Fealty

The dangers that especially threaten a republican form of government are anarchy, communism, and religious bigotry, and two of these found their fullest expression in this country in the Mormon creed and practice.

Fealty to Mormonism was disloyalty to the United States government.

Thus, the introduction of women's suffrage within our borders was not only undemocratic, it was anti-democratic.

Women's suffrage was secured in Wyoming by means that bring dishonor upon democracy.

You see what I think?

Fealty.

Yes, exactly.

It's all so much more important than any outcomes, really.

With lands redistributed, a new feudal hierarchy emerged, kings at the top, lords above them, and serfs below.

Fealty became a contractual bond.

Peasants who worked a lord's field swore allegiance in exchange for protection.

But unlike earlier Anglo-Saxon arrangements, Norman fiefholders could sublet plots, creating an intricate web of obligations that tightened royal control over every manor.

Mm-hmm.

And on each of the shipments, there are notes that include, uh, a line item for Mark of Fealty, all workers.

Another one says Oath of Fealty, all workers.

Mm-hmm.

Essentially the idea of loyalty is now a line item.

And on page 173 he writes, quote, "We pressure people to conform to cultural scripts, imply that faithful disciples never struggle or question, treat leaders' preferences or opinions as divine mandates, and lean on fear to steer our choices, and perhaps most damaging, we sometimes make our love conditional." Close quote.

Fealty, in his account, produces fragile people who flee adversity instead of growing from it, and it rewards appearance over substance.

It teaches people to pretend so that they can belong and avoid being othered.

On relationships specifically, he says, quote, "Compliance becomes a measure of love.

We require therefore that neither you nor any other public judicial power shall presume at any time to enter into the lands of the same Church anywhere in our kingdom either those granted by royal bounty or by that of private persons or those which shall in future be granted either for the sake of hearing altercations or to exact fines for any causes or to obtain sureties But whatever the treasury could expect either of fines or other things, either from freemen or from servants or other nations who are within the fields or boundaries or dwelling upon the lands of the aforesaid church.

By our indulgence for our future welfare shall be profitable for the expenses of the same church by the hand of those ruling it forever." It was usual in granting a fief to include the immunity and such a combined grant reads We have decreed that so-and-so should have conceded to him such and such a place in its entirety with the lands houses buildings villains slaves vineyards woods fields meadows pastures waters or watercourses grist mills additions appurtenances or any kind of men who are subjected to our treasury who dwell there In entire immunity And without the entrance Of any one of the judges For the purpose of holding The pleas of any Kind of causes Thus he may Have hold and possess it In proprietary right And without expecting The entrance of Any of the judges And may leave The possession of it To his posterity By the aid of God From our bounty Or to whom He will And by Our permission He shall have Free power To do Whatever he May wish With it For the Future By the end of the ninth century feudalism had become established throughout the lands which had formed the Carolingian Empire Practically the whole territory Was divided into Fiefs or benefices All freemen Were either Vassals or lords Many were vassals And at the same time Lords On almost Every fief The possessor Had the right Of immunity This condition Of affairs Continued For several Centuries The period From the Ninth To the Fourteenth Century Is called Frequently The age Of feudalism Generally A lord Had a number Of vassals And these Together With their Lord Or suzerain Formed A feudal Group When vassal Served as Soldiers The feudal group Became an army In times of peace The group Formed A little State The lord With the Aid and advice Of his vassals Administered justice And governed The fief The inhabitants Of his Lands owed Service only To the lord Except for The Church They were practically Free from all Other authority The vassals Were the most Important class But they formed Only a small Part of the Population They were all Held to be Noblemen And they were All warriors Consequently Others had to Support them The others Were the Villains and the Serfs Who cultivated The soil Or who carried on The handicrafts And trade In the cities And by Their labor Furnished the Means of Subsistence For the Whole group They were Subject to the Lord or vassal On whose Estate they lived And from Whom they held Their lands But not By futile Tenure For instead Of aiding In welfare Or by Counsel They paid Rent in Money and Produce And also Worked for Their lord Their life Will be Described Later In addition To the Nobles Who formed The ruling Class and did The fighting And the serfs In the country Or towns There was A third class In the Community The members Of the clergy Although they As well as The inhabitants Of the Cities Belonged Originally Either to the Nobility Or the Peasantry They were In some ways Distinct from Either The chief Officials of the Church were the Equals of The nobility The parish Priests Were in many Respects The equals Of the peasantry Among whom They lived But no Impassable Barrier existed Between the Pope And the humblest Member of the Clergy By ability The son of A serf might Rise to Be pope The church Was always Democratic in Theory And offered A chance for Any bright boy To rise To the highest Rank Each vassal Was obliged To do homage And take the Oath of fealty To his lord The act of Homage was As follows The count Asked If he was Willing to Become completely His man And the other Replied I am willing And with clasped Hands Surrounded by The hands of The count The vassal and Lord were bound Together by A kiss Homage was Followed and Completed by the Oath of Fealty I promise On my faith That I will In future Be faithful To Count William And will observe My homage to Him completely Against all Persons in Good faith And without Deceit In addition The vassal Usually gave To his lord Some object As a visible Symbol of his Obligations For example A weapon Such as a Sword or a Lance A horse Or some article Of wearing Apparel In addition To the general Obligation of Faithful service Contained in His oath of Fealty The vassal Owed to his Lord other Very definite Services In the first Place he must Fight for him When summoned Ordinarily he was Obligged to Serve at his Own expense In the lord's Army for Forty days each Year If the lord Wished him to serve For a longer Time the lord Must pay His expenses In case of A foreign war He was not Obliged to serve Outside of the Kingdom after forty Days were completed Unless he was Willing to Do so In the second Place the vassal Must aid his Lord in Holding court When he was Summoned he must Act as judge Or assistant If he was engaged as plaintiff or defendant in a lawsuit, he must take the suit to the lord's court and submit to the judgment of the lord and his own peers.

