Recaps

Vitus entered Jerusalem, arranged the Knights Hospitaller’s relocation from Rhodes in exchange for land south of the city, and completed a ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. He then reached Jaffa and prepared to advance into Egypt after gathering supplies and camels.

• Vitus found Jerusalem nearly deserted, with only about three thousand residents, and agreed with Grand Master Rastique to give the Knights Hospitaller land south of the city in exchange for Rhodes and its dependent islands.
• Vitus announced plans to form a Holy Land Guard Legion from Orthodox volunteers, then entered Jerusalem on May 6 and completed the ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
• Vitus traveled to Jaffa, where he told Western knights they could make their own way to Jerusalem and said he would soon advance south into Egypt.
• Vitus warned Theodore to stay near cities and main roads, while Thomas chose to visit Jerusalem and asked Vitus to notify him when the campaign began.
• Vitus reviewed documents at Jaffa, dismissed news about Naples, and relied on the Eastern Roman fleet to deter any intervention by the House of Anjou.

Vitus planned to cross the Sinai by using the Road of Horus as a feint while the fleet carried supplies, and he selected a landing site in the eastern Nile Delta. Damien’s army captured Rhinocorura, but contaminated wells and the route’s supply problems left Vitus facing a likely amphibious assault.

• Vitus studied the Road of Horus and the Nile Delta’s coast before choosing a small fishing village in the eastern delta for a gradual amphibious landing.
• Thomas learned from Leo that pyrethrum incense repelled insects, tested it among camels near Jaffa, and told Vitus of its effectiveness.
• Damien led a feint along the eastern Road of Horus while the fleet supplied the marching army and supported it with naval guns.
• The Eastern Roman army breached Rhinocorura’s walls, repelled fleeing defenders with broadsides, and captured the town and fourteen hundred defenders.
• Damien discovered that the defenders had contaminated the town’s cistern and many wells, ordered prisoners to dig new wells, and recommended that Vitus launch an amphibious landing.

Vitus’s army landed in the Nile Delta, gathered supplies and Coptic support, and pressured the Mamluks to surrender while advancing toward Damietta. As Thomas’s forces reached the rising Nile, they fought off crocodiles and prepared to cross the river.

• The Sultan reinforced Alexander and Aboukir Bay, expecting Vitus to attempt a coastal landing.
• Vitus landed near the Nile’s Eastern Mouth, established a beachhead, and found the fertile Delta largely undefended.
• Vitus recruited Coptic militiamen and received a personal surrender offer from the Mamluk lord Varzama, giving him five days to secure Damietta’s surrender.
• Thomas led fifteen thousand soldiers to the Nile, where his troops killed a crocodile attack and received orders to approach the river only in groups.

After taking Damietta, Vitus split his forces and marched south across the plains toward Cairo while Thomas stayed behind to draw the Sultan’s attention. The chapter ended with Sanggebu’s cavalry scouting Cairo and leaving a letter announcing that Vitus would arrive the next day to visit the Sultan.

• Thomas accepted Damietta’s surrender and learned that the commander had yielded because the Sultan’s demands left him fearing dismissal or imprisonment.
• Vitus established an Inland River Fleet, left Thomas to feint at Mansoura, and set out for Cairo with twenty-three thousand troops.
• Vitus reinforced his vanguard after it routed a force sent from the Road of Horus, then inspected the captured soldiers’ damp, deteriorated equipment.
• Sanggebu’s cavalry scouts reached Cairo, mapped its defenses and surroundings, and withdrew when more than a thousand defenders rode out.
• Before retreating, Sanggebu planted a Purple Double-Headed Eagle Flag and left Vitus’s letter announcing his arrival on July 3.

Vitus led the Eastern Roman army into battle outside Cairo and defeated the Sultan’s forces, capturing more than ten thousand soldiers. He cut off river traffic to the city and expected the Sultan to surrender or flee south.

