posted 01-19-2006 01:21 PM         

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Depends on what kind of fencing you do. saber epee, that kind of thing is different than medieval fighting. There are actual surviving manuals around. There's a copy at the north branch of my local Library. Some of the things in it seems to be using weapons in several different ways, using the hilt to trip people, hitting people with the pommel. there are actual wrestling type manuevers in the case where you'd lose your sword and struggle with another on the ground with daggers. so you definitly can learn how, or at least how to pose yourself as they did, they seem to use more illustrations and less actual writing. every now and then they have some translated german text that seemed to have been scribbled in by the author.

but if your really interested in doing actual fighting the SCA has a lot of useful information concerning techniques because they actually hold tournaments and fight with the actual weapons, blunted of course, that were used in the medieval era.

A good guide on sword an shield fighting that I happen to have is written by a guy named "Oldcastle" he wrote an article that Iprinted of the internet about 23 pages long that covers everthing from stance to footwork to shield usage.
I don't know the actual site but the name of the article is "Fundamentals of the Oldcastle Sword and Shield." Do some searches on the SCA or find some in your area that participate they have plenty of good historical information available and would probably be delighted to share it with you, you might even consider joining them.

posted 01-19-2006 01:24 PM         

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ack, I forgot, if you don't know what SCA stands for it's the Society for Creative Anachronism.

[This message has been edited by bent one (edited 01-19-2006).]

[This message has been edited by bent one (edited 01-19-2006).]

posted 01-22-2006 02:10 AM            

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SCA...

Might point out there is sometimes a large emphasis on the CREATIVE part.

Don't get me wrong, they're probably the best source for hands-on info, but the fact is that fighting with blunted swords for entertainment, and fighting with cold steel for your life has some significant differences, and knowing what they are can be hard without actually causing death and dismemberment.

Of course, there may also be differences in the understanding of the body. Things we know they may not have known, and things they knew, we may have forgotten.