Kings and Popes, Councils and Communes – Different High Middle Ages Year By Year, Starting in 1066

[Salvador79]

1074:

Across Northern Italy, Reformist rebels storm bishoprics and the castles of the barons who supported Henry.

Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV. focuses his next moves on the lands North of the Alps, though. He moves mostly with Saxon, Austrian (Babenberger) and Przemyslid forces against Geza and his Hungarian rebels and their Polish Piast supporters in the East, defeating them soundly, making important prisoners, and securing the throne for his ally Salamon, who swears allegiance to him.

Rewarding one of his staunchest allies and further stressing the concept that he, as universal emperor, could indeed award crowns to kings, Henry then crowns Vratislav in Prague as King of Bohemia with a crown which his chroniclers claim has fallen from the heavens onto his tent as he was encamped in the campaign against Geza.

Among Henry’s prisoners is also Wladislaw Herman, brother of Boleslaw the Bold. Henry sends messengers to the castles of the Piasts demanding them to come to next year’s coronation of Wladislaw in Gniezno – that means, demanding their acceptance of his suzerainty.

Henry then triumphantly rides Westward to Speyer to recover and spend some time with his new wife and closest retainers.

As Vojtech’s rebels approach the gates of Constantinople, John Psellos, who had placed high hopes in his former friend Michael’s emperorship, but saw himself sidelined by Nikephoritzes and resented both bitterly for this, holds a convincing speech in the Byzantine Senate for the elevation of John Doukas. Among the Kommenos clan, the idea of making peace in the West in order to be able to focus on the East and the Seljuks who threaten their extensive properties, is also not unpopular, and Nikephoros Botaneiates lends the idea the support of the troops under his command. The gates of the city are, thus, opened to the Caesar, who is recognized by the Senate as Basileios. His nephew Michael suffers a milder fate than his predecessor, being sent off to a monastery, but at least with his eyesight unharmed.

John Doukas reshuffles the ministeries, dismissing Nikephoritzes, and elevating Georgi Vojtech to the rank of Caesar. The new Caesar George / Giorgios is practically running what used to be called the themes of Bulgaria, Sirmia, and Paristrion as he pleases, awarding lands and titles to de Clare’s Normans, improving his ally Nestor’s position and stopping all taxation of the region, ordering the improvement of fortifications and mobilisations against Pecheneg incursions instead.

Roussel de Bailleul, or rather, Rousselos Phrangopoulos, and his Normans, joined by the provincial Byzantine forces of Philaretos Brachiamos, come to the assistance of Theodore Gabras, massacring bands of Turkomans in Chaldia and chasing off others, restoring control over the city of Trapezunt. Trapezunt’s inhabitants and Gabras’ soldiers acclaim Rousselos as the new Basileios. Rousselos recognizes the governorates of the region as Gabras’ and Brachiamos’ personal fiefs.

Under the command of Gregor Pakourianos, Byzantio-Armenian forces defend Ani against Seljuk attacks [as per OTL.] Meanwhile, further South, other Seljuks commanded by Suleiman ibn Qutalmish defeat the Byzantine defenders of Antiochia under Isaak Kommenos and capture the city [as per OTL].

Diarmait mac Maíl na mBó, King of Leinster and High King of Ireland, dies. He is succeeded by his son, Murchad mac Diarmait. At the ceremony in Tara, not only Godwin Haroldsson, who continues to be on very good terms with Murchad, is present, but also his father, the King of England himself. This has since been (mis?)interpreted by some historians as a sign that Harold saw Murchad as his vassal, and Murchad Harold as his liege.

Reformist Bishop Stanislaw of Krakow, although helped into his office by the Piast Grand Duke Boleslaw the Bold, criticizes said monarch for his adultery and godless lifestyle [as per OTL].

Robert de Mortain, who has settled on Benevento as the powerbase of his faction of papal-loyal Normans, finds that his former ally Richard of Capua, who had fancied the ducal suzerainty over Southern Italy for himself, too, has deserted him. Nominally acknowledging Robert Guiscard’s ducal claim again (while Guiscard is away in Sicily), Richard brings Salerno, where Guiscard’s Lombard wife, Duchess Sichelgaita, runs the show, onto his side.

With English support, including the new heavy cavalry, Robert de Montgommerie returns to Normandy to recapture his family’s holdings. Robert Curthose leads the d’Hauteville forces who attempt to prevent them from doing so. But Montgommerie is also aided by Conan’s Bretons, and after a few weeks of turmoil, the city of Rouen erupts in popular revolt. Duke Robert is forced to return the holdings of the Montgommeries, cede a part of the Cotentin to the Duchy of Brittany, and grant the city of Rouen municipal autonomy and in its port, an exemption of English wool traders from any staple or other form of taxation.

Sancho Ramirez of Aragon and his Normans triumph over Sancho of Navarra. The latter is driven off a cliff by his brother and sister. [1] Peter de Valognes is created Count of Pamplona by Sancho Ramirez.



[1] This happened IOTL, too, only two years later. Effective Norman support speeds up the Navarran collapse ITTL.

 

[Dragonboy]

@Salvador79 ! Amazing work! Happy that the english got a little payback on the normans

 

[Salvador79]

@Salvador79 ! Amazing work! Happy that the english got a little payback on the normans

Your feedback always makes my day - thank you so much!
The English are way beyond payback against Normandy (that happened in 1067) - they are treating it like they're treating Wales (and, to a much lesser extent, Ireland): supporting their side against others, i.e. creating dependency, and they're already extracting the kind of advantages (archers from Wales, trading privileges in Rouen) that only a powerful overlord can get.

As for other Normandies - there are quite a few candidates, though all of them rather tumultuous...

The two major developments in TTL's 1074 are Henry's renewed emphasis on "universal empire" and its implementation in Central Eastern Europe on the one hand, which will inevitably affect the doctrine of the "two swords" (pope and emperor) of Roman Christianity... and the Byzantine Empire acquiescing to a feudalisation in the Balkans in order to combat a feudalisation in Anatolia. I'm curious to hear what you all think about these...

 

[Dragonboy]

Your feedback always makes my day - thank you so much!
The English are way beyond payback against Normandy (that happened in 1067) - they are treating it like they're treating Wales (and, to a much lesser extent, Ireland): supporting their side against others, i.e. creating dependency, and they're already extracting the kind of advantages (archers from Wales, trading privileges in Rouen) that only a powerful overlord can get.

