Consulting Swordsman
The School of European Swordsmanship was born on a Scottish hilltop, not far from Fort William. I was at a crossroads in my life, and went up into the hills to clear my mind, and meditate on what I should do. I thought my options were to stay in Edinburgh, or move to America. It … Read more
It is an exciting time here at the Audatia headquarters. We are busy working away on the Liechtenauer Expansion deck, and the Patron’s own character deck, which is also based on Liechtenauer’s system. I thought you might like to know how we are handling the specifics of the Liechtenauer system, and making these decks compatible … Read more
As you may imagine, I think about violence a lot. It’s been my experience that most people in our society either embrace violence, or shy away from it, and it’s certainly the case that we are, as a culture, massively less tolerant of violence than we used to be. Physical violence, that is. The psychological … Read more
While I was at the Armizare 2015 event, I had a discussion about Fiore’s first play of the first master of zogho largo with Francesco Baselice. Let me summarise our interpretations, with reference to the text. Qui cominza zogho di spada a doy man zogho largo. Questo magistro che qui incrosado cum questo zugadore in … Read more
But it is to the keen swordsman who looks upon foil fencing as the key to all hand to hand fighting, that the historical development of the art offers naturally the greatest interest. It shows him how many generations of practical men were required to elucidate the principles of fencing, and adapt them in the … Read more
Good morning, and Happy Monday. When I got back to my salle last week, after a 3 month absence, I found two rather hastily constructed Marozzo stars on the floor, left over from Ilkka Hartikainen’s Bolognese swordsmanship seminar. I have always liked the design (readers of my The Swordsman’s Companion will remember there’s a reproduction … Read more
My sojourn in Italy ended when I left Lucca for the United States, on the very day of the Lufthansa pilot strike. After much kerfuffle and a comedy of errors (including the airport train in Newark that takes you from one terminal to another being out of action at 5am occasioning a walk outside to … Read more
You know you’ve done something right as a teacher or writer when somebody takes your stuff and recombines it into something new and meaningful. In my latest book, Swordfighting for Writers, Game Designers, and Martial Artists, there are individual chapters for three of Fiore’s four virtues; boldness, strength, and speed. (I’ve yet to write the … Read more
Yesterday, I gave the impression that I had found an authentic medieval Italian falchion treatise. But actually it was the work of Heidi Zimmerman (the Meyer plates printing genius), an anonymous calligrapher friend, and yours truly. I got the idea long ago, and while talking to Heidi over skype one day, asked her in on … Read more
UPDATE: this was posted on April 1st, and was, as some readers spotted, a giant jape. For more details, see here. Oh. My. God. As you may be aware, I have spent most of this year in Italy, and much of that time looking for insight into the systems I teach. While I was there, … Read more