History of Great Nortend

Antiquity

The country has been settled since antiquity by the Hoes which were a group of Ethlorek tribes spread throughout the island. The population fluctuated greatly, however by 500 BC, a distinctive mix of Erbonian culture had emerged, speaking mostly a variety of Middle Erebbonic, a variety of the North Ethlorek language. Most of the Hoes lived in fairly stable settlements near water sources such as rivers or wells and cultivating their lands on a subsistence basis. They held pagan beliefs with a major feature being the reverence towards certain trees and plants, with sheep being considered sacred animals.

The lands below the Monmorians that are now the civil province of Nortend was invaded by the Exponential Empire and subsequently became the province of Erbonia, with the capital the prosperous riverine city of Lendartus. This led to around three centuries of Imperial rule. The wild lands of Hambria in the northern region of the islands, was until around 87 AD, uncaptured by the Imperial Army who were not able to pass through the rugged and desolate Monmorians, a large mountain range, whose name comes from the Latin name for the ranges, Montes Mortis. In AD 88, the Empire bypassed the mountains with the discovery of the Aparian Pass. After establishing only a few minor forts in Hambria, the military withdrew back to Nortend.

Early Middle Ages

The Imperial military withdrew from Nortend in the late fourth century. By this time, Barardian and other Erbo-Latinate languages had begun to develop within the country, though not fully ousting the Ethlorek Hoebrian tongues. Without the deterrent of the Imperial armies, the Lorecian tribes of the Nords, Sexers and Cardes from what is now Noordenstaat landed on the shores of Lesser Erbonia and settled. Originally, there were only sparse settlements however in the late 3rd century, an increasing number of Norts and Cardes arrived.

By the late 4th century, the Lorecian invaders had settled in various areas, mainly with the northern regions by the Sexers, north-eastern and western by the Cardes and the southern and central by the Nords, with the establishment of imported Lorecian social structures.

Around ten major kingdoms were formed in the country by this time, which were, roughly from north to south: Bissex; Norsax; Cardoby; Barardia; Iscardes; Lanorts; Suthnorts; Dunricia. Smaller kingdoms included Almede around modern-day Heymeadshire and Almeshire, and Wennord in the west of Lesser Erbonia. Whilst the Cardes and Sexers settled in what is now the Nortan portion of Greater Erbonia, the Nords, later known as the Norts, almost completely took over the entirety of Lesser Erbonia.

The three Nortan kingdoms of Lanort, Wennord, Suthnorts and Dunricia were united to form the Kingdom of Nortenland in 512 by Ærulthea, King of the Lanorts, the leader of the richest and most powerful kingdom in Lesser Erbonia.

The King of Cardoby attempted to increase their lands by invading the Kingdoms of Barardia and the Iscardes, which requested urgent help from the Kingdom of Nortenland in 523, leading directly to a period of warfare, known as the Wars of Barard. The Norts under King Edred won the war against Cardoby in 527 and took the Gardolian throne as Lord, forming the Kingdom of Nortenland and Cardoby. The Kings of Barardia and Iscardes were, however, indebted towards Nortenland, and thus were forced to accept heavy taxes levied thereby. Drained of resources, Barard was conquered by the Norch in the 7th century anyway, quickly followed by Almede which had been a vassal state thereof.

Bissex, the northern-most Sexer kingdom, at this time was beginning to wage wars against the even more northernly Hambrian tribes in an effort to conquer their lands. This resulted in little more than defeat. The Sexers themselves were conquered by Nortenland in 698, now ruled by Freowun II, who styled himself as the King of All Norts and Lord of Cardoby.

The Christian missionary, St Laurence, arrived on the shores of Nortenland in 744 during the reign of Egbert, by order of the Pope Zachary I, in a quest to convert the Kingdom. Though Christianity had first been introduced during the Exponential Empire, the old pagan religions still held sway over the invading tribes. Egbert, desiring the support of the greater military power of the Church, agreed for St Laurence to start proselytysing the people, he himself being baptised on his deathbed in 753 after being mortally wounded by an arrow during battle with the Hambrians. St Laurence founded Sulthey Cathedral on the Isle of Sulthey in 749, the year which is now generally considered the start of the Roman Christian Church in Great Nortend, and served for over thirty years as the Apostle to All Nortend.

During the late 8th century, the Hambrian people of the Wignod and Tunel tribes had grew to recognise the King of the Cothens as suzerain, and the King of Cothens began to style himself as King of the Hoes. Egbert had left no heir to the throne, and it was Ætheldid, of the House of Mure, the heir to the erstwhile Kingdom of Cardoby, that was eventually proclaimed King of Nortend and Lord of Cardoby in 756 after the Interregnum period where no King was on the throne, having agreed to convert to Christianity.

Under the rule of the Christian Edmund the Good, who styled himself with the more modern King of Nortend and Lord of Cardoby, the Nortan Kingdom progressively conquered the remaining kingdoms of Iscardes and Norsax, until the entire country south of the Monmorians was united in one single Christian Kingdom of Nortend and Cardoby. Edmund the Good died in the Battles of the Monmorians, in 894, fighting the Cothens of Hoebrideland, and was recognised almost immediately as a martyr of the church.

