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| - Southern Europe: Nicola Curzio, a wealthy merchant of Albanian origin, rebuilds the Republic of Bari and is named its first Catapano (leader): he'll manage to establish a dynastic succession as Dauge (Dux), though under strict control by the corporations' assembly. Northern Hesperia (*OTL America): The Norsemen of Greenland explore the Arctic archipelago during hunting and fishing expeditions and contact the local Inuit people, then the severe cooling of the climate forces them to abandon these routes. Northern Europe: Norway formally renounces its self-asserted rights over Bjarmaland (*the area around the White Sea), which are ceded to the Novgorod republic. British Isles: King Oswald the Hammer brings resurgent Northumbria to its heyday by routing the Alban-Scots at the battle of the Teviotdale: he recaptures Cumbria (*Cumberland) and conquers the Borders area. Southern Europe: Pope-king Urban VI (*OTL Innocent IV) excommunicates Meinhard III of Gurizberg when he refuses to give back the former lands of the Aquileian Patriarchate to the new Patriarch, Gregorio da Montelongo. Meinhard however allows the Patriarch to reside in Zividal (*OTL Cividale), under close watch and limited to his spiritual duties. Genoa, helped by king Umberto IV of Lombardy, quells a rebellion at Savona. The Bosnian Bogomils get complete independence from Hungary under Matej II of the Ninoslavoviċ clan. Central-Eastern Europe: Austria is made an appanage duchy for the heirs to the Bohemian crown. Berke Khan again plunges on Hungary as king Béla IV was building fortifications without the required permit to counter his rebel son, Stephen (*not OTL Stephen V: it's another person, though still in a fight with his royal father). This time the king is captured during his escape to Dalmatia, hauled up to Brasta/Berestye (*Brest-Litovsk) and executed: his son Stephen V gets the Hungarian throne, under close watch of his Cuman wife's relatives. Batu Khan comes from Mongolia with a huge army, but dies in Russia during a plague outbreak:cool: . The army, set up to march against the rebels in Lombardy and France, withdraws orderly to Karakorum for the solemn khuriltai to elect the next Great Khan. Berke Khan himself leaves his generals in charge and heads back to the Mongol capital. Far East: The Khuriltai elects as the new Great Khan Sartaq, the Nestorian/Jacobite Christian son of Batu, after rejecting the name of Berke, unpopular as a new Muslim convert. Sartaq decides not to punish the rebellion of his fellow Christian subjects, granting western and southern Europe some respite. The Golden Horde throne in Sarai goes to Batu's older brother, Orda, already in charge of one of its main subdivision, the White Horde, in southern Siberia and the Central Asian steppe. India: Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan brings the most ancient Pandya kingdom of southern Deccan to a new heyday, vassalizing its former overlords the Cholas and repeatedly defeating the Hoysalas; Pandya power briefly projects itself up to the Krishna river. Sundara Pandyana also manages to vassalize northern Ceylon/Sri Lanka, and establishes a precarious contact with Western tradesmen from Crusader Lower Egypt. Northern Europe: Birger Jarl, regent of Sweden, founds Stockholm to counter the piratical raids of the Teutonic Order :D and the Hansa. King Erik IV of Denmark dies during a failed expedition to subdue Frisia; he is succeeded by his younger brother Knut VII. Siegfrid I reunifies Brandenburg under the Anhalt branch of the Ascanian/Aschersleben house with its ducal title recognized by Berke Khan. The new duchy of Lebus on the Oder river is created for Nogai, Berke's young nephew. British Isles: Alasdair I rises to the throne of Alba and Scotland after murdering his brother Duncan IV the Mad. Western Europe: A massive Arnaldist insurrection rocks central France and the Loire valley: the surviving feudatories are massacred or put to flight by peasant rebel armies and town militias. The rebels, loosely coordinated and recognizing the spiritual leadership of Jean Le Blanc, an old preaching monk from Burgundy, begin waging a chaotic