Karl Cnut, Emperor of the North: a pan-Germanic TL

Mario · Jan 29, 2016

BACKGROUND

Karl Cnut was not christened with this name when he was born in 1028. He was christened as Widukind, and he was not supposed to be a King even if both his paternal and maternal families were the most powerful then in Europe.

Widukind was the fourth son of Cnut the Great, King of the Danes, the English and the Norwegians; and his second wife Gunhild, daughter of Ewald II, King of the Saxons and the Franks. However, he was not heir of any crown at the moment of his birth: Cnut had older sons and Gunhild had older brothers. He would be just another Prince with probably no land to claim.

The union of his parents was also not supposed to be the union of their crowns in any way. Cnut had planned to divide his realms between his two older sons born of his first wife Aelfgifu, while the Kingdom of Saxons and Franks already had a co-ruler ready to inherit it, the older brother of Gunhild and future King Ewald III.

Both kingdoms were the main powers in Christian Europe due to the weakness of both Roman Empires. However, while the Kingdom of the Danes was at its top under the reign of Cnut, the Kingdom of the Saxons and the Franks was somehow in decadence since one the mid-10th century.

Cnut the Great, father of Karl Cnut.

The Kingdom of the Saxons and the Franks had formed during the 9th century, when the Saxons took over the Northern Francia. After the death of the great Charlemagne, the former Kingdom of the Franks was permanently divided between his two surviving sons, Pepin and Louis. The later inherited Aquitaine, Burgundy and the Spanish March, while the former received the rest of Frankish realms.

While Louis accomplished the goal that his father had to postpone many times, finally conquering Italy, and thus becoming the newly restored (Western) Roman Emperor, Pepin failed to impose his authority and the anarchy devastated Northern Francia. After Pepin's death, the Saxons took the power and controlled most of the former Frankish realms.

The Kingdom of the Saxons and the Franks reached its top in 934 when Ewald I the Great defeated the Western Romans in Besançon, conquering the northern and eastern parts of Burgundy and ending the Roman influence in the rebellious duchy of Neustria. Unfortunately, after the death of Ewald I, the Kingdom started a period of decadence and some of the realms broke away, while others were lost to the Danes.

In 1028, the Kingdom of the Saxons and the Franks basically comprised the core areas of both nations with some peripheral areas added, as well as the semi-autonomous duchies of Alamannia and Neustria, but part of the later was de facto occupied by the Danes. Parallel branches of the Saxon royals ruled in the Great Moravia and the emerging Kingdom of the Danube, which had pushed Slavs and Hungarians to the east half of the Pannonian plain. These two entities were theoretically vassals of the Kingdom of the Saxons and the Franks, but the ties were loose by then.

The religious conflict between the Popes and the self-proclaimed Patriarchs of the Germanic Church had been destabilizing the Kingdom since 886, when the Archbishop of Cologne assumed this rank himself, with the support of the Saxon elites, which despised the restored Roman Empire. After the defeat of the Romans at Besançon, the divergence between the Saxon-Frankish hierarchy and Rome sharply increased.

The rising Germanic Church had acquired many prestige in England and Scandinavia, but inside the Kingdom of the Saxons and the Franks had caused much division between the traditional Catholics, who defended the supremacy of the Pope, and the supporters of the Patriarch of Cologne. The large Latin-speaking communities in Neustria, Burgundy and southern Alamannia were mostly hostile to the new religious authority in Cologne, as well as the Moravians and the Danubian Germans, and this had pushed all of them to try to separate from the Kingdom and preserve their cult.

Map of Europe in 1028

Sh3ba · Jan 29, 2016

This looks like it has the potential to be one of your greatest TL's. A few questions though?

1. Wasn`t Brittany a vassal of Charlemagne that broke off after his death? If so, why include in a saxon-frankish kingdom? If not, then why include it with the duchy of neustria?