As for other Normandies - there are quite a few candidates, though all of them rather tumultuous...

The two major developments in TTL's 1074 are Henry's renewed emphasis on "universal empire" and its implementation in Central Eastern Europe on the one hand, which will inevitably affect the doctrine of the "two swords" (pope and emperor) of Roman Christianity... and the Byzantine Empire acquiescing to a feudalisation in the Balkans in order to combat a feudalisation in Anatolia. I'm curious to hear what you all think about these...

You're amazing! And is interesting

 

[Salvador79]

1075

Counter-Pope Clemens III. is poisoned and dies in Ravenna.

Thousands of pagan Liuticians raid and plunder Saxony’s Eastern margraviate in an attack instigated, as turns out, by Boleslaw the Bold, who enters Bohemia with another army, attempting to free his brother in Prague. Vratislav’s men hold him off long enough for imperial forces to relieve them and cause Boleslaw to retreat. As the battles of the previous years have claimed the lives of too many armoured knights from the empire’s heartlands, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV. knows he couldn’t muster enough forces to deal with both threats at once. Therefore he convinces the Saxon Duke Adalbert to raise an army of Saxon peasants and promise them the status of Schöffenbarfreiheit (it’s a concept between the old (Anglo)Saxon “ceorl” and the late medieval/early modern Polish “szlachta”; it means they become free landholders who can only be judged by their own kin etc.) in the lands they would clear of the pagan Elbe Slavs. Henry IV. rides with Vratislav’s men, Austrian contingents under Margrave Ernst of Babenberg and a few Hungarians after Boleslaw into Silesia, laying siege to Wroclaw, where Boleslaw has entrenched himself. Adalbert marches towards them with his Saxon host, plundering and burning their way across Lusatia, destroying dozens of wooden forts, killing those inside who oppose them and selling off those who surrender to the slave traders who travel with the host. When they join Henry’s forces, Wroclaw falls, and Boleslaw is captured by Henry’s ministerials. The assembled imperial army moves to Gniezno, where Henry awards the crown of Poland to Wladislaw Herman in a coronation ceremony held in Archbishop Bogumil’s cathedral.

Triumphantly, Henry returns to Goslar, where he meets leading ecclesiastics and discusses a possible successor for Clement III., and from there onward to Speyer, where Queen Gunnhild has given birth to a little daughter, Edith. From Speyer, he sends an ultimatum to Pope Gregory: Either he takes back his excommunication and ordains the bishops of Henry’s choice before next Easter Sunday, or the imperial army will march across the Alps into Italy once again. He enhances this threat, after having received emissaries from Sicily, by awarding Robert Guiscard the duchies of Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily (of which Guiscard controls very little – now Guiscard and Mortain are fighting each other as rivalling dukes with competing claims, one derived from the pope, the other from the emperor. Mortain controls areas closer to Rome, but he doesn’t have any meaningful overarching control over Southern Italy, either).

Pope Gregory sounds out options with King Philipp of France which would assure him of French intervention in the war on the papal side. Gregory offers a transfer of the title of Roman Emperor from the German to the French kings.

Some radical reform-oriented monks from North of the Alps, where the mood has turned sharply against them, peregrinate across the Alps. An important group among them gathers at the Monastery of Vallombroso near Florence, where the new abbot Gisulf has trasnformed Giovanni Gualberto’s convent of eremites into a monastic community of fighters who work, pray and exercise with the sword.

In another monastery, purportedly in Chur / Curia Raetorum, an entirely different phenomenon takes shape: “orationes pro conciliatione” – prayers for a Peace of Christ, for the settlement of the conflicts in a Council, for reconciliation, for an end to the bloodshed. The phenomenon soon finds imitators across the Alpine regions and in Burgundy, too.

In Navarra, Peter de Valognes is not able to provide all the eager Normans who have fought for him with castles and land. Most of them move on to join Alfonso VI.’s reconquista further West.

In the Battle of Amorion, Rousselos Phrangopoulos, leading a large army of provincial Byzantine forces, Armenians and Normans, defeats the army of Alexios Kommenos sent by John Doukas against the usurper.

One of his new Norman “counts”, Robert d’Ulfranville, Count of Tabai, marries Elena Pakouriana, the daughter of the renegate Byzantine provincial commander Gregor Pakourianos.

In Wales, Cadwgan ap Meurig prevails with assistance from King Bleddyn and some English help against an attempt to overthrow him by Caradog ap Gruffydd, who had allied with Rhys ap Owein of Deheubarth. The repeated feuds have weakened the South of Wales and brought it under tighter control by King Bleddyn of Gwynedd.

In Normandy, a part of the remaining nobility erupts in revolt against Duke Robert’s concessions, attempting to replace him with his younger brother William and to subdue Rouen again. Under the mediation of Bishop Lanfranc, a compromise is struck in which the duke solemnly swears not to cede parts of the duchy, establish or abolish privileges anymore without consulting the assembly of the duchy’s noble families.

[as per OTL:]

Almoravids under Ibn Tashfin conquer Nakur. The last Salihid emir flees across the sea into the taifa of Granada.

 

[Dragonboy]

@Salvador79 Wish the best of luck to henry and hope he finishes this war before his crown is taken away.

And boy Robert better organize William's "accident" asap because his nobles seem that they will always use him as a chip agaisnt him

 

[Salvador79]

1076

King Sweyn of Denmark dies. From among his two sons, the nobles of the realm choose Harald over Cnut as the new King. Harald supports the continuation of good relations with England and the Holy Roman Empire and common efforts at subduing the pagan Slavs on the Southern shore of the Baltic, while Cnut opts for a clearer positioning in favour of the Reform papacy with the aim of obtaining an archbishopric independent of Bremen/Hamburg.

Pope Gregory travels to Arles again, where Count William of Burgundy has gathered the high nobility and clergy of the Arelate and invited King Philipp of France, who is married to his daughter Sibylla, too. The Reform papacy and opposition to Henry have strong support among the nobility of the Arelate. This is the heartland of Church Reform, where a monastery like Cluny stands from where the entire dynamic had sprung. Also, by his marriage to a member of the House of Ivrea, Philipp has now also acquired some veneer of Carolingian claim to the Burgundian crown which the German kings are claiming that they have inherited decades ago. Philipp’s election goes smoothly, and Pope Gregory anoints Philipp as King of Burgundy and new Emperor of the Romans in Arles.

