[FONT="]Part 8 – Bohemian Rhapsody[/FONT]
[FONT="] Jan Huss and his followers had been inspired by Wycliffe in some ways. Of course, his own reading of the Bible had helped greatly, as he, too, believed in the priesthood of the believer rather than relying on worldly priests. However, the new Church of England caused Hus and his followers to consider the importance of having a national identity, with one specific plan rather than a mixture of radical and conservative elements like they had.(1)[/FONT]
[FONT="] They knew they would face battles. The Holy Roman Emperor had responded to King John II’s claims of tampering for his his first wife had died in 1394 proclaiming a flurry of anathemas against him, and the pope in Rome had suggested a crusade against him in the early 1400s, going so far as to say the king’s illness in 1405 was the wrath of God upon him – something Pope Gregory XII continued to claim this, then found himself forced to back down on his claims that “God would never bless the English” when King Henry IV won huge victories for the English against France in 1410, forcing the agreement that his son, Henry V, would be the heir as the surviving son of Charles VI’s oldest daughter.(2)[/FONT]
[FONT="] He backed down in part because he felt like perhaps this was a judgment against the pope in Avignon. When with Gergory’s death in 1415 the office of Pope became vacant – and would be for over 2 years – furor against England gradually wore down as the Archbishop of Canterbury boldly proclaimed that at least England had a leader for its church.[/FONT]
[FONT="] While England had been sheltered by the English Channel, as well as by the Schism, the Hussites had neither thing to distract their enemies. Their victories over armies which came in to fight them were surprising to Church leaders, but as time has gone on, it appears that part of their success was the beginning of their identity as a nation – the Kingdom of Bohemia, a land which didn’t need any outside church ruling its internal affairs.[/FONT]
[FONT="] What were the beliefs of that Church, though; that was the main question. As word came about what was going on in England, it was revealed that Lollards were not really associated with the Church of England, though that Church had adopted quite a bit of Lollardy, albeit in an ecclesiastical hierarchy and with not all of it adopted.[/FONT]
[FONT="]However, vital parts were - salvation by grace through faith, the importance of individual faith, and so on.[/FONT]
[FONT="] While Jan Hus had been martyred, his followers, such as Jan Zizka, began to look to the rising Lollard movement and, inspired also by the Bulgarian revolt, a sense of Bohemian nationalism began to emerge. Perhaps, by adopting their own tenets of faith similar to Lollardy, they could, as the English had, establish their own state church. It would be much closer to the Hussites than the Church of England ws to Lollardy, but it would still be similar to what the Lollards had been doing. Indeed, Lollards were infiltrating English churches more and more.[/FONT]
[FONT="]In the early 1420s, a plan was made to raise someone to the throne of Bohemia who was willing to be a Hussite; the Jagiellons of Poland aided in this.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Hedwig/Jadwiga, oldest daughter of Vladislaw II of Poland, and originally seen as potential Queen of Poland for a while till her brother was born, was a symbol of this. Wladislaw II had converted to Catholicism but still had ties to Russian Orthodoxy, and given problems he still had with the Teutonic Knights even after his conversaion, he was open to at least accepting some level of religious freedom. This, in turn, meant she was willing to convert to the Church of England. When a brother wasn’t born right away and she was the clear favorite to be Queen, Henry V’s regents sought to marry her to an English prince in order to prevent any problems for Henry V, who they were looking at a Burgundian match for, though a few German states in the North had begun to see movement toward the new Lollardism, partly because the Bible was being written in the vernacular in some places.[/FONT]
[FONT="]This was a sign of the growing tension against Catholics, tension which, now that their schism was finally ending, the Church tried to stamp out. However, events in bohemia were creating a major distraction. The Hussites kept winning wars against the Crusaders who tried to conquer them. Then, in one battle, Jan Ziska was wounded and – as he recovered from his head wound – he decided it would be best if he become king and let Procopius, wo had taken over, be the lead general. Ziska would still provide some support, but it was felt he should unite the factions as they were calling for him.(3)[/FONT]
[FONT="]Still, As King Jan tried to make negotiations between factions of the Hussites, he found himself making more friends with Poland than with some of his own troops, who were more bloodthirsty than he was.(4) He feared that his new “kingdom” wouldn’t last if his men continued to act like this.[/FONT]
