User:TJY1998/Ruttish Gaullicanism

Nida Jurgaitytė, the famed leader of the Jurgaitytė rebellion, was a proponent of the theory.

Ruttish Gaullicanism is the pseudoarchaeological and pseudoanthropological belief that the people of Ruttland are descendants of a "lost group" of ethnic Gaullicans who travelled to northern Euclea following the fall of the Solarian Empire. The origins of the theory are unknown, but by the late 14th century it had been discussed in several period writings including accounts from Ponte Pilote. By the end of the 19th century, the belief had been so ingrained in elements of Ruttish and Gaullican society that organisations were set up in the Empire that advocated for Ruttish independence and further relations based on these links. Some of these organisations have continued to exist in the 21st century.

Modern archaeological evidence, genetic and ethnological research have refuted the main arguments of the Ruttish Gaullicanism theory.

History

Earliest records

Jacques Prévost, the most prolific writer of the 18th century, covered countless aspects of his contemporary society.

In Euclea's Northern Reaches which was written after arriving in Lipliškės in 1331, Ponte Pilote described the people as having "Solarian character and the spirit of the south". He would go on to write that "in my heart, the hospitality in which I have been received is indicative of a Solarian-Gaullican character, of deep religious faith and charity. And of keen architecture and literature. I would not be amiss to say, I believe, that these people are our brothers." Ponte spent the better part of six months in the Ruttish capital, visting not just the nobility but people of all works of life.

When Pilote returned to the Verliquoian Empire after almost a decade of travelling, he made these opinions and experiences on Ruttish culture known to imperial society and spurred an interest in uncovering more of these potential, if fabricated, links. Whilst an existing embassy would deal with the Rudolphine Confederation, the imperial bureaucracy in Verlois dictated that an embassy should be sent directly to Ruttland -- the first of which were exchanged in 1342. Part of the Ruttish delegation to Verlois included Princess Viktorija of Ruttland, who would go on to be wedded to Emperor Charles VIII. Their union was a highly publicised affair, and was decried by some period writers as a 'people's union' on the ideas put forward by Pilote. The imperial household made no such claims, and Princess Victoria actively stressed that her people were their own.

Aymeric Morel's 1501 gargantuan account of an attempt to catalogue the lives of the people of the Gaullican Empire, The Empire and its People made reference to numerous ethnic groups within the borders of the nation. It included, however, an attempt to historically identified the different sorts of peoples that had lived in the empire's borders at one time. In a section dedicated to 'lost Solaro-Gaullicans', it described the Suhalans of modern-day Tsabara and the Ruttish as being of this group.

Elements of the theory could also be found in the works of Jacques Prévost. Exodus in the Dark: The Trials and Tribulations of the Peoples of Liplichqués, a collection of short stories following a group of Solarians who leave their home during the crises of the fifth century and settle in modern day Ruttland, would extensively popularise and entrench the mythology of these ideas. Famously, the concluding lines from Prévost's omniscient narrator concludes: "The people who would come to be known as Gaullicans were split, but for how long?"

Foundation

Étienne du Ségrie, Bishop of Dinesie, as per a sketch done by a young Charles Telois.

In 1641 the Ruttish-born Bishop of Dinesie, Étienne du Ségrie was appointed as the head of Francois II's government. Before being appointed Bishop of Dinesie, he had been a staunch advocate for the Telois claim to the throne of Miersa. During the Miersan War of Succession he had served as the Secretary of State for War, organising the logistics of the Gaullican armies in successfully occupying the eastern portions of Miersa.

As the head of government, he oversaw a revolution of Gaullican foreign policy. Historically, the empire had kept a network of alliances throughout Euclea in the aim of preventing the consolidation of local powers that could, one day, eventually pose a threat to Gaullica's continental and later imperial ambitions. Many of these alterations to Gaullican foreign policy attempted to consolidate these friendly, smaller polities into functioning regional allies. At its core, the aim was the independence of Ruttland that would be a check in the ambitions of Cislania, Estmere and Kirenia.

By 1659, Étienne had been replaced as the head of this government and returned to a fully clerical duty at Dinesie. He would go on to publish numerous treatises that have been put forward as the original documents codifying the beliefs of the Ruttish Gaullicanism movement. Between 1659 and his death in 1681, du Ségrie had written two political pieces, a genealogical account and countless short works outlining his beliefs.