Late Middle Ages

11th and 12th centuries

The eleventh century brought much warfare in the northern regions of Nortend during the Peasant's Rebellion from 1034 to 1036 against increasingly high royal taxes. Jane, Queen of Nortend, ordered the execution of peasant villagers as punishment for their tax resistance; however, her barons and the Church refused to kill their tenants, as it would lead directly to their loss of income. Jane relented, and reduced taxes, however has since then always been known as Jane of Janus. In the twelfth century, new trade laws and statutes opened up the economy and meant the country prospered financially. Lendert became a large port for the trade of especially Nortan wool, but also of corn, linen and dyestuffs. The House of Barmast took the throne in 973 under King Gerulf the Peaceful.

13th and 14th centuries

The House of Dester claimed the throne with the coronation of King Ecgbald the Uniter, after King Edmund IV of the House of Dester died in 1267 during the Battle of Rodchester. The radical changes brought to the country during the Dester period included the establishment of the doctrine of brevis auctoritas. This established the Curia Regis, who were an assembly of the King's barons, courtiers and favourites. Its function was to advise the King in the matters pertaining to the operations of the Kingdom. Most importantly, this role permitted to propose new statutes to the King, who would either assent or place it aside. The legislative proposal functions of the Curia Regis later evolved into the present Parliament whilst the Privy Council to-day serves as the advisory body to and executive body of the Crown.

15th and 16th centuries

The Destern period was marked by the Battle of Travlesea in 1455, when two factions of the House of Dester, lead by Abern and David respectively, claimed the throne after the passing of King Charles II in a hunting accident. Though Abern's forces vanquished David's, Abern being crowned in 1456, the reign of the House of Dester ended when King Albert died in 1518 without any heirs.

The title of king thence passed to King Edmund V, of the House of Anthord, crowned in 1519, in a series of greatly disputed judicial and Parliamentary debates over the law of succession whereon many potential Destern heirs were labelled as as illegitimate or otherwise ineligible to the throne. Despite this, there was never any military conflict and the transition of power was diplomatic. The House of Anthord remains to this day the ruling house of the Kingdom.

16th and 17th centuries

Beginning in the 16th century, Nortend increased in size her army and navy in principle, developing stronger merchant shipping fleets with the newly discovered New World. Research into history and the sciences increased with the founding of the King's Circle, the King's Society and the Royal College.

In 1571, the future Charles III married the queen regnant of Hambria, Clenancy of Rhise, of the House of Cothens, which had ruled effectively the entirety of Hambria since the 8th century. After Charles III's death in 1599, Clenancy became Queen Dowager of Nortend and Cardoby, whilst remaining Queen of Hambria. Clenancy died in 1623 and her son, the then Alexander I of Nortend and Cardoby, became King of Nortend, Cardoby and Hambria.

In 1614, Alexander I rejected the supremacy of the Pope and established the Church of Nortend as an independent national church in the Erbonian tradition and mirroring the establishment of the Nikolian Catholic Church. It is said that the King and the then Archbishop of Sulthey heard during the same night from God, urging him to persuade the King to establish a new church. It is believed that God said to the King, 'The church shall be cloven away and set upon this rock and ye shall I make governour and vicar of my flock', arguably referring to the Isle of Sulthey. The King appointed himself, being the King by the Grace of God, as the Supreme Governour of the Church Mundane.

After eighteen years of personal union, the Kingdom of Nortend and Cardoby, and the now established Kingdom of Hoebrideland were joined in the Acts of Cleaving of 1642, when the Curage (a corruption of Curia Regis) of Rhise joined the Houses of Lords in the Nortan Parliament, in return for financial support after numerous failed harvests and famine. Though the famine lifted soon after, rebellion ensued after the excessive taxes of 5 per cent on tithable revenues were levied by Lendert. The so-called Hambrian Rebellion culminated in the Battle of Borlockton in 1646, with the Nortan Army and peasants of Hambria fighting on the fields near Borlockton in Marcastershire; however, the Nortan Army subdued the peasants, and the rebellion ended with the signing of the Treaty of Rhise granting power to the old Hambrian Curage of Rhise, still operating from Lendert, for the setting of taxes and other matters. The Nortan Army was granted the title 'Royal' to commemorate this occasion.

Early Modern period

The Early Modern period beginning in the 18th century saw the influence of the Kingdom expand in its region. The tiny islands of St. Parth and Hastica were colonised by Great Nortend as well, to this day remaining the only colonies of the Kingdom.

The industrial revolution spread across Great Nortend slowly during the end of the 18th century and throughout the 19th, initially with the rapid building of canals and digging of coal mines with railways in the mid-19th century. The various Combination Acts ended the historical system of feudal open strip-farming for much of Great Nortend by establishing conterminous fields under the control of a single tenant, thereby increasing efficiency and yields significantly, as well as reducing the number of people required for agricultural purposes from nearly 90 per cent of the population to less than two-thirds.

Though trade grew increasingly domestic, coal became a dominant export, although wool and grains still remained important. Nortend's plentiful anthracite, however, was prohibited for export and instead was and is still to-day kept for domestic use. The continuation of the legal doctrine of no-fault liability severely hambered further economic and industrial growth in the increasingly dangerous workplace. Hence, steam power never fully supplanted wind and water power in factories, however became widespread in use the collieries and mines for draining water more effectively, replacing the windmills used thitherto. Water power continued to power the village blacksmiths' trip hammers, though mass production of iron and steel stock developed strongly in centralised smelters.