The Second Revelation

From Turtledove

The Second Revelation of Henri, God's second Son, is a variant form of medieval Christianity that developed in one alternate where the Great Black Deaths killed 80% of Europe's population. The devastation wrought by the plague left Europe open to Muslim conquest, and a charismatic leader arose named Henri who claimed to be God's second Son and the deliverer of the Final Testament.

The Pope (then based in Avignon) and the King of France declared Henri to be a heretic, and ordered him executed on the wheel. However, the death of both the King of France and the Pope the very next day as a result of a church collapsing convinced most Christians that Henri was indeed correct. He was soon worshiped as a martyr after his death, and Christians were more likely to sketch the sign of the wheel than the sign of the cross--the symbol of God's First Son.