Coronet of a Fanaglian Duke
The Dukes of Fanaglia (more commonly referred to as the Five Dukes and later Six Dukes in formal discussion) were the leaders of the individual Fanaglian duchies after the Unification in 1842. In the face of aggression from Menid to the west, DiMarco of Arviragus united the five original domains of the Arviran Peninsula (also known as The Five Kingdoms of Old) so that they could stand in strength as one -- hence the Fanaglian Motto, "L’union fait la force," or "Strength through unity" in English.
Hierarchy and Governance[]
The five original duchies follow the historical borders of the five kingdoms of old, Arviragus, Cadwal, Pisiano, Polydore, and Cynfelyn, retaining those names. Until later in the 19th century, the Five Dukes maintained absolute control (within the crown's wishes) over their respective duchies, though the democratically-elected counts below them in the hierarchy gradually gained more favor in Kraftenburg in the latter decades of the century (especially after the Great Coup and, by the turn of the twentieth century, most of the Dukes were little more than political figureheads.
Dehui, the Sixth Duchy[]
Fanaglia possessed one colony, Dehui, which was headed by a governor who was appointed by the crown and maintained absolute control within the crown's wishes. After several protests, a popular vote was held for the first time in December of 1879, under orders from the Crown. The people of Dehui voted to become an official Fanaglian duchy, which was approved by Queen Autumn on 9 April, 1880, after which a sixth star was added to the flag. There was some debate over how much power would be afforded to the newly-designated Duke, whether to follow the tradition of the other five Dukes and be given the same limited dominion over the duchy, or to act as merely a figurehead for an otherwise-democratically-governed region answerable only to the Crown. In the spirit of the same democratic process that brought Dehuians the same rights of citizenship as the rest of Fanaglia, and in what newspapers at the time referred to as "Her Majesty's Queer Democratic Experiment," Queen Autumn declared that Dehui be governed in the latter fashion. There are some that suggested that this move was to ensure that Dehui would act as a progressive foil to balance out the Zieglerists in the conservative northern duchies, while others believed in Her Majesty's benevolence.
Socio-Political Effects for Fanaglia[]
"Her Majesty's Queer Democratic Experiment" was a resounding success. It was hugely popular among the Dehuian people and the business-friendly approach taken by the island duchy's elected officials brought economic prosperity and growth like it had never seen. It was also seen favorably by some of the "New Order" republics around the globe, with several of whom the progressive Queen Autumn openly expressed a desire to forge closer political and economic relations.
So successful was the Dehuian democracy that Giacomo Legno Cengia, the aging Duke of Pisiano declared on 14 May, 1886, that he would be stepping back and into a similar role for his duchy, turning local control over to the counties. Imogen Findlay, Duchess of Cynfelyn, took it a step further in her own duchy just three years later, renouncing and formally abolishing her hereditary title, making Cynfelyn the most democratic region in the Kingdom of Fanaglia until the establishment of the Fanaglian Republic and the abolition of the monarchy a decade and a half later.
The northern Dukes in Cadwal, Polydore, and Arviragus, and the establishment nobility and aristocracy vehemently opposed Autumn's handling of the Dehui Duchy and condemned the actions of both Legno Cengia and Findlay, with Reiner Ziegler, Duke of Arviragus, going so far as to accuse the latter of treason for "a gross negligence of the responsibilities bestowed upon her by the Divine" and for being "among the greatest threats to the sublime dignity of proper monarchy." The preservation of this "proper monarchy" became the wedge that divided Fanaglia and led to the outbreak of the Second Fanaglian Civil War.