[Craig Shackleton]

Hi all,

Among my other swordplay activities, I've just announced the following workshop:

Sword and Buckler Workshop
Sunday, November 14, 1:30 pm- 5:30 pm at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 1177 Gladstone Ave.
This four hour workshop is an intensive study of the system of combat for sword and buckler presented in Royal Armouries Manuscript 1.33, “The Clerus Lutegerus Fechtbuch.” Written circa 1300, this is the oldest European personal combat manual.
Workshop cost: $40

I know most forumites can't make it to Ottawa for a four hour workshop, but a few of you might be interested.

Since I appreciate this fine web resource, anyone who is an upgraded or better member here gets 20% off the registration fee.

PM me or email me at ottawaclassicalswordplay@gmail.com to sign up or for more information. For more about my other offerings, go to my blogspot website

[Jean Thibodeau]

Just giving this one a little bump and Ottawa is close enough for a day trip from Montreal by bus or train so I'm considering going to it and making connections with other people doing European Medieval Martial Arts. ( HEMA. WMA, ARMA, MARE or whatever one wants to call it ..... or EMMA, see just invented another name for it., or might just name a favorite sword Emma ).

I'm mostly into longsword but I've done a semester or two of 1:33 before but kind of rusty at it and getting exposure to a variety of interpretations of it should be interesting.

[Maurizio D'Angelo]

[Craig Shackleton]

Thanks for the bumps guys, and Jean, I do hope you can make it. Emma is a fine term, but I think Aemma might want credit for coining it! ;P

[Jean Thibodeau]

Well another bump and the odds are high that I will be going but will certainly confirm it either way a few days before the event.

If I can make it I look forward to meeting Craig and exchanging views and opinions as well as taking in the seminar.

A little bit of longsword casual bouting might be nice if possible before or after the seminar. ( Well maybe better after if there is still some energy left or time to do so ).

Anyway, I should be e-maling in the next few days after I do a little research about bus schedules and how far a taxi ride the seminar site is from the bus depot ?

[Kel Rekuta]

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Kel Rekuta]

[Jean Thibodeau]

Just another reminder about this seminar.

At the moment it's about 99% certain I will be going unless there is a last minute " glitch ".

[Craig Shackleton]

Excellent! I look forward to meeting you in person!

[Jean Thibodeau]

Just one last bump in case that some people who could attend missed the Topic posts. ( Maybe check with Craig just in case the seminar can't accept more people ? ).

Very much looking forward to meeting and training with new to me people, at least in person new.

[Craig Shackleton]

Thanks Jean,

I still do have room for a few more, people but not too many.

I'm really looking forward to this workshop.

[Jean Thibodeau]

Just came back from it and I'm too exhausted to write very much tonight but it was fun and very worthwhile.

His approach to teaching 1:33 is somewhat different from most but was most efficient in that in a short 4 hours one could get a very good feel for the system as a system and not as a series of rigid recipes: Emphasis is on understanding underlying principles rather than memorizing this ward is opposed by this counter etc ..... ( Yes there is some of this but it's mostly about the flow of the movement an feeling at the sword.

Craig picked me up at the bus station and we then went to a regular class teaching the messer for 2 hours, we then went to his house for lunch and then we went to the 4 hour 1:33 seminar ( I sort of pooped out around 2/3 in: Fatigue and concentration starting to fail so I finished the class as an observer. Note got up at 4:00 a.m. to take the bus to Ottawa from Montreal so that by 4:00 p.m.I was sort of burned out ).

After the class a small group of the participants went to a pub for a Guinness and I had some spicy ribs ....... got back to the Bus Depot for the 2 hour ride home in a crowded bus with tiny tiny seats ..... well they felt tiny to me.

A very nice time and nice discussions about swords, fencing, " myArmoury " etc ..... Thanks again to Craig for inviting me, it was and is still very much appreciated.

Note: He does have some very different interpretations of 1:33 , some of the guards and the ways to hold the buckler and rotate it that seem plausible to me and very much worth trying although I'm sure a detailed description of his interpretations would probably lead to some heated debate ( As these things always seem to go with all the passion and effort that people put into trying to figure out the period texts and not necessarily interpreting the original material in the same way ).

Note: I'm not even going to try to get into the technical details because I don't think I understand it well enough after a 4 hour seminar to explain things without making errors trying to explain or describe Craig's methods.

Bottom line though is that for the first time I feel like I get 1:33 as a system and not a confusing overabundance of wards and counters that one has to memorize. ( Yes one should still also go through it all in the traditional ways, but it's not so much a system taught this way as a period mnemonic )

[Craig Shackleton]

Thanks for your kind words, Jean. It was a pleasure meeting you and having me in my classes.

Your comments mean a lot to me, because what you took away is exactly what I've been working to show people about this system; it is a system with principles rather than a chart to memorize.

Some of the seminar was also recorded on video, which I've been meaning to do for a while now. Hopefully I'll get some of that posted on youtube or something so that more people can get a look.

Thanks to everyone who came. I had a good time, and I hope everyone enjoyed it.

[Jean Thibodeau]

And your hospitality and kindness was very appreciated as well as the very effective teaching style.


I'm fairly certain that if Craig posted or publishes a detailed explanation of his interpretations we would get some " interesting " reactions from positive constructive criticism to the usual " flame wars " ..... LOL. ( Well maybe not flame wars on this site but I'm sure his ideas would be controversial and there would plenty of questions or disagreements or the usual cases of people replying to what they think was written instead of what was actually written. ).

I wonder if the best approach, for the mature student of any martial art, is to try out different interpretations and see what works best or seems most logical: The one creating or recreating these martial arts have the responsibility to try to keep the arts pure and consistent with the period styles ( To the degree that we can even be certain that our interpretations are correct ), but the " student " is free to try out different systems. There is the problem of not getting confused if one is trying to learn too many different interpretations all at the same time .... LOL: It's a bit like learning two different languages at the same time and not getting them all mixed together.

Well, I'm avoiding getting into the specifics about Craig's interpretation on the " myArmoury " Topic because a 4 hours seminar is not enough to be sure I would be explaining the differences of interpretations accurately, and I'm not that versed in 1:33 to get into a high level discussion/argument about it.

Just his way of holding the buckler and pronating/supinating the hand holding the buckler instead of flipping it in the hand is very efficient and " different ": I was very surprised by it and just this would change a great deal how many things could be interpreted when looking at the original drawings ...... I'm not qualified to go into any detailed analyses here .... but just by gut feeling I can see that this interpretation deserved a fair and impartial look at and try out.

[Craig Shackleton]

Hopefully I will get more of this out there so that people can look at what I'm doing. I really hope to avoid flame wars when I do. I'm perfectly prepared to listen to other interpretations than my own that are supported by evidence. Like anyone who has been doing this for a while, my own interpretations are constantly evolving. I also know that there are some details that I'd like to improve on in my interpretation.

Unfortunately, this is also one of those things where it is hard to communicate a physical action through the written word. Video has become popular for demonstrating things like this, and I need to get onto that. I will of course post links when I get some footage on the internet.

But really, doing a workshop in person is the best way to demonstrate things, because you can offer feedback and tailor your explanations to a given individual's needs. I wish I could get together in person with other WMA/HEMA experts and work through the varied interpretations to help refine everyone's work. It's also easier to assess tone and intent in person than on a forum, which should help defuse any flame wars.

At noon today I'm doing another mini workshop with complete novices in which I will have an hour to show them something about this system. I mainly hope to express that medieval swordplay is a real, sophisticated martial art that cannot be adequately explained in one hour. Anything else will just be a bonus.