This TL is a prelude to my just completed Invasion of 1812 TL. It tackles mainly religious developments in alternate Anglia in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. I will reproduce the POD and premise of alternate Anglia.
“It is better to cure a sick man than to kill him.” A Northumbrian Survival Timeline
- Thread starter clem attlee
- Start date
The background
865, the North Sea:
Ivar the Boneless gazed with greedy contemplation at the shores which were fast approaching. He could see a few dark-clad figures huddled on the beach. More sheep for the slaughter! More gold vessels for plunder and easy victories. He crowed aloud to his thegns. "Let their God of peace save them!" A deep-throated roar of derision filled the air.
Clouds gathered and the North Sea grew rough. It would be a close-run race to reach the shore, but the long-ships were sturdy. Ivar called upon Odin and dedicated the lives of the local monks to his sacrifice. They would dangle from their own coppices of oak and elm. The warriors began to chant as they rowed.
The figures on the shore ran in panic except for one tall and ascetic monk, Brother Ethelred, who cried aloud "St Aidan, St Cuthbert and Blessed Hilda, intercede with the Lord of Peace for our lives. Deliver us from the fury of the Northmen."
The long-ships drew closer and the brother prepared himself for death, suppressing his disappointment and doubts. Then the long-ships surged forward at great speed. The impact of the shoals dismasted them and broke many an oar. Frantically, the warriors lightened the ships, but the storm grew in its intensity. Even as the great waves lifted the long-ships over the shoals, they crashed over them in primordial violence, smashing them to matchwood. Ivar and his thegns sank, their lungs bursting.
Thus drowned the Great Heathen Army. The few, bedraggled and dispirited survivors could not rally in force and were cut down or surrendered. One Norwegian warrior, Olaf, a survivor of Ivar’s long-ship, was converted to Christianity, became a monk, and later canonised for his missionary efforts in Scandinavia. He was known as the Apostle of the Norse.
865, Eoforwic:
The bells of St Peter's great church rang out for the Mass of Thanksgiving pealing joyously over the thatched roofs of Eoforwic. Ælla and Osberht knelt side by side before the Archbishop and put aside their differences with each other and the Holy Mother Church. The Great Deliverance had sobered many a man and recalled them to their duty. They swore amity and unity.
Ælla would take the title prince and become heir to his brother as king of Northumbria. In 876, Osberht abdicated and entered a monastery to atone for his earlier sins of violence. The practice became widespread among Anglian royal families.
911, Normandy:
Rollo the Fierce looked upon the ruin of his army at the hands of the French nobles. He shook his head and wondered if a curse had descended on his countrymen. The men of the South had grown teeth. Perhaps there was something to their God, after all. The army retreated and took to its ships. It sailed north never to return. The Viking Age had come to an end.
Author’s Premise: The Viking Age comes to an end prematurely in two major military failures, the Danish Invasion of 865 and the Northmen’s Invasion of Normandy in the tenth century. Although violence still racks Europe, its geopolitical development changes significantly. Anglia remains detached from the continent. In the wake of Br Ethelred’s seeming miracle of the Great Deliverance, the power and prestige of the church becomes enormously strong. The church enforces peace first in Anglia then between all the states of the British Isles. The occasional attempts at war lead to excommunication and deposition. Centralisation of states fails to occur because the power of the earls and the church frustrates it and there is no external stimulus to galvanise it. The constant wars caused by the shifting balance of powers on the continent turns its orientation inwards and leaves the British Isles isolated, somewhat more backward economically, but secure. The Age of Discovery is far more limited than in OTL. Though the Americas are rediscovered by Europe in the sixteenth century, there is very little colonisation and mostly trading posts. Plague and the Reformation remained fixed points though most colonisation and the Middle Eastern crusades are butterflied away. There is a lesser Renaissance in the fifteenth to sixteenth centuries.
865, the North Sea:
Ivar the Boneless gazed with greedy contemplation at the shores which were fast approaching. He could see a few dark-clad figures huddled on the beach. More sheep for the slaughter! More gold vessels for plunder and easy victories. He crowed aloud to his thegns. "Let their God of peace save them!" A deep-throated roar of derision filled the air.
