In my latest game, as the Piasts of Poland, the Byzantines got roflstomped by the Seljuks, leaving them with only their serbian provinces.
...except for some reason they were in control of jerusalem.
The Pope started the Crusades, starting with Jerusalem. it was a success, and Scotland(!) got the Holy Land
...except the Byzantines still held Jerusalem.
Twenty years later, the Caliph called a Jihad on Jerusalem. He won this one.
...except the Byzantines still held Jerusalem.
The Second Crusade, this time for Greece & Anatolia, was called. It won, with England(!) gaining the heart of the ex-byzantine empire.
...and the Byzantines still held Jerusalem.
A hundred years later, the new Caliph called another Jihad on anatolia. He failed.
...But the Byzantines still held Jerusalem.
The king of Hungary trampled on the serbian remnants of the Empire in order to make his wife Empress. She was assassinated (By the child Empress MagicFairyNotGonnaBeMyHeir of the Wendish Empire), so he remarried and did it again, for his mother-in-law. This time, he made it, exhausting the last dregs of resources the Byantines had.
...and the Byzantines still held Jerusalem
The king's son fabricated a claim on the Duchy that the capital of his grandmother's Empire was in, and drove them out. Surely this was the end for the Roman Empire? With no capital, how could they exist?
...except the Byzantines still held Jerusalem.
Fucking Byzantines, man. They have 3 provinces, 2 in the Holy Land, and 1 in southern Serbia.
And yet they've hung on fifty more years, tooth, nail and claw, staring folornly across the sea to the distant shores of Greece, where the descendants of Harold Godwinson, the Crusader King, feast and marvel in the great city of Constantinople. Well, the ones whose eyes haven't been put out, that is.