On his way back to Rome, Gregory meets Margrave Mathilda of Tuscany and an assembly of bishops and other representatives of Italian cities in Lucca, swearing in the second pillar of the papacy’s defense to his new strategic vision and blessing the insignia of various city militias.

The third pillar are Robert de Mortain’s Normans, who are riding North from Benevento to man the Eternal City against the ultimate onslaught, should Henry break through the first two cordons.

After Easter, Emperor Henry IV. draws together the largest army he has ever seen in the Upper Rhineland, deliberately devastating the lands of his Zähringer opponents in the process, and then decides to divide this behemoth of an army into two parts. A smaller army, led by Duke Rapoto, should take the safe passes across the Alps through his own duchy and liaise with Salamon’s Hungarians in the Friuli, where they should wait for news of Henry’s arrival and their convergent progress into the Po valley.

Henry himself would lead the larger army, consisting of Lotharingians, Saxons, Franconians, Poles, Bohemians, and some Swabians South-Westward into Burgundy to beat Philipp out of the field.

In this clash of emperors, Henry succeeds where Dietrich had failed a few years ago. More than half of Philipp’s army consists of the knights of Burgundy, Macon, Montpeligard, Savoy, Besancon and all those other regions of the Arelate in this attempt to defend the Burgundian porte. Guy-Geoffrey, the Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony who controls the Western half of France, has moved more and more towards a neutral position in the conflict between the pope, who had not agreed to his divorce and remarriage, and the ever more powerful-looking emperor, declaring that he would rather have his priests, monks, and bishops pray for peace and reconciliation than have his counts and knights die in Italy. Robert Curthose’s own grip on his Norman duchy is so tenuous that he cannot spare any forces, while his Breton neighbor Conan has openly taken Henry’s side. In the South, the Reformist cause is comparatively more popular, but half of the Occitan knights are already busy in Iberia, engaging in Sancho’s Aragonese or in Alfonso’s Castilian-Leonese-Galician reconquistas. As a consequence, in the Battle of Belfort, Henry’s armies clearly outnumber Philipp’s and inflict an unambiguous defeat on the French and Burgundians, even capturing the Capetian king and having him escorted back to a castle near Mühlhausen in Lotharingia, where trusted ministerials of Henry would watch over the French monarch until this affair was over and a settlement could be found.

Henry now moves on unopposedly Southwards, then clinging to the Provencal coastline, feeding his large army off the land of his defeated opponents, except for the lands of neutral Genoa, for the Genoese let him pass without any obstructions.

Mathilda, fearing for the worst after news from Belfort have travelled faster than Henry’s army and reached the defenders of Tuscany, sorties with her army in an attempt to tackle the two Henrician armies separately before they can converge, even though this means giving up the advantage of the various high grounds which the mountain passes of Tuscany offer.

In the Battle of Modena, Mathilda throws everything she can muster against Henry: nobility from the region and beyond, Normans, and city militia from the communes of Pisa, Volterra, Pistoia, Florence, Modena etc. And indeed, Henry’s tired army does not seem able to break through the phalanxes of the city militia who are consolidating, under the instruction of a resourceful Gisulf of Vallombroso, into thickets of pikes. As dusk falls, after hours of bloodshed, Henry must call the attack off and order an encampment for the night, while aides on both sides are tending to the wounded as best they know. Among those who are wounded on this first day of the Battle of Modena and would succumb to their wounds over the next days is Duke Gottfried, derogatorily called “hunchback” by his detractors, who had fought for his emperor against the armies led by his wife Mathilda.

On the next morning, Henry leads the renewed assault, as he has grown accustomed to, from the front, inspiring his exhausted troops to assault the Italians once again. And once again, both sides grind each other to a halt, biting into each other, killing blindly as long as they can still stand and wield their weapons. In the midst of this melee, men from Pistoia are able to capture the imperial insignia, and emperor Henry himself suffers a wound on his left leg. But just as chaos threatens to befall the imperial camp, the clatter of countless hooves approaches. Blowing into their horns, the fresh cavalry of the Bavarians, Austrians and Hungarians charges into the exhausted Italian defenders, causing them to melt down, overthrowing their carrroccii, and inducing those who still can to flee the battlefield in disarray. Before the heat of this summer day recedes, the imperial army has triumphed at Modena, too, and they have captured their enemy’s leader, Mathilda, too. The brave margrave is mistreated by Henry’s brutalized men in unspeakable ways. Like the wounded emperor, she is dragged along on the army’s march towards Rome, but soon dies of the consequences of the torture she had to suffer.

As Henry’s still large army approaches Rome, which is only defended by an improvised militia and by Robert de Mortain’s knights, Pope Gregory and his closest followers hold out for as long as they can, blessing the city’s defenses, before they ultimately flee. Their path of escape is cut short, though, by a medium-sized host of fighters who have sailed here from Sicily, led by Robert Guiscard. Chased by the Normans, fleeing in panic, Pope Gregory attempts to cross the Tiber, but falls off his horse and drowns.

Henry’s men force their entry into Rome, killing de Mortain and countless others who dare to stand in their way, only to find that their true target has escaped – and then found his fate. Henry had hoped to capture Gregory alive and force him to submit to his terms. Now he must watch as the infection spreads through his leg. While he waits for a famous medic to arrive from Salerno, his men plunder the city and massacre what they call “bandits and insurgents”, but what amounts to an almost indiscriminate bloodbath of the urban population from which only known loyal supporters of Henry like the Frangipani clan are absolutely safe. Henry’s health is deteriorating quickly. His leg is amputated, but in spite of (or due to?) this treatment, Emperor Henry IV. dies in Rome on August 2nd, 1076.

After the emperor’s death, his army begins to disintegrate. News about attacks by Pecheneg or Cuman steppe nomads at Hungary’s Eastern frontier cause Salamon to depart immediately. While the dukes of Saxony and Bavaria call for a fast election of a new king and pope and the continuation of Henry’s policies, now that their enemies are scattered and demoralized, King Wladislaw Herman of Poland also withdraws, and there are no cardinals to be found in Rome who could elect a new pope.

From various cities, there are reports of monks and priests stirring up the lower rungs of urban society, who had not been called upon by Mathilda, her bishops and the patrician elites of their towns beforehand and thus had not bled white in the Battle of Modena, and preparing them for the redemption of the Eternal City, promising them absolution from all their sins if they massacre the “Salians”, “Henrician heretics” and “treacherous Normans”.

