Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: 7 On Fealty
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 21:51:12

7 On Fealty
        Period feudalism was based on -land.- We in the SCA must transfer 
this concept to the simple Peerage-honor (the Belt/Baldric, Laurel and 
Pelican), since within the SCA only Kings, Landed Barons and Princes (and 
their Consorts, of course!) are "landed" titles; they are the only ones that 
"control" an area of land. Therefore, the concepts of "allodium," or land 
that is held in "feodum solis" or "fief francum," meaning a fief that had 
-no- Lord superior to the Landholder, and little or no service to the Crown 
required for its holding, would apply very easily to the Master of Arms, or 
to any Peer that does not swear liege fealty. It is evidently a very period 
concept indeed. 
        This is not to say that these Peers cannot swear a -personal- fealty 
oath of any kind to a Lord. Some Masters of Arms have sworn such an oath to 
the -person- of the King or the Queen and not to "the Crown" (with that 
particular feudal contract therefore ending at the end of that reign) and 
this is considered quite acceptable over the whole of the SCA. 
        To complicate matters even more, one can choose to swear fealty in 
the context of an Office and not in one's "private" persona. 
        I swore fealty as Baron of SunDragon .... not as "Ioseph of 
Locksley," who cannot and will not swear such, but as "The Baron of 
SunDragon." In other words, when the Baronial Coronet was on my head, I was 
the King's Man, and spoke and acted as the King's Representative. When the 
Coronet was -not- on my head, I reverted back to a simple, non-fealty 
swearing private person. When I made music, or went off raising hell, I -took 
off- the Coronet. My "private" persona and my "public" persona were kept 
-strictly- separate (especially because "Ioseph" had opinions that might not 
be quite in line with the opinions and agenda of "The Baron!") 
        This would be an acceptable "out" (in my opinion) to an Officer who 
cannot swear liege-fealty as a private person, but who holds a Society Office 
under a Crown or Coronet .... but it -must- be an individual decision. If 
that individual decides they cannot do it in good concience, then their 
decision should be respected. 
         I would not recommend this to persons who have no strong personal 
feelings nor very strong personalities. It is a hard and delicate line to 
walk, and can only be done with great attention to details, like saying 
-every time- "I am now talking as my private persona and NOT as (name of 
office)" and MAKING IT STICK. 
        Much of this may seem like logic-chopping, or making a big to-do out 
of semantics, but it seems necessary. We are dealing with some pretty 
delicate matters here, that impinge on both "legal" and emotional issues. 
These issues tend to be extremely important for many people, and thus, an 
understanding of them can only be had by some pretty close reasoning, and 
some drawing of fine lines. 
        I also must add that I have -not- talked about the various mundane 
considerations that might preclude the swearing of fealty. There -are- 
several good mundane reasons why a person could not swear fealty, even in the 
SCA in its' aspect as a "hobby" ..... but those mundane reasons are 
ultimately -entirely up to the person concerned.-
        I hope that this helps to clarify what is admittedly a rather 
confusing subject .... and I hope my unavoidable pedantry hasn't put too many 
readers off. 
     ------------------------------------------------------------
 The passages from "The Organizational Handbook of the SCA Inc (Corpora)"
 are (c) copyright 1989 The Society For Creative Anachronism Inc. and are
 used under the blanket permission given for such usage by the SCA Inc.

 The passages from Western 12th Night AS 2 are taken from the only existing
 copy of the ceremonies as written (probably) by Master Randall of Hightower
 as posted on InterNet rec.org.sca 08 May 1981 CE.
      ----------------------------------------------------------
Permission is granted to reprint this article in newsletters of the SCA or 
similar groups. Please send a copy of the newsletter reprinting the article 
to: Joe Bethancourt, PO Box 35190, Phoenix, AZ 85069. Any editing without the
author's permission will be considered a violation of copyright.

                                *


... John Ball hath rungen his bell!
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.10

 * Origin: Herald's Point * Steppes/Ansteorra * 214-699-0057 (1:124/4229)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca