The Following are my personal views, and beliefs, and are not necessarily indicative of how things really are.
Chivalry: There are nearly as many versions of the Code
of Chivalry as there were orders—perhaps even practitioners. Some of the virtues, the ones I will be
addressing, are Prowess, Loyalty, Largesse, Courtesy, Truth, Temperance, Justice,
Faith, Courage, Honor. My goal is to
discuss the place of the various virtues in the SCA, and how the various ideals
relate to each other.
Prowess:
Prowess has always been important
to the Chivalric ideal. It is a way to
gain renown, status, and even a means of support (by means of the ransoms
gained with prowess). Prowess is
typically measured by skill in various forms of combat; whatever the current
fashion is.
While you cannot particularly
support yourself in the SCA by means of your prowess (unless you’re smart about
it, like Sir Gemini with his school, or various craftsmen who sell their wares)
the other two are quite common. Renown
is fairly simple—if you are known as a good fighter then people will talk about
it and eventually you will become known for being able to defeat (or skewer)
your opponents. Likewise, status may be
gained in the form of winning a crown tournament or earning a knighthood.
However, unlike in period, I think
that Prowess can be more than “just” fighting (I suppose you could gain fame
and renown by being a famous armourer or poet.). You can also gain renown by means of becoming
skilled at various arts; or, on the service side—perhaps by your skill at
herding assorted sizes of cats… It is,
however, a bit more difficult to gain status by means of arts or service—there
are just less options (Barony of the Far East withstanding).