• Vitus led his army toward Cairo, leaving Athanasius and two thousand Coptic militiamen to guard the town.
• The Sultan’s forces attacked outside Cairo, and Vitus’s infantry squares and wagon formations held against the cavalry and infantry assaults.
• Vitus sent rockets and three cavalry brigades against the desert horsemen, then used heavy cavalry to drive the Sultan’s infantry toward Cairo.
• The defenders shut Cairo’s North Gate as their retreating troops approached, trapping more than ten thousand soldiers outside, who surrendered to Vitus.
• Vitus occupied high ground by the river, severed shipping between Cairo and the cities downstream, and ordered Thomas to reach Cairo within a week.

Vitus organized Egypt after taking Cairo, dividing authority among Mamluk nobles, Copts, and other groups while planning defenses against the Mamluk remnants in Upper Egypt. In Suez, he assessed Red Sea trade and the proposed Pharaoh’s Canal, concluding that the Eastern Roman Empire lacked the machinery and resources to build a navigable Suez Canal or project naval power into the Indian Ocean.

• Thomas received orders to occupy six Egyptian towns and clear a supply route between Cairo and Damietta.
• Vitus inspected the pyramids and Sphinx, then set a deadline for Mamluk nobles to submit and retain their lands.
• Vitus distributed lordships among Mamluks, Copts, and other groups, and had the nobles elect five Tribunes to assist the Governor.
• Vitus ordered surveys and bastion forts in Upper Egypt and planned a ten-thousand-strong garrison to guard against Mamluk remnants.
• Vitus inspected Suez and reviewed plans for a canal linking the Mediterranean and Red Seas, but judged the project beyond the empire’s current means.

Vitus oversaw construction at Pelusium and assigned Thomas to conquer Cyrenaica while planning to send Demetrius to East Africa and an envoy to Abyssinia. When a fleet of European nobles arrived, Vitus discussed Jeanne d'Arc's religious concerns and rejected the Teutonic Knights' request to return to Acre.

• Vitus inspected the harbor and canal works at Pelusium, then weighed proposals for connecting the city to Suez against spending the money on military expansion.
• Thomas reported recruiting Coptic Auxiliary Brigades, and Vitus appointed him to occupy Cyrenaica and establish the Cyrenaica Borderland Region.
• Vitus decided to send Demetrius and his family to East Africa and appointed Andronikos as an envoy to the Abyssinian Kingdom.
• A fleet carrying European nobles arrived at Pelusium, where Jeanne d'Arc questioned Vitus about his tolerance of Monophysitism in newly conquered territories.
• Vitus discussed Jeanne's political position with Thomas, then rejected the Teutonic Knights' request to move their headquarters back to Acre.

Vitus organized the Levant’s provinces, borderland regions, and eastern defenses while reviewing military appointments. Leo received orders to leave his artillery company and travel to Jaffa, where Vitus was preparing to return to Constantinople, and departed Jerusalem feeling uncertain about what came next.

• Vitus assigned the Antioch region as a province, designated Phoenicia, Aintab, and Sinai as borderland regions, and approved plans for thirty-six new garrison districts.
• Vitus approved the release and resettlement of Venetian war prisoners to help fill the garrison districts, while continuing to scrutinize hereditary officer appointments.
• Leo led his artillery company on a logging detail near Jerusalem and told the soldiers to avoid the woods belonging to the Knights Hospitaller.
• Edric delivered Vitus’s orders for Leo to hand over his company duties and join him in Jaffa, and Leo completed the transfer and said goodbye to his soldiers and recovering commander, Caligas.
• Leo visited his second uncle, Theodore, in Jerusalem, then rode west with his escort and looked back at the city, missing his First Artillery Company.

After returning from the campaign in Egypt, Vitus reached Constantinople and set priorities for rewarding troops, securing the newly conquered territories, and expanding the civil service. He considered the empire’s policies and past, then ordered the Army Department to include camels in its plans as the empire’s military administration adapted to its new desert territories.

• Leo arrived at the governor's residence in Jaffa, where Vitus explained that officers had given him ornate horse equipment and other gifts after the invasion of Egypt.
• Vitus and Leo sailed from Jaffa toward Constantinople, stopping at Rhodes, where Vitus inspected the island’s defenses and reflected on the Knights Hospitaller’s resistance to the Ottomans.
• The fleet reached Constantinople, and Vitus joined a triumphal procession that scattered captured coins before he viewed the Naval Church’s detailed mural of a naval battle.
• Vitus met with Romanus and the Cabinet to set priorities for military rewards, frontier defenses, and civil service examinations, then discussed relief policy and historical accounts with Romanus.
• Vitus saw Manuel crying in the palace gardens, recalled Demetrius’s request to leave his confinement, and reaffirmed that Demetrius would remain in the northern Horn of Africa.
• Vitus inspected the stud farm’s crossbred Tauris warhorses and ordered the Army Department to include camels in its plans for the empire’s new desert territories.

