Backstories for my Belle Époque imagi-nations: The Commonwealth of Avalon

A thousand years ago the island of Avalon was settled by successive waves of tribal invaders from the areas that are now known as Burgundy and Schwarzenberg, and these incomers displaced the original inhabitants to the west and north. Over many centuries the invaders interbred with each other and the indigenous population, and although those from the north and west retain some elements of regional differences in terms of accent and dress, the modern population of Avalon can be regarded as being largely homogenous.

The flag of the present-day Commonwealth of Avalon.

The Commonwealth of Avalon came about after a bloody civil war between the monarch and his parliament. After the king’s death in battle, the parliamentary forces won and a republic (or commonwealth) was set up, with an elected head of state who was known as the Lord Protector.

Some fifteen years after the end of the civil war, the king’s son Edward – who was by now thirty years old – returned from exile in Burgundy. He did not come back to claim his throne, but as a commoner. However, he soon became the leader of the political party that had been set up by his father’s former supporters, and by the time he was forty he had been elected Lord Protector.

Edward’s enthusiastic adherence to the Commonwealth’s Constitution eventually led to the gradual demise of the republican movement, and few years before his death, parliament passed an Act that restored the monarchy. Before he signed it, the king insisted that the country should continue to be known as the Commonwealth of Avalon and the head of state’s title should henceforth be monarch and Lord Protector to ensure that the monarch remained subject to the Constitution.

The current monarch and Lord Protector is Valberta, who was the niece of the previous, childless monarch and Lord Protector.

Being an island, Avalon has always been outward looking, and has relied on seaborne trade to import raw materials that cannot be found on the island and to export the products of its industries. Its economy is based on light and heavy industries (mining, iron and steel production, shipbuilding etc.), agriculture, and fishing, and its merchant navy is the largest in the world.

The armed forces of Avalon consist of a navy and a small professional army. The latter is backed up by reserves and volunteers whose main task in time of war would be to defend the country from invaders.

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Act declaring Avalon to be a Commonwealth

Be it declared and and enacted by this present Parliament and by the Authority of the same – That the People of Avalon and of all the Dominions and Territories thereunto Avalon a Commonwealth. belonging are and shall be and are hereby constituted, made, established, and confirmed to be a Commonwealth and free State And shall from henceforth be Governed as a Commonwealth and Free State by the supreme Authority of this Nation, the Representatives of the People in Parliament and by such as they shall appoint and constitute as Officers and Ministers under them for the good of the People and that without any King.

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The original Constitution of the Commonwealth of Avalon

1. That the supreme legislative authority of the Commonwealth of Avalon and the dominions thereunto belonging, shall be and reside in one person, and the people assembled in Parliament; the style of which person shall be the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of Avalon.
2. That the exercise of the chief magistracy and the administration of the government over the said country and dominions, and the people thereof, shall be in the Lord Protector, assisted with a council elected by Parliament, the number whereof shall not exceed twenty-one, nor be less than thirteen.
3. That all writs, processes, commissions, patents, grants, and other things, which now run in the name and style of the keepers of the liberty of Avalon by authority of Parliament, shall run in the name and style of the Lord Protector, from whom, for the future, shall be derived all magistracy and honours in this nation; and have the power of pardons (except in case of murders and treason) and benefit of all forfeitures for the public use; and shall govern the said country and dominions in all things by the advice of the council, and according to these presents and the laws.
4. That the Lord Protector, the Parliament sitting, shall dispose and order the militia and forces, both by sea and land, for the peace and good of the nation, by consent of Parliament; and that the Lord Protector, with the advice and consent of the major part of the council, shall dispose and order the militia for the ends aforesaid in the intervals of Parliament.
5. That the Lord Protector, by the advice aforesaid, shall direct in all things concerning the keeping and holding of a good correspondence with foreign kings, princes, and states; and, with the consent of the major part of the council, have the power of war and peace.
6. That the laws shall not be altered, suspended, abrogated, or repealed, nor any new law made, nor any tax, charge, or imposition laid upon the people, but by common consent in Parliament.
7. That there shall be a new Parliament summoned to meet once in every third year.
8. That Parliament shall not, during the time of five months, to be accounted from the day of their first meeting, be adjourned, prorogued, or dissolved, without their own consent.
9. That Parliaments shall be summoned and elected in manner hereafter expressed; that is to say, the persons to be chosen within Avalon to sit and serve in Parliament, shall be, and not exceed, the number of two hundred.
10. That the persons to be elected to sit in Parliament from time to time, shall be according to the proportions and numbers hereafter expressed in a list of constituencies, to be listed hereafter in a separate schedule.
11. That the summons to Parliament shall be by writ under the Great Seal of Avalon.
12. That the persons who shall be elected to serve in Parliament, shall be such (and no other than such) as are persons of known integrity and being of the age of twenty-one years.
13. That all and every person shall be capable to elect members to serve in Parliament.
14. That all Bills agreed unto by the Parliament, shall be presented to the Lord Protector for his consent; and in case he shall not give his consent thereto within twenty days after they shall be presented to him, or give satisfaction to the Parliament within the time limited, that then, upon declaration of the Parliament that the Lord Protector hath not consented nor given satisfaction, such Bills shall pass into and become laws, although he shall not give his consent thereunto; provided such Bills contain nothing in them contrary to the matters contained in these presents.
15. That the office of Lord Protector over this nation shall be elective and not hereditary; and upon the death of the Lord Protector, another fit person shall be forthwith elected to succeed him in the Government; which election shall be by the People.
16. That all laws, statutes and ordinances, and clauses in any law, statute, or ordinance to the contrary of the aforesaid liberty of the People from the tyranny of a king, shall be esteemed as null and void.
17. That every successive Lord Protector over this nation shall take and subscribe a solemn oath, that he will seek the peace, quiet and welfare of this nation, cause law and justice to be equally administered; and that he will not violate or infringe the matters and things contained in this writing, and in all other things will, to his power and to the best of his understanding, govern these nations according to the laws, statutes, and customs thereof.

Upon the restitution of the monarchy, certain articles of the Constitution were amended accordingly (e.g. Articles 15 and 16), but it remains the same in all its major provisions.