The Sword Guy Podcast

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/what-is-a-volta-a-very-detailed-examination-of-fiore-with-dario-magnani/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

My guest today is Dario Alberto Magnani, better known as Mr. Thokk, who was a longtime scholar of the Italian single combat tradition from the late medieval/early Renaissance period, and a world renowned historical martial arts instructor and gear designer. As a swordsman, he specialises in northern Italian fencing from the early 15th to the 16th centuries, i.e., Fiore, Vadi and into the Bolognese. And he's a successful competitor and sought after instructor.

In the late 2010s Dario became a historical martial arts professional, between his teaching activities and the founding of Thokk Personal Armor, a business through which he designs and sells innovative historical martial arts gear, such as the Thokk gloves.

The reason I'm chatting to Dario is because I met him in Spain at the Panoplia, and we ended up spending probably five or six hours of the weekend discussing details of Fiore stuff and other things. In the conversation recorded for the podcast, we pick up where we left off in Spain, with an in-depth discussion about the Three Voltas of the Sword in Il Fior di Battaglia. If you own a copy of From Medieval Manuscript to Modern Practice, you need to listen to this episode with your book and a red pen in hand!

Here's the link to the video giving an example of tornare: guywindsor.net/dvsthrust

And the article, One Play, One Drill, Many Questions.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/horse-armour-at-the-royal-armouries-with-eleanor-wilkinson-keys/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Today’s episode is with Eleanor Wilkinson-Keys, who is Assistant Curator of Arms and Armour at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds. She has an MA in Medieval Studies from the University of Leeds, and works with the European armour and edge weapons collections, which makes us all extremely jealous, and the Asian and African collection which also makes us extremely jealous. She works there with Natasha Bennett, who you may recall from Episode 82.

In our conversation, we talk about how Eleanor got into her career and why a jousting helmet sparked her interest in working at the Royal Armouries. Ellie’s particular interest is in later jousting, when the kit got really weird and wonderful. We chat about some of the fantastic decoration on both the horses’ and knights’ armour, such as dragons, snails with wings, and even squirrels. 

We also talk about the best way to visit a big museum where there is just too much to see. Ellie tells us which pieces at the Royal Armouries she would make a beeline for.

Finally, Guy sets Ellie a challenge, and if you are looking at this after 28th November 2024, you’ll be able to see the results of that challenge!

Photos:

https://royalarmouries.org/collection/object/object-20471

https://royalarmouries.org/collection/object/object-1292

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/bronze-age-britons-were-weird-with-dr-james-dilley/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dr James Dilley is an archaeologist and craftsman specializing in prehistoric technologies such as flintknapping, and casting bronze weaponry. He is the founder of Ancient Craft, a company that provides expertise and experiences to individuals and educational institutions.

James has three archaeology degrees, which seems like an awful lot. He has a BSc exploring polished stone axes, an MA focusing on bone flintknapping hammers, and a PhD from the University of Southampton on Upper Paleolithic hunting technology. So if you get lost in the woods with just a stone, James is clearly your man.

In our conversation, we talk about how James got into his career and started Ancient Craft. We talk about casting swords out of bronze, how to do it and what the swords are like. Listen right to the end for a bonus question about hilt design. I can confirm, casting your broadsword is really good fun. I did that with James a while ago. Here’s a video of me casting the sword:

​https://vimeo.com/886422500

Heres a link to the Grotsetter sword: https://nms.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-100-102-426-C&scache=1yxxwujgq5&searchdb=scran

We also talk about some of the weird finds (or things we haven’t found) from the Bronze Age period. For example, the Tollense battlefield site in Germany, where after the huge battle all the bodies were just left there. Another weirdness is the complete lack of Bronze Age armour found in Britain, when there was loads just over the Channel in France. Why didn’t the Brits wear armour? Were they just too brave? Also, why didn’t they eat any fish in Bronze Age Britain? And what did they do with their dead? Why can’t we find human bones? Surely the theory that people were cannibals can’t be true? Listen to the episode for speculative answers to these questions and more!

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/community-and-the-club-with-samantha-west/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Sam West is an instructor at the Dueling Weapons Academy of Renaissance Fencing aka DWARF, a historical martial arts club in Barrie, Ontario, where she teaches Italian longsword, 1.33 sword and buckler, and rapier.

We chat about running a non-profit club and creating an open and inclusive space for everyone to take part in HEMA. Sam is passionate about relating the club to the community, and she tells us about the different projects they get involved in to help the local community and also create awareness of HEMA. 

Amongst other things, she's also involved with running The Gathering of the Blades, which is not a tournament. It’s a historical martial arts buffet of a weekend seminar.

We also talk about smallsword, aka murder spikes, access to equipment, bringing together women in HEMA, translating sources, and starting your own club to have people to play with.

You can find Sam’s school at Barrieswords.ca.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/the-politics-of-eastern-and-western-martial-arts-with-jonathan-bluestein/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Jonathan Bluestein is a martial artist and author who contacted Guy with some interesting questions related to his research. Jonathan is looking into the similarities and differences between the traditional Chinese martial arts and traditional European Martial Arts, both in Medieval and Renaissance times as well as in our everyday lives today.

Jonathan’s background is in traditional oriental martial arts in general and he practices and teaches traditional Chinese martial arts from his school in Israel. He is the author of a number of books on the martial arts as well as other topics. He’s also a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine.

Jonathan is currently in the midst of working on a book called Martial Arts Politics Explained. In this episode we discuss how we might classify different types of martial arts school, and how the structures and hierarchies of different types of schools inform the politics within the school. Jonanthan explains how Chinese martial arts schools work and the culture of family and disciples within them. We discuss how the cultures within Western historical martial arts schools compare.

This is a wide ranging conversation which also covers philosophy, the war in Israel, straight swords versus curved swords, and Chinese medicine.

You may find this list of terminology useful, which was helpfully provided by Jonathan:

Names of Jonathan’s teachers:

Master Nitzan Oren

Grand-Master Zhou Jingxuan 

Master Sapir Tal

Master Stephen Jackowicz

Master Brian Hall

Martial arts Jonathan has studied and have taught:

Xing Yi Quan

Pigua Zhang

Jook Lum Southern Mantis

Bagua Zhang

Li Jia Shaolin Quan (Li Family Shaolin)

Weapons mentioned:

Dao (Chinese curved sword)

Miao Dao (Chinese equivalent of the Nodachi/Odachi)

Historical figures and periods:

General Qi Jiguang 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi_Jiguang

Japanese Pirates

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wokou

Meiji Restoration

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiji_Restoration

Chinese Cultural terms:

Wuguan - 'Martial Hall' - Chinese equivalent term to 'Dojo'. 

Kwan - the Cantonese pronunciation of 'Guan', and short for 'Wuguan'. 

Gongfu - A high level of skill, acquired through longstanding effort and practice

Gongfu Family (Gongfu Jia) - the martial arts family within a given lineage, of teachers and disciples

Shifu - a teacher in a traditional relationship of a Master and an apprentice

Tudi - a disciple of a Shifu - the Apprentice

Bai Shi - the ceremony with which a Tudi is accepted into the Gongfu Family. 

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/medieval-music-and-the-troubadours-with-alix-evans/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Alix Evans is a professional performer and teacher of historical music, founder of Falsa Musica, and has even fenced rapier in the SCA.

We talk about what led Alix into becoming a musician, with a mention of her husband David Biggs. (Check out his episode here.) Alix explains what it is about historical music that is so interesting and how it differs from how music is commonly thought to work today.

To listen to some troubadour music performed by Alix, at the end of the episode you can hear:

• Amours u trop tard me sui pris - attributed to Blance de Castille (who was queen of France around the beginning of the 13th century), voice and harp
• Deus enim rorem in ilas misit - by Hildegard of Bingen - this is is in phrygian!, just voice
• Ecce tempus gaudii - an instrumental setting of a 12th century song, just harp
• Gloria sanctorum - a 14th century chant from Ireland, voice and harp
• Frondens virga - another Hildegard piece just because it’s pretty, voice and symphonia (early hurdy-gurdy)
• Reis glorios - 12th century troubadour piece by Giraut de Bornelh, just voice

Troubadours came from Occitan in around the 11th and 12th centuries. They were a diverse set of people, writing poetry and setting it to music. Some were the wandering minstrels we think of today, but many stayed in one place.

We talk about how to make a living from your passion by having a ‘portfolio career’, and Alix tells us about her new project uncovering unknown and unfamiliar ways of making music and bringing them to audiences.

For more information about Alix and her work, see her website: https://www.alix-evans.com/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/swords-in-south-africa-with-david-wagenfeld/ 

David Wagenfeld is a fencing coach, creator of the En Garde model for teaching fencing in schools, and the co-founder of Table Mountain Fencing and Historical European Martial Arts. He lives in Cape Town, South Africa and has been instrumental in creating the HEMA scene in the country.

We talk about how he got into sport fencing, then coaching, then HEMA. He feels that coaching fencing is what he was born to do, but fencing in South Africa doesn’t have the history that it does in Europe, and the culture is very different.

David tells us about the model he has created from scratch, and how it has created some extremely successful fencers, as well as a broad base of lots of students having fun. Of course, there is the equipment problem, and the challenge of being so far away from everywhere else. Over the years there has been a lot of improvisation!

We also talk about sports psychology, what makes a good tournament fencer, and what sport fencing can teach HEMA.

Link to En Garde Fencing

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/life-in-the-stone-age-and-bothering-hedges-with-sally-pointer/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Sally Pointer is a freelance heritage educator, archaeologist and presenter of traditional skills and historic crafts. She is also an author and an Experimental Archaeology MSC student at Exeter University.

Sally lives near Hereford, which is in the west of England on the Welsh border. It’s a rural area and perfect for her hobby of “hedge bothering” – a mix of foraging, looking at all the species that are in the hedge, what the birds are up to, and also checking for any pixies or interesting bits of wood.

We talk about her time spent in the Middle East as a child, where she and her family could go off into the desert and find stone age campsites and dinosaur bones, just sitting there. This sparked a love of experimental archaeology: finding out how people actually spent their time, what they made and how they lived.

We discuss the misconceptions about “cavemen” and how actually they weren’t at all stupid. They made Bunsen burners, they dug mines, they wore makeup, and they wanted the same things out of life that we do now.

Sally has written a book about the history of makeup and tells us about a slightly alarming experiment she performed on herself, which explains why on earth people were so keen to wear toxic white lead makeup, despite its dangers.

There is lots more in our conversation, including the stupidest thing a member of the public has ever said to us at an event, how to gain an extra two hours in the day, and whether Sally could survive in the wild.

To find out more about what Sally does, and see her YouTube videos covering things like the acorn pasta and nettle material mentioned in the episode, see: https://www.sallypointer.com/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/business-chivalry-and-life-or-death-training-with-jason-kingsley/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

One of our most listened-to guests is back on the show! Jason Kingsley OBE is the co-founder and CEO of the games company Rebellion Developments, which also owns 2000 AD, and he’s the man behind the YouTube channel Modern History TV, starring Warlord, which goes into depth of detail regarding many aspects of medieval life, most notably combat and horsemanship, but also aspects of daily life. We catch up on how Warlord is doing since our last chat in episode 81.

It’s always great to hear that a podcast guest has acted on the best idea they hadn’t acted on. Jason has written his book, Leading the Rebellion, which he tells us about in this episode. Here is the info for the book:

A fascinating look into the business and lifestyle philosophy of Jason Kingsley OBE, CEO of Rebellion. Rebellion is one of the world’s most successful independent games developers and also a film and TV production company and publisher. Combining his love of Medieval History and success in business, this unique book will give insight into a modern interpretation of the Knightly Code of Chivalry, the moral system which combined a warrior ethos, knightly piety, and courtly manners, all combining to establish a notion of honour and nobility, in a motivational and aspirational take on how to live life to the fullest.

Find it at: https://rebellionpublishing.com/product/leading_the_rebellion/

We talk about writing: how someone as busy as Jason managed to get the book written, how to get useful feedback, and how to finish what you start.

We also talk about how to train for a life-or-death situation, without the death bit. How does one train to be in a situation where someone is actively trying to kill you?

To see more from Jason (and Warlord) check out the Modern History TV channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/ModernHistoryTV

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/washing-paper-and-restoring-books-with-aurelia-sedlmair/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Aurelia Sedlmair is a historical fencer, a translator, a transcriber, and is now studying the conservation of paper and books. Her Instagram is @freiraum.buch

In our conversation we talk about what brought Aurelia to the Isle of Man, a small, independent island off the coast of England, and her study at West Dean College of Art and Conservation. 

We talk about what happens when you get a book restored, and Guy recommends the bookbinder in Colchester who restored his copy of Alfred Hutton’s The Sword and the Centuries. (Colin Brown, at Cuckoo Farm Studios. bindingarrangement.co.uk). The aim is not to modernise the book, but instead to make it look as if nothing has been done to it. No modernisation.

Aurelia describes how to repair paper and how to clean it. Amazingly, if dry cleaning doesn’t work you can just wash it, and she explains how it’s done.

Click here for some before and after images of books and paper that Aurelia has worked on:

https://swordschool.com/podcast/washing-paper-and-restoring-books-with-aurelia-sedlmair/

Of course, this wouldn’t be the Sword Guy Podcast without talking about swords. Aurelia is a rapier and smallsword fencer, though there’s not much of it happening on the Isle of Man. We talk about the brilliance of smallsword and also about how to encourage beginners to give historical martial arts a try.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/how-to-fight-like-sir-gawain-with-dr-przemyslaw-grabowski-gorniak/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dr. Przemysław Grabowski-Górniak is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of English Studies at the University of Warsaw. His research focuses on the chivalric tradition of the late Middle Ages, be it chivalric romances or medieval manuscripts and treatises on the art of war, with a special focus on the English literary portrayals of Sir Gawain in the period of the 100 Years War and the Wars of the Roses. His admiration for the Middle Ages goes beyond academia, as he is also a historical reenactor and a Harnischfechten instructor, combining his knowledge of the period as well as his experience in working with medieval manuscripts with a practical approach, in order to reconstruct martial techniques of the 14th and 15th centuries.

We talk about all of this in our conversation, plus Przemysław details his extensive training routine that includes sprints wearing a helmet, and wearing weighted straps on his arms. All excellent practice for fighting in armour.

Przemysław explains the book he is working on, which is a fascinating look at how Middle English romances can serve as a record of English martial arts. He believes they could have been used as a vehicle to translate certain lessons that might otherwise have been found in fight books, which people rarely owned at the time. Some of the romances have very accurate fight descriptions, which can be read as teachings on how to fight as well as Sir Gawain.

Click here for the armour of Frederick the Victorious Przemysław mentions:

https://swordschool.com/podcast/how-to-fight-like-sir-gawain-with-dr-przemyslaw-grabowski-gorniak/

Links to other podcast episodes featuring people mentioned in this episode:

Dayna Berghan-Whyman (Buhurt) https://swordschool.com/podcast/historical-medieval-battle-nz-episode36/

Beth Hammer (Battle of Nations) https://swordschool.com/podcast/battle-of-nations-episode34/

Toby Capwell (armour) https://swordschool.com/podcast/armour-of-the-english-knight-episode76/

Daniel Jacquet (armour) https://swordschool.com/podcast/is-there-anything-daniel-jaquet-cant-do-in-armour/

Ariella Elema (The Last Duel) https://swordschool.com/podcast/the-last-duel-or-was-it-with-ariella-elema/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/seven-frenchmen-vs-seven-englishman-who-will-win-with-dr-rachael-whitbread/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dr Rachael Whitbread is a historian and author. Her PhD from York University was on tournaments, jousts and duels. She is the co-author with Graham Callister of Battle: Understanding Conflict from Hastings to Helmand, and is currently working on a book called Duel: Single Combat in Medieval England for Pen and Sword Press, which sounds just up our streets.

In our conversation we talk about chivalry, jousting, tournaments and how to become a famous knight by winning a pre-battle duel – especially if you chop a dog in half in the process.

We hear Rachael’s thoughts on whether Lady Agnes Hotot really jousted her neighbour to settle her father’s land dispute, which could mean Guy needs to alter the decks in his Audatia card game…

We also talk about themes in European warfare over 1,000 years of history. Not a small topic!

Rachael has some fantastic stories about battles; often with the English getting absolutely trounced, and if you have an interest in medieval history, you’ll thoroughly enjoy this conversation.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/force-of-virtue-with-jack-gassman/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Jack Gassman, runs Horseman of Eire, an equestrian training school and medieval combat academy outside of Wexford in Ireland with Alessia Pagani. Alessia specialises in natural horsemanship, and Jack takes care of the swords. I interviewed them both in Episode 124 of the show. Jack has now invented and published a game that is very on topic for us, so he's coming back on the show to talk about it. The game is called Force of Virtue.

In Force of Virtue you play an independent mercenary band of your choosing, who are either pursuing their own private agenda or taking on work from Magnates or Warlords. Anything from a disgruntled artist and his apprentices to the feared Swiss Papal Guard.

In order to do this, you use decks to choose your officers, troops, equipment, level of morale, special training, advantages like ambushing etc. or to lay traps or effects on your enemy. In our conversation, Jack takes us through the research behind the game, its historical accuracy, and how the fighting works.

You can find all the information about Force of Virtue, free downloads and a free tutorial campaign at https://masterstrokegames.com/ The character decks and tokens can be found at https://tempusswords.co.uk/product-category/force-of-virtue

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/jessica-finley-2/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Medieval wrestling and Liechtenauer expert Jessica Finley will be familiar to many of you from her two previous appearances on The Sword Guy. (Episode 1 and episode 56). We’re catching up today after my recent trip to Jessica’s training space in Kansas where we filmed the new Abrazare online course. You can find the course at guywindsor.net/abrazare23.

In our conversation, we talk about medieval wrestling, and compare and contrast the approaches of Fiore and Liechtenauer. This leads into a wider discussion about why the German sources could be described as a ‘swamp’, and Fiore’s system as a ‘well’.

We go deep into Liechtenauer’s Hauptstücke and the Zornhau. You can see the photo of the tree that’s on the wall of Jessica’s Turnhalle here: https://swordschool.com/podcast/jessica-finley-2/  

Jessica hasn’t yet written a book about the Hauptstücke, and we talk about why this is and the difficulty of wanting to write both a memoir and a training manual at the same time. The book Jessica refers to is: Among Warriors: a Woman Martial Artist in Tibet, by Pamela Logan. The blog post I refer to is: https://guywindsor.net/2013/11/7-great-martial-arts-as-a-path-books/

Talking about writing books then leads us on to a brand new book idea, which we will start in the first quarter of 2024. Watch this space!

Finally, here is the link to the Unarmed Flowdrill, which Jessica mentions right at the end of the interview: https://vimeo.com/851206322/57c7821ffe

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/big-blue-flags-with-marli-vlok/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Marli Vlok is a virologist, historical martial arts instructor and historical flag waver. She was also a competitive target shooter who represented South Africa for a decade.

Now based in Ottawa, Canada, Marli tells us about her work finding viruses in the oceans and working on diseases, including Covid, of course.

Marli got into historical martial arts through a Groupon voucher, which started her on the path to becoming a rapier instructor. Since moving to Ottawa she has changed up her weapons a bit and also got into historical flag waving. The flags are very big and were used for both battlefield signalling and for raising soldiers’ morale. Some of the moves are very gymnastic and others involve sword actions, or even a sword in one hand, flag in the other.

We also talk about target shooting, biathlon, the Neapolitan masters, comparative studies, and driving across Canada with a car full of swords and guinea pigs.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/sword-geekery-and-stunts-with-jared-kirby/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Jared Kirby is a fight director and stage and screen combat instructor at the New York Combat for stage and screen. He’s a stuntman on shows such as Law and Order, The Equalizer, Bluebloods, and Gotham. We talk about how Jared got interested in stage combat, and the most dangerous stunt he has ever done.

Jared is also Maestro d’Armee with the Martinez Academy, editor of the first published translation of Capoferrro and of the re-publication of Angelo's The School of Fencing and of Vincentio Saviolo’s Of Honour and Honorable Quarrels. He also re-published McBane’s The Expert Swordsman’s Companion, and has co-authored Staging Shakespeare's Violence. We have a geek out about Capoferro’s 1609 treatise, and you can find the pictures on the blog at https://swordschool.com/podcast/sword-geekery-and-stunts-with-jared-kirby/ 

He was one of the founders and organizers of the International Swordplay and Martial Arts Convention, my first international gig back in 2001, which morphed into CombatCon, which he continues to run.

Jared gives a shout out to my SwordPeople social media platform. If you haven’t yet joined, click here to join your fellow sword people: https://swordpeople.com/

To find out more about Jared, see: https://www.jaredkirby.com/

Stunt Reel: https://youtu.be/litxb97CQZc

Sword Skills Reel: https://youtu.be/HhOAkUmz_08

Books:

https://www.amazon.com/Italian-Rapier-Combat-Ferros-Simulacro/dp/178438691X/

and

https://www.amazon.com/Staging-Shakespeares-Violence-Fight-Domestic/dp/1526762404/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/cutting-and-calligrams-with-brittany-reeves/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

In this episode, I welcome back Brittany Reeves, who is the head instructor of Mordhau Historical Combat in Mesa, Arizona. She is a seasoned instructor, having taught across Europe and North America with a specialisation in test cutting with sharp blades. She is of course most famous for her first appearance on this show in Episode 22.

In our conversation we talk about the value of cutting with sharps, how the cutting tournament scene has been developing in the United States, and issues with sourcing tatami and getting insurance. We talk about potential alternatives to tatami, practising with moving targets, and how competitions are judged. Brittany has lots of cutting videos on her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/BrittanySaintLeafy

We then move on to talk about art history and Fabris. What’s going on with the images of people in the 1601 Fabris manuscript? Why might they look so weird?

As Brittany runs her own club, we also discuss her best and worst business decisions so far, and Brittany has a potentially excellent business idea for what to do with $1 million.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/thc-tournaments-and-training-with-david-ito/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

There is a slightly different intro to this episode as Guy is in Kansas being medievally wrestled by Jessica Finley. Hear the noises here!

Onto the interview: David Ito is a fire eater, an epee coach and former kendo player who plays with longswords now, based in Toronto, Canada. Of course, his main claim to fame, top of the resume, is he appeared on episode 25 of this show, back in December 2020. With the world reopening David is living the life of a literary swashbuckler: fighting with swords, hanging out with glamorous show people, and attending all the scandalous parties.

To find out more about David and his work, you can find him on Instagram @ittoswords, or the Toronto Historical Combatants at www.torontohistoricalcombatants.ca.

Our conversation covers David’s training routine – does he really still do 100 burpees every morning? We talk about keeping track of progress and the overlap between training for epee and for historical martial arts. 

