You see them from the windows of Liggett-Koenig as they practice on the lawn Saturdays from 2-5 p.m., or in the Village Quad on Fri-days from 3-5 p.m. clad in elaborate leather armor, bearing (foam) swords and shields. They
fight, and the chaos mimics that found in actual battles. These people are the members of Washington University’s Belegarth Medieval Combat
Society.  The Belegarth Medieval Combat Society is actually a national organization made up of units, or groups of individuals, that fight together. Although the group on campus is not technically afilliated with it, they follow the same rules as the national society. The Wash. U. unit is called Ursa, named for the South 40 café.

“We’re trying to increase the collegiate aspect of [Belegarth]…to show pride for the University,” junior Rubin Baskir said.

The following at Wash. U. has been substantial. Club members claim to have a base of 10-20 regular participants but have seen around 50 different people attend at some point this year. This number included female as well as male participants.

This high level of participation confirms Baskir’s hope: “We want to show people this is a sport you can do.”

Belegarth’s president, senior Paul French, explained the rules and object of the game. Essentially, participants spar in mock battles in the style of medieval
fighters. Whether a fighter wins or not is based on a combination of skill, experience and natural ability. In terms of how physically demanding the sport is and what kinds of skills are necessary to succeed, Baskir and French explained it to be a mix between paintball, fencing, football and wrestling.

“This is essentially a full-con-tact sport and a martial art,” said Baskir, who explained that Europe has just as rich of a martial art tradition as Asia does, though it is not often recognized.

The group requires that participants wear armor, and they provide foam shields and swords if participants do not have their own. French, Baskir and senior Ben
Mudd have their own exquisite and elaborate leather body armor they made themselves. The armor can consist of helmets, carasses—coverings for the chest and shoulders—and arm and shin guards as well. Wearing armor and having “field names” serves the purpose of telling people apart on the field.

For training, the group plays a number of games, including King of the Hill, Dan Ball and Sword Grab, but the one played most often is plain combat. The rules for combat are to try to “kill” the opposing team members by hitting them with the blade portion of the sword. Head shots are not allowed. If a person is wearing armor on that part of his body, his opponent must hit that part once to break the armor and once more to incapacitate it. A fighter is allowed two hits in the chest before he’s out. If an arm is hit, then the fighter must drop whatever weapon he was holding and not use that arm. If a leg is taken out, the hurt fighter must drop down and cannot move. There could be a referee, but mostly shots are based on the honor system. If a fighter refuses to go down when he’s hit, he just might get hit a bit harder next time as a reminder to follow the rules.

Belegarth should not be con-fused with LARPing—Live Action Role Playing. Belegarth aims to recreate the medieval style and tactics of warfare, yet the fighters do not take on personages of actual medieval people. One of the founding fathers of the group, senior Ben Mudd, added that Belegarth does
not involve magic.

“We don’t do magic or spells or any of that—this is purely a sport based on medieval combat.” There are no mythical creatures in Belegarth either, as Mudd noted. “You can say you’re an elf, I guess, but it doesn’t mean anything.”

A number of the participants have been involved in medieval combat for years prior to coming to Wash. U. French is also a member of a Belegarth group in St. Louis that meets in Forest Park. Some members have also taken part in national events. Baskir recalls the experience of seeing hundreds of Belegarth combatants fighting at once.

“It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before,” Baskir said.

The group members stressed the tactical intelligence the sport requires to lead a large group into a successful battle.

All in all, the Belegarth Society is a group of enthusiastic yet down-to-earth people who are interested in sportsmanship and medieval culture and welcome all others who share that interest. I myself tried my hand at it, and it was quite thrilling. If you are interested, do not hesitate to try it out for yourself.

The Belegarth Medieval Combat Society holds open practices on Fridays from 3-5 p.m. in the Village Quad and Saturdays from 2-5 p.m. on the Liggett-Koenig lawn. They also hold build sessions on Sundays from 2-5 p.m. in the Koenig basement. All interested parties are invited to attend any of these events.