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Main => The Great Hall => Topic started by: Sir Ancelyn on 2010-05-12, 20:48:02
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My name is Adam and I am interested in Medieval swordsmanship; learning how it was done, and even reenacting. "Hi Adam." I bought some books on the subject and a wooden waster to practice with last year. I even began taking classes, but I closed on a house right in the middle of them so the house came first.
What is my motivation? The romance of the period? Brother Cadfael? Medieval history? Holding a big sword and cutting melons in half? Probably all of those things and more, both real and imagined.
I don't have any gear or even a persona. Given my background it could be anything from Scotland to Provence if I just stayed within ancestral heritage. Even which period or periods of time are not decided yet. Right now I just want to learn and think about possibilities.
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Welcome to the forum Adam and well met! A fine introduction and I look forward to learning about the age of chivalry and knighthood along with you for are we all not scholars ? Sometimes we are the student and sometimes we are the teacher. :)
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Hi Adam,
What books did you get? I may be able to offer some advice.
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My first book was "Fighting with the German Longsword." Later on I added "Medieval Swordsmanship, Illustrated Methods and Techniques." This week I finally broke down and bought "English Swordsmanship" but haven't had time to peruse it yet.
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Welcome to the forum!
Yes, many of us come from a variety of different angles and interests. We all find our own path and seek our own direction in these interests.
Has any particular period been of interest, or is it just more of a "swords and armor are cool" sort thing? Personally I've always liked the look and style of 13th-14th Century knights, but I love the Gothic plate armor as well. But I'd be lying if I didn't acknowledge that a lot of my interest had early roots in D&D games. :)
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My first book was "Fighting with the German Longsword." Later on I added "Medieval Swordsmanship, Illustrated Methods and Techniques." This week I finally broke down and bought "English Swordsmanship" but haven't had time to peruse it yet.
"Fighting with the German Longsword" by Christian Tobler is a fantastic primer of the Liechtenauer tradition. Good choice! Honestly, if that's the only book on historical swordsmanship that you ever read, it will give you quite a good overview. It has its gaps, and it has areas where I would do things a little differently, but no book can cover everything.
Unfortunately, Medieval Swordsmanship by John Clements has more myths than truth. I give it credit that it was one of the first books that came out on the subject that treated historical martial arts as an actual martial art, separating it from what we see in entertainment, and at the time that was important. Sadly, it really is just a lot of made up techniques under the guise of "historical research", and has a lot of angry tirades against anyone who is doing things differently. That book (and its companion book called Renaissance Swordsmanship) really makes you wonder if the author has actually ever read any of the various historical sources that he so vehemently says everyone should be using.
I have to confess that I also have English Swordsmanship but haven't had time to read it yet... only I have no excuse, because I've owned it for years and still haven't sat down and read through it. :-[ My interests are in the 15th century Germman and the 16th and 17th century Italian material, so sometimes its hard for me to motivate myself to look outside of my box. :)
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Thanks Bill . . . or is it Das Bill? :-) Anyway I apreciate the advice on Tobler's book and the warning on the other one. It can be hard, even with reviews, to choose what to get and what to avoid.
I must admit that I never read past the sword techniques in Tobler's book since I don't own a pike and wasn't as interested in that end of things at first. Maybee later. >:-)
The longsword is what I am most interested in learning regardless of the period. Is the First English Civil War (Stephen and Matilda) up to the 14th Century too long a time to be interested in?
Thanks
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I must admit that I never read past the sword techniques in Tobler's book since I don't own a pike and wasn't as interested in that end of things at first. Maybee later. >:-)
The longsword is what I am most interested in learning regardless of the period.
Well, the fun part is that its all one art. So you learn the sword to learn the unnarmed to learn the dagger to learn the spear to learn the poleaxe to learn the unnarmed to learn the sword, etc. The application of one hand to hand weapon only strengthens your knowledge of other hand to hand weapons. Christian Tobler's most recent work, In Saint Georges Name (sold through www.freelanceacademypress.com ) has brief article that shows this pretty well.
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I don't think there is any such thing as too long a period to be interested in. I personally like everything from the late Roman era through the end of the English Civil War although I generally focus more on the Elizabethan era and the mid 14th century. If you are intrested in the ECW period, I would recomend at least taking a glance through De Gahn's Renaissance Drill Manual (I may have spelled his name wrong, I can't seem to locate my copy at the moment to verify his name's spelling) as this is considered to be the pike and musket drill bible. Even if you aren't yet interested in learning to used these weapons yourself, if you have an interest in the period familiarizing yourself with their usage and handling is always a good idea.
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Well, I finaly chose a time period, the hundred years war and created a backstory. Let me know if my knight page needs tweaking.
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Huzzah and very well done! :)
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Sorry for the late reply ::)
Hello Adam and may I suggest you have happened upon a fantastic place to start your journey into a wonderfull and very rewarding hobby.
The Hundred years war is (IMHO) about the best period to portray.
Hope to chat soon,
G.
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Agreed; you can't go wrong with that era, Sir Ancelyn so welcome- welcome to the addiction!