Quick Timeline: 15 Battles that Shaped England

[Youngmarshall]

Authors Note

I wrote this elsewhere as a writing exercise, just trying to write 7,000 words in two days which I did. The feedback I got was that it was good but too short and could have used more explanation in parts. So I’m rewriting it here, aiming for more like 12,000 words. Will put up two entries at a time, over the next few days.

Introduction

The Kingdom of England, as every child knows, was formed in 927 when King Æthelstan of Wessex conquered Northumbria for the first time and the Angles of Britain were, however briefly, first united under one King. Later on the Kings of England became High Kings and later still the High Kings were replaced by an empty throne but the Kingdom Æthelstan created has endured through nearly 1,100 years, though admittedly often under foreign rule and rarely with the same borders.

And for better or for worse, so much of the history of that Kingdom was written in blood. From the Norwegian Anarchy to the Serbian Yoke, from the Year of the Moor to the War of the Angry Children, the wars that England have fought has decided its path as a country. Every conflict changes history to some extent if only because every person dead sniffs out a thousand possible futures but in this article we're going to look at the 15 battles which most clearly decided what sort of country England would be.

1. Brunanburh - 937

Winner: England

Defeated side: Dublin, Scotland & Strathclyde

Background: Æthelstan was the first ever ruler to control all of the Seven Kingdoms of the English, thus completing what the House of Wessex had worked for since Edington. By 937 he had also established himself as the de facto High King of Britain, the Kings of Wales and Strathclyde regularly attend his court and just three years earlier he'd raided deep into Scotland and the Orkneys to force those Kings to recognise his overlordship too. But in 937 that was all at risk of being undone. Constantine of Scotland had marched south, Owain of Strathclyde by his side, and joined forces with Olaf, King of Dublin, in Cumbria. The Allies plundered English territory, seemingly at leisure, while Æthelstan sluggishly gathered his own army. The Welsh stayed at home, they did not know who would win and so they preferred to remain neutral. Northumbria, recently conquered, sizzled with discontent and thoughts of rebellion, when confronted with apparant proof of English weakness. Æthelstan’s conquests were at risk of unravelling.

But finally, in late spring, he was ready to march. He would meet these invaders at Brunanburh.

Battle: I do not need to go into too much detail about the battle itself, we all know it. Brunanburh is the subject of the first page of every history book about England and Æthelstan’s supposed speech before the battle, as recounted by much later poets, is a classic of English literature.

In short, the English army broke the shield wall of the invading enemy and scattered them, driving Olaf back to his ships and Owain and Constantine back North. England would remain united.

Aftermath: The importance of Brunanburh in the national myth, as the origin of not just England but the very idea of an English people, has meant it has been the subject of increasing historical scepticism. And to an extent it is hard not to agree that its importance has been overstated. The contemporary idea that this was the great battle that united Britain and bought peace and prosperity to the land does not survive even the slightest analysis. The Kingdom of Northumbria whose annexation Brunanburh was fought to defend would be twice restored within the next decade. Two years after Brunanburh England lost control of the entire midlands. Edmund I would spend much of his rule at war trying to reconquer what his half-brother had first conquered. Brunanburh did not settle anything for good.

But there is a reason why people thought that. Brunanburh was the last concerted attempt by the other British Kings to dispute English Unification, to prevent a united England becoming the dominant power in Britain. The Norse, the Britons and the Scots had united in that attempt. And they failed. Given the struggles the House of Wessex faced to maintain English Unity in a world where they did, how much worse would it have been if they had succeeded?

What could have happened: Æthelstan's victory at Brunanburh ensured the survival of an idea. A vulnerable idea but a powerful one. That the seven nations of the English are and should be one.

But the Kingdom of England could have easily not survived it's early birth pangs. If the English had lost at Burnanburh it is not hard to imagine a much longer period of division, during which much stronger Northumbrian and West Saxon identities could form and the English identity would not be so powerful.

2. Yerk - 1079

Winners: Denmark, England & Scotland

Defeated side: Norway

Background: Brunanburh at the time was also hailed as preserving the English from living under a foreign yoke. To the English of the 11th century, looking back at decades of Norse Kings, this must have seemed like a cruel joke. What the Great Heathen Army could not achieve, their descendants managed with seeming ease. The Danes conquered England in 1013 and then again in 1016, holding it until 1042. Danish rule was disputed and it was not popular, especially under Cnut's sons, but the Kingdom was largely at peace with no large scale rebellions. The same could not be said for its time under Norwegian rule from 1066 onwards.

Harald of Norway well earned his epithet of 'Hard Ruler'. He was highhanded in his dealings with both the Nobles and the Church, England was not yet the 'country of five arch bishops and no King' that it would later become but the Catholic Church was still powerful and Harald's anti papal leanings squandered any possible advantage he could have gained from the Pope's dispute with Stigand and the Anglo-Saxons. Moreover his clemency was simply not trusted, he made nice with men only until he could defeat them and broke any deal he felt he could afford to. The result was a brutal series of rebellions and sacks, areas of South East England did not recover for decades, and the English nobles being replaced with foreigners. The new jarls were largely Norwegians, but also Harald increasingly gave out English land to Welsh and Scottish under kings, in order to tie them into his realm and break any potential ties with English rebels which was staggeringly unpopular. By the time of his death in 1075, England was simply not willing to endure another Scandinavian King.

Tostig Godwinson, the Yarl of Wessex, was the first to make his move, declaring himself King before Olaf could return from Norway, but he was too clearly associated with foreign rule to be accepted by the English rebels and Morcar, the exiled Earl of Northumbria, returned to England in order to challenge both Tostig and Olaf. Olaf landed in the Humber shortly afterwards. The Norwegian Anarchy had begun and it would last for six more years as pretenders and invaders reduced Harald's North Sea Empire to rubble and ashes.

But it was the Battle of Yerk, four years in, that truly changed the course of English History. By 1079, Olaf had seemingly seen off the worst of his troubles, the farmers rebellions back in Norway had yet to reach a critical point, Tostig and Morcar were both dead and the Danish invasion from Scania had been defeated. Yes, Dublin had been lost and the Welsh front was going badly but Olaf must have seen peace if not complete victory as achievable. There was just the problem of Northumbria. Morcar's death at Ligeraceaster had left Edgar the Ætheling in a vulnerable position but Northumbria remained firmly in rebellion. For Olaf to claim all of England he needed to capture Yerk and Edgar's court.

