Heirs to Merlin Chapter Two: History

See Also

• The Ars Magica Reference Document
• The Heirs to Merlin Open Content page
• The Heirs to Merlin product page on this wiki

Chapter Two: History

Before the Romans

Brutus, the founder of Britain, had three sons, Locrinus, Kamber, and Albanactus. When he died, twenty three years after landing in Britain, his sons divided the kingdom between them. Locrinus, the eldest, took England, which was called Loegria after him. Kamber took Wales, and it was named Kambria after him, while Albanactus took Scotland, which at that time was called Albany. While they reigned, Humber, king of the Huns, invaded and killed Albanactus, but Locrinus and Kamber defeated the Hun, and he drowned in a river which was then named the Humber.

Among Humber's captives Locrinus discovered Estrildis, the beautiful daughter of the King of Germany, and fell in love. He wanted to marry her, but he had already promised to marry Gwendolen, daughter of the king of Cornwall. Fearing Gwendolen's father, he had Estrildis confined in a chamber, and visited her secretly, fathering a beautiful daughter, who was called Habren. Gwendolen bore a son, called Maddan. When Gwendolen's father finally died, Locrinus put her aside, and lived with Estrildis. Gwendolen raised an army in Cornwall, and defeated Locrinus, throwing both Estrildis and Habren into the Severn. She reigned for fifteen years before passing the scepter to Maddan.

Some time later the country was ruled by Bladud, who founded the city of Bath and encouraged magic throughout the realm. He finally died, it is said, when he fell from the sky while flying, and was dashed to pieces on the temple of Apollo in London.

Bladud was followed by King Leir, who had no sons, but three daughters: Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. When he became old, he asked them how much they loved him, and while Goneril and Regan said that their love for him was greater than for any living thing, Cordelia said that she loved him as a father deserved. Leir, furious with his youngest daughter, had Goneril and Regan married in great pomp, but gave Cordelia to Aganippus, the king of the Franks, with no dowry. Goneril and Regan, and their husbands, were given control of the country, and they humiliated Leir, finally driving him away. He went to Cordelia, sure she would reject him, but she welcomed him, and, together with Aganippus, raised an army to take his kingdom back. Leir lived for three years after reconquering his land, and Aganippus died in the same year, so that Cordelia became queen of England. Five years later, Goneril and Regan's sons rebelled, and captured Cordelia. In prison, grieving over the loss of her father and her kingdom, she killed herself.

Some years later Dunvallo Molmutius took the throne, winning it in battle. He established the Molmutine Laws, which made temples and the roads leading to them places of sanctuary. His reign was an era of peace, when no one dared to rob. His sons were Belinus and Brennius, and both wanted to be king. After his death they fought, until friends made peace between them, with Brennius, the younger, accepting the lordship of the north of the country, subject to his brother. A few years later, Brennius rebelled, and Belinus defeated him, driving him from the country. He found refuge with the king of the Allobroges, who married him to his daughter and made him his heir. Once Brennius was king there, he led his subjects back to Britain, determined to take the kingdom from his brother. As the armies gathered for battle, his mother came to him and begged him to make peace with his brother, reminding him that he had now become a king in his own right, and that he had rebelled in the first place. He was convinced, and the brothers made peace. They combined their armies, and harried Gaul, before continuing south to sack Rome. Brennius remained in Italy, treating the people savagely, but Belinus returned to Britain, where he presided over an age of immense wealth, the like of which was never seen again.

On History

We hold the writings of the ancients in our hands, and they make times that were past even to them present to us, and yet we are mute; thus their memory lives, and ours dies. A notable wonder! The dead live, and the living are buried in their place. Our time perhaps has someone worthy of the mantle of Sophocles, but the great men of today are neglected, and the cast-off fringes of antiquity raised to honor.

— From Walter Map, De Nugis Curialium

A Note on Sources

The account of history up to Arthur is based closely on Geoffrey of Monmouth. History from the Saxons on is based on current scholarship.

Brutus

Aeneas of Troy fled the fall of the city, finally arriving in Italy where he became king, marrying Lavinia, the daughter of King Latinus. After Aeneas died, his son Ascanius became king. Ascanius's son Silvius had a secret affair with one of Lavinia's nieces, marrying her and making her pregnant. When Ascanius found out, he consulted soothsayers about the child, and they said that he would be a boy who would cause the death of his father and mother, and, after wandering in exile, rise to the highest honor.

Brutus's mother died in childbirth, and when he was fifteen he killed his father in a hunting accident. His relations exiled him from Italy for this crime, and he went to Greece, where he found a number of Trojans enslaved by King Pandrasus. He so impressed everyone with his might and wisdom that he was made leader of the Trojans, and demanded that Pandrasus free them. The king refused, and attacked Brutus and the Trojans. Brutus was victorious, and demanded the freedom to leave the country, taking Pandrasus's daughter as his wife, and gold to support the Trojans on their journey.

Their travels took them to a deserted island where there was a statue of Diana which offered prophecies to anyone who asked. Brutus asked her where he should live, and was told to travel to an island beyond the setting sun which was once inhabited by giants. The Trojans set out, and first landed in Aquitaine, where they fought Goffar the Pict, sacking the region before withdrawing and sailing for Albion.

When they arrived, the Trojans quickly drove out the remaining giants, and Brutus named the island Britain after himself. He chose a spot on the River Thames for his capital, and built a city which he called New Troy. This was in the time when Eli was judge of the Israelites, and the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines.

— From Geoffrey of Monmouth History of the Kings of Britain, Part One

The Romans

Many years later, when Julius Caesar conquered Gaul, Cassivelaunus was king of Britain. Caesar sent him a letter, demanding that he submit to Roman rule and pay him tribute. Cassivelaunus indignantly refused, reminding Caesar that the British and the Romans were sprung from a common stock, and should maintain friendly relations. In response, Caesar invaded Britain, but the British defeated him, and drove him out. Seething with anger, Caesar prepared his fleets again, and sailed up the Thames. But Cassivelaunus had prepared sharpened stakes covered with lead which ripped the bottoms out of his ships, so that many of his troops drowned. Many of those who made it to shore were slaughtered by the Britons, so that Caesar once again was forced to retreat.

Cassivelaunus held great celebrations for the victory, at which a quarrel arose between him and Androgeus, the duke of London, which grew into a war. Androgeus was hardpressed by Cassivelaunus, and wrote to Caesar, asking for his help. Caesar came, and together they defeated Cassivelaunus, who was forced to pay tribute to Rome.

