Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Two men stood on the green, their medieval armor like roasting ovens in the 90 degree heat, as they swung wooden swords at each other with force that made each blow sound loud as the wood hit the leather armor.
Ten feet away, five observers in shorts and T-shirts stood by and watched the combatants’ feet and hands move through the various motions of medieval field warfare.
Photo Gallery
Society for Creative Anachronism Inc.
Photo gallery of an SCA practice Tuesday, July 10 in South Park.
All of a sudden the clashing stopped and the two men stepped away from each other. The practice session ended.
John Kearbey, one of the fighters, removed his helmet.
“I hope you had fun,” Kearbey said to his opponent.
The other fighter nodded. He had had fun.
They are the Society for Creative Anachronism Inc., an international group that focuses on recreating pre-17th century Europe. They meet every Tuesday from 6:30 to 7 p.m., in South Park to practice their medieval fighting skills and exchange historical information.
“We are all history geeks for the most part with an interest in medieval life,” said Richard Jones, a Lawrence resident and 27-year society member.
Jones is known in the SCA world as Richard Wolfwood, a 10th or 11th century Hasting Anglo-Saxon.
Members of SCA choose the name of a person who lived prior to the 17th century. Through research the members choose clothes and weapons fitting to their chosen medieval personage and become that historical character.
Travis Wittner, another SCA member, plays Udutaitoghan, a 13th century Mongol.
“We research very heavily everything that we do,” Wittner said. “We try to exclude as much of the modern world as possible except for medicine in case someone gets hurt in a battle.”
SCA holds events worldwide but members regularly attend those held in their “kingdoms.” The “Kingdom of Calontir,” to which the Lawrence chapter belongs, includes chapters in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and parts of Arkansas.
Events include a tournament, staged battles involving up to 300 people and individual jousting.
Wittner said he had been a 20 year member and he still loves it.
“To hear the cannons go off it just fills you with endorphins and adrenaline and you go rush each other and hear the clash and clatter of everyone hitting. There is nothing like it,” he said.
Each member wears protective gear from the era which is either handmade by the members or bought at SCA events.
Not all SCA members participate in the fighting. As Jones put it, the fighting is just the “easy to see part.”
Meg Brandt, a non-traditional student from Hillsboro who makes 14th century costumes, said she has tried fighting but can not bring herself to hit a friend.
Brandt got into the SCA when she was 17 years old.
Now, nine years later, she said she used SCA activities to unwind and get away from everyday life.
“It’s like kind of stripping away from the modern world for a little while,” Brandt said.
She said that people experience a “magic moment” when they separate themselves from the modern world.
“It’s that moment when you see modern things but you don’t register them,” Brandt said. “Sometimes its speeding, sometimes it lasts forever. You have hours where you forget where you are without ever really losing track of yourself.”
Brandt said that, because of her age, she doesn’t fit in with other students so she spends most Friday nights with her SCA friends.
After Tuesday’s practice, while Kearbey and his opponent divested themselves of their armor, other group members talked about a member who was recently knighted. When they had gathered up all of their equipment they finally retired to the Jackpot Saloon for a beer.
—Edited by Ben Smith
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Comments
Local 'history geeks' celebrate anachromism
This article has several factual errors:
SCA members are NOT allowed to choose personas of anyone that was known to exist historically. They must only choose names that COULD have existed.
Fighting is not "staged" any more than any other martial art. We're really out there hitting eachother.
300 fighters is not the upper limit for battles. Annual events such as Pennsic and Gulf Wars can be considerably larger with over 1,000 fighters participating simultaneously.
Jousting (an equestrian activity involving lances) is banned all SCA events except under carefully staged demonstrations.
It should also be noted that Lawrence is known in the SCA as the Shire of Carlsby.
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