A while back, a friend gifted me a bunch of homemade brews named with the theme of knightly virtues. The beers where quite tasty, and my plan was always to drink them and think a little about the virtue of the moment. The beers are gone, but here comes some thoughts! First one up was largess, so now it’s time for prowess!
Prowess seems to generally be one of the easier virtues to pinpoint. Caid’s A&S department describes it as such: “Prowess speaks to skill. Not only having it, but striving for it. As an artisan, you must strive to learn more, create more, and push yourself to develop your skills.”
MiddleWiki says that “In simple terms, Prowess is skill and the striving for skill, and in this sense it can apply to more than just combat.”
Cathyn Fitzgerald wrote that “[P]rowess is. . .nothing more than physical skill. In our Society, this skill translates to winning swordfights. Prowess without Chivalry is cheating, Prowess without Honor is murder, Prowess without Modesty is braggadocio. Prowess without the other virtues is no virtue at all.”
“Prowess. Might. Strength. Skill. Important features of both Knights and bullies.”
These are strong words, but I think they’re necessary. The virtues aren’t all good standalone. Some needs to be paired with some others to work.
Andrew Blackwood says it well. “Prowess is the foundation of Knighthood, but it is the one virtue you can get better at without ever getting better as a person. Prowess the smallest and the largest of obstacles to Peerage. But it’s something you can learn.” And of course, there’s plenty of people in the SCA that are just there for the sport side of it, that wants to be a better fencer, fighter or sewing. They want to up their prowess, their skill, but aren’t necessarily interester in the other bits. And they have their spot in our society too. But prowess alone does not make you a pillar of the society.
In Lochacs Laurel ceremony guide is states that the peerage of Laurel is “Awarded for: supreme prowess in one or more fields of the arts and sciences, with teaching, service and peer-like qualities as deemed worthy by the Order and the Crown.” So here it’s used by another peerage than the knighthood to describe skill.
Leonhart Hunt of Wildmoor writes about prowess, which he connects to valor and excellence. “Strive for excellence in all endeavours expected of a Knight, especially martial, yet also otherwise. Embody strength which is used in the service of justice, rather than for personal aggrandizement and gain. Use your martial, intellectual, and moral strength to resist and defeat all forms of tyranny over the minds and bodies of all mankind. Remember that your mind will maintain strength longer than your body. Long after you pass, your declarations of word and stands for principle, if they are Knightly, will still have power to affect the course of events.”
Leonharts view in the virtue is first of all admirable. His talk about justice, moral strenght, defeating tyranny and standing for your principles is grand. This is one of few descriptions of prowess that makes this point, that it’s anything more than skill. His word seems to be strength, and I would agree with his analysis if that was the name of the virtue.
At this point, I start to wonder what the definition for the word is and head back over to Oxford English dictionary. And there’s the definition that I have in mind when thinking about prowess: “Exceptional ability or talent in a particular field or undertaking; skill, expertise.” Hmm, but that’s only a definition since 1668.. Hmm…
Lets have a look at the medieval ones!
“An act of bravery; a valiant deed; a daring feat or exploit.” (c 1300)
“Valour, bravery, gallantry, martial daring; manly courage, fortitude.” (c 1325)
“Moral goodness or excellence; virtue.” (c1395–1425)
“Prowess: Seeking excellence in all endeavors; seeking strength to be used for justice rather than personal gain.” Here’s another example of a view of prowess as something more than just skill.
By now I am slightly confused, I’ll admit that. But I’ll try to wrap my head around it and see what I think about all this.
To me, it seems like we’ve adopted the later definition of the word, for it to be used synonymous with skill. And I think that we’ve done that so we can use the medieval chivalric virtues to describe the other peerages, not just the knighthood.
Skill. Prowess, as we use the word, first and foremost seem to be about skill. Skill in any kind of martial arts, arts&science and/or service. If you can do it, you can to it well and build your prowess in that field.
Strength. This has nothing do to with the strength of your arms and legs. This is strength of heart and mind. This part of the virtue is connected to a lot of the other virtues like courage and justice. This is the part when you’re brave and maybe chooses the high road.
Maybe this wasn’t an easy virtue to describe. Maybe it’s not simple at all. Skill is simple, straight forward. But strength sure isn’t. Strength is a choice.
/Honorable Lady Gele Pechplumin
(Magdalena Morén)
The lazy reenactor girl 