The Law of Winchester
- Thread starter Mumby
- Start date
They are moving away from being a 'Revolting State' now and like most revolutions will now have to deal with uprisings. So a new name will come about.
1) Wycliffe and the Lollards will be dealt with in future updates
2) Indeed a permanent schism between Avignon and Rome has come about, with the Avignon Papacy becoming the Narbonensian Church. At the moment, they are little more than a religious window dressing to France and her allies' interests, but theological differences will emerge.
2.1) I don't forsee the Castillians setting up their own Pope, and the HRE is pretty solidly on the side of Rome.
3) Aragon and Castille are Crowns because they were essentially many kingdoms in personal union which were centrally directed by the king. The personal power of the Crown was more important than the Kingdom itself. The Crown of Castille ITTL consists of the Kingdoms of Castille, Leon and Portugal.
4) Well, I don't wish to give anything away...
I like the enthusiasm.
The Reunion by Clifford Samson (Baylis and Sons, 1962)
The reunion of the ancient kingdom of the Britons, in the fire of the Great Revolt which began in Kent and spread across the whole island changed the face of Europe forever. But hundreds of years of division had forged different identities and languages. So after 1390 began the work of forging a new identity, a united identity.
As in many things, it is often easier to identify yourself by what you are not, rather than what you are. And the new kingdom was virtually unique. It was a Revolting State, governed by the people, not a feudal state of knights and lords. As well as constitutionally, the country was undergoing enormous religious upheaval. The established clergy had essentially been abolished and a new church under the King had been established. The Revolting Wars themselves formed a basis for a new united national identity. Continental Europe represented feudal and Papal corruption, utterly bent on destroying the peoples' kingdom. Lord John II of Ireland was also a convenient boogeyman. He had been a key figure at various epoch defining moments throughout the Revolt. His continued presence as a French vassal with an army of Castillian sellswords at his command represented something that all Britons could fear.
Something that was needed for unity however was a reasonable level of division. Something forgotten by the Kentish revolutionaries who were eagerly altering southeast England into some half-imagined Saxon Utopia, was that much of England, Wales and most of Scotland had lots of nobles still directly involved in the political process, and that most of the Kentish ideals were not in fact practical. Different areas of the country had different ideas and the provincial councils which had emerged to govern the country after the Occupation of London each took a different attitude.
The Second Convention, or Convention of 1391 made great changes to the constitution that allowed Scotland and Wales to be digested and did away with some of the more radical ideas and instituted a more practical form of governance. Owen Wiston was once more present. While at the First Convention he had been a relative nobody, now he was a war hero and he was at the heart of the reforging of Britain.
Among the reforms introduced was a recognition of the provinces, abolishing the direct democracy of the counties. Wales and Scotland were integrated as provinces, gaining a much stronger voice at the heart of politics. The unicameral Parliament was abolished, and a bicameral one restored. While the lower house remained directly elected on a county and borough basis as before, the upper house was elected by the provincial councils, and its members sat for life. This was condemned by some as a restoration of the Lords, as the provincial councils were far more dominated by powerful interests than the counties and boroughs. It was true to a certain extent as many noble families were essentially restored to temporal power. The definition of citizen was also altered, requiring a civilian to render some sort of service to the state (either through service in the army or in some other form) before being given the right to vote. The expansion of helotage as well as this reduced the electorate considerably. This was also condemned as a reintroduction of the service and military grounded constitution of feudalism.
Owen Wiston and others like him were placing themselves in an ideal position for power. While the Second Convention confirmed the King as the sole executive, it did provide for a Council of advisors. In the first elections, Wiston was not on this Council. But from his bench in the Commons he began his climb to power...
The reunion of the ancient kingdom of the Britons, in the fire of the Great Revolt which began in Kent and spread across the whole island changed the face of Europe forever. But hundreds of years of division had forged different identities and languages. So after 1390 began the work of forging a new identity, a united identity.
As in many things, it is often easier to identify yourself by what you are not, rather than what you are. And the new kingdom was virtually unique. It was a Revolting State, governed by the people, not a feudal state of knights and lords. As well as constitutionally, the country was undergoing enormous religious upheaval. The established clergy had essentially been abolished and a new church under the King had been established. The Revolting Wars themselves formed a basis for a new united national identity. Continental Europe represented feudal and Papal corruption, utterly bent on destroying the peoples' kingdom. Lord John II of Ireland was also a convenient boogeyman. He had been a key figure at various epoch defining moments throughout the Revolt. His continued presence as a French vassal with an army of Castillian sellswords at his command represented something that all Britons could fear.
