safeism dot com

Some accounts of combat and challenges.

NB a case of Falchions is a paired set of these things.

When the bull and bears were paraded in the street, or swordsmen were to fight, bills such as the following were distributed among the crowd:—
“A trial of skill to be performed between two profound masters of the noble science of self-defence, on Wednesday next, the 13th of July, 1709, at two o’clock precisely. I, George Gray, born in the city of Norwich, who has fought in most parts of the West Indies—viz., Jamaica, Barbadoes, and several other parts of the world, in all twenty-five times upon the stage, and was never yet worsted, and am now lately come to London, do invite James Harris to meet and exercise at the following weapons: back-sword, sword and dagger, sword and buckler, single falchion, and case of falchions. I, James Harris, master of the said noble science of defence, who formerly rid in the Horse Guards, and hath fought 110 prizes, and never left a stage to any man, will not fail (God willing) to meet this brave and bold inviter at the time and place appointed, desiring sharp swords, and from him no favour. No person to be upon the stage but the seconds.
“Vivat Regina.”
“At his Majesty’s Bear Garden, in Hockley-in-the-Hole, a trial of skill is to be performed to-morrow, being the 9th instant (without beat of drum), between these following masters:—I, John Terrewest, of Oundle, in Northamptonshire, master of the noble science of defence, do invite you, William King, who lately fought Mr. Joseph Thomas, once more to meet me and exercise at the usual weapons.—I, William King, will not fail to meet this fair inviter, desiring a clear stage, and, from him, no favour. Note. There is lately built a pleasant cool gallery for gentlemen.” (Advertisement in the Postboy for July 8th, 1701.)
“At the Bear Garden, Hockley-in-the-Hole, 1710.—This is to give notice to all gentlemen gamesters, and others, that on this present Monday is a match to be fought by two dogs, one from Newgate Market against one from Hony Lane Market, at a bull, for a guinea, to be spent. Five let-goes out of hand; which goes fairest and farthest in wins all. Likewise a green bull to be baited, which was never baited before, and a bull to be turned loose, with fireworks all over him; also a mad ass to be baited. With a variety of bull-baiting and bear-baiting, and a dog to be drawn up with fireworks. To begin exactly at three of the clock.”
In 1710 the four Indian kings mentioned by Addison came to Hockley-in-the-Hole, to see the rough playing at backsword, dagger, single falchion, and quarter-staff. In 1712 Steele described a combat here, in the Spectator. The result of these fights was, it appears, often arranged beforehand, and the losing man often undertook to receive the cuts, provided they were not too many or too deep. About this time the proprietor of the Bear Garden left Hockley, and started a new garden at Marylebone, and for a time Hockley-in-the-Hole fell into disrepute with “the fancy.” In 1715, however, there was a great backsword player here, who boasted he had cut down all the swordsmen of the West, and was ready to fight the best in London. In 1716 a wild bull was baited with fireworks, and bears were baited to death; and, in 1721, people came to Hockley to see sparring and eat furmenty and hasty-pudding.
In 1735 we find swordsmen having nine bouts with single sword, their left hands being tied down. When a favourite dog was tossed by a Hockley-inthe-Hole bull, his master and his friends used to run and try to catch him on their shoulders, for fear he should be hurt in the fall. Good sensitive creatures! It was also the custom to stick ribbon crosses on the foreheads of favourite bull-dogs, and when these were removed and stuck on the bull’s forehead, the dog was cheered on till he had recovered his treasured decoration. Cowardly dogs stole under the bull’s legs, and often got trampled to death. The really “plucky” dog pinned the bull by the nose, and held on till his teeth broke out or he was gored to death. There was cockfighting here too, and, in 1744, says Mr. Pinks, the prize was a large sow and ten pigs. No game-cock was to exceed four pounds and an ounce in weight.

From: ‘Hockley-in-the-Hole’, Old and New London: Volume 2 (1878), pp. 306-309.

In one of the advertisements from Broughton’s amphitheatre, announcing a trial of skill between two prize-fighters, it was promised that the beauty of the sword should be rigorously displayed, and that there should be no bandage nor wound drest till the battle was over. Rowland Bennet, who frequently fought at Broughton’s, generally made it his boast in his challenges, that the ever-memorable gladiator Timothy Buck (celebrated in the 436th number of the Spectator) fell by his unfortunate hand. Daily Advertiser, July 3, 1745.

From: ‘Marylebone’, The Environs of London: volume 3: County of Middlesex (1795), pp. 242-279.

In a prize fight at the Swan, between two fencers named
Dun and Turner, Dun was killed.

