Battle of Corrin
the founding of House Corrino
The Battle of Corrin was the space battle of 88 BG from which the Imperial House Corrino took its name. Fought near Sigma Draconis, it settled the ascendancy of the ruling House from Salusa Secundus and gave rise to the feud between House Harkonnen and House Atreides.
The Battle of Corrin, fought in 88 BG, was the space battle from which the Imperial House Corrino took its name. It was fought near Sigma Draconis and settled the ascendancy of the ruling House from Salusa Secundus. In its aftermath came the Atreides-Harkonnen feud, a rivalry still alive ten thousand years later. (Dune)
The battle#
Frank Herbert gives the battle a single entry in Dune's glossary: the space battle near Sigma Draconis in 88 BG from which the Imperial House Corrino took its name, and which settled the ascendancy of the ruling House from Salusa Secundus. The Corrinos still sit on the throne when Dune opens, more than ten thousand years later, in the person of Shaddam IV. (Dune)
Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's novel Dune: The Battle of Corrin makes it the last battle against the thinking machines, fought at the planet Corrin, their final stronghold. (Expanded books: Dune: The Battle of Corrin)
The exile of Abulurd and the feud#
Dune's appendix on the noble Houses describes Baron Vladimir Harkonnen as the direct-line male descendant of the Bashar Abulurd Harkonnen, who was banished for cowardice after the Battle of Corrin. Jessica tells Yueh that this is the poison deep in the Baron's mind: the knowledge that an Atreides had a Harkonnen banished for cowardice. Yueh calls it the old feud between House Harkonnen and House Atreides. (Dune)
In the expanded novel, the Atreides is Vorian Atreides. Abulurd refuses to fight through a ring of human hostages the machines have strung around Corrin, is branded a coward and exiled, and his descendants grow up hating the Atreides name. (Expanded books: Dune: The Battle of Corrin)
Frequently asked questions
- What was the Battle of Corrin?
- The Battle of Corrin was a space battle fought in 88 BG near Sigma Draconis. It settled the ascendancy of the ruling House based on Salusa Secundus, and from it the Imperial House Corrino took its name.
- How did House Corrino get its name?
- The Imperial House Corrino took its name from the Battle of Corrin, which settled the ascendancy of the ruling House from Salusa Secundus. The Corrinos still hold the throne when Dune opens, more than ten thousand years later.
- How did the Atreides-Harkonnen feud begin?
- Dune traces it to the Battle of Corrin. The Bashar Abulurd Harkonnen was banished for cowardice after the battle, and Jessica says the poison in the Baron's mind is the knowledge that an Atreides had a Harkonnen banished. The feud is still running ten thousand years later.
- Where was the Battle of Corrin fought?
- Dune's glossary places it near Sigma Draconis, in 88 BG. The expanded novel Dune: The Battle of Corrin sets it at the planet Corrin, the last stronghold of the thinking machines.
Sources
- BookDune, Frank Herbert, 1965
- BookDune: The Battle of Corrin, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, 2004 (expanded books)
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Followed from this entry
Atreides-Harkonnen feud
The Atreides-Harkonnen feud was the ancient blood vendetta between the two Houses, born of a betrayal at the Battle of Corrin and ended ten thousand years later with the annihilation of the Harkonnens on Arrakis.
House Corrino: ten thousand years enthroned
The imperial House ruled from Kaitain and held Salusa Secundus as its fief. Paul Atreides forced Shaddam IV to give up the Golden Lion Throne.
Salusa Secundus: the prison that bred terror
House Corrino's first homeworld became the empire's penal planet once the court moved to Kaitain. Its cruelty was said to breed the Sardaukar.
Shaddam Corrino IV
Shaddam Corrino IV was the 81st and final Padishah Emperor of the Corrino Empire. Threatened by the popularity of Duke Leto Atreides, he conspired with House Harkonnen to destroy him, only to be brought down himself by Paul Muad'Dib and the Fremen during the Desert War.
