The previous part is here: https://bartoll.se/2023/12/history-matrix-part47/
All parts of this series can be found here: https://bartoll.se/world-playbook-quickstart/
In early 628 AD, Byzantine (Roman) Emperor Heraclius issued an ultimatum for peace to Sasanian (Persian) King Khosrow II or Iran, but he refused the generous terms. As a result, the war-weary Persians revolted against Khosrow’s regime at the capital of Ctesiphon and Khosrow’s son Kavadh II was installed as new king.
Kavadh immediately killed his father and began negotiations with Emperor Heraclius. Kavadh, however, was forced to return all territories conquered during the war and all of the trophies they had captured, including the relic of the True Cross.
It is also said that the Persian/Sassanid Empire was weakened by a “plague” after submitting to the Byzantine Empire, which once again show the effects of war-time mental trauma in combination with starvation and very low quality and aged food items. People got sick by the aftermath of fear, the emotions of loss, and from malnutrition and possible poisoning by the scarcity of food and thus being forced to consuming aged moldy plant-based, and thus very toxic, food stuffs.
Meanwhile, the Turks recognized the weakened Persian empire and began the third “Perso-Turkic War” by plundering Tbilisi (present-day Georgia) where the Persian defenders were brutally executed and mutilated. The Turkish leader, Tong Yabghu Qaghan, appointed governors (tuduns) in the cities he captured to manage various tribes under his overlordship.
In 629 AD, after 15 years of Persian occupation, Jerusalem was back under Byzantine rule. And in September, Emperor Heraclius returned to Constantinople in triumph, accompanied by the True Cross – the cross that is said to be the real cross that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified on.
In Europe, King Chlothar II died after a 16-year reign, and was succeeded by his son Dagobert I as the new King of the Franks, and ruled out of Paris. Of course, Dagobert was counseled by Catholic Bishop Arnulf of Metz and Pepin of Landen (Mayor of the Palace.) Once again, the Catholic Church moved silently behind the curtains to slowly establish absolute control and power all over Europe.
Charibert II, the half-brother of Dagobert I, became king of Aquitaine (Southern France,) and established his capital at Toulouse.
In Arabia, during the summer, Muhammad succeeded in unifying all of the nomadic tribes of the Arabian Peninsula. He converted them to Islam and began preparing for an expedition against the Jews.
However, in September, the Muslims failed to take the lands east of the Jordan River, and were pushed back near Mu’tah by the Ghassanids.
In 630 AD, Emperor Heraclius returned the True Cross, one of the holiest Christian relics, to Jerusalem. Shortly after his arrival, Heraclius issued a decree that all Jews must become Christian, following the doctrine of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. As a result, there was a massacre of those refusing and being perceived as priests of Judaism around Jerusalem and in Galilee (Israel,) some survivors fled to the Daraa area.
In Sweden, according to the Skaldic poem Ynglingatal, the Yngling King Olof Trätälja founded a colony in Värmland, at the site of present-day Karlstad, as he was expelled from his native Västergötland after his father died (King Ingjald Illråde.)
Years later, the settlers of the Ynglings became so numerous that the province could not sustain them and the population suffered from famine. It was an old tradition in Sweden of holding the king responsible for the wealth of the land, and King Olof was accused of neglecting his sacrifices to the gods and thus accused of being the cause of the famine. The Swedish settlers rebelled against Olof, surrounded his house on the shores of lake Vänern, and burnt him inside it.
In Britannia, King Ricberht of East Anglia died and was succeeded by Sigeberht, who returned from exile in France. He ruled together with his kinsman Ecgric, and they re-established “Christianity,” as in Catholicism.
In Arabia during January, Muhammad defeated the Bedouin tribe of Hawazin (12,000 men) in a valley, on one of the roads leading to Ta’if. At his arrival, the besiege of Ta’if began, but Muhammad’s siege equipment was unable to penetrate the city walls.
In late 630, Muhammad abandoned Ta’if and instead decided to march on Mecca and by mid-December, Muhammad took the city from the Quraysh and made it the spiritual center of Islam.
