"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Monday 16 June 2014

The Link is Not Missing

The Town of Irvine is very old. So old nobody has been able to unearth its beginnings. It is older than Christianity.

The street I mentioned in the pervious post,  " Glasgow  Vennel"  It was a very short street and the gateway into and  out of the town.

In mediaeval times, the town was patrolled by a night watchman after the gate was closed.

Only people who lived in the town were  Freemen and entitled to make a living in the town.

A person who  could hide and live in the town for a certain period  could  become a  Freeman.

King James, not sure which one,  made Irvine a Royal burgh. That entitled them  to have a  school named the Royal Academy. It was intended to educate and have the right to set up their own assizes.

The King would not then have to include Irvine on his rounds  of court decisions.

People  living outside the burgs were not  Freemen. They were owned by The Lairds. The Clan Chieftains.

Serfs  owned nothing. They farmed  small crofts and delivered 75 precent of harvest to the Laird. Sons were required to serve in the Laird's  army when he decided to go out and fight his neighbour or had to defend his turf .

It was called the feudal system. Not much different to slavery.

Except that they could not be bought or sold. Kind of like the Spartans and helots.

I believe in Canada's beginnings, records exist of "indentured servants." That's
when a parent sold a child to an employer for a period of labour, unpaid to the child.

Also slightly similar to slavery when tribal chiefs sold young people of the tribe into slavery for life.

Not unlike  children of poverty sent to Canada by the British government to solve the poverty  problem in the U.K. during the industrial revolution.

Somewhat similar to countries that still have child labour and no laws to protect them.

I have known survivors  of the U.K. scheme to fight poverty. It's not that long ago,

I think it may well have a link  to Spartans.

And helots ,who were required to  surrender  everything they worked for to support the elite and friends  of the elite.

Of course,  I have no academic credentials.

No body of research to  support the connection.

Only an abiding passion for understanding the human condition. How we got here from there.

Where  we go from here?

With  a Blog

17 comments:

Anonymous said...


Doubt we will ever return to serfhood, but the markets and world events paint a rather complex picture.

Anonymous said...

Lord Simcoe was so impressed with his stint here that he named places after his wife's dogs. I guess we should be grateful that they were fairly inoffensive names .

Anonymous said...

John Graves Simcoe was never a lord. The only Lord Simcoe was a Toronto hotel.

Anonymous said...

I am rather fond of Utopia, Ontario

Anonymous said...

Thank you 16:43
I was thinking of my kids' old text book & got that wrong.

Anonymous said...


"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair....."

Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities

History seems to repeat itself.

Anonymous said...

Evelyn please publish this comment.I have known David Heard for about 20 years.The letter in the Auroran was cheap and ignorant.David does have a legitimate challenge.Did the Chair of the market get someone to sign her letter?

Anonymous said...

Fontana resigns - press conference thurs.

Anonymous said...

9:03
No biggy. He’ll be retiring with a nice pension from working for the Liberals as a cabinet minister since the 80’s. There won’t be any jail time. It’s amazing that that he’s losing his job over $1700 and the provincial Libs get squat for the $Billions that were stolen.

Anonymous said...

He thinks if he resigns & is no longer in office, that will impact on his sentencing. And it might. But what can he say at a press conference ?
" It was just a bookkeeping error " or
" The Devil made me do it " ?

Anonymous said...

Green Sky is not a Good Thing
If the sky looks scuzzy green today , do not stop to take a picture of it
Take cover

Anonymous said...

My goodness. There seems to be a real problem for councillors to make decisions tonight. Could it possibly be because we are in an election period & the Hydro fund is seen as the answer to every conundrum ? The Chamber of Commerce even took a year off for their meetings because of lack of enthusiasm amongst its members. They can work around the ice time.

Anonymous said...

a correction to an earlier comment:
the Chamber cancelled their Awards & annual big mtg. due to lack of interest. Not all their mtgs.

Anonymous said...

@1145
Welcome to democracy
Control the media and you can get away with squandering billions

Anonymous said...

Dogs over children tisk tisk

Anonymous said...

Excuse me please. Why was 83 George Street on the Agenda ?

Anonymous said...

19:24. Unfortunately, so true.