Fiannria: Difference between revisions

Christianization continued to have varying degrees of success in the war embroiled region. By now most Celts had adopted Christianity but they were also being subjugated and driven south and east from expanding pagan kingdoms of Norogothic clans. Given the term of Reavers and Vikings, these Germanic people built Reaver Kingdoms along the entirety of the Fiannrian coast and made use of the coast and rivers and the Vandarch to raid across Levantia. However during this period also, the Kingdom of Gallwa located in the borderlands between the modern Deric States, Fiannria and Urcea had confederated many Celtic tribes under its own protection, expanding itself into an Empire under king Conchobar In the 750s, having conquered Urceopolis, in 761 Conchobar was crowned Emperor of the Levantines. Conchobar’s descendants would rule this Holy Levantine Empire and confront the Reaver Kingdoms until 917 after Emperor Brian III died and split the realm among his sons. Fiannria was considered part of the Eastern Kingdom, ruled by King Culmann (as called by contemporaries). However, for a series of reasons that have yet to be fully understood, King Culmann, the eldest and holder of the most power, was denied the coronation as Emperor of the Levantines by the Pope.

The Levantine throne would remain vacant for almost a generation, however during the reign of Culmann and his descendants, the first feudal establishments and contracts would be made in the clannic and tribal lands of Gaul (Fiannria) as marches to defend from rogue clans and the Reavers. Eventually, in the 960s, Leo, a man of some Latin descent became King of Eastern Levantia, overthrowing the Conine dynasty there and proceeded to depose the Southern Kingdom, reestablishing the Holy Levantine Empire. Emperor Leo was crowned in 972, however, the failure to produce a legitmate heir led to turmoil and revolt and the development of an elective monarchy and the electoral college.

During this period, major gains in pushing back Gothic dominance of the coast occurred, leaving a Norse-Gael ethnic group along coastal Fiannria. To ensure the safety of retaken land, a Gall-Ghael (norse-gael) nobleman named Oulay Mac Agnar was given the title magister millitum per Gallias by the reigning Holy Levantine Emperor often referred to as the Captaincy of the North. Oulay established a fortress near the final resting place of Saint Bridget ‘the Renegade’ and soon a port community developed around the fortress, calling it Bridget’s Haven, or Brídhavn. As Captain of the North, Oulay and his descendants was tasked with the administration of Gaul and the peoples and clans within it as well as the defense of Gaul from beyond the Ultmar, where the Gothic Reavers still prospered along the Alva River from the Vandarch to the Northern coast. However, the Mac Agnar dynasty died early in 1076 in order to prevent outright upheaval in the region. Nobility, Clan leaders, and Elders met in Brídhavn in 1077 in the first Tynoach, often called the great Tynoach of 1077 Gaels, Latin-Gaels, and Gallogaels (norse-gaels) met and determined a new course of action for the people of Gallia. Every year, a Tyn would then be called in Brídhavn of the leaders of the various clans, noble houses, and families as an assembly of laws, to solve disputes and make political decisions. Every three years, the Tyn would elect an Ardrike from among themselves in the Aonach, who would hold a place similar to that of the Captain of the North.

During this period, the term Gaul and Gallia was falling out of practice in the south where it was often referred to as such with the title referring to the King Culmann of old, calling it Culfra. In 1082 a series of edicts to enforce Holy Levantine Authority over Culfra legally feudalized the clans and created stem ducal titles tied to the land the various Gaelic and Norse-Gael clans lived on. While causing some protest, and chafing of Levantine authority over the Culfran lords, nothing significant came of this while the Tyn continued to meet and the Ardrike represented the affairs of Culfra. However in 1093, at the issuing of the Emperor or those close to the Emperor, the Ardrike was removed from his position, and orders were issued for the direct rule of the Emperor, abolishing the Aonach and Tyn. The Tyn met anyway the following year and openly discussed rebellion. The situation was tense even during the start of the Crusades of Sarpedon which Culfran dukedoms participated in. However, during the Crusade, the situation at home boiled over and Culfran forces marched for Corcra, returning Culfran crusader veterans joined and the situation looked very likely a Culfran victory. However, the Golden Bull of 1098 creating the Imperial Kingdom of Urcea, which joined with the Imperial forces defeated the rebellion near the end of that same year. However, punishments on the rebellion were rather light and many concessions were made for the Culfran princes. Brídhavn was named an electoral seat and most of the Culfran Princes were welcomed back into the Imperial Diet with only moderate monetary reparations and oaths of loyalty. In Brídhavn, Emperor Carles II permitted the princes a new Aonach for the Electorate of Brídhavn and chose a man who and his descendants would be Magister Militum per Culmannia and hold the Archimarcellus High Office for the Empire as well as a Prince Elector. The man chosen was a dark horse candidate by many in the south. A Norse-Gael baron who had gained renown for his time in the Crusades and in the Culfran rebellion, Tormick Mac Iolor. Mac Iolor’s election and the period thereafter saw peace and a population boom in Culfra following the return of the Culfran Crusaders and Rebels leading a resurgence of art, scholasticism, Latinic studies, old Gaelic studies, and adventurism. As well as a growing cultural unity despite ethnic differences. These many factors led to the sprouting of the new Fianna, bands of landless wandering warrior-hunters who traveled by land and sea who would sell their service as mercenaries across Levantia and Sarpedon. As well as the foundation of several Holy Orders with Culfran involvement.