Something that was needed for unity however was a reasonable level of division. Something forgotten by the Kentish revolutionaries who were eagerly altering southeast England into some half-imagined Saxon Utopia, was that much of England, Wales and most of Scotland had lots of nobles still directly involved in the political process, and that most of the Kentish ideals were not in fact practical. Different areas of the country had different ideas and the provincial councils which had emerged to govern the country after the Occupation of London each took a different attitude.
The Second Convention, or Convention of 1391 made great changes to the constitution that allowed Scotland and Wales to be digested and did away with some of the more radical ideas and instituted a more practical form of governance. Owen Wiston was once more present. While at the First Convention he had been a relative nobody, now he was a war hero and he was at the heart of the reforging of Britain.
Among the reforms introduced was a recognition of the provinces, abolishing the direct democracy of the counties. Wales and Scotland were integrated as provinces, gaining a much stronger voice at the heart of politics. The unicameral Parliament was abolished, and a bicameral one restored. While the lower house remained directly elected on a county and borough basis as before, the upper house was elected by the provincial councils, and its members sat for life. This was condemned by some as a restoration of the Lords, as the provincial councils were far more dominated by powerful interests than the counties and boroughs. It was true to a certain extent as many noble families were essentially restored to temporal power. The definition of citizen was also altered, requiring a civilian to render some sort of service to the state (either through service in the army or in some other form) before being given the right to vote. The expansion of helotage as well as this reduced the electorate considerably. This was also condemned as a reintroduction of the service and military grounded constitution of feudalism.
Owen Wiston and others like him were placing themselves in an ideal position for power. While the Second Convention confirmed the King as the sole executive, it did provide for a Council of advisors. In the first elections, Wiston was not on this Council. But from his bench in the Commons he began his climb to power...
Dreams, Disaster and Dictatorship: An Unexpurgated Tale of the Foundation of the New Britain by Tyler S. Wilkes (Knickerblocker Books, 1989)
Even six hundred years later, to discuss Owen Wiston and his legacy is to invite controversy. None would argue that the man was not ambitious. But the direction in which his ambition laid is up for discussion. A great number of people consider him a necessary evil, a man whose clear cut vision was needed in a chaotic time, and that without him, Britain and her tenuous democracy would have surely fallen. A certain quantity regard him as a hero, a man who bestrides British history like a mighty colossus. To besmirch the great man's name is nothing less than heresy. These two views taken collectively are broadly the view of the British establishment. Others take the view that Wiston corrupted a pure revolution with militarism and pragmatism and without him Britain would have emerged as a Utopia upon Earth. As it was, Wiston supped upon the Apple of Feudalism and condemned the British Eden to an unending Purgatory. Another group simply see Wiston as a self-aggrandizing warmonger. The pursuit of power was his only aim, and he co-opted those groups who would help him attain power, and destroyed those who would stop him. His legacy as a founder of the British state permanently stains it in the blood of boundless ambition.
It is the author's view that this last, and frankly, least commonly held opinion is the most correct. Owen Wiston rose from the ranks of mercenaries, and used his military expertise and instinct for survival and opportunity to climb the rungs of power. While he proved himself a brave and fortuitous warrior in the Revolting Wars, it was his transition from military to political life where things get murkier.
Pretty much from the point at which he entered Parliament, he began accruing a power base around him. In the aftermath of the Revolting Wars, there were great numbers of armed, and now unemployed, men. These restive elements found a rabble rousing leader in Wiston. Due to the new rules around citizenship, this was an unprecedented time in British history. Few generations of future Britons would achieve the same proportions of the population which had offered tangible service to the state, and thus earned citizenship. A populist method of electioneering and control was useful, and many of those sitting in Parliament had little understanding of this form of crowd control. As a leader of mercenary hordes, Wiston had very intimate knowledge of how to control the common man.
Over the following years, Wiston would loudly condemn the actions of various Cabinets, all the while solidifying a bloc of MPs and even a few Senators around him. Up until 1397, Richard II had resolidified his control, and having the feudal system removed allowed him a rather unprecedented level of personal power. The substantial state bureaucracy was retooled to serve the King's whims. This was a key part of Wiston's condemnation. 'Have we overthrown serfdom and Norman privilege, only to give in to an even greater tyranny' he asked, a question which in light of his policies later on would look rather hypocritical.
In 1397, Richard remarried. In a deal hammered out by the Grandees (an aristocratic faction) in Parliament, Richard married a French princess in an attempts to smooth over some of the fissures in British-European relations and bring them out of isolation. Under his wife's influence, Richard moved to decisively consolidate his influence and establish his authority separate from that of Parliament. It seemed that Richard had not forgotten the long imprisonment of his youth, and when he dismissed Parliament, he acted to punish those he felt had mistreated him. The use of the state bureaucracy allowed him to effectively rule and acquire funds separate from Parliament, and the period 1397-1400 is identified as the Ricardian Tyranny.