The dukes Adalbert and Rapoto and King Vratislav ultimately decide against confronting this mob and for sending messengers to the town halls and bishoprics of their opponents instead. The Reformist bishop Landolf of Pisa is the first among the Reform camp to signal readiness for negotiations in a Universal Synod or Council.

In Cluny, Abbot Hugo holds an oratio pro conciliatione which is attended by several thousand people. Smaller, but still significant orationes are held by Theodwin in Liege, by Stanislaw in Krakow and by Lanfranc in Bayeux.



Rousellos’ army, allied with some Little Armenians and Byzantine provincial forces under Basileios Apokapès, fights against other Little Armenians and Byzantine provincial forces and a Seljuk force led by Suleiman ibn Qutalmish. Although no clear winner emerges from the battle, Suleiman is fatally wounded. With him dies his ambitious plan to carve out a separate Seljuk state from former Byzantine Anatolia. The Seljuk provincial commander, Tutush I., brother of the Sultan Malik Shah, concludes a treaty with Rousellous and later this year also with Gregor Pakourianos in which he promises to abstain from sending more Turkoman ghazis into Anatolia in exchange for annual tribute.

Grand Prince Sviatoslav of Kiev dies. The veche acclaims his youngest brother Vsevolod as Grand Prince. Their deposed brother Izaiaslav cannot return once again with Polish help ITTL (Poland is busy in the Investiture Wars), and I doubt he could rely on people like Vseslav of Polotsk to help him out, either, so ITTL Vsevolod remains unchallenged for the moment.



[as per OTL:]

Koumbi Saleh is besieged by the Almoravids.

Seljuks under Atsiz conquer Damascus.

 

[Salvador79]

@Salvador79 Wish the best of luck to henry and hope he finishes this war before his crown is taken away.

Sorry, had to write against your wish here...
I've left the empire without a pope, nor emperor. Now this is a situation that cannot last too long, of course. Next year's update will bring us closer to the resolution of this conflict before the focus of attention will move elsewhere again in the 1080s...

 

[Dragonboy]

Sorry, had to write against your wish here...
I've left the empire without a pope, nor emperor. Now this is a situation that cannot last too long, of course. Next year's update will bring us closer to the resolution of this conflict before the focus of attention will move elsewhere again in the 1080s...

Np, very interesting turn of events, can't wait for more! keep up the good work!

More of england please!

 

[Salvador79]

1077

Chaos has engulfed large parts of central Europe. Not only have pope and emperor died, with the leaders of both clergy and worldly nobility so far unable to gather behind new candidates. More importantly, with thousands of aristocrats lying dead on the fields of Belfort and Modena (not to forget Rosenheim, Assisi, and Orbe, and more battlefields in Hungary, Poland and Lusatia), and entire dynasties extinct, what little semblance of a legal order had existed in the Ottonian empire had broken down. Fights broke out over inheritances, and this was not merely Henricians against Reformers, this was turning into bellum omnium contra omnes. Cities and even villages imitated the model of the independent-minded Lombard communes, guarding their peace and property themselves, while in the larger cities of Italy, the radicalization of the Patarene movement caused even staunch supporters of church reform to recoil and fear for their safety and for the stability of Christian society. While some panicked and deemed the last days of humankind before the day of God’s judgment had come, others still saw a chance for Roman Christendom if the cooler heads on all sides pulled themselves together.

And so, as Robert Guiscard and his Normans left Rome to confront Pandulf of Benevento, who had taken over the leadership of the anti-Guiscard alliance after Mortain’s death,

as a Patarene army led by Gisulf reaches Rome, whose gates are opened to them by supporters from the inside, leading to yet another sack, now with the last pro-“Salians” killed and their property looted,

as separate groups of the highest ranks of surviving worldly nobility and clergy met in Luxembourg, in Goslar, and in Regensburg,

after preliminary talks between bishops of both sides of the Investiture War, an ecumenical Council is called in Basel, and the warring noble factions are invited to attend, too, and sort out their differences in a chivalric manner under the Truce of Christ.

Before the Council convenes, the different factions of dukes, margraves, count-palatines, counts, prince-bishops, abbots of imperial monasteries and other grandees of the empire each attempted to elect their own king. The few remaining anti-Henricians in Luxembourg invoke hereditary arguments – and since Henry’s only baby daughter Edith does not qualify, they bring up Hermann von Salm, of Salian royal blood. [1] They know they have little weight to throw around, and so they decide to make the journey to Basel, hoping that the Church would unite behind their cause, choosing the stability of inheritance of divinely blessed monarchs – and all other inheritances, too – as the last vestige against anarchy.

In Goslar, Duke Adalbert secured the support of his Saxons for his bid for the throne, negotiating also with the Polish King Boleslaw and the Danish King Harald. At the same time, another successful fighter for Henry IV’s cause, Duke Rapoto of Bavaria, gathered Bavarian, Austrian and Bohemian support for his own attempt to reach for the crown. Adalbert and Rapoto had fought side by side in Italy – now, they at least agreed to sort their rivalry out without further costly battles. God’s judgment would reveal the chosen king as the victor of a duel, which they undertook in Mühlhausen on the way to Basel. Rapoto emerged as the victor in this duel, in which he spared the life of his rival. Adalbert, in turn, brought his supporters unconditionally behind Rapoto’s claim now.

* * *

While Henry’s former supporters duked out the question of succession, in Italy, an Apulian alliance led by Joscelin de Malfetta as well as by Neapolitans led by Duke Sergius V. come to Pandulf of Benevento’s aid. They defeat Robert Guiscard and force him to retreat to Salerno.

The Patarene atrocities in Rome and the prospect of uncontrollable mobs ruling their cities brought even more Reformist bishops and Italian patricians into the camp of the compromisers, who are now organizing on their way to Basel to pursue their interests as a unified bloc. Bishop Landolf of Pisa will be their spokesperson both in the plenary of the Council as well as in backchamber negotiations in Basel.

