Chronicle of the Northmen - The Germanic Kings of the North

And So did Hæft strike his banner in the ground of Albion,the White Stag shining on the green field. "This land," he cried, "Is the land of the Saxons"

The Final Lines of the Epic Saxon Poem "Hæft", telling of Hæft's combat against the Angles and Frisians, before his conquest of Albion.


Foreword: A different period of migration in Northern Europe, whilst the rest of Europe will remain the same for a while, butterflies will begin flapping their wings soon enough. Hatred will brew between the Germanic North and Latinised South, with the fate of Europe changed forever.

The Tales of the Northmen
or
Europe's Great Divide


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The Flag of Saxeric

The Beginnings of Saxeric

As any Saxon schoolboy will be able to tell you, the Dark Ages are considered to have ended in the year 435, when King Hæft, leader of the first and largest Saxon Tribe involved in the Great Migration, landed on the shores of Albion and declared it the land of the Saxons. This came after many years of fighting with the tribes of the Angles, who were forced north into the Jutland peninsula following Saxon expansion The Saxons would eventually begin a mass migration themselves, however, they would not follow the Angles north but instead would travel across the sea to Albion, then known by its Imperial name of “Britannia”. The reasons for the Saxon migration are largely debated however a popular belief, and one accepted by most historians, is that Albion was heavily inhabited by the Celtic-Imperial remnant Kingdoms, known as the Brythons. Hæft first landed in what is now Essex, and defeated the Brythonic Kingdoms in a series of bloody wars. As the Angles pushed further north in mainland Europe, they would force the Jutes, from the Jutland peninsula, to follow the Saxons on a massive scale, however they remained a smaller portion of the migrations than the Saxons. The Brythonic kingdoms were heavily divided and only one Brythonic King is remembered by modern Saxons. That man was Arthur the Stalwart, King of Hwicce (The last Brythonic Kingdom to fall to the Saxons) and though his very existence is examined and questioned by modern historians, King Arthur has seeped into modern culture, resulting in a series of books and television adaptations. Hæft carved out a Kingdom in Essex and Suffoc[1] and over the next 50 years the majority of the Saxon population would migrate over, most landing in Hæft’s Kingdom of Essex or Further south, in Sussex. Soon Saxons would spread all over what is now Saxeric, driving the Brythonic tribes into Northumbrialand[1] (Or as it is now known, Brythonica). This cultural split would remain even into the 21st century. The tribes of Waels[1] and Cornwall resisted longer than most, but were eventually integrated and assimilated into the Saxon population sometime during the 7th century.

The lands colonised by the Saxons would be divided into 7 kingdoms (Listed From Largest to Smallest): Essex, Mercia, Waels, Kent, Sussex, Wessex and Britric (In modern day Cornwall)

A Map of Cultures in Albion in the Year 800:
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Twilight of the Danes and The Fall of the Swedes
The Danes had once occupied far more than their current borders between Nordica and Jutland, once they even dominated the Jutland Peninsula and Scania. However, the large scale migration of Angle Tribes Northward would overcome the Danes and either force them east, onto Zealand. The rest of what had once been Danish would be broken up into new Angelic Kingdoms, as would Lands Conquered in the Angelic Invasions of Pomerania.
Over the Sea, in Nordica the struggle between the tribes of the Geats and the Swedes ended in the final defeat of the Kingdom of Svealand, located in what is now Northern Gotaland[2]. The Geats would slowly expand east, leading to conflicts with the Lappish and Finnish Tribes who would be all but wiped out. Gotaland would rise to a dominant position in the Nordic peninsula, outgrowing and out classing the Kingdom of Norge to the north and the Danes and Angles to the west. By the turn of the 9th century, Gotaland would stretch from the Danish Border to the far east.
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Religion in Early Albion
For many years the Kingdoms in Albion and Nordica resisted the advance of Christianity and it wasn't until the 8th century that the Northern Kings finally converted. Modern historians blame the limitations on drinking, violence, adultery ect, as well as the submissive element of Papal Christianity, for the Northern Kings disdain of the religion as a whole. Then, sometime during the 730s, a man named Adam appeared in the court of King Beow of Mercia. The man, according to legend, was being beaten in the street for preaching Christianity outside a temple of Thor. King Beow was riding through the streets when he heard the cries of the man. He approached and as he did he saw with disdain the cross around the mans neck, however there was something different about this one, unlike the normal priests crosses that had four, flat points, this one bore three, each spiked at the end. King Beow though nothing of it until suddenly, a glorious white stag emerged from the forest in the distance. The Stag bowed its head to the King and Beow took it as a sign, he took the Priest under his wing and gave him accommodation in his Longhall. In exchange, the Priest, who called himself Adam, told Beow of how the Pope and the Southron kings had misinterpreted the Bible and defiled the words of the Lord. Adam and his group, the Church of the Herdsmen, had re-translated the New Testament almost entirely, taking segments that had been removed by the Papacy and replacing them, whilst themselves removing many of the overly peaceful or restrictive segments. The Church of the Herdsmen turned Jesus into a liberator and Warlord, who freed the Jews with "his flaming sword of God". The Church of the Herdsmen also mixed in tales from Germanic mythology and to a certain extent the figures of Thor and Jesus became one, as did Odin and the Christian God. King Beow was entranced by the tales of the warrior king Jesus and his all powerful father. King Beow became the first Northern Ming to convert, though other Saxon kings followed quickly in his step. The Church of the Herdsmen built their first Cathedral in Warwick (Though Northern Cathedrals are closer to large Longhalls than the stone churhes of the South). Within 50 years, the lords of Alba, Brythonica, Nordica and Jutland would convert tl the church of the Herdsmen. The Priest Adam became the first Fylkir, the head of the church.

