[Ansteorra] Armour Standards

Sir Lyonel Oliver Grace sirlyonel at hotmail.com
Sun Nov 5 19:39:36 PST 2006


Salut cozyns,

Excellent questions, Lord Lochlan.

>>>>
I would like to know if those Kingdoms with higher calibrations also have 7 
1/2 ft unpadded glaves with rules about "excessive force", or if they use a 
90 degree rule.
<<<<

Atlantia does not allow unpadded glaives and does not have a 90 degree rule. 
Aethelmearc allows 90" unpadded glaives but has a 90 degree rule specific to 
melees. East Kingdom uses the weapons standard as provided by the Society EM 
(unpadded glaives are allowed) and has the standard  prohibition against 
poleaxe and baseball bat swings but no 90 degree rule.

>>>>
If so how have people fared in those Kingdoms w/out vams or gorgets under 
their aventails? How many broken arms or throat/neck injuries?
<<<<

I have not found a single report of a throat or neck injury in the history 
of the SCA. The Atlantian knights I've discussed this with lately claim that 
their interpretation of the old SCA neck protection rules was that no 
padding was required under a camail. According to the queries I've been 
lobbing around the SCA, every kingdom has had broken forearms--with and 
without vambraces. Forearms are easy to break. I've broken my left three 
times (never in SCA combat) including once in a kenjutsu match (a large, 
graceless opponent fell on me).

One interesting point: the SCA rules typically tend to be written to protect 
vital organs and break points that don't heal well (knees and elbows). If 
our concern was breakables, we'd be required to have clavicle protection. No 
bone in (not counting the three in your ear) is easier to break than a 
clavicle, but no one requires clavicle protection. You might argue that more 
forearms have been broken than clavicles.  I would counter by noting that 
ankle and shin breaks have been fairly common in the SCA, yet no one 
requires shin protection.

As for the etiquette against hitting forearms, yes, that has been the case 
in some kingdoms at some periods. None of those kingdoms rely on minimum 
armor standards. There is some argument as to why the taboo about "arm 
hunting" occurs. It appears to happen in kingdoms that also have a taboo 
against large shields.

Understand, I am not trying to legislate against thorough armor coverage. I 
wear vambraces, rerebraces, cuisses, greaves, breast protection covering my 
entire sternum, and back protection that reaches up almost to my cervical 
spine. I believe in armor protection. I used to wear hip protection and 
might go back to it, eventually.

I fervently believe, however, that the Ansteorran armor requirements have 
gotten excessive. We should legislate the minimums at the Society level and 
only recommend additions. Nothing in the armor standards says that wearing 
the minimum level of protection guarantees that you will not be injured. It 
would be litigious suicide to make such a statement. Granted, nothing in the 
Ansteorran Participant's Handbook specifically says that we are guaranteeing 
safety, but the arguing that those additions make us "safer" strongly 
implies that those additions guarantee safety. Such an implication writes a 
check I don't think we can cash.

lo vostre per vos servir
Meser Lyonel
_________________________________
Dum doceo disco

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