Lady in search of knighthood

[Eva de Carduus Weald]

Greetings fair gentles all. My modern name is Melyssa however, my SCA name will likely be Eva and thus is the name I shall call myself in terms of my quest of knighthood. Historically there have been celebrate female warriors but no female fighting knights that I know of. I might well be missing information, I admit I have not researched this topic near enough to be considered knowledgeable, much less expert.

I have, from the time I can remember, always been enthralled by the very concept of chivalry and the romantic ideals of knighthood. I do not mean love romance, I mean the concept of protecting everyone, regardless of income, standing, or really anything else. I never wanted to be princess, I wanted to be the warrior on the horse, in shining armor, charging into battle for the ideals of protecting those who cannot protect themselves. The concept of honor came next, the thought of respecting your foe, not entering into any altercation with hate, giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, and always believing that no matter what, people are always worth a second chance.

It is only recently when I truly began my quest to find others who hold similar ideals. To see if chivalry, true chivalry was truly dead or if there were others who felt as I did. It is this that found me stumbling upon this site. I am glad I found such a place as this and hope to show myself worthy of the spirit of knighthood, even if the title might never be bestowed upon me by any monarch.

In service to all life and the defense of it,
Eva

[Lord Chagatai]

Greetings and well met,
There are several female knights in the SCA. I personally know two of them and have fought them many times. Syr Madigan and Sir Slaine of the kingdom of the outlands!!

Huzzah on your decision to make the long journey unto being a knight..


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Thorsteinn]

Sir Raoukinn of Antir.
http://www.youtube.com/user/rauokinn

Sir Mari Alexander of the West.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Aeschine/search?query=mari

Sir Brynne McClellan of the West.



There are not a huge number of KSCA who are women but IIRC all the women listed above have won royal tourney's by their own hand. One female KSCA even won the Crown of Ansteorra(?) while fighting her hubby in finals.

Welcome!

[Ian]

Welcome to the Modern Chivalry forums.  I hope you find what you seek among the members here, and in your journey with the SCA.  If you look to historical inspiration, although she wasn't literally knighted, never overlook the Maid of Orleans, Joan of Arc.  She was perhaps one of the most influential medieval warriors in history, and certainly inspirational, starting life as a peasant and then ultimately leading France to victory in the Hundred Years War.

[Sir Douglas]

Welcome to the Forums, Milady. We have quite a few SCAdians here, and plenty of very knowledgeable folks; I'm sure you're in good company.

And speaking of Joan of Arc, I ran across this short article the other day that might be right up your alley:
http://www.medievalists.net/2014/07/20/ten-medieval-warrior-women/

Though they left out one of my favorite famous fighting females*: Agnes Randolph, i.e. "Black Agnes".
*Huzzah for alliteration!

[Sir Nate]

Glad to see you've made it to the forum.
Yes there are many SCA peoples here,  you will fit right in.
As for being knighted by a monarch. Some of the first groups of knights had it so to become a knight you would have to be knighted by the leader of that say order.
While kings and queens could knight people. The leaders of knight orders could too.

[Aiden of Oreland]

Huzzah and welcome! It is always great to hear of somebody's quest to follow the path of chivalry and bring it to our modern world. You will find no finer place to fit in. If you require any help, be sure to ask! We are all willing to give hand. You will make a fine addition to our community, friend.

[Sir Patrick]

Hail and well met, M'Lady!

[Sir Brian]

Hail and well met Eva de Carduus Weald and welcome to the forum! 

[Eva de Carduus Weald]

My deepest thanks for the very warm welcome. I know of many female warriors in history who, once I had learned of them, became some of my heros. By no means did I not have male heros as well of course.

I know I can be a knight in the SCA if I chose to do so but my husband has informed me that he would be very worried that I would become seriously injured should I pursue armored combat. And thus I do not have the option of knighthood. He is okay with rapier so I shall be pursuing that as soon as i have the time to do so, but knighthood in the SCA sadly cannot be mine. This will not preclude me from living by the virtues of knighthood, it simply means that officially I cannot follow that path as I cannot do the heavy combat, well I could do the heavy combat but it would create strife at home and I love, respect, and care about my husband too much to put him through that.