In 631 AD, The Slavs under King Samo defeated the Austrasian Franks during a three-day battle near Trenčín (modern Slovakia.) King Dagobert I was forced to retreat while the Franks with their allies were slaughtered.
To form a new alliance, Dagobert I aided Sisenand to overthrow his father Suintila to become the new king of the Visigoth kingdom.
In Egypt and north Africa, Emperor Heraclius appointed Cyrus as patriarch of Alexandria, with the power to act as viceroy (dioikesis) of Egypt. His new mission was to persecute the non-Chalcedonian Coptic Christians. In simplicity, this was to erase as much as possible of the original Orthodox Christian faith and replace it with the Catholic Satanic inversion of Christianity.
In 632 AD, in March, Muhammad made his final sermon to the Muslims and months later, at June 8, he died at Medina at the age of 63, allegedly after illness and fever. Abu Bakr became the first Caliph (viceregent of the messenger of God) and he sent an expedition to Balqa, the Byzantine Empire, led by Usama ibn Zayd, based on Muhammad’s decision before his death.
Abu Bakr also launched a series of military campaigns against rebel Arabian tribes to re-establish the power of the Rightly Guided Caliphs (the Ridda Wars,) and to secure Muhammad’s legacy.
In Europe, King Charibert II was assassinated at Blaye (Gironde) likely on orders of his half-brother Dagobert I, who then became the most powerful Merovingian king of the Franks in the West.
In Britannia during 633 AD, Osric succeeded his uncle Edwin as king of Deira, and prince Eanfrith returned from Pictland to claim his rightful crown of Bernicia (Northern England.) Both kings reverted to paganism.
In Arabia, the year of 633 was ridden by war as Abu Bakr successfully marched on Persia and their Arab allies.
In 634 AD, Emperor Heraclius, supposedly being ill while also being very unpopular with the Eastern Orthodox Church after pushing Catholicism, was unable to personally lead the Byzantine army to resist the Muslim conquest of the Levant. Instead, he sent his brother Theodore to assemble forces to retake the newly won Muslim territories.
At the end of July, Byzantine forces of roughly 90,000 men under Theodore were defeated by the Rashidun Caliphate near Beit Shemesh (present-day Israel.) Emperor Heraclius, who was in Emesa, fled to Antioch upon hearing news of the battle’s outcome.
In Europe, King Dagobert I was forced by the Austrasian nobles to put his 3-year-old son Sigebert III on the throne, relinquishing royal power in Austrasia. Shortly after, Dagobert freed himself from the dependence on Pepin of Landen, to only rely on the support and guidance of Bishop Arnulf of Metz and the Catholic Church, and then he extended his rule over the Bretons.
In Arabia, the wars continued and the Muslim Arabs made inroads towards both Persia and the Byzantine Empire. However, a Persian force of 10,000 men under Bahman Jadhuyih managed to defeat the Muslim Arabs at the Euphrates (near Kufa.) The sight of elephants panicked the Muslims, and many were killed.
In 635 AD, the city of Gaza was conquered by the Muslim Arabs under ‘Amr ibn al-‘As. It became the first city in Palestine developed into a center of Islamic law.
Meanwhile, Emperor Heraclius made an alliance with Kubrat, ruler (khagan) of Great Bulgaria.
636 AD marked the start of the Arab-Byzantine War as Emperor Heraclius assembled a large army consisting of Byzantines, Bulgarians, Slavs, Franks, Georgians, Armenians, and Christian Arabs. He established a base at Yaqusah (near Gadara, northern Jordan) close to the edge of the Golan Heights, protecting the vital main road from Egypt to Damascus.
While Heraclius were assembling his forces, the Rashidun Caliphate, led by Khalid ibn al-Walid, defeated the armies of the Byzantine Empire on the Levant, successfully completing the Muslim conquest of Syria.
In Spain, the Fifth Council of Toledo was held where Chintila ordered a meeting in the church of St. Leocadia. A new decree was established stating that only Gothic nobility (with military functions) may become king of the Visigothic Kingdom.