Some more information about Syldavia

In 1878, the 21-year old Miss Dorothea Huntley-Palmer travelled to Syldavia with her parents, Sir Arthur and Lady Caroline, for the coronation of the new King, Muskar VII. Sir Arthur was travelling in an official but unspecified capacity as a representative of Her Majesty’s Foreign Office.

      This image is by Edward Lear of the Albanian city of Durres.

The Huntley-Palmer family had a long history of visiting Syldavia, dating back to Captain (later Sir) William Huntley-Palmer of the 11^th Dragoons, who travelled widely in that country in the mid-18th century at the behest of the British government, first visiting Syldavia in 1753 on the orders of General Sir George Augustus Melchett, a relative and his superior in an unnamed government department. William Huntley-Palmer lived in Syldavia for a number of years and in 1763 married the 22-year-old Doroteja Svinjske-Klobase, a member of a noble family related to the Syldavian Royal House of Almaszout.

Before visiting the country, Dorothea (named after her Syldavian ancestor) investigated the journals and papers of her illustrious forefather and because of family connections was able to consult many documents contained in the Melchett Archives.

William Huntley-Palmer was resident in Syldavia between 1756 and 1764 and wrote at length about the people, customs, places and history of the country. Dorothea was most interested in the capital city Klow (variously pronounced as Klau, Klov and Klor), because that is where she would be residing initially. In one report, Sir William describes Klow as;

"an ancient but well-preserved city, constructed of pale yellow limestone with several grand palacioes in the Venetian style, possessing a number of fine antique ruins from the Roman period. The Basilica of St Budvar gives the appearance of great antiquity and was surely constructed by mighty engineers from imperial Rome or Constantinople in the years of its glory This great church is decorated in the Byzantine manner, with many mosaics and icons and has a great dome of ancient and ingenious construction. Much of the water supply to the Old City comes from a still-functional Roman aqueduct. The Old City, which occupies the long ridge overlooking the confluence of the Wladir and Moltus rivers is still known by its Roman name of Klovinus and is dominated by the great mass of the mediaeval Castle, formerly the Royal Residence and location of the Royal Court, although nowadays there is a modern Royal Palace built in the French style facing the Castle across the main square. The Castle itself is of a stern aspect and strongly built in the old Italian manner, with all manner of machicolations, arrow slits, round towers and fortified gateways”.

Sir William writes at length about the Old City, noting that many mediaeval buildings were razed to allow the building of the New Palace, which was only completed in 1742, although construction had begun in the 1720s. Sir William himself spent some time residing in a mediaeval tower house in the Old City, once the residence of Sidekar Krutusne, a famous warlord of the Slavonic Hvegs in the 15th century. Close to the Basilica, the house bore a bas-relief indicating that in 1464 its owner had been made one of the founding Knights of the Order of the Black Pelican. The carving above the entrance to the house showed a Pelican Rampant, bearing in its beak a scroll emblazoned with the Latin phrase “hoc signo vinces nigrum onocrotalus” and dated 1464.

Sir William also describes the newer parts of the city of Klow, which are mainly on the south bank of the River Wladir, although there are many houses and warehouses of the 17^th century on the slopes outside the Old City Walls that lead down to the wharves that line the northern bank of the river. To the north of the city, he describes the market gardens and small farms that have sprung up over the centuries to feed the urban population. He also notes the remaining Roman ruins at the western end of the Klovinus ridge, enclosed in a walled park which forms part of the modern Royal Palace. In his words;

“The remaining vestiges of Roman Klovinus, which was built on the site of an Oppidum of the Illyrian tribe of the Kallipians, are to the west of the Palace and are part of the parklands in which King Ottokar, his wife Queen Octavie and their children may be found taking the airs and enjoying musical performances in the simulacrum of a small Roman theatre which has been reconstructed from the stones left from the destruction of much of the mediaeval city. The remains themselves consist of two pillared temples, one still with its roof, the lower floor levels of a great villa, some statuary and a square building which had been decorated with mosaics in the Christian period of Roman rule. The famous aqueduct, which is one of the marvels of the country, lies elsewhere, entering Klovinus through a tunnel through the walls further east, filling the great cisterns beneath the Castle. These waters come from the north, transported by this great Roman enterprise from springs high above the fortress of St Vladimir, which was rebuilt in the manner of Marshal Vauban in the early 1700s.”

