Twilight of the Ancients

Or, an alternate migrations TL. Inspired by Zuvarq's old TL and by Jaydoh's Cadavera Vero Innumera, this TL starts not in the middle of the Early Modern Age, but instead at the the end of the Ancient age. As with all of my TL's, some of the action takes place beforehand, with butterflies before the reign of Constantine (mainly within the Church). These include, by order:

  • Ghassanids never migrate to Syria
  • Arianism spreads more in the East, leading to a much smaller majority at Nicaea
  • A more entrenched Arianism in the East under Crispus and his successors
  • The Constantinian heirs split the empire between them- last unified Emperor is Constantine the Great
  • Punic/Berbers are largely Arian (no Donatism), while Latins in Africa are Nicene. *Pelagius lives in Africa...
and many more...

This first post is meant to cover events from the death of Constantine I to the death of Julian the Apostate in the West, along with the beginnings of post-Roman Britain. The East is less covered here, in part because Crispus and his son do the less tumultuous but typical "be rich and fight the Persians" thing.

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The death of Constantine I in 340 led to a civil war between the four sons of Constantine- Crispus, Constantine, Constantius and Constans. Crispus, a dedicated Arian, would assume control over the Arian and Hellenic East. Constans initially controlled Hispania, Mauretania and Africa, Constantius Gaul and Britannia, and Constantine Italy, Illyria and Pannonia. Crispus, of the four, was the only to not participate in the civil war to the West, focusing instead on rooting out Nicene practices, spreading Arian interpretations of Christianity, defending against the Sassanid, and making money off of trade.

The Constantinian Civil War (340-345) would see the victory of Constans over Constantine and Constantius. Constantius had died in battle with the Franks, and Constantine had been captured and executed by Constans. The Salian Franks, who had been allies of Constans against Constantius, were given control as foederati over much of Pannonia. Over the course of a few years, most of the Salian Franks, along with assorted small bands of other vassal tribes, would move into Pannonia. The Franks, pagans at the time, would vacillate between empires in the future.

Constans would offend much of the military and Christian society with his open homosexuality and favoritism. His cousin Constantius Gallus was his first Caesar, but Gallus would die of unknown causes while campaigning in Mauretania against the Berbers in 352. Afterwards, Julian was made Caesar.

Julian, a philosophical man and furthermore a pagan, would gain respect from large parts of the army after defeating the usurper Gratian. The Illyrian army, and other parts of the military establishment, were dissatisfied with Constans' lifestyle, and rose up. Julian was called to defeat Gratian as Caesar. From 353-358, Julian fought Gratian, whose base of support included Illyria, southern Gaul and parts of northern Italy. Gratian would die in battle, and his two sons, Valens and Valentinian, would be put to death by Julian.

Afterwards, the army gravitated towards Julian, who continued to build a reputation fighting against the Burgundians and other tribes in Gaul. He would also put down the rebellion of Comes Theodosius in Britain. Theodosius would revolt, along with his garrison, in 362. Gallic regiments also rose up, and it took Julian three years to squash Theodosius, fight off related barbarian invasions, and repulse the barbarian incursions in Britannia proper. Theodosius and his family were also put to death.

In 369, Constans would die, and Julian, known as the Apostate or the Philosopher, would come to power. Julian would first enact religious pluralism in the empire, displeasing a clergy which already had to deal with a homosexual emperor ruling them for over two decades. Julian, despite his military victories, was not stable in his rule. Laurentius the Arabian, an Arian commander from the East of Arab and Phoenician extraction, used his own loyal forces and allied Arabs (the Banassimes, as they were called) to invade the restive provinces of North Africa. The Moors also rebelled under Firmus around the same time- Firmus would only be defeated in 372. Julian had planned to reconquer Carthage as well, but Constantinian scion Nepotian had taken control of the city of Rome. Julian made a pragmatic peace with Laurentius- Laurentius would be Comes of Africa in exchange for peace, loyalty and grain shipments to the Empire. Julian would then put down Nepotian, fighting his partisans across Italy until 375.

In 375, a large force of Saxons invaded Gaul. Julian had repulsed the Allemanni from near the walls of Moguntiacum in 365, and these Saxons sought to do what the Allemanni couldn't. They succeeded in sacking Moguntiacum, and brought even more men into the empire. However, Julian would march north, and defeat the Saxon invaders near Treverorum, inflicting grievous losses. The Saxons were surrounded, and exterminated to a man, their women and children sold east as slaves.

In 382, the Vesi and the Greuthungi Goths, fleeing catastrophic losses to the Huns, crossed into the Western Empire. The Eastern Emperor Hadrian II, son of Crispus, had allowed those Goths who were not old, weak or sick across the Danube in exchange for a tax, before forcing them into the Western imperial province of Illyria. The Eastern emperors, despite the instability of the West and the paganism of Julian, were largely focused on religious stability and fighting both the Persians and Arab tribes. Hadrian would famously opine that the West was a waste of money for a forgotten city, an attitude that would come to define the permanence of the post-Constantine split.

These Goths were a good form of tax revenue and soldiers, and Julian made them foederati on the Gallic frontier by 384. They would serve as a buffer against the Burgundians and other tribes. In the East, the Huns invaded Greece and Armenia. They managed to sack Delphi and Athens, leaving the Acropolis standing amidst the ruin. The Parthenon would be kept as a monastery by the East from then on- the city of Athens would never be rebuilt. Hadrian managed to rebuff the Huns, driving them back across the Danube with the help of the Franks. In Armenia, the Huns drove further into Sassanid territory, before being defeated in northern Mesopotamia and driven back across the Caucasus. Hunnic mercenaries were recruited in the West, but not in the large numbers that the foederati were. As it was, Imperial elites resented the giving of parts of Pannonia to the pagan Franks, and resented the giving of lands to the Goths as well.

In 391, Nicene anger and army resentment at Julian boiled over once again as Magnentius the Younger, son of powerful Gallic and British general Magnentius the Elder, sparked a rebellion in Londinium. This rebellion would be put down with help of the Goths, who gained more lands to their north. Magnentius would flee to Londinium, and would perish in that cities fire of July 392, allowing Julian's forces to recapture it.

By this point, Gaul and Britain, along with well-raided Illyria, were largely stripped of troops. Peace would reign for another 8 years before Julian died, childless, in 400. His will was suppressed by the magnate Eugenius, sparking yet another civil war.

