Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Vitus surveys the coast near Antioch, chooses an abandoned harbor to supply the city by sea, and divides his army between repairing Antioch’s defenses and securing nearby passes.
• Romanus visits Antioch’s ruined fortifications and churches with Andronikos. Local clergy repeatedly ask Andronikos for repair funds, but Vitus says the treasury is depleted.
• Vitus reflects that victory is costly for an empire: rewards and military expenses grow with each success, unlike raiding for poor nomadic tribes, where even small spoils matter.
• After reviewing reports, Vitus decides to retake Aintab, a strategically important former imperial outpost. He leads 30,000 troops from Antioch on May 6 and reaches the city on May 13.
• The army captures Aintab in two days. Vitus notes its vulnerable population and limited agricultural resources, meaning it will depend on imported grain.
• Captives reveal that the sultan has fled far into the east; the remaining Ottoman troops have joined the Mamluks, who have regained the coast south of Antioch.
• With Antioch and Aintab secured, Vitus plans to end the campaign and return to Constantinople. He creates two frontier districts, assigning Marcus to Cappadocia and Damien to the Antioch–Aintab frontier.

Character development and interactions

• Vitus emerges as a practical commander who weighs supply routes, terrain, finances, and long-term defense—not merely battlefield victories. He turns conquest into a plan for a durable frontier.
• Romanus is frustrated by Anatolia’s complex mountain terrain and later joins Andronikos on a tour of the ruins.
• Andronikos is sympathetic to the clergy’s appeals but is rebuffed by Vitus, who insists that funding repairs must wait.
• Vitus’s appointments of Marcus and Damien show his reliance on trusted commanders to hold the newly secured borders.

Significant themes

• The cost of victory: Military success strains the treasury through rewards, logistics, and occupation costs.
• Geography and supply: Mountains, climate, roads, rivers, and harbor access shape both campaigns and governance.
• Conquest versus stability: Capturing territory is only the first step; Aintab needs imported food and a permanent garrison.
• Ruins and historical change: Antioch’s damaged landmarks recall repeated conquest, from the Crusader era to Timur’s devastation, while the war leaves the region fragile.

Key plot points and events

• Vitus establishes 62 garrison districts to defend his recently reconquered territories. After reviewing wartime service, he allocates many hereditary officer positions to cavalrymen, whose casualties and merits were greatest.
• Because the inland provinces face raids and rebellions by nomadic tribes, he plans to strengthen local mounted forces. He also organizes warhorse production: Cappadocia’s dry, open pastures are suited to breeding, and former Ottoman estates will be managed by private buyers or deserving veterans, with the army purchasing horses from them.
• The chapter places these plans in historical context, recalling how the Eastern Roman Empire’s loss of the Anatolian plateau damaged its cavalry and how Alexios Komnenos compensated by hiring foreign heavy and light cavalry.
• In June, Vitus travels through the Cilician Gates and returns to Konya. He inspects the newly formed Sixth Legion, whose gray banner depicts mountains and a galloping horse, and confirms that it is ready for field operations.
• Vitus leaves Romanus in Konya with the Sixth Legion and two auxiliary cavalry brigades as reserves for the eastern defensive line. They are to suppress remaining hostile forces and be able to reach the front within twenty days.
• On July 1, Vitus’s army reaches Nicomedia. Advance-guard officer Boranov takes charge of defenses near the south gate while local officials and dignitaries wait to greet the approaching emperor.

Character developments and interactions

• Vitus shows himself to be a strategic, pragmatic ruler: he connects military structure, local security, and horse supply, and plans forces suited to the terrain and threats he expects. He also acknowledges that even a stronger cavalry may not match the formidable forces of neighboring powers.
• Romanus is uncertain whether generals and governors will obey him. Vitus reassures him that the troops’ loyalty rests on their training and that veterans entering civilian posts can help keep administration under control.
• Boranov appears as a capable, observant officer, reflecting on Nicomedia’s recent siege as he takes over its defenses.
• Provincial officials, clergy, and merchants gather to receive Vitus; when his purple banner appears, the governor scrambles to restore order and make a favorable impression.

Significant themes

• Military organization and adaptation: Garrison districts and locally based cavalry address the specific challenges of a large, unstable frontier.
• Logistics as a foundation of power: Suitable pastureland, private management, and reliable horse purchases underpin the army’s ability to field cavalry.
• Historical lessons: The Empire’s past loss of horse supply and Alexios’s response inform Vitus’s current planning.
• Control through loyalty and administration: Vitus relies not only on commanders but also on trained junior ranks and experienced veterans in civilian roles to keep the state secure.

