Fight Medieval: The Boarstooth Fight School

Saturday the 28th, was a lovely sunny day, I thought that we were going to spend it sweating in a badminton hall, but due to an accidental double booking, and the kindness of the local church, it turned out better, than we could have hoped for.

Dave, having seen “Narnia” a few too many times, picks a fight with a lamp post

I had the pleasure of teaching the willing bods from 8th day(a London based adventure group) the simple and ruthless system of messer from Talhoffer’s 1467 manual, and some dagger combat from several medieval sources.

now, we can choose where we hit him

A good bunch they turned out to be as well, game enough to hit each other, and willing to learn at the same time not blindly taking my word for it.

Yup, getting stuck in

we worked through distance exploits and rapid safe closure, and I have to say they did very well.

Then….the Dagger!

Do I look like I’m about to enjoy this?:)

This was a bit of a last minute decision for me, I’m never sure if it will go down well in the current climate, as it was it seemed very well received.

as is standard with our school we worked the premise of master striking into the dagger fight, making it as simple and effective as we can, with techniques coming from feeling rather than design.

that’s why, you don’t do whatever he just did…

Again they showed their willingness to get stuck in. And seemed happy to let me throw them around until they got it…

I put the left arm there so his didn’t break…the nice version

And even more willing to throw me around when they’d got it…

Over…

and over

and over again.

As I said, all of them trained very hard, with respect for each other,but with intent, there isn’t one that I wouldn’t have been pleased to have as a student.

well done to all of you from the 8th day, and thanks for spending it with us.

Thanks also, to Manuwar for the pics, we owe you dinner:)

If you are looking at starting H.E.M.A style sword fighting classes, there are a few things you should ask your self.

1) what do I want to learn?

If, it is to swing a heavy lump of metal, while clad only in a bear skin, this is probably not for you, European sword fighting, is quick, skilled and is more about fighting within a safe framework of body and weapon than throwing your sword madly around.

If it is a skill you wish to learn, then it is the art for you.

historical sword fighting, is a genuine martial art, and like all martial arts will teach you structure, timing & distance, the Liechtenauer style of sword fighting will also teach you fuhlen(feeling) a tactile sensitivity on the sword, similar to wing chun’s sticking hands, a vital technique when the sword-fight gets too quick to follow with the eye.

2)Will I get fit?

You will get as much out of the art as you put into it, most fightmedieval classes are geared towards a muscle mnemonic system, teaching you to recognize movement, intention, pressure and position in the sword fight and to react instinctively and correctly. this basically means you will spend a lot of the lesson in motion learning to hit someone with a sword and not get hit back:) how much more fun could you have:)

3)How do I know I’m getting my money’s worth?

The Boar’s Tooth Fightschool(fight medieval) have an immensely high standing in the sword fighting community, we have authored 2 critically acclaimed dvds, with many more to come, and have taught extensively across Europe, we are held in very high regard, for our martial and technical understanding of the European sword arts.

3)(partb)Is it real?

Most certainly, although most European styles of sword fighting, involving the long sword, sword and buckler, messer, died out, however, the manuals which explain their use are still available, most of these sword fighting manuals can be viewed, online, or at the worst, purchased, so you can tell the source material is genuine, the first of these sources, the Lutegerus” script for example can be seen here.

The rest has been good honest hard work, by translators and martial artists, in the latter case, bruising and battering each other senseless, in order to make sure that each system is self referential, and most importantly, works.

4)is it fun?

Ohhhhhh Yesssss!

If you have any more questions, regarding any aspect of medieval sword fighting, or fencing with the Boar’s Tooth/Fight Medieval team, please feel free to contact us, either by phone 0770 963 9881, or by email at boarstooth@hotmail.com

Only ten days to go till the release of “Timing & Distance”, the second dvd from the boar’s tooth,

so here is a spoiler of the cover, we like enough that we are re doing the cover for dvd one “Intent”

there is also talk of a re-format for the original or maybe even a higher budget re-shoot. More on that as it happens.

Every now and then, I am going to try and post a short review of something that the school or myself personally have bought. I’m not going to fill pages with negative/positive comments on things,simply, if I don’t like it I won’t talk about it, if I really really like it, I will say so… this is the first of our “really likes”

Enjoy…

I went to the Herstmonceux festival last year where Todd had a stall and, although most of his work is of either functional (plain, well made no frills) or very nice, two pieces stood out to me. One a small German knife, I was, sadly, unable to obtain, but is in my opinion one of the finest feeling knives I’ve ever held. Fortunately, it is the possession of a friend so I at least get to see it every now and then.

This bollock dagger however, is the knife I chose.

It stood out for it’s fine finish, feel and general heft, the look too is very pleasing, with both the Ebony handle and scabbard a very rich deep black. It is clearly a stabbing dagger, the blade being a strong triangle, the base of which is 2cm and the other sides 1cm each(tapering of course) this gives it an exceptionally acute point. The finish of the blade is spotless and finely finished.

The hilt is fantastic, the carving on the Ebony handle smooth and even, the tang is finished with a small rounded washer and is again finished smoothly and well.
And much to my delight the bollocks are even.

The fit of the blade to the hilt is immaculate with no visible junction on the flat, and the smallest possible spacing on the sides (tiny, too small to slip a slither of paper into).

The scabbard/sheath, is well finished, the stitching good and even.

It’s rare that “I have to have” an item, this is one such, I came back to the dagger seven or eight times, over the course of the day. The finish, the workmanship, the feel, are all of the highest standard, I could not be happier with my purchase.

Thanks to Martin Austwick and Scott Brown for taking the time to share their expertise with the school, despite a low turnout for training this week they gladly stepped up and took everyone through quick fire (3/4 of an hour each) introduction to their training methods.

Scott Brown, in one of the few still moments of his lesson

Scott took us through his Lutegerus (I.33) flow drills which are are almost like a chant, repetitive simple and common sense structured, with an occasionally added technique to make the drill progressively more complex, a very, very good way of learning the system, and as one student said “the techniques just drop out”.

I was pleased as well to see our sense of timing distance and the awareness of vulnerabilities in system are pretty much identical.

Martin shows that flying out is just an excuse to “hit him more”. I approve

Martin Austwick gave a brutally functional introduction to George silvers fighting system.

One of the most wonderful things about watching Martin teach, is his emphasis on the fighting system as a whole (not as I have seen often in other “Silverists” an obsession with flying out, or just as commonly, the misuse of true gardent against a variable fight).

He concentrated on a very brief and to the point explanation of gaining the place, which made for a simple and secure manner of entering to batter your opponent.

As Oz (Martin) said “it’s not a sword fight, it’s a fight, you just happen to be holding a sword”.

Which, using timing and measure he illustrated wonderfully.

If you get a chance to train with either of these Gents, snap it up, both have simple practical explanations and vindications of their interpretations. They communicate their systems extremely well, and you can see their desire is to make the student fight well with it too, not to parade their knowledge and skills, but to impart them.

Martin, me and Scott, “We are instructors, take us seriously”

Thanks guys.