Talk:Hištanšahr
Realm of Hištanšahr (680-1071)
[9:32 PM]
A Nestorian Persianate group fleeing Audonia arrived and conquered the area in question. Ruling as a dynastic caste over the mostly Celtic and Latin subjects, mostly Catholics or pagans, intermarriage stopped in the late 800s and increasingly mestization took hold as a Romance Persian language formed. In 1071, the Ashrafan ruling dynasty was overthrown by in part by their mestiszo vassals under the leadership of a bastard brother of the reigning Prince with Imperial support. In its place, the Pope crowned the new ruler King of Gassavelia, the latinized term for the country.(edited)
[9:32 PM]
This flag is the impetus for later double-headed eagles in Christendom
becoming gassavelia
Jurji/Seiorge/George Ashrafioun is the son of a 3rd son of the ruler of Histansahr, and his father crossed into the HLE as a young man in 993 following a period of "dynastic cleansing", adopting the native Catholicism and building a respectable estate. George, born in 1035 (himself a 3rd son), had no chance of inheriting his father's estates nor any land in Histansahr, so he decided to join the Papal Court as part of the Persian-Varangian Guard. Rising through the ranks, he became a respected part of the Papal Court and close confidant and protector of Popes. After a decade of service, the Histansahr succession crisis came to the fore, with the dispute leading to war. Jurji convinced Pope Alexander II to recognize his claim and gave his blessing, and Jurji crossed into Histansahr with a small party of loyal retainders, beginning the War of the Three Princes. As the two major claimants, first cousins, relied on traditional noble armies, Jurji began to build contacts with low level nobles and merchants of the Histansahr underclass, all Catholic and primarily Gallo-Latinic. Raising large armies from cities, Jurji started at first as a guerilla commander before growing in legend and success enough to start meeting his enemies in battle. In 1071, Artaxerxes IX had defeated the other claimant, solidifying hold on the traditional Uzdehzani overclass, changing the dynamic of the war fully into a pseudo-revolution. The two fought eachother for several months before Jurji killed him in single combat outside Harzenon, ending the war. Pope Alexander II crowned him Seoirge I, King of Gassavelia. Gassavelia, now a Catholic country, did manage to keep some Audonian trappings and themes but the catholic gallo-latin underclass was fully integrated, and within a few generations the traditional Uzdehzani had, through marriage, been totally destroyed save a few prominent family names that still exist within Gassavelia.