Aids, Obligations and Largesse

Why each reign I give items useable as largesse to the Crown

Agnes deLanvallei

July, AS XXXXII (2007)

Largesse is defined as "liberal giving (as of money) to, or as if to, an inferior; generosity." ¹ In the SCA it is used to describe things that the King and Queen, and to some degree other people, give away. Largesse is given by the Crown to thank individuals for their efforts and to other Kings and Queens, both as visitors and as guests. Generally largesse items are donated by members of the Kingdom.

For at least 10 years now, I have given a few items useable as largesse to the King and Queen each reign. I treat it as an obligation. It evolved this way:

In English feudal practice an aid (tax) was due to the liege lord whenever the eldest son was knighted, the eldest daughter married, or as ransom for the lord himself.. ² In addition, a payment (relief) and the swearing of homage was due from the vassal who inherited an estate at the time he inherited. ³ Additional moneys could be and were raised when the Crown had special needs, a crusade, for example. ⁴

The barons of Norman and especially Angevin England felt very put upon by the fund raising practices of their kings. Too often no agreement specified the amount of the aid or relief and so the amount was subject to arbitrary inflation by the king. Additional clever taxes and levies were imposed, especially by the more effective kings, Henry II and his son Richard the Lion-hearted. England's first general, and extremely unpopular, income tax was collected by Henry II for the Second Crusade. ⁵ The nobles were already reeling from the costs of rebuilding after the civil war between Stephen and Matilda. Richard inflated reliefs and blatantly sold lesser offices to fund his participation in the Second Crusade. ⁶ King John continued to exploit this system at a level viewed as unacceptable exploitation by his vassals: many of the points of the Magna Charta specify limits to the costs that could be imposed on vassals and set further limits on their frequency and justification. ⁷

Thus, as a vassal holding land of the Angevin Crown, I would owe customary payments. The Kings and Queens of the SCA change at a much greater rate than historical kings normally did: generally I would have expected to have the same overlord for decades. My solution was to pay an "aid" at the beginning of each reign. This doesn't match any historical payment, but seems roughly similar to a traditional payment when the eldest son (heir) is knighted or conversely, like the relief, to reaffirm my status as enfoeffed vassal. In addition, since these are unsolicited gifts, getting them early in the reign gives the Crown more ability to find an appropriate use for them.

Owing and paying aids to the liege lord is historically valid. It is a critical part of the relationship between lord and vassal.⁸. The lord provided protection, the vassal provided military support if called upon and payments, in the Normanand Angevin period, often in grain or other locally produced goods, to the liegelord. Thus, I can imagine my gifts for largesse as part of the customary payment that was part of the agreement when I accepted my titles and became the King's vassal.

In addition, owing a customary aid allows me to complain, as Angevin peers clearly did, of the burden of supporting the Crown. The imposition of aids, taxes and reliefs during the Angevin era were so continuous and in most cases so effectively collected, that complaint was a continuous theme of the nobles. My small gifts are not really very burdensome, but the frequency with which they are owed keeps me conscious of my responsibilities and allows me to grumble if I wish about paying what is due.

The underlying reason for all this, however, was a wish to help support the Crown. The ceremonial display of the SCA requires the King and Queen to have things to give away. They are constantly in need of such things. There is no budget to purchase them and no routine method for getting them other than to request them of the membership. Of the many people who play SCA, only a few are ever King or Queen. The cost of the Crown being generous falls disproportionately on a few people. I don't ever expect to be queen, so this cost will never fall directly on me. Yet I think that having the Crown give largesse to the people or to other Crowns is attractive and important. At this point in the SCA's history, it is also expected. My aids are my attempt to share the costs of the gift-giving by providing things for the King and Queen to give away.

There was a surprise benefit of establishing the custom of giving aids each reign. It involved me in each reign at a level I would otherwise have missed. There have been periods in which my modern life made it impossible for me to participate very much. By planning, making (or collecting) and giving my aid to the King and Queen, I was more involved in the Kingdom and that felt really good.

