Do you think half-swording is used in Westeros?

Half-swording is the practice of gripping the blade half-way down in order to deliver a more accurate and powerful thrusting attack or to use the sword as a club, as seen below:

Given the prominence of plate armor in Westerosi warfare (46 results for plate armor across ASOIAF), I would expect half-swording techniques would develop in order to deal with opponents in full plate.

Incidentally, GRRM, if you wanted a better way to depict the Bronn/Vardis Egan fight, you should have gone with half-swording rather than the old canard about the weight of plate armor…

Steven, do you think the Westerosi have a social or legal concept of private land ownership? I’ve noticed that nobody in Westeros is ever referred to as owning land, only “holding” it. Even powerful lords have limited rights in their own demesnes; Lord Manderly cannot dam the White Knife without leave from Winterfell. Petyr Baelish owns ships, businesses… but he doesn’t own land. At most, it seems possible to buy a business or a house in a city, but it is unclear if that grants land rights.

It’s somewhat complicated, but this is actually quite accurate to medieval societies. While there were a bewildering number of different kinds of land tenures under feudal law – everything from knight service and serjeanty to scutage, socage, copyhold, and quit-rent – it was extremely rare for land to be owned outright without any form of obligation or traditional responsibility to anyone. What is known in common law as freehold ownership was very rare, and in most cases until quite recently were actually “customary freehold,” which was itself a kind of copy-hold lease.

This is why Polayni argued that state action was necessary to bring into being a free market in land, to turn it into a fungible commodity that could be bought and sold, that could be turned into futures and other forms of derivatives, etc. The vast vast majority of those feudal tenures were all based on custom – rents and rights and obligations were usually fixed either by some document held at local manorial courts (copyhold for example is a form of tenure where tenancies were written down in the rolls of the manorial court and tenants were given a copy to ensure that the terms of their tenancy couldn’t be altered), or by tradition (in the common law, a property or benefit that had been held since “Time whereof the Memory of Man runneth not to the contrary” did not need any record other than the memory of the oldest man in the parish), and could only be changed with great difficulty subject to challenge in court.

However, this doesn’t mean that people were not possessive of land – ask any number of medieval kings who faced aristocratic rebellions when they tried to transfer fiefdoms or “innovate” their way to some new revenue – but rather that they didn’t think of possessing land as being free from all other claims. If a given manor had “belonged” to a family for hundreds of years, they thought of it as theirs, even if they had to pay traditional rents to a liege lord or give three pheasants a year to the local bishop.

Politics of the Seven Kingdoms: The Westerlands, Part I

credit to J.E Fullerton/Ser Other-in-Law Introduction: If Part IV of this series was about trying to figure out why the Riverlands, with all its natural advantages, nonetheless became a failed state, and thus come to a better understanding of the dynamics of successful state-building, this essay (and Part VII on the Reach) will be an exploration of what we can learn about the pre-Aegon balance of…

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How did Robert manage to keep the seven kingdoms together following his rebellion? The 7Ks only became united under the Targaryen dynasty, so once that ended, wouldn’t it be more likely for them to break apart again after the Mad King’s demise? Why didn’t everyone suddenly start declaring independence again, instead of waiting until after Robert’s death?

There’s a couple different reasons:

The Southron Ambitions/Rebel Alliance: Robert had already won the allegiance of the North, the Vale, the Riverlands, and the Stormlands. That’s half the continent right there, and even more so when Robert marries Cersei and gets the Westerlands as well. So it wouldn’t be seven kingdoms again, it would be one massive kingdom and a bunch of smaller states trying to avoid reconquest.
Institutional Inertia: The Seven Kingdoms have been part of one consolidated monarchy for almost three hundred years, less so for Dorne. That’s three hundred years with very few wars by historical standards, internal trade, law and order, all that good stuff. So people are going to be somewhat wary of going back to being warring kingdoms, especially after a rather bloody civil war which they lost.
Targaryen Legitimism: even if the rest of the Seven Kingdoms wanted to start something, independence is unlikely to be the case because the Targaryens are still kicking around in Essos – as long as their kinsmen are available to be restored to the Iron Throne, the Martells aren’t about to declare themselves independent again.
Internal Politics: This leaves the Reach, and they’re probably the most viable candidate for an independent state given their large army and economy, although it wouldn’t be easy trying to defend themselves on the Westerlands, Riverlands, Crownlands, and Stormlands borders at the same time. But the problem is that the Tyrell claim on Highgarden runs through the Targaryens – if the Reach isn’t part of Aegon’s realm, that claim isn’t good any more and the “Oakhearts of Old Oak, the Florents of Brightwater Keep, the Rowans of Goldengrove, the Peakes of Starpike, and the Redwynes of the Arbor” have every reason to claim the Oakenseat for themselves.

Question

If Volantis was destroyed would that reroute traffic to slaver’s bay?

