History of Brutland and Norden

From NSwiki, the NationStates encyclopedia.
Revision as of 12:12, 23 September 2007 by The Brutish One (Talk | contribs)

Jump to: navigation, search

This section on the History of Brutland and Norden can be divided as follows:

Prehistory

The two islands were originally inhabited by native South Pacific Islanders. Evidence of habitation was dated as far as 2730 BCE. These native South Pacific Islanders are not related culturally, linguistically, and genetically to the present inhabitants of Brutland and Norden.

Vikings

The present peoples of the kingdom were Vikings who arrived from Scandinavia around 200 BCE. The islands of Brutland and Norden were thought to be the southernmost and farthest place the Vikings have ever reached. A continuous stream of immigrants populated the islands, and conflict arose between the settlers and the natives. A brief war raged, according to the ancient Brutland folk saga Targanskåblagdet. The natives were easily defeated and were wiped out, possibly by the war in Brutland, and by diseases that the settlers carried, most notably smallpox, which decimated the last natives in Norden.

The Viking settlers organized themselves into six kingdoms, three on each island. Many fought wars with each other. They were united, however, in repelling naval incursions by the native inhabitants of the neighboring islands. Targanskåblagdet reports that the native populations of the surrounding four islands were decimated by a disease carried by the settlers, again probably smallpox.

Rumans

A Ruman legion of ships under General Constantius Scipius Romanus arrived in Norden on 103 CE. By a combination of threats and treats, Romanus managed to have the two islands of Brutland and Norden recognize the authority of the Ruman Empire. The islands were not organized into a separate Ruman province but were instead treated as tributary kingdoms. The Rumans, however, established a bureaucracy, introduced Catholicism, and implemented various public works projects. The Lattin language was also introduced, which became the basis of the Nord-Brutlandese Language, replacing the ancient Nordic tongue.

Fall of the Ruman Empire and the Warring States

As the Ruman Empire fell, three states emerged: Normark (Norremaque) and Dennland (Dennillia) on the island of Norden, and Brutland (Brutellia). For nine centuries the three states warred against each other, with Dennland switching loyalty between Normark and Brutland.

English explorers under Sir James Crook arrived in Brutland in 1192. The King of Brutland ceded land to the English for a trading post, Timberland (Marchòcchiese). The English trading post allowed Brutland to acquire arms for its continuing war with Dennland. An intermittent but significant influx of English settlers followed, and Timberland became a mini state of its own.

The Spaniards under Camilo Llagenfort y Carrillo followed, arriving in Normark in 1227, when the Brutes had overrun Dennland and declared war on Normark. With the Spaniards came trade and of course, arms. A protracted war ensued in the former Dennland. The Venetians also arrived, in 1239, establishing a trading post in Normark. The combined support of Spanish and Venetian arms overcame Brute resistance. The Brutes were driven off the former Dennland in 1278 and Normark absorbed former Dennlander territory, forming the Kingdom of Norden. A state of silent war existed until peace between Brutland and Norden was established in the Treaty of the Channel Island was signed in 1302.

The two Kingdoms existed peaceably for the next two centuries. The Portuguese under João Masançao da Silva arrived in Brutland in 1420, as did the Dutch under Pim van Cluijendyk in 1467. Both established trading posts in Brutland. By 1495, the English, Portuguese, and the Dutch had a presence in Brutland, while the Spanish, French, and the Danish were in Norden. However, both Brutland and Norden prevented conflicts in Europe spread to the South Pacific.

Foreign Power Intervention

In 1588, a Franco-Spanish campaign drove out the Danes out of Norden and by the next year, they seized power in Norden. Norden appealed for help from Brutland, and the Brutes, supported by a token Anglo-Portuguese fleet, restored the proper rulers of Norden in 1594. All foreign enclaves in Norden were gone, and the Dutch were increasingly in competition with the English. An almost parallel Anglo-Portuguese expedition drove out the Dutch in 1612, and Brutland raised its concern with the English. To allay the Brutes’ fears, the English signed the Treaty of Timberland in 1613. The English were to stay, provided they did not interfere in Brutish matters. Also, the Timberland peninsula was to be leased to the English for 200 years. A separate Treaty, the Treaty of Saottivalles, was signed with the Portuguese in 1617. The Portuguese were to cede back to Brutland the small island of Saottivalles by 1630 in exchange for continuous trade relations. Later when Portuguese naval power weakened, Brute-Portuguese trade were coursed through the English, who stayed in Timberland.

Union

Norden became increasingly more volatile. A peasant rebellion in eastern Dennland was put down with difficulty in 1627, as Norden’s pleas for Brute help went unheeded. A state of civil war occurred in 1639-1646, when the throne went vacant and various contenders vied for it. A compromise was reached and a congress of nobles (corteso) was convened in Viledenno in 1648. However, internal problems continued, with incessant uprisings and quarrels within the nobility.

Brutland, on the other hand, enjoyed a stable royal government and a progressing economy augmented by trade with the English.

In 1725, a group of Norden partisans stormed into the royal palace and massacred the royal family except for the pregnant queen, who escaped via the neutral Channel Isles. This was followed by looting, massacre of nobles and clergymen, and dismantling of the Norden monarchy in what was known as the Nordener Revolution. A republic was established and a profoundly proto-Communist system was instated in Norden.