Laurentius' son Claudius would break free of the city of Rome, calling himself Comes of Africa and Mauretania. Eugenius would fight another general, named Majorian, for about 3 years, before Eugenius won. He then proceeded to die of an infected wound after months of agony. Africa would still be independent (and in the process of invading Sicily), but all the other provinces had bent the knee to Eugenius, and after him his son Rufinus. A civil war immediately broke out.

In winter 403, the Rhine froze over. Barbarian tribes, under various leaders, prepare to cross over.

And as post-Julian Rome implodes, a specter haunts Europe. The specter of barbarians.


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Ah, yet another Tsar Gringo TL. I assume it shall go unfinished.

Still thy tongue, rogue voice. At least I started with a POD this time.

Yes, to accompany your typical before-start extra butterflies.

Damn you.

Why am I even here? This won't even be close to a TLIAD.

I don't know- I suspect your presence is as meaningless as most things.

Oh be quiet, nihilist, lest I quote Nietzsche at you.

If I listen to you, abyss, do you listen to me?

Maybe.
 
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Pre-TL note: Anastasius of Alexandria dies in 321, killed by a robber.

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The Council of Nicaea of 325 had produced a creed, proclaiming the co-eternal nature of God as Father and of Christ the Son. It had not, however, produced a majority.

Arianism was popular in most of the Eastern patriarchates, barring the bitterly divided population of Egypt. Arius had preached that the Son had been created at some point, and that therefore the fatherhood of God and the existence of Christ were not eternal. Furthermore, Arius had preached that the Holy Ghost, rather than being a person, was instead the force of God and his holiness on Earth [1]. In short, Arianism was thoroughly non-trinitarian, and focused much more on the supremacy of God over the Son and the Spirit, through whom his will was done.

The Western bishops, along with a slim majority of the Egyptians, were able to pass the Nicene creed against the objections of most of the African bishops, a minority of the Egyptian bishops, and the sees of Constantinople, Antioch and Jerusalem. In time, the split could have been healed- Nicene populations were still present in the East, and a Nicene emperor of a unified Empire could have forced the issue.

Instead, Constantine died, and, in the tradition of Diocletian, split the empire between his four sons. Crispus, the Eastern Emperor, declared himself an Arian upon succession. There is nothing to suggest any deep faith of his before this point- sources of his early life point towards a youthful dabbling in the sun cult along with Christianity- but politically he would advance Arianism for the entirety of his reign. Crispus, of the sons of Constantine, was notable for not being a son of the late Fausta, and for not trying to unify the empire. The eventual Western winner, Constans, did not try to attack Crispus either, although scholars suggest this was out of fatigue rather than ambition.

Crispus' pro-Arian policy would see the anathematization of Nicene Christians in the East by the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Most faithful Nicenes chose to flee- Egyptian monks founded a school of theology in the hills near Olissipona, and were joined by a few thousand Egyptian faithful. The rest of the Nicenes adopted Arianism, which had the benefit of being preached and written about in Greek.

The Arian dominance over the east would only grow- the Armenian Church accepted Arian formulations as part of the wider integration of Armenia as a loyal client-state of the Eastern empire. Egypt slowly became Arian, and the other patriarchal sees were largely unified behind the Constantinopolitan position. Crispus charged the man who would become St. Ulfilas to preach to the Egyptians [3].

Africa also had notable Arian populations [2], who would be ruled first by Constans and then by the pagan Julian. Africa was notable for the ethnic split in its denominations- the Punics were mostly Arians, and the Nicenes mostly the rich Latin or Romanized families of the cities. Laurentius of Arabia, upon his conquest, would do comparatively little to entrench Arianism. He would protect it, but chose to heavily tax the Romanized elites and settle the Arianized Banassimes on foederati lands rather than forcibly convert the Nicenes of Africa. In Mauretania, the split had not yet entrenched itself- Christians were busy fighting Berber paganism and were generally isolated from the larger Christian communities in the Mediterranean proper.

Arianism also spread outside the empire, mainly amongst the Goths. Gothic Christians would eventually flee into Dacia from pagan persecutions, while other Gothic missionaries would go to Germania. Of the peoples there, only the Vandals and some of the Allemanni convert. The Allemanni split due to the religious issue, and the majority of the confederation joins the Vandals in Arianism. The pagan Allemanni join the other tribes, mainly the Suebi. [4]

Sicily was alone amongst the Greek-speaking provinces to remain Nicene. This fact, along with the exodus of Arian populations elsewhere, would slowly Latinize parts of the provinces, although it remained largely Greek Nicene. The Nicene policy on language, wherein only Latin was used in the mass, contributed to this slow change.

Nicene Christians, meanwhile, would have 60 years of religious tribulation. Despite the best efforts of a number of usurpers, the homosexual and lukewarm Constans and the pagan Julian were never properly overthrown. Nicene usurpers would drain the West of soldiers and resources, leading to an increase in foederati and a further reliance on pagans. Constans would settle the pagan Salian Franks in Pannonia as thanks for their assistance in his civil war and as a guard against the steppes. Julian would settle the two Gothic confederations, united once they entered the Empire, in Gaul, not caring that they worshipped Arian Christianity (both branches being equally invalid to him).

Despite this, the Nicenes managed to hold a decisive ecumenical council in 395 in Rome. By this point, the East-West split of Christianity was thoroughly entrenched, with Nicene Christianity reigning the West, and Arian Christianity reigning in the East and in North Africa. Some scholars retroactively apply the linguistic split as well, although this was not the case. At the time, almost all Christians wrote theological statements in Greek, as seen with the use of terms like ecumenical, ecclesiastic and catholic. In the West, Latin was used alongside Greek- the split was mainly in what the average person spoke between the empires. In Africa, there was a Punic Renaissance of sorts, as Arian writers sought to use Punic and Greek as a way to differentiate their writings from the small but powerful Nicene minority.

The Council of Rome firstly condemned and excommunicated the Arians from the Church. The language for that statement was written by Egyptian priests from the school of Olissipona. Secondly, it confirmed the Papacy of Rome as the one true Patriarchate, the others given over to the Arian heretics. There were also a number of canons relating to the behavior of the clergyman and the organization of the Church. In particular, it re-emphasized absolute clerical celibacy- married men, in the Nicene Church, could not be ordained. Ordained men could not marry. Monasteries of men and women were to be kept separate, and monks and nuns were to be celibate. This is noted, along with the Arian Council of Constantinople, as the last council before the issue of Christ's nature came up.

