For sake of brevity, and for the purposes of this post, suffice it to say he made some rather damning statements about the concept of women engaging in a melee combat situation with swords.
"There's a couple of scenes where women fight with swords. And I just hate these scenes, because no women can fight with swords. Zero women can fight with a sword. What I mean by that is in a situation where you are fighting men who are used to fighting with swords, you are going to get killed if you are a woman fighting with a sword 100 percent of the time. A woman with a sword could kill somebody who doesn't know how to fight with a sword. But in a war situation, where you are swinging this five to ten pound sword again and again and again, against much, much, much stronger men, they are going to kill you." (full quote & source article)
I really don't want to jump on the already sizable dog pile of people who are (justifiably) calling out the man for his hogwash. Just about every historical fencer, history major, and HEMA fighter with a Twitter account has the man set in their sights right now, so I'll leave social media chastisement to the experts.
And, as much as I want to talk about the actual historical women who have fought with swords, that too has been talked up a lot, and I don't really feel like I am going to productively add to the conversation.
So, why are we here?
Because I would like to take this opportunity to point out why Andrew is so wrong by talking about a not-so-widely-known, let alone famous woman in our history whose own skills overlap that of bladed marshal combat.
The year is 1818, the place is New York City. Somewhere, someone is screaming at the top of their lungs that a building is one fire, and there is no doubt that a lot of people are worried because they don't know where all of their friends, or family are just then.
As the alarm is sounded, the word reaches the firefighters of Oceanus Engine Company #11. The doors fly open, and a hoard of firefighters burst out the door, hand pulling a huge, heavy wagon laden with heavy hose and the brass pump that will be the backbone of the long fight to contain yet another building fire. There are no horses to pull this load, horse drawn firetrucks in new york are still half a century away. No, this engine has only the tired feet of the firefighters of Engine 11 to move it, and then the arms of the same to pump it furiously as hose teams try to smother the fire.
Imagine the look on everyone's face when this scene races down the street in front of them, two, or three dozen tall, strapping, white men running to once again slay the dragon, and in the middle of the group, hands set to a rope, feet grinding into the ground...
is an African american woman.
Molly Williams is the first known woman to fight fires in recorded history.
The owned slave of another member of the company, records and contemporary statements show that she stepped forward of her own volition to help at the station, ultimately becoming the station cook, and then asked to help on the fireground.
The owned slave of another member of the company, records and contemporary statements show that she stepped forward of her own volition to help at the station, ultimately becoming the station cook, and then asked to help on the fireground.
The fact that she did this in pre-emancipation America, in an occupation that was otherwise completely white men, also works to frame this woman's accomplishments in their epic historical context.
Williams served with the company through the great flue outbreak in 1818, where countless people were bedridden, crippling the city for weeks. The problem was compounded when a blizzard hit New York City, blanketing it in snow and dropping temperatures below freezing for days.
When a fire call came in, Molly was the only one standing several times at the station. Putting her strength on full display, she hauled out the pumper with as much power and speed as any man in the company, and answered the call to duty. (-source article)
A rendering of Molly Williams pulling Engine 11 by her self in 1818
It wasn't until 1982 that women would once again call themselves New York City Firefighters, making Williams a woman over a century ahead of her time.
And if you have any questions about how this story relates to swords... take a look at the traditional equipment used by firefighters in this turn-of-the-century period.
Just as swords shared the battlefield with pikes, and axes, then and today, firefighters use pike poles, and have cutting tools that include brush hooks and of course, the pick ax (video), each of these draw their linage directly from the same sources as their medieval counterparts, and for a lot of the same reasons.
These are not the blunt implements of the common men, but are the tools of skilled people who do hard work, under punishing conditions, against an enemy that takes no prisoners, and gives no quarter.
As a member of the company, there can be almost no doubt that Williams was not only knowledgeable, but capable of the precise work these tools demanded in order to expose and extinguish fires.
To say that "no women can fight with swords" is to say no woman could use an ax or pike either.
And I believe the memory alone of Molly Williams, and the hard work she did, allows us all to laugh at that idea outright.
The only know photograph of Molly Williams
While we talk about female sword fighters (and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that), I personally felt I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to call attention to a woman who is every bit, if not more of a dragon slayer than any knight in history likely ever dreamed of being.
#Swordsunday is intended as a fun and educational series of posts for the enjoyment of readers.
#Swordsunday is intended as a fun and educational series of posts for the enjoyment of readers.
His Lordship Ivo Blackhawk
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"Long Live the King!"
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