Vitus

Biodata

Background / History

Vitus is the fourth son of Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos. Before coming to this world, he recalls being an idle college student with limited knowledge of the period; after arriving, he relies on remembered history, mathematics, and technical concepts to search for a way to prevent the Empire’s collapse. His early notes include attempts to reconstruct ballistic equations and designs for advanced artillery. 2

He spent much of his youth in seclusion at the Blachernae Palace, focusing on scholarship rather than martial training. This left him physically lean and pale, and his family initially considered him unfit for major responsibility. He received a broad upper-class education, including Greek classical studies, mathematics, law, theology, and Latin. 2 10 29

His seclusion followed a serious childhood illness. At nineteen, he abruptly began visiting Constantinople’s walls during the Ottoman siege, observing the fighting by day and compiling notes in a remote barracks at night. He showed no fear at witnessing his first battle and subsequently directed serpentines against Ottoman siege equipment. 1 2

After the siege, Vitus investigated taxation and municipal administration with his father’s and eldest brother’s tacit approval. He concluded that the Empire’s resources had deteriorated too far for internal reform alone to save it. Manuel refused his request for a cannon foundry because the treasury could not even meet officials’ wages, reinforcing Vitus’s need to obtain capital and expertise abroad. 3

During a diplomatic journey through Italy, Vitus injured his ankle in the Apennines and was left behind at a Florentine manor. When the Noose Mercenary Group attacked, he escaped alone to Pistoia despite the injury. His defense of Pistoia became his first major independent combat experience outside Constantinople and revealed his aptitude for artillery warfare. 4 8

His rise eventually changes the character of Palaiologos rule. Although he formally inherits an existing dynasty, most of the restored Empire’s territory is recovered through his own campaigns. By the establishment of his succession law, his authority resembles that of a founding emperor, supported by exceptional military prestige and the army’s loyalty. 345 434

Appearance

Vitus resembles his younger brother Constantine Palaiologos, though his long seclusion initially left him leaner and paler. After years of campaigning, his frail scholarly appearance is replaced by a more capable and decisive bearing. 2 33

• Gaunt cheeks and sharply defined features. 27
• Neatly cut Roman-style hair and a clean-shaven chin. 27
• Often wears practical knightly or military armor rather than elaborate imperial attire. 5 127
• Uses a signet ring bearing his imperial identity. 10
• Frequently wears a thick black wool cloak or, during cold-weather campaigns, a heavy fur coat. 25 27 469
• In his later campaigning years, notices declining stamina: the armor he once wore comfortably over mountains becomes tiring even during short walks. 468

Personality

Vitus is intensely pragmatic. He evaluates wars, alliances, weapons, and institutions in terms of cost, logistics, and long-term value. He refused peace negotiations during the Achaean campaign because abandoning the war would waste the money he had invested, and later rejected further North African expeditions despite their profit because of their casualties and harsh conditions. 38 71

He is intellectually curious and unusually focused on military affairs. During their early acquaintance, Hunyadi notes that Vitus has little interest in gambling, hunting, or women, instead devoting himself almost entirely to warfare, artillery, and military theory. 26 He also applies this curiosity to industry, administration, mathematics, medicine, and education. 42 66 138 Outside periods of intense work, however, he does enjoy hunting and fishing; hunting later becomes a favorite pastime that he temporarily abandons after exhausting campaigns. 46 99

Though capable of ruthlessness toward enemies and unreliable specialists, Vitus takes responsibility for his own troops. He rewards soldiers with land, pensions, and captured wealth, and secretly provides financial help to legionaries and their families. 98 125 179

His practicality extends to rejecting conspicuous but expensive projects. He refuses proposals for a triumphal arch, the restoration of the Hippodrome, and citywide gas streetlights when he judges their costs unjustifiable. Rather than discard the gas-light experiments entirely, he redirects attention toward the coke produced by coal distillation and its possible use in iron smelting. 272 401 409

Vitus recognizes the limits of personal combat skill and prefers command, organization, and technology over martial display. He never considers himself a swordsmanship prodigy, regards years spent mastering dueling techniques as an inefficient response to mass Ottoman armies, and later ignores a hostile king’s challenge to settle a war by personal duel. 11 478

