Seamarch Yule 2013

This past weekend, I was lucky enough to attend a day event held by my neighbors to the north, the Shire of Seamarch. Seamarch’s Yule event holds many fond memories for me over the years, as do all of their events. This one stands out in particular because the event is held entirely for charity. Through auctioning off fighters, ladies, and donations, the shire tries to raise enough money to give a $25 gift card to each of the young people benefiting from the Children’s Home Society’s programs. The Children’s Home Society has three different shelters to fill different needs: Transitions is a home dedicated to helping young mothers get on their feet. They do this through parenting classes and helping them find a job. Nelle Smith is a home for troubled teens, and Safe Harbour is a shelter for runaway and homeless children.

2013 marks a few firsts for me as far as this event goes. It was the first event my girls got to attend in their own garb, and the first time I got to participate in the fighter auction. The girls had an amazing time running amok throughout the site and generally being merry wherever they could. Everyone was amazingly gracious and kind in the way that the welcomed the girls into the fold, especially her Excellency, Countess Rosalinda De Santiago, and Victoria of Seamarch, Sgt Von Hessen’s daughter. As the girls ran around, they made sure the girls never got too far out of sight and into too much trouble. The extra eyes were a huge help.

The girls’ garb was a huge point of pride for me, three little apron dresses hand stitched in the Hedeby fashion. Each dress was planned out and made by my precious Braenna Faelan, and they were beautiful. The contrast between the main colour on each and the gores could not have come out better. Guenevere had a red dress with gray gores, Isabella a green dress with red gores, and little Victoria had a blue dress with yellow gores. I know my lady would like me to use words like buttercup and periwinkle, but I can’t remember the right ones. The most impressive part of the dressmaking was that she managed to make them out of our fabric extras from other garb that we have made, which has two great points: first it didn’t cost us any extra money, and second they match us.

At this event, the rapier fighters went before the heavys on the schedule, which means I was able to watch some of the matches. The field looked amazing since Haus der Kameraden showed up in force. They showed off their household pride in some beautiful tabards with their colours and badge displayed on them. In addition to Kameraden’s fighters, there was overall a good turnout for the rapier lyst, including  a relocated Don Davius St. Jacques of the East Kingdom, a newly authorized Lady Jaquelle D’Artois, and my kinsman Augustine al Valencia. With this turnout, the competition was strong, but in the end Don Davius was victorious with Augustine taking second place.

Onto the heavy fighting, only 6 fighters competed in the heavy lyst this year. They were: Duke Mittion von Weald, Lord William of Kent, Lord Kenric Fitz Alan, Lord Roderick, myself, and Vikarr Bjornisson. The smal number made the Round Robin the most effective tourney style. In this format, each fighter will fight each of the other participants twice. Once when they go around the circle themselves, and then again when the other fighters go through the circle. Each win is worth one point, so in this lyst there were ten fights for a possible ten points. The participants were a good cross section of levels of experience from the highest level of achievement possible (a duke and knight), to someone who had only been fighting a few months. In the end, after 60 fights the fighters were ranked as follows: Duke Mittion von Weald, Lord Kenric Fitz Alan, Vikarr Bjornisson, Lord William of Kent, myself, and Lord Roderick. Overall, I am pleased with the day's fighting, I learned something from each of my opponents, and I am always happy for a day where I can get in armour.

The main lesson that I learned through the fights was highlighted in my matches against Lord Kenric and Lord Roderick: I am suffering from a lack of target recognition. I get locked in the idea of looking for a kill shot instead of trying to find a shot that will give me an advantage as the fight moves along. In my off-hand I carry an axe which lets me hook and control my opponent if used properly. This does me very little good if I don’t take advantage of it and take the right shot. In the matches against Lord Roderick (see video below), I was able to hook his sword arm, but instead of pulling it out and trying to take the arm, I kept trying to throw a wrap shot around his shield. He used his shield very well and kept my shot from landing. Finally, I was able to get his shield out of the way and land a blow to the top of his helm. This fight could have gone much more smoothly for me if I would have used the control on his arm to pull it from behind the shield and throw my strike there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1qdOt5Ovy8

When fighting Vikarr, he managed in both fights to get a shot at my ribs underneath the protection of my axe. Sadly, I wasn’t able to get this fight on film, but looking over the other footage I was able to see what might have been the issue. As I am trying to hook or move with my opponent's sword, I am losing control of the haft of my axe, which is the only defense I have on my left side. I am going to try and address this first by removing the counter weight that I have on the bottom of my axe which causes it to swing around a little bit more than I would like, and second by working the pell and focusing on shield discipline (axe discipline?).

