Recaps

Vitus discussed Hussite tactics and artillery with Hunyadi, while Liechtenstein negotiated a peace agreement that reshaped control of northern Italy. As the envoys headed north, Hunyadi wondered whether Anthony Doukas had Byzantine royal blood, but Liechtenstein dismissed the idea.

• Vitus shared Retsina with Hunyadi, learned about the Hussite Wagenburg, and discussed light-cavalry tactics and cannons with him.
• Hunyadi recognized that Vitus's advice about measured packets of gunpowder could speed artillery reloading.
• Milan, Venice, and Florence signed an agreement on January 2, 1424, with Milan surrendering Genoa, ceding territory to Venice, and paying an indemnity.
• Liechtenstein secured three hundred thousand Florins for the next campaign against the Hussites, while Albizzi considered Venice the new power to watch.
• As the envoys traveled north, Hunyadi recalled Anthony Doukas's resemblance to the Byzantine heir and questioned his education, but Liechtenstein dismissed the possibility that he was a Palaiologos prince.

After the war, Vitus left Florence’s occupying forces and visited Pauli’s family estate, where Giulio proposed a marriage alliance between Vitus and Agnes. Vitus agreed to seek Constantinople’s approval before making a decision.

• Vitus used his mercenary savings to buy captured armor and planned to travel to Florence for new cannons.
• In February 1424, Vitus declined to remain with Florence’s forces and considered joining another ruler’s mercenaries.
• Pauli invited Vitus to his family estate, where Catherine and the Di Maggio family welcomed him and considered him a suitable match for Agnes.
• Giulio offered Vitus a dowry of thirty thousand Florins and a two-thousand-acre vineyard in exchange for a marriage alliance.
• Vitus said he needed Constantinople’s approval, and Giulio proposed that they each write a letter to ask for its opinion.

Lord Di Maggio sent Vitus and the Tuna Mercenary Group to France with a limited shipment of supplies so Vitus could assess the Dauphin’s prospects and avoid joining the Hussite Wars. They reached Port of Sète and were told to wait for further orders.

• Lord Di Maggio warned Vitus against joining the Hussite Wars and asked him to investigate the French army’s chances before committing more supplies.
• Vitus recruited Greek laborers, expanded the Tuna Mercenary Group to four hundred men, and traveled with them to Pisa.
• Vitus’s group loaded armor, crossbows, cannons, and other supplies onto four ships at Livorno and sailed for France.
• The fleet reached Port of Sète in early March, where Vitus presented the Dauphin’s letter and the shipment list to a harbor official.
• The harbor official arranged lodging for the mercenaries and told Vitus to await orders because the Dauphin was in Bourges and other companies had not yet arrived.

In Constantinople, Manuel II learned from letters that Vitus had become a successful Italian mercenary and considered a marriage proposal for him. Vitus traveled to Bourges with Piero after Charles VII summoned the mercenary captains, and the chapter ended as they were brought before the Dauphin.

• Manuel II toured the ruins of the Great Palace and rested on a terrace overlooking the Sea of Marmara.
• John brought letters from Florence, including reports praising Vitus's artillery command and Giulio Di Maggio's offer of his daughter Agnes as a bride.
• Manuel read Vitus's account of his secret military career and learned that his neglected son had become a renowned mercenary.
• The Dauphin summoned the mercenary captains to Bourges, so Vitus and Piero left the country estate and traveled there.
• Vitus entered Bourges, criticized the poor discipline and grim conditions, and was led with Piero into Charles VII's chamber.

Vitus joined the Dauphin’s campaign to capture Bordeaux, where Arthur de Richemont ordered his cannons to bombard the city. English ships then arrived with reinforcements and supplies, leaving Vitus to conclude that the river made the siege futile.

• The Dauphin decided to attack Bordeaux and appointed Arthur de Richemont commander of the expedition.
• Piero and Vitus reunited their mercenary forces and marched toward Bordeaux, reaching its southern outskirts on April 20.
• Arthur ordered Vitus to bombard Bordeaux, and Vitus arranged the French cannons against the city’s southern wall.
• After the bombardment failed to breach the defenses, Vitus saw English merchant ships unload soldiers and supplies at Bordeaux’s wharf.
• Vitus realized spies had likely exposed the French plans and told Piero that the Garonne was too wide for their cannons to reach the English ships.

Vitus and the French army retreated from Bordeaux, then turned to fight the pursuing English. French knights ruined Vitus’s planned attack by charging without orders, leaving him to use the Tuna Mercenary Group’s cannons to break the English heavy infantry.