Public attitude in Norden was initially jubilant, but soon the excesses of the Republic angered the Dennlanders. Conscription, forced atheism, quarrels between governing factions, and a reign of terror (ranno d'orrore) turned away the populace but further subjugated them.

The Republic of Norden demanded Brutland to recognize its existence, as the royal court of Brutland did not recognize it as the legitimate government of Norden. In 1730, the Republic of Norden also demanded Brutland to extradite the sole remaining member of the royal court, former Queen Charlotte (Carlotta) of Dennland, who was rumored to be hiding somewhere in Brutland. Two years later, in 1733, the Republic of Norden accused Brutland of feeding the Dennland separatist movement. In each instance, the fledgling republic threatened war, but backed down.

The seizure of the Brute ship Sant’Alessandria and the execution of its crew and passengers in 1737 proved to be the breaking point of Brute tolerance to the increasingly war-freak Republic. Brutland declared war a week later and invaded Norden. Brute forces held most of Dennland, whose inhabitants welcomed the Brute forces, and fought for the control of Normark. The result was a stalemate. Brute forces, with the help of some English vessels, blockaded the Normark coast in an effort to starve the Republic into submission.

Revolts that broke out in western Normark in 1742 were brutally suppressed. But with lack of resources and ammunition, the Republic was weakened, and in 1745 the Brute armies launched an invasion force. The Republic’s forces were defeated decisively in the Battle of the Three Towers (Battaglio di la Trejotordu). The Brutes were able to reinstall Queen Charlotte’s daughter, Adrienne (Adriana), to the Norden throne in 1749. Nordeners were divided as to whether to accept a queen or nominate another male as king. But with the loss of the nobles, there was no corteso to choose a new king. Most Nordeners accepted Queen Adrienne as the monarch of Norden.

With the death of King Simon II of Brutland in 1753, his son took the throne as Adam III. The relative peace in the two countries allowed a flourishing of arts and architecture, as both monarchs supported it. Also flourishing were court intrigues between the new king of Brutland and the queen of Norden. Dennlanders were, in particular, very supportive of the new Brute king.

King Adam III visited the Nordense court in 1755, and a counter-visit by Queen Adrienne to the Brute court was made a year later. A Treaty of Friendship was signed between the two countries in 1757. Though the two monarchs’ attraction for each other stemmed years earlier when the Nordense royal family was hiding in Brutland, both were afraid to irk some segments of their populace. Some people in Normark still remembered the Brute invasion and therefore Queen Adrienne had to be especially careful. Some Brute noble families, on the other hand, aspired to marry into the royal bloodline and King Adam III had to allay some of them.

Both monarchs organized support, and rumors had spread. Finally, on September 7, 1759, King Adam III of Brutland and Queen Adrienne of Norden were married on the once-neutral Channel Isles. It was first a personal union, and in the next year, the two kingdoms were finally merged into one.

The Union

The royal pair was crowned on September 7, 1761, in the Channel Isle village of Piscinadoro. This was to avoid bias towards any of the two constituent kingdoms. The crowns of both Brutland and Norden were melted and reformed into new crowns for the monarchs, signifying the indivisibility of The Union (L’Unnone). King Adam III of Brutland and Norden also opted to build a new royal capital and chose the Channel Isle of Barren Rocks (Barrenechea) as the site of a new capital.

The two Kingdoms integrated themselves into one almost without a glitch. When King Adam III died in 1789 and his son Simon took the throne, the formerly warring states were sealed in a perpetual union.

King Simon III eventually married an English settler from Timberland, Hannah Poole. While this was a minor issue in Brutland, as some Brutland nobles were insulted, the marriage was generally accepted by the populace. Queen Hannah, of English aristocratic descent, brought with her good education. She also reformed the court and imposed standards of moral behavior.

King Simon III was succeeded by King Chester the Pious (Cestre di Pietto) in 1812. During his reign, the Treaty of Timberland was extended for a period of fifty years. However, Timberland became more and more linked to Brutland than it was to England. Thus, when the treaty was renegotiated in 1862, the Timberlanders opted to revert back to Brutland and England allowed them to do so as she was establishing more significant colonies overseas.

King Kyle the Fair (Kail di Malenetto) succeeded his father in 1855. During this time, there was industrialization in the country, and the king standardized the language, measures, and the currency. King Kyle’s priorities also extended to transportation, education, healthcare, and social services.

King Kyle’s reign also marked the transition from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. In 1866, a charter of rights (Certaro di Riggii) was promulgated. An advisory Parliament (Parlimento) based on the English model was set up in 1873. Brutish nobles objected to his, and to allay their fears the King also set up the House of Lords (Caso di Paggionnu) in 1875. At the time of his death, King Kyle the Fair was busy studying the different systems of monarchies to make a constitution.

The task of making a constitution fell on his son, King Chester II, in 1893. The present constitution was promulgated and approved by the people and the nobles of Brutland and Norden in 1898. The first elections took place in 1900, with Christian Democratic leader Adam Borgòlambio as the first Prime Minister. A continuous succession of stable governments followed and the Kingdom is known for its stability.

King Chester II died in 1937, and his son, King Simon IV, succeeded him. King Simon IV was in turn succeeded by King Adam IV in 1977. The present king, Kyle II, acceded to the throne only in 2006 after the death of his father. A short three-month regency was filled by his mother, Queen Charlotte, in the period between the vacation of the throne and King Kyle II’s coming of age.