Consulting Swordsman
It’s that take-stock time of year, and 2018 has been a monster. I’ve spent a lot of time this year producing finished products, starting with: The Theory and Practice of Historical Martial Arts The Art of Sword Fighting in Earnest I started both of these books in 2015, so I didn’t write them this year, but … Read more
Ultra-geeky sword post alert: this is a lengthy and detailed discussion of some really specific terms from Fiore. Expect pedantry and nit-pickery, in the service of a definition of terms which has little bearing on how we actually fight. Read on only if that sort of thing floats your boat. I have written this because … Read more
Last week I talked about the importance of swordsmen learning dagger techniques, and I promised I’d explain how to integrate training the dagger material with the longsword material. This needs to be done at the level of syllabus design, as well as within specific training sessions or classes. Let’s start with the syllabus. NOTE: In this … Read more
Many students find the (often) foreign terminology a major barrier to learning swordsmanship. I get it. I really do. In 2006 I even wrote an article explaining why I translate “meza” and “tutta” the way I do. I put a glossary in the back of most of my books, and I created a separate pdf … Read more
Safety Guidelines for the Practice of Swordsmanship These safety guidelines come from my Recreate Historical Swordsmanship from Historical Sources Course (included in our Mastering the Art of Arms and Solo Training packages here) and have been adapted from guidelines in The Medieval Longsword, The Duellist’s Companion, and The Theory and Practice of Historical Martial Arts. All … Read more
You may recall I went to Scotland a couple of weeks ago, and on that trip a select few got to travel to Glasgow to visit the Museum Resource Centre. There we met a curator, Dr Ralph Moffat, who kindly opened case after case of swords, guns, and armour, for us to (literally) play with. One … Read more
I’m a Luddite, it’s true. I resist the march of technological progress because I think that most new technologies aren’t labour saving life enhancing devices at all. I was saying this back in the ‘80s when people were extolling the new ‘desktop publishing’ thing. “What used to take two weeks can now be done in … Read more
There are few things that all martial artists agree on, but I think this may be one of them: “it’s easier to fight someone if you know exactly what they are going to do”. To predict their actions. To see the future. This skill is one of the aspects that marks an experienced fighter in … Read more
Yesterday I went to visit my friend Peter Mustonen. He’s an arms dealer; but our kind of arms dealer: gorgeous antique swords, knives, guns, armour, shields; you name it, he has a delicious example. I spent some time playing with swords, you know, as one does. While I was there he mentioned finding a book … Read more
Hello. Do you find yourself explaining the same thing over and over to various friends and colleagues? Wouldn’t it be easier to just explain it once, and then send the explanation to anyone who needs it? In my case, I tend to explain all sorts of things regarding swords, as teaching swordsmanship has been my … Read more