His willingness to negotiate depends on strategic circumstances. Earlier campaigns against smaller states and the Ottomans leave little room in his thinking for negotiated settlements, but by January 1456 he recognizes that the Eastern Roman, Jagiellon, and French spheres are too extensive for any one side to annihilate the others. He therefore anticipates eventual negotiations while revising the Italian campaign plan to reduce casualties. 483

He remains committed to campaigns despite personal exhaustion or political pressure. When John VIII’s illness creates a crisis in Constantinople, Vitus insists on recovering Cilicia before returning. During the later Serbian campaign, he conceals a cold to prevent disruption of his army’s plans, while accepting medical treatment and briefly resting. 316 469

Abilities & Skills

Artillery Design and Firearms Development

Vitus possesses exceptional knowledge of artillery, ballistics, and firearm development. He uses incomplete remembered knowledge alongside practical testing, adapting designs to the available craftsmanship of the fifteenth century.

• Attempts to derive ballistic equations and create practical firing tables for artillery. 2
• Directs serpentines against Ottoman siege engines during the defense of Constantinople. 2
• Uses bracketing fire, terrain sketches, and colored flag signals to direct artillery against Milanese siege guns at Pistoia. 6 7
• Commands serpentines during the defense of Pistoia, organizing civilian caravan hands into gun crews. 8
• Replaces improvised mixtures of stones and nails with uniformly cast lead balls for close-range artillery fire, improving loading and destructive effect. 8
• Proposes more mobile artillery with improved carriages and iron shot at the Di Maggio foundry. 12
• Recognizes silk’s usefulness for powder bags because it burns with little residue and facilitates loading. 14
• Orders modified Ribauldequin-style barrels as the basis for matchlocks. 34
• Oversees matchlock testing; the weapon pierces a breastplate at fifty meters, barely penetrates brigandine at one hundred meters, and is expected to defeat lamellar armor and chainmail at that distance. 45
• Expands firearm production through the Andravida Arsenal and assigns captured Ottoman blacksmiths to cannon and barrel production. 46 98
• Specifies a bronze six-pounder with an improved carriage, iron shot, a range exceeding 750 meters, transport by two draft horses, and a barrel life exceeding five hundred shots. Manufacturing limitations delay its delivery from Florence. 52 55
• Agrees to provide Constantinople with forty naval cannons and recommends small swivel guns for galleys. 125
• Requests larger-caliber mortars after finding the existing weapons insufficiently powerful during the siege of Sakarya. 232
• Evaluates Urban’s heavy cannon as too cumbersome for his requirements but takes an interest in his research into tougher gray cast iron. Offers to purchase the research records or employ Urban in a restricted arsenal research position. 409

Battlefield Command

Vitus develops from an inexperienced artillery commander into one of the Empire’s foremost generals.

• His early field command relies on infantry advancing as cover for artillery, a deliberately simple formation suited to poorly trained militia. 8
• Uses wagon forts, scouts, and advance reconnaissance during the conquest of Achaea. 37 38
• Designs square field camps with perimeter ditches, palisades, and watchtowers using ancient military texts. 39
• Develops pike-and-shot square formations for the Tuna Legion, combining pikemen, matchlock troops, and artillery. 56
• Uses ambushes, terrain, artillery, and firearms to defeat larger cavalry-heavy forces. 63 80
• Assigns weaker militia to static defenses while retaining his professional troops as a mobile reserve. 90
• Coordinates attacks and reinforcements to break Turahan’s camp and force the collapse of the Balkan Auxiliary Army. 95
• Prioritizes weaker auxiliary formations and light cavalry rather than immediately attacking entrenched Janissary musketeers. 117
• Initially lacks experience commanding heavy cavalry and treats poorly coordinated allied cavalry as a force whose single decisive charge must be carefully timed. 118
• Reorganizes cavalry into heavy cavalry, light cavalry, dragoon, and horse-artillery formations. 219 245
• Plans campaigns around supply routes, defensive terrain, and the need to stabilize conquered territory before advancing further. 112 244 267
• Uses artillery positions on both banks of the Nile to sever river traffic between the upstream valley and the delta during the Egyptian campaign. 430 431
• Divides his Serbian-theater forces to contain Hunyadi’s Black Army in the north while sending two Mountain Brigades south to cut off Priština and threaten Grgur’s army. 469
• Refuses a proposed duel and instead uses reinforcements, fortified positions, and coordinated offensives to secure territory south of the Sava and Danube. 478
• Reassesses the Privy Council’s Italian offensive plan when he considers its projected casualties excessive. 483

Military Organization

Vitus favors disciplined professional soldiers over feudal or temporary levies.

