Historical Swordsmanship (Martial Arts)(Fencing)

Bill Grandy, Director of Historical Swordsmansip at the Virginia Academy of Fencing, interviewed on Virginia Time Travel.

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People & Blogs

Tags:

• fencing
• martial arts

[KempoGuy100]

@HolzmannsKnogar Touching the blade is no problem if you clean it afterwards. The late great Ewart Oakeshott (the legendary sword scholar) was photographed many times holding precious antiques with his bare hands. Most major antique dealers don't wear gloves, either. I can understand a museum making a big deal about it, but if you clean the blade, the acids in your hand won't do anything worse than the air itself.

[KempoGuy100]

I saw this on TV this week. The quality is WAY better when not on YouTube... you can actually see the black clothes just fine. They must have lowered the quality to fit the whole show on YouTube. Great job to Bill Grandy and David Rowe for representing HEMA in such a positive way. I wish my fighting looked that good! We need more programs like this to showcase our arts... maybe they can do another one showing fighting in armor (hint, hint!)

[HolzmannsKnogar]

Are you guys seriously thouching an Antique blade with your bare hands?

I worked for a short time at the Swedish Royal Amroury. When we ventured down to the basement where all the unexhibited items are, hey told me that if anyone who comes down here touch an antique metal object with their bare hands they get thrown out with their head first.

What i learned is that the fat on the fingers contains ammonia that corrodes the blade/armor. We used thin cotton gloves.

Otherwise this vid was good.

[DancesWithBlades42]

though i agree that black clothing was a poor choice. i wonder if they knew that before they came on the show. i guess not.

[DancesWithBlades42]

the show isn't about showing "sparring" (or more correctly "free play"), but is about showcasing that these old martial arts even exist. criticizing it for not having free play is like watching a documentary on sports cars and being pissed that it wasn't all about nascar. i havent met bill or david (yet), but ive been to some of the major historical european martial arts (HEMA) events that these guys are invited to teach at, and theyre highly praised by other big name instructors.

[antoniedvorak]

Congratulations on the great publicity!

PS: It is true that the black clothing on black background did not work that well, unless it is a problem only in this low quality video (as opposed to the program).

[jgordon25]

@Chromeless - This is a demonstration for a TV show so conducting an actual sparring bout would be somewhat hard on the set. Considering the limitations of the shoot, seeing that many weapon styles displayed is impressive. What was disappointing was when I went to see your technique for performing a dagger disarm on your video site I was met with a giant anime cartoon head espousing the vagina monologues and didn't see anything that would indicate you know what you're talking about.

[ArsMilitaris]

@ColdNapalm42 How exactly are the techniques that are being demonstrated from historical fencing treatises modern? Yes, we may not know exactly how certain aspects were executed, but we can get really, really darn close; cross referencing other systems that used similar weaponry and with simple experimentation. You don't have to hack a person to pieces if they're wearing linen clothing, its not that tough. Have you been using Chromeless's time machine?

[ArsMilitaris]

@Chromeless They weren't trying to show free sparring, just demonstrate techniques. Realism is a very important element that should be included in any martial arts training. Have you even attended any of the VAF's classes? I know I haven't, so I'm not going to condemn them by association. You've met someone from the 15th century?! How much do you charge for the use of your time machine?

[ArsMilitaris]

@Chromeless The space they had to do the demonstrations was rather confined, and the interviewee himself said on the various internet forums that he frequents that they were already concerned about damaging the cameras because they were so close. That risk would have been increased even more if they tried to do any free sparring. Regarding the dagger/knife counter-techniques and realism, your statement is obvious and is an element that should be included into your training.