I took the short drive up to St. Martin’s Academy over the weekend of November 6 - 8, 2009 for Bob Charron’s winter retreat. This is Bob’s annual seminar on Fiore de Liberi’s medieval wrestling and dagger defenses.

I arrived on Friday evening to be shown into my guest room in the villa and then was ushered into the dinning hall, where I was introduces to my fellow scholars. We were a mixed group: several of Bob’s regular students were there; several folks who had no experience with historic martial arts; the rest of us had worked with various historic systems.

We then supped on the light repast put out for us before starting the evening’s activities.

Bob led us over to the converted barn that is now his training hall. Bob took us to the second floor room that is set up for close combat. The walls are lined with the historic art works of Durer and Fiore, as well as many symbols of the art of defense and of course a number of swords, daggers, spears and polearms.

Bob started the weekend’s studies by explaining the basic principles of Fiore’s close combat. Each principle was illustrated with a small cartoon so, as in the medieval system we were following, the principle would be easier to remember.

Bob then had us work on the basic footwork and entries for the wrestling portion of the weekend. We all worked on those for some time and then Bob showed us the entry for the dagger defenses. Bob has come to the conclusion that, as with any great system of combat, Fiore limits the student to a set response to most situations so as to eliminate confusion. Thus the basic footwork for both the wrestling and dagger defenses is the same.

After about two hours of training we once again returned to the villa for an evening of conversation and discussion about fighting. Bob and Kristi brought up the amazing horsemanship used in Portugese bull fighting. So we all went to view videos of these riders and their horses. I have never seen horses do the types of moves that were made, much less under the stress of being charged by a bull!

Saturday morning dawned clear and unseasonably warm for November in the mid-west. We partook of Kristi’s excellent breakfast, and then once again made our way to the training hall. Bob started out by reviewing the footwork and entry for Fiore’s wrestling and then led us into the plays from the manuscripts.

We learned how each play is a response to the opponent’s attempt to counter the previous move. We spent most of the morning working on this material. and then found ourselves consuming the hearty lunch put out for us.

The afternoon found us moving on to working on the dagger material. Bob emphasized the first thing you want to do with a dagger attack is get two hands on your opponent’s dagger arm. Then you work to get him to the ground as quickly as possible. If the initial move does not work, then you must strike him to loosen him up for a follow-up technique.

We worked on techniques from both inside and outside responses. These included armlocks and takedowns. After many bodies hit the mat, we all felt comfortable with what we were doing and retired for an excellent dinner.

After dinner some of the scholars felt a need to do more work, so Bob took them back to the training hall. I, however, felt it better to reserve my energy for the next day, as did some others. We instead gathered firewood and started a fire outside, to tell tales of our exploits at other training sessions and organizations.

Sunday morning found all of the scholars ready for the last hours of the seminar. We reviewed some of Saturday’s material and then worked on using the four guards of Fiore to defeat an opponent in an unarmed attack.

We then moved back to working on dagger techniques, including Fiore’s disarming moves. Then we started working on how to deal with multiple attackers. During the last part of the session, we went back to working at a very slow pace to review and refine what we had learned over the weekend.

This seminar put many of the pieces of Fiore’s system together for me. I really like that Bob has made Fiore’s teachings a system not just a bunch of techniques. I also like that Bob admits that striking is a fundamental part of Fiore’s system, something I have found too many other instructors forget.

I recommend anyone interested in getting the basics of Fiore’s system take the time to get to St. Martin’s for one of Bob’s weekend long seminars.

A Busy Month for Gallowglass Academy

Andrea and I drove over to Philadelphia for the SCA's Known World Academy of the Rapier over Columbus Day weekend.

We put out books on HEMA at our merchant booth and did very well. I taught my classes on Silver and Swetnam.

The next weekend we hosted six members of Gallowglass for a member's day on Highland broadsword. We used the DVD produced by Paul Wagner on Page's system of Highland broadsword.

