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Richard, Count of Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine, turns his back on his father and pays homage to Philip II, King of the Franks (AD 1188).

A somewhat spicy reimagining of a significant event during the conflict between Henry II and Richard. Richard allying himself with Philip would have significant consequences on his relationship with his father, and the two of them would put pressure on the old king until basically his death. The symbolism of homage and the bonds between men, of submission and service, have an intensity to them that is fun to play with in an erotic context.

Homage on the other hand proclaimed the one who swore to be the vassal, the 'man' (homo) of the one to whom he swore. But the oaths of homage took many forms. Homage could be sworn 'against all other men' or with reservations. It could bind the vassal to many obligations or to few. There was invariably in all oaths of homage the implication that the landed endowment the vassal enjoyed belonged in some sense to the lord to whom the oath was sworn; but in what sense the land belonged to the lord was often hard to determine. (Henry II by W.L. Warren, p. 225)