Swearing Fealty - What does it mean?

Ceadda · Post by **Ceadda** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 11:38 am

Coming off another thread and based upon my (limited) understanding, I thought I'd bring up the idea of Swearing Fealty.

What are your views on fealty?
Is loyalty the same as fealty?
If not how does loyaltydiffer?
Who/What do you swear Fealty to?
Contridicting Loyalties/Oaths?

In period, when one swore fealty, it was a contract between an individual (and sometimes their household) and their liege. The contract stated that the vassal would serve the liege in some capacity (goods or services) and the liege, in turn, would provide the vassal with some form of service, often in a protective manner. Being in fealty implies there exists a formal relationship, in our case, between an individual and the Crown.

In the SCA, the bonds of fealty are recreated for our purposes, by swearing and renewing our bonds of fealty to the crown upon Coronation. However, since this is a game, the vassal may provide valuable services to the Crown (by going to events and Wars and serving the Kingdom in some way) but there is no requirement for the Crown to provide specific recompense. The Crown serves the entire populace regardless of who has or has not sworn fealty.

Loyalty can exist with or without fealty. Loyalty is informal and personal. When someone swears fealty, it is often a public announcement of where oneâ€™s loyalties lie. The gold chain a Knight wears is a symbol of his fealty to the Crown and in the Midrealm, any vassal who swears fealty may wear an unadorned silver chain as a symbol of that relationship.

There are several kingdoms, Caid being one of them if I'm not mistaken, where fealty is counted down the ranks. If a Knight swears fealty to the king, then his squires automatically assume the same fealty. The same goes for the royal peers, Barons and such.

In the Middle Kingdom, Fealty is sworn directly to the Crown, not the Man or Woman wearing the Crown. It is stated in the Oath of Fealty the Chivalry uses:

"I here swear fealty and do homage
To the Crown of the Middle Kingdom:
To ever be a good knight and true,
Reverent and generous,
Shield of the weak,
Obedient to my liege-lord,
Foremost in battle,
Courteous at all times,
Champion of the right and the good.
Thus swear I, Sir/Master <<Name>>."

This allows a Knight to swear to the crown even if he has a personal grudge against the King who acended to the thone.

I've got more, but I'll wait for some resonses.

Reference Material

http://chivalry.midrealm.org/

To Squire or Not to Squire? That is the question.
by Viscount Sterling, KSCA

http://www.florilegium.org/files/CHIVAL ... t-art.html

On Fealty and Other Relationships in the SCA (or, Are Waffles Period?)
by Hector of the Black Height

http://nicolaa5.tripod.com/articles/Hec ... Fealty.htm

The Feudal Contract: Fealty in the SCA
by Ioseph of Locksley

http://members.tripod.com/~whitebard/onfealty.htm

Of the Vertues that Apperteyne to Chyvalry
by Count Sir Garick von Kopke

http://www.chronique.com/Library/Chivalry/garick1.htm

InsaneIrish · Post by **InsaneIrish** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:01 pm

If you do a search in the philosophy of Chiv forum you will find an exhaustive thread about this exact subject.

it is a good read and I recommend it.

Ceadda · Post by **Ceadda** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:03 pm

Thank you, I will.

Luca Sogliano · Post by **Luca Sogliano** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 2:23 am

I do not swear fealty directly to my King, because I swear fealty to my Knight, as his man-at-arms, and through him, the Crown. This is my image of the feudal system, and how I have been taught.

mordreth · Post by **mordreth** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 9:49 am

When I was a squire my oath was to my knight, he was my lord.
My squires have been discharged, withdrawn with permission, or moved out kingdom so currently I am not responsible for one, but I am quite clear that their obligation is to me, if that doesn't work for them thats ok, and I wish all good fortune in finding a knight who takes a secondary position in their loyalties.

My oath of fealty (to the king) is and has been (btw, Ialso do the hommage thing)

I Mordreth, knight commend my person to you and become your man
by mouth and by hand, I shall speak of you no evil, I shall do to you no harm, I shall obey your every lawfull command. I remain so until you should die, or I should die, or the world should end, or you must by law leave the throne.
It covers a lot of ground.

Ceadda · Post by **Ceadda** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 10:59 pm

Spurred on by conversations with a Knight and Squire earlier this year, I spent quite a bit of time questioning how I felt about Fealty in the SCA.

I'm an Active Duty Soldier, and I've sworn my loyalty and my life to the United States. I don't take such Oaths lightly.

I'm well aware that Crimthann and the SCA aren't real in the sense that SSG White and the U.S. Army is real, but I don't view Crimthann as make believe either. Crimthann is a persona I'm building, a reflection of the inner me, with my desires and my emotions.

So swearing an oath in the SCA hold the same wieght in my soul as do any other words I utter with conviction.

In the military, we do not swear to the President, but to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; to bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and to obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over us, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

The Oath in the Middle Kingdom mirrors the Military Oath in that the Oath-maker is swearing to an institution, not a person. In this, I can agree with swearing the Oath, should I ever be called upon to do so, as long as the King or Queen understands that I have pre-sworn loyalties that trump anything that could be asked from me by the Kingdom.

mordreth · Post by **mordreth** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 8:08 am

Years ago my knight made a comment to someone that "Mordreth would be horrified at the thought of a republic, and Rich Daw (me) has a copy of the federalist papers in his briefcase"

Donal Mac Ruiseart · Post by **Donal Mac Ruiseart** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:00 am

Crimthann of Fid-Nemed wrote: I can agree with swearing the Oath, should I ever be called upon to do so, as long as the King or Queen understands that I have pre-sworn loyalties that trump anything that could be asked from me by the Kingdom.

I should hope that any SCAdian monarch realizes that real-world oaths and duties take precedence over anything relating to the Society.

I was in uniform for my first few years of SCA membership, and swore fealty personally to several Kings. They understood, I'm sure, that when my military duty called, I answered it before any others.

While on active duty, I was invited by a friend to join a group called the "redcoats," who advocated returning the United Stated to the jurisdiction of the British Crown. (She knew of my royalist inclinations.) I was never quite sure how serious this advocacy was. When I explained that as an officer, my oath to defend and protect the Constitution made membership in such an organization impossible, I was impressed at the readiness with which that explanation was accepted.