The previous part is here: https://bartoll.se/2023/12/history-matrix-part46/
All parts of this series can be found here: https://bartoll.se/world-playbook-quickstart/
In 615 AD, the Slavs continued to settle in the Balkans, in what is now Bulgaria, Serbia, North Macedonia and parts of Greece. Meanwhile, the western territories of present-day Yugoslavia (Bosnia, Croatia and Dalmatia) suffered raids from the Avars, who also began settling in this region.
In Britannia, the Anglo-Saxons, under King Æthelfrith of Northumbria, reached the Irish Sea and massacred 1,200 Christians, including monks, who had not converted to the Catholic faith at their monastery in Bangor (Wales.)
In 616 AD, the Jews gained control over the city of Jerusalem, thus much of Judea and Galilee became an autonomous Jewish province of the Persian Empire. The Jewish Temple was rebuilt by Nehemiah ben Hushiel, the exilarch of Jerusalem, who also established a High Priesthood.
In southern Europe, Adaloald, age 14, succeeded his father Agilulf as Lombard king of Italy. He reigned under his mother Theodelinda. The Lombard Kingdom gradually continued to convert to the inverted (Roman, as in Satanic) version of Christianity, as in Catholicism by the influence of Rome and the Vatican, and they also established peace with the Exarchate of the Byzantine Empire.
In Britannia, King Rædwald of East Anglia conquered Northumbria (Northern England) during the ‘Battle of the River Idle.’ King Æthelfrith was killed during the fighting and his children were forced to flee north. His heir, prince Eanfrith (age 26,) took refuge with his mother’s family in Gododdin (present-day Scotland.)
King Rædwald installed Edwin as king of Northumbria, giving him the title of ‘bretwalda,’ as in overlordship of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms. His reign marked the domination of Northumbria as the leading Anglo-Saxon state of the British Isles.
In 617 AD, as the Persian army under Shahin Vahmanzadegan conquered Chalcedon in Anatolia, and reached the Bosporus, threatening Constantinople, Emperor Heraclius began peace negotiations, promising an annual tribute of 1,000 talents of gold and silver. After concluding terms, Shahin withdrew with his army to Syria, to focus on the invasion of Egypt.
In 618 AD, a Persian military force commanded by Shahrbaraz invaded Egypt and occupied the province. After defeating the Byzantine garrisons in the Nile Valley, they continued to besiege Alexandria. The defense of the city was led by Nicetas, a cousin of emperor Heraclius. The Byzantine resistance was undermined by a blockade of the harbor and the grain supplies were cut off from Egypt to Constantinople.
In 619 AD, the besieged city of Alexandria was captured by the Persians. Nicetas, cousin of Emperor Heraclius, and Chalcedonian patriarch, John V, fled to Cyprus.
In Constantinople, emperor Heraclius had made preparations to move and make Carthage into the Byzantine capital, but was convinced to stay by the patriarch Sergius I, as both Slavs and Avars were raiding the lands outside of Constantinople. After being convinced, Heraclius began to rebuild the Byzantine army with the aid of funds from church treasures.
Meanwhile, the Slavic tribes rebelled against the Avars overlordship and began to carve out their own sovereign territory in Moravia and Lower Austria.
In Arabia, the Islamic tradition of the Year of Sorrow was founded. It was the 10th year of prophethood, and ‘coincidentally’ Muhammad’s wife Khadijah and his uncle and protector Abu Talib died.
In 620 AD, King Khosrau II, after his conquest of Egypt and Palestine, managed to restore the Persian Empire as it existed in 490 BC under Darius I.
In Europe, the Weltenburg Abbey (Kloster Weltenburg) in Bavaria (Germany) on a peninsula in the Danube was founded by monks of the Order of Saint Benedict, an order belonging to the Catholic Church.
In 621 AD, Emperor Heraclius concluded a peace agreement in exchange for an annual tribute with the Avars on the Balkan Peninsula. This agreement gave him a free hand to assemble Byzantine forces in Asia Minor, for military expenditure against the Persian Empire.
In 622 AD, Emperor Heraclius sailed from Constantinople with a force of about 50,000 men, and began a counter-offensive against the Persian Empire.
Months later, Heraclius defeated the Persian forces under Shahrbaraz in Cappadocia. He then proceeded to recapture Anatolia, but then returned to Constantinople to deal with the threat posed to his Balkan domains by the Avars.
