Elizabethan Mafia

I’ve been doing a lot of housekeeping tasks for the blog this week.  In addition to updating my version of wordpress I’ve also gone through and updated my plugin versions, gotten rid of some plugins that just weren’t working out, and added some new ones that I think might help improve the blog.

While I was working on the updates I thought this would also be a great time to get some feedback from you, my readers.  I’d like to hear what it is you really enjoy reading about here on the blog and what you would like to see more of.  I’ve put together a brief poll to help with that and I would really appreciate it if you guys could spare a few minutes to tell me what you think.  If you don’t want to participate in the poll or have information you would like to share in addition to the poll please feel free to leave a comment on this post.  I always love to hear from  you all.

While I have enjoyed the much needed break I took from my jacket I am now happily back to stitching again.   I spent about 4 hours on it two weekends ago while I visited and geeked with Kate and last night I spent another two hours relaxingly stitching away on it.  I really needed the break because I found I was getting to the point that I dreaded working on it and it was stressing me out.  Whenever you find yourself at that point with a project just stop!  Take a week, or two, or six.  Do something else and come back to it later.  You will be happy that you did. 

I’m really enjoying working on this project again.  I’m still taking it slow.  I’m not driving myself to meet any weekly goals of hours worked.  I’m just enjoying the process of making back flowers.

I know a lot of tall fighters and a lot of not-so-tall-fighters.  I am a not-so-tall-fighter.  I’m not short by any means but at 5’7” I’m usually shorter than the 6’-ish fighters I generally face.  I know a lot of average and shorter fighters think that height gives tall fighters and automatic advantage but that isn’t really true.  All statures have their own inherent advantages and disadvantages.

A look at historical thoughts on the subject

In his Paradoxes of Defense Silver sets up a dialogue between a master and student about whether a tall man or an average man has the advantage in a fight if both men have a “perfect knowledge” about their weapons. Silver maintains that the tall man always has the advantage over the average man because the taller man has a longer reach, does not have to move as far to gain the “true place”, his pace is longer, and because he is taller his proper sword length is longer than that of an average man. Because of this advantage, the shorter man must be careful not to fail in any part of his fight or he is in great danger. As long as he maintains a true fight and fights in the true time he will still be able to defend himself even though his taller opponent has the advantage.

A perusal of Saviolo’s Practice shows that, in general, he likely would have agreed with Silver’s thinking. He says that if a tall man is fighting a shorter man, the taller fighter may have a great advantage over his shorter opponent due to his longer reach and greater stride, provided that he know how to properly put himself “in ward”. However, if he doesn’t understand proper warding the shorter man could have the advantage. If the taller fighter loses his point the shorter fighter could easily attack him from underneath with a stoccata or a passata.

My thoughts

Personally I tend to believe that each stature holds its own inherent advantages and disadvantages.  A taller fighter generally has the advantage of a larger range.  While tall, average, and even shorter fighters are all fairly just as likely to use the same lengths and kinds of blades, taller fighters are more likely to have longer arms and longer legs, giving them a greater range from which to fight.  Often a shorter fighter will find he needs to use a longer blade to equal the ranger of the taller fighter with a more standard blade.  A taller fighter as has the advantage of being able to more easily make attacks from a higher line than the shorter fighter which does give him some advantage.  However, that doesn’t mean he has all the advantage.  A shorter fighter does have to come further inside a taller opponent’s range in order to make his attack, but once inside his opponent’s range his stature and arm length then become more of an advantage allowing him greater maneuverability in closer quarters.  In this situation a shorter blade can provide even greater advantage for the shorter fighter because he does not have to draw back as far to execute additional attacks.  Similarly, attacks from a lower line are also easier for a shorter fighter.  He’s already closer to the lower line than his taller opponent so executing and attack from that line is not as difficult.

A major part of being successful in fencing is making what you have work for you.  Every body type has its own inherent advantages and disadvantages but not all fighters see that.  Just because you are shorter than your opponent doesn’t mean you can’t be successful.  Pit your advantages against their disadvantages and make them pay for it.

Grey wool hosen

Pictures of the grey wool hosen I made for my husband for Ymir are up in my gallery.

Before beginning his discourse on fighting, Swetnam takes the time to lay down “seven principal rules where on true defense is grounded”. These seven principles cover such cornerstones as distance, time, and place as well as several other precepts that make up the foundation of almost every martial art.

