Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 372 Double-headed Eagle Flag, how long can the fight last?

Etymology is a very interesting thing. Many words have evolved various meanings in the course of history, witnessing the evolution of history.

For example - Byzantium.

In the mouths of later historians, they called the Eastern Empire of this era the Byzantine Empire.

It was widely used by European historians after the 16th century to distinguish between the "Roman Empire in the classical period" and the "Hellenistic Eastern Empire".

But the imperial people of this era called their country the "Roman Empire", which is Romania.

As for the etymology of the word "Byzantine", it can be traced back to the ancient Greek word Βυζντιον, which is a place name referring to the ancient city of Byzantium built on the Bosphorus Strait.

According to legend, a Greek colonist named Byzas established the first city here, and thus the name Byzantium came into being.

Later, Constantine the Great came here and established New Rome. Since the time of Emperor Theodosius II (408-450), people gradually called New Rome "Constantinople".

As for the word Byzantine, it has been retained and even derived the meaning of "complex and cumbersome" and "bureaucratic" in English.

It can be seen that during this period, the Eastern Empire was full of various negative impressions in the eyes of Westerners.

Insidious, complex, bureaucratic, vicious, treacherous...

Of course, Westerners also have many negative impressions of the Greeks.

Savagery, heresy, greed, recklessness, treachery...

These negative impressions did not diminish with the increase in exchanges between the two sides, but instead became increasingly intensified during the decline of the empire.

Of course, those old accounts between the East and the West would not affect the meeting between Gellis and Alexios Komnenos today.

After all, this Alexios grew up in the Georgian court, could not speak Greek fluently, and his feelings towards the Eastern Empire were quite complicated.

And Garys is not a typical Latin.

When Gairis was about to arrive at Alexios's camp with a large entourage of more than 300 people, Alexios also gave Gairis the same courtesy as the king.

Alexius personally led the generals in his army and took the initiative to greet them half a league outside the camp.

There was even a band playing horns as a sign of respect.

After this complicated series of welcoming ceremonies ended, Gailis was led into the military tent in Alexios's Greek with a Georgian accent.

Alexius had actually been looking forward to this meeting.

When he was still familiar with the army in Georgia, his uncle David Soslan told him about Garys.

In a sense, the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Georgia have reached a consensus on the ownership of the Trebizond region.

This is also a good thing for Alexius.

After all, this means that you will have one less enemy and one more friend.

Therefore, during this process, the young man Alexius was always observing Gellis.

Gellis's skin color was darker than he had expected, probably due to living in the Levant for a long time.

In addition, although Gellis did not wear a crown and did not have any aggressive aura, his style of doing things was extremely calm. It could be said that he knew clearly who he was, where he should stand, what to say, and what etiquette to use... This temperament made it difficult for Alexios to judge what was in the other person's mind.

You have to know that in his mind, Garys is an extremely complicated person.

On the one hand, Gelis obtained the title of King of Jerusalem by marrying the sister of the "Leper King".

On the one hand, he did not govern the country on his own land, but instead spread "doctrines" everywhere.

As far as he knew, Rome had now defined Gellis's sect as a heresy, and the previous Crusade was originally intended to be launched against him.

But the Orthodox Church is very ambiguous in this regard. Most Orthodox Churches, including the Georgian Orthodox Church, have not made any comments on the great changes in Jerusalem.

Even the Cyprus Orthodox Church stood firmly behind the Patriarch of Jerusalem and regarded Gellis as the head of Cyprus.

The two identities of king and priest were so wonderfully combined in Gellis that Alexios never thought that such a person could exist in the world.

Gailis was also observing Alexios. The young man looked quite typical of a Greek, but the details of his behavior seemed to bear the shadow of David Soslan.

All I can say is that it is exactly as the rumors say.

In this process of mutual observation and mutual testing.

Garys spoke first.

"Trebizon is nothing to be afraid of. I want to know how you think a country exists."

Alexius was choked. Gairis's words raised a question that he had not previously considered.

In Alexius's understanding, the purpose of this meeting between the two men was nothing more than to discuss how to organize the coalition forces, how to attack the city, and how to distribute the benefits.

But why does the state exist?
Why does this problem arise?
Isn’t a country just a country?

Seeing that Alexios said nothing, Gailis naturally knew that this young man, who was only 19 years old, had never thought about these things.

"Then let me change the question. What does a country consist of?"

This was not the first time Alexios faced this question. His aunt Queen Tamara once asked him the same question.

At that time, his answer was "The country is a place that can feed me and the soldiers", and then he felt a hint of disappointment and some unspeakable emotions from his aunt.

This time, he naturally would not repeat the previous mistake, and answered instead: "The country...is made up of people."

"To be precise, it consists of land, army, city walls, church... and people who recognize the monarch's authority."

Once again, Alexius felt that hint of "disappointment".

In terms of age, Gellis is now 31 years old, 12 years older than Alexios, but he can indeed be considered the elder of this young man.

"If you really think so, it's normal and not surprising."

Then, Gailis skipped the topic and asked another question: "Do you think that Trebizond alone can survive in Anatolia?"

"Or, in other words, in this era when the empire is declining, how long do you think the flag of the double-headed eagle can fly?"

(End of this chapter)