[Ansteorra] Social Status

[Robert Fitzmorgan]

--- Susan <catmafia at hughes.net> wrote:
>
> > I think the place I am lost the quickest is on
> > what happens with the children of the nobility, after the land and
> > titles have passed on to the first born-what status do the others
> > have?


    In 12th C Provance it was customary to divide an estate among the male
heirs, who upon their death would divide their portion among their heirs.
This led to situations like that of the troubadour Bertran de Born, who
owned half a castle while his brother Constantine owned the other half.
Neither of them owned enough land to support a castle, (castles were
expensive). So to make ends meet Bertran set himself up as a mercenary. On
those occasions when peace broke out Bertran would write songs reminding the
parties of all the wrongs they had suffered and calling them cowards for
making peace.  Once the fighting resumed he could hire himself out to one
side or the other.
    Bertran did not get along with his brother, (Bertran didn't get along
with most people) and at one point threw him out of the castle.  Constantine
went to the King, (Henry II of England) and complained.  Henry gave the
castle back to Constantine and threw Bertran out as punishment.  Bertran
then wrote a song in which he complained that he would never be able to tell
the truth about his neighbors again if he didn't have a strong castle in
which to hide.  This apparently made sense to Henry since he gave Bertran
back his half of the castle.



-- 
"If you haven't found something strange during the day, it hasn't been much
of a day."     John A. Wheeler

Fitzmorgan at gmail.com
Yahoo IM: robert_fitzmorgan