Key plot points and events

• Vitus returns from the campaign with a reduced force of about 23,000 soldiers. His artillery travels separately by sea, while the army spends the night in the city before boarding ships the next morning.
• Reports suggest the empire is politically stable: John VIII stays out of politics, the imperial family is scattered across the empire, and no neighboring Balkan power has launched an attack. Venice has assembled a sizeable force on Crete but appears unwilling to invade, given the formidable coastal defenses guarding the Dardanelles.
• Vitus avoids a lavish, specially prepared flagship and boards an ordinary warship, dismissing its decoration as gaudy. The fleet sails toward Constantinople, where soldiers and watchmen cheer the returning emperor along the sea walls.
• Upon docking at Constantinople, Vitus is greeted by the empress dowager, Thomas and his young daughter, Empress Maria, Thomas’s wife, and the patriarch. John VIII is absent, and Vitus immediately asks to see his elder brother.

Character developments and interactions

• Vitus appears weary and impatient with ceremony. He prefers practical choices, sleeps during the voyage, and returns to Constantinople focused on finding John rather than receiving a formal welcome.
• Thomas is eager to reunite with his wife and daughter, Zoe. He warns the officials not to arrange celebrations without permission, noting that Vitus has been in a foul mood.
• Vitus’s arrival draws a warm public response from soldiers and city guards, contrasting with his own desire to avoid pageantry. His first exchange with the welcoming party is brief and direct.

Significant themes

• Military strength and deterrence: Constantinople’s coastal fortifications and defenses discourage Venice from risking an invasion.
• Duty versus ceremony: Vitus’s practical attitude and dislike of spectacle stand against the elaborate welcome prepared for him.
• Return and homecoming: The fleet’s passage along the cheering sea walls and the reunion with family and officials mark the emperor’s return after a long absence.

Key plot points

• Vitus goes to Hagia Sophia, where John VIII is praying, after learning that John has taken the baptismal name Josaph. Constantinople is still recovering from the unrest in January: some shops are closed, Italian merchants have left, and the city’s tax revenue is likely to fall.
• The two emperors discuss Antioch, which Vitus recently recaptured, and the religious relics found there. John then reflects on his failed attempt to weaken Venice through diplomacy and the lasting resentment he faced over the union of the Eastern and Western Churches.
• John relinquishes responsibility for the empire, leaving its future to Vitus. Vitus outlines a long-term strategy against Venice: seize Euboea and the Ionian Islands, disrupt Venetian trade, and use the empire’s greater population and revenue to outlast the republic.
• Asked how to punish those involved in the January events, Vitus tells Patriarch Metrophanes II to apply the penalties specified by law.
• Outside the cathedral, Thomas congratulates Vitus on inheriting the empire. Vitus rejects the idea that it was simply inherited, recalling how much territory he won through his own campaigns. He says little else, despite officials expecting a grand speech.

Character developments and interactions

• John VIII appears weary and resigned. He accepts that his efforts—especially church union and diplomacy—brought him lasting unpopularity, and formally passes responsibility to Vitus.
• Vitus is pragmatic and burdened by the scale of his rule. He thinks in terms of trade, taxes, military strategy, and legal procedure, but the handover prompts reflection on how much of the empire he personally fought to recover.
• Thomas lightly breaks the tense silence by congratulating Vitus, while officials and onlookers wait for a public declaration.
• Metrophanes II, newly appointed patriarch, hesitates when asked about punishment, unsure what Vitus expects; Vitus insists on following the law.

Significant themes

• The cost of rule and conquest: Vitus’s empire is not merely an inheritance; much of it was reclaimed through hardship and war.
• Public resentment and political legitimacy: John’s experience shows how unpopular policies can overshadow a ruler’s efforts and intentions.
• Commerce as a weapon: Vitus plans to weaken Venice through trade disruption and economic endurance rather than decisive naval victories.
• Law, fatigue, and responsibility: Vitus chooses legal procedure over arbitrary punishment, while the chapter emphasizes the emotional weight of succession and governance.