A hundred years later the British king, Guiderius, tried to throw off the Roman yoke, and Claudius invaded to bring him to heel. Claudius won the first battle, killing Guiderius by treachery, but Arvirargus took over the leadership of the Britons, and finally forced Claudius to sue for peace. Arvirargus married Claudius's daughter, and continued paying tribute to the Romans.

One hundred years after Arvirargus, Lucius was the king of the Britons. He heard of the Christian faith, and wrote to Pope Eleutherius, asking that missionaries be sent to Britain. The Pope was happy to agree, and sent Faganus and Duvianus, who converted the whole country within a few years, establishing archbishops at London, York, and Caerleon-on-Usk.

After the death of Lucius, the pirate Carausius convinced Rome to give him some ships, and mercilessly plundered the coasts. Finally, with the aid of the Picts, he deposed the king and took control of the country himself, giving part of Albany to the Picts for their residence. The Roman Senate sent Allectus with three legions to defeat Carausius, but after he had done so he oppressed the Britons, so that they rallied to Asclepiodotus, Duke of Cornwall, and drove him out. At this time Diocletian persecuted the Christians, killing Albanus at St. Albans, and Julius and Aaron at Caerleon. A few years later Constantius of Rome married Helen, the daughter of a British king, and their son Constantine went on to defeat Maxentius and become emperor of Rome, bringing the whole Empire to the Christian faith.

From this time on, barbarian raids began to trouble the Britons, until finally Rome said that it could no longer spare the troops to help such worthless folk, and left the Britons to their own devices.

Bladud's Library

The characters come across references in ancient texts to a library gathered by Bladud in a secret cave somewhere in his realm, where all the secrets of magic were written down. Such a trove of magical lore would be invaluable to a covenant, but there are few clues to its location remaining, and if the characters look for it, other covenants are almost sure to find out. Even if they do find it, all the books are written in a lost language, and the magic they describe is not easily understood in Hermetic terms.

Belinus's Hoard

When Belinus returned to Britain after the sack of Rome, he brought many treasures with him. These may have included texts and enchanted items looted from the Cult of Mercury, or from other Roman magicians. Since books are not obvious targets for most looters, they may survive, forgotten, in a room somewhere. The characters could find part of such a text used in the binding of a new book, and then try to track down the other parts.

Prelude to Arthur

When the Britons were abandoned by Rome, the archbishop of London traveled to Brittany to ask the descendants of the British royal line to return to rule them. Constantine, the brother of the king of Brittany, took the offered throne and sailed to Britain. He fathered three sons, Constans, Aurelius Ambrosius, and Uther Pendragon. Constantine reigned for ten years, and then was treacherously murdered by a Pict.

After Constantine's death, Vortigern seized the throne by treachery. Aurelius Ambrosius and Uther Pendragon were mere boys, and fled to their relatives in Brittany, but other Britons fought against Vortigern. In order to enforce his rule, he invited the Saxons, under Hengist and Horsa, into the country. Vortigern fell in love with Hengist's beautiful daughter Renwein, and Hengist allowed Vortigern to marry her, using this to gain further control over the king and invite more Saxons into the country. The Britons rebelled under Vortimer, Vortigern's son, and drove the Saxons out for a time. After Vortimer's death, Vortigern returned to the throne and recalled the Saxons, who then treacherously slew many of the British nobles at Ambrius, where they had gathered for a peace conference.

At this, Vortigern consulted his magicians, who told him to build a strong tower. He began to build, but everything constructed during the day fell down at night. His magicians told him that he must smear the foundations with the blood of a boy who had no father, and he sent men out to search for such a one. They discovered Merlin, whose mother claimed that he had no father but a spirit. Merlin was taken before Vortigern, and told him that the magicians were lying: the castle collapsed because there were two dragons in an underground pool beneath it, and their fighting at night caused the walls to fall. Merlin also uttered some other prophecies at this time (see insert).

The Prophecies of Merlin

• "The Islands of the Ocean shall be given into the power of the Boar and it shall lord it over the forests of Gaul."
• "A king who is blessed will fit out a navy and will be reckoned twelfth in the court among the saints."
• "The feet of those that bark shall be cut off."
• "A hoary old man upon a snow-white horse shall divert the River Periron and above the stream he will measure out a mill with his white rod."
• "All the soil will be fruitful beyond man's need; and human beings will fornicate unceasingly."
• "London shall mourn the death of twenty thousand and the Thames will be turned into blood."
• "The secrets of the creatures who live under the sea shall be revealed and Gaul will tremble for fear."

— From Geoffrey of Monmouth History of the Kings of Britain, Part Five Britain.

The following day, Aurelius Ambrosius returned to Britain, and made war on Vortigern and Hengist. First he trapped Vortigern in his tower on Snowdon, and burned him to death within it. He then pursued the Saxons, and defeated them, taking Hengist prisoner and then executing him for his crimes. He then turned his mind to the victims of the slaughter at Ambrius, and a suitable monument. Merlin was summoned, and told them to bring the Giant's Dance from the top of Mount Killaraus in Ireland. Aurelius sent Uther Pendragon with an army, which defeated the Irish but was unable to move the stones. Merlin, by his art, easily brought them to Britain, and erected them around the tomb of those slain by treachery.

Many of the Saxons hated Aurelius for what he had done, and he was slain by treachery. A Saxon, disguised as a British monk, gave him poison, pretending that it was medicine. As he died, Uther Pendragon was defeating the Saxon army, and he returned from his victory to hear the news and become king. After driving the last of the Saxons back, Uther fell in love with Ygerna, the wife of Gorlois of Cornwall, and the realm was split by civil war. Merlin's magic allowed Uther to disguise himself as Gorlois, and lie with Ygerna before the duke was defeated. They had a son, who was called Arthur.

The tales of Arthur are too numerous and too well known to be recounted here. He reigned gloriously for many years, finally falling in battle at Camblam, after which he was buried at Glastonbury Abbey. His tomb was found in 1190, and was seen by Gerald of Wales, among others, before he was reburied in a fine marble sepulcher behind the high altar.

The Saxons

After the death of Arthur, the Angles and Saxons swept across the country, driving the Britons back into Wales and Cornwall. This process was not complete until the seventh century, when the British kingdom of Elmet, in the Pennines, finally fell about 620.