In the mid 12th century, Tormick Mac Iolor’s son and the new Magister Militum per Culmannia, Harla Mac Iolor saw an opportunity. It was a period of antebellum in the crusades in Sarpedon and Audonia and backed Freadrikr O’Boen in the establishment of a new Holy Order, the Order of the Blood and Shield of Saint Bridget or Order of the Martyr’s Shield. A saint who, along with Saint Alsandr were patrons of Culfra. While initially sponsored and established in Sarpedon. The Holy Order, with backing from Mac Iolor and the Papacy, began the Great Ultmaric Crusade. Crossing the mountains and wall that once guarded Great Levantia, young Culfrans, glory and wealth seekers, and Crusader veterans joined the Order of the Martyrs Shield in droves to challenge the Norsgeats and other Gothic Reaver kingdoms. The fighting against the northern pagans continued along the northern Vandarch well into the territory of the Slavs. Through the Ultmaric Crusade, the Order of the Martyr’s Shield became known by another name, the Ultmaric Order, which by papal orders established a temporal regime over the lands of the Reavers. In the aftermath of this Crusade, settling Gaels in lands of the Norse found the places they left being settled by Norse refugees. Meanwhile, the first Gothic Christian aristocrats began to arise in the Ultmaric Order’s realm, proving to the Levantine Catholics that these pagans could be brought to the light. Setting the foundation for future Crusades in Gothica and Ultmar.

===Princedoms of Culfra in the Great Plague===

With the Gallowglass Wars at an end in 1234, Sinclair mac Magen was named the new Prince Elector of Bridhavn. Notably, however, he was not named Magister Militum per Culmannia, signifying a decentralization forced by the Culfran Princes that brought mac Magen to power. This decentralization of authority allowed Culfran princes to have more autonomy in affairs and reign more independently which would eventually lead to different cultural backgrounds and dialects spread across Culfra as the unifying bonds the Magister Militum held were broken. However, the Altyn continued every year and it was during this period of relative peace that lots of modern Fiannan culture developed from the popularization of Tyns and other assemblies among freemen, festivals and holiday gaining popularity, as well as Fianna mercenaries, became of great demand across Levantia and beyond afterword of the renown of Culfra warriors were spread following the Gallowglass Wars. During this period also did the first Culfran Universities develop and Culfran traders and explorers traveled further than ever before.

The fourteenth century saw both great triumphs and disasters for modern-day Fiannria. Culfran princes had gained more autonomy during the previous century and were restabilizing following the Gallowglass Wars and other smaller conflicts. The strengthening Culfran princes saw opportunities for grabs of power and new lands. Extending its reach further into Slavica and Gothica and also making gains into Dericania. However, the powers gained by the Culfran Princes during the early fourteenth century did little to prepare Culfra and Levantia as a whole for the arrival of the Great Plague in 1347. The plague swept through Culfran lands without mercy like a wildfire and the crisis saw not only people turn to faith in hordes, but also turn to heresy during the period. Free Spirit heretics in the west within the Ultmaric Order’s territory and Fraticelli movements in southern Culfra caused heated strife in the lethal climate. The Great Plague heavily afflicted Culfra killing millions and upwards of half of the Culfran population at the time. It would take centuries for Culfra to regain its population numbers before the Plague. The devastation of the Plague after it faded away in 1351 left the survivors reeling and seeking recovery, turned inward for the rest of the century.

===The Rennaissance and The Anarchy ===

After near a century of relative peace and restabilization from the Great Plague, trade had started to resume and spike abroad and scholarship and study of the ancients began to become popular, starting in Dericania lands and moving north into Culfra where scholarship of the humanities grew extremely popular leading to what contemporaries called the Dual Monarchy of Science and Scholarship, referring to Theology and Humanities. The study of ancient classics and artistry grew very popular while also strides into science and reason were delved into with great fervor. During the fifteenth century a major change was occurring through deft marriages, political alliances, and inheritances which made Culfra a shifting climate of political and dynastic ties, de jure united within the HLE but nonetheless competing with one another for dominance of Culfra. Competition in Culfra and abroad saw Culfran adventurist princedoms establish trading companies and new territories in Alshar and Audonia. During this period, Culfra came to be dominated by several major political dynasties. It was during this period also another name began being coined in the developing native tongues of the region, variations of the word Finnrik, Fiannri, and various other terms as a popularized northern name for the region instead of the Latinic Culfra and the older Gaullia.