The first principal is that a fighter must learn and be able to maintain a good guard for the entire length of time that he is in danger of being attacked by his opponent.  It is not simply enough for a fighter to have academic knowledge of the guard, that is not enough to provide protection against an opponent. Only being able to properly frame a guard that provides a good ward against an opponent will protect a fighter. It is also imperative that the fighter be able to maintain his guard for the duration of the fight. The guard is only able to provide protection as long as it is in use. If a fighter ceases to maintain his guard during the fight he makes himself vulnerable to attack from his opponent.

Secondly, a fighter must have a good understanding of distance. A fighter must be able to stand so that he is outside of his opponent’s range but close enough that he can still reach him with a step forward and an attack. When he does attack his forward foot and hand must move together. He should also take care to keep his rear foot firm on the ground so that he may more easily regain an en-guard position once he has finished his attack.  The best way to gain a true understanding of distance is by practicing with other fighters. However, if that is not possible, a fighter may gain a good knowledge of distance by practicing alone and using a wall to represent one’s opponent. When using a wall for practice a fighter should be standing with his rear foot approximately 12 feet from the wall and should be practicing with a rapier approximately 4 feet long.  Distance is a fundamental concept of fighting. It is important that a fighter understand and be able to determine not only their body’s distance from their opponent, but also the distance covered by his and his opponent’s range of attack. It is vital that a fighter have an understanding not only his own range, but also the range of his opponent. Once he understands these ranges he will be able to determine not only when he is within range to attack his opponent but also when he is within their range and in danger of being attacked himself. Once a fighter has obtained an understanding of range and distance he can then manipulate them to his advantage.

The Third Principal Rule that a fighter must keep in mind is that he must have a good understanding of place. There are several “places” that a fighter must understand: the place of the weapons, the place of defense, and the place of offence. However, Swetnam is chiefly concerned with the place of offence, meaning the place on a fighter’s opponent which is most vulnerable to attack; the place the fighter is most able to hurt his opponent without overly endangering himself.  A fighter needs to have a good understanding of how to spot or create openings in his opponent’s defense. Otherwise he runs the risk of creating openings in his own defense while executing ineffective attacks on his opponent. If a fighter wants to be effective at endangering his opponent it is imperative that he understand is opponent’s vulnerable areas and be able to attack them and manipulate them to his advantage.

“To take the time”, the fourth rule, dictates that a fighter should take care to strike his opponent the moment his is given an opportunity to do so. He must take care to both defend himself and attack his enemy in the same time. He also must take care to attack quickly and not allow his opponent to regain his guard or else he will lose his advantage.  If a fighter does not take care to defend himself when he attacks his opponent then he runs the risk of leaving himself vulnerable to a counter attack and places himself at a disadvantage to his opponent. Similarly, if he does not take care to attack and defend in the same time but takes multiple times to complete these movements he also leaves himself open to a counter attack by his opponent.

Swetnam’s Fifth Principal Rule concerns “keeping the space”. The space can refer to two things. The first is the space between a fighter and his opponent which is covered in the rule concerning distance. The second concerns the space between attacks, which is what Swetnam discusses in his fifth rule. Swetnam cautions that a fighter must take care to mind the space between his attacks, meaning that when a fighter charges his opponent with a blow or a thrust he must take care that after his attack he takes time to regain his guard and defense before attacking again. He cautions that a fighter must attack with discretion, mindful of what he is doing, and that he should not charge forward needlessly or rashly. If a man does not attack mindfully and allows his emotions to control his actions during the fight then he makes himself vulnerable, no matter how skilled he may be otherwise.

It is also imperative that a fighter posses patience, the subject of the sixth rule. A fighter must have patience in order to govern his own emotions, an ability that is vital to a fighter’s success.  If he can not govern himself he leaves himself vulnerable to his opponent and allows his opponent an undue advantage.

Finally, a fighter must practice and practice often. Not only is practicing good exercise for maintaining health but it also helps a fighter firmly entrench the skills that he has learned of the Arte of Defense. If a fighter finds himself in need of the skills he has learned they will be readily available to him if he has taken the time to practice.

