Great Levantia: Difference between revisions

Following more than a century of military setbacks and establishment of barbarian kingdoms within the traditional boundaries of Great Levantia, central authority began to collapse beginning in around 480 AD. By this time, Great Levantia was mostly contained to the northern two-thirds of modern [[Urcea]], most of [[Burgundie]] and most of [[Dericania]]. The province of [[Pralia Mountains|Pralia]] Maritima - an area approximately encompassing modern [[Roscampus]], [[Lower Carolina]], and southern [[Carna]] - declared that it would appoint its own governors internally in the year 482, denying the right traditionally reserved only to Imperial authorities. When the Imperial appointed governor died in 484, an Imperial army tried and failed to force a new appointee there, with the Imperator suing for peace. The capitulation of the Imperial court lead to most other provinces assuming responsibility for their own governance and protection, such as in [[Harren]] (the province of Hortia) in 486. The transition to local rule occurred rapidly between 484 and 490, with most provinces ceasing sending taxes on to [[Urceopolis (City)|Urceopolis]] in the latter year. From 490, the authority of the Emperor in [[Urceopolis (City)|Urceopolis]] covered about the eastern half of the modern [[Archduchy of Urceopolis]] and the direct areas of the [[Urce River]] valley . A second campaign waged in 492 to reestablish control failed and saw the Emperor Candidius, deposed. Provincial armies besieged Urceopolis in 492 and induced the [[Levantine Senate]] to recognize an Imperial bureaucrat named Silvanus as Emperor. Distrusted by the Urceopolitans, Silvanus recognized the total autonomy of the provinces but made serious efforts to reform the Imperial "core lands" he had direct control over in order to potentially strengthen the power of the Imperial office. Silvanus built the last aqueduct in 496 and reinforced the city walls. As a career administrator, Silvanus attempted to streamline Imperial governance and eliminated many extraneous court positions, angering prominent Urceopolitan families. He also made efforts to reform taxation and remove some privileges for those in Urceopolis in order to refill the Imperial coffers.