Vitus reviewed investiture appointments and considered the Eastern Roman Empire’s strained manpower as it expanded its forces. In December, Boranov received a hereditary garrison command, then learned he was being transferred to command the Eighth Frontier Brigade in Damascus.

• Vitus approved appointments for the Sixty-Fifth Garrison District and planned to appoint Boranov commander of the Eighth Frontier Brigade.
• Vitus discussed coffee trade and the empire’s military manpower with Agnes, concluding that its rapid expansion strained its limited core population.
• An imperial delegation reached Acre with investiture decrees and orders for the Holy Land Guard Legion to take over northern Jerusalem.
• Boranov attended a meeting about hereditary military posts and traveled to Acre with the first group of appointees.
• On December 8, Boranov became a hereditary garrison commander during a ceremony in Acre, where 120 men received appointments.
• Renaf informed Boranov that he had been transferred to command the Eighth Frontier Brigade in Damascus and had to report within a week.

Andronikos traveled from Suez to Massawa aboard the newly built Long-Haired Rabbit to begin a diplomatic mission to the Kingdom of Abyssinia. The ship reached the port, where Abyssinian officials recognized Vitus’s name and escorted the envoy to the fortress.

• Andronikos inspected the Long-Haired Rabbit and learned from Captain Samuel that the ship would carry him to Massawa.
• Demetrius arrived in Suez with his family and followers after being exiled, and Andronikos promised to plead his case while enduring his brother’s constant complaints.
• After sea trials and repairs, the Long-Haired Rabbit departed Suez on January 28, carrying Andronikos and ten attendants; Demetrius remained behind, destined for a future settlement on the East African coast.
• Samuel guided the ship south through the Red Sea, avoiding reefs and anchoring at night, while the crew caught and cooked a large grouper.
• On February 15, the Long-Haired Rabbit reached Massawa, where Andronikos identified himself to the gathered soldiers and was taken to the fortress after the governor verified his identity.

Andronikos traveled inland from Massawa to Gondar, where he negotiated firearms sales and equal trade access with Zara Jacob. Meanwhile, Samuel’s voyage reached Mogadishu, where he encountered a Portuguese ship and its astonished captain.

• Andronikos crossed the Ethiopian Highlands and reached Gondar, where Zara Jacob welcomed his delegation.
• Andronikos demonstrated Roman muskets and cannons, then agreed to sell Zara Jacob 2,500 muskets and 30 cannons while establishing reciprocal trade access.
• Andronikos declined to sell slaves, and Zara Jacob agreed to let Roman merchants trade at Massawa while Abyssinians could trade at Suez.
• Samuel sailed south around the Horn of Africa and reached Mogadishu to buy provisions and spices.
• Samuel spotted a Portuguese ship in Mogadishu harbor, and Portuguese captain Clement was startled to find a Greek vessel in the Indian Ocean.

Samuel evaded Portuguese ships in Mogadishu, and reports of Portugal’s growing presence prompted Vitus to order the Red Sea Fleet to take Socotra. Vitus then addressed Anatolia’s finances and banditry before deciding on a standardized education and succession policy for imperial princes.

• Samuel judged that the Portuguese ships had superior guns and crews but would be disadvantaged in Mogadishu’s harbor, so he sailed the Long-Haired Rabbit out before they could catch him.
• Clement learned that the Greek ship had come from the north and that the Mamluks had lost the Nile Delta and Suez; he returned to Zanzibar and warned Governor Boccaro that Vitus could threaten Portugal’s Indian Ocean ambitions.
• After Samuel recommended Socotra as an outpost, a fast mail ship carried the Red Sea Fleet’s reports to Constantinople, where Vitus ordered the fleet to take control of the island.
• Vitus rejected a request for central relief funds for flood damage in Galatia, ordered inland provinces to intensify their suppression of bandits, and allowed governors to request field-legion reinforcements.
• After visiting Romanus’s newborn son John, Vitus decided that princes would receive standardized schooling and military training, while princes without succession rights would be barred from holding fiefs in the homeland and from participating in government.

