imprimatur
issue no. 1 - august 3, 1997



building a nation
The foundation of Corvinia
By HCH Prince Peter I Ravn of Corvinia.

corvinia declared its existence as a nation on July 2, 1997. For several weeks, I had been reading about micronations on the Web, and the idea fascinated me. In my younger days, I had been a citizen of a fairly venerable old micronation, the Kingdom of Elleore, so I had some idea of the entertainment value of micronationhood. Reading about the many micronations who had pages on the Web, it occurred to me that it might be fun to have a nation of my own. A brief discussion with my fiancée made up my mind, and I declared the formation of the Sovereign Principality of Corvinia, with myself as Prince.

the name was more or less given. My "mundane" name is Peter Ravn Rasmussen. Ravn is Danish for raven, and corvus is the Latin equivalent. Hence, Corvinia, or "Ravenland". Some people have asked why I didn't choose a Nordic name, say Hrafnheim, but I can only say that I hit upon the present name as being easily pronuncible by most people around the world.

initially, Princess Lone and I sat down and decided on a number of localities around the world to which Corvinia would lay claim. Since Princess Lone is very fond of penguins, these included portions of the Antarctic. Various portions of our native Denmark were also claimed. I then proceeded to design a suite of web-pages, describing our little country.

what can be the point? One might well ask. It seems silly, a sort of adult playacting. However, as I have already said, the entertainment value is considerable - and in these jaded times, it is not unusual for entertainment to be regarded as an end in itself.

as one might expect, a lot of our friends thought Corvinia was a very good idea indeed. After all, who can honestly claim that they don't want a title? There is a certain singular satisfaction to being able to style yourself "Duke of Trekroner" or "Count of Hanø", or even "Knight of the Raven". Corvinia is an absolute monarchy, with all the pomp and circumstance concomitant thereto, and there are very few citizens who don't hold at least one title or office.

predicting the future is a chancy thing. We might well all become bored by Corvinia, and decide to abolish it. On the other hand, there is about micronations an undefinable something. All human beings feel a deep-rooted need to be a part of a tribe or clan, even an imaginary one. In this basic need is micronationalism founded - and a great deal of humour.



what to say, who to tell
Publishing your existence as a nation
By HCH Prince Peter I Ravn of Corvinia.

when you've founded your new micronation, your little "place in the sun", the obvious next step is to publish its existence. This, however, is not at all like publishing an ordinary website or marketing a product. There is a certain rhythm to micronations, a set of unwritten rules, if you will.

in the case of Corvinia, I had conceived it as an absolute monarchy. Monarchies are very popular among micronations. Perhaps because people in this democratic age feel that they have lost something essential in doing away with the old order. Something tribal and deep-rooted. Micronations that are monarchies, therefore, tend to have all the pomp and circumstance that traditional monarchies no longer have.

publishing Corvinia's existence, therefore, required something very formal and dignified, in keeping with this pomp. I settled upon a formal engagement-notice style:

This is to announce the formation of a new micronation, the Sovereign Principality of Corvinia, founded July 2nd, 1997.

Further information may be found at http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc6937/corvin.html

Corvinia welcomes diplomatic ouvertures from friendly nations. The Corvinian Foreign Office may be contacted at this e-mail address: bcc6937@vip.cybercity.dk

(signed)
HCH Prince Peter I Ravn of Corvinia,
Defender of the Islands, Keystone of the Realm,
Protector of the Public Weal and Grand Raven.

the tenor of this note, I felt, gave the impression of style and grace, without seeming too overweaningly proud. The next problem, of course was where to send it. As Corvinia was conceived as nine-tenths a joke, sending formal communiques to, say, the Government of Chile, and asking them to vacate our territory of Easter Island, would probably not be a great success. The obvious answer was to send the note to other micronations. Keeping it in the family, so to speak.

this approach was successful enough. As of this writing, several micronations have been in touch, and diplomatic relations and mutual recognition have been established with the Kingdom of Zinzenland. All in the spirit of monarchical entertainment...

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Last updated: August 8, 1998