The Cross and The Sceptre

THE CROSS AND THE SCEPTRE

Early in 597, a ship dropped anchor off the Isle of Thanet in north-east Kent. From there it launched a band of 40 men. They were Christian Monks and they had been led on their long journey to Britain by the Bishop of Bourges in the Southern Frankish Kingdom. His name was Heorgios, and his mission was to convert the heathen peoples of Britain to Christianity. Heorgios' mission had been long in preparation. About 20 years before he and his companions set out, Gregory, who was the Pope's representative at the Imperial Byzantine Court in Constantinople, had noticed some beautiful fair-haired young boys up for sale in the slave market. Intrigued, he asked the merchant the name of their race.
"They are called Angles," replied the slave-dealer "And they inhabit the Isles of Britannia."
"That is appropriate," Gregory said, "For they have angelic faces, and so it is right yhat they should become fellow heirs with the angels in Heaven!"

From that time onwards, Gregory was determined to bring history to the Angles. In 590 he was elected Pope, and at last he had the power to authorise such an adventure as which he had been desiring for so long. And to lead this hazardous venture, he chose Heorgios. In many ways this choice was surprising, for he was born a slaveboy himself, of Anglo-Celtic descent, but raised in the clergy by the former Archbishop of Ravenna, Giovanni the Roman. He had become Bishop of Bourges after fifteen years of being an abbot in Pomposa, near Ravenna. He was known for his calm, diplomatic temper and zeal in spreading the Word of the Lord, and was also immensely clever talking Greek, Latin and Vulgar Celtic fluently, and being an able writer, cartographer and artist. He wouldn't have been a strange choice if it weren't for his unusually young age of 40 and the fact that many other candidates for the mission were very influentuial in the Court of Rome.

Anyhow, the party of twenty Roman and twenty Frankish Monks left Bourges in early March of 597, tracing the Loire River and stopping in Orleans a fortnight later to discuss with Saint Arthemius, Bishop of Sens about the Anglo-Saxon Pagans. He provided two wise monks, Clement and Amatus of Sens to assist with the conversion. From there, they travelled north through Neustria to the small fishing village of Cales, where Britannia could be seen from. And so it was that, in early April of that year, the Gregorian Mission yo re-convert the Pagans of Britannia had begun.

One of the first to hear about their landing was Ethelbert, King of Kent. Heorgios (Whom we shall call in this story by his later, Anglic name, Yorke) and his companions were quickly summoned to his presence. This was the crucial moment; if George, Clement and Amatus could persuade the King to listen, his mission stood a fair chance of success. They did have one great advantage on their side, apart from George's gift as a preacher. Bertha, the Queen of Kent and beloved wife of Ethelbert, was originally a Christian Princess from Austrasia. She had brought with her a recently deceased Bishop named Liudhard who had consecrated the marriage but made no efforts of conversion.

Yorke marched boldly up to the King, carrying a silver cross and chanting prayers, whilst Clement held out an illuminated bible from Sens and Amatus holding a scroll and a pen, implements he thus used to record the incident. Ethelbert greeted them politely, but he had took care to meet them out in the open, lest these mysterious strangers cast a spell on him, and he was very wary and sceptical. George then explained the purpose of their mission and preached to the assembled court. The King then rose, and replied, "Your words and promises are fair indeed. But they are new and strange to us and I cannot accept them and abandon the age-old beliefs of the entire English peoples. But since you have travelled far through many labours, we will not harm you. We will recieve you hospitably and nor do we forbid you to preach and to convert."

The Christians were given a hall in the ancient Roman town of Canterbury and there they used the Church of Saint Martin, a Church built by the Christians of the area 200 years earlier. They preached around the kingdom fervently, establishing three more churches in Kent; of St Peter and Saint Paul, of the Virgin Mary and of Saint Andrew. Finally, in the early August of that year, the King supposedly had a dream in which Christ came to hom and told him to convert, which he did. This was a turning point in the mission. Following their Lord's example, in the August of that year, more than 10 000 people were converted by the Christians. From Canterbury, George sent out men to create new bishoprics - a man named Bartholomaeus became the First Bishop of Dover, a monk named Mellitus established the see of London, and a Florencian monk known as Justus became the Bishop of Medway. Ironically, George himself became Archbishop of Canterbury, and Clement and Amatus decided that they would venture further into England before becoming bishops or abbots.