Clouds gathered and the North Sea grew rough. It would be a close-run race to reach the shore, but the long-ships were sturdy. Ivar called upon Odin and dedicated the lives of the local monks to his sacrifice. They would dangle from their own coppices of oak and elm. The warriors began to chant as they rowed.
The figures on the shore ran in panic except for one tall and ascetic monk, Brother Ethelred, who cried aloud "St Aidan, St Cuthbert and Blessed Hilda, intercede with the Lord of Peace for our lives. Deliver us from the fury of the Northmen."
The long-ships drew closer and the brother prepared himself for death, suppressing his disappointment and doubts. Then the long-ships surged forward at great speed. The impact of the shoals dismasted them and broke many an oar. Frantically, the warriors lightened the ships, but the storm grew in its intensity. Even as the great waves lifted the long-ships over the shoals, they crashed over them in primordial violence, smashing them to matchwood. Ivar and his thegns sank, their lungs bursting.
Thus drowned the Great Heathen Army. The few, bedraggled and dispirited survivors could not rally in force and were cut down or surrendered. One Norwegian warrior, Olaf, a survivor of Ivar’s long-ship, was converted to Christianity, became a monk, and later canonised for his missionary efforts in Scandinavia. He was known as the Apostle of the Norse.
865, Eoforwic:
The bells of St Peter's great church rang out for the Mass of Thanksgiving pealing joyously over the thatched roofs of Eoforwic. Ælla and Osberht knelt side by side before the Archbishop and put aside their differences with each other and the Holy Mother Church. The Great Deliverance had sobered many a man and recalled them to their duty. They swore amity and unity.
Ælla would take the title prince and become heir to his brother as king of Northumbria. In 876, Osberht abdicated and entered a monastery to atone for his earlier sins of violence. The practice became widespread among Anglian royal families.
911, Normandy:
Rollo the Fierce looked upon the ruin of his army at the hands of the French nobles. He shook his head and wondered if a curse had descended on his countrymen. The men of the South had grown teeth. Perhaps there was something to their God, after all. The army retreated and took to its ships. It sailed north never to return. The Viking Age had come to an end.
Author’s Premise: The Viking Age comes to an end prematurely in two major military failures, the Danish Invasion of 865 and the Northmen’s Invasion of Normandy in the tenth century. Although violence still racks Europe, its geopolitical development changes significantly. Anglia remains detached from the continent. In the wake of Br Ethelred’s seeming miracle of the Great Deliverance, the power and prestige of the church becomes enormously strong. The church enforces peace first in Anglia then between all the states of the British Isles. The occasional attempts at war lead to excommunication and deposition. Centralisation of states fails to occur because the power of the earls and the church frustrates it and there is no external stimulus to galvanise it. The constant wars caused by the shifting balance of powers on the continent turns its orientation inwards and leaves the British Isles isolated, somewhat more backward economically, but secure. The Age of Discovery is far more limited than in OTL. Though the Americas are rediscovered by Europe in the sixteenth century, there is very little colonisation and mostly trading posts. Plague and the Reformation remained fixed points though most colonisation and the Middle Eastern crusades are butterflied away. There is a lesser Renaissance in the fifteenth to sixteenth centuries.
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A Hapsburg marriage
June 1439, Leipzig:
Albrecht Hapsburg, Duke of Austria, once again praised his good fortune. Emperor Friedrich III Wettin had taken a great liking to the handsome young noble and encouraged his suit of Frederick’s heiress, Anna Katherina. The Duke courted Princess Anna with alacrity and made himself charming and agreeable though many another grandee was his rival. Anna chose the dashing Albrecht of her own volition, given the liberty by her eccentrically indulgent father. They were married in St Nicholas’ cathedral on a fine late Spring day. Albrecht quickly consolidated his position with children and assiduous attentions to Germany’s grandees. He was soon blooded in a war with Poland-Hungary and showed himself an able soldier. In 1452, Friedrich III, the last of the Wettins, died of a heart attack and Albrecht Hapsburg founded a new imperial dynasty, becoming Albrecht III, king of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor. He had long ago abandoned Vienna for Leipzig and had the good sense to retain the imperial capital in the prosperous Leipzig, capital of the Duchy of Saxony. The Popes initially refused to ratify his imperial election after bribes from the rival house of Luxemburg, but after persistent and expensive diplomacy, Albrecht gained Papal assent to his title as Holy Roman emperor in 1457. It was the first of many battles between the Hapsburgs and the Holy Fathers in Rome.
