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Halfway: Difference between revisions
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=== Crusader state === | === Crusader state === | ||
In mid [[1084]], a crusading army led by Guy of XYZ arrived on Halfway. Guy had been Count of X but, following the call for the First Crusade, took the cross and gave up his fiefdom to the [[Pope]]. The force Guy would lead was made up of the best members of the [[Holy Levantine Empire]]'s military aristocracy, including both noble cavalry and veteran infantry. Guy led the force ashore in July of 1084 and immediately attempted to take Koureiros. Emir Aziz II sallied forth from the city and repulsed the crusading army, which took heavy casualties but remained in tact. In September, Guy and the crusading army took Elatia and established it as its primary base of resupply. An Emirate force attempted to besiege the city that month but was intercepted and repulsed. In October and November, Guy took Chasini and Damasa and now controlled about half the island. He began to recruit local Christians to reinforce his army. As Levantines, the crusaders were used to the concept of wintering and waiting for campaign seasons, but in equatorial Halfway no such precaution was needed. Accordingly, Aziz II surprised the crusaders on 2 January [[1085]] at the Battle of Martyr's Gap, defeating the larger crusader army camped at the outskirts of the Pinefor jungle. Aziz II then besieged the crusader army in Damasa from 5 January through March. Imperial agents had infiltrated Koureiros and distributed enough bribes to induce an uprising, forcing Aziz to break off the siege. Guy's forces pursued and attacked the Emirate army in mid-April 1085, crippling its ability to inflict further offensive damage but failing to destroy it or capture the Emir. A second, long-siege of Koureiros ensued, lasting from April through October 1085. Facing starvation, the residents of Koureiros killed Aziz in his bedchamber and opened the gates to the crusaders. Guy was proclaimed Prince of Halfway by the [[Pope]] in November 1085 and assumed control of the island, establishing the Principality of Halfway. | In mid [[1084]], a crusading army led by Guy of XYZ arrived on Halfway. Guy had been Count of X but, following the call for the First Crusade, took the cross and gave up his fiefdom to the [[Pope]]. The force Guy would lead was made up of the best members of the [[Holy Levantine Empire]]'s military aristocracy, including both noble cavalry and veteran infantry. Guy led the force ashore in July of 1084 and immediately attempted to take Koureiros. Emir Aziz II sallied forth from the city and repulsed the crusading army, which took heavy casualties but remained in tact. In September, Guy and the crusading army took Elatia and established it as its primary base of resupply. An Emirate force attempted to besiege the city that month but was intercepted and repulsed. In October and November, Guy took Chasini and Damasa and now controlled about half the island. He began to recruit local Christians to reinforce his army. As Levantines, the crusaders were used to the concept of wintering and waiting for campaign seasons, but in equatorial Halfway no such precaution was needed. Accordingly, Aziz II surprised the crusaders on 2 January [[1085]] at the Battle of Martyr's Gap, defeating the larger crusader army camped at the outskirts of the Pinefor jungle. Aziz II then besieged the crusader army in Damasa from 5 January through March. Imperial agents had infiltrated Koureiros and distributed enough bribes to induce an uprising, forcing Aziz to break off the siege. Guy's forces pursued and attacked the Emirate army in mid-April 1085, crippling its ability to inflict further offensive damage but failing to destroy it or capture the Emir. A second, long-siege of Koureiros ensued, lasting from April through October 1085. Facing starvation, the residents of Koureiros killed Aziz in his bedchamber and opened the gates to the crusaders. Guy was proclaimed Prince of Halfway by the [[Pope]] in November 1085 and assumed control of the island, establishing the Principality of Halfway. | ||
The | The establishment of the Principality only presaged greater troubles on Halfway related to the First Crusade. The larger crusader force led personally by the Emperor began to arrive in Halfway's different ports beginning in late November [[1085]]. By the spring of [[1086]], more than 120,000 crusaders were on the island, causing significant hardship for both the army and the locals. Prince Guy I was forced to balance the interests of the army and local prominent families, distancing the Prince from the Emperor but creating goodwill among local leaders. The crusading army began to rob and pillage the countryside looking for food and supplies, forcing Guy to push them further into the Pinefor jungle where many crusaders perished from malaria. After constant negotiating, Guy managed to get the crusaders off the island by the end of summer 1086 as they moved onto [[Thessia]]. The Principality gained a negative reputation among crusaders and Levantine nobility, and Guy was viewed negatively in Levantia for decades afterwards. | ||
After the crusading army crisis had passed, Guy began to build the island's administration and reform society along Levantine lines. Guy divided the island into six counties with each including a major city, with borders roughly shaped as wedges running through to peak of Mount Pinefor, with the County of Koureiros remaining with the Prince. Additionally, the land in the island's interior were divided into nominal estates for farming according to the Levantine model. The unsuitability of the interior for agriculture, however, meant that many of the new nobility were immediately destitute. Manor lords became nominal titles by the end of Guy's reign, with Levantine transplants selling their "manors" and "estates" to prominent native merchants for a small figure and returning to Levantia. From this period on, "Pinefor Manors" became the common means of social mobility within Halfway society, as any individual with enough money could buy their way into titular nobility. A few industrious merchants attempted to make use of the land they held in the interior, with few success stories, though the enclosure of the island did contribute to the reduction of jungle by 15% between [[1050]] and [[1750]]. | |||
=== Urcean incorporation === | === Urcean incorporation === | ||