Ethelbert's decision also influenced many other kingdoms surrounding Kent. The Kingdom of Essex, ruled over by Ethelbert's nephew Saebert, became a predominantly Christian realm, and the local Lords converted aswell. The Kingdom of Sussex was converted by Amatus and Clement, and they instituted two bishoprics there, of Selsey and of Chichester. Then they travelled northwards to the Kingdom of Wessex, where their adventures shall be revealed in the next post.

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The Blessed Saint Yorke of the English, in his full regalia as first Archbishop of Canterbury.

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Saints Clement the Wise and Amatus the Learned.



So yea, whaddaya think? Personally I think iy's okay but could be better had I spent more time in planning. I know I'm a noob, so constructive criticism is very good, but hurtful comments are not because I will cry myself to sleep. Only joking, but yea... whaddaya'll think!?
 
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I can't criticize as I know nothing about this. But you have interest.:)


YAYAYAY :) Thankyou <3 *hugs*

Yea but yea, didn't expect that much love, did ye??

And I just thought I'd point out that the POD was that Heorgios or Clement and Amatus were never alive and that Augustine led the mission to Britain.
 
Effectively a bump but...

The First Half of the Lives of Saints Clement and Amatus the Learned.

In the town of Sens, in Burgundy or Swabia, there was born to the family of a rich merchant of high-standing a young boy that they named Clement, after his great-uncle Clementius the White, abbot of an hugely influential monastery known as Rosray in the Vorges Mountains to the East. This young boy was raised as a merchant in education from the monk Deaus of the Sens Cathedral, and from the servant of thr house, a man who was known in the household as Clee. It was at the age of five that, whilst in his bed ill, the Saint Nicholas appeared to him, and told him to rise from his bed, which he did, and he was well again. At the age of thirteen, then in his quarters practising to write, St Nicholas again appeared to the boy, this time telling him to abandon his merchantile studies and follow the way of the Lord. And so the Blessed Clement took to Sens Cathedral and enrolled as a Monk of the Benedictine Order. On that same day the Cathedral also recieved another young boy hoping to become a monk, and his name was Amatus. Unlike Clement, Amatus was not a Frank, or rich, or with a religious family. He was born in the Alpines to a Lombard peasant family and had been too a sickly child. Whilst in bed at the age of five recovering from an illness, St Christopher appeared to the child, and cured him of his illness. Again when he was seven, and then twelve, Christopher appeared, at the latter date telling him to make the journey to Sens and take up the life of a monk. Initially his family disagreed because Amatus worked for them, but St Christopher appeared and told them to let him go. He travelled along the River Loire to Sens, and agreed to the Benedictine Oath along with Clement that August.

The two young monks each flourished under the care of the Church and quickly forged a strong bond of friendship. They regularly walked together and gave to the poor, and they both had an interest in writing and cartography and in learning. It was these skills that they most excelled in. They extensively studied the Bible, the works of the Greek and Roman thinkers and the theological, political and historical accounts of the time, and they quickly became known as the 'two venerable minds of Francia' to the higher authorities in tghe Church. At the age of 19, the Archbishop of Aix, Auxanius, visited Sens and took a particular interest in the boys, and holding a private meeting with them. It is highly probable that the Archbishop influenced the boys view of the world. Many more times in their lives did saints appear to them - always Nicholas and Christopher to them individually, but a multitude when they were together. At the age of 25, at the earliest podsible time, Saint Arthemeus, Bishop of Sens, appointed them deacons and they continued to read. At 27 they produced their first written work, ENCYCLOPAEDICA DE SENS or the Sens Chronicles, detailing the history of that area and the bishopric. At the age of 31, they both became Priests and continued to venture into the Sciences and the Theological Arts as well as Writing. They were offered bishoprics and even archbishoprics although they always declined them. They constructed a church in Burgundy which they named 'The Church of Jesus, Saint Christopher and Saint Nicholas'.

At the age of 67, they were approached by George of the English on reccomendation of the Bishop of Sens. They agreed to join his party after praying all night and St Christopher and St Nicholas appearing to them respectively. They documented their travel to Cales and their journey by sea to Kent, documenting the flora, fauna and geography of the English Channel and Dover. After the conversion of Ethelbert and his nephew and their kingdoms, they were the first French to venture north of the Kentish boder with Wessex. Having established three bishoprics in East Sussex, they ventured north into Wessex, and to Ceowulf's Royal Hall in Winchester.
 
