Maurizia Urmana

**Maurizia Urmana** (1750-1801) was a queen of Liotain and the founder of the House of Urmana.

## Youth and First Marriage

Maurizia was the oldest daughter of Edvardas Urmana (a successful Liotainian diplomat) and Grafin Jadvyga Vitkus. Through her maternal line, she was the great-granddaughter of King Kazimieras II of the House of Dobis-Kanas.

Her maternal grandmother, Princess Vilmante (1676-1755), was the younger sister of King Karolis of Liotain. Princess Vilmante's husband, Prince Llyras Vitkus (also known as *Llyr Cyledr*), was the fifth son of the Celtican queen, who had come to Liotain during the Firocco-Liotain War in order to seek a position.

Between 1755 and 1761, and again between 1763 and 1767, Maurizia's father served as the Liotainian ambassador to Celtica. Maurizia spoke fluent Celtican, and had some distant relatives in the Celtican court, courtesy of her grandfather Prince Llyras. By 1765, Maurizia became a regular and popular attendee of the party circuit in Aquilani, where she impressed many senior Celtican royals, including the venerable Queen Anastasie IV herself, with her wit and intelligence.

Maurizia's mother, Grafin Jadvyga, suffered from debilitating health issues during the last few years. Maurizia often accompanied her father to official parties, but also attended more boisterous revels organized by the younger Celtican nobility. In September 1766, Maurizia was invited to join a group of young Celtican nobility who called themselves "the Court of Pan." She encountered her future husband, Prince Elouan of Florentina, at one of these parties in 1766. Elouan later recalled the occasion in a letter to a family member: "There was a raven-haired Liotainian beauty with flashing eyes, reclined on a divan like a Kabirite odalisque, reciting foreign poetry in fluent *Celtique* to a quartet of admirers." Maurizia also recalled their first meeting, writing in her journal "there was also a prince, one of the youngest sons of the queen's sister; he possessed the face and form of an archangel, but he lacked any capacity for coherent or original thought."

In spite of this poor initial opinion, Elouan and Maurizia became good friends during the winter of 1766 and 1767. Maurizia recanted her early opinion of Elouan's intelligence, describing him to a friend as "relentlessly cunning." In spring of 1767, however, Maurizia's mother heard gossip about her daughter's behavior, and the two had a stormy confrontation in May. Grafin Jadvyga had the seventeen-year old Maurizia packed off unceremoniously to Liotain. Jadvyga hired several retainers to ensure her daughter arrived in Neris. Maurizia nevertheless staged two separate escapes; and briefly got her entire party arrested at the Liotainian border by claiming that she had been kidnapped.

### Marriage

Maurizia returned to Neris in June 1767, where she was handed over to the care of her mother's sister, Jelena Vitkus, who held a prominant role in the Liotainian capital as a socialite. Grafin Jadvyga wrote her sister, begging her to "get Maurizia in with a better crowd, or barring that, married as swiftly as possible..." Wasting little time, Jelena introduced her niece to the twenty-six year old Graf Dovydas du Valori, a Liotainian noble from a wealthy family of Eletrinai. du Valori himself was intimidated by the young Maurizia, but was swayed into a marriage proposal by Jelena and some of his own female relatives. Their wedding, in October 1767, was pushed forward hastily when people feared he was getting 'cold feet' about the entire affair. Maurizia's parents were still in Celtica at the time. This caused a serious rift between Edvardas Urmana and his relatives: Edvardas wrote his daughter a few months later that "I did not approve of your mother sending you home, and I do not approve of this marriage of yours being pushed so hastily."

As Graf and Grafin du Valori, the young couple spent much of the year in Neris. Dovydas suffered with nearly crippling social anxiety, and was shy and secretive. In 1770, as a prank, one of his few friends filed the paperwork for Dovydas to run for the Teismas (the Liotainian parliament) for Eletrenai. Despite spending no money to campaign for the post, Dovydas was elected to the Teismas. He joined a group of young representatives, calling themselves the Pearl and Sword Society, who advocated a more formalized establishment of a constitutional monarchy in Liotain. Maurizia initially opposed her husband's involvement and argued vociferously in favor of absolutist rule. By 1775, however, she was even more actively involved in the group's affairs than her husband. She befriended the wives of the various chief men in the Teismas, and hosted weekly parties which became one of the most exclusive social events in the Liotainian capital.

