Belfrasian Crusade

Belfrasian Crusade
Part of the Western Crusades
The crusaders with local helpers
Date 1256 - 1261 Location Belfras Mutul Result Division of the former Kayamuca Empire between the Mutul and the Latin Empire.
Belligerents
Mutul <imgur w=24>IIp2wGM.png</imgur> Norumbians Nitainos	Latium Norumbian Christians Auxilliaries
Commanders and leaders
Tecylan the Great Balamb Ji Xao	Theodora I Aulus Visellius  † Valens Tarentus  † TBD
Strength
~TBD	~TBD
Casualties and losses
Military Dead: ~TBD Civilian Dead: ~TBD Total Dead: TBD	Military Dead: ~TBD

The Belfrasian Crusade (1256-1261), also known as the First Western Crusade, was a crusade called by the Pope [PLACEHOLDER] at the Council of PLACEHOLDER. It was called to help the christian communities in Norumbia after years of persecutions in a context of dislocation of the Kayamuca Empire, which had previously protected them. K'uhul Ajaw Tecuman the Great was the crusader's main opponent, leading armies in Norumbia to help his local allies.

Historical Context

Situation in Norumbia

Christianity first spread to Norumbia via trade between Kayamuca and the Latin Empires during the 11th and 12th centuries. The Kayamuca Empire's Norumbians territories were a patchwork of free cities, viceroyalties, local dukes and vassal lords with various degrees of autonomy. However despite minor episodes of martyrdom, Christianity became popular in Norumbia, especially among port cities and trading hubs in contact with Belisaria, sometimes with the blessing and protection of the local lords.

As Norumbian Christians were mostly merchants, traders, and "easternized" artisans, anti-Christian sentiments began to mix with the native populations' disdain for the colons and their Ninqaku overlords. In 1012, the colony of Karumitma fell to a native revolt. Karumitma was one of the first instance of actions taken against local Christians, alongside colons in general, and soon local revolts, combined with the lack of food, disease, and the Kayamuca's inability to correctly answer to these problems, provoked mass exodus and the disparition of lawful authority over vast sway of land. The result was locals tribes retaking their lands, establishing independent chiefdoms, or principalities that were only nominally vassals of the Kayamucas.

Un-protected from this period of crisis, Christian communities were often victims of harsh repressions by the pagans natives. The first episode of violence aimed specifically the christians was the “Martyrdom of Sachallpa”, when the city’s christians were massacred and their bodies crucified by pagans farmers and workers who had taken the streets. Similar episodes took place in Mokratas, Kalapuna, and many other thorough what is today Belfras. Reasoning for such episodes of “popular justice” was due to the status of Christians in local politics and their reputation as wealthy traders and merchants. During periods of famine, it was common for mobs to form and go to christians districts to steal food and money. It quickly degenerated when these mobs became religiously or politically motivated. The local nobility that once protected christians was no longer able to do so in face of strong anti-Ninqaku, anti-aristocratic feelings from the populations, and the more conservative, and therefore pagan, aristocracy often left the mobs run free – if not outright created them as a way to eliminate political opponents or to avoid repaying loans taken from christian merchants. Even when not the victim of such atrocities, christians were highly taxed by local nobles, who saw it as an easy and handy way to raise funds and win the approbation of the pagan-majority.

Situation in Belisaria

Theodora I, Latin Empress

Word of the “Norumbian Martyrs” eventually reached Belisaria, as did the inability of the Kayamuca Dynasty to react. The result was a Papal summoning of a religious council in 1255, to discuss the situation. A military excursion was decided and soon the Pope called for a “Crusade” to protect “our Norumbian Brothers, and the Communion of the Christ at large”.

A major supporter of the Pope's concerns was Latin Empress Theodora I, whom many suspect saw the conflict as a way to negatively impact the Kayamuca Dynasty, which was Latium's main competitor in trans-Thalassians trades. Theodora I called the Norumbian christians "Our Gateway to Norumbia" according to surviving court documents. However, some native city-states managed to recover from the flight of most of the Ninqaku elites and traders, and formed the Benfrasse League. The League opposed all forms of foreign intervention and attempted to dominate trades on the western size of the Thalassians. This put them at odds with the Latins and the Norumbians Christians, who became victims of the League. Today, the Benfrasse League is seen as a deciding factor behind Latin Empress Theodora I's urging of the Pope to declare a crusade, using the death of the Latin Emissary in the port city of Beikena as a casus belli. In the same way, this death would be used to convince his vassals and partisans.

