Chain of Fealty

A Chain of Fealty is a plain, undecorated chain, gold in color, usually worn as a necklace, but occasionally as a small chain hanging from a badge. It shows that the person has sworn fealty. It is not considered proper for any person who hasn't sworn fealty to wear an unadorned gold chain, since it would be confusing.

In the SCA the Chain of Fealty is traditionally reserved for the Chivalry, however some Kingdoms extend this right to Kingdom Officers, all Peers who have sworn fealty and sometimes those of the general populace who have sworn fealty. In these Kingdoms the links in the Chains of Fealty worn by those who are not knights tend to be smaller, in order to differentiate them from what many in the Chivalry feel are "their chains".

Some Kingdoms have a custom of allowing Squires to wear an unadorned silver chain to indicate their fealty to their Knight.

In some places, it is traditional to pass on Chains of Fealty, or occasionally individual links, to newly made peers who have sworn fealty.

In the Kingdom of Lochac, a particular style of chain with links in the form of the letters SF has become one of the accepted ways in which Peers or Kingdom Officers who are either in permanent fealty or are required to swear fealty by their office, can signal their state of fealty.