Equinox Coup (Educandi)

Equinox Coup
Part of Reformist Confict
Date Fallset 1 1489 (September 22) Location Edurre, Educandi Result Bonifassian Victory
Government-Insurgents
City Guard of Educandi	Patrician Coalition
Commanders and leaders
Bonifaas I Bonifacius Lodejwik Campaje	Mattejus Preternaster  † Capt. Hjalt Hjaltson  †
Units involved
First Guard Regulars Second Guard Regulars Burgemeister's Horse Guard	Praternaster Mercenaries FHEwvcfds Mercenaries rwfdfgtrwe Mercenaries Tedasfgvfs Mercenaries
Strength
1,000 Guard Regulars	900 mercenaries

The Equinox Coup, or the Battle of Fallwane, was a failed Coup d'état attempted by the Patrician families of Educandi, namely the Praternaster clan headed by Mattejus Praternaster. Comprised of a group of mercenaries hired by each of the 4 families, the army attempted to assassinate Bonifaas on the day of his innaguration as Burgemeister, a step in his consolidation of power that would have given him the authority to tax any citizen of the city. Failing that, the force went with the second phase of the plan anyway, and attempted to seize the Guild Hall. Due to Bonifaas still being able to command his force, the mercenaries were repulsed, and scattered. The core of the millitia then went to Praternaster’s warehouse, and wholed up to resist a seige. Without assistance from the other three families, Bonifaas broke the defenders, and his army threw any survivors into the adjacent canal, thus beginning a long history of failed and unpopular politicians being thrown in a canal.

Context

The only central government that the city of Edurre had was the City Guard, which was an association of local-level merchants, artisans, and tradesmen who had come to provide many services normally provided by government agencies. Prior to the City Guard, four local families who each held control of a part of the city acted as feudal lords. In the 1480's, a man named Bonifaas Changehisnamelater assumed power within the guard. As part of a campaign of consolidation within the city, he opened up voting rights to all residents of the city. After being declared Heerenkaptain of the Guard, he strong-armed the executive committee to rubber-stamp his policies, and in a a coup of his own, unilaterally passed the Edict of Arms, forming a militia corps controlled by the Guard, and declaring that violence against agents of the Guard was a crime- thus, extending the law of the City Guard to all non-members, including the noble Patrician families. He used his position within the Guard to continue his consolidation of the state by building bridges, dredging canals, and enforcing law on the islands of Edurre.

In the late summer of the year 1489, he had himself elected Burgemeister. This was a new position that he endowed with the authority to pass taxes approved by the City Guard, lead the military, and effect law. Mattejus Praternaster, the lead figure of the most powerful house on the island, felt threatened by Bonifaas's rapid rise and seizure of power. Realizing his position, he summoned representatives from the other families, and had a plant put together to remove Bonifaas and assume control of the city once more. Each family had a corps of thugs and mercenaries that they used to protect their interests from thieves, extract money from debtors, and function as a private bodyguard/militia. Mattejus had them pool these mercenaries together, and appointed Kaptain Hjalt Hjaltson to lead the operation.

Mattejus had the largest force, and as per his operations in the gunpowder and arms trade, his warehouse he stored stock in functioned in part as a fortification. It was from there that he would oversee the coup when the time came.

Day of Fallwane 1 (September 22) 1489

Bonifaas had set the date for his inauguration as the Fall Equinox. In order to make it from his residence to the Hall of the Guard, he needed to walk partially on foot to his barge, and from there, row to the central island of Edurre. He would need to traverse land again to make it in a timely manner, and chose to ride a horse from the barge-dock to the Hall. 10 men chosen by Hjaltson himself attempted and failed to assassinate Bonifaas on the way to his barge, and as such, Hjaltson commanded 50 men to assault Bonifaas once he was on horseback. The squad was repulsed by Bonifaas's bodyguard, but came dangerously close to the man himself. He was thrown from his horse, and had to fight two men in combat.

It is not known whether Hjaltson did what he did next because he thought Bonifaas was dead, if he panicked, or simply because he had not heard back from the assassination squad. About 30 minutes after the attempt of Bonifaas's life, 900 mercenaries attempted to storm the Hall and seize control of the city. Due to the time in between the assassination and the march on the Hall, Bonifaas was able to repulse the militia from the central square. Following the short altercation, the force scattered, as the mercenaries of the other three houses perceived the end of their coup. The newly formed cavalry unit ran most of these men down, or followed them to their respective masters, arresting or killing many of them. The core of the force, mostly Mattejus's mercenaries, returned to the warehouse, and settled into a siege. They used cannons to repulse the first wave on Bonifaas's troops almost to the point of breaking, but within the hour, the walls of the fort were crumbling, and Hjaltson was killed in action by a bullet through his head. Supposedly, his last words were "you bastards couldn't hit the side of a warshi-", the bullet cutting him off. Mattejus, who Bonifaas wanted alive, was thrown from the second story straight into a canal, where he broke his neck and died. This precipitated the remaining mercenaries to be thrown into the canal as well.

Aftermath

This event shocked Bonifaas to his core. He had heard reports of a mutiny being planned by the patrician houses, but dismissed it as an abortive tantrum. Following the coup, he had his cavalry and his militia dress in plain clothes or dark uniforms, and arrested many of the nobility of the city. The following week, he had his inauguration at his residence instead of the Guard Hall.

It's believed that the coup was a leading factor in Bonifaas declaring himself Executor of the city, and giving himself monarchic, almost dictatorial powers. It's also believed that this is what lead him to form the Council of Ten, in order to defang and placate the noble patricians.