Start of the crusade

Latin expedition

Armed with the religious authority to conduct a campaign against the Benfrasse League and to raise exceptional taxes to pay for the fleet and troops, which were gathered from all throughout Latium with the addition of Hellenic mercenaries. Theodora also sent numerous nobles and knights who saw in this crusade an opportunity to win reputation, money, and maybe even lands and titles, that they would not be able to obtain in Belisaria.

Theodora had spent the past years furthering her status as protector of christendom, allowing popular religious fervor to become more common in the Empire than during her father and grandfather rules. The preparations for the crusade marked the high point of this fervor.

Once all the preparations were done, the Latin legions set sail for Beikena the day following Easter 1256, arriving in June. The arrival of the Crusaders forced the opponents to the empire to flee in exile. One of the first action of the Emperor once in Norumbia was the Baptism of Beikena. From there, the Emperor's main envoy received oaths of fealty from nearby port cities and laid siege to the nearest port of the Benfrasse League.

The unexpected participation of the Mutul

Former Kayamuca colonies in the Xuman peninsula fell under the de facto control of the K’uhul Ajaw. These colonies, however, kept many ties with their Norumbian homologues and grew concerned with the Latin operations in the Thalassians and the northern continent. In May 1256, a delegation of the former Kayamuca colonial holdings arrived in Kalak’Muul with a requests of assistance against the Latins or the Benfrasse League. The delegation successfully managed to convince K’uhul Ajaw Tecuman to send a military expedition to the other side of the straight.

The Mutulese fleet was gathered using Kayamucan ships, enough to transport the 30,000 men of the royal army to Norumbia, where they arrived in August.

The arrival of the K’uhul Ajaw, especially his claim to be the “protector of Norumbia” took by surprise both the League and the Latin Emperor. The League especially was divided in how to respond to Tecuman’s claim, some wishing to ally with him, other seeing him as just another foreign invader. The Kayamuca colonies who called the Mutul for help and some tribes immediately allied with Tecuman’s army and offered them the auxiliaries, shelter and resources needed to go deeper in Norumbia.

The clash of two civilisations

The Belfrasian crusade is mostly remembered for the battles that opposed the Mutuleses with the Latins and their respective allies. The Latins strength was estimated at 45,000, including the natives auxilliaries, with a cavalry-to-infantry ratio of about one to nine. An estimated 20% of the crusaders, so around 9000, where non-combattants and helpers.

Horses were the weapon that made all the difference against both the Benfrasse League and the Mutul during the first confrontations, able to chase routing troops and to scout the areas surrounding the crusaders' army. Mutulese weaponry, still based around stone-aged technology and obsidian, proved to be inefficient against Knights in chainmails, so Tajalkab' fell out of use in favor of masses and other blunt weapons.

Meanwhile, the Mutuleses had their own arsenal to oppose the Latins. The most feared of the Mutuleses weaponry were the Terror Birds used during surprise attacks and ambushes both for its psychological factor and their capacity to pin down knights and "tear down" armors. When used, the Terror Birds were generally accompanied with an important infantry cover, to both exploit the opening created by the surprise charge of the giants avians, and also to maintain the confusion and stop other crusaders from reacting and killing the beasts. But even if the Terror Birds proved to be an efficient psychological weapon, the animals were dying in too great a number after each assault to make them viable and by the end of the war, fell out of use, even if they were allowed in battle to "sing" from the back of the army, which continued to be fear-inducing for the veterans crusaders.

Killing horses became a priority for the Mutuleses troops. After the first failure of the war, they reacted by being more picky of their battles, carefully choosing on which ground to oppose the latins, generally favoring environment where at least one of their flank was covered by hills or a river uncrossable for horses. Mutuleses archers also took the habit of using wooden stakes to cover their flanks, while the frontline quickly accustomed itself with how to correctly handle spear to stop a charge of cavalry. When such careful planning was not possible, the Mutuleses Smilodon or Terror Bird Knights were placed on the flanks of their army as their Tajalkab' may not have been that useful against heavily armored opponents, they quickly became famous for their ability, as described by Latins chroniclers, to "decapitate a charging horse with only one swing". This more defensive posture that the Mutuleses troops were forced to take was ultimately one of the cause of their defeat on land, even if they turned to be more successful at sea, albeit by luck.

See also

• Crusades