Then over October 23-25th we put out our books and I offered classes at Rock-Con, a gaming convention in Rockford. Last year we did fairly well at selling books but this year the only books we sold were to friends who were helping to run the con. No one signed up for the classes. Apparently, gamers are just not into learning about the fighting arts they "use" in their games.

On Halloween I went into Chicago to help with a promotion ceremony for three of the instructors at the Northwestern jujutsu club.

A Report on the 2009 Cumann Bhata Recreational Violence Weekend

Over the weekend of July 11 - 12, 2009 a small but dedicated group of students of the Western Martial Arts gathered on the shores of Lake Pymatuning for the 5th annual Cumann Bhata Recreational Violence Weekend.

Saturday was overcast and muggy as Randal Gustitis started the festivities with a class on Shasqa or Cossack saber. Like many other Russian martial arts the shasqa involves the use of figure eight movements for both defense and attack. Interestingly, because the shasqa does not have a hand guard of any kind, the parries involve deflections with the flat of the blade rather than hard blocking moves with the edge of the blade.

Josh Little was the second instructor on Saturday with his class on Pollaxe. About half way into the class the promise of a storm that had been building all morning became all too real. Everyone took an early lunch break to let the storm blow itself out. We then resumed after lunch to finish up the class.

We then switched gears from European arts to the American frontier art of Tomahawk and Long knife taught by Steve Huff. Steve started out talking about the different styles of tomahawks. He explained that the ‘hawk was a small belt axe brought to the New World by Europeans and adopted by the Native American to replace the wooden and stone war clubs, as the tomahawk could be used both as a utilitarian tool and a weapon.

Once the everyone had worked through a number of drills with just a tomahawk Steve introduced the use of both the ‘hawk and knife. Again, Steve reminded everyone that the frontiersmen and Native Americans carried a knife primarily as a tool and only secondarily as a weapon. The end of Steve’s session saw the students working with both tomahawk and knife against longer weapons such as a military saber and a musket with bayonet.

The fourth class of the day was taught by Chris Thompson on the 1813 Cutlass Exercises developed for the British navy by Henry Angelo, jr. This set of exercises was set up to teach the sailor of the time a number of basic attacks and defenses using the cutlass.

The final class on Saturday was Kirk Lawson’s class on Grappling at the Tomahawk. This was moved up on the schedule from Sunday so Steve Huff could participate. Kirk demonstrated how the ‘hawk can be used to grapple and trap the opponent as well as to block and cut.

With classes over for the day most of the group removed to Ken Pfrenger’s new property where he and his wife had dinner ready for us. Much conversation was had over the similarities and differences between the different arts we study.

Sunday morning was clear, cooler and less humid than Saturday as we started up with Ken’s class on the use of the Carpathian Mountain Axe. This nifty little axe was carried by men throughout the Carpathian mountains from Romania up through Poland as a walking stick and utility tool.

It is Ken’s idea that the axe was also used as a weapon based on research he has done into stories, history and dances where men flourish the axe in mock combat. Ken sees a lot of the same figure eight and deflection type moves that Randal showed us with the shasqa on Saturday.

My class, Introduction to Silver’s Single Sword, followed Ken’s class. This class is aimed at the student who has no previous experience with the material from Silver’s two works from the end of the 16th and early 17th centuries.

I had the students work through a number of drills using Open Fight and Gardant Fight. We then finished with some moves demonstrating Coming to Grips or grappling.

Josh Little returned for the next class to show us how to use the messer, a German style short sword or long knife. Many of the same principles apply to the use of the messer as with the German longsword, but the messer being shorter is both faster and at the same time cannot do some of the single time actions of the longsword.

The classes for the weekend finished up with Randal coming forward again to show us how to use an entrenching tool as the Russian military trains its soldiers. The tool can be used to block and cut, but is also used against pressure points and to unbalance your opponent.

My wife and I had to leave before Randal finished his class so others will have to relate the activities on Sunday evening. I know Shannon, Ken’s wife, was lying out an ample spread of picnic food and there was talk of a few Broadsword League bouts.

It was an excellent series of classes by very dedicated instructors. I can recommend that anyone interested in WMA should make a point of attending next year’s gathering. I certainly plan to do so and already have an idea or two about classes to offer.

Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) to Receive Congressional Gold Medal

Pres. Obama has signed a law that will grant to the members of the WWII WASPs the Congressional Gold medal for their services during the war. These civilian women pilots served to replace male pilots in transport, training and test flights during the war so the male pilots could fly combat missions.

The women were denied veterans benefits and acknowledgement of their servcie at the end of the war. Their records were sealed and little if no mention was made of their service in histories of WWII.

See www.wingsacrossamerica.us for more info on these women and what they did.

Upcoming Seminars at Gallowglass Academy

"Fighting with the Highland Dirk" Saturday July 25, 2009, Leaf River, IL (25 miles outside Rockford, IL)
$50 for pre-registration, $75 at the door.

"Fighting with the Bowie Knife" Saturday August 29, 2009, Leaf River, IL
$50 pre-reg and $75 at the door.

See www.GallowglassAcademy.org for more information

A Review of “The Bare-Knuckle Boxer’s Companion” by David Lindholm and Ulf Karlsson
reviewed by C. Allen Reed

available from Paladin Press
303-443-7250
www.paladin-press.com
$20.00 retail

As an enthusiast of historical English martial arts – and in particular Bartitsu, which uses bare-knuckle boxing as one of its major tenets – I have been looking for a good book to recommend to those wanting to learn more about the style. Unfortunately, this book isn’t it.

The authors start out well with the first chapter being a review of the history of pugilism. They start with the Ancient Greeks and progress up to the beginning of the 20th century, when the use of gloves pretty much ended bare-knuckle boxing.

In the second chapter, the authors set out to describe and show the basic techniques of bare-knuckle boxing. To do this, they first refer to various examples of historic boxers and their guard positions. There are several problems with how they go about doing this. The first is that in all the photographs in the book the authors are wearing baggy work-out pants, so it is hard to see their weight shifts, which is very important to any martial art, much less bare-knuckle boxing. I am also bothered that in all of the photos the authors are barefoot. This is an art which traditionally is fought in some sort of footwear, and since the authors also argue it is still valid to learn as a modern form of self-defense, it seems to me that the authors should wear modern footwear when representing the system.

More importantly, at least in one major instance the authors show a different stance than is portrayed in the historic artwork. In two of the pictures Mendoza, a well-known English pugilism champion from the 18th century, is shown with his fists held horizontally in front of his face, but the authors chose to show a version of his stance with the fists held vertically.

Then the authors demonstrate how to strike in bare-knuckle boxing. Again, they start out well by showing how to make a proper fist, but then make what I consider a dangerous error by advocating that a boxer should cant his fist upwards to strike with the bottom two knuckles. To my mind this will likely lead to a boxer doing damage to his wrist, as the torque on the wrist when punching will force the hand backwards.

Then the authors move on to footwork. Yet no mention is made of the major use or the lunge or deep forward step that was used by most historical pugilists when punching with the left or forward hand. Indeed, when demonstrating target areas in the next section, the authors are shown using their right or rear hand, in most instances, instead of the left, which was the primary hand for initial offensive attacks in many historic styles of boxing.

In the third chapter, the authors set out to show the strikes, throws and basic defenses used in bare-knuckle boxing.

In the first series of photographs Karlsson demonstrates a series of basic punches. Yet again no mention is made of the lunge step for the lead hand punch.

Also, in most of the photos Karlsson has the heel of his rear foot off the floor. Dempsey advocates doing this in his book but most of the 19th century sources I have looked at want you to keep the rear foot flat. If the authors are mixing Dempsey with 19th century texts it would be nice if they mentioned it.

Then the authors talk about the hook. They state that there is no good discussion of how to use the hook in most of the historic texts. This may well be because, at least according to Allanson-Winn in his book from 1897, the hook is not a punch that should be used. However, Lindholm and Karlsson completely leave out what Allanson-Winn calls his “contracted arm” hit, which is a hook to the body.

