William the Conqueror

[Martijn Buijs]

Talking about vassalage of the Norman dukes
to the King of France. Well, remember this:

William the Conqueror left his most important
lands, eg NORMANDY, to his oldest son, while
the younger one got the 'conquered piece of
land' that was England. So, the oldest son
became Duke of Normandy (and still owing fealty
to the French kings, technically), while the
older son (I believe his name was Rufus) became
the new King of England.

[E Gray]

- -----Original Message-----
From: c558382@showme.missouri.edu
To: birthright@MPGN.COM
Date: Wednesday, January 07, 1998 10:55 PM
Subject: Re: [BIRTHRIGHT] - William the Conqueror


>Actually the feudal system is French, and was adapted to conditions in
>England and Germany. It is not English in origin, nor did William of
>Normandy invent it from whole cloth.


Actually the feudal system originated from various practices of the
Romans and Germanic Tribes of Europe....like the Franks. France
is pretty much our traditional model, but there were variations of the
system in places such as Russia, India, China and Japan.

William the Conqueror didn't invent the system, but he did introduce
it to England, and modified it so that all vassals swore fealty to him
and most fiefs were scattered about so no lords control large regions
unlike in France, where duchies like Normandy, Burgundy, and
Aquitane, were actually larger than the King's domain.

[Samuel Weiss]

Medieval Japan as classical feudalism? Until the next war for the Regency
starts maybe. Then its all lip service to loyalty and mass murder. At least
some Europeans acted on the nonsense.

Samwise

[Neil Barnes]

On Thu, 8 Jan 1998, Tripp wrote:
> As for Birthright, I also believe there should not be circular
> vassalage. It would be silly for person A to give 3RP to person B who
> passes 5RP to person C who himself gives 4RP to person A.
>
> In any event, in the games I DM, it won't happen, and I suppose this is
> probably an issue where each DM needs to make his own decision.

I can imagine it coming up during play, and I wouldn't ban it or
anything. But I'd imagine it would be a) pretty rare, and b) the result
of an inherently unstable situation, which would correct itself sooner
or later.

neil