In the fictional universe of the Deryni novels of Katherine Kurtz, Festil I Furstán was the seventh King of Gwynedd, reigning from 822 to 839. Known as "Festil the Conqueror", he became the first Deryni Festillic King of Gwynedd after executing a successful coup that deposed the royal House of Haldane.
Festil Ferencz Furstán was born on June 8, 780, the second son of King Kalman II of Torenth and his wife, Grand Princess Démétria of Byzantyun. He spent much of his youth receiving extensive military training with his father's army, and was created Count of Fathane in 795. He served as the Commander of a Thousand in King Kalman's expedition to Arjenol in 801, and was appointed General of the Torenthi Army in 818, the same year that he was created Margraf of Medras.
In 822, Festil convinced his aging father that he could conquer the neighboring kingdom of Gwynedd through a fast, surprise attack on the capital city of Rhemuth. Festil was descended from King Aidan Haldane (through Aidan's eldest daughter Princess Bethany), and he used his distant relation to his great-great-great-grandfather as the basis for his claim to the throne of Gwynedd. Upon receiving his father's blessing, Festil snuck his forces into Gwynedd by dividing them into smaller groups. On June 21, the invaders entered Rhemuth by concealing themselves with various disguises and launched their attack on the unsuspecting palace in the early hours of the morning. The coup was successful, and King Ifor Haldane, the royal family, and most the government leaders were dead before the guards could react. (However, in the ensuing chaos, King Ifor's youngest son, Prince Aidan, was smuggled to safety before Festil's forces could effectively seal the palace.) Though loyal Haldane forces soon surrounded the palace, the lack of a unified command structure prevented them from taking the palace. One week later, King Kalman arrived in Rhemuth with the Torenthi army, and the coup was complete. Many members of Gwynedd's nobility were executed or exiled to secure Festil's conquest, freeing numerous titles that Festil then bestowed upon his Torenthi supporters. He was officially crowned as King Festil I on July 22, 822, simultaneously swearing fealty to his father as Overlord of Gwynedd.
Regardless of the violent methods by which Festil gained the crown of Gwynedd, he proved to be an effective monarch. He moved the capital to the city of Valoret and embarked upon a series of social and legal reforms that completely overhauled the administration of the government at all levels. He revolutionized the tax system of the realm while also updating and codifying the laws of the land, and he established a standing army to protect the kingdom. Perhaps most surprisingly, he publicly supported an attitude of tolerance and acceptance toward the natives of Gwynedd (both human and Deryni), purposely appointing several Gwyneddans to his first High Council. Festil was quite vehement that both humans and Deryni should work together for the betterment of the land. Though initially viewed as a hostile invader, he successfully erased many of the scars of his coup during his 17-year reign, earning the respect and admiration of much of the kingdom before his death.
King Festil I Furstán died on November 5, 839, and the age of 59. He was succeeded by his eldest son and heir, Prince Festil II Furstán-Festil.
In the fictional universe of the Deryni novels of Katherine Kurtz, Ryons Haldane was the fourth King of Gwynedd, reigning from 719 to 736.
Ryons Gospatric Haldane was born on May 18, 700, the eldest son of King Llarik Haldane and his second wife, Queen Sidonie. All four of Llarik's sons from his first marriage were dead by the time of Ryons' birth, so the infant prince was acknowledged as the hereditary heir to the throne despite being his father's fifth-born son. (Of Llarik's first four sons, the younger two, Augarin and Caldor, died of natural causes at young ages, while the elder two, Dolon and Jestyn, were executed by their father in 699 after he accused them of plotting treason against him.)
Ryons came to the throne in 719 after King Llarik's mysterious death. Rumors at the time claimed that Ryons had discovered that his father was planning to have him arrested and executed, so he took the necessary steps to preserve his own life and gain the throne. It is not known if Llarik's death was accidental or intentional (he fell from a high window), nor whether or not Ryons played a direct personal role in his father's death. Regardless, there were few in Gwynedd who mourned the passing of King Llarik the Cruel, and Ryons was crowned King of Gwynedd on March 26, two months after his father's death. Most of Ryons' reign was spent fighting the various foreign barbarians who had been plaguing Gwynedd's borders throughout much of his father's reign. Llarik's failure to defeat these invaders had weakened Gwynedd considerably, and Ryons was determined to drive out them out and restore his kingdom. Despite his determination, the Muslim and Norse forces that had besieged Gwynedd were not easily removed, and Ryons spent much of his reign in an ongoing series of battles. Moorish forces eventually reached the capital of Rhemuth in 733, but Ryons succeeded in saving the city before it could be sacked. Eventually, the constant campaigning cost Ryons his life, and he was slain battling Muslim forces near the city of Nyford. King Ryons Haldane died on August 19, 736, at the age of 36. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Prince Bearand Haldane.
In the fictional universe of the Deryni novels of Katherine Kurtz, Bearand Haldane was the fifth King of Gwynedd, reigning from 736 to 794.