Battle: Edgar, unknown to the Norwegians, had made his famous devil's bargain with the Kings Harald and Malcolm of Denmark and Scotland. As Olaf approached Yerk, he found himself greeted by a united army of his enemies that far outnumbered him. In a mirrior of Brunanburh, the Norwegians formed into a shield wall but the Axemen of the Allied Army flanked it and broke it. The feared Norwegian Army, outnumbered and tired, was routed. Crucially, Olaf himself was trampled down by a cavalry brigade and killed.

Aftermath: In a day, any chances of the Norwegian Empire surviving had been lost. Norway proper, having lost their King, would face two more years of Anarchy but at Yerk, England's independence was won. And it would be a lasting victory, the long fight for English independence from the Nordic invaders that had been ongoing since Lindisfarne was finally won after nearly 300 years. Not only would there never again be a Scandinavian on the English Throne but the British Isles would break from the Nordic orbit almost entirely.

What could have happened: An English defeat at Yerk does not necessarily mean a lasting Nordic Yoke. If England had not won its freedom in 1079, there would be likely other chances. King Olaf would have almost certainly tried to gift Norway to one son and England to another, for one. But it is not impossible to posit a world wherein those ties were never broken and England would become first just another province of the Swedish Empire and then another bickering post imperial Nordic kingdom.

 

[Youngmarshall]

3. Scawton Moor - 1138

Winner: Scotland

Defeated side: England

Background: A country is defined by its limits as much as by its achievements. A defeat can have as big an effect on how it develops as a victory, sometimes more so in fact as a defeated country feels far more need to reform. And Scawton Moor was probably the worst defeat England suffered between the Anarchy and the Year of the Moor.

The retreat of Scandinavian power from the North Atlantic in the aftermath of the Norwegian Anarchy benefited all the British Kingdoms. England and the Orkneys gained full independence, the Irish Kingdoms were able to enjoy some measure of respite from foreign invasion and Wales entered a mini golden era under Caradog ap Gruffydd and his sons. But the main benefactor was Scotland. The High Kings of Scotland extended their influence and power further than any had before. The Kings of the Isles and Mann were firmly confirmed as underkings and the Bretons of Strathclyde as far south as Westmorland were also bought into Scottish orbit. Moreover Edgar's devil's bargain with King Malcolm had seen Northumbria partitioned and the old kingdom of Bernicia resurrected as a Scottish vassal.

It was inevitable that when England had recovered from the brutality of Norwegian rule, this state of affairs would not be allowed to continue unchallenged and so it proved. The War of the Dead Dog is generally said to have begun in 1136 when a Scottish Noble in Monkchester killed one of his English servants for suspicion of poisoning one of his hunting dogs. The local English rebelled and King Ælfric, not wanting to miss this opportunity, marched his Army north in support.

The English initially made decent progress but the Scots refused to engage them in a stand up fight, instead shadowing and harrying the main English army while sending raiding parties deep into England. Ælfric was soon having difficulty supplying his army and retreated to Yerk. The Scots continued raiding, for the next year goods sold by Northern England dropped to almost nothing thanks to the depredations of the Scottish Army, and Ælfric found himself tasked with what was essentially guard work.

Battle: Eventually at Scawton Moor, to the north of Yerk, Ælfric's army managed to locate and chase down a Scottish raiding party returning from the Humber burdened down with loot. Ælfric spread his troops out in the chase, which meant his small cavalry force was travelling far ahead of the infantry when the main Scottish Army emerged and engaged him. Ælfric was killed almost straight away and his army was routed piecemeal and forced once more to retreat to Yerk.

Aftermath: Ælfric's son continued to campaign for another year but the war was lost. In the peace, everywhere north of the Tyne would remain Scottish and the Monkchester rebellion was harshly put down. This defeat, among many others during this time period, would see the Witenagemot grow in power, relative to the Monarchy as weak kings were seen to lead the country to disaster.

What could have happened: An English victory in the War of the Dead Dog could have bought forward the reconquest of Bernicia by more than a century. This in turn would strengthen England’s position vs Scotland, the most extreme result might even see Scotland lose its independence. Perhaps even more critically this would boost the prestige of the Monarchy and so perhaps avoid the rise of the nobility which would define England for so much of its existence. It might even prevent the Witan from ever turning to foreign Princes.

4. Lincylene - 1217

Winners: England & France

Defeated side: Pretenders

Background: The Witenagemot had grown in power during the late 12 century in order to prevent weak Kings and disputed successions after centuries of chastened retreat from the power of Æthelstan. Any prince would have to prove themselves to the Witan before they could take power, though once they'd ascended to the throne their power was absolute. That the Witan had the power to reject the offered candidate from the House of Wessex was accepted but the idea however of the Witan choosing a foreign prince to rule them instead was still a new and controversial idea in 1217. Indeed a French Prince could have been chosen as King as early as 1066, when the Duke of Normandy had put himself forward, but he was rejected by the Witan and then defeated by Harold the Unlucky prior to that Monarch's own untimely end.

Thus the choice of Louis Capet as King was far from universally accepted. Opposition to his ascension centred around Eadric of Mercia who attempted to gather his own army in opposition to the French prince.

Battle: Eadric’s flight was betrayed and he was halted at Lincylene where after a short siege he was captured by a joint English-French army and executed as a rebel.

Aftermath: Without a figurehead, the anti Louis members of the English nobility had no focal point for their opposition and the feared civil war never happened. Louis, secure on this throne, signed the Brothers Pact with his brother the King of France. An alliance that has lasted nearly 800 years was first formed.

What could have happened: Saying that England and France were not always allies feels like a revelatory statement in of itself. After all it feels like the English and the French were geographically destined to be friends just by their positions, separate enough for the two countries to have different ambitions but close enough to be natural trading partners. But it need not have happened. It did not happen until the early 1220s.

Eadric's defeat and capture in the Siege of Lincylene must therefore go down as one of the most pivotal battles in English History for all its minor size. If Eadric had escaped and managed to gather enough support then Louis might not have ever taken the throne, the Brothers Pact would never have happened and the French and English Armies would not have fought for each other in so many wars. Without that Scotland might still be the dominant force in Britain. Germany, then still known as the Holy Roman Empire, without the English-French alliance to check it, might have united all of Europe into a single state.

Moreover without the precedent of Foreign Princes ascending the Throne, England would have been spared the Serbian Yoke and all that followed. The House of Wessex might still be High Kings.

And what of English culture? 90% of English people speak French as a second language, in this world that might instead be German. The Friendship Bridge, undoubtedly with another name, would be much less travelled. French tourists might Caravan in Galicia rather than Staffordshire, English Sportsmen might ply their trade in Handball leagues in Italy rather than French, we might watch Serbian Movies and the French listen to Russian Music.