three-sided conflict with emperor Stephen the Cruel of Greater Normandy and the many independent barons refusing to acknowledge his comeback in the continent. Southern Europe: Umberto IV of Lombardy moves against the Ezzelinians but is defeated in the bloody battle of the Mella river and has to renounce his planned assault on Verona. With the bull “Ad exstirpanda” Pope Urban VI (*OTL Innocent IV) gives official sanction to the use of torture by the Inquisition:mad: . The republic of Nice gains the feudal submission of Ventimiglia, unwilling to bend to Genoa: by now Nice controls a sizable chunk of land under the Maritime Alps, from Provence to Liguria. Genoa, to counter Nice's ascent, allies with Marseille, a traditional rival. Naples frees herself from Lesser Norman control and proclaimes a Communal republic under elected consuls. Her fleet will prove a source of both wealth and strength. Central-Eastern Europe: The elective prince of Novgorod Alexander Nevskij, a blood friend (“anda”) of the new Great Khan Sartaq, gets Tartar reinforcements to fight back the encroaching Swedes, again defeating them in the battle of the Vuoksi river. A Mongol punitive expedition under Nevruy plunders the towns of Suzdal and Pereyaslavl-Zalesskij and expels prince Andrey II Yaroslavich, Alexander Nevskij's “rogue” brother, from Vladimir: the Russian ruler is exiled to Sweden. Central Asia: Qara Hülëgü, ruler of the Chagatai Khanate, dies, succeeded by his young son Bahram Shah, grown as a Zoroastrian. Far East: In Japan the shogunate, by now itself a puppet institution of the Hōjō shikkens (regents), is entrusted to the ten-years old imperial prince Munetaka. Henceonwards, shoguns will be imperial princes with no actual power. Far East, SE Asia: Blocked by the Chinese in Sichuan, the Mongols, led by Great Khan Sartaq and general Kublai, a brother of khan Möngke of Persia, sweep down in the western mountains to outflank the enemy. In the process they destroy the old kingdom of Dali (Yunnan), triggering a massive southward and westward migration towards Siam and Burma; their raids reach down to Dai Viet (*north Vietnam). Northern Europe, Central-Eastern Europe: Mindaugas of Polotsk/Palteskei converts to Waliist Islam following the example of his patron Berke Khan of Berestia, and is made emir of Lithuania and White Ruthenia. The Lithuanians begin converting to the new religion, following their undisputed leader, and soon become the Mongol's elite guard in the region. Northern Europe, Western Europe: The Count of Holland, Dirk VIII the Saint, free from any external authority, be it Mongol or other, defeats and kill at the battle of Moergestel Louis II of Flanders, Hainault and Champagne, who had tried to grab his lands. Emperor Stephen the Cruel of Greater Normandy takes advantage to wrest back some land between the Somme and Flanders proper, but his (mostly English) forces, tied down by neverending war against rebel nobles, cities and peasants, cannot advance much further. Stephen's rule is as much resented as the Mongols were:rolleyes: , expecially for his high taxation and his land grants for English barons. The French barons resisting him obviously play the national card. Central-Eastern Europe: Ottokar/Otakar II, duke of Austria, ascends the throne of Bohemia as vassal of the khanate of Berestia; anyway, he's the most powerful man in central Europe, apart Berke Khan. Southern Europe: Meinhard III of Gurizberg (*OTL Gorizia) inherits the county of Tyrol from his childless father-in-law Albert IV, which in turn had five years before got Merania (the maritime lands north of Dalmatia) from Otto, last scion of the Andechs family. Thus Meinhard's Lurngau dynasty significantly increases its power, controlling a solid block of Alpine territories from Histria to the boundaries of Romancia. A unique situation is that now Meinhard is “partly” vassal of Bohemia:rolleyes: , being such in regards to Merania only. Marquis Peter III of Savoy subdues the Comune of Geneva to his high domain. Arabia: The Saifid Arabs reconquer Bahrain from the Shabankarai princes of Fars (Mongol vassals). Far East: The Japanese monk Nichiren establishes his own variant of Buddhism, a quite militant sect placing emphasis on the Lotus Sutras and, unusually, bent on conversion of other adherents of Buddhism and non-Buddhists as well. Western Europe: Stephen the Cruel vainly tries to crush the Arnaldists in central France. They form in reaction the League of St.