In spite of her marriage to Graf Dovydas, Maurizia opened a lasting correspondence to Prince Elouan. In 1768, Elouan foolishly involved himself with court intrigues, which resulted in him receiving *The Imperial Displeasure*. He pled for clemency and received a pardon with the condition that he leave Celtica for ten years. As a result, he took charge of a regiment of Celtican mercenaries fighting in various corners of Velravin and Zamoroziet. Maurizia and Elouan exchanged hundreds of letters throughout the late 1760s and the 1770s, although they did not see each other during this entire time.

Between 1777 and 1780, the couple saw increasing tensions due to the political situation developing in Liotain. King Raimondas died in 1777, passing the throne to his son, Settimo II. Settimo was autocratic, and opposed to the democratic reforms launched by his grandfather Karolis, and continued (if begrudgingly) by Raimondas; he thus came into conflict with the Teismas, as he attempted to undermine their parliamentary authority. Despite his anxiety and fear of public speaking, Dovydas wrote extensively on behalf of the Pearl and Sword Society, which drew the ire of Settimo and his supporters.

Maurizia, as a second cousin of Settimo, occasionally served as an intermediary between the Society and the Royalists. She was regularly invited to attend formal affairs in the palace, and usually had a friendly relationship with Settimo. The relationship, however, had certain limits.

In 1779, Dovydas du Valori was briefly arrested by order of King Settimo II of Liotain. Dovydas was accused of masterminding a planned assassination attempt on Settimo, and tortured extensively. After nearly a week, however, the investigation was dropped for lack of evidence, and Dovydas was released. The arrest was viewed as a warning to the Pearl and Sword Society, and representative of Settimo's own suspicious and jealous behavior. After his release, Dovydas plunged into deep depression; his health, somewhat fragile at the best of times, declined markedly and he died in November 1779.

Dovydas' sudden death cast a deep gloom onto Maurizia, who withdrew from public life for nearly two months. Concerned friends found her in bed, unwilling to rise for visitors. Settimo himself, having earlier signed her husband's arrest warrant, had a change of heart and went to visit Maurizia to offer an apology. Maurizia reportedly received the king without a word and sent him away without any response. She wrote a few days later to accept his apology, but asked to avoid any royal parties or official functions in the future.

## Succession Crisis of 1780

On 11 February 1780, Settimo died at age 40, having never married, and leaving no sons to inherit the throne. His death came as a surprise to the nation at large. There were rumors that he had been poisoned, and other rumors that he had been murdered or committed suicide. His body was not displayed during the funeral, which further fueled intense speculation. An official investigation, not publicly released by the government, later claimed that Settimo had been bitten in the face by a pet monkey, with the bite becoming infected and causing his death. This too, however, was disputed, and when his body was exhumed in 1793, investigators discovered that his skull, ribs, and multiple vertibrae were cracked.

Settimo's death sparked a succession crisis among four male claimants to the crown:

* Linas Bernotas
* Jonas Bernotas
* Adomas Matulis
* Jonas-Pier Dobis-Kanas

All four candidates had their own separate issues which made them poor candidates to the throne. The most direct male claimant, Jonas-Pier Dobis-Kanas, fled Liotain in 1774 after being accused of various crimes including murder. As of 1780, Jonas-Pier reportedly led a fleet of pirates operating along the coast of Dengfeng. In spite of his crimes, he still received a faction of supporters, but he would be fairly easily discarded from the contenders.

Linas and Jonas Bernotas, both cousins, were descended from Simonas Dobis-Kanas, one of the younger sons of King Markas II (1588-1654) and his wife, Queen Teodora Virginia. However, Simonas was widely believed to be illegitimate, which cast a shadow on his descendants Linas and Jonas. Jonas - who held the stronger claim of the two - was widely known as a gambler and womanizer, being deeply in debt. Linas Bernotas had his own issues; in 1779, he'd been investigated after suspicious correspondence was discovered with the Antargentine ambassador. Unlike the claim against Dovydas du Valori, the claim appeared to have merit, although Linas would eventually be acquitted in 1781 due to several technicalities.

