House of Meir

House of Meir

Country	Free State of Haifa Hamland Natopia
Founded (AN)	c. 1602 AN
Founder	Joseph Meir and Imelda Meir
Head of the House	Cornelius Meir, Duke of Frenzyville and Prince of Saint Andre (as of 1758 AN)
Seat	County of Frenzyville, Tapfer Aeterna

The House of Meir is a family of Haifan origin that rose with the founding of the Free State of Haifa, produced the republic's last Prime Minister, Benjamin Meir, and afterward established itself among the nobility of Natopia. Its ancestral city is Abeis, where the family built a fortune in real-estate development, and its seat is the County of Frenzyville in the Natopian demesne of Tapfer Aeterna, of which it is the ruling demesnial house.

The house first came to prominence in the republican politics of Haifa, where Joseph Meir served as the first City Police Commissioner of Abeis and his son Benjamin held the premiership. After the Free State was dissolved into Hamland in 1620 AN, the governorship of the Realm of Haifa was vested in the family as an honorary dignity. Benjamin Meir emigrated to Natopia, where he was created Count of Frenzyville and twice served as Chancellor of Natopia, and his eldest daughter Maria Meir carried the house forward as Duchess of Frenzyville, Regent of Natopia, and Princess of Saint Andre.

Origins

A street in Abeis, the ancestral city of the House of Meir.

The House of Meir originated in Abeis, the capital of the Free State of Haifa, among the merchant and professional families that supported the founding of the republic. Joseph Meir and his wife Imelda Meir were both active in the Federation of the Natives, the movement of the republic's founder Ismael Todochev, and Joseph was appointed the first City Police Commissioner of Abeis when the city was constituted. The family's wealth came from real-estate development, an enterprise led by Imelda, and its name became fixed in the commercial life of Abeis, where the Meir Networks studio later used Benjamin Meir's former home as a film set.

Joseph and Imelda had three children. The eldest, Aaron Meir, managed the family's holdings in Abeis and kept its commercial base while his brother entered public life. The second was Benjamin Meir. The youngest, Rebecca Meir, married into the professional families of the capital.

Benjamin Meir, born in Abeis on 20.XV.1573 AN, took a juris doctorate from the University of Abeis and entered the politics of the republic. Through his career the family passed from local prominence in Abeis to a place in the government of the Free State, and later to a title of nobility in Natopia.

The Free State and the premiership

Benjamin Meir served as Foreign Minister of the Free State in 1602 AN, signing the Treaty of Abeis with the Empire of the Alexandrians, and afterward held two terms as Mayor of Abeis. Ahead of the republic's last general election he merged the Federation of the Natives, the party that the republic's founder Ismael Todochev had led, with an earlier Democratic Alliance to form the Haifan Democratic Party, which won four of the six seats in the election of 1614 AN, and he was ratified Prime Minister of Haifa.

His ministry ended in 1616 AN over the Treaty of St. Andre with Natopia, which transferred the principality of Walstadt, held since 1602 AN by Ismael Todochev as its prince, to Natopia in exchange for Port St. Andre. Benjamin Meir gave up his Haifan citizenship in the same year and left for Natopia. He returned to settle the republic's affairs, signing the Agreement of Dissolution in 1620 AN and taking office as founding Transitional President of the Most Serene Republic of St. Andre, the successor state established at Port St. Andre.

The Realm of Haifa

When the Free State was dissolved and its territory passed to Hamland, the governorships of the former Hammish regions were allocated among the leading houses of the Commonwealth. The governorship of the Realm of Haifa was assigned to the House of Meir rather than absorbed into a neighboring house, on the ground that Haifa possessed an identity of its own that warranted nurturing, and that the dignity properly belonged to the family of Benjamin Meir, the last Prime Minister of the republic. The corresponding governorships of the Protectorate of United Monovia and of Villa Levi were held by the House of Ravaillac.

By this time Benjamin Meir had settled in Natopia, and the governorship was held by the house as an honorary and hereditary dignity rather than as an administered office.

