Consulting Swordsman
Guy Windsor Between last week’s class and this one (on the 9th of October) we saw six out of the 24 attend class on Thursday 4th – this is an excellent proportion, especially for the first week. It takes some guts to show up with so little prior experience, but they all got stuck in, and seemed to … Read more
I am slow. So I study speed. The first advanced Fiore class every month is a freeplay-based session, in which we use freeplay and related exercises to expose specific weaknesses in individual students, for them to work on, and general weaknesses in the group as a whole, which sets the theme for the next month … Read more
One thing I have never done before is keep an exact record of what I (and others) teach over the eight weekly sessions of a beginners’ course at the Helsinki branch of my school. Of course it is never exactly the same twice; every group is different, and as we usually have only two such … Read more
About a year ago, my colleague and fellow Fiorista Bob Charrette kindly agreed to let me use some tracings he had made from Il Fior di Battaglia, originally for his book Armizare, in my own little book of mnemonic verses, the Armizare Vade Mecum. As a token royalty payment I offered to make him four wooden … Read more
One of the many joys of having kids is their charming misconceptions about how the world really works. For example, both my daughters love driving my car. When bringing them home from daycare, as we get off the public road and onto our parking area, I often take them one at a time onto my … Read more
Intermediates class on Sept 3rd 2012 was run as a freeplay class. The goal of this class was to improve students’ freeplay skills, and to remind them of freeplay’s place in the practice of historical swordsmanship. It went like this: The class ran for 90 minutes and was loosely divided into five sections. We began all … Read more
Swordsmanship practice is inherently dangerous. The study of risk has been developed to the nth degree over the last five hundred years or so. For an excellent overview, see Against the Gods, the remarkable story of risk, by Peter Bernstein. (Thanks to my friend Lenard Voelker for sending me a copy!). The assessment of risk … Read more
Plastic swords are for children. Disclaimer: this post should be read as a completely personal, utterly unscientific, non-practical, emotional, historical fundamentalist tirade against something I find offensive. On this matter I am unapologetically fanatical. You have been warned. About eight years ago, in 2004, I was appalled to find, at a WMA event in America, … Read more
Authenticity is the root of martial arts. It is what gives it value. Every martial art draws its authenticity from one or more of the following: lineage, competition, combat or a written source. This is how we answer the question “how do we know this is correct?” : • Lineage: authority derives from the teacher. … Read more
The effects of Longsword Length One of the mysteries surrounding German (i.e. Liechtenauer) and Italian (i.e. Fiore) unarmoured longsword combat (and I’m sure it keeps you awake at night too) is the different responses to a crossing at the middle of the sword (meza spada) in the two systems. At Fiore’s crossing of the swords … Read more