Blackstone Raid XVI ----- Part 1

This weekend was great fun. Oona and I went to Blackstone Raids in West Virginia.

The drive was long. It was a little over 6 hours door to door. This is because there is no straight route across West Virginia. I will be glad when 33 is opened as a limited access highway across the state.

We arrived on sight at close to 3:00 AM Saturday morning. We unpacked and went straight to bed. At about 7:50 AM, I was awake so we got up and went to town for coffee not knowing how things worked on site. After getting coffee in town we came back and proceeded to armor up. After getting into armor we headed to inspection.

This was the toughest inspection I have ever been through. I have to do some repairs on the bars on my helm because two had gaps that I had to fill by wrapping the bar with duck tape. I have been fighting in this helmet for 6 years and never had any problems. But once that was fixed I got my sticker after going through the talk about how I should wear rigid armor that covers my back. The weapons were no problem except my black low profile tip. They wanted that taped red. So, we are both past inspection. Now where do we fight?

Well, Oona and I were suppose to be meeting other people there but they wussed out on us. I am not going to mention any names, Llyr so don’t worry….. Oops.

So, we live in the kingdom of Atlantia. Mind you I am not Atlantian, I am Preachain. Saying this out loud in front of some Atlantians did not go over well. Go figure. The mercenary business is not favored in the kingdom that I am supposed to be in. Well we like to play nice and it was the home team Æthelmearc that they wanted us to fight for and I was happy with that. Now we know what side to fight on, the next question is who to line up with.

We spot this friendly looking group in red and black with a yellow lightning bolt. What was there group? “The Great Dark Hoard” or some such thing. Apparently they are know or something. I was even told that we (Preachain and Anglesey) had fought with them before. Did I mention that I was from Clanne Preachain and Oona is from Anglesey? Ok, good enough for me. Now for the fighting.

Well all who know me understand that I am all about making friends and keeping my mouth shut so I don’t offend anyone. ;-p I will try to do that in my blog too…… Now where was I???? Oh, that’s right, the fighting.

Well the fighting was great after Oona and I realized we should not go in with a group we were not use to fighting with. We hung back together and ran for the gap that opened. I would get myself into trouble and Oona would buy me time with her spear. It is a lovely sight to see her spear zip around from behind my shield and take out 1 of the 3 guys gunning for me. Oops, one of them hit my sword with his helm. Doh, the other hit my shield and I accidentally hit him in the helm with my sword while I was reaching around my shield to see if he was OK. Where is Oona? Oh, that guy just ran into her spear. Doh… Now I’ve gone and put my head in the way of that guys sword. I will just lie here and relax. So that is how the field battles went. Loads of fun. I think there were 4 field battles. Then we did 3 bridge battles.

Some how I became a lone shield man on the first bridge battle then I got legged and the guys with the long weapons behind me backed up. I was then just a speed bump. The other two bridge battles went better for me and Oona was rocking with her spear fencing work. I got into some good shoving matches and even found myself alive behind the enemy when a hold was called, still standing, never even tripped on that push. The only guy who realized I was there was a spearman that was coming back from resurrection. “Lay on”! I managed to catch the guy beside me by surprise then went for the spearman and found myself going off the bridge when a couple more guys noticed me. Oh well, back to res point. And did I mention the fighting was GREAT!!!!!!!! Nothing but friendly people trying to hit me.

To be continued…………………….

Chivalry and "Living History"

The Society for Creative Anachronism is an origination that strives to "re-create" the arts, skills and ideas of Medieval Europe. The belief is they can better understand the history through re-creation of the garb and playing dress up. In my opinion it is a flawed idea.

Lets start first with the idea of Chivalry. This is a concept that never really existed except in the writings of romantic minded authors. Even if it had truly existed it is an outdated concept. To be knighted is to be locked into servitude. It was for most of the time of knights something to be avoided. Once you became a knight you were required to do the bidding of your King, Lord or what ever. You were tied to the will of the church. You had to use your lands and wealth to support a number of troops. You had to carry a bigger burden of taxes so you had to take from the peasants that worked your lands.

Knights did not live to the code that we think of today as the "Code of Chivalry". These men were the leaders of troops that robbed and murdered at the will of the church against the non-believers. They stole and murdered for their king to increase his power and wealth. Those that did not try to avoid knighthood, embraced it as a means to power. It was as corrupt as any political system we have today.

What is taken as the "Code of Chivalry" today is what was later a set of rules for courtly manners for the upper classes. Think of this as the manners expected by society today among the "elite". The way it is taken in the SCA is a farce. And as to how it is really followed by the members of the Society can be seen it the way politics work in the SCA.

As for the "Living History" of the SCA, this is a joke. Except for some people doing arts and science, there is nothing of living like they did in the past. Even in the arts and sciences people take modern short cuts to make their projects. Gas forge instead of a bellows powered charcoal forge, modern instead of period needles, power tools such as saws and drills. All of these things take away from the understanding of how things were really done in the past.

SCA events are fun costume parties and that is all they are. There is a great amount of research done by some to make their costume authentic but it is still a costume. Until they spend more than a weekend or week at it, it is still a party. Until they separate themselves from all modern conveniences and use only things of the period they are trying to "re-create" it is just a game.

Now lets move to the martial arts. How are they recreating the feel of combat in the middle ages if they use plastic, aluminum and other modern materials to create the armor? You always here, "if they had it back then they would have used it". Well they did not have it so, you are not re-creating the feel of their combat. SCA combat is not a way to learn how it felt to fight in the middle ages, it is a modern sport. This delusion needs to end.

I enjoy fighting in the SCA and I enjoy the events but I realize that the research I do and my attempts at making a period kit will not give me the experiences of the Medieval people. I have a better understanding of how some things were done because I chose to make period tools and do the pieces in a period fashion. I can better see the complex nature of the thing but not the time.

All I am saying is that the SCA is a dream, a game and nothing more. Enjoy the party and enjoy the arts and sciences but don't think that you know anything about what it was really like to live in the Middle Ages.

Celt Wars

It has taken me a couple weeks to get around to writing about this event. It is one of the best weekend events anywhere. It is not an SCA sanctioned event. There are no politics or an over abundance of rules. It is invitation only and we fight based on SCA rules without all the whining and complaining. People are responsible for themselves and their honor and they live up to it. In the whole day, fighting a dozen or more battles, there were two holds. The first one because someone's knee fell off their armor and one for something I forget about now. Granted it is a small event but just perfect.

My thanks, to the organizers of this great event. Always fun!