Recaps

Vitus inspected Andravida’s workshops and considered ways to improve their profits, while Agnes proposed importing Merino sheep to expand wool production. He rejected forming a cavalry unit because its upkeep was too costly and chose to maintain a professional infantry force instead.

• Vitus inspected the olive soap workshop and realized its standard bay-leaf recipe faced competition from other regions.
• Vitus suggested using flower oils for new soaps, but Agnes refused to let him use her rose garden and told him to grow flowers elsewhere.
• Vitus and Agnes reviewed workshop profits, discussed the woolen workshop’s limitations, and Agnes wrote to her father to request Merino breeding sheep.
• Damien suggested forming a cavalry unit, but Vitus explained that heavy cavalry cost far more to maintain than Matchlock soldiers.
• Vitus decided the bureaucratic system and its professional infantry suited Achaea better than adopting a fief system.

Vitus established a shipyard at Kyllini Harbor, repaired a damaged merchant ship, and began building a fishing boat while planning to develop local shipbuilding skills. In August, he inspected the fortifications at Corinth and released the five fastest-working companies of prisoners of war, offering them provisions and a choice to return home or settle in Peloponnese.

• A Florence merchant ship arrived at Kyllini Harbor damaged by naval attacks, and its captain delivered a letter saying Vitus's commissioned six-pounder would be delayed until autumn or later.
• Vitus checked the ship's other cargo, then had laborers build a dry dock and repair the ship's hull, rigging, and equipment.
• Vitus hired experienced shipwrights and apprentices, and they began building a coastal fishing boat according to their proposed design.
• Vitus visited the construction site at Corinth and identified the five companies of prisoners of war that had worked fastest.
• Vitus offered the selected prisoners provisions and the choice to return to their homeland or settle in Peloponnese, and they began leaving the site.

Vitus surveyed inland settlements for prisoners and ordered a pottery workshop to keep experimenting with bone china. In Mistra, Cleopa persuaded Theodore to ask Vitus to help seize Cyprus, and the chapter ended as the brothers’ hunting party pursued something in a thicket.

• Vitus rejected several dry inland sites, then chose an abandoned village that could support 150 to 200 households for the first prisoners.
• Vitus inspected a pottery workshop, found its bone-china experiments had failed, and ordered the workers to record their attempts and continue for up to ten years.
• Cleopa urged Theodore to take Cyprus after the Mamluks defeated Cyprus at Chirokitia, proposing that he trade the Morea to Vitus for the island.
• Theodore invited Vitus to hunt, and their party stopped when Theodore noticed startled birds and hunting dogs charged into a thicket.

Theodore tried to persuade Vitus to conquer Cyprus in exchange for Morea and financial support, and Vitus studied the campaign before agreeing to seek help from the Di Maggio family. The chapter ended with Vitus asking Giulio for a fleet to transport his troops to Cyprus.

• Theodore wounded a wild boar during a hunt, and the guards killed it with a volley when it charged him.
• While they rested by a creek, Theodore offered Vitus Morea and thirty thousand Florins if he seized Cyprus, but Vitus asked for time to consider.
• Back in Andravida, Vitus researched the Mamluks and Cyprus’s defeat, then decided the campaign was possible if he could secure a transport fleet.
• Vitus chose to seek ships from his father-in-law, Giulio Di Maggio, and Theodore accepted that they might have to concede commercial interests.
• Vitus traveled to Florence and told Giulio that he intended to restore Cyprus and needed his fleet to transport the troops.

Vitus secured Giulio’s support for an expedition to Cyprus and sailed from Livorno with weapons and supplies. The ships reached Kyllini, where Agnes welcomed the Merino sheep being unloaded.

