House History:
The House of Winchester have humble backgrounds, going back roughly sixty years before gaining notice by the great King Æthelbald. Æthelwulf, Artair’s grandfather, was a simple farmer living in Mercia, but he was a fighter, and a great one. He was one of those who would eventually be noticed by the king in his campaigns, both for his fighting prowess but also for a skill for military organization. Æthelwulf would serve the king faithfully, having grown older by the time of the fall of Wessex. He was in the end rewarded richly for his loyalties and accomplishments in life when he was granted the earldoms of Winchester, from which he took his family name, along with Berks, forming a greater family owned region in Southern England.
Æthelwulf, like his son after him, had never been an ambitious man which perhaps was the reason they in particular were granted these rich provinces, the former capital of Wessex and a strong seat of power for their house, taking up house within the former king’s villa. It was here the family would live in wealth, comfort and happiness for the coming forty years. While there was the occasional unrest, largely due to Artair’s father letting many nobles have their way, only for the uprisings to be crushed, overall there was prosperity for all people living there with the benefit of trade and increased commerce the realm experienced during the reign of Æthelbald. Now, Earl Artair’s reign has begun, surrounded by a total of five siblings to guide him, along with an aging mother as he takes his father seat.
House Members:
Artair
Bio: The house of Winchester is a new one, having their origin with the fall of Wessex roughly 40 years ago, whereupon Artair’s father, a commander of Æthelbald, who was rewarded for his valour and bravery with the rich and prosperous regions of Wessex capital, which has only grown richer since then by the wise rule of King Æthelbald.
Artair is the third son of the last earl, the man destined to be a priest who at an early age was pulled out of the comfort of the church at the deaths of his older brothers, now instead to become his father’s successor. He learned early on to read and write, having a fondness for books and due to his early years, a certain strong sense of faith, even if his views at times would be considered sinful.
After being pulled away from the church, Artair grew up in his father’s court, a court of peace and plenty as he watched his father grow fat, contend and happy with the life he had while Artair would keep his fondness for books, often time reading late into the night as he found his own happiness. Artair’s true skill and brilliance would however come in the form of battle, showing a keen sense of military mind during a minor uprising on the outskirts of his father’s earldoms as he defeated the peasants and dealt out bloody justice. With words just having reached Artair of his father’s death, just days after swearing fealty to the new king, he has now risen to his new position of earl with all that it entails, looking to make his own mark and if the message his father sent back was true, ensure that the weak king would break the realm.