• After an English fleet brought reinforcements to Bordeaux, Arthur ordered the French commanders to retreat, and Vitus led the Tuna Mercenary Group away with its baggage and eight Three-Pounders.
• When the English army pursued, Arthur turned the remaining French forces around and asked Vitus to command the artillery; Vitus urged him to keep the knights behind the infantry.
• The English longbowmen fired repeated volleys as the French advanced, and Vitus halted his troops to bombard them with canister shot.
• Vitus signaled the Rotten Herring Mercenary Group to flank the English, but French knights charged ahead without orders and drew the infantry into a general melee.
• Vitus moved his cannons around the battlefield and fired solid shot into the English heavy infantry until the last organized enemy unit broke and fled.

After helping capture Bordeaux, Vitus secured the English supplies and siege cannon before returning to Bourges with Piero. The Dauphin offered Vitus a viscounty in English-held territory if he swore allegiance to House of Valois and paid his mercenary group’s costs, leaving Vitus unwilling to accept the deal.

• Arthur told Vitus he planned to seize Bordeaux, then rode there with cavalry and Scottish infantry while Vitus followed with the Tuna Mercenary Group.
• After Arthur’s forces captured Bordeaux, Vitus avoided a dispute with the Scottish infantry and claimed supplies and the recovered siege cannon at the docks.
• Vitus guarded and sold the captured goods, then set off for Bourges with Piero after resting until mid-May.
• The Dauphin offered Piero a barony in English-controlled Normandy in exchange for funding the Rotten Herring Mercenary Group, but Piero rejected the costly arrangement and decided to leave for Italy.
• The Dauphin offered Vitus a viscounty in English-held territory if he swore allegiance to House of Valois and paid the Tuna Mercenary Group’s expenses, and Vitus dismissed the proposal inwardly.

Vitus returned to Florence after delivering military supplies to France and learned that the Eastern Roman Empire had approved his engagement to Agnes. He recruited the physician Gennaro Goneiqiya to treat the gravely ill Andronikos, and planned to sail for Constantinople after the ceremony.

• Vitus left France after hearing about Bordeaux’s rebellion and reflected that France’s recovery of the city had provoked local resentment.
• Vitus returned to Florence, gave Giulio the Dauphin’s payment, and agreed to an engagement with Agnes after Giulio relayed Constantinople’s approval.
• Vitus read Emperor Manuel’s letter, which required him to publicly use the name Vitus Palaiologos and recruit Gennaro Goneiqiya to treat Andronikos.
• Vitus found Gennaro teaching an anatomy dissection at the University of Florence and invited him to practice medicine in Constantinople.
• Gennaro accepted Vitus’s offer, and they agreed to leave from Livorno about half a month after the engagement ceremony.

Vitus ordered narrow, elongated iron tubes for a future matchlock design, then announced his royal identity to the Tuna Mercenary Group. After becoming engaged to Agnes Di Maggio in Florence, he sailed with her and Doctor Gennaro to Constantinople and began considering raids on Ottoman ships and coasts.

• Vitus ordered the blacksmiths to make long, narrow iron tubes as potential matchlock barrels.
• Vitus told the Tuna Mercenary Group that he was a royal and explained he would keep paying them while they recruited Greek laborers.
• Vitus and Agnes completed their engagement ceremony at the Di Maggio Estate, where the marriage contract listed a dowry of thirty thousand gold florins, a vineyard, and jewelry.
• Vitus, Agnes, Doctor Gennaro, and their companions sailed from Livorno aboard the Harpia to reach Constantinople because Andronikos was ill.
• During the twenty-three-day voyage, Vitus witnessed a Venetian-Ottoman naval clash and considered plundering Ottoman merchant ships and coasts in a future war.

Vitus introduced Agnes and Gennaro to his family in Constantinople, then recounted his two years of warfare to Emperor Manuel II and proposed conquering the Principality of Achaea. The Emperor approved the campaign but ordered Vitus to coordinate with Theodore and reminded him that he had to hold a proper wedding before departing.

• Empress Helena Dragaš welcomed Agnes and led her from the hall, while Emperor Manuel II hired Gennaro as the court physician.
• John asked Vitus to explain his absence, and Vitus described his battles and military decisions to Manuel and John.
• Manuel considered reclaiming the Peloponnese, but John warned that the treasury could not support a major campaign.
• Vitus proposed invading Achaea and outlined a coastal campaign, arguing Venice and the Ottomans were too occupied to interfere.
• Manuel agreed to appoint Vitus Despot of Achaea if he conquered it and told him to coordinate with Theodore.
• Vitus planned to leave for Florence to recruit mercenaries, but Manuel rebuked him for neglecting his wedding to Agnes and his political standing.