2. I noticed that Poland and Hungary are labelled on the map. Perhaps they will work together to try and crush Karl cnut's ambitions?

3. Wouldn't Constantinople be annoyed the karlings for claiming the mantle of the Roman empire? Then again, that Saxon kingdom looks like it would bring them together.

4. This is not related to the TL, but what sources did you use for your Visigothic TL? I'm trying to find a way for the Visigoths to collapse during the 570s after an earlier conquest of the suevi.

Overall, decent start

I hope this becomes exciting quick!

Mario · Jan 31, 2016

sh3baproject said:
This looks like it has the potential to be one of your greatest TL's. A few questions though?

Thanks

sh3baproject said:
1. Wasn`t Brittany a vassal of Charlemagne that broke off after his death? If so, why include in a saxon-frankish kingdom? If not, then why include it with the duchy of neustria?

Ok I will explain this in more detail.

ITTL when Pepin dies, the former Empire collapses and many of the former realms break away. But then this is intended that when the Saxons take it over, they recover many of the former Carolingian territories, like Brittany or Moravia, when they are at the peak of their power (mid-10th century).

Here Neustria includes Brittany and the Saxon-Frankish Burgundy (enlarged Nesutria), but not Flanders. The reason is mostly religious: out of Neustria and Alamannia, the Catholic hierarchy has been replaced by the Germanic hierarchy. Neustria and Alamannia have been granted with the freedom to preserve the Catholic one, but only by the moment.

sh3baproject said:
2. I noticed that Poland and Hungary are labelled on the map. Perhaps they will work together to try and crush Karl cnut's ambitions?

Maybe in the future, yes

sh3baproject said:
3. Wouldn't Constantinople be annoyed the karlings for claiming the mantle of the Roman empire? Then again, that Saxon kingdom looks like it would bring them together.

These three powers are mutually confronted, by obvious reasons. But WRE and ERE have too many disputes between them (Schism is near) for being able to do anything together.

Mario · Mar 4, 2016

CHAPTER I: FROM WIDUKIND TO KARL CNUT

The young Widukind spent his first years of life in Hamburg, with her maternal aunts and his sister Winnihild. Cnut had decided that his younger children would be raised in Saxony with the family of his wife, while his eldest sons were prepared to inherit the Danish realms.

Widukind was interested since very young in culture, religion and politics, though nobody expected him to become a ruler. He admired his own father as a great ruler of his time, but he also admired the legacy of Charlemagne, who he believed he was his ancestor as his mother was half-Frankish. He often talked about him, so his family nicknamed him ‘little Karl’; and as well as him, he showed an early devotion to the Church, but in this case he strongly supported the Germanic Church and despised the Catholic one.

In 1035, when he was just seven years old, his grandfather Ewald II died and his maternal uncle Ewald was crowned as the new King of the Saxons and the Franks, Ewald III. The relations between Cnut the Great and his brother-in-law were not as good as they were with his defunct father-in-law, so new tensions between the Danes and the Saxon-Franks appeared very soon.

Ewald III decided to cede the control of the Frankish part to his younger brother Ullrich, who was considered as better prepared for an eventual war against the Danish troops established in Neustria. Cnut the Great had prevented them to launch a large scale invasion over Neustria while his father-in-law was King of the Saxons and the Franks, but after his death he had no reason to hold them back anymore.

During the summer of 1036 the tensions escalated to the point of declaring an open war between the two powers. The Danes did not only attack Neustria, but also the North Albingia and other Saxon territories. Cnut the Great requested his family to abandon Hamburg, but Ewald III managed to keep them as prisoners, and threatened Cnut to kill them all if he did not surrender and stopped the war. Deliberately or not, Ewald III caused the death of her own sister Gunhild, the mother of Widukind, after leaving her unattended in a cellar for too many days. Neither Cnut nor his son Widukind would forgive the King for that crime.

