a great slope before the advancing violet banners.
These seemed rather effeminate, and the Iberians laughed raucously at the very colour of their chivalries - completely ignoring the standard Portuguese, 'baby-blue'.

Six hundred archers allowed for a smashing display of carnage to occur on the heads of the invaders; let this passage from Texeira's memoirs recount the patriotism of the Iberians;

"The foemen were elegantly displayed, and some were still upon the beach where they breakfasted in the Greek custom.
The volleys pleasantly surprised the host, which scattered and tangled in confusion under the barrage.
The Emperor Isaakios was then reported to be amongst the vast equestrian guard, and when this was reported to the troublesome and weary ranks of archers, they brightened immediately and were seen to be arguing with one another as to who would knock the blighter from his mount.

Lord Railles of Castile defended the right by leading a charge down into the midst of the Kataphraktoi facing him, and the old man slaughtered the Greek, though they surrounded him with spears.

When the archers began to reach for more ammunition, and the Byzantine was weary with pushing vainly against our veteran line, then I personally led the Bellatores hounding down the hill to assist Railles, and with the help of those most courageous archers the enemy hardly bore our wrath.

Indeed, the Imperial escort was the first to flee, when all at once the solemn line of men burst into action and resounded upon their antagonists supported by the cavalry.

I had Diazveni complete a resemblance of the Greek fleeing, which I have kept ever after the first fight. The man is a fine artist.



The Eastern Emperor had brought many, but fresh men to the battle, levied in the Pontic Euxine states, they had no taste for blood.
Especially not their own.
And so they may have pressed hard against the stagnant Men of Iberia, but once the thousands of arrows began to waver them - a solid charge from Portucale had them screaming for the ships.

1800 Byzantines died, and 150 were captured. 200 Iberians lost their lives.

The Second Battle

This battle had rather the same result - excepting that the loss of 250 men was this time felt heavier, as the reinforcements for Texeira were marching from Leon.
However, 1900 Byzantines were killed, and among the imprisoned was the astoundingly talented Italian general Lord Balsamon - who was ransomed for 2700 florins.

The method of defeating the Byzantines, which was successfully deployed twice by the great Texeira, was quite simple;

The Vestitiarae, though well armoured, were yet incapable of crushing a battle-line.
And these were the offensive armaments of the Greek.
Their pitifully outdated 'Oplitai would do no more than push the Portuguese about, only to be routed immediately in return.

Under disadvantage of numbers, it was only necessary that a line should be formed which could protect the archers whilst they battered the advancing enemy, and which would both deter the cavalry and meanwhile sustain the attack of the infantry until they tired.
Then a brief counter-attack would have the incompetent attacker retire.

The fact that the Saragossian could hold an infantry charge from two sides and patiently wait for the command to strike back was a tribute to their potential for empire-building.

But there were not enough of them.

Texeira's method of sustaining a large, reinforced attack would be used again - notably by Prince Sancho at Aragon.


Morocco Falls, Iberia Follows

The following year, Isaakios was so embarrassed by the loss of 4000 men and two generals that he ordered all possible troops be gathered in Algeria and that they should number no less than 4000.
This order was achieved, and in the same year the Greek had the power to declare war on the Cuman Khanate successfully.

The Empire was infinitely powerful.

Texeira was legendary, but his archers could only continue to batter the hordes for so long, and his men soon tired under the sun - not to mention the heavy horse, who suffered nastily.

980 men could not hold 4000 in the desert.

Forty volunteered to hold the keep, and the rest left with Texeira their lord for Granada, where recruits from all over were gathering to join his army.

Morocco Fort of Christ fell without incident to the Greeks, and they bypassed Granada, marching immediately into Cordoba.
This shocked the peninsula, who now knew that the end of the Kingdom was in sight.

Until this time, Henrique had vainly remained in Poitou, believing that Texeira could continue to hold off the enemy.
But now the navy was vanquished, and the peninsula was invaded, and he must return with his army and order Sancho his brother (Who had inadvertently brought this calamity on Portucale) to take up arms in Aragon.

Meanwhile, Al-Gharb had fallen easily to the Greek - the King having ordered that minimal garrisons be kept of twenty or fifty men, who could keep the forts for many years.
This however had little use in the weakened keeps of the south.
But the tactic must be useful with a Citadel!

The Battle of Aragon

This battle included all three brothers of the King, Sancho, Pedro and Afonso, (Who was arrogant and unfriendly because everyone stated that he knew not how to spell his own name).

They employed Texeira's tactic, which with difficulty worked against the first wave of the host.

The Iberians rejoiced at the routing enemy, for surely here in the good countryside could the battles be properly won.
But it could not be so easy.
Great Lord Balsamon of Serbia had returned after being ransomed, and the Portuguese cursed his very namesake for his lack of chivalry and gratitude.
In this battle there would be no Greek prisoners.

Balsamon had brought 4700 men against 1300 Iberians.

The hearts of all the peninsula sank in dread as they saw the horizon darken before the thousands of silhouettes approaching them.
There would be no end to the fighting.
There were no more arrows - the men themselves were spent.

Yet they all fought on well into the evening, becoming scattered to all ends of the field and routing back and forth with the infinite foe who kept returning.

800 Iberians died, but before the last man left the field, 2400 Greeks had been cut off - Balsamon himself almost being among them.

It was obvious that the Emperor had determined to never fight on fair terms with Portucale again.

This was evident when the Prince Sancho saw from the walls of Barcelona Citadel what equipment Balsamon had brought.

The Siege of Aragon



Isaakios had ordered ten Trebuchets be brought to the Citadel, and they were all arrayed well before the walls.

What was meant to be an easy defence seemed a disaster before the barrage of so many huge missiles.
The walls crumbled and the crews retreated, replaced by hundreds of infantry columns, filing up towards the gap in the fortress.

And here a great battle ensued, without strategy or forethought, the 600 defenders of Barcelona fought savagely against the first wave of 1200 Byzantines.
After half an hour of fighting, the Greek fled, and was chased far into the wood surround the fortification.

However, reinforcements soon arrived, and to the final despair of the Royal brothers they were cut off from the keep in the field, and every man was destroyed.

Aragon - the jewel of Iberia - was lost.

Careless in Defeat

The King of Portucale could not possibly have forseen how well-equipped for conquest the foe was - for he and all of his forefathers had been educated in the XL doctrine.

Never before had an enemy dealt with the balancing and structuring of an army so expertly.

Henrique II, seeing what became of Aragon and not wishing to watch everything his father bequeathed him burn, took with him his son Dinis and fled the peninsula with 1400 men and sailed north with the intention of taking England for a colony.

It was soon realised that this would not work.
Wessex could never be a homeland.

So the country was raided and Henrique decided to land once more in Aquitania and ensure that he and his heir would make every effort to free the land from the Greek.
They had only 1400 men against the Eastern Empire, and the city-states of Iberia were now horribly close to total slavery.

There was of course Lord Texeira, who was made Duke of Granada after every Duke in the East of the peninsula was killed in the battles for Aragon and Morocco.

The nobility was almost non-existant.

But this man, having been abandoned by his King, was pushed by the people towards claiming the Kingdom of Granada for his own right, and indeed he had the arms to do so.
For at this time however it was best that he unite with the King in order to free his lands from the hated Greek.

A new war was about to begin!