Anglei: Difference between revisions

Religious upheaval and disagreement dominated Angla throughout much of the 15th and 16th centuries within the greater context of [[The Anarchy]]. The Kingdom was the site of a major civil war between orthodox Catholics and utraquists from the 1460s onward. The lack of religious cohesion lead to the rise of other Catholic heresies throughout the Kingdom, creating an environment of considerable skepticism towards Catholic orthodoxy. Many novel Christian sects rose and were subsequently destroyed in the 1470s and 1480s. Although the Utraquist War ended in 1488, the religious upheaval allowed proto-Protestants and, later, early Protestant reformers to make large converts among the Ænglish population. Consequently, the Kingdom was among the first realms to convert to Protestantism, as King Godwin II embraced it in 1523. By 1530, most modern scholars estimate a full sixty percent of Ænglish within the Kingdom were Protestant, though inter-Protestant disputes soon continued the century of religious disagreements and occasional violence that plagued the Kingdom.

====The Ænglish Church====

King Godwin II set to work reforming the Ænglish Church after its independence from Urceopolis was established. He replaced the Archbishop of [[Holchester]], the highest ranking clergyman in the country, with a well known Protestant theologian named Eadwacer Fletcher. Working with Fletcher, Godwin issued sweeping religious proclamations between 1524 and 1528. The liturgy was changed from employing {{wp|Ecclesiastical Latin|Latin}} to Ænglish with a liturgical commission established to replace Catholic liturgy, the doctrine of {{wp|sola fide}} was implemented, Church authority was invested in {{wp|Synod|convocations}} approved by the Ænglish King, and a number of Catholic doctrines including {{wp|purgatory}} and {{wp|transubstantiation}} were condemned. Several elements of Catholicism were retained, including liturgical vestments, holy days, veneration of the Saints, and the use of icons, though with veneration of these prohibited. Three sacraments were explicitly upheld - {{wp|Eucharist|Communion}}, {{wp|Baptism}}, and {{wp|Penance}} - while the other four remained open questions. Godwin also seized the monasteries and abolished {{wp|clerical celibacy}}. These acts, collectively known as the ''Acts of Godwin'', were the fundamental basis of Ænglish Church doctrine and remained a key part of the beliefs of its successors until supplanted by more comprehensive works.

====End of the Ænglish realm====

The threat posed to the unity of the [[Holy Levantine Empire]] by a Protestant Kingdom in the north - along with other concerns within the political context of the Anarchy - lead to the [[Emperor of the Levantines|Emperor]] [[List_of_Emperors_of_the_Levantines#Gram_Felix_Dynasty|Conchobar III]] declaring King Godwin III an outlaw in 1543 and invading the country, beginning the [[Nordmontaine War]]. Ænglish forces fought bitterly throughout the conflict but were ultimately undermined by domestic [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] rebels, with local nobility forming rebel armies with aligned with the Imperial Army during the war. Ænglish forces employed {{wp|scorched earth}} tactics that successfully delayed the conclusion of the war for more than a decade but also caused a mass humanitarian crisis as {{wp|famine}} soon covered the land. After 11 years of fighting, [[Holchester]] was sacked and King Godwin III was executed by the Emperor. Many of the Protestant nobles relocated to the castles of the [[Anglasweorc]] in an attempt to hold out, but the Imperial Army demolished most of the castles by the largest grouping of artillery in Levantine history to that point. The Kingdom was subsequently partitioned by the Emperor among five local Catholic nobles who would rule the former core populated area of the Kingdom. The [[Ænglasmarch#Duchy_of_Holchester|Duchy of Holchester]] was given to Aedanicus [[House de Weluta|de Weluta]], a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] royal whose family had been deposed from [[Urcea]], while the eastern portions of the Kingdom were incorporated within the [[Kingdom of Dericania]], inlcuding the [[Hollona and Diorisia|Duchy of Hollona]], which was given to the Elector of Diorisia. The total destruction of the Kingdom lead to a general uprising among the [[Protestant Union]], beginning the [[Great Confessional War]]. Anglei was totally depopulated as a result of the two wars, with famine and bloodshed in the Nordmontaine War followed by continued wartime devestation in the Great Confessional War. Following the [[Holy League]]'s victory in the conflict, the [[Dragonnades]] were heavily prosecuted in the country, creating a Catholic majority at a heavy price as many were forced to convert or deported. The deportations of large numbers of Ænglish people - both as part of the religious efforts as well as by politically motivated deportations in conquered lands - created a stock of potential colonists for Levantine nations such as [[Ardmore]] in relatively recently discovered [[Crona]]. These Ænglish people would be the basis of nations abroad like [[Arcerion]] and [[Alstin]] and their settlement abroad created the theory of the [[Ardmori bargain]], which is a widely-held {{wp|conspiracy theory}} among