Discussing modern Klow, Sir William says;

“The Lower City, the Extra-Muros, dates mainly from the 15^th and 16^th centuries. It is found on the Right Bank, that is to say the northern side of the great River Wladir. Much of the building is in the Venetian style and there are a number of fine Palacios belonging to merchant families. At the western end of the Extra-Muros is the Quarter of the Musselmen, where the tall towers of their temples, known as Mosques, dominate the skyline. There are also numerous residences on the terraced slopes leading down from the Old City Walls, which were once the mansios and hotels of various Syldavian lords and gentry, although these are mostly now much decayed and occupied by those artizans and workers of the Old City whose homes were razed to build King Ottokar’s father’s new palace. The Lords and Gentlemen have decamped to a location to the east of Klow, in the tongue of land between the Moltus and Wladir rivers. Formerly the fishing village of Sankt Budvarius (there is a shrine to the saint situated close to the river), since the middle part of the 17^th century this village has been built up into a sophisticated suburb with a theatre for the Opera and other musical diversions. South of the Wladir, the Left Bank may be reached by three great bridges. New Klow proper can be found here. Close to the river, there are many enterprises and manufactories and the houses are small and close together. This area was formerly known as die Häfen, that is to say, The Harbours. This is where the urban poor and labouring classes of New Klow are concentrated. South of these warrens, past the New Market of Klow, built in 1670 by the order of King Muskar IV (grandfather of the current King), there is much new building, including districts of fine houses when the new middling classes reside. At the western edge of the New City lies the Champs de Mars (named in the French way) and the main depots and barracks of a number of regiments of the Syldavian army. None of New Klow is walled and the city is extending southwards as the population grows”

Dorothy notes that her family will reside in a mansion in Sankt Budvarius which is currently the British Embassy. Since the 1760s, Sankt Budvarius has developed into an administrative centre, with a number of government ministries and foreign legations and embassies located there.

In her journal, Dorothea writes that her family and personal servants would travel across Europe by train to Venice, before taking a steamer to the main Syldavian port of Dbrnouk, from whence they would complete their journey by train to the capital. She expresses a desire to explore the old town of Dbrnouk and practice her watercolour techniques by painting the ruins of the Venetian castle. She tells us that she is much taken with the story of the first King of Syldavia, Muskar I, recorded in mediaeval documents as Muscarius Hivegiorum, that is to say Muskar Hveghi or Muskar of the Hvegs, who became king in 1127, leading an army of Hvegi and Istrovni supported by Venetian and Carinthian mercenaries, overthrowing the last Turkic khan of Lower Syldavia at the Battle of Zileheroum. Legend tells that the night before the battle Muskar dreamt of a giant black pelican who flew out of the dawn bearing in its beak a scroll inscribed with the words “hoc signo vinces nigrum onocrotalus”. This legend will much later on give birth to the Knightly Order of the Black Pelican.

Dorothea writes that the Hvegi and Istrovni were Slavonic tribes who had migrated into the region in the 6^th century, and who were later “enslaved” by Turkic-speaking tribes from the area north of the Black Sea, who conquered the Duchies of Klovinia, Zympathia and Istrovia in the 10^th century. The first recorded Slavic ruler of the area was Budvar I, known as Budvarios Sclavenios in a document from the reign of the eastern Roman emperor Tiberius II Constantine. The inhabitants were referred to as the Klovinioi. The 8^th century Notitia Syldaviarum tells us that the peoples (populi Syldavari) of Upper and Lower Syldavia are comprised of the Illyrian Ghogs, the Syldavi (descended from Roman colonists), the Gothic Tervingi and the Slavic Istrovni and Hvegi.

Other things that Dorothea discovers in the Melchett Archives date from the end of the 18^th century and the early years of the 19^th.. One of these is that Admiral Nelson spent some time in the southern port of Cataro with Lady Hamilton in 1799, while his ships were refitting in the great Cataro Lagoon, a safe harbour for many ships. Another is that her grandfather Sir Robert Huntley-Palmer (b.1794 d.1867) met Lord Byron in Klow in 1819, while visiting the country as a guest of Count Otto Svinjske-Klobase, a member of his grandmother Doroteja‘s family. Dorothea expresses the hope that she will also meet her Svinjske-Klobase relatives while staying in Klow. She writes, somewhat colourfully, of her desire to meet dashing young Syldavian Hussar officers and being able to attend glittering balls and soirées where she can spend her time dancing amidst the cream of Syldavian society. She notes that her great-uncle Lt. Col Henry Huntley-Palmer (b.1801 d.1889) was British Military attaché to Syldavia in the 1850s and was an observer present at a number of engagements between Syldavia and Borduria in the War of 1859-1863, which eventually led to the end of the Bordurian Autocracy and the rise of its present Dictatorship.

Bringing Syldavian history into the 19th century

Yesterday, I wrote a piece about the 19th century history of Borduria, so today I am going to do the same for its western neighbour Syldavia.

