Welcome to Carolingia Fencing

The Barony of Carolingia will be hosting a Regional Fencing Practice on Sunday, June 9th, from 11:30 AM to 5:00 PM at the War Memorial in Cambridge, MA.  This practice will include a tournament as well as classes. Here's the schedule:

11:30-12:00 Get dressed, inspected, and warmed up

12:00-2:00 War Practice Don Nathaniel Wyatt will lead a melee practice focusing on RBG tactics. Bring RBGs if you have them.

2:00-3:00: Tournament A double elimination, bring-your-best tournament, run by Thomas of Effingham.

3:00-4:00 Rapier Melee Basics Brighid MacCumhal will teach us basic melee tactics and commands.

4:00-5:00 Free Fencing 

Location/Parking info: The War Memorial is part of Cambridge Rindge and Latin school, located at 1640 Cambridge St., Cambridge, Massachusetts. The site charges an entrance fee of $5 to use its facilities. NON-MARKING SNEAKERS ARE REQUIRED on the gym floor. You can park in the Harvard Vanguard parking lot across the street, but do NOT use any reserved spaces marked for employees. Meter parking is free on Sundays.

If you have any questions, please send an e-mail to Quintin Brilliant and Alaric (at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

The Cambridge War Memorial is currently slated to be closed on the following days in 2013:

• Sun December 23
  Thu December 27
  Sun December 30
  Sun March 31
  Sun May 26
  Thu July 4
• Thursday, July 4

Practices will be not be held on these date(s).  More dates may be added in the future.

The fencers of Carolingia have established a challenge at fencing practice. Fencers will compete to hold the Steel Ring of the Carolingia. The rules of the competition are as follows:

1. 5 rounds, 3 challenges per practice
2. Challenger may die no more that 2 times and must kill the holder three times to win the ring. Dead is dead, double kills are losses for each
3. At least 1 heavy rapier per combatant, Seconds negotiate forms
4. One can hold the ring for a maximum of 4 weeks as long as they are at least 1 Carolingian practice per week with the ring.
5. If the holder excedes 4 weeks the three challengers that day round robin for the ring. If a ring holder cannot make it to practice they must get the ring to a marshal who will be available to run the tourney between three challengers.

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Current Holder: Lupold

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From our Captain: The Steel Ring of Carolingia provides training in a number of vital skill sets. It promotes healthy competition among peers. It is very easy to fall into a lax pattern of familiarity when fencing people in the same group week after week, and this will break up that tendency. It teaches a fencer to not give up and accept defeat before starting a match because they are pitted against a "better" fencer. It provides practice in developing a mindset, and being able to call forth the killer mentality on demand. In contrast but equally as important, there are lessons to be learned about proper comportment in the list, the decorum and rituals of a formal challenge, the finer art of negotiating when acting as a second, and perhaps the most important of all, how to handle yourself in front of your peers in an important match that actually counts for something. The ability to win with humility and respect for your opponent is equally as important as learning to lose a bout with grace and dignity. The words chivalry and honor are not confined to the heavy list field; they are the ideals that we should embody not only in victory and defeat, but in how we live our lives from day to day.

 

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Our practice site, the Cambridge War Memorial Pool, is part of the Cambridge Public school system.  If Cambridge Public Schools are closed, Recreation Programs are automatically closed.  Information about school closures due to weather will be on Storm Force on Channel Seven, or via the War Memorial Pool's telephone number at 1-617-349-6279.

IMPORTANT PARKING INFORMATION

If the parking lot of Harvard Vanguard has not been plowed, or snowfall is due during practice time in the War, DO NOT USE THE PARKING LOT.  When the plows come to clean up the lot, they will automatically tow any car that is there, without notice.

Parking can be found on the side streets where use of the "Permit Parking" spaces is allowed on Sundays.  Metered spaces are free on Sunday, and after 6:00 PM on weekdays.  Be mindful of any posted snow emergency signs during declared snow emergencies.

FREE parking in Cambridge can be difficult to find, especially on non-Sundays, so we do not want to do anything at all to inconvenience the maintenance crews, or jeopardize our good standing with Harvard Vanguard.

Thank you for your cooperation.