The Arian Council of Constantinople (400) had much more theological weight. It contained the mutual anathematization of the Nicene Christians, and then delved into other matters, mainly re-iterating and expanding upon Arian doctrines. Mary was to be known as Christotokos, the Mother of Christ. The Holy Energy [5] was made co-eternal but subordinate to God insofar as the Energy was God's tool, his will and potency made manifest. Christ was not co-eternal- God had not always been a father, and Christ, as the Son, was in part divine but not in union with God. The Arian epithet of "polytheists" dates back to this time. They believed in one God, and his subordinate son, whereas the Trinitarians believed in God being composed of the eternal Father, his eternal Son, and the eternal Holy Spirit, itself a figure rather than an energy.

Although Constantinople came before the debates over the true nature of Christ, it did establish a Christological classification for Jesus as wholly subordinate to God, and as a non-eternal being. In this manner, Jesus is something between demigod and Angel, in that he is God's vehicle for the salvation of Man.

It also confirmed Carthage as the seat of a new Patriarchate, to replace the heretic-run Papacy in Rome. Pelagius, one of the Four Holy Hierarchs [6]. Basil, one of the Hierarchs, was at this time close to death, after a lifetime of preaching and founding the monastic traditions of Eastern Christianity. Patriarch of Constantinople John Chrysostomos had written a number of homilies and tracts, but had also contributed to the incorporation of the Judaizers into the fold. Notably, large parts of Jewish liturgical practice were adapted to the Greek language and Eastern Christianity. In addition, the Shofar was used from then on in the East as a way to call believers to prayer- so much so that the archaic name for the term outside the Hebrew is "Chrysostom's trumpet". Nazianzus would be the primary architect of theories about the Holy Energy, and would furthermore delineate the doctrine of theosis, the process by which believers can become more perfect and close to God in a manner similar to Jesus (different substance, subordinate but still holy).

Pelagius, born in Ireland but living in Carthage, would create the doctrine of free will that starkly separates Eastern Christianity from the Western Nicenes. Writing against the Nicene Augustine of Barcino [7], Pelagius wrote On Nature and Defense of the Freedom of the Will. The main points of his works are

  • People have full freedom of will to do good or evil. The will and ability to do good is present naturally, without grace. However, Christ's grace is present in all good that is done. As Justin Martyr said "every created being is so constituted as to be capable of vice and virtue. For he can do nothing praiseworthy, if he had not the power of turning either way".
  • People are capable of obeying the law without divine aid, although grace is present in all good deeds and lives. Salvation, however, is impossible without divine grace.
  • Death comes from man's physical nature- Adam and Eve would have lived forever because of grace, rather than only being able to die because of sin. Adam's sin did not taint human nature, but did provide a bad example for his descendants.
  • People should be baptized only once they are capable of faith and grace- Pelagius uses the age of 13 as this guideline. They are confirmed/baptized at the same time. Children before this may attend Church, but may not receive sacraments as they are incapable of true faith.

These four points, along with other minor points, would be adopted at Constantinople. The Eastern Church firmly set out a doctrine of free will, and furthermore changed its position on infant baptism. Support for infant baptism built up after Constantinople, but dissipated after Pelagius' death in 404.

In the West, Augustine of Barcino argued the opposite in his doctrines of original sin and divine grace. Western theologians, including Jerome as well as Augustine, would largely adopt these ideas of original sin, although they would not be official Church doctrine for another three decades.

In the fourth century, we see the split of Christianity and the delineation of doctrines as parallel to the geographic and cultural split of the Empire itself. In the two traditions, Constantine is seen as the last uniter, he who made Christianity official and he who kept the traditions together. The divide amongst his successors and between the empires only accentuated this idea, and the less positive aspects of his rule, relating to his pragmatic approach to faith and support for Nicene/Arianism (depending on which empire- Nicenes pointed to his support of the Council, Arians point to statements and actions made afterwards) were papered over.

After these councils, the two Churches would undergo one more great shift- the Christological debate. These conflicts helped solidify the doctrine of the Churches, and more broadly the nature of their organizations down into the centuries.

[1] OTL, this was not the case. He believed the Spirit was an angel, another created being. Here, he adopts a position more reminiscent of OTL's latter-day "Arians".
[2] No Donatism- instead, many go Arian. Their doctrines would be further influenced by the native Carthaginian *Pelagius
[3] This is one of the biggest butterflies. Ulfilas will preach not only to Egypt but to Mesopotamia and Armenia, helping entrench Arianism as the Eastern Christianity. The bigger effect is his absence amongst the Goths- Crispus sees preaching to them as a side-project at best. Gothic Christianity spreads much less amongst the Germans...
[4] As we see here. This means that the Lombards, Franks, Burgundians and Suebi all remain pagan for now. Amongst the minor tribes, only the Gepids convert to Arianism. The Franks are also split, as seen in the first update, between the Salians in Pannonia and the Ripuarians, who are quickly being assimilated by the mighty Burgundians...
[5] See 1. Will be translated by other languages simply as the Force. At the most, the Arians could be seen as having two Gods, or more correctly one God and his son/subordinate, Jesus.
[6]Alongside *Chrysostom, *Gregory of Nazianzus and *Basil the Great. All three were born post-POD, and so the main departures from OTL is growing up in an Arian theological environment rather than a Nicene one.
[7] Saint Monica ends up somewhere else. At this point in time, he is writing, although City of God will come after Pelagius' death. He was still a Manichaean in his youth, before becoming Nicene.
 
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This is a very interesting timeline, and it's off to a good start. Will be following.

There's just one problem I have though: It doesn't make much sense at all for Julian to settle the Goths in Aquitania. Not only are they of little use to him there, considering they are nowhere near the frontier, but they would pose a danger-they would be posessing the crossroads between Italy, Spain, and Gaul, and the ability to cut off the Roman access to the Mediterranean from Gaul if they rebelled. Furthermore, being right next to Italy, they are in a prime position to invade the peninsula if they rebel-Goths in Aquitania were a serious problem for the empire OTL-the ROmans only let them settle there because the Goths picked it themselves, and then fended off Roman attacks.