• Vitus asked Giulio for ships and explained his plan to seize Cyprus, offering the Di Maggio family land and trading privileges in return.
• Giulio accepted Vitus’s proposal, and Vitus described his wife’s flower gardens to Catherine during dinner.
• Giulio and Vitus discussed the wars in Italy and the western Mediterranean, while Vitus said he would stay out of them.
• Vitus sailed from Livorno in late October with weapons and supplies, and discovered Phil hiding in the hold to gain experience in battle.
• Vitus let Phil remain aboard, and the ship arrived at Kyllini in November.
• Agnes, Savard, and several clerks met Vitus at the docks as workers unloaded the Merino sheep.

Vitus tested the legion’s new cannons, expanded the Tuna Legion, and drilled it in pike-and-shot formations ahead of a planned March 1427 campaign. The chapter ended with the soldiers passing their exercises and Vitus considering asking Theodore for more marching funds.

• Savard examined the Merino sheep, and Agnes arranged for them to be settled on the former Baron Porter's lands.
• Vitus supervised firing trials for the cannons and canister shot, recording the results in a firing table.
• Vitus doubled the Tuna Legion’s establishment to 2,500 men and organized its battalions, artillery, baggage, and mountain infantry.
• From late 1426 through February 1427, the Tuna Legion practiced marching, volleys, and pike-and-shot squares under Vitus’s supervision.
• The Second Infantry Battalion passed its assessment, and Vitus rewarded the soldiers with bonuses, wine, and meat.
• Vitus noted that half of Theodore’s 30,000 Florins remained and planned to request more marching money before the campaign.

Vitus led the Tuna Legion across the sea to Cyprus and captured Pomos after its Greek militia turned against the Lusignan baron. He then faced a dispute over gold and silver taken from the baron's treasury, which the locals said came from Queen Charlotte's taxes.

• Vitus departed the Peloponnese with the Tuna Legion after Theodore promised to exchange Morea for Cyprus if the hostile forces were cleared out.
• The fleet passed Rhodes and reached Cyprus after seven peaceful days at sea.
• Vitus paid Captain Flint and the other ship captains to support the attack on Pomos, where the fleet and army approached the town together.
• The Greek militia forced the baron and his guards to surrender, opened Pomos's northern gate, and welcomed Vitus's forces.
• Vitus ordered his soldiers not to harass the people, and Marcus reported that the baron's treasury held two thousand Florins in gold and silver.
• Vitus questioned whether the money came from Queen Charlotte's special tax as five guild leaders petitioned for the Roman army to return it.

Vitus abolished the special tax in Pomos, returned the collected money, and gathered volunteers before leading his army east toward Nicosia. After capturing a castle and learning how Cyprus produced sugar, he explained to Phil why he planned to trade Cyprus to Theodore for Morea.

• Vitus announced the end of Queen Charlotte's special tax and promised land to those who joined the Roman army; 2,500 people volunteered.
• Two thousand Morean soldiers and supplies arrived, and Vitus received Giulio Di Maggio's warning that Venice had joined the offensive.
• Vitus left 500 men to garrison Pomos and marched east with the rest of his army toward Nicosia.
• Vitus's army surrounded and captured a castle overlooking a sugarcane plantation.
• Phil Di Maggio watched workers process sugarcane and then questioned Vitus about trading Cyprus to Theodore.
• Vitus said he preferred exchanging Cyprus for Morea because keeping both territories would make it difficult to defend them.

Queen Charlotte’s attempt to defend Nicosia collapsed when Greek peasants mutinied, forcing her to flee to Famagusta. Vitus Palaiologos entered Nicosia with the Eastern Roman army and found records that revealed Cyprus’s population and revenues.

• Queen Charlotte and her nobles agreed to accept Venetian and Mamluk terms while holding Nicosia, and she ordered a militia raised against Vitus Palaiologos’s Greek forces.
• Charlotte’s speech in Greek angered the conscripted peasants, who mutinied and looted estates outside Nicosia after Baron Gri and the defenders drove them from the gates.
• Charlotte fled to Famagusta as the Greek army approached, and Vitus learned that he could not intercept her without cavalry.
• Vitus and the Eastern Roman army entered Nicosia, where Phil identified broken porcelain from the Great Ming Empire.
• Vitus found Cyprus’s tax ledgers, which recorded a population of two hundred thousand and estimated annual tax income of one hundred and forty thousand Florins.