That is, his fellow vassals.

In the third place, the vassal must assist the lord with his advice.

In 867 all of the Vikings who had been plundering the western coast of Europe joined together for an attack upon the English, who made a brave resistance.

This year nine general battles were fought against the army in the kingdom south of the Thames besides which Alfred [the king's brother] and single aldermen and king's thanes oftentimes made incursions on them which were not counted: And within the year Nine earls and one king was slain." The king who was slain was Ethelred, whom his brother Alfred succeeded For a time the Danes were successful everywhere subduing Mercia, Northumbria & compelling Alfred To retreat to the woods&to the fastnesses Of the moores.

From his fortress Which he built at Athelney He made repeated attacks Upon the danes Finally being Joined By the Men of three shires He Fought Against All the Army,&put it to flight After a siege of two weeks the Danes Were compelled to surrender Their Fortress—To take Oath To leave Alfred's kingdom,—and To promise to Be Baptized this Was the celebrated Peace of Wedmore By which the land was divided between Alfred &The Danes Alfred Retained only wessex Sussex Kent &,half of mercia The rest of england Was surrendered to the danes &became Known As Danelaw Or Land Under the law of the danes In Eight Ninety Three He Had to confront a fresh Invasion of the danes But after about three years Of continuous fighting He was again victorious In order to be ready to repel A Danish invasion at any Time Alfred Ordered That in each district One half of the men should always Be Ready to march at a moment's notice While the other Half Should cultivate the soil He Built a navy to Attack the danes Upon the water &was the First english king to defeat Them On their Own element Besides providing for the defence Of His land He strove earnestly to improve its Government He gathered together and published a code of laws which consisted for the most part of such old laws and customs as seemed to him suitable with a very few additions of his own.

Before all else, Alfred was a teacher and was anxious to educate his subjects.

Page 119, uh, the Skeletor's doing one of his yelling things, and it says, um, "Ba-ba-ba-ba, your long reprieve has come to an end.

If you would live to see another morning, I now demand your fealty." Fealty? Who uses words like that? Don't like it.

Not the best part of the book, but how about when they're flying through the sky and Adam says to Teela, "You're doing great, Teela," parentheses positive reinforcement is important.

I'm just, I'm just trying to convince you that it's there so that you'll change your mind, but you don't have to because obviously you're your own man.

Well, haven't we seen a ton of weird crossover with that, with like kind of cleaning house and getting rid of a lot of generals that seemed to represent the old guard or something like that and installing sort of maybe more, I don't know, sycophantic.

Fealty, cronyism.

Yes, exactly.

And also, guys, I mean, I don't mean to derail, but this just totally ties into that.