• Founded the Tuna Mercenary Group from Greek miners, personally recording their identities, issuing regulations, and equipping them with captured arms and armor. 22
• Organizes six hundred recruits into five matchlock companies, beginning with discipline, formation practice, and loading drills using wooden firearm models before live-fire training. 46
• Turns the Tuna force into the Tuna Legion, with a structured officer corps including deputy commander, quartermaster, military tribune, and chief centurion. 102
• Rejects the Theme and Pronoia systems as obsolete in an era dominated by firearms and professional armies. 129
• Establishes an auxiliary cavalry brigade from submitted nomadic tribes and registers their populations for settlement north of Tauris. 163
• Drafts an edict permitting Cossack settlement in Outer Tauris in exchange for wartime cavalry service. 170
• Establishes field schools and personally compiled textbooks to train officers for new legions and auxiliary brigades. 223
• Designs lightweight buff coats for dragoons, preserving their mobility rather than burdening them with iron armor. Consults dragoon officers before finalizing the design. 236
• Reduces heavy cavalry’s overall armor weight while thickening breastplates for protection against lead bullets at long range. 245
• Creates garrison districts and limits hereditary military power by allowing long-serving military households to become ordinary citizens through a fee. 252
• Begins forming the Konya Legion while maintaining the Anatolian campaign during the political crisis in Constantinople. 316
• Establishes a Military Academy but remains dissatisfied that his training system has not produced a subordinate capable of taking over the most demanding campaigns. 404
• Announces plans for a Holy Land Guard Legion recruited from Orthodox volunteers after reaching Jerusalem. 426

Governance and Economic Development

Vitus applies the same practical approach to civil administration, industry, and territorial development.

• Simplifies Achaea’s government by dividing it among three towns and appointing mayors, tax collectors, and judges. 42
• Organizes Morea into five administrative divisions and seeks to reduce dependence on imported iron. 65
• Improves iron smelting with Italian technicians and adapts production to local water and animal-power constraints. 66
• Develops workshops producing soap, wool, firearms, ships, and later bone china. 51 75 268
• Establishes a dry dock and shipyard at Kyllini, hiring experienced shipwrights and apprentices to build local expertise. 52
• Establishes new provinces and garrison districts in recovered Anatolian territory, including Galatia and Paphlagonia. 267
• Introduces mathematical methods to reduce administrative errors as the Empire expands. 142
• Distills unsold Crimean wine into stronger spirits suited to Rus and Tatar demand and plans a distillery to develop the trade. 154
• Secures Lithuanian permission for Greek trading posts along the middle and lower Dnieper. 170
• Supports movable-type printing through Eli’s workshop, proposes a newspaper office, and commissions the Palaiologos Medical Canon: 1441 Edition for hospitals and physicians. 256
• Expands public libraries and plans a secular university in Nicomedia to avoid the Church’s influence in Constantinople. 272
• Refuses to preserve conquered Ottoman beys’ ruling privileges, preferring direct Roman administration despite the greater difficulty involved. 244 313
• Requires official review of university research funding and promotes improved mine drainage and ventilation after an inspected copper mine reports a quarter increase in net profits. Orders a technical booklet and an article in the Golden Horn News to circulate the methods. 338
• Promulgates a written succession law establishing primogeniture. 345
• Creates an additional hereditary noble title to distinguish a small group of senior military servants from holders of hereditary military offices, awarding small islands as their fiefs. By this stage, the pronoia system and its remaining nobles have been abolished. 404
• Settles twenty families of Venetian glassworkers in a protected workshop in northeastern Galatia. 401
• Proposes experimental coke-fired iron smelting after examining the by-products of a gas-light project. 409
• Considers wooden rails between Suez and Pelusium as a cheaper alternative to constructing a canal. The proposal meets substantial opposition among his attendants. 432
• Responds to poor harvests by increasing grain reserves, raising alcohol taxes to reduce brewing, and ordering inland towns to stockpile coal for winter. Personally investigates food prices in Constantinople while disguised as an ordinary citizen. 451