In 1400, a group emerged, of which Owen Wiston was a member calling on the King to recall Parliament and follow the Constitution. Richard used his authority as head of the Church to remind his opponents that he ruled by the grace of God, not by the grace of Parliament. This was a final nail in the coffin of royal privilege. Wiston and other military men in his faction summoned the citizen-soldiers who were loyal to them and civil war broke out. Many aristocrats sided with Richard, hoping to crush the Parliamentarians and reinstitute feudal rule. However most troops declared their loyalty to Parliament rather than the King. By 1402, the King had been arrested, and Parliament once more sat in London.
The war continued to rage around the country particularly in more conservative areas like the West, North, Wales and Scotland. Wiston won over Wales, and from here and parts of Eastern England built up a solid power base for himself. As the civil war came to an end, some wanted to put the King to death for treason. Wiston was one of those who came out against this, and under his influence, the King remained alive but with his power significantly curtailed, much of his power being transferred to his Council.
In the post Civil War order, Wiston used his military forces to bully electors in the areas under his control into providing his faction with yet more support. The Senate was purged as Royalists were removed by force. The same happened in the Commons. Wiston was now de facto leader of his faction and as leader of the Parliamentary army at this point was appointed to the Council as Minister of Arms. As he dealt with small scale revolts across the country, he set about crushing resistance to the new order.
The new issue for Britain in the aftermath of the war was that with the hamstringing of the King, the executive needed to keep the Constitution turning was removed. Some wanted the Council to become a collective executive, but Wiston was having none of this. He pushed his Parliamentary supporters into backing a Third Convention in which the title of Governor and Protector of the Realm was created, an office held for life appointed by the Council. The King retained some powers, but he had essentially been replaced by the new office. Wiston ensured that the Council chose him, and his assent to virtually the highest office in the land was complete.
Now that he was installed in power, he used the very structures which Richard had abused, and which he had condemned to consolidate his power. During the civil war, Britain had suffered nationalist rebellions and abortive Irish and French invasion. A colossal programme of construction was instituted, with fortresses being built across the coastlines, and in major cities. Roads were built on a Roman model, making it easier for an army to march from city to city. A permanent standing army was established. With the Senate purged and swathes of Britain under military governance, the shift to civilian rule was often contingent on provinces choosing Senators conducive to Wiston.
At this point, Wiston began to abandon the common folk he had used to catapult himself into power. He now used the entrenched power of the aristocracy to keep himself there, turning a blind eye to counties being reconverted into personal fiefs of powerful families. He also rewarded career soldiers and other military men, punishing those who resisted him with land confiscations.
Rather more unusually, Wiston also disestablished the Church of Britain. The Wycliffites had always been a major force in the New Britain, but during the Civil War support for them had exploded. With more people following the teachings of Wycliffe than the state church, Wiston abolished it, stripping yet more power from the King.
A programme of naval construction was also brought in, as a matter of national defence, and also helped to employ the swathes of workless men around the country. How was this all paid for. Wiston raised taxes greatly, and by confiscating rebels' land and selling it. Other sources of income included the resurrection of certain feudal tithes from the aristocracy (now merely defined by personal wealth) in the name of the King, but going straight into the Treasury. The expansion of the Navy and the return also made Britain a more stable trade partner, though it remained somewhat isolated from the rest of Europe.
Even six hundred years later, to discuss Owen Wiston and his legacy is to invite controversy. None would argue that the man was not ambitious. But the direction in which his ambition laid is up for discussion. A great number of people consider him a necessary evil, a man whose clear cut vision was needed in a chaotic time, and that without him, Britain and her tenuous democracy would have surely fallen. A certain quantity regard him as a hero, a man who bestrides British history like a mighty colossus. To besmirch the great man's name is nothing less than heresy. These two views taken collectively are broadly the view of the British establishment. Others take the view that Wiston corrupted a pure revolution with militarism and pragmatism and without him Britain would have emerged as a Utopia upon Earth. As it was, Wiston supped upon the Apple of Feudalism and condemned the British Eden to an unending Purgatory. Another group simply see Wiston as a self-aggrandizing warmonger. The pursuit of power was his only aim, and he co-opted those groups who would help him attain power, and destroyed those who would stop him. His legacy as a founder of the British state permanently stains it in the blood of boundless ambition.
