Submission 7/8


 * Submission 7 & 8: The Middle Ages
 * by Anthony Mayer
 * 20 November 2001
 * 21 December 2001

[Editor's note: since the two parts of Anthony Mayer's post on the Submissive Middle Ages overlap both thematically and chronologically, I have chosen to combine them into a single post. JP]


 * "You think God belongs only to you?
 * He doesn't.
 * God's an immortal spirit
 * who belongs to everybody,
 * to the whole world.
 * You think you're special?
 * God is not an israelite! "


 * - The Prophet (CJ Bolland), samples from The Last Temptation of Christ FN1

The Middle Ages

The end of the Hundred Years War and the Crusades is usually considered to be the beginning of what are known as the Middle Ages, a period of both internal change and external expansion for Submission, but in directions different to those of the previous Viking Era. Unlike the Viking Era, expansion was scattered and lacking in the drive and ferocity of the early Norse. The internal changes represented not growth into new domains, but the defence of the society in the face of pressing needs.

The collapse of the Deputation of the Kamarg was a resounding blow to the morale of many Submissives, whose realm had hitherto been expanding uniformly. From 310 SE [1082 CE] onwards there was a much more introspective character to the development of the culture of northern Europe. Key social and economic changes occurred, in hindsight for the better, but at the time profoundly distressing for the established orders. The motor for these changes was the Plague.

In reality there were many outbreaks of epidemic diseases, carried between Asia, India and Africa on the rapidly expanding Arab-African trading networks, and spreading quickly throughout the integrated communications of the Mediterranean basin of Christendom, and carried by Arab and Moorish Crusaders into Europe. But it was chiefly the bubonic plague, known as the 'Black Death', which was remembered and remained as a folk memory throughout Submission, a symbol of disease incarnate.

The epicentre of this horror was Khartoum -- rats carrying plague fleas had arrived by ship and were carried inland by caravan and down the Nile from the Bantu kingdoms of the interior. The Plague broke Egyptian power in the south. Estimates of loss vary but can be no less than 25% of the population. The previously ascendant Kingdoms of Egypt and Syria suffered terribly (incidentally enabling the Emperor to reassert his authority over much of Italy). Everywhere the Plague was seen as God's punishment for the excesses of the Crusades and the war in Francia.

In Europe the plague threatened to cut short the agricultural revolution. While losses to disease were certainly not as high as contemporaries alleged, the drop in population was enough to threaten the return of the low population -> low production -> starvation cycle of the dark ages. There was still much land uncultivated, but without labour it was impossible to reclaim it. Throughout the House of Submission attempts were made to stave off the disaster. Most of these attempts failed in the short term, and famine was rife, bringing with it secondary illnesses which compounded the strike of the epidemic plagues.

The attempts to increase food production despite a diminishing labour pool helped shape later aspects of Submission society. Firstly, the return of chattel slavery. This was fueled by slaving ships probing their way down the coast of west Africa seeking a route to the Indies (the luxury goods market was stimulated by the Hundred Years War but cut short by the Crusades). Secondly, the increase in mechanisation of milling, using both watermills and windmills, as valuable workers were used elsewhere. Thirdly, slavery aside, the increased value of labour and attempts to restrict wages led to an increase in disturbance by peasants. In many ways the old feudal society of land holdings was being shaken by the effects of the plague.

These social changes, compounded with the contraction of the boundaries of Submission and the misery of plague and famine led to large scale popular religious movements. Jews and Christians who had previously been tolerated suffered terrible pogroms at the hands of an embittered population. Large numbers of dispossessed flagellants and penitents roamed the countryside, spreading extreme interpretations of Submissive practice.

Theologically the Middle Ages saw the rise of divergent cosmological approaches, and the rise of systematic philosophy alongside the increasing mysticism of the populace. The Tancredians adopted a Neo-platonic world view, and perhaps influenced by the Christian Jabarites also adopted fore-ordination approach. This was highly favoured by certain members of the ruling class (especially Alfred of Burgundy) who notoriously used pre-ordination as an excuse for despotic behaviour. Numerous Holy Things repudiated Tancredian extremism as being obviously opposed to the teachings of the Epistle to the Danes, but powerful rulers could usually appoint Judges with sympathies towards their own Tancredian leanings.

