Re: On the subject of Fealty

[Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy@abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>]

Poster: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy@abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>

  If someone is a squire to a knight and becomes a territorial Baron, how
  does his fealty to the knight affect his fealty to the King?
  
  Are they in conflict? 
  
  Should the squire break fealty to the knight? 

No one should "break fealty".  They should be released.

The answer to your question is "no conflict is there, unless when he swore
to the Crown he set up a conflict.

>From your questions, Stephan, it appears that you have learned about fealty
in the Society.  This is like learning cooking in a McDonalds... the sort of
games we play with fealty are barely historically informed.
  
  If fealty to both is acceptable, what happens if the knight and the King
  have differing opinions on a subject,  I assume you would have to accept
  what the King says. 

Fealty is, somewhat, a contract or agreement.  It is a narrow focus exchange
of promises.  Liege fealty is the primary fealty.

You are thinking of homage, which is what most SCA folks think of when they
say fealty.

The more you read and learn about personal relationships in period, the
harder it becomes to make a safe generalization.  By oversimplifying as I
have, I have left the door wide open to accurate nitpicks... such is the
price of being first to post, I guess.  (:-)

Most of all, however, fealty is personal.  More personal than hygiene.  You
gotta be very very careful when attempting to consider someone elses fealty.

	Tibor
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