Lord William is a very solid fighter whose stance is focused on defense. This meant that while sitting at B range there was no way for me to hook his sword arm. Many times throughout the fight, I was throwing the axe out to try and get a hold of something and falling short. If you watch the video, these ineffectual axe thrusts leave me open for his counter-attacks. He keeps his discipline and doesn’t strike until after I have left myself open. Later on in the evening, I spoke with Sgt Daniel von Hessen to see if he had any advice for me, and he reiterated this lesson. I need to come into A range and stay on top of my opponent, throw strikes, keep their sword busy in defense or in my axe, and once I'm done throwing, I need to pull out beyond the range of the opponent's sword quickly. Any time I'm soft-shoeing in B range, I am not at my most effective, but my opponent is. My plan to address this is to train up my endurance to give me more time throwing and fighting in A range, and practice my foot work so that I can get in and out more efficiently.

My final opponent was his Grace, Duke Mittion. The fight was over so quickly that it wasn’t until later on in the evening speaking with Sgt. von Hessen and watching the videos that I realized the mistake that I made. My left side parry of the wrap shot was ineffective and leaving my whole left side open and vulnerable to a strike from that side. This may be an issue that I am having with many experienced fighters who can see the hole in my defense.  The best way I can think to correct this is to change the way I approach that parry. Currently I am trying to punch out the axe to where the opponent’s sword is at the start of their strike. Sgt. Von Hessen suggested using a roll wrist block, this will put my axe in the way of where their sword is going. This, combined with moving my torso into a sword strike, will mean that even if they break their wrist around my axe, I should be out of the way. Just as important, I will also be throwing a strike myself which will force them to move to defense or risk getting hit.

A note on ranges: The style of combat that we use in the SCA has been taught to me using a four letter system for range, A-D. A and D are the fixed ranges of point blank and outside of spear range. B and C are a little more fluid. B range is the ideal range for your typical heavy fighter, where they can strike with the forte of their sword with little forward motion, but not so close that their shields are becoming an obstruction. C range is just out of sword range, but is the sweet spot for glaive wielders.  These ranges both talk about sweet spots, which are highly variable depending on length of weapons, and reach of the fighter.

Now, to move on to another Seamarch Yule tradition that I think is jolly good fun: the Ladies' Games. These are set up so that our fair inspirations can get involved in the fun of trying to earn money for the charities. Before the games begin, the ladies are bid on so that each one has a sponsor at the highest price, and then a series of challenges are presented to them. This year they competed in a Plague Rat Toss, a race to save baby safari animals from poachers, and an egg walk. When the dust had settled, and all the ladies had regained their composure, a young lady named Tamlyn had won the whole thing.

Finally, the part we all know is the most important: FEAST! The feast stewards outdid themselves, the whole of it was delicious. It consisted of 5 removes starting with a mushroom pesto flatbread, and olive oil dipping sauce. The dipping spices were done up just the right way, and there was almost none left by the time we ran out of bread. The second course was even better, a potato, bacon and leek soup. My lady and I split a huge bowl of this tastiness, it was a great follow up and the warmth was nice even if it wasn’t as cold as December should be. This was followed by a Moroccan Tangine that kept with the event's Silk Road theme very nicely. The last remove before dessert was to me the best of all of them, a nice medallion of steak. Not very much was done to it, because it wasn’t needed. The meat was grilled and lightly seasoned exactly how good meat should be. Last but not least was dessert: the stewards graced us with a lemon cheesecake, and it finished off the meal perfectly. It was just sweet enough that my lady didn’t wrinkle her nose at the sour, and had enough lemon that I wasn’t overwhelmed by the sweetness. We were then lucky enough that her Ladyship, Honourable Lady Petra Malusclava shared some sort of chocolate cake pastry that I am told is called a Yule Log. It was so good, I can’t believe I’d never heard of it before.

By the time feast was done, not only were we full to the point of food coma, but the girls had been running around for so long that poor little Victoria couldn’t take it anymore. She had an epic meltdown: the whole of the attendants could hear her wailing "I don't want to go hooooome!!" and so it was time to bid farewell to all our friends and a great event. I would like to thank the Shire of Seamarch for being such great hosts. I would also like to thank Their Royal Majesties Yoan Moon Yang and Jung Mie for making such an effort to make the Southern Shires feel like we are part of everything by driving so far to visit with us.  I can’t wait to come back. Seamarch always puts on a good show, and this event was no different.

Armouring the Ulfheðinn

A couple of weeks back, I went over what my armour has been over the last several years: mostly, whatever I could kitbash with a true goal starting to form over the last 9-10 months. I have been working hard on my research, looking into what would have been appropriate for my time period and persona. This is my wish list: not just period items, but also the changes that need to be done to keep it SCA legal. One of the biggest moves away from the traditional image of the Ulfheðinn is the inclusion of chainmail. Normally, it was thought that the skinchangers fought without mail because they feared no weapon. To me, it’d make sense that a landowner with the money for mail may still wear it for no other reason than to show that he can afford it. The ancestors loved to show off their wealth. That being said, the chainmail is definitely only a sometimes accessory down here in the sunny kingdom of Trimaris, where we are rapidly approaching the winter solstice and it’s still 80+ degrees.

