[Ansteorra] White Scarves and a big ole kettle of fish

[Chris Zakes]

At 02:22 PM 5/8/2007, you wrote:
>I guess this is a 'eek! Scary!' question, but since I haven't been active in
>the society long enough to know the ancient history on the topic, I honestly
>don't know the answer to this one:
>
>Why *isn't* there a peerage for rapier combat?

There's a couple of reasons. Although some "rapier combat" (actually 
modern-rules fencing) was seen in the First Tournament, rapier only 
existed on the fringes of the SCA for the first ten years or so. It 
took another ten or fifteen years before it was widely accepted 
across the SCA, and rapier still isn't allowed in Calontir. On the 
other hand (as Robin said) armored combat and knighthood were an 
integral part of the SCA from the very beginning. Thus our traditions 
say that knighthood equals armored combat; rapier is a johnny-come-lately.

Also, there's almost no historical basis for someone being given a 
knighthood *just* because he was a good rapier fighter. By the time 
rapiers were developed (late 1400s) knighthoods were usually given 
for military leadership or "service to the state" not for individual 
fighting ability.

None of the London Masters of Defence were knights, nor were the 
German Luxbruder or Marxbruder--they were more like modern-day 
martial arts instructors: middle-class folks trying to make a living. 
(The only exception I know of was Salvator Fabris, who was made the 
Supreme Knight of the Order of the Seven Hearts by King Christian IV 
of Denmark in the early 1600s. This *may* have been a "service to the 
state" knighthood as well, since Fabris was the royal swordsmanship 
instructor at the time.)

         -Tivar Moondragon
                 Ansteorra