Widukind and his sister Winnihild were sent to Basel, in Alamannia, and Cnut feared for many years that they had been eventually executed by their uncles. Eventually, the Danish troops managed to crush the strong army of Ullrich in Neustria and Ullrich himself was assassinated in Soissons (June 1038). After the fall of Neustria, the Frankish nobility revolted against the bad government of Ewald III, and the Alamannians followed them.

Harold, King of England and Neustria.

The war stagnated by 1040, and Ewald III seemed to recover and secured his rule in the Saxon part of the Kingdom. Cnut the Great had ceded that year the rule of England to his second son Harold as well as had ceded before Norway and Scania to his eldest son Svein. Cnut incorporated Neustria (including Brittany and Flanders) to the English realms of Harold, but Franconia and Alamannia remained until some vacuum of power, as the local nobility rejected any form of Danish rule there. Then, Cnut received the shocking news that his children were found alive in Basel.

Cnut arranged a compromise with the Franks and the Alamannians that they would accept his son Widukind as their legitimate King, as long as he was grandson of Ewald II. The Saxons tried to prevent it, but they had lost all the support of the Franks due to the bad government of Ewald III.

Widukind was crowned as King of the Franks and Duke of Alamannia on March 28th 1041, at the age of 13. His father set for him a court in Cologne, heavily defended by Danish and Frank troops. Widukind asked the Archbishop to be rechristened as Karl (in the memory of his presumed ancestor Charlemagne) and renounced to the name Widukind, which was linked to his hated maternal family. When his father died the following year, he also adopted his name as his own second one: Karl Cnut had ‘born’.

Mario · Mar 30, 2016

Europe after the death of Cnut the Great (1042)

The former realms of Cnut the Great are now divided in two powerful kingdoms: the Kingdom of the Danes and Norway (ruled by Svein), which has expanded through the lower Baltic thanks to their recent victories over Saxons and Slavs; and the Kingdom of the English and Neustria (including Brittany and Flanders), ruled by Svein's younger brother Harold.

The remainder of the defunct Kingdom of the Saxons and the Franks is also divided in two parts: the Kingdom of Francia and Alamannia, ruled by the young Karl Cnut with the support of his older half-brothers Svein and Harold; and the Kingdom of the Saxons, ruled by the maternal uncle and enemy of Karl Cnut, Ewald III.

The Kingdom of the Saxons has retained the control over the Great Moravia, but the former Kingdom of the Danube has escaped to the Saxon influence after the war and split into six minor kingdoms associated under a common military alliance.

Outside the Germanic area, the powerful Tsardom of the Bulgars has aggresively expanded through the Balkans, defeating the Eastern Roman Empire in several battles.

Mario · Apr 14, 2016

CHAPTER II: THE PROTECTORATE (1042-1046)

After the death of Cnut the Great, Karl Cnut, who was only 14 years old, remained under the protection of his older half-brother Harold, the King of England and Neustria.

Harold had managed to place one of his most loyal men, Ullrich Hansen, in the Seat of Cologne. Ullrich and Harold were pretty determined to wipe the Roman influence out of the Germanic parishes, so they also teamed to influenciate the young Karl Cnut against the Catholics. And they had a lot of success, because Karl Cnut developed a sincere hate against the Roman Church.

The problem was that, even if the Germanic hierarchy enjoyed a lot of prestige in many parts of the Germanic lands, the influence of Rome was still strong in places like Neustria, Burgundy and Alamannia. Latin was widely used by both civil and religious administrations, Catholic or not. Meanwhile, there was not any sort of standardized Germanic language due to the diversity of dialects, and this was a big handicap for the development of an alternate culture which could replace the Roman-Latin one.

Archbishop Ullrich was the main figure who promoted the first steps in order to 'de-Latinize' the Germanic Church. In 1044, he assigned the task of writing a Bible in 'a Germanic dialect which most of the Germanic faithful could understand' to an important group of Germanic erudites, coming from England, Francia, Alamannia and even Saxony. This effort produced the 'Bible of Cologne', the first book written in a new Germanic language based on the most important Germanic dialects.

