Two of the NPCs that my PK were squired with both died at Siege Terrabil! Calamity! Basically, the PK just lost his best two best friends, not to mention to members his eschille. One of the knights just had a son last year and one had a son 2-3 years ago, but lost his wife last year. So this little heir is orphaned, and will never know his parents. Several questions arise:

1.) Who takes in the babies? I imagine kinsmen—uncles or aunts.

2.) Who manages the estate for the next 20 years or so? Is this where the uncles step in? Do they move in to the manors? Or is the ward sent to their homes, leaving the manor empty? (That doesn't seem likely since someone should be making money off the manor).

3.) What if the uncles already have manors of their own to manage? Do we tap other cousins or lineage men?

4.) Who gets the income off the manor while it's under someone else's stewardship?

Since my PK had a close relationship with both these knights, I don't want to act like the manors just vanish, like they never existed. There could be some opportunities here for additional plot arcs—especially as we're just a few years away from Anarchy. For example, who will be defending these manors from raids?

Thanks,


T.

1) I would guess family also, but with heirs, they could become wards of the Lord.

2) Normally the manor will return to the Lord. He may appoint another knight (possibly family) to take care of it. This can result in a nice (family) feud, especially if the anarchy hits. the money is alos firstly for the Lord, but may be granted to the knight who takes care of the manor.

3) As said the knight taking care of the manor does not need to be related at all. It may be the manor only has a steward for the time being and no knights to take care of it.

4) the Lord. He will also be responsible for the defense. Without the lord this may become tricky and will probably rely on family to help defend it.

Decision would go to the liege lord of the manor. And the orphan is a ward, with the manor(s) placed under stewardship of someone appointed by the lord.

He may want to foster the child with relatives. However, if the manor is a grant and could potential be inherited by said relatives if the child has an accident... maybe not such a good idea.

Two of the NPCs that my PK were squired with both died at Siege Terrabil! Calamity! Basically, the PK just lost his best two best friends, not to mention to members his escille. One of the knights just had a son last year and one had a son 2-3 years ago, but lost his wife last year. So this little heir is orphaned, and will never know his parents. Several questions arise:

Feudal law is clear on this


1.) Who takes in the babies? I imagine kinsmen—uncles or aunts.

The lord from whom the grant was gained
The family might get control of the heir if they pay a huge fee, maybe 10 years worth of the land's income


2.) Who manages the estate for the next 20 years or so? Is this where the uncles step in? Do they move in to the manors? Or is the ward sent to their homes, leaving the manor empty? (That doesn't seem likely since someone should be making money off the manor).

Again, the lord who granted the holding
It is entirely in his hands


3.) What if the uncles already have manors of their own to manage? Do we tap other cousins or lineage men?

Nope. They are out of luck
It is in the lord's control


4.) Who gets the income off the manor while it's under someone else's stewardship?

One guess.
If you said "the lord who granted it," you are right!


Since my PK had a close relationship with both these knights, I don't want to act like the manors to just vanish, like they never existed. There could be some opportunities here for additional plot arcs—especially as we're just a few years away from Anarchy. For example, who will be defending these manors from raids?

One guess, and I won't give away the answer this time...

Thanks, guys! I found a couple of brief articles, for any that are interested:

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Feudal+law

http://www.blackstudies.ucsb.edu/antillians/feudalism.html


Best,


T.

Here's a great thesis paper on the subject. Tells you just about everything you could want to know about different inheritance scenarios under feudal law. It was written by a fellow Texan, too!

http://db.tt/DSVMEisa

Enjoy,


M.

With regards to these links – be aware that the classical model of feudal tenure has been at the centre of an ongoing historians’ dispute ever since the middle of the 1990s. Pendragon follows this classical model, but the historical, real-world state of affairs has turned out to be not so clear-cut. (As if we needed even more complications …) Claims about the historical development of feudalism before, oh, the 11th century especially should be treated with caution.

Apart from that, some very nice game resources. Thanks for posting them!

With regards to these links – be aware that the classical model of feudal tenure has been at the centre of an ongoing historians’ dispute ever since the middle of the 1990s. Pendragon follows this classical model, but the historical, real-world state of affairs has turned out to be not so clear-cut. (As if we needed even more complications …) Claims about the historical development of feudalism before, oh, the 11th century especially should be treated with caution.

Apart from that, some very nice game resources. Thanks for posting them!


That gives you some additional flexibility I think. Or, potentially, having the rules get codified and become more concrete as the campaign runs - similar to how new armor, weapons, and cultural concepts come into play.

I'm running around this in my on-going development of a succession question in a group of Roman nobles. Roman law is not specific about favor male over female inheritors. But the customs for eldest sons to inherit are becoming prevalent. Add in this odd Frankish rule that inheritance cannot go through the female line at all (full Salic inheritance) and you can set up a nice court case for the PKs to argue. It's an interesting sub-area to delve into a bit.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Yes, I did not intend for these articles to be gospel—I was just looking for general data so I could have a clue as to appropriate resolutions, vis-a-vis the original post. I found it interesting reading and skimmed the most crunchy bits till they got to various inheritance scenarios and their remedies.

Best,


T.