 

[Youngmarshall]

5. Zetland - 1298

Winner: England

Defeated side: Sweden-Norway

Background: The Brothers Pact was undoubtedly a success within the lifespan of the Brothers in question. English forces fought with great valour in the Siege of Valencia against the Moors and the French Navy played an equally critical, if less famous, role in the re-conquest of Bernicia from Scotland.

But when Louis of England died and the Witan chose an English noble to replace him, there was no reason to think that the Pact would continue and indeed for the next 50 years it didn’t. The renewal of that great alliance under Æthelgeard and Henri happened largely because England and France both had economic motives to support the Danish war against the Holy Roman Empire in order to undercut the Flemish and German cities that dominated North and Baltic Sea trade.

The joint Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway viewed the economic potential from an entirely different perspective. If Denmark could be weakened enough that it could lose its complete control over the Öresund then Swedish and Norwegian ships could compete more evenly for the Baltic trade. England was seen as the weak spot of the three allied countries and so the plan was to tempt Scotland into the war so that a joint Scottish, Swedish and Norwegian force could march on Lundenburg and force the English to terms.

The main problem was the Scottish King, Lulach III, wasn’t particularly interested. The annexation of Iceland and the Orkneys by the Swedo-Norwegians had spooked him and he found King Eric an arrogant and untrustworthy character. Instead he leaked to Winchester that the Swedish-Norwegian Fleet was docked in the Zetland islands while he dragged on the talks, allowing England to launch one of the most successful surprise attacks in History.

Battle: The British Fleet, aided by the Scots, caught the Scandinavian Fleet at port and burned it. The fleet was wrecked and thousands of men captured.

Aftermath: Eric, safe in Scotland, escaped back to Norway in disguise but he couldn’t continue the war and, in the resulting peace deal, the Kingdom of the Orkneys were restored, this time including Iceland. England had proved itself capable of being a major player in European Wars.

What could have happened: If Lulach had allied with King Eric, the Swedo-Norwegian plan could have worked. England could have faced an invasion and, at the least, be forced to withdraw troops from the Flemish front. This might or might not have proved a knockout blow for the Brothers Pact, which would see Bernicia switch owners again, but it would certainly put them on the back foot. Moreover while England’s army would still have victories to call on, their greatest Naval victory would not have happened which would have consequences for England’s already often precarious investment in the Navy. And of course, without the liberation of the Northern Isles, what would later become the Swedish Empire would remain a player in British Politics.

6. Dublin - 1340

Winner: England

Defeated side: Ireland

Background: Æthelstan in his unification of England established a model that all of his successors stuck to. The Seven Kingdoms of the English were to be one. Areas outside of those Kingdoms such as Wales, Cumbria or Scotland were to be subdued and conquered but not annexed. The native Kings would remain in place as sub Kings who’d give proper fealty and allegiance to England. England was the Heptarchy, it could not be less, it would not be more. But this informal policy wasn't really codified until the mid 14th century.

Dublin had drifted in and out of English orbit since its conquest by Harald the Hard Ruler in 1068. At various points the rulers of Dublin paid fealty to Winchester, Scone and Tara, often at the same time, in order to maintain its independence. England under Casimir I, however, was interested in formalising its relationship with its sub Kings and Dublin would prove a test case.

Ireland at the time had a particular cunning and ambitious High King, Art Óg mac Báetáin, who wanted to curb the independence of the lords of Dublin. Art marched an Army on Dublin, the Dubliners called for help and Casimir answered.

Battle: The battle itself was a relative anti-climax. Not long after the arrival of the English Fleet, Art withdrew his troops rather than lose them. Casimir’s troops fought a few skirmishes but mainly occupied themselves rebuilding the city’s walls.

Aftermath: But Casimir would take full advantage of both having an Army within Dublin and the gratitude of its citizens. In Dublin Castle, he would be recrowned ‘King of the English and High King of the Britons, Irish and Scottish’. The dig at Art was an empty threat, Casimir had no intention of campaigning beyond Dublin’s walls but the submission of King Echmararcach of Dublin was very real. Crucially, Echmararcach was offered, and accepted, a place in the Witan. Dublin was not England but its King was part of the body that both confirmed the new High King and advised him. There would be no more paying fealty to multiple Kings, no more ambiguity. Dublin was locked in. Moreover crucially for Casimir, who wanted his son to inherit his title as High King, he’d managed to bring in a new noble into the Witan whose legitimacy, as both a King and a Vassal, could not be argued with.

Within ten years, the Welsh, the Cumbrians, the Manx and the Orkneyans, would also be given the same deal in Casimir’s attempt at court packing. Upon his death, the sub Kings proved loyal and Prince Ratibor was duly elected and the new system established. The modern Witenaġemot, as we would recognise it, had taken form. Though obviously with some minor differences.

What could have happened: The status of the vassal subkingdoms is such an established part of British Politics that it seems inevitable but if it wasn’t for the whims of Casimir, it’s entirely possible that the system could have broken down centuries before it did. If different choices had been made, the sub Kingdoms could have easily been either annexed or allowed to leave the English orbit entirely. Either choice would have created an almost unrecognisably different Political scene.

 

[Youngmarshall]

7. Rhuddlan - 1469

Winners: England & Powys

Defeated side: Gwynedd

Background: The 15th Century is generally seen as the lost century. For most of it England would be devastated by plagues, famine and brutal civil war. The reality that the inefficient taxation system and overly powerful local nobles prevented England’s Military from reaching its potential was acknowledged but the attempts by the High King to centralise and establish a professional army were resisted by those same nobles. Since the conflict ultimately ended in stalemate and it was not until the Serbian Yoke that progress was actually made, I will not pick any of the battles of the Witan Wars as being particularly influential.

Much more important for the way it shaped, and soured, England’s relationship with its subjects was the Welsh Revolt of 1464 and in particular the burning of Rhuddlan. The status of the five Welsh kingdoms as vassals of the English had always been quietly unpopular among the Welsh people, and their Kings' position as both members of the Witan and major English landholders, meant that popular descent tended to link unpopular Kings to England and painted their flaws as being down to foreign influence. Likewise the paying of Welsh taxes to the English as tribute and the recruitment of Welsh soldiers into the High Kings armies were as unpopular in the 15th century as they would later be in during the Great War of the 20th century. Indeed the Welsh Revolt of 1464, much like the Welsh War of Independence, initially started as a conscription riot against the endless squeezing of the subkingdoms to fight the Witan Wars that quickly gathered momentum and became a far larger revolt.

