Lady Rapier

Lady Rapier was founded by Biatrichi Canzoniere and Delphina de Champeaux in the early 90s to support women in SCA fencing. Biatrichi says this about its founding:

"We came home from a tournament that was really frustrating for both of us as fighters. Despite the great achievements of Dona Gwenno, Dona Gwenneth, and other women in fencing, we felt that we did not have the same access to equipment and training for women in all groups of the kingdom. Instead of whining about it, we decided to do something. We came up with an idea in my apartment living room in Houston to set up a Yahoo Group called Lady Rapier. This would be a place for us to get in touch with other women fighters and discuss what we needed to do to stay focused, and on track towards our goals. Being Don Etienne du Montagu's cadet (now Etienne du Montagu, MOD), she primarily ran the list for many years and it grew to include members from all over the SCA. Once Yahoo decided to shut down its forums, and other ways to communicate became more popular, it died an organic death. There were many more women fighting and all equipment had taken a huge technological leap. Plus, neither Delphina nor I were fighting anymore. Her reason was health, and mine was having a toddler underfoot. What we didn't know until many years later was that there was a tournament at Pennsic, for women rapier fighters, run by former members of the group. The Lady Rapier tournament was created to showcase fighters, build community, and allow those that had only met online to cross swords. This tournament still exists and has also expanded to include Gulf Wars."

Delphina and Biatrichi are now both members of the Valkyrie Company, and support its expanded role to help gender minority fighters, in all the martial disciplines, work together towards better access, training, and equipment.