The Sword Guy Podcast

The Last Duel, or was it? With Ariella Elema

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

 

 

Frog DNA and Indonesia with Pradana

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

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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 16^th 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.

 

 

 

Laser Focus, Thought Control, and Jousting with Sarah Hay

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.

 

 

 

Harps and Sharps with Andrew Lawrence-King

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.

 

 

 

Startling Burglars with Ariel Anderssen

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.

 

 

 

 

Monte with Mike

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/

 

 

 

Forged in fire, quenched in oil. With Stephanie Aiuto

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/

 

 

 

Swords in the Movies with Peter Lyon

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.

 

 

 

Wooden Weapons and Wing Chun with Carina Cirrincione

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.

 

 

A Whole Lot of Tasty Bolognese with Joshua Wiest

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 16^th 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

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