Armoured Longsword

[Matt Anderson]

Just thought some folks might find this interesting:

http://www.thearma.org/essays/armoredlongsword.html

 

[Makalakumu]

Just thought some folks might find this interesting:

http://www.thearma.org/essays/armoredlongsword.html

The article is interesting and it really fleshes out some of the medievil martial traditions.

I've got a somewhat related question. Are there teachers of these arts that are acredited by any organization?

 

[Matt Anderson]

The article is interesting and it really fleshes out some of the medievil martial traditions.

I've got a somewhat related question. Are there teachers of these arts that are acredited by any organization?

For the most part, historical fencing and renaissance martial arts are still in their infancy as a modern discipline. There have been some attempts to develop organizations that would sanction instructors, award qualifications, etc, but they have not really taken hold in any widespread or widely accepted way. I am skeptical of most of these attempts anyway as I don't feel we really know enough yet to call anyone a "master" for instance. Within my organization, the largest and most widespread of WMA groups, we have an internal ranking and certification system based on the ones used by renaissance masters at arms. A few of us have gained enough experience and understanding that we are authorized by the ARMA director to teach and give seminars, etc. but we really feel that we are all still students, learning together. Most of us started out on our own studying from 15th century manuscripts, trying to figure out the systems and techniques with just a few training partners. The best way to get started in these arts is probably to attend a seminar and/or hook up with one of the many local study groups. There is some info here:

http://www.thearma.org/NTP.htm

-Matt

 

[MA-Caver]

Seems to me that mideval sword play relied upon what Cyrano de Bergerac used to kill an opponent... "...Thus ends the refrain-- Thrust Home!"

 

[B. D. Cooper]

Seems to me that mideval sword play relied upon what Cyrano de Bergerac used to kill an opponent... "...Thus ends the refrain-- Thrust Home!"

That is a big part of it, get the other guy off balance and trying to keep up, then hit him. The part I like about WMA is that you can pick up a primary source, read it, disect it, put something together, test it, and end up in a heap, repeat for as long as you can. I picked up one of these books with the intent of using it as a primer to establish a basic language for understanding. Read it, play with it and move on. Years later I am still studying that book, writing about it, cursing it and squeezing as much as I can out of it. It has done its job as a primer, but I can't let it go.

A friend of mine made a good point that WMA is like Perry trying to find the pole. About 50 miles away he broke his sextant and had no way to calculate the exact position of the pole so he started to zig zag through the area where the rough calculation said it had to be. He hit the pole, he just did not know when or where right away. In the reconstruction of a martial art that has only loose threads of it existance left, you can't help but zig zag. Sometimes you have it spot on, others you are playing zen baseball out in left field. You just never really know the degree to witch you are correct or incorrect, hence the constant revision and study.

Benjamin Cooper