Order of Defense
The Order of Defense (aka Order of Defence) is an SCA polling order of peerage that rewards members for their prowess in SCA rapier and cut and thrust combat, commonly termed as SCA fencing.
Heraldry and Regalia
The device proposed on Feb 2, 2015, for the order by the Laurel Sovereign of Arms is a badge:
- (Tinctureless) Three rapiers in pall inverted tips crossed
The Laurel also proposed a change in spelling of the name to the Order of Defence.
The proposed regalia for the order is:
History
In 2014, the SCA Board of Directors conducted a survey amongst SCA members relating to various proposals on new SCA-wide martial-based awards. This included questions as to whether fencing should be included within the martial skills considered for new members of the Order of Chivalry or whether a new peerage should be created for fencing, either as a stand-alone peerage, or along with other non-rattan martial art. On Jan 17, 2015, they announced that fencing could no longer be considered an ancillary activity in the SCA, but that fencing was not a valid path to the Order of the Chivalry. Nor would they create any additional "non-rattan" martial order.
There was what might be termed 'an uproar' about this decision. This was caused in part by the fact that the original Additional Peerage Exploration Committee (APEC) had, as part of their brief, been told that rolling fencing into the Chivalry was not to be considered, nor was any sort of 'promotion' of the White Scarf. The Additional Peerage Review Committee (APRC) was instructed that their brief was to approve the APEC proposal or not. Since the BoD report suggested that several members had voted against the proposal since they felt that fencing should be part of the Chivalry, a reasonably large segment of the populace was distressed. The BoD reconsidered, and on Feb 2, 2015, the BOD approved the creation of the Order of Defense and asked the Laurel Sovereign of Arms to register a name and device for the order.
They gave a start date for the order of May 1, 2015. They further stated that each Kingdom could create three members of the order without a polling requirement, and that those three members (presumably if created on the same date) would have the same precedence. As May 1, 2015 was a Friday, many Kingdoms opted to induct their first members on Saturday, May 2. At least one, AEthelmearc, made the effort to create their premier on the Friday.
External links
- http://sca.org/BOD/announcements/rapierpeerage.html - Jan 17, 2015, BOD announcement disapproving fencing being included in any martial peerage order.
- http://socsen.sca.org/advisory-opinion-regarding-the-possible-inclusion-of-non-rattan-fighters-into-the-order-of-the-chivalry/ - Jan 29, 2015, BOD announcement about non-rattan combatants and the Order of Chivalry
- http://socsen.sca.org/creation-of-the-order-of-defense/ - Feb 2, 2015, BOD announcement creating the order.
- http://oscar.sca.org/index.php?action=100&loi=2915 - Feb 2, 2015, heraldic proposal for the badge, name and regalia
- http://heraldry.sca.org/loar/2015/04s/15-04SPECIALlar.html - April 2015, heraldric commentary
