The Time of Troubles
Every nation has its experiments with running the machine of state in different ways; the Fatimid Caliph and the Russian Tsar constantly try to get their cousins, grand-cousins and cousins to the nth degree on the important ducal thrones of the realm, while maintaining a chosen monarchy among those cousins; the Bavarians have their attempts at centralising their huge but culturally unified realm, and the Scandinavians... well, it is best not to mention the perverted experiments of the Nordic peoples, lest one accidentally trigger some eldritch threshold and set free elder horrors from beyond this space-time.
Al-Andalus is no exception to national experimentalism; if anything, the fluid nature of Andalusian culture, due to its multi-religious character, allows for rather more political leeway than most nations have, for better and for worse. On the plus side, the freedoms lead to progress, both social and technological; on the negative side, some experiment are succesful, but have clear negative outcomes. Take for example the regency of Al-Bhalin, who claimed to be of the venerable house Dhu'l Nun, but is suspected by modern historiographers to hail from the house of Bradhuley, tracing its roots to the very far east. His rule came around in a boisterous period in Andalusi history; great stretches of Loire had just been liberated, with its population slowly coming under Andalusi leadership; The Black Death, the bubonic plague was in full swing, spreading like wildfire from the many Andalusi trading harbours, and the pneumonic plague was showing its first symptoms in Genoa. A boisterous time, which quickly devolved into something of a civil war. Sensing a power vacuum, the many different petty rulers of greater Al-Andalus rose, attempting to proscribe their own particular brand of freedom to the populace at large. Oftentimes, this meant wanting to extend those freedoms by force of arms to neighbours - certainly, not the sort of freedom usually to be had in Al-Andalus. Shocked by these rumblings, the inner circle of Andalusian ruling elite sought to dethrone the failing regent as soon as possible. It was agreed upon that merely fixing this situation would never be enough; consequently, the ruling elite sought to set up a permanent charter by which the country was to be governed, based on philosophy, good practice and the rule of law. Thus came into being Andalusian Common Law, though it would take a great many more years before it was instituted throughout all of Andalusian society.
Al-Andalus may have been chaotic at this time, but other countries were no less affected. Perhaps lacking the unstable Andalusi leadership of the time, they were also beset by plague, famine, and war. It was in the boisterous years of the middle fourteenth century that the Roman Empire went through its greatest ordeal yet: Constantinople was lost to the Croatians, not groundlessly claiming to be heirs of the Roman heritage themselves - fact remained that this infighting did nothing to strengthen Rome as a whole; indeed, though the experience of war was strongest in the Roman Balkans, so were the depredations of war - a situation only beneficial to the neighbours of the region, certainly not the inhabitants themselves.
Only time will tell how things will resolve. Stay tuned!
Every nation has its experiments with running the machine of state in different ways; the Fatimid Caliph and the Russian Tsar constantly try to get their cousins, grand-cousins and cousins to the nth degree on the important ducal thrones of the realm, while maintaining a chosen monarchy among those cousins; the Bavarians have their attempts at centralising their huge but culturally unified realm, and the Scandinavians... well, it is best not to mention the perverted experiments of the Nordic peoples, lest one accidentally trigger some eldritch threshold and set free elder horrors from beyond this space-time.
Al-Andalus is no exception to national experimentalism; if anything, the fluid nature of Andalusian culture, due to its multi-religious character, allows for rather more political leeway than most nations have, for better and for worse. On the plus side, the freedoms lead to progress, both social and technological; on the negative side, some experiment are succesful, but have clear negative outcomes. Take for example the regency of Al-Bhalin, who claimed to be of the venerable house Dhu'l Nun, but is suspected by modern historiographers to hail from the house of Bradhuley, tracing its roots to the very far east. His rule came around in a boisterous period in Andalusi history; great stretches of Loire had just been liberated, with its population slowly coming under Andalusi leadership; The Black Death, the bubonic plague was in full swing, spreading like wildfire from the many Andalusi trading harbours, and the pneumonic plague was showing its first symptoms in Genoa. A boisterous time, which quickly devolved into something of a civil war. Sensing a power vacuum, the many different petty rulers of greater Al-Andalus rose, attempting to proscribe their own particular brand of freedom to the populace at large. Oftentimes, this meant wanting to extend those freedoms by force of arms to neighbours - certainly, not the sort of freedom usually to be had in Al-Andalus. Shocked by these rumblings, the inner circle of Andalusian ruling elite sought to dethrone the failing regent as soon as possible. It was agreed upon that merely fixing this situation would never be enough; consequently, the ruling elite sought to set up a permanent charter by which the country was to be governed, based on philosophy, good practice and the rule of law. Thus came into being Andalusian Common Law, though it would take a great many more years before it was instituted throughout all of Andalusian society.
Al-Andalus may have been chaotic at this time, but other countries were no less affected. Perhaps lacking the unstable Andalusi leadership of the time, they were also beset by plague, famine, and war. It was in the boisterous years of the middle fourteenth century that the Roman Empire went through its greatest ordeal yet: Constantinople was lost to the Croatians, not groundlessly claiming to be heirs of the Roman heritage themselves - fact remained that this infighting did nothing to strengthen Rome as a whole; indeed, though the experience of war was strongest in the Roman Balkans, so were the depredations of war - a situation only beneficial to the neighbours of the region, certainly not the inhabitants themselves.
Only time will tell how things will resolve. Stay tuned!