Rather, a much better place to put the Goths on is the Rhine frontier-where the Franks were OTL. The Franks had played a major role in protecting the frontier (nearly stopping the invaders of 406-407) and since they are in Pannonia ITTL, the Romans are going to need someone to fill that void-the Goths seem like the perfect tribe to place there-not the least because they'd be more worried about protecting the Rhine from invaders (which, being their own territory, they would have a vested interest in protecting for the empire).


Otherwise, great start.
 
Timelines like Zuvarq's, Thermo's and Jaydoh's are always so rare but when someone goes to do one, I always like it especially in the end of classical antiquity.
 
Very interesting to see Pelagianism accepted.

Has Julian's survival done anything to help Classical paganism last longer: in Rome's upper classes, or in Greece?
 
Yeah, Pelagianism seemed like something I could work into one of the Christianities.

As for paganism, Julian only delayed the inevitable. The death of Symmachus and the aristocracy (see below) certainly didn't help. It's dead in the East- Delphi's been pillaged along with the Academy, and the Serapeum is now a church (its idols taken back, with most pagan treasure in the East, to Constantinople for display in the Imperial Palace). Other pagan temples, mainly in Greece, have been made into a series of monasteries- in particular, the preserved ancient temples of Athens, including the Parthenon, make up a monastic community there as founded by Basil the Great. Athens, after its sacking by the Huns in 386, would never become a city again, instead staying as a monastic community second only to Mt. Athos within Greece itself. The Parthenon in particular would be dedicated to St. Basil the Great.
 
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One of the great questions of the late Roman period has been Gothic inaction during the Crossing of the Rhine. Although the full frontier lay outside their control, which had been kept by Julian after the Saxon invasions of 375, they controlled much of Northern Gaul from a temporary capital near Aurelianum.

When the Vandals and assorted Allemanni (those Arians who had broken from the Roman-defeated and minority pagans), and other tribes, crossed the Rhine in 404, the Goths were slow to act. In part this was because they had no full allegiance at the time. Eugenius had won a civil war and had then died, and his son Rufinus was but a young boy. In addition, the primus inter pares nature of Julian's rule had fostered a rebirth of Senatorial scheming, if only for a time. Pagan Sextus Fabius Symmachus ruled Rome and Southern Italy, Christian general Furius [1] ruled Lusitania from Emerita Augusta, the Franks were busy with the Huns, and Rufinian partisans held Aquitaine, the rest of Hispania, and northern Italy. Africa had been repulsed from Sicily, but the Western Empire once again faced civil war.

As foederati, the Goths were, by this point, essentially the main Roman army in Northern Gaul. The two confederations had been united under an Arian ruler after the defeat of the pagan Kings by the Huns sent the Goths fleeing into first the East and then the Western Roman Empire. The Goths should have, by all rights, supported Rufinus.

Instead, they stayed inactive, letting the Germanic tribes into the empire. Notably, Eugenius had raised taxes on them before his death, and the tribes notably stayed out of Visigoth territory (suggesting that the invading tribes had some level of diplomatic collusion with the Goths, who withdrew away from the Rhine).

As the Vandals and their Allemanni vassals sacked Treverorum, the Angles moved on Northern Gaul. They had been repulsed from Britannia by the Alans [2] contracted as foederati by the patrician Gerontius. The Angles would sweep into northern Gaul, and would besiege Lutetia Parisiorum. By this time, however, the Goths had moved south, towards the richer lands of Aquitaine.

They had desired Aquitaine initially, but Julian, operating from a position of strength, denied them their desires. Now, with the Western Empire in open war, and with other tribes moving into the empire, the Goths under Valamir moved. They would sweep into Aquitaine, pushing the Vandals into Hispania, and other tribes elsewhere. This arguably saved much of Aquitaine from privation- the Vandals had been able only to sack Lugdunum and Baetarnae before being forced onwards- and the Goths would use that idea as a rhetorical point upon the temporary restoration of order.

In Italy, Symmachus and his aristocratic Pagan supporters had been put to death by the military usurper Glycerian, who had repulsed the Africans from Sicily. Glycerian would quickly assert his control over most of Italy, quickly moving north to crush the forces of the boy-emperor Rufinus.

At this point, the idea was again suggested to Hadrian II that he move west and re-unite the empire. Some of the German tribes were Arian (at least, in theory), and the Church was eager to reunify itself as well. Hadrian, as always, took the long view of things. Persia was still a formidable enemy, and so were the Huns. Reconquering the West would distract the empire, and would cost quite a lot of money. His attitude of dismissal towards the West was uncommon- most writers of the time admonish him for his failure to seize the West and restore the True Church to a united empire.

The supporters of Rufinus by this point had been pushed into the city of Mediolanum, and were desperate for support against Glycerian. They called upon the Rugii to help them in exchange for unspecified land. The Rugii king agreed.

But Rufinus would not be so lucky. An unnamed agent of Glycerian, said in later sources to be of Frankish-Gothic extraction, contacted the King of the Rugii. In 407, Rufinus was seized at prayer by pagan Rugii warriors, his retinue, regent and others slaughtered. The Rugii marched south, and handed Rufinus over to Glycerian, who personally threw the boy off the Tarpeian Rock. For this betrayal, the Rugii were settled in Southern Italy, as a defense against the Africans. They made a capital in Rhegion, and controlled much of what was once called Magna Graecia, reaching up as far as Neapolis. However, the Rugii, a small tribe, did not have the ability to threaten Italy as of then, and they would continue to be loyal foederati of Glycerian.

In Spain, the Vandals sacked the cities of Tarraco and Ilerda in 408. Legends report St. Augustine convincing the Vandal king Godigisel to spare Barcino. In any case, the Vandals went further south, razing Saguntum and Carthago Nova in 409 and 410 to the ground before making a capital at Corduba in Baetica. At this point, Godigisel made peace in 411; Furius had retaken Tarraconensis, and his son Gunderic had died of an open wound. Baetica was the Vandal foedus.

In Pannonia, the Frankish King Zwentibald bent his knee to the resurgent Huns under Uldin. This worried both the East and the West.

