"What are we in connection to the SoT?" Wendell asked.
"Until the election you are holding this spring, just the Franconian Region. Very dull, alas. Which you will remain if the people here do not vote to become part of the State of Thuringia. If they do vote to become part, there will be yet another discussion and, at least everyone presumes, yet another name."
"What are the parts?" Willa Fodor asked. "That is, all the Aemter and Gemeinden and Gerichte and markets and other little administrative units. Are they doing something to straighten that out and come up with one set of jurisdictions?"
Weckherlin nodded. "Oh, yes, something. Lots of talking. Lots of `discussion,' that is. Should the new state have counties? If the English word `county' is also used to translate `Grafschaft,' then will it insult the towns, such as Badenburg, or other lords, such as the dukes of Saxe-Weimar, who would not wish to see their former duchy demoted to a county? Would they take umbrage? It became very complicated.
"I did suggest. Just suggested, since I was there at the `town meeting' where people were talking about it, that they could call them `shires' and then they could call the state's appointee in each of them a `sheriff.'
"Woe is me!" Weckherlin's face fell into a parody of grief. "They decided that this was much too `English.' But they agreed that making everything a county was not good. So every jurisdiction will keep its own name, madam. That is, whether a document is in German or in English, unless the people themselves decide to change the name, a former Reichstadt such as Badenburg will remain a Stadt, a Herzogtum such as Saxe-Weimar will keep that name, a Grafschaft such as Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt will keep that name, a Freiherrschaft will remain itself also. But each one will have exactly the same governmental rights and responsibilities and be expected to adopt the same administrative structure and offices, none more or less important than the others. For land and taxes and such matters.
"They can change, though, if they wish. Thus, your Grantville and its surrounding land, inside the Ring of Fire and what it has annexed, have voted to become West Virginia County, Thuringia. There was some discussion of `Ring of Fire County,' but it was decided that because of the annexations, it isn't exactly a circle or a ring any more. More like an `amoeba,' a man named Mr. Birdie Newhouse said. One of your high school teachers showed me an `amoeba' through his microscope. Fascinating. Grantville will return to being a city with a charter and there will be a county government established for the remainder of it. Mayor Dreeson said that this was a good thing. But they will not have time to do it right away.
"Much of the region that was once Grafschaft Gleichen, but the Grafen are extinct, all the parts that were not annexed directly into the Ring of Fire, has voted to become Vasa County, Thuringia. Graf August von Sommersburg and his subjects have decided to be Sommersburg County rather than a Grafschaft, although nobody else is sure why. Erfurt city wishes to remain a Stadt but the hinterland around it has voted to become Erfurt County, Thuringia."
"Shrewd," Steve Salatto commented. "Keep the familiar terms, but remodel the underlying structure. Not a bad idea. Comfort zone thinking."
Willa hadn't given up yet. "What about below the county level? The Aemter and such?"
"I am not sure," Weckherlin admitted. "But neither are they. At least, they were still talking when I left."
Grantville, early January, 1634
Emma Thornton was in the outer office of the President of the State of Thuringia. President, not governor. There had been a president of the New United States. There had also been a Congress of the New United States. Neither of them, thus far, had seen any good and clear reason to demote themselves to governor and legislature, just because the NUS had become the SoT. None of the other of the states that now comprised the United States of Europe used any of the four terms, after all. Instead, they featured a wide variety of titles for the heads of state and the general term Stände, usually translated into English as "Estates," for their legislative assemblies.
So, the matter didn't seem to be urgent. What was an occasional "president" among dukes, landgraves, margraves, and counts? Would a "governor" be any less unique when his colleagues were Herzog, Landgraf, Markgraf, or Graf?
"Okay, Liz, what's the most important thing for me to take?"
Emma was eyeing the president's chief of staff, Liz Carstairs. Ed Piazza had inherited her from Mike Stearns. He would keep her only until she could make arrangements to move to Magdeburg and become the prime minister's chief of staff there. Liz also, of course, happened to be the big sister of Emma's husband, Willard. And president of the LDS Relief Society. And secretary of the Grantville League of Women Voters.