[Ansteorra-rapier] Concerning Rapier Authorizations

[Iago Cabrera de Cadiz]

You bring up a very valid point. I would suggest that authorizing  
marshals stop this practice immediately. If you have not seen someone  
use a weapon, do not authorize them for it. (Keep in mind, that  
statement only holds weight until I step down, which will be very  
soon, I hope.)

Iago
On Oct 15, 2012, at 2:01 PM, Andreas von Meißen wrote:

> I have been deliberately quiet in this debate because I don't want  
> to be That Guy who moves in from another Kingdom and complains about  
> how things are done here, but a thought occurred to me last night,  
> and then when it was brought up earlier I figured it was time to  
> speak up.
>
> I never held an epee authorization in the Middle, and upon moving  
> here I fully intended to not authorize in light rapier, so that I  
> would not be forced to fight it. When I moved to Ansteorra, a little  
> more than a year ago, I authorized at my local practice. I did so  
> with a heavy rapier and an experienced local rapier marshal.
> Lo and behold, I checked my card last night, and it said the  
> following:
>
> 03/2015_Rapier Combat
> _______ Rapier Marshal
> 03/2015_Heavy Rapier
>
> I have also been told numerous times by experienced fighters and  
> marshals (some who prefer heavy rapier, at least one who prefers  
> only light rapier) that "In Ansteorra, if you are authorized in  
> heavy rapier you are authorized in light rapier". This resulted in  
> me being forced to fight a bout in a baronial tournament with epee,  
> a weapon which I had not authorized in, had only fenced with once  
> before (at a practice in Elfsea several years previous when I was  
> visiting from the Middle and there were no loaner heavy rapiers) and  
> had only even held on a handful of occasions (literally, certainly  
> less than five).
>
> I have been an authorized fencer for about seven years (six in the  
> Middle, one here), and was a full marshal in the Middle for four-and- 
> a-half of those years - during which I ran literally dozens of  
> authorizations. My marshalate would have quite rightly been revoked  
> and I would have been screamed at by the KRM (the fact that he was  
> my Grand-Warder is immaterial) had I attempted to rubber-stamp  
> someone's epee authorization without having seen them fight with one.
>
> I have never intentionally held an epee authorization. I loathe  
> epees. They are a ridiculous remnant of a bygone era which promote  
> bad technique, inhibit both development and understanding of good  
> period style, and openly and brazenly fly in the face of the SCA's  
> educational mission and historical scope. Foils are even worse.
>
> As I stated before, I could not be more in favor of Master's Pug  
> proposal, and I will certainly be contacting the marshalate  
> secretary to void my authorization (one which I should never have  
> been granted in the first place), but the broader point here is this:
> If light and heavy rapier are separate authorizations, then they  
> need to be explicitly stated as such. The authorization cards should  
> have properly labeled "Light Rapier" and "Heavy Rapier" fields, and  
> marshals need to not grant authorizations for styles which were not  
> attempted and demonstrated. Additionally, people need to be educated  
> to the fact that there is no default weapons form in Ansteorra so  
> that the idea that the default is light rapier (and the  
> aforementioned "If you are authorized in heavy rapier you are  
> authorized in light rapier") is no longer promulgated.
>
> I will be sending my thoughts on this proposal to the relevant  
> parties privately, off of this list. I encourage others to do the  
> same.
>
> -- Andreas
>
> -- 
> Andrew R. Mizener/ Herr Andreas von Meißen
> Cadet to Warder Brighid MacCumhal
> Barony of Elfsea - Nautilus Pursuivant
> << Qui quærit, invenit >>
>
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