An early history of the Fyrd

On Fri, Sep 12, 2008 at 8:18 AM, JDS wrote: Hello all

Fyrd men and supporters has any one recorded the history of the Fyrd?

what is the story the start, the end? the members the wars the glory the possible defeats

we in the sca so often do not know our own history and years later we can / will argue about it

will some one save us from failing memory?

in service Johann

Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:15:42 -0700
Subject: Re: [wyewood] fyrd hist Re: [wyewood] I guess the cats out of the bag

You are very right Johann, we do not record the glories of SCA war very well. In fact I am looking for an aspiring Bard to do just that. To listen to the "No $#!^ there I was" stories of several people and piece together the entire scene. Much like the story of 300 was told in the movie.

I grow sick of listening to bards who memorize the stories of long ago and retell them in a shortened version around the camp fires. I know the story of Beowulf, I can go read it at my leisure. Tell me a tale I don't know. I would love to see a bard who takes the heroes of today, and immortalizes their deeds into words for the next generation to hear.

But I am not a bard...

And I am sure that I can not cover all the deeds of the Fyrd. While I was Captain I did not keep a record of what we did, I was a bit busy trying to make sure we did something. But here is what I can tell you:

The Fyrd were created in 2004, by the Royal Patrons, Earl Edward Cire of Greymoor, and Countess Elisabeth de Rossignol.

Members of the Fyrd were Heavy Combat fighters and archers who volunteered to serve the Shire of Wyewood. The Fyrd Roster, in the order that they joined:

1. Tristian the Fiddler

2. Sebastian

3. Sita

4. Edric

5. Ragnar

6. Mehkael

7. Rasumus

8. Everard

9. Tristian de Var

10. Patrick

11. Alec

12. Fae

13. Harald

The most memorable events that I remember:

An Tir/West 2005 - Battle 1 - While protecting the left flank of Clan Carn, the Fyrd encountered a unit of no less than 12 Knights. (I actually think it was 15) The Fyrd fought a hard fight and slowly lost men and ground to the Knights. In the end not a single Fyrdman survived. BUT only 3 Knights walked away from that fight, and one of them had lost his sword arm. As their Captain I took great pride in seeing the damage they had done, and knowing that they had done their job. Those Knights did not get to cause any harm to Clan Carn. (Who by the way, ended up controlling the right flank and rolling into the back field destroying everything in their path.)

An Tir/West 2005 - The "Shotgun" Bridge - The Fyrd had trained to create and opening in the enemy lines, the call for that tactic was "Shotgun" While the whole story is much more entertaining, suffice to say the Fyrd punched a hole, disrupted a line and opened a path for the Western Spartans to move their entire 25 man unit into the West Kingdom back field and win the battle.

Oasis War 2005 - Siege of the Castle - This is not a tale of glory, but one the Fyrd should be proud of none the less. The Fyrd executed a charge into the doorway of the castle. They were told not to stop pressing until they were dead, or they got to the back of the castle. The initial impact was less than earth shattering, but the defenders were not ready for the combined mass of the Fyrd press. The Fyrd gained enough ground to bow the defenders back into their reinforcements. Then all hell broke loose, and we died to a man.

Members of the Fyrd have had a hand in some of the other memorable battles I have been in. Alec, Rasmus, and I went to Oasis in 2006 and had a blast in the Castle doorway. At one point during the press, I saw a spear kinda bouncing on top of the dog pile in the door, so I reached over and flipped it back into my defender buddies. This may not sound all that interesting at first, but considering I was IN the dog pile it was one of those rare out of time moments. BANG Crash Thump "Oh Look a Spear" Boom Clang Thump Turns out it belonged to Rasmus, who had lost his grip during the last charge and unarmed, went to go get another weapon. When he returned, his spear came bouncing back out to meet him.

I will have to sit down with folks and piece together the Call to Arms records. I am sure some one some where recorded it all.

Sebastian

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