The Academie Duello ‘Sword News’ has been a personal labour of love (maybe love of labour at times) since June 2009. After a variety of issues, We decided that for the most part, the Sword News would now concentrate on posting items originating within the ‘traditional’ commercial press that cover HEMA/WMA events; activities related to stage combat and sword use; and releases related to historical swords. Primitive archery and jousting also have their place here.
The intent is to bring to your patient attention how our art and science is being depicted by newspapers to the (as-yet) non-swordplay public; to inform us as a community what our peers are doing; and possibly offer a lead to something unique happening in your area.
We attempt to paraphrase the items, particularly the non-english press, to allow you to ‘skim’ content (though We apparently get that a wee bit wrong from time-to-time) and assist you in deciding if something here is worth your time and effort to load and wade through with your choice of web-based translation service.
The ‘Snippets’ elements are just some links to interesting sword-related press items that don’t fall into the western swordplay/martial arts categories above. We will offer the odd link to a Blog item or something picturesque or topical as the mood takes Us. ‘Snippets’ may disappear from here and be offered through a future ‘Swords and Modern Culture’ blog.
Camp Coda Longa
JOURNAL SENTINEL (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) 03 January 14 Sword camp gives participants chance to learn, practice, exercise (Meg Jones)
Sword camp instructor Jeremiah Backhaus and his peers within the Wisconsin Historical Fencing Association run a day-long ‘sword camp’ in Jackson during which they introduce first-timers to historical European martial arts.
The novice swordfighters are instructed and drilled in appropriate position, balance, guards and thrusts – and its’ done in such a way that there one day of basic instruction seems to result in people coming back for more.
Real sword fighting is not what you see on screen according to Backhaus: “"It's faster than what you see in movies. In Robin Hood movies, they're talking when they're fighting. There's actually no time for that. It's extremely sophisticate.,”
Recreating the Past
DER SPIEGEL (Hamburg, Germany) 03 January 14 Das Geheimnis der Schlangenklingen (Angelika Franz)
ARCHÄOLOGIE (Berlin, Germany) 06 December 13 Frühmittelalterliche Schwerter im Computertomographen
A combination of modern technologies is being used to examine thirty 6th to 8th Century swords to discover more about their composition and possibly, their significance to their time.
The Leipzig Institute of Mineralogy, Crystallography and Materials Science is subjecting the often-badly-decayed blades to a variety of non-invasive scanning techniques and chemical analysis in an effort to determine their chemical composition, forging and welding techniques and perchance, what the blade may have originally looked like when it was first taken in hand so long ago.
Snippets
Hoping for more cinematic interest in rapier play?
A 700-year-old swordcrafting ceremony continues to be celebrated – if only we had the same tradition within HEMA/WMA