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Farfour

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Mar 20, 2018
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There are a quite a few important aspects of Anglo-Saxon government that are as of now absent from HIP.

1. First, and perhaps most vital of them all, the witan.

Historically the witenagemot (witan for short) was a council composed of only the highest tier of the Anglo-Saxon nobility and Church. The council was usually advisory, and had to be summoned by the King, convening wherever he held his court (which for the Kings of England was never in a fixed position). It attested to grants of land, consented to new laws, and helped with rebellions.

Upon the death of a King the witan would pick his successor from amongst the royal dynasty (except in 1016 and 1066) to succeed him. Eligible candidates for the crown were designated as Æþeling/Ætheling (literally; belonging to noble family).

My thinking is that England pre-1066 should have something like Tanistry where only Bishops, Ealdormen/Eorls (roughly analogous to Dukes/Counts), and Thegns (Barons and Knights) can vote for the next-in-line. To be eligible a character has to be an Ætheling which could be represented by something similar to the "born in the purple" mechanic. The older and more seasoned in battle the candidate, the more likely their election to the throne.

There is a mod that includes witan succession and has a compatibility patch, but it has since become outdated and causes bugs with other start dates (particularly Iron Century). Its other features (bloodlines, Crohn's Disease, tribal government, buildings. Crohn's Disease, and fyrd retinues) also only work for Old Gods.

2. I cannot stress this enough, Earldoms were not hereditary.

Earldoms (or Ealdormanries as they were known before the reign of Cnut) were historically granted as appointments, and could be revoked at any time (Tostig, for example, was deposed when his thegns occupied York and pressed their case to King Edward, and Harold had earlier been banished). England was quite centralized compared to say, Early Medieval France or the HRE during/after the Hohenstaufens. They were not hereditary fiefdoms like French duchies, but rather appointed governorships.

3. Titles.

The Anglo-Saxons had a highly stratified social structure going from slaves to the King himself and most of their titles can be linked to more widespread variants in continental Christian Europe.

At the very bottom were slaves. One could end up as a slave if they were unfortunate enough to have been taken captive as a prisoner of war, could not afford to pay the fine for a crime, or became heavily indebted and opted to pay with the fruition of their labor. I do not expect this to be implemented at any time. Above them were servile peasants (villeins, cottars, and serfs), which I'm sure needs no explanation, and ceorls. Ceorls were non-servile peasants with freedom of movement that formed the bulk of the labor pool but were not tied in bondage to any lord or land (other than King and country). They (along with everyone above them) were obligated to provide military service for a short duration via the fyrd system.

Þegns/Thegns were the lowest rank of nobility and served as the demarcation line between upper classes and lower classes. Legally a ceorl could be "thegn-worthy" if they owned 5 hides, a church, kitchen, bellhouse, and burh-gate-seat, and while a merchant could become a thegn by virtue of 3 voyages at their expense. In this same manner, a thegn could hope to be appointed to an ealdormanry. The title was initially used to denote the companions and retainers of Kings and lords (though gesith was primarily used). A king's thegn held land directly from the King, while median thegns held his land through an intermediary lord (essentially retinues and barons).

Reeves (gerēfa) were local administrators, comparable to sheriffs (or in the context of CK2, stewards), who served ealdormen. Shire-Reeves (scīrgerefa) were the King's sheriffs in any given area in charge of managing estates, collecting revenue and running local courts. High-reeves (hēahgerēfa) were also administrators, but unlike the other two they also led armies and had a wergild half that of an ealdorman. Some independent rulers of Bamburgh took the title of High-reeve.

