Azara IV's Edicts of Amnesty

The Edicts of Amnesty of Azara IV were issued on 12 October 1780, pardoning a large number of Miróists who had fought against Trellin in the War of the Velaran Succession. In both Trellin and the Isles of Velar it was among the first edicts issued by Azara IV, who had been crowned Queen of the Isles of Velar only a month before.

Background

Princess Azara in 1775

The War of the Velaran Succession began shortly after the sudden death of Tarien, Queen of Velar in early 1769. Many Velarans worried that, because the throne had passed to her husband, Elcmar IV of Trellin, Elcmar's daughter by his first marriage, the future Azara IV, would inherit the Velaran throne and thus end the kingdom's independence. The rebels hoped to install Tarien's cousin, Prince Miró of Txir, as king to secure an independent future for Velar. They were ultimately unsuccessful, and Elcmar exerted his authority over Velar as one of his dominions. Several smaller rebellions would follow in later decades, interrupting the tenuous peace. Many Miróists were imprisoned or otherwise punished for their insurrection, contributing to the discontent. In 1773, Elcmar attempted to reintroduce capital punishment in Velar, but he was faced with vigorous protests from the legislature and every class of Velaran society, with riots breaking out in Txir and Qaina, and he was forced to drop the plans.

During the war, Azara had taken a personal interest in the future of the lands annexed to Trellin and those that remained under the Velaran crown. After the pacification of the Velaran mainland provinces of Pelna and Retikh, she had travelled in person to the city of Zarthalin, the most fiercely contested location in the war, and spoken with its burghers. The Zarthaline princes and burghers had been outspokenly fearful of the prospect of Azara's rule: while Tarien was alive, a Zarthaline delegation had petitioned for independence from Velar and the "frightening and ill-boding union of our crown to the Trellinese tyranny." These fears lessened over time but did not disappear, and they were brought abruptly back to the fore when Tarien died suddenly. As one burgher summarised their fears in the run-up to the First Siege of Zarthalin, "Should Elcmar's daughter wear our crown, it will not go well for us." Azara assured the citizens that there would be a royal commission established to determine the city's future. When the war ended, she was given the task of selecting the commission's members, and she appointed four Velarans, including three from Zarthalin. This was the first indication to Miróists that Azara took their interests seriously, and she had won considerable respect by the time of her father's death.

Elcmar died on 15 August 1780. Azara was crowned in Mar'theqa on 3 September and in Hyser on 14 September before sailing to Parthenope for her coronation as Queen of the Isles of Velar, where she arrived on 28 September. She had already composed an early draft of the pardon and hoped to get the advice of her supporters in the Velaran legislature, not only on the composition of the edict but on the present and future status of the Velaran kingdom within her dominions. She was crowned in Parthenope on 1 October.

Wording

Two different versions were prepared and promulgated, one for the Isles of Velar and another for Trellin and Hysera, but, beyond the divergent formulae employed, the wording of both versions was very close. The wording was careful, to avoid exempting particularly heinous crimes like rape and murder and other crimes that exceeded the justification of rebellion. Those to be absolved were "citizens born under the Velaran crown, living under and honouring of its laws and sovereignty," who had been "formerly engaged in honourable defense of their nation's sovereignty."

Those imprisoned for capital crimes were not to be released unless a military court reconsidered their cases and deemed them not guilty. Ultimately, fewer than twenty capital criminals were released under the terms of the amnesty.

Promulgation

The two edicts were signed on the SCS Karlaië, a Trellinese flagship which had fought at Kalodin and Styrús, at anchor in the Bay of Parthenope. The edicts were issued that day, 12 October 1780. The amnesty was given equal force in all Azara's dominions. The edict was unusual in Velar, in that most royal edicts required the assent of the legislature, but the Velaran monarch had the prerogative of unilateral pardon and there was no legal barrier to Azara doing so en masse. Nonetheless, she had consulted members of the legislature before composing either edict.

In addition to the text originals and copies of the edicts circulated throughout her dominions, Azara honoured an ancient but dormant Velaran tradition, associated with the enshrinement of rights, privileges and freedoms, whereby such a conferral or acknowledgement was inscribed in stone to symbolise its perpetuity. She commissioned a stele at Matonpaz, the mountain dedicated in antiquity to Parthenope's tutelary goddess, Thonop. This stele, carved from Kerypan granite, was to be inscribed with an abbreviated version of the Velaran edict of amnesty. The work was completed and erected on the lower of Matonpaz's two peaks in February 1781.

Approximately 1,200 men and women were released from prisons across Trellin and Velar as a direct result of the amnesty, but a larger number remained incarcerated until their sentences were served. The amnesty's more significant effect was that many Miróists were able to come out of hiding or exile and return fully to Velaran society. The cultural life of the country once more flourished under the sympathetic rule of Azara, who became a popular monarch and laid the groundwork for her dynasty to be accepted as rulers of Velar.