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History of Urcea (1902-1955): Difference between revisions
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==Restoration== | ==Restoration== | ||
[[King Patrick III]] assumed command over a broken nation; the organs of the [[Constitution of Urcea]] were non-functioning (the "[[Concilium Daoni]]" convened at gunpoint was of dubious legality), the landscape was torn apart, and the national economy was disrupted. The King ruled over the Kingdom with an absolute level of authority not seen before or since by an [[Apostolic King of Urcea]]; the functions of government on every level were controlled by an occupying army that had spent the last half decade fighting to put him in the [[Julian Palace]]. The King, taking lessons from his father, decided to make his first priority the restoration of government with reasonable reforms included. The very first act the King made was to declare that the [[Urcean Republic]] was never legal and that the [[Concilium Daoni]] had no authority to dissolve the Apostolic Kingdom and, further, that no power on earth had the authority to abrogate the [[Golden Bull of 1098]]. The King, controversially, decided to accept the results of the 1900 Daoni election. Despite giving legitimacy to a controversial election, many of the socialists who had been elected had since been killed, and in the ensuing by-elections the [[National Pact (Urcea)|National Pact]] filled the vacant seats and were compelled by the King to form a temporary unity government with the remaining [[National Democratic Party (Urcea)|National Democratic Party]] delegates in the Daoni. Having restored some semblance of organized government under the Constitution, the King turned to unpacking the reforms of the Crown Regency and deciding what to do with the last decade of laws while also considering new reforms that would prevent such a seizure of power from occurring again. | [[Patrick III of Urcea|King Patrick III]] assumed command over a broken nation; the organs of the [[Constitution of Urcea]] were non-functioning (the "[[Concilium Daoni]]" convened at gunpoint was of dubious legality), the landscape was torn apart, and the national economy was disrupted. The King ruled over the Kingdom with an absolute level of authority not seen before or since by an [[Apostolic King of Urcea]]; the functions of government on every level were controlled by an occupying army that had spent the last half decade fighting to put him in the [[Julian Palace]]. The King, taking lessons from his father, decided to make his first priority the restoration of government with reasonable reforms included. The very first act the King made was to declare that the [[Urcean Republic]] was never legal and that the [[Concilium Daoni]] had no authority to dissolve the Apostolic Kingdom and, further, that no power on earth had the authority to abrogate the [[Golden Bull of 1098]]. The King, controversially, decided to accept the results of the 1900 Daoni election. Despite giving legitimacy to a controversial election, many of the socialists who had been elected had since been killed, and in the ensuing by-elections the [[National Pact (Urcea)|National Pact]] filled the vacant seats and were compelled by the King to form a temporary unity government with the remaining [[National Democratic Party (Urcea)|National Democratic Party]] delegates in the Daoni. Having restored some semblance of organized government under the Constitution, the King turned to unpacking the reforms of the Crown Regency and deciding what to do with the last decade of laws while also considering new reforms that would prevent such a seizure of power from occurring again. | ||
The King decided to consult with the leadership of the [[Concilium Daoni]] to determine the fate of the last near-decade and a half of laws, and the solution reached was considered novel by contemporaries. Every action taken by the [[Government of Urcea]] since December 21st, 1889 (the date of the death of [[King Aedanicus VIII]]), besides the election of 1900, was considered illegitimate and void, and instead, the Daoni would pass an omnibus bill containing all of the reforms that the King and Daoni leadership wanted to retain. The Concilium Daoni then, on December 4th, 1902, considered and passed the "[[Constitutional Settlement Act of 1902]]", including an extremely broad array of legislative initiatives codifying what had occurred in the last decade and a half, including the [[Administrative Reorganization Act of 1892]], language providing for reintegration into some of the economic institutions of the [[Holy Levantine Empire]] that had been severed since the 1890s, language continuing the social assistance programs created during the Regency, language asking the King, as head of the [[Estates of Urcea]], to produce a final settlement on the status of [[Social class in Urcea]], and language confirming other various reforms implemented by FitzRex. The Act also fixed the number of members of the [[Concilium Daoni]] at 500, a limitation that remains in force today. The Act additionally imbued [[Patrick III of Urcea|Patrick III]] with broad powers to root out reamining militant republicans and other dissidents, powers which he delegated to the new [[Agency for the Preservation of the Restoration]] created under the [[Ministry of Administration of the Realm (Urcea)|Royal Administration]]. Questions regarding the power and status of the office of [[Procurator]] were left to be