Helm

Spangenhelm w/ oculars: This piece was known throughout the Viking age: a conical helm consisting of four plates held together by a brow band and two bands that quarter the top of the head. The top bands and the oculars are all riveted to the brow band, while the main plates are riveted to the top bands and to the brow band. This style is the most common for the time period that I seek to portray. My design will have solid cheek plates, not too dissimilar from the Roman-style. The concession of needing full-face armour will be met in my design by using a face mask made of sheet of metal, with shapes cut out to give the appearance of a bearded fanged mouth.

Many Norse personas use aventails, which are drapes of chainmail attached to the helm. In period, it offered additional protection; in the SCA, it helps to hide the bars that we put on helms to make it safe. I will be skipping out on the aventail to save on weight, and to ensure the facemask is the most visible.

Chainmail

Riveted/welded chain hauberk: The chain shirt was a sign of wealth: either a warrior who had made his way, or the scion of a wealthy family.  In the sagas, King Harald’s chain shirt --Emma-- was said to be very long, passing his knees. As this is considered exceptional, I will be looking to have a shirt that is just above my knees and just below my elbows, closer to a haubergeon than a hauberk.

In the SCA chain, mail offers very little protection from a blow. It was designed primarily to stop slashing cuts, but in many cases, blunt weapons similar to the rattan swords we use can actually make things worse. They also tend to fall apart because of the way butted links are put together. I’d love to buy a welded or riveted shirt to make it stand up a little better, and not have to look like Sonic the Hedgehog every time I get hit, spilling rings everywhere.

Zoombang: This is a style of modern armour used to keep with the safety rules of the SCA without detracting from the overall appearance of being a lightly-armoured warrior. Zoombang is a type of compression padding that is comprised of a non-newtonian fluid that hardens on impact, dispersing the force and using most of the energy towards that hardening. This has been a huge help in letting people with earlier period personas look the part. By removing the need for bulky chest armour, you can wear a zoombang shirt and tunic and be fine. The main concern people have with it is how effective it is as protection: I have taken some pretty ugly shots to the ribs and it hasn’t even left a bruise. That being said, like any other armour, there are spots with no protection. The gaps in the padding while not large or located in important spots, do leave places where you can be hurt.

Arms

Leather vambraces with sport cop: We have found no evidence of elbow protection being used during the Viking age, but since our rules require both elbow and forearm protection, I use something that is unobtrusive to the lines of what I am wearing: hardened leather vambraces dyed black, with a simple sport cop that is mostly hidden beneath the chain shirt and tunic. This protects me from any serious injuries, while not taking away from the illusion of not wearing heavy armour.

Legs

Hidden legs: This is another example of an armour that we just really haven’t seen any evidence of, the difference between the legs and arms being Rus pants. The width of the upper legs in Rus pants makes it very easy to hide armour beneath them. Personally, I’m currently using plastic knee cops with leather chausses attached. Thus far, they have worked really well for me and don’t weigh very much, so I won’t be changing them at all.

Each of these pieces have been chosen to give the overall appearance of being a Norse warrior from the late 10c CE. The real trick has been finding ways to make the majority of the armour unobtrusive or hidden. Your average warrior of the time wore almost no armour since it was so expensive. This means that for those of us trying to recreate it, we need to find other ways to stay safe. It also means that we have less armour to embellish and make look pretty. For me, this means that the pieces that are visible should really pop. That’s part of the reason that I have put so much work into designing the helm, and also why I’m going to work on tooling the vambraces to make them really stand out.

The designs that I plan on using for both the helm and vambraces will be based on pictures of the image stones that have been found throughout the north lands. I will also be using leatherworking designs found on pieces that were recovered from the digs at York. This will give the kit the feeling of being something special, while sticking with designs that would have been used in the time period I am trying to portray.

Who are the Ulfheðinn?

What is an Úlfheðinn? Sources tell us that they were violent shock troops used by ancient kings to secure their power. Men who fought with the ferocity of wolves, with various magical powers attributed to them. What we find historically is that they were considered outsiders and a danger to those around them, eventually leading to them being outlawed as Christianity took hold in the Scandinavian world. The sagas take two very distinct views of the berserkers as a whole. When an Úlfheðinn is a main character, they are heroes. When they are nameless, they become villains: either great men who have tales of their own, or craven brigands using their skills to steal the wealth and women of others.

