History of Brytene

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The written history of Brytene can be dated back to roughly the 3rd Century BCE, although it has been inhabited since roughly 30,000 BCE.

Timeline

Dark ages

Early Middle Age

Late Middle Age

20th Century

21st Century

Dark Ages

The earliest archaeological remains suggest that homo sapiens arrived in the Isles around 30,000BCE, crossing from Qubec to settle Dyflin. The people that were to become the Saxones arrived from what is now Tennstedt several millenia later, settling Anglaland and Nortymba.

In 501CE, the twins Hengist and Horsa established the Kingdom of Brytene, dispatching their bannerman Ida Flamebearer north to conquer Nortymba. By the end of the 7th century, all of the Brytisc Isles save for Dyflin were ruled from Lundene.

Viking raids

The 800s bought the arrival of the Vikingr from the north, intent first on pillaging and then on settling. Warriors from Cinoth landed in Dyflin, eventually being integrated into the predominant Dyfliner culture there to become the Dyflin-Vikingr. Other Vikingr tribes took the city of Eoferwic and founded the Kingdom of Jorvik in the north, a kingdom which lasted several decades. This period saw intense violence throughout the Isles, but eventually the Vikings were subdued and assimilated, with the last King of Jorvik, Eirik Bloodaxe, being slain in battle by King Herne I in 850CE at the Battle of Longmoor. Herne married Bloodaxe's daughter and bought peace to the kingdom.

The fall of Dyflin

See also: Fall of Dyflin

File:FallofDyflin.jpg
Re-enactment of the Fall of Dyflin

In 1304AD, the rulers of Dyflin launched a massive invasion of Brytene, landing in Nortymba with dozens of longboats and thousands of men. They were poorly equipped to take on the challenges of a fight in the western mountains, however, becoming bogged down in fighting with stubborn locals until the Saxone fyrds could gather east of Offa's Dyke.

Following a harsh winter which weakened the invading army, the warbands of Brytene gathered to give battle at the Black Pass. This battle is barely attested, but is believed to have resulted in the annihilation of a large part of the invading force, with contemporary sources claiming that more than up to ten thousand warriors lost their lives in the space of four hours. The surviving Brytisc nobles gathered and made the decision to take the fight to Dyflin. Hot on the heels of the retreating survivors, the Brytisc landed in Dyflin in the autumn of 1304. After a three-month siege, the city fell and was sacked. A daughter of the Bretwalda was married to the leader of the Dyflin-Vikingr, High King Ua Neill of House_Lodbrok, binding the two countries by marriage. Since this time the Kings of Dyflin have owed fealty to Brytene, and have been granted a seat on the Witenagmot as representatives of their people.

High Middle Ages

In 1222AD, Brytisc warships landed on the coasts of Parovea, then part of the Empire of Castarcia. This sparked the Hundred Years' War between the two nations, which lasted until 1345AD.

The Hundred Years' War was originally pursued by the crown of Brytene itself, peaking at the Battle of Highgarden in which the Brytisc armies inflicted a defeat on the numerically superior Castarcian army. This battle was a phyrric victory, however, and ended the Brytisc willingness or ability to field large armies in Parovea. The Brytisc instead retreated to a network of fortifications and castles, harassing and raiding Castarcian forces that attempted to reconquer the region.

In 1304AD, the Brytisc began to leave Parovea in large numbers as a response to the Viking invasion of Nortymba, and as a response the King officially granted rights and title over the region to House Melton. By 1345, House Melton's power over the area had waned. Following the defeat of their native allies, House Gallagher, the Siege of Castle Melton resulted in the official surrender of the last Melton holding in Parovea. The Meltons swore fealty to Empress Christina and became subjects of the Empire of Castarcia.

The Great Jihad

See also: Siege of Lundene, Battle of Lowencraic

As the rest of the world became increasingly divided between Catholicism and Islam, attention was turned northwards towards the pagans of Brytene. Although the country was unusually tolerant, the state religion Adfyr was pagan, and in 1343AD, prompted by the stalemate of holy wars elsewhere, the religious leadership of the Bahariyan Caliphate declared Jihad against Brytene, aiming to eradicate Adfyr. In late winter of 1343 a huge army led by General Rahib Shah landed on the shores of Brytene, composed of 30,000 warriors and their train.

