Byzantium/Romans info for warband 1200
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In the Byzantine army you have a supreme commander : The Emperor himself surrounded by his always loyal to the death Varangian Guard. Under him you have two domesticus ( supreme commanders of generals and archontes ) . one for the armies of the east and one for the west ( European firm land ). The one of the east was usually the most important, covering another office : That of the domesticus of the scolae palatinae : the elite forces of the imperial army or "tagmata". In this case he was called Grand Domesticus and he was the one leading the Imperial army in absence of the Emperor himself. He was a sort of minister of war very important politically also as in matters of foreign affairs . That's mostly how this worked from what I can remember. Variations could occur for various political or practical reasons depending on the Emperors will. In this case the Grand Domesticus was the one of the west, making him the second in command in the Empire, if there was no caesar assigned .
Black_Scythe
Knight
Will the player be able to recruit Varangians? I'm so pumped up about this next release. Do you guys need any help with research?
MihailoSRB
Aaah, I see.Jason L. said:
Then it seems Gidos was Grand Domesticus of The Marshalls of the West.
Funny thing is that we don't know much more about him, considering his high position in the Empire.
Thanks for the info.
Aye, there was only one domestikos of the East, only one domestikos of the West, and usually among them - one megas domestikos, who takes superiority.
Btw, we already have "Megas Domestikos Andronikos Doukas Komnenos Palaiologos (future father of Mikhaēl Palaiologos)", so either our candidate had been demoted in the meantime (possibly backed up the wrong side during some of the coups) or simply wasn't in existence anymore.
Btw, we already have "Megas Domestikos Andronikos Doukas Komnenos Palaiologos (future father of Mikhaēl Palaiologos)", so either our candidate had been demoted in the meantime (possibly backed up the wrong side during some of the coups) or simply wasn't in existence anymore.
MihailoSRB
Aaaah, I got it now.Jason L. said:
I'm a bit slow these days.
Or was demoted following his failure at the Battle for Arcadiopolis.NikeBG said:
The other commander (Basileios Vatatzes) was killed, so Alexios was the only one left to be blamed for the loss.
Wait a second... wasn't he only a kid in 1200AD?NikeBG said:
Around 10 years old perhaps?
Quite possible as well.mihailo.razvigor said:
Michael? He wasn't even born yet. Or Andronikos? I don't know when he was born, but I doubt he could be a megas domestikos at the age of 10 and even be a candidate for the throne by the time of the Fourth Crusade.mihailo.razvigor said:Wait a second... wasn't he only a kid in 1200AD?NikeBG said:
Around 10 years old perhaps?
Komnenos
Sergeant at Arms
An opinion:
I would presume that many of the titles rhomaioi held were mainly honorific, but powerful though. And so they were, dozens of them, courtly by nature and regularly bought and purchased, not rarely by eunuchs - Political Ranks, Titles and Offices of the Roman Empire in 9th-11th century.. A stunning political and formal variety! And this is what makes Byzantia unique and we should try to do so. More. Byzantine empire was by far more an Absolute monarchy than western european liege/vassal formations. Maybe the only office that was given in a meritocratic manner was that of the Strategos of a Thema, especially after the Komnenian restoration.
So I think that in e1200 a Byzantine lord shall be called Strategos, shall be more like a captain, but could attain and hold a courtly office/peerage. This has a tremendous game-politics potential, just imagine dialogues like: "Who do you think that the new Kouropalates/ Protosevastor/ Logothetes should be?"
Excuse me if doubleposting.
I would presume that many of the titles rhomaioi held were mainly honorific, but powerful though. And so they were, dozens of them, courtly by nature and regularly bought and purchased, not rarely by eunuchs - Political Ranks, Titles and Offices of the Roman Empire in 9th-11th century.. A stunning political and formal variety! And this is what makes Byzantia unique and we should try to do so. More. Byzantine empire was by far more an Absolute monarchy than western european liege/vassal formations. Maybe the only office that was given in a meritocratic manner was that of the Strategos of a Thema, especially after the Komnenian restoration.
