Tudesco

The Kingdom of the Tudescans (Tudescan common: Theodisc rīke ), commonly referred to as Tudesco is a predominantly-human kingdom and multiethnic state in southwestern Ovaicaea. Like most human kingdoms, Tudesco is a combined tribal-feudal state, as its constituent parts evolved as tribal kingdoms from among human tribes that settled along the Eldun Plateau and the mighty Eldun River. For much of its history, the kingdom now referred to in its entirety as Tudesco was once several independent human kingdoms. The kingdoms of the Tudescans, Gethans, West and East Clovians, Walhians, Alamians, and others acceded to the Empire as member states. For the first hundred years of the new empire's existence, they existed in relative harmony.
In the midst of the Red Plague in the early 920s, however, many of these kingdoms were plunged into crisis. Several royal princes of the Empire fought in the Gestrin War, in which many contracted the plague and died. The King of Tudesco was able to diplomatically arrange for his heir to inherit the suddenly heirless kingdoms of Esclovia, Alam, Getha, and Walhia. These powerful states united under one common monarchy, though in practice they are in personal union and have maintained their own traditions and laws, and much power has been held by the landed nobility as in most feudal realms. In recent years, however, attempts have been made by the kings to exert royal control and a common legal system.
== Name ==
Tudesco is the Elven-influenced name for the country. In their local common language, the term Theodisc denotes "of the people" or "popular", referring initially to the Thiudescan tribe under their native dialect. Today, under the suggestion of legal and ethnic scholars, the term's meaning has expanded to implicitly stand for the many tribes who have fallen under Tudescan hegemony. This has been to recognize the multiethnic and multicultural nature of the kingdom.
The kingdom's full name is Kingdom of the Teodescans, Gethans, Walhians, Alamians, and East Clovians, representing all tribes that have come to unite under its common law and crown.
== History ==
== Society and government ==
Tudesco is fundamentally a hereditary, composite monarchy. The kingdom has evolved from a tribal state to a feudal state, retaining many aspects of customary law and tribal clientage combined with neighboring dwarven and elven social systems of land tenure, military obligation, and manorialism. Unlike many of its neighboring human kingdoms, Tudesco borrows heavily from elven legal concepts of freeholds and tenant estates, contrasting with the eastern dwarven-centric models of feodal land tenure. The results are similar, in that local government is based heavily around manorialism and the baronage, but the legal implications differ sharply and serfdom in Tudesco looks very different from that of Lithuar or Tolossia.
=== Government ===
The government of Tudesco is, like many human feudal-tribal states, decentralized due to necessity. The lack of infrastructure to maintain a standing army and convey them rapidly from place to place requires much military power to be vested in the hands of local magnates, tribal chieftains, and those entrusted by the King to keep the peace. This was the case in the predecessor states that merged with old Tudesco to form the modern kingdom, and this continues to be the case in the new state.
Most territory is held by barons through feudal land tenure. The royal government is centered on the King, who is formally elected by the Witanagemot, the royal council. Very often, a king will arrange their heir's election as co-king to ensure a smoother succession While the King has the right to issue edicts, it is generally considered unconstitutional and against the prevailing tribal tradition. The King seeks the counsel of the land's magnates and of the people, originally as the royal council and tribal assembly, which has morphed into a parliamentary body, the Rikesdag. The assembly is composed of all archpriests, archwizards, abbots, earls, and thegns, as well as two knights elected from each shire, two burgesses elected from each borough, and two citizens elected from each city. 
Local and regional government in Tudesco can be divided into two levels: the royal administration and the feudal estates, which somewhat overlap. The Kingdom is administratively divided into three layers: folklands, shires, and hundreds. The folklands correspond to the preceding kingdoms that merged to become the current state, each with their own popular assemblies, or Folcgemots, which make decisions for the region in the manner of the old tribal assemblies; however, these are mostly ceremonial, and the decision-making power of the Folcgemots is limited by law and the practical realities of land ownership. The next level, shires, are provincial divisions under the authority of royally-appointed shire-reeves or sheriffs, under whom are usually about five or six aldermen who administer at a smaller municipal or local level in a territory called a hundred. These officials have limited appellate judicial power over their areas, but more importantly are tasked with the collection of royal taxes, overseeing royal lands and resources such as mines and forests, and calling up the fyrd in times of war. The feudal estates ruled by thegns and earls sometimes conform to the shire divisions, but sometimes cross boundaries between shires based on the lands the noble lords have inherited.
== Economy ==
== List of Kings ==
Since unification, the kingships of the tribes have been united under the Teodescan royal clan. The kings are officially numbered based on this line, and the following list is of the Teodescan kings from the tribal kingdom's foundation:
=== Early period ===
In this early period, Teodescan kings were elected. Wiglaf led his people out of the Great Waste, much like other founder-kings of the human tribes, and was acclaimed the first king of that people. Some were sons or relatives of previous rulers, but most were selected based on merit.
Name 	Birth 	Reign 	Death	Notes
Wiglaf 	Before 280	c. 300 – 334	334 	
Wermund 	c. 285 	c. 334 – 350	350 	
Garmund 	c. 315 	c. 350 – 361	 	Son of Wermund
Hemming 	c. 330 	c. 361 – 370	 	
Hildmar 	c. 330 	c. 370 – 377	 	First cousin of Hemming
Frithric	c. 350 	c. 377 – 404	404 	First king in contemporary historical records
=== Frithring dynasty ===
Frithric began a dynasty, starting with his son Aethelfrith. His dynasty would shepherd the kingdom through the collapse of the Old Empire, the Orc invasion, and the early growth of the kingdom as it conquered local townships.
Name 	Birth 	Reign 	Death	Notes
Aethelfrith	c. 376	404 – 416	416 	Son of Frithric, treated with the Orcs
Edwin I 	400 	416 – 476	476 	First king for which we have a birth record.
