John stood within the chapel of the Tsarevets Fortress of Tarnovo; the religious heart of the city that was itself the heart of the Bulgarian Empire. His piercing blue gaze drifted across the effigies atop the tombs present until finally they locked onto the figure of his aunt; the Empress of Bulgaria, Theodora Palaiologina--the woman who had cut ties with her Roman family out of shame at how his father, and her brother, had used a crisis to wrestle lands away from her son the Tsar.
The Emperor of the Romans stood here, as he had across much of his own Empire this year, because he had come to Tarnovo to discuss the goings on of things.
He resisted the urge to reach out and touch the effigy; it spoke of the days before he was born--when warriors such as the Domestic Theodore [1] rode with his father, and won great victories against the Bulgars in the name of their, that is to say Palaiologi, Bulgar kin.
That kin, the Tsar Konstantin II, was now in his 40's, and without a male heir following the deaths of both his only sons in raids by both the Serbs, and Mongols; left now was only his youngest daughter Anna, who was herself around John's own children's age.
"I had heard that Dusan was dead," Konstantin mused, stepping into the chapel with an authorative gait, and a keen eye, as the Bulgarian Tsar stepped forward to size up his cousin--John was taller, but barely.
"Then you know why I'm here cousin," John pressed, softening his gaze so that when it met that of the Tsar it wasn't as piercing. Konstantin sighed, and in him John saw a man tired of it all--tired after more than thirty years ruling over the Bulgarians, from the age of 12.
Had his sons not died, John mused--having known Konstantin as a firm, and energetic ruler--then he would not have even dared ask this... but he did.
"I plan to put Serbia in it's place; it has plagued both of us long enough," the Emperor of the Romans explained softly to the Emperor of the Bulgarians; Konstantin allowed a ghost of a smile at that.
"That isn't all, is it cousin?" came Konstantin's response, and John offered a soft smile of his own, "No cousin; I would too renew the bonds between our two realms in marriage--your daughter Anna, to my son Manuel,"
Konstantin scoffed, and waved a dismissive hand--but they both knew it was an instinct; not the truth. Fate, it seemed, had laid plans for his dynasty--plans that Konstantin didn't have the heart to refuse, for it meant better for his daughter.
1358
John had known from the moment that Dusan was dead that there would be chaos, and he hadn't been wrong in that. At first, it was simply Dusan's own vassals who tested the reins of Dusan's weak son, and successor, Stefan V Uros; not keen to follow a man who was so clearly puppeteered by his own mother.
And then, of course, said mother would then alienate her brother-in-law, Dusan's own brother, Simeon, who in 1356 started what would become the Serbian Civil War [2].
That Civil War had now started boiling over outside of Serbia, as raids into Roman Albania, and the borderlands of Macedonia and even Bulgaria occurred; Uros unable to keep his own men in line, as the latter resulted in the death of Tsar Konstantin II's last male heir.
It was then, recognising that wasting time was foolish, that John rallied a retinue and travelled from Constantinople; taking the early year of 1358 to travel across the Empire and rally support in person.
In late February he would meet Manuel of Bitola, and affirm things with the guardian of the northern frontier--even as Hungary-Croatia took swipes at Serbia at that very moment with one hand, and with the other strongarmed Venice into an unfavourable land treaty over Dalmatia.
Come March, John had met George of Thessaly, Sfyrios' successor, and then the aged Michael of Arta. End of that month, after some careful sailing, he would come face to face with Reynard Durand, Co-Regent of Morea alongside Manuel Kantakouzenos (whom he also met), for the first time; striking a chivalric friendship in honour of Reynard's father Philippe's sacrifice.
Of course, this would not have been a complete journey without John travelling to the Duchy of Nicaea to meet his father's old friend Artemios; the Emperor spending the entire month of April touring the Duchy and its lands with the Duke--including participating in counter-raids against some outlying Turkish forces [3].
In this time there, John would thoroughly gather all he could in terms of information from Artemios, as the man had fought alongside his father for years in the Balkans, and thus had valuable information to share.
The two would depart on very good terms, with John having struck up a friendship while there with Artemios' son and second-in-command Nikephoros.
As the Emperor journeyed back to Constantinople that May, in France mass revolts would break out known as the Jacquerie; eventually seeing the loss of Paris, for a time, to the revolting peasants.
Arriving in the Balkans once more, John would, even as he began to muster his forces in the Andronikan Barracks [4], be present in June for the marriage of his eldest son Andronikos the Younger to Margaret of England; completing the marriage pact of Plantagenet and Palaiologos writ out just a scant few years ago.
Come July, in the interlude of John mustering his forces, the Jacquerie would be crushed by the Dauphin Charles of France; retaking Paris, and heavily punishing the peasantry who took part. This would leave a gap in the French 'lines' and allow the Black Prince to commit another chevauchee throughout southern France from July to August.
August would be when John departed the city at the head of the Imperial Allagion, and his own retinue [5]; numbering roughly 15,000 total as it departed first for Adrianople to collect, and repair, the long-languishing but still potent siege cache Andronikos III had left behind there, before moving on to Bitola late that month. John Kantakouzenos had, of course, been left in effective charge of the city--even if, by now, the ageing Grand Domestic's mind had begun to wander more to learning than ruling.
Rallying at Bitola, John would pen a letter to Uros, who the Emperor considered the more legitimate (and easily duped) of the two Serbian contenders; offering to come to the aid of the heir of Dusan in exchange for territories in Northern Macedonia.