The Anglo-Saxons were pagans, and in 597 Pope Gregory the Great sent St. Augustine to Kent, which was an independent kingdom at that time, to convert the people. The conversion progressed slowly but steadily, and in 601 Augustine was made archbishop. He had already established his church at Canterbury, the capital of Kent, and the town became fixed as the metropolitan see. Aethelberht, the king of Kent, was converted, but Christianity made little further progress in Augustine's lifetime, and for some time afterwards. Indeed, when Aethelberht died, Kent almost reverted to heathenism. The British were still Christian, but hostile to the new customs brought in by the Romans.

Nevertheless, progress was made, and in 663, at the synod of Whitby, the Roman customs were adopted by the whole of the English church. The last major heathen ruler was Penda of Mercia, who was killed by Oswiu of Northumbria in 654, and in 731 Bede, a Northumbrian monk, could write a history of the English church and people which took them to be the same.

In the late eighth century Offa, king of Mercia, became overlord of the English. All the kingdoms south of the Humber acknowledged his authority, and he had influence in Northumbria. He built a great earthwork, Offa's Dyke, to mark the boundary between England and Wales, and he minted the first pennies, coins which were copied throughout Europe. Offa was one of the great lords of Europe, the only king able to deal with Charlemagne on equal terms, and a significant figure even to the distant Pope in Rome. He died in 796, at the height of his power.

Offa's Dyke

Offa's Dyke stretches for more then seventy miles, and is clearly a work beyond the capacity of unaided mortals. It was completed in 787 with the assistance of Huarwar, a Welsh faerie who was bribed with 10,000 cattle. The bargain involved his being provided with 100 cattle every fourteen years thereafter, and recently the locals have neglected this. As a result, he has started to eat the northern parts of the dyke, and occasional villages.

Magi in Britain Before Pralix

While Pralix was the first Hermetic maga to settle in Britain, she was not the first to visit the island. In the eighth century England was a major center of scholarship, and Jerbiton himself visited the Northumbrian monks. House Díedne had close links with the Welsh druids, although they did not join the Order. The main problem was the large number of indigenous, non-Hermetic traditions in the island. The Order was too small to enforce a "join or die" policy, and so responded by largely ignoring the problem. The war against Dav'nalleous provided a focus for the various British traditions, and House Ex Miscellanea a way for them to join the Order without giving up their history. The tribunal was thus incorporated more easily than the founders had dared to hope.

Vikings and Magi

The Vikings began raiding Britain in the early 790s, and continued over the following decades. While wars broke out between Wessex and Mercia in the southwest, the Danes moved in from the north-east, first raiding, and then settling and conquering. By 870, the Danes had conquered all of the Saxon kingdoms, apart from the southwestern kingdom of Wessex.

In this period, the Order of Hermes came to Britain. The immediate cause was Pralix's war against Dav'nalleous, which is described in Lion of the North. In 815, Pralix established the Ordo Miscellanea at Cad Gadu, in North Wales, and in 817 it was accepted into the Order as House Ex Miscellanea. The Stonehenge Tribunal was born.

The first covenant in the new tribunal was Cad Gadu itself, founded by Pralix in 815 on the site of the final battle with Dav'nalleous. When the Stonehenge Tribunal was formed in 817, the Díedne incorporated an ancient druidic shrine on Anglesey as a covenant. This is now known as the Nameless Covenant, as the quaesitores ordered its name, location, and much of its history stricken from the records after the Schism War. In 818 House Tremere founded the covenant of Blackthorn in the Black Mountains of South Wales, intending to use it as a base for the domination of the tribunal. In 820 Flavia of Jerbiton (see insert) founded the covenant of Rosalba in the Yorkshire Dales.

Cad Gadu has never kept very good records (one reason why the precise date of Pralix's death or Twilight, or, indeed, its nature, is unknown), but one from 837 records the visit of a group of wandering magi. Such a group was recorded from time to time over the next three centuries, but never described in any great detail.

After the Sundering of Tremere, Blackthorn's power in the tribunal was reduced, and the younger members of Rosalba sought to weaken it further, increasing their own influence. The relationship between the two covenants became actively hostile, with frequent confrontations at tribunal. A Wizards' War in 873 between Diana of Tremere, from Blackthorn, and William of Jerbiton, from Rosalba marked the beginning of near-constant skirmishing after William's death. Flavia tried to negotiate a peace, but with her death in 890 the last truce fell apart, and the war escalated. In 899 all the members of Blackthorn declared Wizards' War on all the members of Rosalba. The magi of Rosalba were all killed, but magical defenses on the covenant killed several Blackthorn grogs and one magus, and the weakened victors withdrew to regroup. Later expeditions revealed that the defenses were still in place, and eventually the ruins of the covenant were simply abandoned. No current members of the tribunal know precisely where they are.

Flavia of Jerbiton

Flavia was trained by Jerbiton himself, and spent her first years as a maga in Rome and Constantinople. She was present at Charlemagne's coronation, and is said to have encouraged Irene in her assumption of the Byzantine throne. Perhaps she was dismayed by Irene's fate: at any rate, she vanished from Europe in 803. By 810, Jerbiton and the other magi of his house assumed that she had died. In 819 she reappeared, refusing to say where she had been, and immediately began searching for somewhere to found a covenant. She astonished everyone by choosing a remote area of the Stonehenge Tribunal, where she established Rosalba in 820.

There, while she gathered a number of magi around her, she devoted her time to studying, and writing about, the philosophical underpinnings of Hermetic magic. More lucid than the Criamon, but less concerned with the details of theory than the Bonisagus, her writings garnered a great deal of respect, but few magi felt that they could spare the time to read them. Even the other magi of her covenant began to marginalize her, taking a much more aggressive role than she thought wise. The eruption of hostilities with Blackthorn confirmed her fears, and she was distracted in her last years by repeated attempts to negotiate peace. Her reputation served her well, but on her disappearance in 890 the final truce between the two covenants broke down.

Flavia's end is rather mysterious. Almost all the evidence suggests that she went into Final Twilight, a normal end for a maga who has lived for more than a century. However, she prepared quite carefully for her end, finishing her final tractatus the day before she vanished, and telling the covenant servants in advance not to bother bringing her food the following day. Her passage into Twilight was as spectacular as might be expected, but the fact that it seems it was expected has puzzled more thoughtful magi. They wonder if her philosophical researches revealed greater secrets to her than anyone realized.

