History of Urcea (1402-1575): Difference between revisions

James III ruled during the initial outbreak of the Protestant Reformation in 1517 and, although he initially expressed interest and toleration, eventually decided to enforce religious unity and ban Protestant proselytism after the Pope promulgated ''Exsurge Domine'' in 1520. The Reformation created a relatively small Protestant minority mostly in the peripheries of the country. King James spent the latter twenty years of his long reign (1492-1546) feuding with local lords and the country's neighbors, while breaking the country's alliance with the King of [[Angla]] as the latter became Protestant and the subject of an Imperial invasion. James died in April of 1546 without an heir starting a minor interregnum. There was considerable dispute whether or not Aedanicus would or could ascend to the Throne or whether or not some other claimant, like a Catholic descendant of Niall IV or even the Protestant Riordan Julio-Angloise should take his place. Considerable fighting between local factions broke out until Riordan himself seized Urceopolis and the Throne in October of 1546.

Though Riordan V (1546-1557), first King of the House of Julio-Angloise and a Protestant, initially pledged that he would issue an edict of toleration, the Crown soon began to interfere in the functions of the Church and attempted to repossess the monastic lands in the [[Urceopolis (Archduchy)|Archduchy of Urceopolis]]. The [[Pope]] fled Urceopolis for [[Corcra (City)|Corcra]] and the persecution of the Church began in 1548, and in response [[List of Emperors of the Levantines#Gram%20Felix%20Dynasty|Emperor Conchobar III]] granted Imperial immediacy to all vassals directly outside the crown lands of [[Urcea]], bringing the so-called [[Imperial Kingdom of Urcea|Imperial Kingdom]] to its functional dissolution. Taking this as a sign of approval from the Emperor, a large coalition of [[Levantine Catholic Church|Catholic]] landed [[Social class in Urcea|optimates]] rallied together to form the Catholic League and declared their intention to overthrow King Riordan V in favor of Prince Aedanicus, who remained at [[Castle Welute]] north of Urceopolis. Although the conflict initially took form as a dynastic dispute, soon sectarian fighting began and each side began wanton atrocities. Many villages and towns founded during the reign of [[Great Levantia]] were destroyed and not resettled, providing evidence to archaeologists how the typical Urcean of this time lived. The rebellion grew into the Urcean War of Religion with the Protestant, Royalist forces controlling the Urce River Valley and the Catholic rebels controlling the countryside. Riordan spent most of his reign prosecuting the war, and the Royalist forces experienced a considerable setback at the Battle of Clada in 1554, forcing the King to look to Protestant neighbors and allies such as the [[Kingdom of Gassavelia]] for assistance, drawing Urcea into forming the [[Protestant Union]]. With the destruction of the Kingdom of [[Angla]] earlier that year in the [[Nordmontaine War]], the Union planned to march on Corcra and establish Protestantism as a legal religion in the Empire alongside Catholicism. The [[Great Confessional War]] between the Catholic [[Holy League]] and the [[Protestant Union]], and the Urcean War of Religion was largely subsumed into the greater conflict.  

Riordan V died in 1557 and was succeeded by his Protestant son Donnchad III, who was considered to be an exceptionally more talented commander than his father. Donnchad managed to break a Catholic siege of Urceopolis and maneuvered north to Castle Welute. Rather than besiege the Catholic stronghold, Donnchad raided the fortress and took Prince Aedanicus, the Catholic heir and son of King Leo I, and brought him back to Urceopolis. There, in 1560, he was drawn and quartered and his head was mounted high in the Pale for the city to see, with the remaining parts sent to various rebel leaders; this act was viewed as a severe atrocity by contemporaries and far beyond the honorable conduct of war, leading many moderate optimates in the countryside to abandon the Protestant cause. Next, Donnchad launched a campaign to the southwest to break out of the Urce valley and link up with Protestant forces from the [[Kingdom of Gassavelia]], which he did successfully. By 1562 Donnchad defeated the Holy League at numerous battles in southern Urcea and Gassavelia and the combined forces began to besiege the city of Cana.