I will begin with the death of Ottokar IX in 1776. He was succeeded by his grandson Muskar, whose father, the Crown Prince Viktar had died in 1774 in a hunting accident. Muskar VI had never expected to become king and had pursued a life in antiquarian and literary studies until the death of his father. His wife, Sophie de la Boissière was French, as was his mother, Queen Octavie. Muskar, despite his bookish demeanour was an able ruler, willing to listen to advice from his chief ministers and advisors. A child of the Enlightenment, Muskar VI introduced political reforms influenced by certain aspects of the aftermath of the American War of Independence and began to reject the absolutism of the French monarchy, despite his mother's family connections. However, he was appalled at the French Revolution and the Terror, during which his aristocratic father-in-law perished in the Place de la Guillotine. Numerous exiled French royalists fled to Syldavia and their anti-revolutionary sentiments shifted Muskar away from making further reforms. Syldavian policies shifted towards supporting the anti-Napoleonic Third Coalition and many Syldavian regiments fought alongside the Austrians, suffering heavy losses at the Battle of Austerlitz, which led to Syldavia pursuing a path of neutrality from 1806 until 1809, when Syldavia joined the Fifth Coalition (as did Borduria). The Syldavian army fought alongside the Austrians in the 1809 Dalmatian Campaign and a Syldavian Corps fought at Aspern-Essling and again at Wagram, suffering heavy casualties in the latter battle, which ended the Coalition.

Syldavia sent troops to fight in the Sixth Coalition, but not in large numbers as there were fears of a local war breaking out with Borduria, the perennial enemy in 1813.

After the Congress of Vienna in 1814, Syldavia and Borduria signed a non-aggression Treaty which would last until the 1850s.

Muskar VI died in 1822 to be succeeded as king by Crown Prince Johannes, who ruled as Johannes I. His Queen was Lucrezia di Grissini, the granddaughter of the famous 18th century Italian soldier of fortune and Syldavian general, Ercole di Grissini. Johannes ruled over a period of Syldavian prosperity and gradual democratisation. Limited male suffrage was introduced in 1830 and the electoral qualifications were widened again in 1848, to try and contain the revolutionary fervour that gripped much of Europe. Syldavian politicians managed to resist the revolutionary pressures from below by bringing in measures to liberalise employment laws and introduce improved Poor Laws. The Constitution of 1849 codified the role of the monarchy and the newly-reformed parliament (Versammlung or Parlament in the local official languages).

The liberal rule of Johannes contrasted greatly with the repressive authoritarianism of Constantine III and Alexandros I in Borduria, and Syldavia became a refuge for Bordurian radicals in the years leading up to the Bordurian Coup of 1858. This was to become a major cause of the outbreak of war between the two countries in 1859, lasting intermittently until 1863 with the defeat of Borduria.

Johannes I died in 1877, having seen the end of the Bordurian Autocracy and the rise of the revolutionary Republic of Borduria. His successor, his son Muskar VII followed his liberal rule, ensuring that the Syldavian state was secure from revolutionary civil war by continuing to enact a series of laws improving the lives of the growing urban working classes and rural peasantry, including free education (for boys only) until the age of 12 and a limited free hospital system in major centres of population. At the same time, he modernised the Syldavian military and created a Security and Intelligence Service, the Varnosti Policija, popularly known as the Vohunska, whose role was very much aimed at countering Bordurian attempts to subvert and overthrow the Syldavian monarchy and state. Unhappily, Muskar VII only ruled for a short time, dying of a rare disease in 1882. He was succeeded by his brother Marko, who ruled under the regnal name of Muskar VIII.

Ok, so that is where we are now in Syldavia and Borduria. All set for intrigue and hopefully games of pulp and In Her Majesty's Name featuring the two countries and their secret agencies. All I need now is to find some suitable late-19th or early-20th century miniatures to serve as Syldavians. Still, it isn't as though I have much else to occupy my time at present.

A Return to Borduria - bringing my imaginations into the late-19th century.

As regular readers of this blog will know, I am a huge fan of the figures produced by Mark Copplestone. I've long admired his Back Of Beyond range, but I've never really wanted to buy large armies of the figures. However, it occurred to me that I could use his Bolsheviks for a band in games of In Her Majesty's Name and also in 7TV Pulp games. So, I need a setting for them, and where else should that be except in Borduria? So, here is a brief account of what happened to Borduria during the 19th century.

After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, during which both Syldavia and Borduria found themselves on the same side in various coalitions against the Emperor, things slowly began to change for these small nations. I shall come back at some future date to discuss Syldavia in the 19th century, so this will be all about Borduria.

The beginning of the 19th century saw the coronation of Autokrat Constantine III on New Year's Day 1802 He was the grandson of Constantine II who ruled the country from 1747 until his death in 1782, when he was succeeded by his son Demetrios I Cantacuzene, who was assassinated by an unknown hand in 1801.

