Tretrid: Difference between revisions
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Following Gustaf's declaration, King [[Alfred IV of Tretrid|Ælfræd IV]] proclaimed the Edict of Sweoraport, which refused to recognize Gustaf as Fylkir and instead reaffirmed the authority of the Gothirs. This in effect enforced Gothiric Ulvriktru as the state religion of Tretrid. Ælfred quickly followed this up by decreeing that anyone who believed that Gustaf was the leader of the religion were heretics and were to be punished accordingly. This led to a 50-year era of religious fervor and state persecution of Gustafists. After Ælfræd's death a year later, his successor Bada II took the throne and proceeded to wage a number of wars against Norgsveldet and its allies and encouraging the cultivation and spread of ideologies (especially Gothiric Republicanism) that opposed the supposed primacy of the Norgsveltian crown.
The resulting series of wars, whether directly fought between Tretrid and Norgsveldet, or between proxies, proved to be a massive drain on the Tretridian treasury, and while the Witenagemot was initially compliant with Bada's requests to increase taxes for the war effort (having had very little power under Ælfræd IV's reign),
This left the monarchy in a dilemma—Bada could either attempt to strong-arm the Witan into compliance, or he could massively increase taxes on commoners, both of which would invite unrest at an inopportune time and spread republicanism in Tretrid itself. His solution was to
While the Eorlist faction had taken a hit from the expansion of the Witenagemot, it once again started growing in power in the late 1790s as a result of growing discontent with Tretrid's performance in the wars as well as the financial cost of what amounted to twenty years of near-constant military campaigning.
▲This left the monarchy in a dilemma—Bada could either attempt to strong-arm the Witan into compliance, or he could massively increase taxes on commoners, both of which would invite unrest at an inopportune time and spread republicanism in Tretrid itself. His solution was to create a large number of elected seats in the Witan, both increasing the representation of the commoners and effectively watering down the political power of the nobility. This was met with great ire from the nobility and the Eorlist faction, but also stifled most republican sentiment within Tretrid, and, as Bada hoped, most of the new Councilors were Cynists.
===19th century===
Bada II died in 1802, leading to the accession of his daughter Eadgyð II to the throne. Eadgyð quickly appointed a number of close allies in the Witenagemot to the Cabinet as she vowed to the assembly to steer Tretrid in a new direction. Chief among her allies was [[Ælfræd Eadwigson, Duke of Kalmington]], whom she appointed as Prime Minister. She almost immediately started to restructure Tretrid's finances, culminating in her revocation of the Edict of Sweoraport and other decrees that mandated persecution of Gustafists in Tretrid, effectively putting an end to the Ulvriktruar Wars of Religion.
In 1804, Eadgyð II commenced sweeping reforms of the Tretridian government with the proclamation of the Charter of Privileges, which was in essence the Tretridian constitution. The Charter expanded the role of the Witan to take up most of the duties of day-to-day governance of Tretrid, and also mandated elections to the Folkmoot. As Eadgyð continued to retain command of the military and to dictate foreign policy, her reign has been argued to employ an early form of [[Royalistic Populism|royalistic populism]].
Under Kalmington's direction, the Charter of Privileges also made sweeping changes to the Witan itself, creating what would become known as the Kalmington System. Among other things, it guaranteed elections at least once every six years except under times of crisis and brought about many parliamentary traditions that are now widespread outside of Tretrid.
The creation of the Charter proved fatal to the Eorlist faction as it existed throughout the 18th century, as their support for the rather unpopular traditional landed nobility of Tretrid lead to many Eorlists to be voted out in the newly instated elections, while Cynists would be elected in waves due to public enthusiasm for the monarchy as a result of the democratization of Tretrid. While the Cynist faction briefly enjoyed total control of the Witan, however, they ended up splintering from infighting on the subject of possible reforms into the Liberal Party (later the Liberal Democratic Party) and the Conservative Party by the 1816 elections. The Eorlist faction's last seats in the Folkmoot were lost in 1824, though they would continue to have members in the Athelmoot for decades afterwards.
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