Consulting Swordsman
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
It has been a very long time since I last taught swordsmanship in Italy. This little gem of an event confirmed a suspicion that I have long held, that I need to spend more time in Italy, and cross swords with more Italians. First up, the location, the Castello Savelli in Palombara Sabina, not too … Read more
This instalment of the Blog of Guy is coming to you from beautiful Italy, a land where historical artefacts of astonishing antiquity are just left lying around! I shit you not, this is a place where the new buildings are anything less than 500 years old. And people seem to live and work in buildings … Read more
Warning: major sword geekery alert. What follows is exactly the kind of nit-picking pedantry that in the end makes this the right job for me; because this is the only area in the world where I care this much about such apparently trivial or minor details. And what to you may seem a minor change … Read more
Let me tell you a story about how the Internet is supposed to work. It’s also about collaborating on research, and finding truth. A short while ago, a student of mine, Kliment Yanev, came up with an excellent theory on the botanical identity of the poisonous dust plant that Fiore calls the titimallo. It was … Read more
[There is some cool stuff in this post, but the actual identification of the famed titmallo is wrong: full story here! GW] One of my favourite passages in Il Fior di Battaglia is this, where Fiore shows the use of a poison-dust pollax: The text that goes with it is hilarious. The text above the … Read more
I am often asked for equipment recommendations, and people seem to be interested in the sort of equipment professionals use. So this is the first of a series of blog posts about the tools I use at work. As I spend most of my time teaching Fiore’s Art of Arms, let’s start there. In the … Read more
Memory is the key component of mastery. Being able to effortlessly recall and recombine elements held in long term memory is the essence of creativity and expertise. This is why I have deliberately crafted my School’s syllabus to be a memory palace. It is obvious when reading Fiore that his system has been organised for … Read more
I have a special place in my heart for novelists who actually practise the skills that their characters need. Of these perhaps the best example alive today is Christian Cameron. His US Navy aviation thrillers (co-written under the nom-de-plume Gordon Kent) are informed by his 12 years in the Navy; his ancient Greek novels (the … Read more