Diplomacy and Strategic Control

• Initially avoids intervention in Italian conflicts because of the risk of provoking several major powers while the Ottomans remain his primary enemy. 55 99 177
• Prohibits merchants from selling firearms to steppe tribes, extending the ban to Genoese traders and threatening exclusion from the Black Sea for proven violations. Later refuses Ivan III’s request to purchase firearms. 154 213
• Forces Georgia to surrender Ottoman envoys and sympathizers, then negotiates an alliance providing payment, supplies, and access to a port in exchange for military assistance. 185
• Avoids occupying the entire steppe after the Golden Horde’s collapse, recognizing that cultural, religious, and customary differences would make sustained Roman rule unstable. 169
• Assures King Alexander that Georgia will remain independent and rejects an unnecessary pursuit of the retreating Black Sheep army. 292
• Proceeds with war against Venice despite Charles VII’s refusal to join the conflict. 345
• Exchanges land south of Jerusalem for the Knights Hospitaller’s possession of Rhodes and its dependent islands. 426
• Allows a highly decentralized arrangement for 130 lords, who elect five lifelong tribunes to assist the governor. His overriding requirement is regional stability rather than substantial taxation or military service abroad. 431
• Maintains a transactional relationship with the Church: recovered patriarchates, land, and funding are balanced by expectations that clergy reassure the population and provide grassroots medical care and education. 467

Personal Martial Training

Vitus’s personal weapons training is secondary to his abilities as a commander. He received no knightly education in childhood and learned basic swordsmanship only after becoming a guest of the Di Maggio household. 10 11 368

• Practices with Phil using blunted swords and plate armor, later training daily under an instructor to strengthen his body. Their abilities are initially approximately equal. 11 12
• Studies techniques associated with the Lichtenauer style and Fiore half-swording but does not claim mastery. 12 368
• Learns the basic halberd movements of thrusting, slashing, hooking, and blocking alongside his recruits. 23
• Continues morning exercise, including sword practice and composite-bow shooting, into his imperial reign. His archery remains unexceptional despite practice. 25 368 369
• Rarely faces close combat while commanding independently; he recalls that enemies almost never came within one hundred paces of him. 368

Equipment / Military Assets

• Signet ring — Used to seal correspondence as a member of the Palaiologos family. 10
• Sword and plate armor — Carries a sword and regularly wears practical armor in the field. Giulio loans him a full suit of plate armor at Pistoia, and Vitus still wears armor identified as Giulio’s gift in his later campaigns. 2 5 127 468
• Serpentines and three-pounder cannons — Core artillery of his early mercenary command. 8 36
• Siege cannons — Used in the Achaean campaign and subsequent sieges. 15 36
• Matchlocks — Developed from modified multi-barrel firearm designs and adopted by his professional troops. 34 46
• Personal banner — Designed during the anti-Ottoman allied campaign to distinguish his command from other Palaiologos forces. 113
• Notebook and signaling flags — Uses written calculations, terrain sketches, and colored flags to prepare and direct artillery fire. 4 6 7
• Six- and nine-pounder field guns — Later artillery formations deploy these heavier weapons to suppress entrenched enemy positions. 55 117
• Telescope — Uses it to observe defensive works and battlefield formations from command positions. 118 142
• Composite bow — Used during his regular morning training rather than as evidence of exceptional battlefield archery. 369
• Reorganized imperial fleets — Divides the former battle fleet into the Aegean, Ionian, and Black Sea Fleets, appointing their admirals and directing the Aegean Fleet to raid the Mamluk coast and intercept firearms shipments. 401

