Ómestaderoi: Difference between revisions

[[Urcea]] dramatically expanded during the 16th century by the acquisitions of [[Gassavelia]] and [[Ænglasmarch]] from defeated foes prior to or during the [[Great Confessional War]]. The [[Dragonnades]] lead to the mass dissolution of Protestant estates in this country, leaving large portions of the country in the hands of the Crown. Concurrently, [[Urceopolis (City)|Urceopolis]] and the [[Urce River]] valley were reaching overcrowding as many refugees from the war years had permanently settled within the city. Not only did the Kingdom's leadership, especially King [[Leo III, Emperor of the Levantines|Leo II]], see that the latter problem could perhaps be solved by the former, but that the lack of agricultural productivity in the newly conquered lands - as well as a lack of loyalty to Urcea - could be resolved by appropriating the land to smallholders rather than giving the large estates to [[Social class in Urcea|Optimates]]. In 1590, King Leo decreed that the Crown would divide the "Crown Estates" into 40 acre parcels. This decree originally only covered Gassavelia and small portions of Ænglasmarch for the time being, but it would come to include newly conquered or reclaimed portions of [[Dericania]], [[Southmarch]], and [[Carolina]]. The Leonine Land Decree, as it would become known, would remain in effect until 1892, when it was formally repealed by the [[Administrative Reorganization Act of 1892]] implemented by [[Gréagóir FitzRex]] that year. Despite this, a final wave of Ómestaderoi settlement would occur a decade later.