History of Pelaxia: Difference between revisions

In the early part of the 19th century, most of the former Pelaxian Empire overseas disintegrated. A tenuous balance between liberal and conservative forces was struck in the establishment of a republic in Pelaxia; this period began in 1852 and ended in 1922. Then came the dictatorship of General Benedicto Álvaro Camargo (1922-1932). His government inaugurated a period ruled by a militarist party, the Restauración Nacional Party, up until 1957. From 1922 the country experienced rapid economic growth in the 1940s and early 1950s. With the death of Federico Pedro Olmos in November 1956 Pelaxia returned to the Federal Republic. With a fresh Constitution voted in 1958.

=Antiquity (600 BC - 500 AD)=

The Cognati (from Latin: Cognatus) were a set of people that Caphirian sources identified with that name in the wester coast of Sarpedon over the Kindred Sea, at least from the 6th century BC. The Caphirian sources also use the term Pelagi to refer to the Cognati. The term Cognati, as used by the ancient authors, had two distinct meanings. One, more general, referred to all the populations of the cognatish valley without regard to ethnic differences. The other, more restricted ethnic sense, refers to the people living in the western and southern coasts of the Cognatish Valley, which by the 6th century BC had absorbed cultural influences from Vallos. This pre-Caphiravian cultural group spoke the Cognatish language from the 7th to the 1st century BC. Cognati society was divided into different classes, including kings or chieftains (Latin: "regulus"), nobles, priests, artisans and slaves. Cognati aristocracy, often called a "senate" by the ancient sources, met in a council of nobles. Kings or chieftains would maintain their forces through a system of obligation or vassalage that the Caphirians termed "fides".The Cognati adopted wine and olives from the Vallosi. Horse breeding was particularly important to the Cognati and their nobility. Mining was also very important for their economy, especially the silver mines, the iron mines in the Montian valleys, as well as the exploitation of tin and copper deposits. They produced fine metalwork and high quality iron weapons such as the falcata.

=Caphirian Reconquest (500 to 1485)=

===Middle Ages===

Under the Catholic Kosali nobles, the feudal system proliferated, and monasteries and bishoprics were important bases for maintaining the rule. The Kosali were caphirianized Southern Sarpedonians and were to keep the “Caphiravian order” against the hordes of Ladri, Rati, Losa and Rastri. The Treaty of Agrila of 943 assigned the western part of modern Pelaxia to the House of Castro-Brine, ruled by Luciano II, and the eastern part to the eastern Agrilan Duke of Agrila. During the 12th century the counts of Santialche, vassals of Adolfo Duke of Agrila, founded many cities, the most important being Alimoche in 1120, Fatides in 1157, and Barcegas in 1191. The Santialche dynasty ended with the death of Balbino in 1218, and their cities subsequently thus became independent, while the dukes of Kazofort competed with the Albalitorian Warden house of Castro-Brine over control of the rural regions of the former Santialche territory.

The rise of the Castro-Brine dynasty gained momentum when their main local competitor, the Kazofort dynasty, died out and they could thus bring much of the territory south of the Rayado River under their control. Subsequently, they managed within only a few generations to extend their influence through Savria in south-eastern regions.

Under the Horiz rule, the Picos passes in Montia and the San Alberto Pass gained importance. Especially the latter became an important direct route through the mountains. The construction of the "Devil’s Bridge" (Puente del Diablo) across the Picos Centrales in 1198 led to a marked increase in traffic on the mule track over the pass.

While some of the "Free Communities" (Comunidades Libres, i.e. Montia, Cevedo, and Bajofort) were Imperolibertos the Castro-Brine still claimed authority over some villages and much of the surrounding land. While Cevedo was Imperoliberti in 1240, the castle of Nueva Brine was built in 1244 to help control Lake Lucrecia and restrict the neighboring Forest Communities. In 1273 the rights to the Comunidades were sold by a cadet branch of the Habsburgs to the head of the family, Laín II. Laín II was therefore the ruler of all the Imperoliberti communities as well as the lands that he ruled as a Castro-Brine.

