[Ansteorra] Principality?
HerrDetlef at aol.com
HerrDetlef at aol.com
Mon Apr 24 21:31:30 PDT 2006
Oh Lord. This thread just refuses to die. Since I lost my wand that I could
wave and make all this go away, I guess I will jump into the fray with my own
two Groschen.
I looked up the SCA geography today, just out of curiosity, and this is what
I came up (I may be missing some things here):
Out of eighteen kingdoms currently in the SCA, three were never
principalities (they were founded as kingdoms), and sixteen were principialities before
they became kingdoms.
There are currently six principalities today: three in the West (which have
been in existence as long as I can remember) and three in An Tir (founded
within the last ten years). That's only two kingdoms that currently have
principalities.
Now, this doesn't prove that "principality" automatically means "incipient
kingdom", but it does demonstrate a high correlation between one and the other.
If the rationale behind forming a principality or two is simply so that the
visitation load on the Crown can be lightened, well, that's really not
convincing enough. That purpose is served by the tradition of allowing landed barons
and baronesses to usurp certain royal prerogatives (such as holding chancery
courts and awarding arms to worthy individuals). Local groups or individuals
can also pitch in to help the Crown with travel and accomodation expenses so
that they can attend events in the far reaches of the kingdom. I guess the
question here would be this one: What would forming a principality in Ansteorra
achieve that could NOT be done without said formation?
My impression has always been that a cluster of local groups forms a
principality when they see themselves collectively as culturally distinct from the
rest of the kingdom. A principality is a regional identity, if not a national
one, not only in the SCA but also in mundanity. Do we have that in Ansteorra?
I know that proximity does influence many people's event attendance patterns,
but we really don't have any regional identities here. One of the cool things
about Ansteorra is our basic unified nationality, and most people would be
loath to compromise that simply to solve issues that can be solved by other
means. Talk of principalities in this kingdom has rarely accomplished much beyond
a rash of hard feelings and distrust among the populace.
Ansteorra has a great thing going with the fact that we can operate just fine
without principalities. I cannot think of a soul who plays SCA in Ansteorra
who would seriously entertain identifying themselves as something other than
Ansteorran, at least beyond the identify of the local group. I am an
Ansteorran exactly as much as my friends in Namron (for example) are, or the good folks
living in Bonwicke. We are of the same blood. We react in much the same way
when we see a ten-pointed star on a gold flag. We are Ansteorrans. And we
are family. (Okay, I'm being mushy......but this is a family without factions.
That's the point I am trying in my clumsy way to make.) That camraderie is
a significant part of what identifies us to the rest of the Knowne Worlde. I
wouldn't trade that for anything.
P.S., long story short: we don't have anything resembling the kind of
regional identity in Ansteorra that would entice a whole group of people to think of
themselves as anything other than Ansteorrans. Without that, there really is
no reason to open that can of worms here. Creating a principality for the
wrong reasons can only spell disaster. Only my opinion; you can take it or
leave it and I won't be offended.
Peace, y'all!
Detlef
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