Medieval Themiclesian assemblies

Medieval Themiclesian assemblies (和見, gwāi-qīns) consisted of the Themiclesian nobility convoked from time to time by emperors to create or maintain interstate consensus, confer hegemonic power, and raise funds and troops for campaigns.

History

Assembly of Sin

In the aftermath of the wars between 227 and 248, there arose a widespread desire for peace amongst Themiclesian states. This particularly turbulent spell involved most Themiclesian cities agglomerated into five major states, but mobilization of men and materials and finance for warfare strained the relationships between many. The rulers of all five states faced internal discord, resulting in depositions in 248 and 252. The states seemed to be in an uneasy peace in the eight-year period between 248 and 256. In 256, the five rulers and their major vassals met in the city of Sin to discuss terms of a "permanent peace".

The unequal power of the five states was reflected in the terms of the peace. The patriarch of Tsins, though the wealthiest and holding the most territory by a considerable margin, also internally faced the most serious challenges to his rulership. He therefore sought to consolidate the prepondrance of his influence by means of the consent of other states, before new demands or hostilities materialized; the other rulers, in turn, were anxious that Tsins did not pursue further conquests on any one of them. The assembly resided and conferred for about six months at Sin, with the following conclusions:

• All states to cease hostilities and solicitations of each other's vassals to defect;
• All states to send envoys to each other regularly, who are not to be arrested or harmed;
• All states to allow innocent passage of merchants and their goods and maintain roads into their cities;
• Vassal states to remain loyal to their respective patriarchs and reject solicitations to abjure them;
• Vassal states to do homage regularly to other patriarchs;
• Vassal states that defect from their patriarchs to receive no alliances or recognition from each other, and be removed by common campaign forthwith;
• The incumbent patriarch of Tsins to be given the title of "Hegemon Lord" (伯主) and "Elder Prince" (大兄王).
• The incumbent patriarch of Tsins to support unconditionally the rule of the other patriarchs, provided they are not in breach of resolutions.
• The incumbent patriarch of Tsins to provide sacrificial victims, human and animal, for the gods of the states and gifts at their temples.

The Assembly of Sin is remembered in canonical Themiclesian history as the moment when a unified authority over Themiclesia is created, though this view is not current. In particular, Lord Prang pointed out in 1654 that, far from bringing the states under a unitary authority, the purpose of the assembly is "to affirm the independence of the states" at least in a symbolic sense, even though it also affirmed the overlordship of the Patriarch of Tsins in exceptional and ritualistic circumstances. On the other hand, scholars after Lord Prang have developed both aspects of the assembly's resolutions, and currently it is believed that the states asserted some aspects of their independence while giving up others.

A second assembly was held at Sin in 259, where the main topic of discussion was seniority of the patriarchs and their vassals and officials, as well as the proper ceremonies for their receptions and accommodations at various occasions. While this assembly was not considered important by the medieval commentators, it has recently been argued that Tsins was able to impose its political order, in ceremonial terms, on the other states. Tsins did not, according to this view, advocate for its forms and ceremonies explicitly, but as it proposed a minimum standard, others defaulted to meet it to avoid competitive expenditures that characterized the reception of envoys in previous times.

The strength of the assembly was tested in 265 when the Baron of Ka revolted against the Patriarch of Pang. A coalition of forces gathered at Pang's capital city after envoys communicated with the other states and successfully.