ANST - White Scarves as Peers?

[Joel Schumacher]

> Lionardo Acquistapace wrote:
> My thought is that perhaps the argument of "historical accuracy' holds
> water in Elizabethan England, but the SCA comprises times and places a
> bit more comprehensive than that. 

Speaking of peerages, historical accuracy, etc. Does anyone know what a
historically accurate "peer-to-peasant" ratio is?  What about in the SCA?
I would guess there's a huge difference between historical accuracy and
the SCA.

My opinion is there's way too much award giving and peerage granting in
the SCA.  Maybe I'm just seeing the wrong side of things, but I see a
lot of peers, squires, or people with one title or award or another.

In these respects, I'm often more content to go to something like a Ren-
Fair where at least the staff is playing the part of a common man.  I'm
really kind of sick of being surrounded by dignitaries in one form or
another.  It's nice to see people just being people instead of trying to
be Lord or Lady or Sir or oak or acorn or whatever.  I have no
asperations to be any of these things and would like to be around more
people of the same ilk.

As far as knighthood is concerned, maybe it's time to cut back by making
criteria more stringent or even forcing term-lengths on knighthood where
you'd have to "requalify" at the end of the term.

One of the requirements of being a knight is being able to fight well.
I've heard it talked about as an equivalent to a martial arts blackbelt.
Should a man who earned his knighthood years ago still be a knight if
he is now old, no longer fights, and indeed could seriously injure
himself if he tried?

What about an older man in the same shape who has entered the society
more recently, is just as gung-ho and involved as anyone, but wants to
be a knight?   He entered the society old, so didn't have a chance to
fight in his youth like the old knight.  He can't move fast (same as the
old knight).  He can't attack with strength (same as the old knight).
It's pretty easy for somebody to say he can't become a knight because he
can't fight.  But neither can the old knight, yet he remains one.

If you said the first man deserves the honor, why doesn't the second?
He may even be more active than the old knight.

I don't have any specific examples I'm thinking of.  I like to think in
the hypothetical.  But as the SCA grows and ages, these circumstances
could come up more and more often.

-Karl von Augsburg
__________________________________________________________________________
Joel Schumacher                        JCPenney Co. - UNIX Network Systems
jschumac at uns-dv1.jcpenney.com          12700 Park Central Pl
(972) 591-7543                         Dallas TX  75251
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