Abulurd Harkonnen
Abulurd Harkonnen was a decorated commander of the Butlerian Jihad and the grandson of Xavier Harkonnen who, after refusing to cross the Bridge of Hrethgir at the Battle of Corrin, was branded a coward and exiled to Lankiveil, beginning the ten thousand year feud between the Harkonnen and Atreides.
Baron Vladimir Harkonnen: the architect of the Atreides fall
Siridar-Baron Vladimir Harkonnen was the penultimate ruler of House Harkonnen and the chief architect of the downfall of Duke Leto Atreides. A gluttonous and cruel schemer, he conspired to seize Arrakis and the Golden Lion Throne before his House was destroyed in the war for Arrakis.
Mentioned in26 entries
Abulurd Harkonnen
Abulurd Harkonnen was a decorated commander of the Butlerian Jihad and the grandson of Xavier Harkonnen who, after refusing to cross the Bridge of Hrethgir at the Battle of Corrin, was branded a coward and exiled to Lankiveil, beginning the ten thousand year feud between the Harkonnen and Atreides.
Atomics: the forbidden arsenals of the Great Houses
Atomics was the Imperial term for nuclear weapons of mass destruction, the fission devices every Great House hoarded but almost never dared to use. The Great Convention made their offensive use against human targets grounds for planetary annihilation, yet the Houses kept their family arsenals in reserve, and history recorded the terrible occasions on which the ban failed.
Atreides-Harkonnen feud
The Atreides-Harkonnen feud was the ancient blood vendetta between the two Houses, born of a betrayal at the Battle of Corrin and ended ten thousand years later with the annihilation of the Harkonnens on Arrakis.
Bene Gesserit
The Bene Gesserit were an ancient order of women who wielded power from the shadows of the Imperium through a millennia-long breeding program, mastery of body and mind, and the religious engineering of the Missionaria Protectiva. Their goal was the Kwisatz Haderach, and through him the guidance of humanity.
Butlerian Jihad: the war on thinking machines
It began with a slave rebellion on Earth in 201 BG and ended at Corrin in 88 BG. Out of it came the ban on machines in the likeness of a mind.
Cathedral
Cathedral was the center of the Thinking Machine world of Synchrony, where the Computer Evermind Omnius ruled the reborn robotic empire. It housed the probe launched from Giedi Prime that had carried the machines back into being, and it was here that the events of Kralizec reached their climax.
Desert War: the fall of the Corrino Empire
The Desert War is the fight for Arrakis told in Frank Herbert's Dune. It destroyed House Harkonnen, ended the Corrino Empire, and put Paul Atreides on the Golden Lion Throne.
Draigo Roget
Draigo Roget was the finest student ever to pass through the early Mentat School on Lampadas, secretly recruited by Josef Venport to serve Venport Holdings. His projections guided the takeover of the Thonaris shipyards and the fight against the Butlerians.
Dune Timeline: from the thinking machines to the end of Kralizec
A dated chronology of the Dune universe, from the first age of space travel and the Butlerian Jihad to Paul Atreides, the God Emperor, the Scattering and the last war with the machines. Events run oldest first, era by era, and every entry says which book it comes from.
Emeline: the zealot of Wallach IX
Sister Emeline was a zealous acolyte of the Sisterhood on Wallach IX, descended from a long line of martyrs who died at the Battle of Corrin. She brought fervent religion to her Truthsayer training, and when nightmares swept the school she turned to the old texts and revived the tradition of the Butlerian sisters, following Dorotea when the dead Reverend Mother returned in Lila's body.
Erasmus
Erasmus was an independent and eccentric robot who served the evermind Omnius while pursuing his own study of humanity. His murder of Serena Butler's infant son helped ignite the Butlerian Jihad, and millennia later his manipulations shaped the final battle of Kralizec.
Faykan Butler
Faykan Butler, later Faykan Corrino, was a military commander of the Butlerian Jihad who rose through politics to become the last Viceroy of the League of Nobles and, after the Battle of Corrin, the first Padishah Emperor.
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