‘Queen Elizabeth - Volume 287: February 1603′, Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Elizabeth, 1601-3: With addenda 1547-65 (1870), pp. 286-295.

With a hat tip to Matt on the Schola forum.

written by La Bete \\ tags: HEMA, pub

Courtesy of Hervé Dautry and James Farthing of the Yahoo Defence Dans La Rue group the folowing text has become availbale. It is a chapter from Joseph Renaud’s “La Defence Dans La Rue” published in 1912. Particularly interesting are the mentions of unarmed combat being the most important skill, his advice on training and his description of a form of point shooting.

The file can be found here. This is Hervé’s translation, with my only edits being to correct some spelling errors and change the file to a pdf.

written by La Bete \\ tags: antagonistics, DDLR, point shooting, Revolver

Unless you are involved in the HEMA scene this post will be of very little interest to you. Please feel free to ignore it

HEMAboy is a blog, written by an anonymous individual or group, commenting on goings on in the HEMA world. Irreverent and direct, the posts have stirred up some rather interesting reactions. Understandably, some of those targeted by the posts have been offended and huffed and puffed accordingly. Others have thought the blog divisive and I can understand that point of view, even if I disagree with it.

Blogs like HEMAboy, whilst amusing, also serve to surface tension. To show where conflict exists and get people talking about it. For example I was politely critical of the decision of the Hammaborg guys to drop out of the recent Open Championships and then make a point of implying they would have won if they hadn’t. I thought this churlish and unsporting. HEMAboy had similar concerns and took the piss a bit. This got some of us talking more about what happened which has lessened the emotion involved. Once Roland calms down I’m sure all will be well again.

However, in a disappointing move, HEMAboy has responded to the criticsm by taking down his posts. I don’t think that was a positive step, as those offended will still be offended and those who thought him/them cowardly for posting under a pseudonym seemed justified in their opinion. Whilst all of this betrays a lack of understanding of the way the web works (Info once published is permanently available, and pseudonyms are entirely acceptable), it does allow me to show my support for HEMAboy by mirroring the previous posts.

NB, whilst I agree with some, but not all of what is written below, I think having it available and having people saying these things is a Good Thing. Feel free to flame me by comment, email or in person.

03/10/2008 20:47 - HEMAboy Lives

Remember Cityboy? Well perhaps not, but I do. He wrote a column in the daily press exposing what actually went on in the financial world. Well we all know the financial world is screwed now so there’s not much point in carrying on with that. Besides, he’s gone public and recanted all his sinful ways so is now dull as fuck.

This is an insider’s Blog about the international world of Historical European Martial Arts. I’m not planning on being tactful, I’m not planning on making friends. I am however planning on being honest and telling it how it is. You may think you know who I am, you may be right, but then again you may not. I could care less either way. I’ll give you a couple of clues though. I’m a native English speaker and I’ve taught in The States and in one or two places in Europe. That’s as good as you get.

Before I leave you to your frenzied contemplation about my true identity I’d like to offer a thought to occupy your lonely evenings.

A new manuscript has recently come to light. Fabrice Cognot from De Taille et d’Estoc in Dijon came across it on the website of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. It turns out that it was only on their website because Ken Mondschein had located it and had it scanned some time earlier. I’d heard on the quiet some time before Fabrice’s announcement that it had been found, but little in the way of details. Had Fabrice? Who knows? Maybe it was a coincidence of truly staggering proportions.

Both of these researchers are “professional” academics, but only one of them is a wanker of truly biblical proportions. One of them diligently searched for years for a manuscript he was sure existed and eventually found it, but kept it to himself. The other found it “by chance” and immediately shared it with the entire worldwide community. One of them searches out knowledge in order to gloat in the darkness of their mind like a bibliophilic golum holding their precious away from anyone who might take it. The other understands that knowledge is power, but you only get to exercise that power by sharing the knowledge.

You guess which one the twat is.

04/10/2008 18:49 - SFI

Many years ago Sword Forum was the place to be. The discussions there were in depth, they were relevant and they involved some of the most educated and experienced practitioners and researchers from around the world. These days it would seem that it is a different story altogether.

If you want to worship at the altar of a select group of “names” (I include the word in quotation marks because it is a word that has been used on that very forum to describe the people in question) and bask in their reflected glory then it is the place for you. If you want to find out what the difference between two almost identical production swords is when used to practice Ringeck’s system as described by Christian Tobler, then it is the place for you. If you want to discuss (at length) what sort of footwear you should be wearing if you dedicate your life to Viggiani’s system then it is the place for you.

