The Glorious Kingdom
Founding
The Kingdom was founded in the 300s AD when Publius Varrus and Caius Britannicus decided to turn their villas into a small agrarian village, self-sufficient enough to survive without Rome. This was illegal, as it required a military force, and their army would be seen as a rebellion. However, they decided to take the risk, and Camelot was founded, with a Council as the governing body.
Growth
After Rome left Britannia to fend for itself, Camelot experienced a massive wave of growth, with refugees pouring in. It quickly reached 100,000 people, a size larger than any other city in Britain. The army also grew, turning from legionary-based to mostly reliant on cavalrymen, armoured lightly and armed heavily. These men were called "troopers" and they were famous for their use of a very long sword. Later these men would become even more deadly when Merlyn Britannicus, grandson of Caius Britannicus, would discover by accident the stirruped saddle.
Arthur Pendragon, the Great King
In the late 500s AD, Arthur Pendragon, great-grandson of Publius Varrus, took command of the armies of Camelot. He was also elected King of the Pendragon Federation that year, and so he ruled both Cambria and Camelot. He instantly started his military reforms, where he replaced the cavalry troopers with the Knights of Camelot, and increased the numbers of Cambrian Longbowmen in the ranks of the army. Now, the Legions would hold the enemy in place, the Knights would destroy them with a charge, and the Longbowmen would both prevent ambush by acting as scouts and would also force the enemy to charge with the threat of arm-long bodkin arrows.
In 600 AD, the Church crowned Arthur Pendragon Riothamus, High King of all Britannia. Shortly after, he began to allow smaller kingdoms to unite under his protection in return for tribute and men.
In 603, Arthur invaded Caledonia, the land of the Picts. Within the year, he ruled every land that the Britons ever ruled except for those ruled by Saxons.
In 605, the Anglians who lived between the Kingdom of Britannia and the Saxon Kingdom of England asked Arthur for aid. In return, he forced the Saxon raiders out of the Anglian's land, and conquered all of the land up to the Saxon border.
Then, disaster struck. Britannia had long been allies with the kingdoms of France and Aquitaine. However, in their expansion, France had angered a Frankish noble. That noble, Gunderic the Frank, started a rebellion of Franks, and began to raid French and Aquitanian towns. Louis of France, upon hearing that he would not be King due to incompetence, rebelled as well, and joined the Franks in revolt. A number of barons followed. Aquitaine joined the war, in the hopes of hitting the Franks from behind. Instead, the Franks marched right to the border, and occupied a small town called Potiers. The Britons dispatched to the fight, marching with the Aquitanian army, fought well, and took relatively few casualties. However, the battle was extremely bloody, and though the allied forces eventually won the day nearly all of the Aquitanian and French soldiers were killed.
After the Britons successfully subdued the Saxon raiders, however, the tide turned. The Franks conscripted nearly their whole male population and marched upon Paris, on the heels of the French army. Aquitaine sent their auxiliary cavalry to harass their rear guard, and the rest of their army followed as quickly as possible. The Franks split their army, and one group went to Dijon, forcing Aquitaine to follow. The Aquitanians fought well, but couldn't overcome the Franks. They could no longer fight this war. The Republic of Spartacus tried to aid France, but local forces stopped their march, and their contribution was minimal. The Briton and Livonian contributions, however, were important. The Livonio-Briton army crushed the Saxons outside of Paris, and France was saved. In the fighting, however, King Charles Martel of France was killed by his own son, Louis of France. Georges, brother of Louis, took the throne afterward.
The Franks conscripted all their remaining manpower and marched North to the Briton fortress of Caen. There, Nuestrian rebels opposed to our Kingdom's rule joined forces with them. Our army, along with Livonia's, marched to Caen as well, and crushed the Franks for good.
In 617, our army was reformed again, into the legionary feudal system it has retained since. Then, after learning that Hesse had been funding the Saxon raids and was planning to incite revolt in Denmark, Britannia's ally, Arthur declared war on the Landgraviate of Hesse. His army was massive and powerful, and destroyed the Hessians at every battle. However, Hesse, being a small but rich country, could rapidly recruit and move troops, while Arthur, with his supply lines stretched across miles of enemy territory, moved at a snail's pace. A war of attrition was fought for years, until in 627 the Hessians finally confronted the Britons.
The battle was great. The Kingdom's army fought valiantly, but was simply unable to defeat a force so much larger than itself. Arthur himself was killed in the fighting, when a spear was stabbed into his side. It is believed that his son Mordred, the Prince, killed him, as the spear was in his hands, but it is more likely that in the attempt to pull the spear from his father's dying body he died himself of his wounds.
Arthur II, only 15 years old, took the throne, though his mother Olga of Denmark served as regent for five years. He asked the Pope to canonize Arthur as a saint, and it was done. Thus, King Arthur Pendragon became the Saint of Britannia.
Arthur, though he retrained the army, never recovered from the ordeal that was his father's death. Though a good leader, he couldn't manage to inspire his men the way his father did, and the army was weaker without the inspiration of their seemingly invincible leader, who had his arm nearly hacked off at Paris and continued to fight for several more hours.
In 680, Arthur III took the throne. Little happened in his reign.
In 750 Arthur IV took the throne. In his reign, the Saxons were defeated at the Second Battle of Leinster, pushing the Saxons back onto the very edge of Britain.
In 800 Arthur V took the throne. In this year many Viking raiders began to attack settlements in Caledonia. Also, the Exiled Kingdom of Dublin retook Eire in his reign, starting a period of Eirish-Briton mistrust.
In 860 Arthur VI took the throne. In his reign, the endless naval war with Dublin was ceased, and viking raids intensified. Also, the Danes (not the friendly danes, the danes that rebelled and slaughtered their own king's family in the 600s) invaded the land called "Kent", and forced the Saxons into Briton lands. In addition, the Saxons had to pay tribute to prevent the Danes from expanding further. Also in his reign was a great famine, and was also the first Briton pope elected.
In 920 Arthur VII took the throne. In his reign, the Northmen invaded Nuestria. They were defeated at the Battle of Rouen, but the survivors were allowed to stay. They became Briton citizens, and lived in western Nuestria. They called themselves the Normans, and many of them enlisted in the Briton army as shock troops. Also in his reign was another Briton elected Pope.
In 1000, Arthur VIII took the throne. In his reign he has discovered the presence of a massive Saxon army, and has also seen another Briton elected Pope. Also, his reign has seen the first Norman duke of Nuestria, William, who came to the throne in 1090. Arthur VIII is very sick and frail (given that he's more than 100 years old), and has three sons: Arthur IX, Cadfael, and Dafydd.
In 1101, Arthur IX took the throne as his father was too old and frail to do anything. In his reign, the Scandinavian Empire has landed in Britannia, and a crusade has been launched on Cairo.
Legion Headquarters
Legio I, Britannica: Camelot
Legio II, Cambrica: Glevum
Legio III, Caledonica: Hadrian's Wall
Legio IV, Anglica: Verulamium
Legio V, Gallica: Caen
Legio VI, Valeria Vixtrix: Deva/Eburacum
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Regnum Britannia
(mixed, but good as far as we're concerned)
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