Engelbrekt I. The Restorer
Engelbrekt I represents one of the peaks of the early reign of the House of Render. He succeeded his father, whose court was a symbol of luxury and moral decay, and turned the empire back toward order, administration, and reform. He strengthened the tax system associated with mining, modernized the army, reorganized the provincial administration and advocated the practical security of the population. It was under him that the empire acquired a form that in many ways lasted until the following centuries. It is not surprising that some contemporaries compared him with the greatest rulers of the entire history of the empire.
The son in opposition to the father
Engelbrekt was the last legitimate son of Frederik III. and his mother was Protera, the official wife of the emperor. Although his father had many bastards, both law and court tradition made Engelbrekt the undisputed heir. Even in his youth, he acted as the opposite of his father. While Frederick III. associated government with banquets, carnality and luxury, Engelbrekt was also shaped by his aversion to the images he saw in the court in his childhood. When he ascended the throne, it was obvious that he would not continue in his father's style. He no longer held any great celebrations in the palace and turned his energies to the empire itself. In doing so, he quickly created the image of a monarch who wants to correct, not just rule with brilliance.
The tax system and the wealth of the empire
One of Engelbrekt's first steps was to issue clear laws on the mining of precious metals and stones. He recognized that mining could take place throughout the empire, but at the same time stipulated that every gram of mined wealth must be included in the imperial taxes according to a precisely determined value. This move was smart precisely because it benefited all parties – the nobility, who continued to grow richer, and the emperor, who received a certain and predictable income. Thanks to this system, the economy and financial stability of the empire were strengthened. Here, Engelbrekt did not act as a destroyer of old gains, but as a monarch who was able to transform them into a stronger state structure. It was through this that he began to gain respect even outside the narrow circle of his own family.
The army of the new age
Engelbrekt was aware that the empire had suffered more defeats in recent centuries than earlier kingdoms had over a much longer period of time. He therefore decided to fundamentally modernize the army. He supported the wider use of crossbows, which had been known before, but were not a fixed part of official military doctrine. He also began to promote fighting in formations and a more systematic approach to strategy, which had hitherto been the wish of a few capable generals. He had the army divided into five main elements - heavy infantry, light infantry, riflemen, support units and cavalry - and thus gave a new logic to training and command. It was not just an organizational change, but the creation of a military system that was supposed to learn from past defeats. New battle manuals and textbooks were written, and by the end of his life this army had successfully repelled goblin raids from the northeast.
Provinces, Granaries and the New Order
Engelbrekt's reforms did not only concern the troops. He stipulated that each village must have its own granary and alarm device, thereby simultaneously reducing the risk of famine and surprise during raids. These practical measures won him extraordinary popularity among the people, as they were reforms whose benefit was immediately visible. No less important was the new division of the empire into forty-eight provinces with designated capitals and governors. In this way, he unified the administrative space and evened out the differences in the size and weight of the individual units. At the same time, he also weakened the old regional imbalances between the noble families, although of course he favored his own family. Nevertheless, this form of the provinces remained in the core until later times. So he rightly earned the nickname Restorer - he did not restore the past, but the power and order of the empire itself.