If however you want something other than idol worship, or mundane trivia then I’d stay away. Not that there are many better places to be, they all have their clique, but the select group on SFI has had much more time to evolve and become irreversably entrenched. They reflect many different schools and traditions, but together they work as one. It didn’t used to be that way, there were many big names. But they have been whittled away one by one.

First the HACA were removed (now the ARMA for those of us who are new to this game). Almost to a man the SFI clique closed ranks on John Clements, then slowly but surely all his closest disciples were banned. Anyone who vocally supported what the ARMA were doing and stood by the man who started it all for them fell by the wayside. Lots of others followed over the next few years. Matt Easton left with the Schola crowd following on behind him en masse. Bob Charron used to a regular but is now hardly every to be seen. Milo Thurston has vanished, and almost every person who is entitled to the description “Maestro” now stays away. Scott Brown was the latest casualty to fall to this cleansing.

People like David Rawlings, Martin Austwick and Colin Richards still post every now and again, but over the last year they seem to have been effectively sidelined and labelled as trolls who don’t want to be part of the great love-in that is SFI.

So now we just have Greg Mele, the one true authority on all things Italian, or all things renaissance, or maybe just all things period.

We have Christian Tobler. The Lichtenauer guy. A man who is doggedly publishing every manuscript every written.

We have Terry Brown. He rarely posts, but question anything to do with English Martial Arts and his opinion will be stated for you. Normally by Greg.

We have Stephenpaul Wagnerhand, the amorphous Australian duo who have so far managed to get I.33 wrong, Silver wrong and are currently working on getting the collected medieval English manuscripts wrong. Did I mention Page?

There are also a few groupies, hangers-on like Steven Reich and Sean Hayes. They float around and point out that they are cleverer than you, they also like to point out that Guy Windsor is cleverer than you too.

Now I could be doing them an injustice, they could truly be a nice group of guys who have, by a freak of chance, been involved in every major split in WMA since the birth of the internet. They could indeed be the guiltless parties in every falling out that has occured.

Or perhaps maybe not.

06/10/2008 22:48 - Training Weapons

This is going to be a quicky so brace yourself.

All across the internet there are arguments about what the best weapons to train with are. Wooden wasters break all the time and don’t balance properly, modified shinai bounce too much and just look wrong. Nylon won’t bind properly. You’ve seen the posts. You know what I mean.

I have one thing to say to everyone who worries about how they are going to get the perfect training weapon.

You are an idiot.

You are supposed to be practising a martial art. The idea is to improve your own technique and abilities, not simply search for something that is a sharp sword in every respect but the one that matters.

Just fucking train with with what you’ve got and stop ruining our lives by moaning to us about how we’ve all got it wrong.

Is it a coincidence that the only significant injury at Art of Mars’ recent international tournament was caused by someone who claimed the safe tournament weapons weren’t good enough for them to be able to use?

I doubt it.

If you can fight then you can fight with whatever you have got. If you can only fight with your own cunningly modifed Albion Lichtenauer then you can’t fight at all.

11/10/2008 13:31 - Wardrobes And Swords

I bought an flat-pack wardrobe recently.

My wife and I were assembling it together and it caused quite a row. You see I am a man, I don’t do instructions. She on the other hand is not a man and so she likes to follow the instructions to make sure she does it properly.

I tried to explain that I already understood how it worked and I didn’t have to follow instructions written by some mindless cretin in an office somewhere, but she was having none of it.

This of course got me to thinking about swords and HEMA.

Why is it that men the world over are incapable of following instructions when building a piece of furniture, but when it comes to recreating a historical system of combat they will do nothing but repeat what the manuscript tells them?

Let me put that another way.

How many seminars have you been to where the instructor explains what a source says and then proceeds to take you through the techniques as they are described in the manuscript?

A lot I suspect.

How is this a martial art?

It’s not.

It is re-enactment.

It’s not even good re-enactment. There are no well endowed women in dresses that are too small, there are no large bits of pig hanging over fires built in oddly unhistorical metal trays.

What makes a martial art different is that it involves understanding of the underpinning concepts. Not just a rote learning of x technique against y technique. A true understanding of exactly why x technique works against y technique, and conversely why z technique would not be appropriate.

There are plenty of Re-enactors masquerading as HEMA instructors out there, but there are precious few martial artists. Next time you go along to your salle ask your instructor why a technique works. Ask them how it fits within the big picture of the system and ask them about what exercises and drills you can practice at home to help you develop your own understanding of the body mechanics behind the system. If they’re a martial artist they’ll answer without any hesitation. If they can’t then you might want to ask yourself why you’re paying someone to teach you when they are simply reading instructions from a book.

