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Contains excerpts from Chapter 8 of Arþusund of Skrælige, written by historian Sir Michael Chappington.
Skrælig Islands, New York
Skrælig Islands, New York
Now under English control, Skrælige was now known as the Skrælig Islands. Town names changed yet again:
Skraalingborg became Skrælingborough (often pronounced Skrælborough)
Middentong became Middleton
Litenvik became Littlevik
Noordstadt became Northstead
Kopersteen became Copperstein
Nieuwehoop became Newhope
Raskromming became Raskrom
Middensunfort became Middlesun
Egilstadt became Egilstead
Willemfort became Fort Charles
Abenakiborg became Abenakiborough, often shortened to Nakiborough
Storreyn, Miðrsun, and Suðreyn were transferred to the Province of New York, and Northney remained with the Massachusetts Bay Colony. However, Mass. Bay was displeased about this - it claimed all of the islands for themselves. And of course, this ignored the original inhabitants of the islands, the Abenaki.
Despite the conflict on paper, life in Skrælige continued as it had been. The first English governor of New York, Richard Nicolls, was occupied with New York City and the surrounding area, and was content to delegate rule to the Skræligen Þing - with ultimate veto power if need be, of course. English rule was formalized in 1667 with the Treaty of Breda, ending the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
Third Anglo-Dutch War
Third Anglo-Dutch War
Fort Charles, Skrælige
After less than 5 years, the English and Dutch were at war again. King Charles II of England had agreed to a secret treaty with the French, planning to support a French invasion of the Dutch Republic. This invasion began in 1672, sparking the Franco-Dutch War and the Third Anglo-Dutch War. While the French were initially very successful, taking most of the Netherlands short of Holland, the Dutch regained control of most of their land by the end of the year. Support for the war had already been somewhat weak in the English Parliament, and now that hopes of a quick victory were gone, that support nearly vanished. The Anglo-French fleet had failed to blockade the Netherlands, and instead England found itself locked out of Baltic Sea trade.
With the war going less than stellar in Europe, North America was about to get involved as well. In late June 1673, a Dutch fleet arrived outside of Fort Charles, Skrælige. They vastly outnumbered the English forces there, who promptly surrendered, returning the island to Dutch rule*. The bulk of the fleet then moved on to New York, capturing it in July. The Dutch reoccupation of both places was short-lived, however. The English Parliament refused to support the war, eventually leaving Charles II without funding. England withdrew from the war, and the Treaty of Westminster was signed on the 19th of February, 1674. Among other terms, the treaty returned territory to status quo ante bellum, putting New York (and Skrælige) back in English hands.
*Unlike previously, this was under the Dutch government, not the Dutch West India Company.
Over on the North American continent, tensions between the Native Americans and English colonists grew. The different tribes and colonies had developed their own separate relations and agreements with each other, but continued expansion and diplomatic violations strained this uneasy peace. One significant figure was Metacomet (also known as King Philip to the English), Grand Sachem of the Wampanoag Confederacy from 1662. The Wampanoag tribe had entered into an alliance with the Plymouth Colony, but colonists continued to encroach on their lands, and so Metacomet began to negotiate with other Algonquian tribes against them.
One of Metacomet's advisers was John Sassamon, a Native convert to Christianity (a so-called praying Indian) and Harvard College graduate who was often a mediator between the natives and the colonists. Sassamon had reported Metacomet was planning to gather allies to attack colonial settlements, which led to Plymouth Colony threatening to confiscate Wampanoag land and guns if there were any further reports. Soon after this, Sassamon was found dead in Assawompset Pond, and three Wampanoag men were convicted of the murder by a jury that included six Native elders. The three men were executed on the 8th of June, 1675.
In response, a band of Pokanokets (part of the Wampanoag tribe) attacked and destroyed the town of Swansea, Plymouth on the 20th of June. The war spread throughout Southern New England, bringing in the Podunk and Nipmuc tribes against the Puritan colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, and Connecticut (New Haven had been absorbed into CT). Rhode Island was notably not involved at this point - their governor Roger Williams was an exile from Mass. Bay and had good relations with the native Narragansetts there, who were also neutral. This dramatically changed when Plymouth led a colonial militia against the Narragansetts on the 2nd of November. The Narragansetts retreated into a fort in a nearby frozen swamp. On the 19th of December, a combined force of Plymouth, Connecticut, and Massachusetts militia found the fort and attacked in what became known as the Great Swamp Fight. The colonists killed about 600 Narragansetts and burned the fort down. Most of the remaining Narragansetts escaped into the swamp, and later began raiding and burning colonial settlements including Providence.
