books | swords | teaching
This is a series of interviews with well-known HEMA practitioners from around the world. The subject is the importance of books in the HEMA community. Personally, I think books are immensely important to the community (and in general!), but I am interested to find out more about how other people see the issue.
This week’s interview is with Anton Kohutovič, who is a well-known international competitor and instructor.
This article was originally posted on Encased in Steel on 24th June 2016. It has been modified a little for reposting here.
I have a curved sword. When I fence with it, am I practising Polish sabre?
The reconstruction of 17th century Polish fencing with the sabre has been gaining in popularity for a few years now, with various researchers and interpreters working to improve their own understanding of the issue, and teaching their ideas at events and gatherings. Several items of research have been produced and published, including translations, articles, books, and sword typologies.
However, along with the surge of interest among scholars and the publication of research, it is becoming more common to hear people state that they “do Polish sabre”, or to make assertions that this or that kind of guard or technique “can be found in Polish sabre”. In fact, it is quite possible to see some people “doing Polish sabre” and for the resulting fencing to look no different from how they “do British sabre” or indeed how they “do messer”. There are of course people who put incredible amounts of time and effort into training a fencing system that could well be an excellent reconstruction of 17th century Polish fencing with the sabre, but there are also people who dabble, and so “doing Polish sabre” has become a relatively common refrain.
This is a series of interviews with well-known HEMA practitioners from around the world. The subject is the importance of books in the HEMA community. Personally, I think books are immensely important to the community (and in general!), but I am interested to find out more about how other people see the issue.
This week’s interview is with Michela D’Orlando, who is a well-known competitor.
This article was originally posted on Encased in Steel on 15th November 2016. It has been modified a little for reposting here.
How do you wash your SPES jacket? There are some brief washing guidelines on the SPES website, but I feel that more could be said on the subject.
First, why is is worth washing a jacket? There are several reasons: the most obvious, for you and the people around you, is probably the smell of sweat. Other reasons could be to preserve the colour of the jacket and to ensure it does not look too dirty, or to clean it of mould developing from sweat and poor storage conditions, or perhaps to rid the jacket of a stain.
This is a series of interviews with well-known HEMA practitioners from around the world. The subject is the importance of books in the HEMA community. Personally, I think books are immensely important to the community (and in general!), but I am interested to find out more about how other people see the issue.
This week’s interview is with Mike Edelson, who is a well-known international instructor, fencer, competitor, and author.
This is going to be a short article, presenting an ethical consideration. Previous articles in this series discussed the problem of people sparring with antique swords, or using antique swords for cutting; in this article, the focus will be on storing antique swords.
This is a series of interviews with well-known HEMA practitioners from around the world. The subject is the importance of books in the HEMA community. Personally, I think books are immensely important to the community (and in general!), but I am interested to find out more about how other people see the issue.
This week’s interview is with Jacopo Penso, who is an accomplished competitor and instructor.