It wasn't a response from Uros that the Emperor got, but from his mother, Helene, who ruled from Stip in her own right, regardless of the facade she put up named Stefan V Uros. That response was simple; no--accompanied by his messenger missing a hand.
Not expecting this, John had to hold himself back from a rage; giving the wounded messenger a pension for his troubles, and then ordering in full the mustering of the Allagion. Like the Romans of old, the Empire had a casus belli--and John was finished dealing with the Serbs equally.
In this, he would journey to Bulgaria, behind messangers sent (this time with an armed guard). Therein, at its capital of Tarnovo, the Emperor and Tsar--cousins, would meet, and discuss much; including the Roman's plans to take the fight to the Serbs.
John would return to Bitola soon thereafter; a marriage alliance in hand for his second son, and the knowledge that the Bulgarians wouldn't interfere.
Thus the Romans made for Stip in late September; capturing any towns on the way, and ensuring scouts lay ahead of the march; keeping them informed.
When Helene of Serbia heard of the Roman march she made several attempts throughout to rout, stall and generally interfere with it--but by the time John and his forces pulled up alongside the walls of Stip the Dowager-Queen of Serbia had exhausted her own forces, and had none left to sortie if she wished to hold her own walls.
And so, the Romans would unpack, and ready their siege engines; beginning the siege of Stip and driving a third sword into the gut of Serbia to join that of Uros and Simeon.
Of course, come months end, a call for help from Stip had materialised Uros and a mustered Serbian army; the Serbian King having rushed to save his mother, and left his own lands in the rear exposed in the rush.
John was quick to muster his calvary, roughly 3,000 strong, in the camp--and send them forth under his retinue captain Michael to intercept the Serbs, while the Emperor himself rallied the infantry and archers.
The Battle of Stip, wherein too largely equal forces clashed, would set the tone for what Serbia's existence was to be from then on.
While by now not as battle-hardened as it had been under Andronikos, the institutional experience the Sword of the Empire had embedded within the Allagion, alongside John's own Latinisations of his retinue, ensured parity.
And from parity came victory, when John proved the superior of Uros in generalship.
The Serbian cavalry was the first to be routed; bombarded from the nearby hills by arrow fire, and then smashed once, twice--and then thrice by the Roman cavalry; the heavy lances and maces of the riders, combined with John's constant circling back for another strike in short order, disoriented them.
Still, the Serbian infantry were proving a match for the Romans; back and forth they went, with arrow fire from the hills now directed at them being all that tipped the scales towards the Romans.
When Uros attempted to rally his cavalry in its flight thereafter, John took that as his opportunity; swooping in at the head of a charge, and crumpling the Serbian infantry.
Yet they held, and John lost a good portion of men in the pass, as the Serbs countered the blow.
But even steel will crack, and break, and after two more charges, Uros' forces broke in full--routing from the field, even as the King tried in vain to rally them again, and again, until finally he was forced to admit defeat and retreat himself.
Casualties numbered, the Serbs had lost around 5,000--and the Romans 2,000; the following looting more than enough to replenish diminished Roman equipment.
Helene was forced to give up Stip in the following two weeks, as the year bled into December, and it became clear there wasn't to be a second relief force. John had promised her and her followers safe passage, and the right to take with them what they could carry, which is exactly what they did; departing Stip with a massive train of goods.
The Emperor was slow in deconstructing his camp--purposeful; waiting until the month had seen its end before the garrison he'd put in the city was fully reinforced by his entire army. Therein he would spend Christmas, and officially cross the first of many Serbian cities off the map.
---
[1] Andronikos III's Domestic Theodore, who commanded the Imperial troops as the Emperor's second-in-command following the elevation of Artemios to Duke of Nicaea, vanished from the record around 1331--following his task of leading Bulgarian prisoners to settle in Anatolia. Historians theorise, with some loose sourcing, that Theodore had been discharged from the service of the Emperor to lead a new settlement in Anatolia; starting one of the several colonies that would in the following decades produce men for Artemios of Nicaea's eastern armies.
[2] Sources are conflicting on why this happened; some view it as Simeon simply biding his time before making a grab for the throne--and others point to his seeming loyalty right up until Uros' mother attempted to have him imprisoned. The counter to the latter is, of course, just as conflicting; some sources saying the attempt only happened after Simeon had already started to plot his nephew's overthrow.
[3] Even as the Ottomans under the ageing Orhan made moves against neighbouring Beyliks the Sultan did not wish to allow the Romans to grow truly powerful in Anatolia, and thus following the end of 10 Year Peace the Ottoman Sultan would regularly send raids into the Roman ally of Aydin, as well as the Nicaean borderlands. This situation was only tenable because for years now the Duchy of Nicaea had effectively been autonomous, with the Empire focused on Balkan/European affairs. Had Artemios not been as loyal as he was, a breakaway kingdom could have easily formed, in hindsight.
[4] Originally known as the Botaneiates Palace, and then for a time the Palaiologan Palace after Andronikos III spent his first two years of reign there, the palace would evolve into the Andronikan Barracks following its abandoning in favour of the Boukoleon Palace circa 1331. The Barracks house both the City-Guard of Constantinople and all their equipment, as well as having board and excess for the full calling of the Imperial Allagion forces.
[5] After the disbanding of the Hikanatoi by Andronikos III (following its mass casualties in Anatolia) in his army reforms of 1330 the duty of Imperial Army and Guard would be split--with the Allagion system taking over the duties of the Army, and the duties of Guard falling under a sort of ad-hoc retinue system. It would not be until Manuel II that a new dedicated Imperial Bodyguard would emerge.
