Djansha would be admirable and prestigious if she were:
Christian;
of good birth;
Catalonian-speaking.
Otherwise, she remains a slave whom other men might borrow so there is no point in dressing her well.
A priest who baptizes her will "...expect a substantial donation..." (p. 108) but Lucas has many other expenses and, if she relapses, she will be punished, even burned.
Thus, Christianity has become not a spiritual path but part of the bureaucracy of a repressive society.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
It's only fair to say not all Christians of the time of ROGUE SWORD were so venal. Think of Brother Hugh or En Jaime himself!
I also recall what Stirling said about many states of that being surprisingly weak and making up for that with ferocity.
Ad astra! Sean
Also, Christianity was an ethnic marker, a sign of in-group status (as being Catholic or Protestant is in Ulster: hence the old joke, "Yes, but are you a Catholic or a Protestant atheist?")
Religion in a society like that is not a matter of private belief, and there's no 'buffet' of ideas you can chose from. If you're a member of society, you have to embrace its defining ideology and conform to its rituals -- otherwise you're excluded, and being excluded led to Very Bad Things.
Until quite recently, people in many parts of Europe -- it lingered longer in the Balkans -- "Christian" was used as a synonym for "human being".
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree. And, Poul Anderson, in one of his letters to me, wrote as well that conversion to Christianity meant that peoples like the Scandinavians and Lithuanians were able to take a full part and share in an expanding and rising new civilization.
Needless to say, that did not mean many converts could not also sincerely believe in the teachings and doctrines of Christianity.
Ad astra! Sean
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