This hostility was not overlooked by the Western Roman Empire. Emperor Lucius Ferdinand, who had grown in a Catholic Frankish family which had moved from Gaul to Italy, knew very well the secessionist ambitions of the Germanic Church and its intention to replace completely the authority of Rome by the authority of Cologne.

The WRE had been too busy fighting both the Hispanic Caliphate and the Eastern Roman Empire to worry about the situation in the North. But by 1045, the Caliphate was reduced to the Betis Mountains and the ERE has been weakened by the expansion of the Bulgars. This situation allowed the WRE to switch the military focus to the Northern Kingdoms.

Coins used in the 1040s, both in England and Francia.

In the fall of 1045, the Romans launched the invasion of most of Neustria and Burgundy, with the excuse of protecting the Catholic living there (most of them also Roman-speakers) from the hostility of the Germanic Church and the Kingdoms which supported it. Lucius Ferdinand's troops were quite successful, but failed to conquer Paris.
The WRE lacked of a proper Navy, so they were not able to challenge the Germanic in the sea, thus making it difficult to advance into the Channel area.

Despite the loss of Campania, Burgundy and other Alpine areas, the English and the Franks resisted pretty well. However, these campaigns obliged Harold to stay too many time out of Britain. The continued absence of the King outraged many English noblesmen, who did not care about the affaires of the continent. Some of them accused Harold of not attending the problems of England, and soon one of them, Godwin, the powerful Earl of Wessex, challenged the legitimacy of Harold and promoted a coup against him.

On 28th May 1046, Godwin, with the support of a large group of English noblesmen, claimed the throne of England and Neustria. King Harold was in Paris at that moment, and when he heard the news, tried to return to Britain. Unfortunately, his ship sunk in the Channel and Harold died, leaving his Kingdom to Godwin's mercy. It is not clear if the ship could have been sabotaged by an agent of Godwin.

Thus, the Protectorate came to an abrupt end, but Karl Cnut, who was 18 years old, was just ready for taking the main role he has been called to play in History.

Mario · Apr 14, 2016

Europe after the death of Harold (1046)

In few years, the European borders were greatky affected by two events: the advance of the WRE into Campania and Burgundy; and the dissolution of the unstable Union of the Six Kingdoms.

The dissolution of the Union was immediately followed by the Carinthian invasion of their weaker neighbours. Bavaria remained independent though, and the Danubian Kingdom was occupied by the expanding Magyars, who also stopped the Bulgars in Transylvania. The Magyars took the name of the Kingdom of the Danube and established a new capital in Pozsony (Bratislava).

The ERE recovered from the last defeats and reconquered some lands to the Bulgars and Carinthia. Meanwhile, the Saxons, unable to expand to the North of South, had fully incorporated the vassal Great Moravia in order to settle more Saxons there.

Polish Eagle · Apr 14, 2016

sh3baproject said:
2. I noticed that Poland and Hungary are labelled on the map. Perhaps they will work together to try and crush Karl cnut's ambitions?

I don't see why they should. Poland in particular, at this time, was somewhat intimately tied into the Danish system--Cnut the Great was even a grandson of Mieszko I, and Boleslaw I may have contributed soldiers to Cnut's conquest of England. Between that and the headache that converting the country to Christianity was giving the early Polish monarchs (took at least several decades for the conversion to stick among the nobility, and even longer among the peasantry), they have much more incentive to align with the Danes than to fight them.

Mario · May 2, 2016

CHAPTER III: THE VICTORY OF VERDUN (1046-1049)

After the death of Harold of England, Karl Cnut begged his other half-brother, Svein of Denmark and Norway, to intervene in the conflict with the new self-proclaimed King of England, Godwin.

