History of Urcea (1575-1798)

The History of Urcea from 1575-1798, sometimes also called the Imperial Period, consists of period of time from the establishment of end of the Great Confessional War through the end of the reign of King Lucás III, last Emperor of the Levantines from House de Weluta during this period. This period saw Urcea reach one of its apexes of power and influence, holding the title of Emperor of the Levantines for more than half of the period while making major gains in military professionalization and early economic industrialization. The period is characterized by growth for the Kingdom as it gained the Kingdom of Crotona, Kingdom of Talionia, and Grand Duchy of Carolina. The period also lead to significant alienation between Urcea and its neighbors within the Holy Levantine Empire which would have repercussions in the period to come.

Leonine reforms and 17th century expansion

King Leo II reigned until 1597 and spent the remaining 22 years of his life after 1575 fundamentally remaking Urcea, strengthening the Church, and attending to Imperial affairs, particularly the nuances and specifics of the victory terms and the division of land. Leo initiated a series of wide-reaching post-war reforms in which he sought to not only bring to Kingdom together into a cohesive unit, but also planned to undercut the optimate class, who he blamed for the war as well as the Saint's War, and planned to simplify Social class in Urcea. The King reduced the number of classes to three and formally abolished serfdom in Urcea, though the institution had already been rendered mostly nominal due to the devastation of the wars. Part of King Leo's program also included the famous Leonine Land Decree of 1590, which opened lands acquired as part of the Dragonnades to any family in the Archduchy of Urceopolis of privilegiata or freeman rank without considerable land holdings. The Land Decree divided the acquired estates in Gassavelia, and, to a lesser extent, in Ænglasmarch, into 40 acre parcels to be used as smallholds. This created the first wave of Ómestaderoi, and Leo intended for it to strengthen smallholders at the expense of the optimates, which, following several future waves of Ómestaderoi, proved successful. In 1591, Leo organized the standing Royal Army and Royal Navy which were loyal only to the Crown, further reducing the authority of remaining local magnates. Leo's primary reform, however, was standardizing the legal code throughout nearly all of Urcea at the time, including the final elimination of the separate legal code in Canaery. By bringing the disparate duchies and territories under one standard code, Leo forged the legal nation of Urcea out of the medieval crown confederation of Urcea. With the standard legal code also came the abolition of internal tariffs, bringing about strong economic recovery following decades of war. His legal reforms also stripped the right of heads of the Estates of Urcea to appoint representatives to the Concilium Daoni, and he began the process of creating "districts" for members to represent, though these districts were often coterminous with local communes - which elected members - or with lower vassals, who appointed members to the body. Leo's successors in the 17th century took part in the economic spoils and successively attempted to expand the country's eastern border, with several successful wars bringing neighboring duchies and counties to heel. It was also during this time the Crown began to devise schemes to acquire the Grand Duchy of Carolina, a polity to the north, though such attempts would not come to fruition in the 17th century. The profile of Urcea in the Empire continued to rise under Leo's successors, greatly unified and strengthened by the victory of the War of Religion and with a powerful southern Gassavelia no longer extant to contain Urcea. The 17th Century, besides continuing expansion within the Holy Levantine Empire, was a time of something of a second Renaissance in Urcea as the baroque period took off and the Crown focused on making internal improvements. The Julian Palace was given a minor renovation at this time and the Crown spent lavishly on infrastructure improvements as well as rebuilding several palaces and Churches. The period also saw two "Years of Three Kings" - 1627 and 1656.

During this period, Urcea's attention turned back to the west and south in an effort to capitalize on the very profitable Odoneru Ocean trade. It established a string of colonies in southeastern Crona during the 1620s known as New Archduchy and the Julian Belt. Urcea successfully fought the War of Urlazio and gained a foothold on Urlazio. The war, which took place from 1625 through 1634 and started largely by King Aedanicus V, was aimed at curbing the influence of Caphiria and prevent possible expansion into Levantia. Though successful, the Urcean march on Urlazio lead to hundreds of years of animosity with Caphiria that weren't truly resolved until the return of its Urlazio territory at the Assumption Accords. In order to link its dominions together, Urcea completed the envelopment of Crotona in 1660 during the reign of King Riordan VI, creating the Kingdom of Crotona. In 1670, Riordan began the conquest of Tromarine, but it would not be completed until the reign of his successor, King Patrick I, who put the finishing touches on conquering the island in 1676. Patrick completed the envelopment of the southern Odoneru by formally annexing the Philaridon Republic in 1680, though the Republic had largely been reduced to the position of a vassal a century earlier. A small portion of the Republic was ceded to the Grand Duchy of Carolina, Urcea's ally; this border would largely remain unchanged through the present day, establishing the southern border between the provinces of Roscampus and Lower Carolina.