When we last spoke on episode 25, David’s best idea he hadn’t acted on yet was to start his own club. Well, he’s done it! He explains his goals for the club and where it fits within the sword community in Toronto.

David has also got into the tournament scene since we last spoke, with great success. He talks about how he trains and even if you don’t have as many hours in the week to train as he does, he has some advice on where to focus if you have limited time.

Photo Credit: Angel Uribe

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/brains-biology-and-better-teaching-with-sara-lewis/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dr Sara Lewis is a neuroscientist specializing in the biology of childhood movement disorders, and a longtime historical martial artist starting in the SCA in 1999, where she is known as Perin De La Serena.

Since 2016 Sara has been with the Phoenix Society for Historical Swordsmanship, where she has written many articles on improving diversity and inclusiveness in historical martial arts, and has written reports on the challenges facing women rapier fencers in the SCA, which we discuss in the episode and are linked below. Sara has also produced a series of videos on applying the neuroscience of learning motor skills to teaching historical combat, again, links below.

We start our conversation, however, by talking about a traumatic injury that Sara received during longsword training. Sara explains what led to the injury, the consequences for her personally, and the (lack of) consequences for the instructor responsible.

Here are the useful links from Sara:

Video play list:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC3Lv55IrIsikIoCLNbnPhHBOuYWBbMhE

Blog articles about improving diversity, equity, and inclusion in historical combat: 

https://valkyriebootcamp.blogspot.com/ 

Study on gender differences in recognition:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LP3tbBdqfMkvQit-jr05zkEqC4reo0XP/view

Study of variables predicting retention and envisioning success:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MFnDP8XiMGPZ4L4XvNbd--vGX4_U36yZ1GBfIhMsxD0/edit?usp=sharing.

The missing stair:

http://pervocracy.blogspot.com/2012/06/missing-stair.html

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/wma-hema-the-sca-and-other-abbreviations-with-david-biggs/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

David Biggs is a lawyer, a diplomat and senior historical martial arts instructor with The Tattershall School of Defense. He's known in the SCA as Aeron Harper, where he is a Master of Defense and a Laurel. He's also the organizer, with two previous guests on the show, Lisa Losito and Monica Gaudio, of Lord Baltimore's Challenge, which is one of my favourite historical martial arts events.

In our conversation we talk about the distinction, if there is one, between western martial arts (WMA) and historical European martial arts (HEMA), and what prompted him to want to start Lord Baltimore’s Challenge.

We also talk about what’s happening in the SCA at the moment, with a scandal around rule-breaking, “half of one percent”, and a petition for change at the very top.

David is a fellow woodworker, and one of the things he makes is harps. Head to the blog for pictures! 

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/hema-for-life-with-dr-marie-meservy/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dr Marie Meservy is a neuro radiologist, a psychologist, historical martial artist, sword mom to the Noble Science Academy in Nevada and the organizer of Fraufecht, which is the only American women's event west of New York.

In our conversation, we talk about running a school and training students to create the best outcomes. We discuss how to get new people, especially women, to join your club and how to create a good curriculum and feedback mechanisms.

Marie has lots of experience in coaching fencers through tournaments, and she explains the best kind of mindset to have when fencing competitively. Speaking of tournaments, we also hear about Fraufecht: why it is needed, when it is, and what happens at the event. Marie shares some of the data on women’s participation at tournaments, and we have a discussion about affirmative action and how to avoid the perception that women need extra help to attain the things they have attained.

We also talk about head injuries, AI in medicine and historical martial arts, performing well in exams, and Annie Lennox.

If you would like to chat to other swordy folk about this week’s episode, you can find a post on SwordPeople, in the pub. Not on SwordPeople yet? Join us!

And here’s the link to Guy’s Get Ready for Rapier series of very short videos, mentioned in the introduction: www.guywindsor.net/grr 

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/dressing-up-with-zack-pinsent/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Zack Pinsent is a tailor of bespoke period clothing for men and women, reproducing primarily Regency civilian and military costume. He is vocal on social and political issues while being immaculately dressed. His website is https://www.pinsenttailoring.co.uk/

Zack lives in Brighton and in our conversation he tells us about his plans for a grand Regency ball at the Brighton Pavilion in January 2024. At the time of writing ticket sales haven’t yet opened, but here’s his Pinterest board for you to see the type of dress that everyone will be wearing and what the Brighton Pavilion is like, if you are not familiar with it: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/Zack_Pinsent/brighton-pavilion-ball/

We talk about what men’s clothes ought to be like: how they should fit, the quality of tailoring, the colour palette, the pockets. We also discuss hats and trousers. There’s a bit of sword talk too, of course.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/adhd-speedboats-and-wrestling-in-kindergarten-with-katriina-malkki/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Katriina Malkki is a historical martial artist, dietician with an MSc from the University of Eastern Finland, a Ph.D. student and mum of four plus a lizard. She's an author and also a sea rescue volunteer.

In our conversation we discuss nutrition: What does Katriina think of the Paleo diet, fasting, or keto? Top tips from a nutritionist are eat more vegetables and drink less booze!

We also talk about ADHD, the symptoms, medication, and living with the condition. We discuss what historical martial arts instructors should bear in mind when teaching students with ADHD, and also what might help an instructor who has ADHD to run their classes. Katriina mentions Adele Diamond and her work on Executive Functions. Here’s an article and a video about it:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4084861/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__8mV-7yAaE

Katriina has an excellent and novel idea of what to do with €1 million to improve historical martial arts, and it involves very small children.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/sword-people-are-book-people-with-diniz-cabreira/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Diniz Cabreira is a Kunst des Fechtens practitioner at Arte do Combate, a publisher of historical martial arts books, primarily on La Verdadera Destreza in Portuguese, at AGEA Editora, and a graphic designer. He’s currently researching historical martial arts publishing and has a lot of questions for Guy...

This is a great episode for anyone interested in book publishing (not just sword books) as Guy shares his wealth of experience in publishing and selling tens of thousands of books over the last twenty years or so. Find out what sells and what doesn’t, what might be the next big thing, and how to get your own book onto people’s shelves.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/bringing-italo-hungarian-sabre-to-taiwan-with-huang-chun-yi/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Huang Chun-Yi is an instructor of classical and military sabre at Lionheart Historical European Swordsmanship in Taipei, Taiwan. She also blogs in Chinese at travelingswordslady.wordpress.com.

Chun-Yi’s club is the only one in Taiwan that practises classical sabre, and we talk about what drew Chun-Yi to the Italo-Hungarian sabre, over the longsword or rapier.

This is the sabre duel from Potop (The Deluge) that we discuss: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP98CcasA-E

We chat about the European historical martial arts scene in Taiwan, and you might be surprised to hear that it’s a small, but thriving community, with an annual event and several clubs.

We also talk about weightlifting, travel, cats and Moomins.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/you-cant-learn-swordfighting-from-a-book-with-dr-antti-ijas/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dr. Antti Ijäs is a grant-funded researcher, whose recent doctoral dissertation is a scholarly examination of Royal Armouries MS I.33 and includes a complete transcription and translation of the entire manuscript. In our conversation we talk about 1.33 as the first, complete, fight book and its position in the wider fencing context of the time. We compare it to later sources but also talk about much earlier ones, all the way back to the Ancient Greeks. Antti has written an article, Greek Papyri of Pragmatic Literature on Combat Technique (P. Oxy. III 466 and LXXIX 5204) about two papyri fragments of a book on wrestling. Which of course leads us on to talking about Ancient Greek sex manuals… 

Changing the subject, Antti is also a practitioner of bayonet fencing, and we talk about the development of competing methods in Europe, with the Swedes, Prussians and Saxons (and others) each coming up with their own systems.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/sword-events-should-be-more-like-ikea-with-jana-howson/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Jana Howson lives near Chicago and is a historical fencer, a Ph.D. candidate, mother and spouse, as well as being a Lutheran pastor. She started off with Taekwondo and Karate, and also fences in the SCA. We discuss how on earth Jana balances her time to fit it all in!

Trying to do swords with babies and kids in tow can be tricky, so we talk about what can be done to make training and attending events possible for people who maybe don’t have babysitters at home or a great network of friends to help out.

We also talk about Jana’s PhD, which is about how geeks make meaning within their fandoms; how their love of, say, Star Wars affects their understanding of the world, and how this same framework could be used within Christian education to reimagine the role of pastor.

The theme running through this whole conversation is community and how vital it is. Guy has launched the SwordPeople community to connect people who maybe can’t make it to social events for whatever reason, or for people to organise themselves with things like childcare before an event.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/behind-the-scenes-at-the-sword-guy-with-katie-mackenzie/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

It’s the 150th(ish) episode! So to mark this momentous occasion we’ve got a guest who can’t think of any reason at all why she would want someone to run at her with a pointy sword. Katie Mackenzie is the organising principle behind the show, as well as an excellent author's assistant. She is an author herself, of the very approachable, Easy Fitness for Quitters: How to Become a Happy Exerciser. And she wrote these show notes, so she can say what she wants!

In our conversation we talk about the trickier aspects of producing the transcriptions for the podcast, and Katie has a quiz for Guy, to find out what he actually said when the transcription software thought he was talking about “venereal potatoes.”

We talk about writing books, climbing, and what Katie thinks of the sword world and the other podcast guests. What would a non-sword person do with £1 million to improve historical martial arts?

If you haven’t joined SwordPeople.com yet, do consider it – we discuss what the platform could look like in the future, and how we need the membership to grow to achieve this.

Finally, do you ever read the episode transcriptions? (Click the link at the top to find the transcription for this episode.) If you think Katie’s hard work every week is a sensible use of her time, do let Guy know!

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/bringing-fiore-to-a-knife-fight-with-ian-davis/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Ian Davis is a historical fencing instructor at Boston Armizare, specialising in Italian fencing from the 14th to the 16th centuries. These days he is almost exclusively interested in wrestling, dagger and harness.

Ian has been testing to discover what it actually takes to stick a sword point through historical maille. Here are some videos of his tests:

Maille testing round 1 (sword): https://youtu.be/CLDcmiF1u1s

Maille testing round 1 (dagger): https://youtu.be/WRE80BpQi7I

Maille testing round 1 (spear): https://youtu.be/51KVNtdKBFY

This is a full year after the first series:

Maille testing round 2: https://youtu.be/RH1zbd0WFPw

We also talk about the contentious topic of bringing Fiore into the modern combative self-defence context. How can wrestling techniques from the likes of Fiore, Vadi and Monte help people defend themselves against an assailant with a knife or a gun? Also, how do you square the murderousness of a knightly combat system with the modern legalities and ethical issues of self-defence?

Click here to see the Vadi headlock image we mention: https://swordschool.com/podcast/bringing-fiore-to-a-knife-fight-with-ian-davis/ 

In the final question of the interview, Ian talks about spending a million dollars on getting manuscripts into the public domain. Here’s the link to the Raymond J. Lord collection we discuss:

Raymond J. Lord: https://www.umass.edu/renaissance/lord

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/babies-horses-and-a-secret-knife-with-gretchen-settle/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Gretchen Settle models, swordfights and makes stuff. She is getting back into training after giving birth to an incredibly adorable young sword person who looks very good with her little sword.

We talk about Gretchen’s background with horses and how she came to get into longsword and ringen with Maryland Kunst des Fechtens. Her love of historical martial arts has spilled over into her modelling work, and here is a link to the ‘Blossfechten’ photo we discuss, which can be found on Gretchen’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/COlisAdHtqE/

And here is a photo of the tiny knife Gretchen hid in her garter on her wedding day: https://www.instagram.com/p/CVwUS1WrjFS/

As Gretchen has recently had a baby, we talk about trying to keep up with training when you’re pregnant (not possible if you’ve got horrendous morning sickness) and how you get back into it after having the baby.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/boldly-going-with-stephen-hand/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Stephen Hand is a founder of the Stoccata School of Defence, author of several books, including English Swordsmanship: The True Fight of George Silver and Swordplay in the Age of Shakespeare, and he currently teaches at the Stoccata Branch in Hobart, Tasmania. He has also choreographed a sword fighting movie about Macbeth. We’ve known each other a long time, and we have a little reminisce about what it was like trying to get hold of manuals and equipment back in the olden days of the 1990s. We also talk about what it was like to be in the first generation of instructors in the fledgling historical martial arts community.

Steve is known for his work on George Silver, and also Joseph Swetnam, who was well known for being a raging misogynist pig, and a bit of a dick even by the standards of his day. But the most important question is who would win in a three-way fight between Swetnam, Silver and Saviolo?

For transcriptions, images and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/hema-in-mexico-and-inspirational-women/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Mariana Lopez is a historical fencer, coach, artist and one of the founders of HEMA in Mexico, 16 years ago. She is also the co-founder of Esfinges, an international network of female historical fencers.

In our conversation we talk about how the HEMA scene in Mexico differs from the U.S. or Europe, and what other countries might learn from the Mexican way of doing things.

We also talk about Esfinges, and what it was like to found the network, the abuse she has faced for it, and how hearing from so many women in HEMA has affected her views.

Mariana is keen to improve tournament culture, and we hear how she would like to do that – and how her approach differs from Guy’s. She is also looking to set up a scholarship, and towards the end of the interview she explains how it could be done.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to:  https://swordschool.com/podcast/swordbeards-and-violence-with-dr-mark-geldof/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dr. Mark Geldof specialises in all kinds of historical violence. He has a DPhil in history from the University of Oxford on Change and Continuity in English Elite Conceptions of Violence, 1450-1560 and an M.A. entitled The Heart, the Foot, the Eye to Accord: Procedural Writing and Three Middle English Manuscripts of Martial Instruction.

He got into swords through the SCA, and he explains how the knowledge he gained through whacking people with sticks has influenced his work.

We talk about the three English sword texts from the 15th century, and how Mark wrote a 122 page master’s thesis with a 22 page bibliography on 400 lines of text. He has plenty of advice for the amateur historian on avoiding pitfalls and making sure that you are studying the best sources.

We also talk about why what seems like excessive violence is actually necessary or expected, and how humans can keep going even after they’ve been stabbed in the heart or skewered on a spear, so if you’re going to kill someone, you’ve got to keep going until they are definitely dead.

There are lots of useful links for this episode. Firstly, we refer to the episodes with Paul Wagner and Mike Prendergast that you might want to listen back to. And here are the links from Mark:

- Link to the Patreon: https://patreon.com/dr_violence

- Link to the MA thesis download: https://harvest.usask.ca/handle/10388/ETD-2011-08-77?show=full (note that these transcriptions are not perfect, in this ed. But they are better than what’s been around most often)

- Link to the doctoral thesis for those interested: https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:6d6be72b-b6ea-460f-b222-beb0547465eb

- The most current edition of Titus A xxv: https://bl.iro.bl.uk/concern/articles/614dcee4-907c-4ab8-879d-5143b0e5c673?locale=en

- Gentileschi Judith and her Maidservant 1: https://discover.hubpages.com/art/Judith-and-her-Maidservant---My-Take

- Judith and Maidservant 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemisia_Gentileschi#/media/File:Artemisia_Gentileschi_Judith_Maidservant_DIA.jpg

- Judith slaying Holofernes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Slaying_Holofernes_%28Artemisia_Gentileschi,_Naples%29#/media/File:Artemisia_Gentileschi_-_Judith_Beheading_Holofernes_-_WGA8563.jpg

 - See the shownotes on Swordschool.com for the draft of the paper on the Additional ms that’s in submission right now. 

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to:  https://swordschool.com/podcast/patience-and-perspective-with-ginny-beatty/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Ginny Beatty is a historical fencer in the SCA in Ohio, USA, and she took up arms in her late forties, having done everything else first: historical cookery, archery, heraldry, and making costumes, armour and weapons. She now loves fencing with a rapier and buckler and explains the importance of pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and learning new things to stay young. 

We talk about how to keep yourself in shape when you are slightly older. What the challenges are (and the advantages) and how to cross-train. Also, how to win a fencing match against someone taller or more aggressive than yourself. Ginny describes her nutrition plan that keeps her energy up and the importance of proper body mechanics to avoid injury.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/fiore-the-movie-with-alberto-mattea/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Alberto Mattea is an Italian film composer and filmmaker, actor and re-enactor with a deep interest in the Middle Ages. In the historical martial arts world, he is perhaps best known for his short film Fiore, which is, I think, the most accurate representation of the late 14th century ever put on the screen.

In this episode Alberto explains how the film got made on a tiny budget of €3,000, how they built the sets, made the costumes and did the special effects. And who made the swords! Listen to the very end of this episode to hear some of the music Alberto composed for the film.

We also talk about what TV series Alberto ought to make next, which would change the perception of the Middle Ages in popular culture.

You can see Fiore on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_H3dkTiaRA and here is the video with the breakdown of the visual effects that is mentioned in the episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja5Q-70XEDA 

For more information about Alberto, this is his website: https://www.albertomattea.com/

For transcriptions, photos and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/the-whack-dont-die-method-with-kari-holman/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Kari Holman is a rapier fencer and a licensed therapist. She has also written Psychology and the SCA Fencing Woman: a Manual for Students and Teachers. The moment I read it, I asked if I could include it in my How to Teach course because it's that good. So of course, we talk about teaching women and what’s been going wrong with teaching that leads to so many women dropping out before they reach the higher echelons of the fencing community.

We also talk about trauma and PTSD. Kari explains about different types of trauma, whether we are all traumatised, and how similar events could be traumatic or not at all, depending on the context.

Kari volunteers as a psychological counsellor at the Midwest FurFest, which currently the largest free convention in the US. We have a very interesting chat about why she’s needed, what happens at these conventions, and why so many thousands of people might want to dress up in a fur suit in the first place.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/becoming-your-best-swordsman-with-robert-childs/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Robert Childs is a well-known rapier competition champion and author of the new book Revelations of Rapier. In our conversation we talk about how he trains for tournaments and what has made him so successful. We talk about judging tournaments and the difficulty of spotting lightening fast thrusts.

Robert has synthesised his own eclectic method for rapier fencing, and he explains some of it for us in this episode. He also takes us through his school’s unusual ranking system, in which you have to win tournaments and eventually fight multiple opponents at once in order to progress up the ranks.

The best idea Robert hasn’t acted on yet it to develop a team sport called Blood of Heroes, which involves weapons, dog skulls, and working as a team to beat your opponents. It sounds great fun.

And finally, Robert is actually building his own castle! If you are interested in finding out more or supporting the project, his Patreon is here: https://www.patreon.com/castleandsword

YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/robertchildsrapier

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/the-importance-of-mixer-taps-with-eleanor-janega/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

I am delighted to announce that Dr Eleanor Janega is back! She was first on the show way back in episode 16, which is one of our most popular episodes. Since her last appearance on The Sword Guy, Eleanor has published a book and been on TV. Time to catch up on what she has been working on!

Just to remind you, Eleanor is a guest lecturer at LSC in the Department of International History. She has a Ph.D. in history. She has a blog called Going Medieval that you definitely should check out. She's a co-host of the We're Not So Different podcast. She has a Patreon account, at patreon.com/goingmedieval. And she's the author of The Middle Ages: A Graphic History, which came out last year and of The Once and Future Sex coming out next year. In addition to all of this, she is a presenter of the History Hit TV shows Going Medieval and Exploring the Medieval Afterlife.

In this episode we talk about sexism through the ages, the death of Queen Elizabeth II, being a foreigner in Britain and what ‘Britishness’ actually is, medieval ghosts, beer, and quite a few other things too.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/outnumbered-combat-and-catching-imaginary-balls-with-luis-preto/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Luis Preto is a Jogo do Pau instructor and author of multiple books, including a tutorial on multiple opponent combat with one handed weapons. He also has two master's degrees, one in teaching sports and the other in Kineseology.

Jogo do Pau is known as Portuguese stick fighting, which shares a cultural heritage with similar combat systems in Europe, but one difference is that in the Portuguese system, the multiple opponent training has been preserved. We talk about why training in outnumbered combat may have been lost in other areas, and how to train for such scenarios in a safe way. Luis explains how it’s actually quite simple to protect your head from being whacked by a big stick.

To watch some Jogo do Pau videos, here is Luis’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC45K3e12LNK9EajBvpMtmKg

We also talk about teacher training, and how to teach movement through practises that give trainees intrinsic feedback, rather than repeating specific techniques that may not be helpful in the reality of a swordfight. It is all about the context and the motivation. We also talk about how martial arts practitioners can improve their training, and how coaches can get better at coaching.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/medieval-shoulders-trees-and-swords-with-jessica-finley-episode-1-repeat/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

This week’s repeated episode is the very first Sword Guy Podcast episode, with the inestimable Jessica Finley, who may be known to you from her wonderful book about medieval wrestling. Those of you who are enrolled on my Solo Training course may have sweated and grunted through her “solo training for wrestlers” section of the course, and if you know her on her Patreon account, she produces translations, interpretations, previews of books in progress, and videos also for her patrons and you can find her there at www.patreon.com/jessfinley.

Birthday Sale

You still have two days left to use the code, GUYTURNS49 to get £5 off any of my books at swordschool.shop and 30% off any course at courses.swordschool.com. The code will work until the end of December 2022.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/fear-is-the-mind-killer-with-kajetan-sadowski-episode-5-repeat/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

As it’s the Christmas holiday period I have decided to repeat a couple of classic episodes, which you may not have heard first time around. The first is with Kajetan Sadowski. Kajetan has changed his name and pronouns since the time of recording, and in the episode you’ll hear me using his old name of Kaja.

Kajetan is the author of the must-read Fear is the Mind-Killer, one of my top ten books on martial arts.

We also talk about training with two swords, training in high-stress situations, and lots more training besides!

Kajetan has been a physical instructor since 2004, teaching figure skating, rock climbing, and mountaineering before coming to martial arts in 2010. He joined the coaching team at Valkyrie Western Martial Arts Assembly in 2012, and created their beginner program shortly afterwards. He currently teaches group and private lessons to students of all experience levels, and runs the school’s self defense program. His website is https://kajaswords.com/

This week’s non-sponsor

This week it is to remind you of the mighty wiktenauer.com, which is a gigantic reference source for everything historical martial arts. It’s run by Michael Chidester, who I interviewed in episode 21, and it includes scans, transcriptions, translations and articles and just keeps getting better every day. I use it almost daily and it’s a simply astonishing resource.

Birthday Sale - it's still running!

