[Ansteorra-rapier] Concerning Rapier Authorizations

[James Crouchet]

I absolutely agree with Iago.  If I had heard of such a practice when I was
KRM I would have put a stop to it at once.  Thank you Andreas, for bringing
this to the attention of the powers that be.  I expect we will see
corrections to this practice issued through both official and unofficial
channels over the next few months.

Christian Doré

On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 2:48 PM, Iago Cabrera de Cadiz <
baroniago at earthlink.net> wrote:

> 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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