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| Capital (and largest city) |
Hoya | ||||
| Language | German | ||||
| Countess | Anna | ||||
| Chief Minister | Karsten Schomburg | ||||
| Population | 54,140 | ||||
| Currency | BRM | ||||
The County of Hoya, Hoya, is a small constitutional monarchy in western Europe. It is bordered by Bremen to the north, Verden to the North-west, Brunswick and Kalenburg to the west, Minden to the south and Denmark to the east. The capital is Hoya and the population around 54,000
The Head of State is Countess Anna.
The official language is German.
The currency is the Bremen Mark (BRM).
History[]
Hoya first emerges in the historical record as a vassal of the Archbishop of Bremen. Absorbing the neighbouring County of Wolpe in the early 14th century it acquired the town of Nienburg and its crossing over the River Weser, giving the county an important command over local trade routes.
A feud with Brunswick in the early 1500s almost saw the county extinguished as an independent entity however Count Jobst II was an early supporter of Martin Luther and Brunswick released Hoya as a favour to the heretical priest. Hoya would subsequently be an ardent combatant in the Schmalkladic Wars and threw itself into the Fifty Years War 'with abandon'. This over-eagerness was misplaced and Hoya was thoroughly ravaged during the latter half of the conflict as the Catholic armies approached Danish lines. The county experienced one of the worst population drops in Germany, those who were able to abandoning their property to flee to relative safety in Bremen or Hamburg only to face the threat of disease, those who did not have that luxury faced starvation or the bayonet.
The population has never returned to its pre-war level, severely hampering its economic growth. The counts could usually be found in Copenhagen spending what little income they received from their ancestral lands on maintaining themselves amidst the social scene of Danish nobility. This absenteeism led to revolts in the mid-1800s, a period which saw various North German states rocked by popular risings. Hoya's revolt was put down by Danish troops; the paranoid Count Johan I did not trust his own men enough to do the job. This did not help matters and he was forced to abdicate in favour of his nephew who granted a relatively liberal constitution.
Hoya remains mostly agricultural. Its economy is dependent to a large extent on Bremen. A formal economic union of Bremen, Hoya and Verden has been mooted.
Government[]
Hoya is governed by a single-chambered Diet with elections every five years. Hoya's politics are usually described as 'gentle and boring'.
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