Ad Fundam

The annual Ildhafn winter event, this year entitled ‘Ad Fundam’ took place over the weekend of the 26th and 27th July.

Ad Fundam is a latin term which has different meanings depending on context – it means ‘ from the bottom’ and is often used as a toast ‘Bottoms up’ but can be interpreted as ‘Back to Basics’ it has been chosen because of this duality as many of the classes are aimed at beginners but the event is also a celebration of the Baronial Anniversary.

We were graced by the presence of His Majesty King Jochen Schwalbe much to the delight of all that attended. I had intended to take part in the fencing tournament however, due to a slight oversight, I left a vital piece of equipment at home and couldn’t compete. Instead I marshalled both the armoured and fencing tournaments and heralded the fencing.

The armoured tournament was run as a passage of arms, with the pairings of combatants being randomly pulled for a hat. Each bout was three passes in each of three different weapon forms, sword and shield, longsword and glaive, with the winner progressing to the next round. Ultimately Master Rudiger won the tournament by a single pass with Sir Inigo coming a very close second.

The rapier tournament was run as a handicaped round robin. Each fighter was placed in to one of three ranks, based on standing and ability. Weapon combinations were also placed into one of three ranks, with two offensive weapons being rank one, an offensive weapon and a defensive item being rank two and a single offensive weapon being rank three. Were a bout was between two combatants of the same rank they could chose any combination they desired, however where one of the combatants was ranked higher they had to take a weapon combination at least one rank lover than their opponent, with the exception being single sword. Ultimately it came down to Mast Emyrs and Master James, tied with 5 wins each to procced to the final, which was taken by Master James.

In the evening we had a lovely feast, prepared by Mistress Isabel and Lord Simon. During the feast we had a number of songs and tunes, including a landsknecht marching song composed by the King. A number of awards were given out to many deserving people, and I was honoured with joining the Order of the Lens, previously the Order of the Camera Obscura, in recognition for the photography I do at events. So I guess I’ll have to take the cameras to more events now.