In Arabia, after being warned of a plot to assassinate him, Muhammad secretly left his home in Mecca to make the ‘Hijrah’ (to emigrate) to Yathrib (later renamed by him to ‘Medina’.)
At the outskirts of Yathrib, Muhammed established the Quba Mosque, the first mosque of Islam.
After Muhammed entered Yathrib, he drafted the Constitution of Medina — an agreement between the various Muslim, Jewish, Christian and pagan tribal communities in the city, forming the basis of a multi-religious Islamic state, and began construction of the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi Mosque.
In 623 AD, Heraclius brough his army through the mountains of Armenia and the northern sub-Caucasian principalities. He plundered Media (Azerbaijan) and managed to avoid the Persian armies who attempted to ambush and trap him.
In Arabia, Muhammad and his followers stopped bowing toward Jerusalem and instead began bowing toward Ka’ba/Kaaba, the six-sided black cube of Saturn, a symbol of 666, of the beast, of Satan, of the Sun God Saturn. The desert wanderers beheaded people as a sacrifice to Saturn and worshipped the Sun God through the black cube by walking around it like rotating rings.
In 624 AD, Emperor Heraclius advanced with his army of roughly 40,000 men along the Araxes River, destroying the fortress city of Dvin, capital of Armenia, and Nakhchivan (present-day Azerbaijan.) At Ganzak, Heraclius defeated the Persian army and destroyed the famous fire temple at Takht-e Soleymān, an important Zoroastrian shrine. He wintered his army in Caucasian Albania to gather forces for the next year.
During the winter, King Khosrow II of Persia withdrew most of his troops from Chalcedon (Anatolia) and he assembled three armies to trap and destroy Heraclius’ forces.
In Britannia, Eorpwald succeeded his father Rædwald, as king (bretwalda) of the independent Kingdom of East Anglia.
In 625 AD, Emperor Heraclius advanced through the mountains of Corduene. He bypassed Mount Ararat and captured the strategic fortresses of Amida along the Arsanias River, and Martyropolis on the upper Tigris.
The Persian army in northern Mesopotamia withdrew westward across the Euphrates. Heraclius pursued into Cilicia and was victorious in an assault at the river crossing. The reinforced Persians under Shahrbaraz were defeated and Heraclius recaptured Cappadocia and Pontus, and then returned to Trapezus to spend the winter. Shahrbaraz retreated and was able to continue his advance through Asia Minor towards Constantinople.
In Britannia, King Edwin of Northumbria married Æthelburga of Kent. As a “Christian,” she brought her personal chaplain, Paulinus, and encouraged her husband to convert to Catholicism.
In early 626 AD, a horde of Avars, consisting of about 80,000 men (including large contingents of Slavs, Bulgars, and other small tribes) attacked the walls of Constantinople. A small Persian army arrived on the Bosphorus, on the Asiatic side. The city walls were stormed with new siege equipment in the form of traction trebuchets. The Avars also had mobile armored shelters (medieval ‘sows’) and siege towers; the latter were covered in hides for fire and arrow protection.
In late July, The Avars and Persian allies under Shahrbaraz launched an attack along the entire length of the city walls (about 5.7 kilometers); the main effort was concentrated against the central section, particularly the low-lying mesoteichion. After a fierce infantry battle on the walls, the Byzantine army held off many assaults on the city. Emperor Heraclius made arrangements for a new army under his brother Theodore to operate against the Persians in western Anatolia, while he returned to his own army in Pontus.
In early August, the Persian fleet was destroyed by Byzantine armies while ferrying reinforcements. The Avars, having suffered terrible losses and running short of food and supplies called off their siege, burned their siege engines, and retreated to the Balkan Peninsula.
In the aftermath of the failed siege, Heraclius invited the Croats, a Slavic tribe living in Galicia, Silesia, and Bohemia, to settle in Illyricum. They were given the land between the Drava River and the Adriatic Sea for ridding the region of Avars. Also, the Serbs were allowed to move from their homeland north of the Carpathians to a territory east of the Croats.
During the winter, Heraclius made an alliance with Tong Yabghu Qaghan, ruler (khagan) of the Western Turkic Khaganate, for a joint invasion of the Persian Empire the following spring. He promised his daughter Eudoxia Epiphania, age 15, in marriage to Tong Yabghu and sent her under escort with numerous of gifts.
In Britannia, Edwin of Northumbria invaded the Isle of Man and then Anglesey. King Cadwallon was defeated in battle. Also, Edinburgh (Scotland) was founded by Edwin of Northumbria.