Elin II of Álengiamark (The Kalmar Union)

The reign(s) of Elin II spans much of the period of the Álengsk Civil War, a period of intense rivalry between the earls for pre-eminence over the Álengiamark.

In 1182 on the death of Elin I the Álengsk nobles petitioned Vinland for help in deciding the succession. Elin I herself had no children and the Suderfolk earls were suspicious of the Norse earls intentions for their own offspring. Moreover it exposed the 'upstart' Earl of Margirhaedeyja, Thorgeir Karlsson, who had lined his pockets thanks to his sisters Dogg and Elin I's reigns. The Vinlandic nobles, some of whom were deeply involved in Álengiamark too, finally agreed to send them Elin Thorvaldsdottír, the daughter of the Earl of Ingolfursey. The reasoning held that a completely neutral party should be able to steer a common path through the competing interests for the benefit of the country.

A noble idea, however it would take Elin II nearly a year to appear before the Althing in St. Hafdiss in May 1183. The long gap had left plenty of room for the nobles to stew and find new things to argue about, chiefly it seems the continued pushing of Thorgeir Karlsson for men to defend his lands. Yet he had supposedly fermented the trouble that plagued him himself in an attempt to concentrate the power of Álengiamark under his command, disarming his rivals. Elin and her Vinlandic advisors were powerless in this. She had no connections outside distant cousins, no allies and it seemed little inclination to wield what power she had.

By the June Althing the men of Margirhaedeyja were openly brawling with those of Sudervik and Langaeyjar. For her own safety Elin was taken away from the Althing and given shelter by the Earl of Moheganland. The Earl of Langaeyjar would promote his own daughter Thorey I to the throne, effectively usurping Elin II and by the end of the year she was in exile in Passamaquoddia.

She would spend six years in exile. During this time she married a Passamaquoddy prince and had three children, all of whom died young. during this time it appears there were several attempts to form an army to regain Elin's throne. Her father and his cousin the Earl of Markland certainly appeared to be looking to raise a Passamquoddy army for the campaign. Vinland stayed aloof from the dispute, unwilling to sink time and money into the project. In the end however Elin simply needed to wait it out. In 1188 Asthurdur I died. The Norse earls were exhausted by the civil war and without much ceremony the Suderfolk earls recalled Elin from her exile. At the Midsummer Althing she was re-crowned and brokered a peace deal between the earls of Sudervik and Langaeyjar.

She would rule the country for another nine years, a pause in the civil war during which time tensions merely simmered rather than boiled over into open warfare once more. She studiously avoided dealing with the contentious issues of earls and towns' rights and kept strictly to easily solved problems. Trade with the Leifian tribes outside the borders, who were slowly turning themselves into nation states, boomed. The church put down firm roots throughout the whole country establishing itself as a vital piece of the country's make-up. And its armies once again went on the offensive, defending the Kanien'gehuga River and venturing northwards to help the Passamquoddy and Abernaki. So while internally Álengiamark remained weak and divided, outwardly it looked strong.

The Norse earls remained weak however and from a strong position the Suderfolk earls increasingly bent the ear of Elin to hear their grievances first. As her reign progressed they gained important rights and formed most of her close advisors. When Elin died in 1197 of pneumonia the Suderfolk earls were confident enough to ignore calls to petition Vinland once more and simply crowned one of their own, Yrsa I, abruptly reigniting the civil war.