OK, here's how it goes:
352 (POD): A pagan Gothic warlord and warrior, Theodoric (not the later king) converts to Roman Christianity. He becomes a monk, but ceases neither his martial training nor his battles; in fact, he writes volumes on fighting, particularly the personal fighting that the barbarians employ, as opposed to the drilled war of the Romans. Theodoric's lessons are later referred to as the Fist of God, and his writings (on everything from where to hit on the body to incapacitate/kill a foe to a strict regimen of diet and exercise) are all wrapped up under his fervent belief that, as the body is the temple of the soul, it is the responsibility of a person to keep that temple as well as possible.
452: Rather than paying attention to Pope Leo I (or returning to his capital before the onset of winter) Attila the Hun proceeds to ravage the eternal city; this includes the public (and very gruesome) execution of the Pope for speaking to Attila as an equal, rather than as a great king. Attila finally returns from Rome after much loot and plunder, and dies of a nose bleed in his sleep. The event is pivotal, however, for it shows the Roman Church that it is defenseless, and cannot count on the might of the government (at the time, the Western Roman Empire) to protect it. The next pope, Pope Julius II, discovers the teachings of the long-dead Theodoric, who is soon sainted as St. Theodore the Great, and commands the faithful to live up to standards set by the Fist of God; the faithful, naturally, are monks, who, as the years go by, devote themselves to studying, applying, and perfecting the techniques of St. Theodore in their monastery retreats. The monks, although heavily insulated due to their regimens (one monastery hidden in the Alps, known as the Fury of the Righteous, only accepted those who appeared at its doorstep dressed only in a hairskin habit, despite the extreme climate), make their presence known when necessary; in particular, they made passage south into Italy all but impossible for hostile foes, particularly the Ostrogoths, and the Italian peninsula thus remained relatively free, although raiding parties did ravage much of the north. Thus, when, in 476, the puppet Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus, sent the Imperial Regalia to Emperor Zeno of Constantinople, the monks acted; under strict orders from the Pope Julius II, who feared meeting a similar fate as Pope Leo I, a group of 22 monks, having spent the past two decades training under the arts of St. Theodore, kill Odovacar and some one hundred of his highest retainers when, during a feast in which the monks have been invited to pray, Odovacar (more than half drunk) remarks, "I wonder what Attila would do if he kept Italia." Most of the monks escape successfully, with four remaining back to hold off Odovacar's soldiers at a narrow pass (immortalized in da Vinci's painting, "The Slaying of Odovacar," in which the four monks hold back a tide of iron as their compatriots escape to inform the Pope).
With Italy now without a secular ruler, Emperor Zeno accepts the Imperial Regalia and proclaims himself the emperor of the reunited Roman Empire. With the Mother See of Rome now in the Empire, no form of schism develops, and the Roman Empire now includes the Byzantine Empire and Italy; the fighting styles of the monks quickly spreads, and more monasteries emerge.
I think that's all for tonight; I'll work this into a war against Islam later, if there is any interest for it.
352 (POD): A pagan Gothic warlord and warrior, Theodoric (not the later king) converts to Roman Christianity. He becomes a monk, but ceases neither his martial training nor his battles; in fact, he writes volumes on fighting, particularly the personal fighting that the barbarians employ, as opposed to the drilled war of the Romans. Theodoric's lessons are later referred to as the Fist of God, and his writings (on everything from where to hit on the body to incapacitate/kill a foe to a strict regimen of diet and exercise) are all wrapped up under his fervent belief that, as the body is the temple of the soul, it is the responsibility of a person to keep that temple as well as possible.
452: Rather than paying attention to Pope Leo I (or returning to his capital before the onset of winter) Attila the Hun proceeds to ravage the eternal city; this includes the public (and very gruesome) execution of the Pope for speaking to Attila as an equal, rather than as a great king. Attila finally returns from Rome after much loot and plunder, and dies of a nose bleed in his sleep. The event is pivotal, however, for it shows the Roman Church that it is defenseless, and cannot count on the might of the government (at the time, the Western Roman Empire) to protect it. The next pope, Pope Julius II, discovers the teachings of the long-dead Theodoric, who is soon sainted as St. Theodore the Great, and commands the faithful to live up to standards set by the Fist of God; the faithful, naturally, are monks, who, as the years go by, devote themselves to studying, applying, and perfecting the techniques of St. Theodore in their monastery retreats. The monks, although heavily insulated due to their regimens (one monastery hidden in the Alps, known as the Fury of the Righteous, only accepted those who appeared at its doorstep dressed only in a hairskin habit, despite the extreme climate), make their presence known when necessary; in particular, they made passage south into Italy all but impossible for hostile foes, particularly the Ostrogoths, and the Italian peninsula thus remained relatively free, although raiding parties did ravage much of the north. Thus, when, in 476, the puppet Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus, sent the Imperial Regalia to Emperor Zeno of Constantinople, the monks acted; under strict orders from the Pope Julius II, who feared meeting a similar fate as Pope Leo I, a group of 22 monks, having spent the past two decades training under the arts of St. Theodore, kill Odovacar and some one hundred of his highest retainers when, during a feast in which the monks have been invited to pray, Odovacar (more than half drunk) remarks, "I wonder what Attila would do if he kept Italia." Most of the monks escape successfully, with four remaining back to hold off Odovacar's soldiers at a narrow pass (immortalized in da Vinci's painting, "The Slaying of Odovacar," in which the four monks hold back a tide of iron as their compatriots escape to inform the Pope).
With Italy now without a secular ruler, Emperor Zeno accepts the Imperial Regalia and proclaims himself the emperor of the reunited Roman Empire. With the Mother See of Rome now in the Empire, no form of schism develops, and the Roman Empire now includes the Byzantine Empire and Italy; the fighting styles of the monks quickly spreads, and more monasteries emerge.
I think that's all for tonight; I'll work this into a war against Islam later, if there is any interest for it.