King Leo IV, in a 1754 painting, depicted at the Battle of St. John's.

Imperial dynasty

In 1702, King Riordan VII was elected Emperor Riordan I, beginning a string of five consecutive Kings who would be elected Emperor and also an increasing focus on the affairs of the Empire, which would dominate the country's foreign policy in the 18th century. Riordan's son, King Aedanicus VII, was also elected Emperor and ruled both the Empire and Urcea from 1727 to 1741. During his reign, he induced the Collegial Electorate to designate his son, Prince of Halfway Leo, as King of the Levantines, heir apparent to the Empire. During the successive reigns of Riordan and Aedanicus, relative stability was introduced to the Empire, although Electors continually grumbled Urceopolis grew more powerful vis a vis the other Imperial princes with each succeeding decade. Riordan in particular focused on increasing the professionalization and training of the Royal Army, and his investment paid dividends as Urcean forces developed innovative drill and discipline techniques. Alongside the widespread adoption of the socket bayonet in the last years of Aedanicus's reign, the Royal Army of Urcea was considered highly professional even if small relative to the Kingdom's overall population.

Urcea within the Holy Levantine Empire in 1740.

With the death of Emperor-King Aedanicus VII, the Collegial Electorate abrogated its earlier selection and instead elected Louis, the Grand Duke of Verecundia. Newly-minted King Leo IV initially accepted the decision, but the newly-elected Emperor Louis IX began a policy of open antagonism with regards to Urcean ambition. In 1743, the last male-line Grand Duke of Carolina died and left King Leo as his heir. Despite this, Emperor Louis IX exercised his Imperial prerogative and issued a Pragmatic Sanction, denying the Urcean inheritance. King Leo would not accept another breach of faith from the Empire, and on July 4th, 1745, the Royal Army of Urcea crossed through the Northgate and invaded Carolina. The Emperor declared King Leo an outlaw and called the Empire to arms against him, beginning the War of the Caroline Succession, also known as the First Caroline War.

The invasion of Carolina was completed without much resistance by the end of the summer of 1745; many cities opened their gates and fortresses to King Leo's forces, recognizing the legitimacy of his claim. Leo and the Royal Army would winter in Carolina before invading the Kingdom of Dericania in 1746, defeating the Imperial Army at the Battle of Mt. Cara that August. The Royal Army would fight to a draw in 1747, but in 1748 King Leo would lead his armies on a pillage and sack of the Grand Duchy of Verecundia, the Emperor's home. Following a few close defeats in which Leo was able to retreat in good order to begin 1749, he met the Imperial Army near the Abbey of St. John, some twenty five miles outside of the Imperial Capital of Corcra. The Urcean 48,500 - lead by the elite shock corps, the Royal Fusiliers - totally annihilated the Imperial Army at the Battle of St. John's. The road to Corcra lay open, and King Leo took the city in April of 1749. The Emperor and his largest allies in the Empire surrendered, and King Leo accepted Emperor Louis's abdication on May 1st. The Grand Duchy of Verecundia was dissolved into its constituent parts, and King Leo assumed the Imperial throne on May 3rd. As part of the terms of peace at the Treaty of Martinsburg, the Grand Duchy of Carolina was recognized as an integral part of the Urcean Crown. More shockingly, now-Emperor Leo demanded the concession of guaranteed hereditary succession of the Holy Levantine Empire, which the Imperial Diet had no choice but to accept. The decades of hereditary rule, and the attempted centralization of the Holy Levantine Empire, had begun.