Flavia's texts are mostly tractatus on Magic Theory or Philosophiae. The storyguide should decide whether she did make any major theoretical breakthroughs.

Meanwhile, the tribunal was growing with the foundation of several new covenants. (See page 16 for a full list, including those which did not survive for any significant length of time.) Castrum Antiquum was founded in 852 in the ruins of a Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall, Sursum in 875 on the north coast of Cornwall, London Covenant in 896, and Lux Draconis in 915, in the Pennines.

Alfred the Great became king of Wessex in 871, and set out to drive the Danes back. By 886 Alfred had struck back, regaining control of London and the fealty of all the English in the south and west of the country. Alfred established a number of defensive settlements, called burhs, throughout England, and saved English culture from disappearing beneath the Viking tide. He was also one of the more learned kings of the period, responsible for several translations from Latin to English, including one of Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy. He died in 899.

Alfred's son Edward took on the task of conquering the Danes and bringing the land back under English control. He was helped by his sister Aethelflaed, and by the time of his death in 924 he had brought all of England south of the Humber under his direct control. The Welsh had acknowledged him as overlord, but the Vikings had established a kingdom centered on York in the North, and this did not recognize his authority at all. His son Athelstan continued and completed Edward's work, conquering the kingdom of York in 927, accepting the tribute of the Welsh kings from 931, and finally pacifying Cornwall in the same year. In 937 he was attacked by the Irish and Scots, in a grand alliance intended to break his power. He annihilated them at the battle of Brunanburh.

Sursum fell during Athelstan's campaigns. It was closely involved with the Cornish nobility, and was connected with their revolt in 931. Athelstan's response involved the destruction of the covenant, and when the quaesitores investigated the ruins they found evidence that the Tytalus at the covenant had been involved in diabolism. This was one of the first pieces of evidence leading up to the disgrace of House Tytalus in 961.

Although the southeast was at peace in these years, London covenant had trouble establishing itself in the city. It was constantly changing its lodgings, and as it was never keen on telling the rest of the Order about its activities Redcaps occasionally had trouble tracking it down to deliver messages. Finally, in 942, their best efforts failed to discover the covenant, and it was presumed to have been dispersed or destroyed. A group of traditionalist Latin magi founded the covenant of Roma Nova in Kent in 946, and quickly made themselves unpopular with the Bjornaer, Díedne, and Ex Miscellanea. In 952, they were challenged at one of their vis sources by magi claiming to be from London. The challengers were defeated, but investigations by the Redcaps found no other trace of the urban magi.

In 984 a group of Flambeau magi founded Ungulus, "The Claw," in the Lake District. Less than two decades later its purpose, as a forward post in the Schism War, was revealed. The Stonehenge Tribunal suffered badly in that war. Roma Nova was destroyed by the Díedne in 1008, and many other covenants were damaged and lost members. The destruction of the Nameless Covenant in 1011 was the last major engagement of the war, and the things the quaesitores found in the ruins led them to have the site razed completely, and most records of the covenant destroyed.

In 1014 Blackthorn sponsored a group of magi, including many apprentices trained at the covenant, to found the covenant of Tagelyn in some caves fairly close to Blackthorn's site. Their stated aim was to begin repairing the damage wrought by the Schism War.

In 1025 a small group of Criamon magi founded the covenant of Stellasper, in the Scilly Isles southwest of Cornwall. The covenant never took an active part in tribunal business, and the Redcaps only visited once every seven years.

Sometime in 1030 or 1031, Castrum Antiquum vanished. The Redcap traveled to the site, as she had done only a year before, and found nothing but the ruins of a Roman fort. There was no trace of the covenant, not even ruins of the additional structures they had built. Other magi of the tribunal investigated, but could find no evidence that the covenant had ever existed. Some magi were worried that this was the first sign of a Díedne counter-attack, but nothing further happened for many years.

The Forgotten Covenant

The magi acquire a collection of old Redcap letters. Many of them have been mutilated, with passages cut out, but one of the fragments remains in the bottom of the bag. It mentions "the two Díedne covenants of Stonehenge." This suggests that the obliteration of the Nameless Covenant was a cover story, used to explain the mutilations necessary for the total obliteration of a second covenant. Why were the quaesitores so eager to wipe it from memory?

Alfred and the Cakes

In 878 Alfred's war against the Danes was going badly, and he was forced to flee, alone, into the Somerset marshes, hiding from the enemy until he could rejoin his forces. Wandering the swamps, he saw a lonely cottage, and approached it, seeking refuge. The swineherd who lived there took pity on a man who was, apparently, nothing but a poor victim of the battles, and gave him shelter. Alfred remained there for several days, content with the bare necessities of life.

One day, while the swineherd was out with his pigs, Alfred was meditating on his plight, and waiting for God's mercy, which St. Neot had promised to him. The swineherd's wife had prepared some bread, and set the loaves in the hearth to cook. She then busied herself with other chores, and looked across the room to see the loaves burning while Alfred sat beside them. Annoyed, she shouted at him:

"You're unwilling to turn the loaves while they are burning, but perfectly happy to eat them when they're cooked!"

Chastened, the king turned the loaves, and then watched them carefully until they were done, accepting the humble situation in which God had chosen to place him for the moment.

— From The Life of St. Neot

When Athelstan died in 939, his brother Edmund was unable to hold the kingdom together, and it quickly collapsed under the pressure of Viking raids. The descendants of Alfred maintained their hold on the kingship, but the various parts of the country slipped away from them, until in 1016 Cnut, the younger brother of the king of Denmark, invaded and was able to take control of the whole of England. By 1020 he was firmly in control of England, and also king of Denmark. Cnut attempted to conquer Norway, but was less successful, and had lost control there before his death in 1035. He was succeeded in England by his illegitimate son Harold, although Harold's mother Aelfgifu seems to have been the true ruler. Harold died in 1040, and was succeeded, almost peacefully, by Cnut's legitimate son Harthacnut, who was already king of Denmark. Harthacnut died at the age of twenty four in 1042 and was succeeded by Edward the Confessor.

King Edward was celibate, which meant that there could be no blood heir to the throne. He favored William of Normandy from early in his reign, but Earl Godwine of Wessex opposed this. In 1051, Godwine rebelled, but his army would not fight against the king in person, at least when the other earls joined the royal side, and he had to make peace. In 1052, Godwine's estates were restored to him, and his son Harold succeeded him as earl in 1053.

