((IG)) Treatise on Leadership

[krieger]

Leadership
Is a difficult, and wearisome task that more often than not falls to the same individuals time, and again. It is easier to allow oneself to be led, and then gripe when things do not go your way, than it is to lead others, and take onto yourself that responsibility not only for your own life, and the lives of your friends, but the lives of all of those under your command, and the lives of those thusly dependant upon those under your command as well. Thusly not only are you responsible for the lives of the ten thousand warriors, but the camp followers, the wives, and the children as well. This may seem a very long view but I believe that if a commander is going to order his men to die, then he or she should at least acknowledge the depth and gravity of the choices that they make. Soldiers or not, monsters, or not they are a precious resource, and a commander who squanders his men, and marches them forward as a stream of never ending fodder is a commander not long for this world.
A head of a small adventuring party has perhaps a more glamorous and slightly less demanding role than say a baron, or a landed knight, but still the lives of his compatriots still hang in the balance of their decisions, and this leader must be able to mediate the disputes that are sure to arise. This leader must be able to distribute the amount of spoils, and ensure that all those within this band have what they need, when they need it, and it is easier for a small group to trust that the spoils, and resources of the group will be ready for use if and when needed.
A head of a household, we’ll say a knightly household, such as the House of the Zodiac (my own) or say House of the Phoenix, Sir Marcus Hussari. Sir Marcus has a squire, a knight, and several others. He is responsible for maintaining the equipment, food, lodging, safety, of all under his banner, as well as being able to give to the various poor, due to the tenants of the code of chivalry, and being able to offer hospitality to those of the peerage or nobility, such as myself in my more frequent visits, and Baron Polare who have both dropped in on occasion. Not only is Sir Marcus, or any knight in this case responsible for his charges, but they must be able to deal with the local authorities as well, and this responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of the knight, or leader of that household. Not just the Authorities, but the leaders of the various factions as well. If there is a mercenary company in the area, if there is a sorcerer’s guild in the area, or perhaps two bands of adventurers in the area. The head of the house must be able to deal with these leaders, and perhaps the occasional individual who does not belong to a group, or guild, or household. The head of house must be able to deal with these others in such a way, that all of those can unite in a common goal. More often than not as I have seen in my experience is that a cunning enemy will attempt to play factions against each other in an effort to delay repercussions, or to use unwitting groups with known enmity against each other. A respected head of a household, with a cool head when combined with several other competent leaders of various factions can remove this chink in the armour altogether, and make it even more difficult for an enemy to divide those who would stand against them.
Now we’ll take a larger, broader view. In this case we’ll say a Barony, such as Baron Lissenstine, or Baron Shikar, who have not only their immediate household to manage, but lands, and an estate as well. In addition to needed to outfit, equip and care for their immediate retinue, or retainers, we add in the equation of populace. For part of being a Baron, or a Lord is to look after, and maintain the lands to which you have been granted in the name of the crown.
So now we have the populace whose efforts go to fund taxes, and pay a tithe to the Lord, or Baron of the land since the land is not theirs, it is in fact the Lords, or Barons. That Lord, or Baron then in turn pays a tithe to their superior, we’ll say in this case that the tithes are paid directly to the Baron, and then from the Baron straight to the crown. This is not always the case, but will do for the purposes of this example. Much like a warchief of smaller peoples, the Baron, must be able to raise a fighting force in the event of war, or a hostile attack. In addition the Baron must provide either his guards, or constables to watch over the populace especially if they own significant property, and it would be impossible for just his household to manage the entire estate.
Now this may seem like a glorious post, and yes there are some advantages, but with these advantages comes an ever increasing amount of responsibility. A good Baron will supply granaries, and storehouses, to ensure that his people have enough to eat during the coming winter, competent and intelligent peasants will do this on their own, but in the event of a raid, or famine, or some other blight, the Lord of the lands must be ready to help when needed. Also this lord needs to be able to provide protection in the form of soldiers, guards, constables, scouts, and trackers. Bandits have a habit of cropping up after wars, and such when pensions run dry, and soldiers work is no longer needed.
The Baron must also be able to mediate the varied disputes that will crop up among his charges. Populous is populous regardless of race or gender. Disputes will arise as one pig wanders into the field of another farmer oblivious to the careful fencing, and branding to denote whose livestock is whose. Ultimately all of the populous upon the Lords lands are loyal to the Lord, and thusly loyal to the crown, but now we have compounded the responsibilities of running a small tightknit household with the potentially burgeoning responsibilities of managing acres and acres of land with potentially thousands of men, women, and children upon them.
There is of course higher levels of responsibility such as a Duke, or a crown prince, who in many bard’s tales are bumbling incompetent characters designed to provide a villainous persona for the ‘hero’ of the story to triumph against. And indeed many of us have met an insufferable royal, who has been sheltered by their tutors, and parents, and has no scope of the world at large. Certainly raising a royal heir with no grasp on the reality of the subjects of their kingdom or lands would be an ultimate failing of leadership, and I have a difficult time believing that such an instance would be allowed to occur.
A Duke, has we’ll say in this case a tremendous amount of lands, and a rather sizeable household. Now hopefully this duke has made several of his men, Lords and or Barons and bequeathed to them lands, and territories to manage, or perhaps he has several lords, knights, barons who have been given lands by the crown, and while these people may not be people from his household they have infact proven themselves to the crown.
So now the Duke has the same responsibilities as a Baron in terms of watching over the populace on his lands, and protecting them from harm. He must be able to levy a certain amount of troops for the crown in the event of war, and keep a certain amount of guards on hand to deal with banditry, marauding creatures, and patrol the lands since most of us do not live in an idyllic peaceful land where all creatures are united in song.

