Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25758988-20160710224301/@comment-25758988-20160711165711

I will agree that I think the kingdoms came about because certain lords wanted to rule a part of the land and they then became "monarchs" of these so called pieces of land. I have done a little research into kingdoms and how they are formed and how poeople can rule lands and it not be known as a kingdom (AKA Sir Maurice) and it seems a lot of confusion is the writers throw around words like "realms" which can be used as a common name for a kingdom. But the direct definition is that a realm is a region of land lead by a ruler, not nesecesarly a king. A realm can be used to define a land lead by a lord or a knight or could be used to describe a piece of land that is not specifically attached to the land ruled by this leader, for example the Northern Isles may be known as a realm of Arendalle.

However a kingdom is a realm lead specifically by someone who is a known king or queen. In the case of the Enchanted Forest we have a large land mass split into these "kingdoms". similarly to how England was split into several kingdoms before uniting into one large kingdom.

I have mentioned this next statement in another post but it bares repeating to justify my line of thought so bare with me.... Here in the UK we have a system on how a city is formed. A few houses built together is known as a hamlet, if that hamlet builds a church it becomes a village, that village raises to a certain population and builds more churches that village becomes a town, if that town builds a catherdral it becomes a city. Keeping this in mind, when the UK was split up into several "kingdoms" they were pretty much a single large city with a few smaller villages and they were usually protected by a city wall or built around a hill or small mountain or by lakes and rivers. A guide was set up to define what made these cities different from those living without a governing body. This guide is as follows: So I make the arguement that you are probaby right Eskavar and that the kingdoms are probably only a single city/town with a few villages, some are probaby bigger then others that prob have a few towns and villages but i do believe each kingdom has more power then we have seen, I think they are completly independant from each other and have formed their own laws and prob have their own systems for punishment. They may need trade with other kingdoms to survive but power in each kingdom is still strong, I mean Regina was able to arrest Princess Laia and throw her in her dungeon without knowing who she was and which kingdom she hailed from.
 * 1) Size and density of the population should be above normal. (AKA the population in these cities/kingdoms had to be larger then those not living in them, or in the case of the Enchanted Forest people living in other realms)
 * 2) Differentiation of the population. Not all residents grow their own food, leading to specialists. (Hense farming)
 * 3) Payment of taxes to a deity or king. (We have seen this occur in the Enchanted Forest including whichever Realm Robin Hood is part of)
 * 4) Monumental public buildings. (This is one of the few things we have yet to be exposed to in the Enchanted Forest, although it is mentioned in Ruby's book that she attended a school and we do see the public attending shows on a specific location but not in a actual building)
 * 5) Those not producing their own food are supported by the king. (This is seen in the Enchanted Forest multiple times, we see it with Snow and when Cinderella makes a new deal with Rumple)
 * 6) Systems of recording and practicing science. (This is seen with the recording and practicing of magic and in education)
 * 7) A system of writing. (Clearly the Enchated Forest has authors as Belle has a full library)
 * 8) Development of symbolic art. (We have seen art be developed as Mela is a artist but we have not seen specifically symbolic art, we also see Belle admire artwork in Rumples castle)
 * 9) Trade and import of raw materials. (We have trade for dwarf diamonds, fairy/pixie dust, gold, food and even magic)
 * 10) Specialist craftsmen from outside the kin-group. (We see many crafts men from blacksmiths, to magicians, to ice picking, to miners)

Sir Maurice's realm is just that a realm and it is prob a small realm lets say a small town, now it not a city or "kingdom" so he needs to do something to become a city and as I mentioned above in the UK he would need to build a cathedral but in the Enchanted Forest he needs to do something different as it is not specifically mentioned what makes a town a city or in this case what makes a realm a kingdom. His realm does have all the guidliness with the exception of number 4 (as i say nobody  seen does) well all of them except tax needs to be paid to a diety or a king  and he is neither nor can he support his population as a king. However the agreed marriage between Lord Gaston and Lady Belle would see them becoming king and queen of their shared realm/kingdom. so maybe this is the one thing Sir Maurice could do to officially change his small town to a kingdom. I admit if this is the reason it could do with an explanation by the writers but for me it has sorted my head cannon lol.

Plus I should mention that all of the small kingdoms of the UK were named and usually named as Eskaver posted after the main city/town within each kingdom. :)