ANST - White Scarves as Peers

[Gunnora Hallakarva]

Now, I had said:
 >First, as I mentioned before, not every recipient of a White Scarf 
> is Peerage material.  

This was part of a post which I think was fairly sympathetic to the White
Scarves and which accurately pointed out the pitfalls in trying to create a
Rapier Peerage.  I also proposed a well-thought out scenario of how one
could realistically achieve a Rapier Peerage.

So, naturally, every one jumped on this one statement and lit the fuses on
their dynamite.  Bad!  Bad, bad!  Put the matches away!  Didn't your mother
tell you what would happen if you played with matches?

The statement is simply factual - White Scarves are being evaluated for a
grant level award.  No one asks whether or not they fulfil the necessary
traits one is supposed to have if one is a peer (the "bearing of a peer" in
which one can manage certain elementary SCA skills such as dance a dance,
play a medieval game, have basic knowledge of heraldry, chivalric combat,
the arts, and service, as well as having a certain wisdom and maturity that
is normally associated with the peerage).  Consequently, it is possible to
receive a WSA without having these necessary attributes that a Peer should
have.

This is certainly not to say that all peers have these attributes.  I have
seen knights who were made knights because they were fighting dishonorably
and rhinohiding exclusively, and the rationale for making them knights was,
"Well, he wants the knighthood so badly, maybe if we make him a knight hje
won't have anything to prove and his behavior will improve!" (and I heard
that story from a duke, told to me as gospel truth!)  I know that there
have certainly been Laurels made who the Circle and populace thought were
not only not deserving artistically, but personality wise had more in
common with spoiled children than with the ideals of peerage.

The Crown alone makes the decision as to who will be elevated to a peerage.
 When the Crown listens to the Circles, usually those elevated are pretty
reasonable choices.  However for many reasons sometimes the Crown decides
that it knows best, or wants to give a cookie to a friend, or wants to
punish the Circle in question, etc.  Why does this happen?  Because we
select out Crowns by their ability to fight (or sometimes by their ability
to be dishonorable and rhinohide), not for their wisdom or their
intelligence.  Sometimes we get lucky - we get honorable, thoughtful,
intelligent Crowns who are also kick-ass fighters.  And sometimes we don't.

We certainly have a number of White Scarves worthy of Peerages - and most
of them have Pelicans, others have proved that athleticism on the rapier
field can be converted to athleticism on the field of chivalric combat and
become knights.  And still others are Laurels.  Like it or no, right now in
order to recognize a rapier fighter as a Peer, you have to give them a
Pelican or one of the other peerages.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, if you believe that there should be a
Rapier Peerage, quit whining about it and contact the Rapier Community and
the Crown to see what positive effort you can make towards earning
acceptance for rapier combat in those kingdoms where it is presently
banned.  There will *NEVER* be a Rapier Peerage until such time as *ALL*
kingdoms agree that there should be, and the first step is to win
acceptance for Rapier Combat where it is presently banned.

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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