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An open letter to the Board
May. 11th, 2017 01:04 pmFollowing is the letter that I submitted to the Board yesterday in their call for commentary regarding the creation of new peerages. Since I have already submitted this commentary, my stance is not up for debate. If you have a strong opinion one way or the other, please don’t waste time posting it here – send it in to the Board.
_______________________________________________________________________________
May 10, 2017
Re: Peerage Committee - Call for Commentary
To the Board of Directors of the Society for Creative Anachronism,
I am writing to you in response to your May 9th call for commentary regarding the creation of new peerages.
To be brief, I do not support the creation of new peerages in any form at this time.
I believe the society has functioned well for many decades with a structure of peerage recognition that covers well those aspects of pre-17th century Western European society that we admire. While I am pleased to see that individuals who have mastered fencing now have a route to peerage, I was not at all pleased with the way in which the Board at the time established this new peerage. The discussion took place too quickly, and did not allow enough discussion, consideration and input - particularly in the various phases of development from the general population. I believed then, as I believe now, that we would have all been better served had the Board simply changed the rules of corpora to allow individual kingdoms to admit such individuals into the already existing Order of Chivalry. But, that is not the decision that was made, and we must now all accept and get used to the existence of a newer and smaller Order of Peerage that covers an exceptionally limited area of scope and focus (much more so than other existing orders of peerage).
From what I understand, the reason that some have requested the creation of a new peerage is to create some sort of “catch all” to cover those areas that are not currently covered by other forms of peerage. I’m afraid that I do not agree with the idea of a catch-all. Not every single interest in the society is one that can (or even should, necessarily) lead to a peerage. And when we create a system through which everybody becomes special, nobody becomes special. And to create such a peerage will significantly devalue our existing forms of recognition in the society.
I strongly urge that the Board reject any petitions for the creation of a new peerage, now and in the foreseeable future. Such a decision may not make the petitioners happy. But at this time in our history, it is the right thing to do.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Joseph Cook-Giles
Ska Giuseppe Francesco da Borgia, O.L, O.P, Baron to the Court of Caid
_______________________________________________________________________________
May 10, 2017
Re: Peerage Committee - Call for Commentary
To the Board of Directors of the Society for Creative Anachronism,
I am writing to you in response to your May 9th call for commentary regarding the creation of new peerages.
To be brief, I do not support the creation of new peerages in any form at this time.
I believe the society has functioned well for many decades with a structure of peerage recognition that covers well those aspects of pre-17th century Western European society that we admire. While I am pleased to see that individuals who have mastered fencing now have a route to peerage, I was not at all pleased with the way in which the Board at the time established this new peerage. The discussion took place too quickly, and did not allow enough discussion, consideration and input - particularly in the various phases of development from the general population. I believed then, as I believe now, that we would have all been better served had the Board simply changed the rules of corpora to allow individual kingdoms to admit such individuals into the already existing Order of Chivalry. But, that is not the decision that was made, and we must now all accept and get used to the existence of a newer and smaller Order of Peerage that covers an exceptionally limited area of scope and focus (much more so than other existing orders of peerage).
From what I understand, the reason that some have requested the creation of a new peerage is to create some sort of “catch all” to cover those areas that are not currently covered by other forms of peerage. I’m afraid that I do not agree with the idea of a catch-all. Not every single interest in the society is one that can (or even should, necessarily) lead to a peerage. And when we create a system through which everybody becomes special, nobody becomes special. And to create such a peerage will significantly devalue our existing forms of recognition in the society.
I strongly urge that the Board reject any petitions for the creation of a new peerage, now and in the foreseeable future. Such a decision may not make the petitioners happy. But at this time in our history, it is the right thing to do.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Joseph Cook-Giles
Ska Giuseppe Francesco da Borgia, O.L, O.P, Baron to the Court of Caid