3: The Anglian Reformation: “It is better to cure a sick man than to kill him.”
June 1439, Leipzig:
Albrecht Hapsburg, Duke of Austria, once again praised his good fortune. Emperor Friedrich III Wettin had taken a great liking to the handsome young noble and encouraged his suit of Frederick’s heiress, Anna Katherina. The Duke courted Princess Anna with alacrity and made himself charming and agreeable though many another grandee was his rival. Anna chose the dashing Albrecht of her own volition, given the liberty by her eccentrically indulgent father. They were married in St Nicholas’ cathedral on a fine late Spring day. Albrecht quickly consolidated his position with children and assiduous attentions to Germany’s grandees. He was soon blooded in a war with Poland-Hungary and showed himself an able soldier. In 1452, Friedrich III, the last of the Wettins, died of a heart attack and Albrecht Hapsburg founded a new imperial dynasty, becoming Albrecht III, king of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor. He had long ago abandoned Vienna for Leipzig and had the good sense to retain the imperial capital in the prosperous Leipzig, capital of the Duchy of Saxony. The Popes initially refused to ratify his imperial election after bribes from the rival house of Luxemburg, but after persistent and expensive diplomacy, Albrecht gained Papal assent to his title as Holy Roman emperor in 1457. It was the first of many battles between the Hapsburgs and the Holy Fathers in Rome.
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Hell and death!
1492, Leipzig, Germany:
Emperor Friedrich IV had just received the despatches from Bohemia of the destruction of his army at Pilsen by the Czechs and their allies from Poland-Hungary. He was furious. How could fifteen thousand knights and men-at-arms fail so completely against an army just over half its size? A harassed servant announced the arrival of a Papal Legate. Cardinal Ferenc Szekel of Koloszvar soon arrived with news from the Pope. Friedrich IV went even redder with fury. For the Pope to send a Magyar as emissary was a deliberate and calculated insult. That Cardinal Szekel followed such ill tidings was, of course, just bad luck, but the emperor was not inclined to be charitable. The hawk-faced young man swept into the king’s audience chamber in his deep red robes. He immediately addressed the emperor imperiously:
“Friedrich Hapsburg, I bring word from His Holiness, Alexander VIII. You must immediately desist from your attacks on your Catholic brethren in Poland-Hungary and Bohemia. If you refuse, I carry a dread sanction.”
Friedrich exploded into guttural and expressive oaths before barking out: “I am Emperor and the Lord’s Anointed. You do not threaten me, boy. The Bohemians are still little better than semi-heretics and covert Hussites. They must be taught obedience.”
Szekel then exceeded his orders and delivered his threatened sanction. He announced a ban of excommunication upon the emperor and all Germany. Were Friedrich not to relent, he would be stripped of his title as Holy Roman Emperor for disturbing the peace of Christendom.
Friedrich IV dismissed the impulsive young prelate and ground his teeth in fury. Two days later, he died of an apoplectic fit. His son, Karl IV, never forgot.
1492, Leipzig, Germany:
Emperor Friedrich IV had just received the despatches from Bohemia of the destruction of his army at Pilsen by the Czechs and their allies from Poland-Hungary. He was furious. How could fifteen thousand knights and men-at-arms fail so completely against an army just over half its size? A harassed servant announced the arrival of a Papal Legate. Cardinal Ferenc Szekel of Koloszvar soon arrived with news from the Pope. Friedrich IV went even redder with fury. For the Pope to send a Magyar as emissary was a deliberate and calculated insult. That Cardinal Szekel followed such ill tidings was, of course, just bad luck, but the emperor was not inclined to be charitable. The hawk-faced young man swept into the king’s audience chamber in his deep red robes. He immediately addressed the emperor imperiously:
“Friedrich Hapsburg, I bring word from His Holiness, Alexander VIII. You must immediately desist from your attacks on your Catholic brethren in Poland-Hungary and Bohemia. If you refuse, I carry a dread sanction.”