-Arnaud, despite receiving excommunication and major anathema by the Church; the moderate elements from the communal towns soon gains the upper hand and organize a disciplined peasant-based army around the minor nobles who sought refuge in the walled towns during the Mongol invasion and the subsequent unrest. In the end, the battles of Bois de la Beauce and Chambord result in stunning Arnaldist victories, though Stephen the Cruel manages to retake Orléans, massacring 5,000 inhabitants in anger:mad: . Southern Europe: The suspect early death of emperor Alexander I (poisoned?) triggers the Second Curional (*Baronal) war in the Western “Roman” Empire of Sicily and Ifrigia (later Punia, OTL Tunisia). A long, drawn out conflict, the war pits one against the other two main claimants to the crown, Alexander's first cousins Conrad and Olympius, plus a wide array of rebel noblemen, peasant insurgents and Ifrigian secessionists. Olympius is eventually able to defeat his rival at Castropertuso (*not existing OTL) and later kill him by treason during peace talks; then he lands in Bardapolis (*OTL Tunis) and proceeds to liquidate the last rebels, as the Genoese fleet wipes out their Pisan allies at the naval battle of Jarthousa (*OTL Bizerte). Middle East: The Saifids of Medina raid in droves Palestine ad the Sinai, fighting both the Myriamites and the Crusaders, but fail in the sieges of Jerusalem and Gaza. Far East: Final, devastating Mongol campaigns against Korea: king Gojong and the Goryeo court are eventually forced to yield, reset their capital in Songdo/Kaesong and send the crown prince as hostage in Karakorum. Northern Europe: Denmark expels the few Jews living there, deemed to be in favour of the Mongol domination:o . Southern Europe: Ezzelino III da Romano dies in Verona, still excommunicated. Gravely weakened by his prisony in Canossa, he was unable to repeat his former exploits: only his cruelty, cunning and thirst for power remained the same – legendary and unsurpassed, at the time:cool: . His surviving son, Alberico, struggles to keep together what he has – mainland Veneto and little more, even that precariously – with a host of sworn enemies to face. In the meantime, Meinhard III of Gurizberg (*OTL Gorizia) and Tyrol has managed to appease the Berestian Mongols, avoiding Berke Khan's revenge, by casting a bad light on Ezzelino's heir and sending generous tributes:rolleyes: . The fleet of Nice captures Ajaccio from the Genoese, who are basically evicted from Corsica. Pistoia defeats Florence in the battle of Capalle. The Catholic Church declares purgatory a dogma. Southern Europe, Central-Eastern Europe: The Byzantine army, with little Mongol and Cuman help, liquidates the last centers of Vlach and Bulgarian resistance and reconstitutes the Danubian border, completing the reconquest of most of former Bulgaria - the southern half of what was Megavlakia before the Mongols came. Byzantine Empire: Despot George I Korizenos of Turcopolia dies, leaving a strong state to his son, Gabriel Ho Kyrios Megas (the Great Lord). The new ruler confirms the recognition of Anthemius II (*as Anthemius I was the last unlucky competent emperor in classical Western Rome) Megas Branas of Constantinople as legitimate basileus, though de facto keeping his independence. Central-Eastern Europe: The exiled Rurikid prince Rostislav of Černigov is enthroned by Berke Khan of Berestia as independent king of Slavonia and Mačva (NW Serbia). Swift Mongol raids punish the feeble protests of Hungary and Serbia. Genoa buys back Taurocherson (*OTL Sebastopol) from the Golden Horde. Middle East, Byzantine Empire: Demetrios of Canossa-Novellara, king of Cyprus and Armenia Minor, dies with no male heirs, leaving the crown to his son-in-law Vartan (Bardas), scion of an Akrite Order military family of Greek Orthodox leanings. The Armenian Church accepts the succession, though; for them, after a Catholic king, an Orthodox