ANST - White Scarves as Peers?

[Gunnora Hallakarva]

Baroness Caterina asked (in the context of the precedence discussions we've
been enjoying) about the possibility of the White Scarves becoming a
Peerage one day.

There are several problems with this, and these are usually not discussed
often, so this seems a good time to tick off the points of the discussion.
Note before I go any further that I am no partisan of any of these
arguments, I merely am reporting!  If you want my personal opinions on the
topic, come ask me directly.

Reasons Why White Scarves Aren't Peers Now and May Never Be Peers as an Order:

(1) All Peers are Peers of the Society, not of the individual kingdom.
Since not all kingdoms allow fencing in the first place, there is no way
that the White Scarf can be acclaimed a peerage until somehow *all*
kingdoms everywhere in the Known World acknowledge, first, fencing, then
secondly, agree that their top fencers are the equals of the existing
Peerage Orders, including the Knighthood.  It has to be all or none.

(2) Corpora defines the peerages.  Corpora would have to be changed to
allow the White Scarves to either be a fourth Peerage or to be a part of
the Knighthood.

(3) Even if (1) and (2) were to happen, this would *not* mean that all
existing White Scarves would automatically be Peers.  White Scarves are
evaluated for a grant level award, they are not evaluated as to whether
they do, in fact, have "the bearing of a Peer."  So a new Peerage Order
would have to be instituted, or the Knighthood would have to be expanded to
include the masters of the rapier, and then Crowns would be able to begin
evaluating existing White Scarves to see if they did, in fact, fulfill the
requirements for a Peerage.

(4) As for White Scarves one day being included among the knights, I
suspect that it will never happen -- the Status Quo being the monolithic
and immovable thing it is would prevent it.  I think that if the Knighthood
was to become open to those showing mastery of the rapier, that these folks
would still be required to show mastery of chivalric combat as well.
However, it has been my experience that a person who is athletic enough to
win the White Scarf can, if they choose, put sufficient effort into
chivalric combat to win the Belt and Spurs that way - Sir Galen Niccoli and
Sir Dupree come right to mind.  

(5) At the present time, those White Scarves who *do* have the makings of a
Peer usually seem to become Pelicans, often for their service to the rapier
community.  So there certainly is an existing avenue for advancement to the
Peerage without creating another Peerage Order and without having to
redefine Knighthood.

Commentary? Discussion?  I can see that this topic has the potential to
provide us with *days* worth of wrangling!


Wæs Þu Hæl (Waes Thu Hael)

::GUNNORA::

Gunnora Hallakarva
Herskerinde
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Ek eigi visa þik hversu oðlask Lofstirrlauf-Kruna heldr hversu na Hersis-Aðal
(Ek eigi thik hversu odhlask Lofstirrlauf-Kruna heldr hversu na Hersis-Adhal)

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