The Archetypes of Fence

One factor in rapier fighting that is often overlooked is how we view our fighting. Do we view it as a martial art? As a sport? A chance to look good? A way to advance? For each of us, the reason is at least a little different, but that reason can be broken down into five basic archetypes:

• The Artist: This is the fighter who sees fencing as a way to explore how it was really done in period times. They're the ones who can quote Capo Ferro and are drawn to Cut-and-Thrust because it's "more accurate." Their garb is usually immaculate and their blades are sized and balanced to perfection. They look down (at least in private) on epee-guarded schlagers and modern fencing jackets.


• The Contender: This is the fighter who sees fencing as a sport. Their goal is to win! Their main reason for pick-ups before a tournament is so they can pick apart their opponent's style and their gear is the lightest, fastest gear they can find that still meets the SCA standards.


• The Dandy: The Dandy sees fencing as the ultimate expression of style. Their garb is awesome, their weapons, things of beauty and their deaths worth of an Oscar. For them, their performance comes a distant second to how good they look performing and the greatest insult you can give them is to tap your chest and call good when their thrust lands true.


• The Soldier: The soldier lives for melee. They see nothing funner than a target-rich environment and the chance to command troops. Quite often, the best compliment their garb receives is that it's servicable - and usually over-built - and the number of RBGs they can carry is astounding.


• The Suitor: The suitor sees fencing as a road for advancement within The Society. Their garb usually follows the trends of those of higher station than themselves and their equipment comes highly recommended by those In The Know. Much of their time off the field is spent in conversation with Peers and Defenders and they quite often feel disdain for those lesser fencers who are forced into their presence.

Yes, this list shows the purest, most distilled archetypes you can find among fencers. And yes, a fencer who personifies a single archetype is a bad thing. But all of the archetypes are necessary to form a good fencer. We need The Artist's quest for knowledge because the purpose of the SCA is to recreate the middle ages. And without The Contender, we'd never feel the drive to improve ourselves. Likewise, The Dandy teaches us to embrace the pageantry of a well-run tourney and The Soldier gives us the ability to lead, both on the field and off. And, although The Suitor may seem the least attractive of the five archetypes, it is The Suitor that lets us learn appropriate behavior to get along with those around us and, yes, perhaps get noticed for our accomplishments.

It is only when we combine these archetypes in equal measure that we truly move from rapier fighters to fencers.

Why I Wear What I Wear (or: Excuses, Excuses)

One of the few classes I attended at Uprising was on Elizabethan Men's Garb. It's the right time period for me, and even if I'm not English, the English and the Dutch were allies, so they'd have been an influence on us. I showed up in my just finished fighting, feeling lazy, it's not court yet garb and wound up being pointed out as an example of both what to do (garters on my tall boots) and what not to do (those self-same boots, big, floppy cavalier hat).

Now, as anyone who's read some of my earlier posts can no doubt guess, I'm a big proponent of appropriate garb, so you'd think I'd practice what I preach, and you're right, I should do better. A lot better, actually. In fact, my garb is pretty much late-period generic. But I'd like to think I'm making progress.

For example, the boots that got props and poo-pooed are, actually correct for me. Okay, maybe not for court (unless I was standing it as a champion). The instructor did have a point that they are meant as riding boots - which, as a dragoon, is spot-on for my every-day use - and nobody would wear them to court. So, I suppose I should be wearing my hose and shoes instead, it's just that my boots are far more comfortable than my shoes. And, with how screwed up my feet are (even the Army says I'm disabled because of them), comfort is very important. Now, if I can save up $150 for a pair of Birkenstock Londons, I'd probably start living in them, instead.

And I actually agree with the instructors about my hat, but for different reasons. For her, it was the fact that the hat was for every-day and not for special occasions like court. My reason for wanting a different hat is all together different. Another thing regular readers might have picked up on is that I'm not much of a pirate person, and what do most SCA pirates wear over their polyester paisley do-rags? That's right: big, floppy Cavalier hats with more feathers sticking out of them that a chicken farm. But I have the hat -and have had it since before Pirates of the Carribean (if I don't bathe for 6 months and start acting effiminant, does that make me sexy, too?). And, I have far less hair than I once did (at least on top of my head). So I wear the hat - at least until I can find one I like better. Which, I think I may have. Plate 40d of Braun & Schneider's History of Costume shows a man, wearing of all things, a fedora. I can do a fedora. Okay, so it's German instead of Dutch, but their Plate 47c show what looks remarkably like either a reservation hat or a classic slouch hat, which is also doable. It'll just be a matter of what I can find locally.