Key events

• Vitus returns to Blachernae Palace and orders a rapid audit before the Imperial Council meets.
• The accounts show that the empire spent 2.3 million Florins in 1443 against revenue of 2.1 million. War costs and scant spoils pushed the year’s deficit to 800,000 Florins, bringing total debt to 1.6 million. Vitus considers this manageable if the empire repays loans gradually and the newly recovered provinces begin paying taxes.
• The army and navy are less formidable than their headline size suggests. Much of the army is tied to local defense, three legions are committed on the eastern frontier, and the navy cannot secure the Eastern Mediterranean. Vitus judges that the empire can defend itself and wear Venice down, but is poorly positioned for an offensive war.
• At the first Imperial Council meeting, Vitus orders a regular civil-service examination, beginning in Constantinople in October, and plans to preside over it himself.
• He asks the patriarch to restore church administration in Konya, Cilicia, and Cappadocia. Vitus resolves a jurisdictional dispute by limiting the Patriarchate of Antioch to nearby territories, following the precedent set after Antioch’s recovery in 969.
• The Council appoints senior provincial officials and sets priorities: Konya must improve roads, suppress banditry, and supply Cappadocia; Cappadocia must strengthen border defenses, restore horse breeding, and eliminate remaining Ottoman forces; Cilicia’s strategic importance lies in its position on eastern trade routes.
• Vitus recognizes that controlling Egypt as well as the northern and central trade routes could give the empire a European monopoly on Eastern goods—though he notes Portugal may eventually bypass it by sea.

Character developments and interactions

• Vitus approaches leadership pragmatically: he audits finances, assesses military limits, and moves directly to decisions rather than ceremonial formalities. Despite serious weaknesses, he remains confident the empire’s problems can be managed.
• The patriarch is anxious that Vitus might restore the Antiochene patriarch’s broad historical jurisdiction. Vitus’s decision to keep it limited reassures him, and he readily agrees to the restoration plan.
• Vitus’s brief internal suspicion of Chrysafi Noratas—another Noratas trusted by John VIII—shows his wariness about established political networks. The civil officials appear distant from one another, though the reason is unclear.
• Thomas and the others expect disputes, but the meeting ends smoothly, suggesting Vitus’s clear rulings help the Council reach agreement.

Significant themes

• Pragmatic statecraft: Vitus weighs ambition against the empire’s financial and military capacity.
• Centralization and institution-building: Regular examinations and restored provincial administration are meant to strengthen imperial rule.
• Church and state: Clergy serve religious, administrative, educational, and medical roles, while patriarchal jurisdiction remains subject to imperial policy.
• Trade as strategic power: Control of ports and caravan routes offers economic leverage, but emerging maritime routes threaten any monopoly.

Key plot points and events

• Vitus spends the afternoon processing a huge backlog of documents. He approves a survey for an iron mine in Paphlagonia and asks Adrian University for research on mine drainage and ventilation.
• He rejects a minor judicial complaint that appears to have been raised through political connections.
• Bessarion, Constantinople’s deputy municipal officer, asks for municipal funds to be restored after wartime cuts. Vitus approves funding, prioritizing essential services such as roads, aqueducts, and sewers over the unfinished Golden Horn clock tower.
• Overwhelmed by weeks of meetings and paperwork, Vitus escapes to his mountain residence. On the way, he observes the region’s cash-crop farming; from the residence, he watches merchant traffic and notes Florence’s growing role as Venice retreats from Black Sea trade.
• After dinner, Vitus orders thirty officials—mostly from the Black Sea’s northern shore, with others from Anatolia—to join a new department. They will assist him with military, financial, judicial, and diplomatic documents.

Character developments and interactions

• Vitus is shown as practical and attentive to administration: he supports mining, protects essential municipal services, and puts the clock tower behind everyday needs. He is also increasingly exhausted by governing.
• His dismissal of Balram’s stack of trivial cases signals impatience with bureaucratic waste and possible favoritism.
• Bessarion presents the city’s financial needs, and Vitus responds decisively while setting clear spending priorities.
• Pelato and Carlo share Vitus’s view that the workload is now more exhausting than wartime. Carlo questions whether the new appointments contradict Vitus’s earlier promise to keep the administration unchanged; Vitus explains that the recruits will form a separate support department rather than join existing offices.

Significant themes

• Governance and priorities: Public health and routine services take precedence over prestige construction.
• Administrative reform: Vitus seeks a dedicated team to help manage an overwhelming flow of state business.
• Economic change: Mining becomes more efficient, agriculture favors profitable cash crops, and Florence gains ground as Venice withdraws from trade.
• The burden of rule: Vitus’s retreat into nature contrasts with the relentless demands of palace administration.