settled at a later time. [[King Patrick III]] also began to reform the [[Armed Forces of the Apostolic Kingdom of Urcea]], recalling dismissed or deserted officers and soldiers from the past years back into service and issuing wide-reaching pardons to all but the highest commanders of the [[Royal and Imperial Army (Urcea)|Regal Army]], restoring normalcy in the armed forces. The pardon was particularly necessary for the reestablishment of the [[Royal Navy (Urcea)|Royal Navy]], as the experience of former Regal Navy officers and sailors would be critical for maintaining a navy going forward. The Daoni, on a request of the King, passed a law compensating large landowners who had lost their land during the war, especially under the [[Urcean Republic]], but instead opened the land settlement and residency for the widowed families of soldiers - both Legitimist and Regal forces - in the last large scale [[Ómestaderoi]] program. The final major act of 1902 was by the King himself, upon prompting by the [[Concilium Daoni]], issued his reform for [[Social class in Urcea]]. Rather than using FitzRex's system which lowered property requirement for optimates to nothing, the King decided to use his authority to completely abolish the optimate class, elevating the entire citizen body to the rank of privilegiata, thereby making it coterminous with citizenship in [[Urcea]]. Despite having been in the deepest throes of civil war just the month before, the war-weary populace received the various reforms and post-war expeidents well, and the 1902 Nativity season was characterized by a sense of cautious optimism and renewed trust in national kinship; it was recorded in many papers at the time that Christmas in 1902 saw many exemplary (and sometimes outlandish) acts of public charity, an event which would be remembered by the nation for years to come. | The King decided to consult with the leadership of the [[Concilium Daoni]] to determine the fate of the last near-decade and a half of laws, and the solution reached was considered novel by contemporaries. Every action taken by the [[Government of Urcea]] since December 21st, 1889 (the date of the death of [[King Aedanicus VIII]]), besides the election of 1900, was considered illegitimate and void, and instead, the Daoni would pass an omnibus bill containing all of the reforms that the King and Daoni leadership wanted to retain. The Concilium Daoni then, on December 4th, 1902, considered and passed the "[[Constitutional Settlement Act of 1902]]", including an extremely broad array of legislative initiatives codifying what had occurred in the last decade and a half, including the [[Administrative Reorganization Act of 1892]], language providing for reintegration into some of the economic institutions of the [[Holy Levantine Empire]] that had been severed since the 1890s, language continuing the social assistance programs created during the Regency, language asking the King, as head of the [[Estates of Urcea]], to produce a final settlement on the status of [[Social class in Urcea]], and language confirming other various reforms implemented by FitzRex. The Act also fixed the number of members of the [[Concilium Daoni]] at 500, a limitation that remains in force today. The Act additionally imbued [[Patrick III of Urcea|Patrick III]] with broad powers to root out reamining militant republicans and other dissidents, powers which he delegated to the new [[Agency for the Preservation of the Restoration]] created under the [[Ministry of Administration of the Realm (Urcea)|Royal Administration]]. Questions regarding the power and status of the office of [[Procurator]] were left to be settled at a later time. [[King Patrick III]] also began to reform the [[Armed Forces of the Apostolic Kingdom of Urcea]], recalling dismissed or deserted officers and soldiers from the past years back into service and issuing wide-reaching pardons to all but the highest commanders of the [[Royal and Imperial Army (Urcea)|Regal Army]], restoring normalcy in the armed forces. The pardon was particularly necessary for the reestablishment of the [[Royal Navy (Urcea)|Royal Navy]], as the experience of former Regal Navy officers and sailors would be critical for maintaining a navy going forward. The Daoni, on a request of the King, passed a law compensating large landowners who had lost their land during the war, especially under the [[Urcean Republic]], but instead opened the land settlement and residency for the widowed families of soldiers - both Legitimist and Regal forces - in the last large scale [[Ómestaderoi]] program. The final major act of 1902 was by the King himself, upon prompting by the [[Concilium Daoni]], issued his reform for [[Social class in Urcea]]. Rather than using FitzRex's system which lowered property requirement for optimates to nothing, the King decided to use his authority to completely abolish the optimate class, elevating the entire citizen body to the rank of privilegiata, thereby making it coterminous with citizenship in [[Urcea]]. Despite having been in the deepest throes of civil war just the month before, the war-weary populace received the various reforms and post-war expeidents well, and the 1902 Nativity season was characterized by a sense of cautious optimism and renewed trust in national kinship; it was recorded in many papers at the time that Christmas in 1902 saw many exemplary (and sometimes outlandish) acts of public charity, an event which would be remembered by the nation for years to come. | ||