Friedrich exploded into guttural and expressive oaths before barking out: “I am Emperor and the Lord’s Anointed. You do not threaten me, boy. The Bohemians are still little better than semi-heretics and covert Hussites. They must be taught obedience.”
Szekel then exceeded his orders and delivered his threatened sanction. He announced a ban of excommunication upon the emperor and all Germany. Were Friedrich not to relent, he would be stripped of his title as Holy Roman Emperor for disturbing the peace of Christendom.
Friedrich IV dismissed the impulsive young prelate and ground his teeth in fury. Two days later, he died of an apoplectic fit. His son, Karl IV, never forgot.
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I think I get where this is going.
Just a little question: Is the HRE as decentralized as IOTL or the Emperor has a bit more power?
Just a little question: Is the HRE as decentralized as IOTL or the Emperor has a bit more power?
Absolutely not. It is quite centralised. There is a fair bit of background at the beginning of my last TL which has a link below. I'm starting with Germany to set the background to the Reformation, but will focus on Anglia - still a collection of different states because of the failure of the Viking invasions. Thanks for your interest.
https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...1812-a-northumbrian-survival-timeline.341827/
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Reform!
March 1517, St Thomas University, Leipzig:
Maximilian Luther, Augustinian monk and Professor of Scripture at St Thomas University, used Lent to preach strongly against clerical abuses, the corruption of the church through greed and the recent call for indulgences being used to rebuild St Peter’s. His sermons were a clarion call for ecclesiastical reform and a return to Biblical authority and simplicity. They struck a chord in an age tired of material greed and hypocrisy. The elderly Karl IV heard of the young reformer quickly and began to attend his services. Initially, he went incognito, but after seeing Luther’s mettle and calibre, he took to attending openly. Luther scarcely hesitated, nervous though he undoubtedly was. The Emperor was won over by Luther’s powerful logic and rhetorical force, but also sensed an opportunity, at long last, to expose the corrupt power structure that had killed his father. Let Leo IX excommunicate him, as he had his father! He would be ready. Karl marshalled his forces to await the inevitable response.
March 1517, St Thomas University, Leipzig:
Maximilian Luther, Augustinian monk and Professor of Scripture at St Thomas University, used Lent to preach strongly against clerical abuses, the corruption of the church through greed and the recent call for indulgences being used to rebuild St Peter’s. His sermons were a clarion call for ecclesiastical reform and a return to Biblical authority and simplicity. They struck a chord in an age tired of material greed and hypocrisy. The elderly Karl IV heard of the young reformer quickly and began to attend his services. Initially, he went incognito, but after seeing Luther’s mettle and calibre, he took to attending openly. Luther scarcely hesitated, nervous though he undoubtedly was. The Emperor was won over by Luther’s powerful logic and rhetorical force, but also sensed an opportunity, at long last, to expose the corrupt power structure that had killed his father. Let Leo IX excommunicate him, as he had his father! He would be ready. Karl marshalled his forces to await the inevitable response.
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1.Who will fight Karl IV?
2.Is there a "proper" Catholic claimant to the throne?
3. Did the Pope rescind the excommunication of Germany and willingly accept Karl as HRE after Frederick's death?
2.Is there a "proper" Catholic claimant to the throne?
3. Did the Pope rescind the excommunication of Germany and willingly accept Karl as HRE after Frederick's death?
1 Who indeed?
2 Well, the Hapsburgs control Germany. They have the Electors locked up - figuratively speaking. The Pope can only refuse to ratify, but that sort of manipulation, accompanied with the need for bribery, has brought Germany to the fever pitch of resentment in 1517.
3 It was unauthorised - there was supposed to be a time lag - and so revoked after the emperor's death. Had he not died, it might not have been. Karl was accepted as part of a deal to end the war.
