ANST - Order of the Pelican...

[Dennis Grace]

Salut, Cosyns,

Lyonel aisai.

Sorry for quoting this entire missive, but I want to do this gentleman's
questions justice, and the paragraph are a bit too well integrated to allow
line-by-line responses.

Pug writes:
>  First I will disclaim here at the beginning, that this might (hell,
>  probably will) offend Peers, particularly Pelicans, if they are
>  at all sensitive to receive criticism from those not worthy enough
>  to do so. I am not talking about any individuals here, but rather
>  the Peerages as a group.
>
>  After going home and thinking about what people had said on the list,
>  as well as in private, I think I got even more concerned and discouraged
>  by this weekends occurrence. Not to mention the trend that Viscount Galen
>  pointed out.
>
>  First off, while sitting in the corner of court that I was, I
>  noticed about a half dozen knights and several Laurels throughout
>  the court, and I only know a small portion of these Orders. Where
>  I was at didn't allow me to see but less than a quarter of the people
>  actually in attendance. Btw, this does not include the Knights that
>  rotated in to hold the sword of state during court.
>
>  While I know there have been individuals who stated why they were not
>  present, I can't believe that no Pelicans stay that long as to attend
>  even late courts. This has nothing do with TRM not informing them of
>  when announcements will be made, but with the courtesy of attending
>  court to honor those individuals receiving awards. Or are they not
>  worth their attendance and recognition?
>
>  Not to mention, are there no worthy people within Raven's Fort itself
>  that are deserving of this peerage? It seems to me that someone there
>  *has* to be doing a lot of work in order to keep the group going. Isn't
>  Keif from Raven's Fort? Is he not worthy of this status? If not,
>  than I am quite certain that I shall never be able to attain this
>  prestigious and elite Order.
>
>  Do all of the Pelicans think that the work ends when feast starts?
>  When Court starts? Ever? Is it that they are no longer required to work
>  since they have received their peerage? Is it such that the Pelicans
>  are so high and mighty that they can sit back on their "laurels" and
>  judge those still working as not worthy of this recognition? If they
>  judge it that way, what are their criteria for doing so? Not to
>  mention why?
>
>  As for the general trend of peers not attending events that do not
>  have activities for them, I say "You are not worthy". The last I
>  checked, which has been a while, a Peer is to be a well rounded person
>  who understands the courtly and chivalric graces. A Peer is someone
>  who gives back to the Society as much as the Society has given to
>  them. All Peers need to know the basics of dance, costuming, period
>  games (particularly chess if I remember right), chivalry, Society and
>  Kingdom Law, as well as continuing to perform service through teaching
>  if through no other method. These are not items that they have to know
>  once to become a peer and then can stop improving or even just
>  refreshing their skills. These are the ways that we continue to make
>  the Society better and not allow it, nor ourselves, to stagnate and die.
>
>  I would ask forgiveness to those whom I offend, but I feel these where
>  concerns and criticisms that I just couldn't keep to myself.
>
>  (Is it just me or do I regularly just not understand what the hell is
>  going on with the Peerages? *shrug*)

It strikes me that Pug is making the following points:

(1)  No Pelicans remained in attendance through the Raven's Fort evening
court.

(2)  Knights and Laurels did attend through to the end of said court.

(3)  Pug does not dispute the specific reasons given by several of the
Pelicans who did not remain for this court, but he questions the fact that
all of us had excuses.

(4)  Pug is uncomfortable with the "trend" mentioned by Sir Galen of
Bristol. By this I assume he means the small population of Pelicans
compared to other peerages in Ansteorra.

(5)  Pug does not understand why no citizen of Raven's Fort (specifically
Sir Kief) was present as a representative of the Pelicans.

(6)  Pug claims he doesn't understand how the Pelican circle works ("what
the hell is going on...").

On item (1), I'm afraid I'll have to simply echo what's been said already.
Several folks day tripped.  Some went to bed early, worn out by the long
day.  Aquilanne and I, fearing possible bad weather in the morning, decided
to leave after dinner so we wouldn't be getting home too late.  The
Pelican's present either didn't know or didn't remember that Galen's and
Claryce's recognitions were to be announced at Raven's Fort.  My apologies
to Their Majesties, HL Claryce, and Sir Galen; we certainly intended no
slight.

Item (2) is a bit misleading.  Yes, many Knights and Laurels attended the
evening court, but I happen to know that several members of these peerages
had also departed.  Some even departed during the court.  Many non-peers
were also not in attendance.

Item (3) is a bit embarrassing for me as I *had* been informed earlier in
the week that Sir Galen's recognition would be announced.  Had I remembered
this imporant event, I would have remained until the end of court. I have
already tendered my apologies.  As for my brother and sister Pelicans, no,
I don't think they have anything to apologize for in this matter.  We can't
all attend every event--we simply can't aford it.  Nor can we always stay
for the entire weekend's festivities.  At every court, there will always be
absent members; I don't think it fair to take them all to task for not
being present--even if they're peers.  Receiving a peerage doesn't create
the responsibility to attend every court.  As Sir Rhodri noted previously,
only eight Pelicans were in attendance at Raven's Fort. If half
day-tripped, it's not at all odd that the remaining four should have
decided to sleep or leave early.

Moreover, Pug mentions "resting on laurels," by which I must conclude that
he is extrapolating a general trend from a single incident at a single late
court.  We still make late courts; we just missed this one. As far as I
know, none of the peers in Ansteorra stopped attending late courts
altogether upon receiving their patents.

On item (4), as Sir Galen noted, Pelicans tend to be in the minority in
most kingoms anyway, partly because so much of what we do is unseen.
Nonetheless, Ansteorra does have an awfully small Pelican population.  In
some kingoms, the trend has gone to the opposite extreme to a rather absurd
extent: in such kingdoms, I've occasionally heard it exaggerated "everyone
who holds a kingdom or principality office for a year, holds a baronial
office for three years, does a term as landed baron/ess, or gets a ducal
coronet gets to be a Pelican."  Though a gross overstatement of the
problem, this *is* a situation we want to avoid.  

Again, however, I want to stress that I agree with what appears to be Pug's
observation:  Ansteorra should have more Pelicans.

I'd like to address item (5) for you Pug, but frankly I'm baffled by this,
too.

As to item (6), I'd like to help you, but the proceedings of a peer circle
are always confidential.  I appreciate your interest and will echo your
concerns at the next circle.

Many thanks for your attention, Lord Phelim.  I hope this response has been
helpful.

lo vostre por vos servir
Sir Lyonel Oliver Grace
________________________________
Dennis Grace
Assistant Instructor
Recovering Medievalist
Department of English
University of Texas at Austin

mailto:amazing at mail.utexas.edu

Micel yfel deth se unwritere.
	--AElfric of York
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