Hail Mighty Joan

This is an althist I created with another guy. Questions? Thoughts? Please comment!

Joan escapes from her prison in Rouen before her heresy trial has ended, and, with the help of sympathetic townsfolk and her ever-present voices, makes it back to the French camp within days, convincing much of the French nobles she had the help of God. She was put back into the army, where her reputation, military skill, and unorthodox tactics (including forcing captured longbowmen to fire on their countrymen) won her battle after battle; three victories of note were the second Siege of Orleans, the dramatic Siege of Paris, and the Battle of Calais, which ended the Century War altogether. Church bells rang throughout France, and Joan was given the nickname "Julia Caesar" by her contemporaries. She settled down as Count of Arc, where she was to live out the rest of her years.

This peace, however, could not last.

The Church had long since grown wary of Joan, and of those who named her a saint. With news of her victories in Aquitaine and Normandy spreading across Europe, many began to think she was favored by God, not by the Devil as the English had claimed. Threatened, the Pope made his decision. Joan of Arc was a heretic, abandoned by Jesus and sponsored by Satan. She was jailed once again, and now by her own people; but later, her own people came back to save her. An army of soldiers and civilians who idolized her stormed the prison, freed her from her cell, and escaped to the countryside.

Over the next year, a civil war raged throughout France, as the famously indeciscive French King Charles VII tried to decide where to throw his forces. But as time passed, it became apparent; despite Joan's smaller forces, her popular support, excellent leadership, and unreal luck proved more powerful than the vast, organized armies funded from London and from Rome. In November, 1433, Charles declared his support for Joan of Arc; and with their combined forces under her command, she drove the Roman Church out of France at last. She met with the Pope himself, and though she could not lift her excommunication, he was so convinced of her virtue that he vowed no crusade would be declared on France for the remainder of his papacy. And there was no crusade, though this might have been due to the Council of Florence, which grew into a small-scale rebellion against the beleaguered Eugene IV. In France, a new clergy settled down and began to hammer out the principles of their new religion; Arcism. Though Joan would not accept the cries of those who called her an angel descended to earth, she settled on being called a saint. It was only afterwards that she was elevated to the right hand of Christ.

But the story does not end here.

With the affairs of France under control, Charles began to look north, eager not to let the English destroy France once again. And, for once, he had good timing; the British Isles were rocking under constant Celtic and Arcist rebellion, and the English were hardly able to field their armies when Joan led the Arcists against Cornwall. Within a year, the Norman court, forced back into York, was slaughtered to a man when Scots bearing French arms stormed that last castle.

The British Isles were now very strange, little resembling the islands we know. In what once was called England, French lords, including Duke Joan D'Arc of Anglia, try to convert their reluctant serfs to Arcism. Cornwall, Wales, Ireland, Scotland: all these Celtic lands, formerly under English domination, were now free; but they found themselves weakened and unstable, with Arcism and Romanism dueling throughout their lands. With the help of France, a new Arcist state came into being; centered on an ancient line of Irish royals, the United Kingdom of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales was declared.

But still, there is more to be said.

The future is less than assured for the Pope and his Romanists. Arcism not only rules the population of France and Britain, but is spreading to other lands as well. The "Holy Roman Empire" was rife with Hussite heresy and competing Popes before Joan of Arc was issued her bull; now, with Arcists permeating the western borders, centralized power is an all but forgotten memory. Even more distressing is Aragon; as converts grow more and more common in their Spanish lands, Arcist churches are appearing in Aragonese possesions as far away as Naples and Malta, while the Aragonese prince Ferdinand is seeking an Arcist bride. And don't forget the French; they have easily the strongest military in Europe, and could have Rome at their mercy at any time.

But Arcism is not out of danger from itself yet. In every land that Arcists control, Romanists remain and sabotage every effort to eradicate them. The UKISW, in theory pawns of the French, are strongly independent and powerful; they have set their eyes on England, and may just resort to invasion if their desires are not satisfied, as raids into Northumbria attest to. Not even the followers of Arcism are unified; many disagree with the Arcist Church's declarations and are forming their own, more radical sects.

