Final Thoughts.

The question we asked at the beginning of this 'exercise' was:

During the 12th Century, the Knights Chivalry Code was an important part of society and every day living. In our modern age, we ask if the code will still be accepted? If so, does it still have a part to play?

I suppose that my answer would be no, it doesn't have any part to play. On the whole the quests we were asked to perform were for entertainment only and the few that genuinely helped people were usually suggestions of our own.

So, why is this the case?

I believe that the reason why most quests were entertainment based was for several reasons that I have mentioned earlier in this blog but will outline here again:

a) The environment was very commercial and consumer based. When shopping, people very rarely need help worthy of a quest beyond 'carry this shopping' (which no one went for anyway). Instead they want to match the bright and jovial atmosphere around them with some light entertainment.

b) The current generation has been brought up being told that everyone is equal, no one needs help and to ask if a stranger needs assistance is either politically incorrect or patronising. Therefore, people were shocked by us asking if they needed help and would either deny needing help or come up with something just to get rid of us.

c) People believed that there was a catch. In this day and age people believe that nothing comes free, so to be asked if there is anything we could do for them the public would choose a small quest that 'wouldn't cost as much' until they realised we didn't accept payment.

d) We are too bloody British (it's okay...I'm not a knight anymore...I can swear all I like...damnit). No one wants to put anyone out by asking for something big. I often wondered over the last couple of weeks what would happen in different cultures such as USA.

Anyway those were my findings, if there are any questions about the whole exercise contact me on Facebook or at nh228@ex.ac.uk.

Many thanks.

Final Day's Questing.

And so the brave and gallant knights rode forth once more into the High Street for a final quest...

We finally got to wear our suits for the day's questing and I must say we looked very handsome. We had frequently hoped for rain whilst questing in order to explore the change in requests that we believed would occur and luckily on the final day our prayers were answered. Unfortunately, due to the heavy rain, the usual approach of engaging the public in light discussion about what we were doing was changed to:

'Hi-there-I'm-from-Exeter-University-I'm-studying-Drama-can-I-have-a-moment-of-your-t...'

before said member of the public walked off with an excuse like 'parking running out', 'late for a meeting' or simply 'no'.

Luckily for us, two young students from Exeter College stopped and gave us time enough to explain what we were doing and we got our first quest of the day. Much to our 'surprise', the quest involved the large umbrella over our heads. We were asked to give the two students shelter from the rain from opposite the Exeter Riddle Sculpture to the Exeter College building on Queen Street. The two students we silent for a good deal of the time but we did manage to get some information from them. For instance we found that they were studying music at college and were about to go into their final examinations which would involve a performance of a couple of songs by bands like Metallica and The Ramones. We arrived at the destination with our questees dry, much hand shaking occurred and we left with a sense of pride in a quest well done.

Having been thoroughly soaked and in need of a warm drink we decided to call it a day and head home. Wimps.

Final Thoughts:

It turns out that rain doesn't make people want to stop and talk to you. Funny that.

Saturday's Questing.

The day's questing began as usual at Next, where Exeter's East Gate once stood. We meandered along the High Street towards our first stopping point opposite the Exeter Riddle Sculpture created by Michael Fairfax. We fruitlessly stood awaiting our first quest of the day until a young woman handing out fliers for the restaurant Tiger Bill's Bar and Grill attempted to hand us a leaflet. We quickly turned the tables on her and she ended up asking us for a quest which was to hand out some of the leaflets for her. I must say here that I was much worse at this than Joe, who has had experience in this particular field. I also blame my rather unapproachable appearance for the lack of leaflets handed out.
After this quest we walked slowly towards Tesco looking for more people. We performed a small quest here for a friend of a friend that involved Joe performing a hand stand...whoop. I still find it odd that despite being offered the chance to have anything done for them (such as carry the shopping for the day) people will still choose the trivial, lightly entertaining task instead.
We continued along the High Street until we approached the Mint Methodist Church where we noticed that there was a group packing up the church fete/sale. We originally passed the group until we decided that knights would certainly offer services to the Church so we approached them and asked if we could help. The quest was to help one stall pack up, this involved taking a couple of tables back into the church and carrying a large, heavy box inside as well (the latter job being given to Joe, naturally).
Having suitably exhausted ourselves we decided to head back to the Exeter Riddle Sculpture and stand for a little longer and then call it a day. Here we were only approached only once but unfortunately the request would have taken us a fair way out of the city center despite the woman's beliefs. Here we called it a day due to the unbelievable heat and massively inappropriate footwear (note to self: next time wear shoes without holes).

The Day's Thoughts:

I found it odd that despite there being many more people in the High Street than our first day of questing, less people approached us and showed interest. This may well have been because of the high concentration of street performers in the High Street meaning that the public may have become desensitised to the 'unusual' or 'misplaced'.

