The Ore Hills Rebellion

Resentment between miners and farmers in Mournwold had been simmering for almost three centuries, until it finally kicked off in 326YE.

Introduction

During the Winter Solstice 385YE, Vaclav Mladenovich Kosti, Minister of Historical Research, commissioned the department, and specifically Snowstorm Henk, to prepare a report into the Ore Hills Rebellion of 326YE, its leaders, their fate, and their virtue. Snowstorm Henk visited the Mournwold and found the inhabitants welcoming, although he writes that some of his compatriots were a little bemused to find themselves stone-picking or helping to repair boundary fences and drystone walls to “earn their supper”.

Henk notes with interest, incidentally, that if his calculations are correct this Autumn will see the sixty-year anniversary of the what the people of the Marches variously call the Ore Hills Rebellion and the Ore Hills Uprising.

A Land Divided

The Mournwold was conquered, and assigned to the Marches, in the year 74YE during the reign of Empress Teleri. Prior to that, however, it had been a regular battlefield between the southern Jotun and the Marcher armies. The barbarian orcs presented a much more united front that those in Upwold, Mitwold, or Bregasland, putting side their differences to resist Marcher domination. At various points prior to the foundation of the Empire, the Marchers held Freemoor, Chalkdowns, and Green March but were never able to hold all three simultaneously nor push further south.

After the campaigns of 73YE and 74YE, though, the Marches finally controlled the entire territory (with the technical exception of the great woodland of Alderly, which remained largely unknown and unexplored for centuries to come, being the domain of the Feni who once lived there). Rich veins of ore were found in the southern hills, ultimately leading to the discovery of mithril in northern Greensward. Local legend suggests that the mine was first discovered in pre-Imperial time by Jonah Gold, but that seems unlikely to be literal fact. There's no real record of the Marchers holding territory in the Ore Hills or Southmoor, never mind further south. Still, the Ore Hills remain closely associated with the legends of the ghostly miner in the minds of the Marchers, so arguing this point is unlikely to go anywhere enjoyable.

Arguably, the first real signs of discontent in the Mournwold date back to the discovery of the Singing Caves. The Senate at the time chose to allocate them as an Imperial, rather than National, seat auctioned to any citizen. This caused frustration in Mournwold, who argued that the mine was on their land and thus belonged to the Marches. Jenny Toly – the Senator for Mournwold at the time - argued that the stability of the Imperial Treasury had to take precedence over the desires of Marcher miners. It would be a mistake to imagine it was only the miners of Ore Hills and Southmoor who were invested in the Singing Caves – the move was certainly controversial - and Jenny Toly was not a popular Senator but maintained her position for as long as she did due to the support of the influential stewards of Chalkdowns and Freemoor.

It would not be until the reign of Imperatrix Lisabetta that the Singing Caves would be allocated as a Marcher seat on the Bourse, and this fact remained a constant point of contention with the folk of central Mournwold for the next three hundred years.

Political Divisions

The Senator for Mournwold continued to be decided by the prosperous farming families of the Chalkdowns, and to a lesser extent Freemoor and Green March. Records make it clear that through its history, more than half of all senators representing the territory were picked by stewards of the Chalkdowns. It was also rare for those senators who were not ultimately selected by the stewards of the northern farms to serve more than a year or two at a time, while the Chalkdowns Senators (as they were increasingly referred to in a pejorative sense) would often serve for five or more years.

The politics of the Marches are, and always have been, based around the control of land. Yeomen select the Senators and appoint the Bourse. Farm ownership, the possession of and working of land, are fundamentally built into the Marcher perception of themselves. The arguments of the miners of central Mournwold – and there are very few miners elsewhere in the Marches – fell on deaf ears. While some efforts were made to equate owning farmland with owning mines, these efforts gained no traction.

The stewards of Upwold, Mitwold, and Bregasland in particular had no time for suggestions that mining should be equated with farming. Hereward Guildenstern, a Senator for Upwold in the time of Emperor James, summed it up rather cruelly in an address to the Senate when he pointed out that while it was good to have mines in the Marches, “if they all disappeared tomorrow, we'd just have to buy our metals from the Mestrans.” Senator Guildenstern was chastised by the Marcher Assembly for disrespecting the Prosperity of the miners of Mournwold, but was arguably simply expressing the sentiment of many of his peers.

The resentment in the Mournwold directed towards the “lowland farmers” as they were sometimes dismissively referred to, continued to simmer. That resentment did not flow only from the hills to the farmland, of course. Chalkdowns and Freemoor farmers began to resent what they saw as surly and ungrateful behaviour from the miners. Every shift in costs for food sold to the hill miners was greeted with what was often seen as faux outrage, and easily led into frustration at the miners' “refusal” to recognise that they were at odds with the people of their nation in their demand to be able to appoint the Senator of Mournwold.