July 1517, The Vatican:
Leo IX read the missives from the Dominican Jurgen Teuschner with concern. This uncouth Saxon monk had stirred up a hornet’s nest. Teuschner was facing rising hostility. He had been driven out of Thuringia by townsfolk inspired by Luther’s anger. The most recent tracts condemning foreign plundering of Germany had aroused even more anger. Well, the Pope was not the man to shirk a fight. He would use the full weight and sanction of the church to crush this heretical defiance. Let the Germans experience Magyar resolve and courage once again. He ordered his secretary to take down a letter to Luther’s Abbott and to the faculty at Leipzig demanding the recantation of his views.
Leo IX read the missives from the Dominican Jurgen Teuschner with concern. This uncouth Saxon monk had stirred up a hornet’s nest. Teuschner was facing rising hostility. He had been driven out of Thuringia by townsfolk inspired by Luther’s anger. The most recent tracts condemning foreign plundering of Germany had aroused even more anger. Well, the Pope was not the man to shirk a fight. He would use the full weight and sanction of the church to crush this heretical defiance. Let the Germans experience Magyar resolve and courage once again. He ordered his secretary to take down a letter to Luther’s Abbott and to the faculty at Leipzig demanding the recantation of his views.
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Protestantism is born
1518-19, Leipzig:
Maximilian Luther had refused to recant and, as a consequence, was now expelled from the Augustinian order. Karl IV though protected him and gave him leave to move and preach freely in Germany. The faculty at St Thomas University voted to retain Luther even after his excommunication by Leo IX. Karl IV proclaimed the position of Holy Roman Emperor elective by the Electors of Germany only. He denied the necessity for Papal Sanction and was promptly excommunicated himself. The Emperor immediately gave Luther sanction to reorganise and reform the church. There was considerable dissent from all elements of society, but many Germans rallied around the slogan of “Free Germany” and supported the new church. Karl IV kept a substantial standing force of loyal supporters which deterred revolt. The Roman Catholics were on the defensive while the Protestants under Luther expanded their base of support rapidly. The Protestant reformation began to stir in other areas also, but fitfully and without official support.
1518-19, Leipzig:
Maximilian Luther had refused to recant and, as a consequence, was now expelled from the Augustinian order. Karl IV though protected him and gave him leave to move and preach freely in Germany. The faculty at St Thomas University voted to retain Luther even after his excommunication by Leo IX. Karl IV proclaimed the position of Holy Roman Emperor elective by the Electors of Germany only. He denied the necessity for Papal Sanction and was promptly excommunicated himself. The Emperor immediately gave Luther sanction to reorganise and reform the church. There was considerable dissent from all elements of society, but many Germans rallied around the slogan of “Free Germany” and supported the new church. Karl IV kept a substantial standing force of loyal supporters which deterred revolt. The Roman Catholics were on the defensive while the Protestants under Luther expanded their base of support rapidly. The Protestant reformation began to stir in other areas also, but fitfully and without official support.
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The Prince of Humanists
1520, Leuven:
Desiderius Erasmus was under increasing pressure from the Catholic magisterium to curtail his criticisms of the church. Equally, Luther and his friends urged him to continue and to join them. The Protestant influence was growing in Frisia and his position in Leuven was becoming uncomfortable. Religious zealotry on both sides would not tolerate Erasmus’ determined neutrality. While the foremost Christian humanist would never abandon the Catholic tradition, he would also not desist from trying to reform it from within through strong and forthright criticism. It was at this crucial moment, surrounded by distasteful clamour and dissent on all sides, that Erasmus received a letter from the Chancellor of Winchester University, his old friend Athelstan Moore, supported by another from Dunstan Fisher, the Prince-Bishop. They offered him refuge, free speech and the Episcopal Chair in Greek at the University. He sighed. Well, Anglia was a dull backwater, but it would be safe and congenial intellectually. Perhaps he should accept. Two months later he departed the increasingly turbulent continent for peaceful Winchester.