Vitus led the Eastern Roman army across Cyprus and confronted the Mamluk forces after Queen Charlotte fled toward their territory. His army broke the Mamluk cavalry and infantry, leaving the enemy’s central position defeated.

• Vitus copied a map of Cyprus, gathered information on the royal family and Mamluk camps, and abolished Queen Charlotte’s special taxes in Nicosia.
• Vitus left five hundred militiamen to garrison Nicosia and marched east, then gathered supplies in undefended Famagusta after learning the queen had fled south.
• Vitus deployed against the Mamluks on April 11 and used matchlock volleys and cannon fire to rout their light cavalry’s first attack.
• Vitus formed wagon forts to withstand the light cavalry’s assault on his rear while the Tuna Legion repelled the Mamluk heavy cavalry with muskets and pikes.
• Vitus advanced against the Mamluk infantry after their cavalry withdrew, and the Tuna Legion and Morean infantry crushed the enemy’s wings and stormed the hill.

Vitus burned out a trapped Mamluk force and continued his pursuit, then reflected on Cyprus’s defeat at Choirokoitia. Meanwhile, Baron Geri and the Cypriot nobles lost trust in the Mamluks after a night of confusion and set out for the southwestern coast to flee to Western Europe.

• Vitus used heated cannonballs to ignite the valley, and five hundred surviving Mamluk soldiers surrendered while the rest died in the fire.
• Vitus sent the wounded, including Phil Di Maggio, back to Nicosia and ordered his remaining troops to pursue the enemy southwest.
• Vitus visited the site of the Battle of Choirokoitia and discussed how King Janus had been defeated and captured by the Mamluks.
• Baron Geri and the Cypriot nobles considered fleeing to Western Europe after losing hope of victory against the Eastern Romans.
• Burning arrows and rumors of betrayal set the Cypriot and Mamluk camps against each other through the night.
• Baron Geri ordered the Cypriots toward the southwestern coast to find ships and escape into exile in Western Europe.

Vitus besieged Limassol and forced the Mamluk forces to abandon the city, then secured the surrender of the remaining infantry and captured the Lusignan leadership. He sent records of the prisoners to Morea and Constantinople and told Theodore that their territorial agreement depended on his father granting Vitus the title of Despot of the Peloponnese.

• Vitus surrounded Limassol, repelled a Mamluk night raid, and used muskets and siege guns to suppress the defenders.
• The Mamluk leaders fled by ship with their cavalry, and two thousand infantrymen surrendered to Vitus.
• Vitus sent troops to Paphos, where Cyprus's remaining forces scattered after their leaders escaped.
• Phil arrived aboard the Harpia with Queen Charlotte and two hundred captured Lusignan nobles, whom Vitus acquired in exchange for horses, supplies, and a sugarcane plantation.
• Vitus recorded the prisoners' details and sent copies to Morea and Constantinople.
• Vitus wrote Theodore that he would stay in Cyprus and leave Theodore to face the Ottoman army if their father refused to grant him the title of Despot of the Peloponnese.

After Vitus’s victory in Cyprus, he and Theodore petitioned Emperor Manuel for new territories, and Manuel appointed them despots of the Peloponnese and Cyprus. Vitus prepared to leave Cyprus as Theodore arrived to take over, though he warned his brother about the limits of an overseas invasion.