Ealdormen were appointed by the King to rule as his representative in a given shire (sometimes multiple), leading their local fyrd in battles, presiding over courts, and levying taxes (in return keeping 1/3 of those taxes). These titles were of high prestige, originally applied to subjugated Kings, and occasionally became large enough to cover former kingdoms. Southern ealdormen would attend the King's court, while ealdormen in Northumbria held more autonomy. The term "eorl" did not come into use until the reign of Cnut, where "eorl" replaced "ealdormen" in function while the modern term "alderman" took its name. To my understanding, most ealdormanries were composed of a single shire, but during Cnut's reign (in 1025) there were 6 earldoms, that came to be mostly ruled by Godwin's sons (see what I did there?) by the reign of Edward the Confessor (1045/1065/1066).

The King (Cyning) required all his subjects to do the "trinoda necessitas" of bridge-bote (bridge/road repair), burh-bote (building/maintaining forts), and fyrd-bote (military service) when needed (similar to community service and conscription). Most Kings were elected on the basis of their strength and valor in battle, while the Witan opted to avoid child-kings and tended to elect relatives of the King other than direct descendents.

Tithings were no more than an assembly of households in an area worth 10 hides, subdivisions of wapentakes (hundreds), which were in turn subdivisions of shires. Tithingmen were bound by a system called the frankpledge to incentivize tithings to police themselves.

The examples of the title "Burhealdor" I could find were town officials, so I would assume that this would be a more accurate title for mayors.

(If this is even possible, which I'm certain it isn't but oh well), burhs can be made into a new type of holding that can be held by republics and feudal vassals alike. They could be constructed by converting a city or castle (if it has a castle town), and reverted at any time. Newly constructed burh holdings could also be converted to cities at any time. This is at the very least more accurate than leaving some burhs as cities (London) and others as castles (Winchester). In any case, herepaths should be added as modifiers to tax income and movement.


4. The Fyrd

A fyrd was an army mobilized from the freemen of a shire to defend their shire or selected representatives on a royal expedition. This was reorganized under Alfred the Great to incorporate 2 systems; the select-fyrd (or royal fyrd), a royal force composed of thegns, ealdormen, reeves, and their retainers, and the general-fyrd (or local fyrd), a local militia composed of small tenant farmers and their local thegns and reeves. Service was short and and regularly rotated.

I'm not sure how this would be implemented though I have thought about making all ealdormen and high-reeves the only potential commanders, adding royal fyrds as retinues (in addition to housecarls), and maybe just leaving the local fyrd as levies.

5. The entire geopolitical situation of Iron Century Britain.

Welsh kings had long submitted to the overlordship of England and earlier Mercia and Wessex since the reigns of Edward the Elder and Lady of the Mercians Æthelflæd in the 910s (Gwent acknowledging Wessex, and Deheubarth and Gwynedd Mercia). Æthelstan inherited this authority, conquered Jorvik and integrated English Northumbria (though resistance to southern rule remained, as Northumbrians allied Norsemen and revolted a), and would extend English overlordship over all of Britain by 927, welcoming foreign princes to be fostered in his realm, ushering in what is referred to by some as the "Imperial Phase" of Anglo-Saxon England lasting until 975 when the 2nd wave of Viking raids began.

This was challenged in 937, where the alliance of Britons, Scots, and Norsemen culminated in the Battle of Brunanburh, an Anglo-Saxon victory that prevented the disillusion of England, despite resulting in Scotland and Strathclyde regaining independence and Æthelstan's dream of uniting Britain going up in smoke after his death. However, if Æthelstan had failed, it is very likely that England would fail to unify, with discontent factions in Northumbria, Wessex (West Saxons had chosen his late half-brother as their King in opposition), and Mercia (whose lords were only content with him due to his Mercian ties).

Danegeld and weregeld, overlordship and under-kings, tamworth (the capital of Mercia), historical houses and lineages, and a whole host of other vitally important events and wars for English unification (treaties with the Danelaw, deposing Ælfwynn and integrating Mercia, Mercian contention over the throne, Northumbrian revolts), are also absent but I'm not as knowledgeable on those topics (though I would suggest separating Lindsey from the rest of Lincoln).
 
