[ANSTHRLD] Shires and Thank Yous

[tmcd at panix.com]

On Sun, 13 Nov 2005, John Moore <iaenmor at swbell.net> wrote:
> The Guardians of the Gate is giving by those who have received it
> before to one that they feel has shown that they are an example of
> what we believe one should put forth as a member of the shire.
> Candidates are chosen only by those previously acknowledged.  The
> shire is asked to suggest possible candidates but the final vote is
> by former Guardians.  It carries absolutely no precedence what so
> ever.  Never has and never will.  One of the reason we do not call
> ourselves a order.

As I understand it, there were plenty of medieval examples of a group
of private individuals deciding to constitute themselves as a named
order or company, either for a short-term purpose or long-term.  So it
looks to me like an order, to use period terms.

I do like to encourage period organization, much more than the common
SCA pattern of households (unrelated people who join a group just
because they like each other).  In SCA terms, this group is skating
close to the edge.

The Bella Luce ("a scroll or token given by the group seneschal to the
artisan/s that he/she feels has done the most work in the artistic
fields for the shire") is even closer to the edge.  -- By the way, why
the seneschal and not the A&S minister?  The seneschal is not a
ceremonial head but it looks to the outsider like they're acting like
one; the A&S minister ought to have more knowledge.

Danielis Lindocollinum
-- 
"Me, I love the USA; I never miss an episode." -- Paul "Fruitbat" Sleigh
Tim McDaniel; Reply-To: tmcd at panix.com