Sunday, May 25, 2008

A thought on origins

I've been pondering on an origination for Hesse-Engelburg, and have some ideas to run past people for suggestion.

I'm thinking perhaps it was once owned by one of the minor Hessian lines, but at some prior point that line rebelled against the Holy Roman Emperor, and the Blauerwolf family, then perhaps a Knight or at most a Baron, were granted recognition as Furst of the territory for their support in the fight to overcome the Hessian rebel.

It's a loose framework, and I may change it significantly, but some folks with a more detailed knowledge of earlier European history could perhaps suggest whether this is reasonable, and what time period might work for there to be such a conflict?

3 comments:

Der Alte Fritz said...

Sometimes little states were carved up when there were several sons. Rather than give the land to the eldest, they often split the lands amongst the sons. Maybe that is what happened in your state.

Bluebear Jeff said...

If you want a "conflict", the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) is certainly both recent enough and far enough in the past to be perfect for your purposes.

The many conflicting sides of this conflict are too convoluted to go into here -- but this link might give you some ideas:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Years_War

My own Saxe-Bearsteiners started out as a Swiss mercenary unit (The Bears) in that conflict.

Eventually the head of the regiment saved the life of an important noble when they were charged by a bear during a meal break.

As a reward, the valley were the attack took place was gifted to the Colonel who was given the new family title of "von Ursa".

The regiment settled the valley and the rest is history (well, quasi-history anyway).

Hopefully some of this will help you discover your own Principality's history.


-- Jeff

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said...

Hi Jonathan,

Yes, excellent advice from Jim and Jeff. Since there were once so many little "statelettes" across Central and Eastern Europe, you can patch people, places, and events together, altering names where appropriate or when the spirit strikes you, and create something that is largely your own. It's a terrific, though perhaps underrated, part of the wargaming hobby.

Best Regards,

Stokes