When colonists in Maine heard of the start of the war, they demanded that the nearby Wabanakis (a broad group that included the Abenaki) turn over their guns and ammunition as a "sign of goodwill". Despite this being an affront to their sovereignty and their reliance on firearms for hunting, many complied. This led to mass starvation, and after English colonists continued violence against the Wabanki, they began raiding English settlements. As a result, English settlements in most of Maine were annihilated, and Northney in Skrælige was completely destroyed. Hostilities only ceased in 1677, when the Wabanaki heard that the Mohawk were joining the war on the side of New England and sued for peace.
At this time Maine came under the legal control of New York, who signed the Treaty of Casco with the Wabanaki in 1678. The English were allowed to return, but would owe the natives one peck of corn annually per family as a sort of land use tax. Northney was reestablished, but was now formally a part of New York.
The war was devastating to everyone in New England - more than half of the New England towns were attacked, many completely destroyed. The Colony of Rhode Island was devastated, with most of its settlements outside of the island itself destroyed, including its capital Providence. However, the Narragansetts, Wampanoags, Podunks, and Nipmucs suffered the most. More than 3,000 of the approximately 10,000 natives died, and the remainder met varied fates including enslavement to Bermuda, and becoming refugees in the north and west. In contrast to those in the south, the Wabanaki came out victorious. In the following years they formed the Wabanaki Confederacy, and often found themselves allied with France.
Growth, Development and Immigration
Growth, Development and Immigration
Site of the new cemetery, west of the city walls of Skrælingborough
An example of Skrælig Colonial architecture in Northstead
Skrælingborough was growing quite substantially at this point, and land within the walls was become scarce. The large cemetery near the market had run out of room, so a new cemetery was designated to the west of the walls in 1668. While it wasn't very large at the time, there were contentious plans to exhume some of the dead in the old cemetery and rebury them here. Due to the unpopularity of the plan, it had not been enacted yet, but there was a moratorium on new burials within the walls.
A new type of architecture began to show up at this point in time, Skrælig Colonial, common throughout Skrælige in the 17th and 18th centuries. Given a large influx of immigration from all over Europe (as well as refugees from King Philip's War), Skrælige needed a way to build large amounts of housing. In order to do so in a somewhat orderly fashion, a standardized method of building houses was devised. Similar to colonial buildings on the mainland, a wooden house was built on top of a stone foundation. Trees were still plentiful on the islands, making a lumber an inexpensive building material. The difference between structures on the mainland and on Skrælige was the standardization - common dimensions were enumerated by the Skræligen Þing so that towns could be more easily planned. While there wasn't always formal city planning the way we would think of it today, this did mean that there would at least be some organization in their growth.
While the Skrælig Colonial houses were built within the established towns, the best examples of their use were in three new settlements: Abenakiborough, New Jorvik, and Havant.
Overhead view of Abenakiborough
The fort of Abenakiborough
Centre of Havant, with Havant Common in the middle
Village of New Jorvik
Abenakiborough (sometimes shortened to Nakiborough, though this name is no longer preferred) had been founded as a fort in 1454 after the Massacre of Abenakiborg the prior year. In 1669 the fortification was turned into an actual village on the shores of Lake Asærban.
New Jorvik, named for the Norse name for York, was settled in 1675 partway between Skrælingborough and Middleton along the Almannavegr.
Finally, Havant was founded in 1681 by English immigrants who had initially immigrated to New England. This was the first town in Skrælige to be settled on a formal grid pattern. In the centre was a large town common with the church on the north side, and is now the oldest public park in all of Skrælige.
Incorporation of Skrælig County
Incorporation of Skrælig County
The border between Middleton (left) and New Jorvik (right), part of Skrælingborough
Overhead view of the Siguan River valley. Note the continuous area of farming along the south bank.
Up until this point in history, none of the towns of Skrælige had clearly defined territory. This wasn't really necessary, since there was unsettled land separating every town from each other. However, this changed in the 1670s with the expansion of farmland along the Almannavegr between Skrælingborough and Middleton, and the founding of New Jorvik in that continuous zone of farmland. Boundaries were unclear, which caused conflicts between local authorities.
A chance to clarify and codify these boundaries came in 1683, when the province of New York was divided into 13 counties, including Skrælig County for all of Skrælige. (This included Northney, which was in fact administered as part of York County in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, due to conflicting claims.)