[FONT="]In England, hwoever, there was a model he could use – a Church of England which functioned spate from Rome and which taught the people with an eye toward showing Jesus Christ’s love, without the “eye for an eye” rashness that his men seemed to have. True, their king, Henry V, was fighting for temporal things, but he reasoned that Henry V had a claim to the throne of France and it was oly reasonable that he should try to grabe it. He preferred more Heavenly rewards, but he could, at least, an an ally to the Engldh – and the Poles.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Without the Turks being united and ravaging Southeastern Europe, that region remained stronger, but this meant there were regions the Catholic Church wished to convert, and some Orthodox leaders tried to work deals with the English for help. It wasn’t forthcoming – England was too busy with France – but one thing could be used.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Greek texts were shipped to the English, because of this printing press which had been recently invented, during the 1410s and 1420s. A Bible began to be printed not with a translation from the Latin Vulgate but from the original Greek from Antiochan texts, as well as from the original Hebrew for the Old Testament from that area.(5)[/FONT]
[FONT="]This was one of the things which the Catholic Church was really livid about. They wanted control over the masses. However, the more they fought, as with their wars aainst the Hussites, the more they seemed to fall behind. Not only had the English Church left the fold, but Lollards and other believers were springing up in Burgundy as the 1420s wore on. Eventually, a treaty was considered allowing the Hussites to practice their faith, but while the Church might have been willing to accept the more moderate Utraquists who wanted the whole congregation to take of the win and not just the priest during communion, there were still prominent members of the Hussites, thanks to their new Bibles in the vernacular, who were claiming that the bread and wine were merely symbols and didn’t represent the literal body and blood of Christ.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Meanwhile, as the conflict over interpretations and the role of the Church in Bohemia continued to rage, Bulgarian independence from the last of the Ottomans was achieved – the Turks were forced to flee into Anatolia and after a while be absorbed intot he Karaminids, who would focus on consolidating power in Asia. Europe was free of the Ottoman threat, but the new nation of Bulgaria, while Christian, seemed more concerned with where it stood as a nation than with its faith, under the leadership of Constantine II.(6)[/FONT]
[FONT="]A brave new world was clearly developing in Europe, a small spark that was fomenting not only reform, and also the rise of nationalism. And, who knew where that would lead. The Reformation had, by 1450, grown to had a lock on England and substantial elements of different Bible-based churches, rather than hierarchy based, in Burgundy, Scandinavia, Polaand, Bohemia,a nd a number of Northern Germany states, and even in France, even as the French pushed the English off the Continent.(7)[/FONT]
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[FONT="](1) OTL, while inspired by Wycliffe, there was a great disparity in what Hussites believed, which wound up harming them in the long run, though even as it was they managed to win quite a bit in the Hussite Wars, partly because of a divided Church.[/FONT]
[FONT="](2) OTL Henry V won this stage of the Hundred Years’ War, but here the battles are staged earlier, and while not quite as decisive at first, the English eventually win.[/FONT]
[FONT="]*3) OTL Zizka was wounded and lost an eye.[/FONT]
[FONT="](4) Indeed, he was known for his mercy and kindness to prisoners.[/FONT]
[FONT="](5) In other words, what Erasmus did OTL, with a number of things which led to OTL’s King James Bible.[/FONT]
[FONT="](6) Nationalism as a concept at this stage is still growing slowly, but that is how it would be seen, anyway, I think.[/FONT]
[FONT="](7) In other words, somewhat similar to how it grew OTL, with nations closest to Rome staying Catholic and the main exception being Poland-Lithuania, which starts to have more religious freedom because the king would have so recently converted from Russian orthodox.[/FONT]
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And, that's all I have.
So, someone can take it from there or even tweak things with the Bohemiams or the French Civil War; I just found it and, having sort of lot interest and any ideas, tidied up Part 7, added to and rounded out Part 8, and that was it.
The key is that a Reformation similar to our Protestant one does happen in TTL, and English nd French history are drastically changed. With the Karamanids ruling Anatolia after a few more decades, and from what others said in antoher thread they would focus on Asia, not Europe, European history, too, is radically altered.
So, go at it, have fun with it, whoever decides to do this TL much more in depth.
Thanks to all - I might have a few short or medium baseball ones but for now, I want to work on other projects, plus "Not By Might, But By Right," a Print On Demand book, is one I want to finish and be able to get up on lulu.com at least by the time spring hits. It's *got* to get warmer by then, doesn't it?

You'll see it, just keep watching the "store" in my sig where I like to "My lulu.com books" (Though you can also find them elsewhere, though after being up on lulu it takes a while for eslewhere)
Thanks for reading and I hope you've enjoyed it.