Battle: Rhuddlan was where the Rebels made their last stand. It had been the capital of Gwynedd prior to the revolt, though it would not be afterwards. The English Army led, it must be noted, by the King of Powys, were not interested in obtaining surrenders. Though reports of the massacre of civilians are disputed, the execution of captured rebels is not and it is clear that the sacking of the city, after the siege, was particularly brutal. The exact number of deaths is hard to pin down, most of the death tolls are undoubtedly exaggerated. Still it is clear that it must have been at least several hundred, if not more than a thousand, as Rhuddlan never recovered.

Aftermath: As brutal as Rhuddlan was many more people of Gwynedd died in the famines that followed from the burning of farms during the guerrilla war that lingered on afterwards. This was when the infamous Butcher Smith led the English Garrison and he adopted a policy of starving out rebels and only accepting surrenders from rebels who bought clemency with the heads of other rebels. The revolt itself was entirely over by 1475 but English troops lingered until the mid 16th century. The description of North Wales in the aftermath of the revolt as a prison camp is an anachronistic one but, while Gwynedd was never firmly annexed to either Powys or England, its Kings undoubtedly had less freedom of choice as the result of the armed troops garrisoned there.

What could have happened: The burning of Rhuddlan utterly poisoned the relationship between England and their Welsh subjects. The actions of the Northern Welsh during the Serbian Yoke, as unpleasant as they were, were in large part a reaction to that poisoning of relations. If the Welsh Revolt of 1464 could have been avoided or ended in a negotiated peace, it is not impossible for the Serbian Yoke to play out very differently and for the Welsh to enjoy as good a relationship with England as the Manx do.

8. The Scilly Isles - 1550

Winner: Al-Andalus

Defeated side: England & France

Background: History has moved away largely from the rote recital of dates as a substitute for insight. But certain years contained events so major that they can still be said without context and understood. 927, 937, 1634, 1954 and of course 1550. The Year of the Moor.

The early 16th century saw the Muslim monopoly over the New World finally broken. Galicia and France set up their own colonies in competition and so too did Dublin, backed by English money and a number of immigrants fleeing the violence of the Scottish-Irish wars. It was inevitable that the Christian attempts to encroach on what had previously been a captive market would lead to war and in 1546 there were a series of organised attacks on the Christian settlements in the New World. The Brothers Pact responded by declaring war on the League of Cordoba. It was a war for which England was tragically unprepared. The under funded and under trained English Forces did not cover themselves in glory during the early days of the war but the Muslims had their own problems too. It wasn't until 1550 that the weakness of the English position was so tragically revealed.

Battle: In many ways the tragedy of the Scilly Isles was that it was so avoidable. The English Fleet had been reduced, during the war itself, in order so that the sailors didn't have to be paid. When news on the raid on the Scillies came to Winchester, the Navy was refunded and sent out to meet them but the rushed departure meant that many ships were under crewed and their Admiral was a political appointment rather than a natural sailor. Then the English Fleet got caught by a storm, before it could meet up with the French, and was largely scattered. The fleet should have retreated back to Port but Admiral Oswin was afraid of losing his position if he didn't engage the enemy and so gathered what ships he could find to patrol for the Muslim armada. That he managed to find them was probably the worst bit of luck England has ever had.

Outnumbered, outmatched and poorly led, the English fleet was almost entirely destroyed. England didn't know it yet, but they had lost the war.

Aftermath: 1550 became the Year of the Moor. For the best part of nine months, the undefended southern shore of England was raided again and again by Muslim ships. Hundreds of towns were sacked and thousands of English men, women and children were carried away into slavery. Eventually England had no choice but to surrender, abandoning its new World Colonies and leaving France to fight by itself.

It was too much for the people to accept. Peasant revolts spread across the land and were brutally put down. The King was placed under house arrest by his panicked advisors and deposed. The Witan were finally ready to allow a powerful King the leeway he needed to make reforms. They picked the younger brother of a foreign Emperor. A man known for his competence, his brutality and his long history of wars against the Muslims.

They picked Vukan Nemanjić.

What could have happened: Without the disastrous loss of the English Fleet, it is entirely possible for the War for the New World to have ended in if not a Christian Victory at least something approaching a stalemate. Under those circumstances, the much needed reforms in England would be slower and less far reaching if made at all. The 16th century might be another lost century. And, of course, it is likely that the Nemanjićs would never be picked as High Kings and so the English Revolution likely would have never happened.

 

[Youngmarshall]

9. Gallipoli - 1630

Winner: Karamids

Defeated side: Serbia

Background: Modern Historians tend to be sceptical of the term ‘Serbian Yoke’. The Nemanjić era lasted 83 years and five monarchs and only in the very twilight of that time was it seen as a yoke. It is true that they wielded power unheard of compared to previous High Kings, that they cowed the Witan and broke the power of the nobility. It is true that they raised new taxes and introduced an unprecedented internal spy network and security apparatus in order to arrest and depose suspected rebels.

But after the Witan wars and the Year of the Moor those reforms were accepted and in many cases applauded. As unlikely as it might seem, the first fifty years of the Nemanjić dynasty could reasonably be called a golden era. Economically England became an important middle man in trading goods from Serbia to the Low Countries and Northern Europe, culturally the arrival of Serbian and Greek nobles to the English Court helped trigger a rebirth of the English literary scene and militarily England was successful in several wars against Ireland and Scotland as well as eventually re-establishing their colonies in the New World during the Moroccan rebellion.

But the early Serbian Monarchs understood, at least to some extent, the need to play nice with their new nation. They publically converted to Catholicism, learned some English and respected, to some extent, the Witan. This did not last. The Court of the High King became dominated by Serbians and they started viewing England as an appendage of the Empire. When High King Bajica’s elder brother died and he became Empire, the precedent was for him to step down and let another of his Family take the English throne. He did not. He held both titles at the same time and was reconfirmed as an Orthodox.

The English court, for all intents and purposes, was now in Skopje. And, in an era of great religious turmoil and disillusionment with the Catholic Church, Serbian Orthodoxy began to assert itself in England. Two hundred years earlier, a French Wit had called England ’a country of five archbishops and no King’, to illustrate both the strength of the Catholic Church and the weakness of the English Monarchy. But now England had an Emperor and it was understood that the church served at his pleasure. Everything that made England what it was, Winchester, the Witan, the Catholic Church and the Brothers pact, was dismissed and attacked by the Serbs. The Yoke was firmly established.