411 would see the reunification of the West. The Vandals and Visigoths notably sent support to Glycerian, who controlled Italy. The general Furius would be recalled to Rome, thinking he was to be rewarded for his loyalty. Instead, Glycerian poisoned him, along with some Germanic notables, in a feast. Glycerian would then attempt to restrengthen the Empire. Foederati would be re-integrated, and, to weaken the historically treacherous and essentially lost province of Britannia, the remaining Briton auxiliaries which had fought on the continent would be stationed in Gallaecia, far from the island of Britannia. More auxiliaries would join them in 415.

Many border regions had been lost. The Burgundians owned the left bank of the Rhine, controlling the Germanias, Maxima Sequanorum, Belgica I and part of Belgica II. The Suebi had moved into Raetia and Noricum, and the Huns had vassalized the Franks. Britannia was also permanently lost, as Gerontius' hired Alans, led by Respendial and Goar, repulsed Saxon and Angle raiders and proceeded to take coastal lands on the island.

In Gaul, the Goths controlled Aquitainia I-III, and had held Narbonensis I. This was dangerous for the empire, as the Tolosa-based Goths now controlled the ability of Roman armies to go from Italy to Roman-controlled Tarraconensis and Lusitania. Glycerian would be able to reassert some control over Narbonensis, but the Goths were a dagger aimed both at Gaul and at the ability of the empire to stay contiguous. In Northern Gaul, the Angles had been pushed into Lugdunensis II and III as foederati, joined by a group of Saxons who had crossed the Rhine. Lugdunensis I and IV stayed under full Roman control, along with parts of Belgica below the Samaro river. These provinces would form the new, tenuous border between the Burgundians, Rome and the foederati on the other side.

For a time, Glycerian had managed to reunite the disparate scraps of the Empire under one ruler. Despite the foederati, the Western Empire was contiguous and controlled. But stormclouds were on the horizon- the Huns, who had already vassalized the Franks, were moving into Germania...

[1] Descended from the gens Furii
[2] Gerontius is TTL Vortigern, although he is more clearly of Roman descent. He invites the Alans Respendial and Goar into Britannia, to use them as a buffer against Picts, Scots, Angles and Saxons. A dangerous move for an island so thoroughly divorced from Rome...
 
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The reign of Glycerian would not just be known for barbarian upheavals- it would also see religious ones as well.

Upon his victory in 411, Glycerian controlled, either directly or through foederati, most of Gaul, Hispania, Italy, Sicily and Illyria. Africa was once again independent, under the aging comes Claudius. Furius had been poisoned, and the pagan aristocracy of Rome had been largely executed. Glycerian, in the spirit of the last decision, would end the Senate and destroy both the Eternal Fire and the Altar to Victory. Some relics escaped to the East, where the Eastern Romans kept pagan statues within the gardens of the Imperial Palace.

Glycerian, unlike the homosexual and aloof Constans, the pagan Julian or the pragmatic Eugenius, was a faithful, although not devout, Nicene Christian. He patronized Augustine, moving the man to Rome in 418. In 420, Augustine would be elected Pope. He struggled religious with people lapsing back into paganism, among both Nicenes and Arians, along with the growth of Manichaeism in northern Italy under the charismatic Germanic preacher Rumoridus. Paganism, despite the harsh laws of Glycerian, managed to endure, especially as it was bolstered by people fleeing the more effective laws and much large Christian majorities of the East. Some pagan temples were destroyed, whilst others were converted to churches, in hopes that wavering Christians and pagans would return to Mother Church.

The impact of the barbarian victories, however, was hard on Rome. Nicene rulers, mainly the Rufinians, had been defeated by Arian Germans and pagans. The last pagan Emperor, Julian, had controlled the Germanic peoples and had won victories on the battlefield (ignoring the sheer number of usurpers he defeated first as magister militum and Caesar, and then as Emperor proper). Glycerian, despite his victories, did not inspire the same admiration.

The Church, for its part, was consumed with other matters. They had already, in opposition to the hierarch Pelagius of the Arians, adopted the doctrines on free will and divine grace promulgated by Pope Augustine I, who succeeded the anti-Julian, thoroughly Nicene Pope Jerome (successor of Pope Ambrose, ascended Papacy in 404) in 420. This newest controversy centered around the Christological doctrines of Syrian preacher Nestorius (378-444).

Medieval and early modern scholars in the West thought of Nestorius as an Arian heretic- that is to say, a heretic amongst the Arians as well- who attempted to corrupt Church doctrine. Others wonder how Nestorius' teachings caused theological debate in both East and West, since the churches were split by that time. The split, however, is often applied retroactively.

Although there had been mutual excommunication by both sides, people outside the Church leadership often passed between the empires and Churches, sometimes unaware of the split in Christianity. Nestorius, being focued mainly on Christ's nature, was able to pass between the Churches in part because he did not debate the sticking points between the Churches, which grew larger and larger with each passing council. Furthermore, Nestorius knew Latin and Greek along with his native Syriac, and was able to preach to followers in either of the two empires.

He had been expelled from the Eastern Empire in 407, bringing his dyophysite followers with him. The Arians believed that Christ was divine, although not consubstantial with God, created at some point and time, and subordinate to God. Nestorius preached that "Jesus Christ, who is not identical with the Son but personally united with the Son, who lives in him, is one hypostasis and one nature: human". This implied that Christ was not unified with the Son, which went against Arian (and Nicene) Christology. Thusly, Nestorius and his followers, mainly Dacian Latins, Syriacs and a few Egyptians, fled to the West. The Second Council of Constantinople further ratified the Christological position of the Arians, saying that Christ had one semi-divine nature in a human body, not consubstantial with the Father and subordinate to God.

Nestorius' reception in the West was no better. He lived in Sicily for a number of years, attracting followers, before they moved on to Illyria to avoid the persecutions of the Emperor Glycerian. Nestorius, elected bishop of Syracuse (having moved back to Sicily) stood with a few bishops against the rest of the Nicene Church. In 421, at the urging of Pope Augustine, Glycerian called an Ecumenical Council in the city of Barcino.

The Council of Barcino would condemn two groups- the Nestorians and the Semi-Nestorians, who argued that Christ had two natures in one person in hypostasis [1]. Nestorius would flee south to Abyssinia, where he would convert King Sezana to Christianity [2], founding the "Church of the South" as the Patriarch of Aksum. Nestorianism would also be powerful in Arabia and Southern India, while the Persian Church would be Arian [3].