Such backchamber negotiations also took place in Mühlhausen, where delegates of some of the most powerful men of Western Europe met with the clear favourite for the king- and emperorship, Rapoto of Bavaria, in May, while in Basel, the first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church after more than 200 years is opened by Bishop Burkhard of Fenis, with several hundred clerics from Iceland to Sicily and from Galicia to Hungary and the shores of the Baltic attending – and even some lower-ranking monks from the Orthodox Byzantine Empire, from Georgia and the Levante having travelled all the way to Basel to see what is being discussed here. Tensions between those who attend are high, bloody feuds between its members fresh in everybody’s memories, and brawls and duels occur.

While monks, priests and bishops of various persuasions discuss some of the less controversial theological issues first, in Mühlhausen, envoys of Guy-Geoffrey of Aquitaine and Gascony, and of Alfonso, the self-styled “imperator totius Hispaniae” meet with Rapoto and his closest supporters. They have a suggestion for a compromise – and for a candidate for the papacy who embodies this compromise: a Reform theologian with impeccable credentials, kinship ties with several of them, and at the same time also a credible reconciler, a charismatic leader who prioritises the strengthening of networks of internal reform within the Church, yet who would not claim the supreme suzerainty of the Papacy over all worldly monarchs and who would thus leave self-styled worldly emperors do their imperial things; a dignified nobleman who abhors the Patarene excesses which threaten to undermine the stability of Northern Italy, one of the strongholds of church reform: Hugo, the Abbot of Cluny.

This coalition of reconcilers and their candidate Hugo now approach both envoys from the court of the still-imprisoned King Philipp of France as well as Rapoto, who has gained the keys to Philipp’s prison. Hugo unfolds the big plan for a compromise:

• Rapoto is to release Philipp. Philipp is to swear a capitulation before the Council in which he proclaims to uphold and respect all the “agreements of old” [2], specifically to acknowledge the exclusive privilege of the German / Eastern Frankish Kings to be elevated as Emperors of the Romans by the Pope, to foreswear any claims to the Burgundian crown, and not to infringe upon the traditional autonomies of the duchies, counties, bishoprics and francvilles of his kingdom. [3]
• Rapoto and the bishops who support him are to support the election of Hugo to the Papacy. In exchange, Hugo would acknowledge the result of the duel, assist in the marginalization of the van Salm faction, and crown Rapoto as Emperor of the Romans.
• Both sides refrain from challenging the status quo of investments of bishops and archbishops. In the future, all bishops and archbishops everywhere are to be elected by their cathedral chapters. In the lands of the Eastern Frankish / German crown, the Emperor may attend such elections and endow them as his vassals with the scepter, and then they’re invested by the Pope with ring and staff. In the lands of the Burgundian and Lombard crowns, the Pope invests them with ring and staff first and only afterwards the emperor may appoint them as his vassals with the scepter. [4] In the lands of the Polish, Hungarian, and Bohemian crowns, everything remains as it was.

King Philipp’s retainers are livid and refuse to comment for weeks. But ultimately, they have no alternative. Philipp is escorted from Mühlhausen to Basel where the King of France, the designated King of Germans and the best-positioned candidate for the Papacy make their entrance.

Here, the theologians of the various different factions from different countries have agreed, in the meantime, on quite a number of issues:

the Latin Rite, including the creed with the filioque insertion, is embraced by a large majority, including “Henricians”, against a few Iberian dissenters, meaning that the Ambrosian and Mozarabic rites will have to be replaced, and the proliferation of the holy scripture in the Glagolithic script will have to be discontinued – to the anger of a few dissenters primarily from the Istrian / Kvarner islands. Priestly celibacy is enshrined as mandatory, consented by speakers from both camps. The rules of various monastic orders are confirmed. [5]

No consensus has been reached on the question of a Peace and Truce of God, which enjoys considerable support, but not nearly enough to allow for its implementation on an unruly worldly nobility. Likewise, debates on formally banning the enslavement of Christians and on a common foundation for how to deal with “heathens” within and beyond the Christian realms end inconclusive, too. [6]

With Philipp, Hugo and Rapoto present, the great compromise plan is vehiculated among broader circles now. It does not meet with unanimous support from all quarters at first. Italian bishops drive a hard bargain in order to accept a French Benedictine on the throne. [7] German Reformers, even though they had seen most of their theological agenda consented to by the Council, saw their personal positions as extremely unsafe, with them now being officially at the mercy of the Emperor – it took lengthy negotiations concerning church trials and an enshrinement of the right of self-organisation by monastical orders in order to mitigate these fears. Rapoto’s very own Bavarian noble dynasties, along with those of neighboring Austria, were highly dissatisfied with how the compromise practically divided spheres of influence between Emperor and Pope and thus gave up on Italy, the wealthiest part of the empire with which Bavarians and Austrians conducted much of their trade, as anything more than a ceremonial and theoretical component of the empire. Also, not all Saxons followed Adalbert’s endorsement of Rapoto after the duel, fearing – quite the opposite of the Bavarians’ and Austrians’ anxieties – too much of a Southerly focus of the new emperor. Participants from Poland and Hungary were dissatisfied with how the status of their kingdoms and its relation to the empire were left in the fog.

But, ultimately, as a particularly cold winter fell upon the Alpine lands, one that even caused Lake Constance to completely freeze over, a wide enough agreement finally took shape. It was all formalized when Hugo was elected as the new pope, assuming the papal name of Coelestin II., while Philipp of France swore his capitulations before him and the Council and received a papal blessing, and Rapoto was crowned as Emperor of the Romans by Coelestin II.



* * *

An allied army of Hungarians and officially provincial Byzantine but de facto independent Vlach and Bulgarian troops loyal to Caesar George defeat the Cumans at the Battle of the Iron Gates.

King Kresimir of Croatia dies of a natural cause.

Navarrese Normans conquer the castle of Muñones from King Ahmad al-Muqtadir of the Taifa of Zaragoza.

A fire destroys much of London, including its wooden bridge across the Thames. King Harold invites an architect from France for the construction of a stone bridge across the Thames, whose completion the English monarch would not live to see.



[as per OTL:]

The Fatimids defeat a Seljuk army under Atsiz.



[1] IOTL, Hermann von Salm was elected counter-emperor by Gregory’s supporters, too.

[2] The semantics of the discourse of that age practically demanded that any new decision was to be deduced from some old law, principle or tradition, to basically cloak the new as the old and long-established.

