The first 2 days of the BSG are an opportunity for participants to put
their combative skills to the test. The day after such challenges is
often the day participants start thinking about what they can learn and
improve on, and the 3rd and final day is designed for that mindset.
Lecturers will start the day with some top-notch material to remind us
what's new and what's cool in the world of HEMA; and in the afternoon
instructors will provide instructional clinics to everyone looking for
advice on how to improve for next year. NOTE ON THE CLINIC: to help make the Sunday afternoon clinic the most valuable experience for all, participants are encouraged to discuss and suggest clinic topics.
Please review the sample topics below for each instructor, and let us know (e.g. email, online
reg notes, public forums, etc.) what you'd really like to see on Sunday. We (both BSG management and the instructing staff)
will take all this feedback into consideration, right up through the
tournament on Saturday (yes, please engage the instructors during the
event!). We will announce the final clinic line-up at the Saturday
Awards Banquet. Remember, this is an opportunity for participants to
directly influence the content of the clinic to suit their own needs --
the more that we see requests of a certain topic from a certain
instructor, the more likely it is to happen. So, let the clinic
requests begin! Speakers | | Dr. Jeffrey Forgeng
Adjunct Associate Professor of History-WPI
Paul S. Morgan Curator-Higgins Armory Museum | I.33: Bound and Rebound
Much has changed since I began work on I.33 nearly 20 years ago. The
body of information and understanding in the general field of historical
combat has grown exponentially; in relation to I.33, considerable
additional work has been done on the German martial arts tradition that
sheds light on its content. Above all, the unbinding of the manuscript
this year for the purpose of photography has allowed us to settle the
knotty problem of the manuscript’s physical composition. The
organization of the pages does not correspond precisely to any of the
models published so far, and it has at last confirmed that there is
material missing from the manuscript. This presentation will include the
first public announcement of where that material was, and what appears
to have been in the missing sections. | Jean Chandler
Instructor/researcher for System D'armes, New Orleans (SDA NOLA) | Butchers, Bakers and Candlestick makers - who wielded the swords in sport and war in the time of the fencing masters?
A brief examination of the context of warfare and fencing among the urban craft guilds of late-Medieval and early-Modern Europe.
In the past fifteen years we have gained some insight into the provenance of
the Fechtbücher and now know who wrote many of them, and in some cases for whom they were
written. However, as a community we
still know very little about the world these people lived in. In the past researchers have linked the
manuals to the knightly classes, and to certain elements within the Church. We also know of associations between the Kunst des Fechten and another estate: the urban society of the late medieval
city. A great deal of interesting data is now available regarding the
social and political context of the towns within late medieval and early modern
Europe, and their involvement in warfare. There are clear links between
the towns and the fencing guilds, who provided some of the few tournament rule
sets that we know about at this time. We know of connections between the
fencing guilds, the craft guilds and the town militia, and we know that several
Fechtbuch authors were members of the craft guilds. The involvement of the guilds themselves in
both civil strife within the town walls, and full scale warfare beyond them, is
well documented by military historians. This presentation will attempt to challenge our
preconceptions by linking these various threads, and provide a
glimpse into the true nature of the fencing practitioners of the medieval city. | Michael Chidester
Lead designer of the Wiktenauer
| A Big-Picture Look at the Fechtbuch Tradition
The Historical European Martial Arts movement grew out of the study of
treatises on armed and unarmed combat, generally referred to by their
German term Fechtbücher. There are now 85 known German-language
manuscripts on Medieval and early Modern martial arts, as well as over
two dozen printed works, and more are being discovered every year. These
treatises were written by dozens of masters and recopied by countless
scribes and artists during a period of over three hundred years. As most
practitioners focus on understanding and interpreting only a few
treatises at a time, it is easy to forget how large and complex the Fechtbuch tradition can be. In this lecture, I will present some useful
distinctions and a broad overview of how all of the different strands of
teaching in the tradition of Johannes Liechtenauer relate to each
other, as well as to the other less well-documented German traditions,
and in this way perhaps shed some light on the big picture of the
so-called German school of fencing.
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Instructors |
Bio |
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Scott Brown
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The founder of Schwert am Schwert, Scott
has been training and teaching martial arts for over thirty years and
holds certificates of rank in multiple disciplines. Since the turn of
the century he has exclusively focused his efforts on the Western
martial arts systems with a specialized focus on the swordsmanship
aspects of the Kunst des Fechtens or "Arts of Combat" of the
Germanic cultures, amongst others. He is best known for his sword and
buckler expertise of the "Art of the Priest" from the Royal Armouries
MS. I.33 and the longsword teachings of Johannes Liechtenauer's
disciples. He also enjoys dussack, singlestick, and a variety
of sabre systems.
Bringing his diverse expertise to WMA / HEMA, Scott has developed
specific performance-based curricula for both swordsmen-practitioners
and instructors of these arts. He continues to travel and teach all
over the world and currently operates a WMA / HEMA school in the
Orlando, Florida area in addition to continuing instruction at multiple Houston, Texas locations of Schwert am Schwert.
As the Director of the annual Fechtschule America event, Scott
coordinates some of the world's largest modern tournaments and has
helped develop numerous competitive rules for WMA / HEMA competitions
around the world.
