MR: Disarming in the Presence

[edh@ascc01.ascc.lucent.com (Ed Hopkins)]

Poster: edh@ascc01.ascc.lucent.com (Ed Hopkins)

Manus MacDhai grins:

> What I interpreted Bryn to be asking is something like "If bagpipes
> are 'weapons of war' and she had them in court, is that like bearing
> a sword in the presence of the king?"  Since she doesn't have an
> AOA, did she "break the law/custom"?" :)

So, you are both saying that in Atlantia, anyone who has an AoA
_can_ bear live steel in the Prescence of the King?  This is an
interesting bit of inter-kingdom anthropology!  In the East,
there might very well be a situation like this:  A lord _has_ an
AoA, he's mundanely the King's brother, he is currently serving
as King's Champion, he's been standing behind the King for the
past twenty minutes with a razor-sharp iron pike, then, when
he's called into court to receive a QoC, he has to lay down the
pike AND take his dagger out of its scabbard and lay it down
AND take the dirk out of his stocking and lay it down.  I am
not exaggerating.

In a different posting, Lord Eldred AElfwald,
Gordian Knot Pursuivant, writes:

> If the scroll meant that you could bring a sword into
> court, it would say "X has the right to bear Arms,
> to wit:  <list of weapons>".  No mention of weapons
> anywhere....  Alfredo, you ARE correct.

Thank you, Lord Eldred.  May I also point out that there
is no mention of weapons in the Second Amendment, either,
which strengthens my second contention.

Gordian Knot goes on to say:
> Now comes the tricky part.  Part of the "rights and
> privileges" that get conferred with an AoA are the
> right to be called Lord/Lady, and by CUSTOM, most
> Kingdoms allow you to bear (but not bare) weapons in
> the Presence (TRM, TRH, & Landed Baronage).  These
> are not specifically asserted in the text of an AoA,
> but are generally accepted as true.

I never noticed a ban on weapons in a Baronial Court
in the East (but there may well have been one), but
the ban I described above was definitely observed
in the Presence of Their Sylvan Highnesses, the Prince
and Princess of AEthelmearc.

I should add that, as far as I know, the ban only
applied to actual Court appearances.  Is this true
in Atlantia, too?

In a separate posting, Ld Henry Best writes:
> I'm not really sure where this whole thing about not wearing weapons near
> the royal presence came from. I ignore it, personally.
>
> My reasoning is this:
[excellent reasons omitted]
>
> I am generally unarmed. But, if I were to be called into court and I was
> armed at the time, I would not disarm.

Since Ld Henry presumably has an AoA, his practice would fit in with
the curious (to my ears) Atlantian paradigm.

How about someone like me, who got his AoA from a foreign king,
but who now holds himself a loyal subject of Atlantia?
Am I to be trusted with a weapon near the Crown?
Or should I wait until I've received some honor on Atlantian soil?

-- Alfredo
 
Alfredo el Bufon
Elvegast, Windmaster's Hill, Atlantia
edh@ascc01.ascc.lucent.com
______________________________________

Facilis descensus Averni;                |The descent to Avernus is easy;
Noctes atque dies patet atri janua Ditis;|Night and day Pluto's gates are open;
Sed revocare gradum,                     |But to recall your steps,
    superasque evadere ad auras,         |    and climb to the upper air,
Hoc opus, hic labor est.                 |That is the toil, that is the work.
          -- Publius Vergilius Maro      |                  -- Virgil

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