Bringing medieval fantasies to reality

STORY AND PHOTOS BY DYLAN NELSON

On a cold November night at an empty school gymnasium shrouded in impenetrable northwest fog, two fighters dawned in full sets of medieval armor and steel helmets come together. They tap their shields with their swords once and walk to the center of the gym, squaring up like two heavily armored boxers in a ring. Shields and swords at the ready, they seem to lock eyes from behind their protective visors. For a brief moment they move in a lazy manner towards each other looking for the other to make a move while planning their first strike.

Todd Bruce, wearing a yellow garb over his armor, makes the first move swinging for Dustin Schmidt’s head and then torso. Dustin, wearing Polish Hussar armor over a red garb, blocks the first swing with his shield. He goes for a swing at Todd’s legs but hits Todd’s shield before jumping back to avoid Todd’s second swing. Neither land a solid hit and both fighters back off, armor rattling with each step. They take another moment to collect themselves before Dustin raises his sword over his shield and presses in for the attack.

Keeping a bit of distance between them, the fighters strike once at the other, both hitting their opponent’s shield, testing their opponent’s reaction. After another moment of circling each other, Todd raises his shield anticipating Dustin’s attack and goes for Dustin’s left leg. Dustin lets loose a full swing starting from behind his head and manages to make solid contact with Todd’s helmet, winning the fight. Todd taps his sword to his helmet and then points at Dustin, signaling his victory.

These fighters are a part of an international organization called The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) that is dedicated to recreating the arts of the medieval ages. Members of the SCA belong to kingdoms with kings, queens, princes and princesses who all reign for six months before being decided on again in tournament combat. Whatcom County belongs to the Kingdom of An Tir, which also includes British Columbia.

Winning an SCA fight is all about fighting smart. Swinging wildly won’t get you far in these kinds of engagements. “They talk about this in all of the period manuals; you can’t fight hot-headed,” Dustin says.

SCA fighters have strict rules on what kind of armor they have to wear. Dustin, who is going to be knighted by the king soon, says that the injury rate in this sport is extremely low, lower than the injury rate of intramural soccer. Fighters, at the minimum, have to wear armor that protects their kidneys, knees, short ribs, elbows, neck, head, hands and groin. “Most of us wear significantly more,” Dustin says. Fighters’ basic armor sets are usually made from plastic pickle barrel and leather straps with a gambeson, a padded defensive jacket, put over it. Some metal armor is custom made by armor smiths in the region to fit the fighter.

One of the biggest rules about armor is that your helmet has to be made of steel, and has to be a certain weight. Dustin says the steel and weight requirement is needed to prevent concussions. Concussions occur when your brain bounces against the walls of your skull enough to disrupt brain activity. This usually happens because of an impact. The weight of the helmets required by the SCA allows you to take a direct impact to the head without getting a concussion. The weight of the helmet keeps your head from accelerating when it gets hit. If it can’t accelerate, your brain can’t rattle around and you are less likely to get a concussion. A hard direct hit moves your head to the side a bit and the clang of the weapon against your helmet can make your ears ring, but other than that you don’t feel much.

Once you get past the physicality of the sport, fights are like chess. Most fights last under a minute, but Dustin recalled a fight that lasted fifteen. “They were squaring up. He’d move and the guy would adjust. He’d throw a shot, the other guy would move so he’d bail. Most of us are thinking a couple moves ahead,” Dustin says. “If I go here, your shield has to move here. You just threw x shot which means you can throw y shot next, which means I need to move here. If I do that, I should have the timing to open up this hole over here.”

Knights in the SCA are an integral member of the kingdom. They have the king’s ear, they wear special adornments and are usually pretty good fighters, Dustin explains. “You have to be a chevalier combatant, you have to do your service, you have to support your kingdom and do all that kind of stuff but in the end its about prowess as well.”

Dustin is going to be knighted in January by the king. “It’s a big deal for me. It’s very exciting. It means I get to call myself a knight,” he says, failing to hide a smile. His entire attitude towards this accomplishment is one of cautious pride. He’s obviously proud to have been accepted as a knight and has worked hard to get where he is, but he’s also very wary of talking too much about it as he doesn’t want to seem like he’s gloating. He also knows that people are counting on him and he doesn’t want to disappoint them.

There is little boasting in the SCA. While other combat and non-combat sports have a lot of boasting involved in them, members of the SCA seem to have no interest in it. “What we do has a pretty high risk potential and we all recognize that. People know whose going to win in a fight because we get in fights on a regular basis,” says Dustin. I’ve done other martial arts and this is by far the most fun group of people I’ve had getting out with on that level.”

Although kingdoms within the SCA have conflicts with each other, it is all in good fun, says Sheena Boychuck, the Shire’s Chatelaine. To resolve the conflicts between kingdoms, wars are sometimes fought. Wars are usually scenario driven, and can have as few as 10 fighters per side or into the thousands. Dustin says that the Pennsic war is where everyone wants to be. The war incorporates all sorts of fighters, including archers and siege weaponry. Dustin laughed and said that if you want to see the light hearted fun tone that these events have, a video called How Not To Charge A Balista, in which an enemy fighter takes a ballista round to the face and gets up saying “That’s the coolest thing I’ve seen all day!” is a must watch.

The SCA has a friendly community feel, something you might not expect from participants in a combat sport. As another fighter named Justen Perry-Kennedy, who fights with two swords instead of a sword and a shield finishes his fight, Dustin gives him some friendly advice. “Is it all just punchey punchey or did I throw anything good?” Justen asks between breaths. “Your lead shots are good, your secondary shots are coming in like this.” Dustin makes a boxing motion. “He’s taking them because you’re a freaking monster, don’t get me wrong. It’s not that they’re not hitting, it’s that they’re probably going to be borderline with a lot of guys,” Dustin says, referring to opponents calling their hits. If a hit isn’t hard enough, the person you hit doesn’t have to call it. “On Tuesday you were coming in and kind of like Rock ’Em Sock ’Em robots. Release the hand man,” Dustin says.

In another testament to the community of the SCA, newcomers aren’t abused or beaten up on. Dustin says he makes sure that newcomers are properly armed and armored and that they get some time to practice.

Todd wants to keep newcomers wanting to come back. “When I’m messing with the new guys I want to keep them inspired to fight. So I don’t want to just wreck ‘em.” he says. “Because if I straight up just fight them, it’s not fun for them.” At the end of practicing with new people, Todd will tell them that they’re going to fight for three rounds and that they should give it their all.

At the end of the weekly practice, everyone comes together to take part in what they call the bear pit. Everyone lines up and takes turns stepping into the one on one fight. If you win, you get to stay in and fight the next person. Every time someone’s defeated, it’s all smiles and good sportsmanship. Everyone seems to be working on their techniques. When they get back in line they talk about what they did wrong and how they can avoid that next time.

After practice is over, everyone gets out of their medieval armor, and some change into drier shirts before the entire group goes to Denny’s together for a late night dinner.