[3] This clause isn’t put in there only because of Guy-Geoffrey. When Raimund Berengar and Berengar Raimund, the twin counts of Barcelona, join the compromise party, too, they want a piece of the Septimanian pie. Their rival, Count William IV. of Toulouse, views things quite in the same way (although he wants some of the same parts of the pie that the Catalans also eye). Nobody here imagines King Philipp to be a plausible arbiter (as the Kings of France indeed weren’t IOTL, either, around that time, only ITTL, the French monarchy has just been weakened beyond anything it experienced IOTL).

[4] This is, more or less, OTL’s end result of the Investiture Controversy in the form of the Concordate of Worms of 1125. It reflects, as IOTL, the situation on the ground that the Germans could always invade Rome if they really wanted to, but they could not maintain permanent meaningful control over Italy or the Arelate. This was not necessarily a matter of language, for we are not yet in the age of nationalism by far – large parts of Lotharingia were Romance-speaking, too, and yet imperial control over them was always much more real. The Arelate and, even more so, Italy were much more urbanized regions – with not only a distinctly different culture from that of, say, rural Saxony and the entire frontier spirit of the North-East of the Empire, but also with different practical political priorities: they were trading all across the Mediterranean, and rivalling with many others in this business: they needed naval protection (from pirates etc.) which German Emperors never seemed to care about, and they each wanted support over their various rivals, which was something German Emperors might have been able to play to their own advantage if they had only known what was really the matter there – as things stood IOTL and even more so ITTL, it’s the Papacy that they would turn to in order to have their interests promoted. For example, in this very year IOTL, Pisa managed to have the entire island of Corsica be declared as part of the Bishopric of Pisa by Pope Gregory, which amounted to making the island a sort of Pisan colony. This act doesn’t happen ITTL, at least not in this year, but you get my meaning.

[5] All of these things became canon in the church during the 11th century IOTL, too, only IOTL there was never a big ecumenical council to consent to the reforms which IOTL are often lumped together as the “Gregorian Reforms” (although they began a lot earlier than Gregory’s papacy). While there were smaller synods, and discussions among leading theologians had occurred, most decisions were ultimately declared as binding by the Pope. ITTL, the mere fact that a Council officially assumes the role of discussing and ultimately deciding upon all these issues changes the church’s inner constitution, the relations of power between the papacy and the broader clergy.

Insisting on the Filioque also cements the schism with Eastern Orthodoxy which, at this point, is only two decades old, at least officially. One of the reasons why this update took a little longer than usual was because I pondered, at this crossroad, whether I wanted the Schism mended, too, or not. After all, a lot of the schismatic dynamics IOTL came from the papacy attempting to assert its leading role, and it might have been interesting to see a Medieval Christianity without the Great Schism of 1054. But then I realized just how much the entire Reformist agenda went diametrically against Eastern traditions: priestly celibacy, a universal church which overcame “ethnic churches” and all that. So, no, the schism is not mended.

[6] IOTL and ITTL, because it’s all before the PoD, the slave trade with Eastern Europeans, which had revitalized and remonetized the economy of Central-Western Europe in the 9th and 10th centuries, had mostly dried up – both because the lands bordering the empire to the East were mostly Christian kingdoms, too, now, and because al-Andalus, the primary buyer of Eastern European slaves, had fragmented and was forced into a defensive war by its Christian Iberian neighbors. The church had played an important part in upholding the rule that it turned a blind eye when heathens were enslaved by Christians, but enslaving fellow Christians was not acceptable. That was never formalized, though – and now that a Council occurs, you can imagine that delegates from Christian Poland, for example, would want to make it very clear that when THEY caught and sold heathen Balts, that was OK, but that no German or whoever else should come up with the idea that Poles were still fair game. The problem with formalizing this on an Ecumenical Council was, of course, that e.g. on the British isles, Christians holding other fellow Christians as slaves was a self-evident part of their culture, both Anglo-Saxon and Celtic. The Norman Conquest, which disrupted this IOTL, has failed ITTL.

There are similar practical reasons for a lack of consensus concerning how to deal with the non-Christians both within and beyond the empire. The treatment of Jews varied considerably from country to country, for example, and Alfonso of Castile-Leon-Galicia wanted just as much leeway in how to deal with conquered Muslim populations as Saxon nobles wanted when it came to Elbe Slavia. The “Gregorian Reformers” IOTL supported clear-cut distinctions: fellow Christians deserve a minimum of respect, while the dangerous heathens do not. This was probably a side effect of Christianity having finally grown really deep roots throughout much of Europe (the roots were only still shallow way up in the North and East). Concerning Jews, the Gregorian Reforms were ambivalent or self-contradictory: while several Reformist popes spoke up against persecutions of the Jews, the mere fact that e.g. the “People’s Crusade” – probably the biggest militant outgrowth IOTL of the culture from which church reform also sprang – came with mass pogroms in which tens of thousands of Jews were murdered must say something about aggressive anti-Semitism at least among the lower-ranking reformist clergy. All in all, by whatever haphazard means, the second half of the 11th century IOTL increased the sharpness of distinctions between how to treat a fellow Christian and how to treat a non-Christian. That such a discussion would spring up on an Ecumenical Council in 1077 is, I believe, inevitable, thus. I also believe, though, that there are good reasons why such a council would not be able to find a decent enough consensus on anything related to this topic, see above.

[7] More on what they gained in next year’s update.

 

[Dragonboy]

Amazing work! Happy that the HRE and papacy have reached some accord and that harold in investing in infrastructure. Sad that we will see him part soon though

 

[Salvador79]

Amazing work! Happy that the HRE and papacy have reached some accord and that harold in investing in infrastructure. Sad that we will see him part soon though

Thanks!!
Well, stone bridges aren't built in a day...

 

[Salvador79]

1078

Pope Coelestin II. convenes the bishops and civilian heads of the communes of Pisa, Volterra, Pistoia, Florence, and Modena, who have all been awarded independence as immediate members of the Empire (following the death of Margrave Mathilda) [1], to celebrate Pentecoste with him and swear an oath to him and each other to “perpetually” maintain the Lord’s peace in their lands and among themselves, and to come to each other’s aid and defense should any member of the league violate their oath and attack a fellow member, or should an outside force attack them. They also swear to reconvene next year on Pentecost, too, and to renew their oaths then, and from then on annually. This will be noted in history books as the foundation of the Pentecoste League.

