4/2/2023 0 Comments Hema hoplite shield![]() For me, Armizare is the ‘best’ of these and ‘Battle of Nations’ the ‘worst.’ But I’ve done, and enjoyed all of them. Kendo can tell us a great deal about the various directions in which modern recreations of Medieval ‘European’ combat may go. Kendo is not as old as the Samurai tradition and many aspects of it are highly stylized, like Battle of Nations are sporterized, like HEMA, and simplified so that training can be rigorous, as in modern Olympic fencing. This is Kendo, a traditional Japanese martial art. I’ll keep the rest of my comments to myself. Note, for example, how BOTH of them have hit, without making a parry or cover or block or what have you. ![]() dueling weapon version of a martial art that is entirely a sport. These two fencers are fencing with epees, or the weapon vaguely based on a late 19th c. They also include cross-cultural techniques (most of them) and some modern fencing techniques. On the other hand, many (most?) of them practice hard to use at least some of the techniques taught by Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque authors. They wear entirely modern fencing equipment, fence or fight in modern sports facilities, and are watched by modern crowds. (I will not, for the moment, digress on how much I dislike this term) They wear armour of textile and plastic, and sometimes their swords are plastic or nylon. These are two (randomly chosen) folks with long swords at a modern HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) tournament. It is not, and in fact, it reinforces the trope I have to fight every day as an author that knights were unskilled barbarians hacking at each other in a blood-frenzy.Īnd don’t even get me started on the whole inclusion of pre-1945 nationalism and the lack of chivalry. Do I sound shrill? Perhaps I’m just tired of having this held up to me as an example of medieval fighting. No spears, no pikes, not thrusting points, no long sword. No ‘cut’ with a single sword would even be noticeable to a fully armoured knight, so the entire exchange becomes ‘tag with swords’ that completely benefits really big, fast men, and where technique, especially the techniques we know real knights used, simply don’t work. But leaving equipment aside, the BOTNs style of combat forbids thrusting… the single most important aspect of foot combat in the later Middle Ages. (Look, for example, at the American’s sword and the size of the shields. At first glance they look medieval, although a little examination will show that almost all their equipment is stylized and sporterized. This is two fighters from the ‘Battle of Nations’ part of the continuum of martial sport. This is a very different thing, although it may, at first glance, look similar. To me, this is pretty close to heaven (this is in Italy, BTW). We are also fighting in a period style the Italian style known as Armizare. Oh, and we’re surrounded by a crowd of 14th c. ![]() And we’re in pretty accurate lists that is, the size and style of the fighting space is period correct and we’re using steel-headed but rebated spears (lanzia) which is a correct, late fourteenth century chivalric fighting style. In the picture above, I’m wearing a pretty damn good late 14th c. Actually, it may be the next blog, because maybe my third most frequent fan question is ‘where can I join a reenactment group.’ If you want to talk reenacting, that’s for another day. But I want to look at the question.įirst, this blog is all about various fighting arts. And in this blog, I will give an answer several answers. So, really, the question I am very frequently asked is ‘Where can I learn to fight like the knight/be a knight/do that reenacting thing you do.’ There’s a corollary question, too ‘I live 200 kilometers from the nearest city I live in Iowa I live in Alberta… how do I learn…’ In the process, I plan to say some things which I view as obvious, but I’m going to guess that others will find them controversial. This blog article will endeavor to provide you with a spectrum of answers. If you don’t care about my discourse on how various simulations of pre-modern sword combat work or don’t work, skip down to the bold type. Most frequently asked question: Where can I learn to do all that stuff? Tom Swan and the Siege of Belgrade: Part Six.Tom Swan and the Siege of Belgrade: Part Five. ![]() Tom Swan and the Siege of Belgrade: Part Four.Tom Swan and the Siege of Belgrade: Part Three.Tom Swan and the Siege of Belgrade: Part Two.Tom Swan and the Siege of Belgrade: Part One.
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