Any idiot can follow instructions, it takes a real man to throw them away because he understands it already.

It’s just a shame my wife disagrees. I have to admit that the wardrobe looks lovely though.

14/10/2008 15:31 - Community

Poteet in Texas is a small rural community in trouble. Its population is 3300 and it has 30 registered sex offenders, that is one for every 110 people. Even the Mayor is a convicted child molester.

Thinking about a community with so much wrong with it got me to thinking about the international WMA community.

There is however a problem with that.

There isn’t an international WMA community.

There isn’t even a national one, whichever country you happen to live in.

Do I really need to explain?

If you’re the leader of a pseudo-medieval “Order of Chivalry” then what the hell do you have in common with Thrusty McDojo rapierboy?

Nothing.

There is no way you and your group in your perfectly authentic wool-effect doublets would gain from being associated with him and his in their matching t-shirts and hero worship training syllabus.

In the same way that there is no reason the academic giants among us (and I use the term with a pinch of irony) would seek to benefit their practise by associating with Sir Rattan of Renfair and his assorted retainers.

So why do people still talk about the worldwide HES (or WMA, or HEMA, or HF, or HWMA depending on which bit of the non-existant community you are in) community?

Because they want to feel that they are part of a giant growing organisation.

I’ve got news for you.

It’s never going to happen. Groups don’t get more cohesive as they grow, they get more divisive and exclusive.

If you need to associate with other people then why not choose people you like? Just do what you do as well as you can and if it’s good enough it will grow.

If it isn’t then it won’t, but at least you’ll have stopped pretending that your Fiore Longsword classes are the same thing as the next town’s Highland Broadsword.

It isn’t all bad news though.

At least you don’t live in Poteet.

written by La Bete \\ tags: HEMA, HEMAboy

Courtesy of Tony Wolf, from “Guy’s Hospital Gazette: A Students Journal of Hospital News, Medicine and Surgery”, Published by Guy’s Hospital, 1900:

SUDDENLY conceived, hurriedly organized, there was every excuse if the Assault-at-Arms in the Gymnasium on the 16th inst. had been a failure. When, therefore, we can describe it as a complete success, there is every reason to congratulate the prime movers in the entertainment on the result of their labours. The programme comprised boxing, gymnastic and fencing competitions, and last, but not least, an exposition of “Bartitsu” under the direction of Mr. Barton Wright, and a display of Elizabethan sword play by pupils of Captain Hutton.

The preliminary rounds in the boxing competition had been decided on the previous evening, and only the final tie was included in the programme, and the committee very wisely arranged that this event should be fought out at the beginning of the evening somewhat before the advertised time of commencement. Soon after eight o’clock Dr. Pavy took the chair at the judges’ table, and his arrival was the signal for a hearty demonstration by the audience in appreciation of the lively interest which Dr. Pavy takes in everything connected with the hospital. A persistent rumour had been abroad that Dr. Taylor and Dr. Savage were to give an exhibition of modern foiling, and the arrival of Dr. and Mrs Taylor certainly seemed to lend colour to this view. But rumour lied, and we were not permitted to see what would undoubtedly have been the most popular item of the display. Of the boxing we can do no more than quote the familiar sporting phrase that “both were likely lads and fought to win.” Perhaps it was significant that at the prize distribution afterwards the winner appeared with both wrists in strapping, while the loser did not appear at all!

The gymnastic display was not good. With one or two notable exceptions the men did not show anything like the form that is expected at these occasions, and the set pieces showed a lack of rehearsal which was no doubt due to the paucity of time at the disposal of the instructor. One item, however, gained rather than lost by this rawness ; it was intensely funny to see and hear the surprise and indignation of one of the pair of men who should have “circled” head to foot, when his partner attempted to go round the wrong way.

The=2 0fencers gave a much better show, although the bits were rather soft and generally of the “lay on” type.

Then M. Vigney and Mr. Collard, two of Mr. Barton Wright’s instructors, gave an exhibition of “Bartitsu” walking-stick play. Everybody had heard of this new defence and offence, but it was a revelation to the audience to see the splendid development, the dexterity and quickness, and even grace, of the exponents of this really wonderful science. A striking feature of the training is that in all the exercises the pupil must become ambidextrous; in fact, the rapid transference of the walking-stick from one hand to the other was, to the uninitiated at least, one of the most powerful factors in offence and defence, and one likely to prove most puzzling to the opponent.

