The Duchy Palatinate of Sinadon
The Palatinate of Sinadon is almost a realm within a realm. The Duke of Sinadon holds courts, appoints sheriffs for Magounshire and Devennshire, and runs a chancery just as the king does.
His army is not subject to the feudal levy except in the case of war with Clevesin.
Sinadon has such extensive powers because of its role in protecting the kingdom from the dangerous raiders of the Clevesin borders.
The Brendlemarch
Like the Duke of Sinadon in the south, the Marquis of Brendle has special rights granted to help defend the northern border from the occasionally belligerent Kingdom of Venostes. The Marquis is free to raise forces and wage war, and his subjects cannot appeal to royal courts for redress.
By tradition, the Marquis personally holds the office of Sheriff of Brendleshire.
The Royal Forests
A royal forest is an area of land set aside by the King for his own private use. The system of forest law operates outside the common law, and serves to protect game animals and their forest habitat from destruction. No one may hunt or farm within a forest without a warrant from the King.
Normally, the chief royal official of a forest is the Warden. He typically has a cadre of officials to help patrol the forest lands and to make sure that no illicit hunting or agriculture is being practiced there. These include (in order of rank):
- Constables who personally go about preserving the forest and game and apprehending offenders against the law,
- Surveyors who determine the boundaries of the forest,
- Regarders who investigate encroachments on the forest and invasion of royal rights, and
- Woodwards who hold land in the forest in exchange for a rent.
Royal Forest of Lindel
Although there are several areas within the kingdom that are afforested, by far the largest and most significant is the Royal Forest of Lindel. This vast woodland and mountainous region on the kingdom’s western frontier is administered by the Royal Forrester, an official appointed by the King.
Within the Forest, he personally exercises the Royal authority. He has several companies of the Royal Army under his direct control, and he collects all taxes and tariffs generated in these lands.
The Royal Castles
The King maintains a number of Royal Castles. Each is administered by a Royal Castellan and is judicially independent of any Shire in which it may be located.
In theory, the Royal Castellans report only to the King. Since each of the Royal Castles serves as a base for the Royal Army, each Royal Castellan works closely with the Captain-General assigned there. Depending on the relative force of personality of each, one or the other is in day-to-day practical command.