Summary

Key plot points and events

• After a night at his estate, Vitus returns to Constantinople and works through a backlog of official papers. Officials notice his decree creating a cabinet, though the new body appears minor and powerless, so most dismiss it.
• On August 5, Vitus finishes the initial flood of paperwork. Leaving the courtyard, he sees Thomas’s daughter quietly watching a weed grow between paving stones, but lets her be.
• Riding through the city, he observes shuttered and renovated shops left behind after Italian merchants departed. A city report puts Constantinople’s population at 250,000, with little room for rapid future growth.
• Vitus wonders how Constantinople once supported a population of more than 800,000. His attendants explain the historical system of subsidized or free grain and bread, supplemented in Rome by public entertainments—the policy known as “bread and circuses.” Vitus agrees but rejects reviving free bread: he would rather spend public funds on the military and defenses.
• At the harbor, Vitus inspects the Golden Horn clock tower. Workers use a treadwheel crane to raise a marble block, while artisans prepare colorful stone decorations. The supervisor estimates another 30,000 florins are needed, but Vitus privately suspects the remaining work will cost at least 50,000, money he thinks might be better spent on warships.
• At the harbor office, he learns that trade is recovering as merchants return from Nicomedia and Thessaloniki. If the improvement continues, annual tax revenue may exceed the previous year’s.

Character development and interactions

• Vitus is shown as a practical, financially cautious ruler. He values administrative reform, military readiness, and revenue growth, while questioning costly projects and resisting popular subsidies he considers unnecessary.
• Vitus and his attendants discuss Constantinople’s historical population and food policies. Their exchange provides context for his fiscal priorities.
• Vitus and the construction supervisor discuss the clock tower’s projected costs; the supervisor’s hesitation prompts Vitus to realize the estimate is likely too low.
• Vitus and Thomas’s daughter have no direct conversation, but his choice not to interrupt her gives the scene a quiet, personal note amid his official duties.

Significant themes

• Statecraft and priorities: Vitus weighs public spending against military and defensive needs.
• The relationship between population and government support: Constantinople’s former prosperity depended partly on imported grain and public distributions.
• Recovery and stability: Trade is returning after political uncertainty, offering hope for stronger tax revenue.
• Ambition versus cost: The clock tower represents civic grandeur, but its expense competes with practical military investment.

Key plot points and events

• Emperor Vitus visits Hagia Sophia and presses the patriarch to appoint senior clergy, plan church rebuilding, and coordinate with civil officials in the newly reclaimed territories.
• When Vitus asks how the people regard him, the patriarch offers unreserved praise. Some clergy, however, privately criticize Vitus for neglecting religious duties and giving too much latitude to Adrian University and the Plethon School.
• The chapter contrasts public memories of the emperors: Manuel II is remembered as kind but ineffectual, John VIII as having humiliated the empire while seeking Western help, and Vitus as a formidable, ruthless warrior.
• Vitus’s cousin Uroš Dragases arrives at Blachernae Palace for a family banquet. Vitus assesses him as inexperienced in warfare and not a serious threat.
• The next day, Vitus reviews state affairs and meets Uroš to discuss relations with Serbia. He recalls Serbia’s shifting loyalties among the Ottomans, Hungary, and the Eastern Roman Empire, and remains wary of its sincerity.

Character developments

• Vitus is shown as focused on consolidating his rule and restoring the reclaimed regions. He is also conscious of his public image, but appears unmoved by praise. His strategic, unsentimental judgment of Uroš reinforces his suspicion and severity.
• The patriarch presents a flattering public face to the emperor while concealing the Church’s more complicated views. He also suppresses dissent among the clergy.
• Uroš is introduced as courteous and interested in visiting Antioch, but Vitus sees him as a politically relevant yet militarily mediocre relative.
• The clergy and people are portrayed as uncertain about Vitus: they admire his victories but fear his ruthlessness and question his priorities.

Significant themes

• Power and reputation: Vitus’s military record dominates how people see him, shaping both admiration and fear.
• Religious and political authority: The Church must cooperate with the state, yet clerics resent Vitus’s apparent neglect of religious affairs.
• Pragmatism and distrust: Serbia’s history of changing allegiances makes Vitus cautious about diplomacy and personal ties.
• Contrasting leadership: The chapter sets Vitus’s forceful rule against the perceived weakness or limitations of his predecessors.

Character interactions

• Vitus questions the patriarch about public opinion, while the patriarch responds with praise and later rebukes clergy who criticize the emperor.
• At dinner, Vitus treats Uroš informally but quietly evaluates his military ability; the family gathering also shows Vitus observing his children and relatives.
• In their later meeting, Vitus discusses diplomacy with Uroš against the backdrop of Serbia’s shifting alliances, maintaining a guarded, transactional stance.

