Bugger

Well, there goes my buffer of entries. Unfortunately I've been caught up in something and unable to write/study anything for the past couple of weeks.

Pretend this is something witty and insightful and I'll probably be back on schedule after the New Year.

Reflections on HEMA

One of the things that I'm unhappy about is the lack of groups across the country.

Whenever I think about the Swetnam interpretation, I have a slight sinking feeling and confusion about being the best person in the country for this (or at least within the top 10). Not because I've got a lack of faith in my skills or anything like that. It's because I consider myself to be fair and competent... Average, if you wish.

As I've said before- and in fact this was the reason I started this blog- HEMA is fantastic. More people should be doing it. It has a lot of different avenues of enjoyment: fighting, interpretation, history, even something for those people who like shouting at movies. It's a hard interest to pin down because of the wide range of appeal. The fact that a sodding huge bit of pointy metal counters a lot of the traditional disadvantages women face in combative things also widens the appeal.

Maybe it's something to do with the broken tradition and the work that is needed to get a newly discovered book into a teachable form, or doing the same for a curio. But I like that ability to connect with the history.

When I'm swearing at Swetnam and smacking my head against the desk, I'm swearing at him. Several hundred years later and I'm looking at his words and saying "what the hell do you mean by that...?" (or variants of). There is a direct and clear link between me and the originator of the style. Surprisingly, that means a lot to me.

HEMA is great, more people should be doing it.

Advice on Christmas Shopping.

Not much to say this week, unfortunately I've been involved in some quite tedious jiggery pokery.

This is the time when you are likely to be grumpy and fed up with wading through the infinite sea of morons and slack jawed tourists. So, if you find yourself getting stressed and annoyed. Take this advice:

People don't think about London too much, so walk parallel to Oxford Street and only go on to that road when you near the shop you have to visit. Limiting your time on that area is vital to maintaining sanity. If you have to go down Regent's Street then use the back streets between Bond Street and Oxford Circus, leaving the Soho side until you're feeling a lucky.

If you find things getting to you and you're near Selfridges, wander up to the Wallace Collection and bask in the vast array of pointy, stabby, smashy goodness they have there, make yourself an imaginary Christmas list (a challenge for most of you: do not just say "All of them") and then think about how it would ease your tube journey home.

If you're at the other end, you could always relax in the British Museum. It's not quite as satisfying, but it's a good place to regain a little calm.

NEVER and I mean this NEVER visit James Smiths and Son's first. It's a lovely cane shop near Tottenham Court Road, they used to sell sword canes (as shown by their stained glass windows) and they have a passing familiarity with Cunningham, Vichy and Bartitsu. They will be able to supply you with canes that are beautiful, effective and a joy to play with. You do not want to be holding one of these as you walk through the crowds, it could end badly.

From before the invention of editors.

Swetnam needs an editor- someone to highlight inconsistencies and then send the manuscript back to him to explain things. Also maybe a few footnotes, possibly forcing him to write a brief précis of the idea when he first introduces it. Nothing big (Rule of the backesword could just have carrying the blow over your left shoulder or something that could give a clue to a reader... Just in case he didn't write a second book)

One of my complaints about Swetnam is that he is all over the place. There is actually quite a lot of information, but you have to keep on reading to make sure you've not missed any important pieces. He also presents some things as being guard specific when they're not. A clearer transition from True Guard to a bit of a discussion on principles would have been nice. I can't quite remember where it is, but I think it's a line hidden in a paragraph that just says "True Guard is not a perfect ward, but it is a good way for the novice to learn these principles of defence" and then he goes on to explain things which are universal.

Reading around the book (instead of jumping to the description of the guards and plays from those guards) Swetnam shows himself to be a principles based fighter. Something I can assume comes from being in London. I know that can sound arrogant, but at the time London was thriving, it was full of immigrants and foreign traders. This variation of cultures still remains and it is something I love about the city. Some vagueness is needed because everyone was there, claiming that their methods were the best- you would have absolutely no idea what style you would face. In a less diverse culture you could probably take a good guess.

This principles based approach falls apart a little with the layout of the book. Arguably the rapier and dagger section should proceed the sword and dagger section- since they're both the same kinds of weapons (more or less. One is a thrust and cut weapon, the other a cut and thrust weapon) and there is a lot of cross-pollination. The layout he's chosen is to put single rapier and quarterstaff in between the two chapters. I can see why he's done that, a kind of "these are your basic weapons, learn them and I'll build from there" but all the cross referencing and "I'll explain later" bits means that you're constantly flicking between pages and he forgets to put things down.

Index cards have helped a little, being able to juggle the ideas like that means that I've seen patterns forming. So it looks like I may have to recompile the PDF and put it into sections based on his classifications (basic principles, sword and dagger, big stick, single sword) and see if that gives me a more complete foundation for instruction.

The Rule of the Backe Sword.

It looks like Swetnam was already planning a sequel while writing his book... Who knows, it might be hidden in a drawer somewhere, waiting to be found. I hope so because I'm a little vexed.

The bugger keeps on mentioning "by the rule of the backe sword (which I shall cover later)" and either I'm skipping over it when he goes off on one. Or he left it out and has put it in his second book, along with a bunch of guards. The rule of the Backe Sword is supposed to be effective against left handers and it turns up once in a while. (sorry, my notes are all over the place at the moment otherwise I'd be a bit more specific).

Brief digression- At some point, I will be working on collecting techniques against left handers. It makes sense considering how many of the sinister gits have infiltrated HEMA, and it's a different set of thoughts to use and your lines are completely different. Actually, now I think about it. Inigo Montoya was not being generous when fighting with his left hand. All the books say that a left handed man has the advantage because he meets many right handed men, whereas a right handed man is unlikely to meet or train against a left handed man.

Anyway. I suspect (with no ready references or practice to back me up) that this rule of the backe sword/backe sword fashion is some kind of hanging guard. I doubt it's Silver's hanging guard- point retracted with a stabby weapon is silly. False-edge work is a possibility, but I think a remote one.

Although... I've just walked through the Silver True Guard with the rapier and... it could work if you step in and thrust at the half-sword (he likes that in another situation). I'm not convinced, but it's best to put the idea down. Just in case that's right.

Subsidary training.

I have a problem. I find running tedious and I don't actually have much of an exercise regime. I walk a lot and that's about it.

This is not good, especially if I'm going to be presenting myself as an example and leading a club. So I will need something to improve certain core skills and maybe provide me with things I can do in warm up/give advice as subsidiary health/flexibility work.

The most obvious one is yoga/pilates. Stuff like that helps with core strength, balance, flexibility and so on. But it's not particularly dynamic. Besides, I'd look bloody silly in a leotard.

But the one that I'm entertaining a bit more seriously is Parkour. You see, it works on things like balance and the flow of movement, improves agility, distance estimation and awareness of surroundings. I assume it also covers things like breakfalls and quick recovery (something terribly useful if I want to dedicate some time to the ninjitsu and wrestling aspects of Bartitsu).

I'll probably lay off the flips and the more preposterous acrobatics. I don't really want to become a parody swashbuckler.

However, the more I think about it, the more Parkour becomes an interesting bedfellow for HEMA.

Fighting is for girls. Part II.

There's a particularly offensive feminist statement: "Women have to be twice as good to be considered equal". I hate this because it tells me that I cannot recognise skill, dedication and ability just because of the shape of their naughty bits.



Kristine Konsmo is not twice as good, she is better than that. I may be wrong, but it looks like she's using I.33, the oldest known European manuscript on fencing and one which has a fighting woman in the illustrations.



http://youtu.be/k7bh9RHfOnI



I could go on about gender stereotyping and use words like grace, agility and so on. But...



I want to fight like a girl.