The final claimant, Adomas Matulis, based his claim not on his own lineage, but rather on his marriage to Settimo II's younger sister, Stefaneia Dobis-Kanas. Matulis was a well-known sycophant of Settimo and a strong proponent of absolutist government, and had been appointed to a variety of influential positions in the Liotainian government between 1777 and 1780, including Minister of War. His claim was viewed as the least legitimate of the four; but Matulis cleverly declared that he would rule as a prince regent for a (hypothetical) son that he could produce with Princess Stefaneia.

During the Karolean Reforms earlier in the 18th Century, the Teismas had received the authority to resolve succession disputes in the event they arose. However, none of the four candidates to the throne held any plurality among the Teismas. The Pearl and Sword Society, which formed the largest minority in parliamentary affairs, found all of the candidates deeply problematic, and refused to commit to any of them.

After Settimo's death, several women came forward claiming to have illegitimate sons by Settimo. With the dismal state of the other options, the Teismas investigated seven claims they felt had sufficient merit. Only one case of those seven, however, held up to more detailed investigation, with the Teismas concluding with disgust that even the possibility of illegitimate heirs was not worth pursuing further.

### Maurizia's Candidacy

With none of the male candidates receiving majority support from the Teismas, discussions soon opened about considering a female candidate. Initially, this was rejected by the members of Pearl and Sword, who viewed it as favoring Stefaneia Dobis-Kanas and by extension Adomas Matulis. However, Maurizia recognized this possibility for herself, as she was the great-granddaughter of King Kazimieras II. On 23rd March, Maurizia attended the session of the Teismas and took her husband's former seat on the bench; when the session called to order, she asked to speak, and declared her candidacy for the crown. Maurizia laid out her arguments and then returned to her seat, whereupon the Teismas, in pensive silence, voted to adjourn.

Maurizia had her own difficulties that needed to be overcome. Although she was closer by blood to the throne than any of the potential male claimants, Stefaneia Dobis-Kanas was closer still, having been the daughter of King Raimondas and the sister of King Settimo. Some people also doubted Maurizia's ability to bear an heir, noting that she had been married for nearly thirteen years without any pregnancies. She had also been closely associated with the Pearl and Sword Society, which - although strong - did not hold a majority in the Teismas. More traditionalist elements within the Teismas felt that she would weaken and undermine the crown's rightful authority.

Adomis Matulis, having not received his expected support for a direct claim to the crown, initially disregarded Maurizia's candidacy. However, by April, he realized belatedly that she was heavily politicking among the traditionalist members of the Teismas; with the backing of Pearl and Sword, her candidacy was more advanced than any other claimant. Matulis decided to switch tactics, and declared his support for his wife, Princess Stefaneia, to be named monarch. He additionally used his position as Minister of War to demand an oath of loyalty from several senior Liotainian generals. Officers who refused to give the oath were reassigned to distant or unimportant postings. Matulis also started an intimidation campaign against both Maurizia and her closest supporters.

As tensions continued to rise, Maurizia feared an outbreak of violence. On 4th April, she was alerted that Matulis demanded oaths of loyalty from the military, and feared that a civil war for the throne might follow. The same day, she wrote a letter to Prince Elouan. In her appeal, she asked him to bring his Celtican mercenaries across the border, and finished with a bold proposition of marriage.

Maurizia's letter reached Elouan on 20th April, at his temporary residence in Aquilani. He immediately responded with a letter of support, and hurriedly gathered a force of roughly three thousand soldiers, mostly battle-tested mercenaries who had been with him on previous campaigns in Erisia. The mercenaries were temporarily paid from his own purse, although Elouan expected to settle accounts after setting Maurizia on the throne. By the 22nd, Elouan and his mercenaries were on the march for the Liotainian border.

### Glorious Revolution

Through April, the Teismas continued debating the merits of the various claimants. Linas Bernotas, on 12th April, proposed to throw his support behind Maurizia in exchange for marriage; Maurizia declined this offer.

