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chrisbarnes
chrisbarnes
03 October 2007 @ 09:53 pm
Conflux 4  
In a nutshell: I enjoyed Conflux, as always. Well done, [info]tillianion and committee!

It was a rather smaller, quieter con this year. That's not so good for the booksellers, I guess, but it meant it was easier to spend time with a few key friends and get to chat with some of the guest writers.

My longsword workshop went well; we had a full house, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and everyone left with the same number of eyes and limbs they started with. That's always a good thing. Students do sometimes get a bit overenthusiastic, or don't have any sense of how long their weapon is or how close the other students are standing, and, well, sometimes things can go awry. But this workshop went very smoothly. I think we've even gained a recruit (eh, [info]karenmiller?)

Graham Joyce is friendly, charming and has a wealth of great stories about his coal-miner Dad. In fact we decided that his Dad should be a future guest at a con, just so we can hear his wisdom first-hand. I didn't get a chance to talk to Kevin Anderson or his wife Rebecca - perhaps just as well, since he had laryngitis. And it was great to catch up with and chat to all the other guests - Garth, Simon, Jonathon, Donna and of course Karoon - er, I mean Kaaron - and of course all my other con-going buddies.

Congrats to [info]gillpolack for the Regency Banquet menu. The food was absolutely first rate. Oh man, that roast sirloin in mustard sauce... *drool*

And though I never knew Peter MacNamara, Terry Dowling managed to bring a lump to my throat with his lovely dedication of the fourth and final Rynosseros book, Rynemonn, to Peter. It was an emotional moment; a lot of people said afterwards how moved they were.

And Floriade was in full swing:

"Flowers and Water"
Flowers and water

"Individual"
Individual

I'm glad there's going to be a Conflux 5.
 
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The Bellman[info]thebellman on October 3rd, 2007 10:10 pm (UTC)
Lovely photos.

"don't have any sense of how long their weapon is "

I've seen that often over the years, and have come to the conclusion that it's because playing with a sword is downright unnatural: by the time people pick up a sword, they have spent decades knowing how to touch things and manipulate things at arm's length. Oddly enough, since that's where their hand is. Then you put a sword in their hands, and they still move their hand, not the sword, and have trouble internalising that extra distance at which they need to touch and manipulate. Then to make it worse, they have to move their feet as well...
murasaki_1966[info]murasaki_1966 on October 3rd, 2007 11:24 pm (UTC)
Same problem with learning to drive. It takes ages to remember that your physical dimensions have doubled and you are now incased in a metal box and you have to move the box not just your personal space.

I think that in times when using and wearing swords was an everyday thing, boys would have been taught from a very early age how to use, move and sit with a sword. It would have been part of your training as a page, then as a squire and a knight.
The Bellman[info]thebellman on October 4th, 2007 12:36 am (UTC)
*nod* Exactly, to both of those points. I'm now learning 16th/17th spanish rapier, and having to relearn the distance and timing, and it is truly difficult. I hasten, frequently, to encourage folk who have never picked up a sword to not berate themselves for having difficulty learning these things, because it's damned hard to do. Certainly, at times in history folk were taught from a young age, and that too makes a very big difference.
chrisbarnes[info]chrisbarnes on October 4th, 2007 12:22 am (UTC)
Yes, learning a (new) sense of distance is certainly one of the challenges of learning to fence. (As an aside, I've noticed that a properly weighted, well-balanced sword makes it easier to learn. No surprise there, I guess.)
The Bellman[info]thebellman on October 4th, 2007 12:41 am (UTC)
And yet so much of the re-enactment community here in Oz never seems to grasp that a decent sword makes a difference. Very odd. The right sword for the style does indeed make it easier to learn, since the student isn't struggling to make the sword go places it simply refuses to go. Although up here, now, I'm also noticing that a full-weight sword is causing some of our more petite students to have problems - if the sword is heavier than they are comfortably able to lift, then it's an additional hurdle for them to leap. A nasty catch-22, because the properly weighted sword will build the strength needed to manipulate it, but also creates difficulty for the student to learn good style and technique. C'est la guerre.
chrisbarnes[info]chrisbarnes on October 4th, 2007 12:51 am (UTC)
True. There's no getting around the fact that a certain amount of strength, flexibility and fitness is needed.
murasaki_1966[info]murasaki_1966 on October 4th, 2007 01:43 am (UTC)
I wonder how they dealt with this in days of yore. Surely young boys had swords that they could manage and worked up to the big swords.
chrisbarnes[info]chrisbarnes on October 4th, 2007 02:37 am (UTC)
For one thing, said young boys were worked physically hard in the course of their training, so were probably pretty tough and strong (compared to most kids of today, at least).

It's possible they started with smaller or wooden swords, but I don't think there's much evidence of that. They probably actually started with real weapons, once they were strong enough to handle them reasonably well.

Customs varied, but basically, in medieval Europe, from the age of around seven a boy of suitable rank would serve as a page and learn courtly customs and manners. He'd begin basic training for combat, playing games aimed at honing his strength, nimbleness and courage. By 12 or 14 or so he'd be hunting and training with real weapons and armour, and by 16 would be a skilled warrior, quite possibly with some battle experience. By 18 or 20 he'd probably have been knighted and be serving in war.

Here's some info:
http://www.chronique.com/Library/Knights/harding.htm
The Bellman[info]thebellman on October 4th, 2007 04:05 am (UTC)
As Mr Barnes says, not much evidence for it being a common practice, although there are a few surviving swords from the late medieval period which seem to be scaled down versions of big ones - the context of them is entirely lost, so they may have been for dress wear, they may have been for boys. There's a little bit of evidence for people fighting with wooden swords and leather cudgels for play and training, but no indication that they did not also train with real swords, regardless of age.
murasaki_1966[info]murasaki_1966 on October 3rd, 2007 11:26 pm (UTC)
Nice photos. I particulary like the second.
chrisbarnes[info]chrisbarnes on October 4th, 2007 12:22 am (UTC)
Thanks!
tillianion[info]tillianion on October 4th, 2007 10:35 am (UTC)
And thanks for coming and doing the workshop. I would have liked to come but couldn't - too many things to do. Once day, I'll come to a con and not have responsibilities :)

But thanks to you and the offsider (whose name escapes me). Your presence leant a lot of value to the con.
chrisbarnes[info]chrisbarnes on October 4th, 2007 12:09 pm (UTC)
I'm amused at Andy being described as my offsider, when in fact he's my teacher. :) But I understand what you meant.

If I do another workshop next Conflux, I hope you can make it.
[info]gillpolack on October 5th, 2007 08:22 am (UTC)
The sirloin recipe is on my food blog already. The wonderful desserts go up today and tomorrow.
 

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