alternatehistory.com
CIF: Alphabets, Arians, and Regional Christianity
I agree that the priestly infiltration of the Insulam is an extremely likely event. I actually have plans for something along those lines to take place a bit in the future.
Those other bits of speculation are extremely interesting! I’ll actually have to keep the Maine one in mind
And I like the idea of Vikings with cigars.
Canonical Info Follows
Some interesting debates on the alphabets. I’ve been keeping things broad overall, so I’ll give some details to these points.
Brendan wrote his letters in the Latinate script (including letters to Rome in Latin itself).
Ogham was actually brought to the island by a few Fánaithe from Connacht, and it spread to be a bit of a code for the Fánaithe to mark their paths. One of the earliest extant “Fánaithe Stories” was a manuscript written in ogham on a series of tanned reindeer skins, dating to the early 7th century. It’s use did not expand far past the Fánaithe, though future Celtic adventurers would use a post-Ogham style script as a secret language in their American adventures.
Also sadly for you, @Aqua817, I’m afraid that the Arians are not going to be able to entirely escape their OTL fate. The influence of the Romanized majority populations of the Arian Germanic realms, as well as the pressure of the Franks and the Rhomanians, have seen the Visigoths and Ostrogoths convert to the Nicean interpretation. The Vandalic aristocracy is still Arian, though becoming increasingly Nicean and have been tolerant of Nicean practices in their realm for years. The other Arians in Europe, such as the members various Germanic tribes, have yet to achieve any sort of mastery, and by the time their moment comes the Arian’s time will have passed.
However, that is not to suggest that all of Christianity will be entirely brought to “Catholic” alignment. Regional church trends, such as Celtic Christianity, will last much longer and be much stronger, while paying various forms of subservience to the Holy Father.
Thanks for the compliments!
I agree that the priestly infiltration of the Insulam is an extremely likely event. I actually have plans for something along those lines to take place a bit in the future.
Those other bits of speculation are extremely interesting! I’ll actually have to keep the Maine one in mind
And I like the idea of Vikings with cigars.Actually, I'd argue that the discovery of North America pretty much has saved not just Ogham script, but the individuality of Celtic Christianity in general. Celtic Christianity will be able to have enough capital to be able to at least somewhat compete with the Romano-Frankish and later Anglo-Saxon juggernauts that would influence the isles. This also means that the Bishops of Ireland may be able to pay homage much father afield, or perhaps a High Bishop could be elected within Ireland, with the justification that Ireland is already far away from Canterbury, much less Rome, and thus deserves to be autocephalous, especially since St. Patrick technically never visited Rome, had any interaction with Rome, or really did anything of the sort rather than a quick trip to France to be baptized. Hell, if you really wanted to, you could have the King of Munster convert to Arianism to be able to better trade with people in the Visigothic Kingdom. In fact, an Arian Irish kingdom would be able to also keep more of the profits from trade due to the Arian Pope being... perennially busy. This can have all kinds of little goodies of butterflies, especially if you butterfly Justinian and Muhammad.
@Rognvald Do you have any plans set up for the Second Council of Constantinople? I apologize if I seem pushy in any way, it's just that religious history is kind of my thing
Canonical Info Follows
Some interesting debates on the alphabets. I’ve been keeping things broad overall, so I’ll give some details to these points.
Brendan wrote his letters in the Latinate script (including letters to Rome in Latin itself).
Ogham was actually brought to the island by a few Fánaithe from Connacht, and it spread to be a bit of a code for the Fánaithe to mark their paths. One of the earliest extant “Fánaithe Stories” was a manuscript written in ogham on a series of tanned reindeer skins, dating to the early 7th century. It’s use did not expand far past the Fánaithe, though future Celtic adventurers would use a post-Ogham style script as a secret language in their American adventures.
Also sadly for you, @Aqua817, I’m afraid that the Arians are not going to be able to entirely escape their OTL fate. The influence of the Romanized majority populations of the Arian Germanic realms, as well as the pressure of the Franks and the Rhomanians, have seen the Visigoths and Ostrogoths convert to the Nicean interpretation. The Vandalic aristocracy is still Arian, though becoming increasingly Nicean and have been tolerant of Nicean practices in their realm for years. The other Arians in Europe, such as the members various Germanic tribes, have yet to achieve any sort of mastery, and by the time their moment comes the Arian’s time will have passed.
However, that is not to suggest that all of Christianity will be entirely brought to “Catholic” alignment. Regional church trends, such as Celtic Christianity, will last much longer and be much stronger, while paying various forms of subservience to the Holy Father.
- Rognvald
- Word Count: 350