THE SCENE: The rules of discipline for the feasting halls of the King Knut (Canute) the Great sound more appropriate for a modern day frat house than a royal court.
THE TEXT: This then was the custom among the retainers of times gone by: if [one of the retainers] was charged three times with the same dishonest offence and convicted on the testimony of two fellow-warriors, it was decided that he should be seated one place downwards in the dining hall. For it was the custom that the warriors should sit in places assigned to them according to their claim to worth, whether by seniority in age or by the higher nobility of their descent, so that the elders and betters took the more honourable places. Clearly, therefore, no man could be moved from his usual seat without shame and dishonour. Furthermore, if any man’s persistent audacity should mark him as incorrigible after three offences, and he should refuse to come to his senses, they decreed that he should be seated last of all, and pelted with bones at any man’s pleasure. Moreover, no man will share either food or drink with him. He is to be content with his own dish and cup, all by himself.
– The Law of the Retainers of Court, Sven Aggesen, 12th Century AD