Svein had not much interest in the conflict as long as the new King would not claim any possession outside Britain. Svein just helped the Franks to seize Neustria and Flanders from English control (however, Godwin had no way to keep these lands under his rule) and returned the control of these lands to Karl Cnut's rule.

Karl Cnut was not satisfied with this, so he offered to Svein the Danish sovereignty over the New Britain in order to ensure the involvement of the Danes in the conflict between the two sides of the Channel. Svein finally accepted the offer and crowned his only son, 13 years-old Einar, as Duke of New Britain.

The increasing presence of the Danes in the Channel effectively concerned Godwin, who tried to search the friendship of Svein. Meanwhile, the nobles opposed to the new rule found shelter in the other side of the Channel. During the summer of 1047 Karl Cnut met some of these exiled English families in Paris; there he found his future wife Emma of Sussex. The couple will marry in June 1048 at the Cathedral of Cologne.

Portrait of Emma of Sussex.

The marriage of Karl Cnut with a wealthy nobleswoman from a family opposed to Godwin's rule gave him further legitimacy in his claims over the Kingdom of England. He tried to convince Svein about a coordinated Danish-Frank invasion of England, but Svein considered the Franks underprepared for such challenge.

Enraged, Karl Cnut decided to demonstrate the military power of the Franks to his half-brother. So, in early 1049 the King of the Franks launched a series of campaigns against the Romans in Campania, which resulted in the conquest of many of the area. The Romans tried to counter-attack and besieged the city of Verdun during three months.

When all seemed lost, Karl Cnut himself commanded the Frankish troops which broke the siege and defeated the Romans. The Frankish victory in Verdun meant not only the first military success of the ambitious King, but also the end of the Roman advances north of the Loire.

Anyway, Svein was not very impressed by the military success because he despised the Western Romans as he thought they were a declining nation unable to even clear Italy of diverse foreign presence. The invasion of England had to wait.

Mario · May 3, 2016

ANNEX: THE GERMANIC NEUSTRIA

The recovery of the Duchy and Neustria, including Roman-occupied Campania, by the Franks was immediately followed by the Edict of Soissons (1049), which boosted the eviction of the remaining Roman-speaking Catholic population from Neustria, who mostly followed the Western Roman troops in their retreat south of the Loire.

The vacuum left by the Catholic population was fulfilled with English (opposed to Godwin's rule) and Franks, as well as Danes in New Britain. The Brittons adapted to the religious changes and did not have to leave the western part of the Duchy.

The Neustrian cities were renamed with Germanic names (Paris became officially 'Parei', Orléans 'Oreln' and so) and Karl Cnut ensured that all of them would flourish under his rule. In fact, Paris became a sort of unofficial second capital and the King spent many time there and the Queen had their first child there.

Mario · Jun 6, 2016

CHAPTER IV: CALM BEFORE THE STORM (1049-1053)

The period between 1049 and 1053 was calm and prosperous for Karl Cnut and his new family. Queen Emma gave him his first son and heir Cnut Harold in February 1050. Immediately after his birth, Cnut Harold was crowned as Duke of Neustria, a title that would also receive in the future all the heirs of the Kings of Francia and Alamannia.

During this period, the royal family resided in Paris, a city that grew rapidly boosted by the immigration of English and Franks. Karl Cnut had only real power over the Duchy of Neustria: the other two duchies (Flanders and Alamannia) were controlled by loyal noblesmen, but even if these families were loyal to the King of Francia, almost all of the matters concerning their duchies were run by themselves. A good example of this was the campaign of the Alamannians against the Romans in Upper Burgundy (June-August 1051) that produced the recapture of the key city of Bisanz (Besançon) and the following incorporation of much of Upper Burgundy to the Duchy of Alamannia, with no royal intervention at all (however, the Duke of Alamannia had the written placet of Karl Cnut to do so).

