Art of the Sword

Tim Noyes - Meyer Longsword This is a custom sword made by Tim Noyes aka Heron Armoury . Albion - Meyer  Longsword A little about Tim. I've bought perhaps a half dozen swords off Tim over the years. As a supplier of re-enactment swords he's might be a little off the beaten track for some HEMA practitioners so to put him in context he is probably the best there is in the middle end of the UK re-enactment sword market. This includes the usual favorite re-enactment suppliers like Armour Class  or St George's Armoury . In my experience Heron Armoury is slightly cheaper than most mid range sword suppliers, re-enactment or otherwise. Also unlike many mid range suppliers he doesn't usually have a 6 - 12 month waiting list. His swords also don't have such a mass produced and "off the shelf" feel as say St George's Armoury or Albion Swords . My experience of Heron Armoury swords are that they are solid, reliable lasters. They do not burr easily an...

"We do a lot of errors ourselves. So we should tolerate those who do bullshit in our eyes. Only by showing something better in a way that attracts students, we can overcome bullshit and by this we force even the charlatans to learn themselves and change to promoters of the art." -  Johann Paulus Kal (from Facebook)

Here: http://www.jamesakeating.com/JakU.html "Guard position isn't just something you simply do. I've seen many a man strike a fierce pose, a grimace on his face. And not have a clue as to why he's even doing it. Perhaps too many movies. You see each 'on guard position' you are taught to assume has a vital purpose." "Simply study (and realize) the true basis of all of this material which we all so diligently pursue is just human motion, dynamic human motion. Nothing more, nothing less." Interesting article about knife that could just as easily have been written about sword. 

"I will here remind the friendly reader at the outset, since there is a great difference between sword combat in our time and how it was practised by our predecessors and the combat masters of old, that this account of the cuts will only cover what is currently in use and pertinent to the sword. And as to the practice of former days, when they fought dangerously both with cuts and thrusts, I will discuss it in its proper and separate place." - Meyer Meyer is interesting when it comes to thrusting. He directly says thrusting has fallen out of fashion and it's a great difference between his art and the art of the past. Some people have taken to mean that Meyer does not "do" thrusting, that the whole system is a type of "sport" fencing and therefore flawed. However, in true HEMA style, I would argue that this is incorrect. Mainly because there are examples of thrusting in his long sword, these are just a couple I found within a couple of minutes flic...

This is a great little article on cutting by Eric D. Mains. Beautiful presentation. Love the quote: "In true HEMA fashion, I disagree"

...my new sword, on route from Tim Noyes .

Reading Louis Preto's book has got me thinking about a few things, as all good books should :) This picture represents how I tend to align myself when I fence, in a pretty much straight line directly at my opponent (represented by the diamond) with the weight squarely on my front foot: However from reading Preto I notice he has an alignment more like this: His stance is wider and his alignment is more in the centre of his body. After checking Meyer I think both alignments can be seen but perhaps the narrow alignment is adopted in the End stance and the wider alignment is associated with the middle stance, possibly for receiving blows and perhaps as a stronger base for throwing multiple cuts. I've been trying Preto's stance and I find it is more grounded and balanced allowing for more stength and speed. It does however present a slightly shorter measure, it reduces your ability to move so quickly forward (but this could be an experienc...