ANST - Unchivalrous Chivalry (long)

[Gunnora Hallakarva]

Polydore said:
>Here is another little quandry... There have been occasions when I have
>known of members of the Chivalric Order to be most unchivalric. The 
>order has been fully aware of at lease some of these, and rarely,
>if ever, does anything about it. This reflects very poorly on the
>bulk of members that are chivalrous. Chivalry would seem to me to be
>at least as important as the ability to bonk somebody on the noggin in
>the makeup of a Knight. Perhaps repeated improper behavor should result
>in the loosing of rank? Especially of the Peerages?

Unfortunately, some knights do act in an unchivalrous manner.  Now, don't
get me wrong - everybody has off days when they are grumpy sons o' swine.
What I'm talking about here is gross violation of the type of chivalric
ideas that we hold dear in the SCA (i.e., Victorian chivalry).

It's hard to come up with good discussion about just "general bad
behavior".  Examples make it easier to discuss the shades of grey involved.
 So, I'd like to pose some specific examples of bad behavior and hear
folks' opinions about (a) just HOW bad the postulated behavior is and (b)
what, if anything, should be done about such bad behavior.  DISCLAIMER:
These are fictional accounts not meant to point fingers at anyone in
particular -- if you see yourself reflected in one of these, then you have
been naughty and should spank yourself!

(1) So, what should be done about a knight who is so rude and awful to his
lady wife that he has to literally grovel in public and apologize?  What do
you do if this behavior ruins an event?  What if it's a major event, such
as a baronial investiture (i.e., a one-of-a-kind thing that should be a
special experience for the person involved - it could be a peerage
elevation, a mundane wedding, etc.)  What do you do if he is the king (the
supposed font of chivalry and exemplar of behavior for the kingdom)?  In
any of these cases, should the Belted Circle chew the knight out?  Or
perhaps punish the knight in some way?  If so, what?

(2) How about a knight who fights in a tournament against an opponent who
he thinks is rhinohiding: said knight then goes not to the opponent to
castigate him for his rhino-like behavior, but accosts the opponent's lady
and describes at length what a sh*t her lord is and what a dishonorable S*B
the guy is -- is this bad behavior?  What should be done about it?  What if
this behavior happens in court or otherwise in public?  What if it was the
king who did this?  What if the knight in question was also rhino-hiding?
What if the knight in question was rhino-hiding but the opponent was not?
Should the opponent take the person to task?  Should the issue be addressed
by the Belted Circle?  Again, what punishment would be reasonable or
appropriate?

(3) What about a knight who makes a habit of rhino-hiding and everyone
knows it?  Should the Crown say something?  The Earl Marshal?  Should the
Belted Circle act to bring the fellow's calibration more in line with the
rest of the kingdom?  What if the person doesn't agree that he's
rhino-hiding and dismisses all attempts to correct  the behavior -- what
happens then?

(4) What about a knight who makes a habit of hitting too hard, hard enough
that he's routinely denting other folks' helms and armor, and is causing
serious bodily damage such as deep bruises much worse than what normally is
gotten in chivalric combat?  What if the guy actually breaks bones or
hospitalizes someone?  Should the Crown say something?  The Earl Marshal?
Should the Belted Circle act to bring the fellow's calibration more in line
with the rest of the kingdom?  What if the person doesn't agree that he's
hitting too hard and dismisses all attempts to correct  the behavior --
what happens then?  On a related note, what about a fighter who loses his
temper on the field to the point of blind rage where he or she might
actually do someone serious harm?  What then?  What do you do if the temper
problem is a recurring problem, not an isolated case of someone "losing it"?

(5) What about a knight who is a crook (actually, this could include any of
the peerages)?  I mean a knight (or other peer) who takes money for goods
or artwork but never delivers and won't refund the money?  Who should
address this problem?  Should the Crown intervene in a private transaction
gone bad (caveat emptor)?  Should the knight (or other peer) be chastised
or punished by his Circle?  If so, what punishment is acceptable?

DISCUSSION:  [Note, these are my opinions and thoughts on some of these.
I'm really interested in what others think!]

Regarding (1) and (2), I think attacking a woman or otherwise behaving
unchivalrously to a woman is especially heinous in a knight because our
ideals of chivalry call for women to be especially honored.  Mundanely I'm
all for equal treatment, but in an SCA context this type of thing disturbs
me enormously.  I'm torn on the penalties, however.  I want the Chivalry to
take the malefactor to task, and I also want the victim of the rudeness or
bad behavior to know that the malefactor has been punished in some way.  On
the other hand, I don't approve of public executions nor the public airing
of dirty laundry.  I guess I'd like the results to be available where those
concerned or curious can get at them but so that the information is not
broadcast wantonly.  The BoD minutes convey disiplinary actions, but only a
handful are interested enough to read them and figure out who the person is
and what they've done, so that's one model.

(3) On rhinos, their dishonorable actions are extremely public and
apparently honor doesn't matter to them at all, or they only pay lip
service to the idea of honor.  There I think that the Marshal-In-Charge,
the Earl Marshal, or the Crown should publicly stop a fight where
egregrious rhino-hiding is occurring and warn the rhino - perhaps public
humiliation will serve to correct problems if personal honor will not.  If
the behavior persists, kick 'em out of the tournament for the day.  (This
goes DOUBLE at least for Crown -- there I think the sitting Crown has a
duty to the kingdom to select honorable Heirs and should absolutely remove
dishonorable rhinos from the lists.)  If the pattern of behavior continues,
the Chivalry should address the problem with the rhino and do whatever is
necessary to stop it.  If the rhino can't or won't adjust his/her
calibration to something closer to kingdom standards, then they should have
their fighting authorization jerked.

(4) On those who hit too hard, that's a serious problem since they could do
someone a serious hurt or even possibly kill someone (I shudder to think of
a too-hard blow landing on someone's helm just as a weld fails!)  I recall
that we've had at least one case in the past of a fighter who was banned
from fighting because he consistently hit too hard, but I don't know if
that was an action taken by the Crown, the Earl Marshal, the Chivalry or
what.  The case of a person who loses their temper dangerously is parallel
in that it puts that person's opponents at risk for injury -- before I was
ever allowed to take the field I was told that there was no place on the
listfield for anger, and that if I did lose my temper that I was to stop
fighting immediately!  Both rage and hitting too hard impact the SCA
organization by exposing the organization to the liability of lawsuits if
someone is seriously injured (those waivers we all sign are useful only as
toilet paper in a lawsuit like this given an aggressive lawyer who knows
his stuff).  Both from the standpoint of preventing injury and protecting
the organization, I think the Crown, the Kingdom Seneschal and the Earl
Marshal all should be aware and prepared to take some sort of action to
prevent a dangerous fighter from taking the field, whether they hit too
hard or have a temper problem.

(5) What about the case of the crook?  Back in the Old Days we did have a
knight who promised goods, collected money, then delivered neither goods
nor refunds.  I know that in that case the Belted Circle met and send a
knight to tell the fellow to give his belt back, or else let him know that
the Circle would call a Court of Chivalry and take the belt back -- the
knight in question resigned his belt quietly.  Was this an appropriate
action?  I think so, though I'd have also required the fellow to make
apologies to all that were injured and would have made him offer service to
repay the victims if he wanted to continue in the SCA.

Well, this is a very long note.  I'll be interested in seeing what the rest
of you think!




Wæs Þu Hæl (Waes Thu Hael)

::GUNNORA::

Gunnora Hallakarva
Herskerinde
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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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