04. All roads lead to Rome.

Port of Glarentza March 1430

A bright morning sun sparkled off the seawater in the Harbour at Glarentza as I stood at the stern of the Kyrenia. I am ready to leave on the instant, even if the ship remained tied up at the quay. "We've got all our cargo, don't we?" I asked Damianus for the third time since we came to the ship at dawn.

"Yes, we're fully laden, my Despot," Damianus answered.

The Kyrenia is a two-masted galley warship equipped with lateen sails(1). My only owned ship, unfortunately. It was the ship that brought me to Peloponnese back in 1427 AD, and part of my brother's six galleys fleet against count Toco in the naval battle of Echinades. I am sure that my new modifications, including my eight Drakos cannons, would have won us that battle way easier. Heh, for all I know, Kyrenia is probably the ship with the most firepower in the world at the moment. From my intel reports, only a few Venetian ships have a couple of cannons on board. Heavy cannons mounted on the bow or stern of a galley, designed to bombard fortresses on shore. No one is using them so far for naval battles yet... I estimate that I am at least fifty to one hundred years ahead of time regarding maritime warfare tactics/logic etc. Speaking of boats, I thought about what I should focus on regarding my future fleet. I know that galleys are fast and ideal for the Mediterranean sea, but I would love to build me some carrack-type sea monsters full of cannons. Hmmm, I could hire a shipbuilder from Portugal to make me some. If I am not severely mistaken, they made their ship designs breakthrough this century. Meh, all that will have to wait for a bit. This voyage will determine a lot about my future income. I am so excited and stressed. It is my first trip away from my holdings actually, since the SI event that brought me here almost two years ago. I would love to visit Constantinople first, but there is no time to play the tourist. Every passing day counts. Besides seeing the fifteenth-century Rome and other Italian towns will be quite a sight.

The captain Damianus, a good friend of George Sphrantzes, is a very experienced sailor with over twenty years traveling on the Mediterranean. For this voyage to Rome, Kyrenia has a crew of one hundred sailors and another thirty people on board.

A half-hour later, Damianus raised his voice to call out to the crew: "Lower the sails from the yard."

The men hurried to obey. Using the lines, they quickly spread the sails, swung the yard, and then lay from the starboard bow back to the stern on the port side to take the best advantage of the wind.

Damianus steered the Kyrenia out of the harbor and out to the open sea. The weather conditions were ideal for the voyage.

"You think this breeze will hold, Damianus?" I asked the captain.

"For a while, at least," the captain replied. "With a little luck, we will be in Rome in under seven days." The captain continued.

"Good," I said satisfied, "Good."

The next couple of days passed fast. Near the Straights of Messina I heard loud voices and came out of my small private cabin to see what's going on.

"Look! Look!" cried a sailor, almost screaming with anxiety.

"Where? Replied Damianus.

"It's a pirate ship," Intoned another sailor.

"Hmm it must be barbary pirates," said Damianus

Pirates? Freaking *$%@ pirates... I murmur to myself.

"Holy Virgin! It's coming right on us! I spoke with anxiety.

"It's coming on us ram speed, we should prepare for their assault," said Damianus. It took me a few seconds to control my self.

"Prepare the Drakos," I yelled.

"Fire! Again Fire!" I screamed in trance mode.

"It's sinking my Despot," said Damianus

"I don't care! Fire again!" I yelled again.

The Barbery war galley obviously wasn't prepared for anti-ship cannons firing on them. Despite missing several shots, our drakos cannons manage to shink it within minutes. I was surprised by my reaction in this first engagement with an enemy. The thrill of the battle. What a testosterone drug! Jesus, I killed so many people... I tried to stay focused.

"Constantine," "Constantine." The screams of the crew interrupted my thoughts.

The sailors delighted from our overwhelming victory started chanting my name. The satisfaction was immense. That first action gave me a ton of confidence for my future war plans.

At Rome

A few days later we arrived at the nearest port to Rome and soon after we were in the city. Ahh, 15th century Rome! Words can't describe the feeling. I had visited Rome back in the 21st century, so the contrast was shocking. The famous St Peters Basilica and the Sistine chapel are not even built yet... but never the less the city still had quite a charm.

Of course, as a prince of Byzantium, I was the talk of the town. I got countless invites to dinners in the houses of the most esteemed Cardinals and nobles. That was an excellent opportunity to sell my Bible. Haha, who would have known? I was a house visits book salesman in the 15th century. A pretty good one, I dare say. I sold more than two hundred copies, with some of them sold at even 30 gold florins each(2)! A total of more than four thousand gold florins! Up until now, all books are hand made, so buying one was one of the most expensive things money can afford(3). So I knew that my books would hit more than reasonable prices. In the end, sales were even better than I could ever imagine.