This may be one of those where, by going more period, I look less period (especially if I do up something like coat the man from the Isle of Sylt is wearing), but that's okay. I've always rather liked making people question their assumptions.

One in Ten

My captain told me once that he spent 90% of his time dealing with 10% of his soldiers. He was talking about how it was the problem children in the unit who required all of his attention, which made him feel like he was neglecting the rest of the unit.

And that problem isn't unique to the military, just about every large group suffers from it. Even us fencers. If you look through the rule books for the SCA, just about every decision in there can be traced to a single person (not all the same one, but still...).

I was taken to task over my last post, because it sounded like I was blaming all of the white scarves for what happened at Uprising. That wasn't my intention, and if it was taken that way, I appologize.

But, likewise, I cannot say that all of the White Scarves (either in Artemisia or the Knowne World) are the paragons of Truth, Justice and the Artemisian Way that we would hope they would be. In fact, I would go as far as to say that each and every one of them has had at least one lapse in judgement at one time or other, that's just part of being human. Unfortunately, just like in any group, there are a small few for whom these lapses of judgement go from occasional to fairly often.

And, thanks to good old Murphy, the bigger the lapse the more public it tends to be. This leads to the group being judged too often by our occasional mistakes, instead of by the numerous good deeds that surround them.

That is why I brought up the occurence at Uprising. Everyone makes mistakes, yes. But in order to offset these mistakes to the surrounding public, we need to be seen as being able to recognize them and show that we can take care of them, and the more in-house we can do it, the better.

So, why did I bring it up in a public forum? Wouldn't directly confronting the individuals about their actions have been better? If I'd have had names, yes. But I didn't. So, instead, I used the incident as a chance to remind everyone of the impact of their words.

Wheter this was the best choice or not, I don't know, but it has obviously gotten people's attention.

Giving Criticism

Okay, so this one bothered me.

When I got to Uprising, one of our young fencers came running up to me to show off his new prize - a buckler he'd made himself. I checked it over, and it was ugly, I think anyone who was there knows the one I mean. But like I said, I checked it out and pointed out a couple of flaws with it (it had some 1/4" holes in it) and told him the marshal might bounce it because of them and, yes, I'll admit I ribbed him some about it's appearance, but I also told him it was a very creative first try.

Now what I'd expected to happen was that he'd show it to the marshal and it'd get bounced for the holes (heaven knows I've had my equipment bounced for stupider things), but what happened was that the marshal ignored the holes (see The Society Rapier Handbook, Protective Gear:2.B.ii, I know it's meant for masks, but it can be interpreted to apply to other parts of your equipment), and let the young man take it on the field.

Where he was greeted by several rounds of "My God! That's ugly, how could you even think of bringing it on the field?" For some reason, he bowed out of the melees early. And refused to go to the Chivaly Circle. And refused to take part in any of the tournaments. When I tracked him down and asked him why, he said that he didn't need a bunch of white scarves telling him his buckler was ugly and he should be ashamed to bring it out on the field.

Thank you guys, you just killed rapier for a young man.

Vivat.

Okay, yes it was ugly. But I have to ask if anyone even looked at the fencer carrying it? He was 16, with purely store-bought equipment. I mean, even without the buckler, he just screamed "new fencer." Wouldn't it have been better to play Laurel and find at least one good thing about it ("I like that you painted it") before tearing him down? Or, even better yet, offer to, or suggest someone who could help him make a better one? I know I tried that, but by that time, he was so defensive from the repeated attacks that he refused to even think of giving up his buckler.

I hope that I'm wrong. I hope that he isn't getting ready to abandon us in favor of the armored fighters who praised his creativity, rather than criticize his appearance, but whatever the results may be with the young man, it makes me glad that I don't wear a scarf that would tie me to such wonderful people as our supposed paragons of fencing.