The Sword Guy Podcast

How to fight like Sir Gawain, with Dr Przemysław Grabowski-Górniak

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/

Seven Frenchmen vs. Seven Englishmen: who will win? With Dr. Rachael Whitbread

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.

Force of Virtue with Jack Gassman

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

Medieval wrestling and making sense of the Liechtenauer swamp, with Jessica Finley

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

Big Blue Flags with Marli Vlok

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.

Sword Geekery and Stunts, with Jared Kirby

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/

 

Cutting and Calligrams, with Brittany Reeves

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.

THC, tournaments and training, with David Ito

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.

Brains, Biology, and Better Teaching, with Sara Lewis

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

WMA, HEMA, the SCA, and other abbreviations, with David Biggs

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!