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Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM |
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This Day in Alternate History Blog
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1066 – Alternatives 1. Harold's army, having smashed the Danish invasion
near Yorkshire, moved south to prepare for the expected invasion by the Norman
Bastard. A strange apparition in the sky initially made the men nervous,
but Harold pointed out that it could be seen all over the world. "Who
is to say," asked Harold, "that this is not a sign for the Great Cham
of China, and not meant for meaning to us?”
Since none of Harold's army knew a thing about China, this seemed a
reasonable argument, and they went into battle thinking positively. Two
days of fighting near Hastings left both armies exhausted, and the two cousins
who each claimed the throne dead. A Scottish army moved south, and united
the two kingdoms. 2. Harold's army, having smashed the Danish invasion near Yorkshire, moved south to prepare for the expected invasion by the Norman Bastard. A strange apparition in the sky made the men nervous, to the point where even Harold felt it. Convinced he was fated to lose, he sent William a letter explaining that he acknowledged William was the designated heir, but the barons had insisted Harold take the throne. Harold offered to step aside if William would recognize him as Regent while William was in Normandy or otherwise out of the country. William took up the offer swiftly, and took much of Harold's army back to Normandy with him, where he set out to conquer most of the rest of France. 3. Harold's army, having smashed the Danish invasion near Yorkshire, moved south to prepare for the expected invasion by the Norman Bastard. A strange apparition in the sky briefly made the men nervous, but storm clouds occluded it. The Normans set sail, but the fierce North Sea storm smashed their fleet. Harold enjoyed a long, and ultimately peaceful reign. Normandy vanished from the map with its Duke and his entire army drowned and unable to defend the Duchy from its neighbors. 4. Harold's army, having smashed the Danish invasion
near Yorkshire, moved south to prepare for the expected invasion by the Norman
Bastard. A strange apparition in the sky drew their attention, but there
was nothing they could do to resist the strange green creatures which exited the
disk-shaped object and kidnapped them. William found himself
invading a deserted land. #5. After beating off the Danish invasion in
the north, Harold marched his army south to meet the threat of the Norman
Bastard's invasion. A strange apparition in the sky resembled the Moslem
sword, the feared scimitar. Harold's men quaked, but Harold convinced them
that since the Normans were not Moslem, this symbol was mean to warn someone
other than the embattled English. Despite these reassuring words, the
battle, fought near the town of Hastings in Sussex, went badly for the English.
It did not go all that well for the Normans, either, but at least William was
still alive at the end to claim the throne. The Danes decided, based on hearing how badly the Normans
were battered, to try again, and the Danes this time landed on the Kentish
coast. The exhausted and weakened Normans stood no chance. England
was firmly incorporated into the Danish kingdom, which now laid claim to
Normandy. In 1069 the Danes were ready, and swept into Normandy, capturing
nearly all of it within a month. Scarcely a decade later, the Danes, on
the basis of a distant relationship to Egremont de Coucy, seized control of
Picardy. The year 1100 dawned with Denmark controlling all the lands once
subject to Charlemagne, plus most of Sweden, Iceland, and Greenland. Facing increased resistance from the Holy Roman Empire as
they cast covetous eyes on several sections of Germany, the Danes investigated
reports that a few years earlier some of the Greenlanders had found a rich land
to the west. The Greenlanders had sent too small a group to be able
to resist attacks by the natives. Forewarned, the Danes sent in a force of
two thousand well armed troops, and gained control of the mouth of the St.
Lawrence River and the lands immediately to the south. Within fifty years
the portion of the Danish kingdom in the lands west of Greenland exceeded in
extent, population, and wealth the part of the Danish kingdom on the mainland of
Europe. Utilizing the power the kingdom gained from the new territories, Denmark manipulated the 1157 election of a new Holy Roman Emporer, and got their King on that throne. When there was a call for a new crusade in 1199, the Danes used the opportunity to take the throne of the Eastern Empire in Constantinople, and then seized all the eastern end of the Mediterranean, including Egypt down to the first cataract. In the western lands, the Danes had pressed inland as far as a mountain chain which pretty much paralleled the coast. The coast of an enormous gulf was largely hot, swampy, and pestilent, but they discovered a declining civilization of rich city states, so well provided with gold that it was used as a decoration. The plunder paid for the Danish Empire's capture of Arabia, where they stamped out all traces of Mohammedism, and the capture of Persia. #6. Having smashed the Danish invasion in the north,
Harold's army marched south to stop the Norman Bastard under the baleful
apparition in the sky of something resembling a Moslem sword, the scimitar.
