ES - Elfsea Defender Chivalric Tourney

[baron at elfsea.ansteorra.org]

Galen here...

I've been talking for some time about what I want to do 
for the chivalric tourney at Elfsea Defender.  I want to 
toss out the ideas I'm presently working with, and get 
the barony's feedback on them, especially the fighters' 
opinions.

In period, a tourney would last more than a few hours, or 
even more than a full day.  They would last up to a week, 
with different scenarios being tried on different days.

In Ansteorra, there have been very few efforts to re-
create a tourney of the high middle ages (say 12-14th 
century), and none that I am aware of that were part of a 
baronial championship event that included other 
competitions.  Most familiar to Elfsea fighters is 
probably the Tournee de Lyonesse, held for several years 
by Bjornsborg, which in turn was a descendent of the 
earlier Tournament of Lions.  The Lions tournies 
simulated different tournament days by seperating the 
tourney into rounds.  All combat was assumed to be fought 
_a plaisance_, that is, with blunted weapons.  To be 
killed or wounded by SCA standards meant to be 
incapacitated for the remainder of the "day", so you had 
to wait until the next round to fight.  (However, there 
was a round fought "a outrance" with sharpened weapons, 
to settle affairs of honor; wounds taken in this round 
were retained throughout the tourney.)  Fighters hired 
heralds and made great shows of their performance on the 
field.  A herald might even provide a "play-by-play" 
account of his patron's fight, highlighting his patron's 
best moves and chivalry, of course.  And the day started 
with a march of precedence of the fighters, to present 
them to the Baron of Bjornsborg, Sir Jan.

Within the context of Elfsea Defender, there simply isn't 
time in the schedule to do as much as we'd like, but we 
can do a smaller version of it, to give us all a taste.

I'm thinking of starting with a march of precedence of 
the fighters and their consorts, in which the fighter may 
provide his own herald to announce him, if he wishes.  
The Baroness will preside over a ladies pavillion, who 
will bestow largess on the fighters that catch their eye. 

Challenge Round 
Then the field would be open for challenges.  For 45 
minutes, fighters could accept or give challenges and 
fight them out on the field.  Wounds would be retained 
throughout the round, slain fighters would be out until 
the next round.  Multiple fights would be fought at the 
same time.

Limited Blows Challenge Round
The second round would be also be 45 minutes, and run the 
same way except you have a limited number of blows:  3 
blows with each of the traditional "weapons of chivalry" 
sword, mace (or axe, depending on your persona), spear, 
or dagger.  Challenge as many fighters as you can, but 
you can't throw more than 12 shots total during the 
round.  Perhaps you'd challenge a fighter to all four 
weapons, or choose a different opponent for each weapon.  
This sort of limited-blows combat was commonly done in 
period tournies.  If you haven't done it, you'll find it 
to be a very challenging sort of combat.  As before, 
wounds are retained through the round, and killing shots 
take you out of the round.

Defenders at the Barrier
In the third round the former Defenders of Eflsea would 
defend the barrier against any and all comers, for 45 
minutes.  Challenge them alone or en mass.  Wounds will 
be retained through the round.

Grand Melee
Finally, the ladies pavillion will choose a Lord 
Challenger, and then the Baron will choose a Lord Tenant 
and his team.  They will lead the sides of a grand melee.

After this, the Baron will consult with the prior 
Defenders of Elfsea to choose which participant is most 
worthy to become the new Defender of Elfsea.

How's it sound?  Do you love it?  Do you hate it?  Do you 
want to tweak it a little?  A lot?  This _is_ the time 
for negative commentary.  (Positive, too.)

Please be gentle!

- Galen Elfsea

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