Patronage and Social Interaction (in the Bardic Arts and Elsewhere)

          Be noble! and the nobleness that lies
          In other men, sleeping but never dead,
          Will rise in majesty to meet thine own.
			James Russell Lowell. 1819-1891.

Let us speak first of nobility. What is nobility?

The Noble is in command of their own time and resources, judges himself and his actions by his own standards, and does things to do them well.

The Servant does things to please another, judges himself and his actions by another person's standards, and does things to get them done.

Nobles often also serve. Noble service occurs whenever one volunteers to serve and when one's own standards exceed the expectations of those who one is serving.

To perceive or apprehend clearly and certainly; to understand; to have full information of; as, to know one's duty.
To be acquainted with; to be no stranger to; to be more or less familiar with the person, character, etc., of; to possess experience of; as, to know an author; to know the rules of an organization. (Webster)

To know is therefore to have a relationship with the subject. To be noble is to have a relationship with the world and people around you. A relationship of understanding and respect. It is this special and quite real relationship that transcends the game we play and makes it something more. We are not just here to learn history, or study strategy, or do cool crafts, but also to call forth this thing from within ourselves.

Irene says "The Persona is fictional, the nobility is real."

Patronage is ultimately the act of standing in a noble relationship to someone else, an artist, a student, or anyone, and encouraging them to strive for their own nobility.

1) Definitions
	Bardic Arts

	Owen's Law
	Venue
	Arena
	etc
	
2) What a patron did then
3) What a patron does now
	Time attention and respect

Optional (are we talking to bards or everyone)?

4) Typology of performance contexts (venues) in period
	Heroic-Genealogical
	Romantic-Courtly
	Popular-Foolish
	(Law/History) -- mostly tied to Genealogical

	Secular vs Sacred performance

	Sacred:	Liturgical and Non-Liturgical

	Differences of time and space not rigorous
		(Iceland vs. Provence)
		
5) How To 
	be a patron
	find a patron
	encourage a patron
	

 	Speaking Well
	Tropes -- mythic underpinnings of action	
	Enobling behavoir
		economic vs patronal relationships