After returning to Florence, Vitus recruited mercenaries and led an army to Passavas to reclaim Achaea, where he reunited with his brother Theodore. He visited the ruins of ancient Sparta before continuing toward Mistra, Theodore’s capital.

• Vitus returned to Florence, recruited two thousand mercenaries through Piero, and found that his order for gun barrels was far behind schedule.
• In October 1424, Vitus brought twenty-five hundred soldiers and siege cannons to Passavas, where Theodore arrived to meet him.
• Theodore invited Vitus to Mistra, and the brothers traveled inland through the mountain roads of Morea.
• Vitus asked to visit the ruins of Sparta and questioned the villagers about Menelaus, Helen, and Leonidas, but they knew nothing.
• Vitus wandered through Sparta’s ruins, took a piece of rubble, and rode toward Mistra.

Vitus struggled to secure supplies and troops from Theodore before leading an Eastern Roman army into the Principality of Achaea. After quickly capturing a border castle and receiving help from local farmers, he concluded that popular support would make the campaign easier than expected.

• At dinner, Cleopa told Vitus that Morea could spare only fifteen hundred men, and Vitus decided to begin the campaign the following week.
• Vitus inspected Morea’s supplies and militia, argued with Theodore, and secured one hundred and thirty warhorses for a scout cavalry unit.
• In Mistra, Vitus organized his troops and hired traveling craftsmen to convert baggage wagons into Wagenburgs after Theodore refused to help.
• On October 13, Vitus led four thousand soldiers northwest toward the Principality of Achaea.
• Vitus breached and captured a border castle, then continued his advance as farmers volunteered to guide his army and share information.
• Vitus judged that the people’s opposition to Latin rule had left the duke of Achaea dependent on mercenaries and believed the war was nearly won.

Vitus's army advanced through Achaea, drawing the duke's forces into a costly ambush before reaching Andravida. Vitus rejected the city's offer of peace and began bombarding its walls.

• Vitus found Kyparissia abandoned, took its gates and towers, and continued north while leaving garrisons in captured castles.
• Villagers told Vitus that the duke's troops had requisitioned grain, leading him to estimate that the enemy was half a day's march away.
• Vitus's army formed wagon forts and repelled attacks from the east, south, and north, suffering more than four hundred casualties before the enemy withdrew.
• Vitus sent the wounded to the rear and marched with 2,300 men to Andravida, where the city offered peace in exchange for concessions.
• Vitus dismissed Andravida's envoy and ordered his army to bombard the city's walls.

Vitus captured Andravida after repelling a night attack, then recruited Greek farmers and continued his campaign through Achaea. As the Crusader state neared collapse, Centurione sought outside help by paying Venetian merchant Elion Daltino to mediate.

• Vitus organized military police and appointed Urinus military judge before preparing to assault Andravida.
• Enemy troops attacked the camp at night, but Vitus's defenders drove them off and Centurione retreated with only three hundred of his original eight hundred men.
• Vitus entered Andravida, promised village representatives that next summer's agricultural taxes would be canceled, and recruited eight hundred Greek farmers into the Tuna Legion.
• Vitus's army advanced through Achaea without resistance as knights fled with their families toward Patras.
• Centurione paid Elion Daltino three hundred ducats to help arrange Venetian mediation, though Elion had no public office and little interest in the conflict.

Vitus captured Patras after Elion helped the mercenaries seize Duke Centurione and open the city to the Eastern Roman army. After leaving a garrison behind, Vitus advanced toward Corinth as the Principality of Achaea collapsed without resistance.

• Elion met Vitus outside the city, agreed that Venice would not aid Centurione, and offered to make the mercenaries rebel in exchange for a share of the spoils.
• On November 25, Elion and five mercenary captains took Centurione and his closest men hostage, then summoned more than three hundred mercenaries to seize the duke’s residence.
• The Eastern Roman army entered through the South Gate and captured Centurione, nobles, soldiers, and their families; Vitus ordered Uranus to guard the prisoners and arranged ransoms for the nobles.
• Vitus accused Elion of failing to prevent Patras’s devastation, paid him the promised spoils, and watched him and the remaining Achaean mercenaries sail away.
• On November 27, Vitus left a garrison in Patras and marched along the coast toward Corinth, encountering no resistance as Achaea fell apart.

Vitus inspected the neglected Hexamilion Wall and recommended rebuilding it with a low, thick design, then organized Achaea’s administration and reduced the army to fit its limited resources. After receiving civil officials from Constantinople, he tested them before assigning posts.

