Monthly Archive for June, 2008

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