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Eyfinna II
PrincessMaryofGreatBritain LandgravineofHesse
Eyfinna II
Queen of Vinland
Reign 2nd December, 1756 - 3rd March, 1790
Predecessor Greta II
Successor Lára
Born 30th July, 1732
Marske, Anglia
Died 3rd March, 1790
Fjallasay, Nor-Hafsvaedaland Fylk, Vinland
Spouse Hafsteinn Valdemarsson, Lord of Vidiránamunn

Henry Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel

Issue Ásdis Kristjana Elizabeth Henriksdottír

Thordís Helena Sara Henriksdottír
Benedict Ólafur Ferdinand Henriksson

Full name
Skallot Amelia Georgia Jóhannesdottír
House Eiriksdottír
Father Jóhannes Jobstsson
Mother Elizabeth, Princess of Teesmark

Eyfinna II was Queen of Vinland in the latter half of the 18th century. Her reign was overshadowed by the Second Mexic-Leifian War.

Born in Marske, Teesmark, Anglia, she was the daughter of Prince Jóhannes (and hence grand-daughter of Thorey VI) and Princess Elizabeth of Anglia (a grand-daughter of King Louis of Anglia). Despite the lineage of both parents the family were relatively minor figures in Anglia and after Jóhannes' death in 1733 Elizabeth was forced to remarry to keep her estate solvent. Skallot's new step-father would be Sir William Drewry, a diplomat who would often take his family on extended trips to European capitals whilst on official business.

With no close relatives Greta II had been forced by the Althing to name a successor in 1750. Already in a state of depression following the death of her only son that year she 'was barely present' for the discussions and acquiesced to naming her cousin Skallot without much interest. Lady Skallot would duly arrive in Vinland in 1751 speaking little to no Vinlandic but could get by initially in Danish. Greta, still in mourning, was indifferent and cold to her heir apparent and allocated her a manor house, not in Fjallasay or Isafjordhur, but the run-down Munkerhusby estate in far-off Eikland to keep her away from court. A rumour persists that nobles were forbidden to say Skallot's name at court though this is fiction as although Greta and Skallot would rarely cross paths there was a great deal of letter correspondence between the two.

Despite her position, quite literally on the edge of the Vinlandic noble circle, she was warmly welcomed into it. A marriage with a distant cousin, Hafsteinn Valdemarsson, Lord of Vidiránamunn, was arranged, which helped to integrate her, and provide her with further lands and income when he died in 1754. At her coronation on Christmas Day 1756 she deliberately chose the regnal name Eyfinna to perhaps show Vinland was not a spent force by harking back to the 'good old days'. Not present at the coronation however was Eyfinna's new intended spouse, Leopold Theodore of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel; the young duke was supposed to have gone aboard a ship docked in Hamburg on 1st November but he had wed his Catholic mistress the night before and refused to leave her. Eventually his friends drugged his drink and got him aboard but upon waking he promptly leapt overboard into the Elbe estuary and he would die on Christmas Day in Hamburg of pneumonia. In his place came his younger brother Henry Ferdinand. He too came with a mistress in tow, a 17-year old Pomeranian girl named Henriette Wussow, but as a Lutheran she was seen as less of a bad influence and Eyfinna more or less tolerated her, even when Wussow had four of Henry's children. The queen had her own extra-marital affairs too but still, the royal couple would have three children.

As an outsider, Eyfinna was perhaps too hesitant in involving herself in the political process despite evident need for reform; the Althing was absolutely resistant to reforming itself despite the glaring inequalities having being pointed out by Eyfinna I back in 1719. The press and Althing itself bemoaned her lack of interest in political matters, meanwhile the cities were rife with corruption and frequently descended into rioting when there were food shortages. Soon the eruption of war would funnel governmental power into the hands of the capable but aging Speaker Adam Geertruidsson and the pompous and unimaginative Riksmarshall Ísak Ingvarsson, however Eyfinna did not reign without making her mark on Vinland in smaller ways.

Her own travels in Europe as a teenager before becoming queen sparked a life-long interest in Italian art and architecture and her Munkerhusby estate was renovated in fine Italian baroque style. Soon many nobles were copying her, both by aping Italian architectural styles in their own estates and by embarking on the 'Grand Tour': an extended tour of Europe taking in as many cultural and religious sites as possible. She would also make middle names fashionable; the practice well established in Anglia but almost unknown in Vinland. It would soon be de rigeur for new babies of all classes in society to be christened with long strings of names, mixing classic Vinlandic names with European styles, Greek and Roman deities and occasionally native Leifian names. In 1772 a devastating hurricane flattened Lucayanaeyjar Fylk and Eyfinna would lead calls for the islands' reconstruction and in 1773, became the first Vinlandic queen to visit the islands.

Second Mexic-Leifian War[]

Following Mexica's defeat during the War of the League of Arcachon (1743-1752) it had retreated and closed its ports to all but a few neutral parties. Meanwhile Vinland had fallen behind many of its rivals in terms of trade and by the 1770s it was looking to regain some of that. To this end in 1776 Vinlandic ships approached the Mexic port of Tochpan and sent an ultimatum threatening to shell the port if it was not immediately opened to free trade. Mexica immediately refused, then declared war, not just on Vinland but the whole of Leifia.

Mexica almost immediately overran the sparsely populated centre of the continent threatening wheat supplies to the Atlantic-coast nations, and although a Grand Coalition was quickly formed to push them back, the war would drag on till 1792. The passage of the armies criss-crossing the continent hoping to force a decisive battle ruined centuries of carefully cultivated farmlands plunging whole nations into starvation. The two sides were finely matched until China intervened to protect its outpost in Leifia which slowly tipped the balance. Eventually a cease-fire ended the war with all parties exhausted and demoralised and little to show for it. Mexica would fall into civil war soon after.  

Death & Succession[]

Eyfinna died suddenly in 1790, probably of a heart-attack. A horse-riding incident in 1779 had rendered her unable to walk and she had gradually become morbidly obese. In her honour the capital of Lucayanaeyjar Fylk was renamed Eyfinna. Her death once again put the Althing in a quandary regarding the succession. Eyfinna's own three children had all died, as had her niece Jakobina who had been named successor and had died two months prior. Two other nieces were married into minor German nobility and the Althing balked at being subservient to Berg or Saxon diplomacy. From the list of potential distant cousins they plucked Princess Lára of Alkafuglaeyjar.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
16. Henry VIII of Luxembourg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
8. Charles III of Luxembourg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
17. Jakobea Van der Eycken
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4. Jobst of Meerzisch
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
18. Giovanni III of Milan
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
9. Isabella of Turin
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
19. Catherine of Austria
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2. Jóhannes Jobstson
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
20. Christian II of Hordaland
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
10. Valdemar of Hordaland
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
21. Christina of Gothenland
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5. Thorey VI of Vinland
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
22. Pjetur Kristinnsson
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
11. Greta I of Vinland
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
23. Freydis III of Vinland
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1. Eyfinna II
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
24. William of Battenberg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
12. Louis of Anglia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
25. Magdalene of Anhalt
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
6. Prince Frederick of Teesmark
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
26. Jakob III of Moers-Saarwerden
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
13. Catherine of Moers-Saarwerden
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
27. Katharina von Leiningen-Dagsburg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3. Princess Elizabeth of Teesmark
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
28. Landgrave John II of Tynemouth
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
14. Landgrave John III of Tynemouth
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
29. Lady Katherine of Marsden
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
7. Landgravine Amelia Sophia of Tynemouth
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
30. Sir Thomas Ewen
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
15. Elizabeth Ewen
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
31. Lady Dorothea Grey
 
 
 
 
 
 
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