At the same time there were attempts to return to the literal meanings of the Teachings, which many felt had been corrupted by the change to a legalistic culture. A second wave of Outsider movements began, many emigrating to harsh northern environments to avoid the famines and plagues of the south. Some were successful, and these groups added to the impetus of the original Outsiders, who were by that time established in Greenland.

A less extreme practice was that of the Literalists, who remained within the society of mainstream Submission, but attempted to reform it from within. The Wide Thing of 380 SE [1142 CE] (a convention of the Great Holy Thing, with other representatives and speakers invited) featured a debate between Spectral Submissives and Literalists, the Literalists coming off best and receiving much prestige from it (though the result was a foregone conclusion -- the Spectrals were considered anathema and political as well as spiritual enemies). FN2 This victory did much to aid the Literalists in their squabble with the Legalists, who stood by a flexible interpretation of the Teachings and an emphasis on the evolving body of law. At the same time the Danubian heresy (an esoteric interpretation) gained a wide following before being crushed by orthoprax forces of the Successor. These unsuccessful attempts at fundamentally reconsidering Ragnar's revelation can be seen as precursors to the later Reformation. Similarly, the various unsuccessful peasants' revolts may be seen as anticipating the rise of the communal Doorway FN3 groups that rose towards the end of the fourth century, notably those that occupied the great forests of central Francia (the so called "Champagne Socialists").

While Christian minorities were often expelled from cities or ghettoised during this period, the same was not true for the monasteries. Key centres of land reclamation, often utilising the latest horticultural techniques, they were usually commandeered by local Lords who tolerated the monks' practice and protected them in exchange for taxes.

While the main point of contact between Submission and Christendom was in Iberia and southern Francia, the main interchange of ideas was in the short lived but brilliant court of King Rurik of Mallorca, who ruled all the Balearic Islands. Though Submissive, he was reputedly a student of Christian theology, Greek philosophy and other learned subjects. He sponsored a number of Ananite scholars and built up a great library on the island of Ibiza (in today's city of Stavanger). It was through Submissive Balearic Kingdom that northern scholars were reintroduced to the writings of Aristotle, and also commentaries by the Arab Christians. Rurik's son failed to match his father's political skills, and the islands fell under the sway of the Exarch of Spain, destroying the richly multicultural environment, but for some 50 years a conduit had been provided between the cultures that was not one of war or plague...


 * "Who made up the rules
 * That we follow?       ......
 * Do I have the right

" To receive God's eternal graces?" " - Hybrid, I know FN4

Legal Schools

Law under Traditionalist Submission differs from that of Modernist Law (which provides the basis for much of todays secular law) and lies firmly within the Legalist interpretation, rather than the Literalist theology. Traditionalist Law become fully developed during the Middle Ages, with the founding and acceptance of the four great legal schools by the Great Holy Thing, roughly between the years 300 and 400 SE [1072-1172 CE].

The four schools are named after the four directions of the compass, or the four winds, or the four points of the Star of Ragnar, depending upon one's source material.


 * 1. The Blaer (or Northern) School was the first of the four to be founded, by Hakon the Stern, the foremost chronicler and archivist of the Court of Successor Alfred I. Hakon collected what became the definitive set of the Traditions, and established the authorities for those that were then used to establish The Law. Hakon identified three aspects to the passing of law: the Teachings with the authority of the Traditions, which provided the indisputable "root of law;" reason and analogy which allow the recasting of the sacred law into new situations; and the faith and belief in justice of the Judge himself that must shape the new law for the novel situation, so that reason and analogy do not lead the judge astray.

Hakon also established universities explicitly for the training of Judges, rather than Scholars, and it is from the founding of the Seminary of Stavanger that the formal distinction between Judge and Scholar began.