Don’t forget, it was my birthday on November 30th and as has become traditional, I have a present for you. You can use the code, GUYTURNS49 to get £5 off any of my books at swordschool.shop and 30% off any course at courses.swordschool.com. The code will work until the end of December 2022.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/the-yeti-of-chest-protection-with-veronica-young/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Veronica Young is an industrial designer, historical martial artist and founder of Cryptid Combat Wear, and she is also currently running a campaign for making a chest protector for women, which will actually fit and allow for movement. Veronica explains how she developed the prototypes, and how she has worked on the sizing to fit the widest range of people. The Indigogo campaign is running until 6th January, and you can support it here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/fencing-chest-protector#/

You might recall from the AMA episode a couple of weeks ago, we had a question about women’s knees, and how to prevent injury from fencing in a Meyerist fashion. Well, Veronica practises Meyer, and she has knees, so I asked her what she does to protect them. It’s all about the inner quads!

Veronica has got heavily into tournament fencing, and we talk about the mindset one needs to compete successfully, and about being a minority in HEMA – the stereotypes and the difficulties of different genders fighting one another. We also talk about how to win a fight against someone much taller than you.

Birthday Sale

Don’t forget, it was my birthday on November 30th and as has become traditional, I have a present for you. You can use the code, GUYTURNS49 to get £5 off any of my books at swordschool.shop and 30% off any course at courses.swordschool.com. The code will work until the end of December 2022.

This week’s non-sponsor

It’s Freelance Academy Press, which is a publishing house dedicated to serving the historical martial arts community. It was founded by Christian Tobler (see episode 101) and Greg Mele, and it has a fantastic catalogue of books you might be interested in. Such as my own, The Medieval Dagger, of course, but also their stunning critical editions of the Fiore manuscripts, translations of Bolognese and rapier texts, and works on German medieval combat. There’s really something for everyone. So, if you are looking for something to read, go to freelanceacademypress.com.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/what-makes-a-warrior-with-cain-maxwell/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Cain Maxwell is an instructor of physical culture, who's been teaching physical skills his entire life, from swimming to military firearms to ballroom dancing, even. And now he is teaching mounted martial arts and runs a school called Martial Equestrian, a mounted combat school in Hinckley, Ohio.

Cain learned to fight by fighting for real in a rough neighbourhood. In his own words, he had a chip on his shoulder. So he approaches martial arts with the question of whether it would really work on the streets. In our conversation we talk about pedagogy, translation, choosing a source, and martial culture. We discuss the difference between a warrior and a thug. They are both willing to do violence to others, so what is the difference? And can martial arts really teach good character in life outside the salle?

Listen to this episode for one of the most unexpected and thought-provoking answers to the question, “What would you do with $1 million to improve martial arts worldwide?”

Birthday Sale

Don’t forget, it was my birthday on November 30th and as has become traditional, I have a present for you. You can use the code, GUYTURNS49 to get £5 off any of my books at swordschool.shop and 30% off any course at courses.swordschool.com. The code will work until the end of December 2022.

This week’s non-sponsor:

Arms-n-armor.com are makers of swords and training weapons. I got my default training rapier from them in 2005 and my longsword in 2004 and they are both still going strong. They also made my sharp rapier and dagger, and my training smallsword. I interviewed smith Craig Johnson in episode 33 and he is not just a great smith, he is also a good friend. So you might think I’m biased, except those swords are still on the rack, scratched and worn. I’ve replaced the leather on the longsword grip at least twice and it’s still going strong after at least 15 years. So, if you are looking for a new sword, go to arms-n-armor.com.

For more information about the host Guy Windsor and his work, as well as transcriptions of all the episodes, check out his website at https://swordschool.com/podcast  

And to support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/furries-bar-fights-and-cryotherapy-with-lisa-losito/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Lisa Losito is a sword mom, historical fencer and an organising brain behind Lord Baltimore's Challenge. Lisa suffers from a chronic illness which affects her training, but she is absolutely passionate about helping others achieve their vision for events within the historical martial arts world. Whether that’s a big event like Lord Baltimore’s Challenge, or small grassroots events with local clubs, Lisa will make sure everyone has what they need, and make sure that everyone is safe.

Safety is something we discuss in this episode, both in terms of gear (particularly head protection) and physical and emotional safety within the environment. We talk about the culture change that is needed to prevent injuries like concussion and to keep bad actors out of historical martial arts.

Plus, we also find out that Lisa wants to open a salle with a brothel attached. (That’s not exactly true…)

Birthday Sale

In other news, it was my birthday on November 30th and as has become traditional, I have a present for you. You can use the code, GUYTURNS49 to get £5 off any of my books at swordschool.shop and 30% off any course at courses.swordschool.com. The code will work until the end of December 2022.

This Week’s Non-Sponsor

Most podcasts have sponsors who offer discounts to the listeners and money to the host. In the sword world most of the companies and organisations offering products or services to sword people have tiny profit margins and very little cash. So I thought I’d introduce a non-sponsor segment to the show, where I call out producers of good sword stuff and recommend it to our listeners without getting paid for it.

The first non-sponsor to the show is the mighty wiktenauer.com which is a gigantic reference source for everything historical martial arts. It’s run by Michael Chidester, who I interviewed in episode 21, and it includes scans, transcriptions, translations and articles and just keeps getting better every day. I use it almost daily and it’s a simply astonishing resource.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/ask-me-anything-with-guy-windsor/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Today's episode is a little bit different. It's an Ask Me Anything with me. I sent out a query to my patrons on Patreon and also to my mailing list, and I got a whole bunch of questions that apparently people want answers to, so I’ve answered them. Find out which historical master I would like on my side in a tavern brawl, my funniest moment in teaching, my ideal podcast guest, and more.

A couple of useful links

From the question about the best rapier fencing system:

• Link to the Swordschool Wiki where you can find plate 17 and plate 19 from Capoferro: https://www.swordschool.com/wiki/index.php/Specific_Plays_from_Capoferro

From the question about the lefty Todesca:

• Here is the link to Eleanora Rebecchi’s episode: https://swordschool.com/podcast/the-four-virtues-of-sword-making-with-eleonora-rebecchi
• And my unboxing video: Malleus Martialis Todesca Unboxing.mp4 from Swordschool.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/medieval-banana-hammocks-with-tasha-dandelion-kelly/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Today’s episode is with Tasha Dandelion Kelly, an expert in medieval clothing who blogs at La Cotte Simple and in my opinion, knows perhaps more than anyone else on the planet about how a gambeson should be made.

We talk about the Charles de Blois pourpoint, which is constructed in such a way that it gives incredible freedom of movement. You can see pictures of different examples on Tasha’s website – check out the construction around the shoulders: https://cottesimple.com/images/cdb-pourpoint-pattern/

If you fancy making one, Tasha’s pourpoint pattern book is for sale here: https://www.lulu.com/shop/tasha-kelly/the-pourpoint-of-charles-de-blois/paperback/product-1rg4jw2g.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Here is a direct link to the PDF of her article on the red coat armour at Chartres: https://cottesimple.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Charles-VI-pourpoint-article-Tasha-D-Kelly-reduced-size.pdf

This is a video summary of the paper about the Lengberg finds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGg8xbUVXT4 In the video you can see the world’s oldest bra, which the priests were not at all happy about. Those naughty women!

Lengberg experts Q+A: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LnWIveL5l4

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/broadsword-for-kids-with-andrew-newton/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Andrew Newton lives in the Annapolis Valley in Eastern Canada. He is a historical fencer and mounted archer and runs the Annapolis Valley Historical Fencing Club, teaching broadsword, sabre and cutlass. Andrew was also an officer in the Air Force, so of course there’s a bit of plane chat. In our discussion we talk about the business end of running a club: how to make money, effective marketing tips, and why even if you’re a non-profit you still need to have a business-like approach.

Andrew is running very successful youth classes, for both younger kids and teenagers. He talks about how to teach children and why it’s not that different to teaching adults. We discuss the importance of getting youngsters into HMA.

Useful links:

Guy’s Farfalla di Ferro drill video: https://vimeo.com/540592226

Sea Winds horse archery: https://www.seawindshorsearchers.ca/

Cateran Society broadsword: https://cateransociety.org/

This is Guy’s lengthy and ultra-geeky post about stretto: https://guywindsor.net/2018/06/freedom-to-strike-a-lengthy-discussion-of-largo-and-stretto/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/how-to-build-a-space-rocket-with-leigh-shocki/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Leigh Shocki works for Blue Origin as an Instructional Designer – she can teach you to build a rocket, even though she flunked maths. You too can work at a space company, even if you’re not a rocket scientist!

Leigh is passionate about making both space travel and swords more diverse and we discuss the code of conduct she wrote for Lonin which builds in things like inclusive language and ensuring everyone feels safe: https://www.lonin.org/code-of-conduct/ Leigh also mentions the Esfinges Facebook group for women in HMA which now has 2k members and 6.9k followers of the page.

Here are the links for the Beth Hammer episode, the Neal Stephenson episode and the Kaja Sadowski episode we refer to.

And then on the space inclusivity side see: https://astroaccess.org/ and https://spaceforhumanity.org/?locale=en

Leigh hasn’t trained at her club since she suffered a traumatic head injury in a car crash three years ago. Obviously, there is a high risk of being whacked in the head when sword fighting, and so we talk about how best to return to training whilst minimising the risks to Leigh. It’s worth a listen for anyone who has suffered a concussion or looking to modify their training practice for similar reasons.

This is the link to Blue Origin’s New Glenn re-usable launch vehicle: https://www.blueorigin.com/new-glenn/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/podcasting-with-the-sword-whisperers-schwertgefluster/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Michael Sprenger and Alexander Fürgut are the creators of Schwertgeflüster, a (usually) German-speaking podcast about all things HMA. In this episode Michael and Alexander interview Guy, while Guy also interviews Michael and Alexander a bit too. It’s not as confusing as it sounds.

We talk about how Alexander can’t get into the correct position for Fabris’s rapier fencing, which Guy diagnoses as possible tight hamstrings. If you also want to work on lengthening your hamstrings, here’s Guy’s trainalong hamstring special. The warmup section is about 25min, then we get into the hamstring stretches… vimeo.com/504380949/d22be1ece5  

We also talk about the art and science of making a podcast, what’s wrong with HEMA tournaments, publishing lawsuits, and more.

The Schwertgeflüster website can be found at www.schwertgefluester.de  and the HEMA event calendar mentioned is hema.events/

Here is a link to the podcasting editing video mentioned in the outro: vimeo.com/755065041/b9eca60702

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/the-episode-in-which-guy-gets-challenged-to-a-duel-with-auri-poso/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Auri Poso is a long time student of Guy’s and one of the first teachers he ever trained. Auri now runs her own school, the Gladiolus School of Arms in Helsinki/Espoo, Finland.

In our conversation we talk about Star Wars, which leads to a disagreement about Luke Skywalker needing a good slap. Whether lightsabers would be a suitable weapon in the ensuing duel between Guy and Auri causes another difference of opinion…

We also talk about returning to classes and teaching after an extended break to have children, the challenges of starting a school in a crowded market, taking a summer break to tour Europe’s sword schools, and using €1 million to set up an incredible historical martial arts centre.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/poofy-pants-and-murderhobos-with-adam-franti/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Adam Franti is a member of the Meyer Freifechter Guild and an organiser of the Midwest Historical Fencing League. He also started the Lansing Longsword Guild in the summer of 2017, which focuses on Meyer’s longsword. And he is a fellow podcaster, host of a show called Murderhobos, which covers chivalry, duelling and warfare.

We talk about 19th century American military history, and then hop back in time to 16th century Germany. Adam is something of an expert in Meyer’s dusack, and we find out what drew him in to this system. He tells us about the Fechtschule fencing competitions, duelling and warfare in Germany at that time. There are links and photos below to accompany the episode:

Adam’s workbook on Meyer’s fencing:

https://www.lulu.com/shop/adam-franti-and-joachim-meyer/foundations-of-fencing/paperback/product-mnw2gr.html

His dusack video series:

https://youtu.be/9XmI4WYqvqw?list=PLYv4p_FmRMfKSI9-9YPg4fI-9BzugzI8G

A couple of Adam’s historical lectures:

https://youtu.be/HsARLoyFmoI?list=PLGRaseBnVpX6yZU9yHcW9sqY9fJzqrA56

And a direct link to the Murderhobos podcast, with all the episodes we discussed, including Donald McBane and Götz von Berlichingen:

https://sites.libsyn.com/411899

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/the-four-virtues-of-sword-making-with-eleonora-rebecchi/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Eleonora Rebecchi is the creative director at Malleus Martialis, producer of excellent training swords, as well as a practising historical fencer and a graphic artist who has done some lovely covers for Guy. She is also a classically trained singer, which you’ll get to hear in this episode.

We talk about how Eleanora and her partner Rodolfo got into designing swords for a living, what goes into the design process, and what qualities a business selling swords needs.

Eleonora explains how the aesthetics, ergonomics and dynamics of a sword fit together, which is demonstrated by Guy’s delightful new longsword.

Here is the unboxing video so you can see what he means: https://vimeo.com/722218823

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/how-to-teach-historical-martial-arts-with-guy-windsor/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

This episode of the podcast is a little bit different because I'm not interviewing anyone. I'm here to talk to you about how to teach. I believe that teaching historical martial arts or anything else is a skill, and as such it can be studied and taught. In other words, you're not born a good teacher, you become one through mindful practise. So the question, I guess, is how do you set about that in a systematic and useful way that will lead you to your desired result? Well, I have a course. Of course I have a course; I always have a course. I am releasing this week my course on how to teach. Now, before you just dash off and buy it, because you're just that sort of excellently supportive listener to the show, I think it would be a good idea if you listen to some excerpts and get an idea of what the course is all about and then decide whether it's really for you.

Listen to the episode or read the transcript for exclusive extracts from the course. And to buy the course itself, you can find it at guywindsor.net/teach, where there is a 40% discount offer - only valid until Wednesday 5th of October.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/from-katanas-to-creating-the-metaverse-with-neal-stephenson/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Neal Stephenson is a best-selling author, futurist, tech geek and swordsman whose works include Cryptonomicron, Seveneves, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash. He has also co-written several other books and graphic novels which we discuss in this episode. His latest book, Termination Shock goes into depth and detail about Sikh martial arts, which he had to research during the Covid lockdowns.

Of course, Neal’s main claim to fame is that he wrote the preface to my own Swordfighting for Writers, Game Designers and Martial Artists.

We cover an enormously wide range of topics in this episode, from fountain pens to working with Jeff Bezos building rockets. If you want to find anything in particular, the timestamps and related links are listed below:

• [03:07] How Neal got into swords. Neal’s club in Seattle is Lonin.
• [08:12] Ellis Amdur and Japanese martial arts.
• [14:31] Bartitsu
• [17:53] Silver and McBane. Note: It was Captain John Godfrey's 1747, A Treatise Upon The Useful Science of Defence, where he said that “The Small-Sword is the Call of Honour, the Back-Sword the Call of Duty.”
• [28:50] Indian Club training
• [37:46] Sword fights in fiction and how to write one
• [43:48] Working with Charles C. Mann on Cimarronin. The Manila Galleons. We mention Da’Mon Stith and episode 23 of this podcast. For the photo of Ellis Amdur sticking an eight foot spear into Neal’s chest, see: https://swordschool.com/podcast/from-katanas-to-creating-the-metaverse-with-neal-stephenson/ 
• [52:40] Fountain pens
• [55:38] How Neal plots, writes and edits his books, and how he co-writes with another author
• [1:01:09] How Neal’s books changed culture – e.g. influenced the development of the Kindle (see Fiona image here: https://swordschool.com/podcast/from-katanas-to-creating-the-metaverse-with-neal-stephenson/ Fiona is a character in The Diamond Age. Amazon used the codename ‘Fiona’ for their Kindle project.)
• [1:03:47] Working with Jeff Bezos at Blue Origin finding better ways to power space rockets
• [1:14:05] Bullwhips
• [1:15:41] LAMINA1 and building a new open platform for metaverses
• [1:28:28] The best idea Neal hasn’t acted on yet
• [1:32:14] What Neal would do with $1 million to improve historical martial arts

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/elementary-my-dear-windsor/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dr. Ashley Polasek is a historical martial artist who started with Lichtenauer and now teaches Bolognese swordsmanship. She is based in South Carolina, but spends much of her time travelling for her day job working with one of the world’s most successful playwrights.   

Ashley is an expert in Sherlock Holmes. She was a consultant on the first Enola Holmes movie and is a member of the exclusive ‘Baker Street Irregulars’. Her PhD is in adaptations of Sherlock Holmes, and it is fascinating how the character pops up in so many different versions, and yet they are all recognisably Sherlock Holmes. Even Sherlock Gnomes.

(As she is so keen on adaptation, I’m sure Ashley won’t mind that the misquoted title of this episode, “Elementary, my dear Watson,” was never actually said by Sherlock in any of the books.)

We also talk about how having no vision in one eye affects Ashley’s swordfighting, training to be a Ninja Warrior, women’s hips, and getting swords into schools.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/teaching-horses-martial-arts-with-the-horsemen-of-eire/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Alessia Pagani and Jack Gassman run Horsemen of Eire, an equestrian training school and medieval combat academy outside Wexford in Ireland. Alessia specialises in natural horsemanship and Jack takes care of the swords.

In this episode we talk about what’s natural about ‘natural horsemanship’, and its origins in American cowboys and medieval training techniques. There is a blog post here with pictures of the single and double pillar training techniques we discuss: https://dariocaballeros.blogspot.com/2013/09/antoine-de-pluvinel-images-from.html 

Alessia spent time living and working as a cowgirl in Arizona and she explains how Rossfechten (swordfighting on horseback) is similar to herding cattle. Teaching horses to fight is not dissimilar to teaching humans to fight, when you understand their motivations and characters. As Jack says, horses intimately understand violence and will beat the shit out of each other over “you looked at me funny”.

We also find out why there is so much unarmoured longsword in Liechtenauer, why it helps to be a dancer, and how many plates you have to spin to run a business involving horses.

Audiobook Bundle Special Offer!

Don’t forget to check out my audiobook bundle for The Theory and Practice of Historical Martial Arts. This includes the ebook and the audiobook version, narrated by Kelley Costigan. You can find it at guywindsor.net/tsg22. That link will get you 20% off the list price until 15th September 2022.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/support-vector-machines-are-cool-with-kari-baker/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Kari Baker is a data scientist and swordswoman from Arizona who writes appallingly advanced data analysis articles for Sword STEM. In our conversation we discuss how data helped increase women’s participation in events and whether we can predict a double in tournaments.

You can find Kari’s Sword STEM articles here: http://swordstem.com/author/kbaker/

If you have any interesting research questions, or datasets you want to ask questions of, send them to Guy or pop over to the Sword STEM Facebook page.

Audiobook Bundle Special Offer!

As mentioned in the introduction to this episode, check out my audiobook bundle for The Theory and Practice of Historical Martial Arts. This includes the ebook and the audiobook version, narrated by Kelley Costigan. You can find it at guywindsor.net/tsg22. That link will get you 20% off the list price until 15th September 2022.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/movement-matters-with-katy-bowman-episode-54-repeat/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Bestselling author, speaker, and a leader in the Movement movement, biomechanist Katy Bowman has been changing the way we move and think about our need for movement. Her eight books, including the groundbreaking “Move Your DNA” and “Movement Matters” have been translated into more than a dozen languages worldwide. Bowman teaches movement globally and speaks about sedentarism and movement ecology to academic and scientific audiences. Her work has been featured in diverse media such as the Today Show, CBC Radio One, the Seattle Times, and Good Housekeeping. One of Maria Shriver’s “Architects of Change” and an America Walks “Woman of the Walking Movement”, Katy has worked with companies like Patagonia, Nike and Google as well as a wide range of non-profits and other communities, sharing her “move more, move more body parts, move more for what you need” message.  Her movement education company, Nutritious Movement, is based in Washington State, where she lives with her family.

In our conversation we talk about form, feet, injuries, and Jess Finley’s ‘hooky’ acromion process (it’s part of your shoulder). When you use swords, or do any other sport, the movements – or lack of – that you do all of the rest of the time when you are not doing swords create your ability to move freely and effectively with a sword in your hand. What is your body doing when it is not doing swords?

We mention Ruth Goodman’s book, How to be a Tudor. You can find out more here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/287/287072/how-to-be-a-tudor/9780241973714.html and listen to our podcast episode here: https://guywindsor.net/2021/04/fire-and-cauldrons-episode44/

If the section on barefoot shoes inspires you, check out Freet shoes https://freetbarefoot.com Use this code at checkout: THESWORDGUY10 to get 10% off- and if you do, I’ll also get a small commission. Yay!

The author mentioned when we are talking about Finland is Robert Holdstock, the Mythago Wood series.

We also discuss sedentary culture, what it’s doing to us and our kids, and how we might improve our environment to make movement more likely. Human movement is at an all-time low and our children are currently facing both a movement and nature deficiency, with physical, mental and environmental consequences.  The good news is, while the problem feels massive, the solution is quite simple…and fun! Katy’s forthcoming book, “Grow Wild: The Whole-Child, Whole-Family, Nature-Rich Guide to Moving More” is out in the UK on 24th June, SRP £24.99, published by Propriometrics Press; distributed by Chelsea Green Publishing.

On Bookshop UK: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/grow-wild-the-whole-child-whole-family-nature-rich-guide-to-moving-more/9781943370160

On amazon UK.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grow-Wild-Whole-Child-Whole-Family-Nature-Rich/dp/1943370168/ref=sr_1_1?crid=29X0ZIYTB1DAG&dchild=1&keywords=grow+wild+book+katy+bowman&qid=1615844073&sprefix=grow+wild%2Caps%2C225&sr=8-1

Katy’s web/social media links:

https://www.nutritiousmovement.com

https://www.facebook.com/NutritiousMovement/

https://www.instagram.com/nutritiousmovement/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/fiore_dinosaurs_erin_fitzgerald/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Erin Fitzgerald is a historical martial arts practitioner at the Chicago Swordplay Guild, but her day job takes us much further back in time: to the time of the dinosaurs. Erin is a Fossil Preparator and in our conversation she explains the painstaking process of safely transporting fossils back to the lab and cleaning them up ready for studying. 

After talking about dinosaurs we skip forward a few tens of millions of years to medieval times and talk about Erin’s love of armoured combat and medieval longsword. 

Erin is also an artist and created a magnificent painting of Fiore’s Segno, to be hung on the wall in the Chicago Swordplay Guild. Here is a blog post from Tasha Kelly about it: https://cottesimple.com/manuscript-interpretation/coloring-segno-della-spada/

Visit the website to see the Segno from the Getty manuscript, Erin’s painting, and the other photos accompanying this episode. https://swordschool.com/podcast/fiore_dinosaurs_erin_fitzgerald/ 

 What’s the book that shall not be named?

