ARCH - Students, Teachers, Status, and Ranks (kinda long)

[Eadric Anstapa]

Once of the best things about the Society is the strong bonds that develop
between individuals.  That bond is often particularly strong in a
student/teacher or mentor/disciple relationship and I think that those
relationships should be encouraged and nurtured.  However, I do not think
that *at this time* they should be named, labeled, codified, regimented,
ceremonialized, or restricted within the archery community.

I think to regiment these things now by saying that only certain individuals
should take archery students would do more harm than good.  I think that by
applying labels to such relationships we will only risk alienation and give
an impression that there are a privileged and worthy few or an "in crowd".
Our numbers are too small at this time to risk this.

Perhaps in the future if we can grow the ranks of archers.  Perhaps in the
future when we have more archers and more regular practices and events
throughout the Kingdom.  Perhaps in the future when we have something more
than a non-armigerous (although treasured) award for archers.

Do archers in Ansteorra have the status and respect that they deserve?   I
personally have mixed feelings believing that the archery community has a
way to go before there are needed more formal badges of recognition.

I do believe that one day there should be an armigerous, grant level award
for archers much as the rapier community has with the Order of the White
Scarf.  However, I think that first we as archers must do more to grow our
ranks and to bring archery more into the presence of kingdom at large and
more into the court.

We are making positive strides in the area of recognition. We now have a
Royal Archery Champion and hopefully this tradition will grow.  We need to
work to make sure that the Royal Huntsman is treated just as the King or
Queens champion would be.  The Royal Huntsman should be there; standing in
state with is quiver and bow, alongside the other royal champions in every
court.  As a member of their majesties entourage the Royal Huntsman will be
a living symbol of our ranks and be in a position to encourage archery
throughout the kingdom and encourage the court to recognize archery and
archers when needed.

We WILL start keeping Royal Round standings.  Marshals make sure you get
your Royal Round scores reported to Iaen just as you would send IKAC to
Plachoya and IKCAC to Gilli.  I WILL get them published on the web pages.
This will give us all goals to work toward and we will all be able to
celebrate each others achievements as we improve our averages.  Eventually
we will hopefully have more formal symbols of these achievements but until
then our satisfaction and pride will have to be our badge.

When the time comes and the Kingdom and the Crown recognizes the need for a
permanent armigerous award for archers I would suggest we NOT start from
scratch.  Just as the Order of the White Scarf has spread from Ansteorra to
other Kingdoms I would hope that we would adopt the order of the Grey Goose
Shaft from An Tir and hopefully by doing so would encourage the adoption of
the order throughout the known world.

Members of the Order of the Grey Goose shaft are the only persons in An Tir
permitted to wear a White Bracer and their students, called Arcuarius (Latin
for archer) or plurally as Arcuarii, are the only persons permitted to wear
a red bracer.  Membership in the order is not granted lightly.  The members
of the Order recommend candidates to the Crown. The requirements for
membership include having shot an average that qualifies the person as a
Master Bowman (80 or better) during the past year in at least one class of
bow; winning or placing highly in a major archery tournament during the past
year; participation in war archery, light combat and/or light marshaling at
wars; promotion of archery throughout the Kingdom; general knowledge of the
Society; demonstration of the skills expected of a Member of the Chivalry
(e.g. dance, games, war tactics, bardic arts, etc.); and clear
exemplification of the virtues of chivalry, courtesy and honor.   In short
these people have the same mastery and dedication to archery and the society
that Ansteorra expects in rapier for our white scarves.  Read more about the
order and archery achievements in An Tir at the An Tir web site
http://www.dellarco.com/ontarget/bodies/awards.html


In Service,

Eadric



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