We are The Sword, London.

 We have a new facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/TheSwordLondon don't forget to like us.

There will be a new website too, offering a lot more content on our academic, martial and documentary work. The unified name for all these aspects of the London Longsword Academy and Boar's Tooth Fight-School will be... The Sword, London. 

Longsword syllabus part 1.

As requested by several students of The Sword*: The first part of the longsword course.
 The syllabus uses information from several sources (amongst them, Fiore, Fabris, Liechtenauer, Meyer, Silver and Thibault), depending on which offers the best explanation of a technique or principle. I have generally (though not always) kept the terminology Liechtenauer based**.


Longsword Syllabus part 1:
4 guards. 1389 post 1389
and the geometry of those positions.

Cutting drill 1 true, cutting drill 1 false.

Wrath hew at left ear:
Distance, correct usage and explanations of the times.
Footwork, extend then bend. The geometry and structure of the step.
Explanation of the omission of the step in this defence.
Wrath to left ear no stop.
wrath to left ear cut a lateral parry.

Wrath to left ear cut a lateral parry out, wind to left ox high thrust.

Explanation of reasoning for the lateral parry in this exercise.

Counter these with Running off false edge cut to four

Wrath to left ear, set aside and cut to face.

Counter setting aside with the high winding. strong to weak.
show and explain this mechanic.

Counter cut against wrath, mutate

counter cut against wrath hew, wind to left ox,  second party subject sword into a left parry and wind to Ox

Counter against wrath hew, subject, counter double.

Counter against wrath hew. crown, wind low

Counter against wrath, press wide, pulling.

Part 2 will follow shortly.
*you will notice that the London Longsword Academy page will change shortly to "The Sword" and the web address to www.theswordlondon.com stick it in your browser.
**please note the non longsword sources listed here still have much to offer, which is why I have included principles from these authors.

A hacker caught at Hampton Court

This weekend just past, I was at Hampton Court Palace, teaching a dussack workshop to a mix of long term sports fencers, Eastern martial artists and total novices.

I went in with a very set class structure, cuts followed by drills and summery, this all changed very quickly.

It became evident early on that these people needed a more rounded view of EBBMA (European blade based martial arts), than just waving the swords at each other.
So to begin with we went through the idea of memes, of choosing names for a position or technique,allow the mind to easily retain and fathom it's purpose (much like the naming systems used in kung fu styles).

This allowed us to cover the guard positions from Leichtenauer's longsword (both prior and post 1389), Lechkuchner's falchion and Meyer's dussack in short order.
The cuts were dealt with in the same way, working through Meyers, parting wrath and thwart lines, these identifying names really seemed to aid their understanding of the cuts and flows simply and quickly.

For the paired technique part of the class, I focused on Meyer's Bogen, dealing not only with the method of breaking that guard, but a

Yes I am using Fabris with a dussack, no I don't recommend it.

lso manners of entering past the point, of encouraging certain responses from an opponent, and if unable to dictate that; limiting his options to more predictable forms.

This led to some healthy debate, with the class taking breaks every 15 minutes or so , to assess the logic of entering in a certain way, offering at the viewpoints of several masters to colour and guide the students reasoning.
We spent a little time on Silver's times and definition of "the place"*; his, Thibault's and Fabris's use of distance to asses and deal with a threat as it develops (or lack thereof). From there we worked out how to use that information, advancing and retreating from the opponent in the Bogen.

The last part of the lesson was back to Talhoffer, looking again at the use of distance and visual tricks to encourage a response, tied this briefly into Fiore's sword in one hand, and childhood toy snatching (you have to take a class with me to understand this, it helps... honest).

It seems that this approach, my decision to argue from the perspective of several different masters, really helped give a varied, cross referenced overview of historical fencing styles and EBBMA. The feedback was glowing and I hope very much we get the opportunity to do something like this again soon.


*and of course the argument about thrust being faster than the cut...
Pictures courtesy of Nili S.

After FC...

First of all, a message of thanks to all involved with Fight-Camp 2012, both organizers and participants, for a great event. It left me unsure if my arms were exhausted from sword work or if it was the excessive hugging and hand shaking going on, but that is a sign of what a pleasure it was to be there. A great atmosphere, good (and increasingly varied) classes, and the fantastic attitude of all involved made this one of the best yet.

For my part I was teaching both Thibault's rapier and Leichtenaur's longsword. Rather than go through this technique/that technique; I tried to focus on methods of making a situation occur, be it as the attack instigator or the his willing victim; bringing the students attention to how subtle misplacements (not cutting at an exact angle or precise distance) in your technique can make your opponent respond in a less predictable manner.
This is a powerful training tool and can make all the difference in  how training sequences fit together.

In the regular London Longsword Academy classes:
Work continues apace for the first assessments for both longsword and dusssack , and I've been most pleased with how everyone has knuckled down, not only are you showing a lot of patience with the huge amount of detail I am subjecting them to, but also how much it is improving your freeplay (you may have noticed I am coaching you through this a little more as well).  

Well done guys, keep up the hard work.

Tactical Gardener, issue 1. By the Lawn's Early Light.

Just so we don't have to carry swords through the underground at peak hours over the Olympics, the London Longsword Academy is back on sickle for the next couple of weeks.

For those of you who are familiar with the FMA karambit, you really should be aware of the European sickle fighting system as shown in Paulus Hector Mair's "Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica" a treatise that really show's the agricultural and common place tools of Europe in a rather more...aggressive light.

The three G's
I have noticed that when most people come to train with the sickle, there are three G stages.
1: grumble...what is this for, what does it it do, why isn't it a karambit?
2: grin...as realization sinks in of what this will do to sinew and tendons.
3: giggle, as they figure out "that muscle is coming away from the bone".
I will point out here: that all the folk I teach are sensible folk, not prone to cruelty. But something in realizing your martial heritage is a little icky seems to make people happy....don't ask me why, people are strange.

It is a truly horrible tool, which is why we don't use the real thing to drill, and again we relied on the hard work of Purple Heart Armouries to supply a suitable training tool (but even with these great control and care is required to train safely).
If you want to pop in and have a look over the next two weeks contact at the usual address. I'm pretty sure you will find it most illuminating,

Makes you squint and back on buckler.

This week it's more of the basics
Longsword:

• Guards proper structure.
• master cuts, mnemonic reasoning and use against guards.

Sword and Buckler:

• long point
• angles and entrance, getting the response you want from the opponent.

Most of the sword and buckler syllabus is based around the Obsesseo training DVD. So-if you want to get a good idea of what we are doing and how the system works I'd recommend picking up a copy.

Here's a bit of blurb to help you make up your mind.

Based on the earliest known fencing manual "I.33", Obsesseo offers an unrivaled insight into medieval combat. The DVD features:

• A simple "watch and do" multi angle, instructional format which is perfect for both the beginner and advanced student.
• Each technique is clearly illustrated with an "as it happens" labeling system, explaining on screen the move used by each combatant.
• An extensive and informative voiceover, offering both tactical and in-depth theory for the more advanced student. 

As well as being a practical guide to early swordsmanship, Obsesseo is an academic work showing that common principles – often regarded as the hallmark of more "evolved" systems, such as rapier and even modern fencing – were relevant, advanced and had been documented as early as the 13th century.

Winding works

 
This week;  it's more of the arm aching longsword work,  hi rep stance and cutting drills. This seems to be helping so smile through the pain, it's doing you good.
From there it's winding against multiple cutting angles, this is good exercise not only for winding, but also for mutier, duplier and varying cuts.
Also sword and buckler, simple entry drills, against a dominance of the line.
And of course sparring.