SC - OT - Peasants and Nobility

[Philip W. Troy & Susan Troy]

Hullo, the list!

AAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!
<there now. did I get anybody's attention?>

I've just been tearing the house apart, looking for any of the several copies of the
Knowne World Handbook we keep, in theory, on hand to lend to new people.

Anyway, what it says, as best as I can recall, is not that anyone has to be nobility.
Nobody has to be royalty. Nobody has to be anything. Nobody is strongly encouraged to, or
discouraged from, doing anything, except this: as one of the great virtues valued by the
SCA is courtesy, we should behave courteously. It is suggested that, as one way to be
courteous, we should treat everyone, unless advised otherwise as someone's specific wish,
as if they are of the nobility. In other words, "My Lord King, I'd be honored to pull you
out of that mudhole." Or, "My Lord/Lady Beggar, will you share meat with us? It will be
our pleasure." Or, "Good my Lady, I see you have 47 large objects, one of them being a
crying child, to carry through this thunderstorm. Will you please accept my assistance?"   

If you look at a Code of Chivalry (I'm thinking of one published by the Pope shortly
before the First Crusade, IIRC) it pretty much establishes a standard for Knights to live
by, but it isn't just for knights, and it isn't just for peers of the SCA. It is for all
of us to set the example, regardless of our social standing, real or perceived, our garb,
our personae, etc. That's what is meant, in my opinion at least, by the idea that we're
all nobility in the SCA. 

As for the question of whether we should serve boiled tree bark and acorns at our feasts
in some romanticization (is that a word?) of peasant lifestyles ("not that there's
anything wrong with that!!!"), well, I can only say if you can find enough people who want
to do this, by all means enjoy yourselves. On the other hand, who was it who said, "I've
been rich, and I've been poor, and rich is better!" ?

Adamantius
Østgardr, East 
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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