List of monarchs I

What if Isaac Komnenos defeated Richard the Lionheart?

Emperors and Empresses of the Orient Empire

1184 – 1199: Isaac Komnenos (House of Komnenos) [1]
1199 – 1204: Damsel of Cyprus (House of Komnenos) [2]
1204 - 1206: Hugues Fère/Eastern Orthodox Bishops 1206 - 1214: Eastern Orthodox Bishops (Templar Komneni) [3]
1214 - 1279: Innocent "The Voyager" Komnenos (Templar Komeni) [4]
1279 - 1280: Angelos Komnenos (Templar Komeni) [5]
1280 - 1303: Malik "The Paranoid" Komenenos (Templar Komeni) [6]|1280 - 1305: Issac II Komenenos (Cyclades Komeni) [6]
1305 - 1320: Doukas "The Timid" Komenenos (Lesser Komeni) [7]|1305 - 1385: Nerio "The Frank" Commodious (Frankish Cyclades) [7]

[1] Victorious in his battle against Richard the Lionheart, Komnenos captures Richard and his army and holds them captive until large ransoms are payed, Komnenos was able to cemented his rule of Cyprus for the Byzantine Emperors waste their men while the Muslims were at their borders. Following the loss of Richard the crusaders become disheartened and after the crusaders lose the Siege of Acre they give up on the Third Crusade. For his help in defeating the crusaders, Saladin grants Komnenos beneficial trade deals and promises to never allow his kingdom to be attacked by Muslims. During the last eight years of his reign Komnenos would maintain his cruel nature, but would use the money he received to strengthen his rule by greatly improving the fortifications of Famagusta and hired the Knights Templar to build castles for him. After treating the Cypriots with cruelty for 15 years Komnenons was poisoned in 1199 and was succeeded by his daughter the Damsel of Cyprus.

[2] Komnenos` daughter, hoping to stabilize relations with western Europe and distance her house from the Komnenos in Constantinople, chose to marry Hugues Fère, a member of the Knights Templar, and allowed the Venetians and Genoese to expand their trading influence in Cyprus, even allowing the Genoese to establish a colony, but maintained good relations with the Muslims by attacking the crusaders that chose to head towards the Levant instead of sacking Constantinople. In 1201 she gave birth to her son Innocent Komnenos and had him named after the current Pope. In 1204 she died following a period of sickness and her son, Innocent Komnenos, becoming Emperor aged 3 with his father and bishops that were trusted to maintain relations with the Muslims as his regents.

[3] Hugues Fère was dedicated to destroying all Islamic influence on Cyprus causing opposition between him and the bishops. Following the killing of Muslim merchants in 1205 the bishops executed some of Fère`s supporters causing a civil war between Fère and his Templar supporters and the bishops with the army of Cyprus and holding influence over Innocent Komnenos. Fère besieged the bishops at Famagusta and by 1206 was coming close to starving the bishops and penetrating their walls, but Fère was stabbed by a Cypriot servant and upon hearing of his death the bishops granted pardons and treasures to the remaining knights giving them control of Cyprus. For the next eight years the bishops would maintain the status quo until Innocent came of age in 1214.