I began this custom in the reign of Conn and Cadfael, about 1993, when my highest award was a Silver Hammer (Grant of Arms). With a grant of arms, I imagined I held a small tract of land in chief (from the King) and so owed an aid. In giving things that might be given away (or kept, at their Majesties' whim) by Their Majesties, I decided to give two things each time, so the King and the Queen can have an item to give to someone.

I tried to make the items myself, to have them be beautiful, useful, and easy to transport and store without damage. Sometimes I succeeded, often I have to include things I did not make. I have given tablet woven bands of many sorts, small pieces of hand-woven cloth, handspun thread, wine, and shortbread that I made myself. I have also given a variety of sizes and shapes of beads from semiprecious stones, pieces of amber, lengths of fine cloth, leather and silk pouches that I brought back from overseas, children's wooden toys, candles and I'm sure there are things I don't remember.

Each time I have received an award that I imagined conferred more land, I added an aid for that property as well. By the time I moved from Calontir to the Outlands in XXXXI, each reign I donated for the lands I imagined holding with my Silver Hammer, Calon Cross, Keeper of the Flame, Laurel and Pelican. Having moved, I imagined I left three properties (the Calontir awards) to younger heirs and so in the Outlands hold only the Laurel and Pelican lands still. One benefit of moving was it gave me "tax relief".

Only once or twice have I given this aid in court. Mostly I prefer just to hand it over to the King or Queen in private. Giving it to the retinue is also fine. This is a game I'm playing to make me feel more medieval and to pitch in to help with SCA ceremony: more is not required.

At the same time, the feudal transaction had to be approved by both lord and vassal. ⁹ Thus, the formula is "These items are the aid that is the customary payment from my lands. It was acceptable to Your Majesty's predecessors, will you accept it?" This is more or less the statement used in Bracton, on the Laws and Customs of England. . ¹⁰ It asks that the Crown agree that my payment is acceptable. Handing aids off to retinue is practical but not good historical practice. Of course, my experience is that SCA Crowns graciously accept whatever is offered, whatever their private thoughts about it, so the formula is only to evoke the Middle Ages, not about what is really going on. To follow the Medieval custom through, though, the aid should be given in a court-like situation, before responsible witnesses. Witnesses were crucial to Angevin legal agreements, and the aid is part of a contract between lord and vassal ¹¹ I give aid, I receive the privileges due a vassal. However, SCA courts are usually more than long enough without including private business so having whoever is around when I hand it to the Crown bear witness will suffice.

I have almost never found out what the Crown did with the things I gave. I have never worried about this, except to be concerned whether the King and Queen find my contributions useful. But, on the rare occasions in which I have seen my gifts used or worn by someone, it gave me great pleasure.

Thus, I have improvised a historically-rooted method of giving each King and Queen a few items to help them give largesse during their reign. It lets me feel more Medieval and also more involved in the current SCA reign.

Notes

¹Meriam Webster online dictionary, http://www.m-w.com

² D.M. Stenton.English society in the Early Middle Ages. Penguin Books, New York (1965) p 75-6; The Magna Charta . online: http://www.bl.uk/treasures/magnacarta/translation.html Clause #15

³ Ibid.

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ R. Barber.1964. Henry Plantagenet. Barnes and Noble, NY. (1964) p. 223-4; E. Hallam, ed. Chronicles of the Crusades. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, NY (1989) pp. 165-7

⁶ J. Gillingham. Richard the Lionheart. New York Times Books, NY (1978)

⁷ Magna Charta online. Op. cit.

⁸ Stenton. Op. cit. p. 75

⁹ Ibid.

¹⁰ Henry of Bratton. c. 1230 Bracton on the laws and customs of England. Online at http://hlsl5.law.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/brac-hilite.cgi?Unframed+English+2+116+aids: vol 2 p. 116

¹¹ Magna Charta. Op. cit. Clause #38.