And English troops were sent in large numbers to the front line of the Turkish Wars to die for Serbian interests.

Battle: The disaster at Gallipoli, when thousands of English men died under cannon and musket fire after they were pinned down and trapped by the Karamid relief army while attempting a siege, was the spark that lit the fire of rebellion. That so many died fighting over a small fortress in far off Turkey was a difficult thing to take. Quickly the story became one of Serbian incompetence and treachery, that the English battalions were seen as expendable by clueless Slavic officers.

Aftermath: Almost as soon as news of the disaster reached England, riots broke out. The English Revolution lasted four years and much has been written about it. I could have easily picked the Battles of Banbury or Hatfield Chase, the Scottish intervention at Mockwearmouth, the bloody fighting in the Welsh Mountains or the arrival of the French at the Medway. But it all began at Galipoli.

In 1634, the victorious Witan denounced Emperor Bajica and stripped him of the High Kingship. They then announced they would, as it was their duty, confirm a new High King but they would take their time over it this time to make sure they picked the right candidate. That was 385 years ago. As we went to press, a decision has not yet been reached and the throne remains empty. We are sure that once all the facts have been carefully considered a choice will be made. But, it is best not to rush these things and in the meantime we manage to struggle on without a High King.

What could have happened: English Liberty was only won with the spilling of a huge amount of English blood. And when we speak of the martyrs of the revolution we must not forget those who died fighting over a small fortress in far off Turkey. If the Serbian leadership had been better, if the English armies had not been led to their deaths, the Yoke might have endured. We might still have a High King in Winchester.

10. Pfeddershiem - 1745

Winner: Coalition

Defeated side: Germany

Background: England’s relationships with its neighbours was largely codified during the Revolution. The sub Kings largely fought for the Emperor, a situation that led to a considerable amount of bitterness in later centuries, particularly towards the Welsh. Though the stereotype of the Welsh as the unthinking brutal stooges of Serbian Tyranny is a huge simplification as the emergence of the republics of Buellt and Selyf surely demonstrates, it nonetheless lingers. Likewise the opportunistic invasions of a war torn country by Scotland and Ireland have not been forgotten.

But the French came through for the English. Their intervention at the Medway was arguably decisive. And a little over a hundred years later England would return the favour.

The Holy Roman Empire had always been the dominant force in Europe and, as it centralised into Germany, it became a powerhouse with a huge manpower advantage over it's rivals. All they required was a good general with the vision to use that advantage and Emperor Barbarossa was probably the greatest military mind of the last 300 years. From the Urals to the Rhine he had reshaped Europe in his own image and beaten every foe he’d encountered. Apart from one. France still remained unconquered.

The coalition which France assembled to fight Germany was an unprecedented show of Western Unity, with men coming from Galicia, Ireland, Corsica, Sardinia, Italy and the Colonies. Amazingly enough even Al-Andalus sent troops. But the two largest armies by far were that of France and that of England. The Brothers Pact would meet the Emperor at Pfeddershiem.

Battle: As has been immortalised in a thousand fictional retellings, Barbarossa attempted to cross the Rhine four times and each time he was beaten back. And then the Allies advanced, the fearsome French infantry driving back the Emperor’s army. But it was the English who held back the Emperor’s cavalry, it was the English who died in their thousands preventing the Guard from making a breakthrough and ultimately it was the English artillery that killed Barbarossa and doomed his empire to fall apart.

Aftermath: France was saved and I can do little better than to quote the words written in English on the continental side of the Friendship Bridge.

‘Brothers in Arms. Bound newly together by Iron as we have long been bound by blood and sacrifice.’

What could have happened: Most historians agree that if Barbarossa had crossed the Rhine, he was perfectly capable of conquering France. What they disagree on is how much further he could have gone and how possible it would be for the Empire he'd built to survive past his death. But it is not unreasonable to think that if he had crossed the Rhine, German troops in Paris would be followed by German troops in Lundenburg.

 

[Youngmarshall]

11. Escanceaster – 1805

Winner: England

Defeated side: Protestors

Background: If England’s relationship with the Welsh was defined at Rhuddian and its relationship with France at Pfeddershiem, Escanceaster defined England’s relationship with itself. The revolution, as important as it was, was a revolution of the elites. The people who gained power were the nobles, the clergy and the sub kings and the Witenagemot were no more egalitarian than the High Kings. Given Scotland had a full elected parliament (albeit with a limited franchise) at this time and Ireland had the traditional clan councils, demands for English representation began to spread among the people, especially as the cities increased in size and power as England followed France and Germany’s lead in industrialising. The secret societies broadly known as the Fancy Als began to organise from 1790 onwards.

But political demands, as always, played a back seat to economic ones. Many of the primary Fancy Als were guild leaders. The merchants and craftsmen guilds were the most powerful forces in the country without representation in the Witan and as industrialisation took its toll, they felt that the nobles were using that power to wage economic war on them with taxes and tolls in particular hurting the economy of the guild led attempts at setting up trading companies in Asia. As the guilds suffered, the guild education and welfare system where in the sons of workers were raised by the guild and the guild looked after their families began to break down which put more pressure on the Church’s own charity and workhouses and lead to an increase in crime and desperation.

Moreover while Freedom of movement between jobs had not become the hot political issue it would be in the twentieth centuries, the way farm workers in the noble’s estates were tied to the land without the option of leaving even when the property changed hands was becoming increasingly unpopular (though as yet the fates of Guild children and Church foundlings were uncontroversial). Pamphlets at the time compared it to the slavery that had been banned by the Nemanjićs.

Battle: The Escanceaster massacre was a result of a Fancy Al march in protest of the selling of land and attached farm workers to an industrial baron. Devon itself had suffered a great deal due to a particularly brutal local noble and an unusually corrupt local church, which is why the protest picked up such support and why it so terrified the local nobility. New armed police units were bought in to replace the local Bucket Boys in order to disperse the protest. The Fancy Als didn't back down, the police opened fire. And over 60 peaceful protestors were killed.

Aftermath: Escanceaster lit a spark of anger that spread throughout the Country. The years of civil unrest that followed the massacre are often called the Second English Revolution. Unlike the first however, this one ended in a compromise. The first reforms were relatively light, changes in the way farm workers could buy their freedom and a more uniform church charity programme enforced from Canterbury. Importantly however the Witan was reorganised so that less nobles got seats and some of the more established guild leaders were appointed in their places (the church, still broadly trusted by everyone, became the single largest component of the Witan as a result).