Adomis Matulis spent much of his efforts attacking Maurizia's alleged inability to bear children, which presented a problem for a future line of succession, and her current lack of a potential consort. Maurizia played her hand subtly, but the situation in the capital continued to intensify. A crowd of street thugs assaulted Maurizia's house and broke windows on 18th April, while some of Maurizia's supporters, the following day, threw stones at two Teismas members who voiced their support for Matulis. Later on the 18th, violence escalated further when someone burned down the Pearl and Sword Coffee House, where the reform-minded parliamentarians usually met after sessions of the Teismas.

During these debates, Matulis continued to claim the throne for himself personally, rather than on behalf of his wife Princess Stefaneia, who held a closer claim to the throne than Maurizia herself. Some leaders of the Teismas suggested that the deadlock could be broken by nominating Stefaneia to become queen regnant, with her husband merely being prince consort. However, this suggestion was quickly discarded, since Princess Stefaneia, in her limited comments, seemed entirely subservient to her husband's political ambitions, giving the members of the Teismas no indications that she would rule in her own name; in fact, her comments merely reinforced that her husband would act as the true power behind the throne.

As the Teismas continued debating, the members increasingly felt that Maurizia would make a better monarch than Matulis; but they feared that Matulis would turn more violent if his candidacy for the throne was rejected.

#### Flight of the Ninety

On 21st April, a number of members of the Teismas were alerted to rumors that Matulis had been dispatching letters to the five senior regimental commanders in the region of the capital. Fears immediately rose that Matulis was planning a coup. Without Maurizia's knowledge, senior members of the Teismas agreed to secretly flee Neris, making their way to the town of Kedainiai. With so many members of the Teismas gone, Matulis would lack parliamentary approval to claim the crown, denying legitimacy to any actions he took. On the evening of the 21st, ninety of the hundred and ten Teismas members slipped out of Neris. The secret managed to keep until dawn, when their departure was finally noted.

Maurizia was left in the dark about the departure of the Teismas, and felt betrayed by the flight of most of her closest supporters. Being under close watch herself, Maurizia could not flee the city, and remained in her home, barricaded with her closest servants inside.

Matulis was privately enraged, but immediately sent conciliatory letters and assurances to the missing members of the Teismas. On the 24th, with no responses, Matulis changed tactics once again, calling on three cavalry regiments, whose commanding officers had sworn loyalty to Matulis, to ride to Kedainiai. The troops balked at these orders, however, and only consented to ride when Matulis himself agreed to lead them personally. This delayed the pursuit, and Matulis and his three regiments left Neris on the afternoon of the 25th of April.

Ultimately, Matulis's departure from Neris would be his undoing, although it is difficult to determine what other options he could have pursued. Although Matulis placed himself at the head of a loyal body of men, he had abandoned the capital and left his rival unopposed at a most critical moment. The people of Neris viewed Matulis's departure as an acknowledgement of weakness. On the afternoon of the 26th, a crowd of nearly ten thousand, national banners in hand, gathered outside Maurizia's home. When she finally appeared after several hours, the crowd erupted into cheers of "*Tegyvuoja karaliene!*" (Long live the queen.)

This unplanned demonstration nearly went awry, however, when Colonel Jurgis Zukas, a Matulis loyalist, brought his regiment into the city, with the goal of dispersing the crowd. As Zukas moved his troops down the Charnaduras Prospekt toward Maurizia's house, the regiment was booed by Nerisians. A tense standoff then occurred shortly before 6 PM, with the crowd, still shouting "*Tegyvuoja karaliene*" refusing to yield to the troops. Zukas ordered his men to fix bayonets, whereupon a young lieutenant, later identified as Jonas Filmarkas, broke ranks, stole Zukas's own hat from off his head, and shouted "*Tegyvuoja karaliene!*" The troops immediately followed his example with a raucous cheer for Maurizia, then broke ranks and began to mingle with the rest of the crowd. Zukas and a group of his officers immediately fled the scene in disarray.

#### Parliament in a Field

In spite of the cheers of the crowd, Maurizia initially refused to take up the crown, objecting that the Teismas had to vote. Nevertheless, the lengthening interregnum, now well into its second month, had increasingly worrisome effects on diplomacy and economics. Maurizia dispatched urgent letters to the leaders of the absent Teismas, as well as Prince Elouan, advising him of the situation. Elouan's first reply to Maurizia's invitation - which included his acceptance of her marriage proposal - reached her on the 27th of April.

