Emmerichite Pogroms

The Emmerichite Pogroms were a series of religious persecutions and killings targeting followers of the budding Emmerich heresy within the Kingdom of Osteria. The conflict was precipitated by Emmerich the Accursed, a reformist hard-liner in the Haselhorst Conclave, and his rivalry with Exarch Klopfer the Silent. It also involved a series of short conflicts, collectively referred to as the Dransau-Wachterich Affair, which culminated in the Grau-Almeras Civil War. There were four pogroms in total, spread out through the late sixth century. The pogroms ended when King Guillaume I won the civil war—thus, it can be said that the killings were just as much political as they were theological. The event as a whole represents a turning point in the Osterik Protectorate, however, and a consolidation of the three pillars of Osterian society within the Triumvirate Concordat, proclaimed soon after the pogroms ended.

Factions

 * The traditionalists—led by Exarch Klopfer and much of the conclave, aided favorably by King Guillaume I and the royal court.
 * The Emmerichites—led by, despite proclaiming Emmerich as the martyr-figurehead, Duke Philip the Purifier, with considerable responsibility in the north attributed to Archduke Anatol the Younger.

Prelude
By the Ahrendt Succession Crisis in 577, the conclave had helplessly despaired over Lagrica for some time. A rift had grown irreparably between the church and southern provinces, whose priests were dominated by local magnates. The church failed to remedy the rift in the Dresbruch Affair, which finally consolidated southern rites to the crown—an intolerable compromise for Etranite conservatives, and eventually, Lagrican magnates who watched the crown slip to a Florian claimant, Guillaume I. Lagricans had come to view the Haselhorst church as an archaic, foreign institution, however—it wasn't until the arrival of Isaak Emmerich, replacing Primate Wachterich in Versau, that any Lagricans began to form a religious identity. Emmerich was a reformist whose controversial sermons against the First Versau Diet earned him the primacy, but the conclave soon regretted his appointment as he accumulated swaths of followers in Lagrica, passionately moving crowds against the ostentatious degradation of the conclave. Emmerich, in fact, did not step a foot in Versau—the assembly had banished him the moment his appointment was made. He instead cultivated a large following throughout the country, across the Lagrican Tributaries, and with seditious Lagrican magnates who were especially enthused by his ability to rile crowds against the King and his noble assembly. Yet Emmerich's rise was not an enlightenment of the masses, as many have pictured it—it was primarily funded and manned by the Duke of Lofenau, Philip Wachterich, whose claims on the crown were thwarted by King Guillaume I.

After a failed coup in the conclave, led by Emmerich and Primate Ahrendt, the exarch denounced the Emmerichites as the upstart of a heretical movement, and had his following excommunicated. Emmerich then retaliated with The Baierz Declaration, the greatest sermon of his life, while under sanctuary in Arnbruck, his protection guaranteed by the Archduke of Etranon, whose wife was a Wachterich, and whose interests in weakening the Haselhorst church gave ample motive. Emmerich was murdered soon after his sermon, which sparked lynchings throughout Etranite and Lagrican towns and tributaries, nominally targeting Florians—his followers blamed Guillaume I for his death.

The First Pogrom (582)
Exarch Klopfer took the next step in suppressing the budding Emmerich heresy by ordering a formal pogrom throughout Nortium, led by Albrecht the Butcher. Nortium, as well as its largest city, Haselhorst, had become a center for Emmerichites in Etranon, with regional discontent to the church fueled by the Archduke's aid. Albrecht had widespread hunts carried out, where the Emmerichites were killed without quarter, their bodies left to pile up in streets. This put a firm end to the riotous activities in Etranon, but led the Archduke to seize several bishoprics across Lautha, which led the Haselhorst to formally end the pogrom before the heresy was fully eradicated in the region. The death toll of this pogrom was the lowest, and its duration the shortest.

The Second Pogrom (584—597)
While Philip established himself as a force to be feared in Lagrica, uprooting the Dransau from Antand, the diet's concerns over the Emmerichite upsurge reached a fever pitch. Finally, their fears were realized in the Versau riots of 584, which came when the diet had attempted to ban public displays of Emmerichite sentiment (which goes to show how significantly the faith had already grown). The riots were likely raised by the then-Vicereine Gaelle de Villepin, who the King sacked for showing sympathies for the Emmerichite scourge. At the King's request, Haselhorst directed another pogrom in Versau and western Lagrica, executed by Klemens Lichtwark. Lichtwark, commander of the royal guard, had indiscriminately killed countless innocents for as much as relations to Emmerichites. Not even aristocrats were spared; some, in fact, were intentionally targeted to uproot the King's old enemies on baseless charges of heresy. It was, it is said, after the second pogrom that the King truly won unanimous support in the Versau Diet—in reality, many of his more outspoken critics were executed.

The Third Pogrom (589—593)
The third pogrom was targeted cynically to reduce the risk of an Emmerichite uprising against Guillaume I—after the successes of Philip the Purifier, it became clear that Archduke Anatol was bound to make a move beyond the recently annexed province of Villersthal. Villersthal blocked off all reasonable marching routes from Auvergon into Etranon, and occupied much of the Drachenwald, which provided a splendid defensive position and endless supply of lumber. Anatol had already begun fortifying the rims of the vast forest. As the possibility of war seemed certain, Exarch Klopfer worked in defense of the King once again, and declared a pogrom targeting all of Carran, simultaneously to root out dangerous sects of pagans as well as Emmerichite refugees which threatened the new tributaries. Albrecht the Butcher again set about a massacre, this time without any reasonable pretext—the residents of Villersthal were almost all pagan, and those that weren't were obviously there in service of the Archduke. Albrecht razed fortifications, holdfasts and even native towns, forcing a mass exodus of locals to the northern tribes of Carran. While the death toll isn't recorded, this action decisively weakened the Archduke's hand before the civil war, but also proved to be an irreversible escalation to that cause.

The Fourth Pogrom (592—598)
The fourth came amid civil war. The hosts of Anatol and Philip were already mobilized, occupying much of Etranon and northern Lagrica—cities across Osteria were struck with hunger, which precipitated some of the most devastating serf revolts in Osteria's history. Guillaume I and Klopfer, working hand-in-hand after the siege of Haselhorst, were walking the tight-rope. The diet had dissociated itself from the King in a limbo of neutrality, neither wishing to enrage their liege nor their rampaging inhabitants. A pretext to strike at the peasant revolts, then the heart of Philip's strategy, was required to win the war—reluctantly, knowing full well the divisional consequences it would have between the church and the already wayward Lagricans, Klopfer declared what would be the last pogrom of the Emmerichites across Lagrica, targeting the armed insurrections and unrest against the King. This was carried out by royal forces, and was one of the instrumental steps in Guillaume winning the war. The death count was staggering, and the Lagrican tributaries never recovered—but the war was won, and the conclave eventually returned to its seat in Haselhorst. Among the dead would be Philip the Purifier, Anatol von Verlar, the entire von Verlar family, as well as those associated with him—even, just before the war began, Primate Ahrendt was executed. An entire generation of Lagrican and Etranite aristocracy would be bloodied or felled by the war, while a new one would be lifted into power by the vacancies made.