Probably not. Keep in mind, the economies of Essos are fairly specialized. In this case, the cities of Slaver’s Bay act as processors of the human raw materials that the Dothraki extract, and sell them to the Free Cities:

“For centuries Meereen and her sister cities Yunkai and Astapor had been the linchpins of the slave trade, the place where Dothraki khals and the corsairs of the Basilisk Isles sold their captives and the rest of the world came to buy.” (ADWD, Dany III)

Of the Free Cities, Volantis was their largest customer. Thus, Dany’s anti-slavery crusade has had two effects. First it’s terrified the slaveowners of Volantis into electing a tiger majority and going to war against free Meereen:

“The best calumnies are spiced with truth,” suggested Qavo, “but the girl’s true sin cannot be denied. This arrogant child has taken it upon herself to smash the slave trade, but that traffic was never confined to Slaver’s Bay. It was part of the sea of trade that spanned the world, and the dragon queen has clouded the water. Behind the Black Wall, lords of ancient blood sleep poorly, listening as their kitchen slaves sharpen their long knives. Slaves grow our food, clean our streets, teach our young. They guard our walls, row our galleys, fight our battles. And now when they look east, they see this young queen shining from afar, this breaker of chains. The Old Blood cannot suffer that. Poor men hate her too. Even the vilest beggar stands higher than a slave. This dragon queen would rob him of that consolation.” (ADWD, Tyrion VI)

The other effect that it’s had is to raise the price of slaves by massively cutting the supply. Hence why in ADWD, you see slavers being so greedy and reckless as to kidnap wildlings and try to sail through Braavosi waters, because the pure profit is worth the risk of being hanged.

Thus, if Dany attacks and captures Volantis, the economic effect will be to massively curtail the demand for slaves, by removing one of the biggest markets for slaves in all of Essos – because Lys, Myr, and Tyrosh aren’t big enough to pick up the excess. Which may be enough to break the slave system throughout Essos…

Why don’t migrations to Westeros leave anyone behind? There are no Andals or Rhoynar or Valyrians left in Essos, but in the real world there are plenty of Saxons still in Saxony. Is it just a coincidence, or are other Essos cultures particularly good at assimilating the stragglers?

I don’t know where you got that idea. There absolutely are those peoples still living in Essos, just changed somewhat due to 400 years of history going by. So if we go looking for the Andals, we find them in Pentos:

“Pentos is the nearest of the Free Cities to King’s Landing, and trading ships pass back and forth between the two cities on an almost daily basis. Founded by Valyrians as a trading outpost, Pentos soon absorbed the hinterlands surrounding it, from the Velvet Hills and the Little Rhoyne to the sea, including almost the whole of the ancient realm of Andalos, the original homeland of the Andals. The first Pentoshi were merchants, traders, seafarers, and farmers, with few of high birth amongst them; perhaps for this reason, they were less protective of their Valyrian blood and more willing to breed with the original inhabitants of the lands they ruled. As a consequence there is considerable Andal blood amongst the men of Pentos, making them perhaps our closest cousins.”

They just intermarried with the Valyrian colonists. But they’re still there, living in the same hill country that Hugor of the Hill did.

Likewise, if we’re looking for Rhoynar, we can find them on the Summer Isles, on Abulu the Island of Women, where “A few thousand of [Nymeria’s] followers
chose to remain behind, however, and their descendants remain on the Isle of Women to this day.” We can find them on the Stepstones, where “even now there are isolated pockets of Rhoynar on the Stepstones, claiming descent from those who were shipwrecked.” And more unhappily, we can no doubt find them in chains in the Volantene empire, tilling their ancestral fields to benefit the Old Blood.

If we’re looking for Valyrians, we have of course “eight of the Nine Free Cities are proud daughters of Valyria that was, still ruled by the descendants
of the original colonists who established themselves there hundreds or thousands of years ago. In these cities, Valyrian blood is still greatly prized.” Now, over 400 years, there’s going to be some change, and there’s a good deal of variation. So in Lys, they say that “here more than anywhere else in the known world the old Valyrian bloodlines still run strong…The blood of Valyria still runs strong in Lys, where even the smallfolk oft boast pale skin, silver-gold hair, and the purple, lilac, and pale blue eyes of the dragonlords of old. The Lysene nobility values purity of blood above all” whereas the Myrish interbred with another people: “Myrmen are believed by certain maesters to be akin to the Rhoynar, as many of them share the same olive skin and dark hair as the river people, but this supposed link is likely spurious. There are certain signs that a city stood where Myr now stands even during the Dawn Age and the Long Night, raised by some ancient, vanished people.” And of course, in Old Volantis, you have the Old Blood of the city who dwell within the Black Walls, such that “many Volantenes regard themselves as the natural and rightful successors to the dragonlords of old Valyria.”