Relationships

• Manuel II Palaiologos — Father. Initially overlooked Vitus due to his secluded upbringing, but later recognized his military ability, entrusted him with the Achaean campaign, and elevated him to joint rule with John. 29 35 127
• Helena Dragaš — Mother and empress dowager. Vitus apologizes to her after Romanus and Anna damage her garden. She later sends him news of John VIII’s illness and the political crisis in Constantinople. 170 316
• John VIII Palaiologos — Eldest brother and former co-emperor. John handles internal administration and diplomacy while Vitus is assigned responsibility for foreign conquest; the two generally cooperate despite political disagreements. 127 129 171 After unrest in Constantinople damages John’s health, he transfers control to the Imperial Council and plans retirement to a monastery. Vitus subsequently assumes complete control of the Empire. 316 328
• Agnes Di Maggio — Wife. Their marriage joins the Palaiologos dynasty with the wealthy Di Maggio banking family. Agnes supports his military-industrial projects, manages workshops and finances, and raises their children with him. 27 34 42 179 She organizes Romanus and Anna’s lavish wedding and discusses Leo’s marriage prospects with Vitus, whose concerns center on preventing rival political factions within the dynasty. 345 445
• Theodore Palaiologos — Second brother and former Despot of Morea. Their relationship is strained by Theodore’s reluctance to fund or support Vitus’s early campaigns, but they later cooperate on defense and territorial administration. 37 45 64 After artillery tests demonstrate the strength of Vitus’s new fortifications, Theodore agrees to finance their construction. 46
• Constantine Palaiologos — Younger brother and military collaborator. Constantine’s youthful martial ability contrasts with Vitus’s lack of knightly training. He brings reinforcements during the battle against Turahan and later warmly congratulates Vitus on saving Rome. 2 11 95 123
• Thomas Palaiologos — Younger brother. Vitus takes him on the Transcaucasian expedition to assess his command abilities, recognizing his courage but criticizing his impulsiveness and limited potential for larger commands. They later cooperate in eastern and Egyptian campaigning. 183 185 414 426 430
• Demetrius Palaiologos — Younger brother. Vitus considers him evasive when confronted over his mistakes and resents the military trouble caused by him and Thomas after the Balkan reconquest. 126
• Piero — Leader of the Rotten Herring Mercenary Group and one of Vitus’s earliest mercenary associates. Piero provides connections, military advice, and troops during Vitus’s rise in Italy and Achaea. 20 22 36 38
• Marcus — Former Attican miner and early Tuna recruit. He becomes a trusted commander, leads wagon-fort troops, and later receives major responsibilities in Vitus’s armies. 21 37 38 151 Vitus eventually rewards him with a hereditary noble title and a small island fief. Marcus’s later eastern-frontier reports inform Vitus’s strategic planning. 404 483
• Damien — Tuna officer and close subordinate. He helps enforce discipline, advises Vitus on military matters, and later serves as deputy commander of the Tuna Legion. 34 51 102 He is among the senior military servants granted hereditary nobility and an island fief. 404
• Giulio Di Maggio — Father-in-law, banker, merchant, and early patron. He assists Vitus after the manor attack, provides armor and artillery resources at Pistoia, and employs him under the Anthony Doukas identity. Their association becomes a dynastic marriage alliance through Agnes. 5 6 9 27
• Phil Di Maggio — Agnes’s brother and Vitus’s friend. Phil introduces him to sword practice, accompanies him during his Florentine years, and later handles military supply business in France. 10 12 99
• John Hunyadi — Fellow commander and military interlocutor. Their discussions of cavalry, artillery, Hussite tactics, and strategy develop into mutual respect. 25 26 112 Hunyadi later distinguishes Vitus’s strategic and battlefield ability from his comparatively ordinary swordsmanship. They eventually become opponents when Hunyadi’s Black Army confronts Roman forces in the Serbian theater. 282 469
• Skanderbeg — Important anti-Ottoman ally. Vitus considers him capable of sharing the Empire’s military burden and joins him in the campaign through Serbia. Skanderbeg’s rapid victories against Venice and Serbia later astonish him. 99 109 154
• Krezer — Former Hussite officer and military adviser. Vitus hires him for his knowledge of Jan Žižka’s methods, then promotes him to deputy commander of the Varangian Legion. 46 163 Krezer is later among the recipients of hereditary nobility and an island fief. 404
• Romanus Palaiologos — Eldest son and heir. Vitus personally broadens Romanus’s education with mathematics, military theory, administration, and firsthand campaign experience. 192 213 273 He emphasizes physical fitness, willpower, and high-level command rather than dueling prowess, and later establishes primogeniture in written law. 192 345
• Leo Palaiologos — Son and Romanus’s younger brother. Provincial loyalties extend to both sons during the crisis surrounding John VIII’s withdrawal. Vitus later judges both adult sons to have benefited from his educational approach, while rejecting marriages for Leo that might create a rival faction backed by a serving general, chancellor, or neighboring dynasty. 317 438 445
• Manuel and John — Grandsons through Romanus and Anna. Both are initially frightened by Vitus; John cries when held by him, leaving Vitus to return the infant to Romanus. 434 438
• King Alexander of Georgia — Neighboring ruler and eventual ally. Vitus first coerces him into surrendering Ottoman sympathizers, then provides paid assistance against rebels. Later, Vitus assures the retiring king that Rome will not occupy Georgia. 185 292
• Gennaro Goneiqiya — Physician and university figure whom Vitus initially seeks to treat Andronikos. Vitus later reviews the university’s research under his oversight and orders him to disseminate useful mining techniques. 33 338