• Vitus reprimanded Psilos for failing to respond to an approaching army and inspected the ruined Hexamilion Wall.
• Vitus wrote to his father about capturing Achaea and urged him to rebuild the wall using a low, thick design he called the “Trace Italienne.”
• Vitus summoned settlement leaders to Andravida and recorded Achaea’s population, livestock, and farmland, finding that the region had only seventy-two thousand people.
• Vitus kept his field force at one thousand men, established town militias, and ended his mercenaries’ contracts after paying them.
• The emperor declined to fund the Hexamilion Wall’s repairs and sent Savard with twenty civil officials to Achaea.
• Vitus gave the officials one hour to complete a test before he assigned them posts.

Vitus organized Achaea’s administration, assessed its revenue, and recruited officials while keeping spending limited. In early February, Agnes arrived in Andravida with craftsmen and supplies, and Vitus brought her to their new home.

• Vitus tested the civil officials, found they had all passed, and asked them to estimate Achaea’s annual tax revenue and expenses.
• Vitus limited the administration to three towns, interviewed officials, and recruited Daniel from the Tuna Legion after only one of seven applicants passed the exam.
• Agnes arrived by ship with seven Florentine blacksmiths, ten Three-Pounders, and other supplies bought with five thousand florins from her father.
• Vitus escorted Agnes to Andravida and showed her the town and their plain, fortified residence.

Vitus hired blacksmiths to make parts for a new firearm while Agnes planned to invest her dowry in a silk workshop. They left Andravida to inspect the land and agriculture of their territory, where Vitus saw olive production and the three-field farming system.

• Agnes toured the shabby residence with Vitus and offered to furnish and decorate it.
• Vitus hired four blacksmiths to produce firearm components, assigning Lambert and another smith to make triggers and the others to make barrels.
• Agnes decided to fund a silk workshop with part of her dowry, and Vitus reluctantly agreed to give her land for it.
• Vitus and Agnes departed Andravida to find a suitable plot and survey their territory's agriculture.
• Vitus observed farmers harvesting late olives and villagers pressing olive oil, then examined the three-field system used on the plains.

Agnes and Vitus surveyed Kyparissia and learned how Venetian and Genoese trade privileges weakened the Eastern Roman Empire, while Agnes resolved to challenge their market with local workshops. Vitus met Simon de Chantonay and other Knights Hospitaller, whose accounts of raids and captives led him to ask what it would take to secure their aid against an Ottoman invasion.

• Agnes chose fertile land for a mulberry grove and wrote home requesting saplings, silkworm eggs, and experienced farmers.
• At Kyparissia, Agnes learned that Venetian and Genoese merchants paid few taxes under imperial privileges, and she decided to expand into soap and woolen-cloth production.
• Vitus inspected Kyparissia’s trade and work records with Mayor Daniel, then heard that an armed ship carrying Knights Hospitaller had arrived.
• Simon de Chantonay explained that an Ottoman fleet had forced his battered ship to flee, and Vitus offered his men food aboard or lodging in town if they left their weapons and armor on the ship.
• At dinner, Simon described the Knights Hospitaller’s raids and said captives were sent to Rhodes or Venetian sugar plantations in Crete; he added that the order could aid Vitus against the Ottomans if he covered part of the costs.

Vitus persuaded Theodore and Cleopa to fund a new outer wall for the Hexamilion defenses, then returned to Andravida to test Lambert’s first matchlock. The weapon proved capable of piercing armor at close range, and Vitus left with a promising, cheaper alternative to heavy steel crossbows.

• Vitus visited Theodore in Mistra and described how his Hussite Wagon Fort had helped him defeat Centurione’s attacks.
• Vitus proposed a new outer wall, and Cleopa supported the plan; Theodore agreed to fund it if a sample section survived bombardment by heavy siege cannons.
• Vitus and Theodore agreed to raise eighty thousand Florins, with construction planned to begin in July after four months of preparation.
• Vitus returned to Andravida and inspected the matchlock Lambert had assembled.
• Vitus tested the matchlock and found it pierced a breastplate at fifty meters and could barely penetrate brigandine at one hundred meters.
• Lambert praised the matchlock’s range, armor-piercing power, and lower cost compared with a heavy steel crossbow.

Vitus expanded and trained his forces, secured the expertise of Hussite prisoner Krezer, and began building Achaea's city wall. The wall survived repeated cannon fire, and Theodore agreed to fund its construction.