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I would also have Canterbury as a Seperate county to Kent. The earls of Kent were important enough at times, but the archbishop of Canterbury held power that often rivalled that of some of the greatest land magnates in the kingdom.

As it stands, the archbishopric is a barony and thus really unimportant.
 
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I would also have Canterbury as a Seperate county to Kent. The earls of Kent were important enough at times, but the archbishop of Canterbury held power that often rivalled that of some of the greatest land magnates in the kingdom.

As it stands, the archbishopric is a barony and thus really unimportant.
In my opinion, Paradox totally missed out on representing the organization of the church (and other religions for that matter), classifying every notable church building (abbeys, cathedrals, regular churches) as the seat of a bishop... yet not even having archbishops or anything like dioceses. Not to mention you can't appoint bishops in your own damn realm unless you're the direct liege, despite direct involvement of the sovereign (not vassals) in the appointment of bishops being the historical norm for much of the period.
 
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I cannot stress this enough, Earldoms were not hereditary.
I assume the Earldoms in England would be similar to the fylki in Norway. The kings in Norway would appoint a jarl, later one or more lendmenn to rule a fylki. The king would often chose a local chiefdan (in the came it would be on a baron level) to the title, but however the dynasti with strongest posistion within the local aristocracy within the fylki would gain the title repeatedly and in a sence the title became hereditary. I know of one case in England which were Bamburgh after 890 ruled by earldormen mostly independant of the kings in Jorvik and the title could not be revoked without force (which would be costly for the king of Jorvik). You mention Tostig being revoked of Northumbria, but you can also have in mind the locals did not support him and resistance would be futile aginst a strong king like Harold.
 
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I would also have Canterbury as a Seperate county to Kent. The earls of Kent were important enough at times, but the archbishop of Canterbury held power that often rivalled that of some of the greatest land magnates in the kingdom.

As it stands, the archbishopric is a barony and thus really unimportant.
This may be remedied by a certain development in CK3's... development.
 
Having recently played in the ERE a lot, I wonder whether we could extend to the Anglo-Saxons the system whereby upon succession of a duke (in this case ealdorman/eorl) the emperor (in this case king) would be able to either deny or approve the appointment of the heir. In the ERE the emperor can also revoke duchies freely, but I don't think this should be extended to the potential Anglo-Saxon (or other Germanic) government type(s) - though it could be if we just depend on the regular revocation laws...

Iit's a lot of work, but it might be worth it if it's extended to the various Norse cultures (and their Jarl titles) as well.
 
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Having recently played in the ERE a lot, I wonder whether we could extend to the Anglo-Saxons the system whereby upon succession of a duke (in this case ealdorman/eorl) the emperor (in this case king) would be able to either deny or approve the appointment of the heir.

Absolutely. Ealdorman titles were definitely not hereditary. Having count titles be hereditary represents book land, but ealdorman titles often went to war leaders who were particularly influential or just really good at leading troops, particularly in times of war.
 
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I have figured out how to extend the imperial government ducal title (viceroyalty) system to kingdoms. It requires high authority, revocation allowed, and no external inheritance. Will be part of the next NHO version.

20210131190228_1.jpg
 
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Thanks for continuing to develop mods for the game. When do you think the next version wil come
I was distracted by some of my other projects, so I didn't finish testing it.

I did test it enough now that I think it's worth publishing, so here I extracted the ducal appointment (viceroyalty) part into a separate part (see attachment below).

It includes a modified title file for the Kingdom of England (based on the one that was already modified in NHO, but should work even without NHO) to give the required laws to the Anglo-Saxon kings.

A recent change that I haven't had time to test extensively is that the law is allowed even under medium CA as long as you're not on late feudal administration (which represents a later feudal stage where feudal vassals were more firmly rooted and had increasing power). This had to be done because otherwise tech levels would disqualify the use of it in areas where it had presence historically.


EDIT: Removed the file, since it had a few inconsistencies (also applied to republic dukes). For the finished version, see here.
 
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