Pippin the Short died on this day in 768. Son of Charles "the Hammer", he inherited his father's job as Neustrian Majordomo. In 743, Pippin and his brother, Carloman, installed Childeric III as King of the Franks (it's hard to be Mayor of the Palace when there's no king to "serve") only to later have Childeric deposed. Pippin obtained permission from the Pope to have himself crowned instead (Carloman having retired into a monastery).
We had a great turn-out for the revival of Fight Night: two dons, five mere mortals and two more who are working their way towards authorisation (for one of whom it was their first time in full kit). So from now on, for the first Tuesday of the month, we'll be putting into practice what we learn on the other Tuesdays.
And don't forget, we also play on Sunday afternoons (weather permitting).
Update from last week: A better version of the pictures (mac9.ucc.nau.edu/manuscripts/giganti.pdf) reveals that Lesson 9 hits on the outside and 10 on the inside. So the notes from last week should read:
Lesson 9: A takes the outside line, B disengages, A disengages and hits on the outside line.
Lesson 10 hits on the inside line.
We continued the Giganti curriculum, working through Lessons 6-12 from the Miedema translation. All of these were plays we had done before, but we reviewed them, at first walking them through, then at speed with masks.
I wrote a little something about the belt Master William helped me make: http://nososeet2.blogspot.co.nz/2014/04/a-new-belt.html
I wore it for the first time at St Sebs.
Week 3
Second lesson on early 17th C Italian rapier, following Richard Cullinan's /ibn Jelal's online notes.
We reviewed the basics of stance and lunge (informed by Capoferro) and of taking the sword (with the point off-line). Taking the sword was practised first in response to the partner extending the sword (this makes it easier to judge) and then with the partner remaining in guard (this requires judging where the blade would be in the partner lunged).
At the recent Feast of St Sebastian, I was asked by the Steward to run a "pro-am" rapier tourney. With this brief in mind, I decided to pair novice fencers with experienced ones in a pairs competition. I had six fencers to play with, which was perfect for a round robin, each bout best of three, which we played three times over, each rotation with different weapons combinations.
It's been ages since anyone's added to the blog, but it isn't because we haven't been fencing. Over the summer we've taken advantage of the long evenings, getting together for some sparring practice whenever two or more have felt like it. Of course, Canterbury Faire was a big fencing event for some of us (I played almost every day). And we recently held a couple of rapier tourneys.
But with the return of our regular schedular, I'll try to make sure our blog updates are also more regular.
Yours, in service to the Art,
Ludwig
Our first big project for the year is Giganti's two books. Matt's leading us through the material, making use of Richard Cullinan's (Tariq ibn Jelal's) online material:
http://www.renfence.com.au/Giganti_Teaching_Curriculum
and https://www.youtube.com/user/richardcullinanau
We covered stance, footwork, the lunge and gaining the sword. Everyone is now sore: mission accomplished :)
