Nýmenn

The nýmenn were a nascent social group within the Siur lands of western Messenia in the later 18th century, arising on the back of the country’s increasing prosperity during the Gullöld period, but more importantly the opportunities afforded by a maturing Siursk federal state. Together with the leifturserkir, who were more associated with the Ascesian trade, they made up the munitors in early modern Siurdom as the chief beneficiaries and advocates of Siursk federalism. By certain lights, the nýmenn and their activities were one of the proximate causes of the stresses on the Siursk union in the period and, ultimately, the dissolution of the country in the Summer War of 1812.

The strata of society in the Siur lands had always been, to some extent, more porous than might have been exhibited elsewhere in Messenia; this was perhaps a natural consequence of the egalitarian ethos of Arlatur, in which the chief indicators of an individual’s intrinsic worth were his personal conduct and his adherence to his word, not his family background. Thus it was entirely probable for people of relatively humble origins to prosper, by dint of hard work and acumen, to an extent that they equalled, even surpassed, some of the traditional Siur noble houses, the eðalkyn, and even merged with them on occasion. Even Sterkur Fálk, the chief instigator of the Siursk union, owed his name to a prominent Vonskilskur merchant who had married into the theinic house of Krásinn in 1435.

However, for much of Siur history before the Gullöld such people remained relatively few and far between; most of what may be considered a nascent merchant class were still tightly bound by the wider commonhold, and remained subordinate to the collective hóf, often fostered by the eðalkyn themselves, who possessed, first, the reserves of capital accrued over centuries which made large-scale projects, or smaller and more speculative ones, more realistic undertakings in an early form of venture capitalism; and, second, the prestige and trust that could support such endeavours on account of their elevated standing. Parallels can perhaps be drawn here with the earlier bīrōk of Outer Joriscia.

The outward expansion of the new Siursk union in the 17th and 18th centuries, particularly in terms of sea-borne mercantile trade, was initially still dominated by local hóf, with the eðalkyn in the forefront, if not necessarily bearing the brunt of the work. However, once provisions for collective security through the Siursk federation were pushed through by the leifturserkir, mainly to deal with increasingly militarised competition for Ascesian commerce, opportunities arose for entrepreneurs to ascend, not under the aegis of individual commonholds or nobles, but rather as deputies of the thár or, later, the federation's more general structure. Through the integration of the commonholds' economies made possible by federal policies and encouragement, spoils could be swept up by smaller players – some of whom became much bigger players in the process. A good few of these also acquired in the process less than sterling reputations; not so much for underhanded business practices – although this certainly did happen from time to time – as from Siur punctiliousness over contract law. The archetypical Siur mindset would hold that “a contract is a contract”, and neither party could later complain if they had come out worse from it; their rapacity in ensuring that their business partners honoured their contractual commitments – including not-always-discreet influence on local authorities – became something of minor notoriety. Most of the nýmenn were people of lowly-born origins and saw themselves as having fought their lives long to achieve their present state, and having no obligation to apologise for their actions; the familiar term nýmenn derives from an unascribed comment by a group in Hélla in 1787 that “we are the New Men; and we will not be bound by the old ways”.

In an environment – especially in the early 19th century – in which the Siur lands became increasingly polarised between the prosperous coastal regions and the poorer hinterlands, the nýmenn were not all of coastal origins; however, they were preponderantly based there, and their social and political influence was concentrated in those regions. The majority of the nýmenn were in favour of expansion and strengthening of the Siursk state – a common theme within the Endurtendrandi period – although this was often less out of a sense that this would be more “authentically Siur” as from a belief that a strong state would be more capable of protecting the often far-flung interests of Siur commerce, including the use of military force if need be; and influence by some of the nýmenn community in Reylatur, the home fief of thár Ármann Lindskold, may have underlain some of his apparent intransigence as the Siursk union began to unravel from around 1810.