Expulsion of the Pontificates

The **Expulsion of the Pontificates** was an event that occurred in 161 AE under the orders of Queen Kateraldir Wilem of Flowers in Fleur. The event saw the exile of three hundred and thirty-three Justainian religious leaders from Fleur in attempt to remove the religion from the country.

## Prior to the Event

Queen Kateraldir had a negative experience with Justainism when she was a child which led to a lifelong resentment of the religion. In her early adulthood she became a prominent Fleurian Aestheticist, commissioning a great deal of art, buildings, and great works in the burgeoning new movement. Her support of this new artistic helped to shape it into a more spiritual movement. Her friendship with famous Fleurian Aestheticists led to intellectual collaboration that shaped the movement.

In 169 AE Kateraldir was coronated the new Queen of Flowers. Immediately she began to subjugate the Justainians. First, she raised taxes on anyone of Korevnan or Arimanian decent, then stopped nearly all travel from those countries into Fleur without heavy taxation, and finally she began to tax the Church, something unheard of until this point in time. Her obvious disdain was met with mixed reactions. Some loved her new focus of Fleur first but others felt she was going to far with her seeming crusade against the Justainians, who largely helped the poor and gave many an institution they could rely upon.

In the years directly before 161 AE, Kateraldir had orchestrated the closure of many churches, cathedrals, and even the destruction of monuments. The Grand Pontificate had denounced her, as well as the Holy Emperor of Arimania. Kateraldir did not care, in fact, she had made her mind up to further tensions in the near future. She planned her expulsion and in 161, she orchestrated it.

## The Event

Without warning on the night of 19 Kaltan in 161 AE, every chapel, church, and cathedral was raided by the royal guards and standing army. Every leader was dragged into the snowy streets in his night clothes and thrown out, told to leave the country or be arrested on order of the queen. Religious icons and art were destroyed en masse and several people were killed for non compliance. The next morning, Kateraldir addressed the event by saying, "...horrible plots did thy have against thy country 'e kin, so as to cause the death 'e destruction of Our most glorious nation. We only stopped thy before the fruition of thy plans."

For the rest of the winter, more raids would occur, always at night on incredibly cold days. By the end of the raids, three hundred and thirty-three holy men had been expelled from the country, many going to the River Lands or Korevna, but even more dying of cold on the way. Some farmers or peasants would house these men until an example was made of one sometime in late Kaltan.

The raids ended in the spring of 160 AE, with Justainian power in Fleur heavily crippled.

## Aftermath

Justainian influence in Fleur fell heavily, along with the positive relationships between the country and its neighbor Korevna. The River Lands also denounced Fleur, accepting the exiles with open arms. The influx of religious people to the territory helped to further establish it as the northern center of Justainian teachings. Arimania ceased all trade with Fleur, banned all travel of those from the country into territories of the Empire, and also opened asylum for those fleeing the country to avoid religious persecution.

Kateraldir saw her popularity severely decrease. While she regained some love of the people later on, she never quite recovered and died in 158 to the great happiness of many. Later, during the Calvanist Revival of the mid-Modern Era, her works would be destroyed and her name slandered by her distant relation, Prince Consort Calvan Wilem.