Glestingsweald

Grand Duchy of Glestingsweald Gumrîce râd Glestingawolde (Héah-Glestisc)
Flag Coat of arms of Glestingsweald Coat of arms
Motto: Āstand Fæt ge Blōw
Glestingsweald in Southern Mesia
Capital	Magoncaster
Largest city	Linburgh
Official languages	Héah-Glestisc Heán-Glestisc
Recognised national languages	Jomðrigan Ilænisc Umbrisc
Demonym(s)	Glestisc
Government	Parliamentary Constitutional monarchy
• Beltic-Eorl	Arlon II Foultun
• Governour	Morven Adkins
Legislature	Witan
• Upper house	Bur of Brytan
• Lower house	Bur of Ċeorlfolc
Area
• Total	497,322 km2 (192,017 sq mi)
Population
• 2019 estimate	8,157,300
• Density	168/km2 (435.1/sq mi)
HDI (2017)	0.892 very high
Currency	Feoh (GWF)
Date format	DD-MM-YYY CE
Driving side	right
Internet TLD	.GWF

The Grand Duchy of Glestingsweald, commonly called Glestingsweald or Glestingawolde, is a constitutional monarchy Southeastern Flrumleohema. It is bordered to the south by Ilæniswolde, and to the east by the Mesisc Strait. Glestingawolde covers 497,322 square kilometres and has an estimated population of 8,157,300. The country comprises of 8 subdivisions with its capital in Magoncaister, located on the Cantware Peninsula in Southern Glestingawolde.

The country largely consists of flat alder glades, broken up by river valleys and temperate plains, that are home to Glestisc, Ilænisc, and Swabex populations. Located to the east are the hilly Jomðíeg Islands, home to the majority of Glestingawolde's Jomðrigan population. The majority of the population adheres to the Forecaldīċ and Ceallīċ faiths.

Etymology

Glestingsweald is a form of the Héah-Glestisc Glestingawolde. Glestingawolde is a direct compound word, made up of 'Glestinga' and 'Wolde'. Wolde is the Héah-Glestisc term for 'Glade', referring to the geography of Glestingawolde which consist of primarily birch glades. Glestinga, on the other hand, is a historical term referring to the Glestinga Confederation of tribes which were the basis of the original Glestingawolde state after the Sūdarigan colonial period.

History

Pre-Imperial Tribes

All prior to 300BCE

Sūdarigan Colonialism

Metthelle Temple, purpotedly the first Sūdarigan building in Cantware.

In approximately 300BCE, the Sūdawealdh-Héafodríce sent colonial expeditions to the coastline of Glestingawolde, with the first Sūdarigan settlements being founded on the Cantware Peninsula near modern-day Magoncaister. Of these early settlements, a fort known as Metthelle grew to be an early urban centre and most important city in the region until the mid-100s BCE. It, like many other early settlements in Glestingawolde, was primarly a hub of penal labour due to its location on the frontier. The largest efforts of penal production were primarily extraction-oriented, focusing on lead, silver, and tin mining however vineyards became an important aspect of the region's colonial economy in the latter half of Sūdarigan settlement of Glestingawolde.

Through subsequent decades, the coastal tribes of Tetinsbryg, Baswisse, and Godhelmgas, amongst several smaller tribes, were brought into the Sūdarigan tribute-sphere by means of peaceful embassies. However, despite successful attempts to subjugate the coastal tribes, much of the inland remained independent and largely uncooperative towards the Sūdarigan effort - raids were often conducted on important coastal trade routes, and a cultural divide grew during the following centuries between coastal and inland tribes. This lack of progress is attributed to the Sūdarigan focus on their larger, urban colonies in Ilæniswolde to the south. Ilæniswolde had a much smaller native population, resulting in a larger number of Sūdarigan slaves and citizens immigrating to fill the labour shortage.

By 50BCE, both Norð-Jomðíeg, Súþ-Jomðíeg, and the northern interior of modern-day Glestingawolde were under Sūdarigan influence, to varying degrees of autonomy. The Jomðíeg Islands, once home to the Clægtun tribes, had been converted into one of the region's largest clay mining industries. In the northern interior, a number of rebellious tribes had been subjected to harryings over the course of the last century. This was a result of continued resistance to urbanisation policies intended to break down the inland-coastal divides, as well as wider Sūdarigan leadership.