The Seven Principal Rules that Swetnam discusses may seem like common sense but they are the same basic principals that help to make up the foundations of all the martial practices that make up the Arte of Defense. If a fighter does not understand the purpose of a proper guard and can not form one to protect himself then he is open to attack from every angle. Similarly all fighters have to be able to understand distance in order to know where they are in relation to their opponent and at what point they or their opponent is within range of attack. He also has to be able to understand when he or his opponent is vulnerable to attack so that he is able to both protect himself and assault his opponent. The rules are basic but that is because they help make up the very basics of the fighting art and are necessary to both attack and defend.

Well, it’s the first week of February which means it’s time to take a look at how I’m doing with my goals for the year.

1) Continue to work on my physical fitness and fighting.  I’ve been good about getting my exercise in and working on my physical fitness but my practice attendance has been spotty at best.  Weather, work, and other odds and ends have conspired together so that I probably only made it to one practice in January.  It’s a bit disappointing because I was making 1-2 a week up until Christmas.  So I will need to work harder on my practice attendance this month.  My gym attendance through January though was great!  I routinely made it to spin class Tuesday and Friday mornings and spent Saturday doing some other cardio activity (swimming, elliptical, just not biking!)  This week was a little rough on my gym attendance due to icy conditions early in the week but starting next week I will be adding another spin class on Wednesday mornings and possibly another activity on Sundays.

2) Only have one embroidery project at a time.  Until it’s finished this means my jacket.  I’ve been good about sticking to my new “one embroidery project at a time” rule.  I’ve been on a bit of a break from the jacket this month though.  I’ve been focusing more on my Flanders gown, which has presented me with numerous challenges.

3) Do more sewing.  Ahh, sewing.  As you all know I’ve be focusing on my Flanders gown this month.  It’s been challenging, and at times frustrating, but in retrospect I think that is really a good thing.  So often I feel like we can get in a comfortable rut with our sewing project and while that can be nice and relaxing it can also keep us from growing as seamstresses and tailors.  Well, I’ve certainly been growing this month!  The fur has really been reminding me to take my own advice and take things slowly.  I had hoped to have it done by Ymir but that’s just not going to happen. It’s not really a bid deal though.  I have plenty of things to wear and removing my self imposed schedule has really freed me up to take my time with the project, especially since working with the fur is proving a little more complicated than I originally expected.  It will be done when it’s done.  And it will be fabulous!

4) Learn to play 2 pieces of music appropriate to Elizabethan England by Pennsic.  January proved to be a lot more busy and complicated than I thought it would be so I still have not signed up for classes like I had intended.  I have however been practicing a bit to bring back what I used to know many years ago.  I still need to sign up for classes though.

5) Spend more time with my students.  On going as always.   But I do need to talk to both of them about their plans for Ymir.

6) Continue to post Silver and Swetnam installments weekly.  I have not kept up with this goal as I would have liked to.  I only posted one installment last month and that’s just not going to cut it.  I definitely need to bump the priority on this goal back up to the top!

What I wanted to accomplish by the end of January:

1) I need to be in the gym at least 3 days per week. Accomplished!  Time to bump it up to 4-5.

2) I need to accomplish at least 40 hours of embroidery between Jan 1 and Jan 31. Took a break on this one to focus on another project.  I think the break was needed and I’m looking forward to renewed enthusiasm for the jacket project.

3) I need to order fabric for at least one project.  Found out I didn’t actually need to order anything anyway.  Woot!  Started my Flanders gown.

4) I need to actually start lessons.  Still need to start lessons.

5) I need to get together with the guys to talk about things we would like to do together between now and April.  Ongoing as always.

6) Post at least 4 Silver or Swetnam installments.  Fell behind here.  Need to focus on this more in February.

Goals for February:

1) I need to be in the gym at least 4-5 days per week.

2) I need to accomplish at least 40 hours of embroidery between Feb 6 and March 6.

3) Removed self imposed due date! Continue work on Flanders gown.  If I finish before March I’ll start shirts.

4) I need to actually start lessons. 

5) Continue to work to spend more time with students.  Maybe schedule a household project day for this spring?

6) Post at least 4 Silver or Swetnam installments before March 6.

I spent all weekend working on my Flanders gown.  I completely finished pad stitching all the fur to the linen lining.  I cut out the new interlining.  I cartridge pleated the kirtle skirt to the bodice.  In other words I took my snowed in weekend and really made some magic.  I thought I’d be ready to start cutting out the fashion layer and assembling the gown this week!

