The Dalemark Quartet is a series of four fantasy books by Diana Wynne Jones set in a rustic parallel universe with pre-industrial or even medieval civilization.
In addition to the 15 earldoms, Dalemark includes the so-called King's Lands (the Holy Islands, the Marshes, and the Shield of Oreth), although there has been no king in Dalemark for a long time.
The earls ruling South Dalemark are presented as much more tyrannical and cruel than the North Dalemark earls, who are described as being more liberal and with greater respect for human freedoms.
As a result, there is constant tension between the North and the South, which often erupts in open war or rebellion.
The Great Uprising took place about a year after the main events described in Drowned Ammet, the second book of the Dalemark Quartet.