ANST - White Scarves as Peers?

[Corey Van Zandt]

ardo 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

I would like to respond to this but I would ask to know whom I'm 
speaking with and whom you know and how long you've been in the 
SCA.....so that my answers will be appropriate....you do have a bit of 
an extreme view on things....

Sir Corwin
of Ffynon Gath


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