 

[krieger]

However the Dukes lands have a much higher populace, and more lands to manage hence the need for other Lords, and Barons under his command to manage the smaller territories. These Barons, and Lords give a tithe to their liege lord in this case the Duke, and that Duke in turn gives a tithe to the crown, or to whom they have sworn their fealty.
The Duke must be able to make command decisions that will effect the lives of tens of thousands subjects upon their lands, but also their Barons, Lords, Knights, guards, and all those to whom have sworn fealty to them, and so on. Let us say that a Duke has 5 knights that were at one time his squires or even just knights that have sworn fealty to him, then let us say that the Duke in question then has a score of men-at-arms, who are not squires, but they are not mere soldiers by any account. Men-at-arms are warriors who have sworn fealty to their Lord in question, and are generally more like a trusted retainer and generally have had to prove their martial prowess on several occasions. So now we have 5 knights, 20 men-at-arms, and let us say that each knight has but one squire, so now the Dukes immediate household consists of himself, 5 knights, 5 squires, 20 men-at-arms, and the ladies of the aforementioned knights, and the Lady of the house. So just to keep things simple, we’ll say now 60 total. Now we’ll say that this Duke has 5 Barons, to watch over 5 different counties of his domain. We’ll say that each Baron, has 5 knights, 5 squires, and 20 men-at-arms, well now that is 60 people times 5 some 300 people 25 knights, 25 squires, 100 men-at-arms, and the consorts, of all the aforementioned. Plus the 60 of the Duke’s household. Of course this is a generalization, and not every baron is going to have that many knights, or men-at-arms, but there are some knights that have several squires, and some lords, who have no knights, but hundreds of men-at-arms. Now let us say that each baron has 5 Lords, to manage the various territories, and each Lord has a knight, a squire, and 5 men at arms. So that is 7 times 5 which gives us 35 more knights, squires, and men-at-arms, for each baron, and there are 5 barons, which brings us up to an additional 175 people, and doubled for their various consorts, so now 350 on top of the 300. Ultimately 650 sworn, knights, squires, Nobles, and their consorts, who are expected to be able to show up to a battlefield, tourney, or festival fully equipped, armed, and ready to go.
The Duke is ultimately responsible for this. True, the various Lords, and Barons are responsible for their knights, men-at-arms, and those knights responsible for their squires, but at the end of the day, if someone does not show up to a field with their kit, and there are no spares around to lend, then the fault who ever it may rest upon, the poor reflection is cast upon the Lord who is responsible. This may be significantly lessened in the case of a squire, or a knight not having their kit, as they are a peer, or a lord, and are expected to act like an adult and have their act together, but for example if a thousand foot soldiers appear on the field in nothing but quilted armour, and sharpened sticks for spears then this will reflect very poorly upon the lord who has conscripted them.
Now this is just the households, and various leaders. All of the nobles in question are expected to show up to a field with all of theirs at their disposal. But we also have to take into account, the Constables, Magistrates, Seneschals, Guards, Tax collectors, Scribes, Cooks, Scullery boys, and other assorted peoples required to make not just a house but towns, and in some cases cities function. A small farmstead may not require much attention other than the occasional patrol of guardsmen coming by to make sure that there are no bandits, or needs of the populace, and perhaps a Tax collector. However on a border town, guards will be needed around the clock, plus defences. Constables for keeping the peace within the walls, magistrates, to deal with the problems of the populace, dispense judgement, and enforce the various laws, and customs. All of these people are needed to keep towns, villages, and cities safe, or at the very least liveable so that life can continue.
Now we come to the populace itself. The farmers, tradesmen, and assorted others that form the bulk of the populace upon which the lords depend to be the meat and bones of the Duchy. Without the farmers grain cannot be harvested, cows milked, cheese made, butter churned, livestock raised. Without the tradesmen, there are no tools made, no wine to drink, no clothes sewn, no pails to put said milk in, no firewood, no lumber to make new structures, and so on, and so on. These hard working peoples need others in turn to make tools for them, and provide creature comforts, such as a tavern, and inn for travelers. A local watering hole for locals to commiserate in the after hours of their day, entertainers, merchants, vendors, cooks, butchers, tailors, cobblers, and so on. These folks have wives, children, and in many cases elders to look after, feed, and clothe. These people are generally too poor to afford their own, arms, and armour, and certainly too poor to afford hiring their own guards unless they are very, very successful, or extremely cutthroat business men. The populace in exchange for their taxes, and hard work, should be able to reasonably rely upon their guards, magistrates, and local Lords for protection against bandits, marauding creatures, and other calamities. Certainly a power hungry necromancer showing up may be somewhat harder for a few guardsmen to handle, but that is why there are knights, militia’s, and conscripts. Also the populace should prepare what they can in the events of drought, and famine, but they should reasonably be able to turn to their lords in case of calamity, for protection, and succour.
The simple reality of the matter is that these lands are in the persons control because in these days, we really can only control what we can defend. Even farmers whom may not be credible threats on the field but at least can hold a pike wall, or have some rudimentary understanding of the arts martial can be granted lands simply on the premise that they can defend them, and thusly produce food, and pay taxes. The vast majority of us live in a relatively unstable and turbulent world, where marauding monsters, undead, and other fouler things are commonplace, and a constant threat.