After another round in the fencing competition, Captain Hutton brought forward two of the “Bartitsu” Club fencing instructors, Messrs. Collard and Bolt, who gave a display of Elizabethan fencing, using first of all sword and buckler, and then, the more stately rapier and dagger. The two styles were essentially different in all but attitude. Neither man came “on guard” with the stilted style of modern foil play. Crouching at either end of the ring, they crept towards one another like tigers, and sprang in and out, thrusting and guarding with lightning rapidity. From a spectacular point of view these contests were superb ; but it was unpleasantly obvious that “an affair of honour” in Raleigh’s time was not a matter to be ente red upon lightly, and certainly not a matter from which either party could hope to escape unscathed. With these events the programme ended, and after a short speech of thanks from the Chairman to Captain Hutton and Mr. Barton Wright, and the gentlemen who had judged and given displays that evening, Mr. Cross proposed a vote of thanks to Dr. Pavy for taking the Chair, and for presenting and giving the prizes. With cheers for Dr. Pavy and Captain Hutton, the proceedings terminated.

Programme : —

FINAL BOXING COMPETITION. -Mr. Pern beat Mr. Palmer. Referee : Mr. Godtschalk (Mirror of Life).
Timekeeper : Mr. Griffin.

GYMNASTIC DISPLAY. — Winners Squad В (Messrs. Robinson, Steele-Perkins and Beattie). Judges: Mr. L. A. Dunn and Colour-Sergeant Young.

FENCING (Final Heat). — Mr. Jensen beat Mr. Roper. Referee: Captain Hutton. Judges: Mr. Clay and Mr. Norbury.

“BARTITSU” DISPLAY. — Messrs. Vigny and Collard. Judge : Mr. Barton Wright.

SWOBD PLAY. — Sword and Buckler, Rapier and Dagger.— Messrs. Collard and Rolt. Judge : Captain Hutton.

written by La Bete \\ tags: Bartitsu, HEMA, hutton

In October I shall be teaching self protection and Bartitsu at the Swordfish event in Gothenburg. The Swedish guys are great martial artists and I am really looking forward to training with them.

There’s also a really good list of instructors there. Should be fun!

written by La Bete \\ tags: Events, gothenburg, sweden, Swordfish

Paul Bennett of Schola Gladiatoria shows how he produces his ubershinai longsword simulators (and very good they are too).

written by La Bete \\ tags: HEMA, Schola Gladiatoria, Shinai, Ubershinai

Announcing the publication of the Bartitsu Compendium, Volume II: Antagonistics!

In the year 1899, E.W. Barton-Wright devised the martial art of Bartitsu as a process of cross-training between jujitsu, boxing, savate and walking-stick fighting, designed to beat the fearsome street gangsters of Edwardian London at their own game. The second volume of the Bartitsu Compendium provides resources towards continuing Barton-Wright’s experiments. It combines extensive excerpts from fifteen classic Edwardian-era self defence manuals, including well over four hundred illustrations.

Volume II also offers an extensive collection of long-forgotten newspaper and magazine articles on Bartitsu exhibitions and mixed-styles contests; original articles on Bartitsu history and training; a complete course of Edwardian-era “physical culture” exercises; personality profiles, essays and more besides.

The Bartitsu Compendium, Volume II is a must-have companion piece for the first volume in this series, and offers further fascinating insight into the world of “antagonistics” in Edwardian England.

Please see http://www.lulu.com/content/3115394 for a free PDF preview and instant online ordering.

written by La Bete \\ tags: antagonistics, Bartitsu, bartitsucompendium, bartitsusociety, lulu, tony wolf, will thomas

These are various texts I have had on my hard drive for some time. I thought I may as well share them. As far as I know, none are covered by copyright, but if your work is on here and you would like an attribution then let me know. Please note that this page is not a challenge to the copyright or an attempt to seek gain from others work. I have just cleaned up, PDF’ed and otherwise tweaked the work of others. Unless noted otherwise these are released under a Creative Commons by-nc-sa license

The vast majority are, I believe, from scans made by Kirk Lawson, with others from Ralph Grasso and Jimmy Fatwing.

If there are any errors in the files then please let me know in the comments.

EDIT -It was getting confusing to keep 2 lists working. I’ve cleaned all the errors and moved the list to it’s own page.

written by La Bete \\ tags: Combatives, ghisliero, HEMA, history, Judo, Jujitsu, Martial arts, texts, WMA

Well, I’m assuming it is, going by the pictures. Looks promising!

written by La Bete

Roger Siggs of the Rocky Mountain Swordplay Guild has posted some pictures from their recent spear seminar with Greg Mele. What had me most interested was their excellent training space. Knocks the socks of the dingy church halls we usually train in.

written by La Bete \\ tags: HEMA, Linkage, Training Space