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On the subject of Fealty (fwd)




Poster: clevin@ripco.com (Craig Levin)

> Unto the Patrons of the Merry Rose does Stephan of Caer Mear send Happy
> Holiday Greetings,
> 
> I have some questions to pose to everyone:
> 
> 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? 

It depends upon when and where you're asking the question. In
England, all vows of that nature, either of _fidelitas_ or of
_homagium_, included a clause which generally ran, "...saving
only the vows that I have made to the king and to these other
people...". On the Continent, such a clause may or may not have
been in the vows; I'd be surprised if they weren't.

> Should the squire break fealty to the knight? 

Break? I wouldn't say that one would break the oath, for I see no
problem with a baron being both the king's man and the man of
another, so long as his vows to the king take precedence, for
many reasons, the least of which is that his function as a man of
the king benefits more people than his function as another's man.
I suppose, if one feels uncomfortable with being bound to two
lords, the best thing would be to ask for one of them to release
one from his vows; such was occasionally done in the past.

> 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. 

I would say that one's conscience ought to act as the guide. One
of the duties that a proper lord expects from his men is advice
and counsel in his court, and I'd imagine that sometimes it's
the duty of a man to inform his lord that he's wrong.

Pedro de Alcazar, AoA
Barony of Storvik, Atlantia
Pursuivant Extraordinary and Junior Minion
Or, six Castles Vert within a Bordure Gules semy of Roundels Or

-- 
http://pages.ripco.com:8080/~clevin/index.html 
clevin@ripco.com
Craig Levin
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