Medi*val Sw*rdsmanship by J*hn Cl*m*nts

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/fire-and-cauldrons-with-ruth-goodman-episode-44-repeat/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Ruth Goodman is a social and domestic historian working with museums, theatre, television and educational establishments. She has presented and consulted on several highly successful television series for the BBC. She has also written several excellent books we’ll be talking about today, including The Domestic Revolution, How to be a Tudor and How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England.

In this episode, Ruth and I talk about some of the lesser known, but nonetheless fascinating aspects of life in the Middle Ages, without what we think of “essential” cleaning products, or temperature controlled ovens. Yes, people did get their clothes properly clean, and they were able to bake excellent cakes, pastries and bread. Ruth explains how they did this, and the type of learning that has been largely lost nowadays.

In our wide-ranging conversation, we also cover the importance of sheds, leaving kids in forests, giving knives to toddlers, and understanding fire. Ruth has a special passion for medieval cauldrons.

We also talk about how people would have dressed and moved at this time, all of which is very relevant if you are interested in martial arts from this, or any other period of history. We discuss how to research when there aren’t many sources available – as it turns out, there are many ways to skin a rabbit.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/finding-your-niche-with-mila-jedrzejewska/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Mila Jędrzejewska runs Audatia Creative, a professional services company for businesses in the historical martial arts space. In this conversation, we hear what led Mila to start up her own business, why she focuses on our particular niche, and how Guy and Mila are working together.

Mila describes her experiences of sexism in the sword world and racism in the business world and we discuss the privilege of being able to work in a fulfilling job that you love.

For the question, ‘What would you do with £1 million to improve historical martial arts worldwide?’ Guy gives his own idea of what he would like to do with the money. Would you be interested in a dedicated historical martial arts online platform, a “Swordbook”, if you will? Guy’s vision is a not-for-profit online space with zero tolerance for trolling, mansplaining, disrespectful behaviour of any kind, where you can talk about swords (or watch cat videos) with fellow swordy folk. If you follow Guy on social media, look out for a poll in Instagram Stories on the subject.

Also, as you will hear, Mila is looking for someone to join her team, so if you have graphic design and social media experience, and you are mad about swords, get in touch with her: https://audatiacreative.com/contact/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/tameshigiri-training-with-asante-lawla/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Asante Lawla is a London-based inventor, corrective exercise specialist and a martial artist who is currently working on an edge alignment device to help people learn to cut better. He practises an Indian battlefield martial art called Shastar Vidiya, which translates as ‘the science of weapons’. Finding that getting hold of the materials needed for cutting training to be expensive, time-consuming and messy, he developed a prototype for a new type of tameshigiri trainer. It uses lasers attached to your sword which makes marks on a target so you can see your edge alignment – something you cannot do with tatami mats or water bottles. Asante has a crowdfunding campaign that runs until the end of August 2022. See here for all the details of the tameshigiri trainer, how it works and the status of the campaign: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tameshigiri-trainer#/

https://vimeo.com/721797796

The yoga practice Asante refers to early on in the episode is this one: https://www.shastarvidiya.org/teaching/sanjam_kiriya_variyam.html

Asante’s Shastar Vidiya Brixton Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ShastarVidiyaBrixton

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/combat-theory-and-the-incas-with-john-lennox/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dr John Lennox is one of the founders of the International Swordsmanship and Martial Arts Convention in Lansing, which moved to Vegas to become CombatCon. He's an instructor with the Historical Martial Studies Society and with the School of Two Swords.

John has a Ph.D. in the relationship between stage combat and personal combat from the late 16th century onwards, and we talk about stage combat throughout history and how actors were trained to fight on stage. For more on this, see John’s book, Stage Combat Swordplay from Shakespeare to the Present. The actor in Shakespeare’s troupe who was a master fencer was the famous clown Richard Tarleton, who was given his master’s status on Oct. 23rd, 1587 by the London Masters of Defence (Berry, 33).  Sloane’s MSS 2530 states:

                        Mr tarlton was a lowed a mr the xxiijth

                        of octobere vnder henrye nayllore mr

                        1587 /          -ordenary grome off her

                        majvstes chamber” (Berry, 53)

Changing the subject somewhat, we also talk about Rumi Maki, the ancient Inca martial art. John takes us through the five elements of this Peruvian ‘stone fist’ system, but how ancient is it, really? How can we even tell whether any modern interpretation of a historical martial art is the real deal?

John’s second book is on Combat Theory. In our conversation he takes us through his thoughts on breaking down melee combat into its component parts. You can find John’s book here: Combat Theory: the Foundations of the Fight.

This is the podcast episode with Dori Coblentz where she proposes using Guy’s imaginary millions on childcare at events: episode 67.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/sword-business-with-jo-york/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Jo York is a provost of the Hotspur School of Defence, which is based in the north east of England, and an entrepreneur in her work life, as well as an avid listener of this show.

Jo talks about her home town of Knaresborough, with its annual Bed Race. There are pictures here: https://www.bedrace.co.uk/gallery/2022-race

And this is the fabulous Yorkshire-accented raven at Knaresborough castle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf42vpQMJ9o

Jo works with start-up businesses and has started her own businesses too, so we talk about what makes a good idea for a viable enterprise and how to go about it. The book Guy mentions is Don’t Trust Your Gut, by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz and the book Jo recommends is The Mom Test: How to Talk to Customers and Learn If Your Business is a Good Idea when Everyone is Lying to You, by Rob Fitzpatrick.

Check out Jo’s cutting square website at: https://cuttingsquare.com/ This interactive cutting square tells you where to aim your next blow. There is a left-handed and right-handed option, and you can set the tempo.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/yoghurt-pot-armour-with-kin-chan/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Kin Chan is a landscape designer, a cosplayer, and a historical martial arts practitioner, who lives in Ontaria, Canada.

In this episode we discuss making things at all ends of the scale, from the tiny (watchmaking) to the huge (landscape design), with cosplay and armour in between.

Kin takes us through the incredible amount of work and craftsmanship that goes into creating costumes for cosplay conventions, and we talk about the similarities between cosplay and historical re-enactment. We also geek out about our favourite historical armour. You can find Maximilian’s flying blasting plates, designed with help from clockmakers, at around 10:31 in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY_RldJvCWs

As promised, you can find photos of Kin’s workspace, his Beserker armour and Monster Hunter armour on the blog page here: https://swordschool.com/podcast/yoghurt-pot-armour-with-kin-chan/

There is an Instagram video with more detailed views of the armour here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BVDvjbbjH-f/ and this is the Wanpans Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/wanpansarmoury/

This is the link to the David Ito episode we talk about towards the end of our conversation: https://swordschool.com/podcast/fire-eating-and-fencing-episode25/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/stretto-and-surgery-with-elizabeth-scott/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Elizabeth Scott is a historical martial arts and armoured combat practitioner on foot and on horseback, as well as being a surgeon. In our conversation we cover the obvious risks to your fingers when taking part in armoured combat, which could be highly problematic in Elizabeth’s profession. We talk about the mindset needed for both swordsmanship, surgery, and flying a plane, where failure can mean death. How can these skills be taught in the safest way?

We also have a discussion about ‘stretto’ and what Fiore meant by the term. Guy explains his interpretation and why, according to him, stretto is not just a description of measure.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/youve-been-holding-your-lightsaber-all-wrong-with-kyle-rowling/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Kyle Rowling is a fight master, director of the Action Acting Academy, and he is also the man who taught Samuel L Jackson how to use a lightsaber. In this episode we hear about how Kyle became Christopher Lee’s body double, the real ending to the fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan, and what it’s like to have your own action figure and Lego minifigure.

Kyle has body doubled all the Sith characters in Star Wars, even General Grievous, and alongside legendary stunt coordinator, Nick Gillard, taught Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen how to wield a lightsaber. And yes, you’re holding it wrong.

Listen in for Kyle’s incredible stories of what it is like to work behind and in front of the camera on Star Wars.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/training-nerds-in-the-desert-with-skye-hilton/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Skye Hilton is a historical martial arts instructor and fitness trainer, best known as The Nerd Trainer, who lives in West Texas, hundreds of miles from the nearest sword school, so when she moved out there from California she started her own school to find people to play with: www.theswordschool.org/.

In this episode we talk about the best exercises people can do before starting sword classes, imposter syndrome, “fendente bots”, and taking part in “Forged in Fire: Knife or Death,” a US History network series. Forged in Fire is an obstacle course of increasingly crazy things you have to cut, break, bash, stab and get to the end in order to progress to a harder obstacle course. Here are some photos of Skye with her chopper, cutting through dry bamboo and even a PVC pipe filled with gravel: https://swordschool.com/podcast/training-nerds-in-the-desert-with-skye-hilton/

We also have a good chat about sharpening and how sharp medieval swordsmen were able to get their blades, so this is a good episode for fellow blade sharpening enthusiasts!

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/pain-is-the-best-teacher-with-steaphen-fick/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Today’s episode is with Steaphen Fick, who is a historical martial arts instructor and a fight choreographer, and also an old comrade in arms since we met in Edinburgh in the nineties. In fact, in this episode you will hear about a certain naked escapade involving swords in Finland in 1999. Click here for a picture of us, fully clothed, from the same trip.

Steaphen founded the Davenriche European Martial Arts School in Santa Clara, California in 2000 and it is still going 22 years later. We will be talking about how he managed that, and how he has built it up into having 8700 square feet of space to include swords, archery, axe throwing, and even airsoft. There is a lot in this episode about running a business, which would be of interest to anyone thinking of setting up their own school.

Academically, Steaphen is perhaps best known for his interpretive work on Joseph Swetnam. Swetnam may have been a horrible man, but he had useful footwork for when you’re standing on a moving deck of a ship and a different style from the Italians of the same period. We talk about how one would manage Swetnam’s 12 foot lunge, and here is the link to the Max Your Lunge blog post.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/what-is-a-round-table-with-elizabeth-champion/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Elizabeth Champion is an arms and armour historian specialising in high medieval Round Table tournaments and the Merlin legends. She's also a historical fencer, co-founder of Stratford Swords and an ex-cage fighter.

In our conversation we discuss what was a Round Table Tournament. Is it to do with King Arthur, or the arrangement of the tables, or both? If you have come across anything to do with Round Tables in your reading, if you think you might know something, check if it's in Elizabeth’s appendix here: https://swordschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Appendix-Round-Tables-of-England-Scotland-and-Wales-1230-1330-E.Champion-Final.pdf If it's already there, Elizabeth already knows about it. And if it isn't there, send it to me and I'll pass it on to her. Let’s crowdsource this and get to the bottom of it!

Elizabeth tells us about her cage fighting days, and the injury she sustained that led to fibromyalgia and chronic pain. She also has autism and ADHD, and is able to give us some useful advice for fellow instructors and practitioners to help make our clubs as inclusive and supportive as possible.

As well as all that, listen to this episode for top tips like why you need to put a sock on the end of a stick, how to make an axe safe to carry around the streets using just a brown paper bag, how to bear to watch terrible sword fights in films, and how many Dyson vacuum cleaners a cuirass is worth.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/synthetic-armour-and-smithing-in-france-with-anthony-rischard/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Anthony Rischard is a blacksmith, historical martial arts practitioner and proprietor of Black Armoury, one of the largest suppliers of historical martial arts gear in Europe. In our conversation we talk about how Anthony gave up his office job to become a full time blacksmith in France, and his move into starting Black Armoury. Have a listen to find out why they began producing suits of armour made entirely from synthetic materials and what the benefits of plastic are compared to steel. The last couple of years have been unusually challenging for Anthony’s business, especially with the current supply issues across Europe and the situation in Ukraine.

There are a lot of photos to share with you for this episode! Visit the episode page on Swordschool.com to see them: https://swordschool.com/podcast/synthetic-armour-and-smithing-in-france-with-anthony-rischard/ 

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/smacking-people-in-the-head-gracefully-with-riri-nitihardjo/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Riri Nitihardjo is a martial arts (and ballet) practitioner from Jakarta, Indonesia. Riri first got interested in swords when she discovered The Lord of the Rings and wanted to learn how to wield a sword like Aragorn. She became so hooked on Tolkein that she took a linguistics programme at university – though they wouldn’t let her do her graduate thesis on Elvish languages.

The historical European martial arts scene is very small in Indonesia, so Riri and her friends started their own club. Five years later and the club, Gwaith-i-Megyr, is still going strong, with no formal structure and no paperwork.

We chat about starting new things in your forties and how anyone at any age can get stronger and fitter and learn a new skill. Riri has been learning ballet, which has been really helpful for her sword training. If you are feeling “too old” for something, listen to this episode!

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/is-there-anything-daniel-jaquet-cant-do-in-armour/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dr. Daniel Jaquet should need no introduction. He has been extremely active in both the academic and practical aspects of medieval combat research for the last couple of decades or more. 

He has a Ph.D. from Geneva University in medieval history, on combat in armour at the end of the Middle Ages and at the beginning of the Renaissance, based on studying combat manuals. So, he has a Ph.D. in actual, proper medieval sword fighting stuff, not just general medieval history stuff. He is a founder and co-editor of Acta Periodica Duellatorum, the only academic journal focussing on historical martial arts. 

Daniel is perhaps best known for his work on how well a knight could move in full armour, producing video demonstrations of climbing walls and ladders, doing flips and even chopping firewood in full armour.

We don’t just talk about armour, we also cover women fighters in history, and getting the study of historical European martial arts recognised as an academic field of study. And then Daniel’s electricity gets cut off by his neighbour’s builders, which means a rather abrupt end to this episode.

There are a few links to share with you, but before all that, you ought to see the video of the obstacle run in armour: https://youtu.be/pAzI1UvlQqw

• • Here is a link to Daniel’s study on moving in armour: Range of motion and energy cost of locomotion of the late medieval armoured fighter: A proof of concept of confronting the medieval technical literature with modern movement analysis.
  • Iron Men exhibit in Vienna (Until 26 June 2022).
  • Fight Like a Girl! An investigation into female martial practices in European Fight Books from the 14th to the 20th century.
  • Daniel’s website is: https://www.djaquet.info/
  • And his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/danjaquet/featured

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/judging-and-jeopardy-with-rebecca-glass/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Rebecca Glass is a historical martial arts instructor and an avid baseball fan. She has also appeared on the TV quiz show Jeopardy and is a part of the Trivia scene. In our conversation we talk about all three of these interests, plus judging historical martial arts tournaments. Rebecca is highly respected as a fight director, so we talk about what makes a good judge and how to make the right decisions when judging a fight.

We start by talking about Liechtenauer’s Zettel, and this is the book Rebecca mentions: Sword, Science and Society, by James Acutt.

When we talk about managing your mindset during tournaments (or any sports), this is the book mentioned: The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion: Sports psychology, by Lesley Paterson and Simon Marshall.

Finally, we also talk about the ideal alcohol pairing for doughnuts. What do you think would be best? Single malt? Champagne?

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/fabris-vs-capoferro-with-reinier-van-noort/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dr. Reinier van Noort is a martial arts instructor and translator of over a dozen historical fencing treatises. He now lives in Norway but is originally from the Netherlands, so we talk about his impressive skills in translating from one foreign language into another. You can find Reinier’s work at www.bruchius.com, and his list of publications here: Publications - Ense et Mente (bruchius.com).

We covered a lot in our conversation as you can see from the following notes:

 Jägerstock

If you’re subscribed to my newsletter you’ll probably know that I have been working on the Jägerstock as promised in the interview. Reinier’s book that includes the Jägerstock is: The Martial Arts of Georg Johann Pascha. There's also a free translation of the Jägerstock material here: http://www.bruchius.com/docs/Pascha%20Hunting%20Staff%20by%20RvN.pdf. The book version is a newer translation, based on a later text that has a few more lessons, and some better plates.

In my newsletter of 18th March I posted my first Jägerstock video: https://vimeo.com/688832535/a4fc0fa994 Please note, I shot it before I’d even finished making the proper Jägerstock, so I’m winging it with a bo staff. I’ve also got a longish video of me actually making the weapon (while musing on matters history and craft),

https://vimeo.com/698975685/b526163231

Another on lessons 1-3 with the finished weapon,

https://vimeo.com/698975706/2021cc549a

And several more in the works. My current plan is to create a course on my teachable platform (which will be bundled in with the Mastering the Art of Arms subscription, of course), where I’ll post the videos as they are made. And when I have a working interpretation of the whole book (which is 34 lessons, each one of which is a short form), add those to the Solo Training course as a new section, and also release the whole ‘from book to working interpretation’ series as an object lesson in how I go about the interpretation process with an unfamiliar source, style, and weapon.

Fabris and Capoferro

After the Jägerstock chat we also have a bit to say about Fabris and Capoferro. As mentioned in the episode, here is Reinier’s Fabris lecture: Longpoint 2017 - Lecture: From Fabris to Pascha - YouTube. Reinier says he has expanded the lineage a bit since the lecture.

We have a bit of a discussion about the lunge – read more on how to Max Your Lunge here:  https://guywindsor.net/2022/04/max-your-lunge/ 

You can see the picture of Guy’s 1610 Capoferro, with the 1609 page stuck over the top of the 1610 page on podcast page on his website: https://swordschool.com/podcast/fabris-vs-capoferro-with-reinier-van-noort/ 

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/rocket-science-and-cosmic-washing-machines-with-naziyah-mahmood/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Naziyah Mahmood is a Scottish astrophysicist, aerospace engineer, aspiring citizen astronaut, STEM ambassador, model, writer, and artist. And of course, she’s mad about swords. In our conversation we talk about Naziyah’s love for the Eastern sword arts, primarily Haidong Gumdo. But there’s a diversion into Ancient Roman twin-sword-wielding gladiators…

We also talk about training with a visual impairment, being underestimated, and the importance of self-expression.

Here is a link to Naziyah’s film, A New Beginning, produced with Lee Fletcher Photography. There are swords, lightsabers and an absolutely freezing Scottish castle backdrop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbOA6itSiZM 

Where to find Naziyah:

Blog: https://naziyahmahmood.wordpress.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NinjabiNaz

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/naziyahmahmood/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/living-the-nobler-dream-with-christian-tobler/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Christian Tobler is a chivalric combat instructor and author of many books, including Secrets of German Medieval Swordsmanship, which launched the study of Liechtenauer in the Anglosphere. He also wrote Fighting with German Longsword, In St. George's Name: an Anthology of Medieval German Fighting Arts, In Service of the Duke, and many more. Not to mention his latest, which is Lance, Spear, Sword and Messer, a German Medieval Martial Arts Miscellany.

In 1979, Christian and Carl Johnson founded one of the earliest historical martial arts organisations, The Order of Selohaar, a mystic order of chivalry, to try to answer the philosopher and polymath John Ruskin’s famous question, “Might we not live a nobler dream than this?”. The order is “dedicated to the preservation of honor, nobility, arcane wisdom, and martial excellence in an age where such traditions and values have generally been forgotten.” In our conversation we talk about getting into historical martial arts back in the 80s and 90s.

The episode covers writing, researching, social media, and how to interpret the pictures in medieval manuscripts. We also talk about fighting each other, back in 2006.

You can find Christian’s books at Freelance Academy Press, as well as the other usual places.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/duelling-and-a-day-in-the-life-of-guy/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Welcome to episode 100 of The Sword Guy Podcast! In this special episode, Ariel Anderssen (episode 93) interviews Guy about a whole load of stuff, including how Guy got into swords in the first place, the vision up a Scottish mountain that told him to open his school in Helsinki, injuries from duelling, Guy’s best ever sword fight, feminism, getting through the pandemic, and learning to fly. Ariel also asks Guy about his typical week – so if you have ever wondered how Guy spends his time, have a listen.

Here are some photos from the infamous head wound incident:

Thank you for listening, we hope you have enjoyed the last one hundred episodes. If you have enjoyed any of the conversations so far, please do leave a rating and review on your podcast platform, as it really helps other people find The Sword Guy podcast. We have many more exciting guests lined up, so keep tuning in!

If you are interested in the Solo Training Course mentioned in the episode, you can find it here. And Guy’s book about solo training, The Windsor Method, is here.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/a-two-handed-sword-to-fight-a-griffin-with-marie-powell/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

It’s episode 99 of The Sword Guy Podcast! Next week we have a special 100th edition, so look out for that. While you’re waiting, you can enjoy this week’s episode with writer, journalist, editor and author, Marie Powell.

Marie lives in Canada, but a search for her Welsh heritage inspired her to write her latest sword and sorcery epic, The Last of the Gifted. It is based on the events of 1282-1283 in Wales, when the last true Prince of Wales, Llywelyn of Aberffraw, was murdered by the English. His head was chopped off and sent to the king, Edward I, but nobody knows quite who killed him. There are several other mysteries surrounding the story, which we cover in our conversation, and we also talk about swords (both magical and historical), the Unicorn Exception, and giant elephants at Buckingham Palace.

Find out more about Marie and her books:

• Website: https://mariepowell.ca/
• Social Media Links: https://linktr.ee/mariepowell
• Last of the Gifted: Spirit Sight and Water Sight are available in eBook, paperback, and audiobook, with an omnibus edition also available in hardcover
• Spirit Sight - https://books2read.com/u/4XLkN1
• Water Sight - https://books2read.com/u/mgznDR
• Last of the Gifted omnibus: https://books2read.com/u/mVaxqr

• Booklinks: https://mariepowell.ca/young-adult/booklinks/
• Marie's mailing list: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/a8p8d2

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/mastering-movement-with-dan-edwardes/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dan Edwardes is a parkour coach and teacher of teachers. He's a founding member and executive director of Parkour Generations, an international organisation of Parkour Instructors with schools all over the world. He's also the author of The Parkour and Free Running Handbook.

Dan also has a background as a swordsman. He lived in Japan for five years, and was one of very few westerners to train at the Katori Shinto-ryu, the oldest and most respected sword school in Japan. It’s the only school that still requires you to do the blood oath, the Keppan, which you can hear about in this episode.

Parkour is seen by many as pretty dangerous, but Dan explains the difference between danger and risk, and how he has had to retrain people’s perceptions of parkour. We also find out what Dan does to keep his joints healthy and how his body copes with all the impact.  

You can find more information on parkour and coaching training at www.danedwardes.com and at www.parkourgenerations.com.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/the-last-duel-or-was-it-with-ariella-elema/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dr Ariella Elema is a finder of the forgotten, the hidden and the obscure. She's an academic and archivist and an armizare practitioner in Toronto. Her Ph.D. thesis, Trial by Battle in France and England, should give you some clue as to why I invited her on the show. But it also won the Canadian Society of Medievalists’ Leonard Boyle dissertation prize, which is very impressive.

In our conversation we talk about trial by combat, trial by ordeal, and the film, The Last Duel. Was it actually the last duel? There are some fascinating insights from Ariella on how a trial by combat would come about, who got to participate in such trials, and how they didn’t necessarily end with any fighting taking place. You need to listen to hear Guy’s take on the German version of the trials: “It's like medieval, gimp-suited, mud wrestling, basically.”

