[MR] "Their High table"

[Kelly Keck]

On 8/20/07, Telara at aol.com <Telara at aol.com> wrote:
>
> The point is this - if people are at an event and do a wonderful thing and
> are invited to sit at High table - excuse me but that person has already
> paid
> for their entrance and feast. The people attending are paid up when they
> come
> through troll for the day. THAT is not the issue.


Based on HRH Logan's letter to the Acorn and to the Merry Rose, it appears
that the royalty have occasionally asked people to sit at high table who had
not *planned* on staying for feast. And They did not want people to be
denied the honor of sitting at high table or to have to scrounge for cash in
that specific situation.

It sounds from Rebecca's post, however, as though people who **know in
advance** that they will be at high table have assumed that their feast seat
is free, and in some cases that their event attendance is as well.  She
wrote "There are many people who come to an event as X or Y's guest and
don't troll in assuming they have the right to be free."

There is a huge difference there.  The one is a contingency plan to avoid
ruining a special moment for someone who hadn't planned to stay for feast.
But to assume or expect to eat for free when one is not Royalty (or whatever
other individuals a given group usually comps) is very rude.

The issue is royal "guests" which royals are requesting be comp'ed. You can
> pretty this up all you want, but the High table is not the property of the
> royals unless the royals sitting there have paid for and provided ALL the
> food
> being cooked.


That is a good point.  It is Their table in the sense that They determine
who sits there, not in the sense that They have provided the meal.  Nor is
the money of a given Barony (including the money to be spent on a feast) the
property of the royalty, for Them to determine how it is spent.  That is,
the honor of sitting at high table is the royalty's to bestow--the food
itself is not.

Remember, in medieval times the High table in a hall was the
> master's table. All he looked at through his windows and in his hall, he
> owned. All
> he provided came from what he owned. That is NOT the case here. The
> populace
> is footing the bill for an event, as is the barony or canton. This major
> distinction must be remembered when discussing this issue.


Very true.  If it were the Middle Ages, no one would be paying to attend
events, as this would all come from the King's or Baron's wealth.  But since
our royalty don't own lands in the real world, the money, as you said, comes
instead from the populace and the local group.

Adriana