[Ravensfort] Some thoughts on court...

[HerrDetlef]

I spotted a stylistic faux-pas. The sentence

"Anybody who gets an award should be able to treasure the moment of
receiving that award, and drowning the court proceedings in persona games
that, while immensely fun for the people who participate in them, quickly
lose the attention of the uninvolved populace and distract the focus away
from the most important business at hand."

goes nowhere. I'm good at long sentences that don't end up going anywhere.

Anyway, the sentence should properly read, "Anybody who gets an award should
be able to treasure the moment of receiving that award, and drowning the
court proceedings in persona games that, while immensely fun for the people
who participate in them, quickly lose the attention of the uninvolved
populace and distract the focus away from the most important business at
hand, seriously diminishes the memorable quality of that moment. The focus
should be on the people receiving awards, and theatrical gestures are best
left to feast and the like."

Pax et bonum,
Detlef v M.

On Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 5:50 PM, HerrDetlef <herrdetlef at gmail.com> wrote:

> Greetings, good cousins!
>
> In preparation for the upcoming Defender of the Fort celebrations, I have
> been giving quite a bit of thought to some of our notions of court. Since I
> spent several days in a criminal court in Conroe after my accident, I have
> pondered ways to incorporate that experience of a mundane court into
> heralding an SCA court.
>
> One thing that I would like to do is limit the business of the court to
> make it a shorter and much more enjoyable experience for everybody. Too
> often we have had our endurances tested by courts that seem to drag on and
> on. With that in mind, I would like to propose limiting court strictly to
> recognizing event champions and conferring official awards (the kind that
> show up on the Order of Precedence). For example, I know that people bring
> things to events to present to the King and Queen, and to the Baron and
> Baroness, but gifts like these are really of a more personal nature, and
> would be best given when what we call "court" is not in session. If
> EVERYBODY had a gift for the King and Queen, think how long that would make
> court! In the morning, everybody's anxious to get started with the various
> competitions; in the evening, everybody's ready to eat (if court is held
> before feast) or party at the Swein Camp (if court is held after feast). So,
> I would like to see a morning court that is limited to a brief welcoming
> from the Baron and Baroness--as well as the ceremonies surrounding the
> baronial guard that traditionally take place in the morning--and an evening
> court that is limited to event prizes and official OP awards. Leave persona
> games, oaths of fealty, and the taking of
> squires/cadets/apprentices/proteges to a time when the Crown is seated but
> not when court is actually in session.
>
> Another thing I'd like to do is to get away from the notion that court is
> only in session at "Morning Court" and "Evening Court". Strictly speaking,
> the court is in session whenever the King and Queen are seated at their
> thrones (and, by extention, also the Baron and Baroness). Perhaps if we
> referred to "morning court" as the "opening ceremonies" and "evening court"
> as the "awards ceremony," we would be able to open up the possibility of
> doing court business throughout the day. Squiring ceremonies and the like
> are often beautifully done, but quite honestly, not everybody in the
> populace at an event is equally interested in attending such ceremonies.
> Relegating such ceremonies to times outside of the official meetings of the
> court would reinforce the idea that court is in session whenever the King
> and Queen (as well as the Baron and Baroness) are present.
>
> I've been reading a great deal and watching videos on YouTube (how
> grotesquely UnPeriod! But quite educational) about the investiture
> ceremonies that are conducted in the United Kingdom. These ceremonies are
> highly regimented, and they give the recipients of medals the opportunity to
> shine in front of the Queen (or the Prince of Wales) for a few brief but
> glorious moments. I would post some links on here, but I know that the
> mailing list program has a way of messing with links so that they are nigh
> impossible to click with the desired result. If you are interested in seeing
> what I have found, you can simply do a search on YouTube for British
> Investitures. Those ceremonies are the kind that I would love to see enacted
> in an SCA setting. Anybody who gets an award should be able to treasure the
> moment of receiving that award, and drowning the court proceedings in
> persona games that, while immensely fun for the people who participate in
> them, quickly lose the attention of the uninvolved populace and distract the
> focus away from the most important business at hand.
>
> I am looking forward to heralding court at Defender this year! It's been a
> long time since I've done it, and I'm excited about the opportunity. My job
> will be to make not only the Baron and Baroness, but also the whole populace
> of Raven's Fort, look like a million bucks. That, and also to make the
> ceremonies of the court an experience that people will remember for a long
> time to come.
>
> I am Their Excellencies' humble and loyal servant,
>
> DT+LF
> Detlef von Marburg
>
> --
> He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
> and what does the LORD require of you
> but to do justice, and to love kindness,
> and to walk humbly with your God?
> --Micah 6:8
>



-- 
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
--Micah 6:8
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