Here are some images of the Baculus Cornutus:

Alençon, Bibliothèque municipale MS 96, folio 63v. From the second half of the twelfth century.

British Library, Smithfield Decretals, MS Royal 10 E IV, folio 96v (detail). Circa 1300-1340.

York Minster Cathedral, Saint William Window, Corpus vitrearum medii aevi no. 010564. Circa 1414.

Here is a video lecture Ariella did for Middle Ages for Educators, called Anatomy of a Duel, about the case of Jean de Carrouges versus Jacques Le Gris, a lawsuit that occurred in Paris in 1386. It’s the subject of the book The Last Duel by Eric Jager, and also of the movie The Last Duel directed by Ridley Scott. This will spoil the movie for you. (Please note, it’s a discussion of a prosecution for rape and some fairly graphic violence.)

https://youtu.be/kxQa1Su-0F4

Ariella is on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ariellaelema

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/frog-dna-and-indonesia-with-pradana/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Pradana Pandu Mahardhika lives in Bandung, Indonesia. He describes himself as a freelance translator/interpreter, amateur tailor, and professional procrastinator. In this episode we talk about how Pradana set up a historical martial arts club, Gwaith-i-Megyr, which was founded in 2016. He had been fencing as part of an informal group for a while, but when he decided to get some wooden swords made up, he found that the enthusiasm was really high, mainly from members of the Tolkien society. There are only three or four formal clubs in the whole of Indonesia, so it is still a small scene, and growth has of course been stalled by Covid. 

We have an interesting chat about languages. Did you know the formal variety of Indonesian has no tenses? Pradana is fluent in four languages, but unfortunately he doesn’t have the knowledge of the Malay Arabic script that would enable him to translate some 16th century Malay sources on using arquebuses. If you have that skill, please get in touch!

More information on the Malay sources can be found here:

• https://www.academia.edu/7070689/Manuskrip_ilmu_bedil_Sumber_etnosejarah_teknologi_senjata_api_Melayu
• https://mowcaparchives.org/items/show/61
• https://jantungmelayu.com/2018/08/kitab-ilmu-bedil-melayu/

It turns out that the treatises aren’t available online, yet.

Pradana is also an archer and a tailor, with ambitions to become a pilot, so we talk about making medieval clothes and flying planes too. Here is a photo of Guy in his wedding suit which he had specially tailored to enable him to wear a sword.

Photo credit: Georgia Bertazzi

Pradana’s blog on military history, fiction writing, historical fencing, and other unrelated subjects is at sillynewsboy.wordpress.com.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 95

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/laser-focus-thought-control-and-jousting-episode95/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Sarah Hay has been jousting since 2008. Just ten years later she won the Queen's Jubilee Horn at the Royal Armouries’ Easter jousting tournament in Leeds. In this episode we find out how Sarah’s passion for jousting came about, her background with horses, getting your own armour, and the vital role that mindset plays in her success.

Sarah casually dropped into conversation that she “controls her thoughts”, and we dig a little deeper into this. It’s a useful listen if you are interested in improving your performance in any area, or just looking to get rid of that negative voice inside your head.

If you would like to see pictures of Sarah in her armour and taking part in tournaments, check out her Instragram @sarahjousts. 

The Toby Capwell episode mentioned can be found here: Episode 76 and the episode on jousting with New Zealand jouster, Callum Forbes, is here: Episode 40.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 94

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/harps-and-sharps-episode94/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dr. Andrew Lawrence-King is a historical musician, harpist, continuo player, baroque opera director, winner of a Grammy in the category of best small ensemble performance. He is also a rapier fencer and Tai Chi practitioner. And I should mention his crowning professional achievement is, of course, providing the harp music for my George Silver Paradoxes of Defence audiobook.

In our conversation we talk about the similarities between researching historical music and historical martial arts. We discuss the search for the one, perfect instrument and the challenges of recreating historically accurate music or swordplay using instruments/swords made with modern techniques.

We also talk about the benefits of getting involved in music or martial arts for those of us who didn’t fit in at school, giving us confidence and a way to move our bodies that doesn’t involve traditional sports, whatever shape we are in.

Andrew’s blog is https://andrewlawrenceking.com and he is on Twitter @Il_Corago.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 93

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/startling-burglars-with-ariel-anderssen/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Ariel Anderssen is a model, actor, author, property investor and is perhaps best known for her career as a BDSM model and performer. She is also mad about swords, both for using in stage fight and for collecting.

We cover a lot in this conversation, including talking about whether stage combat or martial arts training would be any use in a “real life” fight, and how Ariel sees BDSM and sword fighting as virtually indistinguishable from one another. After all, they both often involve black leather and giving someone a good thrashing…

Photos:

Guy’s 1796 pattern cavalry sabre:

Guy’s smallsword:

Here is the link to the Zorro movie with the superb fight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB8tiSMCwRE

To find out more about Ariel, you can find her on her website, YouTube and Twitter.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 92

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/monte-with-mike-episode92/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Mike Prendergast is the founder and head instructor of the Historical Combat Academy in Dublin and translator of Pietro Monte’s Exercitiorum Atque Artis Militaris Collectanea, which is otherwise known as the Collection of Renaissance, Military Arts and Exercises. He also teaches in an SCA group called Dun in Mara.

In our conversation we talk about how you don’t have to be an expert or a professional teacher to set up your own club, which is something many of you may be interested to hear about.

We then get into talking about Pietro Monte – who he was, what he taught and how he died. Mike has been working on translating the Exercitiorum and his 2018 draft of the translation can be found at www.mikeprendergast.ie/monte. The complete version will be available soon, so watch this space.  

Temperantia

Mike's sword Temperantia is pictured above, and below next to a longsword:

On a slight tangent, towards the end of the episode, there’s also a discussion about using NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) in strategic coaching and martial arts training.

Useful links

For more on the SCA and Buhurt, have a listen to the episodes with Stephen Muhlberger, Dayna Berghan-Whyman and Beth Hammer.

Mike’s website: http://mikeprendergast.ie/

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 91

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/forged-in-fire-quenched-in-oil-episode91/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Stephanie Aiuto lives in New York and began her career with blades as a sport fencer, competing at a national level in sabre, until she had to stop because she wore away all the cartilage in her toes. To fill the void the lack of sabre left in her life she took up knife making, and now works at Nazz Forge in Brooklyn, when she’s not doing her sensible day job.

Stephanie’s website is Aiuto Knives and Swords, where you can see examples of her work. She’s also on Instagram at @aiutoknivesandswords.

Here we have pictures of Guy’s pattern welded longsword, set of Narex Richter chisels and his Sgian Dhu:

Chisels are from https://www.classichandtools.com/

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 90

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/swords_in_the_movies_episode90/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Peter Lyon is a swordsmith and weapons maker from New Zealand. He originally started out making swords to use in medieval re-enactment in the 1980s, and was asked to make the swords for the Lord of the Rings movies. Since then Peter has worked on many other film productions with Wētā Workshop including Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Hobbit trilogy, The Last Samurai, and Avatar.

In this fascinating conversation Peter explains some of the tricks and behind the scenes detail about making swords as movie props. You will look at weapons in films in a whole different light after this.

Here’s a picture of Boromir’s sword, which we talk about in the episode, and if you click on this link it’ll take you to the Wētā website which has the dimensions and stats:

Peter’s website is Lyonesse Armoury, which has lots of pictures of Peter’s swords, resources and further reading.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 89

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/wooden-weapons-and-wing-chun-episode89/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

This week’s episode is with Carina Cirrincione of Raven Studios, based in Oracle, Arizona. Carina makes wooden training weapons such as longsword wasters, rondel daggers, and implements for Eastern martial arts. She's also a Tai Chi and Wing Chun practitioner and instructor.

We talk about woodwork, Eastern martial arts, turning a hobby into a business and the challenges involved.

Photos to accompany this episode

This is Guy’s little chest of drawers:

Here’s a photo of a pair of Carina’s Wing Chun Bot Jaam Do, or butterfly swords:

And this is a wooden dummy used in Wing Chun, which Carina describes making:

You can find all Carina’s products at www.little-raven.com and if you’re in the Oracle area and want to train in Wing Chun or Tai Chi, get in touch with her through the website.

Raven Studios is also on Facebook and Instagram.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 88

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/bolognese-episode88/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Joshua Wiest is an instructor at the Triangle Sword Guild, North Carolina, USA. He focuses on the fighting systems of masters Achilles Marozzo, Giovanni dall’Agocchie, Antonio Manciolino, and Camillo Palladini. He's also a successful tournament fencer and host of the historical martial arts podcast l’Arte dell Armi.

In this bumper episode we take a deep dive into these rockstars of 16th century Italian fencing. If you want to know anything about Bolognese fencing, this is the podcast for you.

Here is a link to the Talhoffer treatises on Wiktenauer, as promised.

Joshua’s YouTube channel is here. He is in the process of posting videos for all of Lignitzer's Sword and Buckler plays at the moment, but he managed to get the Palladini play shot for you here: https://youtu.be/DrKzNiGQtqM

Here is Marozzo’s guardia d’intrare, from Guy’s 1568:

And this is a copy of Viggiani’s Tree of Guards:

The Duel of the Century:

The two sword duel between Ascanio and Giovanni Taddei, in which Ascanio appears to be doing Marozzo’s eighth play. You can read about it here: https://guywindsor.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Terminiello-Piermarco-Reich-Steven-Fighting-with-two-swords-according-to-Altoni-and-Docciolini-2013.pdf

F

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 87

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/ballet-for-swordfighters-episode87/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Anna Beard is a historical dancing and ballet and historical fencing instructor at Austin Historical Weapons Guild. She has been dancing since she was four and went on to get her Bachelor of Fine Arts and Dance from the University of Michigan, followed by teaching in studios, and running her own projects, performances and small dance companies. A move to Texas in 2018 ignited a passion for HEMA that has led to her becoming a co-owner of the Austin Historical Weapons Guild.

Anna’s 20 years of teaching dance have given her a love and deep understanding of pedagogy and in our conversation we talk about training teachers and how to teach children or adults. She has taught workshops at events like Swordsquatch on ballet for swordfighters, renaissance dance, and exploring teaching methods.

Whether she manages to change Guy’s mind on his dislike of ballet remains to be seen…

Useful Links:

• The teacher that Anna mentioned as being a huge influence on her is Liz Lerman.
• Austin Historical Weapons Guild is on Twitter and Facebook, as well as other social media platforms.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 86

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/two-handed-swords-episode86/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Hello Sword People! Welcome to the Sword Guy podcast. This is your host, Dr Guy Windsor, consulting swordsman, teacher, and writer. Join me for interviews with historical fencing instructors and experts from a wide range of related disciplines, as we discuss swords, history, training, and bringing the joy of historical martial arts into our modern lives.

As this show is going out on the last day of 2021, I thought I’d share some thoughts about the year gone by, and some ideas for the year ahead. All the links and information can be found in the blog post on my website.

Then, we welcome Neil Melville, author of The Two-Handed Sword History, Design and Use. So of course we talk about two-handed swords. How do we decide what is a true two-handed sword? What is the difference between a longsword, a bastard sword, a zweihander and a montante? And how were these enormous swords used?

Neil has been collecting swords since he bought his first sword in an antique shop in the 1960s. There are some pictures of his beautiful swords in the blog post.

You won’t find Neil on any social media, but you can support him in the good old way of going out and buying his book, which is available in the usual places. The Two-Handed Sword History, Design and Use.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 85

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/the-mathematics-of-fencing-episode85/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Pamela Muir is the founder of the Academy of Chivalric Martial Arts in Arlington, Virginia. She's been doing historical martial arts since about 2003, and I've met her at several events. In this episode we talk about theoretical maths, Liechtenauer, chivalry, and representation for women in HEMA. Pamela also talks about the adult education class she teaches on historical fencing, and what a popular class it has turned out to be.

A couple of things we said would be in the show notes: The Mike Loades interview is episode 48, and it was Dori Coblentz in episode 67 who suggested that there ought to be free childcare at all events.

The web page for Pamela’s Academy of Chivalric Martial Arts is https://academychivalricma.org/ And also on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AcademyChivalricMA/

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 84

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/katanas-and-koryu-episode84/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

This week’s episode is with Jaredd Wilson. Jaredd is the host of the Martial Thoughts podcast, which I appeared on back in January. You can find a link to our “The Pen is Mightier than the Podcast” episode here, or on Stitcher or iTunes. In today’s conversation we talk about what prompted Jaredd to start up the podcast, and the joy of getting to interview interesting people.

Jaredd is also a presenter at CombatCon and a long time practitioner of Japanese swordsmanship and other martial arts. We talk about how Japanese martial arts have evolved over the years and how training works. The conversation also take a slightly unlikely turn when we end up talking about a potential foray into the manufacture of high fashion silk ties.

You can find The Martial Thoughts Podcast on Twitter and The Martial Thoughts blog.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 83

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/swordsmanship-is-woodwork-episode83/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Shanee Nishry is a historical martial arts instructor and founder of Stratford Swords, which is in Stratford-upon-Avon in the West Midlands of England. She's also a software engineer in the games industry. We first interacted when she posted some photos of a very ambitious woodworking projects she's working on, because I'm a complete woodworking nerd and it turns out that Shanee is turning into one too.

A couple of woodworking YouTube links for you:

Xyla Foxlin’s impossible table: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk1l9tIjbEs

More woodworking ideas from Tamar 3X3 Custom: https://www.youtube.com/c/3x3CustomTamar

We also talk about the swordsmanship community and a project Shanee would like to complete which would bring together the community into one cohesive place, where everyone can go to find all the publications and discuss and debate them. We talk about the difficulty in getting alignment on the interpretation of sources, and how to make secondary sources more accessible to everyone.

Shanee can be found on her blog: https://shanee.io/ and Twitter: https://twitter.com/lunarsong

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/your-challenge-for-december-episode82/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Hello Sword People, and welcome to the final monthly challenge of the year. This one is a little different.

Before I introduce it, let me just refresh your memory about what the challenges are. Basically, they are alternatives to New Year's resolutions because I don't like New Year's resolutions very much, and the challenges so far this year have been: breaking a habit, adding a habit, sleeping - in other words, how to sleep better, food, (so eating better,) learning a new skill, working on stamina, working on strength, working on range of motion, working on footwork and working on striking. Now you may very well suppose that this month's challenge will have something to do with perhaps, well, we've done striking, let's have a look at throws. Or we’ve done striking, let's have a look at parrying or something like that. But no, we've done most of the aspects of solo training as I discuss in my book, The Windsor Method: The Principles of Solo Training. So the focus of these challenges is on solo training and rest is part of training. So the question we are addressing this month, December, is how do you recover?

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 81

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/orcs_in_space_episode81/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Content warning: Within this podcast are descriptions of the horrific neglect of very elderly swords.

Edoardo Albert is a London-based writer who writes about Britain in the early medieval period (between the Romans leaving and the Normans arriving), the 40th millennium in the Warhammer universe, and lots of other things besides. Find out more by visiting his website. This podcast is different to usual format in that Edoardo contacted me with a question, and rather than reply by email, I got him on the podcast instead.

We talk about the research project at Bamburgh castle in Northumbria, which sparked Edoardo’s interest in the early medieval period. If you’ve never visited, please do, because it truly is the most impressive castle.

Edoardo’s question relates to two pattern welded swords found at Bamburgh and how they would have been fought with. As you may know, this early medieval period is known as the "Dark Ages" because of a lack of sources relating to the period, and so it is an interesting question to discuss. One thing is for sure, the owners of these swords would have been a lot more proficient with their weapons than even the most dedicated HEMA practitioner today.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 80

Photo credit: The Royal Armouries

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/asian-and-african-arms-and-armour-episode80/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Natasha Bennett is the Curator of Oriental Collections at the Royal Armouries in Leeds, working with the Asian and African collections. These include an enormous spread of arms and armour mostly dating from between the 14th and 20th centuries, so her research interests are necessarily wide-ranging. She has presented specialist study sessions and seminars on mounted warfare in Asia, South Asian arms and armour, Islamic arms and armour, Asian swords, and textiles in Japanese armour.

In our conversation we talk about guns, specifically the “15 Rupee Jezail” and how the popularity of the matchlock mechanism persisted because of its simplicity and functionality, even when elsewhere in the world newer technologies took over.

In case you were wondering, this is what a jezail looks like:

Photo credit: The Royal Armouries

And this is the Tusken Cycler rifle from Star Wars:

We also talk about Natasha’s work with the Anglo Sikh Virtual Museum and the amazing benefits of 3-D technology. You can have a good, close-up, 3-D look at the objects on the museum’s website: https://www.anglosikhmuseum.com/

This leads us into a discussion about the circumstances in which many items ended up in British museum collections, i.e. as colonial loot, which is a tricky issue for museums to navigate.

Listen in to find out whether Indian steel weapons are the best, and also how Natasha plans to get her baby doing horseback archery before they can walk.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 79

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/medieval-myths-mindsword-mounted-combat-episode79/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

This episode is with Jason Kingsley OBE, co-founder and CEO of the games company Rebellion Developments, which also owns 2000 AD. And he's the man behind the YouTube channel Modern History TV starring his horse Warlord, which goes into depth and detail regarding many aspects of medieval life, most notably combat and horsemanship, but also aspects of daily life.

We talk about misconceptions people have about medieval warfare, life, and horsemanship, and how Jason busts some of the myths on Modern History TV. We also chat about how Jason came to start a videogames company, create a YouTube channel and his role as the owner/custodian of 2000AD and the Treasury of British Comics.

Here are a couple of YouTube videos to get started with:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM6abbGll0s Guy and Jason discuss Fiore’s play where one combatant is on horseback and the other is on foot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RsCHNx0cis Jason gets to play with the Mindsword.

Note: It was in Ewart Oakeshott’s book, European Weapons and Armour: From the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution, that he discusses how appalling it seemed when one side started shooting with actual guns, because if that was the case, war could become really dangerous.

Jason is on Twitter: @rebellionjason

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 78

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/improve-your-striking-in-november/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Your challenge for November is to improve your striking. Really, what we are looking at more than anything else is your precision and accuracy, which you can apply to any domain. Someone who drives a car might look at the smoothness of their gear changes, or the precision with which they take a corner. There is no domain in life that this cannot be applied to. Of course, as sword people, we will tend to apply it to swords first, but it is no bad thing to let it leak out into other areas of your life.

Whether you are striking with a fist, a foot, a stick, or a sword, there are fundamental components in common. I’ll cover these in this episode, along with ideas for training, equipment you can utilise, and the use of forms.

The bulk of this episode is taken from my book, The Windsor Method: The Principles of Solo Training, which is available to buy now.

For all the other monthly challenges so far this year, head over to the Challenge of the Month category of my blog. We have covered topics including sleep, getting stronger and more flexible, meditation and more.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 77

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/strategy-and-war-episode77/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dr. Lynette Nusbacher is a Strategist and Devil’s Advocate. Her work has included being a logistics officer in the Canadian Armed Forces, a writer of books such as Bannockburn 1314, a lecturer at Reading University, the senior intelligence advisor to the UK Government Cabinet Office, as well as a TV presenter of various military history shows, and she now runs a management consulting company, Nusbacher and Associates. Of course, most importantly from my perspective, she is also a historical martial arts instructor.

Our conversation covers military strategy, government policy, Clausewitz, Iraq and Afghanistan. We do bring all this back to HEMA and talk about the difference between strategy and tactics and how this applies to fencing. You might also like to hear that Lynette thinks of George Silver as a “bit of a bullshit artist”.

As promised, here is the link to the Rob Roy final duel: https://youtu.be/ERmM5l2ceoY

You can find Lynette on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nusbacher

The Sword Guy Podcast, episode 76

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/armour-of-the-english-knight-episode76/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dr Tobias Capwell has a lifelong love of arms and armour, since being taken to the Met Museum in New York as a small child. He has made this passion into a career and is now the curator of Arms and Armour at the Wallace Collection in London. We talk about how he got the job as a museum curator, including offering his services to the Met Museum at the tender age of twelve.

If you are in the vicinity of London and are interested in seeing the wonderful Wallace Collection, or if you are far away but want to check out the online content, have a look on their website. And here is a video by Toby from The Wallace Collection, Armour as Renaissance Art.

In our conversation Toby tells us how he came to be one of two mounted knights in armour escorting the procession at the recent re-burial of Richard III, whose remains were found buried under a car park in Leicester, in the East Midlands of England. Click on the link for a YouTube video covering the event.

We talk about Toby’s ground breaking research into English stone funerary effigies that depict armour in exquisite detail, including showing repairs and bits which don’t match the rest of the armour. This research formed his Ph.D. and then became his trilogy of books, Armour of the English Knight. His eagerly awaited second book, Armour of the English Knight 1450-1500 is out now. His first book is sold out so get your hands on this one quick!

A couple more links:

• Toby’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tobiascapwell
• How Real Is It? on YouTube, with Toby on the treatment of medieval arms and armour in cinema. It’s very entertaining!

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 75

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/youtube-lauren-danger-episode75/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Lauren Shaw is from Calgary, Canada and is a founder of the Calgary Fellowship of the Sword, where they practice 14th – 19th century martial arts, including longsword, sword and buckler, and - since Covid social distancing rules came in - quarterstaff.

Lauren is also known for her YouTube videos as Lauren Danger Adventure Ranger, where Lauren posts videos on just about every single historical martial arts topic imaginable, and each one of them starts with a rhyme. We talk about Lauren’s skill for rhyming and why she includes them in her videos, as well as her passion for welcoming people into the HEMA world.

The answer to the usual question of “what would you do with a million pounds to improve historical martial arts worldwide?” is one that really got me thinking and is an excellent and potentially very doable suggestion.

You can find Lauren on Twitter, and of course, YouTube.

As mentioned in the introduction, you can access Guy’s new Sword and Buckler course with the 50% discount (expires on Wednesday 20th October) at www.guywindsor.net/buckler. Don’t miss out!

The Sword Guy Podcast Episode 74

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/hope-and-black-powder-episode74/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Milo Thurston is the founder of the Linacre School of Defence in Oxford, UK. He’s an absolute bastard with a single stick and a leading expert in the work of Sir William Hope. In our conversation we talk about the essence of Hope’s New Method of Fencing and what is so good about it.

We also talk about Napoleonic battle reenactment, being late to class, Ken Monschein’s PhD, and why Milo would use Guy’s imaginary millions to pay off his mortgage.