Photo of the River Brattburne.

While regional Sūdarigan power remained centred in 'Iolanthium' in Ilæniswolde, northern power had gradually moved its focus from Metthelle towards the Sūdarigan-founded city of Linnburh, located along the northern river of Brattburne. The move is believed to be the result of military activity, and in turn administrative authority, in Glestingawolde moving northwards, with Linnburh being used as a hub.

A concentrated effort was targeted at reigning in the central inland tribes during the fifth-century CE. [then this lays the seeds for resentment over the next century that end with the indigenous peoples siezing cities up to the modern-day Glestingawolde border, straining the Ilæniswolde colony and potentially further enabling the slave revolt in the 700s.]

Post-Imperial Tribes & Jomðrigan Migration

690CE-820CE

Formation of Glestingawolde

820CE-850CE

Grand Duchy of Glestingawolde

Crossing the Ilænisc border became harder for Glestisc merchants as a result of raised road tolls in the early 8th century. This was seen as an affront by Glestisc leadership due to it putting extra strain on the country's food imports, which were necessary due to famine from repeat failed harvests. Tensions over this matter reached their peak in 938 when Betlic-Eorl Seward II, infamous for their impulsive rule, declared an invasion for the territory. As quickly as the war began, the Ilænisc King Karogos IV was assassinated by unknown actors during the Battle of Castrum Lucilinium rendering the defensive efforts of Ilæniswolde shattered in lack of any central leadership. Conflict swiftly ended after this point, with Glestisc victory. Seward II legislated the Constitutions of Victory, articles which formally annexed the Kingdom as a core territory of Glestingawolde, as well as siezed large swathes of Ceallīċ Church property and banned the Ilænisc language - replacing it with both forms of Glestisc and Umbrisc. While the Constitutions legally created the Eorldóm of Ilæniswolde, an Eorldóm title under the Betlic-Eorl's direct control, it was led by locally-ethnic Sepling-Eorls for almost its entire existence as a result of its high cultural difference in opposition to the rest of Glestingawolde. This autonomy extended so far that many Speling-Eorls were described as the Eorldóm's sole proprietor.

Forecaldīċ inquisitors were sent to the southern Eorldóm of Ilæniswolde in the mid-9th century to support local efforts into purging Ceallīċ heresy, led by the Bisceop-Dreng Edmund Howlande. Thousands were sentenced by Howlande within the space of a decade, leading to a paranoia of heretical behaviour that spread northwards into the rest of Glestingawolde. Bisceop-Dreng became a commodity across much of the country for much of the late 9th century. Unquestionated false accusations were rampant, with entire neighbourhoods being purged in the most extreme cases for associating with heretics. This was largely allowed due to the corrupt nature of the Betlic-Eorl Wynstan I, who utilised the national paranoia to purge political rivals under the guise of heresy. Several tens of thousands are estimated to have died as a result of the Inquisition, the highest approximately at 100,000. The practice of heretic-burning would begin to lessen after the death of Wynstan I in 998 but it would not officially cease until the Kærufinnas outlawed the practice in 1794.

Extrajudicial seizure of land within the Eorldóm of Ilæniswolde became commonplace in the 12th and 13th centuries, rendering many Ilænisc barons and landed-aristocracy criminals. These extrajudicial means largely consisted of fabricated crimes and false heresy, created specifically to target the native population. This was one of several punitive actions by the Sepling-Eorls against the Ilænisc. By the early 13th century, the practice had become issue enough to trigger outward migration from the region, culimating in crown intervention in 1258 with the legislating of the Assize of Ilæniswolde. The Assize reasserted the fuedal laws of Glestingawolde that entitled all landowners, including those of Ilænisc heritage, to equal rights and protections within the Gumrîce and was the first step towards legal, state-sanctioned autonomy for Eorldóm of Ilæniswolde. Some historians, such as Heather Tathame, describe this act as the trigger of Ilænisc nationalism's revival. [discuss the Act of Conciliation here]

Kærufinnas Tribute

1790CE-1810CE

Linnburh Revolution

1810CE-1940CE

Modern Period

1940CE-Present