Social class in Urcea: Difference between revisions

In order to become an optimate, one's father had to have been at least a vested freeman. Following that, three generations must follow meeting property requirements. The first generation head of household was to have met the property requirement for at least ten years prior to his death, ensuring that so-called "new men" could not easily enter the ranks of high society in Urcea. The second generation head of household had to meet the property requirement for their entire lives from the time of inheritance, and the third generation must have met the requirement from the time of inheritance for ten years. In many cases, this system lead to second generation heads of household faking their own death and remaining on their property as anonymous freemen until their son acquired noble status. Upon being enrolled, only the head of household and his children would be enrolled, and any siblings or surviving parents were excluded. Following enrollment, the new optimate was permitted to go under the property requirement so long as he did not die under the minimum, in which case the optimate status was revoked from his sons. Otherwise, an optimate family could not lose its status unless two successive optimates died without meeting the requirement at the time of death.

The [[Estates of Urcea]] had proved to be a major source of opposition and division during the [[Saint's War]] and [[Great Confessional War]]. As part of a general effort by [[Emperor Leo III of the Holy Levantine Empire|King Leo II]] to curb the influence of the Estates, the distinction of High Optimate was abolished. Custóirs and their families, weakened politically and economically, were now on the same level as other optimates. The property requirement for optimates was lowered in 1580 by King Leo in order to refill the depleted noble ranks, as many optimates were killed in the fighting of the 16th century, but the requirement was radically raised in 1680 to make the class somewhat more exclusive so as to imbue it with more meaning. The requirement for one's father to be a vested freeman was abolished in King Leo's reforms as well. As the state centralized on the power of the [[Apostolic King of Urcea]] combined with the gradual development of the [[Constitution of Urcea]], the optimates had lost most of their political power by the time of the [[War of the Caroline Succession]]. Leo’s initial reforms provided for a key source of Optimate weakness; Urcea’s good fortune in expansion lead to the creation of the [[Ómestaderoi]], or homesteaders, in newly acquired territory. Optimates were not allowed to take part in the program and were forbidden from purchasing ‘’Ómestads’’, dramatically strengthening agricultural smallholds at the expense of the nobility, whose estates were shrinking and could not compete. Reduced to an urban socialite class, the optimate class nonetheless persisted at the upper crust of society until its abolition in 1902.

The legal privileges and obligations of the privilegiata were not changed in the 16th century reforms, but by the time of the late 1500s, the privilegiata were now almost entirely an urban class and proto-bourgeoisie rather than only partly city-based. The demographic changes in the rural parts of [[Urcea]] during the last few centuries lead to a large supply of freemen and former serfs, making employing privilegiata completely nonviable except for only the most skilled possessions. Privilegiata flooded into the cities looking for work, where they were welcomed by their fellow privilegiata governing the law practices, the guilds, and the Church. This movement began substantial growth in Urcea's urban population by the middle of the 16th century. The privilegiata's migration to the city stemmed not only from economic concerns, but cities were more likely to accept privilegiata refugees than freemen, and a great deal of refugees were created as a result of the frequent sight of armies during the [[Great Confessional War]]. This class grew rapidly in number during the Early Modern Period, but their number was still largely dwarfed by the ranks of the freemen. During this period, they acquired the lion's share of former {{wp|Protestant}} property at reasonable rates, infusing the economy with newfound dynamism lead by the privilegiata. Due to the legal structure of major corporations which were established during the industrial revolution, many of the richest people in Urcea during the [[Aedanicad]] were nonetheless ineligible to be considered optimates.

In the post-Anarchy era, vested freemen and serfs were folded into a single freeman class. Without the requirement to be for a father to have been a vested freeman to become an optimate, and because of the dissolution of serfdom, the vested freeman position was no longer needed. Freemen who moved to the city as a consequence of the industrial revolution became largely subject politically and socially to privilegiata, but retained the right to vote for representation as well as the right to sit in the [[Concilium Daoni]], where they began to make up a growing number. Class resentment due to poor working conditions and social marginalization by the privilegiata lead to the growth of both socialist and ultraconservative movements. Freemen made up the vast majority of the country up through the [[Red Interregnum]], and they supported [[House de Weluta]] and the legitimist faction. Following the legitimist victory, every subject freeman - that is, a naturalized freeman - was made into a privilegiata. The distinction of Freeman still legally exists, and the title is mostly used for non-naturalized immigrants and resident aliens.