[ANSTHRLD] Use of "Thane"/"Ring Thegn"

Tim McDaniel tmcd at panix.com
Tue Dec 30 13:04:35 PST 2003


On Mon, 29 Dec 2003, Zodiacus Herald <zodiacus at ansteorra.org> wrote:
>   Subject: RE: ANST - Awards and such
>   Date: Tue, 19 May 98 05:43:15 MST
>   From: Chris and Elisabeth Zakes <moondrgn at bga.com>
>   To: ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG
>
>   >I know nothing about Ring Thegn. It is an order name
>   >registered to Ansteorra. If it was a household thing,
>   >I dunno why it's there.
>
>   Ring Thegns are/were a Principality of Ansteorra award from the days of
>   Sean and Katarina. (They originally wanted to jist use "Thegn" but the
>   heralds wouldn't let them.)
>
>   IIRC, it was for service to the Prince and/or Princess, and therefore
>   styled as "Ring Thegn to House ______" to specify which Prince/Princess
>   was served.
>
>   -Tivar Moondragon
>   Ansteorran fossil

There's a significant detail he glossed over.
> "Ring Thegn to House ______" to specify which Prince/Princess was
> served

Note: * HOUSE *.  I recall Robin of Gilwell explaining it.  As best I
recall, there were three principality awards.  Leaving Madonnas aside,
the other two were to *households*.  There was some doubt on whether
one prince/ess would be able to give Ring Thegns in their tenure,
because they were not members of a household.

Households were pathologically powerful in early Ansteorran history.
I recall Robin saying that it was because SCA territorial branches
formed and firmed somewhat after SCA people started getting active, so
households filled in as the organizational principle.  An SCA branch
has the virtue of its defect: it's geographical.  That means you can't
exclude someone who lives in the area.  Judging by early Ansteorran
politics, that's actually a substantial benefit.

Daniel, clerk
-- 
Tim McDaniel (home); Reply-To: tmcd at panix.com; work is tmcd at us.ibm.com.



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