It is the author's view that this last, and frankly, least commonly held opinion is the most correct. Owen Wiston rose from the ranks of mercenaries, and used his military expertise and instinct for survival and opportunity to climb the rungs of power. While he proved himself a brave and fortuitous warrior in the Revolting Wars, it was his transition from military to political life where things get murkier.
Pretty much from the point at which he entered Parliament, he began accruing a power base around him. In the aftermath of the Revolting Wars, there were great numbers of armed, and now unemployed, men. These restive elements found a rabble rousing leader in Wiston. Due to the new rules around citizenship, this was an unprecedented time in British history. Few generations of future Britons would achieve the same proportions of the population which had offered tangible service to the state, and thus earned citizenship. A populist method of electioneering and control was useful, and many of those sitting in Parliament had little understanding of this form of crowd control. As a leader of mercenary hordes, Wiston had very intimate knowledge of how to control the common man.
Over the following years, Wiston would loudly condemn the actions of various Cabinets, all the while solidifying a bloc of MPs and even a few Senators around him. Up until 1397, Richard II had resolidified his control, and having the feudal system removed allowed him a rather unprecedented level of personal power. The substantial state bureaucracy was retooled to serve the King's whims. This was a key part of Wiston's condemnation. 'Have we overthrown serfdom and Norman privilege, only to give in to an even greater tyranny' he asked, a question which in light of his policies later on would look rather hypocritical.
In 1397, Richard remarried. In a deal hammered out by the Grandees (an aristocratic faction) in Parliament, Richard married a French princess in an attempts to smooth over some of the fissures in British-European relations and bring them out of isolation. Under his wife's influence, Richard moved to decisively consolidate his influence and establish his authority separate from that of Parliament. It seemed that Richard had not forgotten the long imprisonment of his youth, and when he dismissed Parliament, he acted to punish those he felt had mistreated him. The use of the state bureaucracy allowed him to effectively rule and acquire funds separate from Parliament, and the period 1397-1400 is identified as the Ricardian Tyranny.
In 1400, a group emerged, of which Owen Wiston was a member calling on the King to recall Parliament and follow the Constitution. Richard used his authority as head of the Church to remind his opponents that he ruled by the grace of God, not by the grace of Parliament. This was a final nail in the coffin of royal privilege. Wiston and other military men in his faction summoned the citizen-soldiers who were loyal to them and civil war broke out. Many aristocrats sided with Richard, hoping to crush the Parliamentarians and reinstitute feudal rule. However most troops declared their loyalty to Parliament rather than the King. By 1402, the King had been arrested, and Parliament once more sat in London.
The war continued to rage around the country particularly in more conservative areas like the West, North, Wales and Scotland. Wiston won over Wales, and from here and parts of Eastern England built up a solid power base for himself. As the civil war came to an end, some wanted to put the King to death for treason. Wiston was one of those who came out against this, and under his influence, the King remained alive but with his power significantly curtailed, much of his power being transferred to his Council.
In the post Civil War order, Wiston used his military forces to bully electors in the areas under his control into providing his faction with yet more support. The Senate was purged as Royalists were removed by force. The same happened in the Commons. Wiston was now de facto leader of his faction and as leader of the Parliamentary army at this point was appointed to the Council as Minister of Arms. As he dealt with small scale revolts across the country, he set about crushing resistance to the new order.
The new issue for Britain in the aftermath of the war was that with the hamstringing of the King, the executive needed to keep the Constitution turning was removed. Some wanted the Council to become a collective executive, but Wiston was having none of this. He pushed his Parliamentary supporters into backing a Third Convention in which the title of Governor and Protector of the Realm was created, an office held for life appointed by the Council. The King retained some powers, but he had essentially been replaced by the new office. Wiston ensured that the Council chose him, and his assent to virtually the highest office in the land was complete.
Now that he was installed in power, he used the very structures which Richard had abused, and which he had condemned to consolidate his power. During the civil war, Britain had suffered nationalist rebellions and abortive Irish and French invasion. A colossal programme of construction was instituted, with fortresses being built across the coastlines, and in major cities. Roads were built on a Roman model, making it easier for an army to march from city to city. A permanent standing army was established. With the Senate purged and swathes of Britain under military governance, the shift to civilian rule was often contingent on provinces choosing Senators conducive to Wiston.
At this point, Wiston began to abandon the common folk he had used to catapult himself into power. He now used the entrenched power of the aristocracy to keep himself there, turning a blind eye to counties being reconverted into personal fiefs of powerful families. He also rewarded career soldiers and other military men, punishing those who resisted him with land confiscations.
Rather more unusually, Wiston also disestablished the Church of Britain. The Wycliffites had always been a major force in the New Britain, but during the Civil War support for them had exploded. With more people following the teachings of Wycliffe than the state church, Wiston abolished it, stripping yet more power from the King.
