Wardship

In feudal law, rights belonging to the lord of a fief with respect to the personal lives of his vassals. The right of wardship allowed the lord to take control of a fief and of a minor heir until the heir came of age. The right of marriage allowed the lord to have some say as to whom the daughter or widow of a vassal would marry. Both rights brought the lord increased revenue.

In the right of marriage a woman would often pay to have a suitor accepted by the lord or to get out of marrying the lord’s choice for her. This was particularly true in medieval England, where these rights became increasingly commercial and were often sold.

Wardship rights were generally exercised in fiefs held by military service but sometimes also in fiefs held by socage, or agricultural service. The lord received the income of a fief belonging to an heir in his minority until the heir was old enough to render the military and other services required of him, at which time the lord released the fief to him in the material condition in which the lord had originally received it.
Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008

From the Magna Carta:

The guardian of the land of an heir who is thus under age, shall take from the land of the heir nothing but reasonably produce, reasonable customs, and reasonable services, and that without destruction or waste of men or goods; and if we have committed the wardship of the lands of any such minor to the sheriff, or to any other who is responsible to us for its issues, and he has made destruction or waste of what he holds in wardship, we will take of him amends, and the land shall be committed to two lawful and discreet men of that fee, who shall be responsible for the issues to us or to him to whom we shall assign them; and if we have given or sold the wardship of any such land to anyone and he has therein made destruction or waste, he shall lose that wardship, and it shall be transferred to two lawful and discreet men of that fief, whoshall be responsible to us in like manner as aforesaid.

1) Part of a battlement, the square “sawtooth” between crenels.
(Gies, Joseph and Francis. Life in a Medieval Castle, 226)

2) Solid part of embattled parapet between embrasures, sometimes pierced with slit.
(Wood, Margaret. The English Medieval House, 413)

*term definitions retrieved from Netserf’s Medieval Glossary (http://www.netserf.org/Glossary)

Product Description:

The past is a foreign country. This is your guidebook. Imagine you could get into a time machine and travel back to the fourteenth century. What would you see? What would you smell? More to the point, where are you going to stay? Should you go to a castle or a monastic guest house? And what are you going to eat? What sort of food are you going to be offered by a peasant or a monk or a lord? This radical new approach turns our entire understanding of history upside down. It shows us that the past is not just something to be studied; it is also something to be lived. It sets out to explain what life was like in the most immediate way, through taking you, the reader, to the middle ages, and showing you everything from the horrors of leprosy and war to the ridiculous excesses of roasted larks and haute couture.Being a guidebook, many questions are answered which do not normally occur in traditional history books. How do you greet people in the street? What should you use for toilet paper? How fast - and how safely - can you travel? Why might a physician want to taste your blood? And how do you test to see if you are going down with the plague? The result is the most astonishing social history book you are ever likely to read: revolutionary in its concept, informative and entertaining in its detail, and startling for its portrayal of humanity in an age of violence, exuberance and fear.

Average Customer Review on Amazon: 4 stars (17 reviews)

Thanks to everyone who provided feedback on my first chapter. Your suggestions are invaluable and will certainly help in my upcoming revisions. I hope to have chapter one posted to my site within the next month.

The biggest changes to this revision were the character perspectives. The first two drafts — which I subsequently trashed — had anywhere from five to seven character perspectives. I pared those down in the third revision, and even more in the latest revision. Now, my novel only has three character perspectives: the “island king” (the last surviving brother of the royal line), the “usurper king” (the antagonist), and the protagonist (a minor noble).

I chose a minor noble for my main character for a couple of reasons. One, because he resonates more closely with the common man, but two, he still has access, based on his status, to the dealings of the political undertakings of the higher nobility. He acts as a go-between for the social classes.

My main character’s family owns only one small estate — a not so profitable estate at that — and after the war ravages the region and leaves the estate in ruins, the protagonist must seek his destiny by relying on his lord’s support more than ever, and his duty is to protect his lord’s vast estates from the bands of enemy mercenaries that are laying waste to the countryside. By doing this, the protagonist hopes to regain favor from his lord so that he may one day return and restore his family estate, but his main motivation, his fate, is to find and kill the man who murdered his father and brothers. Honoring the blood price is his duty, his destiny, to his family. To fight against the “usurper king’s” armies, the main character needs an army of his own, and he builds his militia from a collection of other minor nobles like himself and commoners: blacksmiths, farmers, carpenters, etc. In this, the protagonist is tied more closely to the common man.

Cutting down the character perspectives also allowed me to trim the overall word count. Previously, the word count was around some 140,000 words. Now, it’s only 109,000. Other edits in my next revisions will include adding small details / enhancements for authenticity and accuracy.

1) How did you become interested in “Viking” history?

I don’t know. My educational and professional background had a heavy emphasis on technical topics and was very light on history and literature. At some point, I became aware of the Sagas of Icelanders, and I became entranced. Subsequently, I took a summer course in medieval Icelandic literature offered by Sigurður Nordal Institute at the University of Iceland in 1998. My fate was sealed. I have been a enthusiastic student of the sagas ever since.

I briefly was involved with a Viking-age living history organization, which led to a long-term affiliation with the Higgins Armory Museum, a museum of arms and armor in Worcester, MA, USA. That connection sparked my interest in Viking weapons and their use.

2) For our readers, can you briefly explain how the term “Viking” became attributed to the Norse people.

The word appears on contemporary rune stones, and in later medieval literature, in both the verb form and the noun form. It was used to describe an activity and the people who participated in that activity: voyaging for adventure.