Barcino would be the last great Nicene council, insofar as Nicene theology was by this point fully fleshed out in regards to the great questions of will, Christ's consubstantiality and his nature. The Barcinian Formula would be laid out as "Jesus Christ, who is identical with the Son, is one person and one hypostasis in one nature: divine". [4] This doctrine would, in fact, be essentially similar to the formulation of the Arians- the main difference being the role of Christ in relation to God, and the subject of whether or not Christ is a created being.

[1] The Catholic/Orthodox position taken at Chalcedon. Essentially, I've destroyed any trace of OTL Christianity theologically, outside of the existence of Nestorianism.
[2] No Frumentius. Also, Ethiopia is now Dyophysite rather than OTL Miaphysite.
[3] As opposed to the Church of the East OTL. This is dangerous politically for the Christians, who continue to be persecuted by the Sassanids. Furthermore, the Church of the South being located in the Indian Ocean will have butterflies for Indian Christianity...
[4] The OTL Miaphysite position.
 
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Thanks! I don't know how far I'll go. I'll probably cover the Middle Ages, before creating a second part (tentative title: Dawn of the Moderns) to cover the Era of Exploration until the Enlightenment.

Knowing me, I might not get that far. But I do want to at least get into the Middle Ages.
 
Theme of the Hun

The Sassanids had not had any better of a mid-fourth century than the Western Romans. Shapur II died in battle in 337 against the aging Constantine I and his son Crispus, throwing the Sassanid Empire into a period of uncertainty. His son Shapur had died of disease in 333 [1], leaving only his brother Ardeshir and his son Bahram as possible candidates for the throne.

Ardeshir took the throne in Ctesiphon, as the Armenian Arsacids, Christian clients of Rome, took control over all of Armenia. Almost immediately, Ardeshir attempted to consolidate his control on the throne, ruling from Asorestan [2]. He also attempted to find Bahram, probably to kill him (or make him his heir), only to find that Bahram had been spirited away to Mazandaran. A group of Iranian aristocrats, always eager to impose their will on the monarchy, drummed up armed support for the claim of Bahram IV to the throne.

The Sassanid civil war would last until 345, when Ardeshir was captured in battle and summarily executed. Whereas Ardeshir was a good ruler to all but the Christians, and lifted taxes on those in his territory, Bahram would be a cruel, harsh ruler given over to paranoia and inaction. Dominated by his nobles in a manner similar to the post-Glycerian emperors and their patricians in the West, Bahram would be an ineffective ruler. The Hun invasion of the late 380s was only dispelled by a Hunnic thrust into Roman territory, after which the Eastern Romans promptly drove the Huns back over the Caucasus.

Bahram would die in 392, to be succeeded by his son Khosrau, a less cruel if equally uneventful king. Khosrau would die in 423, and would be succeeded by his son Shapur III. Shapur III would, in the spirit of his ancestor, make war on the Romans from 430-437. Shapur would win in a limited sense- the Armenians defected to Persian client-service and expelled the Christian Arshakunis, and northern Mesopotamia was retaken. Shapur, however, incurred an infected wound, and would die in winter 437.

The nobles assassinated Shapur's son Hormizd III after he reigned for 3 years, and instead brought up his young nephew Balash. Balash would only be 11 when the Huns under Attila invaded the Sassanid Empire in 444.

Upon the death of their uncle Rugila, Attila and Bleda had decided to have a dual monarchy over the Hunnic realm. It was decided that Bleda would have control over the European territories (based out of Dacia, with vassals going into Pannonia and Germania) and that Attila would have control over the Eastern territories. Both men were ambitious- but only Attila would have any measure of success.

For one, the Huns, as a loose confederation of peoples, relied heavily on the strength and charisma of their rulers as the glue of their confederacy. Bleda was no incompetent, but more of the military men, particularly among the Turkic tribes, stayed with Attila. Bleda held the confidences of the Franks and other Germanic peoples, along with another group of Hunnic warriors. It is possible that the Franks supported Bleda not out of amity, but rather out of a sense that he would be easier to oppose. Attila, despite holding the east, was married to a Burgundian women, as corroborated by the Volsungasaga (where he is called Eitel).

In any case, Attila would decide, rather than invading the Romes, to invade the Sassanid Empire. In January 444, Attila thundered through the Persian client in Armenia, re-installing an Arshakuni claimant on the Armenian throne. Then, Attila would take northern Mesopotamia, and from there move on Ctesiphon.

Balash and his retinue, confident that this Hun would be defeated like the last, sent a force out to fight Attila, one that was wholly smashed at the battle of Shahrazur. In early April 444, Ctesiphon was taken, and the court of Balash escaped to Fars. Attila's forces reinforced themselves, and soon took the rest of Eran. Balash would be captured in Mazandaran in 453, by then a young man. He would be brought to Attila, who made a drinking cup from his skull. Thus ended the line of the Sassanids. [3]

Attila made his capital in Shiraz, partially to set a new precedent and partially because Ctesiphon was a) in a fairly volatile and increasingly Christian region, b) close to the Romans and c) very much plundered and reduced by the Huns.

The Eastern Romans, led by Emperor Tiberius II (son of Hadrian's successor, Constantine II), would keep peace with Attila, preferring to defend their frontiers and scheme with the Arshakuni (who planned to return to the Roman sphere of influence). Attila then went, like Alexander before him, into Gupta India. Skandagupta had just fended off the Hepthalites, but the realm was also weakened by the recent rebellion of the Pushyamitras. In 461, Attila crossed the Indus. In India, the Huns would raid as far as Sthanisvara [4], which they sacked. Attila also raided the city of Patala on the coast of the Indian Ocean, before peace was made in 466 and the border was set at the Indus.

Attila would die in 470. The Eastern Romans under Tiberius would swiftly march in and seize Ctesiphon and Mesopotamia, which had declared for Ellac. Ernakh sent an embassy to Tiberius, and made peace- the Romans would have Mesopotamia, and the Arshakuni would rule Armenia, in exchange for recognition of Ernakh as Shah and the handing over of all Sassanid claimants (who were summarily put to death).