This liberalisation of the Witan paved the way for further and deeper reforms. In the 1820s advisory councils were introduced throughout England in which spokesmen for the people would be elected to advise their noble. Their power was initially limited and many were ignored at first but it was the beginning of English democracy.

However it was a faltering beginning which many at the time condemned as a useless compromise. The Franchise was limited only to families, thanks to church prejudices against single people that would be so horrifically exposed many decades later when the conditions of the schools for single women emerged, and one vote was given per household which meant farm workers where generations of families lived in the same house were underrepresented. This also meant that women were given the vote at the same time as men, but only widows with no adult sons who could be the head of the household.

And crucially it applied only to England proper. The sub kingdoms and colonies would have no such framework. Both chickens would come home to roost by the end of the 19th century.

What could have happened: The Second English Revolution was almost certainly inevitable but if the police had shown better judgement at Escanceaster the anger could have naturally died down and so even lighter reforms could have been passed. Without enough reform to satisfy the mobs when the Second Revolution did come it could well have been far more radical. The modern Witan might well have 43 empty seats rather than just 1.

12. Cape Wrath - 1863

Winners: Western Federation & Germany

Defeated side: England & France

Background: As Edgar Wainwright put it, the War of the Angry Children was seen as utterly inevitable on one side of the great ocean and completely shocking to the other. Part of the disconnect was that few people in Europe understood just how much the New World had stabilised, to them it was still seen as a deeply hostile place where Muslim pirates roamed at will and Skraeling hordes hid behind every hill. The pulp memoirs of frontiersmen which so fascinated the European public didn’t exactly help change that opinion either. But what was misunderstood was that the frontier was getting a lot further from the main settler cities and in truth it was a good deal more stable than the badlands across the Scottish border were. The settlers of New England needed Old English protection a lot less than England realised.

To a large extent Muslim power in the New World was never as deep or as strong as feared, even during the Year of the Moor. Seville only really directly controlled the islands of the Atlantean Sea, beyond that Islam had largely spread either through trade and conversion or, particularly in the 15th century, through semi-independent Ghazi jihadists. By the time the Second Zanj rebellion of 1702 saw West African Slaves take New Iqritis, the house of the cards that was Andalusian control over the New World was ready to collapse. This Moorish Anarchy did not itself make the New World any safer, this was after all the time known in New England as the Age of the Corsairs and to New Ireland as the Bleeding Times, but it removed a major obstacle to Christian settlement and the joint patrols that eliminated Muslim piracy saw the Christian colonies working together.

Which was another thing Europe hadn't noticed. England, France, Dublin and Galicia were largely allies so it made sense for their colonies to be largely allied too but this meant the colonies were largely closer to each other than to their parent countries. Galicia's colonies were the smallest, ran by traders and fishermen who allied closely and interbred with the Northern Skraeling Tribes. The French colonies were far larger, using their own Zanj to set up a land of plantations that endured even after the end of slavery. New England and New Ireland traded with both and participated joint campaigns against Skraeling confederations. The implications of these informal, but very deep, alliances were largely lost on the leaders of Europe.

The exact position of the New World colonies within the politics of England was also a problem. They were not part of the seven Kingdoms but they were English. Many of the colonists believed that they should be part of Æthelstan’s ethnostate while England itself viewed them as just another subkingdom and so their internal affairs where their own business as long as fealty was paid. Given that many of the settlers were free thinkers, religious reformists, non guild traders and the like, this neglect from England was largely used to put their own idea to motion. With no framework from England, the New England local councils became far more radical than anything in the old country.

In New Ireland no such radicalisation happened. New Ireland had been primarily set up by Dublin, though the money came from England and a lot of the settlers came from either the Orkneys or Ireland. Dublin was an absolute monarchy with no advisory councils and so New Ireland was run as a fief by the King’s governor with little freedom for its people. It was New Ireland that rebelled first in 1857, demanding the rights of its neighbour. Dublin, which only had a tiny standing Army, called upon England to assists. This was afterall the deal which the Sub Kingdoms had, fealty in return for protection.

England duly sent an Army to the New World. New Ireland, outnumbered and on the ropes, appealed to its three neighbours for assistance and to the utter shock of Europe, they agreed. New England, New France and the Northern Galicia Company declared themselves independent and allied with New Ireland. The Western Federation was born and England found itself fighting all of the Christian New World.

For five years the fighting went back and forth. In many ways it was a Federation civil war, as many Settlers fought for Europe, but in the end the distances and German intervention told.

Battle: At Cape Wrath, surrounded by the Federation Army and cut off by the German Navy, the last major European armies in the New World surrendered. Nearly 60,000 prisoners were taken. The 'Angry Children' had humiliated their parents.

Aftermath: In the peace, the Federation won full independence and England’s territory outside the British Isles was reduced to only a few trading posts. A considerable amount of Federation loyalists returned to England, bringing with them much more radical ideas of democratic local government. And the lessons of New Ireland had taught the Witan the need for further reform.

What could have happened: The Europeans could have won the War of the Angry Children, though it would have solved very little. With Europe now aware of the extent of a 'Federation' identity that went beyond the settler's European origins, massive reform would have to be offered to keep them aboard and huge European armies would have to be left in the New World to prevent further rebellion. The bizarre attempt by 21st century Galician politicians to promote the idea of a Western Federation which stretches to both sides of the Great Ocean and includes Galicia, France and England is largely, and rightfully, viewed as unrealistic and impossible. But something along those lines might have arisen in the 1860s if Europe had beaten the Federation. It certainly seems the only possible way for the divisions to be healed.

 

[Youngmarshall]

13. Caerliwelydd – 1877

Winners: England & Strathclyde

Defeated side: Cumbria

Background: By the late 19th century, the main political issue of the day was undoubtedly the status of the bus sub-kingdoms. The sub-Kings were members of the Witan but while this meant they got to speak on English matters, tradition had always held that England did not in return get to interfere in the sub-kingdoms as long as troops and money were supplied. The way Dublin’s absolutism had led to the loss of New England meant this situation was becoming increasingly controversial. And England’s First Among Equals, Lord Derby, began pushing pressure for reform among its sub-kingdoms almost as soon as fighting ended at Cape Wrath.