Bearand Llarik Donal Haldane was born on September 7, 720, the firstborn son and heir of King Ryons Haldane and Queen Raphaela. He succeeded his father upon the throne of Gwynedd a month after King Ryons died battling Muslim forces near Nyford in 736. Bearand was crowned King of Gwynedd on September 29, 736, at the age of 16, younger than any of his four predecessors. Despite his youth, Bearand not only continued his father's ongoing campaign against the barbarian invaders, but soon proved himself to be an extremely cunning and successful field general. The Gwyneddan armies began to drive the invaders back to the borders of the kingdom, regaining much of the territory that had been occupied. King Bearand's greatest military accomplishment came when he permanently drove the Moorish forces from Gwynedd. He destroyed the Moorish armada at the Battle of the Jamin Straits in 752, and then made a daring raid on the port city of Kharthat in 755. After the raid, over fifty enemy ships were sinking or burning, and the shipyards of the city were completely destroyed. As a result, the Moorish were never again capable of threatening Gwynedd's borders. His victories earned him the title of "Defender of the Realm" from Archbishop Adon of Valoret, and his people commonly referred to him as "Saint Bearand." Bearand ruled Gwynedd for nearly three-score years, the longest reign of any king in the history of the realm. King Bearand Haldane died on December 12, 794, at the age of 74. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Prince Ifor Haldane.
Bearand is widely regarded as one of the greatest kings in the history of Gwynedd. His successful military campaigns secured the peace and safety of the realm, and he was widely respected and admired throughout the kingdom. His passing was greatly mourned, and he is credited with restoring Gwynedd to a position of strength and prominence that the kingdom had lacked since the reign of Bearand's grandfather, King Llarik the Cruel. On the 100th anniversary of Bearand's birth, September 7, 820, the king was formally canonized by Archbishop William I, and he officially became Saint Bearand Haldane.
In the fictional universe of the Deryni novels of Katherine Kurtz, Llarik Haldane was the third King of Gwynedd, reigning from 698 to 719.
Llarik Broccan Haldane was born on March 9, 651. He was the fifth son of King Augarin Haldane, but the second son of the king's second wife, Queen Caldora de la Marche. Upon reaching his legal majority in 665, his father created Llarik Count of Rhemuth. Eight years later, in 673, a legal battle erupted over the rightful succession following King Augarin's death. Prince Aidan, Augarin's eldest son by his first wife, claimed the throne, but was challenged by Llarik's elder brother, Prince Donal. Donal claimed that there were several legal irregularities that invalidated Augarin's first marriage, thus removing Aidan from the succession and leaving Donal as the rightful heir. However, an ecclesiastical court convened by Aidan upheld the legality of Augarin's first marriage and Aidan was acknowledged as the rightful heir to the throne. Several days later, Prince Donal was found murdered in the forest, thus leaving Llarik as the eldest surviving son of King Augarin's second marriage. Llarik openly accused his half-brother of the [...], but Prince Aidan was crowned king a few weeks later and Llarik was left with nothing but his anger.
Llarik retained the title of Count of Rhemuth for the next quarter-century, until the death of King Aidan at the Battle of Ebor in 698. Aidan's only surviving son, Prince Ifor, had been severely wounded in the same battle and was not expected to survive, leaving the succession in question. Aidan's younger brother, Prince Bearand, named himself Protector of the Throne and convened the High Council on August 1 to determine the succession. Surprisingly, Prince Ifor continued to live, refusing to abdicate his right to the throne. Additionally, the council hotly debated whether or not Prince Bearand had the right to name himself Protector. On August 2, Llarik once again raised the issue of the legality of King Augarin's first marriage, enraging Bearand so greatly that he collapsed before the council. With Ifor and Bearand both incapacitated, Llarik named himself Protector of the Throne the next day. However, the council was still unable to reach a decision on the succession while Ifor still lived. The stalemate continued for the next month, until both Ifor and Bearand died. While some claimed that they each died from their injuries, others claimed that Llarik used more forceful (and lethal) methods to ensure that both of his rivals would be removed from the equation. Bearand's son even left the city, believed to have been fleeing for his life. Whatever the truth, Llarik emerged as the only survivor in the struggle for the crown, and he was proclaimed King of Gwynedd on September 2, 698.
Once secure upon the throne, King Llarik arrested half of the council, charged them with treason, and replaced them with his own friends. This event was the beginning of a recurring pattern in Llarik's reign, one of extreme paranoia and lethal suppression of anyone whom the king deemed as disloyal. In 699, Llarik arrested his sons Dolon and Jestyn, charged both with high treason, and summarily executed them. Llarik grew increasingly distrustful of his courtiers throughout his reign, and many nobles and officials were arrested and executed over the following years. A series of barbarian raids plagued Gwynedd's borders during this time, but Llarik's own lack of military experience, combined with his refusal to completely trust his generals, resulted in a lack of a coherent national defense that left many cities sacked and destroyed. As the years passed, he refused to be seen in public, and he descended deeper into a paranoia-laced madness, eventually becoming known as "Llarik the Cruel."
Scandals, secrecy, and betrayal were a central fact of life in Llarik's court, and the circumstances surrounding his death were no exception. Rumors at the time claimed that Llarik had written orders to have his son and heir, Prince Ryons, arrested and executed, but Ryons was informed of the plot. The king's body was discovered shortly thereafter beneath a broken window high above the courtyard. It is not known if the king fell, jumped, or was pushed. King Llarik Haldane died on January 11, 719, at the age of 67. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Prince Ryons Haldane.