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Kingdom of Italy
Vexilloid of the Roman Empire (neon) 1207 - 1271 Coin of Theodahad
Italian Kingdom Location (1229)

The Kingdom of Italy at its greatest extent under Octarian in 1229.
Capital Patavium (1207-1212)
Rome (1212-1261)
Languages Latin, Hunnic, Gothic
Religion Tengri, Manichaeism, Ephesusian Christianity and Roman Pagan
Government Monarchy
King
 -  1207 - 1224 Oebarsius  (first)
 -  1266 - 1271 Mundzuc (last)
Historical era Early Medieval
 -  Sack of Rome 1207
 -  Wars of Octarian 1224 - 1229
 -  Beginning of the Visigothic Conquests 1248
 -  Battle of Antium 1261

The Kingdom of Italy (Latin: Regnum Italiae), also known as the Hunnic Kingdom, was a monarchic state established in the Italian peninsula by Hunnic soldiers from 1207 to 1271. 

Beginning in 1207 with the sack of Rome and the abdication of Emperor Octavian Remus to the Hunnic general Oebarsius (who subsequently proclaimed himself King of the Romans), the nation returned the region to relative stability after decades of instability brought about by the declining Roman Empire. The kingdom it reached its zenith under Octarian "the Conqueror", and was a member of the large Hunnic nation-states that existed in Europe during the early Medieval period.

However, the expansion of the Visigothic Kingdom during the 1250's saw the invasion of the Italian Peninsula and the weakening of the Italian Kingdom, brought about further by the famine and disease that ran rampant during the Plague of Rome. The nation was finally brought to an end following the naval victory of the Visigoths during the Battle of Antium, and the subsequent capture of Rome.

History[]

Background[]

Huns[]

The Huns were a nomadic peoples that first appeared in the north-west of the Caspian Sea, and within a century and a half, a majority of the population had migrated westward into Europe, first appearing in the continent around 1123, north of the Black Sea after they forced the Alans out of their native lands. Over the subsequent years, the Huns moved into Central Europe at an extreme pace, with large swaths of land being overtaken by the invading force. The large confederation of Huns that drove into Central Europe during the reigns of the last Roman Emperors broke up around 1190, forming a number of independent kingdoms. Sometime around the year 1200, a general of one of these kingdoms (the Kingdom of Aquincum) named Oebarsius invaded the north-east territory of the declining Roman Empire, and established a foothold over the town of Patavium.

Reign of Oebarsius (1207 - 1224)[]

In 1205, Oebarsius, indignant with the constant harassment of his soldiers from Germanic mercenaries loyal to the Romans, marched south with an army consisting of 60,000 men in an attempt to overthrow the Emperor Saturninus, and install a puppet ruler; the citizen Octavian Remus, a allegded descendant of the Imperial Pertinatian family. This succeded sometime during the middle of the year, and Remus was appointed the Emperor by the Hunnic general. However, the Emperor's reign would not last long, as in 1207, news of a conspiracy within the capital of the Empire reached Oebarsius. In an attempt to throw out the Huns from the Italian peninsula, Remus was attempting to build and army of Germanic mercenaries, and after Oebarsius found out, he rebuilt his army, this time numbering 40,000 horseback riders, and took to Rome. In June of 1207, the gates to the Imperial capital opened, allowing the Hunnic soldiers to sack the city, with Oebarsius forcing Octavian Remus to abdicate and hand full control of the Empire over to him. After Remus' execution, the general took the title of Rex Romanorum, or King of the Romans, ending Antiquity, and ushering in the Medieval Period.

During Oebarsius' reign, the king made a number of decisions that put him in stark contrast to the Roman Emperors that proceeded him. Firstly, he executed many of Rome's powerful oligarchs and statesmen in an attempt to "spread fear" among the Roman civilians and remove any pretenders that could remove him from power. Secondly, in an effort to concentrate power only unto himself, he disbanded the Roman Senate that had endured the fall of kings and consuls and emperors in the year 1216 following an attempted coup d'état, and finally, Oebarsius managed to retain support from his large, standing Hunnic army, which was numbered, at the time of his death, around 60,000 to 70,000 soldiers, the majority of which were horseriders. 

During his lifetime, Oebarsius was known as tollerent to all faiths in the melting pot that was Rome. In the century leading up to the Empire's downfall, religions such as Manichaeism, Christianity, Greco-Roman cults (worship of deities such as Mithras, Isis, Cybele, Apollo), as well as the worship of "Sol Invictus" (unconquered sun) were beginning to overtake the worship of the traditional Roman pantheon of gods. Despite many Romans converting to these new faiths, including a number of Emperors such as Hypocoris (who became a Manichaean following his ascension), there was no one state religion within the nation, and in fact, the Christian and Manichaean faiths faced the brunt of a number of prosecutions. Following Oebarsius' ascension, the new king issued a decree that made the worship of all religions free, further stabilising the situation from within the nation. However, this was not without consequence; many worshipers of the original pantheon were attacked and brutalised by followers of the new faiths (including those that worshipped Sol Invictus), and many bishops from the Christian and Manichaean religions both endorsed these attacks. Brutality from the other end of the spectrum, however (pantheon and cult followers attacking those that submitted to the news faiths) were also recorded during this period in time.

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