The house in Natopia

The capitol of the Most Serene Republic of St. Andre, the successor republic founded by Benjamin Meir; the demesne of Saint Andre later passed to his daughter's charge.

Benjamin Meir arrived in Natopia on 1.XIII.1617 AN and rose in its service. He was appointed Marshal of Thalassa, then Director-General of the Imperial Natopian Constabulary and Minister of Culture, and the Frenzy elected him Chancellor of Natopia for two non-consecutive terms, from 1642 AN to 1651 AN and from 1661 AN to 1668 AN. For his service in the first term he was created Count of Frenzyville, the title that became the house's principal dignity in Natopia and gave it its seat in the County of Frenzyville. Between his two chancellorships he was Lord High Steward of the Most Serene Union, and he stood as a witness at the 1661 AN wedding of Emperor Francis Joseph IV of Alexandria and Queen Elizabeth I of Caputia. He was a designated Regent of Natopia from 1666 AN until his death in 1668 AN, and was the only person inducted into both the Order of the Black Hole and the Order of the Yoshi.

The comital seat established the family in the demesne that became Tapfer Aeterna, where the County of Frenzyville is the ancestral home of the house. The city of Port-du-Meir, in the county of Opagheia, carries the family name.

The demesnial house of Tapfer Aeterna

On Benjamin's death the headship of the house passed to his eldest child, Maria Meir (b. 1631 AN, d. 1733 AN). She succeeded to the county as Countess of Frenzyville and was afterward raised to Duchess of Frenzyville, the style under which she governed the demesne as its viceroy. She held the office of Minister of Security from 1668 AN, served as Regent of Natopia from 1697 AN to 1704 AN, and was styled Princess of Tapfer and Princess of Saint Andre.

Maria Meir presided over the union of the Florian Free State and the demesne of Saint Andre into a single demesne in 1708 AN, a consolidation she guided as Countess of Frenzyville. She attended the Coronation of Emperor Nathan III in 1704 AN as Countess of Frenzyville and Regent of Natopia, the promulgation of the Proclamation of Dos Gardenias in 1709 AN, and the Coronation of Vadoma and Edward in 1717 AN. Through her the house was established as the ruling demesnial house of Tapfer Aeterna, and its members held the styles of Prince and Princess of Saint Andre and of Tapfer.

The dukedom of Frenzyville and the viceroyalties of Tapfer Aeterna and of Saint Andre descended together in Maria Meir's line. Her son Augustus Meir (b. 1663 AN, d. 1742 AN) succeeded her as second Duke of Frenzyville, viceroy of Tapfer Aeterna, and Prince of Saint Andre, and his son Cornelius Meir (b. 1695 AN) held all three dignities, standing as head of the house, viceroy of Tapfer Aeterna, and Prince of Saint Andre in 1758 AN.

In that same generation the house was joined to the reigning House of Inti-Carrillo. Lucia Meir, a daughter of Cornelius, married Xanthorr, Count of Anapia in 1758 AN, a son of Empress Clara and King Sinchi Roca II of Nouvelle Alexandrie, binding the ducal house of Frenzyville to the royal family of Natopia and Nouvelle Alexandrie.

Cadet branches

Beside the senior line that held the dukedom of Frenzyville, the House of Meir produced several cadet branches that persisted to 1758 AN. Pablo Meir, a younger son of Benjamin Meir, founded a branch at Port St. Andre in the demesne his father had established, and Benjamin Meir the younger kept the family's original house and real-estate holdings at Abeis. Other children of Benjamin married into Natopian and Haifan families, among them the house of Ellery and the Sarfati of Abeis, so that by 1758 AN the name and blood of the house ran through several demesnes of Natopia and the old Haifan capital alike.

Titles and holdings

• Count and Duke of Frenzyville, created for Benjamin Meir as Count of Frenzyville for his first chancellorship and raised to a dukedom under his daughter Maria Meir, the family's principal Natopian dignity and the source of its seat.
• Princess of Saint Andre, and Prince and Princess of Tapfer, styles held by members of the house in Natopia.
• Governor of the Realm of Haifa, an honorary and hereditary dignity vested in the house after the dissolution of the Free State of Haifa.
• The County of Frenzyville, in Tapfer Aeterna, is the ancestral seat of the house.

