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New Rapierist Hey, now, i know this is fencing but it's the closest thing i can find to rapier fighting. i'm in the SCA (society for creative anachronism) and would like to begin fighting with a rapier. If any of you know anything about this, or have expierence i'd like some tips on styles, techniques, equipment and any other assorted goodies you can give me.
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"Not all who wander are lost." - J.R.R. Tolkein
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Talk to the dudes at www.triplette.com They have an equipment section for the SCA, you can't miss it.
[This message has been edited by Catal (edited 04-25-2001).]
[This message has been edited by Catal (edited 04-25-2001).] To not recognize the power of the propane torch is to be in denial.
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Senior Member
Array 
As a beginner study fencing, foil, saber and epee. Then switch to learning rapier. Find a good instructor in modern fencing and rapier fencing. There are lots of books you can read and there are some interesting websites you can look at www.thehaca.com I believe is the website, or just go to historical fencing at this website.
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The bi-sexual griddle is right. Check out thehaca.com
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Cadet à Space
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Senior Member
Array 
(long post from me... so what else is new?)
Hi,
I'm Chris, an instructor for Italian rapier at the Martinez Academy (www.martinez-destreza.com), when I was active in the SCA I was a mamber of the Order of the Golden Rapier (EK version of the White Scarf).
SCA practices vary wildly from area to area. There are some that practice a passable form of Italian smallsword (while calling it rapier), some that are very skilled at training a person to win an SCA tournament (again, not really rapier) and the majority that are just not very good at all. Remember that you get what you pay for and the difference between paying $5 for the night to help cover the cost of the practice space and $20 an hour to study with a professional fencing instructor is really going to show in the quality of instruction you receive. I'll be blunt and also say that the current SCA rules prevent one from using the rapier in a correct fashion.
Styles: Another problem with the SCA style (and there are many) is that they tend to only use a few actual historical manuals and then only those in Engligh, Di Grassi is one of the most popular, however it isn't a rapier (aka stricia) manual, but a sidesword manual (aka spada da lato)... it just so happens that the English translation written by a third party 15 years after the Italian original was published wrongly translates spada as rapier. As for HACA, there is some good source material there like Pallas Armata, but that can be found on a few websites including the AEMMA site. Rapier is as 'late period' as HACA tends to get and much of their focus is on earlier weapons. The HACA rapier style tends to rely more on speed, strength and gryps than on blade skill. Like the SCA they tend to focus pre-1600 (which is before most of the really interesting fencing treatises were written). Other groups like FISAS or the Martinez Academy tend to use 17th century rapier styles. The Martinez Academy is also the ONLY place to learn Spanish rapier.
Equipment: If you're unsure about your commitment to the art, the TCA stuff is just fine, but if you want to get serious and use a finely made blade I'd suggest either Popinjay Armories (Adam Williams of Maine) or Denis Graves of Colorado.
Training: Depends what you want. To become the most effective rapier fencing you can, I'd suggest the long road; 2 years classical Italian foil, 1 year classical Italian sabre, 1 year classical Italian spada(epee), then picking up a rapier in your 5th year. Very few people have the patience for it and you certainly can just start off with rapier, but it will really limit your ability to learn any later weapons.
Books: I can not honestly reccomend Renaissance Swordsmanship my John Clements of HACA even though it's the only book written with the beginner in mind. John himself has told me that he no longer agrees with a great deal of the material in it. Dr. Gaugler's History of Fencing is also flawed in a number of respects and is not really anything a beginner could learn from. The best from an academic viewpoint is likely to The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe by Dr. Sydny Anglo. At all costs, stay away from purely SCA publications like the Complete Light Weapons Fighter.
Chris
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Chris:
I don't know, I think the "cut&thrust" section is worth the price of the book (At least, thats why I bought the damn thing)
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Senior Member
Array
Matt,
Agreed though I like the C&T in Pallas better, but the question was about rapier.
Chris
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Historical master for C&T? Then it's gotta be Silver! Clements C&T section is good in so far as you have nice clear pictures of actions with more or less map with several Historical masters.
Gotta say it for John, from what I've seen and read Chris, I am highly convinced of the mans ability with CUTTING weapons, if you know what I mean.
Cheers,
Matt
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