The differences between the Papal Church and The Church of the Herdsmen may seem peculiar to the uninitiated, for whilst the Herdsmen are far more warlike in their nature, they are also far more libertine. Women are given a more equal role, Thralls were treated far more humanely than the Serfs of the South and there was less limitation on alcohol and adultery. The only Nordic tradition to entirely fade was Polygamy and the concubines of Northmen were freed and married off.
The Three Pronged Cross of the Herdsmens Church

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The Alternate Kingdoms of the North
  • Saxeric-Saxon England
  • Gotaland - Geats (Beowulfs Tribe) in Sweden and Finland
  • Angleric - The Lands settled by the Angle Tribes
  • Brythonica - The Roman-Celtic British Tribes who inhabit northern England and southern Scotland
  • Waels - Saxon Wales

[1] Misspellings are intentional and based on Saxon names for the regions before Norman influence.
[Notes]: 1. I cannot do maps, sorry
2. Mainland Europe will appear soon
3. All comments appreciated, even the harsh ones.
 
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My mother the minister would be turning in her grave. Good start. I like your Church of the Herdsman.
 
This link may help you iron out some of the inconsistencies with place names and the migration to Britain

And wouldn't the stag be facing the other way? Else it's moving backwards when the flag is carried in battle or at sea ;)
 
Kingdoms Set in Stone​

The King of All Saxons
The Saxon kingdoms would remain mostly divided for hundred of years, each of the seven retaining their own Kings and customs. However by the 9th Century it became clear that the Kingdom of Essex had achieved hegemony over the other Kingdoms. The only Kingdom to have the power to challenge this dominance was Mercia due to their undying support from the Church of the Herdsmen. In 823 the Essexian King Hært, a descendant of the legendary King Hæft, decided to formalise this with the creation of the Bretwalda, a King of all the Saxons. The post was elective but in reality would do little other than alternate between the crowns of Mercia and Essex. The Bretwalda worked under a system of Heptarchy, wherein each of the Kingdoms kept their crowns and lands but a High King or Bretwalda, was elected to rule over all of Saxeric, as it came to be known. The first Bretwalda was Hært himself who was elected with full support from every Kingdom. He is remembered to today as the first King of Saxeric.

In the year 924, Hært's grandson, Hæft II would be elected Bretwalda and greatly centralise the system. This reform made the Heptarchy far more feudal in nature, with each King paying tribute to the Bretwalda and pledging his Axe and men to the holder of the crown. There was mild resistance to the reform however the Kings of Essex were known as masters of diplomacy and were able to achieve reform peacefully. This unified Saxeric would become a dominant force in Albion and soon expand northward, establishing hegemony over Brythonica. Saxeric would soon adopt the long-ships of the Nordic Kings and even follow their expansion and Exploration West. After the Nordic discovery of Iceric, the Saxon King Halret would organise and exploration fleet which would discover and colonise the island of Greenric. IN the coming years, Saxon colonists would fall into conflict with the Natives of Greenric, reducing the population of the island, however by the 11th century the island was firmly under Saxon control. Though the population of Iceric still remained tiny for hundreds of Years, a Kingdom was established and granted a role as the 8th electorate of the Bretwalda.

One of the initial reasons for the Unification of Saxeric was the Nordic raid on the Monastery of Lindisfarne. Lindisfarne was one of the oldest monasteries set up by the Church of the Herdsmen and its attack scared the Kings of Saxeric who feared not only for the monks and Holy Men of Saxeric but also the fact that Nordic or Geatean men could in fact conquer the eastern seaboard of Saxeric. Whilst this may seem ludicrous today, the fears of a "Nordlaw" were very real at the time and only faded when the Geatean, Anglic and Nordic kings converted to the Church of the Herdsmen in the early 9th century, preventing further attacks on the Holy Land of the Herdsmen, Saxeric. This would, in fact prompt Nordic expansion East.

The Original 8 Saxon Electorates​
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Geats in the East
By the 9th century the Geats had created far more than a Kingdom, they had an Empire. Ruling almost all of what is now Nordica, bar the Kingdom of Norgric (OTL Western Norway). The Geateans were the first non-Saxon kingdom to convert to the Church of the Herdsmen and adopt the Heptarcy system of government that had proved effective in Saxeric. Sometime during the 9th century a Geatean Lord, known as Rurik, would assemble a warband and travel east to the Slavic tribes. Ruriks conquest of the tribes and construction of the city of Novgorod would lead to the creation of the state of Ruscia, a kingdom ruled by Geatean followers of the Herdsmen faith, who would slowly convert and integrate the Slavs they ruled over. This state would become Germanic in nature, adopting the Runic text used by Nordic and Saxon kings. Though their expansion south was prevented by the Khazar Khanate, the men of Ruscia would expand slowly Eastward.
 
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I may have used Crusader Kings II for my maps, they're not my strong point. ;)
Flag fixed and I'll probably take this through to the 19th century but depending on certain things it might not make it that far. Hope you enjoy.
 
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