In 1058 Gruffyd ap Llewelyn of Wales attacked England, and Harold was engaged in defeating him and driving him out. Gruffyd's forces laid siege to Blackthorn, and invested the covenant until Harold relieved it in 1061, while in 1060 a detachment of his army sacked Cad Gadu, burning the ancient covenant to the ground. Harold finally defeated Gruffyd in 1062, giving him a strong and respected position in England.

All magi of the tribunal were sure that Gruffyd was a Díedne magus, returned to wreak vengeance. The fact that he attacked two covenants would, most likely, have led to such a conclusion in the paranoid atmosphere of the time, but as his name meant "Son of Llewelyn," and the last primus of Díedne was called Llewelyn, everyone was sure. However, the magi never saw any sign of magical ability on Gruffyd's part, and most magi now think that his name and actions were merely coincidence.

In 1062, Blackthorn drove the magi of Tagelyn out of the caves, moving their own covenant to the safer location, and the survivors of Tagelyn founded the covenant of Ashenrise in the Hibernian Tribunal. Cad Gadu was refounded on its old site, but in the higher levels of the regio, in 1065, but the tribunal was weak, with only four active covenants, two of which (Cad Gadu and Lux Draconis) were barely clinging to survival.

Covenants of Stonehenge

This is a list of all the covenants that have been founded in Stonehenge, together with some information about those not mentioned in the main text.

Cad Gadu (815–present)

Semitae (?–present)

Nameless Covenant (817–1011)

Blackthorn (818–present)

Rosalba (820–899)

Concordia (821–823): An attempt to weld the various traditions in Ex Miscellanea together, it fell apart due to internal tension. It was in the Lake District.

Castrum Antiquum (852–1030/1)

Rector Maris (866): Founded on the Isle of Man, and destroyed within six months.

Sursum (875–931)

Occulta (893–897): Founded in the East Anglian fens by a group of newly gauntleted magi, Occulta failed to establish suitable resources, and collapsed. The magi all joined other covenants.

London (896–952?)

Lux Draconis (915–1100): An undistinguished covenant, it never achieved much in the way of a Summer, and died a natural death as it was unable to recruit new magi.

Rector Novus (938): Founded on the Isle of Man, and destroyed within a year.

Roma Nova (946–1008)

Ungulus (984–present)

Lumen (998–1003): A foundation which was an early victim of the Schism War, lacking the resources to repel a Díedne assault.

Tagelyn (1014-1062)

Stellasper (1025–1163)

Harold's Vengeance (1066–1068): Founded in the East Anglian fens by magi who wanted to drive William the Conqueror from England, it broke the Code so blatantly and repeatedly that it was Marched as a whole and destroyed.

Voluntas (1083–present)

Blackrose (1104–1107)

Magnantrum (1111–1187)

Natura Antiqua (1133–1143): Founded in the East Anglian fens by a group of nature magi, Natura was destroyed by Geoffrey de Mandeville during the Civil War.

Burnham (1141–present)

Servus Maris (1160): Another attempt to found a Manx covenant, destroyed by a dragon within six months. One magus was allowed to return to the Tribunal with the message "Don't come back."

Schola Pythagoranis (1182–present)

Nigrasaxa (1201–present)

Libellus (1210–present)

The Normans

In 1066 there were many possible claimants to the throne of England. Harold Godwinson had seized it on Edward the Confessor's death, but King Harald Hardrada of Norway and Duke William of Normandy also had claims. Both the latter launched invasions in support of their claims. Godwinson defeated his Norwegian rival at the battle of Stamfordbridge, but William landed in the south barely a week later, and defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings.

England did not take kindly to conquest, and it was 1081 before William had put down all the rebellions and pacified the whole nation. In these years the survival of the tribunal hung in the balance. Already weak, it probably could not have survived an attack on any of its covenants. Officially, the magi simply hid. Unofficially, they worked hard to direct armies away from their homes, foment centers of revolt distant from their lands, and, occasionally, kill groups of Normans en masse. The covenants of Harold's Vengeance, in Stonehenge, and Horsingas, in Loch Leglean, were founded by Saxon magi determined to oppose the Normans. They used Mentem magic to cover their tracks, but it could never be perfect. William's suspicions were aroused, and this contributed to his decision to commission Domesday Book to investigate the whole land. Fortunately, the Domesday assessors were easy to deceive, and the lack of evidence convinced William that there was nothing to his worries.

The tribunal had survived, and even grown slightly. Some magi from the Normandy Tribunal had followed the Conqueror to England, and founded the covenant of Voluntas in the north. William Rufus became king of England in 1087, but his elder brother, Robert Curthose, was made duke of Normandy. William wanted control of the duchy, and in 1096 his brother pawned it to him to raise money so that he could go on Crusade. William Rufus did not, however, make himself popular, particularly with the church. He was vain and ill-tempered, homosexual, and possibly a pagan. On 2 August 1100 he was killed in a "hunting accident." His younger brother Henry immediately seized the throne.

The Tomb of William Rufus

The body of William II was left lying in the forest for some time before some peasants slung it on a cart and took it to Winchester, where it was buried without ceremony. In fact, another corpse had been substituted for the king's, and he was taken elsewhere to be buried with full pagan ceremony, and a full complement of grave goods. The line of priests responsible has survived until 1220, with minor magical powers, and now they want to use the royal treasure to bribe their way into House Ex Miscellanea. Unfortunately, the treasure was protected by magic as well as a large amount of earth.

In 1100 the last magus of Lux Draconis died, and Blackthorn laid claim to the property of the defunct covenant. None of the other covenants had enough strength to challenge them, although Voluntas tried, and the infusion of money, books, and vis put Blackthorn firmly on the road to recovery, with Voluntas as its enemy. In 1104 Blackthorn sent out a small group of magi to found a new covenant, Blackrose, on the North York Moors, not far from Voluntas, in an obvious attempt to weaken the covenant. Blackrose suffered persistent mundane problems, such as crop failures, troubles with the local nobility, and defecting servants, and Blackthorn recalled the magi in 1107. While they strongly suspected Voluntas of being involved, Blackthorn had no proof, and didn't have the strength to directly attack the other covenant. A few years later, Magnantrum was founded in a cave under Salisbury Plain.

