Northern Wars

Northern Wars
Information
Date	1239-1268 (to Nilfgaard) 1263-1272 (to Nordlings)
Result	Nilfgaard subjugates lands from Ebbing to Cintra Scoia'tael arise Most Northern Kingdoms unite unprecedentedly to face the attack Brotherhood of Sorcerers falls, the secret Lodge emerges instead Dol Blathanna is restored Guild of Merchants deftly increases its own influence on the Empire Nilfgaardian-Novigradian-Koviran trade companies gain prominence Paranoia provokes new nonhuman pogroms and eventual witch hunts
Participants
Until 1263: After 1263:
Until 1263: After 1263:
Commanders and Leaders
Usurper (until 1257) Emhyr var Emreis Markus Braibant Menno Coehoorn † Ervyll of Verden † Morvran Voorhis Peter Evertsen
Usurper (until 1257) Emhyr var Emreis Markus Braibant Menno Coehoorn † Ervyll of Verden † Morvran Voorhis Peter Evertsen
Akerspaark † Calanthe † Vizimir II † Vilgefortz † (openly switched sides in 1267) Foltest † Jan Natalis Demavend III † Meve Radovid V
Akerspaark † Calanthe † Vizimir II † Vilgefortz † (openly switched sides in 1267) Foltest † Jan Natalis Demavend III † Meve Radovid V
Strength
320,000+
320,000+
100,000+
100,000+

	The Nilfgaardians are doing the same, because theirs is strong and united, disciplined and tightly knit country. And unless you close ranks in the same way, Nilfgaard will swallow you as a pike does a minnow - just as this wise druid said!
- Sheldon Skaggs, pg. 13, Blood of Elves (U.K. edition)

Northern Wars were conflicts between the Nilfgaardian Empire and the kingdoms of the Nordlings. Less popularly known as the Nilfgaardian Wars or the Nordling Wars, each one displayed the Empire's desire to subjugate the expanse between the river Alba in the south and the Dragon Mountains up north. Though started by the Usurper, they turned out to be a prominent portion of Emperor Emhyr var Emreis's reign and the 13th century as a whole.

The Black Cloaks first marched north to absorb the neighboring Ymlac and Rowan. Their earliest clash with Nordling people happened around the mid-12th century during the war against Metinna, aided by mercenaries from Temeria no less. However, to imperial historiography, it was the 1239 annexation of Ebbing which launched the proper Northern Wars that lasted until April 1268, when the Peace of Cintra was signed. On the other hand, the Northern Kingdoms beyond Yaruga usually see the Battle of Marnadal in 1263 as the start and place the end in 1272. The latter is because what Nordlings dub the "Third Northern War" gets labelled differently in the Nilfgaardian record.

Be that as it may, the tension, stemming from the huge societal imprint left on afflicted regions such as Brugge, existed well into the 14th century.

Wars

The Northern Wars include:

• Northern War I (1263-1264)
• Northern War II (1267-1268), otherwise called the "Great War"
• Northern War III (1271-1272)

Trivia

• Andrzej Sapkowski once compared the Empire of Nilfgaard to Rome of the Pax Romana era, equating Nordlings with Gauls and Britons in the same breath. He then said the interviewer's parallel with Nilfgaard as Napoleonic France and the North as European monarchies wasn't bad either.