I have some friends on FB who are knights of Ansteorra and other kingdoms. I have learned a lot from them and felt there had to be others I could learn from as well to continue the path to personal knighthood. I would love to have an order to which I could belong but I don't know of one that doesn't require the type of combat that would spiral right back to that spousal concern.

On the upside I am learning western swordwork from a friend who has instructed ARMA for 8 years and have done martial arts, I took traditional Tae Kwon Do and got to recommended first dan. I had a splatter of other arts as well.

I have been fascinated with armored combat since I could remember my mom reading the Arthurian legends and Robin Hood to me. Swords, shields, and the like drew me in like nothing else, but who wants to be the one saved? I wanna be the one doing the saving!

I have the cloth for my nicer version of soft garb and a sword. I plan to, over a long time, gain armor bits piece by piece and I plan on getting a chain mail kit. But this will take time.

[Sir Edward]

Welcome to the forum!

Although SCA combat might not work out for you, I'm glad you're looking into western martial arts as an alternative. There are many ways to approach HEMA/WMA, and it's possible to to take a relaxed, scholarly approach to it, if that's what works best for you (likewise, it's also possible to take a more athletic/competitive role with it as well, depending on what suits your tastes). The armored side of this can be quite fun as well.

I'm sure you'll find the forum community here to be extremely friendly, supportive, and helpful. You'll fit right in.

[Sir Brian]

As Sir Edward says, the armored fighting can be lots of fun. Here is a picture of Jessica Finley who is an inspiration not only in HEMA but for a harness as well which is AWESOME!

[Eva de Carduus Weald]

Thank you! I am kind of just learning right now and enjoying the process of getting to use the sword, even if it is a wooden practice sword, and seeing how it actually works rather than what you see on TV and in movies. Honestly it is exactly as I once heard it described, an extension of the body. I have hit something of a wall though so that will take some time to get over.

To be honest competition is fun but not really my thing. I like the practical side of fighting and using my skills to ever improve for myself however, I also understand the difficulty in making such a practice safe enough where all parties should walk away unscathed. To me it is something like a dance, albeit one that changes with every step. You should read your partner and they you. Much like any martial art.

I love the idea of armored combat but, honestly, that isn't really what drives me. Mostly I like the shiney shineies of the armor and looking spiffy first and foremost when it comes to the *look* side of things. The steel I can be happy with demonstrations and with messing about with learning the sword. I think for me the martial side of things is an understanding of the mortality. A sword/axe/dagger/spear/etc.... is made for killing. That is it's intended purpose and life is one of those things each person puts a different value on. I am happy enough to appreciate the art without needing to actually try to open an armored opponent up like a can of sardines. Not that I think anyone in the modern times would try that in friendly competition of course.

There are a lot of SCA and otherwise women out there who amaze me with their skill, men too actually. The practice and work it would take to pull some of the moves they do is incredible. Power is a tool but skill, that can win it all. I always love to watch the competition and congratulate both the winner and everyone else who competed.

For now I am concentrating on the side I live day to day. I feel I can always improve that, the code I live by and how I live it.

Oh and I had a look at the 10 most famous women warriors link, wow. There were some strong ladies way back when!

[Thorsteinn]

SCA heavy my seem nasty but it's mostly bruises & contusions at most with the odd vertebrae going out.

SCA combat is safer than Taekwondo sparring. I have years of experience in both and I've never broken a bone nor been knocked out on the SCA field. I've done both in TKD. Thus why the insurance for it is so very low.

[Lord Dane]

Welcome to the forum my lady.  You will find all you need in resources here very helpful to your efforts. We are a diverse bunch with similar interests and each with our own talents. Any of us will be glad to assist you.