• Vitus wrote to Manuel and the Mamluks, reporting Cyprus’s restoration and demanding ransom for the prisoners of war.
• Theodore heard Captain Flint’s account of the Battle of Mesgiwo and asked Manuel to appoint him governor of Cyprus and Vitus despot of the Peloponnese.
• Manuel read both brothers’ letters and, on John’s advice, granted their requests while John planned a diplomatic mission to the Holy See.
• Vitus suppressed Lusignan supporters in Cyprus and kept letters implicating Venetian merchants from becoming public.
• Manuel’s edict appointed Vitus Despot of the Peloponnese, and Theodore arrived in Cyprus to take charge.
• Vitus reassured Theodore that the Mamluks and Ottomans could not sustain a large overseas army for long.

Vitus transferred Cyprus’s tax records and atlas while Theodore handed over documents on Morea, then sailed to the Peloponnese with the Tuna Legion and volunteer militiamen. After inspecting the region and returning to Andravida, Vitus reviewed his horse farm’s operations and decided to establish a 200-man cavalry force.

• Vitus and Theodore completed the handover of Cyprus’s records and Morea’s documents, and Vitus led the Tuna Legion and more than 600 volunteers aboard ship at Pomos.
• Laikaen joined Vitus’s expedition after handing his blacksmithing business to his apprentice.
• On the voyage, Vitus watched Venetian fishing boats haul in a trawl-net catch and heard Captain Flint describe other fishing methods and his years at sea.
• In early July, Vitus landed on Morea, inspected Mistra and its surrounding plains, and returned to Andravida on July 6.
• Agnes asked Vitus about rumors that he had ambushed and destroyed 20,000 Mamluks, and he corrected her account of the battle.
• Vitus inspected the horse farm’s records and chose to form a 200-man cavalry force for scouting, carrying messages, and pursuing fleeing enemies.

Vitus took control of Morea, organized its administration and military, and investigated how to supply the expanding army with fish and affordable iron. At an abandoned mining region in the Taygetos Mountains, he discovered that outdated smelting furnaces—not poor ore—were behind the local iron’s low quality.

• Vitus divided Morea into five administrative areas, established town and port officials, and planned to expand the army to 5,500 men.
• At Kyllini, Vitus learned that fish was vital to the army’s diet and that imported ironware made fishing boats expensive to build.
• Vitus ordered the shipyard to expand its dry docks and set out for the iron mines in the Taygetos Mountains.
• Vitus inspected the mining area and found that local villagers worked three mines whose ore was smelted at the valley’s furnaces.
• Vitus learned that the mines’ pig iron sold poorly because the army had rejected its quality, and he concluded that outdated furnaces were the problem.

Vitus worked to raise iron production in Andravida by recruiting Italian technicians and improving the smelting process. He also hosted John VIII and Constantine, learned about Sigismund’s campaign for Golubac Fortress, and sent the embassy off with warnings before returning to the mines.

• Vitus ordered Andravida to buy the remaining iron ingots and told the foreman to cooperate with Italian technicians recruited through the Di Maggio family.
• John VIII and Constantine arrived in August, and Vitus showed them Kyllini Harbor and Andravida; John cautioned him about investing in workshops, while Vitus said Agnes’s enterprises were profitable.
• John proposed naming Agnes and Vitus’s newborn son Romanus, and they accepted the suggestion.
• John told Vitus that Sigismund was gathering an army to capture Golubac Fortress, and Constantine said he wanted to leave the imperial palace and witness the campaign.
• Vitus studied the Balkan maps, warned Constantine to urge Sigismund to fortify against an Ottoman attack, and saw the embassy off five days later.
• Vitus returned to the mines with Vincenzo and other Italian technicians, who improved the smelting setup with an animal-powered bellows model and assessed the local ore as sufficient for at least thirty years.

Vitus inspected mining, fishing, and coastal defenses across the Peloponnese, then received an Aragonese captain seeking to hire him to attack Naples. He declined the commission because Constantinople forbade him from interfering in Italian affairs.