Besides the three duchies, most of Old Francia was controlled by the powerful Ullrich, the Archbishop of Cologne. Karl Cnut was a close ally of him, so he prefered to do not intervene in the affairs of the large Archbishopric and let him to rule the area. Even if Ullrich was a priest, he has been pretty successful managing the troops assigned for the safety of the hot borders with the Saxon Kingdom. The Archbishopric was indeed divided in eight provinces (Gau), and every province had a military governor.

The relations with England remained tense as Karl Cnut refused to withdraw his claims over England and new waves of English refugees looked after shelter in Neustria and New Britain. Anyway, the King of the Danes, Svein kept his mind against a combined attack of Danes and Franks against England, so the situation became a sort of stalemate. Godwin had many internal revolts in England, and he has no time for additional (international) conflicts.

The peace, however, will eventually come to an abrupt end in 1053, but the cause would not come from any of the Northern powers...

The Kingdom of Francia and Alamannia in 1052

Sh3ba · Jun 6, 2016

Go Karl Cnut, go and claim your rightful place as King of England!

One question, why are the Magyars calling themselves the kingdom of the Danube? Is it German influence or another reason?

Polish Eagle said:
I don't see why they should. Poland in particular, at this time, was somewhat intimately tied into the Danish system--Cnut the Great was even a grandson of Mieszko I, and Boleslaw I may have contributed soldiers to Cnut's conquest of England. Between that and the headache that converting the country to Christianity was giving the early Polish monarchs (took at least several decades for the conversion to stick among the nobility, and even longer among the peasantry), they have much more incentive to align with the Danes than to fight them.

Interesting, do you mind going into detail why the polish were tied with the Danish during this time?

Mario · Jun 7, 2016

sh3baproject said:
One question, why are the Magyars calling themselves the kingdom of the Danube? Is it German influence or another reason?

In fact, the Kingdom of the Danube is the merge of the eastern part of the former Germanic Kingdom of the Danube and the Magyar Kingdom of Hungary. As the resulting entity is very plurinational, it fits better to keep the name Kingdom of the Danube, as long as it does not refer to any nation in particular.

The actual Kingdom of the Danube is a sort of enlarged Hungary, that is, Magyars are the dominant nation; but anyway, Germanic elites have preserved an important role in the administration and ecomomy, specially in the western half of the Kingdom and in the capital, Pressburg/Pozsony (Bratislava).

Mario · Jun 8, 2016

CHAPTER V: THE GREAT SCHISM WARS (I)

The fragile peace in the North of Europe was set to be broken from the South in 1053, when the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael I Cerularius ordered the closure of all Latin churches in the East Roman capital, in response to the Greek churches in the West Roman Italy having been forced to either close or conform to the Latin practices established by Rome.

The dispute between Rome and Constantinople regarding the primacy of them in the Christendom escalated to the point of bordering the Schism. Both the Patriarch and Pope Leo IX called the non-Roman powers to back one of their sides, but the churches of the North, very estranged from both Roman churches, prefered to remain neutral in the conflict. Apart of them, Poland and the Kingdom of the Danube backed Rome while the Christian churches under Bulgarian rule supported Constantinople. Bavaria and Carinthia were tempted to back Rome but Karl Cnut through the Duke of Alamannia, Egbert II, quite influent in these countries, warned them to better remain neutral.

Michael I Cerularius, Patriarch of Constantinople.

Finally, the war between the two Roman Empires broke out when the city of Venice, nominally under the sovereignty of Constantinople, but virtually independent due to its long isolation from the rest of the Empire, decided to back the West Roman side in the conflict. Carinthia, even if neutral, allowed the West Roman troops to access to Venice by land and then sea, when these troops were sent to help Venice against the East Roman navy attacks. Despite the fact that Carinthia did not military intervene in the battle of Venice, the East Romans accused them of helping Rome and thus Constantinople also declared war to the Carinthians.