As time went on, the situation worsened because the Senators chosen by the stewards were increasingly stubborn and disinterested in the miners' unhappiness.

It would be a mistake to characterise the Mournwold as a constant hotbed of angry miners complaining about yeomen and stewards. As with all such things, political sentiment rose and fell over the three hundred years following the Mournwold becoming Marcher land. There were numerous other issues that were every bit as contentious but as Leontes points out, people in the Marches have never struggled to find reasons to fall out with each other. But, as we now know, things came to a head in 326YE with the Ore Hills Rebellion.

The Rebellion

In 326YE, foul weather resulted in a poor harvest across the Marches. There were concerns at the time that this was the result of curses, but nothing could be found to confirm that this was the case. The accusations seem to have been made after the fact, with the implication that the so-called rebels were behind it, spitefully striking at the stewards. There is, again, no evidence this was anything more than misfortune and a particularly wet summer.

Faced with a need to tighten their belts, the farmers of Chalkdowns imposed a significant increase on the price of grain and flour sold to the miners of Ore Hills. This pattern was seen across the Marches, but there is evidence that the Chalkdowns farmers collectively agreed to raise their prices as high as the market would stand, forcing their neighbours to the south to pay up or starve.

For their part, the miners were outraged. They appealed to the Mournwold Senator, Henry Shepherd, to intervene. Shepherd, understandably perhaps, sided with the right of the yeofolk of the Mournwold to set their own prices and manage their own Prosperity.

In early Autumn a delegation of miners from the 'Hills and a Southmoor tried to approach a gathering of stewards in Chalkdowns to negotiate, but were rebuffed, Voices were raised, tempers flared, and there are reports that the argument went beyond shouting to some “spirited pushing and shoving, behaviour more suited to the foot-the-ball field than a negotiation.”

The situation worsened, and then in late Autumn a violent mob descended on the lowland farms, stealing cattle and grain. As near as we can tell from magistrates' records, thirty-four people were killed. Casualties were actually split relatively evenly between farmers and miners – a fact modern songs often distort or ignore. The Chalkdowns (and to a lesser extent Freemoor) yeomen gave as good as they got, and it seems some of them relished the chance to finally strike back at the “miserable miners”.

Among them was Senator Shephard, who was struck down and bled to death during a raid on the Lindenford farm in central Chalkdowns; Elspeth Goatsbridge, one of the most influential stewards in the Mourn at the time; and Cooper Downwold, respected landskeeper. On the other side, Herny Killinghall was killed during the same raid that saw Senator Shephard's death; Thomas and Jeremy Boon, the brothers of Jack Boon, were killed during a raid on the Crowley farms, and Elenor Woodstock, the most prominent magician among the rebels, was cut down in a hail of arrows during an ambush launched by the yeomen of Ringwood Dale.

The magistrates were quick to respond, ultimately arresting the ringleaders and executing several of them. The speed of this response curtailed retaliatory attacks from the lowlands into the hills – attacks that were definitely being organised even as the Imperial magistrates and their militia arrived. The murder of Senator Shepherd may also have galvanised this speedy response. The rebels were certainly denounced in the National Assembly, and in the Senate alike, during the Winter Solstice summit at Anvil.

Another source of dissatisfaction that continued up until the Jotun invasion fifteen years later is that the Empire, and the rest of the Marches, were broadly seen as siding with the “lowland farmers” and ignoring the “legitimate concerns” of the miners. While some of the yeomen were fined for their behaviour during the raids, only miners were executed. While Marcher legends suggests they were executed for treason, they were more correctly convicted of murder. A large number of other participants faced serious fines, which contributed to the simmering sense of injustice among the miners – who not only faced a very lean Winter but had less money with which to purchase vital supplies. It's notable that there was a small but notable influx of Mournwold miners into Tassato, who ultimately turned away from their nation and became League citizens.

The people of the Ore Hills still sing sad songs about the great "injustice" or “betrayal” by the farmers - much to the chagrin of the yeomen of Chalkdowns and Freemoor. Fifteen more years of resentment followed, before the invasion of the Mournwold by the Jotun rendered the matter broadly moot – at least until the territory was liberated for the final time in 381YE.

The Ore Hills Ringleaders

There are obviously not many written records of the meetings where the conspirators planned the Ore Hills Uprising (as it is often referred to in the central Mourn hill country). While the miners were grumbling, the first proper meeting that Snowstorm Henk could identify took place at the tale end of Summer 326YE when it was clear which way the wind was running. It as convened by Esme Hooper, the owner of Matilda Stone Quarries and matriarch of a sprawling family of Mournwolders “with iron in their bones” as the saying went. It was here that the decision was made to take what they needed from the “selfish” lowland farmers, should they refuse to see reason.