A war was fought between Kiravia and Urcea during the Caroline Succession known as the Cronan Beaver War. The conflict, a primarily naval campaign, was resolved in 1748 as part of an effort to exchange concessions to foreign powers in exchange for recognition of Leo's Imperial claims. As part of this agreement, Urcea ceded a string of colonies in Crona known as the Julian Belt which had largely fallen into neglect. It retained the New Archduchy colony as part of the peace terms.

Concession of 1747

During the war, King Leo required huge sums of Talers in order to keep the army on its feet, and while on campaign he asked the Concilium Daoni to raise taxes. The Daoni agreed to do so in exchange for concessions in the form of general consent of the Daoni for Royal appointments to the Concilium Purpaidá, the ministry. The Daoni also asked as part of concessions that the King's judicial appointments had to be confirmed by the Purpaidá, and further that all districts of the Daoni be elective rather than the mixed elective-appointive system. This latter proposal was offered as not only a demand of the Daoni but as an offering of benefit to the King, as it allowed him to take the final steps in destroying the power of landed vassals. King Leo received these demands in 1747 after several inconclusive battles that pointed to a long, expensive war. In absentia, he agreed to the concessions. This agreement, called the Concession of 1747, was among the first major developments towards the modern Constitution of Urcea, and following the war Emperor Leo agreed to permanently uphold this concession.

Imperial Rule and Beginning of Industrial Revolution

Further Information: Second Caroline War

Early mills, such as this one, became an increasingly common sight in Urcea during the middle and late 1700s During the period of the Urcean Crown's ascent to Imperial dominance, important changes were occurring in the country and in Levantia in general. In the period 1730-1765, devices such as the flying shuttle, spinning frame, and the spinning jenny were invented in the Imperial heartland. With increasing mechanization bleeding into other sectors and a greater ability to refine cast iron, the early stage of the Industrial Revolution had begun in Levantia. King-Emperor Leo (to 1768), and his son Brian (reigned 1768-1781), largely allowed the economy to progress without intervention.

The period of the reign of Leo IV - who had now taken on the slightly pejorative title "Levanticus" following his victory in the Caroline War - saw one of attempted centralization and reform of the Holy Levantine Empire. Although historians of the Empire have noted many of these reforms were needed - such as changing the structure of the Imperial Diet to reflect the current makeup of the Empire, reorganization of the Imperial Army, and introduction of a common import tariff throughout the entire Empire to fund Imperial projects - they were extremely unpopular among the Princes of the Empire, who almost immediately began to chafe under increased rule from Urceopolis. It was during this time that the general quality of the Royal Army began to decrease as a natural consequence of complacency, considering that the Apostolic King had the resources of the Holy Levantine Empire, including the Imperial Army, to dispose with. Some would-be reformers, such as Lecáti James Lavofual who is perhaps better known for his work as an artist, decried the state of the army and implored King Leo IV and his successors for reform minded leaders to take control of the military, but these requests were rejected.

It was also during this period that the role of the Procurator became more pronounced, as the Imperial Kings found themselves needing to delegate more and more power to their chief steward given the need to focus on Empire-wide affairs. With the King often away in Corcra to handle that kind of Imperial business, the regency powers of the Procurator naturally evolved into a national leadership role. Though previously Chief Steward and First Lord of the Treasury, the Procurator often served in an advisory role and merely a representative of the King at the Concilium Daoni, but real decisions were beginning to be made by the Procurator at the Purpaidá level. Another major Constitutional development came in 1759 when a Count in the Ionian highlands wrote the King, sitting in Corcra at the time, asking for a recent policy of road construction set in motion by the Procurator reversed. King Leo wrote back, upholding the Procurator's decision, and sent a copy of the letter to Urceopolis. The so-called "Botharvia Letter" legally confirmed some of the Procurator's executive authority, an important step towards the current authority of the office.

In 1780, Emperor Brian VII intervened in the Veltorine War of Independence, a war that saw the Royal and Imperial Army fight on Sarpedon for the first time against Caphiria. The war concluded under Brian's successor, Emperor Lucás III, and in 1782 the Urcean Crown received Talionia as compensation for their aid to Veltorina. The Kingdom of Talionia was established that year as a holding of the de Weluta family outside the jurisdiction of the Empire.