The invasion of part of Carinthia by East Roman troops at the end of 1053 caused a domino effect in the neighborhood. Bavaria, close ally of Carinthia, declared war to Constantinople. But even if the Bavarians cared to do not explicitly back the Roman Church and tried to restrict their actions to the defense of Carinthia, this move was largely disapproved by the Duke Egbert II, who had fierce anti-Roman and pro-Germanic Church ideals. Egbert II asked Karl Cnut for permission to intervene in Bavaria and Carinthia with the aim to prevent them to help Rome in the battle of Venice. Karl Cnut let him to act in the name of the Kingdom of Francia and Alamannia.

The WRE reacted to this loss of neutrality of the Alamannians and launched a parallel campaign against them. However, both the WRE and ERE land troops available in the Alpine area were clearly inferior to the Germanic infantry and cavalry, specially the Alamannian ones. The result of the Alamannian intervention was the final retreat of any Roman land troops from Carinthia and Venice, which however was still besieged by sea by the East Roman navy. Carinthia closed its borders to any foreign army and it was forced by Egbert II to surrender part of its western territories to Bavaria, which have been reduced by the Alamannians to a sort of client state in order to ensure that they would not provide any further help to Rome.

The submission of Bavaria to Alamannia was strongly disappr oved by the Saxon Kingdom, as Ewald III saw this move a further move to 'sandwich' his Kingdom between the Franks and the Danes. This made him to switch from a neutral position to support the West Roman Empire in their campaign against Francia and Alamannia, but this change was not approved by the largely anti-Roman Saxon churches and the Saxon Kingdom had to face internal revolts due this decision.

Military operations in Venice (1053-1054):

Mario · Jun 10, 2016

CHAPTER VI: THE GREAT SCHISM WARS (II)

In 1054, the conflict diverged into two separate ones: by one side, both Roman powers kept on their fights in the Adriatic and southern Italy, with Carinthia acting as a land buffer between them; in the other side, the Saxon Kingdom was ready to attack the Franks due to the Alamannian intervention in Bavaria.

Ewald III was old and could not fight himself, so he trusted on his loyal cavaliers for keeping the Alamannians away from Bavaria. But he miscalculated the influence of the Saxon Church over them. The Saxon Church had been uncomfortable with Ewald’s rule from the beginning, but now they truly feared of an approach to Rome just for the hate the King had to the Franks. The bishops from Hamburg and Bremen tried to discourage Ewald to intervene in Bavaria; but after the failure of their negotiations, they just tried to influence the Saxon noblemen. Some nobles were loyal to Ewald, but others preferred to support the bishops.

This internal division let Karl Cnut to take advantage on the situation. He convinced his half-brother Svein, the King of Denmark, to intervene in the Saxon Kingdom with the support of the local clergy and part of the noblemen. Thus, the war finally broke out in April and it finished faster than predicted as most of the Saxon noblemen abandoned Ewald to his fate: the pro-Germanic Church nobles embraced the return of Karl Cnut, while the anti-Frank noblemen established several new entities in the Eastern part, where the Germanic clergy had little power.

The Franks captured Ewald in Bremen and Karl Cnut ordered that he would be imprisoned in an old fortified tower close to the Atlantic coast where he would be abandoned alone to die for starvation, in the same way that the Saxon King had killed Karl Cnut’s mother when he was a boy. The few nobles loyal to Ewald were also executed and the few non-Germanic parishes were abolished. As he did in Neustria with his first son, Karl Cnut proclaimed his second son, Karl Egbert (born during the war), new Duke of Saxony.

Old Tower, near to the coast of Bremen, where Ewald III was left for death.

However, the new Duchy of Saxony just comprised the western part of Ewald’s realm, basically the bishoprics of Hamburg and Bremen. The rest broke away in several duchies, counties and principalities; Denmark, Poland and the Kingdom of the Danube incorporated some of them, while others remained independent. The easternmost border of the new Kingdom of Francia, Saxony and Alamannia (KFSA) was set by the foundation of the city of Hannover, as a dependency of the Bishopric of Bremen.

