The year was 1204.
Constantinople was now in Catholic hands. The Byzantine Emperor fled with his tail between his legs to his base in Nicaea. However, in a rather unprecedented move, the Pope kind of jutted into the whole situation. The pope demanded that he be allowed to help appoint candidates for ruler-ship in this new "Latin Empire." The Venetians, not wanting to upset the Pope, begrudgingly agreed.
The Pope appointed a series of people to help rule the Latin Empire. These people were not only relatively friendly to the Pope, but also a lot better stewards than the ones appointed OTL. This lead to the Latin Empire becoming a lot more centralized and powerful than OTL, which caused all kinds of butterflies.
The Fifth Crusade was a wild success with the new, stable Latin Empire. Egypt was overrun, and so was Jerusalem, with the Islamic armies absolutely crushed at the Battle of Sinai and the Battle of Galilee. Venice became one of the great powers of Europe, and soon further crusades were launched into Armenia and Syria. The Russian states, seeing that trade with Europe would now only really be viable if they converted to Catholicism, slowly came into the Roman fold as a way to one-up their rivals.
The first major butterfly, however, was an English victory in a war for the kingdom of France. For a period of around a decade, England was the strongest power in Europe, being able to even threaten Venetian trade at some points. However, after the death of the English king, the Angevin empire split into pieces, as the many sons of the emperor battled it out for supremacy. With papal permission, the Holy Roman Emperor swept into France, annexing most of it into the Empire to ensure peace. While this might have temporarily strengthened Holy Roman Imperial power, within a generation the ambitious dukes of the former French kingdom were trying their best to decentralize the kingdom. At the same time, major Christian incursions into northwestern Africa ensured that by 1524 there were no Muslim kingdoms on the North African coast. After completing the Reconquista, the Castilian kingdom released the Knights of Calatrava to Papal investigation, hoping that it would be dissolved and it's rich fortunes taken by the crown. Unexpectedly, the Pope allowed the Knights to not only continue existing, but to spearhead a Christian invasion of Morocco. The Knights of Calatrava soon found themselves in charge of Morocco after invading around the same time as an invasion from remnants of the Songhai empire.
In the Islamic world, the embarrassment of losing so many holy wars to the Christians lead to a massive series of popular uprisings in Arabia. A group of Turks ended up returning to their home in the Steppes, where they found themselves under pressure from the expanding Kartelevian kingdom, but most quietly assimilated into Byzantine, Armenian, or Latin society. The Omani, who had up until that point remained content to stay in Oman proper, made a significant amount of expansion, normalizing Ibadi Islam and actually defeating the Eighth Crusade.
Meanwhile, it began to rub shoulders with the aforementioned Kartelevian kingdom. With the Islamic states to the south of them were busy defending against the Crusades, Georgia expanded into the surrounding kingdom. For a while, it looked like Georgia would become the primary Caucasian power. However, Queen Rusadan of Georgia would not simply settle for that. She formed an alliance with the Alans, and eventually vassalized them as the Catholic Russians and Pechenegs made more and more incursions. After winning a pair of decisive wars, she began to expand into the wide, rather empty Steppes. Kartelevia still has problems with demographics, with there being simply not enough Georgians to fill their empire, but record food surpluses and peace are rapidly changing that.
Genghis Khan was slain in a duel against a rival, and while Mongolia was unified, it never would dream of the success it would have OTL. However, with no Mongol invasions, the Goryeo kingdom would have time to quietly build it's army, and when a massive succession crisis and famine rocked the Song dynasty, Goryeo launched a full scale invasion, eventually seizing the Chinese throne. This new Hong dynasty would both spread Korean culture into China, and Chinese culture into Korea. However, this mostly lead to both peoples being assimilated into each other, much to conservative's horror.
The Black Death occurs around the same time as OTL, paving the way for many of the aforementioned changes.
Meanwhile, in Europe, a Portuguese explorer would discover the Americas in 1435. With no real ability to colonize, Europe would slowly discover more and more of it before eventually Portugal lands colonists in Cuba. Making a deal with the pope, Portugal was able to claim the Lion's share of the Americas, invading and conquering the bickering Nahua kingdoms between 1450 and 1500.
In 1461, a Bohemian bishop, returning home appalled from the horrific excesses of the Papacy in Rome, decided that the only way to truly serve God would be if he started his own church that did not have that taint. Allegedly, in one night, said bishop completely rewrote a lot of the Catholic liturgy in Czech and in a more interactive way. This Neoliturgical church spread like wildfire across Europe. By 1521, several kingdoms had converted to this new religion.
In the Latin Empire, the Neoliturgical church became extremely popular. Greek Orthodoxy had finally been outlawed in 1391, but most Greeks chaffed under the rather opaque and alien Catholic liturgy, which had become even more skewed from the traditions they were familiar with over time. The Neoliturgical "Unified Churches" allowed them to both "have their cake and eat it too," and avoid becoming an Orthodox Christian, which was seen as an underclass. Eventually, even the Latin Emperor was forced to convert. This started the Duke and Count's War between the Latin Empire and pretty much all of it's neighbors. Eventually a full Crusade was called on the Neoliturgicals. However, the crusade failed miserably. The Holy Roman princes were too busy squabbling to send any troops, the Russian states were fighting each other, the Iberian states were fighting each other, and most of the states that
did send troops sent their auxiliaries and reserves. In a
series of decisive battles, the Papal army was smashed, and so with it the crusader spirit.
With the effective end of the crusades, another group stepped out of the shadows. The Cathar movement was not quite as suppressed as OTL, allowing it to truly gain a following in southern France. With the failure of the crusade, this group officially broke ties on their end with the Catholic Church, and formed the "Mystical Church of the True Jesus." This church would spread even farther than Neoliturgicalism would. It basically was gnosticism lite, saying that the Bible was true and that you could get married and similar things, but you could also receive special revelations from God if you were a good enough Christian. Gender equality was also practiced. Mysticism spread through Europe, drawing away even more Catholics. By 1521, while not completely toothless, the Papacy was increasingly being seen as a relic of a bygone era.
The Dutch also had their own mini-reformation, converting to a kind of Arian Christianity who's complexities could fill an entire library.
Thus, the world stands as it is pictured. Colonization of America is beginning to really pick up the pace. An age of exploration was beginning. And overall, for Europe, the disparity between itself and the rest of the world was growing. For now.
On a small ship returning from Mexico, a priest was not able to stop coughing. He had been working with the natives for six months, who had fallen sick from some disease. He groaned and fell back into bed. He felt his head. Fever. He would have to send for a medicus when he arrived in Europe. He looked at himself in the mirror, and, to his surprise, saw a trickle of blood leave his ear. He felt it. It was real. He shook his head. Someone must have cursed him in Mexico too. Oh well, he thought to himself, sitting back down. Soon I will be home, with friends again, and things will be better.
And little did he know, as he set foot in Galicia, that he would doom 70% of Europe.