The Þing took this opportunity to further subdivide the county into the towns of Skrælingborough, Middleton, Copperstein, Newhope, Northstead, Abenakiborough, Egilstead, Havant, Raskrom, Littlevik, and Middlesun. New Jorvik was to be annexed into Skrælingborough. The boundaries included a great deal of completely untouched land, with Middlesun containing less than 100 people and the whole island of Miðrsun. A line was drawn across the width of Storreyn north of Egilstead, and everything north of this line was designated as "Abenaki Lands" - though this was a unilateral decision without any input from the Abenaki themselves. (The Abenaki Lands were also claimed by New York, but the Þing declined to actually press this.)
After demarcating the 11 towns of Skrælig County (not including Northney) and the Abenaki Lands, there were four main areas left unincorporated:
The island of Suðreyn
The southernmost peninsula of Storreyn (Freydisskagi)
The west coast north of Northstead
The east coast north of Littlevik
Plans were made to settle the first two areas within the decade in order to exert more control over the area and organize expansion. The coastal areas did not have settlements planned yet - while they were south of the "Abenaki Lands", these were still areas where the Abenaki hunted and gathered, and a small number lived there. After witnessing King Philip's War, Skrælige did not want to risk antagonizing the Abenaki.
These new settlements were soon established: Southreyn on the northern end of Suðreyn in 1685, and Freydiston on the west coast of the Freydisskagi in 1686.
Skrælig County Census of 1684
Skrælig County Census of 1684
After establishing Skrælig County and demarcating the constituent towns, the Þing commissioned a census. Dutch authorities had compiled a great deal of documentation during their last occupation, and so the additional work to update it was not very substantial. The results were as follows:
Abenakiborough: 70 (+61)
Havant: 166
Middleton: 174 (+76)
Northstead: 342 (+124)
Town Centre: 216 (+91)
North Harbour: 121 (+36)
Outskirts: 5 (-3)
Newhope: 407 (+223)
Main Village: 359 (+198)
North Village: 20 (+9)
South Village: 28 (+16)
Fort Charles: 150 (+22)
Copperstein: 133 (+62)
Skrælingborough: 1205 (+405)
Church & Market District: 512 (+151)
Middle & Newport: 437 (+64)
Central Area, Outside the Walls: 84 (+32)
Left Road Village: 43 (+29)
Right Road Village: 27
New Jorvik: 102
Littlevik: 120 (+47)
Raskrom: 43 (+27)
Middlesun: 62 (+25)
Egilstead: 75 (+40)
Total: 2947 (+1278)
Dominion of New England
Dominion of New England
England had quite a variety of different colonies in North America at this time. Some of them were started as commercial ventures (Virginia Colony being a notable example), but the colonies of New England were founded for mostly religious reasons. Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Haven were all Puritan colonies, and non-Puritans were barely tolerated - this even applied to supporters of the Church of England, the official church in England.
In addition to their theocratic rule, their economies were problematic for England. The geology of the area meant that growing cash crops was not economically feasible, and so their economies were based around trade - not just with other English colonies, but with other European powers and their colonies. This meant that their merchants were competition for English merchants, and they were beginning to build workshops that would directly compete with English manufacturing. The English Parliament passed a series of laws known as the Navigation Acts to restrict this trade, but these were resisted and circumvented via smuggling.
Massachusetts was the biggest offender in the eyes of King Charles II, who repeatedly tried to change and reform the government of Massachusetts, but was unsuccessful. And so, the charter for the colony was formally annulled in June 1684. Plans were then made to create a unified administration to bring the colonies in line with England and better coordinate them in matters of defense. And so the Dominion of New England began on the 25th of May, 1686, including Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony, and the Provinces of New Hampshire & Maine. Connecticut and Rhode Island were included later that year.
The Dominion of New England was very unpopular, especially in Massachusetts where several towns refused to enforce new taxation laws. Other new restrictions included heavily restricted town meetings and challenging the validity of many land claims.
Despite being adjacent to Massachusetts (including Maine) and New Hampshire, Skrælige was part of New York, and was therefore not subject to the Dominion of New England (with the exception of Northney). However, the provinces of New York, East Jersey, and West Jersey were added to the Dominion on the 7th of May, 1688, although these three provinces were run by Lieutenant Governor Francis Nicholson, rather than Governor Edmund Andros, due to their distance from Boston. This led to a strange quirk though - despite being unified with New England, they were still indirectly ruled via New York, a situation that lessened (but did not fully negate) the impact of the Dominion.
Author's Notes
Author's Notes
I probably went a little bit overboard with the King Philip's War description - definitely want to try and narrow things down so that I can focus more on Skrælingborough itself in the future.
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