Have you ever fancied yourself a noble young lady, captured and flogged by a dashing knight?
I know I have. But I’ve also had my doubts about the authenticity of these fantasies: true knights oughtn’t make war on high-born maidens; I wanted a knight, not a villain.
It appears, I can have my noble knight, and be punished by him too, with all due deference to the laws of chivalry.
From “War and Chivalry” by Matthew Strickland I learned that –
Conditions afforded to knightly captives taken for ransom may vary widely. Some captives were detained in honourable and open custody either in token of their rank or in recognition of their bravery at war…
Conversely, personal animosity towards captives might result in harsh conditions of confinement. E.g. in the war between Robert de Bellême and Henry I in 1105… one of Henry’s leading supporters Robert fitz Hamon… and others in his familia were “kept in close imprisonment for a long time, both to show their contempt and hatred of their lord.”
So, my dashing knight is actually at war with my father’s liege, and I get imprisoned along with everybody else in the family. It’s nothing out of the ordinary.
The law, it seems, is completely on my captor’s side:
…Jurists were arguing that since a prisoner was held essentially as a pledge for the price of his ransom, the captor might take reasonable measures to encourage payment.
Oh, dear. I can see the letter that’s winging its way to my father’s lord: “Pay the ransom, sir, if you do not wish to see this maiden suffer under the lash.”
Come to think of it, though, that’s still a little villainous. This sort of blackmail may be lawful, but my knight wouldn’t stoop to it. What if I provoked him, though, by taking advantage of his good nature?
Following his defeat at Lincoln in 1141, King Stephen was first kept under honourable custody at Bristol, but was later confined in irons because… of his prospensity to stray beyond his allotted bounds.
“My lady, were you not a maiden of tender years, I would see you confined in irons for this sort manner of conduct. As it is, I shall deal with you just as my father would deal with my sisters. Squire! Hand me the whip!”
Ooh I love that idea. I never thouht about my knight in shining armour whipping me, but now you mention it, it only makes him more perfect, doesn’t it? And indeed, indeed, he can’t be a bad knight, he has to do it for noble reasons.
Hehe, I like it!
But I don’t want my knight to whip me! I want him to be nice to me!
Oh yes, playing on all my medieval fantasies. Speaking of which, watching the new BBC series “Merlin” from Saturday night I thought we might get some action… Anthony Head (Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, SWOON!) was playing Uther Pendragon, and said to his young, female ward, something like “I am your guardian and you *will* mind me”. I was jumping up and down on the sofa going “Spank her, spank her, you know you want to!” Didn’t happen though. Dammit.
Oh my God, Eliane – so was I!
Also in this scene in ‘Lost in Austen’ (which I still haven’t decided if I like or not):
Mr Darcy: …still, that was a rather presumptuous question. I should chastise you for it.
Georgiana: You wouldn’t dare!
(pause)
Mr Darcy: No, you’re right – I wouldn’t.
Dammit!!!!
Maybe we should write to the BBC and lobby for Anthony Head spanking scenes. As in him spanking, not *being* spanked, I hasten to add!
Oh yes…. I’d love anything, absolutely anything on TV with Anthony Head doing some spanking, please, please, pretty pretty please!
Is it bad that I just had to google-image-search Anthony Head to know who you all were talking about…?