 * 2. The Descuernacabras (or Southern) School began in Iberia, where the Scholar Roger Ragnarson began his own compilation of the Traditions, to provide a source for his masterpiece The Refutation of Tancredianism. It is unlikely that he had access to Hakon's version of the Teachings, though they almost certainly drew on similar material. Roger's background was very different from that of Hakon, being the son of an Arab slave and an English mercenary. Early in life he became a Christian monk in the Order of Calatrava, a diminishing but protected sect in Submissive Iberia. After converting to Submission he rose to become the foremost authority on academic law in Leon.

Roger identified linguistic analysis as a key legal instrument. Lexical and syntactic structures of Ragnar's words and the Revelations (God's words) were examined by the Descuernacabras school to establish 'hidden' truths within the sacred Teachings. These truths could then be used to apply the law to situations not explicitly described -- as such new law is not created, but is rather discovered.

Roger's other key contribution was the establishment of the Order of the Feather (quill), the first Submissive monastic order. A direct copy of Roger's dwindling Christian order, the Feather Merchants (sometimes also known as Wordsmiths) became a powerful force in the growth and prosperity of Iberia. The Submissive order had a structure based upon the chapter house concept, with the Guide of each chapter having authority within the house, but a conciliar governing body for the entire order. The Feather Merchants inspired many other Submissive Orders, whose history and influence is detailed elsewhere.


 * 3. The third and fourth legal schools similarly developed on geographical lines. The Gnyr (Western) school arose in Dublin, with a particularly Irish aspect to its legal practice, while the Eastern School became associated with the intolerant Saxon interpretation of Submission, where it competed with the Literalist practice (which of course did not accept the authority of the four legal schools).

Sumptuary Laws

The social disturbances following the Black Death brought about a strong attempt by the established powers in the House of Submission to cement the stratified nature of their society -- the increase in imported slaves from the Crusades and West Africa also contributed to a sense of man's "rightful place" in society.

A visible representation of this process was the prominence of medieval sumptuary laws, and the beginnings of the caste system (which was to have such disastrous consequences in the 6th century). Judges were expected to carry the symbol of the single Eye of the Allfather, while Scholars wore the Hand of Ragnar. Both were expected to wear plain woolen robes, in colour appropriate to their school -- black for the Descuernacabras, white for the Blaer, and grey and brown for the eastern and western schools, respectively.

The titled nobility were no longer recognised according to their land, but their bloodline, as authorised by the Things, and as such wore coats of arms indicating their heritage, and their families' deeds. Only the nobility could wear silk, velvet or fur. Mercantile families would often seek alliance with the poorer noble families in order to gain the status that the older families were jealously guarding, and fashion and the evolution of the sumptuary laws indicate the struggle between old and new power.

The symbol of the crown also became important during this period -- the distinction between the Kings, High Kings and the Successor from lesser nobles, with whom they were often at war. The advancement from Deputy to King (as sanctified by the Holy Thing) became an important political objective. Similarly dethronement could reduce a rebel King or High King.

The Arts

Musical composition flourished in Francia during the Middle Ages, especially the Breton style, usually performed by travelling players using such instruments as bombards and ocarinas. Two very distinct styles became popular in Europe, those of the troubadours, who were predominantly Christian, and that of the jongleurs, who were Submissive. Interestingly it is the troubadour tradition that became the dominant influence on later musical development, though the jongleurs were more prominent amongst contemporaries. This may be related to the patronage of one of Europe's most famous queens, Eleanor of Aquitaine, who later married Magnus, High King of the Loire, but divorced him upon grounds of infidelity, a case which was carried before the Great Holy Thing and provided a drama unequalled during the period (this incidentally set precedent both of the limited but definite rights of Christians, that both Submissive and Christian must abide by Ragnar's laws in respect to each other).

The recreation of Thing debates before rural audiences provided the birth of modern stage drama, though it remained firmly distinct from plays set to music, which usually had a secular subject. Hence we can see how theatre (derived from legal reports and news bulletins) was from the outset separate from opera (derived from bawdy musical story-telling), a separation that continues to this day.


 * Forward to Submission 9.


 * Return to Submission posts.