I was soooooooo wrong.

The fulled wool padding I added to the kirtle skirt to give it a little more body worked overtime!   The skirt now stands ~4” out from the bodice.  That’s WAY too much.  I originally added the padding because the linen I was using for the kirtle lacked the body to give the skirt the fullness that I wanted.  The skirt is 180 inches in circumference and in retrospect I might not have needed to add the padding after all.  Had I made the skirt only 120 inches in circumference as I had originally considered then I expect I would have needed it. However, when I decided to add in the extra 60 inch panel I probably should have dropped the padding.  Now I will need to take the skirt off, remove the padding layer and cartridge pleat it back on again.  Ugh!

The worst part though?  When I tried on the gown bodice lining with the kirtle the fur split in several places!  I’m SO frustrated over this!  And I’m not sure what the problem is.  The fur I used for the bodice came from a coat whose skins were more delicate than the others so the problems might be with the skins themselves.  It’s possible I was too rough taking it on and off but I tried to be pretty careful so if I was too rough then I’m not sure the bodice lining as it is could stand up to regular wear like it needs to.  So I might need to rethink the way I’m doing the lining.  Whatever the reason is though I’m too frustrated with it right now to deal with it.  I’m letting it sit until tomorrow.  Hopefully by then I will be less frustrated and can better evaluate the problem and decide on the solution I want to use.

If anyone happens to have any experience with this though please feel free to let me know!

The take away message?  Sometimes even when you take your time and work carefully you will still run into problems, setbacks, and frustrations.  Life is made of setbacks.  The thing that really matter is what you do with them.  And sometimes the best thing you can do is to set the project down, distract yourself, and come back to it the next day when you can look at it again with fresh eyes.  Personally every time I have tried to power through when I was really frustrated with a project I only made it worse.  Sometimes the best thing really is to leave it until tomorrow.

But if you want to see a picture of how awesome the fur lining looked before everything blew up there’s a picture in my gallery.

I know that I have been quieter than usual this month. I’ve been working on a rather large project which has nothing to do with my Flanders Gown. I have decided to take the plunge and open an Etsy shop selling cloth and thread wrapped buttons. I’m very excited but also more than a little nervous.

The shop, Wrapped And Stuffed Buttons, is coming along. It’s mostly up and I hope to have buttons available by the end of January/early February. I’ve really been having a lot of fun with this project and I’m excited to get it up and running.

I thought I would take some time today to talk about my theory on Silver’s stance.  While Silver discusses wards in his discussion of the Four General Fights, he does not directly discuss the placement of the feet. In his discussion of his general rules he does stress that a fighter should stand comfortably, constantly thinking about his opponent’s stance and attacks but he does not directly mention the placement of the feet in his Bref Instructions so we are left to conjecture on how he would have had his students stand.  

Of his contemporaries and predecessors, his fighting style and mindset seem to be most similar to that of Marozzo. They both rely heavily on cutting attacks but do not exclude thrusts. Their movements seem similar, and although Silver has far fewer wards, some of his wards bear a resemblance to those used by Marozzo, certainly more so than those used by some of his other contemporaries. Thus I think we can surmise that his stance is probably also fairly similar to that of Marozzo. In this stance, as with modern fencing, the fighter wants to present as small a target as possible with their upper body. The front foot is also pointed at the fighter’s opponent with the rear foot at a 60° to a 90° angle from the front foot. The feet and lower body are still spaced similarly to the modern stance with one interesting exception. Marozzo has his fighter’s move their heels out of line apparently to provide a steadier stance.  I have been using this stance predominantly when I fight for several years now and I can say that it does add stability especially when executing many foot movements of the period including the demi volte and the slope step.

*Note: The above image is from Marozzo’s Arte dell’ Armi (1568).  For some unknown reason I am having trouble with image captions right now.  I hope to have this fixed shortly but I did not want to have to put off posting any longer because of it.

I have a Silver post pending for today but I wanted to take a moment to boost the signal for a very good cause.  Today Reconstructing History announced that they will be donating 10% of all January sales (phone, internet, and in person) to the Red Cross for Haitian Earthquake relief.  More information can be found over at their facebook page and in the special announcements section of their homepage.