Milo’s books:

A Newer, Shorter and Easier Method of Fencing

Defence in the Street: Translated from Jean-Joseph Renaud's La Defense dans la Rue (Amazon Kindle edition)

Link to The Linacre School of Defence, which has Hope’s works and poetry, plus works from other masters from the period.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/october-challenge-episode73/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Today’s episode is your October Challenge. This year I have been setting a different challenge every month, as I really don't like New Year's resolutions, and it struck me that there was an opportunity for self-development and self-improvement that we were missing by making these nebulous resolutions at pretty much the worst point in the year to make any kind of changes. It's right after Christmas and if you're in the northern hemisphere, it’s in the middle of winter. Not a great time to be trying to make a resolution that's going to last all year. So instead, we have a different challenge every month.

So far we have looked at breaking and making habits, prioritising sleep, prioritising food, learning a new skill, stamina and strength. Last month we looked at improving our range of motion. If you want to have a look back at all of those monthly challenges, you can go to guywindsor.net/blog and look at the category called “Challenge of the Month”.

Your challenge this month is to improve your footwork. And I borrowed this from my new book, The Windsor Method, The Principles of Solo Training, which you should definitely go and buy, of course, at guywindsor.net/solo.

There is a transcription of this episode on my website for you to read at your leisure.

The Sword Guy Podcast, episode 72

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/viruses-and-bats-episode72/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Emilia Skirmuntt runs the Oxford branch of The School of the Sword, and in this episode we talk about running a school with different branches and specialisations, and improving diversity and inclusivity within historical martial arts schools.

Emilia is also a virologist at the University of Oxford, which brings up some topical questions about a certain virus. We talk about her fascinating research into virus-like genes in bat genomes and some truly game-changing theories about memories and consciousness.

Emilia has started a cookery blog, called The Corgi, The Princess and The Kitchen, which we also chat about in the podcast. The molecular gastronomy book that Guy refers to is: On Food And Cooking: The Science And Lore Of The Kitchen by Harold McGee.

You can find Emilia on Twitter @ESkirmuntt, or look out for her on Sky News and other news outlets where she is frequently interviewed about the pandemic.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 71

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/talking-tempo-episode71/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Today’s episode is a bit different to the usual format. Dr Cornelius Berthold, who is a well-known historical fencing instructor in Hamburg, Germany, contacted me because he is doing a series of YouTube videos on the topic of tempo and had some questions for me.

We had never met or spoken before, but Cornelius very kindly agreed to have the discussion in the form of a podcast, so that you all can listen in to two absolute tempo geeks geeking out about tempo.

Here’s a link to Cornelius’s fencing school in Hamburg, Dimicator Schola, and the Dimicator Schola YouTube channel.

Rachel Bown-Williams

Ruth Cooper-Brown

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/guns-blood-and-swords-episode70/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Ruth Cooper-Brown and Rachel Bown-Williams are the founders of RC-Annie, the UK’s leading dramatic violence company, specialising in training, fight direction and intimacy direction for stage and screen. They hire out guns and swords (not to just anyone!) They are also purveyors of fake blood; thick or thin, “splat or spurt”, depending on your needs.

When creating a fight, Ruth and Rachel like it to look real and messy and painful, and in our conversation we talk about good fight scenes and bad, and why so many films show great unarmed combat, but are absolutely terrible as soon as the actor picks up a weapon. We also talk about sex, or rather what intimacy direction is for, and the difference between the ways sex and violence are portrayed on screen.

Here's a showreel of some of the fights RC-Annie have directed: https://youtu.be/yg3WMXRt3P0

For more on intimacy direction, you can also listen to episode 9 with Siobhan Richardson.

RC-Annie’s website: https://www.rc-annie.com/

Their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqBl-eaYxK0KN5b_j_RZ8Aw

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/monthly-challenge-get-more-flexible-in-september/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Your challenge this month is to engage with your ranges of motion. Much of this episode is adapted from my new book The Windsor Method: The Principles of Solo Training.

You can follow along with a pre-recorded flexibility-based training session at:

Guywindsor.net/hamstrings

Guywindsor.net/trainalong

The Sword Guy Podcast, episode 69

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/love-poems-to-welsh-bucklers-episode69/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Paul Wagner has been involved in historical swordsmanship since the 1990s, and was present at the first night of the Stoccata School of Defence in 1998, a HEMA school which now has several branches in Australia. Paul is a Provost at Stoccata, teaching courses in Single Sword according to George Silver, Highland Broadsword according to Thomas Page, Sword and Buckler according to I.33, Rapier according to Joseph Swetnam, English quarterstaff and English longsword. He has written many books and articles on the subject too.

This week’s episode is a must-listen for all sorts of talk about about bum daggers, Swetnam the woman hater, fighting while half drunk, or how you could go about leaving your body to HEMA.

But first, here’s a link to the love poem to the Welsh Buckler: https://guywindsor.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Welsh-Bucklers.pdf

Welsh buckler https://collections.royalarmouries.org/object/rac-object-2645.html Shield - Buckler (1540) From Wrexham, Wales. Located at the Leeds, Self Defence Gallery, UK. Royal Armouries.

We cover quite a lot in this conversation, and there are a few accompanying links:

Paul’s new armoured jacket: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHcgIAD583A

The McHowarth "Fencing" text - i.e. the missing Art of Defence on Foot - is going to be on https://stephen-hand.selz.com/. It’s not up yet but hopefully soon. There'll be some kind of nominal fee to cover the cost of the platform.

Alehouse Dagger article: https://stoccata.org/2017/05/14/english-knife-fighting-the-alehouse-dagger/ 

Alehouse Dagger Video: https://youtu.be/bTNbpoqgYkE 

English Buckler videos: 

• https://youtu.be/uaMVpzP2aSU
• https://youtu.be/U2Ym9GynDBM
• https://youtu.be/lBkqTK_0_Qw

Comparison of Dagger and Buckler: 

• https://youtu.be/pM4ZmRgJV0M

English Longsword videos: 

• https://youtu.be/VB3kt3y7EPU
• https://youtu.be/ZO52-watCOM
• https://youtu.be/oP_Ay-Bkgr8
• https://youtu.be/PW-e_gt7p5M

Articles on English Longsword: 

• “Common Themes in the Fighting Tradition of the British Isles” in Late Medieval and Early Modern Fight Books, Brill (2016) 
• “English Longsword: a Tactical Approach” in In the Service of Mars, Vol. II   Proceedings from the Western Martial Arts Workshop 1999–2009, Volume II (2015) 
• “Hawks, Rabbits, and Tumbling Cats: An Analysis of English Longsword Terminology” in In the Service of Mars. Vol. I Proceedings from the Western Martial Arts Workshop 1999–2009, Volume I(2011) 

The Sword Guy Podcast, episode 67

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/classical-fencing-digital-pedagogy-episode67/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

This week’s episode is with Dr Dori Coblenz, lecturer in Communications at Georgia Tech, specialising in early modern English drama, digital pedagogy and the history of fencing. She's the author of many papers and the book Fundamentals of Italian Rapier: a modern manual for teachers and students of historical fencing, with David Coblentz.

In our conversation we talk about the differences between classical Italian fencing and historical fencing. Dori’s passion is for teaching teachers, geeking out about sources and how we apply that to teaching contexts.  

When it comes to swords, is there is anything at all that is better taught online than in person? Dori makes some great points about the benefits of online teaching, and has some great ideas for how to make using digital media more effective: a must-listen for anyone who teaches or has an interest in pedagogy.  

Dori’s website: http://www.doricoblentz.com/

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 66

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/swashbuckling-episode66/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Sebastien de Castell lives a life of music, adventure and swordplay. He is the author of the Greatcoats series, which is full of sword action, and the Spellslinger series, which features magic finger guns!

For all Sebastien’s books, see here: https://decastell.com/all-books/

In this episode we talk about how to write a great sword fight for stage, screen and literature, including these two classic scenes:

• Inigo and Westley in The Princess Bride
• The first duel in The Duellists

Sebastien’s ulterior motive for coming on the podcast was to ask Guy’s opinion on how a rapier might be modified to contain a pistol. Have a listen and see if you agree or have a better idea of how it could be done.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 65

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/the-armoured-knight-episode65/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dr. Amanda Taylor is a Research Fellow at the Oakeshott Institute and a Research Affiliate at the Center for Early Modern History, University of Minnesota. She is the author of several academic papers such as The Body of Law: Bodies, Combat and Rhetoric in Sir Thomas Mallory's Quest for Justice and the forthcoming Domesticating War: Women, Medicine and Military Activity in Premodern Europe. She has presented at conferences on topics such as martial women and political power in Shakespeare's history plays and battlefield wounds and treatment in English and Italian sixteenth century epic romances and surgical practise. As well as all that, she works for a medical equipment company.

In our conversation we cover lady knights, battlefield wounds, PTSD in returning soldiers, academic publishing, and more. It’s quite a wide ranging one!

These are the books recommended in this episode:

• Tamora Pierce: Song of the Lioness Quartet
• Edmund Spenser: The Faerie Queene
• Ludovico Ariosto: Orlando Furioso
• Matteo Maria Boiardo: Orlando Innamorato
• Elizabeth Lev: The Tigress of Forli: The Life of Caterina Sforza

More information on Amanda’s Ph.D., Fabricating the Martial Body: Anatomy Affect and Armour in Early Modern England and Italy, can be found here: https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/206363

Amanda has a love for armour, and her favourite is the Lion Armour, which can be found at the Royal Armouries: https://collections.royalarmouries.org/object/rac-object-34482.html

Here’s Guy’s favourite Avant Armour: https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/collections/collection-highlights/avant-armour

Amanda mentions Craig Johnson a few times, and if you would like to listen again to his episode, it’s episode 33.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 64

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

My interview today is with Malcolm Fare, who is a collector of historical fencing books, a fencer himself and proprietor of the National Fencing Museum in the UK. The museum houses a library of over 300 books, 250 paintings and prints, 200 weapons, numerous masks, kit, trophies, posters, programmes, medals, stamps, postcards and other ephemera. You can click through on the museum’s website to see photos of the items.

In 2017 I spent three days at the National Fencing Museum with a decent camera and a book-photography rig, taking hi-res images of the cream of their amazing collection of treatises, with the kind assistance of James Hester, and Malcolm himself. Here is a link to the Senese: https://guywindsor.net/2018/06/the-last-of-the-bolognese-seneses-the-true-handling-of-the-sword-yours-free/ and De La Touche: https://guywindsor.net/2017/07/the-true-principles-of-the-sword/

In the interview I mention the photos I took of McBane’s The Expert Sword Man’s Companion. They are sadly still in a disorderly state on my hard drive, and not yet fit to share. If anyone would like to organise them, please get in touch!

Listen to this episode to hear how Malcolm got his hands on some of his favourite books. It’s a wonderful tale involving auctions, barons, and chance encounters.

You can get in touch with Malcolm and arrange a visit to the National Fencing Museum at http://www.fencingmuseum.com/

Guy’s new book, as mentioned in the intro, can be found at www.guywindsor.net/solo 

The Sword Guy Podcast, episode 62

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/drawing-swords-episode62/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Yael Nathan is a comic artist who draws swords as part of her Warriors series. She has also worked with IDW on several Star Wars comics. Find her work at https://elcomics.gumroad.com/# and https://yaeln.com.

Yael is also the author of the Serpent webcomic. https://tapas.io/series/Serpent/info and https://www.facebook.com/SerpentWebcomic Serpent is the story of a girl born into a guild that does not accept her, in a land where women are no more than property. Through determination and deceit, she leaves her home and infiltrates the assassin’s guild, rises up through the ranks to become the king’s personal assassin; only to be betrayed and extradited to the enemy land of Dane, where she’ll fall in love and help bring about a revolution in her homeland.

We talk about her grandfather’s Kris sword. Here are some photos of it:

In our conversation we mention Gunpowder Milkshake, the new film written by Yael’s friend and collaborator, Ehud Lavski: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8368408/

Guy’s new book, as mentioned in the intro, can be found at guywindsor.net/solo

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/your-challenge-for-august-get-stronger/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Your challenge for August is to get stronger, following the principles of conditioning as described in Guy Windsor's new book, The Windsor Method. In this episode Guy reads the chapter aloud for you (with minor changes).

The Sword Guy Podcast Episode 61

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/steven-pressfield-episode-61/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Steven Pressfield is the author of The Legend of Bagger Vance, The Gates of Fire, The War of Art, and many other novels and non-fiction titles about writing. His latest book is A Man at Arms, and he has a YouTube channel in which he investigates the warrior archetype.

In our conversation we discuss what it takes to become an overnight success. We also talk about writing about Spartans, what a sword actually is, the rules of war and what happens when those rules are broken.

Steven has written film scripts for both Steven Seagal and Dolph Lundgren (amongst others). Listen to this episode to find out who he thinks would win in a fight between the two men.

A Man At Arms is Steven’s new book. We talk about this, of course, and the MacGuffin in the story. From Steven’s website: “A Man at Arms starts with Telamon, the seemingly amoral mercenary of the ancient world, accepting an assignment from Rome to intercept and destroy a certain letter bound from Ephesus in Asia Minor to Corinth in Greece.”

Steven has a very different answer to the usual question of “what is the best idea you have never acted upon?” which is well worth a listen.   

www.stevenpressfield.com

Guy’s new book, as mentioned in the intro, can be found at www.guywindsor.net/solo  

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/pirates-and-batons-episode60/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

This week’s guest is Julie Olson, senior instructor at the Athena School of Arms in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a director of the Iron Gate Exhibition, the largest New England historical martial arts event. She's also well-known on the longsword tournament circuit. Julie was placed 7th in the Longsword Triathlon at Longpoint 2019, the highest ranking woman in that event. In our chat we get into the nitty gritty of running a club and competing in tournaments.

We also talk about Julie’s really fun idea of creating a pirate ship LARP and her current favourite niche weapon, the Italian baton from Giuseppe Cerri’s 1854 treatise. Here's the playlist Julie mentions in the show from Zsolt Sander: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFo_vW1NCyGRA1xWzn5fqn6PI_lV2mKQE You can clearly see how each movement is performed.

If stick fighting is your thing, also check out episode 38 of the podcast, with Jessica Gomez, where we talk about Portuguese stick fighting, Jogo do Pau: https://guywindsor.net/2021/03/portuguese-party-weapons-episode38/

For the Athena School of Arms: http://athenaschoolofarms.org/

The Iron Gate Exhibition: http://www.irongateexhibition.com/

Guy’s new book, as mentioned in the intro, can be found at guywindsor.net/solo

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 59

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/who-whacked-talhoffer-epsiode59/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

This episode is with Dierk Hagedorn, who is something of a legend in our community. He is a translator and author of very many books. Last summer he had seven new books on the go at once. Dierk has translated and produced scholarly editions of Gladiatoria and Lecküchner’s Messer fencing treatise, Peter von Danzig’s manuscript, Albrecht Dürer, and many more.

Last year, when Dierk was working on a translation and transcription with Christian Tobler, he discovered a passage which somebody had taken great pains to try and erase. With a lot of detective work and perseverance, he discovered that the deleted passage referred to Hans Talhoffer being sliced in the hand and whacked on the head. We discuss why it might have been deleted, and why it was there in the first place.

And of course, I have to quote Dierk when he said “Liechtenauer possibly wasn’t that good.” You’ll have to listen to the episode to find out the context of that!

Useful Links

• Dierk Hagedorn on Wiktenauer
• Dierk Hagedorn design
• Hammaborg Historischer Schwertkampf
• Dierk’s YouTube channel

Guy’s new book, as mentioned in the intro, can be found at guywindsor.net/solo

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 58

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/lightsaber-twirling-episode58/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Jill Bearup is a stage combatant, YouTuber and a lightsaber twirler. I first came across her work through her YouTube channel critiquing swordfights in TV and movies, which is here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRrvZqCL1YsqRA8IpXrhYQQ. Jill loves pretending to fight people on stage and screen and her videos cover how a good fight can add to the story being told, and also, in case you need it, how to sword fight in a dress.

You can find her online at www.patreon.dot.com/JillBearup and her website is www.jillbearup.com.

In our conversation we talk a lot about Star Wars and lightsabers. The lightsabers Jill has are from Saberzone www.saberzonecosplay.com.

To watch the Kylo Ren and Rey Throne Room fight with all that random twirling from the Red Guards, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4cugJ7JzvM

We don’t just talk about Star Wars, we discuss other swordfights on the big and small screen. This is a favourite of ours; the final duel in Rob Roy, with Liam Neeson and Tim Roth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERmM5l2ceoY. It’s not all good though, we also talk about the sword fighting in Game of Thrones.

You might be interested in Jill’s YouTube channel for hair tutorials, where she recreates hair styles from film, including Princess Leia’s braids: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSCElWJIZPQnf4_ZuGpI8RA

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/monthly-challenge-breathe-better-in-july-the-sword-guy-episode-57/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Your monthly challenge for July 2021: breathe better.

For more on this subject, please see The Theory and Practice of Historical Martial Arts, also available as an audiobook read by Kelley Costigan. Or the try my online course, Fundamentals: Breathing, which covers much of my breathing practice. It’s included with the monthly subscription package, and with the Solo Training course. The first class is available as part of my free Human Maintenance course. 

Episode 56

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/persian-martial-arts-episode56/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Manouchehr Moshtagh Khorasani is a Frankfurt-based museum analyst, university professor, author of many books and over one hundred and eighty articles on the historical martial arts of Iran. He is a highly skilled martial artist and is currently waiting for the pandemic to be over so he can get his third Dan black belt in Kyokushin Karate.

Manouchehr is a highly skilled wrestler, and in this episode we talk about the importance of wrestling in Iranian culture, and how it is an integral part of his Razmafzar school of Iranian/Persian martial arts, which also uses swords, shields, knives, spears and bows.

https://youtu.be/Q-jOZRoOyR8 Here is a video of some of the weapons used in the Razmafzar system.

You can find Manouchehr online at https://www.moshtaghkhorasani.com/, where you will find a really extraordinary range of articles and resources on Persian martial arts. His books include The Lexicon of Arms and Armour from Iran; Persian Archery and Swordsmanship: Historical Martial Arts of Iran; and Arms and Armor from Iran: The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period.

There are lots of videos of Razmafzar in action on Manouchehr’s Facebook and Instagram pages, and there is absolutely loads of content on RazmafzarTV’s YouTube channel, including both Persian weapons, armour, archery and martial arts, and also Manouchehr’s swimming, solo training and Kyokushin katas, which we talk about in the second half of the episode.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 55

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/shakespeare-and-silver-epsiode55/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Ben Crystal is an actor, author, producer, and explorer of original practices in Shakespeare rehearsal and production. In this episode we talk about Ben’s work in exploring how actors would have rehearsed, staged, and performed Shakespeare’s plays in the 16th century, and how the original rhymes and pronunciation would have sounded. It makes for a completely different experience to what we think of as “Shakespearean” in modern times. Even if you aren’t into Shakespeare this is a fascinating conversation about theatre, memory, language, and of course, swords.

Which leads us on to George Silver. Find out what Ben thinks of Silver and whether he would have wanted to go to the pub with him. For those of you unaware of our project, in 1599 George Silver published his Paradoxes of Defence, offering a window into the Tudor and medieval martial arts as practiced in England. I am bringing that book to life in glorious audio, both in modern pronunciation (narrated by Jonathan Hartman), and Original Pronunciation (narrated by Ben Crystal).  Renowned historical harpist Andrew Lawrence-King is providing the musical punctuation. You can support the project here: www.guywindsor.net/silver and listen to a sample of Ben’s original pronunciation towards the end of the episode here: https://guywindsor.net/2021/05/paradoxes-of-defence-in-audio/.

Visit Ben Crystal’s website at www.bencrystal.com and find him on Twitter @bencrystal.

The Sword Guy Podcast, episode 54

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/movement-matters-with-katy-bowman/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Bestselling author, speaker, and a leader in the Movement movement, biomechanist Katy Bowman has been changing the way we move and think about our need for movement. Her eight books, including the groundbreaking “Move Your DNA” and “Movement Matters” have been translated into more than a dozen languages worldwide. Bowman teaches movement globally and speaks about sedentarism and movement ecology to academic and scientific audiences. Her work has been featured in diverse media such as the Today Show, CBC Radio One, the Seattle Times, and Good Housekeeping. One of Maria Shriver’s “Architects of Change” and an America Walks “Woman of the Walking Movement”, Katy has worked with companies like Patagonia, Nike and Google as well as a wide range of non-profits and other communities, sharing her “move more, move more body parts, move more for what you need” message.  Her movement education company, Nutritious Movement, is based in Washington State, where she lives with her family. 

In our conversation we talk about form, feet, injuries, and Jess Finley’s ‘hooky’ acromion process (it’s part of your shoulder). When you use swords, or do any other sport, the movements - or lack of - that you do all of the rest of the time when you are not doing swords create your ability to move freely and effectively with a sword in your hand. What is your body doing when it is not doing swords?

We mention Ruth Goodman’s book, How to be a Tudor. You can find out more here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/287/287072/how-to-be-a-tudor/9780241973714.html and listen to our podcast episode here: https://guywindsor.net/2021/04/fire-and-cauldrons-episode44/

If the section on barefoot shoes inspires you, check out Freet shoes https://freetbarefoot.com Use this code at checkout: THESWORDGUY10 to get 10% off- and if you do, I’ll also get a small commission. Yay!

The author mentioned when we are talking about Finland is Robert Holdstock, the Mythago Wood series.

We also discuss sedentary culture, what it’s doing to us and our kids, and how we might improve our environment to make movement more likely. Human movement is at an all-time low and our children are currently facing both a movement and nature deficiency, with physical, mental and environmental consequences.  The good news is, while the problem feels massive, the solution is quite simple…and fun! Katy’s forthcoming book, “Grow Wild: The Whole-Child, Whole-Family, Nature-Rich Guide to Moving More” is out in the UK on 24th June, SRP £24.99, published by Propriometrics Press; distributed by Chelsea Green Publishing. 

On Bookshop UK: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/grow-wild-the-whole-child-whole-family-nature-rich-guide-to-moving-more/9781943370160

On amazon UK.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grow-Wild-Whole-Child-Whole-Family-Nature-Rich/dp/1943370168/ref=sr_1_1?crid=29X0ZIYTB1DAG&dchild=1&keywords=grow+wild+book+katy+bowman&qid=1615844073&sprefix=grow+wild%2Caps%2C225&sr=8-1

Katy’s web/social media links:

https://www.nutritiousmovement.com

https://www.facebook.com/NutritiousMovement/

https://www.instagram.com/nutritiousmovement/

The Sword Guy Podcast, episode 53

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/turning-the-tables-episode53/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

To celebrate a whole year of The Sword Guy Podcast, we are going right back to where it all began, with Jess Finley. Except this time the tables are turned and it’s Jess interviewing me! In our wide-ranging conversation we talk about my history of antiques restoration and starting a sword school. We also talk in depth about flipping hierarchies on their head to give students what they want, and how to deal with those rare students who roll their eyes at our teaching. Jess also gets to ask the now very familiar question: "What’s the best idea you have never acted upon?”