AN OVERVIEW OF BRITAIN

597

Saint George of the English, Bishop of Bourges and the Saints Clement and Atamus the Learned and 40 other monks reach Britain, and convert the Kingdom of Kent and the Kingdom of Essex.
Saint Columba dies and is buried at his Abbey in Iona.

598

The Battle of Catraeh is fought between the Celtic Brythons and the Angle Bernicians and Deira.

599

Raedwald becomes King of East Anglia.
 
THis is very interesting and I always support more medieval timelines. However, my area of medieval historical knowledge is concentrated in the 14th and 15th centuries and the Carolingians, so I am a little unclear as to the exact POD. Also, how will the POD (whatever it is) affect the Frankish kingdoms? Will the Merovingians still be steadily ousted by another dynasty?
Look forward to more,
Scipio
 
I'm interested but should point out that George is not an AS version of Giorgios (etc) as that is a later adoption from the French.
The adopted Giorgios/Georgius into AS later became Yorrick or Yorke (compare the Low German Jorg etc).

It would provide some delicious irony to have St York Archbishop of Canterbury :D
 
THis is very interesting and I always support more medieval timelines. However, my area of medieval historical knowledge is concentrated in the 14th and 15th centuries and the Carolingians, so I am a little unclear as to the exact POD. Also, how will the POD (whatever it is) affect the Frankish kingdoms? Will the Merovingians still be steadily ousted by another dynasty?
Look forward to more,
Scipio

Thankyou for the interest :)

The POD is actually technically in 540 AD or so, with the births of Clement and Amatus, but the main divergence from OTL comes when this entirely fictional George comes into the picture and leads the mission to Britain. And I haven't quite worked it out yet about the rest of the world but I think I shall butterfly away through something or another the Byzantine-Sassanid Wars and instead have the Roman Empire focusing more on attacking the Franks for some reason or another, so the Persians could obtain the Ghassanid Kingdom (Byzantine Vassal State) And I'm thinking an earlier Visigothic defeat so yhe Moors can get to the Pyrenees making for an early, non-Islamic Reconquista and whilst the leaders are away a revolt by a powerful noble family? But I really need help, so any comments about this are really appreciated. I know these aren't very realistic, but they could happen right? But yea, thankyou and I NEED HELP!
 
I'm interested but should point out that George is not an AS version of Giorgios (etc) as that is a later adoption from the French.
The adopted Giorgios/Georgius into AS later became Yorrick or Yorke (compare the Low German Jorg etc).

It would provide some delicious irony to have St York Archbishop of Canterbury :D

Oh....
Ahahaha yes it would! :D
So I'll change that then! And thankyou for the interest!
 

Sior

Banned
Effectively a bump but...

The First Half of the Lives of Saints Clement and Amatus the Learned.

In the town of Sens, in Burgundy or Swabia, there was born to the family of a rich merchant of high-standing a young boy that they named Clement, after his great-uncle Clementius the White, abbot of an hugely influential monastery known as Rosray in the Vorges Mountains to the East. This young boy was raised as a merchant in education from the monk Deaus of the Sens Cathedral, and from the servant of thr house, a man who was known in the household as Clee. It was at the age of five that, whilst in his bed ill, the Saint Nicholas appeared to him, and told him to rise from his bed, which he did, and he was well again. At the age of thirteen, then in his quarters practising to write, St Nicholas again appeared to the boy, this time telling him to abandon his merchantile studies and follow the way of the Lord. And so the Blessed Clement took to Sens Cathedral and enrolled as a Monk of the Benedictine Order. On that same day the Cathedral also recieved another young boy hoping to become a monk, and his name was Amatus. Unlike Clement, Amatus was not a Frank, or rich, or with a religious family. He was born in the Alpines to a Lombard peasant family and had been too a sickly child. Whilst in bed at the age of five recovering from an illness, St Christopher appeared to the child, and cured him of his illness. Again when he was seven, and then twelve, Christopher appeared, at the latter date telling him to make the journey to Sens and take up the life of a monk. Initially his family disagreed because Amatus worked for them, but St Christopher appeared and told them to let him go. He travelled along the River Loire to Sens, and agreed to the Benedictine Oath along with Clement that August.

