ANST - Sueing the Crown for a Peerage

Gunnora Hallakarva gunnora at bga.com
Sun Jun 28 19:58:12 PDT 1998


Daniel de Lincolina said:
>DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.  FOR EXTERNAL USE ONLY.  READ AND FOLLOW ALL
>PACKAGE DIRECTIONS.  A Mistress Thyra (? in the East?) had a
>period-like peerage ceremony.  She has a Viking persona, and did it in
>an Icelandic way.  She entered the royal court and filed a lawsuit
>against the Crown for failing to recognize the status she deserved.
>The Crown allowed the lawsuit, so she called witnesses to testify.
>The Crown heard the testimony and made her a peer.  -- Of course, this
>was all with pre-arrangement and prior approval of the Crown!  The
>order had approved her and so had the Crown; this was just the
>installation ceremony.  DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.  FOR EXTERNAL USE
>ONLY.

Actually, this was Thora Sharptooth.  The complete details of her peerage
ceremony, including all the research into legal forms that went into it,
are described in an old Arts and Sciences issue of The Pikestaff.  The
rationale was *NOT* to sue the Crown, but rather, that the normal
interaction most people had with the Crown in period (especially Vikings)
was in the course of lawsuits.  Sometimes the Crown sat in judgement.
Sometimes the Crown was named as a party in a lawsuit.  At least in Viking
times, it was considered prudent when bringing a lawsuit against someone
who was vastly more wealth or powerful than yourself to ask that person for
"selfdom" or self-judgement - basically you lay out your grievance and hope
that they will give you justice, since you have no way in Hel to force them.

For those who may have missed this, I used this exact ceremony for my
elevation to the Laurel, and so did Mistress Reginleif.  We varied the
details a bit here and there, but anyone who was present for either will
tell you that they were fascinating ceremonies.


Wæs Þu Hæl (Waes Thu Hael)

::GUNNORA::

Gunnora Hallakarva
Herskerinde
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Ek eigi visa þik hversu oðlask Lofstirrlauf-Kruna heldr hversu na Hersis-Aðal
(Ek eigi thik hversu odhlask Lofstirrlauf-Kruna heldr hversu na Hersis-Adhal)

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