Constantine III was very much under the influence of the Russian party in the Bordurian court, which had gained an ascendancy over the pro-Prussian faction in the last decade of the 18th century. The leader of the Russian party in the Samovar (the Bordurian assembly of boyars and de facto royal council), Count Pyotr Strabomytes of Kardouk (the son of the Count Strabomytes against whom Sir William Huntley-Palmer fought a duel in Trieste in 1765) began to push Constantine towards a much more pro-Tsarist position.

Following the Congress of Vienna in 1814, Constantine III began to consolidate his position by purging the army of Prussian influences and beginning a period of Slavicisation of the organs of the state and the oppression of Roman Catholicism. Constantine promoted the most conservative elements in his court and during his reign, which ended in 1838, the country became more and more authoritarian. Following his death, his son Alexandros I continued his father's policies, with strict censorship of the press and a tightening of control over the country's education system, at one point closing all of the country's four universities for five years.

Alexandros I was assassinated by an Anarchist faction in 1851, without leaving an adult male heir. This led to a period of instability for a few years, with the Samovar appointing Count Michaelis Bazarov as co-regent with Alexandros' widow Elizavetna Romanova. Bazarov became unpopular with many boyars and landowners once his relationship with the Dowager Empress became clear and he was removed from office and imprisoned in Peshod Castle, where he died in mysterious circumstances. His removal allowed the young and ambitious Count Georgios Cantacuzene, from a junior branch of the ruling House to raise up an army and overthrow the Samovar in 1858. Refusing the title of Autokrator, he was acclaimed by a faction of liberal landowners as Voivode, adopting a traditional pre-Autocracy title for the ruler of the country. At first, the reign of Georgios seemed to herald a new dawn for Borduria, with a relaxation of the repressive laws of Constantine III and Alexandros, but liberalisation coincided with a renewal of war with Syldavia, leading to a succession of military defeats. Conservative elements in the Army and amongst rural boyars, supported by Tsarist agents in the country, launched a coup against Georgios, who was deposed and murdered in his palace in the capital, Szohôd in August 1865. Alexandros' son, Constantine was brought back from exile in Saint Petersburg, where his mother had taken him in 1859 and crowned Autokrator in October 1865. The return of repression was inevitable, but this time there was much opposition inside the country and civil disturbances, strikes and violence spread until it was necessary for Constantine IV to declare martial law in 1868. 

There were many Bordurian exiles living across Eastern and Central Europe and these had organised political and revolutionary movements, some with links to German nationalists, other with Syldavian elements and still more with Marxist, Socialist and Anarchist groups. As martial law bit deep and unrest began to turn into conflict, the leader of the Proletarian Alliance, the largest exile Marxist grouping, Eugenios Laskarios, agreed a pact with the peasant Agrarian League and the (illegal) anarchist Union of Workers to form the Bordurian Proletarian Party. Fomenting dissent in the Army and carrying out a wave of assassinations and acts of terrorism, the BPP led the country in a general uprising in 1869. Many regiments of the army mutinied and killed their officers and a short but bloody Civil War ensued.

The city of Szohôd was besieged and other cities and towns began to rise up and expel their local governments. By the end of 1871, most of the country was in the hands of the BPP and Constantine and his family fled to Syldavia, from whence he made his way to Switzerland and then Russia. Laskarios proclaimed the end of the Autocracy and the beginning of the Bordurian Republic on the steps of the Royal Palace on March 1st 1872. He assumed the title of First Minister of the People's Provisional Government and began the process of purging the country of the old absolutist aristocracy. However, the process of nationalisation and the redistribution of land didn't run smoothly. There were disagreements and ideological differences in the Parliament and before long Laskarios and his Proletarian Alliance comrades realised that to preserve the revolution they would have to purge the government of its opponents and rule the country as a one-party state. In 1874, Laskarios shut down Parliament and his secret police and party militia launched another coup which brought about the final act of the Bordurian Revolution.

Since then, the Proletarian Alliance has ruled the country, with its head being known as the Chief Commissar. After the death of Eugenios Laskarios in 1881, the Leader has been Chief Commissar Michaelis Ivanovich. The Bordurian Secret Police, the Second Directorate (also called the Sekuritat), controls the press and oversees state security, while the Third Directorate is a secret intelligence organisation that operates in neighbouring countries, as well as those further away who harbour émigré Cantacuzenist and aristocratic communities and factions. These factions are all grouped together under the broad title of Autokratians, after the old title of the Bordurian Crown. Bourgeois and Liberal democratic groups are also targeted by the Third Directorate, popularly called the Informat.

Informat active units are not only intelligence gatherers and spies. They also carry out abductions and assassinations, as well as building up links with revolutionary groups and even criminal gangs in capitalist countries.