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Post by Lady Mage on Feb 22, 2007 14:48:07 GMT -5
Hm... that's interesting. I never heard of that before. Okay, posting next part, since you're so interested.
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Post by Lady Mage on Feb 22, 2007 14:50:05 GMT -5
Okay, here is the next part. I hope my lovely reviewer likes it. Notice that it is not plural... all you non-reviewers, and please review!
The Chivalric Code
The peace and truce of God movement was not very effective because it told knights what they couldn’t do. Starting in the twelfth century, men, women, and clerics started writing the chivalric romance. The court chaplains especially, who moved constantly in aristocratic circles wrote prolifically.
Even though each individual chivalric character in the romances was different, there were some general characteristics that were expected of each chivalric knight- bravery, honesty, loyalty, generosity, prowess, courtesy, manners, and speaking well. The chivalric knight was supposed to protect those who could not protect themselves, especially women. The chivalric knight was supposed to fall in love, with one person, and remain devoted to that lady for the rest of his life. Sometimes this courtly love was outside of marriage, sometimes inside of marriage. Sometimes it was chaste and sometimes (as with Lancelot and Guinevere) it wasn’t.
Chivalry ended up having some impact, and over the ages, it affected the behavior and rules at a tournament. Tournaments became more contained, and nobles stopped riding through peasants’ crops. If a noble had behaved poorly at past tournaments (wasn’t kind to a lady) he wasn’t invited back next time. The chivalric image and ideal gradually became closer to reality than it had been when it was first introduced, and did a little to stop noble violence.
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Post by Lady Mage on Feb 22, 2007 14:51:18 GMT -5
And here we go with Part Four, because Part Three was so short...
Feudalism
If you have ever had the peculiar desire to see otherwise dignified medieval scholars shout and physically assault one another, walk into any medieval history conference, and begin to speak favorably or unfavorably about feudalism. Without doubt, some of the others around you will leap up and wrap their hands around your throat. Rest assured, however, others will leap to your defense. There is no ‘one right definition’ for feudalism. Some people have viewed it as a legal and military system, while others viewed it as a sociological point of view, or thought it should be approached economically. One woman, Elizabeth Brown, led a revolt, beginning in the late 1960s, against the concept of feudalism itself. She said feudalism was a tyranny of a construct, and had no basis in medieval reality.
When two members of the nobility went into a feudal relationship, they underwent a ceremony called commendation. There were two parts to this: the act of homage, and the oath of fealty. In the act of homage, the would-be vassal appeared before the lord bare-headed and weaponless. The would-be vassal kneeled and clasped his hands, stretching them out towards the lord. The lord grasped the would-be vassal’s hands in his or hers (yes, the lord could be a woman as well), and squeezed them as tight as possible to show the would-be vassal who was in control. The would-be vassal announced his intention to become a vassal, and the lord announced his or her intention to accept the vassal. Then the vassal would place his hands on a bible or whatever saint’s relics were handy, and swear that they would never harm their lord, that they would give their lord military aid, and counsel or advice. In return, the lord would provide protection, and maintenance to the fief he was lending the vassal.
However, as time progressed, the lords had less and less power over their vassals. There were a few problems with the system: if a lord was unhappy with the military services of a certain vassal, it was very hard to eject them from a castle; and when fiefs became inherited, a woman or a child couldn’t provide the same sort of military aid that a grown man could. Also, vassals started paying homage to more than one liege lord. Sometimes, the lords might be fighting each other, and the vassal might be on one side, and his own men on the other side, so as to fulfill multiple obligations. The problems grew greater and greater, and vassals became to pay scutage: a payment made to get out of military service. Gradually, the system disinigrated.
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Post by Lex on Feb 22, 2007 14:51:26 GMT -5
I'll read and review later. Nite.
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Post by Lady Mage on Feb 22, 2007 14:54:36 GMT -5
Okay, g'night Latum. Thanks!
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Post by Lex on Feb 22, 2007 17:11:31 GMT -5
slatu... hehe. Both parts were very good, particularly intigued(sp?) by the third part, though the fourth was equally new to me.
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Post by Lady Mage on Feb 22, 2007 17:13:02 GMT -5
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it! I should be putting up the fifth part soon.
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