Lion of Ansteorra

[dennis grace]

Greetings, Cosyns,

Lyonel ici.

For the largest part, I can add little to Aquilanne's response to Sir
Galen's helpful posting on this matter, so forgive me if I snip all the
stuff I agree with

<snip>

in order to question one tiny point.

>The Lion of Ansteorra certainly could be awarded in absentia, although I
>would be very surprised to see it.  It would be like making a peer by
>proxy -- you could do it, but the award will happen sooner or later
>anyway.  Justice delayed may be justice denied, but SCA honors
>will usually come sooner or later to those who are truly worthy.

In response to this, allow me to cite Mistress Meadhbh's earlier posting:
"I am sure many a worthy candidate did not receive this wonderful honor due
to just that....an inability to be at the right place at the right time.
And who knows if the succeeding crown will see fit to bestow that award on
that person. I know this is a personal decision for the crown, but I too
find it a bit harsh to deny honoring an individual because they could not be
present to receive the
award."

Perhaps I'm missing a subtle distinction between the Lions of Atenvedt and
Ansteorra, but I understood the Lion to be an award given entirely at the
discretion of the Crown.  In the case of a peerage, succeeding Crowns have
the collective consciousness and memory of the peer circles to ensure that
some Crown eventually recognizes an as-yet unrecognized peer.  As you, Sir
Galen, have noted, Crowns do not necessarily share a common vision with
regard to the Lion.  For that reason, I would have to second Mistress
Meadhbh's concern that an unrecognized Lion might remain so.

Yours in Cheerful Virtual Service

Sir Lyonel Oliver Grace
_____________________________
Dennis Grace
University of Texas at Austin
English Department
Recovering Medievalist
amazing at mail.utexas.edu

The banana is great, but the skin of the banana is greater still.
                                                        -George Orwell