Story Role / Major Arcs

Italian Mercenary Years

• After escaping the Noose Mercenary Group, Vitus helps defend Pistoia and earns recognition for his artillery command. 4 8
• He accepts Giulio Di Maggio’s offer to serve Florence under the alias Anthony Doukas. 9
• During the Italian wars, he earns substantial wealth, gains practical battlefield experience, and forms the Tuna Mercenary Group from exploited Greek miners. 16 20 22 27
• He expands the Tuna force to four hundred men and travels to France as part of a Di Maggio business mission. 28
• At Bordeaux, he commands French and imported siege artillery, protects his gunners with armor, and helps secure the city’s capture. He subsequently claims supplies and recovered siege cannon at the docks. 30 31 32
• The Dauphin offers him a viscounty in English-held territory in exchange for allegiance to the Valois dynasty and responsibility for his mercenaries’ expenses. Vitus considers the terms unattractive rather than a genuine reward. 32

Return to the Eastern Roman Empire

• Vitus’s concealed identity is exposed when his engagement to Agnes Di Maggio is approved by Manuel II. 29 33 34
• After returning to Constantinople, he presents a plan to conquer Achaea and is promised the title of Despot of Achaea upon success. 35
• He recruits mercenaries in Italy, expands the Tuna force, and begins the campaign against the Principality of Achaea. 36 37
• Following the conquest, he establishes Andravida as his administrative center and begins rebuilding the region’s military, civil administration, industry, and defenses. 41 42 46
• He obtains Krezer’s expertise, expands matchlock training, and tests a new wall built from rammed earth, brick facing, and stone foundations against repeated siege-cannon fire. Theodore agrees to fund the successful fortification project. 46
• He establishes Kyllini’s shipyard and releases the five fastest-working prisoner companies from the Corinth construction site, offering provisions and a choice between returning home and settling in the Peloponnese. 52
• During subsequent campaigning in Thessaly, he avoids an unpromising siege of Larissa, raids Ottoman-held estates, and captures Volos as a port for transporting refugees and spoils south. 79
• After breaking Turahan’s forces, he insists on recovering the entire Duchy of Athens rather than accepting Antonio’s diplomatic threats. 95 97

Imperial Commander and Co-Emperor

• Vitus transforms the Tuna Legion into a firearm-based professional force and leads major campaigns against Ottoman forces in Greece and the Balkans. 56 96 112
• He abandons a planned central Greek offensive to join Skanderbeg in Albania. Their advance through Serbia draws Murad II away from Belgrade to confront the southern allied army. 109
• Following allied victories, he insists that Greece, Macedonia, and Thrace are the minimum territorial objectives of the Roman reconquest, even at the risk of conflict with former allies. 120
• After the recovery of major territories, Manuel II publicly divides imperial responsibilities: John VIII oversees internal affairs, while Vitus directs foreign conquest. 127
• Vitus is crowned co-emperor at Hagia Sophia but retains his old residence in the secluded Blachernae Palace courtyard. 128
• He reorganizes recovered estates, military rewards, naval artillery provision, and provincial facilities while recuperating from the war. 125

Crimean and Steppe Expansion

• Vitus conquers Tauris, defeats Haji Giray’s forces, frees Rus slaves, and begins recruiting a new Varangian force. 151
• He investigates the peninsula’s unsold wine and develops distilled spirits as a potential export while restricting firearms sales to steppe peoples. 154
• After Khan Qichihe’s death is falsely attributed to him, Vitus is forced into a campaign against Sarai to fracture the Golden Horde before it can retaliate. 163
• He settles allied nomadic tribes along the lower Don and develops Crimea through trade agreements, infrastructure, mining, agriculture, and military stud farms. 169 170 179
• Rather than attempt to dominate the entire steppe, he withdraws as rival powers begin contesting Sarai and leaves them to restrain one another. 169
• Lithuania’s grand duke accepts Greek trading posts along the Dnieper after news of the Golden Horde’s downfall strengthens Vitus’s diplomatic position. 170
• On a later journey through the northern Black Sea sphere, he refuses Ryazan’s firearms request, pressures Nogai representatives for gifts, and appoints Ilya as financial officer in Circassia. 213

