SR - Repetition

[Dennis Grace]

Salut Cozyns

Lyonel aisai.

Baron Pendaran says:
>	Pug certainly raises some good points. I like to think that if
>we got some bad ass stick jock who really liked being prince but was a
>really lousy prince, and he kept winning; we would stand up and bar 
that
>person from the Coronet list for a while. However, I doubt that would
>happen. When it comes right down to it, we have a lousy track record of
>honestly telling people that they're misbehaving and trying to correct
>the problem.
>
>	Still, term limitations (for lack of a better term) don't sit
>too well with me, either. Perhaps this is a good time to ask those who
>have lived in principalities before how they handled things and what
>problems they had or didn't have.

Hmmmm.  Well, I don't think term limits will solve the weeble problem.  
One of the worst weebles ever to win a coronet list in Artemisia only 
wanted to be prince once.

The problems I've seen arise are more along the lines of what someone a 
billion years back called the Once and Future King/Prince scenario.  
Understand, however, that the motivating factors are slightly different 
in Crown and Coronet lists.  

Winning a coronet list is--in a sense--a miniature version of winning a 
crown list for the first time.  In each case, the victor gets to be in 
charge of a large group of people, gets to honor his/her consort, gets 
to make/change laws, gets to give out awards, and gets a shiny new title 
and hat upon stepping down.  

Winning a crown for a second time, however, puts the victor in the Ducal 
circle.  This group is generally acknowledged, by the SCA chivalric 
community, as the elite among our tournament fighters.  I hope this 
doesn't offend anyone, but I think the general perception is that luck 
(fate, karma, biorhythms,guiding spirits, whatever) can get a fighter 
all the way through *one* crown list, but only skill will get you 
through *two*. Thus, the ducal coronet represents more than just a shiny 
hat and title; it represents an acknowledgement of expert status.  
Within the SCA fighting community, saying that someone "fights like a 
duke" is the next appreciable step up from saying that someone "fights 
like a knight."

Naturally among elite competitors, we see a heightened level of 
competitiveness.  This, I think, explains the likes of Paul of 
Bellatrix, Jade of Starfall, Radnor, Brion Tarragon, James Greyhelm, 
Michael of Bedford, Charles Inman MacMoore, Trelon of the Woods, and 
most of the other dukes with more than two reigns.  They're competing 
for a non-specific title.  Currently, I know of three who have won nine 
crowns.  I know that one of those  gentlemen had set a personal  goal of 
ten.  I have no idea what the others think they're doing.

Now, what about the repeating princes?  (Thought I'd forgotten about 
them, didn't you?) Couldn't *they* just be trying to establish that 
they're of a higher caliber than the average viscount?  Well, perhaps, 
but not in a way that's generally taken seriously.  If you've won a 
coronet and wish to demonstrate that you've reached the next level, you 
have to win a crown.

I've seen fighters win a second coronet to spite others, to prove that 
they hadn't lost their edge, and to "fix" a problem with the 
principality (I think I hate this reason most of all). Generally 
speaking, I've only seen one repeat prince who had--in my opinion--a 
rational reason for a second coronet win:  he remarried and wanted to 
win a coronet for his second wife.

lo vostre por vos servir
Sir Lyonel Oliver Grace, Capitan
Bryn Gwlad
Ansteorra
Micel yfel deth se unwritere.
		--AElfric of York


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