Will Arcism falter under the weight of its enemies and of itself, or will it carve out its own destiny among the peoples of Europe?
 
What are the tenents of Arcism?

If it existed today in our world would it look like any mainline or even evangelical/pentacostal Christian denomination or would it be regarded as only quasi-Christian (Jehovah's Witnesses) or even non-Christian (Mormons)?
 
It would look a lot like the Anglican church with a few Mormon elements added in.

Like the Anglican church, Arcism wasn't created because of difference in doctrine, so they would remain pretty Catholic at first (BTW, I call Catholicism "Romanism" in the text, if anyone's confused), but they would start diverging eventually. However, near and after Joan's death, they essentially maker her into a prophet on the same level that Joseph Smith, Jr., is on for the Mormons. It also has another testament, called the Codex of Arc.

Arcism is also rather populist and more oriented towards the peasants, thanks to Joan's influence. An additional effect of her influence is the belief that women are as holy and worthy as men, making Arcism more egalitarian.
 
For the next fifty years or so, Arcism rocked the leaky, mutiny-ridden boat that was Europe. France continued to convert its British serfs, while the UKISW continued to build itself up. In Germany and Spain, various Arcist preachers emerged to revolt against their leaders - or, worse, convert them, as happened with the royal line of Aragon, by which the rulers of Castile were not amused. In fact, Queen Isabella was married to an Austrian noble, a weak man who submitted to her completely, rather than Ferdinand, the prince of Aragon. Nevertheless, she still financed the expedition of one Colombo, which found her endless riches in a new world. Delighted, she devoted all her attention to the conquest of this distant land.

In 1515, King Ferdinand used his last words to give Aragon, the homeland of his body, to France, the homeland of his faith. Of course, this ignited a flurry of indignation throughout Romanist Europe, as Aragonese Naples was within a few day's distance of Rome. Italy was already in upheaval, especially in the north where the Continents major powers jockeyed for influence, and this could only stirr the mix. In a shocking move, Venice signed an alliance treaty with France and Ireland, even as the Pope called for all of the Catholic powers in Europe to destroy both nations. The clock began to tick, and the sudden explosion of war would come only in a matter of time...

Sorry about both the double post and the lack of text, but I'm busy and i'll try to get more later.
 
So you did the near cliche of most 15th century TLs: Spain must not be united. Yet this time at the cost of making the event unrealistic, wankish and full of holes.

So Ferdinand simply doesn't marry anyone? Why? Why would this Ferdinand be such an empty-headed person devoted to religion when he was a pragmatic man in reality, that listened more to the sword than to the croiss? Why would this "Arcism" be anything popular in Aragon, a long time enemy of France?

And, oh wait... He "gives the kingdom to the land of his faith"? He can't. Any Aragonese monarch must be endorsed by the Aragonese Courts first. That is, the representatives of Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia and Majorca must elect him before. And I don't think they would just jump happy and give their independence to a rival because a suddenly idiotic monarch decides that. It's more plausible to see them inviting a Castilian noble to be their king in that type of event, like they did twice in the previous century. By the way, Ferdinand's death was in 1516.

Naples? It was only conquered by Aragon in 1503. With Castilian troops. And it was necessary to beat the French troops there first. Nothing in this part seem to make any sense in TTL.

By the way, it was Isabella who was the more religious of the couple and... wait a moment... a declared fan of Joan D'Arc in OTL that allways wanted to emulate and follow her example. She fought the strongest men of Castile for her rights to take the throne, she married the man she wanted against the advice of everybody, she commanded the troops in battle, and she persecuted and expeled all those she considered long time invaders of her Homeland... that is, the Portuguese, the Moors, and the Jews. She threw off them like Joan threw the English out of France. If Joan becames a trully religious figure earlier, Little Isabella can even develop mesianic tendencies as a result. Which means the Castilian Civil War of 1474 probably gets a religious shade it didn't had in OTL (because Castile would be a more likely open place for expansion of this new faith/heresy than Aragon, due to the reasons mentioned), and being the war a so closed match the butterflies probably makes it turn the other way. Isabella the Catholic would be known simply as Isabella the Mad and end as a footnote in History.
 
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