Consulting Swordsman
My new book, The Duel of the Hat: How a Great Story Became Bad History, is now available in an early-access edition! It began with a particularly savage duel fought in France around 1597. A satirical poem, an insult, and a magnificent grey beaver hat led to four men fighting with swords and daggers. Two … Read more
One of the pleasures of researching historical swordsmanship is finding that people hundreds of years ago were dealing with exactly the same problems we have today. For example: how do you get the point of your sword to go exactly where you want it to? I’ve recently been looking at Nouveau traité de l’art des … Read more
MS 2031 is a short, anonymous Italian rapier manuscript, probably dating from the early seventeenth century, preserved in the Sächsisches Staatsarchiv in Germany. It was discovered there by Chris Vanslambrouck, who transcribed it and generously shared his work with the historical fencing community. It contains just ten folios of fencing instruction, but those few pages … Read more
What are your sword goals? It’s my job to help you accomplish your sword goals, through teaching in person (ideal!) and through books, articles, online courses, and other means. I’ve been training in historical martial arts since the early 1990s, and teaching professionally since 2001. My first book came out in 2004 (there are over … Read more
Some time after my dad died, I asked my mum what she wanted to do. She could come to Ipswich and live with us? or go to London and live with my sister? or downsize from the large house we moved to in 1992? or stay in the house? Her answer: “You’ll carry me out … Read more
I was in Dumfries in April visiting my mum, and a friend of the family there happened to buy a set of four balloon-back chairs, and mentioned it when they came over for dinner. I immediately asked whether they were coming apart in the usual place (where the balloon top rail meets the uprights). Of … Read more
When I started Swordschool in 2001 I had no business plan, nor any other kind of plan, really. Just a clear idea of what I was supposed to do: show up and teach classes. From that unstructured beginning, the School grew. It’s hard to separate “The School” from “the Guy”, because especially in the early … Read more
On March 17th 2001 I ran the first official class of what was then called “The School of European Swordsmanship, Helsinki”, or SESH, in a small room at the Olympic Stadium, in Helsinki, Finland. So today is our 25th birthday: happy birthday to us! Our classes were held in primary school sports halls: And even … Read more
I’m not known as a tournament fencer these days. Indeed it’s been well over 20 years since I last officially competed. But one of the great benefits of interviewing so many people on The Sword Guy is that they spark ideas in me that then get acted on. My conversation with Martin Hoeppner included a … Read more
My friend and colleague Malcolm Fare, proprietor of the National Fencing Museum, would like to know if anyone reading this is familiar with the Grand Salute, as formalised by the Académie d’Armes de Paris in 1888. As the editor of The Sword magazine, he published an account of the Grand Salute in 1995. You can … Read more