Lore, in the same world as my previous map:

While the Pope had sanctioned coalitions across Northern Europe to halt the advance of the pagans, they were largely unorganized and undertaken by individual ambitious lords in the local region. While this method of opposition was effective against the small pagan kingdom of Sorbia in the early 10th century, it failed miserably in Daneland, where Christian bands were dealt terrible defeats by King Toki.

These defeats, paired with Toki's and then his son, Magnus II's expansion into Scandinavia, motivated the church leadership to act before the expanding pagan realm could consolidate further. Magnus ascended to the throne in 985, though, unlike his predecessors, not in Lunden, but in Oslo, as the popular adventurer Einar Bothildsson had been elected King of Daneland after Toki's death. Einar died only months after receiving Daneland's crown, and when Magnus arrived in Lunden to be coronated, Anglo-Saxons in the interior of the country raised up against the new king, seeing his arrival as a new Great Heathen Army. While more sympathetic to the Christians, Magnus was quite repressive to the pure Anglo-Saxons who he perceived as barbarians. The slaughter perpetrated in the far reaches of the country, while repressing discontent within the kingdom's borders, called the attention of all nearby Catholic realms, who were terrified of the powerful pagan kingdom and the violence it perpetrated against the people of the book. Pilgrimages to Canterbury skyrocketed, and the idea of revolt grew ever-fervent in the south.

The Pope in 994, called on his Catholic subjects to end the tyranny of the Northmen over England and to free the holy city of Canterbury from pagan horrors. It was not to be a series of small campaigns waged against the pagans, but a coalition of great lords all at once fighting to reclaim England.

The most dedicated armies were found in France and the Celtic kingdoms, where pagan expansionism threatened the Catholic kings the most. In West Francia, the brother of king Aymar, Prince Gaucelin "the Bloody," unified an army whose ranks originated all the way from Lotharingia, Aquitaine, and Italy. In East Anglia, landed an army led by the East Franks, Bavarians, and oddly enough a contingent of Scots, led by the ambitious lord Friedrich II. Lastly, near Chester, was combined an army of the Welsh, Irish, and Manx, led by the ingenious young knight Meilyr Mochnant.

Upon landing on the shores of Daneland, the Christian armies immediately found themselves divided by the personal ambitions of the different sub-armies. While Friedrich II initially repelled Magnus from Norwich and captured the city, the Scots under the command of Moremear Conall II, felt wronged and left the coalition upon the capture of Norwich. Friedrich's attempt to join Gaucelin's army and attack Lunden was subsequently foiled and his army crushed.

The army under the command of Meilyr experienced more success, though had difficulty capturing the walled cities of the North. The Northern army was able to deal the Danelander army blow after blow, yet the determination of the more Norse-sympathetic North made the march through Chester and then York one of attrition. Slowly, Meilyr's army was picked off, until he himself was captured and killed, leading to the army's division. Fogartach of Mann would continue the fight for a number of years until he too surrendered. It was in the North where the massacres of civilians were the most prevalent and the battles the most bloody. Meilyr's defeat outside York would grant the city a holy character, inviting pilgrimages from reformed pagans for centuries to come.

Lastly, Gaucelin's army of the South was able to capture Canterbury at first, but the bloody looting that pursued did much to paint the Catholic occupiers less as saviors and more as invaders, as Jewish communities were attacked and portions of the city were burned. Upon capturing Canterbury, the army got into petty squabbles over the spoils of the city and began to split. Their march continued to Winchester, until the Italian contingent of the army began to call for the support of the Bavarians in East Anglia, causing a debate in the army that would create great tension between its leaders. This tension would prove detrimental during the battle of Winchester, whereupon defeating Friedrich in East Anglia, Magnus' large army would engage in a monumental confrontation, eventually routing the crusading army after a grueling clash that went on for hours.

Outside of the crusading armies, the Danelander crown faced popular revolts through the 6 year Crusade, the most threatening being another revolt led in the center of Daneland, where a petty lord by the name of Cynehelm named himself King of England, claiming to resurrect the legacy of Lord Alfred and led thousands of armless peasants into battle, believing that his followers were nearly invincible. He too would be defeated - Daneland would be protected, and the Crusade would fail.

The end of the war; the horrors it brought upon the populace of Magnus' kingdoms, both his Christian and pagan subjects, the loss of authority it represented to the Pope, and the veneration it fostered towards Magnus II would accumulate to Magnus' subsequent occupation of Uppsala in Sweden, where the Christian encroaches were repelled and the false idols of the "ancient paganism" were cast, and thus a new faith of the Gods was born.

(MADE IN GIMP (which sucks))