I attended the Tournament of the Horse and Falcon this weekend in the Barony of Forgotten Sea, Calontir. The tournament itself was great. It’s a five man melee tournament fought as a round robin so pleanty of fighting and there were just enough teams to make a good tournament and be able to finish. On the seccond day of the events I got armoured up early and went looking for pickups. I found Baron Wulfrick on the list field and asked he if he would participate in my quest. He agreed and we had a good training session. I think I’m improving a bit as I work on this quest and I think it’s already helping my fighting.
Thank you Baron Wulfrick for taking the time to help me with my quest!
p.s. sorry about the video quality. I’m having trouble with my software.
Well I made it out to an event finally. Life kept getting in the way of my other travels. Unfortunately there were no knights so I could not advance my quest but we did manage to do a little fighting at the event. I also shot a little archery which I rarely get a chance to do. The feast was excellent. Some of the best tasting dishes I’ve had in the SCA.
Origionally I was going to go to Saint George in Oak Heart but I had some friends who wanted to go to an event but could only day trip so I chose the even 45 minutes away rather than almost three hours away.
Here is a video I made at the event.
Next event is Melees and Madness which should give me more oppertunities to advance my quest.
Recently there has been some discussion on the Armour Archive about some changes being made to the SCA rules of the list regarding covering blatantly modern material and equipment. The usual arguments have cropped up about how hard and expensive it is for people like the much lamented “poor college student” to put together a nice looking harness. Apparently some folks even think a tunic and baggy pants are too far out reach for these poor kids. Many of the regular member think this is a stretch.
Any reasonable hobby has a price point to enter. The SCA is no different. If your having trouble figuring out how your going to cover your basic needs like keeping a roof over your head or feeding yourself then taking up a new hobby probably isn’t such a hot idea. It has been my experience that getting started in a typical hobby usually runs a minimum of $200-$500. That’s a fairly decent budget for a starter kit and there is no reason that starter kit can’t look decent with a little extra research and effort. If you scrounge a bit you can even trim that.
I recently picked up a helm (the one pictured above) from another Armour Archive member Hjalmr for $80.00. It’s a very basic early 14th century great helm which should be suitable for creating a knightly impression from the first quarter or so of the century. I’m planning to build a “knightly” looking kit around it for about $100 minus the gauntlets. When I’m done I will add in the price of the helm and gauntlets for a total harness cost.
I am trying to figure out my heraldry which has always been a problem for me. The problem is that I like making heraldic designs for fun. I could do it all day long. That makes it hard to make up my mind concerning my own heraldry. I’ve never submitted my own heraldry for exactly that reason. Over the years I’ve gone through several concepts but I’ve never actually be able to settle on one.
I drew out these heraldic thumbnails last night based on some concepts I’ve been working on. Currently I am leaning towards to bottom two because they feel more medieval to me. The top four are a bit too blatantly “Scottish” and using obvious national symbology in your persona’s heraldry is something a lot of SCA members do so I am not too keen on those. I do feel they are still solid designs I just don’t think I am going to go with them.
Hopefully I can get something figured out because I would like to get my device and name submitted by the end of April.
I’ve known Syr Reimond for quite some time and even before he was knighted I saw him as an excellent example of knightly virtue. I come from a small shire and we have rarely had Knights at our fighter practice but of late we have been trying to get people from other groups to come down and fight with us. Syr Reimond visited our group this last weekend and gave us all some training time. He even loaned my brother and law half his harness so that he could fight for the first time. Since I have been too busy to attend an event in a while I was glad to have the oppertunity to get another fight in for my quest.
In an effort to get prepared for this war and tournament season I decided to take stock of my armour. Not just what I am wearing on the field at the time but also the “best” pieces I have in my inventory. Of course there are several piece here that are not padded or strapped but they could be set up fairly easily. With any luck I’ll have at least an extra harness or two put together by the end of this year so I can provide armour to some of my noble cousins that have not yet acquired theirs.
I picked up a copy of “The Last Duel” by Eric Jager about two years ago. It’s an account of the last judicial duel in France which took place in 1386. When I picked up the book I read about half way through it then it got away from me.
I was recently speaking to Sir Reimonde (Calontir) who reminded me of the book during a conversation about different text and tales on Knighthood. I remembered how interesting the tale was so I decided to pick it up again and give it another go. I’m about half way through the 2nd chaper now and I can’t figure out why I ever set the book down in the first place.
The book is a well written account and an excellent source of insight into the life of lower nobility in the late medieval period. I can’t wait to finish it!
Geffroi De Charny’s “A Knights Own Book of Chivalry” is I think an excellent book on the subject of actual medieval chivalry and a great read for any knight or squire in the SCA. De Charny was a knights knight and a real fighting man of the 14th century. He was a member of the Order of the Star and he died at Poitiers where he bore the Oriflamme the banner of the King of France. This man knew and lived his business and his book on chivalry reflects his genuine experience.
I have been reading Arthurian literature since I was a boy and I thought I had a good handle on medieval chivalry but after reading De Charny I realized just how out of perspective my views were and how tainted they were by Victorian and modern concepts about chivalry and knighthood. De Charney starts out talking about Prowess a virtue often overlooked by modern civility then he proceeds right into the types of deeds of arms a knight can perform and which are most worthy. Every subject he touches on is relevant to a student of chivalry and medieval knighthood. His wisdom is often not what you would expect but always practical.
I purchased my copy at a Barns and Noble but it is available many places on-line.
Years ago when I was a wee lad of 11 or 12 I went to the Kansas City Renaissance Festival and while I was there I found a shop called “Talon Armoury”. Even back in those days I loved armour so I had to go check this place out. Inside was the most amazing array of armour including a full suit of Maximillian armour inside a glass case. The shop was run by Master Glendour a Laurel in the Kingdom of Calontir. He was quite patient with myself and my friends despite the fact we were getting our grubby finger prints all over his nicely finished armour. He answered all our questions about the armour and how he made it and then he told us about a group called The Society for Creative Anachronisms who were running a big demo on the site. I think I spent the entire day there running back and forth between the SCA demo and Master Glendours shop. A few years later I found out there was a SCA group just an hours drive from my home so I joined up.
Master Glendour was also knighted a few years ago in the Kingdom of Calontir so when I saw him at the Toys for Tots tournament I knew I had to ask him to be the first knight to accept my 100 Knights 100 Fights challenge which he graciously accepted. I was honored not only because Master Glendour is such and excellent knight who embodies the knightly virtues in every way but also because it was he who introduced me to the SCA and armouring.
On the 17th of October this year I became an authorized fighter again in the Kingdom of Calontir after several years of inactivity. I am squired to Jarl Thjothrekr Eriksson formally of Calontir now of the West Kingdom. I have not seen my knight in person for several years now although we do communicate from time to time.
Now that we are both active again I expect our communication to become more frequent. However this does not change the fact that we are living much further apart and as such I will rarely have opportunities to benefit from his direct teaching with regards to my fighting skills. So I have devised a personal feat of arms that I hope will help me increase my prowess and learn as much as I can. I plan to challenge 100 Knights to fight with me and instruct me in areas where I am lacking.
My plan is not to fight a single bout with these Knights but a series of bouts which I also plan on recording with a HD video camera. I also hope to do a short interview with each Knight about what they think I need to improve on and hopefully also what knighthood means to them. I also plan to chronicle this feat on this blog.
My sole purpose for doing this is to become a better squire and man at arms so that I may better serve my King and Kingdom. Hopefully other fighters around the known world from the lessons and insight as well. I don’t plan on setting a deadline for myself. The quest will end only after I have completed 100 recorded bouts.
A Squire's Tale 