Harold convinced his men the symbol meant nothing to them. They were,
after all, expecting to fight Normans, not Saracens. The battle against
the Normans went badly. Harold was dead, his army scattered. But the
Normans also were weakened and to the south, in Andalusia, the celestial
apparition had also been watched. A fleet set out for England, landing in
Kent. Canterbury soon fell, and its archbishop having loudly rejected an
offer to convert to Islam, he was beheaded. William's troops left off
pacifying reluctant Saxon barons, and marched for Kent, where they were
annihilated. Islam was imposed upon England, and following the failure of
an invasion from Scotland a few years later, in that chilly clime also.
Now the followers of the prophet were prepared to rectify the three-century-old
defeat at Tours. France collapsed under the force of a dual invasion, by
land from Spain, and across the channel from England.
By the year 1100 of the Christians, there were few Christian lands
left except for the Duchy of Muscovy, which paid heavy tribute to the Mongols to
protect them from the Islamic armies. 7. As Harold's army hurried south, following their victory over the invading Danes, the men were frightened by a strange apparition in the sky, fearing that it foretold their defeat by the invading Normans. That was exactly what happened, and the Norman Bastard then directed his army to start mopping up operations against barons who had supported Harold. But Cuthbert of Northumbria issued a call for support, claiming to be Harold's hitherto unsuspected son. "I am a bigger Bastard than William, and demand all Saxons support me as we fight the Normans on the beaches, in the forests and in our villages." William was defeated, and Cuthbert I became King of England. Cuthbert, observing that his (alleged) father and William were cousins, laid claim to Normandy. The Cuthbertian Dynasty fought to enforce this claim for centuries. England never developed a trade class as all surplus capital went for the war. Neither did England participate in developing the new western lands when a Genoese sailor discovered them. Normandy itself was ravaged and nearly depopulated by the constant fighting. France also was so weakened that it too could not participate in developing the new lands. Not until the Treaty of Westphalia was the problem
resolved. The Saxons of England got Normandy. The Kingdoms of Saxony
and Spain divided the rest of France. England could finally start to
explore the western lands. 8. As Harold marched his army south, following the defeat of the Danish invasion, a strange apparition appeared in the sky. No one understood what it portended, but the English army arrived in Sussex, and took the castle at Arundel to secure their flank. William's troops swept through Hastings and beseiged the castle's keep. The major part of Harold's army now came out of hiding and trapped the Normans. The battle surged back and forth. By the end of the day both Harold and William were dead. Both armies broke up into wandering bands, answerable to their own baron, to the strongest or most ruthless member, or to no one at all. Two centuries of total anarchy descended upon England. Finally an Irish king, disgusted with the instability and atrocities just across the water, invaded, landing in Cornwall. His forces were enthusiastically greeted through Devonshire, Sussex, the Home Counties. . .The High King of Ireland was accepted universally as King of England, and a grateful Pope, delighted he could appointed bishops who were not promptly slaughtered, added the title of "His Most Christian Majesty". 9. The army of
Harold, flush with their victory over the invading Danes, headed south to ward
off the Norman invasion. The strange apparition in the sky troubled some,
but a victory tends to sooth the most troubled minds. Harold used the
opportunity to announce a new tax on the yeomanry to pay for the wars that
accompanied his taking the throne. But death awaited him in Sussex, and
the Norman Bastard claimed the throne of England. William not only did not rescind the tax that Harold had
announced, he doubled it, in order to give pensions to the families of men who
had fallen in his service. A yeoman in York rose up and proclaimed
England would reclaim the Republic that had once been Rome's.
Theodoric of York swept the Normans from England, taking the title of
Lord Protector of the Republic. Republican rights were extended to Wales,
and following the revelation that MacBeth had murdered King Duncan and usurped
his throne, Scotland joined the Republic. As continental nations suffered under the cruelties of medieval feudalism, the Republic looked more and more appealing. First the Low Countries threw out their nobility and joined the Republic, then the mountainous peoples of Switzerland. By 1300 all Europe was united in a Republic, and ships were exploring the lands to the west, discovered by the Vikings not long before the founding of the Republic. 10. The English
army under King Harold marched south, fresh from their defeat of the invading
Danes. Next up, the Norman Bastard. What cared the English that
William was actually the designated heir of their previous king? Harold
was as closely related to the King as was William, and a local boy to boot.
It was said William spoke naught but Norman. How could he rule a land
whose language was unknown to him? A strange apparition in the sky drew
much comment as they marched south, but none knew what to make of it. The armies of William and Harold met near the Sussex coast, and pretty well destroyed one another. Sensing a major opportunity, a minor Welsh noble family seized their chance. The Tudors crossed the Severn into England, and with no organized army left to oppose them, placed one of their own on the united throne of England and Wales. As a recognition of any lingering English nationalism, the tradition developed that the heir to the throne was given the title of Prince of England. Please reply to the Yahoo Group or use the FeedBack Form.
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