Centralization continued without incident until the death of childless death Emperor-King Brian II in 1781 at the age of 37. His brother, 34-year old, King Lucás III, ascended that same year. Traditional historiography typically depicted Lucás as a petty tyrant who abused the rights of the Princes of the Empire, but modern historians tend to view this depiction more critically. The Holy Levantine Empire had been under hereditary rule for approximately thirty years, and the destabilization presented by the relatively young death of a King presented opportunities for Imperial Princes to try and "cause trouble" in an effort to break free of the "Urcean yoke". Modern historiography has revised the depiction of Lucás III as something of a well-meaning reformer who wanted to continue the path of his predecessors but was mostly unable, both due to his own personal failings but also decades of built up animosity on the part of the Princes of the Empire. Histories of the Holy Levantine Empire tend to refer to King Lucás III as Emperor Lucius III as a latinization of Lucás, descended from and related to the Urcean name Luciás. Lucius and Lucás are sometimes confused, but they were the same ruler. His distant descendant, King Lucás IV, also nominally ruled the Empire as Lucius IV in the 20th century.

The first decade of Lucás's reign proceeded mostly without incident, but under the surface several Princes were conspiring. The Duke of Upper Verecundia, son of the Emperor who was defeated in the War of the Caroline Succession was revealed in 1794 to be part of the so-called "Red Emperor" Plot, a conspiracy to potentially assassinate the Emperor in conjunction with a mass uprising of the Princes. King Lucás's forces easily overcame Upper Verecundia's small forces and took the Duke into custody. While imprisoned, several other conspiracies began to grow throughout the Empire, particularly in the Kingdom of Dericania. The question of what to do with the Duke of Upper Veredunia became a major political issue in both Urceopolis and in Corcra, but in early 1796, after waffling indecisively for two years, Emperor Lucás decided to sentence the Duke to death for treason. The decision to sentence the Duke to death for treason, rather than the conspiracy itself, lead to widespread outrage within the Empire and, in conjunction with three decades of de Weluta primogeniture, proved to most the "despotic" nature of the Urcean Crown. The Princes and Estates of the Kingdom of Dericania declared themselves in rebellion by June of 1796, joined later in the year by most of the other princes in the Empire, beginning what was later known as the Second Caroline War.

Following a disastrous 1797 campaign season in which the Royal and Imperial Army was badly beaten and ejected from Dericania altogether - including a popular uprising in Corcra that ejected Lucás's forces, 1798 saw most of the fighting occur in Aenglasmarch and in Carolina. Beginning in 1798, several of the Dukes of Aenglasmarch - nominally direct vassals of the Apostolic King of Urcea rather than of the Emperor - waged an uprising that allowed for easier access for rebel forces into Carolina. The fighting concluded for the year with a standstill, though King Lucás contracted pneumonia while wintering in Carolina and died on December 19th, 1798. His son, the new King Brian III, assumed control of the army in the week following, but decided to call for a ceasefire. His rationale has been hotly debated by historians, but his letters seem to indicate he thought he could diplomatically end the war by portraying it as a conflict between the Princes and his father. Critically, King Brian also decided that he would not assume his father's Imperial title until peace was achieved. These decisions proved mistakes as the time allowed the members of the former Collegial Electorate to once again gather in Corcra and elect a rival Emperor, and Brian's decision to not assume the title undermined his legitimacy. While wintering in 1798-99, large defections of Imperial troops left the Royal Army at a disadvantage relative to their opponents.

The death of Emperor-King Lucás brought to an end what many historians considered the "Urcean Golden Age", a period of dominance in the Holy Levantine Empire combined with territorial growth that left Levantia a nearly uni-polar continent. In the 226 years since the election of Emperor Leo III of the Holy Levantine Empire in 1572, de Welutas had sat on the Imperial Throne for 121 years, more than half of the time. Urcea had grown by nearly half through its acquisitions of Carolina, Gassavelia, and elsewhere. The Golden Age marked a renewed alignment of the interests of Urcea and the Empire as a whole; with its closure, Urcea would come to adopt an openly antagonistic attitude towards the institutions of the Empire, an attitude it would maintain for nearly a century and a half. Without the economic, diplomatic, and military support of the Urcean Crown during this crucial period, the Holy Levantine Empire entered a slow, but terminal, decline.