The word fell out of use in the later medieval, only to be revived by the 19th century Romantic movement. Now, this word has come to refer to an entire society, even though only a small percentage of these ancient northern people participated in Viking adventures.

3) What is one misconception about the Norse people that you commonly find when discussing their culture?

Many people seem to have the impression that the Norse people were hairy, uncivilized brutes. It surprises them to learn that these northern people had a rich and interesting culture, and that they made significant contributions in the arts, in poetry, in government and law, and in trade.

4) Were there any surprises for you about the Viking culture that you uncovered after doing research and writing your book? Did you go in with any previous knowledge or expectations that turned out to be the opposite from what you expected to find?

The simple answer is that there were many surprises, but over time, they have blended together, and no single one stands out.

I think my impression going in to these studies was that theirs was a lawless culture where “might makes right.” Instead, I found a culture in which law and adherence to law was a central tenet, and whose people operated under strict moral principles that differed greatly from ours today.

I think that I, too, expected the Norse people to be hairy brutes. I was surprised by the depth and breadth of what they accomplished, and by the subtlety and sophistication of their culture, and most of all, by their sense of humor, which is what attracted me to the sagas in the first place.

5) When studying any period of history, what is your recommended approach when first beginning your research? What is your process?

As a university student, I was fortunate to connect with a mentor who had a unique approach to research. He felt that anyone, armed with a small set of tools and some fundamental knowledge, could enter a new field and make significant contributions. I attempted to learn his tools and to apply them to my work, not only in my technical career, but more recently, in my study of Viking-age topics.

I have no doubt that I have made mistakes along the way, but I think the collection of tools has stood me in good stead. Without going into details, it’s a bootstrap process. The tools allow forward progress without drowning in a sea of confusion and ignorance.

The process has allowed me to make contributions in a number of technical fields. I hope it continues to be useful as I explore Viking topics.

6) What other projects are you working on next?

I finished another book, Icelanders in the Viking Age, which was published by McFarland & Company earlier this year.

The book is a companion to the Sagas of Icelanders, written to help modern English-speaking readers to share some of the enjoyment and delight that captivated medieval audiences of these tales.

I’m working on my next book, an analysis of Viking-age warriors, and particularly, an examination of the warrior code of the saga-age Icelanders. Theirs was a farming society, not a military society, yet prowess with weapons was admired, and fighting men seem to have been guided by a strict moral compass.

We’re expanding our Viking programs at Higgins Armory Museum, with a growing series of combat demonstrations, classes on introductory Viking fighting techniques, and practice sessions where we explore the more advanced fighting techniques of the Vikings. We’re using a new approach to the study and practice of historical European martial arts (HEMA), an approach that is paying big dividends in our understanding of Viking combat techniques.

I continue to travel regularly to Iceland, to learn more about the sagas and the people who populate them. On an upcoming trip this fall, I’ve been invited to help a museum set up a game of knattleikur, the Viking-age ball game, using rules reconstructed from the descriptions of the game in the sagas.

http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/daily_living/text/knattleikr.htm

http://www.minjasafn.is/

I’m not aware of any attempts to play the game there in recent times; it may be the first knattleikur game played in Iceland for centuries. I look forward to it.

***To learn more about William Short and his work, please visit his Web site at http://www.williamrshort.com/.

The Heroic Age is a fully peer-reviewed academic journal, focusing on Northwestern Europe during the early medieval period (from the early 4th through 13th centuries). The journal’s mission is to foster dialogue between all scholars of this period across ethnic and disciplinary boundaries, including—but not limited to—history, archaeology, and literature pertaining to the period. The Heroic Age was founded in 1998.

I want to give a special thanks to Larry Swain, a member of the editorial board of The Heroic Age, for asking me to read and review Viking Weapons and Combat Techniques. Short’s book is well-researched, and I highly recommend it.

1) A servant who accompanies his lord to battle, or a horseman of lower status used as light cavalry. Also means a type of tenure in service of a nonknightly character is owed a lord. Such persons might carry the lords banner, serve in the wine cellar, make bows/arrows or any other dozen occupations. Sergeants pay the feudal dues of wardship, marriage, and relief but are exempt from scutage (nonknightly). (MEDIEV-L. Medieval Terms)

2) Mounted and armoured soldier below the rank of knight. (Wise, Terence. Medieval Warfare, 251)

The following is translated from C.T. Allmand and C.A.J. Armstrong, English Suits before the Parlement of Paris, 1420-1436 (London, 1982):

28 February 1424

The following day, Denis was freed on giving pledges for the 400 ecus. The pledges were a merchant and a pastry maker of Paris. Then on March 6, Henry of Lidan sent a written request to the Court, claiming that Denis was his guarantor for 400 ecus of the ransom, and that he should be condemned to pay it. Denis denied that he was guarantor for Henry. This dispute between Denis and Henry dragged on until May, when the Parlement finally ordered Henry also released on pledge. Meanwhile Denis was given a safeguard against Fastolf, and for good reason: in November, Henry’s horse was taken by a sergeant at arms, acting for Fastolf, and both the sergeant and Fastolf had to be warned not to do anything more, on pain of 2000 =9C fine

*term definitions retrieved from Netserf’s Medieval Glossary (http://www.netserf.org/Glossary)

Submission guidelines are fairly straightforward:

1. Must be a short piece of fiction – under 10,000 words
2. It must be either historical fiction or alternate history
3. It must be good (that’s where the subjectivity comes in!)

Alt History is also accepting non-fiction as well as artwork.

You can submit via their online submission system. If you’re interested in these genres, let’s help get the word about this new magazine.