• Vitus approved Vincenzo’s plan to expand the main iron mine and ordered it to supply Andravida with iron starting in November.
• Vitus watched fishermen use a fixed net to catch tuna, then proposed that fishing households pool their money for larger vessels, but only one large boat was ordered.
• Vitus established a militia system around Corinth, where Psilos warned him that the Duchy of Athens could not be trusted.
• Vitus reviewed reports from Andravida, including the completed irrigation canal in Tripoli and a pirate attack on Sicily.
• Captain Griezmann demanded that Vitus stop Merino sheep smuggling and return the sheep already brought into the Peloponnese, while Vitus accused Aragon of using his firearm and gun-carriage designs without permission.
• Griezmann offered to overlook the dispute if Vitus helped King Alfonso attack Naples, but Vitus said Constantinople would not allow him to join the war.

Vitus accepted Alfonso V’s offer to lead an expedition against North African pirates in exchange for payment and the Holy See’s blessing. His fleet reached Djerba Island and trapped the pirates in its bay, leaving the landing operation ahead.

• Vitus agreed to attack North African pirates after negotiating half of his commission in advance with Griezmann.
• Vitus assembled two infantry battalions and attached troops, then sailed from Kyllini with the Aragon fleet and hired merchant ships.
• At Marsala, Vitus learned that Aragon had recruited only two thousand soldiers, but he continued with the expedition.
• The fleet reached Djerba Island on October 20, and Aragon’s fifteen warships blocked the bay’s only exit.
• Griezmann ordered the warships to fire, sinking several pirate galleys and driving the remaining pirates ashore.

Vitus’s forces landed on Djerba Island, defeated pirate resistance, and seized large stores of goods while the pirates escaped or fled across the bay. The commanders agreed to continue clearing pirate strongholds, and Vitus arranged to sell the captured supplies for roughly thirty-two thousand Florins.

• Damien led the Second Infantry Battalion ashore under pirate arrow fire and drove the defenders from the beach.
• Damien’s soldiers searched abandoned camps, discovered gold and silver vessels in a well, and captured a camel caravan carrying cloth and Persian carpets.
• Damien’s troops stormed a fortress, killed its remaining pirates, and collected cloth, Merino wool, and iron farm tools.
• Damien’s battalion reached the southern coast and found abandoned docks, houses, and supplies, while the pirates had escaped by boat to Africa.
• Vitus and Griezmann agreed that the Tuna Legion would clear pirate strongholds in the east and Italian mercenaries would search the west.
• Vitus negotiated with the merchant captains to sell the captured goods for roughly thirty-two thousand Florins.

Vitus and the Tuna Legion attacked pirate outposts along the North African coast but faced Berber harassment and the threat of the Hafsid Dynasty’s army. After abandoning plans to remain on Djerba Island, the fleet sailed through a winter storm and reached Syracuse.

• The Berber cavalry attacked the Tuna Legion, then explained that they were defending their trade with the pirates as the legion continued east along the coast.
• The legion destroyed pirate outposts, where fleeing pirates poisoned wells and reservoirs, before Vitus ordered a retreat to Djerba Island on November 7.
• Griezmann began building a fortress on Djerba Island, but Vitus and the merchant captains prepared to leave as reports arrived that the Hafsid Dynasty’s heavy cavalry had defeated the western mercenary regiments.
• Griezmann agreed to retreat, and the fleet burned the coastal docks and houses before setting sail.
• The fleet endured a violent winter storm and reached the port of Syracuse after five days at sea.

Vitus returned from North Africa with the Tuna Legion, reviewed his finances, and learned that John had secured agreement in principle on the union of the Eastern and Western Churches. The chapter then followed Constantine as he reached Buda in January 1428, where Sigismund’s court and a multinational army awaited.

• Vitus collected captured supplies from Griezmann in place of the remaining payment, then led the Tuna Legion home, suffering losses from battle and disease but earning a net profit of twenty thousand Florins.
• Vitus told Savard that most people in the Hafsid Dynasty lived peacefully and considered how Aragon could suppress pirates without destabilizing North Africa.
• At the end of 1427, Vitus calculated that his savings totaled thirty-five thousand Florins and welcomed John’s delegation back to Kyllini Harbor.
• John told Vitus that the Eastern and Western Churches had agreed in principle to unite, though opposition in Constantinople and the Ottoman threat weighed heavily on him.
• In January 1428, Constantine reached Buda and saw Hungarians, Holy Roman princes, and northern Italian mercenaries gathered outside the city, some carrying matchlock-like firearms.

