[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
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