Emperor Rapoto creates Friedrich of Staufen as the new Duke of Swabia. As a replacement for the Lower Lotharingian Duke Gottfried the Hunchback, who had died at Modena, Hermann II. of the clan of the Ezzones is created as Duke of Lower Lotharingia. Both dukes immediately set upon their task of sorting out inheritance disputes (mostly in their clients' favour), restoring monastic communities and seeking ways to rebuild defensive forces under the conditions of the massive knightly bloodletting of the past few years.

In Croatia, various factions fight each other after King Kresimir has died without sons or brothers or otherwise self-evident heirs. The župans of Slavonia and Baranja support Zvonimir, a distant relative of Kresimir’s from the Trpimirovic dynasty, who stands for the continuation of a pro-Papal policy and centralization of monarchical power which Kresimir had pursued. Against him, the nobility of the South-East, supported by its neighbour, the Kingdom of Duklja, rallies behind Petrislav of the House of Vojislavljevic, who supports a pro-Byzantine policy [2]. Several Kvarner and Dalmatian islands as well as important Dalmatian cities seek to exploit this conflict in order to restore greater autonomy for themselves and mobilise their fleets.

In Capua, Richard Drengot dies, like IOTL. Unlike IOTL, his death and Guiscard’s and Drengot’s defeat against Pandulf, Joscelin and the Neapolitans last year inspire a revolt in Gaeta against the rule of Richard’s heir, Jourdan. Jourdan does not manage to gain control over Gaeta, whose rebels under the leadership of Atenulf II. seek an alliance with Naples and other anti-Drengot/Hauteville cities.

King Sancho Ramirez of Aragon and Peter de Valognes attack the Taifa of Zaragoza and conquer Bolea.

Queen Judith of Hungary, the consort of King Salamon, gives birth to their first son, Gyula.

King Malcolm of Scotland visits Carlisle upon the completion of its cathedral church. [3]

Archbishop Stigand dies of old age. The cathedral chapter at Winchester elects Maerwine as his successor.

After Qutalmish’s death and Atsiz’s defeat as well as following the deal he brokered with the Greek and Armenian Anatolians, Sultan Malik Shah’s brother Tutush has risen to the undisputed rank of the second man in the Seljuk sultanate. Tutush orders the construction of a medical school and new hospital in his provincial capital Damascus.

Rousellos Phrangopoulos leads an attack against the Danishmends, but fails and is forced to retreat.

In Tmutarakan, a revolt by the (predominantly still Chazar) population breaks out and ousts Prince Roman Svyatoslavich. Roman returns with his Cuman allies in an attempt to take back the city, but David has mobilised an Oghuz horde [4] who defeat and disperse the Cumans, killing Roman in the battle. David Igorevich awards lands to his Oghuz allies and receives a diplomatic mission from Constantinople which bestows the title of "arkhon of Khazaria" upon David who, in turn, nominally accepts Byzantine suzerainty over his city state which controls the Strait of Kerch.

Robert d’Arbrissell begins his great work Hermeneutica, in which he expands on the teachings of Anselm of Laon. [5]



[as per OTL:]

Almoravids begin the siege of Sebta / Ceuta.

Al-Mutamid, Taifa King of Sevilla, conquers lands South of the Guadiana River from the Taifa of Toledo.

King Harald of Denmark abolishes the trial by ordeal in his kingdom and makes the counterfeit of royal coins a crime punishable by death.

The people of Novgorod revolt against Prince Gleb Sviatoslavich and force him to flee. Later this year, he is slain by Chuds.



[1] All these communes / republics gained their independence IOTL a few decades later after Mathilda’s much later OTL death. And now – after last year has clearly demonstrated why this TL mentions “… COUNCILS” in the title -, I have also disclosed why it has “… AND COMMUNES” in there, too. This was actually one of the things I had wanted to explore with this TL right from the start: an earlier, stronger and different wave of city states (not only) in Italy. IOTL, this radiated across large swaths of Europe as a veritable communalist movement.

[2] “Pro-Byzantine” here means “pro Caesar George”, the Bulgarian de facto ruler of Byzantium’s European possessions North of Greece. George continues to pursue his close alliance with Serbian Duklja even after Konstantin Bodin’s death. Having triumphed over the Pechenegs in an alliance which included Hungarians, too, he is now beginning to meddle in Croatia.

[3] While the Norman kings of England would conquer Carlisle soon, the peaceful and friendly relation between Harold and Malcolm ITTL leaves the border at its status quo, meaning Carlisle is still Scottish. Establishing an episcopal see here and building a representative church are also signs of the stability of Scottish power and the positive development of this part of what, half a century ago, was still Strathclyde. These are all consequences of a much wealthier and populous English Northumberland on the other side of the border (without a Harrying of the North) as well as of the politically and militarily much calmer Irish Sea, still under the control of Earl Godwin of the Isles and no longer a source of Norse raids.

[4] More Oghuz turning up in the Pontic steppes are a direct result of Anatolia being less open to Oghuz settlement in spite of the Seljuk victory at Manzikert (due to encastellated "Norman" resistance).

[5] IOTL, Robert d’Arbrissell had to flee when the Reformist tide swept away his patron, Sylvestre de la Guerche, Bishop of Rennes. ITTL, a stronger and decidedly anti-Reformist Breton Duke Conan holds his protective hand over Sylvestre, who is accused of simony, and thus by implication also over Robert d’Arbrissell, who will never become an itinerant monk and instead continues Anselm’s work towards re-connecting medieval hermeneutics with the amplour of positions on the nature of text meaning and exegesis which were discussed by both Christian and non-Christian philosophers in antiquity, attempting a synthesis of the competing schools of hermeneutical thought.


This is my last post before I take a longer summer break - there's a crazy amount of work awaiting me in June, and then we're off on a holiday in July. I hope to see you again when this TL returns in August with more fun developments in 1079 and the 1080s... - in Iberia, on the British Isles and elsewhere...!

 

[piratedude]

Establishing an episcopal see here and building a representative church are also signs of the stability of Scottish power and the positive development of this part of what, half a century ago, was still Strathclyde

Less than that even, judging by the 1054 effort by Edward the Confessor and Siward of Northumbria to install "Malcolm son of the king of the Cumbrians". Of course, that was during Macbeth's reign.

