Snippet #3: Monarch Leading the People.

  #Monarchy Leading the People: An explanation for why, a thousand years on, Crete still reveres its only King and Queen.

Let none fool you; Emperor and Emir both deserved worse than what they got.

To teach that lesson is the mission of Amina Yang, the Egyptian-Chinese filmographer behind this piece: For a century and a half, Crete's peace was denied.

Byzantium had never cared for Crete. Originally a peripheral backwater not even worthy of a proper garrison, the island languished due to Roman disinterest, as even its rulership was given out freely as some sort of sinecure instead of awarded due to competence. The Byzantine Empire could not be bothered to see Crete as anything more than a rural islet which had lost any and all claim to glory well over two thousand years ago.

That changed in 824.

Abu Hafs was the leader of a band of Andalusian warriors. Having rebelled and lost against the Emir of Cordoba, he found himself exiled, forced to drift amongst the seas as he and his three thousand warriors would never return home. But the man's ambitions ran deep and they ran wide. Just because he would not be buried where he was born did not mean he would be dissuaded from pursuing glory. al-Hakim, Cordoba's Emir, might have denied him the chance to make himself ruler of an existing realm, but that only meant one thing. 

He would have to create one of his own.

Landing in the south of Crete, Abu Hafs and his soldiers quickly spread their hold over the whole of the island. The Byzantine governor was kicked out to return back home, and the province of Crete was turned into the Cretan Emirate.

This development was not welcomed at all. Less than a year after the arrival of the Andalusians, the Byzantine Empire invaded the island to establish control. This failed. And then they tried again, and again, and met with failure each time. Abu Hafs demonstrated his control over the island and proved the island could not be taken. Quickly allying himself with the Abbasid Caliphate to the south, he became an autonomous Prince, capable and willing to rule on his own. He proceeded to build himself a capital and a fleet for the island's defense, established trade links with the rest of the Muslim world, and, without a doubt, accomplished his goal. Abu Hafs had gained a realm of his own.

But you can always have more. 

Once the Byzantine Empire was exhausted from its attempts to expel him, the new Emir sought to pay them back. His fleet, promised to his people — for Abu Hafs was not accompanied solely by his warriors, he had also brought their families. Nine thousand innocent lives had been forced to follow after him. — to be only for defense against Byzantine threat, was turned to the offensive. He ordered raids on the Aegean Islands, stealing coin and claiming the captured as slaves. He attacked the mainland of the Empire and sacked towns and cities on equal measure, sometimes on his own, sometimes in conjunction with the Caliphate.

And, though age eventually claimed Abu Hafs, his heirs did not fall short of the ruler he had become. The raids and battles continued, which naturally triggered a response. The Byzantines raised mighty fleet after mighty fleet and met the Emirate on the high seas, not willing to roll over for a realm so young. Soon enough the Aegean Sea was embroiled in a conflict generations-long, as the Cretan Emirs and the Byzantine Emperors waged war for the sake of their personal goals.

But here is where one must ask. In these raging wars, did either side ever care for the common man?

No.

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Under the Emirate, the people of Crete were a mixed bunch. The original Byzantine settlers, despite claims, were not expelled. Having been focused mostly on the countryside, Abu Hafs and his successors did not bother with them. Much of the wealth gained by the Emirate came from the agriculture these settlers engaged in, after all, and there was little reason to put that in danger. 

The cities were peopled more by Arabs, whether from al-Andalus or from other parts of North Africa. Enticed by the thriving trade on the island and the chance to make a name for themselves in a wholly new realm, many new settlers came to the island with hearts stirred up by hope. Most of them chose to stay behind the city's walls and work on the budding government, but many dared to venture outside. In fact, there exist records of Andalusian and Byzantine farms co-existing one next to the other in the rural regions of the island with nary a dispute. 

There was something that you could even call an accord. The cities, constantly growing due to the attraction of Cretan wealth, purchased food and everything else from the countryside farmers with no worries as to whether the crops came from a Byzantine or an Arab. As far as these people were concerned, Crete was alright as it was. Sure, the rulers might have changed, but after a thousand years of neglect, it finally seemed like Crete was becoming a place of some respect. All that needed to be done was to stay the course.

But the Emirs did not feel content with the course. They wanted more, and more they sought to gain. Their fleets moved out to claim further islands, settlements, and a great number of people from the Byzantine realm. The vast majority of Crete's people had found themselves having enough, and yet the Emirs forced them into ships to seek more. The Byzantines, naturally, answered these attacks, but did they direct their rage and revenge against the men who ordered every raid? Nay!

