[MR] Response to proposed symbols of rank law

[Becky McEllistrem]

This may be rude but I really had a hard time seeing the problem this was solving except that someone's ego was being stepped on somewhere.  

Rebecca


--- On Thu, 5/19/11, Tom Justus <tom.l.justus at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Tom Justus <tom.l.justus at gmail.com>
> Subject: [MR] Response to proposed symbols of rank law
> To: feedback at atlantia.sca.org
> Cc: king at lantia.sca.org, Atlantia at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org, keep at windmastershill.org, seneschal at atlantia.sca.org, queen at atlantia.sca.org, princess at atlantia.sca.org, prince at atlantia.sca.org
> Date: Thursday, May 19, 2011, 2:35 PM
> To the Monarchs, Their Heirs, and the
> citizens of Atlantia, do Baron Eldrid
> Tremayne and Baroness Clare de Crecy, both of the order of
> the Laurel, give
> greetings.
> 
> The Monarchs have asked for comment on their proposed new
> law (
> http://atlantia.sca.org/rank.php) regarding symbols of
> rank. We were asked
> our opinions by friends at Tournament of Friends. For that
> reason we make
> this response both to Their Majesties and to our friends,
> so that it may
> stand in the public record.
> 
> We believe that this proposed law is bad for the Kingdom of
> Atlantia and the
> SCA.
> 
> 
>  *This proposed law is unjust to the citizens of Atlantia*:
> It makes second
> class citizens of those barons and baronesses who serve
> Atlantia from this
> date forward by limiting their choice and style of court
> coronet to
> something so heavily regulated as to be non-medieval and
> strips away their
> badge of noble rank on the field at great tournaments and
> war. The law *
> mandates* a post-17th century heraldic rank structure. In a
> survey we did of
> 20 surviving medieval coronets, 17 have fleurons
> (“tri-lobed motifs”), 2 had
> no projections of any sort and only one would have been
> suitable for an SCA
> rank below ducal. Essentially the proposed law prevents
> anyone below the SCA
> rank of duke from wearing a medieval-looking coronet.
> 
>  Privately we have been told that there are just too many
> of us (barons and
> baronesses) as an unintended consequence of baronial term
> limits. We observe
> that the minimum time a territorial baron can serve to
> honorably fill his
> term of office is the same time that one serves to become a
> duke. Oh what an
> embarrassment of riches, that we have so many who would
> serve, and so many
> whose contribution to the kingdom of Atlantia has been so
> great as to have
> the monarchs see fit to make them barons of the court! Yet
> this law forbids
> the display of their rank on the field and seeks to
> diminish their display
> in court, in the name of preventing confusion in
> newcomers.
> 
>  *This law seeks to unmake court Barons and Baronesses
> visually at
> tournament and war *by denying them the right to display
> their symbols of
> rank in the same manner as any other person of
> station.  Despite what the
> FAQ (http://atlantia.sca.org/rankfaq.php)
> says, Atlantia has had a 29 year
> history of NO sumptuary laws. Atlantia has had a long
> tradition of allowing
> baronial coronets on helmets. We ourselves have made
> coronets for helmets
> for over 15 years and can remember barons Eldon Ungol and
> Arkheim and others
> wearing coronets on their helmets over 20 years ago. This
> proposed law
> breaks SCA tradition:  no kingdom in the SCA forbids
> baronial coronets on
> helmets by law. By restricting coronets to royals, royal
> peers, and
> territorial barons it prevents Laurels (a bestowed peerage)
> from wearing
> wreaths on their helmets. Laurel wreath coronets (as worn
> by many members of
> the Order of the Laurel) would be problematic, as a simple
> wreath would have
> more than the prescribed number of points. It has long been
> a point of pride
> for Atlantia that she has had no sumptuary restrictions
> beyond that which
> the SCA has established for the Known World.
> 
> As written, the law does not grandfather in existing
> coronets. That clause
> is in the FAQ.  By outlawing all non-conforming
> coronets the law would
> deprive current and future citizens of Atlantia of the use
> of thousands of
> dollars of personal property in the form of coronets. All
> of the coronets of
> territorial barons that we have seen would likewise be
> illegal. If existing
> coronets are grandfathered in it would make a two-tiered
> social system:
> those with pre-law coronets and those with post-law
> coronets. In either case
> this is manifestly unjust and 30 years too late.
> 
> 
> *Kingdom Unity:* Lastly and most importantly, this law
> would do great harm
> to the fabric of Atlantia. It is not lost on anybody that
> SCA has been in
> decline for some time. The court barons and baronesses of
> Atlantia are the
> glue that binds our Society together: we are the ones who
> cook the feasts,
> fill the local offices, find the sites, plan and autocrat
> the events. Those
> recognized as court barons have served the Kingdom for many
> years. For most
> of us the award of court baron is the highest title of
> nobility we will
> achieve in the Society. To disenfranchise us of long held
> privileges is to
> alienate our affections to the Crown and loyalty to the
> Kingdom just at a
> time when Atlantia and the SCA need us most. We would
> expect all future
> barons and baronesses to be treated with justice by
> Atlantia’s law and be
> able to enjoy all the privileges that the barons and
> baronesses of Atlantia
> have enjoyed for the last thirty years.
> 
> 
> We rejoice in Atlantia’s diversity and would not see her
> travel this
> proposed path. As peers and former barons of Windmaster’s
> Hill we urge to
> Monarchs and Their Heirs to abandon the codification of
> this proposed law.
> 
> 
> 
> Baron Eldrid Tremayne, OL and Baroness Clare de Crecy, OL
> 
> Tom and Tracy Justus
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