Reduced by the war against Dyflin a generation ago, and with peacetime spending at a low ebb, Brytene had only a nominal standing army, composed of the huscarls loyal to individual nobles and houses, backed by the untrained Fyrd militia. Vastly outnumbered, the Saxone army made a stand against the invaders at the Siege of Lundene. Though they held the city against repeated attacks for the better part of a month, the engineering prowess of the invaders eventually broke the fortifications at Suthwark, letting them storm across the bridge to sack the capital.

Lundene was practically destroyed during the week-long sack of the city, and many inhabitants were killed or executed for apostasy. Tales of the atrocity spread and, by March 1344 a Saxon army had gathered to the north near Eoferwic where, under the leadership of Ealdorman Aelfric of Nortymbra, the surviving forces of Saxon Brytene marched south to Lundene.

The forces of General Shah had spread across south-east Brytene, meaning that when the Saxons marched south the invadaers were unprepared to face them. At the Battle of Lowencraic, the core of the Bahariyan army was routed and General Shah was killed. Over the course of the next few weeks, the remaining forces of the Jihad were defeated in detail. This traumatic episode was to etch itself onto the psyche of the Brytons for centuries to come.

Colonialism and the Age of Sail

See also: The Whaler's War

At the turn of the 17th Century, Brytene had ambitions to become a colonial power. Her warships sailed the oceans and her trading vessels stopped at ports across the globe. Brytene established Port Aspen, a major trade hub, but quickly ran afoul of the Empire of Castarcia. During the Whaler's War, which lasted from 1595-1597, the Royal Brytisc Fleet suffered irreplacable losses and Brytene's dreams of imperial power faded.

Trade and prosperity came, however, with several treaties and agreements such as the Drumhead Treaty, which allowed Brytisc ships to safely ply the oceans, making them a common sight in trade lanes and ports the world over.

The Great Charter and the Industrial Revolution

By the 18th Century, it became clear that in order to function as a modern, industrial society, the Kingdom needed to introduce a codified legal and political system. The Thegn Rede drew up a Great Charter of Brytene, which guaranteed certain civil and economic liberties and freedoms. This charter also guaranteed a seperation of powers into the executive, legal, and judicial. The Charter passed despite opposition from the monarchy and is still in force today, and serves as the closest thing Brytene has to a constitution or Bill of Rights, although common law is still in effect as a supplement to the laws laid out by the Charter.

The Charter also changed the nation from a Kingdom to a Confederacy, establishing the monarchy as a lifetime elected position and guaranteeing the political freedom of the citizens of Brytene.

The Great War

See also: First Great War

In 1903, tensions in Atlas rose to boiling point, and on the 24th of April the first blood of the First Atlasian Great War was shed, drawing the two great alliances of the Astaria Entente and the Vierbund Powers into direct conflict with one another.

Brytene's entry into the war was spurred by a popular uprising in Pepper Atoll. A merchant vessel from Zhenya was accidentally sunk, leading to the Zhenyan assault and capture of St Joseph. The city was recaptured later that year, whilst naval skirmishes between the two nations continued as Brytene strove to gain dominance over the north-eastern Fale Ocean.

The 20th Century

See also: Whitebay Crisis

After the war, the Brytisc economy slumped as the industrial landscape shifted. Hlaford Shipyards filed for bankruptcy and was bought out by Wernham-Hogg, and only intense government spending and work programs prevented the economy from stagnating.

In 1973, the port city of Whitebay was blockaded by Coraspia following a trade dispute. The Brytisc Fleet, largely unused since the war, were caught off-guard and several of the largest ships of the fleet were trapped in harbour. A international relief force from Stasnov, the Allied Connurist States, and Sde Dov were deployed to assist. For the better part of a week, the various navies fought a war of cat-and-mouse around the islands until the Coraspar Navy finally withdrew.


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