Mann, of course, already had the Tynwald and so was arguably more democratic than England at the time. Likewise the Orkneys, with their court now based in Iceland, bought back the Althingi without much complaint. Even Dublin, suitably chastened by the loss of New Ireland, introduced family councils based on the model established in Tara by Ireland. Wales, as ever, was more complicated. England had generally stood aside during Wales’ periodic wars of unification and division but by the 15th century, the Witan had formalised five seats for the Welsh kings. Thus when the Welsh peasant republics of Buellt and Selyf broke off during the English revolution, they weren’t given representation in the Witan, though the terms of fealty remained. In 1868 the Welsh revolution happened and the Kings of Powys and Gwynedd were overthrown in quick coups. The Kings in question, who had been in Winchester, demanded the English restore them to their thrones, but Lord Derby had no stomach a drawn out fight in the Welsh mountains with the country still recovering from the War of the Angry Children.

Instead the exiled Kings remained in the Witan, representing their English estates, and the newly established Republic of North Wales was offered the same terms as Buellt and Selyf. There was a brief civil war among the rebels as a result, but the anti-english fire breathers lost and the terms were accepted. Full Independence would have to wait another 70 years. South Wales quickly learned the lesson, with parliaments introduced in Deheubarth, Gwent and Morgannwg and large investment in education and social protections promised, though this bought it's own problems thanks to the increasing debt those Kingdoms incurred to England in order to fund that investment.

The sticking point would be Strathclyde as its expansion during the War of the Rhinns had left it deeply divided between the Bretons of Cumberland and Westmorland and it’s more Scottish northern parts. A democratic charter would inevitably see the Scottish speakers dominate over their less numerous Southern counterparts and so the Cumbrian Court prevaricated until riots in Hodden, demanding representation, forced their hand. The Southern Cumbrians responded to the announcement by rebelling with the aim to withdraw from Strathclyde and form a new sub-Kingdom.

If Derby had still been First Among Equals, it might have worked. But he was not, Master Gastigny was.

Battle: English troops marched from Durham and seized Caerliwelydd from the rebels after only a few weeks of fighting. Some rebels took to the hills, where the Strathclyde police had limited power, but they were little more than Bandits. The moment England picked a side, the Cumbrians were doomed.

Aftermath: Four months after the battle of Caerliwelydd, the Strathclyde Parliament was voted in. 70% of the members were Scottish speakers and within a year legislation was passed to make Scottish the official language of the Kingdom, and that only it and English would be taught in schools. England had sold the Cumbrians down the river. The Cumbrian Liberation Front would not be formed until 1903 but the bombing campaigns and the brutality of the Bloody Eighties can in many ways be traced back to this one battle. This was the first step on the road to ruin.

What could have happened: If Gastigny had negotiated with the Cumbrians and accepted a two Kingdom solution, this would have doubtlessly angered Strathclyde. It is entirely possible that with an entirely Scottish Strathclyde the demands for full union with Scotland would be even stronger and come earlier before it was politically acceptable to lose a sub-kingdom, leading to the badlands becoming hot again. With Cumbria satisfied, England might have just swapped one enemy for another and maybe faced war with Scotland during the 1930s when between the Great War and the Welsh, the English Army had few regiments spare. Or alternatively without the Cumbrians providing an internal enemy, the difference between the Catholic Southern Scots and the Reformist Northerners would have been more apparent and Strathclyde would have been more comfortable as a subkingdom and middle man between England and Scotland, so more moderate politicians would come to power in Hodden.

In either case it is likely the bloody 80s would have never happened and so First Among Equals Wakes would never take power and his reforms would never have been enacted.

 

[Youngmarshall]

14. Baronvichi - 1934

Winners: China, Persia & Rus

Defeated side: England, France & Germany

Background: One very narrow way at looking at wars is by territory gained and lost but the Great War for England was one where neither was on the table. England in the aftermath of the War of the Angry Children had no ambitions outside the British Isles so while the other great Empires fought over the fates of millions, England was there merely as an ally, merely to honour old debts and prevent the victory of new enemies. It is easy for those far from the front lines to consider those reasons enough.

The formation of the Unified Slavic Nation known as the Rus in the aftermath of the Tver-German War sent a shockwave around the World. Germany had been used to seeing Eastern Europe as it's area of influence, and to suddenly face an organised united country which had defeated it in a war and stolen millions of Baltic German citizens from it, had Germany reeling. For decades the old Reich was gearing up for a war in the East to regain what had been lost. And the cornerstone of that plan was an alliance with the Brothers Pact. Germany wanted to look East with it's West secure.

The Rus, fearing being outnumbered, in turn looked for Allies among those who feared the French and Germans and found the old powers of Asia. The 'dying men' as unkind wits often called them. The great Empires of Persia and China had once been all conquering colossuses that had swept all before them, but by the 20th century they were shadows of what they were, driven back from their most recent conquests and forced to sign unfair treaties with the European powers. By tying themselves to the new power in Europe they could protect themselves from the greed of German and French traders and maybe settle some scores with the new European backed separatist states in the middle east and Indochina.

Both sides were convinced that in war they could ensure a lasting Victory once and far all. The world was gearing up for war and England would not be found wanting.

Battle: Baronvichi was the bloodiest battle of that bloodiest war. In that dark and distant place a generation of men were thrown away. 70,000 people died in the first day of the assault on the lines of the League of the Three Emperors, 10,000 from England. Day after day the casualties racked up as for over 50 days as both sides tried to perform logistical miracles in getting men and supplies through impossible territory until at last the Western Powers gave up and were forced back.

Aftermath: Baronvinchi had no real effect on the cause of the war, the war was decided by logistics. Neither side could launch a truly effective offensive because they could not properly supply them. For all the hundreds of miles which the lines changed in Eastern Europe, no side could reach the heartland of the other. Each attack, eventually, tragically was ground down and halted. The war was fought not to a victory but merely until the countries fighting it collapsed, until finally someone decided that peace was better than oblivion. That a ceasefire had to be signed, while someone was still alive to sign it.

And looking through that very narrow lens of territory gained and lost, the Great War as a whole had no effect on England. Even if either side had managed, impossibly, to secure that complete victory, England would have remained the same.

But there was no war that changed England more. Of the thirty million deaths of that terrible war, nearly a million came from England. If every death changes the country by eliminating the possibilities of life how much does a million deaths change it? How many politicians did we lose? How many writers? How many scientists or musicians or sportsmen? Who knows what we could have been with a million more souls to drive us forward?

And how many more men came back home changed by the war, wounded and traumatised and angry and above all determined to live up to that grim promise 'never again'?