Key events and plot points

• Vitus receives a letter from the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller, who regrets that the emperor abandoned the campaign to retake Jerusalem. Vitus replies that Venice made a southern advance too dangerous: its naval power could disrupt supply lines or cut off the army’s retreat. He agrees to keep funding the Hospitallers and their raids on the Mamluk coast, while postponing the Jerusalem campaign.
• Vitus orders a broad coastal-defense program in anticipation of conflict with Venice. The Dardanelles receive top priority, followed by major ports such as Patras, Athens, Thessaloniki, and Smyrna. Coastal villages are told to build beacon towers and evacuate inland during attacks; nearby field forces must be able to respond within five days.
• Vitus judges that neither empire is ready for war. His own state is short of money and cannot quickly expand its fleet, while Venice has greater borrowing power but may struggle to secure agreement from its many powerful noble families.
• He studies Venice’s social and political structure, then estimates Roman shipbuilding capacity and the available pool of sailors. Because the Eastern Roman Empire is recovering and tax revenues are growing, he decides that delaying war will improve its position.

Character developments and interactions

• Vitus acts cautiously and strategically: rather than pursue an ambitious campaign for Jerusalem, he prioritizes secure supply lines, coastal defenses, finances, and long-term military growth.
• The Hospitaller envoy arrives expecting a grand imperial audience but finds a modest study. He waits while Vitus reads the ornate letter, then departs after the emperor’s reply confirms continued financial support.
• The Grand Master, though absent, presses for an immediate campaign to reclaim Jerusalem; Vitus respectfully but firmly rejects that timing.
• Venice is presented as the empire’s chief future rival, while Ottoman remnants and the Black Sheep are considered lesser threats to be managed by eastern defenses.

Significant themes

• Pragmatism over glory: Vitus postpones Jerusalem in favor of safeguarding the empire and choosing a more advantageous moment for war.
• Logistics and naval power: Control of the sea—and the ability to protect supplies and retreat routes—shapes military strategy.
• Preparation and patience: Fortifications, local warning systems, and economic recovery are treated as essential to future strength.
• Political structure and wealth: The chapter contrasts Venice’s layered social hierarchy and collective noble government with the empire’s financial limitations, showing how institutions shape a state’s ability to wage war.

Plot points and events

• In August 1444, after a string of defeats and the loss of its major towns, the Teutonic Order negotiates peace with Poland in Gdansk. Poland demands West Prussia—including Gdansk and Marienburg—recognizes its authority over Warmia, requires the Grand Master to become its vassal, and bars the Order from hiring foreign mercenaries.
• Hunyadi, now 57, stays out of the negotiations, makes a supply deal with Hanseatic merchants, and promotes his Dobšiná matchlocks. Rain at the docks prompts memories of his 12-year-old campaign to the Aegean and regret that divisions among the allies prevented greater victories.
• The negotiations last a week. The draft treaty is sent to Königsberg for the Grand Master’s approval. Władysław and Casimir expect the weakened Order to accept the terms.
• Władysław credits firearms and cannon—especially the Black Army’s troops—with breaking the Order’s armored knights and fortified towns. He plans to create a Polish standing firearms force. Casimir says he can afford a force of only 4,000 if Novgorod pays substantial tribute.
• Casimir outlines northern Europe’s instability: tensions within the Kalmar Union, Lithuania’s challenges governing its largely Orthodox Rus population, the growth of Cossack settlements, and Novgorod’s uncertain political order. He also fears that Moscow’s Vasili II may seek an alliance with Vitus, the Palaiologos ruler, and gain military aid and advanced technology.
• Władysław dismisses these concerns, confident that Poland’s recovery of West Prussia and increased revenues make it strong enough to face any rival.

Character developments and interactions

• Hunyadi appears reflective and conscious of aging; the rain intensifies his nostalgia for the Aegean campaign and his frustration over past allied divisions. He remains focused on commerce and firearms.
• Władysław is confident and ambitious, seeing artillery as a decisive force and Gdansk’s wealth as a foundation for Polish power. He offers Casimir military support.
• Casimir is more cautious and financially constrained. He weighs diplomacy against force in dealing with Novgorod and the Cossacks, and worries about the potential alignment of Moscow and Vitus.
• The brothers’ exchange contrasts Casimir’s detailed anxieties with Władysław’s optimism. Their conversation establishes Poland’s growing strength but also the uncertain political landscape around it.