Anatolian Reconquest

• Vitus reorganizes cavalry, dragoons, and horse artillery while preparing for a large-scale war against the Ottomans. 219
• After the capture of Karasu, he lands three understrength legions and advances toward Sakarya with an inland flotilla, establishing his camp north of the city. 230
• As reinforcements raise his army to more than seventy thousand, he directs the siege and requests improvements to the mortars used against the defenses. 232
• He leads the reconquest of western Anatolia, captures Sakarya and Bursa, and distributes recovered lands to soldiers, the Church, and imperial administration. 236 244
• He pushes into the Anatolian interior, establishes Galatia and Paphlagonia, and plans further advances toward the Black Sea coast and Trebizond. 264 267
• After defeating the Black Sheep army and reaching Tbilisi, he preserves Georgia’s independence and returns toward Anatolia rather than pursuing the retreating enemy. 292
• News of widespread rebellion in Galatia and an Ottoman concentration at the border prompts him to take personal command and reconsider the province’s governor. 292
• He orders further operations toward Cappadocia and rejects Ottoman beys’ offers of submission conditioned on preserving their local ruling authority. 313
• When John VIII’s illness produces a political crisis at home, Vitus continues the campaign to recover Cilicia, requests sustained provincial supplies, begins organizing the Konya Legion, and prepares defenses against possible Venetian intervention. 316

Sole Rule and Institutional Consolidation

• John VIII’s withdrawal leaves government initially in the Imperial Council’s hands. Most provincial authorities pledge allegiance to Vitus, whose conquests and former subordinates underpin their positions. 316 317
• By the time Vitus assumes complete control, officials and commoners view his reign as substantially less accommodating than John’s. His military reputation creates an atmosphere of caution and apprehension in the capital. 328
• He reviews university research expenditure and promotes practical improvements in mining machinery and ventilation. 338
• After Romanus and Anna’s wedding, he establishes written primogeniture, expands shipyard preparations, and requests coastal defense reports. 345
• He learns that Charles VII will not join the war against Venice but resolves to proceed regardless. 345
• On June 1, 1445, news reaches him that Ottoman rule has collapsed and its remaining territories have been divided among surrounding powers. Rather than simple joy, he feels bewilderment and loss after more than twenty years of struggle against his principal enemy. 350
• He later formalizes distinctions within the military elite through a small number of hereditary noble titles, while continuing to criticize the shortage of truly exceptional generals among his trained officers. 404

Naval War and Eastern Campaigns

• During the war with Venice, Vitus remains away from the naval front and does not interfere directly with operational naval command. He continues to monitor the financial and political costs of a prolonged conflict. 368 369
• He recognizes that the Empire faces several rising powers whose military strength and adoption of new technology limit opportunities for easy victories. 383
• He reorganizes the battle fleet into three regional fleets and orders attacks on the Mamluk coast and interceptions of arms shipments. 401
• He supports the establishment of a Venetian glassworking settlement in northeastern Galatia and continues evaluating military and industrial technology. 401 409
• In renewed eastern campaigning, he upholds an agreement allowing Georgia to expand eastward and obtain some southern territory if the allied campaign succeeds. 414
• By the later period, Roman occupation of the Armenian Highlands closes inland escape routes used by Anatolian bandit groups. 438

