ARN - Rapier Peerage

[Lenny Zimmermann]

Erazmus wrote in response to Tomas Pancaldo's question on a rapier Peerage:

>Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but Peerages are Known-World wide,
>aren't they?
>It seems to me that a major reason there is no Soft Suit Peerage, is that
>not all Kingdoms recognize the activity.


That is certainly part of it. Although I believe some Kingdoms do have, or
at least had, "naked" Patents of Arms, which would make the recipient a
Peer, but not an actual member of any of the Peerage Orders. If you ask me,
I think ALL Peerages should be naked,  in that respect. Why do we have to
pigeonhole the whole thing in Knighthood, Laurel and Pelican? Are not peers
supposedly peers irrespective of the specific activities they participate
in? After all, someone like Baron Kazimir Pomeshanov Petrovich (as only a
single first example that comes to mind) have all the bearing and qualities
expected of a Peer, and they tend to participate in the SCA on an
Interkingdom level, but he does not have such a peerage. Why? Possibly
because he has been pigeonholed as a "rapier fighter" and, since he is a
Don, there is no higher award for member of the OWS. I suppose one could
look at making him a Knight, since he does fight in armored combat, though
not often or to great ability, but certainly with more heart than more than
a few knights I know. Or perhaps his skill in making garments, Russian
research and historical knowledge, heraldic studies, etc. would qualify him
for a Laurel, even though he never enters competitions or "displays", except
to simply use and teach about the things he does. Then again, maybe he
should be a Pelican, after all he and Baroness Kate Sommerfield started
period fencing in Drachenwald, he has been seneschal of Bjornsborg, is
currently the Kingdom Rapier Marshal and I could not even count the number
of times he has worked behind the scenes setting up, tearing down,
marshaling, teaching, organizing, assisting in rules preparation and such.

But then we have to ask ourselves, is this man the end-all-be-all Knight,
Laurel or Pelican? Or even Whit Scarf/Rapier fighter, for that matter?
Personally I would say that he is not. Why? Because he is ALL of those
things! He is not, alone, a rapier fighter, or an armored combat fighter or
one who studies and teaches the arts and sciences or provides service to the
SCA. He is all of those things and, in my opinion, certainly bears the
qualities of a peer. But where do you put him? He just doesn't seem to fit
in the current structure, does he? Seems to me you either shove him into one
of the Big Three, make the WS a peerage (not likely to happen until all
Kingdoms approve Rapier Combat AND it is a fully recognized activity by the
BOD AND all of the Kingdoms accept that they would like to see such a change
made), or you could allow naked Patents (although you might have some
trouble polling something like that) and call those patents whatever you
want. There is certainly enough indication that Knighthood was granted for
far more than just prowess on the field of battle, if you wanted to call it
that. (Then again, how many Knights want to associate that name with other
people who do all that artsy-fartsy stuff?!? ;-))

Oops. I got on a rant. Oh well, it's not like any of this is enough to
persuade the number of people it would take to make a difference anyway.

Honos Servio
Lionardo Acquistapace, Bjornsborg
(Lenny Zimmermann, San Antonio)
zarlor at acm.org

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