Lord of the Isles
The Lord of the Isles was the head of government of the Region of the Isles, the island region of the Commonwealth of Hamland that is today the Isles of Caputia in Nouvelle Alexandrie. The office grew out of the old lordship of the islands and, under the Commonwealth, answered to the House of the Sealords as the modern Regional Governor answers to the region's electorate today.
Office
The Lord of the Isles was drawn from the House of the Sealords, the region's legislature, and held office as head of its largest party. Elections were held on a monthly cycle alongside those of the wider Commonwealth, and because they were conducted under a first-past-the-post system the winning party generally commanded a clear majority in the chamber.[1] Through most of the Commonwealth period the office was held by the Social Liberal Party, and the head of state above the Lord was the Seneschal of the Commonwealth of Hamland.[1]
History
The lordship descended from the old Kingdom of the Isles, joined in the Union of the Isles from the Iridian Island Kingdom and the Tae Kingdom.[2] When the islands were later reunited within the Kingdom of Hamland, the monarchy of the Isles was continued as a lordship, and the Lord of the Isles became the ruler of the region under the Hammish crown.[2] The region was administered from Ersoy in Taeland, where the House of the Sealords sat, and its government enacted law by Lordship Decree.[1] The office was held in its later years by Lord Lewis of the Isles. An earlier holder, Lord Lewis II, was assassinated by Tae nationalists during the turbulent history of Taeland within the region.[1]
Arms
The arms of the Region of the Isles were, in origin, the personal arms of the Lord of the Isles, assumed after the union of the islands and afterward carried by the region as a whole.[2] They joined three charges, one for each strand of the union: the anchor of the old Kingdom of the Isles, the griffon of the Iridian Island Kingdom, and the fish of the Tae Kingdom.[2] The fish and the griffon stood as the emblems of the region.[1]
Legacy
On the admission of the region to Nouvelle Alexandrie its government was reconstituted on the common regional pattern set by the Regional and Local Government Organization Act, 1699, under which an elected Regional Governor took the place of the Lord of the Isles and the Congress of the Isles that of the House of the Sealords.[3] The title survives in the region's history and in the arms it bequeathed to its successor.[3]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e Region of the Isles.
- ^ a b c d Region of the Isles, Arms.
- ^ a b Isles of Caputia, Politics.
