History of Urcea (1214-1402)

The History of Urcea from 1214-1402, sometimes also called the Saint's War Period, consists of period of time from the rise of the House of Cónn in 1214 to the end of the Saint's War in 1402 with the rise of House de Weluta. This period saw the Kingdom descend into generations of dynastic civil war between the House of Cónn and House of Aleckán but also saw considerable legal and social reforms take place. The Great Landsmeet, the descendant of the ancient tribal assembly of Great Levantia met for the last time as the Concilium Daoni rose to prominence. The instability and uncertainty of war lead to major demographic changes that weakened the system of feudal contracts and greatly disturbed the existing system of social class in Urcea. The end of the war was characterized by the rapid ascent of House de Weluta, which has intermittently ruled Urcea since.

Th e Cónnocracy
The victory of King James II and slaying of Lucás I at the Battle of Hollyhead was among several violent changes on the Throne during the Saint's War. The ascension of Constantine to the Throne lead to the relatively non-noteworthy and peaceful rule of the House of Cónn for nearly forty years, primarily remembered for a series of construction programs to build and fortify trading routes and trail throughout the ever expanding Kingdom, including increased legal conformity of the Electorate of Canaery with the rest of the Kingdom, though full legal integration was not achieved for many centuries.

The reign of Constantine I saw the Concilium Daoni assume the same force of law as decisions of the Great Landsmeet. While this decision was aimed at increasing the flexibility of Royal administration, it had the effect of making the Landsmeet obsolete and decreasing the power of the nobility.

Constantine's son Aedanicus III, called "the mad" in the latter years of his rule due to his increasing senility, assumed the throne in 1231. Aedanicus's reign marked the end of the Great Landsmeet, which met for the last time in 1243, though it would not be formally abolished until the 1400s. His rule came to an end in 1253 after 22 years as Donnchad, the son of the Aleckán King Niall III, returned from exile to claim the Throne.

Al eckán restored
Donnchad outmaneuvered the Cónn loyalists that fought on behalf of Aedanicus III, who was physically and mentally unfit to lead his armies. Prince Donnchad seized Urceopolis on July 1st, 1253, being crowned the same day. In an attempt to end the dynastic feud, Donnchad I allowed the senile Aedanicus III to live unmolested in retirement in a small wing of the Julian Palace, where he died without incident in 1257. Aedanicus III's son, the defeated Prince James, saw the new King's act as one of kindness and pledged loyalty to him and disavowed his claim to the Throne. During this period, Donnchad began the Urcean envelopment of the Latinic city-states of Crotona and Tromarine, a process that would not be completed until the mid 17th century. These rich trading cities would strengthen Urcea considerably and give it an important naval foothold in the Odoneru Ocean. Donnchad spent much of his reign campaigning in Crotona and by the end of his life he had managed to subdue most of what is today the province of North Crotona.

The peace was not to last, however; Donnchad was succeeded by his quarrelsome son Riordan IV, who befriended Prince James and relied on Cónn support to defeat his domestic rivals among the nobility, including some Julio-Aleckán loyalists. Riordan's reign was primarily characterized by his attempts to centralize Royal authority and his alliance with the Cónns gave him great utility in this, though he eventually waged civil war as some of the nobles rose up against him in arms. On his death in 1275 due to battle wounds, Riordan IV controversially named the Prince James as his successor, who took the Throne on April 3rd, 1275. The Julio-Aleckán faction - most of whom were already in arms against Riordan - disputed the succession by law, claiming that James was not only ineligible to succeed due to Riordan's brother Niall having a better claim, but also due to his having renounced the Throne during the reign of Donnchad I. James I managed to rally the Royal Army and defeat the Noble forces, who sought a Royal charter of some kind, and managed to secure his place on the Throne for the next 37 years.

Julian instability
James's reign was mostly consumed by an effort to purge, wherever possible, potential Julio-Aleckán claimants and their descendants, though James could not, himself, produce an heir, for which he was the target of both legal alarm and satirical attacks by the Aleckán faction. James's primary accusation by his critics was that he was a closeted atheist anarchist looking to destroy the country by a lack of legal heirs, and that he was potentially a homosexual. Upon James's death without children in 1312, the lead Julio-Aleckán heir, Lucás, the nephew of Riordan IV through his father Niall, defeated Cónn forces outside Urceopolis and was crowned King five days later on February 22nd, 1312 before James I's nephew, also named James, could muster enough forces to push his claim by force. Lucás, the last direct Julio-Aleckán King, reigned for 18 years between 1312 and 1330, a time which was primarily spent fighting a fierce civil war against James Cónn and his allies. Lucás was eventually killed in single combat by James at the Battle of Hollyhead, allowing the latter to be crowned in Urceopolis on January 22nd, 1330, twenty days after the battle. Like James I, James II spent his reign executing a series of bloody purges against the Julio-Aleckán family and their suspected heirs, though he was much more successful than his predecessor. Like his predecessor, however, James II died childless and plunged the Kingdom into the Great Interregnum in 1339, the final phase of the Saint's War.