Significant themes

• The changing nature of warfare: Firearms and cannon undermine the military dominance of armored knights and castle walls.
• The decline of the Teutonic Order: Its defeat reflects the collapse of the old military order and the rise of stronger territorial states.
• Power, wealth, and state-building: Control of cities and taxes enables Poland to consider a permanent firearms force.
• Political fragility and competing loyalties: Religious, cultural, and class divisions trouble Lithuania and the northern kingdoms.
• Age and memory: Hunyadi’s recollections contrast youthful campaigning with the physical and emotional weight of growing older.

In Kuban Town, Ilya expanded the Borderland Region’s administration by taking over a Circassian nobleman’s territory in exchange for guaranteeing his debts. News of unrest in Galatia made Ilya fear he would be sent to replace Tucha, while he continued inspecting the region’s brick defenses.

• Ilya signed an agreement with a bankrupt Circassian nobleman, bringing one small town and thirty villages under the Borderland Region’s jurisdiction in exchange for debt guarantees.
• At lunch, Ilya heard that Black Vulture’s bandits had killed a merchant’s household in Ankara and that unrest was spreading across Anatolia.
• Ilya feared that the emperor might dismiss Tucha and send him to manage the troubled inland region.
• Unable to focus on his duties, Ilya walked around Kuban Town and observed its red-brick buildings and growing fortifications.
• Ilya inspected Kuban Town’s brick defenses and judged them strong enough to resist likely attacks without burdening the central treasury with costly advanced fortifications.

Ilya organized the Borderland Region’s preliminary civil service examination after Sancho and the Examination Bureau officials arrived late with Constantinople’s instructions. Seventy candidates passed, and Sancho completed background investigations before leaving with the applicants, while Ilya reflected on a distant noble’s estate being mismanaged by its steward.

• Sancho delivered the central government’s examination documents, and Ilya dispatched thirty teams to notify settlements and bring applicants to Kuban Town.
• More than three hundred candidates took the Greek and basic mathematics examination, and Sancho announced that seventy had passed.
• Ilya recalled that a noble’s heir had refused to return to his estate and feared the appointed steward would embezzle its funds.
• Sancho and local postmen investigated the candidates’ family backgrounds across the region for two weeks.
• Ilya saw Sancho off with wool carpets for his neighbors in the Emilian District, and Sancho said another official would lead next year’s team.

Romanus visited a horse ranch in Cappadocia, inspected and purchased mounts for the army, then continued to Kayseri. There, he learned that local militiamen were rotating to the border as the frontier army remained under strain.

• Romanus and his party toured the ranch, where a manager ordered a difficult black horse sold after it threw its trainer.
• The next morning, Romanus's officials inspected the ranch's horses and purchased two hundred suitable mounts.
• Romanus's party bought another four hundred horses on the way east and reached Kayseri on October 1.
• The officials completed the mounts' handover to the frontier district, where the horses would undergo further training.
• Romanus saw militiamen drilling near Kayseri and learned from the garrison general that they were preparing to replace troops whose tours had ended.

Romanus inspected Cappadocia’s border defenses and reviewed the fortresses and troops being prepared against Ottoman attacks. When Marcus reported that Georgia had invited the empire to join an eastern campaign, Romanus declined and returned to Konya, leaving the decision to Constantinople.

• Romanus set out for the border with more than a thousand cavalrymen and militiamen after provincial officials assembled an escort.
• Romanus inspected the border fortresses, their garrisons, and the system of border troops and rotating militia.
• Marcus told Romanus that Georgia’s King Vakhtang had invited the empire to fight alongside Georgia and recover lost territory.
• Romanus refused to join the campaign and instructed Marcus to send the envoy to Constantinople for the central government to decide.
• Romanus concluded that the eastern front should remain defensive until the empire had dealt with Venice in the west, then ended his inspection and headed back to Konya.

Vitus finalized the civil service examination system and inspected Constantinople, reflecting on how guild monopolies had stifled commerce and innovation. The Eastern Roman Empire’s guilds remained loosely organized, leaving native trade freer to develop.

• Vitus set the examination subjects, interviewed the top ten candidates, and assigned successful candidates to government posts or further study.
• Vitus planned to fill two-thirds of annual civil service vacancies through examinations and reserve the rest for other groups.
• Vitus rode through Constantinople and saw shops displaying guild emblems.
• Vitus recalled how Western guild monopolies had blocked his earlier business ambitions and suppressed inventions such as spinning machines.
• Vitus reflected that the Spinning Jenny had helped make Chersonesus a major textile center, while the empire’s own guilds operated as loose merchant associations.