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Sir Griff:
Thanks a dozen for the link! As for the book, where I live it's pretty hard to find English books on such obscure subjects as swordsmanship. There are no Romanian books on the subject, let alone English books. And I would really love to train with an instructor, believe me. I know that what we are doing now is basically a hazard to both of us and we are both untrained as hell. But there are no such instructors in Romania that I know of. And if there are, there are none in city.

And I have a manuscript from the web on sword fighting by Paulus Hector Mair. Might that help?

But there's one thing about what you said that somehow surprises me. If you learn to counter set moves from the same repertoire, wouldn't that make fighting someone who is untrained a bit dangerous for the trained swordsman? Since he wouldn't know what moves to expect or how to counter them. And we do use protection for both our heads and our hands. We're not that reckless. And we don't hit each other devilishly hard. We're lifelong friends who have known each other from the cradle (literally) after all.

And I think you can see that I've never had any pretensions of being an expert on historical swordsmanship. What with my backyard-expertise, it would be pretty hypocritical of me to claim such a thing. Anyway, your link is of great help. Thanks again!

Das Bill:

--- Quote from: Sir Griff on 2008-07-07, 06:46:25 ---Thanks a dozen for the link!
--- End quote ---

You're welcome! :)


--- Quote ---As for the book, where I live it's pretty hard to find English books on such obscure subjects as swordsmanship. There are no Romanian books on the subject, let alone English books. And I would really love to train with an instructor, believe me. I know that what we are doing now is basically a hazard to both of us and we are both untrained as hell. But there are no such instructors in Romania that I know of. And if there are, there are none in city.
--- End quote ---

Understood. I hope as time goes on, this material becomes more and more accessible.


--- Quote ---And I have a manuscript from the web on sword fighting by Paulus Hector Mair. Might that help?
--- End quote ---

Its better than nothing, but I don't think Mair's treatises are the best to work from if you don't already know what you're doing. It has a lot of weird things in it. If you can get a copy of Christian's book that I mentioned above (or even his first book, Secrets of German Medieval Swordsmanship, which has a translation of the Sigmund Ringeck treatise), things will go much easier for you.


--- Quote ---But there's one thing about what you said that somehow surprises me. If you learn to counter set moves from the same repertoire, wouldn't that make fighting someone who is untrained a bit dangerous for the trained swordsman? Since he wouldn't know what moves to expect or how to counter them.
--- End quote ---

If your opponent doesn't know how to counter, then you just hit him. :) There is this strange idea that people have that an untrained fighter is somehow unpredictable... most untrained fighters are *incredibly* predictable. There are exceptions, but not that many. The thing is, there are an infinite number of counters... but that's not actually the point. Understanding a martial art isn't about learning a rigid set of predictable rules. Its about learning to be flexible enough apply the rules to match an infinite number of situations. Just like painting: There are rules to how to paint. You can either throw on a bunch of colors and hope to get a semblance of a picture, or you can follow the rules of color balance, form, light and shadow, etc. Some people can do this more intuitively than others, but the artists who can consistantly produce quality work (as opposed to someone who made a masterpiece by luck but never made anything good ever again) are the ones who understand the underlying rules and theory of what makes good art.


--- Quote ---And we do use protection for both our heads and our hands. We're not that reckless. And we don't hit each other devilishly hard. We're lifelong friends who have known each other from the cradle (literally) after all.
--- End quote ---

That's good. I still stand by what I said, though. :) I'm not trying to come down hard on you, I just keep hearing stories about how some friends were whacking away at each other in their back yard with sticks, and one slips and ends up injuring a friend for life, and I wouldn't like to hear about it again. But of course, its up to you whether or not to take my advice. :)

Sir Griff:
I've found a reenactment group here in my very city and they plan on expanding to medieval reenactment. Currently, they're doing 1877 reenactment together with WW1 and WW2 reenactment but once they start the medieval segment, I'll join in. What excites me is the fact that they train with sword, spear and bow according to the way fighting men in my country would do so back in the XV-th century.

So, I'll finally learn to swing a sword around properly. :P

Sir Brian:
Congratulations Sir Griff! I know you will excel !
 :)

Sir Griff:
Thank you my good sir.

Physically speaking, I see no reasons why I shouldn't do so, what with being 1.84 metres tall at 16 years of age. I've also been through many a rugby practice session and several matches, so I'm also of some worth when it comes to endurance, which I think is also quite important.

I can't wait to start practising, to be honest.

So now I won't be Sir Griff, but Griff Viteazul!

(The term "Viteaz" was used to refer to a knight in medieval Wallachia, and means "Brave" in my language)

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