Gath

The Grand Duchy of Gath is a domain created by Saul FitzGoliath (James Abraham West - I655), originally carved from what we know as eastern Cuba. James Abraham West had run away from home at a fairly young age after an argument with his father. At the time, he stood about seven feet tall and was broadly and strongly built. As such, and because he had run away from home, he decided to use a pseudonym that would be related to his size, so he became Saul FitzGoliath. (Saul had been chosen as king because he was the tallest man in Israel, and of course, Goliath was supposed to be a Philistine giant.) While smuggling goods into and out of Spanish Cuba, FitzGoliath was noticed and trailed by several Spanish warships. Realizing he couldn’t get away, he decided to attack, instead. Through sheer madness in battle, he and his men managed to overcome most of the Spanish squadron. After returning his ship to its owners, he took the captured Spanish vessels on a freebooting expedition into Eastern Cuba.

Cuba had been captured by the English in the past. This was true in our history. In the Hidden Angels history, it had been captured three times by Matthew West, and each time he brought colonists from the British Isles, Hannover, and other places to settle in Cuba. This created a large non-Spanish population that was ripe for rebellion. When Saul FitzGoliath and his men landed in Guantanamo, many of these people, disaffected by Spanish rule, joined his freebooting expedition and turned it into a rebellion against Spain. Over several years of fighting, Saul FitzGoliath and the rebels managed to secure just over half of Cuba before Saul FitzGoliath was captured and prepared for execution by the Spanish. Because of his pseudonym, he had chosen the name Gath for the new nation and renamed Santiago to New Jerusalem.

The border between Gath and Cuba stabilized for several years after Saul FitzGoliath’s death. Cuba had a new governor, who was actually a copy of the man known as Matthew West. Spain had a gentle and pro-British king who was satisfied with the status quo. This situation lasted for fourteen years before a new king appointed a more aggressive governor with orders to recover all of Cuba.

Shortly after James Abraham West had run away from home, he had secured a position as a merchant sea captain, mainly through bluffing and his size. At that point, he had written to a female cousin to come join him. She did so and took the pseudonym of Delilah FitzGoliath, even though they had not officially married. As they got caught up in events, it became more problematical to let anyone know that they were not actually married, so they never did. However, they did have sixteen children. Because both were also descended from Matthew West, these children were Angels.

By the time that the new Spanish governor arrived in 1769, several of the younger FitzGoliaths had come into their powers and were adults, able to defend and expand the Grand Duchy of Gath. They did so, kicking the Spanish out of Cuba, and making the whole into the Grand Duchy of Gath.

When Saul FitzGoliath created Gath as a Grand Duchy, it was with the aim of expanding it to all of Cuba. He created it as a Grand Duchy, expecting to declare it as a kingdom when he had the whole. Since he died before accomplishing that, and since he never conveyed those plans to anyone else, his heirs never changed it into a kingdom. Later, as the Protocols of Prague were developed, Gath fell into the framework as a Grand Duchy.