[ANSTHRLD] Squires, Achievements of Arms, and Ranks (Oh My!)

[Christie Ward]

I had said:
>>The color-coded, completely unofficial
>>colored belt scheme is bad enough as is without further ramification.

To which Timothy of Glastinbury responded:
>I certainly concur that for most of the personas wandering about the SCA
>that the colored belt system means nothing more than what the SCA has come
>to
>make it mean.  But I am inclined to ask the following ...
>
>While we have little ability to change things, what would you prefer to see
>rather than the belt system?

All right, everybody.  Timothy *put* this soapbox here, so watch out, I'm
gonna stand on it...

First off, since some of the posts from Rodrigo made me think he was perhaps
offended by my first post, let me clarify -- I am not about to try to make
people stop wearing color-coded belts, nor stop them from treating a student
relationship as a rank, rather than a job description.

I *would* like to encourage people to "think outside the box" a bit and look
for more medieval ways of denoting this relationship. My personal preference
is to see the use of badges and livery where applicable... but other means
are certainly possible.  For instance, a warrior taking service with a king
or chieftain often received a sword from the lord, and that could be put to
good use in this context.  (Actually, early Germanic and Celtic war bands
are a perfect model of SCA knighthood in general -- for more on this train
of thought, see http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/oaths.htm).

Back when I was what we'd recognize today as an apprentice (to Mistress
Kemreth Danil), I wore her badge, and since she was a countess and there
were many fewer nobles and peers around back then, she very frequently was
at the head table.  I attended her there at feasts, she fed me off her
plate, and not only could I see and hear court, I could get whispered
explanations as needed.  These things clearly denoted the relationship.  At
that point, Ansteorra had squires (and red belts) but I never heard the term
"apprentice" as it's used today or saw the green belts until much later.
But no one had any doubt that I was in the role of a member of Kemreth's
household of retainers.

That sort of brings me to another point, that while some might consider it a
"travesty" to do away with the color-coded student belt system, it's not
that old in the overall scheme of things in the SCA.  Different areas
adopted the custom over time - green and gold belts are very recent here in
Ansteorra, for example.

In some places silver spurs and chains are also used to denote squires, but
that hasn't caught on here in Ansteorra (yet, I guess I should say).
Certain very old, established households use belts displaying the household
colors for their squires/apprentices/proteges in other kingdoms - so a blue
or blue-and-black belt at Pennsic, I was told, can often denote a squire.

The whole "red belt = squire" equation is not universal in the SCA by any
means, you see, so *to me* going to other symbols of the student-teacher
relationship is not damaging hoary tradition nor a "travesty".

Another point I do want to make, as a peer, is that there is a group of
"core competencies" that the peerage circles look for that define for us
what a peer *is*.  Corpora and Kingdom law have some words to say about this
as a starting point (which is collected, for those who are interested, on
the Ansteorran State of the Arts website, available at
http://www.ansteorra.org/orders/peerage/laurel/ALWLaurelInfo.htm).  I may or
may not teach any of my students an artform - but I hope that I teach them
something about what a peer is and should be.  Ideally it should be via my
own living example, but being human and falling short of the Mary Poppins
measure of "practically perfect in every way" I also try to point out these
qualities in others around me to my students -- and I find my examples both
inside and outside the circles of recognized peers.

Because of this, my students don't wear green belts.  They get belts that
have red, green and gold interwoven - a reminder that "a peer is a peer is a
peer".  I want my students all to know something of the martial arts, I want
them to consider the paths of service, and I want them to explore the arts.
But all peers' students should do those things - because the way Corpora
defines a peer, it is describing a person who is well-rounded and active in
several aspects of the Society.

It's really fun and cool to be able to come into court trailing students and
retainers, all costumed in my livery colors.  It adds a lot of ceremony and
pomp when people use heraldry this way.  Adding to the atmosphere is one of
the huge benefits of heraldry (you didn't think we did all this because we
like dealing with zillions of copies of forms and bookwork, did you?) -- and
the atmosphere makes the game fun.

::GUNNVOR::

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