• Vitus ordered six hundred recruits organized into five matchlock companies and planned their training, while Agnes warned that the army's costs strained Achaea's finances.
• Vitus met Elion Daltino at Kyllini Harbor, paid to take the Hussite commander Krezer from a ship carrying prisoners to Crete, and questioned him about Jan Žižka's campaigns and tactics.
• Vitus had Krezer recount and map his military experiences, instructing a clerk to record the details.
• After the harvest, Vitus organized workers and technicians to build a city wall with rammed earth, brick facing, and stone foundations.
• Vitus tested the new wall with six siege cannons, and Theodore agreed to fund its construction with forty-five thousand florins upfront and the remainder by year's end.

Vitus oversaw the construction of a defensive wall near Corinth, organizing civilian laborers and equipping them to help defend the city. After Theodore inspected the project and was distracted with lavish meals, construction continued despite mounting costs, until an Ottoman envoy ordered Vitus to stop and demolish the wall.

• Vitus and Theodore recruited thousands of civilians, and Vitus organized the first laborers to build barracks and gather timber near Corinth.
• Vitus established an orderly camp, began brick production and foundation work, and trained laborers with spears and crossbows.
• Theodore inspected the wall and camp, questioned the project’s accounts, and Vitus kept him away from the construction site with a week of special meals.
• By November, Vitus had completed about thirty percent of the wall while spending half the budget, and he continued asking Constantinople for financial aid.
• An Ottoman envoy arrived in late November and ordered Vitus to halt construction and demolish the wall already built.

Vitus continued building the Peloponnese wall despite an Ottoman ultimatum, and the Ottomans launched a major siege in early 1426. After Theodore’s reinforcements held off an assault through the first breach, Vitus led 2,800 soldiers out of the city to circle behind the Ottoman army as its all-out attack began.

• Vitus rejected the Ottoman envoy’s demand to restore the wall and continued construction despite the threat of war.
• When Ottoman cavalry appeared in early 1426, Vitus ordered Psilos to prepare the garrison and organized the workers into militia battalions.
• Vitus assigned Psilos and the militia to defend the walls while keeping the Tuna Legion ready to sally out and ambush the Ottomans.
• Theodore arrived with 2,000 reinforcements, and Vitus persuaded him to lend 200 cavalry and 1,000 infantry for a surprise attack on the Ottoman flank.
• Sudak’s artillery blasted a breach in the western wall, but Theodore’s defenders repelled the first Ottoman assault; by January 20, the Ottomans had opened seven breaches.
• As Sudak ordered an all-out assault, Vitus led 2,800 soldiers through the city gates and westward to circle behind the Ottoman army.

Vitus led the Tuna Legion to relieve the besieged city, rout Ottoman forces, and pursue Sudak’s retreating army into the Duchy of Athens. After the Ottomans surrounded them and then withdrew from a brief counterattack, Vitus ordered his exhausted troops to retreat.

• Vitus halted the Ottoman cavalry charge with matchlock and cannon fire, then sent pikemen and Morean cavalry to rout the attackers.
• Vitus broke into the Ottoman siege camp and sent cavalry to sow chaos while he led infantry to relieve the city’s breaches.
• Vitus defeated Ottoman archers and infantry, captured prisoners at two breaches, and found Theodore badly shaken after he led a failed sortie.
• Vitus pursued Sudak’s army for two days into the Duchy of Athens, collecting abandoned supplies and taking prisoners along the way.
• The Ottomans surrounded the Tuna Legion, but its Hussite Wagon Forts repelled their counterattack before Vitus ordered a retreat.

After defeating Sudak’s army, Vitus used prisoners and additional laborers to finish Corinth’s outer wall, then secured gold from the Ottomans in exchange for noble prisoners. With the city’s defenses strengthened and its funding gap covered, he planned the next stage of construction.

• Vitus tallied the battle’s casualties and spoils, sold the captured cannons, and arranged rewards and compensation while Theodore recovered in Mistra.
• Murad II demoted Sudak for attacking without authorization and ordered Turahan to return to the Greek territories to stabilize the situation and secure the borders.
• Vitus assigned the Ottoman prisoners to construction, gathered more workers, and completed Corinth’s outer wall on May 1.
• Turahan arrived with an Ottoman force but judged the walls too strong to assault, so he negotiated the ransom of noble prisoners instead.
• Marcus released sixty-one Ottoman nobles after verifying the gold payment, and Turahan concluded that taking the Peloponnese would require a major siege force.
• Vitus dismissed most laborers and told his technical staff to begin planning a moat, an outer rampart, and supporting facilities.