Fencing with Rapiers in the College of
What's here
Rapier Basics
This is
a very basic and dodgy account of what rapier is. To find out the
truth, visit the site of Richard, or Silfren, or Shayne. Hell, go out
and ask a guy in the street. It may not be more accurate, but it
might be slightly more entertaining.
What
the hell is a rapier?
A rapier
is a light, slender sword used for fencing. The blade
traditionally has a diamond shape and can be used for thrusting
or slicing with the edge.
In the
SCA rapier blades are made of either metal or fibreglass. In the
College we use fibreglass blades because they're cheaper and
we're all poverty stricken uni students.
Why
fence with a rapier?
The SCA
uses rapier blades because they're more period than the blades
used by modern fencing. They also better suit a period style of
fencing. What do I mean by period fencing style? Oh, just the
whole swinging from chandeliers, fighting with two blades,
fighting with daggers, having the whole body as a target area,
limb shots incapacitate the limb (fencing with one arm and one
leg can be quite amusing), that sort of stuff.
Essentially,
SCA fencing is a whole lot less competitive and a whole lot more fun
than any modern fencing style. And did I mention you get to use
daggers?
Who the hell is this guy?
I'm
Aldwin Seguin (mundanely Stephen Hobson), (possibly) supposed to
be (maybe) Acting (but more likely sleeping) Rapier Marshal of
the College of Blessed Herman the Cripple.
What
do you actually do?
College
fencing trainings are currently run every week; further details here. Tournaments happen whenever
anyone gets off their butts and organises one; we're hoping to
run one every couple of months, but not sure if we have enough
fencers to pull it off. As the Rapier Marshal for the College of
Blessed Herman the Cripple (Adelaide University), and
the guy who seems to be stuck with organising rapier in the Barony of
Innilgard (South Australia) I try to organise
all this.
Training details
Currently,
trainings are run every Thursday evening from 7pm to about 10pm,
in the North/South Dining rooms, in the Union building of
Adelaide Uni. We're all usually sitting around the Equinox until
7; if you're going to rock up later and don't know where to go,
please don't hesitate to contact me.
So,
how do I take this thing up?
Contact
me. I'm waiting for your call. As your friendly local Rapier
Marshal I'm here to serve your every need.
email: psychis_med@yahoo.com
Further contact details can be found in the Innilgard Irregular or the Closed Book (if we ever see one). If all else fails, pop into Adelaide Uni and wander up to the Gallery at around lunchtime. I'm the one either sitting behind a large coffee and talking about Buffy, or fencing with pens.
I'm
an experienced, interstate SCA fencer who laughs at your
arrogance and inexperience. What do I do to cut you down to size,
oh supposed Rapier Marshal?
Visit
Innilgard (Adelaide). Talk to me. Come along to training or a
tournament and kick my butt. Run a fencing Collegia. If you can't
visit, email me some sage advice. We have an extreme lack of
experienced SCA fencers over here and would love some input from
someone who actually knows what they're doing (because I
certainly don't).
Useful Stuff
Here are
some files that might be of interest.
a copy of
the latest version of the West Kingdom rapier rules (2000)
note: these rules contain important
changes to the armour standards in previous versions of the rules!
a copy of the
last Principality of
Lochac rapier report (June 2000) from the Lochac Principality Rapier
Marshal
a copy of my
recent report to the Principality Rapier Marshal (June 2000)
The picture of the Blessed Herman device was created by Wakline de Foxley (C. Hollit) copyright 1998 and is used here with his permission.