The disparity between these two images leads me to believe that they were misunderstood, or that when Christianity came into play, they were vilified as with nearly everything else that held power of the old gods. Being misunderstood plays into the idea that they were outside normal society. It is common for things that are considered outside of the normal scope to be polarizing. If we review the tales of knights, we’ll find they’re either portrayed as wondrous heroes, or greedy landowners abusing their power and oppressing the poor beneath them. We have more tales of knights because they came from a time when tales were written down. The stories we have of the ancient Norse are -at best- written down after being passed down for centuries, and at worst, written down by those who may have some bias in regards to the ancient ways. This makes it even harder to determine what is truth and what is fiction.

We know of two distinct types of “berserker”: the Úlfheðinn and the Berserkr. The first group takes on the spirits of the Wolves, and the second takes on the spirit of the Bear. At some point in history, the two words became interchangeable, and it’s difficult to separate the traits of one from the other. Each were said to be filled with the spirit of the animals when they fought in battle, capable of terrible feats of strength and endurance. They were thought to be able to shrug aside all but the mightiest blows, and not fear fire. With a glance, they could dull the blades of their enemies. Both were thought to be capable of taking the shape of their totem spirit: Úlfheðinn were thought to be werewolves, whereas Bodvar Braki was said to have appeared in battle as a bear while laying unconscious in his tent. In the Hrafnsmal, there is a passage that separates the two, leading me to believe that they had many differences, and only came to be joined when the tales were written down after the Christianization of the North.  In addition to all the traits shared by the two, we know that the Úlfheðinn were considered to be the favoured warriors of Odin. They have regularly been depicted wielding a spear, a weapon associated with the All-Father.

Donaldson in A Lycanthropy Reader: Werewolves in Western Culture speculates that the difference could have come from the two fighting styles the Norse favoured: the single great hero represented by the bear, and the wild pack of raiders, represented by the wolves. She talks about this image of the Wolf being one that is typical of herdsmen: the wolf is an adversary, something low and cunning, to be feared. This attitude could have also led to the eventual vilification in later literature of both types of berserkers. It is in these later periods of Norse history that we start to see berserkers be portrayed as professional duelists and men of nothing more than violence. As Christianity began to spread,  we begin to see them less as spiritual beings and more as just men who seek to take advantage of the laws to further their own wants. These stories later were used to justify outlawing them in the 11c CE.

This violent portrayal is different from how the Ulfheðnar are depicted in the earlier sagas. The main character representing the Ulfheðnar in the sagas is Úlfr Bjálfason, known as Kvedulf. He appears in the beginning of Egil’s Saga and is Egil’s grandfather. For the most part, his story is not one of battle, so the aspects of him that are showcased are his behavior as a father and a Hersir. His depiction is one of a man who is looked to by his community as a leader, well respected and considered to be a good person. In addition to these traits, he is also described as a craftsman. Specifically he is a smith: this is not the type of work that can be done if one isn’t in control of oneself. The only negative thing that is mentioned is the source of his nickname, acquired by the fact that he became moody at night and should be left alone. Throughout his portion of the saga, he repeatedly avoids going into battle, saying instead that it isn’t in the best interests of his family. He goes as far as to deny King Harald his fealty because it wouldn’t be in his best interests to do so. He makes it clear that he has no intention of fighting against his rule, only that he won’t be a part of it. It isn’t until King Harald betrays Kvedulf’s son, Thorolf, and causes his death that we see his battle rage. In his old age, with his men and his other son Skallagrim, he boards and attacks the ship of men that slandered Thorolf and slaughters them to a man. It is this final rage that eventually leads to his death. We are told that while under the rage, berserkers possess amazing powers, but once the rage has left them, they’re weakened for a time. This weakness in a man of advanced age is what led to Kvedulf’s death. This portrayal of a “retired” Ulfheðinn, I feel, shows that they weren’t violent, psychotic men and that they were not only capable of great feats in battle, but also wise leaders of their people.

Egil’s father Skallagrim is also mentioned to be full of wolfishness, although we never hear of his own exploits in battle outside of the taking of vengeance for the killing of his brother Thorolf, after which he settled Iceland, near Borg. We are told that he has the temper of a berseker, and that he passed it on to Egil. Both father and son, however, are known for many other things beyond just battle. Skallagrim became a leader to his people and through his industry, the settlement grew and prospered. Skallagrim had most of the traits of his father, including being an ironsmith, but his rage is also told of in the sagas. However, this is only a small portion of his story, one instance in which he lost control.

Kvedulf is, in my mind, the ideal representation of an Ulfheðinn. He is a great warrior who learned skills outside of battle and grew to be a leader to his own people. He fights for what he believes worthy, but will not throw away his life or the life of the people that follow him for no real gain. He kept the old gods and had some art in him. He is an ancestor that I hold up as an example of what a person should aspire to. He embodies traits that are important to me: loyalty to your pack (however you define it), strength in battle, self-reliance, and as we see in the sagas, wisdom: he led his people to great things. Both Father and Son led their people well, but weren’t complacent: they had the  strength and conviction to steer them away from tyranny and oppression.