From: Godfrey de Shipbrook <jlee@smylex.UUCP>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Awarding Awards or Ooh, Ah, Oh
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 00:38:38 EST
Organization: Shipbrook Software  (Tampa, FL)

Greetings from Godfrey!

Hossein/Greg writes:
> Lord Godfrey recently wrote:
>>> Ken (speaking as himself instead of Cinaed de Moray) writes:
>>>
>>>         Back on topic:  Royal court has become more and more like the
>>> Oscar's and less and less evocative of anything Medieval; the clapping,
>>> I can understand and live with, but the credits just bring us one notch
>>> closer to a mutual-mastrubation society.
>>
>>A lot of scribes put a great deal of time and effort into creating those
>>scrolls.  Is it so evil that the Crown should take a second to recognise
>>the artisans who serve in that capacity?
>>
>>It's not much of a reward for hours' worth of work; would you deny us
>>even *that* much?
> 
> Yes, Lord Godfrey, I would.  Not for any slight to scribes nor from any
> undervaluation of their work, would I do so, but for the screaming
> mundanity of it.  I find it hard to imagine Henry II of England handing
> out writs to his sheriffs and holding each up to be admired by his court,
> saying "Br. Louis did this one."  It's a completely unmedieval practice.

In that case, is the awarding of arms (and kingdom service awards, &c.)
in full court with all the populace assembled, *really* a mediaeval
practice?

Knighthoods were often awarded in court.  Grants of land, and the titles
that went with those grants, yes.  But an award of arms?  I haven't seen
any references to such actually happening in a great court.  Kingdom
service awards are definitely an SCA invention -- in later period,
knighthoods were the reward for service.  Awards given for artistic
excellence?  Likewise a mundanity.  Laurels and Pelicans?  HARDLY
period. Yet out of all this vast sea of mundanity with which our courts
are deluged, you would deny the scribes those TWO MEASLY SECONDS of
recognition for hours' worth of work, merely because giving recognition
to their contribution is too mundane for you.

I hate making biblical allusions, but that's like telling someone he has
a speck in his eye when there's a beam in your own.


> A modern "ooh, ah" session is so little thanks as to be demeaning to the
> artisan.

Agreed here.  But in the case of court scrolls, who's ever going to see
the scroll except its creator, its recipient, and those who award it? 
I know one lady who learned the arts of calligraphy and illumination
because she saw the beauty of the scrolls awarded in court, and wanted
to learn that skill for herself.

If those two little seconds can move people to learn a mediaeval art
form, is it really so bad that it cannot be borne by a Society
dedicated to the preservation of mediaeval skills and traditions?


>  A just monarch rewards his right good servants with his best
> rewards -- ranks, titles, largess.  It's the way medieval kings did it.

Yeah.  So tell me, please:  if the mundanity of flashing a scroll in
court is too heinous to consider, with what *period* ranks, titles, or
largess can our kings reward our scribes?  Money?  Land?  Surely not.

I'd love to see even *one* period example of a scribe who was given a 
rank or a title for his service.  Nobility was nobility, and the workers,
even highly skilled artisans, were merely workers, and never the twain
could meet.

                                                   Godfrey
                                                Grumpy scribe

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| Net:  Jeff Lee / jlee@smylex.uucp / jlee%smylex.uucp@tscs.tscs.com     |
| SCA:  Lord Godfrey de Shipbrook / Wyvernwood, Trimaris                 |
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    "The only thing that helps me maintain my slender grip on reality
    is the friendship I share with my collection of singing potatoes."
From: Mike.Andrews@f1077.n147.z1.fidonet.org (Mike Andrews)
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