Bastions
Prologue One: The Saxons
Part 2
kát se ánglos kræsáláfan, gágáfan hie
What the Saxons saw, they conquered
Marshal Aethelstan was left as regent to rule during the minority of Earl Aethelweard, son of the late Morcar. Despite their success against the Sambians and Samogitians, the Saxons still worried about their other neighbors, namely the Yatviags, a tribe of Prussians that lived farther inland. Aethelstan worried that the nation was becoming segregated, and if it got too bad revolts and poverty would explode. So his solution was the Act of Freemen, which allowed Prussians and Letts to not take the jobs of their fathers. It also offered citizenship to any Saxon that came from afar and to pagan chiefs who converted to Christianity. Many Saxons, including the descendents of Harold Godwinson, would take this offer. But in doing so, Aethelstan personally expatiated the end of the Saxon culture. As pointed out to him by his friend Alfred, there were far more Prussians and Letts then Saxons. And many had already started intermarrying, creating the first generation of Balts which would soon dominate the culture and language of Prussia.
However, many were displeased. Some Saxons left Prussia, others moved out into the surrounding areas. It was this movement outward that forced the next round of conflict with the Yatviags. In 1075 Aethelstan led his peoples in a war of conquest against the neighboring tribes. The Yatviags, who were normally united, were in the middle of a civil war. Too busy fighting themselves, they stood little chance against Aethelstan and his army of well-seasoned men. In the court, Gytha, Morcar's widow and Aethelstan's lover, made sure that Aethelweard's rule was not threatened as well as defending the actions of the Marshal. Nobles grew discontent with Aethelstan's regency and pushed for changes, but got none. These nobles were allowed to build estates in the newly conquered regions to pacify them and to get them out of court.
In 1076 a bishop from Rome was sent to the small, fledgling nation to tour it and act as the Pope's emissary to Aethelweard. The small boy was declared "Duke of Prussia", the first official usage of the name "Prussia" by Western Europeans as well as a "Crusader of the Black Eagle." It is from this title that the coat of arms of Prussia is derived, a black eagle armed with golden talons and a golden beak.
But Gytha and Aethelstan saw the truth. The Pope was trying to butter them up so that he may try to influence their actions. The Pope was looking for a tool in the East to help combat the expansion of the Russian Princes. It was likely that soon Prussia would be asked to join the Holy Roman Empire as an arm of their crusades. Native Prussians were pagan, they worshipped a pantheon of Gods each with a purpose and place, the Saxons were Catholic, but not nearly as devout as the Germans or Italians. There was a mistrust of the centralized church, and it was this mistrust and half-heartedness that stunted the spread of converts in the small Duchy. But with the inference of the Papacy the number of witch hunters and missionaries exploded. This led to revolts from the people. Aethelstan and Gytha did very little to quell these revolts, as they planned to appease the people rather than the nobles. The nobles and church quickly quelled many of these revolts anyways, leaving little for the Duke to do. But as the nobles increased their power, Aethelstan saw a way to weaken it, ever so slightly.
It was called the "Division of Land" an act that made the entire coast line of Prussia territory controlled by the Duke. Counties were set up inland, but they could only be tapped into through donations to the nation and usually went to the highest bidder. As the revolts moved closer to home, Gytha and Aethelweard fled Mariengrád to Sambigrád. Aethelstan stayed to lead in the defense of the capital. Eventually it was too much and Aethelstan could no longer just defend the city, he declared a crusade and with the army crushed the revolts and put an end to the revolt in the capital, killing many chiefs at the same time.
This crusade was enough to settle concerns from Rome, but at the same time made Rome and the Prussian people more blood thristy. They wanted war and so the attention of the people turned to a small tribe to the north.