Levantine and Egyptian Campaign

• Vitus advances into the southern Levant after a period of rest, while many captured Mamluk officers initially remain unwilling to surrender to Roman service. 426
• He enters Jerusalem on May 6, performs a ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and announces a Holy Land Guard Legion drawn from Orthodox volunteers. 426
• He negotiates the Knights Hospitaller’s relocation to lands south of Jerusalem in exchange for Rhodes and its dependent islands. 426
• At Jaffa, he gathers supplies and camels for an advance into Egypt, relying on the Roman fleet to deter intervention by the House of Anjou. 426
• In July 1451, he assesses Cairo’s formidable defenses and prepares to disrupt its supply traffic rather than rely on a rapid breach by his limited artillery. 430
• He inspects Roman positions on the Nile’s west bank, where Attica Legion infantry and artillery cooperate with forces on the east bank to close the river connection between the valley and delta. 431
• He establishes a decentralized arrangement under which 130 lords elect five lifelong tribunes to assist the governor, prioritizing containment of local instability over revenue or overseas military service. 431
• At Pelusium, he considers wooden rails to connect the port with Suez as an alternative to an expensive canal. 432
• After returning home, he recounts how a Tatar officer seized ornate tack from the Sultan’s private stables when Roman forces entered Cairo and presented it to him as a gift. 434

Later Balkan War and Italian Planning

• Faced with declining harvests and irregular weather, Vitus orders grain conservation, restrictions on brewing through taxation, and winter coal reserves, then personally investigates Constantinople’s food market. 451
• In the Serbian theater, he establishes a northern defensive position against Hunyadi’s Black Army while using Mountain Brigades to isolate Priština and threaten Grgur’s forces in the south. 469
• A cold temporarily weakens him, but he conceals the illness, follows the army physician’s advice, and resumes attention to the front after brief recuperation. 469
• He rejects a Serbian peace overture while the northern confrontation remains stalled and Roman forces improve their position in the south. 469
• Reinforcements eventually raise Roman strength in the theater to eighty-three thousand. Vitus strengthens the Sava defensive line, drives enemy troops north of the river, and supports the capture and pacification of remaining settlements south of the Sava and Danube. 478
• He returns to Constantinople on September 30 with young Otto, who is to attend school there. Vitus insists that kinship alone cannot qualify the boy for hereditary imperial nobility without military merit. 480
• In January 1456, he develops an alternative to the Privy Council’s costly Italian offensive plan, taking into account France’s large population and ability to replace losses. 483
• He approves the sale of one thousand matchlocks to the Knights Hospitaller for Rome’s defense and anticipates that the city may serve as a neutral site for eventual negotiations. 483

Notable Quotes

“State affairs come first. Keep everything simple; have the chamberlain prepare it immediately.”
— Vitus, prioritizing the Achaean campaign over his wedding preparations 35

“I have no need to constantly curry favor with the outside world. Let them slander me as they please. I am used to it.”
— Vitus, on his public reputation 138

“I really don't know where those rumors came from. They actually claim that, in moments of crisis, I led cavalry charges against the central army of the Golden Horde's khan or the Ottoman sultan. Are they belittling my ability to command, or praising my personal valor?”
— Vitus, reflecting on exaggerated accounts of his battlefield exploits 368

“I'm sick, not dead. The plan remains unchanged.”
— Vitus, refusing to let a cold disrupt the Serbian campaign 469

“How could he qualify as a hereditary noble without military merit? Even if he is related to us, we still can't break the rules.”
— Vitus, on young Otto’s status 480

Trivia

• The Tuna Mercenary Group received its name because Vitus remembered enjoying tuna soup at a banquet and chose the name on impulse. 22
• Vitus initially disliked the idea of a personal banner, dismissing it as “gaudy nonsense,” until Damien explained its battlefield value. 113
• Despite becoming co-emperor, he prefers the secluded courtyard where he lived for more than a decade over a new imperial residence. 128
• He uses the alias Anthony Doukas at Pistoia before formally entering Florentine service, asking Giulio to conceal his sensitive imperial identity. 6
• His escape from the attacked manor involves jumping from a second-floor window, climbing over a stone wall, and navigating by the North Star while using a stick as a crutch. 4
• After a year of mercenary service, he has accumulated fifty thousand florins and remarks that warfare has proved more profitable than business. 27
• His early bone-china project fails despite years of experiments and is largely forgotten until Anatolian kaolin deposits remind him of it. 266
• Popular accounts portray him as an armored champion skilled in every martial art and attribute personal cavalry charges to him. Hunyadi’s assessment and Vitus’s own recollections instead emphasize command skill and limited close-combat experience. 282 328 368
• He continues to use armor associated with Giulio’s gift decades after the defense of Pistoia. 5 468
• During an elaborate imperial banquet after returning from the Serbian campaign, he finds himself preferring the fried rice with canned meat he ate in the field. 480

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