This premise is eerily similar to a Medieval 2: Total War Stainless Steel game of mine involving Norway.
One thing, and I can't recall if anything ITTL has happened to change this, but the Crown of Castile wasn't established until 1037, two years after this update. At this point, Castile should be a County nominally under the control of Leon.
But like I said, I can't recall if something has changed TTL's status on these kingdoms.
You had me worried there for a minute! The last update was 1134...thankfully I am saved from having to do some major rewriting
Iberia is pretty much the same as historical, though the Christian realms as a whole are in better shape thanks to occassional Viking aid against the Muslims and the Viking conquest of (much of) the taifa of Valencia.
What is the language spoken in this alternate Balearic Islands?
Just found this TL and enjoyed it very much.
As for the spoken language I would guess that Norse would be the comen language with a southern Romance mix also being spoken.
It will be interesting to see the out come.
DOH! My dyslexia has struck again!
That family is going to have alot of claims in the future. Might lead to some interesting wars down the line.
Wait, have the Almohads been butterflied?
Still, a few decades down the line, someone's gonna make a bid for succession.Indeed! Although for now it's largely "might makes right" - primogeniture and legitimacy aren't as important here.
They haven't - they showed up on time and started disrupting things in the Maghreb, hurting the trade routes which culminated in the ports of the Zirids and Hammadids (Balearic protectorates at this point). Maria agreed to a truce with the Almoravid and helped them against Andalusian rebels, allowing them to devote more attention to the Almoravid threat (and allowing Maria to secure her hold on the Dénia taifa, to the south of Valencia).
Still, a few decades down the line, someone's gonna make a bid for succession.
Ah, ok. Here's to hoping the Almohads get crushed.
Is this alternate "Lingua Franca" a hybrid Romance-Norse-Arab-Greek tongue?Pretty much! Norse among the royal court and ruling class, with the 'Lingua Franca' used for trade purposes and Latin, Greek and Arab variously employed where administratively useful (the Italian mainland, Cyprus, Crete, Rhodes, Sicily, Denia, Valencia..etc etc). As has been mentioned before, there are enough Viking and Varangians here to completely subsume the prior population of the Balearics and make Norse the only language of use there: elsewhere I don't think that is possible, so bastardizations of where Norse and the local tongue(s) are forced to be used side-by-side will naturally ensue.
Is this alternate "Lingua Franca" a hybrid Romance-Norse-Arab-Greek tongue?
And by the way, are sigmatic article more prominent in Catalan (especially in areas around Girona, Perprinyá/Perpignan and Barcelona) in this TL?
The Balearics were exclusively royal demesne: those lendrmenn ("landed-man" or Viking barons) who had previously been promised estates there were now compensated with land in Sicily and Italy. Jews and Moslems were settled in the desolate regions and work was begun on a grand Alcazer in Palma - that is, an elaborate fortification in the Arab style, drawing from the multitude of fortifications witnessed by the Norsemen in the Holy Land and Sicily.
Real government was exercised by the abbacomes (lay-abbot) Abel, who created the Dronnenscul at the Queen's behest - a place where monks taught the Latin script. Monks were sought out and employed in the translation of the Visigothic Code and the New Testament into Norse using the Latin script. With Abel's assistance and at the Queen's command the Ten Commandments were inscribed side-by-side in runic and Latin script at all major ports of the Kingdom. Danes and Irishmen who knew both Latin and Norse were particularly highly-prized, as were Varangian veterans knowledgeable of Greek. And thus the foundation of the Balearic Norse Kingdom was given form and substance.