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| Sark ends 450 years of feudalism |
| 2008-04-14 |
| The West's last remaining feudal system has come to an end after the Privy Council endorsed a vote by locals on the tiny Channel Island of Sark to change the way they are governed. Sark, which lies about 6 miles east of Guernsey off the coast of Normandy, has broadly held onto its political and judicial systems since Queen Elizabeth I bestowed them upon it nearly 450 years ago. The car-free island has been governed by a mainly unelected parliament called the Chief Pleas, traditionally made up of members of landed families. It meets just a few times a year. The seigneur, effectively the lord of Sark or head landlord, appoints the judiciary and has until recently been entitled to a cut from any property bought and sold on the island and even to the ancient system of tithe levies. In return, he must maintain an army to keep the island "free of the Queen's enemies." But locals and modernizers want a fully elected 28-member chamber and the 600 residents opted for the change in a poll at the end of 2006. Every person who has lived on the island for more than a year is now entitled to take part in elections. The first will be in December, with the parliament sitting for the first time the following January. The changes will also see the introduction of a legal expert who will take part in any complicated or sensitive case. The island's seneschal, or judge, who also presides over its parliament, Lieutenant Colonel Reg Guille, said the changes to both the judiciary and government would modernize both. But he said island life would go on as normal. "It's a very quiet and peaceful place: we are a self-sufficient, close-knit community and we like to get on with life away from the public eye." |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #14 I think there was a Belgian historian, whose name I forget, who claimed that the real decline during the early Middle Ages was caused by the Muslim conquest of North Africa. This had the effect of ending the free and vigorous trade in the Mediterranean that had characterized the Roman period, and putting a big damper on economic prosperity in southern Europe. Perhaps as evidence for this, you can still see the effect of Muslim warfare on the Roman heartland of Italy in the fact that the old towns are built on high hills. When you visit these towns, the local history usually explains that the people moved to these fortified positions in response to Muslim raiders from the sea. Although, this is probably not the whole story, since some local accounts also mention raids by the Lombards, who arrived much earlier than the Muslims. The Lombards, though, eventually adapted to Roman Christianity and culture, and attempted to maintain some aspects of the Roman system, as did the other German tribes such as the Franks north of the Alps. The concept of knighthood and the aristocratic system which characterized feudalism are basically Roman, although the German tribes had similar social hierarchies. |
| Posted by: Elmeash Bucket9196 2008-04-14 17:08 |
| #13 I heard once that Michael Flynn was on the lecture circuit once with the topic "What we all know about the middle ages that really isn't true." I'd love to see a book on the subject. |
| Posted by: Abdominal Snowman 2008-04-14 14:45 |
| #12 Will The "Sark Assembly" be shortened to SarcAsm? |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2008-04-14 14:01 |
| #11 If we had known about them earlier, we could have named a state after Sark. New Sark or perhaps Snark. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2008-04-14 13:38 |
| #10 Progress--now the Queen's enemies' human rights are protected and the Lord of Sark's army can be maintained by the dole just like the pirates. Equality! |
| Posted by: Thealing Borgia6122 2008-04-14 10:50 |
| #9 28 is a start, but they'll need more like 200 involved in the government of Sark to align with best practice in other modern nations. |
| Posted by: KBK 2008-04-14 10:22 |
| #8 So they are going in the opposite direction of the EU. Expect a strongly worded letter to follow. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2008-04-14 09:56 |
| #7 Generally speaking the european Moyen Age ("dark ages") takes a lot of undeserved flak, and from very early, after a very sharp decline following the final collapse of the roman empire, it was actually more advanced than the supposedly more civilized arab or asian civilizations IIUC. Yup. |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-04-14 09:17 |
| #6 I wonder if they still had "prima noche"? Under that system, it was believed that God so favored the "lords" of the seigneuries that it was his will that the lord would take a peasant bride to his bed on her wedding night. I wonder who thought that up? If you refer to what is known in french as le droit de cuissage, then, it's a myth cooked up by lurid period emos in the 19th century to make the old regime look bad. As far as I know, it has no historical basis, and steems from an historian's spelling error on a registration tax the newly-wed had to pay to the local lord (droit de culage) IIRC (JFM will correct me, he's more History-savvy). Generally speaking the european Moyen Age ("dark ages") takes a lot of undeserved flak, and from very early, after a very sharp decline following the final collapse of the roman empire, it was actually more advanced than the supposedly more civilized arab or asian civilizations IIUC. Lemme see what wikipedia has to say about it... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droit_de_seigneur Ok, my version is not quite that, but I stand by it, faute de mieux. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2008-04-14 08:47 |
| #5 A 28-member parliament for 600 residents? Why not just have plebicites for everything? |
| Posted by: Spot 2008-04-14 08:32 |
| #4 The lords, not the peasants. |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2008-04-14 08:13 |
| #3 I wonder if they still had "prima noche"? Under that system, it was believed that God so favored the "lords" of the seigneuries that it was his will that the lord would take a peasant bride to his bed on her wedding night. I wonder who thought that up? |
| Posted by: McZoid 2008-04-14 07:38 |
| #2 And I thought this was the companion piece to this from yesterday. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2008-04-14 06:57 |
| #1 Ah! To be free and not a serf.That is the dream. |
| Posted by: Jack Slineger4174 2008-04-14 03:06 |