Haven’t seen it yet; finding showtimes that aren’t sold out has proved difficult, so I’m probably going to wait until mid-week when things calm down slightly.
Author: stevenattewell
How much power does a lord have over landed knights and lesser lords sworn to him? Could a lord force them to accept scutage or change taxes or something like that?
Given that he’s their liege lord, quite a bit, although it’s mediated by the terms of feudal service that have been codified either in writing or in tradition.
As for scutage…that’s not really something where you force someone to accept it. Scutage was a privilege that the liege lord allowed to their vassals in lieu of military service. However, when you impose scutage and how much you ask for per knight’s fee, would be something that the liege lord could do.
By contrast, feudal taxes tended to be fixed by writing or tradition – which is a big part of the reason why kings and liege lords turned to “feudal incidents,” fines, and privileges like scutage to raise their incomes in a hurry.
My perhaps erroneous understanding of scutage is that this could be very context-dependent based on the amount of scutage and whether or not there was an actual-factual stabbing war on, yes? No?
Like… King John’s vassals didn’t consider paying scutage to be a privilege they were allowed; they considered it an enormous burden because it was abnormally high and levied every year war or no war. Whereas in other times and circumstances, paying money to NOT run the risk of being killed on some muddy battlefield was indeed a great privilege.
Or am I completely off-base here?
Well, King John is a good example of how you turn a privilege into a burden, and then into tyranny. What I was getting at is that the idea of scutage wasn’t an innovation imposed from above, it was a normal part of feudalism that had developed in response to sub-infeudations that led to leases so small that the leaseholders couldn’t afford to go to war. And for those people, it was a privilege.
What changed it was that King John imposed scutage when he wasn’t at war – that was an innovation – and that he kept raising the amount-per-fee again and again. And then you get Runnymeade (doo dah doo dah) and scutage gets regulated in written form.
How much power does a lord have over landed knights and lesser lords sworn to him? Could a lord force them to accept scutage or change taxes or something like that?
Given that he’s their liege lord, quite a bit, although it’s mediated by the terms of feudal service that have been codified either in writing or in tradition.
As for scutage…that’s not really something where you force someone to accept it. Scutage was a privilege that the liege lord allowed to their vassals in lieu of military service. However, when you impose scutage and how much you ask for per knight’s fee, would be something that the liege lord could do.
By contrast, feudal taxes tended to be fixed by writing or tradition – which is a big part of the reason why kings and liege lords turned to “feudal incidents,” fines, and privileges like scutage to raise their incomes in a hurry.
what does a septon duo have to do with banishing harrenhal’s curse?
It’s a joke about the movie Exorcist. One old priest, one young priest.
When the Crown confiscates all lands & incomes belonging to a Noble House, are all members of the House turned out into the streets without a shirt on their collective back ?
That’s what it means to confiscate the lands and incomes, yeah.
Why did the use of standing armies of citizen-soldiers in Europe die out during the middle ages?
It died out well before the Middle Ages. If I recall correctly – @warsofasoiaf, let me know if I have misreemembered – it was the crisis of the third century that put the nail in that coffin.
How come the Crownlands have their own bastard name, ‘Waters’? They’ve only existed as a distinct region for a fraction of Westerosi history.
Because Targaryens are a thirsty bunch.
Do you think cersei will find out that littlefinger was a major player in the death of joffrey? How do you think she will find out/react?
No, I don’t think she finds out.
I sometimes get the sense that the Greeks, with Alexander’s long spears, formations, and short hair cuts; and the Romans, with their formations, etc., had better organized and trained armies than in the medieval ages where its was largely unarmored peasants with farmer tools supporting heaavily armored and armed aristocratic knights. Is that correct, if so why were the medieval ages so backwards? Feudalism? Or am I just totally wrong (as is the answer in most instances)
As @warsofasoiaf will tell you, this is not correct. Yes, it’s true there were poorly- armed, armored, and trained peasant levies on occasion, but the majority of infantry were professional soldiers, be they archers, dismounted men-at-arms, pike/spearmen, etc.
It’s true that knights were the major focus of medieval armies, but it’s also true that the battles of Crecy, Poiters, and Agincourt which showed their fatal weakness in the face of archers protected by disciplined infantry also took place during the same period.
If the horn of winter exists , will martin reveal its maker ? If not , it will seems only a plot device to have the wall broken
I’m going to guess that Joramun made it.
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