The two young monks each flourished under the care of the Church and quickly forged a strong bond of friendship. They regularly walked together and gave to the poor, and they both had an interest in writing and cartography and in learning. It was these skills that they most excelled in. They extensively studied the Bible, the works of the Greek and Roman thinkers and the theological, political and historical accounts of the time, and they quickly became known as the 'two venerable minds of Francia' to the higher authorities in tghe Church. At the age of 19, the Archbishop of Aix, Auxanius, visited Sens and took a particular interest in the boys, and holding a private meeting with them. It is highly probable that the Archbishop influenced the boys view of the world. Many more times in their lives did saints appear to them - always Nicholas and Christopher to them individually, but a multitude when they were together. At the age of 25, at the earliest podsible time, Saint Arthemeus, Bishop of Sens, appointed them deacons and they continued to read. At 27 they produced their first written work, ENCYCLOPAEDICA DE SENS or the Sens Chronicles, detailing the history of that area and the bishopric. At the age of 31, they both became Priests and continued to venture into the Sciences and the Theological Arts as well as Writing. They were offered bishoprics and even archbishoprics although they always declined them. They constructed a church in Burgundy which they named 'The Church of Jesus, Saint Christopher and Saint Nicholas'.

At the age of 67, they were approached by George of the English on reccomendation of the Bishop of Sens. They agreed to join his party after praying all night and St Christopher and St Nicholas appearing to them respectively. They documented their travel to Cales and their journey by sea to Kent, documenting the flora, fauna and geography of the English Channel and Dover. After the conversion of Ethelbert and his nephew and their kingdoms, they were the first French to venture north of the Kentish boder with Wessex. Having established three bishoprics in East Sussex, they ventured north into Wessex, and to Ceowulf's Royal Hall in Winchester.

The Romano-British were christian from the 3rd century, The illegal invading Angles, Saxons, Jutes were goat bothering pagans and as far as the real British were concerned they could stay that way and not clutter up heaven!
 
All over South-East England the idols fell and crosses were put up in their place. Grand Churches were built over the temples of old. But the fires of paganism still burnt strongly in Saxon hearts. Saebert of Essex died and he was succeeded by his pagan sons. They forced Mellitus, Bishop of London, to flee back to Rome. There, he met with the aging Gregory and became a Cardinal of the Church. Even in Kent, Ethelbert's successor reverted to the old beliefs for a short period of time, although Yorke eventually convinced him to return to Christianity. For their part, the Christians were learning the wisdom of building on pagan surroundings. Pope Gregory advised Yorke to 'not pull down the heathen temples, but let them become temples of the true God, so the people will have no need to change their place of concourse'.

Yorke, his monks and his converts were not the only Christians in Britain. In Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Ireland survived the Celts - the Britons whom the Anglo-Saxons had driven out. They called them 'Welsh' or foreigners. Though they had been cut off from Rome, they remained loyal to the Christian Faith, albeit with some local variations. There were now two Christian Churches in Britain, but George wouldn't be the one to solve this.

In spite of everything, the Church survived. In a few generations, it would be the Angles setting out to convert the Saxons of Germany. English missionaries were to become the bearers of the faith to countless pagans.
Christian England had been born.

-------------------------------

OVERVIEW OF THE WORLD


600

- 200 people are killed by smallpox in Thracia within a month.
- King Ingvar of the Swedes invades Estonia but is forced to retreat back to Uppsala by the fierce local army.
- The Conversion of Nubia is completed, and the Kings of Nubia become Christian.
- Saints Clement and Amatus, after two years, finally convert Ceolwulf of Wessex and most of his subjects.
- The period known as the Persian Golden Age begins.
- The Mayan town of San Andres or Ilopango is buried under ash from the eruption of the Loma Caldera.
- Moaldboard Plough is created in Belarussia.

601

- Peter the Byzantine defeats the Avars in Rumania.
- Liuva is coronated King of the Visigoths in Toledo.
- Clement and Amatus reach the Royal Court of Pybba in Mercia and convert 1500 of his subjects, but fail to convert him or his family.
- Mellitus becomes Papal Apocrisarii, or Legate, to the Byzantine Court after the previous is struck down by lightning.