Ernakh, lover of his father's wife (a sister of Balash), had a powerful base amongst the Huns, while his brother Ellac rallied the Zoroastrian clergymen (he was a devout convert) and the Persians. Their third brother, Dengizich, had died in India, and the child brothers of the two had been put to death. A short civil war ensued, and Ernakh won in 472. Ellac was crushed to death beneath the horses of Ernakh's personal guard, and the Hunnic Empire was secure.


[1] The OTL Shapur III. This TL takes Bahram IV to be his brother, not his son- OTL there is contention on the subject.
[2] Southern Mesopotamia, here- the north belongs to the Eastern Romans. The capital Ctesiphon is located there.
[3] Yes, I ended the Sassanids. I know that this update covered a good hundred years, but since the Sassanians are far from the focus of the TL I thought I would cover the Hunnic conquest.
[4] Modern Thanesar, or rather, located near the site of modern Thanesar.
 
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It's actually not meant as a religious TL, but any TL that diverges around when mine does should examine the alternate theological developments of Christianity. The fact that it took until 1054 for Christianity to formally split (nonwithstanding the defeat of various Christological, Arian and other miscellaneous heresies) is utterly miraculous.

The main "macro-trend" thus far is that the East has divorced itself from the West psychologically. There won't be a Justinian to go try and reconquer Italy, in part because Africa will be Arian and can act as a useful client. Instead, they focus on the Middle East, which is, IMO, a target of greater wealth and strategic importance than a Europe suffering from worsening economics, plagues, constant civil wars, barbarian conquests and the fall of the unsustainable system of the Dominate. Justinian was a shitty emperor- and I've avoided the not-insignificant damage Eastern Rome took from the Huns and from their own Germanic malcontents (like Aspar, who was actually Alan and therefore Sarmatian).

The Constantinians have already instituted legal reforms in the East, in order to stabilize the Empire. Troops are becoming more loyal to the Emperor and state- and eventually the Empire will switch over to Greek...

Still debating mentally on a number of issues- the subject of the Brythonic migrations, whether or not to have an alt-Soissons somewhere, etc. The other main issue is the lack of Islam. Then again, with what I've done to Eastern Christianity, I suppose we have enough religious butterflies as it is.
 
And now, for more stuff that goes far beyond where we are in Europe at the moment. Europe is at 411- this covers stuff decades later. In India.

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Only a few months after the Huns pushed the Gupta back to the Indus, Skandagupta died. He had been able to hold back the Hepthalites, but the other Huns [1] had proven too much, particularly under the able leadership of Attila.

Skandagupta would be succeeded by a half-brother, Purugupta. Purugupta was, in comparison to his ancestors, a wholly average and unventful ruler. His death in 473 allowed his son Buddhagupta to come to the throne.

Buddhagupta faced enemies on his borders. The Huns had symbolically established a border on the Indus, but their actual reach did not go to the river. The Hepthalites had re-organized, and had taken in some groups fleeing upheaval in the Rouran Khaganate, mainly the Uars/Avars and the Wusun [2]. The Hepthalites, sensing the weakness of Buddhagupta, invaded in 482. Buddhagupta, already facing feudatories who desired even more power, crumbled quickly. Although Gupta armies had been able to defeat the Hepthalites before, feudal rulers had withheld key troops and had even sent embassies to the Hepthalite ruler as a way to extract concessions from Buddhagupta.

The Hepthalites quickly seized Sagala and Lahore, along with Sthanisvara, before moving south. Indraprastha [3] was razed to the ground in 483, and Mathura was sacked (but not razed) a few months later. Gupta vassals in Deb and Patala had already declared independence, and had reached out to Ernakh for protection as Buddhagupta's empire crumbled before him. The Hepthalites would go on to raze Sravasti, Bodh Gaya, and Vaishali, destroy the young University of Nalanda, and would sack (but not raze) Kannauj, Ayodhya and Pataliputra in a series of campaigns and sieges from 484-488. The Hepthalite leader Toramana, son of Hepthalite founder Khingila, would declared himself Emperor and make capital at Varanasi in 491.

Under Toramana and his son, Mihirakula, the Hepthalite realm stretched from Bactria and the Hindu Kush to the Bengal. Mihirakula would conquer the rest of northern and central India, leaving only the Dravidian realms in the south unbowed (but still raided and forced to pay tribute). Mihirakula would also institute anti-Buddhist measures in his realm, notably sacking most of the monasteries in Gandhara [4].

Toramana would also have wars with Ernakh. The Indus was set as informal border, although Hepthalite control of Bactria and Gujarat was confirmed. Ernakh instead set his eyes on Transoxiana, which the Hunnic Shahanshahs would control in varying degrees for over a century.

[1] In that the Hepthalites were known as the Sveta Huna/White Huns
[2] No Avars. There are a number of theories OTL as to their origin- possibilities include being Hepthalites, being related to the Huns, being the former rulers of the Rouran Khaganate. Here, they join Khingila and then Toramana.
[3] Near OTL Delhi
[4] Buddhism has just taken a huge blow. Mihirakula, after the conquest of India, becomes TTL a huge partisan of Shaktism and Kali (and, to a lesser extent, Shiva), and furthermore a persecutor of Buddhists. In the conquest itself, many of the early centers of Buddhism were razed to the ground.


###​

The ethnic effects of this include a) no Avars and b) possibly no Pashtun, seeing as they will be Indianized by their conquests rather than maintaining ethnic cohesion in Bactria (the Hepthalites were unable to conquer the Gupta OTL. Here, the Gupta are much more shortlived, in part because TTL Buddhagupta is incompetent rather than just bland). Also, while the Hepthalite realm may seem impressive, the nature of Indian politics at the time ensures that direct control is a lot weaker than it seems.
 
The fall of Britannia would set back not only the islands inhabitants, but the Nicene Church as well.

Outside of the independent armies of commander Paternus [1] in the far north, beyond Hadrian's Wall, no Roman armies remained in Britain by 405. Constans, Theodosius and Magnentius had all denuded the island of troops, and commander-in-Londinium Constantine had gone to the continent in 404 to fight the barbarians.

Afraid of Saxons, Angles, Jutes, Gaels and Picts, the Romano-Briton community, led informally by the patrician Gerontius, to invite a group of barbarians over as foederati and mercenaries. This was a dangerous and shortsighted proposition- unlike the Empire on the continent, Britain had few troops at its disposal, especially since Paternus had not responded to the entreaty he had received to come south (absorbed in war with the Picts as he was). Gaelic pirates were attacking the west, Angle pirates were attacking Vectis and the tip of the island, and Gerontius had no way of knowing that Paternus was in the midst of battling the Picts.

