Greetings and welcome to the first edition of the newcomers guide. It is my hope that these resources will allow you to begin an enjoyable journey towards learning our Arte. My humble thanks go to William Wilson (Known within the SCA as Barwn Gwylym ob Owain) for allowing this to be posted on his excellent site. It is an incredible resource and should be explored to its fullest extent. First allow me to tell you some of what we are attempting here.

Our wish is to learn the true techniques taught by the great masters of fence of the Renaissance.
In order to do so, it is not sufficient to simply read the texts written in the period, or to take the word of modern interpreters of these martial arts of our forefathers. In the first instance, the great masters such as de Grassi and Saviolo were writing in their own language, and what has been handed down is often the product of shaky translation and dubious interpretation. Even the English of the time (some 450-500 years ago) was very different than that of the late 20th century, and so even where original texts written in our own tongue survive, it is not always clear exactly what the writer is trying to say.

Coupled with these straightforward linguistic problems is the fact that the teachers were often deliberately camouflaging some of the techniques they were passing on to their paying students, lest their rivals in business (for a business it certainly was) should steal an advantage, then you can see that mere bookish scholarship is unlikely to give us the whole story.

Therefore, as with all martial arts or body skills, it is only by doing that we may come close to understanding what we are about, and a large part of that doing takes the form of sparring with our colleagues in the society, pitching the techniques of one master against those of another, attempting to perfect lunges and passes, parries and ripostes.

Part of the accurate simulation of techniques is coupled closely with the weapons we use. Modern foils, epees and sabres just will not do - they are far too light and 'whippy', quite unlike the real rapier, which, even in its late, stiletto-like form, could never be flicked around like modern Olympic weapons. This is where the schläger or DelTin blade comes into its own. Fitted to a hilt of period design, it both looks accurate and performs as a reasonable facsimile of a real rapier blade designed primarily for thrusting. At the same time, modern metallurgy allows the blade to be strong and yet flexible enough to 'give' on impact to keep our sparring sufficiently safe.

The point must be made, however, that this art is NOT FOR EVERYONE. We do get bruised, and if physical pain in any form is an anathema to you, then don't get involved! The road to true understanding is often a painful one, either in terms of blows occasionally received (however unintentional) or in terms of the sheer effort one needs to put in. If this is a path appropriate for you, then welcome and find me at practice or an event in the near future. I look forward to it.
 
 

Welcome!

Senan O'Faolan, DWS
 
 

Table of Contents:

1. What is Rapier Combat?
2. Letter of welcome from the Kingdom Marshal of Fence, HL Selene O'Malley,
    and a letter from Barwn Master Gwylym ob Owain
3. Newcomers Fencing terms
4. Swordtypes and Parts
5. Helpful advice
6. Persona Questions