Constantine arrived in Buda, gained an audience with Sigismund, and volunteered to join the campaign against the Ottomans. He later entered Sigismund’s tournament, won his first bout, and generously returned his defeated opponent’s horse and armor.

• Constantine entered Buda and presented his letter and ring at the palace, where a servant verified his identity.
• Constantine met Sigismund and requested permission to take part in the war, promising to uphold his family’s honor.
• Constantine registered for Sigismund’s tournament and learned that the renowned Zawisza Czerny would compete.
• Constantine entered the tournament on March 1 and unseated his opponent with a lance strike, winning his first bout.
• Constantine returned the defeated knight Renaf’s horse and armor and invited him to drink.

After losing his joust to Conan de Cavel, Constantine reflected on his sheltered victories and watched Conan lose the tournament final to Zawisza. Sigismund’s army then marched to besiege Golubac Fortress, where Constantine and Zawisza urged him to fortify the area against Ottoman reinforcements before focusing on capturing the fortress.

• Constantine lost his third joust to Conan de Cavel, who refused to accept Constantine’s armor and asked him to send greetings to Vitus Palaiologos.
• After reflecting on his past victories, Constantine watched Zawisza defeat Conan in the tournament final, and Conan told him he planned to retire.
• Sigismund announced his plan to retake Golubac Fortress, then marched his army along the Danube and joined forces with Serbian soldiers at Belgrade.
• Sigismund’s thirty-thousand-strong allied army surrounded Golubac Fortress, while its cannons bombarded the outer wall.
• Constantine recalled Vitus’s warning that the army should first fortify the fortress’s surroundings against Ottoman reinforcements, and he and Zawisza presented the proposal to Sigismund.

Sigismund’s allied army fortified its camps around Golubac, but an assault on the fortress failed and cost more than a thousand men. When Murad II arrived and the Ottomans cut the road to Belgrade, John Hunyadi persuaded Sigismund to hold the south bank and strengthen the defenses, where the allied troops then repelled the attackers’ ranged fire.

• Constantine relayed his brother’s advice to build linked palisades, prepare river transport, and block Ottoman ships, and Sigismund ordered the army to fortify the hills and river.
• After ten days of construction, Sigismund led an assault through breaches in Golubac’s outer wall, but Zawisza persuaded him to withdraw after the allied troops suffered heavy casualties.
• Murad II arrived with the Janissary Corps, and Ottoman light cavalry cut off the allied army’s overland route to Belgrade.
• As Sigismund hesitated over retreating, John Hunyadi proposed a second defensive line made from baggage wagons, and Zawisza and the other nobles backed his plan.
• The allied troops repaired the palisades and positioned the wagons, then used crossbows, matchlocks, and hilltop cannon to suppress Murad II’s attack.

After Sigismund’s coalition retook Golubac and forced Murad II to withdraw, Constantine joined the Dragon Knights. Back in the Peloponnese, Vitus inspected his expanding cannon and musket production and ordered workers to repair captured armor.

• Murad II planned a surprise attack through Iron Gate Gorge, but an iron chain blocked his ships from advancing upstream.
• On April 15, Sigismund’s artillery destroyed most of Golubac’s towers, and Zawisza’s troops captured the fortress as Murad withdrew.
• Sigismund invited Constantine to join the Dragon Knights, and Constantine accepted the honor.
• Vitus chose bronze for a batch of ten six-pound fortress guns after an iron cannon burst during a test firing.
• Vitus inspected the foundry and musket workshop, then assigned apprentices to repair captured armor so blacksmiths could focus on matchlocks.