 

[Dragonboy]

1078

Pope Coelestin II. convenes the bishops and civilian heads of the communes of Pisa, Volterra, Pistoia, Florence, and Modena, who have all been awarded independence as immediate members of the Empire (following the death of Margrave Mathilda) [1], to celebrate Pentecoste with him and swear an oath to him and each other to “perpetually” maintain the Lord’s peace in their lands and among themselves, and to come to each other’s aid and defense should any member of the league violate their oath and attack a fellow member, or should an outside force attack them. They also swear to reconvene next year on Pentecost, too, and to renew their oaths then, and from then on annually. This will be noted in history books as the foundation of the Pentecoste League.

Emperor Rapoto creates Friedrich of Staufen as the new Duke of Swabia. As a replacement for the Lower Lotharingian Duke Gottfried the Hunchback, who had died at Modena, Hermann II. of the clan of the Ezzones is created as Duke of Lower Lotharingia. Both dukes immediately set upon their task of sorting out inheritance disputes (mostly in their clients' favour), restoring monastic communities and seeking ways to rebuild defensive forces under the conditions of the massive knightly bloodletting of the past few years.

In Croatia, various factions fight each other after King Kresimir has died without sons or brothers or otherwise self-evident heirs. The župans of Slavonia and Baranja support Zvonimir, a distant relative of Kresimir’s from the Trpimirovic dynasty, who stands for the continuation of a pro-Papal policy and centralization of monarchical power which Kresimir had pursued. Against him, the nobility of the South-East, supported by its neighbour, the Kingdom of Duklja, rallies behind Petrislav of the House of Vojislavljevic, who supports a pro-Byzantine policy [2]. Several Kvarner and Dalmatian islands as well as important Dalmatian cities seek to exploit this conflict in order to restore greater autonomy for themselves and mobilise their fleets.

In Capua, Richard Drengot dies, like IOTL. Unlike IOTL, his death and Guiscard’s and Drengot’s defeat against Pandulf, Joscelin and the Neapolitans last year inspire a revolt in Gaeta against the rule of Richard’s heir, Jourdan. Jourdan does not manage to gain control over Gaeta, whose rebels under the leadership of Atenulf II. seek an alliance with Naples and other anti-Drengot/Hauteville cities.

King Sancho Ramirez of Aragon and Peter de Valognes attack the Taifa of Zaragoza and conquer Bolea.

Queen Judith of Hungary, the consort of King Salamon, gives birth to their first son, Gyula.

King Malcolm of Scotland visits Carlisle upon the completion of its cathedral church. [3]

Archbishop Stigand dies of old age. The cathedral chapter at Winchester elects Maerwine as his successor.

After Qutalmish’s death and Atsiz’s defeat as well as following the deal he brokered with the Greek and Armenian Anatolians, Sultan Malik Shah’s brother Tutush has risen to the undisputed rank of the second man in the Seljuk sultanate. Tutush orders the construction of a medical school and new hospital in his provincial capital Damascus.

Rousellos Phrangopoulos leads an attack against the Danishmends, but fails and is forced to retreat.

In Tmutarakan, a revolt by the (predominantly still Chazar) population breaks out and ousts Prince Roman Svyatoslavich. Roman returns with his Cuman allies in an attempt to take back the city, but David has mobilised an Oghuz horde [4] who defeat and disperse the Cumans, killing Roman in the battle. David Igorevich awards lands to his Oghuz allies and receives a diplomatic mission from Constantinople which bestows the title of "arkhon of Khazaria" upon David who, in turn, nominally accepts Byzantine suzerainty over his city state which controls the Strait of Kerch.

Robert d’Arbrissell begins his great work Hermeneutica, in which he expands on the teachings of Anselm of Laon. [5]



[as per OTL:]

Almoravids begin the siege of Sebta / Ceuta.

Al-Mutamid, Taifa King of Sevilla, conquers lands South of the Guadiana River from the Taifa of Toledo.

King Harald of Denmark abolishes the trial by ordeal in his kingdom and makes the counterfeit of royal coins a crime punishable by death.

The people of Novgorod revolt against Prince Gleb Sviatoslavich and force him to flee. Later this year, he is slain by Chuds.



[1] All these communes / republics gained their independence IOTL a few decades later after Mathilda’s much later OTL death. And now – after last year has clearly demonstrated why this TL mentions “… COUNCILS” in the title -, I have also disclosed why it has “… AND COMMUNES” in there, too. This was actually one of the things I had wanted to explore with this TL right from the start: an earlier, stronger and different wave of city states (not only) in Italy. IOTL, this radiated across large swaths of Europe as a veritable communalist movement.

[2] “Pro-Byzantine” here means “pro Caesar George”, the Bulgarian de facto ruler of Byzantium’s European possessions North of Greece. George continues to pursue his close alliance with Serbian Duklja even after Konstantin Bodin’s death. Having triumphed over the Pechenegs in an alliance which included Hungarians, too, he is now beginning to meddle in Croatia.

[3] While the Norman kings of England would conquer Carlisle soon, the peaceful and friendly relation between Harold and Malcolm ITTL leaves the border at its status quo, meaning Carlisle is still Scottish. Establishing an episcopal see here and building a representative church are also signs of the stability of Scottish power and the positive development of this part of what, half a century ago, was still Strathclyde. These are all consequences of a much wealthier and populous English Northumberland on the other side of the border (without a Harrying of the North) as well as of the politically and militarily much calmer Irish Sea, still under the control of Earl Godwin of the Isles and no longer a source of Norse raids.

[4] More Oghuz turning up in the Pontic steppes are a direct result of Anatolia being less open to Oghuz settlement in spite of the Seljuk victory at Manzikert (due to encastellated "Norman" resistance).

[5] IOTL, Robert d’Arbrissell had to flee when the Reformist tide swept away his patron, Sylvestre de la Guerche, Bishop of Rennes. ITTL, a stronger and decidedly anti-Reformist Breton Duke Conan holds his protective hand over Sylvestre, who is accused of simony, and thus by implication also over Robert d’Arbrissell, who will never become an itinerant monk and instead continues Anselm’s work towards re-connecting medieval hermeneutics with the amplour of positions on the nature of text meaning and exegesis which were discussed by both Christian and non-Christian philosophers in antiquity, attempting a synthesis of the competing schools of hermeneutical thought.


This is my last post before I take a longer summer break - there's a crazy amount of work awaiting me in June, and then we're off on a holiday in July. I hope to see you again when this TL returns in August with more fun developments in 1079 and the 1080s... - in Iberia, on the British Isles and elsewhere...!

Amazing work! Hope You have a great break