CR - Ducal/County Lands? I'll Pass...

Mike C. Baker kihe at rocketmail.com
Fri Jan 30 08:17:00 PST 1998


---Paul Mitchell <pmitchel at flash.net> wrote:
> ches wrote:
> > I know this one has been fielded already but can some tell us
> > again why we cannot make a corpora amendment to allow Duchy's
> > to exist. It is such a better word than the P one and you get
> > to start from scratch on what the make up of one would be.
> No reason at all!  Draft the petition; see who'll sign it. 
> Be ready to answer a _lot_ of questions.
> 
> I assume you're talking about a version of the old "territorial
> count" idea, which is essentially a region modelled on a barony,
> rather than on a kingdom.  The ruling noble, who'd be called a
> count (though this involved no winning of royal tournies) would
> be chosen like a baron is chosen, and rule indefinitely, as
> barons do.
> Anybody wanna take up that banner and run with it?

Not me. A large part of the attraction of stronger regions /
advancement to principality is at least the *perception* of
attracting or developing new leadership, new energy, increased
commitment. (Some of what follows "folds in" comments Gunthar made
in a separate message...) Leaving the leadership in the hands of
step-down counts or dukes, or even an appointed "super-baron", would
continue to foster the concept that such were "being imposed upon
us" by the Crown. Even with polling of the populace, our current
territorials are at base still "King's Men (Women)", theoretically
deriving all powers first from the Crown and only incidentally from
the populace they have been placed in charge of. 

ICOCBW, but that is my first "read" of the idea.

In fairness, I will observe that at times we have already seen
small-scale experimentation with the concept. In Ansteorra,
historically, I have often seen Court Baronials, Landed Baronials,
or "Royal Family" called upon to serve in the Crown's absence for
the presentation of AoA and "lesser" non-Armigerous recognitions, to
"hold court", in smaller / remote branches not directly answering to
a territorial Baron/ess. I've seen this work quite well, I've seen
it fall a little flat. Such services have usually been rendered on a
one-time basis, instead of for some longer yet definable duration...

To show that I'm not completely ossified within my brain-pan (I Am
Not A Bone-Head), here's a re-stated variation of something I've
suggested in the past:  Palatine Baronies already exist (read
"Baron/ess by Right of Arms). For a region, any reason there
couldn't be a "March Warden" *informally* filling the duties &
calling we otherwise associate with territorial Princes/Princesses?
Non-precedential, "outside the box", slightly more ceremonial,
fancied-up version of regional warlord -- a "training-wheels
demi-Prince", if that image makes sense. 

Discussion, not necessarily advocacy -- certainly not yet. Too much
else needs doing *now*, too much still needs to be talked over among
a wider-ranging segment of the populace than we few who are reading
this list on-line.

Oh, yeah: I'll be among those trying to make Greywood Spring Melees,
too. 
===
Adieu -- Amra / Pax ... Kihe / TTFN -- Mike
(al-Sayyid) Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra  /
Kihe Blackeagle (the Dreamsinger Bard) / 
Mike C. Baker: My opinions are my own -- no one else would want them!
Homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/8661
Alt. e-mail: KiheBard at aol.com, MikeCBaker at aol.com

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