Cnsortly-Arts-art

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Cnsortly-Arts-art - 12/29/18

"Consortly Arts - How to be a decent consort in the SCA" by Countess Lilavati of Lochac

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NOTICE -

This article was added to this set of files, called Stefan's Florilegium, with the permission of the author.

These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

While the author will likely give permission for this work to be reprinted in SCA type publications, please check with the author first or check for any permissions granted at the end of this file.

Thank you,

Mark S. Harris...AKA:..Stefan li Rous

stefan at florilegium.org

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Consortly Arts -

How to be a decent consort in the SCA

by Countess Lilavati of Lochac

So, someone has asked you to be their consort. Great! Your next thought might very well be something like “so what have I gotten myself into?” I know mine was. Don’t panic!

What exactly is a consort, anyway?

As part of the pageantry in our fighting styles, our fighters like to fight for someone’s honour, or acknowledge someone as their inspiration. When people are first starting out in the society, it’s common for fighters to ask a friend to be their consort on the field. A consort could also be a mentor, or a relative – pretty much anyone else in the SCA – even another fighter can be a consort. Consorts are, however, usually of the opposite gender to their fighter. I’ll try to use the terms “consort” to describe the non-fighty half of the pair, and “fighter” for the fighty one, but technically either can be referred to as a consort. Also, there’s nothing stopping two fighters from forming a consort pair.

What does a consort do?

Essentially, your job is to stand (or sit) around being inspirational. As a bare minimum, it’s expected that you’ll give your consort a token or favour to wear on the battlefield, for luck, and that you show up from time to time to watch them fight. I’ll admit that it annoys me when I see a consort paying absolutely no attention to their fighter’s bouts – by all means sew or chat during a tourney, but at the very least look up while your consort is fighting!

Ok, so if the baseline of being a consort is “give a token”, and “come to tournies”, what more can you do? I tend to find myself acting as part coach, part cheer-squad – sharing words of encouragement, helping my fighter keep his head in the fight, and reminding him to drink water, and the like. Obviously, you should both discuss this with your potential-consort, as well as engage in a bit of experimentation to see what works for you.

The Super-Consort Tourney Kit

Ok, I might not actually call my tourney kit that. And if I do I’m certainly not admitting it. Your fighter will probably have enough on their minds, pre-tourney, with planning fights and remembering their armour and authorisation cards. So, here’s my to-do/to-bring list for tournies (that I’m not running):

1. Check that your fighter has everything they need. Armour, helm, gambeson, weapon, shield, authorisation card, etc. [athletic cup - Stefan]

2. Double-check the authorisation card thing. Seriously, you have no idea how often I have to get a marshal to vouch for someone who has forgotten their card. Not all list-keepers are as relaxed about the letter of the law as I am, and the bigger the tourney, the less lee-way is allowed.

3. So your fighter has their basics. Most fighters, I’ve found, have their own personal, portable, armour-repair kits. Make sure that gets brought along.

4. On the off-chance your fighter has no such kit, or if you’re just really paranoid or suspect imminent armour failure, bring the following with you:

· A shoelace or two

· Fibre tape

· Gaffa tape (not duct, that stuff is useless, but will do in a pinch)

· Electrical tape

· A Stanley knife

· Some basic first aid supplies, like band-aids and medical tape.

· Back-up favour.

· Spare padding, such as closed-cell foam

5. Pack a container to hold water, a vessel to drink water out of, and consider some snacks, like nuts or fruit – nothing too heavy.

So, the observant among you may have noticed that I listed several types of tape as nigh-indispensable. Let me give you a brief run-down of their various uses (I’m sorry, this bit is very heavy-specific – it’s my understanding that most of this will apply to the rapier-wielding consort, but perhaps with less of an emphasis on tape.): fibre tape is used for weapons – if a sword looks mildly dead, a swift application of fibre-tape can make it serviceable; gaffa tape is for armour – if a strap breaks, you can tape on the relevant bit; electrical tape is less essential – it’s used for marking blades on weapons; medical tape is great for covering up armour-bite, since one is not allowed to fight while actively bleeding. I would strongly recommend hanging around your local fighter practice until you pick up the knack of taping armour onto a body – elbow and knee cops are best taped in a figure-8 pattern, and chest and leg armour is often easily secured with a few horizontal wraps – but this is one of those things that’s best learned by doing.

Consorts at fighter practice

Speaking of fighter practice, I find it useful to tag along, even though I don’t fight. One reason is because it’s often a good social event. It also allows you to familiarise yourself with your local fighters, and have a better idea of your fighter’s armour and fighting needs. If, for example, you’re running late for a tourney, and arrive about 5 minutes before it’s due to start, being able to help your fighter armour up helps mitigate the stress a bit. It also means you’re more likely to have a clue of how to help them during a tourney – does your fighter need pep talks, or silence? Do they tend to forget to drink? Where is their armour likely to fail? Chances are, if you’re committed to being a damn good consort, you’re going to spend a lot of your free time watching fighting, or talking about fighting. I find most topics are a lot more interesting when you have an idea who and what are being talked about, so it will probably behove you to pay attention, instead of just smiling and nodding.

Consort vs patron – Fighter Auction Tourney and You.

Ok, so, by now, you’re hopefully not feeling too overwhelmed. I know it sounds like a lot of things to think of, remember, or learn how to do – don’t panic! Chances are you’ve been doing a lot of this stuff already without realising it.

That said, I’d like to spend a bit of time talking about Fighter Auction Tourney, and patronage. Wow, that’s ominous-sounding. I think of it a bit like being a secondary consort-for-a-day. I have a habit of purchasing fighters I don’t know very well, since it’s a great way to get to know people outside of your group.

Ok, so let’s take it from the beginning. You’ve been bidding on a promising-looking fighter, and you’ve won the bid. Now what? Stay where you are, let your fighter come to you (make it easy for them, though). Once you’ve met up, go together to the list table, and pay the nice list-people the agreed-upon price. This is a great time to start chatting to your fighter, trade names, campsites, and discussing if you want your fighter to wear anything in particular – like one of your group’s tabbards, or a favour, or the like. I know some people who have a fighter auction token – something they can give to anyone they buy, and can be re-used. I tend to make something simple, like a tassel, and give it as a gift. What you do is up to you, but it’s considered polite to give them some sort of token.

On the day of the tourney, find your fighter before the start of the tourney – this is important! Make sure they know where you’re going to be, so they have a direction to salute in, at the very least. If you can, provide them with water, words of encouragement, and possibly a chair. At the end of the tourney, hang around near the list tent. Why? Because about 15 minutes after the end of the final, the list people will be calling out names for prizes. They’ll call the patron of the victor first to come and select a prize, then the person who came second, and so forth. If you have a look at the prize table before this begins, then the process goes more quickly for everyone. Grab your prize (or prizes, if you have more than one fighter – stick around for all of them to be called), thank your fighter, and you’re done!

Consorting is fun, fairly easy, and a really rewarding way to get involved in the biff without picking up a stick yourself. However, you may have noticed that I haven’t mentioned Crown Tournies – because that’s a special case, that deserves its own article. You’re ready – go forth and find a promising young fighter!

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Copyright 2015 by Laura Lawrence. <email address>. Permission is granted for republication in SCA-related publications, provided the author is credited. Addresses change, but a reasonable attempt should be made to ensure that the author is notified of the publication and if possible receives a copy.

If this article is reprinted in a publication, please place a notice in the publication that you found this article in the Florilegium. I would also appreciate an email to myself, so that I can track which articles are being reprinted. Thanks. -Stefan.