The Sword Guy Podcast

HEMA for Life, with Dr Marie Meservy

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 

Dressing up with Zack Pinsent

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.

ADHD, speedboats, and wrestling in kindergarten, with Katriina Malkki

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.

 

Sword People are Book People, with Diniz Cabreira

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.

Bringing Italo-Hungarian Sabre to Taiwan, with Huang Chun-Yi

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.

You can’t learn swordfighting from a book, with Dr. Antti Ijäs

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.

Sword Events Should be More Like IKEA, with Jana Howson

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.

Behind the Scenes at The Sword Guy, with Katie Mackenzie

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 150^th(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!

Bringing Fiore to a Knife Fight, with Ian Davis

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

Babies, horses, and a secret knife, with Gretchen Settle

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.