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/challenge-of-the-month-meditate-in-june/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

For a free meditation class, see: https://swordschool.teachable.com/p/free-courses-human-maintenance-longsword-rapier

And check out the Paradoxes of Defence audiobook here: guywindsor.net/silver

Episode 52

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/the-sparkle-school-episode52/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Claire Wemyss lives in Vancouver and is a coach, educator, and co-founder of Kunst des Funkelns, which focusses on the martial arts of medieval Germany and runs from Valkyrie Western Martial Arts Assembly. In this episode, Claire describes how she and her training partner Jon Mills came up with the name of Kunst des Funkelns, her love for the Messer, and why play-based learning is so important. 

Claire is also an ADHD coach, and towards the end of our conversation, she describes how coaches can best work with neurodivergent students, and how neurodivergent students themselves can self-advocate to ensure they get the most out of the learning environment.

Useful links:

• Kunst des Funkelns on Instagram. 
• I said in the episode I would post a link to Foametheus Forge, but they don’t appear to be in business any more.
• Episode 5 with Kaja Sadowski
• Episode 23 with Da’Mon Stith

Episode 51

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/mines-and-mimeographs-episode51/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Professor Steven Muhlberger is an absolute legend in the historical martial arts community and is a 50 year veteran of the SCA. In this episode we talk about the very early days of the SCA, and how newsletters were vital in spreading the word.

His books are foundationally important for anyone who is studying medieval martial arts, and they include Deeds of Arms, Jousts and Tournaments, Formal Combat in the Fourteenth Century, Royal Jousts, Murder, Rape and Treason: Judicial Combat in the Late Middle Ages and all sorts of other titles too. You can find more information at http://smuhlberger.weebly.com/

As you can see from the list of book titles, Steven is something of an expert in chivalric combat in the 14th century, and in our conversation he describes some that took place in France, and his favourite story of the Duke of Bourbon fighting some English roughnecks in a tiny mine, which led to a great result for all involved.

Read more from Steven in Muhlberger's World History blog:  http://smuhlberger.blogspot.com/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/paradoxes-of-defence-in-audio/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

guywindsor.net/silver

In 1599 George Silver, gentleman, published his Paradoxes of Defence, which lambastes the outlandish (i.e. foreign) Italian rapier fencing that was becoming popular in England, and offers an extraordinary window into the medieval martial arts that the rapier was superceding.

Whatever you think about Silver, or rapier fencing, his book is simply essential reading for all historical martial artists. It is one of the few historical fencing sources that doesn't rely on images, so it struck me that it would make an excellent audiobook. Why not listen to Silver in the car, while cooking, doing housework, or whatever else?

And, why not have him read not only in our modern pronunciation, but also in Original pronunciation?

I hired Jonathan Hartman to do a modern narration, and Ben Crystal to do the Original pronunciation. Renowned historical harpist Andrew Lawrence-King is providing the musical punctuation.

This project provides Silver's work in an accessible format, and an unmissable opportunity to compare and contrast the two versions.
If you are a sword person, a historian, a linguist, re-enactor or a Shakespeare fan, this is for you.

I've put together a crowdfunding campaign to help raise funds to pay for the rest of the work. If you think this is a good idea, please support it! 

The Sword Guy Podcast, episode 50

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/revolution-cooking-knitting-episode50/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

It’s the 50th episode! This week I’m in conversation with Monica Gaudio, known in the SCA as Illadore de Bedegrayne, and she is a cook, fencer, Marshal, Seneschal, knitter, Laurel and Master of Defence. We get into what all those titles mean in the episode.

Monica has been studying medieval cookery for 30 years, with a mostly hands-on approach, i.e. trying to feed anywhere from 40 to 150 people at feast or dinner in the most "period" way possible. She is known for an internet furore concerning a plagiarised apple pie recipe, which kicked off a massive “nerd rage”. So much so, there is a Wikipedia page about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooks_Source_infringement_controversy

Here's the medieval cooking website that Monica manages: http://www.godecookery.com/godeboke/godeboke.htm

When we talk about knitting, the book mentioned is this one:

https://www.amazon.com/History-Hand-Knitting-Richard-Rutt/dp/0979607345 and this is what a Monmouth Cap looks like:

(Image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monmouth_cap)

As well as medieval cookery and knitting, we discuss the antagonism between the SCA and HEMA communities, and go into a bit of detail about how the SCA is structured and what all the different titles mean. Monica is an accomplished fencer, currently ranked 35th, and she shares her techniques for getting into the right mindset for the many tournaments that she competes in. For more on mindset, check out my Solo Training course, which Monica very kindly recommends: https://swordschool.teachable.com/p/solo-training

And finally, listen to the end to hear about the revolution Monica is starting in the SCA, and the wider historical martial arts world. To join her, contact Monica on: [email protected]

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/the-progression-of-teacher-training-in-swordschool/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Teaching well is a skill that can be learned. In this in-between-isode, I give you the key to teaching teachers.

If you have a student who has expressed an interest in teaching, how can you empower them to become a good teacher?

This episode covers essentials such as:

• Avoiding burnout
• Giving feedback
• How to teach and structure a class, take responsibility, and broaden their skills

This was prepared for one of my Coaches’ Corner sessions. Coaches’ Corner sessions are a monthly get together at 3pm (UK time) on the second Saturday of each month. Each session has a theme, and we have a discussion and Q&A session afterwards. It is a really useful environment for both those who are interested in teaching and those who have decades of experience. If that sounds like your sort of thing, feel free to join us. You can find the link to the sessions at www.guywindsor.net/coaching.

The Sword Guy Podcast, episode 48

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/mike-loades-episode48/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Best known as a television presenter and for his appearances as a historical weapons specialist and military historian in over one hundred tv documentaries, Mike also works as a tv director, a writer and as a consultant and film-maker for the video games industry. If you've been swinging swords, certainly in Britain at least, at any point in the last 30 years, you'll certainly have heard of him.

He has had three major books published, Swords and Swordsmen, War Bows and Dogs: Working Origins and Traditional Tasks, with more commissioned books in the pipeline (about horses). Other works include The Longbow, The Crossbow and The Composite Bow for Osprey and he was a primary contributor to The Worldwide History of Warfare (Thames and Hudson) and to ‘Masters of the Steppe: The Impact of the Scythians and Later Nomad Societies of Eurasia’ (Archeopress).

In our conversation we cover galloping a Roman chariot through central London, war bows, dogs, castles, and what it was like doing historical martial arts before it became popular. Mike has many incredible stories and insights from his long career, which I am sure you will enjoy as much as I did.

As a taster, have a watch of this video showing some of his horsemanship and archery skills:

https://player.vimeo.com/video/412913409

This video and many more can be found on Mike’s website: http://www.mikeloades.com/

The Mike Loades YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC39m9qw0F45UaMWlug0sbGg

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/may-challenge-skill/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Last month’s challenge (Eat Well in April) was difficult for many people, mostly because food is such an emotional subject. Personally, I spent the month avoiding starch and sugar, which has helped with energy levels, weight management, and especially my reflux problem. I’ve also been adhering more closely to a 16:8 intermittent fasting routine, which is also better for my reflux.

The odd thing is that though the house is full of Nutella, chocolate (I haven’t had my easter eggs yet), crisps, bread, etc., it’s actually been really easy to stay off them. I don’t know why, but I think planning ahead and making sure that there were starch and sugar free alternatives ready beforehand was really helpful. I’m planning on relaxing things a bit (those easter eggs need eating) but keeping off the starch most of the time, especially at breakfast.

So what’s next for May?

You already know how to break a habit and make a habit, and you’re hopefully sleeping better and eating better. So you are perfectly placed to start learning something new.

That’s the challenge: learn a new skill. It can be anything: pick up a language on Duolingo. Knitting. Sewing yourself a shirt. Playing the lute. Or the flute. Flying a plane. You can make it something useful if you like (one of the best decisions I ever made was learning to touch-type (described here: Artist and Slugs, Typing Too)), but what I have in mind is something fun, whatever fun looks like to you.
Ideally, this will put you into that arse-clenchingly frustrating “oh goddess why won’t my fingers do what they’re supposed to” beginners’ experience. So, if you’re already an accomplished woodworker, learning to carve might not give you that. But sewing might. Wood stays still- cloth moves about all over the bloody place!

Getting right outside your comfort zone and putting in the time to get past that first dip is the point of this exercise. I’d ask that you commit to a regular practice schedule for the month. You can quit at the end of the month if it turns out to be not fun, or not a useful skill, but just a month should be enough for you to get the hit of beginneriness (yes, that is a word, I just wrote it) that will deliver the benefits. Those benefits are:
1. Neuroplasticity- which is just the fancy way of saying your brain making new connections and rewiring itself. This is the fundamental biological process that is learning. You get better at it the more you do it.
2. Empathy for beginners. This is especially useful for instructors, who may forget what it was like to be totally clueless at the art they are trying to teach.
3. Fun, and the satisfaction of seeing progress. You’ll probably never progress quite so far so quickly as in that first month, when you go from “this is all totally unfamiliar” to “this is really hard but I can do this first small thing”.
As always with my challenges, there are no hard and fast limits. You’ll know if you’re taking the soft option, or cheating.
Here’s one idea you may not have considered. I saw this last week when one of my students sent it to me (thanks Jason!): toe yoga.

https://vimeo.com/200836488

Have fun with that!

Episode 46

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/people-like-us-daniele-cybulskie-episode46/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

As a writer, professor, TEDx speaker, and podcaster, Danièle has been making the Middle Ages fun, entertaining, and accessible for over a decade. She is the author of Life in Medieval Europe: Fact and Fiction, and The Five-Minute Medievalist, which debuted at the top of Amazon’s Canadian charts, as well as the forthcoming How to Live Like a Monk: Medieval Wisdom for Modern Life. Through her featured articles at Medievalists.net, as well as those she’s written for several international magazines, Danièle’s work has reached over a million readers worldwide. Danièle is also the creator and host of The Medieval Podcast, a weekly show on which she interviews experts on the Middle Ages about a wide variety of topics.

In this episode, we share some of the questions we get asked, like, “Were swords sharp?” or, “Did medieval people love their children?” Danièle is passionate about dispelling some of the myths many of us grew up with about this time period, as well as helping people to realise that Middle Ages folk were human beings, with exactly the same loves, fears, and feelings as you or I.

We also discuss Danièle’s online course, The Medieval Masterclass for Creators, which is designed to provide novelists, game developers, and other fiction creators with information about various aspects of medieval life, such as what a drinking cup looked like, what the texture is of a piece of medieval linen, or what medieval life sounded like.

You can follow her on Twitter @5MinMedievalist or visit her website, danielecybulskie.com.

Episode 45

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/swords-and-historical-handcrafts-episode45/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Bill Grandy is a long time professional historical martial arts instructor at the Virginia Academy of Fencing (VAF) in the United States, and also a historical handcrafter making beautiful scabbards and shields and things. Check out his website at www.historicalhandcrafts.com.

In this episode we talk about lots of different aspects of being a sword person, including teaching professionally and as an amateur; getting to play with antique swords and the work of the Oakeshott Institute; and owning Michael Chidester’s wonderful facsimiles of medieval manuscripts. We also talk about getting books written and published (or not), and how a sport fencing background influences your teaching of historical martial arts. There’s even more too - this episode really does cover a lot!

Useful links:

Bill’s websites: www.historicalhandcrafts.com for his leather and woodwork, and for the full details and pictures of the Schiavona and Dussack we talk about in the episode: www.thehemaists.com

Bill’s Styrian Dussack

For more on the Oakeshott Institute and antique swords, here’s my conversation with Craig Johnson: https://guywindsor.net/2021/02/how-to-make-swords-episode33/

For more about Wiktenauer and Michael Chidester, my conversation with Michael is here: https://guywindsor.net/2020/11/wiktenauer-episode21/ and Michael’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/michaelchidester

The Virginia Academy of Fencing: www.vafinc.com

And finally, for woodworkers, this is the YouTube channel by Rex Krueger we talk about: Rex Krueger: Making Woodwork Fun. Here’s a photo of my dovetail joint, as promised:

The Sword Guy Podcast, episode 44

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/fire-and-cauldrons-episode44/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Ruth Goodman is a social and domestic historian working with museums, theatre, television and educational establishments. She has presented and consulted on several highly successful television series for the BBC. She has also written several excellent books we'll be talking about today, including The Domestic Revolution, How to be a Tudor and How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England.

In this episode, Ruth and I talk about some of the lesser known, but nonetheless fascinating aspects of life in the Middle Ages, without what we think of “essential” cleaning products, or temperature controlled ovens. Yet people did get their clothes properly clean, and they were able to bake excellent cakes, pastries and bread. Ruth explains how they did this, and the type of learning that has been largely lost nowadays.

In our wide-ranging conversation, we also cover the importance of sheds, leaving kids in forests, giving knives to toddlers, and understanding fire. Ruth has a special passion for medieval cauldrons. Here’s a picture:

We also talk about how people would have dressed and moved at this time, all of which is very relevant if you are interested in martial arts from this, or any other period of history. We discuss how to research when there aren’t many sources available – as it turns out, there are many ways to skin a rabbit.

Episode 43

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/what-is-a-sword-episode43/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

What is a sword? When does a dagger become a sword? When does a sword become a spear? Can a boomerang even be a sword?

In a follow-up to my conversation with Australian martial artist and philosopher, Damon Young, this special episode picks up where episode 31 finishes, with a discussion where we try to come to an agreement on what a definition of a sword might be. If you have ever wondered about this very question, or already have your own definition in mind, have a listen and see if you agree with us!

Damon is the author of books like Philosophy in the Garden, and On Getting Off: Sex and Philosophy. He has also edited a couple of books on philosophy and martial arts: Engagement, Philosophy and the Martial Arts, and Martial Arts and Philosophy: Beating and Nothingness.

If you missed the first part of my conversation with Damon, you can find it here. It’s about the importance of the study of philosophy when practising martial arts. How we know the difference between bravery and foolhardiness, how can someone engage in violence and still be a good person. And perhaps, most importantly, however we define them, why are swords so damn cool?

The Sword Guy Podcast, episode 42

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/sitting-still-episode42/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Tim Parks is a prolific novelist, non-fiction writer and translator and perhaps most importantly from my perspective, he wrote a fantastic memoir on getting into meditation, called Teach us to Sit Still. Those of you that train with me know that meditation is one of the core parts of my practise and in this episode Tim explains the circumstances that led to him going to his first meditation retreat, how it changes people, and how he does it.

Tim has lived in Italy for many years, and we also talk about translating texts and about horribly illegible Renaissance handwriting. Discussing his book, Medici Money, leads us into a fascinating digression about the meaning and morality of money.

To find out more about Tim Parks and his work, visit https://timparks.com/

Episode 41

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/writing-and-walking-episode41/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Joanna Penn is a writer (both fiction and non-fiction), podcaster and ultramarathon walker. She doesn’t do swords, or even a lot of history, but she has been a huge influence on my work and this podcast. We don’t talk about martial arts in this episode, but we do discuss physical training, accomplishing goals, and Joanna’s medieval-style pilgrimage from London’s Southwark Cathedral to Canterbury Cathedral in Kent. That’s 182 km or 113 miles on foot. This took place in 2020, which was the 850th anniversary of the martyrdom of Thomas Becket, and we discuss cadaver tombs, memento mori, and what taking such a very long walk teaches you. To read more about Joanna’s pilgrimage, see:

https://www.booksandtravel.page/pilgrimage-canterbury/

And a list of questions to consider when taking a pilgrimage:

https://www.booksandtravel.page/pilgrimage-questions/

For all Joanna Penn’s books, links to her podcast, blog, and support for writers, where you will find resources to help you write, publish and market your book, as well as make a living with your writing:

Eat Well.

Last month’s challenge was very simple: prioritise sleep. While sleep quality varies hugely, it’s still basically the same thing for everyone: there’s good sleep, there’s bad sleep, and there’s enough sleep or not. We all know what we mean by ‘sleep well’. But what do we mean by ‘eat well’? ‘Eat well’ is incredibly varied. Eat well for what? The challenge this month is simply this: pay attention to what you eat and why.

No area of human health is more riven with controversy and ill-feeling than discussions around what we eat. Very few people are actually rational about it, and I’m certainly not one of them.

You can optimise your diet for many different things, and they will all look different. Here are some common priorities, in no particular order:

1. Athletic performance in your chosen field. Should sprinters eat like marathon runners? Probably not.

2. Muscle gain. All serious bodybuilders have pretty strict diets, and are often eating far more than they really want to, to persuade their bodies to store so much protein as muscle.

3. Fat loss. Probably the most common reason people pay attention to their food habits, and also an area where emotions run very high.

4. Pleasure. Many pleasurable foods are contraindicated by other priorities. If only chocolate was disgusting…

5. Ethics. The food you choose to buy has been produced, distributed, and sold by people. All three of those steps have ethical considerations. Animal welfare is one; the environmental impact of crops like soy is another. How far the food has travelled is yet another.

6. Longevity. This usually revolves around restricting calories, fasting, and other unpleasant practices.

7. Social connections. Many food practices have social dimensions. I have dinner with my wife and kids every day. We sit down together for it, no screens. Sometimes what we eat is affected by that priority; if we’re running late and the kids are hungry, I might make something quickly so we can eat together. Making something that is a treat for the kids usually means it’s not good for my longevity, athletic performance, or fat loss. But it’s very good for my mental health to have strong bonds with my children.

8. Convenience. How often have we eaten a less-optimal food because it was right there, instead of taking the time to make or find something better?

9. Cost. Many people can’t afford to buy enough of the higher-quality food that would be better for them. Some people just don’t prioritise food in their budget the way they prioritise other things.

The principles of nutrition are quite straightforward: eat enough of the things you need but not too much, avoid the things that are bad for you, and spend enough time without eating for your gut to rest. Given that we live in a culture of abundance we tend to classify diets by restrictions, and take the “getting enough” side of things for granted. Those restrictions are:

1. Restricting specific foods. Many cultures have a taboo food that other cultures suffer no ill effects from. Most weight-loss diets have some form of ‘don’t eat sugar’. Vegetarianism restricts all meat.

2. Restricting food quantity. You can have this much ice-cream, but no more. For most of my lifetime, most of the popular weight-loss diets have been about calorie counting, and reducing the overall quantity of food.

3. Restricting when you can eat. Most traditional cultures have periodic fasts, and we all fast while we’re asleep. One currently popular form of this (which I actually find very useful for my body and my purposes) is the not-very-well-named “intermittent fasting”, in which you restrict food to an eating window, such as 14 hours of no food, 10 hours of food (so if you eat breakfast at 7am, you need to stop eating by 5pm). Popular versions of this include 16:8 and 20:4.

But my own parents remember food rationing during the war. Perhaps half the people currently alive and 99% of all humans who lived before the 1950s are far more concerned with getting enough food than with being precious about when and how much they eat. There are also psychological costs to viewing food as something to be restricted, so you may prefer to think about how do you get enough of the high-quality food, rather than restricting yourself.

So what should you do?

The Challenge this month is: examine your priorities regarding food, and make choices consistent with those priorities.

I did say that’s a challenge. It’s really, really, hard for most people.

I would start by asking yourself what your priorities are. Are they even on my list? Then look at what you are actually doing, and decide how closely your actions match your priorities. It might be better to do that the other way round- look at what you are doing, and from there deduce your priorities.

Some priorities are mutually exclusive. Generally speaking, dietary practices associated with longevity are not associated with muscle gain, or pleasure. But most people have many conflicting priorities. So prioritise! Which do you want more? And can you balance your priorities in a practical way?

Then look at the downsides. Swordsmanship is awesome good fun: until someone loses an eye. So we wear fencing masks. What can you do to minimise the downsides of your priorities?What are the ethical implications of your muscle-building diet? What are the longevity implications of your pleasure-focussed diet? In all things, you want to cap the downside. Can you minimise the ethical problems of some of your choices, by choosing a different brand or supplier? Can you minimise the health problems of your pleasure-focussed diet by for instance intermittent fasting?

With your better sleep, and your ability to acquire or drop habits, you should have the internal resources you need to make whatever changes you want, for your priorities.

My only specific advice is this- leave virtue out of it. Deciding you want pleasure in your life does not make you a bad person, and deciding you’re going to cut out meat and fast every week does not make you a good one. Any extreme is self-indulgent: It is no less self-indulgent to starve yourself than it is to stuff yourself.

If you are looking for ideas about how to proceed, then you may find my other posts on nutrition helpful:

Eat Right for Fight Night

The Myth of the One True Diet

Skittles Beat Watermelon 

How I lost 10kg in 3 weeks without effort or hunger

Episode 40

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/jousting-episode40/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Callum Forbes is an extremely experienced martial artist, having got into sports fencing in the late ‘70s, and Hapkido from 1982. But then HEMA drew him in, both from a love of Dungeons and Dragons, and from a disillusionment with the ruleset of sports fencing.

In this, our 40th episode, Callum tells us all about jousting – how it works, how he trains, what sort of horses you need and how competitions are held. Since the mid ‘80s, Callum has been building up jousting tournaments in his native New Zealand, to the point where he hosts international tournaments. We discuss the challenges that brings, particularly when you are not a multimillionaire and can’t fly your own horse around the world with you. He also explains what a fantastically all-inclusive sport jousting is, so long as you can ride a horse!

We also talk about recreating Fiore’s highly dangerous (and effective) mounted combat plays, and Callum has kindly agreed to film them for us. Watch this space for those.

Callum’s YouTube channel is here, with lots of videos of jousting training: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0s38rZT23Y67XwVy2ypsjA/videos

And for The Wellington Hapkido Academy, where Callum is chief instructor, see here: https://www.wellingtonhapkido.com/about

The Sword Guy Podcast, episode 39

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/unconventional-approach-to-hema-episode39/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Lauren Juliette Ings is an assistant instructor with the Stoccata School of Defence in Sydney, Australia, and is also a circus performer, a burlesque dancer and an actor.

In this episode we chat about making HEMA more appealing to women, the LGBTQI+ community, and people of different physical abilities. Lauren is hugely passionate about making HEMA more accessible, friendly and fun for all and her style of teaching is rather different from the “middle aged white dudes” of traditional historical fencing schools. We talk about what we can do to get that first woman in through the door, and how important representation is in our schools, books, and materials.

You can find Lauren on Instagram @La.Petite.Morticia. (Nudity warning!)