A programme of naval construction was also brought in, as a matter of national defence, and also helped to employ the swathes of workless men around the country. How was this all paid for. Wiston raised taxes greatly, and by confiscating rebels' land and selling it. Other sources of income included the resurrection of certain feudal tithes from the aristocracy (now merely defined by personal wealth) in the name of the King, but going straight into the Treasury. The expansion of the Navy and the return also made Britain a more stable trade partner, though it remained somewhat isolated from the rest of Europe.
I wasn't thinking laterally enough both Sulla and Caesar could apply. Also possibly Marius or even the Gracchi?
Of Gods and Kings by Wiston S. Bueller (Baylis and Sons, 1967)
A great religious upheaval took place in Britain in the 14th and 15th centuries, paralleling the politicial upheaval. As Britain was reforged from the ashes of feudalism, and then the country fell once more into civil war, and then finally gained stability under the Protectorate of Owen Wiston, so the Catholic Church which had dominated for centuries was torn down, and a uniquely British situation emerged.
The originator of this situation was the declaration of the split with Rome and the foundation of the Church of Britain. This split, initially declares simply to make a point and to reduce the temporal powers of bishops and monasteries, was rendered permanent when the British Crusade was declared, and both the Narbonensian and Roman Catholic Churches (then in their infancy) invaded Britain. This permanently caused Papal Christianity to be marred in the British mind. While there was a great population of Catholics, they would be split between Narbonensians and Romans, and the Britannic Church would initially prevail.
However, the distrust of Papal Christianity soon shifted into a distrust of central control of religion in any form. The teaching of John Wycliffe, of a more community based faith, of the clergy being stripped of all direct temporal authority rang a tune with the British. When the country descended into the Ricardian Tyranny, and then the Civil War ensued, the trust the people had placed in the monarchy as Head of the Church was found to be misplaced. When Owen Wiston was declared Governor and Protector of the Realm, and King Richard stripped of all but his ceremonial powers, most of the country had been drawn into Wycliffe's teachings.
Wiston knew a popular bandwagon when he saw one, and by disestablishing the Church of Britain won over many supporters. There was a small resurgence of Catholicism (of both stripes) in reaction to the failure of the Britannic Church, but it was overwhelmed by the growth of what foreigners have called the 'Lollard Church'.
This is disingenuous because it does not recognise the growth and proliferation of denominations as different communities placed different emphasis on different tracts of the Bible. Religious debates could sometimes grow violent, but the new community based churches were in the long run more beneficial. Wiston abolished tithes and expropriated the wealth of the monasteries, employing the last monks in his bureaucracy and the nuns in other capacities within towns and cities.
A great religious upheaval took place in Britain in the 14th and 15th centuries, paralleling the politicial upheaval. As Britain was reforged from the ashes of feudalism, and then the country fell once more into civil war, and then finally gained stability under the Protectorate of Owen Wiston, so the Catholic Church which had dominated for centuries was torn down, and a uniquely British situation emerged.
The originator of this situation was the declaration of the split with Rome and the foundation of the Church of Britain. This split, initially declares simply to make a point and to reduce the temporal powers of bishops and monasteries, was rendered permanent when the British Crusade was declared, and both the Narbonensian and Roman Catholic Churches (then in their infancy) invaded Britain. This permanently caused Papal Christianity to be marred in the British mind. While there was a great population of Catholics, they would be split between Narbonensians and Romans, and the Britannic Church would initially prevail.
However, the distrust of Papal Christianity soon shifted into a distrust of central control of religion in any form. The teaching of John Wycliffe, of a more community based faith, of the clergy being stripped of all direct temporal authority rang a tune with the British. When the country descended into the Ricardian Tyranny, and then the Civil War ensued, the trust the people had placed in the monarchy as Head of the Church was found to be misplaced. When Owen Wiston was declared Governor and Protector of the Realm, and King Richard stripped of all but his ceremonial powers, most of the country had been drawn into Wycliffe's teachings.
Wiston knew a popular bandwagon when he saw one, and by disestablishing the Church of Britain won over many supporters. There was a small resurgence of Catholicism (of both stripes) in reaction to the failure of the Britannic Church, but it was overwhelmed by the growth of what foreigners have called the 'Lollard Church'.
This is disingenuous because it does not recognise the growth and proliferation of denominations as different communities placed different emphasis on different tracts of the Bible. Religious debates could sometimes grow violent, but the new community based churches were in the long run more beneficial. Wiston abolished tithes and expropriated the wealth of the monasteries, employing the last monks in his bureaucracy and the nuns in other capacities within towns and cities.