[[Emperor Leo III of the Holy Levantine Empire|Leo de Weluta]], eldest son of Prince Aedanicus who had escaped to Corcra in 1560, leading a small force comprised mostly of Catholic troops from Ultmar given to him by the Emperor, launched a surprise attack on the city of Roekdorse in modern North Ionia and took the mostly-Catholic city, overcoming the small Royalist garrison. Soon, Leo began to call upon the avowedly Catholic Ionian Highlanders, who viewed "''Auld Royal Leo''" as their King, to flock to his banner, which they did. With the victory, the Pope proclaimed in 1563 that Leo was rightful heir to the Kingdom and gave him a Papal grant of the Kingdom stating as much, making Leo the de facto leader of Catholic Urcean forces. Reorganizing the shattered rebel forces and consolidating the Imperial-given forces, the Ionians, and the rebels into a new army, Leo began a march southwest to Urceopolis, besieging Protestant-aligned cities as he made his way down the river valley. The Protestant King Donnchad and his Gassavelian allies had to abandon the siege of Cana and march the two armies northeast. Leo and Donnchad's armies met for the first time in the northeastern plateau and engaged in a series of skirmishes for a year. Donnchad was continuously assured that a Protestant offensive from the Electorates of Lucarnia and Hollona would relieve him and attack the Imperial army from the rear, and continued to draw back his army in a series of bloody retreats in order to draw the Catholic forces in for a fight in which the allied armies would be able to strategically entrap the Imperial army. No reinforcements came, and Donnchad made the decision to continue the retreat on to Urceopolis in an attempt to draw the Catholic army into a siege of the well-defended city and potentially destroy them by sallying the Protestant forces forth. Leo managed to flank Donnchad with a detachment mostly comprised of cavalry and light infantry, positioning troops between Donnchad and Urceopolis, forcing the Protestant armies to stand and fight near Drumfree. At the Battle of Drumfree, which occurred on April 9th, 1565, both sides seemed deadlocked for nearly eight hours of fighting before Donnchad was mortally wounded by a primitive form of grapeshot, leading to the Protestant forces fleeing. Donnchad, abandoned by his troops, was then speared hundreds of times and his mangled corpse thrown into a ditch.

Having defeated the Julio-Angloise and with only a few Protestant partisans left in Urcea, King Leo II now had relatively free reign to prosecute the Great Confessional War on behalf of the Holy League, squarely putting the Protestant Union on the defensive. After defeating a small band of Julio-Angloise rebels south of Cálfeld, Leo marched the Imperial Army south and besieged Rexha by the end of 1565. The well-fortified city held out until 1567 when the Imperial Army successfully breached the walls after an extended cannon barrage. The [[Kingdom of Gassavelia]] soon suffered total collapse and Imperial occupation, ending the Southern Levantine theater of the war, with the remaining campaigns being largely siege-based against Protestant cities in northern Dericania and Ultmar. King Leo II spent 1568-1570 in Urcea restoring the position of the Church, rebuilding monasteries, restoring icons, and preparing the army for another campaign, which he launched into Dericania in 1571. Upon death of the Emperor in 1572, the Electors met and chose Leo as Emperor, putting the entire Holy League army under his command. He spent the next three years prosecuting the war until the Holy League's final victory in 1575, after twenty years of fighting. Leo showed no mercy and expelled all Protestant landholders from the Empire, enforced the legal status of the Catholic Church, enforced several of the doctrines of the Counter-Reformation, redistributed former Protestant lands, and strengthened the Inquisition in Levantia. Urcea, from the conflict, gained considerably; the Kingdom of Gassavelia was partitioned, with the western half of the Kingdom (and its colony of [[Antilles]]) being given to [[Urcea]] and the remainder becoming part of [[Faramount]]. Additionally, Urcea acquired former lands of the [[Kingdom of Angla]] which had been assigned to it after the [[Nordmontaine War]] but the Julio-Angloise royals refused to accept. Finally, Emperor Leo deprived the formerly Protestant controlled [[Philaridon Republic]] of much of its territory and traditional rights. The Republic's existence continued for more than a century, but following the reign of Emperor Leo it was reduced to little more than a city-state client of [[Urcea]]. Emperor Leo brought the results of the [[Great Confessional War]] to their natural conclusion, prosecuting the [[Dragonnades]] which largely left the [[Holy Levantine Empire]] uniformly [[Levantine Catholic Church|Catholic]] and left many of the [[Estates of Urcea]] in disarray, as more than half of the Custóirs appointed by his predecessor were removed. The Dragonnades helped dramatically increase Royal authority in the realm as huge Protestant landed estates were seized by the Crown. Following the [[Great Confessional War]], the power and expansive lands of the nobility in relation to the King went into terminal decline and by the time of the [[Red Interregnum]], any of the remaining feudal estates were completely wiped away, though their influence and power was only nominal by that point.