ANST - Huscarls; Imperium (2 messages for the price of 1)

[ALBAN at delphi.com]

Mykaru wrote:
> I currently have an order from a Thegn
> Duncan and had wondered about the title.
Daniel replied
>I have a dim memory that (in addition to the Atenveldt use) it's a 
>mid-range fighting award in ... the Outlands?  Calontir? The same 
>place that has the Huscarls.
Calontir. We have an AOA-level fighting order (not an award, an 
order), called the Fyrd; the GOA-level is the Hyrd (and a member's 
called a Huscarl). A Thegn is a precedence-bearing position, for personal 
advisers to the people wearing the Crowns. (But I think ?An Tir? might 
have a completely different order of Thegnhood.) It derives from a pre-
Conquest Anglo-Saxon term (and I quote from the CD-ROM edition of 
the OED):
"3. One who in Anglo-Saxon times held lands of the king or other 
superior by military service; originally in the fuller designation 
cyninges en, king's thane, military servant or attendant; in later times 
simply thegn, as a term of rank, including several grades below that of 
an ealdorman or eorl (earl n. 2) and above that of the ceorl or ordinary 
freeman. 
In this sense the name was superseded by baron and knight in the 12th 
c., and continued only in historical use, in which it was written thane in 
the 16th c. Recent historians have revived the OE. form as thegn."

Rayah wrote:
>At one point, TWO orders were decided to be created out of that to
>recognize folks for their seperate work-The Pelicans and the Laurels-
>and those who recieved the society award had to decide which one 
>they thought they did more of - arts or sciences.
Daniel (boy, I'm responding to a lot of his stuff) replied
>I think there was one more step in there.  The Pelican was originally 
>created by the Board of Directors for *them* to recognize service (to the 
>Society as a whole, I believe).  Later, the Board decided to get
>out of the Middle Ages, as it were.  They gave control of the Pelican to 
>the kingdoms, and I think that's when people could decide (like 
>Willow de Wisp, as one example) to switch.
If I remember correctly, not quite. The Pelican wasn't given by the Board 
to other people for service; it was given by the Board to recently retired 
Board members, for service. Not to anyone else, for anything else. It was 
from the Board, to the honorably retired Board. I believe it wasn't until 
1973 or '74 that the Pelican was finally let go into the hands of the 
various kingdoms.

>(At some point, the Board also dropped "Your Serenity" as their title 
>and "The Imperium" for the name for the corporation.  The latter 
>survives in an SCA song, "Imperium Compound".)
The Imperium was waaaaay back in the early days, when Board 
meetings were done in full Tudor-glitz Court-type Garb, with trumpet 
fanfare entrances and such. It was not an official name of the 
corporation, but rather more of a nickname unofficially adopted by the 
members of the SCA. It took a while for the officious, er, hardworking 
members of the Board to heed the calls of the rest of the serfs, er, 
populace of the society that they really ought to come back down to 
Earth, de-swell their heads, and do things properly. But that's a whole 
'nother History of SCA Politics.
(Side note: some survivors of those days still have severe twitches 
about the use of the word "Imperium". If you're talking to anyone 
who's been around more than, oh, 20 years or so, be careful; that word is 
not looked upon with favor.)

Alban, whose membership card can legally drink alcohol.
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