Oswald 	451 	476 – 490	490 	Grandson of Edwin
Egfrith 	477 	490 – 500	500 	Son of Oswald
Egbert 	479 	500 – 510	510 	Brother of Egfrith
Edwulf 	481 	510 – 519	519 	Brother of Egbert
Aldwin 	500 	519 – 526	526 	Son of Edwulf; behaved tyrannically towards his thegns and died in battle after a revolt.
=== Husring dynasty ===
Cenred, Earl of Huser was elected to the kingship after a civil war broke out and Aldwin was slain in battle in 526. His dynasty would rule until merging with another dynasty as its last ruler married into the House of Lorch.
Name 	Birth	Reign 	Death	Notes
Cenred 	480 	526 – 534	534 	Previously the Earl of Huser
Canwulf 	500 	534 – 560	560 	Son of Cenred
Colwin 	533 	560 – 591	593 	Son of Canwulf, abdicated
Chestwin 	558 	591 – 597	597 	Nephew of Colwin
Cynric the Wise 	560 	597 – 611	611 	Brother of Chestwin; promulgated the Theodisc Code
Edwin II the Saint	582 	611 – 630	630 	Son of Cynric; invited the Confessors into Tudesco
Cynflaeda 	600 	630 – 643	643 	Daughter of Edwin; co-ruler with Oremenred
=== Oremening dynasty ===
Ormenred, Earl of Lorch, was elected co-ruler with his wife Cynflaeda, the heiress of the Husring dynasty, after Edwin II died without a male heir. The latter part of the dynasty reigned over a tumultuous period of warfare with neighboring kingdoms and a refugee crisis caused by the War of the Orcish Succession.
Name 	Birth	Reign 	Death	Notes
Ormenred 	599 	630 – 648 	648 	Co-ruler with Cynflaeda until 643
Ormenric 	621 	648 – 674 	674 	Son of Ormenred
Flynnrad 	644 	674 – 676 	676 	Son or Ormenric; died in battle
Cynrad 	650 	676 – 679	679 	Nephew of Flynnrad; died in battle
Frithwald 	651 	679 – 685 	685 	Brother of Cynrad; died in battle
Sigbert the Child	677 	685 – 704 	704 	Son of Frithwald; regency until 695, died childless
=== Conburh dynasty ===
Sigbert died young and childless, and so a new dynasty was elected to the throne: that of Aethelwald, Earl of Conburh. His home shire was well known for its Confessor monastery and temples, and had become enriched as a center of pilgrimage. Aethelwald was easily the wealthiest lord in the kingdom, and one of the largest landowners.
Name 	Birth	Reign 	Death	Notes
Aethelwald 	660 	704 – 716	716 	Assassinated
Osbern 	665 	716 – 718	718 	Brother of Aethelwald; usurper, assassinated
Aethelred 	680 	718 – 729	729 	Son of Aethelwald
Aethelbert 	700 	729 – 731	731 	Son of Aethelred; died in battle
Aethelbald 	716 	731 – 738	738 	Brother of Aethelbert; died in battle
Aethelwulf 	720 	738 – 758	758 	Son of Aethelbert
Edwin III the Evil	737 	758 – 759	759 	Son of Aethelwulf; murdered by his servants
Cadwin 	722 	759 – 774	774 	Uncle of Edwin III, second son of Aethelbert
Baldrick 	750 	774 – 786	786 	Son of Cadwin
Aelfwald the Fool 	770 	786 – 799	799 	Son of Baldrick; betrayed and killed by Orcs
=== Whitwall dynasty ===
Aelfwald went into the Orc heartland to re-negotiate tribute to the Khans. He unadvisedly went with his wife and son. He was betrayed and ambushed by rival khans to the one whom he was petitioning, and his whole household was slain. His lands dissolved among his various thegns. After a year-long interregnum, in which several claimants fought each other for the throne, the Witanagemot elected Loefric, Earl of Whitwall. His clan had its name from their home castle, whose strong stone walls were made from white limestone, one of the first large stone castles in Tudesco.
Name 	Birth	Reign 	Death	Notes
Loefric 	750 	800 – 812	812 	Was previously Earl of Whitwall
Wulfric 	771 	812 – 821	821 	Son of Loefric
Wilfred the Iron 	791 	821 – 833	833 	Son of Wulfric; died in battle
Wardric the Brave 	815 	833 – 839	839 	Son of Wilfred; died in battle
Edwynna the Liberator	820 	839 – 858	858 	Sister of Wardric, daughter of Wilfred; signatory to the Imperial Charter
Aedric the Holy 	840 	858 – 871	896 	Son of Edwynna; beatified for his temple reforms, abdicated and became a monk.
Aelfraed 	849 	871 – 899	899 	Brother of Aedric; son of Edwynna
Aedward I 	874 	899 – 929	929 	Son of Aelfraed
Aedmund I the Lion 	894 	925 – 939	939 	Son of Aedward, united the kingdoms by the Pragmatic Sanction; co-king from 925
=== Aelfing dynasty ===
After Aedmund's ascent, his heirs would hold the kingship over the several tribes under the terms of the Pragmatic Sanction of 924. As his wife was an elf, his children were half-elves and the clan would be commonly termed the Aelfings, though the elven ancestry faded over time.
Name 	Birth	Reign 	Death	Notes
Aelfric the Half-Elven	921 	939 – 959 	959 	Son of Aedmund; killed in a brawl
Aedgar 	943 	959 – 975 	975 	Son of Aelfric
Aedward II 	962 	975 – 1013	1013 	Son of Aedgar; regency until 980
Aedmund II 	979 	1013 – 	– 	Son of Aedward II