[4] Having seen conflict at a young age Innocent had decided to expand his empire across the islands of the eastern Mediterranean using the vast treasury that had been created by the beneficial trade deals granted by Saladin and with Venice and Genoa. The time was ripe for him as ten years prior the Fourth Crusade had broken Greece into many small and weak crusader states. Innocent spent two years building up his navy and army, hiring Templar Knights into the army`s ranks and leadership, and in 1216 at the age of 15 launched an invasion of Saria Island and Syrna easily taking them from the Venetians and in 1217 invaded, vassalized and conquered half of the Duchy of the Archipelago. In the following years the he would defeat the Venetians at sea with the help of Genoa and in 1221 forced the Venetians to pay the cost of the wars and barred them from fighting in the Aegean for two years. Following his victory he married the Nicaean princess Eudokia Laskarina. In 1223 he invaded and defeated Duke Othon de la Roche taking all of his land south of Athens. For the next twenty years Innocent improved relations with Genoa by granting it a few of the islands in the Cyclades and exempting their merchants from paying duties, improved fortifications at Famagusta, built palaces across his new islands and founded universities led by philosophers and scholars he captured during his war with the Duchy of Athens. From the 1240s to 1270s he would help the Mamluks fight the Mongols and remaining crusader states and in the process expelled most of the Templars for helping the Mongols and in the late 1250s and 1260s would be called upon by the Emperors of Nicaea to help in their military campaigns and in retaking Constantinople. In 1271 Innocent at the age of 70 chose to end his military campaigns and spent the last eight years of his life funding the construction of cathedrals, roads, ports and sending gifts to the Pope and Sultans Al-Malik az-Zahir and Al-Malik as-Sa'id. He had five children: Issac II in 1262, Malik in 1247, Angelos in 1228, Doukas in 1230 and Irene in 1251. Upon his death in 1279 Angelos ascended to the throne.

[5] Angelos Komnenos achieved nothing during his reign as he died of old age in 1280. He was followed by Malik.

[6] Malik Komennos took the throne in 1280 and immediately ordered that his brother Doukas be sent to a monastery for the rest of his life believing that he had killed Angelos and was planning to kill him to take the throne. Before anything could happen to him Issac II gathered an army of Templar Knights and nobility, declared himself emperor and fled to the Cyclades where with backing from Venice would wage war with his brother and Genoa for twenty years. Their navies would meet near Rhodes and for most of the war would fight indecisive battles until Malik`s paranoia caused him to expel all of Genoa`s merchants causing his navy to greatly weaken and in 1303 Issac hired the Catalan Company to help him invade Cyprus. After a month of fighting Issac took control of Cyprus, his brother disappeared without a trace, but the previous twenty years of war had dwindled both his and his brother`s treasuries making it impossible for him to pay off the Catalan Company. The Catalan would terrorize Cyprus for the next two years taking as they pleased until they overthrew Issac when he refused to follow their orders in 1305. The Catalans would bring Doukas out of the monastery and place him on the throne under their influence, but the descendants of Issac would continue to control islands in the Cyclades for two centuries.

[7] Doukas would spend most of his reign in isolation at Famagusta with his Catalan Wife and was able to have two children during the last fifteen years of his life Xiolxi Komenenos in 1306 and Ioxi Komenenos in 1309. Outside of Famagusta Cyprus fell into disrepair the roads went from stone to dirt and the universities created by Innocent at the height of Cyprus was chipped away for the use of the Catalan Company. Famagusta was only spared as the Venetians and Genoese held trading posts inside the city. However, in the Cyclades and Dodecanese islands Nerio Komenenos distanced himself from the Cypriot line, declared himself and his father members of the Cyclades dynasty and latinized his last name to Commodious. Nerio had his kingdom centered at Naxos and with Genoese support filled his treasury. He built towers on his islands to hold up chains to force Venetian ships to pay large duties and built the largest castle in Greece to protect Naxos and to be the headquarters of his new order "The Latins of Orient". When Doukas died in 1320 the Cypriots under a knight saying that he was Richard I of England rose up and drove the Catalans from Cyprus and declared the Kingdom of Cyprus with Richard of Cyprus as their king, from then on the successors of the Cypriot line would declared themselves emperors in exile. . For the next 21 years Nerio and The Latins of the Orient fought to retake Cyprus failing due to the poor transportation and the fact that Famagusta, and its walls, were still in perfect condition. In 1341 Nerio fought the Serbians in an attempt to establish a foothold in mainland Greece, but was forced back by Stefan Dušan in 1343 after the Battle of Serres. For the rest of his reign Nerio would participate in crusades such as the Smyrniote crusades and the Alexandrian crusade. In 1385 Nerio died and was followed by his daughter Sofia Commodious.