Looking at two HEMA clubs. Thoughts?

Discussion in 'Western Martial Arts' started by Southpaw535, Oct 1, 2014.

  1. Southpaw535

    Southpaw535 Well-Known Member Moderator Supporter

  2. Ben Gash CLF

    Ben Gash CLF Valued Member

    They did stab, just in certain times and places.
    Interesting thing I read earlier, the 1796 pattern heavy cavalry sword was also modelled after an Austrian sword and was designed primarily for cutting. It originally came with a Katana style chisel tip, but they were nearly universally ground to spear points, which suggests the cavalrymen themselves felt that stabbing was important.
     
  3. boards

    boards Its all in the reflexes!

    Ok, now we are starting to agree more than disagree. We, in modern times, like to catogorise weapons into destinct groups, while the actual users simply called them spada, or spada di lato, or spada di fila (for italians anyway). And that doesn't even get into the idea that swordsman may have put modern swept hilts onto older swords. How do we then identify swords?

    As for why they went back to straight swords over curved, the article I listed suggested that the officers liked the thrusting ability while the regular soldiers liked the cutting ability. The officers were generally gentlemen or nobleman so had likely been taught to fence (ie, using the foil, epee and sabre) so they would be very used to thrusting, while the lower ranked people would not have that familiarity. And of course the people in charge of deciding what swords were to be used were the officers as well.
    If you look at someone like Hutton, people of that time considered that modern fencing was the perfect sword evolved from the heavy clumsy two handed swords of the medieval times. Reading the manuals of those times and trying out those swords we obviously know that this idea was wrong, but if people considered this to be true, is it any wonder that the people in charge of choosing which sword to use are going to take the ones that work more like their modern fencing swords?
     
  4. Langenschwert

    Langenschwert Molon Labe

    Both of the schools seem fine.

    There's no issue with being a lefty, and some manuals have sections addressing left versus right handed opponents. Paurnfeyndt's manual has left vs. right half-swording, which I've never seen elsewhere.

    I would lean towards the 1595 Club, only because the curriculum looks more interesting to me.

    However, the School of the Sword does Alfieri, who does include a nice section on the two hand sword (spadone, the big one, about as tall as the weilder). He wasn't just a rapier guy. Rapier has the disadvantage in that's it's super boring to watch. To practice, it's a boatload of fun. Whether that school would be interested in branching out into Spadone one day is anyone's guess. Who doesn't want to learn how to use a sword as big as you are?

    At any rate, if you go to a HEMA club, check it out to see if they know what they're doing. Unlike stuff like Judo or boxing, the quality of the instruction can vary wildly. These days, most are pretty decent. Almost all will let you take a free class.

    Another advantage of Italian rapier is that the reconstruction is basically complete. It has (so i've heard) about an 80% overlap with epee, which is a living lineage. There are very, VERY few arguments on how rapier is supposed to be done. If you've done epee, rapier will come super quickly.

    But what do I know, I'm a longsword guy who crosstrains with Battojutsu and Judo... I don't know nuffin' 'bout that new-fangled rappier-thingummy kids are all excited 'bout these days....

    -Mark
     
  5. Ben Gash CLF

    Ben Gash CLF Valued Member

    According to their site School of the Sword do practice greatsword/spadone. They also do the older more "side-sword" orientated Marozzo material.
     
  6. Ben Gash CLF

    Ben Gash CLF Valued Member

    I'm tempted to bin off my Wednesday class and pop down there
     
  7. Langenschwert

    Langenschwert Molon Labe

    OK, that's really cool. Marozzo is decent stuff too, and he was a big influence on Joachim Meyer IIRC.

    -Mark
     
  8. Langenschwert

    Langenschwert Molon Labe

    A worthy field trip if ever there was one. :)

    -Mark

    Edit: to the OP: I'm a lefty too and I'm one of the instructors at The Forge, so obviously my club is very lefty-friendly! :D
     
    Last edited: Oct 8, 2014
  9. Ben Gash CLF

    Ben Gash CLF Valued Member

    Just saw on FB that School of the Sword has a new study group in Reading, may well be easier for you to get to.
     
  10. Langenschwert

    Langenschwert Molon Labe

    The English Martial Arts site is back up, just had a look-see.

    I don't think they'd be good for the OP. They do backsword (cool), pugilism and catch wrestling, so neither of the last two is going to be much different than your MMA training, and probably not as good as a dedicated MMA gym. For me, they'd be perfect. There's little to no catch where I'm from, and no BKB either. And learning some backsword would be great. Just my $0.02.

    -Mark
     
  11. Ben Gash CLF

    Ben Gash CLF Valued Member

    Funny, I was looking at it on Monday and thinking "should I mention it to Southpaw? "
     

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