Vitus attended the consecration of the Army Church, where the battle murals and casualty records reminded him of the empire’s human cost. Afterward, he toured Constantinople, learned that water-intensive workshops were relocating to other cities, and reflected on the capital’s growth and limits before returning to his carriage.

• Vitus attended the Army Church’s consecration and admired Balsamo’s mural of the Battle of Sakarya with the generals.
• Damien told Krezer that he avoided returning to Attica because the war’s casualties had devastated his hometown and nearby communities.
• Vitus examined the church’s casualty records and cemetery, then reflected on the toll of the empire’s wars.
• A merchant told Vitus that his paper workshop was moving to Bandırma and that many textile mills were relocating from Constantinople to Bursa because of water and cost limits.
• Vitus toured Constantinople’s streets, considered the city’s planned growth and public improvements, and spoke with retired printing merchant Eli.
• Vitus returned to his carriage at two in the afternoon, concluding that further municipal development would have to wait for the Industrial Revolution.

Vitus negotiated a discounted arms sale with Abyssinia while Naqueto explored Constantinople and sought a refuge near Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the Red Sea Fleet captured Socotra and left Demetrius to govern the island with a small garrison.

• Vitus discounted Abyssinia’s muskets but kept the prices of its other requested weapons unchanged after Naqueto cited Portuguese competition.
• Naqueto toured Constantinople, worried that Abyssinia’s nobles might resist Roman-style government, and used rubies to qualify for a land auction near Jerusalem.
• The Red Sea Fleet sailed through the Gulf of Aden, where Demetrius watched whales follow the ships before they reached Socotra.
• Samuel’s fleet bombarded the fortress at Suq Harbor, and the defenders surrendered without a landing assault.
• Samuel gave Demetrius control of Socotra, supplies, weapons, and a trained garrison, but refused to leave the marines behind.

Michael organized a militia on Socotra to counter the unruly exiles stationed at the castle, recruiting 140 islanders despite limited funds and little military experience. As the Red Sea Fleet prepared to leave, Samuel advised Michael to train the recruits and strengthen Suq Harbor while seeking sustainable sources of income.

• After drunken exiles brawled in the castle courtyard, Samuel’s marines broke up the fight and flogged two soldiers, prompting the exiles to behave.
• Michael warned Demetrius that the garrison company might mutiny and proposed recruiting islanders as a counterweight.
• With Samuel’s help securing interpreters and an escort, Michael recruited men from villages across Socotra, returning to Suq Harbor with 140 recruits.
• Demetrius agreed to provide food and an additional 800 Florins a year, and Michael formed the Militia Company with nine squad leaders.
• Before the fleet departed, Samuel advised Michael to train the militia, seek new sources of income, and consider building a wooden palisade around Suq Harbor.

Michael proposed whaling on Socotra Island, while Demetrius asked his brothers for financial help. In Eastern Thrace, Constantine reviewed conditions in the empire and Serbia with Vitus, who refused to let Demetrius return from exile.

• Michael learned that the market’s smoked whale meat came from a stranded whale, then asked Demetrius to lend him a captured ship for whaling; Demetrius agreed and told him to recruit sailors from the militia.
• Demetrius wrote to Andronikos and Constantine requesting funds for Socotra Island, then sent Michael to deliver the letters.
• Constantine inspected drought-struck Eastern Thrace, visited the military cemetery, and stopped for coffee at a roadside market.
• Constantine briefed Vitus on Hungary and Serbia, explaining that Grgur’s plans to revoke noble privileges might spark unrest and that the First Legion could provoke a conflict if it heard rumors of expansion.
• Vitus said he would tolerate Grgur’s succession if Serbia maintained its balance, but he would not let Demetrius return from Socotra Island.

Vitus investigated why Indian cotton cloth undercut Eastern Roman textiles despite its long shipping route, and found that unreliable machinery and costly raw materials were holding local workshops back. He sent proposals to the Cabinet and considered raising cotton export duties to disadvantage foreign competitors.