Gerontius' embassy contacted the Alan leaders Respendial and Goar [6]. The two men were unrelated, but together led the united branches of the Alans. The Alans were the descendants of Scythians, and had been expelled from the Caucasus wholesale by the Huns [2]. Through their years living in Germania, they had adopted a number of German customs, including syncretism between the Alan gods and the Germanic pantheon. Like their ancestors, the Alans were a warrior people, and Respendial and Goar jumped at the chance for land, money, and a place for their people.

In 407, the Alans landed at Tanatus, and proceeded to march inland. They would, upon landing, send word back to the rest of their tribe, to come and land in Britain, where the Britons were weak and the land was rich. For a period of three years, Respendial and Goar, along with their warriors and Gerontius' scant amount of troops, would fight the pagan Gaels, defeating them in Western Britannia near the island the Britons called Ynys Mon. In 410, the rest of the Alan hosts would land, quickly ravaging Londinium before meeting up with Respendial and Goar near Verulamium. Verulamium was taken mid-year and razed to the ground as the Alans spread across Britannia. Gerontius fled north, hoping to receive aid from Paternus and his forces, who were then fighting the Picts. Paternus said no, and Gerontius went back south.

He reportedly contacted the Angles for help, but they were busy in Gaul and had lost Vectis and other pirate strongholds during the three years of Alan mercenary service. Before he could contact the Gaels, he was captured and brought to Respendial at Ratae [3], where the latter made his capital. Gerontius was flayed alive and his daughters made concubines for Respendial's retinues.

Afterwards, the Alans would politically split, according to the Chronicles. Goar would rule the reduced city of Londinium and much of southern Britannia, attempting and failing to conquer Dumnonia. Upon his death, his sons Alatey and Lak would divide his realm, in the Germanic fashion of Gavelkind.

Respendial would rule the northern half of the Alan conquests from Ratae, raiding the Briton states in the west. Unlike Goar, he did not split his lands, and his lands in Central Britannia would remain united and therefore more powerful.

The kingdom of Deifr existed to the north, as did the kingdom of Elmet. Respendial would fight these kingdoms, but would fail to conquer them, as he instead focused on the west.

In the far north, beyond Hadrian's Wall, Paternus and the Votadini defeated the Picts at the Battle of Iuddeu [4]. Although the Picts would survive after this, it would break their power permanently. The Kingdom of Goddodin, as it would be called in Cumbrian [5] would become the pre-eminent power of Caledonia, ruling from Dun Eidyn. The House of Beisrudd would, in decades ahead, expand south, taking Rheged and Bryneich by the year 505.

The Church would be heavily damaged in Britannia. The faith had never taken root as deep on the island as elsewhere, and records show pagan temples being built after the departure of the Romans.

The Alans were, at the time of the invasion, pagan. The Alan religion had adopted a number of Germanic customs during their exile in Germania, and it showed in the temples built by Respendial and Goar. The Allfather hof built by Respendial in Ratae would later become a Nicene church- only one of the Goarid hofs survived, a small temple on the isle of Vectis probably built by Goar's son Alatey.

In the west, the semi-legendary Gruffudd notably reverted into Romano-British paganism, welcoming Gaelic druids and expelling Christian clergymen from their lands. The shock of invasion was as faith-shaking in Britannia as it was on the continent.

Many British clergymen would go abroad as saints- the martyred Saint Vortigern, for example, attempted to preach Christianity to the Saxons before his martyrdom. British clergy were also represented at the Nicene councils, including the future St. Padrig.

St. Padrig would, instead of going south or to Ireland, go north to preach amongst the Goddodin and others. The Celts beyond the wall had never been as exposed to Christianity as the only-partially-converted Romano-Britons. Welcomed and sponsored by Paternus, St. Padrig would spend his life traveling around the Hen Ogledd preaching Christianity. Chronicles paint his work as very successful, although modern scholarship suggests a large amount of initial syncretism and even apostasy. In any case, St. Padrig would apparently die near Iuddeu, and would be buried in his namesake cathedral in Dun Eidyn, capital of Goddodin.

Christianity would also be spread amongst the Gaels. Some Christianity already existed- Holy Hierarch Pelagius had been born in Hibernia, before moving to Britannia and then to Africa as a young man. The political and religious power of the druids, however, was much stronger at the time. The main apostle to the Gaels would be St. Brigid. Daughter of a couple of Padrig's Briton converts, Brigid would be captured as a young girl by slave traders, before being freed as an act of mercy by her master as a young woman (who, according to legend, had a vision from God telling him to let her free). The virgin Brigid would criss-cross the island of Hibernia many times during her long life, preaching the Gospel in Gaelic and helping to establish monasteries, abbeys and a few churches. Brigid would eventually be assassinated by druids in the far west of the island, and her body would be buried in what would become the legendary monastery of Kells. The seeds of monasticism she planted would create one of the greatest monastic traditions of Nicene Christianity.

Christians also persisted in Britannia itself- the island of Ynys Mon remained a holy monastic island, maintained first by Briton and then by Gaelic monks and nuns. The Church had suffered a great setback- most of the island was coming under the rule of pagans- but the fall of Roman Britain and the exiles of the British clergy would sow the seeds for the eventual Nicene revival in the islands.


[1] The legendary nature of post-Roman British rulers makes establishing the truth very, very hard. I thusly took one semi-legendary character, Paternus of the Red Robe/Padarn Beisrudd and made him real. The Hen Ogledd, or Old North, is where his kingdom is located. OTL, Hen Ogledd rulers were have said to have come to Gwynedd to help them against the Saxons. Here, that may not be the case.
[2] Not actually, but more of the Alans went west TTL. The rest would go south with Attila.
[3]Leicester. Ratae does not suffer a fire in the late fourth century- instead, Londinium does. The city is more built up TTL here by this point.
[4] Stirling
[5] That will be the name of their language TTL as in OTL.
[6] Both were attested figures OTL- Respendial is said to have saved the Vandal forces at their battle with the Franks, after the death of Godigisel.
 
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Very brief comment: I've had a glance at this TL, and it looks interesting. I'm looking forward to properly reading and commenting over the next few days! :)
 
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