Atlas of the Known World - 1351
Europe
The continent of Europe in 1351 was dominated, as it had been for centuries, by the Holy Roman Empire. The Imperial County was at this time located in the County of Orleans and ruled by the Galimani family. Just to the north was the County of Paris, the Regal County of the Kingdoms of Paris and Castille ruled by the Alachisling family. The Galimani family also ruled over the Kingdom of Germany on the Eastern edge of the empire. The Iberian Peninsula was dominated by the Kingdom of Andalusia, also a Galimani title. The Hospitaller Order ruled the lands of the former Duchy of Leon while the lands of ancient Galicia and Portugal were held by various dukes, disjointed and leery of each other. On the Northern Coast of Africa was also the foothold of the HRE in Muslim lands, the Duchy of Tangier.
The Kingdom of Aquitaine and Frisia, also ruled by the Galimani family, was the lone, large independent kingdom in Europe. The Aquitainian lands controlled Aragon, large portions of de jure counties (except the Duchy of Toulouse), and the Frisian coast. Independent duchies also existed, Normandy and Dauphine. The Papacy also firmly controlled the Duchy of Murcia which, after 150 years of Papal rule, was now considered a de jure holding.
The direct vassals of the Holy Roman Empire were dominated at this time by France, which held a highly discontiguous realm. Yet, by 1351, France had begun to consolidate and demand de jure duchies and counties be brought under its administration. The majority of the Holy Roman Empire north of the Alps and east of the Pyrenees was constituted of Great Duchies, notably Champagne, Savoy, and Upper Burgundy. Again, interspersed throughout the empire was the Kingdom of Aquitaine, outlined in gold on the above map.
Europe was dominated by the French culture. While localized pockets of Dutch, Italian, German, and Breton cultures could be found, all lands (except Breton lands) were held by French-cultured nobles. The Iberian Peninsula, merely a couple hundred years removed from Muslim rule, was becoming decidedly French. While Andalusian cultures existed, once again all ruling nobles were French. Pockets of Castillian culture remained along the Northern Coast.
Venetian Republic
The Grand Venetian Republic had grown quite large by the mid-14th Century. The capital of Venice, in the Adriatic Sea, was talked about as one of the most beautiful cities even at this time, yet most of its landmass was situated in an enviable strategic location, north of the Black Sea and on the Sea of Azov. Here, with multiple ports and holdings venturing far north along the Dnieper River on its Western boundary. The Venetian lands were situated to take advantage of Byzantine, Golden Horde, and Moldovan caravans and merchants. However, the land was still dominated by Hungarian peoples.
Eastern Europe
While the Western World had been coalesced by the Holy Roman Empire for centuries upon centuries, Eastern Europe was far from establishing any type of imperial rule. The Region was dominated by the Kingdom of Pannonia and the Kingdom of Poland. However, pagan realms still survived in Lithuania and Ruthernia. Closer to the Holy Roman Empire marriages between Nibelunging, Galimani, and the Premsylid dynasties had forged a slight “westernization” of the kingdoms of Bohemia and Pomerania. The Grand Duchy of Brandenburg was also a major player in this region. Throughout Eastern Europe, the Teutonic Order maintained their various holdings as granted to them throughout the past several centuries.
Regarding religious tendencies, Eastern Europe was by no means homogenous. Catholicism was the dominant religion but Byzantine holdings had brought Orthodox beliefs to the area. Also, in the lands between Pannonia and the Golden Horde, pagan religions such as Suomenusko and the Slavic beliefs were widely held.
Bhreatish Isles
Known by many names throughout the Medieval Ages: Britannia, Wessexian Islands, and by the mid-14th Century, as the Bhreatish Isles due to the dominance of the Irish nobles on the Island of Ireland and the Kingdom of Bhreatian Bheag. The Ua Cheinnslaig’s ruled in Bhreatain for several centuries but around this time period their reliance on Anglo-Saxon Galimani nobles was beginning to wear on the kingdom. With the offensive-minded French-Galimani’s claiming Southeastern provinces (Kent, Essex, and Bedford), the Galimani dukes under King Brian Ua Cheinnslaig sought to exert more and more influence over the direction of the kingdom. Aquitaine also inserted itself into the Bhreatish Isles through inheritance. The old Norse holding of East Anglia still survived in the middle of the 14th Century but the lands had begun to fall within the political sphere of the Holy Roman Empire.
