A little Cliff’s Notes so you’ll understand the following pictures a little better. . . .
The SCA is a global reenactment organization. The ‘known world’ is divided up into many different kingdoms. We live in the kingdom of An Tir, which is comprised of Washington, northern Idaho, part of Oregon, and part of Canada. Each kingdom is ruled by a king and queen. You get to be king/queen by fighting for it. Literally. The event we went to, September Crown, is where the tournament takes place that decides the king/queen for the next six months. To win the crown you need to enter the tournament, fight a whole bunch of guys and come out on top. They fight with ‘swords’ made from rattan (solid bamboo) and wear armor that ranges from plastic (pickle barrel) to boiled leather to actual steel. And they aren’t messing around. There are a bunch of rules of things you can/can’t do for safety’s sake, but these guys are out to win. There are usually a few minor injuries and a LOT of bruising! The fights aren’t scripted, the fighting style is based on actual period styles.
This is, I think, the warm up/practice for the Squires Tourney. It’s hard to tell from the picture, but it was raining fairly hard. And they were out there fighting anyway!
This was a rapier duel (doesn’t that sound awful?) later in the day when the weather cleared up.
I don’t know this lady, I just thought she had cool garb. Jay informs me that she is a Baroness. (Essentially the president of her part of the kingdom.)
I think this guy is a King. Not sure. But check out his cloak. It’s freaking amazing. It’s even more amazing in person. It’s got griffins on either side that you can’t really see from this angle. Just wow.
Check out the horsehair on the helm! Cool!
This one too!
A little wandering cutie.
My little cutie!
Relaxing with Uncle Jacob. (And keeping the poor guy warm!)
This is Davin. (The guy in the center with the yellow band.) Or, more accurately, his Grace, Sir Duke Davin Steingrimsson. He’s the knight that Jay is squired to. Huh, this is getting complicated. He’s the guy who is/has been teaching Jay to fight. He’s been King three times, hence the lengthy title.
Davin blocking a desperate attempt.
Davin after putting the smackdown on that knight.
Davin’s last fight of the day.
He took out the guy’s legs. (If they get hit in the leg or arm they ‘lose’ that appendage but get to keep on fighting Monty Python style until they take a ‘critical’ hit.
That’s right, Davin, hit him when he’s down! lol!
What? Davin dies anyway!
So, the way this particular tournament was played was a Sweet Sixteen. You start with 8 fighting arenas with 8-9 knights each. Those 8-9 all fight each other and the two people with the highest amount of wins in each arena move on. Then those 16 knights move to a double elimination round where they get two ‘lives’ to either lose or end up as the last two fighters. Those two then fight each other for the title of King. This video is a bit lengthy, but is the last fight and determined the winner! They are SERIOUS. Definitely worth the watch! Hail the King!
This was the last camping post, I promise! There’ll be food tomorrow! Maybe Whoopie pies. . . . . .
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