Great Interregnum
Unlike the inconsistent dynastic feuding that characterized the first 125 years of the conflict, the Great Interregnum brought 63 years of civil war and national division. Not only did the Great Interregnum occur because of the relatively even power bases of the two halves of the Julian dynasty, but also due to succession laws. When there was a crowned Apostolic King of Urcea, the holder of the Julian Crown was legally held to succeed to both the Archduchy of Urceopolis and Grand Duchy of Yustona, effectively overriding local succession laws. With the lack of a consensus King and power evenly divided, however, succession defaulted back to local laws which had not been used since before the Golden Bull of 1098. In the Archduchy, the Archducal title, when no clear heir was available, defaulted to whomever held the headship of the Estate of the Julii, but Yustona instead employed an absolute primogeniture tie based on kinship. With no King, the two titles diverged from another, granting a kind of political and legal legitimacy to the final stage of the Saint's War.

The Great Interregnum saw a general realignment of the political loyalties of the Estates of Urcea. Through most of the Saint's War, Estates were divided internally for either claimant, especially including the Royal Estate of the Julii. The Aleckán dynasty had acquired the title of Custóir from King Seán I in 1159, and despite many attempts, the House of Cónn could not dislodge them from their headship of the Estate even as the Julian Throne alternated between the two houses. The Custóirship of the Julii was a source of great prestige and authority for the Aleckáns, giving them the loyalty of most of the heads of the Estates even if subsidiary families supported the Cónns. With the beginning of the Interregnum, though, many of the Estates came to blame the Aleckáns for the division of the nation. Specifically, the Gaelic Estates began to support the Cónns, which turned the final phase of the Saint's War into a series of battles between Estates. This, paradoxically, had the effect of strengthening the Aleckán cause, as it lead to the slightly more numerous Latinic Estates rallying around the House of Aleckán and contributing manpower and funding not seen up through this point of the conflict.

During the Great Interregnum, the Aleckán faction held the territory of the Archduchy of Urceopolis and other western portions of the Kingdom, though not the city of Urceopolis itself; the burghers and local landed nobility revolted and established the Pope as the temporal ruler of the city and the surrounding areas so as to prevent violence befalling the city as had happened previously during the Saint's War, an arrangement which was said would end upon the final conclusion of the conflict. The Cónn faction ruled over the Grand Duchy of Yustona and the Electorate of Canaery. The House of Cónn established its court north of the Magnag in the newly constructed castle of Ardricampus, which took its name ("King's Fort"), from the period. This castle grew into a major city with the same name, around which developed the modern province of Ardricampus. The Aleckán faction ruled from several castles near Urceopolis, but did not dare attempt to dislodge the Pope from the city. The Imperial Kingdom of Urcea, tied to the Apostolic King of Urcea, remained vacant, though in practice its duties continued to be exercised by a regent directly appointed by the Emperor of the Levantines. Apart from the Saint's War, the fate of the regency during this period was a source of fierce political disagreement between the Emperor and the Pope over who exercised control over Urcea during a crown vacancy, a question that was not clearly solved with the end of the war in the 15th century.

The death of the last direct male Julio-Aleckán heir in battle in 1392 seemed to indicate that the Cónn faction was about to emerge victorious. However, the supporters of the Aleckán cause produced one of their own generals - an indirect heir named Lucás from House de Weluta, who descended from King Lucás I via his daughter. Lucás de Weluta, elevated to the rank of Archduke of Urceopolis and ruling from Castle Welute, continued the fight against the Cónn faction. The de Welutas - also known as the Welutians or the Velucians - originally hailed from the Ionian Highlands and maintained considerable connections there, and as a house they were formed earlier in the century as part of an alliance between King Lucás I and some highland clans. Lucás de Weluta rallied the Aleckán faction and raised a large number of highlanders to his banner, rejuvenating the Aleckán cause. Within a decade, enlisting the support of forces from Angla, Lucás de Weluta eventually issued a final defeat to the Cónn faction at the Battle of Glens Falls in 1401 and subsequent successfully besieged of the Castle of Ardricampus in early August 1402. Facing defeat, the Cónn claimant - the Archduke Aedanicus of Cónn - threw himself from the walls of the fortress, committing suicide. Rather than slaughter the remaining members of the family, Lucás de Weluta married Aedanicus's only daughter Eileen and sent the rest of the family into exile in Angla, where per agreement some of them would marry into the Royal family there. The de Weluta army then marched on Urceopolis, which opened its gates to him, and Lucás was crowned personally by the Pope on September 14 1402, ending the Saint's War and Great Interregnum definitively.