And then at last you have Braavos, which from the beginning was a melting pot of every possible ethnicity in Essos:

“Since the escaped slaves came from many lands and held many faiths, the founders of Braavos created a place where all gods were given their due and decreed that none would ever be made paramount over another. They were a diverse people, whose numbers included Andals, Summer Islanders, Ghiscari, Naathi, Rhoynar, Ibbenese, Sarnori, even debtors and criminals of pure Valyrian blood.”

So there you have it.

Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: Davos II, ASOS

“Ser Davos, and undrowned. How can that be?”
“Onions float, ser.”
Synopsis: “Sing to me, oh muse, of the man resourceful, who, storm-buffeted far and wide…”
SPOILER WARNING: This chapter analysis, and all following, will contain spoilers for all Song of Ice and Fire novels and Game of Thrones episodes. Caveat lector.
(more…)

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RE: Jaime. Shouldn’t we just asume that Kingsguard vows take precedence over the knighthood ones, if they ever come into conflict?

Well, you know what they say about assuming things…

But seriously, unless otherwise stated, it would be much more likely that the earlier binds the former, just as legal precedent itself means that older decisions are binding on future decisions. In this case, my contention is that, having sworn the oath of knighthood, Jaime is not in fact completely free to swear to “Defend the king. Obey the king. Keep his secrets. Do his bidding. Your life for his” in any situation where obeying the king or doing his bidding would cause him to violate the first oath.

To take an example that’s not too farfetched given events in ASOIAF: given that the oath of knighthood requires knights to “protect all women” and to “defend the young and innocent” should a kingsguard obey Joffrey’s command to beat Sansa? I would argue that Sansa’s ACOK chapters suggest strongly that any knight who obeys such a command is not a true knight, whether we’re talking about brutes like Boros Blount or Meryn Trant or the squeamish like Arys Oakheart.

On that last Jaime point, perhaps you’re right under our own moral apparatus but I don’t believe even Eddard ever held that against Jaime, certainly less then the oathbreaking. Plus would it have made a difference other then throwing Jaime’s own life away alongside Lord Rickard and Brandon? All I’m asking is what effective resistance we should reasonably expect from Jaime given his position? Or Tyrion who noted that being born a Lannister tied him to their fate/destruction at the time?

Not just under our own apparatus – it’s also the case under the ideals of knighthood. A true knight is supposed to uphold their vows at all costs and no matter the consequences – which points to GRRM’s romantic/existential leanings. And the oath of knighthood explicitly states that:

“In the name of the Warrior I charge you to be brave. In the name of the Father I charge you to be just. In the name of the Mother I charge you to defend the young and innocent. In the name of the Maid I charge you to protect all women.”

The Mother’s clause points to the fact that Rickard and Brandon were innocent (and helpless, given their chains) until proven guilty; the Father’s clause reminds us that the laws of men and the laws of the old gods and the new state unequivocally that they had the right to a trial and killing them without one is murder; the Warrior’s clause demands that Jaime fight for the right no matter the odds.

And yes, it’s not easy. As Jaime points out, there were dozens of knights in that room, many of them of great reputation, who did nothing, who put their oath of obedience above their oath of knighthood. But true kngihts are rare precisely because it is so difficult to put your ideals ahead of all practical considerations. Remember Dunk at the Tourney of Ashford and how rare it is to find a knight who remembers his vows; remember Brienne’s desperate fight against the Bloody Mummers or Jaime’s suicidal leap into the bear pit.

Since Sylvana Sand was supposed to have inspired Gaemon Palehair’s edicts, do you think that in Dorne wounded veterans are supported by their Lords ? Would such a practice have been viable & implementable in the medieval times ? Any precedents for such moves in our world?

That seems to be the case, according to the WOIAF:

“An example of the differing Dornish laws and attitudes due to the influence of the Rhoynar may be found, curiously, in the last days of the Dance of the Dragons. From Archmaester Gyldayn’s history concerning Gaemon Palehair’s brief reign.”

So it probably is the case that Dornish veterans have to be supported by their lords, or that “the poor be given bread and beer in times of famine,” since we definitely know that in Dorne it’s definitely the case that “girls [are] equal with boys in matter of inheritance.”

Now, specifically on the point about veterans and real-world medieval practice…it’s hard to say, and it depends on how systemic a practice we’re talking about, and how many veterans survive their wounds vis-a-vis the capacity of the state. It’s certainly true that the medieval Catholic Church ran huge networks of hospitals that were as much about providing people with food and shelter as any form of medical care. And sometimes, you did have monarchs who would go out of their way to care for their veterans – after the failure of the Spanish Armada, for example, Phillip II provided medical care to the 10,000 survivors in attempt to expiate God’s wrath. On the other hand, Elizabeth’s government coldly refused to care for the sailors who had helped to save England purely for financial reasons.