"Lord" Diarmuit (Re: Did anyone go to the Northkeep Investiture)

[Burke McCrory]

At 06:20 PM 11/26/96 -0600, you wrote:
><Diarmuit>
>BTW, as an interesting aside (note, I am simply relating this, not
>advocating it), if you were to take the Current SCA Rank Structure,
>lose the "Lord" thing below the Peerage Level, drop the Knights, Pelicans
>and Laurels out of the Peerage, to form the "Knightly Rank", and then having 
>a Peerage made up of Barons (Landed and Court), Kings, Dukes, and Counts. Oh
>yes, and consider only those people without and AoA as freeborn peasants
>(everyone between the Peerage and the Commoners would be "gentry" IOW
>low-rent nobility), you would have a rank structure that would more 
>accurately reflect a medieval example, in numbers that would better reflect
>the percentages of Aristocrats to Nobility.
>

Diarmuit, one of the basic beliefs that runs through the SCA is that no one
is a peasant or slave, we are all at least gentry.  This has been a
foundation element since before I joined the SCA some 18 years ago.  I know
that there are those who ignore this, but for the most part it has served
us well for these many years.  Imagine an SCA with true peasants or slaves
being treated in mostly authentic ways.  The damage to our PR alone would
be to great to conceive.  While I am sure that there are people out there
who could pull off the representation without offending anyone, I know that
there are a greater number who would let it go to their heads.

To put this idea in a more historical perspective. If your persona had
saved the life of a person who was drowning in a river. Only to discover it
was a member of the royal household or maybe even a member of the royal
family, it is quite possible that the king could have granted you a title
as thanks.  I think that given the relationship of King to subject, that
your persona would have accepted the title with thanks.  To do otherwise
would possibly provoke the king's anger and ended up with you in the
dungeon.  

The SCA awards structure is a balance between a system that recreates, as
benignly as possible, the rank structure in western Europe, at the same
time trying to recognize those whose service and skills should be
commended.  It is not a perfect system and we all seem to be constantly
looking for ways to improve it.  

Many years ago there was a gentleman who's service to the crown and kingdom
more than deserved an AOA.  When HRM Sif tried to recognized him with an
AOA he declined.  Several years later HRM Simon came to Mooneschadowe
Guardian.  During the Royal Court held that evening he had Friar Peter
called before him to again give him the award he so richly deserved.
Again, Friar Peter tried to refuse this honor, saying that he was a simple
Friar and that title had no meaning to him.  HRM Simon said that he
understood this but that the work Friar Peter had performed more that
deserved this award.  He said that the award would be entered into the
books and that the Crown would hold the award for Friar Peter.  For the
next two years (until med school took him away from us) Friar Peter simply
ignored the title that was rightfully his.  He would no allow it to be
announced  in court nor take the precedence that it gave.  He treated it
much like an title that might have been held by a real monk, put aside when
one enters the service of the church.  

All this leads me up to this.  Your work in Northkeep and Mooneschadowe
over the years proves that you are deserving of this recognition.  If the
title causes you difficulty within you persona you could simple ignore
it(the title) or as Viscount Galen has said you can resign it to the BOD.
But don't miss the whole point of this, You have greatly contributed to the
groups where you have lived and people (including me even though I was not
aware of the award before court) wanted to recognize you for it, and say
thank you.