• The trade minister showed Vitus samples and reports proving Indian cotton cloth was cheaper and often better than Eastern Roman products.
• Vitus visited Agnes's textile workshop and saw its water-powered looms frequently break down because their components lacked precision.
• The trade minister explained that Bursa's workshops had adopted more than forty water-powered looms, while manufacturers and the Arsenal continued improving the technology.
• Vitus's attendants reported that local textile workshops needed to cut expenses by twenty to thirty percent through better machinery and expanded cotton cultivation.
• Vitus ordered the report sent to the Cabinet and rejected banning Indian imports, reasoning that the competition could weaken less advanced European textile industries.
• Vitus considered raising export duties on domestic cotton so local factories would receive supplies first and western rivals would face higher costs.

Bernardo returned to Lisbon by the Red Sea route and described its advantages to King Alfonso V and Prince Henry, who remained focused on overseas trade and a planned campaign against Morocco. In Florence, Paoli and Phil Di Maggio learned that Vitus’s cotton-export restrictions had raised raw-material costs and threatened their textile business.

• Bernardo arrived in Lisbon after a sailor fell from the yard and was rescued by the ship’s longboat.
• Bernardo told Alfonso V that the Red Sea route was faster than the African route and described the profits available from Indian cotton cloth.
• Prince Henry questioned Bernardo about Red Sea trade and learned that Italian merchants based in the Eastern Roman Empire traded through Abyssinia.
• Prince Henry secured command of an expedition against Morocco after agreeing to contribute his savings toward the military costs.
• Paoli Di Maggio learned that the Eastern Roman Empire’s cotton-export restrictions had raised cotton prices by twenty-five percent, while Phil assessed the likely damage to their fustian sales.

Phil saw Florence’s trade prospects worsening as Portugal opened a sea route to India and merchants moved their capital to the Eastern Roman Empire, while Vitus reviewed historical reports and discussed Agnes’s concerns about the Cotton Act and Leo’s future. Vitus rejected Agnes’s marriage candidates for Leo and settled on Tripoli as the place where his second son would eventually live.

• Phil read that a Portuguese fleet had returned from India laden with cotton and spices, and feared the new route would damage Florence’s textile trade.
• Matteo Goropazzi told Phil he planned to sell most of his property in Florence and settle in the Eastern Roman Empire, where he was investing in pyrethrum and other businesses.
• Phil decided to send his youngest son to Constantinople to study while remaining in Florence to help his elder brother protect the Di Maggio family’s position.
• Vitus reviewed the history compilation teams’ reports, accepted their latest epithet for John VIII as “the Traveler,” and flagged contradictions in sources about the late Theodosian Dynasty.
• Vitus told Agnes that he would not change the Cotton Act to protect Florence, and rejected marriage candidates for Leo from powerful domestic families and neighboring rulers.
• Vitus told Agnes to seek a bride from less powerful families and chose the coast of Tripoli as Leo’s future home.

Vitus reviewed the empire’s finances and foreign affairs before refusing shelter to the displaced Teutonic Knights and ordering Edric to negotiate a tax dispute with the Knights Hospitaller. Edric sailed for Jerusalem and began gathering evidence about the order’s tax obligations.

• Romanus and Agnes noticed Leo’s unusual mood, and Agnes learned that he liked a country gentleman’s daughter; Vitus approved of Leo’s future marriage and appointment as Governor of Tripoli.
• Vitus reviewed the previous year’s revenue, spending, improved security in Anatolia, and reports about England’s civil war and the Teutonic Knights’ defeat.
• Vitus refused to grant land to the Teutonic Knights and allowed their survivors to stay temporarily in the Caravanserai District.
• Romanus reported that the Knights Hospitaller’s banking operations and a donated estate in the Phoenicia Borderland Region might be taxable, so Vitus ordered Edric to negotiate in Jerusalem and then take a fiscal post in Cyrenaica.
• Edric completed his transfer paperwork, departed Constantinople by Mail Ship, and studied records of the Knights Hospitaller’s tax exemptions and payments.