Family tree

• Joseph Meir (b. c. 1544 AN, d. 1616 AN), first City Police Commissioner of Abeis, m. c. 1568 AN Imelda Meir (b. c. 1547 AN, d. 1622 AN), builder of the family's real-estate fortune
  • Aaron Meir (b. c. 1570 AN, d. 1642 AN), who managed the family's holdings in Abeis
  • Benjamin Meir (b. 20.XV.1573 AN, d. 1668 AN), Prime Minister of Haifa and Chancellor of Natopia, Count of Frenzyville, m. 1628 AN Letizia Meir (b. c. 1610 AN, d. 1691 AN)
    • Maria Meir (b. 1631 AN, d. 1733 AN), eldest child and head of the house after her father, first Duchess of Frenzyville, Regent of Natopia (1697 AN-1704 AN) and Princess of Saint Andre, m. 1659 AN Lucius Verrano (b. c. 1627 AN, d. 1701 AN), a Natopian noble; their children bore the Meir name
      • Augustus Meir (b. 1663 AN, d. 1742 AN), second Duke of Frenzyville, viceroy of Tapfer Aeterna, and Prince of Saint Andre, m. 1691 AN Cornelia Aurelac (b. c. 1670 AN, d. 1741 AN)
        • Cornelius Meir (b. 1695 AN), third Duke of Frenzyville, head of the house, viceroy of Tapfer Aeterna, and Prince of Saint Andre in 1758 AN, m. 1724 AN Beatriz Salvane (b. c. 1703 AN)
          • Frederick Meir (b. 1726 AN), heir apparent to the dukedom
          • Lucia Meir (b. 1729 AN), m. 1758 AN Xanthorr, Count of Anapia, of the House of Inti-Carrillo
      • Emmanuel Meir (b. 1666 AN, d. 1738 AN), who left no issue
    • Pablo Meir (b. 1634 AN, d. 1703 AN), founder of the branch at  Port St. Andre, m. 1662 AN Ana Serralta (b. c. 1640 AN, d. 1708 AN)
      • Esteban Meir (b. 1665 AN, d. 1740 AN), of Saint Andre
        • Teodoro Meir (b. 1698 AN), of Saint Andre, living in 1758 AN
        • Constanza Meir (b. 1701 AN)
    • Benjamin Meir, Jr. (b. 1636 AN, d. 1710 AN), who kept the family's house and holdings at Abeis, m. 1664 AN Rachel Halevy (b. c. 1642 AN, d. 1715 AN)
      • David Meir (b. 1667 AN, d. 1741 AN), of Abeis
        • Nadia Meir (b. 1700 AN), of Abeis, living in 1758 AN
        • Aaron Meir (b. 1703 AN), of Abeis, living in 1758 AN
    • Isabelle Meir (b. 1638 AN, d. 1712 AN), m. 1660 AN Gideon Ellery, of  Natopia; her descendants were reckoned to the House of Ellery
    • Fernanda Meir (b. 1641 AN, d. 1716 AN), m. 1667 AN into the Sarfati family of Abeis, with issue
    • Sharon Meir (b. 1643 AN, d. 1719 AN), who died without issue
    • Martin Meir (b. 1645 AN, d. 1721 AN), of Natopian public service, m. 1670 AN Clara Vionne (b. c. 1650 AN, d. 1723 AN)
      • Lorenzo Meir (b. 1673 AN, d. 1748 AN)
        • Marcel Meir (b. 1706 AN), in Natopian service, living in 1758 AN
    • Joseph Meir (b. 1648 AN, d. 1724 AN), who died without issue
  • Rebecca Meir (b. c. 1576 AN, d. 1652 AN), who married into the professional families of Abeis

See also

• Wedding of Lucia Meir and Prince Xanthorr
• Benjamin Meir
• Maria Meir
• Ismael Todochev
• Haifan Democratic Party
• Free State of Haifa
• Tapfer Aeterna
• Chancellor of Natopia