Fight Books

(click on the above images to enlarge.)

When you get two or three sword trainers together, you get disputes and opinions. The task of a historian is to cut through the opinions, and determine the underlying truth in order to form your own (no doubt disputable) opinion. In the case of sword fighters, the opinions usually come down to "which school or style is better". Mr. George Silver, a sword fighter who bitterly opposed the "new fangled Italian style" wrote two books. The first was an off-putting non-stop diatribe against the Italians, the second is much harder to find but is more useful in that he discusses the "Englyshe Style of Broad Swerd" with great thoroughness and depth, a worthy sucessor the Marxbuder German style popularized by Talhoffer and Meyer. DeGrassi discusses the introduction of rapiers and the desire to not lug a shield around all over the place. Savolio is often considered the genius behind the creation of a foil and Achille Morozzo is considered the first codifier of cuts, guards, wards and parries.

The book by Egerton Castle referred to above is a wonderful compilation of these opposing viewpoints! Mr. Castle created a history of the art of sword fighting and has strenuously declined to determine "which is better". He and I agree that a fighter who is poorly trained in a superior style will lose against a fighter who is properly trained in an inferior style. Rather like the question "what sword is best in a fight", the answer of course is "the one you brought with you, not the one you left at home in the closet", the question of which style or school is "better" can be answered simply by observing which school trains their students daily, which school is more intuitive, which school is more capable of training folks who really have no knack for sports, and which school teaches techniques which can be transfered to other weapons easily. And perhaps, in this modern age, which school can stay interesting enough so that even the most jaded belt hunters will come back to it again and again.

Take a week of evenings, and read Castle's dissertation. I will guarantee that you will be the better for it.

http://www.archive.org/stream/schoolsandmaste00castgoog#page/n3/mode/2up

Summer Academy of the Arts

Algonquin College has asked me to do a week of armour making as part of the "summer academy of the arts". This is a daunting task. There is a LOT to do to prepare for this.
As of this morning, I have 6 students signed up for it.

Its course MMA0230 and it occurs on week four.

(cut and paste from the web site)
Bill Fedun has been instructing armoured sword handling at Algonquin College from 2002 until the present, and involved with sword based martial arts since 1979.

From the foundation of 20 years of military experience in designing workshops and courses of various types, Bill has moved on to pursue his true passion for making Medieval body armour.

Bill has travelled the world to make measured drawings of real armour in museums, and combines this acquired knowledge with more than twenty-two years of experience to re-create the original patterns, and modify those patterns to fit modern 21st century clients.

This summer, Bill will teach:
· MMA0230 Techniques for making Medieval Armour
· MMA0231 Making Chainmaille Armour and Jewellery

Supplies for Techniques for Making Medieval Armour:

Instructor will supply specialty tools, but students are encouraged to bring their own pliers, ball pein hammer, claw hammer, black sharpie, notebook and tape measure. Instructor will supply necessary materials at cost. Bring $75.00 on the first day to cover materials.


How exciting! This is, as far as I know, the only course of its kind taught in North America.

Lots of work to do to get ready! The lesson plan is all done, and the anvils are loaded into the car.

The picture? Well, that was back when I was young and pretty...grin!

Sword training...

This illustration from Jochaim Myer's book shows some fairly standard sword training, and the similarities to what and how I teach the same thing are striking. The panel on the wall shows that the primary purpose of this exercise is about footwork, specifically moving diagonally. Stepping off the line of attack is critical. Here we show defending by stepping back and to the right...the attacker (poor sap) has not bothered to move his feet at all.

The two men in the foreground are the primary part of the move, the two men in the background show a different part of the move...the finish. Lets examine the men in the foreground first.

The man on the right has made a diagonal cut downward towards the left, and has turned his hand around for an upward slash along the same line. This "down and up" or "left then right" is pretty common a style of fighting...you really want to get a combination going, and moving the sword back and forth on the same line is usually effective. The first slash opens up the clothing or breaks the armour, the follow up goes into the slash. Also, the recipient will dodge back away from the first strike, thinking that that is all there is, and rush in to face the second part. (I call this slash a "pendulum cut" for obvious reasons)

The gentleman on the left has stepped back and to the left. We know this because he used to be standing just behind "A" on the floor. See the "A" on the panel on the wall? They are congruent. He has also neatly parried the attack, and his sword in one smooth motion is coming up behind him ready for his turn to attack. He probably didn't even need to parry the sword...just the step back should have been enough to protect him, but a little extra protection is nice to have. Certainly the parry has poured a lot of power into the defender's sword, which is coming back to strike like a snake!

Now the man on the left attacks back. We turn our attention to the men finishing the move in the background. Just after the sword whistles harmlessly past his nose, he steps forward with his right foot, closing the distance between them, and delivers his sword into the arm of the man on the right.

This is a wonderful example of footwork and fencing measure, and is a fine example of the beautiful "dance of the blades".

Jochaim Myer's Dussak poem

Joachim Meyer's Dussack Poem

With this weapon reach wide and long,
Hang over forward after the blow
With your body step far to it,
Send your blows powerfully around and in,
To all four targets let it fly
With comportment, pulling, you can deceive him.
You shall parry in the forte
At the same time injure him with the foible.
Also you shall not come nearer
Than you can reach him with a step.
When he will almost run in at you
Drive him from you with your point,
But if he has run in on you,
With gripping, wrestling, you shall be the first,
Pay heed indeed to forte and foible,
Meanwhile, the openings he makes open,
Also step rightly in the Vor and Nach.
Note diligently the correct time
And do not be quick to be scared.

note....A dussak is a cutlass.