A few days later, I finally got summoned to speak with the Pope's holiness. Pope Martin V was about my height, chumpy, and almost bald. He peered at me with watery eyes and said in a reedy voice:

"Welcome, welcome, my dear despot. May God bless you."

I bowed ceremoniously. After twenty minutes of typical formalities, Cardinal Galeazzo(4) said:

"All that has been reported to me about that marvelous book is true your holiness. I have not seen any other book like this. The script is very neat and legible, not at all difficult to follow—your grace would be able to read it without effort, and indeed without glasses."

"That's great to hear my dear cardinal Branda da Castiglione," said the Pope and continued:

"Great work Despot Palaiologos. The papacy symbol in the cover is a nice touch also. Truly an original gift."

"Thank you, your holiness," I replied with a bow and continued:

"I have a proposition to make that I think you will find it very profitable."

"Oh yes, you wanted to see me about your brother's proposal regarding the union of our great churches. Cardinal Julian Cesarini is working on the plan. I'll fetch him for you."

"No, your holiness, besides the letter i brought to you from my Emperor, I have nothing else to say regarding that issue. It's about something else, a money-making scheme I might state." I replied with a steady voice.

"Eh? A money-making scheme? You will have to see cardinal Gabriele Condulmer about that he is my finance minister."

I must say that Cardinal Gabriele Condulmer is genuinely a great fit as the papal finances minister. He understood the economic potential of my offer right away. He even pitched in some ideas of his own. The deal was massive. Ten thousand Bible books with the papacy emblem in the cover and "Papacy editions" written on the first page, will be delivered to Rome by the end of September. I managed to get a price of just four gold florins per copy. Condulmer did me a hard job on the price, but I was still more than happy with the price and the in advance payment of twenty thousand gold florins. Hey, I am sure Condulmer will force sell them to the Clery and monasteries, with at least double price.

My next two stops in Florence and Genoa were quite successful also. I sold out all of my book stock at high prices and made some new friends. While still in Genoa, I saw someone wearing jean pants! To my surprise, jeans fabric use was common these days in the city. Genoa's jean fabric was a fustian textile of "medium quality and reasonable cost," very similar to cotton corduroy for which Genoa was famous, and was "used for work clothes in general" as a local noble told me. The Genoese navy even equipped its sailors with jeans, as they needed a fabric that could be worn wet or dry. That sounded like an opportunity to my ears. My cotton factory back in Aravinda could benefit significantly from this. So besides the few craftsmen that I already have recruited, I spend a few days more to the city to hire some jean experts. Finally, a few days later, we sailed back for Glarentza.

(1) A dromon (from Greek δρόμων, dromōn, "runner") was a type of galley and the most famous warship of the Byzantine navy from the 5th to 14th centuries AD. It was developed from the ancient Liburnian, which was the mainstay of the Roman navy during the Empire.

(2) Some of the original Gutenberg bibles were sold for that amount of money.

(3) Few words of what happened in reality: The invention of mechanical movable type printing led to a massive increase in printing activities across Europe within only a few decades. From a single print shop in Mainz(1440), Germany, printing had spread to no less than around 270 cities in Central, Western, and Eastern Europe by the end of the 15th century. As early as 1480, there were printers active in 110 different places in Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, England, and Poland. From that time on, it is assumed that "the printed book was in universal use in Europe."

In Italy, a center of early printing, print shops had been established in 77 cities and towns by 1500. At the end of the following century, 151 locations in Italy were seen at one-time printing activities, with nearly three thousand printers known to be active. Despite this proliferation, printing centers soon emerged; thus, one-third of the Italian printers published in Venice.

By 1500, the printing presses throughout Western Europe had already produced more than twenty million copies. In the following century, their output rose tenfold to an estimated 150 to 200 million copies.

European printing presses of around 1600 were capable of producing between 1,500 and 3,600 impressions per workday.

Of Erasmus's work, at least 750,000 copies were sold during his lifetime alone (1469–1536). In the early days of the Reformation, the revolutionary potential of bulk printing took princes and papacy alike by surprise. In the period from 1518 to 1524, the publication of books in Germany alone skyrocketed sevenfold; between 1518 and 1520, Luther's tracts were distributed in 300,000 printed copies.

(4) Inspired by the same OTL dialogue: Future pope Pius II in a letter to Cardinal Carvajal, March 1455