[Ponte Alto] CHALLENGE OF THE HEART

[Kevin Maxson]

Good my lords and ladies of the Barony of Ponte Alto, greetings.

Tomorrow in Southern Maryland, in the lands of the Barony of Dun Carraig will 
be an event called the Challenge of the Heart.  (To be fair, there is also a 
rapier torchlight tournament tonight, and a war practice on Sunday.)

Details can be found at http://www.duncarraig.net/challenge/index.php

This event seeks to recreate the passages of arms of the late 14th century.  
These historical events most closely resemble the rules of combat that we have 
adopted in the SCA.  In period, combatants would have struck one another with 
wooden (or whale bone) blunted swords or maces, and acknowledged telling blows 
struck without actually killing or wounding one another.

(I'm making a specific reference to these tournaments - certainly there are 
other instances and issues with death at sport, politics with the Church, etc, 
etc.  The debate is not the purpose of this missive.)

You can see a representation of the swords and maces they used at 
http://www.princeton.edu/~ezb/rene/sword.gif and at 
http://www.princeton.edu/~ezb/rene/mace.gif

Look familiar?

In addition, passages of arms are much more focused on creating a show for the 
spectators, with grand pageantry, noble deeds and high speech.  Even if you're 
not that moved to sit and watch armored combat, I would offer that this will be 
no ordinary display.

Moreover, there are many fine gentles from within our own barony who will be 
participating on various teams of three for you to cheer.

Therefore, I would invite all of you to make the effort to attend this event 
and to witness the glory that the SCA can afford.

  +   Kevin of Thornbury, OP
 +++  (Kevin Maxson)
  |   Kevin at Maxson.com