[Ansteorra] hiding mundane

[Michael Silverhands]

On Jun 13, 2007, at 10:34 AM, sam cooper wrote:

> I'll have to go do some research as to how a ship's captain, a siege
> engineer, lawyers, ranked officers of military forces, sergeants,
> quartermasters, and Ministers of government and guilds gave signal  
> of their
> expertise without using titles. It will make for an interesting  
> subject;
> thank you for instigating the idea in my head.
>
> Beir bua agus beannacht,
> Si'le

I'll brave the perilous waters (discussing documented period  
practices while Robin is en garde) long enough to throw in my two  
cents. ;-)

I'll start by making a giant blimp-sized assumption that we're  
talking about how you would introduce someone in a very formal  
setting (e.g. Court), using their most formal and appropriate manner  
of address.

A ship's captain might be introduced as "Captain So-and-so",  
especially if he was a "ranked officer of military forces". Captain  
of a private or merchant vessel, I'm less sure of. Probably not.

A "ranked officer of military forces" would probably be introduced  
using their rank, but in those cases it would be easy to tell that  
you should because they'd be wearing their military dress uniform. If  
they're in their "civies", you probably wouldn't use their rank  
unless the introduction was being made to another military person in  
an informal setting. But that's not the setting we're discussing, so  
that's not terribly relevant. ;-)

Ministers of government (e.g. Minister of Defense) don't usually go  
around being introduced as "Minister of Defense So-and-so" today, and  
I suspect they wouldn't be in court, either. If they had a noble  
title, such as "Lord So-and-so" in addition to their post within the  
government, then that title would be used. I.e., they'd be introduced  
as "Lord So-and-so". Or if for some reason you wanted those present  
to know that they were Minister of Defense (e.g. a public speaking  
engagement), you might throw that in, e.g. "Lord So-and-so, the  
Minister of Defense".

My two cents. Your mileage may (and probably will) vary. Remember  
that these practices varied widely from place to place and century to  
century, and our time and place of interest (generally speaking,  
Western Europe from roughly 6th-16th century) covers a *lot* of  
ground. Also bear in mind that modern SCA traditions often have  
*little* to do with historical precedent (but that's a whole 'nuther  
thread).

There's an interesting article here:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Style_(manner_of_address)>.

Michael