I also wondered if the environment we were operating in had any affect on the kind of request we received. For instance, the environment we were working in on Saturday was a highly commercial and consumer based area which would explain why many people believed we were asking for money in exchange for a quest. However, in the more relaxed environment of the Cathedral Green, people were asking mostly for entertainment requests such as songs or dances. I wondered what would happen if we took ourselves to areas like a beach or an industrial estate.

A relation to me (strangely enough bearing the same second name) had a theory about why our requests were mostly entertainment based. I shall quote directly:

"It's a very British thing to do, because people don't want to feel like they're making you go to a lot of trouble, also they may think that although you say anything you wouldn't do it if they suggested something like go to Scotland and bring me back a haggis"

(Some other Henderson, via Facebook)

The First Day Questing.

The days questing started slowly in the High Street with very few people stopping us and asking about what we were doing, this led to a rather worrying thought of not having anything to present by the end of the two weeks. However, we pressed on and headed towards Tesco and entered the crowds surrounding the entrance. Success, two young men asked us if we would perform the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet which we were happy to do.
I then decided that the best place to find people might be the green surrounding the Cathedral so we gallantly headed off towards it. Several quests were completed here including Joe proposing to a local elder whilst I sang (rather poorly) 'I Will Always Love You', Joe and myself singing Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen to most of the students on the green and a rather shabby performance of YMCA with Joe on my shoulders.
Because people just started requesting songs which began to steer away from the idea of knightly deeds, Joe and myself left the green and headed towards the McCoy's Arcade, hoping to meet some interesting types. Here we met a rather young couple sitting outside one of the shops who didn't have a quest for us but were very keen on talking about our thoughts on modern day chivalry and the theme of the young boy's photography project: 'timeless'.
After finding no one else near the McCoy's Arcade we decided that we should head onto Campus and see what happened. We popped into Thornlea on the way to rest our feet and I performed a quest for an unnamed Drama student by reading a book on Grotowski aloud to him so he didn't have to read it himself.
Having trudged up to campus, very few people were about so we decided to call it a day and head home. A few interesting points came to mind during the days questing that I will outline here and hopefully explore later:

Firstly we noticed a large difference in ages when it came to requests. Young teenagers and adults over about 25 gave interesting and often thoughtful ideas to us whereas people in our age range would often suggest ridiculous ideas.
We also found it interesting that most people when offered the chance to have ANYTHING done for them would go for a purely entertainment based request. This could possibly be because of the highly entertainment driven generation that we are, possibly not. Hopefully later trips will reveal more about this.

First Post: The Rules.

First of all, I will post up the version of the Code of Chivalry that both Joe and myself will be using when out 'questing':

First, the 'ten commandments' of Chivalry:

• Thou shalt believe all that the Church teaches, and shalt observe all its directions.
• Thou shalt defend the Church.
• Thou shalt repect all weaknesses, and shalt constitute thyself the defender of them.
• Thou shalt love the country in the which thou wast born.
• Thou shalt not recoil before thine enemy.
• Thou shalt make war against the Infidel without cessation, and without mercy.
• Thou shalt perform scrupulously thy feudal duties, if they be not contrary to the laws of God.
• Thou shalt never lie, and shall remain faithful to thy pledged word.
• Thou shalt be generous, and give largess to everyone.
• Thou shalt be everywhere and always the champion of the Right and the Good against Injustice and Evil.

Next up is an extensive list of the dos and don'ts of Chivalry:

• Live to serve King and Country.
• Live to defend Crown and Country and all it holds dear.
• Live one's life so that it is worthy of respect and honor.
• Live for freedom, justice and all that is good.
• Never attack an unarmed foe.
• Never use a weapon on an opponent not equal to the attack.
• Never attack from behind.
• Avoid lying to your fellow man.
• Avoid cheating.
• Avoid torture.
• Obey the law of king, country, and chivalry.
• Administer justice.
• Protect the innocent.
• Exhibit self control.
• Show respect to authority.
• Respect women.
• Exhibit Courage in word and deed.
• Defend the weak and innocent.
• Destroy evil in all of its monstrous forms.
• Crush the monsters that steal our land and rob our people.
• Fight with honor.
• Avenge the wronged.
• Never abandon a friend, ally, or noble cause.
• Fight for the ideals of king, country, and chivalry.
• Die with valor.
• Always keep one's word of honor.
• Always maintain one's principles.
• Never betray a confidence or comrade.
• Avoid deception.
• Respect life and freedom.
• Die with honor.
• Exhibit manners.
• Be polite and attentive.
• Be respectful of host, women, and honor.
• Loyalty to country, King, honor, freedom, and the code of chivalry.
• Loyalty to one's friends and those who lay their trust in thee.

(Both lists taken from http://www.astro.umd.edu/~marshall/chivalry.html, 07/05/2008)

With the exception of the rule about making war with the 'infadel', Joe and myself shall be adhering to this code as closely as possible.