The Daggerfall Interregnum, known otherwise as the Betony Interregnum and colloquially as the "kingless years", was a period of marked social and political upheaval within the Kingdom of Daggerfall between c.1E993 - 1049. Brought about largely by the growing pressures placed upon the kingdom during its thirty-year Siege of Orsinium, and triggered by an untimely succession dispute, the interregnum saw a near-total dissolution of royal authority and sharp economic downturn throughout much of western High Rock.
Few reliable sources now remain to tell us of Daggerfall's only true interregnum to date; even the fabled Annals of Daggerfall recall it only in traumatized cries or indignant exclamations, and hardly any contemporary aristocratic registers have survived outside the Tower of Raven. Nonetheless, archaeological evidence and what few shreds of truth might yet be pieced together paint the picture of a land not of Stewards, but of Kings and Queens - a time when the Thagor Crown reigned over countless petty monarchs, clan-chiefs and archdukes, in a patchwork realm that encompassed much of the western Bretic Iliac.
The Betony Interregnum broke these binding chains of fealty irrevocably. What began as a succession dispute between uncle and niece quickly spiraled out of control, with many a disgruntled local ruler straining to break away from central rule - or raising their own candidacies for the Twin Thrones. For a time, no less than fifteen different kings and queens laid claim to the Tower, and the capital faced many a siege; but it never once fell, and the Thagor lineage remained unbroken. Finally, after near a decade more warring and consolidation, the ravaged realm stood still and quiet; royal authority had been restored.
No amount of healing, however, could truly restore Daggerfall's wounded prestige, or recover the lands and power here lost. Most of the kingdom's farthest-flung vassals and allies had broken free, starting on their own path, and they would not be recovered until late in the Third Era. Worse still, the plight of the western kingdom opened the doors to Wayrest's ascendancy; and the Jewel of the Bay would challenge Daggerfall's hegemony over the Bretic Iliac forevermore, in a rivalry that has spanned whole eras on end - and remains unresolved to this day.