1520, Leuven:
Desiderius Erasmus was under increasing pressure from the Catholic magisterium to curtail his criticisms of the church. Equally, Luther and his friends urged him to continue and to join them. The Protestant influence was growing in Frisia and his position in Leuven was becoming uncomfortable. Religious zealotry on both sides would not tolerate Erasmus’ determined neutrality. While the foremost Christian humanist would never abandon the Catholic tradition, he would also not desist from trying to reform it from within through strong and forthright criticism. It was at this crucial moment, surrounded by distasteful clamour and dissent on all sides, that Erasmus received a letter from the Chancellor of Winchester University, his old friend Athelstan Moore, supported by another from Dunstan Fisher, the Prince-Bishop. They offered him refuge, free speech and the Episcopal Chair in Greek at the University. He sighed. Well, Anglia was a dull backwater, but it would be safe and congenial intellectually. Perhaps he should accept. Two months later he departed the increasingly turbulent continent for peaceful Winchester.
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My apologies for the recent break from posting this TL. I have been and am in the midst of papers and midterms. God willing though, I'll get to more writing in the next few days. Spring Break is upon us - albeit with snow.
The Pact of Freising
1521, Munich:
Otto, Elector of Bavaria, met covertly with the Archbishop-electors of Cologne, Mainz and Trier to discuss the mounting anti-Papal feeling in Germany. Though he disliked the hawkish Magyar Pope, Leo IX, nonetheless Otto was a pious Catholic and genuinely troubled by the wave of destruction of relics and ecclesiastical adornments. But he was loathe to raise the standard of rebellion against Emperor Karl IV. The four electors made the secret Pact of Freising to support one another in case of challenge and to build up regiments to give substance to their unity. Discretion and caution were essential. Archbishop Walter of Cologne reminded his colleagues of Augustus’ famous dictum Festina lente. Their preparations did indeed remain a secret and Duke Ernst of Swabia was quietly canvassed about his attitudes. He was ambivalent though and left outside their circle. Still, the beginnings of a Catholic resistance had stirred in the South.
1521, Munich:
Otto, Elector of Bavaria, met covertly with the Archbishop-electors of Cologne, Mainz and Trier to discuss the mounting anti-Papal feeling in Germany. Though he disliked the hawkish Magyar Pope, Leo IX, nonetheless Otto was a pious Catholic and genuinely troubled by the wave of destruction of relics and ecclesiastical adornments. But he was loathe to raise the standard of rebellion against Emperor Karl IV. The four electors made the secret Pact of Freising to support one another in case of challenge and to build up regiments to give substance to their unity. Discretion and caution were essential. Archbishop Walter of Cologne reminded his colleagues of Augustus’ famous dictum Festina lente. Their preparations did indeed remain a secret and Duke Ernst of Swabia was quietly canvassed about his attitudes. He was ambivalent though and left outside their circle. Still, the beginnings of a Catholic resistance had stirred in the South.
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The Church Militant
1522, Rome:
Leo IX convoked a Council at Rome to consider the correct response to the Protestant challenge. He personally presided over it and explicitly forbade internal reform as a sign of weakness. The German cardinals allied with the Anglian in an attempt to bring about a moderate settlement and to urge some measure of reform. They were curtly silenced and ordered to obedience. The Council concluded swiftly under the leadership of the militants led by Leo himself. They ordered a new Inquisition to root out heresy and announced a German Crusade to crush the outbreak of Neo-Lollardism. The Pope also promulgated the controversial new doctrine of Papal Infallibility. The moderates outside Germany protested and were imprisoned. Athelstan Moore led a delegation of Anglian, Scotian, Welsh and Irish theologians to Rome to implore compromise. He too was imprisoned and put on trial as a heretic.
1522, Rome:
Leo IX convoked a Council at Rome to consider the correct response to the Protestant challenge. He personally presided over it and explicitly forbade internal reform as a sign of weakness. The German cardinals allied with the Anglian in an attempt to bring about a moderate settlement and to urge some measure of reform. They were curtly silenced and ordered to obedience. The Council concluded swiftly under the leadership of the militants led by Leo himself. They ordered a new Inquisition to root out heresy and announced a German Crusade to crush the outbreak of Neo-Lollardism. The Pope also promulgated the controversial new doctrine of Papal Infallibility. The moderates outside Germany protested and were imprisoned. Athelstan Moore led a delegation of Anglian, Scotian, Welsh and Irish theologians to Rome to implore compromise. He too was imprisoned and put on trial as a heretic.
