Vienna
Vienna is the capital city of Austria. Dating back to roughly 15 BC, the city was developed as a settlement in the central Roman empire, later expanding to its current size through the growth and influence of Christianity in Europe and the Holy Roman Empire, of which it would become the de facto capital.
From the moment of its foundation, Vienna would come to represent the height of the Catholic Church in Europe, as Christianity spread across the continent. From the 3rd century AD onwards, Vienna fell under the Diocese of Passau (previously the Diocese of Lorch); an ecclesiastical principality that was responsible for developing monasteries, spreading missionaries, and disseminating the influence of the Catholic Church across mainland Europe for hundreds of years. As a result, Vienna, similarly to other Catholic strongholds such as Rome and Constantinople, implemented severe repression of Hycathism, as it was deemed threatening to the consolidation of Christianity.
Roosmarijn Doolaard, later Duchess of Chiltern, is known to have passed through the city in AD 1137 en route to Anatolia on the instructions of Empress Matilda of Anjou. A Cyntha herself, Roosmarijn’s diaries describe her fear at the muscular influence of the Church, and indicate an important turning point in her own personal growth, which would be instrumental in the success of her mission.
