Water and Combat

I’ve been thinking a lot about hydration and combat recently.  Why do we do what we do?

I’ve found there to be a few main fighters stay hydrated in our area.

  • There’s the fighter who comes to the tourney, fights, has a bit of water from the water bearers if he’s thirsty
  • There’s the fighter who comes with their own water and drinks as needed
  • There’s the fighter who pre-drinks as much as he can and then drinks occasionally
  • There’s the fighter who doesn’t drink until the tournament is over

The way I try to work is to drink as much water as I can the day before, and then day of drink as needed.  It’s a system that has worked well so far, and is heavily influenced by Viscount Savaric’s methods.

If we were to believe the beverage industry we’d drink three different kinds of energy drink or Gatorade throughout the day as much as we can.

I decided I’d like to know more.  So I started reading Waterlogged by Dr. Tim Noakes.  It’s an interesting read.  It focuses on endurance running – marathon primarily – but I think that it can apply to fencing as well.  It may not be as much of an endurance sport as a marathon but it still takes a lot out of us in sweat.

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Swetnam Ch. 12 Three manner of waies for the holding of a Rapier

This is part of an ongoing project to summarize and provide SCA focused commentary on The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence by Joseph Swetnam, published in 1617.

For links to the other sections of the Swetnam Project please go here.

I am using this facsimile: http://tysonwright.com/sword/SwetnamSchooleOfDefence.pdf for the project.

We just finished covering stance/guard and a few basic parries.  Now we move on to the next part of this section.  I’m not sure why this section of chapter 12 is so long.

Three mannor of waies for the holding of a Rapier.

Three mannor of waies for the holding of a RapierSwetnam tells us that there are three ways to hold a rapier.

  1. With the thumb upon the rapier blade (he calls this the natural fashion)
  2. With the whole hand in the pummell, I believe he means on the grip of the rapier, with the thumb locking on the forefinger.
  3. Gripping the pommel (button of the pummell) with your fingers and palm while your index and thumb are on the grip.

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Swetnam Ch. 12 first the true gard of rapier and dagger for the defence either of blow or thrust

This is part of an ongoing project to summarize and provide SCA focused commentary on The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence by Joseph Swetnam, published in 1617.

For links to the other sections of the Swetnam Project please go here.

I am using this facsimile: http://tysonwright.com/sword/SwetnamSchooleOfDefence.pdf for the project.

This first subsection of chapter twelve introduces us to the basic guard for the Rapier and Dagger

The true guard for the defence, either of blowe, or thrust, with Rapier and Dagger, or Sword and Dagger.

Keep your rapier hand inline with the pocket of your hose, without bending the elbow, while your dagger hand should be inline with your left cheek, with your arm outstretched (not bowing the elbow), and with your rapier and dagger points within two or three inches of each other.  Make sure that you can see your opponent clearly, and that your left arm is high enough not to obscure your view – you should be able to see your opponent with both eyes.  Keep your opponent centered between your rapier and dagger.

An artists (poor) rendering of how you should stand

Have your head angled slightly toward the right shoulder, and have your shoulders square to your opponent, slightly tilted forward.  Keep your thumb on the nail of your fore finger, rather than upon the blade of your weapon (which was the current fashion) so that you have a more secure grip upon your sword.  The heel of your right foot should be in line with where your toes meet your foot.

Use the picture as an example, but if there is a discrepancy follow the words, not the picture.

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June 27 Practice

Had good practices the last few weeks.  On the 20th Godfrey came out and put me through my paces.  It was good to fight someone of his caliber again.  It reminded me that I’ll need to get out to other practices as I progress.  My accuracy is still lacking a Read more…

April 25 Practice

Practice last night went well.  Violante and I were working on a few things.  She’s trying to get practice with attacking on angles, and not moving straight in, while I”m working on defenses and spotting openings.  The two worked very well together. I’m finding myself remembering how to see openings, Read more…

Swetnam Chapter 12 seven principles

This is part of an ongoing project to summarize and provide SCA focused commentary on The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence by Joseph Swetnam, published in 1617.

For links to the other sections of the Swetnam Project please go here.

I am using this facsimile: http://tysonwright.com/sword/SwetnamSchooleOfDefence.pdf for the project.

We have now reached the combat portion of the manual.  There is a major change here in that the rest of the book is part of chapter 12.  The table of contents has broken it down into 18 sections.  I will be using the sections as they are listed, but as with the previous chapters still using each inline heading as the heading for the post.

I may need to go back through and add more sections if my posts prove too long, but I’ll cross that bridge when I burn it.

Chap. XII. Sheweth of seauen Principall rules whereon true defence is grounded.

The seven principles are:

  1. A good guard
  2. True observing of distance
  3. To know the place
  4. To take time
  5. To keep space
  6. Patience
  7. Often practice

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Swetnam Chapter 11

This is part of an ongoing project to summarize and provide SCA focused commentary on The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence by Joseph Swetnam, published in 1617.

For links to the other sections of the Swetnam Project please go here.

I am using this facsimile: http://tysonwright.com/sword/SwetnamSchooleOfDefence.pdf for the project.

 

This chapter is set out as a discussion between a master and student and covers the weapons which will be taught in the rest of the manual and what to what to do with your life once you’ve mastered the weapons.

For this chapter I will use the same setup as Swetnam does, going between Master and Scholar.

Chap. XI. Questions and Answers.

Scholar
I like what you’ve said so far, now I would like to learn some skill.

Master
What weapon do you want to use?

Scholar
Whatever you think is best

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