Edric traveled from Jaffa to the Borderland Region, where he enforced the empire’s tax rules on the Hospitallers and took up his post in Hesperides. After inspecting the surrounding countryside, he found that Cyrenaica’s arid climate, sparse administration, and Berber resistance would require gradual, difficult efforts to govern.

• Edric arrived at the Hospitaller headquarters and persuaded Jacques de Molay to accept taxation under the empire’s rules.
• Edric reached Hesperides Harbor and presented his credentials to Thomas, then met Thomas’s children and the region’s officials.
• Edric began his duties and learned that the Borderland Region had little reliable information about its population or rural affairs.
• Edric inspected the countryside with Fat Joe, learning about its water shortages, seasonal farming, and Berber resistance.
• Edric ordered villagers to protect their spring from livestock and ended his tour at an eastern military outpost.
• Edric returned to Hesperides without finding silphium, and Thomas acknowledged that the region would need to be governed gradually.

Michael’s whaling voyage turned a profit and supplied Socotra Island with whale oil and preserved meat, while his father Demetrius’s mental condition worsened. Meanwhile, Samuel’s fleet entered the Persian Gulf, observed a battle between White Sheep and Timur, and attacked the retreating White Sheep fleet before withdrawing with prisoners.

• Michael oversaw the processing of a whale, drove off approaching sharks, and evaded a pursuing Portuguese merchantman on the return voyage.
• Michael sold the whaling crew’s catch into storage, arranged for the whale meat to be smoked, and learned from a priest that Demetrius’s mental illness had no known treatment.
• The Red Sea Fleet arrived at Socotra Island, collected whale oil and other goods, then sailed north under Samuel’s command to scout White Sheep movements.
• An Omani official told Samuel that the White Sheep Army had surrounded a port near Hormuz, and Samuel’s fleet entered the Persian Gulf.
• Samuel watched White Sheep and Timur’s fleets fight, then ordered his three warships to bombard the retreating White Sheep fleet, capturing more than sixty men before withdrawing.

Michael returned to Socotra and decided to marry Lokan’s sister to gain support for a labor levy to fortify Suq Fort against Portuguese attack. In Constantinople, Leo married Eudokia, Vitus received Phil’s young son Pierre, and the Di Maggio family remained politically weakened.

• Samuel returned to Socotra and told Michael that the White Sheep Dynasty’s damaged fleet was unlikely to threaten the island soon, while Michael worried about threats from Mahra, the White Sheep Dynasty, and Portugal.
• Michael decided to marry Lokan’s sister so Lokan would help organize 150 indigenous laborers to build an outer wall for Suq Fort.
• Michael visited Lokan, secured his agreement to the labor levy, and set their wedding for May 10; at the wedding, Lokan hosted a feast for the villagers and Michael’s men.
• Leo married Eudokia in Hagia Sophia while Vitus considered the balance of Indian Ocean trade and later left the wedding banquet.
• Vitus received Phil’s letter and took in six-year-old Pierre, arranging for servants to care for him near Manuel.
• Vitus reflected that the Di Maggio family had lost its former political dominance, while Pauli continued spending heavily on efforts to regain influence.

Vitus ordered the campaign to seize Tripoli, and Leo sailed with the expeditionary army to take charge of the region. After the army captured the coast, Leo settled into his new governor’s residence and assessed the territory’s defenses, population, and limited prospects for trade.

• Vitus authorized operations against Tripoli after reviewing the battle plan and dismissed merchants’ calls for an invasion of Tunisia as unlikely to succeed.
• Leo departed Constantinople on May 30 and reunited with Thomas at Hesperides, where Thomas advised him to fortify the region and prepare for a blockade.
• On June 25, Cohen ordered twelve battleships to bombard Tripoli, and the army took the city after street fighting and the destruction of the Red Fort’s defenders.
• Leo chose a local noble’s residence as his governor’s headquarters, while soldiers and officials secured the city and recorded its ancient triumphal arch.
• The Roman army subdued coastal towns, captured pirates, and freed slaves, while inland nomads withdrew to oases and avoided confrontation.
• Leo learned that Tripoli had a small population, dry farmland, and a lucrative but strategically risky arms trade with the south, leaving him doubtful about the region’s economic future.