Scott has won several international WMA / HEMA-specific tournaments including:
- 2008 Swordfish's Joachim S. Nilsson Memorial Longsword Tournament (Sweden)
- 2010 FightCamp's Assault at Arms Backsword/Sabre/Singlestick TOurnamnt (U.K.)
- 2010 Longpoint's Open International Longsword Tournament (U.S.A.)
- 2012 1er Encuentro de Artes Marciales Europeas' Torneo de Sable de Canasta (Mexico)
Scott is a founding member of the Western Martial Arts Coalition (WMAC).
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- Customizing flow drills for specific skills
- Fundamental cutting drills
- Solo exercises for beginners and advanced
- Blade sensitivity (Fühlen/Feeling) drill
- Schranckhut/Crossed Guard drill
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Jean Chandler
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Jean Chandler has been a student of German longsword fencing for the past 12 years. An instructor for
System D'armes, New Orleans (SDA NOLA), which he co-founded with Lenny
Zimmerman in 2003, Jean hosted the ARMA event 'Southern Knights in 2004. He taught a Liechtenauer sword clinic for
the Ordo Procinctus fight-club in 2009, and was a longsword instructor at Fechtschule America in 2011 and 2012.
Jean
placed 5th in the
Hammertertz Open International Longsword Tournament 2010, and 3rd place
in the Fechtschule America Longsword tournament in 2012. Jean has been
researching and writing a book on the late Medieval Baltic since 2009.
Member: HEMAA |
- Mechanics: how techniques emerge from stepping and structure
- Joachim Meyer's Four Archetypes, the source of Strategy
- Decisions Points in Tempo, Measure and Pressure
- Application of the Absetzen/Setting Off
| Michael Edelson
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Michael Edelson has been studying swordsmanship in various forms since
1990. Prior to German longsword, his primary area of interest was
Japanese swordsmanship. Among the styles he studied were Toyama Ryu
batto jutsu, Yagyu Shinkage Ryu, Engi Iaido and others. He also has an
extensive background in unarmed Eastern martial arts and worked for
several years as a professional instructor. Upon discovering Historical
European Martial arts in the summer of 2005, Michael devoted his full
attention to their pursuit, and soon after started the New York
Historical Fencing Association, a HEMA Alliance Affiliate. Michael’s
research focuses on movement dynamics, power generation and distilling
the most basic fundamental principles and ideas from the manuscripts. He
has instructed and given presentations at events across the country,
such as Fechtschule America, Longpoint, Chivalric Weekend and Swordfest. |
- Body Mechanics and Structure
- Fighting from Longpoint
- High vom Tag/Roof guard vs. Low vom Tag/Roof guard: What, Why, and When
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Jake Norwood
| Jake Norwood trains, fights, or thinks
about training and fighting when he’s not doing something more
important. Jake was the winner of the first full Franco Belgian
longsword tournament, held at Fechtschule America 2010, and has been a
finalist in multiple venues, including longsword, dussack, cutting, and
steel saber competitions at Fechtschule America and Swordfish. Jake runs
the second largest HEMA competition in the U.S., Longpoint, and has
judged at Swordfish and the Worldwide Open Championships.
Jake is captain of Maryland KDF Historical Fencing Club and the former president of the HEMA Alliance, an
educational not-for-profit organization established to provide
independent HEMA clubs and schools worldwide with the resources of an
international cooperative. Previously, Jake was the Deputy Director of
the Association for Renaissance Martial Arts and the chairman of the BYU
Martial Arts Council. A combat veteran the US Army’s 101st Airborne
Division, Jake now lives in Maryland, USA, with his wife, daughter, and a
nine-pound dog. He tries not to think about the dog. | - Zwerhau/Thwart Cut technique & application
- Schnitt/Slice and Hende Trucken/Hand pressing applications
- Opening with the Vier Versetzen/Four Master Cut Parries
- Ansetzen/Planting, Absetzen/Setting Off, and entering with thrusting
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Christian Trosclair
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Christian Trosclair is a student of combat, dance, biomechanics and
kinesthetics. He has spent over 20 years studying variously Bagua,
Capoeira, Xingyi, Silat, Jook Lum, Aikido, and Systema, as well as the
classical indian dance, Bharata Natyam, Flamenco and Yoga. He is an
instructor for System D'Armes, New Orleans (SDA NOLA) and has taught at
Fechtschule America and Longpoint. He has been a Liechtenauer
practitioner for seven years and is an avid translator. It is his aim to
aid others in discovering the fundamental movements and theories of
medieval
combatives. |
- Mechanics: how techniques emerge from stepping and structure
- Joachim Meyer's Four Archetypes, the source of Strategy
- Decisions Points in Tempo, Measure and Pressure
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Jay Vail
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Jason Vail is
a long time martial artist. He began his martial arts career in 1964
and has studied Asian systems for more than 40 years. He holds black
belts in Tae Kwon Do and Cuong Nhu (a hybrid system of Japanese and
Vietnamese martial arts), and has trained in Judo and MMA. He has
studied European fighting methods since 2001 with an emphasis on the
dagger and ringen. He is the author of Medieval and Renaissance Dagger Combat, which is available from Paladin Press. |
- Wrestling fundamentals
- Knife self-defense fundamentals
- Wrestling with the sword
- Interpreting period wrestling and dagger techniques (e.g. Codex Wallerstein)
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