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Great to see you back in action, always a joy to see your world in action
Thanks RR. I have a bit of time before I fly to the UK in a week and am indulging in mild procrastination of my urgently due monograph. No rest for the middle-aged!
The Anglian Martyrs and the Revocation of Whitby
September 1522: The trial of the Anglian and Brythonic theologians stirred much sympathy across Europe. Led by Athelstan Moore, they conducted their defence with courageous dignity, faultless logic and in impeccable Latin. Their moderation was a clarion call to reason and logic. Pasquino sprouted many satirical verses condemning the hawkish pope and lauding the holy men. Leo IX though squashed all opposition. The judges found all the accused guilty and condemned them to burning at the stake. They knew better than to thwart an absolute monarch and a tyrant and looked eagerly to their own advancement. Moore burned first and died in unrepentant agony. The others quickly followed in a grand auto da fe. Many in the crowds jeered and hissed at the “heretics,” but others watched in sullen silence. Inquisitors watched avidly and the braver spectators themselves died in the flames. Priests them began to die in back alleys, their throats slit.
November 1522: Desiderius Erasmus and Dunstan Fisher sat in shocked silence still at the death of the cream of Britannic theologians. They knew what must be done, but appalled, shrank at the step. When Theodore Cranwell, the Papal legate, was shown in, they both stood shoulder to shoulder against the intimidating physical presence of the Pope’s bully boy. He wasted no time in politesse or greeting, but began:
“Your heretical friends are dead, the Pope will have obedience. Even now inquisitors have landed to impose it. There can be no compromise and no pity. This battle is for men’s souls. All is justified for the faith. Will you submit?” He glared and seemed to grow even broader and burlier. The men sighed quietly and shook their heads. Prince-Bishop Fisher spoke in a tone of mild regret:
“Your inquisitors have been arrested and are being deported back to French soil for their own safety. The crowds at Hamptun could barely be restrained from stoning them. You too must return whence you came. These islands will not tolerate murder and tyranny. Holy deliverance came from the Lord in the time of St Ethelred, now we protect the people once again from bloodshed. I relinquish Bishop Szekel’s authority. In the name of Anglia, I lay claim to the free Christendom these islands long ago knew. The magisterium has betrayed Christ’s love and perverted the holy Catholic faith. We of these islands will maintain and burnish it with seemly and moderate reforms. Go, in the name of God, and leave these shores.”
Cranwell stood agog and aghast, but he knew defeat when he saw it. The soldiers who entered led the Nuncio away, the more dreadful in their implacable silence and impersonal efficiency than rough-handed louts could have been. Cranwell left the episcopal palace and made his last journey out of Anglia. Winchester had just added a third aspect to the Reformation.
September 1522: The trial of the Anglian and Brythonic theologians stirred much sympathy across Europe. Led by Athelstan Moore, they conducted their defence with courageous dignity, faultless logic and in impeccable Latin. Their moderation was a clarion call to reason and logic. Pasquino sprouted many satirical verses condemning the hawkish pope and lauding the holy men. Leo IX though squashed all opposition. The judges found all the accused guilty and condemned them to burning at the stake. They knew better than to thwart an absolute monarch and a tyrant and looked eagerly to their own advancement. Moore burned first and died in unrepentant agony. The others quickly followed in a grand auto da fe. Many in the crowds jeered and hissed at the “heretics,” but others watched in sullen silence. Inquisitors watched avidly and the braver spectators themselves died in the flames. Priests them began to die in back alleys, their throats slit.
