ANST - Was - WS as Peers?/now -Award Overusage

[Laury Torrence]

Karl von Augsburg wrote:
> Speaking of peerages, historical accuracy, etc. Does anyone know what a
> historically accurate "peer-to-peasant" ratio is?

Being as history is re-written by the victors, and considering that in general
records of that nature (if they were ever kept) would have probably been
long since lost to us, this is probably a moot question.

> 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.

It can seem that way to some folks.  I was rather overwhelmed when I first
started playing, trying to figure out all the "brass hats", Masters and Mistresses,
etcetera......then I came to understand, that all those things represented a body
of work by those individuals.  Some of it seems inconsequential at first, then you
come to the realization that without that work, contributed by those individuals,
we (the SCA) wouldn't exist.

>  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.

So, stay away from those people, if it really bothers you that much! :) *wry grin*
You may, however, be missing a splendid opportunity to meet some very interesting
people, and learning a lot of interesting history about the SCA in general, and
Ansteorra in particular.  I can't imagine what I would have missed if I'd been afraid
of (or objected to) Master Robin of Gilwell, or Mistress Adelicia, Duke Inman, Mistress
Athena, and many others, simply because they were Nobles and Peers!!

> 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?
> 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.

This theory has more holes in it than a collander!  Why should anyone, who has
already proven themselves on the field, usually for many years, have to prove them-
selves again, and again, and again??  When you look at ANY Peer, you are looking
at someone who has contributed a SIGNIFICANT body of work. Be it fighting, and all
the other things that accompany Knighthood in the SCA, or Pelicans, who give of
themselves to their Kingdom (and the SCA), or Laurels, who spend their time passing
on what they may have spent years learning and perfecting. Let alone the fact that
anyone who has fought for that long, knows better than to endanger themselves or
others by taking the field when they are not able.
I'm sorry, maybe it's just me, but would you DARE to ask Dukes Sigmund, or Inman (these
examples spring readily to mind) to prove themselves again?  I think not........If you would
ask that of one Peerage Order, you would have to ask that of all of them, and (forgive me)
that would take some incredibly LARGE brass cohones!!

> 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.

No specific examples eh?  Things almost never work in a hypothetical universe.....
what historical figure once said "no matter how good the plan is, it all goes to
s*** five minutes into the battle".  Considering the Society is 30+ years old, and
there are KSCA, MSCA out there that may be older than either of us, I'm sure this
has come up.  Obviously, the Chivalry has handled it as they see fit, I have never
heard of anyone stripped of their belt just because they were no longer able to
fight.

Baroness Caterina Coeur Noir
(rather irritated at the moment)

============================================================================
Go to http://www.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.