Events soon moved very quickly. Elouan, having crossed the Liotainian border, advanced up the coast toward Sventoji. Admiral Eduardas Bernotas, the Royal Liotainian Navy commander there, received detailed information and conferenced with Elouan. Bernotas advised the prince of the flight of the Teismas, Matulis's pursuit, and the general mood of the country, but admitted that he himself was uncertain which party he supported. Elouan sweet-talked Bernotas to declare for Maurizia, and the Admiral offered to use the ships of the Coastal Fleet to speed his progress toward Neris.

The members of the Teismas, having fled Neris, regathered in Kedainiai, with sixty-nine of the representatives arriving by the 28th of April, barely enough for a quorum. Matulis was by now known to be in pursuit, and so the members urged immediate action. Gathering in a field outside town, the Teismas voted, sixty-one votes in favor (with four against, and four abstentions), to declare Maurizia queen of Liotain. Reportedly, after the vote was called, one of the nay-voting members heckled "to wear the crown, if she can keep it!"

The "Parliament in a Field" then voted a second resolution, encouraging the new queen to "re-establish good order suitable for the continuance of government" and authorized her to employ the military accomplish this task. This resolution passed unanimously, whereupon the Teismas scattered, in the hope of preventing their capture by Matulis.

#### Battle of Raseiniai

Both Matulis and Elouan received word of the Parliament in a Field's declaration on the 29th of April. Matulis felt that he would likely be branded a traitor even if he yielded immediately to Maurizia, but nevertheless determined to turn back to Neris. His motivations for doing so remain unclear. Matulis informed the officers of his three loyal regiments that they "would put down the rebels" while also sending a profession of loyalty to Maurizia.

Travelling aboard the ships of Admiral Bernotas's coastal fleet, Elouan arrived at Vadgirys on the 30th of April. The coastal city, on the direct route of Matulis's return march to Neris, was awash with speculation and rumors. Some city leaders believed that Matulis intended to submit, while others thought he intended to sack any town that failed to declare in his name. The city council, having received letters from Maurizia asking for cooperation, pleaded with Elouan for protection. The prince decided to land his mercenaries and prepared to meet Matulis in the field.

Having spent the evening of 30th April unloading twelve hundred of his men, Elouan advanced with them five kilometers west of Vadgirys, to the village of Raseiniai. Here, shortly before ten o'clock, he encountered the vanguard of Matulis's cavalry, which balked at this unexpected obstacle. Before negotiations could begin, some of Matulis's cavalry got involved in a scuffle with the Celtican mercenaries. What began as a simple brawl with fists rapidly escalated.

Arriving on scene without knowledge of the situation, Matulis ordered his cavalry troops to launch an immediate charge. Although he had superior numbers (1,800 men to Elouan's 1,200) two of the three cavalry regiments balked at the orders to charge. The third regiment advanced at the gallop toward the experienced Celtican mercenaries, who immediately reformed into squares and greeted them with a disciplined volley at point-blank range. The charge instantly collapsed. Matulis rode forward in an attempt to reform his horsemen, but was hit by a musket-ball which shattered his elbow; a second killed his horse, and he would be trapped underneath the fallen horse.

This brief battle finalized Matulis's aspirations for the crown. He returned to Neris as a prisoner; the wound he suffered resulted in the amputation of his arm several days later. He would never be tried for treason, however; his arm grew gangrenous and his condition worsened, eventually leading to his death in early June.

## Issue

During her marriage to Dovydas du Valori, Maurizia had no children.

Following her marriage to Prince Elouan, she had two children:

* Elzbieta Urmana (1781-1827)
* Paulius Urmana (1783-1841)

## Trivia

* In 1776, Maurizia inherited a tiara given to Princess Vilmante by the famous privateer Grazina Ferrodumond. The tiara (with its famous diamond, the *Eye of Sakarra*) had been taken from Countess Madalena of Balefornia during the Balefornia Raid. Maurizia had the diamond removed from the tiara and placed in her state crown in 1794, where it remains to this day.