In 1101 Robert Curthose returned from Crusade, and tried to reclaim his duchy and acquire the throne of England. Henry resisted, and although Robert was captured and imprisoned in 1106 (remaining captive until his death in 1134), the result was nearly twenty years of war, which ended with Henry firmly established in England and Normandy, with a legitimate heir and an apparently solid position. On 25 November 1120, the White Ship set sail for England and sank, drowning everyone on board but a butcher from Rouen. Those on board included William, Henry's heir, two of the king's bastard children, several earls and barons, and most of the royal household.

Henry also had a daughter, Matilda, who was married to the German Emperor. When the emperor died in 1125, she became a potential heir to the English throne, and Henry induced his barons to accept her as such. She married Geoffrey Plantagenet of Anjou, and in 1133 bore him a son, Henry Plantagenet. Henry I died in December 1135, but the succession did not go smoothly.

The Civil War

Matilda was not popular in England, and immediately after Henry's death his nephew Stephen of Blois crossed the Channel and had himself crowned king. Innocent II confirmed Stephen's coronation early in 1136, and by April all the major nobles of the country had submitted to him. In 1137 he was able to travel to Normandy, where Matilda had been making claims to the duchy. By the end of the year he had lost the confidence of the Normans through wrangling, and returned to England, where he stayed for the remainder of his reign.

Meanwhile, the Angevins were pushing Matilda's claim to the throne. She appealed to the Pope, who confirmed Stephen's position in 1139, and in 1138 Robert of Gloucester renounced his fealty to Stephen to become the most important champion of the queen's cause. In 1139, Stephen made a serious tactical error. He arrested the bishop of Salisbury and his son, both of whom had held great power at court. The Church, while it might not approve of the victims' lives, could not countenance the violent arrest of ecclesiastics. Stephen lost its support at a critical moment; shortly afterwards Matilda invaded.

The next two years saw the burning of many towns and cities, until the battle of Lincoln, in early 1141, when Stephen was defeated and imprisoned. Matilda immediately began arranging for her coronation, but acted so arrogantly that she alienated most of the nobility. In June she entered London, and quickly so offended the citizens that they expelled her. Acting quickly, Stephen's queen (also called Matilda) began gathering allies, and managed to get Stephen released in exchange for Robert of Gloucester, whom she had captured. At this time, some magi obtained a royal charter of immunity from Stephen, and established the covenant of Burnham in the northeast of the tribunal. While questions were asked about their involvement in the events of that year, nothing was ever proved, and no quorate tribunal ever convicted them.

By the end of 1142, Stephen had confined Matilda and her supporters to the West Country, but he had problems with his own supporters. Geoffrey de Mandeville, whose loyalty had never been secure, was arrested in 1143 and charged with treason. Surrendering his castles, which included the Tower of London, Mandeville traveled to East Anglia rather than face hanging and proceeded to ravage the fens. Whenever he was attacked, he withdrew into the marshes, where Stephen could not reach him. He was finally killed, almost accidentally, in 1144.

Such anarchy dragged on for several years, until Robert of Gloucester died in 1147. Matilda's party was badly weakened, and Stephen was still in control of the country. Between 1148 and 1153 things were relatively peaceful. On the continent, Matilda's son Henry married Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152, giving him control of all of western France. In 1153 Henry invaded England, and won a number of victories. The peace treaty confirmed Stephen as king for his lifetime, with Henry as his heir. Stephen died in 1154, and Henry Plantagenet became Henry II of England.

A group of traveling magi, calling themselves Semitae, appeared at the 1151 tribunal and asked the quaesitores to record their existence. The covenant was obviously not newly formed, but the leader, a member of House Criamon, refused to discuss the covenant's age. Magi speculate that it is the same group as has appeared in Cad Gadu's records since the foundation of the tribunal, making it one of the oldest covenants in Stonehenge, but there is no conclusive evidence.

The Angevins

Henry II

Henry II was one of the great figures in European politics. His domains stretched from Scotland to the Pyrenees, and among these the greatest importance of England was that this country made him a king. As a result, his reign was much occupied with his continental dominions. When he ascended to the throne in 1154, his first task was to restore order to the country. This he completed by 1155, treating the warring nobles generously, but demolishing their castles so that they were no longer able to resist him.

Wales was more troublesome: Owain Gwynedd in the north and Rhys ap Gruffydd in the south were in open revolt. Owain Gwynedd came to terms in 1157 after Henry invaded Wales. The invasion was not going well, but Henry had a large enough army for Owain to be nervous. Rhys was more troublesome, swearing allegiance and then rebelling repeatedly over the following years.

With this task completed, he turned his attention to the continent, where he sought to consolidate the borders of his realm. Here, he was very successful, gaining control of Brittany and of the Norman Vexin in northern France, and laying the groundwork for control of Toulouse.

In 1163 the covenant of Stellasper was destroyed in a great storm which raged over the Scilly Isles, and touched the coast of Cornwall. Redcaps sent to investigate the covenant site found ruins, but no bodies. While they could have been washed out to sea, this was suspicious, and magical investigation revealed nothing but that there had been an extravagant use of magic there at the time of the storm. It is not known whether the covenant was attacked, attacked something else, or if an experiment went wrong.

In 1162 the archbishop of Canterbury, Theobald, died, and Henry ensured that his chancellor, Thomas Becket, was elected to replace him. Thomas had been the king's faithful servant, imposing taxes on the church, and Henry expected him to continue in this fashion. Instead, he became a fierce defender of the liberties of the Church, and Henry and Thomas quarreled seriously in 1164 over the question of clergy who committed crimes. Henry held that the secular courts should be allowed to punish them after the Church courts stripped them of their rank, Thomas disagreed.

The Disinherited

Stephen's younger son, William, survived him, and retained control of substantial estates. His children or grandchildren could well be alive in 1220 (although William himself died in 1159), and interested in regaining the throne taken from their ancestor. They might be willing to offer substantial concessions, in the event of victory, to anyone who supported them, and might still be in control of enough land to offer bribes right away.

Thomas was forced to flee England, and the quarrel dragged on for six years. The Pope, who needed Henry's support against the Imperial antipope, could not give Becket his full support, and neither Henry nor Becket were eager for the quarrel to end.

Meanwhile, in 1165 Wales rebelled again. This time Henry's campaign failed, defeated by bad weather and the shortage of supplies. Henry came to terms with Rhys, and ultimately gave him considerable power in Wales, with the promise of Henry's support. Owain died in 1170, allowing the Lord Rhys to extend his influence to the north.

