Many people I have talked to have had their first contact with the historical combat arts through various media items posted on the internet, and have often encountered them unexpectedly.
A number of individuals that I have had the pleasure to converse with, both practicing swordsmen and not, have confessed that their initial impressions of the German Kunst des Fechtens were formed after the discovery of short clips of swordplay posted on YouTube.
It is great for our art as a whole that there are some fantastic clips posted on YouTube and various other sites across this world wide web. In this post I'd like to bring one in particular to your attention which helped to cement my desire to undertake the study of this art.
The video embedded below, titled "Fechten mit dem langen Schwert" or Fencing with the Longsword, was posted on YouTube in May 2007 by TheRealGladiatores.
I urge you to take 2 minutes and 21 seconds out of your day to watch and enjoy it, even if you've seen it before.
I urge you to take 2 minutes and 21 seconds out of your day to watch and enjoy it, even if you've seen it before.
The creators of the video, a school of Historical European Swordsmanship named Gladiatores, operate a number of schools and training groups in Germany.
For those readers desirous of learning more about Gladiatores I have taken the liberty of posting a link to their website translated into English by Google Translate here.
Videos like this help to dispel some of the general misconceptions surrounding medieval swordsmanship.
The most common misconceptions are that employing the longsword was merely a matter of using strength to bash sword on sword, or that medieval swordsmanship was brutish and without any discernible heritage, refinement of technique, or finesse.
Another misconception involves the weight of medieval swords, which will be mentioned in an upcoming post.
The most common misconceptions are that employing the longsword was merely a matter of using strength to bash sword on sword, or that medieval swordsmanship was brutish and without any discernible heritage, refinement of technique, or finesse.
Another misconception involves the weight of medieval swords, which will be mentioned in an upcoming post.
The first step to a wider acceptance of historical combat arts as a whole is dispelling these false assumptions, and it is exciting to see more and more content coming online that represents these arts favourably and accurately.
- Brock, for Vier Leger
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment