Re: Modern Personal Conveniences

[steele@sprynet.com]

Poster: steele@sprynet.com



On Mon, 25 Nov 1996, Lance Harrop <lharrop@mrj.com> wrote:

>No!  We must KNOW what is accurate to be educational.  If I am asked if 
>people in period wore glasses, the answer is yes, late in period, but NOT 
>like the ones I am wearing.
>
>If I am asked if people hit each other with sticks rather then batted 
>swords in tourneys the answer is yes, but they used wood or whale bone 
>covered with silvered paper attached with paste.  We use rattan and duct 
>tape for safety and convience.  They shaved their blades to have a more 
>sword like cross section, we keep ours round.
>
>
	My dear friend Leifer, again we agree for the most part. The more I 
study history the more I realize I do not know, BUT the problem still arises 
about having to explain and getting people to listen not assume.
	We all know (I hope) that rattan and duct tape did not exist in even the 
more broad views of SCA's period. One can discuss "tournament" weapons like 
whalebone or silvered leather, but one has to get to the discussion. Outside a 
demo, how often have you heard anyone explain the visual historical cognate to a 
rattan sword.
  I haven't found documentation for a double-elim tournament, but I have heard 
folks assert on Rialto that it must be historical. Why? Because that's the way 
we do it and someone must have researched it once. IMHO we could make a better 
attempt to be historical, and explain the few things we must conceed to 
convenience, safety, or fun. 
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