After the failure of the yeomen to meet the miners' demands, a second gathering took place made up of those who were most angry about the situation. The ringleaders later identified by the Magistrates were Esme Hooper herself, Jack Boon, Tom and Maggie John, Henry Killinghall, and Mary Digger. All six were executed for their role in inciting, and in most cases participating in, the violence that exploded across the Mournwold over the coming months.

Esme Hooper

The Hoopers family had a very long history of vocal bitterness. The charismatic and influential Esme brought the ringleaders together at her tempest jade quarry, and by all accounts had little difficulty in fanning the flames of rebellion among the conspirators. She maintained that the Chalkdowns farmers were intentionally disrespecting the Prosperity of the miners, and that the nation must be forced to recognise the role played in the Mournwold by the hill folk. The family took particular pride in the fact that there were Hoopers involved in every major disagreement with the lowland farmers from the very start, and despite all the setbacks they never stopped fighting for representation for the miners. She was unrepentant when captured by the magistrates, and went to her execution head high. Even after the end of the uprising, the Hoopers continued to agitate and cause trouble until the Jotun invasion. The family appear to have been killed fighting the Jotun, refusing to surrender Matilda Stone Quarries. A burial mound to the west of the quarry itself that seems to house the bones of the last Hoopers.

Jack Boon

There were plenty of people who did not like Jack Boon, the mine-captain of the Boon County Miners. He was brash, outspoken, and stiff necked even for a Marcher. Even his detractors, however, could not help but acknowledge his Pride. The extended family owned mines across the area that came to be known as “Boon County”, that their descendants still operate today following the liberation of the Mournwold. Jack was one of the loudest voices calling for direct action against the lowland farmers, and personally lead several of the raids. The rise in prices for vital supplies to see the Marchers of the central hills through the winter was the final straw for the Boons, already angered by generations of disrespect from the Chalkdowns farmers. After the deaths of his brothers Henry and Thomas, killed while stealing sheep from the Crowley farmlands, Jack was apparently moved to almost supernatural levels of fury. He lead several further raids, and was one of the two Marchers ultimately charged in the death of Henry Shepherd. It apparently took a dozen milita to bring Boon down when the magistrates moved to arrest the ringleaders, such was his stubborn refusal to be arrested.

Tom and Maggie John

Tom and Maggie John came as a pair; a husband and wife team whose family had a history of rabble rousing and protestation to rival that of the Hoopers. They were not only concerned with the plight of their fellow miners, but were apparently involved in the abolitionist movement with contacts in many different parts of the Empire. They threw themselves whole-heartedly into the uprising, and lead two stealthy raids that were remarkably successful in avoiding the Chalkdowns farmers before a third disastrous raid resulted in five miners and three yeomen losing their lives. They didn't attempt to resist arrest when the magistrates came for them, and both used their trials as opportunities to exalt the courage of the miners, and denounce both the selfishness and lack of pride of the Chalkdowns farmers.

Henry Killinghall

Henry Killinghall was master of a green iron mine in the central Ore Hills, whose family were also regular attendees at Anvil, known for selling fine quality magical weapons. Henry provided weapons and armour to his fellow rebels, and participated in the raids, but was not credibly accused of having taken part in any of the murders. Unlike the other ringleaders he was not sentenced to execution, but received a heavy fine. Killinghall, however, refused point blank to pay that fine even when it was clear that if he remained stubborn he would meet the same fate as his fellow organisers. Henry refused to budge; he had planned the uprising with the others and he refused to be spared the same fate.

Mary Digger

The last of the six ringleaders to arrive at Mathilda Stone Quarry was Mary Digger. Her mine, Jonah's Lament, was widely reputed to be the resting place of Jonah Gold himself, and the Diggers had a reputation for being a little odd – “almost Bregaslike in their strangeness” according to some of their neighbours. Mary was not actually invited to the meeting, but turned up none-the-less having apparently heard of it from the ghost of Jonah Gold. The other ringleaders were extremely skeptical, but allowed her to remain. A magician herself, she ultimately recruited Elenor Woodstock and several other landskeepers who provided magical support to the rebels. She was not shy about fighting alongside her fellow rebels, and along with Jack Boon was charged with the murder of Senator Shepherd during one of the raids. When the magistrates came to the Mournwold, Mary retreated to Jonah's Lament and refused to leave. She was ultimately hanged from a blasted oak that still stands near the entrance to the mine, and local stories say that on the anniversary of her death, eerie singing is heard in the depths of the mine - perhaps Jonah Gold, or perhaps Mary Digger's unquiet spirit. Certainly the Jotun placed totem stones around the tree, apparently intended to warn off one or both of these ghostly figures.

Conclusions

While it's easy for us to write about the facts, stories, and personalities of the Ore Hills Rebellion, it's not really feasible for us to judge virtue. That judgement has to lie with the priests of the Way and the assemblies.

Further Reading

• Mournwold
• The Marches history