Laín II instituted a strict rule in his homelands and raised the taxes tremendously to finance wars and further territorial acquisitions. As king, he finally had also become the direct liege lord of the Comunidades Libres, which thus saw their previous independence curtailed. On the April 16, 1291 Laín bought all the rights over the town of Lucrecia and the abbey estates in Bajofort from Abbey. The Comunidades saw their trade route over Lake Lucrecia cut off and feared losing their independence. When Laín died on July 15, 1291 the Comunidades prepared to defend themselves. On August 1, 1291 a League was made between the Comunidades Libres for mutual defense against a common enemy.

===The 14th century===

With the opening of the Gastian Pass in the 13th century, the territory of Central Pelaxia, primarily the valleys of Montia, had gained great strategical importance and was granted Imperoliberti by the Horiz monarchs of Agrila. This became the nucleus of the Montian Confederacy, which during the 1330s to 1350s grew to incorporate its core of "eleven provinces"

The 14th century in the territory of modern Pelaxia was a time of transition from the old feudal order administrated by regional families of lower nobility (such as the houses of Babafort, Estreniche, Fegona, Fatides, Foronafort, Gouganaca, Huega, Tolefe, Terrafort, Rimiranol, Tarabefort, Santialche etc.) and the development of the powers of the late medieval period, primarily the first stage of the meteoric rise of the House of Castro-Brine, which was confronted with rivals in Agrila and Sebardoba. The free imperial cities, prince-bishoprics and monasteries were forced to look for allies in this unstable climate, and entered a series of pacts. Thus, the multi-polar order of the feudalism of the High Middle Ages, while still visible in documents of the first half of the 14th century such as the Codex Manesse or the Montia armorial gradually gave way to the politics of the Late Middle Ages, with the Montian Confederacy wedged between Castro-Brine Pelaxia, the Kingdom of Agrila, the Duchy of Sebardoba and the Duchy of Ficetia. Babafort had taken an unfortunate stand against Castro-Brine in the battle of Scafaleno in 1289, but recovered enough to confront Fatides and then to inflict a decisive defeat on a coalition force of Castro-Brine, Sebardoba and Abubilla in the battle of Lupita in 1339. At the same time, Castro-Brine attempted to gain influence over the cities of Lucrecia and Zaralava, with riots or attempted coups reported for the years 1343 and 1350 respectively. This situation led the cities of Lucrecia, Zaralva and Babafort to attach themselves to the Montian Confederacy in 1332, 1351, and 1353 respectively.

The catastrophic 1356 Abubilla earthquake which devastated a wide region, and the city of Abubilla was destroyed almost completely in the ensuing fire.

The balance of power remained precarious during the 1350s to 1380s, with Castro-Brine trying to regain lost influence; Alberto II besieged Zaralva unsuccessfully, but imposed an unfavourable peace on the city in the treaty of Reifort. In 1375, Castro-Brine tried to regain control over the Savria with the help of Caphiric mercenaries. After a number of minor clashes, it was with the decisive Confederated victory at the battle of Campes in 1386 that this situation was resolved. Castro-Brine moved its focus westward and lost all possessions in its ancestral territory with the Confederated annexation of Brine in 1416, from which time the Montian Confederacy stood for the first time as a political entity controlling a contiguous territory.

Meanwhile, in Abubilla, the citizenry was also divided into a pro-Castro and an anti-Castro faction.

===Termian Wars===

Initially in 1469, Lord Warden Emigdio of Castro-Brine of Albalitor assigned his possessions in the Termia as a fiefdom to the Duke of Barakaldo, Tristán, to have them protected better against the expansion of the Montian Confederacy. Tristán's involvement west of the Confederacy gave him no reason to attack the confederates as Emigdio had wanted, but his embargo politics against several confederate communes, directed by his reeve Pedro de Goito, prompted these to turn to Agrila for help. Tristán's expansionist strategy suffered a first setback in his politics when his attack on the Archbishopric of Cuenca failed after the unsuccessful Siege of Gandía (1474–75).

