Research and Discussion Forums

I enjoyed it as usual, but I have to say the past couple of articles have mainly been ones about the philosophy of training in the arts we study. I enjoyed these articles, but I think there have recently been way too many compared to more technical or historical articles. What I look forward to woul...

The purpose of the Zornhut is the generation of power for the Zornhau. A twisting of the body and a rear-weighting (as seen in Fiore) will be just as acceptable. Interestingly, as I looked on the terms page (http://www.thearma.org/terms2.htm), posta di donna does have some characteristics of the LV...

Which way is the head facing in the upper right of this picture from Fiore? It appears to be facing to the left (as I am looking at it - he is looking to the right) with the sword on his left shoulder and feet going to his left. This really is not a Vom Tag. Using Etymology (not always the best, I ...

Sam, It seems to me that the "Posta Di Donna" as seen in these examples is more comparable to the "Zornhut." I haven't spent much time with the Italian though, don't know it (I only have poor Latin skills). I think a closer example of the "lazy" Vom Tag is the upper ri...

To me it looks like the "lazy" vom tag is the German version of the Italian posta di donna . If we look at Vadi's manual we can see that the Italian tradition uses both the "lazy" and non-"lazy" vom tag . These are referred to as the posta di donna and the posta de falc...

Downright generous, I should think, for a foregone conclusion. Longsword wins against a sharp piece of jewlery, the wielder of which being still further hampered and restricted by codified rules and regulations, the dicates of comportment Though I can understand your distaste for it on an aesthetic...

No need to take this to PM by the way. The point of posting on a forum is discussing it in public. If you're going to start a PM discussion with each person that disagrees, for each and every post you make... Actually, Vince, I changed my mind. You're quite right. No need to take this to PM. First,...

Everything after Meyer \ Mair might as well be labelled pure sport, (except for perhaps Sutor). I don't care what you say. Sorry, but I don't buy it. Show me the most skilled small sword fencer. I'll show you a mediocre longsword fencer who will almost undoubtedly put him down. You're rightk, thoug...

I'm quite serious. If fencing was priomarily a killing art, then double-hits would be double victories instead of double-losses. No, mainly, it is a defensive art. There's a reason that it was called "The Art of Defense". You kill the other fellow so that he will cease to be a threat. The...

You could always practice with a longsword that has a more complex hilt. I have seen hilts like this one attached to both straight and curved hand-and-a-half style blades. http://wallacelive.wallacecollection.org:8080/eMuseumPlus?service=DynamicAsset&sp=SU5mxm4Yx%2FVbg9LVP7MZLDqo6z5lhONBxez%2FYx...

What I really don't get of Knight's arguments is his opposition to sparring. In what other ways can you prepare someone's tactical sense and reflexes for combat? You can drill them until they have perfect technique, you can instill instinctive reactions through drilling as well, but you cannot simul...

I think my original argument is getting blown a little out of proportion here. From the standpoint of being easier to refute with better reasoning, you're right, his articulation is actually useful to us. My point is that to a layman who has no knowledge of HEMA and doesn't do a lot of research, it...

I have to admit, I don't find Hugh Knight's ideas very reasonable, but at the same time I don't exactly favour all the personal attacks I hear calling him "stupid" and "fat". All that does is make the criticizer seem like a complete childish jerk and actually drives the reader to...

...that Europeans as a whole generally chose long, straight, double-edge swords, if it is the case that curved swords cut better and single edge swords can be sharper? They didn't choose one or the other, they stuck with both. We have curved swords and straight swords from most periods of European ...

Responding to the Sam Nankivell who said that no master taught case of rapier but case of cut and thrust swords: Fabris taught rapier, and covers case of rapier in his manual. He has some very extreme stances in his method too. Case of rapier in Fabris? Where exactly? In this manual, I remember rea...