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king rob
Topic Started: Jun 21 2018, 08:07 PM (26 Views)
Ironside
Administrator
In the year 642 AD Robert Ironside defeated his brother Niall and became King Robert I of East Moreland, since then he has often been referred to by the nickname "The Unifier" however as an early medieval King does Robert I truly deserve to be called a unifier.

First we must consider the nature of East Moreland in 642. Simply taken , there was no East Moreland, what existed was the Kingdom of Borland and to the East of that Kingdom a small isolated principality called Moreland. During the period immediately proceeding Robert becoming the King there had been a war between rebels from Moreland and the Kingdom of Borland, thrown into this was the young Robert. Originally siding with his brother Niall he soon became victim of a plot to frame him for the death of his long term ill father Thomas. As a result Robert fled to Moreland and joined the rebellion in the East of the country. So in effect what Robert unified was not one nation under a crown, but two nations under a single crown. At this point he moulded two regions into one Kingdom. So clearly the first King of East Moreland was a unifier, but this only takes into account the geo-political nature of the union of two regions. To truly explore the extent to which he deserves this title we must look at the methods he used.

One of the oldest surviving documents from this time period is the Barons Scroll. This Chronicle of the early days of East Moreland tells of how in the months following King Robert defeating Niall at the battle of Greenflowers , Robert systematically removed from power every Lord and Baron who had stood with Niall at the battle. He replaced them with men from Moreland, men who had loyal stood by this young rebel leader. By the year 648AD it is possible to see that out of the 80 Lords and Barons listed in the Scroll that around 30 of them had been in power before the war was fought. As a result of this we can argue that Robert managed to merge the aristocracy of the two former lands into one. The Scroll then goes on to say that in the year 650AD a Lord called Thomas Lionel raised Niall's standard in Aldfield, only two other Lords went to stand with him, clearly showing that Robert had managed to secure the loyalty of the majority of the former Borland Lords. However we should not rule out that this was because of how difficult the new King had made it to raise an Army. No Lord or Baron was allowed to have a standing force of more than 20 men, but must maintain the readiness of a militia, meanwhile Robert had a large standing army of around 2,000 men, this meant that he could easily oppose any rebellious Lord quickly and effectively. Therefore rebellion would have been almost impossible.

Another consideration that clearly shows the way King Robert unified the Kingdoms was that the Code of Canley was accepted by both Borland and Morelanders. The code had, and still is, the backbone of East Moreland moral and legal codes. Its exact origins are unknown but what is clear is that before Robert took command of the rebel Moreland army the rebels had not followed Canley. In 641AD during an attack on a village in the Alps Sir Walter Reinman of Borland wrote about how six Moreland knights sacrificed their lives in an attempt to save a young woman from the overwhelming onslaught of Borland soldiers. While one of the Knights lay dying Reinman says he heard the Knight giving his account of how he'd followed Canley to the Gods. Clearly an unbiased source it shows that Robert had instilled in his men this code. Therefore when the two lands become one we can see two groups of previously unrelated folk willingly following a strict moral code. Somehow the King had unified the two regions. Many Chronicles of the day say this was achieved by the Kings own unwavering adherence to Canley while his brother Niall was prone to carrying out massacres, killing women and children and was often dismissive of the Gods, however some would say that perhaps Roberts use of fear was more responsible.

In 650AD there began a series of trials which are now referred to by scholars at the Canley Cases, so far we have found 854 scrolls detailing accounts of trials where members of both the aristocracy of peasant classes where put on trial for breaking Canley. In 802 cases the accused was sentenced to death, in the remaining 52 cases the accused was sentenced to some form of torture and then exile for them and there family. This would seem to show Robert removing anyone who stood against his rule, this would therefore give the impression that Robert had no opponents, but clearly this was not the case.

As well as the Canley Cases the catacombs of the Temple of Holbrooke reveal a large number of inscriptions for people who had "Died an outcast" this was usually early medieval terminology for those who the King had punished for standing against them, in total if we add these to the Canley Cases we have around 1,000 people who openly opposed the Kings rule. As we estimate the population of East Moreland then to have been in the region of 10,000,000 this would not be an insignificant number as these are only the cases we know about.

Finally we must consider the modern day situation. As has been shown in recent months there still exists a group of people who refuse to be unified. The Borland Separatist movement under their leader Kyle Barren claim to be a direct link back to Niall. Today estimates place their numbers at less than 2,000 in a nation with a population of 80,000,000 clearly less significant than in Roberts day but the fact that this opposition has lasted over 1,400 years must indicate Robert did not fully unite the Kingdom.

When Robert died in 676AD he left the kingdom to his eldest son Eoin I, there were no rebellions, no out crys, no pretenders or any other opposition to this change in rule. This would seem to indicate that people where willing to be under control of the Ironsides. Since 676AD the Kingdom has had one real rebellion against a monarch (Kieron the Spineless was opposed and replaced by his younger brother Alfred the Liberator in the 15th Century) showing that the foundations Robert laid of a united land must have been successful. It is therefore my opinion that Robert truly deserves the name, The Unifier. He may not have always used methods that by our standards today would be considered noble, but by his will alone he was able to create the foundations of a prosperous and safe Kingdom.
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