November 1522: Desiderius Erasmus and Dunstan Fisher sat in shocked silence still at the death of the cream of Britannic theologians. They knew what must be done, but appalled, shrank at the step. When Theodore Cranwell, the Papal legate, was shown in, they both stood shoulder to shoulder against the intimidating physical presence of the Pope’s bully boy. He wasted no time in politesse or greeting, but began:
“Your heretical friends are dead, the Pope will have obedience. Even now inquisitors have landed to impose it. There can be no compromise and no pity. This battle is for men’s souls. All is justified for the faith. Will you submit?” He glared and seemed to grow even broader and burlier. The men sighed quietly and shook their heads. Prince-Bishop Fisher spoke in a tone of mild regret:
“Your inquisitors have been arrested and are being deported back to French soil for their own safety. The crowds at Hamptun could barely be restrained from stoning them. You too must return whence you came. These islands will not tolerate murder and tyranny. Holy deliverance came from the Lord in the time of St Ethelred, now we protect the people once again from bloodshed. I relinquish Bishop Szekel’s authority. In the name of Anglia, I lay claim to the free Christendom these islands long ago knew. The magisterium has betrayed Christ’s love and perverted the holy Catholic faith. We of these islands will maintain and burnish it with seemly and moderate reforms. Go, in the name of God, and leave these shores.”
Cranwell stood agog and aghast, but he knew defeat when he saw it. The soldiers who entered led the Nuncio away, the more dreadful in their implacable silence and impersonal efficiency than rough-handed louts could have been. Cranwell left the episcopal palace and made his last journey out of Anglia. Winchester had just added a third aspect to the Reformation.
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Return of Clem Attlee
I'm only very sporadically on the site these days because of my commitments as a professional historian, but I'd like to keep updating this TL periodically, if people would like to see more material. For those who haven't read my work from a few years back, this TL is a kind of background to my 18th century Northumbria story, The invasion of 1812. Here is the link for that:
https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...1812-a-northumbrian-survival-timeline.341827/
https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...1812-a-northumbrian-survival-timeline.341827/
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Marriage in, abbeys out!
1523: Leipzig:
Karl IV met privately with Maximilian Luther and his disciple, Gerhard Schwarzkopf. He listened carefully to their proposals to abolish monasticism as an unbiblical fraud. They proposed a division of church lands between the new church and the imperial crown. Furthermore, Luther demanded an end to clerical celibacy as an unnatural goad to sin and likewise an uncanonical anomaly. The emperor knew that the first was bait for the second and understood further what discord this would bring. His own conscience was clear on both points, but he had statecraft to balance against principle. Long discussions of both principle and practicalities followed. Neither theologian was satisfied with the result, but it was as far as they could push the emperor. At Easter, it was announced throughout the Duchy of Saxony that monasticism and clerical celibacy would be abolished forthwith. As Christ arose from the dead, so too would the new church rise from the spiritual death of medieval ignorance and superstition. Karl carefully informed his Dukes that this was simply a reform of his own personal domains. No one need follow his lead. Their consciences were their own and their souls must depend on their correct interpretation of conscience. Thus were seeds of doubt sown both clerically and politically.
Otto of Bavaria and the Archbishop-electors saw the danger of this policy and its inevitable spread. They speeded up their defensive preparations and quietly took soundings among the few moderate cardinals who were still alive and uncowed.
Karl IV met privately with Maximilian Luther and his disciple, Gerhard Schwarzkopf. He listened carefully to their proposals to abolish monasticism as an unbiblical fraud. They proposed a division of church lands between the new church and the imperial crown. Furthermore, Luther demanded an end to clerical celibacy as an unnatural goad to sin and likewise an uncanonical anomaly. The emperor knew that the first was bait for the second and understood further what discord this would bring. His own conscience was clear on both points, but he had statecraft to balance against principle. Long discussions of both principle and practicalities followed. Neither theologian was satisfied with the result, but it was as far as they could push the emperor. At Easter, it was announced throughout the Duchy of Saxony that monasticism and clerical celibacy would be abolished forthwith. As Christ arose from the dead, so too would the new church rise from the spiritual death of medieval ignorance and superstition. Karl carefully informed his Dukes that this was simply a reform of his own personal domains. No one need follow his lead. Their consciences were their own and their souls must depend on their correct interpretation of conscience. Thus were seeds of doubt sown both clerically and politically.
Otto of Bavaria and the Archbishop-electors saw the danger of this policy and its inevitable spread. They speeded up their defensive preparations and quietly took soundings among the few moderate cardinals who were still alive and uncowed.
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