602

- Clement and Amatus arrive in Deira, where they meet the Court in York. They, extraordinarily, arrive at the same time as a group of Irish Monks from the Hebrides do. Together, they convert the majority of the 20 000 that year.
- Maurice, short of money and strugglig in war against the Avars, decress that the Imperial Army should stay for the winter beyond the Danube, a disastrous mistakr. The army rebel and Maurice flees to Aquitaine with his family and around 100 Members of his Guard and their families. Phocas is coronated as Byzantine Emperor.

603

- Clement takes ill at York, and decides he can not go on any further. Amatus and he become the first Archbishops of York.
- The Gokturks of the Steppes revolt against their Khan, but they are crushed by his army.

604

- The Sassanid Empire declares war on the Ghassanid Kingdom.
- The thrones of Bernicia and Deira are united by Aethelfrith of Northumbria.
- Pope Gregory dies and is succeeded by Pope Sabinian.

605

- The Grand Canal of China is finished.
- al-Nu'man VII ibn al-Harith Abu Kirab is coronated as King of the Ghassanids, amidst growing threats from the Byantine Empire.

606

- Cearl becomes King of Mercia.
- Persia officially annexes their vassal state of Lakshmidia after arguments with their leader, and they now share a border with the target state of Ghassinidia.
- Ceolwulf of Wessex defeats the South Saxons and incorporates Sussex into Wessex.

607

- Mellitus, Apokrisiarii of Constantinople, and formerly Bishop of London, is elected Pope at the age of 57 after Sabinian dies during his first year.
- The prehistoric market town of 'Ras Al-A'yn in Syria is captured by the Sassanidd Forces, and the region of ehat is now Al-Hasakah becomes Persian. The Byzantines become aware of this, and they declare war on the Persians.

608

- The superior Persian Army defeats the Byzantines in Antioch and completely occupies Syria, resulting in a stand-off between the trapped Ghassanid Army and the Sassanid Army outside the Walls of Damascus. Syria becomes a Persian Province.

609

- Heraclius arrives in Constantinople from Africa and overthrows Phocas. He institutes a series of changes in the Byzantine Empire.
 
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The Romano-British were christian from the 3rd century, The illegal invading Angles, Saxons, Jutes were goat bothering pagans and as far as the real British were concerned they could stay that way and not clutter up heaven!

:D
All in the interest of Jaysus though, no?
And the converters were French, not British, get with it goooood. :p

Looks interesting, I'll be keeping an eye on this.

Thankyou :)
 
YAYAYAY :) Thankyou <3 *hugs*

Yea but yea, didn't expect that much love, did ye??
It is unexpected but appreciated all the same.

I hope to hear more of the events in Sussex. Being my home county an all, I am keen to see if churches spring up in alternate locations.
 
Alright, it's decided - the major POD is coming right up. Completely implausible, but major. It's gonna take a day or two to write up though, hold your horses! It's not going to be in Sussex, though, sorry! Although something there is coming up...
 
Makah, Arabia
August, 572


Many years before the Second Conversion of England started, hundreds and hundreds of miles away to the south-east, in the great tribelands of Arabia. Towards the centre of this continent, and then towards the east, lies the great and ancient merchant-town of Makah (Later Anglicised as Mecca). Makah had fallen into a period of civil unrest; a kind-of balancing act between civil war and external occupation. The town was ruled by various families, each hailing from different tribes that were as ancient as the deserts surrounding the rich city; the Hadhayl, Quraysh and the Hawazan, amongst others. Disease was, as in the rest of the world during the 6th Century, strife, and cures for many illnesses were unkown. It was, in this case, a tragedy, but not a rare event, that a young boy of the age of two was killed by an unknown illness. This young child was the son of a man known as Abdullah, who was deceased at the time of his child's birth and a woman known as Aminah - this boy was a member of the Banu Hashim trading family, of the Quraysh tribe - this boy's name was Mohammed, and, in our timeline, he would have become the prophet and founder of one of the world's largest religions; Islam.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Yep. I went there. I jumped on the No-Islam bandwagon through the death of a young child. Woop. I also went there and re-started this after nearly five months of nothing; I'm afraid some personal situations got in the way. What do you all think? This is the first of a planned three more divergences, so, in the end there would be four different POD's each related to religion, which is why it's called the CROSS and the Sceptre:) Thanks, criticism is generally appreciated. The rest of the posts about the divergences will be about this long too - although later I will return to my usual writing length. Thanks, please do comment, whatever your views.
 
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