Johnathan,
Thank you for clarifying. I do understand that there is often this idea that the "Peerage" is a mono-unit, when in reality there are three Orders, further subdivided by kingdom, etc., who then in turn really wield
influence, not
authority unless they are a great officer, sitting crown, etc. What I would hope is that closer to the issue or those involved would do is wield that influence to bring things to light so that proper actions - be that social pressure, Kingdom/Society action, informing the mundane, legal authorities, etc - could be used to mitigate the damage to others. For me, that would be *their* call to "defend the right and the good". Make sense?
So, yes, I think we generally agree, and no, I certainly don't expect every KSCA to mount up and ride to war! (Well maybe Pennsic, Estrella or so forth...
)
(NB: sorry that I have kept dropping or flipping a letter on your name. I have two friends who are "Jonathons", each with a different spelling, so adding the third is making my little head spin!
)
Morgan,
Conversely, everything I wrote to Johnathan is why I must strongly disagree with your post. Unlike him, if I have made the connection correctly,
you are a knight living not only in the same kingdom, but the same city as Mr. Price, aka "Earl Brion ap Rhys Thornbird, KSCA".
More importantly, if I have made the connection correctly, you are the Earl Marshal of Ansteorra - a Great Officer of Ansteorra and the person tasked with calling a Court of Chivalry. That doesn't sound very pleasant - not just the calling of such a court, but even the investigating of the need for one - but it is part of the job description. It also gives you the most truly
medieval role amongst the knights of Ansteorra: as a reading of Honore Bonet of Giovanni da Legnano reminds us quite readily, one of the chief duties of the knighthood was to serve as
jurists.
Now, to be very, very clear
I would not expect you to have known anything about this,
but now you do. You have the assertion of seven of Brian's authors, two of whom are professional academics. Of those two, one is the curator of one of the only dedicated Arms and Armour museums in North America, the other is a Duke, Knight and Laurel of the Society, who is known for his integrity throughout the Known World - someone who has been in the Society long enough to have been at and fought in every Pennsic battle, and we're going on Pennsic XL.
You also have the assertions and testimony here of:
1. a Midrealm triple peer - Talbot
2. a Midrealm Knight - Vitus
3. a Caidan knight or double peer (sorry, Chris, I don't know your rank for certain) - Chris Gillman
4. an Ealdormerean Viscount, Knight and Pelican - Menken - and...
5. his lady wife, Eleanor (Kess), who is a Pelican and Laurel
All of whom are not only long-time and well-known, 20 - 30 year members of the Society, they are also merchants themselves who have maintained high reputations for their integrity. The first three are also well known here, on the Archive. These are people known throughout the Society as "good people", and they all have the same tales to tell.
You have the further testimony of an Eastern Laurel, Galleron, who is *not* a merchant, but is certainly well-known and *not* known to be a party to gossip mongering. He has specifically told all here that Brian used those images without attribution or permission. That is not hearsay, that is
testimony.
Now, even if this were all hearsay, shouldn't this be enough to suggest that the Ansteorran Order of Chivalry, its Seneschal and its Crown should at least want to know more about one of its knights is doing at SCA events, wearing a white belt that, no matter where he received it, now links him to your Kingdom? Especially as he is about to head off to sell these products at Gulf Wars, where Ansteorra plays a principle role?
But, as Galleron pointed out, this is
not all hearsay. Brian Price himself has posted here that he has defaulted on his royalty payments since 2007 and has acknowledged his debt to Talbot. He also acknowledged that he has
not exchanged any communication with the injured parties until "outed" on this forum. That is not hearsay, but direct admission.
Further, claims of "if he is innocent he will sue us" is a strawman argument. As Lady Charlotte pointed out above, social, academic and fraternal organizations maintain codes of ethics and often remove members long before there is any establishment in court - and at times the conclusions of each do not coincide. As to the argument "but this damages his business, so if he is innocent he will sue us" - what to do you think happens to a professional academic who is thrown out of the AHA for misconduct? I hope he already has tenure, because his job prospects suck.
I will give one final comparison, from another organization that expresses and espouses chivalric values - the Freemasons. Even in their dwindled state, the Masonic Order dwarfs the SCA in membership, assets and social influence. Conversely, by your measurement, they are also far more exposed to vulnerability if they throw a member out. And yet, they have often done just that - withdrawn membership - for things that have occurred outside of lodge. The courts uphold that right.
But the real strawman is that no one is telling Ansteorra they must strip Brian Price's belt, ask the BoD to invoke an R & D or anything of that sort. What they have said is that now that its chivalry, Crown and Great Officers are aware of what has happened and been happening for years, they have an ethical obligation to a) seriously look into it, b) for the Great Officers to look what Corpora dictates in this issue - which simply involves informing the mundane authorities, most likely the Texas Attorney General's office for Consumer Fraud or comparable, c) determine if there are any desired, appropriate or possible sanctions for the kingdom itself to take.
That is the dirty side of being in a position of authority *and* responsibility in a social organization. Being a knight and Great Officer of the home kingdom and waiving this off by saying "let him have his day in mundane court before we get involved" might be
easiest, but make no mistake - it speaks to chivalric
lassitude, not honorable behavior.
Finally, I want to reiterate that I am no longer a member of the Society, though I maintain many friends within the Society and attend Pennsic and the odd event. Beyond preventing him from selling my intellectual property in one more place, having Mr. Price sanctioned by the SCA in some fashion or other really does
nothing to compensate myself or the other seven authors. But many of Mr Price's customers whom he has swindled or made party to helping him sell illicit goods, and the others I listed above that he has exploited
are members, and he uses his rank in the Society and attendance at Society wars to perpetuate those abuses.
As I said above,
I would not expect you to have known anything about this,
but now you do. If Ansteorra's Earl Marshal, Crown and Seneschal will not police their own after there is this sort of extensive testimony covering 25 years, three continents and people within and without the Society, many of whom have never met, why bother having an Order of Chivalry or a Society in the first place? Why not just say that knighthood is determined solely by prowess, so after "x" fights won you get a white belt and drop all the rest? What separates the SCA from a LARP with rattan weapons instead of foam ones?
My guess: because that is not what most people in Ansteorra or any other part of the Society joined for, and for most Knights of the Society, the white belt and gold spurs means something more than that. Good on them - Sir Raymond Lull would be proud.
Cordially,
Gregory Mele