The Kingdom of Ireland itself was seeking to regain its standing in the Isles as they re-conquered the southern portion of Ireland around 1300, throwing the Scots back to Scotland. Scotland was released as a vassal of the Holy Roman Empire in 1350 and was trying to find its own footing without the backing of the powerful imperial armies. The rest of the Isles were made up of independent duchies. Northumberland had the unenviable position as the buffer between Scotland and Bhreatain Bheag. Lancaster, Oxford, Hwicce, and Wessex also existed at the prerogative of the Bhreatish. These duchies were fearful of being re-vassalized or conquered by the Ua Cheinnslaig’s.
The Isles themselves were extremely diverse for the land mass. While French culture ruled across the Channel, Irish and Scottish culture competed to dominate and assimilate the masses. Still, after centuries of Irish control, Anglo-Saxon peoples still thrived in the middle of the main Bhreatish Island, mostly propagated by the Anglo-Saxon Galimani noblemen. Of course the Norse way of life thrived in East Anglia but, disturbingly, the French culture of the Aquitainians and Imperial lands was already starting to take root.
Scandinavia
Scandinavia was still a diverse and fractured land. While the Suomian lands once threatened to overrun Norse Christendom, the emergence of the Golden Horde and the judicious distribution of lands to the Teutonic Order (which had by this time been revoked), kept the pagans at bay. Still, Suomi had the most landmass, but little political power in the region. Danmark was the most politically stable of the Scandinavian kingdoms during the mid-14th century. But conflict would continue between these many rulers.
The cultures of the Scandinavian lands were still very Norse. With the increasing influence of the Danmarkish kings the Danish culture was beginning to spread across the Southern Fjords. Further south, the Mordvin culture flourished in the former lands of the Suomian rulers. During this time, great internal struggles along this eastern frontier began as the Mongols attempted to integrate the Mordvinian people into their society.
The Mongol Lands - Asia
Nothing speaks to the power of Christianity during this time period, such as the conversion of the Mongols to Orthodoxy in the early 14th-century. The Horde occupied land greater than than the Byzantine and Holy Roman Empires. With no troubles along their southern borders with the Muslim rulers and no resistance from Eastern Europe once they converted, the Golden Horde began a period of internal adjustments in the 14th century to bring all peoples into Mongol society. While they had converted to Orthodox Christianity, the Andalusian Galimani kings forged close personal ties with the Golden Horde in an effort to outweigh the Byzantine Empire’s power.
The Byzantine Empire
Spanning from the Caspian Sea to the Valencian Coast (Islands of Mallorca) the Byzantine Empire has been the constant guiding power since the late 8th century. Recently, due to jihads and crusades, the Byzantine Empire has been left with very little lands in Anatolia. While fighting intermittently with the Holy Roman Empire over counties on the Italian Peninsula, the Galimani’s ushered in a period of peace between the two empires with their ascension to the throne. The Byzantine’s had to begin to worry about the Mesopotamian Sultanate to the south.
Africa and the Middle East
The Muslim world of the mid-14th century found itself at a low point in its long battle with Christendom. By 1350 they had lost their recently conquered lands in Anatolia to a Holy Order, and had lost the Iberian Peninsula in two generations. The Holy Roman Empire’s incursions into the Northern Africa had also begun to spell the doom of the Mahmudid Dynasty. Yet Egypt, Arabia, and Persia were all firmly controlled by strong and long-standing Muslim dynasties. Yet, just as European nobles found, the Muslim rulers needed to set aside personal squabbles to repeal future Christian incursions to take land.
India
The mid 14th century saw the height of the Palanese Kingdom. While a strong kingdom for over two centuries, the Palanese Raja’s expanded their influence further west, conquering old Siwanese and Chawda lands. The realm of Neisany still clung to its odd mixture of Buddhist and Muslim nobles overseeing a Catholic populace.
So what would the next 100 years bring?