In 1166 Dermot McMurrough, the king of Leinster in Ireland, came to England to ask for Henry's help in a dispute with Rory O'Conor, the high king. Eventually, many of the Norman lords of South Wales traveled to Ireland to help him, carving out lordships there, and allowing Rhys to consolidate his position in Wales.

In 1170 the king and Becket were reconciled, and Becket returned to England. He at once suspended and excommunicated those bishops who had acted against him, and on Christmas Day he publicly excommunicated those of the king's officers who had spoken against him. The excommunicated bishops went to Henry in France, and he, in a rage, exclaimed, "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest!" Four knights took him at his word, and set off for England. On 29 December 1170 Thomas Becket was murdered in his cathedral.

The death of Becket had a great impact throughout Europe. He was immediately venerated as a martyr, and the Pope officially canonized him in 1173. His cult spread quickly throughout the continent, and his tomb at Canterbury soon became the fourth main pilgrimage site in Europe, behind Jerusalem, Rome, and Santiago. More immediately, Henry had to do penance for indirectly causing the death, and to concede most of the points for which Becket had fought.

The Death of Thomas Becket

Becket, pursued by the knights, entered the church itself. The monks gathered around him, so perturbed that they had abandoned the divine office, and rejoiced that he was still alive. Some, weeping from the danger, advised him to act one way, others in another. Becket himself went up to the high altar of the cathedral, and as he was ascending the steps Reginald FitzUrse appeared in the doorway to the cloister, armed and brandishing his sword, shouting "Now come to me, men of the king!" and behind him were many others.

The monks, when they saw the soldiers, wanted to bar the door, but Becket forbade them to do so, saying, "Far be it from us to turn the church of God into a castle. Allow all those who wish to enter the church of God. Let God's will be done." At this, all but three of the clerks with him ran for cover, leaving Robert the canon, William FitzStephen, and Edward Grim by his side.

The knights burst into the church, looking around and shouting "Where is the traitor?" This received no answer, and they called again "Where is the archbishop?" Thomas answered "See, here I am, not a traitor but a priest of God, and I marvel that you have come into the church of God in such outfits. What do you want?" One of them answered "That you should die. It is impossible for you to live further."

The knights advanced, and one struck the archbishop with the flat of his sword, saying "Run away! You are dead." Thomas stood his ground, commending his soul to God and praying to the martyrs. Some tried to drag him captive from the church, but he refused to move. William de Tracy struck at him with his sword, and although Edward Grim tried to deflect the sword, taking a serious wound to his arm, the archbishop was struck in the head.

Becket, sure of death, said "Lord, into your hands I commend my spirit," and he was struck a second time on the head, falling to the ground, lying as if he were praying. As he lay there, he was struck twice more, the top of his head cut off, and Hugh Mauclerc put his foot into the hole, scattering the martyr's brains about the floor of the church.

— From William FitzStephen's Vita of St. Thomas

One consequence of the murder was the rebellion of Henry's eldest son, Henry the Young King (so called because his father had already had him crowned, in an attempt to ensure a peaceful succession). He was arrogant, and felt that his father was now weak. Henry's other sons joined in the revolt, and the kings of France and Scotland assisted them, but the elder Henry was victorious, and the rebels had to come to terms in 1175. Henry's wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, had been active in supporting the rebellion, and she was now imprisoned. The rebellious sons were granted independent incomes and formal titles, but no real power.

In 1182 a group of Jerbiton magi founded the covenant of Schola Pythagoranis at Cambridge, on the southern edge of the fens, and devoted themselves as much to mundane study as to magical work. In 1187 the covenant of Magnantrum finally disintegrated, falling prey to internal disputes. The magi scattered to different covenants, taking everything movable of value with them.

In 1183 Henry the Young King and Geoffrey, the first and third sons of the king, made war on their brother Richard, and disaster was averted only by the young Henry's death from dysentery. Richard was now the heir apparent, but Henry II seemed to favor his youngest son John. Henry refused to guarantee Richard the succession, and he rebelled again in 1188. The war ended in defeat for Henry, who died soon after on 6 July 1189.

Richard

Richard the Lionheart has very little to do with the history of England and Wales during his reign. He spent six months in the country during the whole ten years he was on the throne. The first half he spent on Crusade, the second half, fighting with Philip of France for Normandy. His only consistent contact with England was to demand money: first for the Crusade, then for his ransom, and finally for the expensive French wars.

In his preparation for Crusade he resorted to extraordinary means to obtain money, selling offices and privileges. He is reputed to have joked that he would have sold London if he could have found a suitable buyer. He left William Longchamp, the chancellor, and Hugh de Puiset, bishop of Durham, in charge of the kingdom, while his brother John held extensive lands within which he virtually had royal authority.

1189 and 1190 were marked by anti-Jewish riots of extreme violence. The first was in London after Richard's coronation, and similar pogroms followed at Lynn, Norwich, Lincoln, and Stamford. In March 1190 it reached York, and 150 Jews were slaughtered in the castle.

Meanwhile, William Longchamp had ousted Hugh de Puiset from shared office and obtained the office of legate from the pope, giving him supreme authority. He exercised it in such a way as to make many enemies, and thus gave John undeserved popularity as the center of the opposition. In 1191 war between the two seemed imminent, and Richard sent Walter of Coutances, the archbishop of Rouen, to England with authority, if necessary, to take over the government. A compromise was agreed in July, but in September Geoffrey, Henry II's bastard son and new archbishop of York, was arrested at Dover, apparently on William's orders. The similarities to Becket's case damned him: William lost the chancellorship and was forced to leave the country.

In 1193, on his way back from Crusade, Richard fell into the hands of his enemy Emperor Henry VI, and was held for ransom. John immediately rebelled, but Eleanor of Aquitaine and the king's officers managed to suppress the troubles, and by the time Richard returned to England in 1194 the revolt was over.

In 1194, tribunals to prepare for the Grand Tribunal of 1195 were held throughout the Order. At the time, the covenants in Stonehenge were Blackthorn, Burnham, Cad Gadu, Schola Pythagoranis, Semitae, Ungulus and Voluntas. Blackthorn was the host, so Voluntas sent no representatives. Schola Pythagoranis had little immediate interest in Hermetic politics, and no Redcap had been able to find Semitae to announce the meeting. Burnham was deeply embroiled in local unrest, and sent no one, so that the tribunal was declared void, and Stonehenge was not represented at the Grand Tribunal.