[[File:Michel Sittow 004.jpg|thumb|356x356px|Jerónimo I of Pelaxia "the Edifier"]]

====Beginning====

=====King Jerónimo I=====

The intention of the union was to create a common state under Albalitorian law, with the support of the ruling oligarchy in the Montian Confederacy. Castro-Brine would gain access to the trade passes through the Picos into the Dominate of Caphiria, while the Confederates would gain access to Albalitorian ports and sea routes. Thus, in the Jeronimian period, Pelaxia developed as a feudal state with a predominantly agricultural economy and an increasingly dominant mercantile nobility. The Cortes Regium act adopted by Jerónimo established the Corte General in 1516 and in 1705 transferred most of the legislative power in the state from the monarch to the Corte. This event marked the beginning of the period known as "Golden Liberty", when the state was ruled by the "free and equal" members of the Pelaxian aristocracy and nobility.

Between 1686 and 1772, Pelaxia was ruled by a succession of constitutional monarchs of the Jeronimian dynasty. The political influence of the Jeronimian kings gradually diminished during this period, while the landed nobility took over an ever-increasing role in central government and national affairs. The royal dynasty, however, had a stabilizing effect on Pelaxia’s politics. The Jeronimian Era is often regarded as a period of maximum political power, great prosperity, and in its later stage, a Golden Age of Pelaxian culture.

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=====Agriculture-based economic expansion=====

A large-scale system of agricultural production based on serfdom, was a dominant feature on Pelaxia’'s economic landscape beginning in the late 15th century and for the next 300 years. This dependence on nobility-controlled agriculture in Pelaxia diverged from Levantia, where elements of capitalism and industrialization were developing to a much greater extent, with the attendant growth of a bourgeoisie class and its political influence. The 16th-century agricultural trade boom combined with free or very cheap peasant labor made the folwark economy very profitable.

Mining and metallurgy developed further during the 16th century, and technical progress took place in various commercial applications. Great quantities of exported agricultural and forest products floated down the rivers to be transported through ports and land routes. This resulted in a positive trade balance for Pelaxia throughout the 16th century. Imports from the East included industrial products, luxury products and fabrics.

Most of the exported grain left Pelaxia through Albalitor, which quickly became the wealthiest, most highly developed, and most autonomous of the Pelaxian cities because of its location at the mouth of the Elodia River and access to the Kindred Sea. It was also by far the largest center for manufacturing. Other towns were negatively affected by Albalitor's near-monopoly in foreign trade, but profitably participated in transit and export activities. The largest of those were Agrila,Montia,Fegona, Fatides, Foronafort, Gouganaca, Huega, Tolefe, Terrafort, Rimiranol, Tarabefort, Santialche.

Carlos II became pope upon the death of Jerónimo l on 18 October 1706. He was extremely concerned about the territorial expansion of the Kingdom of Savria in southern Pelaxia and its control over the Cazuano River which irrigated much of the central agricultural areas.

In 1708 the circumstances were set for Charles l to invade Savria. Although the Great Pelaxian Army destroyed much of the Savrian forces at the Battle of Sogas on May 14, 1709, it failed to capture Sarua.

On January 1, 1715 Carlos died and was succeeded to the throne of Pelaxia by his nephew, Francisco I. Francisco I continued Carlos' war against the Savrian’s by leading an army against them at Sarua on September 13–14, 1715. This victory decisively broke the string of victories that the Savrians had enjoyed against the Pelaxians. Following the Battle of Sarua, Savrian crown collapsed. By the treaties of Nollola on August 13, 1716, and Albalitor, the entirety of southern Pelaxia was surrendered to the House of Castro-Brine.

=====Levantamiento de Azul=====

=====Reacción=====