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?