For the rest of Richard's reign, England was calm, while war raged on the continent. Money was constantly collected and sent to Normandy to pay for the fighting, and it is a testament to the wealth of England that it could be paid. The Lord Rhys, in Wales, had rebelled at the start of the reign, and Wales was still independent. In 1199, while besieging one of his own French barons in a dispute over treasure trove, Richard was struck in the shoulder by an arrow. The wound became infected, and he died on 6 April.

Return of the Hero

Many men followed Richard on Crusade, and he was not the only one to be taken prisoner. A young soldier could have been held in the East for thirty years, only returning home in the thirteenth century. These men had legal claims to property that had been held by others for years, including, perhaps, companions or the covenant itself. The aura of sanctity attaching to Crusaders gives them an initial advantage in court, especially if their opponents are impious magi.

The Return of Arthur

Arthur of Brittany would be 33 by 1220, if he were still alive, and would have a strong claim to the English throne. Henry III is still a minor, and thus vulnerable. Given the obscurity of his death, unscrupulous people could claim that he survived, and produce pretenders. Or he could, in fact, have survived, and be preparing to make a bid for his kingdom. Either way, his first act would most likely be to claim the duchy of Brittany. Deprived of the normal means of support, and of easy ways to prove his case, he might well seek the support of the Order. Magi can check his story by magic, and provide useful support, if they can keep clear of the quaesitores.

John

John's succession to the throne was disputed. His nephew, Arthur of Brittany, was the son of his older brother Geoffrey, duke of Brittany, and thus, by strict primogeniture, the next in line to the throne. Further, Arthur was only twelve years old, and it suited the purposes of some lords to have a child as their leader. While England was, on the whole, loyal to John, the same could not be said of his continental domains, where Philip of France still sought to dismantle the Angevin Empire. The first couple of years saw fitful fighting, and the making and breaking of alliances.

In 1200, Blackthorn called the scheduled tribunal of Stonehenge, but no one attended. In 1201, Maximianus founded the covenant of Nigrasaxa, and, together with Voluntas, Schola Pythagoranis, and Ungulus, called a second tribunal. This gathering was quorate, and Blackthorn, worried that it would lose control, agreed to host it. Blackthorn thus maintained its dominance, but politics were active in the tribunal once again, and it also began meeting one year behind the other tribunals of the Order. At this tribunal the Redcap network was reorganized, to ensure that lack of communication did not lead to more inquorate meetings.

In 1202 John managed to capture Arthur of Brittany, along with a number of his supporters. Arthur vanished shortly after, killed, it was rumored, at John's own hands. Philip, as overlord of Brittany, used this as an excuse to reignite the war, and, thanks to John's laxness, he overran Normandy by the end of 1204.

After the loss of Normandy, John returned to England and immediately put the whole country on alert. Every male over twelve was required to swear to bear arms against invaders, and anyone who failed to do so was to lose his lands, if he had any, or be reduced to servitude if he did not. Everyone expected Philip to invade, but he did not, choosing instead to try to retake the rest of John's French lands. John tried to turn the assembled army to offense, and invade France in turn, but the barons refused to participate, and the scheme had to be abandoned.

In 1205 Hubert Walter, archbishop of Canterbury and the king's chancellor, died. The election to the see was disputed, and the king and monks of Christ Church, Canterbury, appealed to the Pope. In 1207 Pope Innocent III set aside both their candidates and had Stephen Langton elected to the post. John refused to confirm the election or let Langton into the country, and on 23 March 1208 England was placed under interdict. No religious services were performed, and the sacraments were denied to all. The dispute was hard to resolve, and in 1209 John was excommunicated. Those bishops who had remained part of the government were immediately forced to abandon him, with the exception of the bishop of Winchester, and John began seizing the property of the church on a grand scale.

In 1210 Llywelyn ab Iorweth of Wales rebelled against John, but in 1211 the king managed to drive him back, and the Welsh prince was forced to accept terms. He rebelled again in 1212, and Philip of France was preparing a campaign against the excommunicated king. In 1213 John reached an agreement with the Pope, and Langton entered the country. King John also surrendered his kingdom to the Pope and received it back as a fief. Soon afterwards, the interdict was lifted.

Freed from ecclesiastical disapproval, John gathered his army and prepared to take the war to Philip. The barons of the north refused to send their aid, and demanded the restoration of ancient liberties. An agreement was reached, mainly through Langton's intercession, and John left for France. The campaign started well, with the complete destruction of the French fleet, but at the battle of Bouvines, in 1214, John's Flemish and German allies were defeated and lost their chance to recover Normandy.

After John's return, the northern barons continued to make demands, and in April 1215 they renounced their homage and rose in open revolt. In May they were admitted to London, which they made their headquarters. By mid-May the king was ready to come to an agreement with them, and on 19 June 1215 the king and the barons set their seals to Magna Carta.

While John seems to have made a serious effort to keep at least the letter of the agreement, the northern barons did not, and soon rose in revolt once more. The Pope quashed the charter, declaring it illegal. In response Louis, Philip's son, was invited over by the rebels and offered the throne of England. John traveled round the country, seeking to control the rebels, but the war caused great destruction, the like of which had not been seen since the anarchy of King Stephen's reign.

In October 1216 King John, ill, was traveling south, and ordered his baggage train to cross the Wash, the estuary at the northern end of East Anglia. The tides changed, and much of his treasury was lost. The news worsened the king's fever, and on 18 October he died.

Henry III

Henry was nine years old when he was crowned at Gloucester. Louis of France held much of the south and east of the country. It seemed a recipe for disaster. William Marshal was appointed regent, with the assistance of Guala, the papal legate, Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester, and a council of about a dozen other magnates. Their first task was to get Louis out of the country.

In 1217 Louis allowed his forces to be split, and the royalists routed half of them at the battle of Lincoln. Louis had been excommunicated by the Pope, and with this defeat his English followers began abandoning him en masse. Reinforcements from the continent were defeated in a sea battle off Sandwich, and Louis was forced to come to capitulate and surrender his claim in the treaty of Kingston.

Over the next couple of years the effects of the war were resolved, and government reestablished. William Marshal, the regent, died in 1219, but Henry was fairly secure on the throne, and the realm officially at peace.

The Lost Treasure

The royal regalia would certainly count as an arcane connection to the king, and are likely to be magically linked to the entire kingdom. The troubles following their loss might suggest that they have been used in some kind of curse, possibly by a member of the Order of Hermes.

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