How often do we switch on the TV news hoping that a political issue has been resolved and find that it has not? No, the Conservatives Members of Parliament have not been able to debate a motion of No Confidence in their Party Leader who is also Prime Minister. Later: yes, they have debated such a motion but she has survived it. Next: the House of Commons will debate BREXIT (British exit from the European Union) next Tuesday. Then: that debate is postponed while the Prime Minister tours Europe, trying to get a better deal. Then: European leaders say that there is no better deal.
There is a similar indecisiveness in Chapter 14. While the Lann besiege Dalestown, the Dalesmen's Council discusses Carl's breaking of taboo. There are speeches, threats of violence, a vote and a compromise. Carl, although not Tom or Owl, remains in prison although not, for the time being, under sentence of death. To resolve the plot of the novel, he must be rescued, return to the City, restore scientific knowledge and dispel superstition for both Dalesmen and Lann.
The church-state conflict is still present. When Carl asks the Council to lift the taboo, the High Doctor shouts that it is heresy to suggest that the Council can not only make the laws of men but also change the laws of the gods. Although most Dalesmen do not know what "heresy" is, the conflict remains. The concluding chapter is optimistically entitled "Twilight of the Gods."
Of interest:
all tribesmen, but not tribeswomen, are members of the Council;
because of the siege, members attend armed - an usual way to conduct proceedings and nearly fatal.
8 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
PM Theresa May has survived this motion of "no confidence," but for how much longer, given the anger and discontent against her in the Conservative Party? And what good will this junketing around Europe do May if she is not going to get the kind of Brexit her party wants? I another vote on a motion of "no confidence" coming in the not too distant future!
And the closest I can find among pagan religions for the concept of "heresy" would be the Aten heresy of Pharaoh Akhenaten, in the later XVIII Dynasty of Egypt. That king promoted the worship of the Aten over all other gods, whose shrines and temples he defaced. Almost needless to say, after Akhenaten died, the priests of Amon-Ra and the other gods ousted the cult of the Aten and erased the names of the Heretic King.
Sean
Kaor, Paul!
I forgot to add that I was surprised to read that all males (adults, I presume) were members of the Council of the Dales. My thought is that would make the Council too large and cumbersome to ACT decisively. I would think it more likely that certain leaders would be ex officio members and others would be elected to the Council.
Sean
Sean,
If you reread Chapter 14, you might find that it is a bit more fine-tuned than I implied. I am busy with Christmas preparations at present.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
You had me thinking this was like the Scandinavian "things," which all adult males of the shire or region it had jurisdiction over could attend.
Sean
Sean,
The opening sentence of Chapter 14 somewhat ambiguous.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
The opening paragraph of Chapter 14 of VAULT OF THE AGES runs thus: "Under the law of the Dales, every tribesman was a member of the Council and could attend its meetings on summons of the Chief if he chose, to help make new laws and reach important decisions. The Council was also the highest court, though ordinary trials were given over to a jury of elders. But this was to be no common proceeding, and the criers and drums of the meeting had been calling since dawn."
The opening sentence, literally construed, does say every man of the Dales tribe was a member of the Council, presided over by the Chief, and attendance was not mandatory. Which I interpret to mean that, in peaceful times, only a fairly small number of tribesmen attended. The first sentence continues to remind me of the Scandinavian things. I also noted how trials judging ordinary crimes were delegated to a jury of elders (probably with a right of appeal to the Chief and full Council).
I'm pretty sure Poul Anderson had the Scandinavian system of the early Middle Ages in mind. It might have worked, at least sometimes, because we know Scandinavian things did work, at least for several centuries.
Sean
Sean,
"...could attend its meetings on the summons of the Chief if he chose..." seems a bit contradictory.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Once you pointed that out, I finally saw what you meant. Yes, the bit you quoted would logically mean that attendance at Council meetings was at least desirable, even mandatory.
Sean
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