Meanwhile, the war in the South ended with the consummation of the Schism: Pope Leo IX and the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael I Cerularius, excommunicated each other while the Western Romans evicted the Eastern from southern Italy and Sicily, but not Venice.

Mario · Jun 14, 2016

Europe in 1054

After the Great Schism Wars, the WRE has wiped out any presence of the ERE in Italy and Sicily, but the ERE has managed to retain the control over the eastern side of the Adriatic, including Venice. The Bulgars are now divided and ceding lands to the Kingdom of the Danube and the ERE.

The implosion of the former Kingdom of the Saxons have produced new entities. Two of them (Wendland and Lusatia) have an important Slavic component. Bavaria is now a client state, closely tied to the Duchy of Alamannia. Poland and Denmark have also expanded thanks to the fall of the Saxons.

Mario · Jul 6, 2016

Religious situation in Europe after 1054

The Schism did not only produce two separate branches of Christianity (Catholic and Orthodox), but three, as the Germanic Church did not stick to any of them. The Patriarch of Cologne wrote an Edict shortly after the Schism stating that the Germanic Church would not recognize the authority of any of the 'new' Christian branches over their bishoprics and parishes.

Thus, the Christianity in Europe was officially divided in three branches from 1054 onwards: Catholic, Germanic and Orthodox. The Western Roman Empire emerged as the main Catholic power, as well as the Eastern Roman Empire remained as the main Orthodox one; the Kingdom of Karl Cnut could be considered their Germanic homologue but in this case they had to share many of the religious power with the Danish Kingdom.

Both Roman Empires soon forbade the praxis of Christian branches different to their main ones: only the WRE granted freedom of cult to some parishes in Southern Italy, while the ERE allowed Venice to do the same. Poland and the Kingdom of the Danube opted for the Catholic as their official religions, but their population was not homogeneous. Bulgaria remained mostly Orthodox.

In the Germanic world, Franks, Saxons, Alamannians, Danes and Swedes passed to the exclusive religious authority of Cologne. The situation in the British Isles was confusing at the beginning: most of the Germanic population supported the authority of Cologne, but King Godwin refused to recognize it. Ireland and the Celtic areas remained Catholic, as well as most of the Brittons. Bavarians were granted freedom of cult.

GlobalHumanism · Jul 6, 2016

Mario TL + My Map Fetish = Subscribed!

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

RMcD94 · Jul 6, 2016

Nice story, why aren't the Celtic regions of the British Isles filled in with nations (http://i.imgur.com/VRg2Ruv.png)? Equally with the right of Poland (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Kievan-rus-1015-1113-(en).png) does Kievan Rus not exist in this TL? Also the Danes creeping inexorably North on the map accurate too, at least in this map they were already all the way up there:

http://www.emersonkent.com/map_archive/europe_912.htm

Were they pushed back? Was having real trouble finding OTL movements into Scandinavia.

Mario · Jul 6, 2016

RMcD94 said:
Nice story, why aren't the Celtic regions of the British Isles filled in with nations (http://i.imgur.com/VRg2Ruv.png)? Equally with the right of Poland (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Kievan-rus-1015-1113-(en).png) does Kievan Rus not exist in this TL?

In both cases I have thought that it was better to do not depict them because of the political fragmentation of these areas. They are still not relevant for this TL, so I prefered to not complicate the map too much.

RMcD94 said:
Also the Danes creeping inexorably North on the map accurate too, at least in this map they were already all the way up there:

http://www.emersonkent.com/map_archive/europe_912.htm

Were they pushed back? Was having real trouble finding OTL movements into Scandinavia.

IOTL the Danes had more problems for expanding southwards, so they focused more on expanding northwards. But ITTL the Danes have more interests in Saxony, Pomerania etc. so it is just a matter of shifting preferences...