Patroon

In the Burgoignesc colonial empire, a patroon was a landholder, typically [[Mercantile Reform Protestantt]], with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th and 18th century. The practice was particularly common in Audonia, Alshar, and formed the basis for the existence and organization of Equatorial Ostiecia.

During the Great Confessional War, staring in 1573 Emperor Leo III, of the Holy Levantine Empire started a campaign of dragonnades across the Kingdom of Angla and the Kingdom of Dericania. This practice of billeting ill-disciplined troops in prominent Protestant households in order to convince the leaders of Protestant communities to convert to Catholicism or leave Levantia. It was considered inhumane by the Duke of Bourgondia, who offered aid to the protestants who sought to leave. In exchange for their fluid capital, he granted them patroonships in Torlen, Medimeria, and then in the Ularien Trading Company colonies in Audonia, and Alshar. These patroonships persisted throughout the duration of the Ularien Trading Company and were the impetus for Burgundie’s involvement in the Emirati War (Bergendii landowners claimed that their patroonships were still valid and that the war between the United Pukhgundian Emirates, the Trucial States, and the Emirate of Kagazi, were negatively impacting Burgoignesc trade.)

The practice later applied to portions of the Burgoignesc settlements of Equatorial Ostiecia, but this was not the sole system of land acquisition as it was in colonial Audonia and Alshar. =See also=