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[Amy Heilveil]

On 2/28/07, Logan <logan at ebonwoulfe.com > wrote:
>
> we haven't discussed aspects of knight candidates beyond fighting and
> character for many many years.  im of the mind that a knight candidate
> should be a master of his art and the rest is worth little
> notice.  meaning,
> as long as the guy can fight and is a nice enough guy, and does some level
> of service, im ok with it.  but then again.... ive never heard anyone ask
> a
> laurel or pelican candidate how good their fighting is.  yet, knights are
> expected to be all encompassing....
>
> regards
> logan


Your Grace, with all due respect, all peers are supposed to have a basic
knowledge of courtly things (and practice them)....

"They shall have made every effort to learn and practice those skills
desirable at and worthy of civilized court. To this end they should have
some knowledge of a wide range of period f orms, including but not limited
to literature, dancing, music, heraldry, and chess, and they should have
some familiarity with combat as practiced in the Society. " SCA Corpora,
VIII, A, 1 December 5, 2006 revision  http://www.sca.org/docs/govdocs.pdf

This states that all peers need to have more to them then that which you
outlined as current (personal) standards for knights. Laurels and Pelicans
are required to have a familiarity with SCA combat and Knights are required
to have some knowledge of things that often are considered the territory of
Laurels and Pelicans.

Therefore, according to Corpora, all peers should be all-encompassing to an
extent. I expect that if I ask (in the proper time and circumstance) a
knight, pelican or laurel to a game of chess that they would be able to
oblige. I know of peers that make such things a part of their dependants
training.

This is not to say that I don't know peers who lack the basic knowledge set
forth above; however, I do wonder why they would not seek out what is
required of them and then strive to meet whatever requirements that they may
not have had prior to elevation.

To address Mathilde's question:

"Sometimes fighters are expected to provide an A&S piece and documentation
to
enter crown tourney. Artisans are never asked to show their fighting skill
when entering a pentathlon. People might wonder if this is fair?"

I don't see any reason why an artisan shouldn't be able to present some form
of basic knowledge of fighting as it is done in the SCA. Those who
participate in fighting make up a large portion of the people in the SCA.
As has been noted in this discussion, fighting is often the focus of events.
I'm not saying that an artisan should have to hop in with sword and shield
for a fight in front of A&S judges, but would it be unfair for the
pentathlon judges to ask a few questions and ascertain if the artisan has a
basic knowledge of this prominent portion of the SCA? I think not. I am not
advocating for this to happen, just saying that it wouldn't be horrible for
artisans in high level competition to be questioned on this matter. Have we
all not sat at some point in time and watched the fighting on the field? Do
not most SCA participants have the skill to discern between a sword, shield,
spear, and axe?

After all, (as was pointed out by Mathilde) the person bestowing all the
goodies gets to do so because he/she fought and won so we all ought to know
something about how that portion of the game is played, yes?

As a final thought... it's all supposed to be about having fun, and making
yourself better at whatever area you choose to work, be that fighting,
cleaning up the hall, organizing the event, needlework, armor making, or
just plain playing chess. Corpora sets forth a requirement for a basic
knowledge of a civilized person of court for peerages. I think it desirable
to have this basic knowledge in order to better understand the time frame
(and personae) we are attempting to re-create, whether the person be a peer
or not.

Smiles,
Despina de la will probably regret sticking her nose in....