[Ansteorra] Social Status

[Judie Willey]

Pork chops have brains? sorry , the comment just struck me as funny:)
Hadassah


On 9/28/06, Marc Carlson <marccarlson20 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> >Susan catmafia at hughes.net
> >Thanks, it was the areas covered in 5 and 6 that I never really got the
> >distinctions between.  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?  Also, can
> you
> >give the various levels within the gentry, this really helped to spell
> out
> >the various levels for me.
>
> I think the tradition (at least in England) was that first born inherited,
> the second born son went into the military (and served as a spare), and
> the
> third went into the Church, since otherwise they had no real status :)
>
> Layers of the gentry are hard to delineate exactly, since the Gentry can
> include what we consider both the Middle Class and the Upper Class.  For
> example, an academic (a Professional in modern terms), such as Diarmaid,
> would be considered a gentleman, but might not have arms unless he
> purchased
> them or just assumed them (both practices became fairly common in the
> Middle
> Ages).  Originally Arms signified someone as a member of the Knightly
> class,
> and to assume arms meant that you also assumed the obligations of that
> class
> (including military service).  Gradually, people with money, who didn't
> want
> to serve began to hire replacements to take their places.
>
> An interesting example of how confused the relationships could be is
> Geoffrey Chaucer.  His father and grandfather were merchants in Ipswich.
> The family seems to have been fairly well to do, so we might say that
> Chaucer was born into the Gentry.  He held numerous jobs, starting out as
> a
> page to the Countess of Ulster.  Later on he was a civil servant, finally
> as
> Comptroller of Customs for London.  He also performed numerous services
> for
> the King, although this might have something to do with the fact that
> Chaucer's wife, Phillippa was sister of Katherine Swinford, one of the
> several wifes of John of Gaunt (3rd Son of Edward III).  Chaucer's son
> Thomas served as a knight at Agincourt, before becoming Chief Butler to
> severeal Kings.  Chaucer's Great Great Grandson was John de la Pole, Earl
> of
> Lincoln, and was Richard III's designated heir in 1485 when the Henry
> Tudor
> usurped the throne.  De la Pole had the brains of a pork chop and
> supported
> the pretender Lambert Simnel and was killed in 1487 -- but I digress.
>
> Marc/Diarmaid
>
>
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-- 
Rebbe Hadassah Sarai bas Yossi
MoC Barony of Steppes