So I think that in e1200 a Byzantine lord shall be called Strategos, shall be more like a captain, but could attain and hold a courtly office/peerage. This has a tremendous game-politics potential, just imagine dialogues like: "Who do you think that the new Kouropalates/ Protosevastor/ Logothetes should be?"
Excuse me if doubleposting.
I don't think the current editions of M&B can portray well the various forms of courtly titles. Actually, they can't portray well any titles, other than "king" and ""general"", and even they are highly simplified. Still, a hierarchical system with the various titles of the various cultures is something I've been quite dreaming about as well.
You may have seen a drawing of Diogenes Akritas on a Byzantine plate, supposedly the only illustration of shoulder tufts mentioned in Leo VI's Tactica. Here is a colour photo of the actual plate:
Digenis (Diogenes) Akritas fights the dragon
And other depictions of Diogenes Akritas:
Digenis Akritas slays the dragon with five arrows
Digenis Akritas saves a princess abandoned in the desert
MIRROR SITE
Digenis (Diogenes) Akritas fights the dragon
Digenis Akritas slays the dragon with five arrows
Digenis Akritas saves a princess abandoned in the desert
Druzhina
Byzantine Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers
Digenis (Diogenes) Akritas fights the dragon
And other depictions of Diogenes Akritas:
Digenis Akritas slays the dragon with five arrows
Digenis Akritas saves a princess abandoned in the desert
MIRROR SITE
Digenis (Diogenes) Akritas fights the dragon
Digenis Akritas slays the dragon with five arrows
Digenis Akritas saves a princess abandoned in the desert
Druzhina
Byzantine Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers
Hello, I know you probably don't want to change this but the Byzantine Empire regained control of Dyrrhachium when they pushed the Normans back. Emperor Alexios I Komnenos gave control of it to close relatives and they held it until after the fall of Constantinople when the city magnates surrendered the city to Venice.
Basic wiki link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyrrhachium_%28theme%29
Alos Pg 668 in in the The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium.
Basic wiki link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyrrhachium_%28theme%29
Alos Pg 668 in in the The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium.
Black_Scythe
Knight
AFAIK Byzantines lost Durres in 1185 for good.
Thats why I provided some sources, when Iget a chance I'll find the book i mentioned and upload a photo/quote of the page I listed.
You know, you might be right (not that I doubt you, but we'd indeed need to research this). F.e. the Wiki for William II of Sicily also claims that after the battle of Strymon "in 1189 William made peace with Isaac, abandoning all the conquests". True, it's Wiki, which is why we'll need that research, but I think it has merit. Thessaloniki was certainly regained by the Byzantines, even though it was captured by the Normans in the same 1185 campaign. So we'll probably indeed have to return Durres (renamed to Dyrrhachion) to the Byzies.
Korinov, would that require some balance-alterations to the other nearby Byz settlements (I personally don't think so, but still)?
Korinov, would that require some balance-alterations to the other nearby Byz settlements (I personally don't think so, but still)?
In some eras there were 2 DomesticiNikeBG said:Aye, there was only one domestikos of the East, only one domestikos of the West, and usually among them - one megas domestikos, who takes superiority.
Btw, we already have "Megas Domestikos Andronikos Doukas Komnenos Palaiologos (future father of Mikhaēl Palaiologos)", so either our candidate had been demoted in the meantime (possibly backed up the wrong side during some of the coups) or simply wasn't in existence anymore.
One of east and one of west replacing the titles Magister Militum Per Orientem and Magister Militum per Illiricum (actually of the western armies after merging Magister per Illiricum and Magister per Tracias in one person).
In other eras there was ONLY one Megas Domesticos replacing the Magister Militum.
Things come -as always- more complicated when instead of having in charge a Domesticos we have Magistrus (gr: Μαγιστρος) like in the battle of Matzikert!
I know Theodoros Mangaphas is intended to become a companion but... honestly it's quite unlikely we'll ever finish the planned companion wheel, and anyway we have some companions out of that wheel that could fill in some gaps. I'm thinking about making him governor of Philadelphia. It's unknown if he was at Philadelphia at the beginning of 1200, as we only know he returned to the city "before 1204" and had it easy at seizing power again. So he's probably the safest bet... I don't want to give cities to some unknown archon if there's a more likely and well known candidate.
