ANST - to serve or not to serve...

[Sp1ke]

If you wish to serve the feast or do it buffet style is a choice you have to make.  One has the pomp and circumstance which lends a great deal to the ambiance we try to create, yet the other makes it easier on the serving group.

However, please note that while it may be nice to believe medieval society was all "honor" and "noble actions" between the people, the reality is a far cry from the legend we as a society are spreading.  Life was cheap in medieval society, and those who were not of the nobility were not well treated.  Even lesser nobles were often no better off than some of the peasants.  Plus, in medieval society, the link between vassal and lord, the big cheese and the not so big cheese, etc. meant that it was not a mere "privilege" to be the provider and server to visiting royalty and/or clergy.  It was a requirement which was expected of those in a lesser status.  It was considered mandatory, and there are many tales of lords and ladies descending upon a household and leaving their larder very much worse for the wear just for the "honor" of having served their lord/lady.  It was not the "starry-eyed" vision which seems to be the idea expressed by members of the Society.  There could be very dire consequences if the lord of the manor failed to provide adequately for the visiting nobility and/or clergy above him in society.  The church and the nobility essentially took what they wanted even from each other (it just depended on the circumstances and who had the most powerful forces at the time).  The idea of honor and noble actions only applied to members of equal status.  The man considered the most noble and shining example of knightly virtue, The black Prince, Edward, was in fact a callous butcher who thought nothing of condemning every man, woman, and child in a village (regardless of noble status) if they failed to surrender quickly enough, provide what he demanded in tribute, or treat him and his army with the respect he considered his due.  Which means that while there were many feasts, quite often the feast and festivities were provided at what we would now call 'gunpoint,'  make me and my retinue happy or lose favor in my eyes.  So, serving those of higher rank in the Society in order to honor them and show respect is not necessarily a period method of conducting a feast.  Unless of course you want to throw in the clergy who can excommunicate you or have you declared a heretic if you are not sufficiently subservient, or the extra, armed knights who hold members of the serving household's nobility hostage, and make sure no one protests too loudly in public.  And, of course we should never forget the "entertainment" which was quite often found at feasts; poor creatures who would be tortured, captives forced to serve their conquerors, and oh we mustn't forget the "public birthings"  by women of the nobility along with drunken revels and enormous feasting to honor the child and the mother.

Knowing what I do about medieval society, I for one would rather not have a totally period feast, and if someone wants me to eat buffet style because there are not enough servers, then all I can say is, "where's the line, the enjoyable conversation, the friendly camaraderie, and joking?"  because, by golly, I'd much rather be there than in a true, totally period medieval function.

Spyke

if anyone feels that I have insulted them in any way, please contact me in private, and I will gladly apologize.
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