one is definitely the lesser evil. Cyprus, though, crumbles in anarchy as Pisans, Venetians, Genoese and Neapolitans wrestle to gain the upper hand, allying with local feudatories, both Greek and Catholic. Western Europe, Northern Europe, Central-Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Far East: The Flemish monk William of Rubrouck, sent to Karakorum by the court of Flanders to seek help against the resurgent Greater Normans and the Dutch, is appointed as the first Catholic bishop in the Far East and sent to Dadu/Khanbaliq for the needs of the tradesmen coming from Europe, North Africa and the Levant and the many prisoners and slaves hauled up to China by the Mongols. He'll be later sanctified as St. William of Cathay and Greater Tartary. Northern Europe: Zwanstenhafen (*OTL Königsberg) is founded at the mouth of the Pregla river as the Teutonic Order main fortress and base for piracy in the Baltic, in the service of the Mongol overlords. By now the Order has been opened to non-Germans, its ranks rapidly swelling with Poles and Baltic Prussians (!), keeping only a Catholics-only policy as a pale remembrance of its former mission. The first of many subdivisions of the county of Nassau (by now a Mongol vassal, as all of Germany except the coastal Hanseatic towns) happens as brothers Walram II and Otto I split the domain. British Isles: The northern Irish tribal kings of Connacht, Tyrone/Aileach and Donegal/Tyrconnell launch a great nativist revolt against both the Alban-Scots, the Irish Normans and the earldom of Dublin. The Bourke/De Burgh clan holds his own in Connacht, whereas the Alban-Scot vassal princelings of Ulster are destroyed. Earl Maddox III of Dublin is defeated at Tassagh Glen while trying to stop the rebels. Owain IV of Wales (*OTL Llewellyn the Last) defeats his rebel younger brothers Ian and Dafydd, exiling them to Alba/Scotland. The promised Norman support for the rebels proved too little, too late. When proof of emperor Stephen's disloyalty is discovered, Owain solemnly rejects his feudal oath of vassalage proclaiming Wales a completely independent kingdom. Emperor Stephen the Cruel infamously reacts by starving to death in the London Tower his own wife, Owain's sister Senana,:mad: :mad: :mad: to later marry his French lover Isabeau de Verneuil. The disappearance of a child, likely victim of a brute, triggers a witchhunt in Lincolnshire: dozens of alleged witches and assorted heretics are hanged and burned until serious unrest begins and the imperial Norman chancery stops the senseless carnage. Western Europe: Young king John II of Portugal concedes the Cortes, the Portuguese Parliament, the right to assemble once a year in Coimbra. Southern Europe: Urban VI (*OTL Innocent IV) dies in Rome. The Cardinals elect as the new Pope and king of Italy/Spoleto the French Jacques Pantaléon of Troyes, who takes the name of Urban VII (*OTL he was Urban IV). He at once launches again the hardest fight against heresy, Arnaldism first, and soon proves deeply hostile to the Mongols (who, years earlier, torched his hometown and killed most of his relatives). The Comune of Asti rejects Montferrat yoke and defeats margrave Gugliemo VII at Calliano (Piedmont). The other Piedmontese town of Alba rebels in turn against king Umberto IV and the Guidoni dynasts, proclaiming a free Comune. Central-Eastern Europe: The Byzantines vainly assault the walls of Vidin, held by the local voivod Ivan Bojan. The imperial army is plagued by the desertion of the Turcopoles/Vardariotes who were forcibly deported from Anatolia with Mongol and Georgian help, and are now ready to offer their services to any warlord – or, even more, to sack for themselves from the Morava to the Black Sea, from the Danube to the Aegean. Caucasus: Möngke, khan of Persia, entrusts Ahlat (*OTL historical Armenia), peopled by a majority of Muslim Turks, to the Christian princes of Loristan (*OTL northern Armenia, not to be confused with Iranian Luristan which is located far southwest). His brother Hulagu, with a powerful army, is to liquidate the remaining Muslim states of the Middle East, chiefly the defiant Saifids.
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