[MR] Handedness

[Garth G. Groff]

Broccan,


I'm not a fighter, and am trying to picture the geometry of this. A 
right hander moving up clockwise staircase would have his shield to the 
left or outside of the staircase, and his sword would be closest to the 
newel or central post. A right-handed defender would be exactly the 
opposite, so it would sword against shield/sword against shield. A 
left-handed defender on a clockwise staircase would meet his opponent 
sword against sword, with both swords closest to the newel, and shield 
against shield  It would seem to me that both would be encumbered in 
that tight space, but I understand the advantage usually goes to a 
leftie in most cases, because the right-hand fighter is less trained to 
meet and parry a left-hand attack. Now a Kerr on a counter-clockwise 
stair would face a right-hand opponent who now had his sword to the wall 
and shield to the newel, and the Kerr would also be sword to the wall 
and shield to the newel. I think you are right. I really can't see any 
advantage either way beyond the trained left-hand fighter's usual small 
edge. But maybe just the hint of extra terror would be enough to put the 
attacker off. Sort of psychological propaganda.

I can't see much in the way of flying objects in the tight space of a 
Scottish newel stairway, except perhaps a crossbow bolt. Although I've 
never been to Scotland, I have explored a few castles in Wales and 
England, including a small border castle near Festiniog in Wales (which 
I judge to be closer to the architecture of Scottish border castles than 
the grand state castles like Dover and the Tower). Either way, the newel 
stairs I have climbed had VERY low ceilings. There wasn't room in there 
to swing a cat, though I certainly will concede that this could be a 
factor on a open-air stairway, but those didn't generally wind.

Interesting defensive idea (maybe for a novel), pour small lead or steel 
shot onto the stairs and see how many men lose their footing and go down.

Kind regards,


Mungo Napier, Archer of Mallard Lodge

Skip Davis wrote:
> Actually that would just put the right handers on even standing since that means they could use their shields to protect themselves for flying object from above and clear their swords from being hindered by the wall on their sword side.  This was the original purpose of the clockwise stairs.  It made the people coming up the stairs open for being hit from thrown objects from above and their swords getting caught up with the wall side.
> Broccan
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Garth G. Groff" <ggg9y at virginia.edu>
> To: Atlantia at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org
> Sent: Monday, October 5, 2009 7:33:58 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: [MR]  Handedness
>
> Friends,
>
> There was/is a Scottish border clan which was famous for being mostly 
> left-handed, the Kerrs (pronounced "CAR"). The usual arrangement of 
> newel stairs (that wind around a central post) in castles was clockwise, 
> supposedly to give a right-handed defender a slight advantage as he 
> retreated up the steps. Castles and tower houses built by the Kerrs (or 
> acquired castles later modified during expansion) featured 
> anti-clockwise stairs to give defenders a double advantage over 
> ascending right-hand opponents. "Mary Queen of Scots' House" a small 
> t-shaped tower house still intact in Jedburgh features these 
> anti-clockwise newel stairs. It was supposedly owned by the Kerrs and 
> leased to the Queen for a time. There is a nice photo and explanation 
> found on page 30 in the Osprey book STRONGHOLDS OF THE BORDER REIVERS: 
> FORTIFICATIONS OF THE ANGLO-SCOTTISH BORDER, 1296-1603 by Keith Durham 
> (ISBN 9781846031977).
>
> Kind regards,
>
>
> Mungo Napier, That Crazy Scot