The reforms of the 19th century were exposed during the Great War as not enough, the country bended further because otherwise it would have broken. Change happened in every level of society, in so many ways because it had to in order to feed the ever hungry maw of industrial warfare. It was the shortage of labour during the Great War that saw the establishment of the much demanded 'open shop' model which allowed free movement between jobs and an end to Guild-enforced apprenticeship programmes which locked apprentices into that occupation. It was the conscription riots in the Republic of North Wales that finally saw the Welsh win their independence. It was women factory workers who drove the fight for lesbosism. The Church itself, long the most powerful institution in the country, found itself in a fight for it's very life due to increasing demands for its riches being used to either power the war effort or supply effective charity to veterans. The shortage of labour saw increasing adaption of labour saving devices and so drove innovations in industrial science. The explicit reform of the Witan so that each representative must be bound to the policies of the democratically elected councils of the area they represented only happened due to fears of a leveller rebellion headed by returning veterans. The huge debt that England acquired during that war to New World countries, would drive the shift to an exporter economy. On every level, things changed.

What could have happened: If England had abandoned the Brothers Pact, or France had abandoned the 'new order' alliance with Germany and the war had been fought without English troops, England would be unrecognisable as a country. The great war was the last foreign war England has ever fought. That is the lesson we have learned from the brutality of that war, 'we must never forget it, so we that we will never repeat it'. Without that chastening lesson, we might well be another Egypt with troops fighting all over the world. And domestically without the shakeup to the old order that the Great War involved the country might not have ever shaken off the long 19th century and become a modern state. Certainly the political power of the Army, with all the good and ill that implies, dates largely to the Great War. It is quite shocking to learn that Fletcher was in fact the first ever General to serve as First Among Equals.

 

[Youngmarshall]

15. Lundenburg - 1991

Winner: England

Defeated side: Rogue Elements

Background: Describing more modern events brings both advantages and disadvantages. There is less need to describe the background and fallout of the events but that is largely because people have already formed their opinions on it, based on the later careers of Wakes and Holder, and that baggage can be hard to overcome. We will try to be as unbiased as possible in this entry and merely describe, as neutrally as possible, the events of April 1991.

In the wake of the Bloody Eighties and the CLF bombing campaign there was an appetite for radical reform. Using this groundswell of anger, Oswin Wakes managed through various deals to make himself First Among Equals despite only holding the previously powerless position of Speaker for the People. There he quickly made an enemy of both the church and the sub-kings, the former by legalising divorce and homosexuality and the latter by promoting a 'one nation' view that felt the remaining subkingdoms should either be annexed or freed. Alongside this was a guild friendly economic program which alienated land owners due to higher taxes and the reversal of enclosure. This program was both hated and loved in different corners and there was increasing tension between the two camps which erupted when Wakes announced that all of the remaining sub-kingdoms would vote in a referendum on continuing their relationship with England. This was loudly denounced as an overreach of his powers by King Gofraid of Dublin who said England had no right to make a decision on Dublin’s affairs.

Two days later, on Friday 9th April, several armed men kidnapped Mr. Wakes from his family home and moved him to Lundenburg. This was not initially reported but rumours of it spread quickly until on the 11th the Witan made an announcement that Wakes had stood down due to ill health but that everything was under control. Wakes’ Allies reacted to this with anger and various guilds halted work.

Battle: As armed police clashed with protestors in the streets of many major cities, General Holder appeared on television with Wakes, where he announced that the first among the equals had been held captive by rogue elements within the military and police before Holder had rescued him and that a full investigation needed to be held. The bodies of two men, later identified as English soldiers, were discovered by the police in a disused warehouse in West Lundenburg.

Aftermath: No one from the Witan was formally charged with involvement in the kidnapping but the referendums were enacted without further protest. Dublin, in a much disputed and controversial series of elections, repeatedly rejected independence and were eventually admitted into England as a new shire. Gofraid famously said in response that the Norse-Gaels had proved themselves 'More English than the English'. They were followed into England proper by Mann and Gwent. Cumbria, the Orkneys and Strathclyde, of course voted for independence, the latter two later joining Scotland. Holder, newly promoted to head of security, undertook a thorough purge of the police and armed force, with many discharged based on their political views. And within a year Wakes had forced through new laws which gave more responsibilities and power to the position of Speaker.

There is, of course, a lot more than can, and has, been said. But we will stick with the above account. And we will only point out that the importance of the firefight in that warehouse in terms of influencing what came next cannot be reasonably overstated. It, as much as the previous 14 battles, defined what kind of country England would be.

What could have happened: If Mr. Wakes had not survived his time in that Warehouse, it is likely that a great many of his reforms would have been reversed and the guilds would have been the victims of a crackdown by the police and armed forces. Without Holder's purges and Wakes new constitution, the army and Witan would remain much stronger forces and the executive much weaker. The joke that the Speaker is High King in all but name would have no basis. In a much less important sidenote, but one that effects this publication personally, the press regulations bought in in the late 90s are generally seen to be so restrictive largely as a reaction due to the Herald's insistence on publishing baseless conspiracy theories about what actually what happened that April and would not have occurred had those events gone differently.

 

[Youngmarshall]

Epilogue: For nearly 1,100 years men and women have fought and killed and died for England. But the England they have bled for is not the area of land that lies East of Wales and South of Scotland. If that was so it would not matter if it was independent or under the yoke of the Norwegians or the Serbians. It is for the idea of what that country should be that they have fought and their choices and sacrifices have made us the country that we are. Because, as this article has hoped to illustrate, there has been a thousand visions of that country. The two soldiers who died in that warehouse in April 1991 died for a vision of an England without the Wakes Reforms, an England that has never come to pass. Likewise the police at Escanceaster fought for a vision where the rights of the nobility remainded sacrosanct and unchallenged. We are the country that we are only because of those visions losing and other visions winning.

Had any of these battles not been fought or been won by the other side, the country that we love would not exist and it would be replaced by another country, one which does things differently. That considers itself Scandinavian, that isn't Allied to France, that still has a High King, that includes Wales and parts of the New World and that has no representative democracy. And to those English men, our England would look equally strange and alien.

 

[wwbgdiaslt]

I kinda want to read more sbout this timeline based on what has been sketched out here.

 

[Youngmarshall]

I kinda want to read more sbout this timeline based on what has been sketched out here.

That's nice to hear. The structure of the story is that more things are hinted then actually told and it's possible that can be annoying but it's nice to hear I've created a world that looks interesting.

Maybe I'll come back to this some other time.

 

[RGB]

I really appreciate the brevity of the format and also the amount of information you managed to get into it. Well done.

 

[Stretch]

All I am think of is SOMEONE PLEASE MAKE A MAP! I mean, this world deserves at least one, if not more to show the changes in the world.