The Stoccata School of Defence: https://stoccata.org/

The Sword Guy Podcast, episode 38

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/portuguese-party-weapons-episode38/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Jessica Gomes runs her own club, the Velha Guarda Marcial, in beautiful Sintra, Portugal. She focuses on Fiore’s system, Capoferro rapier, and Portuguese staff fighting, Jogo do Pau. Jessica explains what this Iberian “party weapon” is all about, and how it influences and complements training with other systems.

There are some pictures of the Portuguese staffs here, with English translation: https://www.jogodopau.pt/category/media/fotos/feiras-e-romarias/  

We talk about teaching different weapons systems alongside one another, such as Jogo do Pau and rapier, and how you keep them separate… or not. There is also lots of advice in this episode for anyone thinking of setting up their own club. We discuss the cultural side of HEMA and how we could get it recognised as a world heritage activity, with the aim of making it easier for new clubs to get started and to help with weapons regulations.

For more information on the Roberto Gotti exhibition in Minsk that Jessica attended in 2019, see here: https://www.hema-minsk2019.org/catalogue

Episode 37

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/medieval-swords-and-research-episode37/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

James Hester has been involved with HEMA since the age of 15, when he began performing fight shows throughout New England. He then set his course as an academic and educator, working in museums before completing an MA in Medieval Studies in the UK. He then joined the Royal Armouries Museum, rising over five years to become Curator of Tower Collections at the Tower of London. In 2015 he was awarded the Arms & Armour Heritage Trust Studentship to complete a PhD focusing on late medieval martial arts at the University of Southampton. A summary of the PhD thesis is here.

In this episode we talk about James’s exciting research, particularly about matching up the treatises and other sources we have from the period with the notches and dings found on weapons and skeletal evidence from battlefield graves to work out whether the techniques detailed in the fencing treatises were ones that were actually used at the time. Is it possible to extrapolate from a fencing treatise that this is how people actually fought? Click on the link for a video lecture on some of James’s research into damage on arms and armour.

We also talk about the passage of arms events James has organised, and his attempts to make the armour at these events as historically accurate as possible, i.e. not what we would think of as “safe” by modern standards. To read more about the 2018 passage of arms at the beautiful Château de Castelnaud in the Dordogne, France, see here: A brief write-up of the 2018 Judgement of Mars with some photos. For more photos, see this link from Facebook: Photos by La Mesnie du Blanc Castel of the 2019 Judgement of Mars on their Facebook page.

In the introduction I mention photographs of the treatises at the Fencing Museum in the U.K. You can see these here: https://guywindsor.net/2017/06/a-great-week-for-historical-fencing/

For more information on James and his work, see:

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/schoolofmars

Website: http://www.schoolofmars.com

FB: https://www.facebook.com/schoolofmars

Twitter: @schoolofmars 

Episode 36

Photo by Keane Chan.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/historical-medieval-battle-nz-episode36/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dayna Berghan-Whyman is the President of the New Zealand Federation for Historical Medieval Battle and Buhurt. In case you haven’t heard of it, Historical Medieval Battles (HMB) are full contact sports fighting, where defensive and offensive weapons of the Middle Ages are used. It includes historical fencing, buhurts, melee, duels, small-group battles, mass field battles, professional fights, etc. In our conversation Dayna explains her involvement in getting this sport recognised in New Zealand.

In this highly entertaining episode we talk about the challenges of competing in tournaments on a world stage, when you live SO FAR away from everywhere else. Dayna explains what it’s like to get off the plane after 30 hours and realise your armour hasn’t arrived, or what to do when the Italian medics cut your armour off you when you get knocked out in a battle. It’s very costly in terms of time and money doing this sport at a top level, especially in Covid-19 times with the potential for lengthy quarantines. She also talks about the challenges facing women in the sport and how hard it is to get experience when you simply don’t have enough opponents.

Listen to this episode for a hilarious anecdote involving Dayna’s mouth guard and bird poo (yes, it’s as bad as you think) and why a bloody knife made Dayna late for a seminar with Guy.

Please note that this conversation was conducted in December 2020 and the details of some 2021 competitions have since changed.

To find out more about HMB and Buhurt, visit:

Buhurt New Zealand

Historical Medieval Battle International Association

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/analysing-sword-science-episode35/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Myles Cupp is an instructor at South Coast Swords, in California. You might have seen him on the History Channel's Knife or Death show, and he's a contributor to swordstem.com. SwordSTEM is a website dedicated to applying science to sword martial arts, which analyses martial arts with rational, evidence-based methodologies. In our discussion we talk about some of the articles on SwordSTEM, and how looking at the numbers can influence the rules of tournaments, the gear we use, and the most effective ways to fight.

Myles’ day job is as an engineer at Disneyland, and we talk about working on rides like the new Star Wars Rise of the Resistance. We also chat about driverless cars, and speaking Italian like a native, but the episode is really all about swords! One of Myles’ guiding principles is about sharing knowledge, and his work on SwordSTEM is bringing fascinating information to light on really understanding what is going on in tournaments, the swords themselves, and our training methods.

Useful links from this episode:

Store Webpage:
https://southcoastswords.com/

Club webpage:
https://southcoastsword.com/

YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM5BmY0WSmMUq6dskeIUluQ

SoCal Swordfight:
https://socalswordfight.com/

And of course, SwordSTEM:
http://swordstem.com/

Episode 34

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/battle-of-nations-episode34/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

In this episode I talk to Beth Hammer. One of Beth’s favourite pastimes is “This is Sparta” kicking people through fences as part of Battle of Nations competitions. Based in Seattle, USA, Beth practises HEMA and Escrima, and is now enjoying the freedom of Battle of Nations fighting. In this episode we explore what this fun activity involves, and also talk about Beth’s other hobby of fireman’s lifting men much bigger than herself, including me!

Photo by Olivia Blake

Beth is also an artist, specialising in sculpture and making models. And when she is not doing all that, she also finds the time to be one of the organisers of Swordsquatch, which is an amazing annual event for swordy people. We talk about what goes into organising and planning it, and if you listen there’s also a mention of my purple sparkly unicorn underpants, which you'll want to see:

You can find Beth at @mudskipperrodeo on Instagram, and her Patreon for her tiny monster sculpture is www.patreon.com/mudskipperrodeo.

Episode 33

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/how-to-make-swords-episode33/ 

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Craig Johnson is Manager of Arms and Armor, a sword lover's dream job, as they make a wide variety of items from the Medieval and Renaissance periods to faithfully recreate the look, feel, and function of historic weapons. In this episode, we talk about recreating medieval swords as faithfully as possible, modern fashions in sword design, and the intricacies of sword manufacture. If you are interested in anything to do with swords and how they are made, this episode is a must-listen.

Craig has been involved in Historical European Martial Arts / Western Martial Arts since the early days of the community and he is the secretary of the Oakeshott Institute, a non-profit organization, established by Christopher Poor in 2000. The Institute is named after the late Ewart Oakeshott, a leading authority on European arms and armour. Ewart spent a lifetime researching and collecting swords and Craig tells us about continuing his legacy, and we talk about how being able to handle original swords is how you can really come to understand them and the people who wielded them.

In this episode Craig mentions blog posts about heat treating swords to imbue them with different qualities, which are linked for you here:

HISTORICAL SWORD MAKING – HEAT TREATMENT Pt1

HISTORICAL SWORD MAKING – HEAT TREATMENT Pt2

HISTORICAL SWORD MAKING – HEAT TREATMENT Pt3

HISTORICAL SWORD MAKING – HEAT TREATMENT Pt4

For sword typology, (type XVIII, etc.) see Oakeshott’s Typology on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakeshott_typology

One of Craig’s top two “golden swords” is this Swiss sabre (from the Wallace Collection). We talk in some depth about what makes it so special, and you need to see the pictures of it to understand:

Related to this, here’s a blog post about complex hilted longswords: Complex Hilted Longswords

https://www.arms-n-armor.com/blogs/news/complex-hilted-longswords

Later on in our conversation we discuss the difference in size between medieval steel gauntlets and their modern counterparts. You might find this blog post interesting about medieval sword grips: https://www.arms-n-armor.com/blogs/news/medieval-sword-grip-size

Arms and Armor are on Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, and YouTube.

Episode 32

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/pole-dancing-with-swords-episode32/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

In this week’s episode I interview Kelley Costigan. Kelley is an actor, director, pole dancer, fencer, performance combatant, adventurer and pirate, currently living in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK, home of William Shakespeare.

Listen to our conversation to discover the Shakespeare connection that inspired me to ask Kelley to narrate my audiobook, The Theory and Practice of Historical Martial Arts. (It’s out now: you can probably find it in your audiobook app of choice, or get it directly from me here: https://gumroad.com/l/ttphmaaudio.)

As a child, Kelley was told that fencing was “not something that girls do”, but she has since made up for it after taking up HEMA in her 40s.

We also talk about competitive fencing, competitive pole dancing (yes, that’s a thing,) not being a Russian spy, and what Kelley would do with a million pounds.

In case you’ve never seen someone pole dancing with a sword before, here’s one of Kelley’s performances on Vimeo.

To find out more about Kelley, her website is www.kelleycostigan.com and you can also find her on social media, such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Episode 31

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/why-swords-are-cool-episode31/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Damon Young is an Australian martial artist and philosopher, author of books like Philosophy in the Garden and the soon to be published in Europe, already out in Australia, On Getting Off: Sex and Philosophy. He has also edited a couple of books on philosophy and martial arts: Engagement, Philosophy and the Martial Arts, and Martial Arts and Philosophy: Beating and Nothingness.

In this fascinating conversation we discuss the importance of the study of philosophy when practising martial arts. How do we know the difference between bravery and foolhardiness? How can someone engage in violence and still be a good person? And perhaps, most importantly, why are swords so damn cool?

For Damon’s essay on why swords are cool, you can find the details of the Meanjin magazine article in Damon’s blog post here.

Damon has also written a series of six books for children, which he mentions near the end of this episode. If you would like to check them out, the first one is My Nanna is a Ninja, which is available in the usual bookshops. You can watch him reading it on YouTube here.

The transcription of this episode is on my website here.

Episode 30

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/fencing-in-russia-episode30/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Elena Muzurina is a military sabre instructor, longsword champion and owner of a HEMA equipment company. Elena is a Russian champion – one of her proudest moments was winning at Swordfish – but HEMA is relatively new to Russia. In this episode we talk about what it is like learning Italian rapier and longsword in a country where there are very few sources translated into the language. We talk about the problems with fencing equipment, and what she would do with a million dollars to improve HEMA in Russia.

When listening to this episode you might not have caught some of the names Elena mentions, so here they are in case you are interested:

• Andrey Muzurin – Elena's longsword trainer and husband
• Vadim Senichev – translator of Fiore in Russian
• Kristine Konsmo and Carl Ryberg – HEMA in Sweden, fencers and Swordfish orgs
• Leonid Křížek – Czech Republic HEMA, trainer at Ars Dimicatoria school, instructor and researcher of Barbasetti military sabre method, writer
• Sergei Kultaev – Russian HEMA, longsword champion and trainer at FreiFechter Gilde, Saint Petersburg

Here is the Facebook page for Fox Tail Equipment: www.facebook.com/FoxTailEquipment And this is the online store: www.ft-fencing.com

You can find Elena on social media:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/elena.muzurina

Instagram: @silent_battle_song

YouTube: Silent Battle Song

Vkontate: vk.com/yelena_muzurina

Episode 29

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/violence-and-self-defence-episode29/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Rory Miller is a martial arts and self-defence expert and author of many books, ebooks and video courses, including “Meditations on Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training and Real World Violence”, which is widely considered as one of the best books on martial arts ever written and I urge you to read it. Speaking of best books on martial arts, Rory and I have a chat about our top 5 favourites in this episode, so if you are after some new reading material, have a listen.

In this episode, the conversation goes in some unexpected places, including sailing across the Atlantic, from South Africa to Florida in a custom catamaran; being “raised by coyotes” in the desert; poo-flinging monkeys on Facebook; and a whole lot in between about self-defence and violence.

Rory’s Chiron Training website is here: https://chirontraining.com/ and his blog is here: http://chirontraining.blogspot.com/

Episode 28

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/art-and-fencing-episode28/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Nora is an artist and a fencer from sunny Southern California. She works primarily in watercolours and in illumination, though we cover a lot in this episode, including calligraphy, translations, making a living from your art and whether simply putting in the hours of practise is enough to get good. You can see an example of her work here with the logo she produced for the Spada Press:

In this episode we talk about how exacting and unforgiving some art forms can be, and the differences between different media in painting. Nora talks about the artist Lori Lamont who works exclusively in watercolour, and you can see her work here.

When we talk about fencing in the SCA scene in Southern California, we mention Nora’s painted fencing masks. Here are some examples:

This is the link to the Our Fake History podcast, which Nora mentions when talking about her thoughts on the Book of the Five Rings: www.ourfakehistory.com  

Here is the fanciest fuckoff piece that Nora produced using all the gold (listen at around 1hr 9min in). Credit for the calligraphy goes to Master Thomas Brownwell. Nora did all the gilding and painting:

Nora’s website is www.noracannaday.com and you can find her on the usual social media too.

Episode 27

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/irish-stick-fighting-episode27/ 

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Maxime doesn’t do longsword. But he does practise Irish Stick Fighting, 19th century sabre, and has a background in karate and kenjutsu.

In this episode Maxime describes Irish Stick Fighting, the challenges of finding someone to learn it from, and how he was able to bring it back to life as a martial art.

Maxime’s website, HEMA Misfits, is all about the fringes of historical martial arts, the less popular styles, and we talk about some of these less common forms of the art.

Content warning: In the second half of our conversation there is some pretty gory stuff about sword fighting injuries and how they were treated. (Maybe not for listening to over the Christmas dinner table!) Maxime's article on the subject is here.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Episode 26

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/straight-white-men-with-swords-episode26/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Claire Mead is an English/French freelance curator with museums and heritage sites specialising in making collections and programming more inclusive, specifically in terms of women's narratives and LGBTQI narratives. Claire also fences with foil and longsword. Since recording the episode she has taken the post of Programme Manager at the National Videogame Museum.

In this episode we have a fascinating conversation about how a traditionally white, male perspective of history has overlooked many women, people of colour and those from the LGBTQI community. Did you know that one of the foremost fencers of the 18th century was black, and another was trans?

I mention two African-born emperors of Rome. These are: Lucius Septimius Severus, who was a Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna, at that time a Roman province in Africa. His eldest son, Lucius Septimius Bassianus, commonly known as Caracalla, was Emperor from 211 to 217.

In the second half of the podcast we talk about Claire’s webcomic The Girls’ School of Knighthood and also discuss depictions of women holding swords in art, particularly Judith slaying Holofernes. To see the paintings we talk about, see this episode's webpage.

To find Claire Mead and her work, visit:

Webzine: Girls’ School of Knighthood

Podcast: Bustles & Broadswords

Patreon: www.patreon.com/clairemead

Episode 25

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/fire-eating-and-fencing-episode25/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

David Ito is a sport épée fencer, Kendoka, longsword practitioner, and a fire eater. He also does 100 burpees first thing every morning.

In this episode David tells us how he got into both fencing and fire eating, takes us through his somewhat intensive training regime, and shares good advice for anyone looking to get into teaching fencing as a career.

In the podcast you will hear David talk about a footwork training machine, and if you are interested to see it in action, head over to https://guywindsor.net/2020/12/the-sword-guy-episode-25-david-ito/ ‎to see the video.

We also talk about the effect of the covid pandemic and what we might expect a post-covid world to look like for martial artists.

To find out more about David and his work, you can find him on Instagram @ittofireshow, or at www.illuminair-entertainment.com. He also works at www.swordplayers.com and has taught at www.aemma.org, both of which are in Toronto, Canada.

Episode 24

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/designing-knives-random-flow-episode24/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Maija Soderholm lives in the United States, but grew up in England with Finnish parents. She trained with the late Filipino master Sonny Umpad, and she has taken this multicultural approach in her designs with her company, SoMiCo Knives.

In this week’s episode we discuss how Maija got into martial arts and designing knives, including the most important use for a knife in Finland.

We also discuss the Random Flow technique of sparring, which uses constant movement and no choreographed drills or pre-set patterns.

Maija’s first book The Liar, The Cheat and the Thief: Deception and the Art of Swordplay, came out in 2014. Her new book The Hustler – Swordplay and the Art of Tactical Thinking is also out now, and in this episode we discuss the tactics of fighting, why we should aim to be more like pickpockets, and how fighting for real is, more often than not, a lose/lose situation.

In the podcast, Guy mentions a smallsword treatise where the writer recommends taking a blade into the palm of your hand, sliding your hand up the blade and grabbing the handle. This may be one of those times when memory plays tricks- he's looking for the book but hasn't found it yet. Have your bullshit detectors set to high alert!

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/african-martial-arts-episode23/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Episode 22

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/tournament-mindet-episode22/ 

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Brittany Reeves is the co-founder of Mordhau Historical Combat in Mesa, Arizona, and has taught internationally. She has medalled at tournaments in longsword, cutting, glima, and ringen. She also has a degree in Ancient and Medieval history. In this conversation we discuss tournament mindset, her advice to beginners wanting to go to tournaments for the first time, and of course, equipment.

You can support the show at Patreon.com/TheSwordGuy Patrons get access to the episode transcriptions as they are produced, the opportunity to suggest questions for upcoming guests, and even some outtakes from the interviews. Join us!

Episode 21

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/wiktenauer-episode21/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Michael Chidester is the a long-time researcher and practitioner of historical martial arts, and the Director of Wiktenauer. There were some unfortunate technical problems with the recording of this interview, so you may wish to refer to the transcription below.

You can also support the show at Patreon.com/TheSwordGuy Patrons get access to the episode transcriptions as they are produced, the opportunity to suggest questions for upcoming guests, and even some outtakes from the interviews. Join us!

Transcription:

GW: Hello, sword people, this is Guy Windsor, also known as The Sword Guy. And I'm here today with Michael Chidester. Michael is the Director of wiktenauer.com, which for those of you who are new to historical martial arts, and who may not have even heard of it yet, it is a fantastic Internet repository of scans of historical fencing treatises dating back as far as you can imagine. There are just hundreds of them there. It is this extraordinary resource and not content with that gigantic contribution to the art of arms, Michael is also the author of several books, including Concordance of Fiore’s Plays, the Meyer Study Companion, Translation of 3227a; from which you can gather he's something of a Fiore man, something of Meyer researcher, something of a Liechtenauer person. And he has also got into producing very high quality facsimiles, first of the Thott manuscript. I have that on my bookshelf right now and it is a glory and a delight. And, at the time of recording, but it'll be done by the time the show goes out, he has a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to do Fiore’s Getty Manuscript in glorious, glorious, hand-bound leather gorgeousness. So, Michael, welcome to the show.

MC: Thanks, Guy.

GW: It's lovely to see you. Now, just so we can orient everyone, whereabouts in the world are you?

MC: I currently live in a small city outside of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States of America.

GW: Lovely. I saw you there a year or so ago, so, what event was that? That was when I was teaching in Boston.

MC: Yeah, we met up just after.

GW: Yes, and thanks to the technical hitches at the beginning of this podcast recording, next time I'm over that way, I definitely owe you a beer. OK, so let's kick off straight in. Now, obviously, from your published works, we can tell you have a pretty broad set of interests, but what would you say are your main research interests?

MC: So I, as anyone who looks at Wiktenauer can tell, I've looked at a lot of different sources, but really, and this is something that people sort of anticipate - that everything that’s on Wiktenauer I have studied in depth, but you don't actually have to really understand something to put it on a website.

GW: You’re not that old. You would have to be a thousand years old to have studied all those things in depth.

MC: A lot of what I do with that is a lot of copying and pasting and light proofreading. So I don't have to process all of it. A lot of the work on Wiktenauer around that is just trying to find out the history of the book as opposed to the teachings. As far as the stuff that I studied in depth and study on a physical level, Fiore was my first love. That was the first treatise I ever tried to interpret on my own. But I can't say that I really ever became a Fiorist. I was never in a club that studied it. And so it was all on my own time. And I went through all the dagger plays and most of the rest of the book and I think I've done the sword stuff very slightly and that's about it. So there's a lot of Fiore’s teachings that I have no experience with outside of translating them. And also likewise Meyer I’m involved with mostly because I love the Meyer Freifechter Guild, which is a network of Meyer-focused clubs, and I been to their annual symposium several times, and I like to support them however I can. So I've done some Meyer research more on that level. What I study in terms of physical practice is early 15th century Liechtenauer fencing and primarily longsword, although I've been trying to get into armour for the past few years and had financial woes that kept me out of it so far.

GW: Yeah. You basically have to be able to afford a second car before you can afford a suit of armour.

MC: I don’t even have a first car.

GW: I thought that was illegal in America? Every United States citizen has to have at least one car.

MC: If you live in certain cities, people get around it, where we actually have civilized public transportation. Only certain cities though.

GW: So you’re getting into the armoured combat side of Liechtenauer as best you can.

MC: I've been on a horse about twice in my life, so I haven't really got into that much either. And to really understand that, I think you probably have to do all three and I'm not there.

GW: Yeah, I've got a tiny bit of experience of mounted combat, enough to know that you have to be a much better rider than I am to be any good at it. Actually, listeners to the show should check out my interview with Jen Landels where we talk about mounted combat quite a bit because that's sort of her specialty. But OK, so obviously beginners aren't going to go out buying a horse and a suit of armor. So where would you recommend, as a Liechtenauer person, that a beginner who was interested in doing some actual book study, what do you think they should start?

MC: Well, I'm full of opinions about this, but I think that a place to start would be there are three particular glosses which on the Internet we refer to as RDL, which is Sigmund Ringeck, Peter von Danzig and a guy named Lew. And those three are fairly consistent in their teachings. So they have some small differences, but they're essentially teaching the same set of plays for the most part. So they're a reasonable starting point. And Harry Ridgeway out of Australia, recently published a book designed to be a very accessible translation of Peter von Danzig, which is available on Amazon I believe, or not, the Internet will tell you how to find it.

GW: I will find it for the show notes.

MC: He simplified it and tried to make it as understandable as possible, and I’ve done the same with my translation of 3227a. Although I don’t think I did quite as good a job at simplifying, and all that, as he did, but that was my aim. And 3227a is not part of that tight grouping of similar treatises, but it uses a very different approach to the same system of Liechtenauer. So I think it's a good complement. And when you read them both together and try to match up, try to keep in mind it's not describing the same thing, but some really good insight into what Liechtenauer might have been teaching.

GW: Excellent. Now a small, ignoble part of me was hoping you were going to say, you know what, beginners they should really start with Fiore.