Every time the Byzantines tried to reclaim the island, it was the commoners who they forced to pay. They burned farm after farm, sacked village after village, and murdered and slaughtered every soul that crossed their way. They called it 'a warning for the Emirs of what's to come', but nothing ever came. They always flagged and fell before they could reach the capital itself, and thus their 'threat' was nothing more than harm done for harm's sake. Byzantium filled its mouth with claims of ending the pirate threat and exterminating the slaver nest, but when the time came, it was always on the unwilling and poor that their blades fell. For a hundred and thirty seven years, Crete's people were dragged to war, and left to suffer the consequences all on their own.

But every injustice does, in fact, must, come to an end.

In 961, the Byzantine Empire made what was to be its last attempt. They amassed an army of eighty thousand and landed in Crete, quickly doing as they always had done, running the panicked Cretans through with their blades. Not content with solely defeating the armies, the Byzantines went village by village, ending the lives of every Arab they came across. Blood soaked Cretan fields, and once more the weak were made to suffer what the strong declared. 

But while the world's eyes may have been turned, a couple's were not. The man and woman who would soon come to be known as King and Queen witnessed the abuse heaped upon the people, and their blood began to boil. The Byzantines had begged them to join to liberate a land beset by monsters, and yet Byzantium's army proved to be a monster itself. Already their hearts wavered from the 'righteousness' of the cause, choosing to go forth as scouts for the army and begin warning villagers and farmers in the army's path to escape, in some cases even carrying them to safety themselves.

When Chandax was stormed and the Emir's palace claimed, the matter finally came to a head. Not content with shattering a realm, Byzantine blades turned on the common folk of the city as well, intending to end all life within the walls. Chandax would be wiped of everything the Emperors could deem malignant influence. 

Faced with such, and hearing the starting wails of a city being destroyed, Crete's people made peace with themselves, and engaged in what they thought to be their final choice. From the hills, from the craigs, and from the caves, every Cretan commoner that the King and Queen had saved rushed into the mass of the killers, determined to offer the city's people — their people — any aid which could help them avoid their deaths. 

That proved to be enough.

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Already fiercely demanding an end to the Byzantine army's massacre plans, the King and Queen were struck dumb by the sound and sight of the commoner charge, as men and women thought to already be slaughtered and cowed braved blade and shield in a rush to save their own. For a minute, all the King of Dragons and the Queen of Blades could do was stare.

But only for a minute. 

Immediately after, the two turned on the Imperial army, and broke it until it lost all form. They protected the commoners who so bravely faced death, and shattered every blade wielded in the Emperor's name. Every man currently sacking Chandax met his death, and the city's people were made safe.

And yet something had to come next. 

Crete's people refused to accept the return of the latest Emir's rule, thinking him to be at fault for their woes, they thought the Abbasid Caliphate a puppeteer only interested in using them as a stop-over base, and they proved [i]openly hostile[/i] to the idea of ever bowing their heads to the Byzantine Empire again. They insisted something new had to be made.

And thus the King and Queen found their place. Unlike the rest, they had proven to [i]care[/i] about the lives of the common men. When the time to choose between the Empire and the poor came, it was the latter they decided to aid. And, quite importantly, the two had proven themselves the strongest of all. With them at the head, Crete would never suffer again. The nobles and the Elders agreed, Crete's crowns had to rest upon their heads, and forever more, the realm would be safe.

The belief would prove true. Uncaring about war and conquest, the King and Queen never made their people take up blades for anything but defense. Whatever they ordered built, they were more than willing to aid in constructing, and they worked mightily to give Crete foreign markets in which they could trade. Universities were established, and the cities expanded. Under them, Crete knew peace, and, finally, was allowed to become proud of itself.

They are remembered for that still. There is much scorn for the Emirate, despite Crete's population being three-fifths Muslim. Even though long dead, the only words Cretans use to describe the Byzantine Empire is 'threat'. But the King and Queen are cherished, and their monuments shown much love. It is to the standards they set that every leader of Crete since has been compared. It is only their time that Cretan scholars and politicians dare call a 'Golden Age'.

It is only they that the Cretans trust, too. The Cretans were made subjects once, beholden to those who refused to let them choose their own fate. And though the watchword to that has become 'never again', those are not the words they use to prove their intent. Ask a thousand different Cretans how to meet those who would try to make you a slave, and hear them all utter the exact same:

"With blade in hand and the Twin Dragons at your back."