I came across this and thought you all might find it interesting. Do any of you have Yang tape with the song on it . Mine died. willow Bowing to the Empty Thrones “When did we start bowing to the royal presence in the form of the empty thrones? Why?” “My earliest recollection of saluting the empty thrones was during one of Henrik's early reigns (the third or fourth) when he preferred to be riding a horse to sitting on the throne. When the fighters complained that it was hard to locate him to salute at the beginning of each fight, he placed the crown on the throne and told them to salute that ... he was going riding. The populace semi-mockingly got into the spirit of the ruse - bowing/curtseying if they happened to pass in front of "The Royal Presence". The fiction was so useful that it quickly became custom then formally part of the pre-combat litany shortly thereafter.” – Kevin Peregrynne “Of course, there is also a Horde song called "The Empty Throne" as I'm sure you are aware. But your original question was "bowing to the royal presence" (ie the throne, when passing in front of the royal pavilion, whether or not saluting prior to a fight) as opposed to saluting per se. I think that started to happen almost as soon as we had Kings on the thrones; I'm pretty sure it was institutionalized by about AS III.” – Siegfried von Hoflichskeit _____________________________________________________________ Click here to increase your salary by earning an online degree. http://track.juno.com/s/lc?u=http://tagline.untd.us/fc/Ioyw6iifnDVCIJAruqVtSclZXtPAfEvRjLDpad69UsgBKTPkAyoNQs/