Then the authors move on to the throws used in bare-knuckle boxing. The first throw the authors show they call a trip, but they refer you to Allanson-Winn who uses the term Back-Heel – so why not keep this terminology? The second throw the authors show is what they call the hip throw but I just don’t believe that the way they show the front hip will work. Also, they again completely ignore the cross-buttock throw that is shown in Allanson-Winn.

Next the authors show some basic defenses. The stance they are using is from the late 19th century, yet they do not demonstrate a major part of many of theses defenses, which is shifting your weight onto your back foot.

The authors then mention kicking, which they infer may have been used at some point, since rules were made against its use. However, instead of going back to medieval German sources for kicks, why not use kicks form arts current when bare-knuckle boxing was practiced? Kicks such as those from French savate or from Welsh purring, a style of Welsh wrestling, would make more sense.

The authors finish this third chapter by demonstrating some blocks and counters. These techniques are well demonstrated in the photos provided.

With the fourth chapter, the authors set out to show a set of partnered sets to practice different combinations. In the opening introduction to this chapter, they state they are taking these drills from Mendoza, but then tell you not to follow Mendoza too closely. I would suggest instead that until you are very advanced, you should follow any such drills exactly the way the original author tells you to do so. After all, he was the professional boxer, while all the rest of us are amateurs by comparison.

In the first set of photos in this chapter, there is conflict between what the captions say to do and what is shown in the photos. This is all too common in historic texts from before photography was developed, but now with modern digital cameras you would think the photos would match exactly what the text is telling you to do.

In the next series of photos, Lindholm is seen lifting the heel of his back foot off the floor again, negating the power he should be getting from these punches.

In the fifth chapter, the authors discuss physical conditioning and show various examples of body weight exercises that can be used to build strength and endurance. Remember, before you start any of these exercises you should have a physical exam to make sure you are healthy enough to do them.

The sixth chapter of the book finds the authors referring to self-defense texts from before bare-knuckle boxing became well known in modern Europe. I am not sure why this material is mentioned in this book, except the authors are fond of German medieval fighting books.

The seventh chapter in the book discusses self-defense and how to consider using self-defense moves. This is material that can be found in many other books. The authors tell you up front they have compiled this information from other sources, so again I am not sure why it needs to appear in a book on bare-knuckle boxing.

The eighth chapter continues the emphasis on self-defense training by listing a series of self-defense scenarios to help train yourself in dealing with fighting on the street. I like many of these training scenarios and use many similar scenarios when I teach self-defense. However, just listing the suggested scenarios really doesn’t prepare you to use bare-knuckle boxing on the street.

The ninth and last chapter of the book is a recommended reading list for training in self-defense. I am sure many of them are valuable sources of information; the ones I have read certainly are. But again, I don’t think this is the place for such a book list.

As I said at the beginning of this review, I was looking for a good book to use as a modern reference for historic bare-knuckle boxing. At first the use of large format, simple photographs and plain text made it seem like it was a good book to recommend to others also interested in this martial art. However, as I delved deeper into what Lindholm and Karlsson offered, I was disappointed.

Instead of using this book, I would recommend anyone interested in learning bare-knuckle boxing take a look at the bibliography and track down the actual historic texts that are referenced and use the originals instead of this book.

Sexual Assault Awareness Month

April is Sexual Assault Awareness month (SAAM)

We should all be telling out local news media, law enforcement and schools about this important topic.

Here are some statistics I found at the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (www.rainn.org/statistics)

1 in 6 women is the victim of sexual assault as is 1 in 33 men.
44% of rape victims are minors
15% are under 12
29% are between the ages of 12 and 17
73% of victims know their attacker
60% of sexual assaults are NOT reported to the police

Here are other sources of information on this important topic:

National Sexual Assault Violence Resource Center (www.nsvrc.org)
National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center (www.safeyouth.org)
US Dept of Justice Office on Violence Against Women (www.ovw.usdoj.gov)

The Office on Violence Against Women also has a poster you can download or print out to post in your workplace, school, library or other appropriate venue,
www.ovw.usdoj.gov/docs/saawarenessmonthposter.pdf