Smallsword Symposium 2011 - Subtleties of the Smallsword
Introduction
Cost and sign-up
Paypal payment (preferred) to smallswordsymposium@gmail.com, or
email us for an address to send cheques to.
- £35 Early Bird Payment - closing date 30th June 2011
- £45 Pre-Event Payment - closing date 30th September 2011
- £55 On the Door Payment - 1st/2nd October 2011
This fee will cover event admission only. Lunch, snacks, evening meals, etc. can
be easily purchased locally.
Refunds cannot be guaranteed and will only be made on a discretionary basis by the organisers once the event is over.
Venues
Daytime Saturday and Sunday - St Stephen's Centre (basement of St Stephen's Church)
A small kitchen area will be available for use for tea and coffee making.
View Larger Map
Evening Friday and Saturday -
The back room has been booked for both the Friday and Saturday night for us to gather in. The Cumberland Bar does bar meals and we are happy to point participants in the direction of local restaurants, other pubs that serve food and decent chip shops.
Programme of events
Friday |
|---|
| 19.30 | Registration and social gathering in The Cumberland Bar.
Administration will be done on the Friday night so please attend if you can in order to speed up the event and leave more time for socialising and fencing. However, there will be opportunity to register on the Saturday morning for those for whom this is not possible. |
Saturday |
|---|
| 09.30 - 10.00 | Doors Open, Registration & Housekeeping |
| 10.00 - 10.30 | Salute & Warm up |
| 10.30 - 11.30 | 'For Pity's Sake Lunge!' - Mr Ian Macintyre
Many swordsmen fail to make their attack with a proper lunge and as such set themselves up to fail. This class will explore the principals and body mechanics of this most vital of techniques. The workshop will contain a number of drills and exercises that attendees can take away with them to add to their regular routines to improve their lunging and thereby their swordsmanship. |
| 11.30 - 12.00 | Freeplay |
| 12.00 - 13.00 | 'The Clash of Steel' - Mr Philip Crawley
A technical class considering three actions on the blade - the batter, the beat and the glissade - and how they may be used for both attack and defence by a skilled fencer. |
| 13.00 - 14.00 | Luncheon |
| 14.00 - 14.30 | Warm up & Freeplay |
| 14.30 - 15.30 | 'Playing at the Half-Sword' - Dr Milo Thurston
He who plays at the Half-Sword, or Within Distance, as we call it, disorders himself not so much before he discharges his Thrust - according to Hope in his New Method (1707).
This short session will discuss the utility of play at this distance with the hanging
guard, the hazards encountered in getting there, and how this ties in with some modern interpretations of George Silver's works. |
| 15.30 - 16.00 | Freeplay |
| 16.00 - 17.00 | 'Selling the Feint to the Experienced Swordsman' - Mr Simon McGrory
|
| 19.30 | Pub - The Cumberland Bar |
Sunday |
|---|
| 09.30 - 10.00 | Doors Open |
| 10.00 - 10.30 | Warm up & freeplay |
| 10.30 - 12.00 | 'Ex-Hume-ing the Enlightenment Swordsman (Duelling, Deportment, Dancing and Descartes)' - Mr Victor Markland
What better place than the home of the Scottish Enlightenment to 'awaken' from our 'dogmatic slumbers' regarding the smallsword. The period swordsman saw his weapons in a way that merely 'acting as if they were sharp' fails to adequately capture. We will use the ideas of early modern era philosophers as keys to unlock and explore a distinctly 18th century viewpoint on the world including the smallsword.
Period-correct physical exercise, drills and practice will be employed to internalize the relevant concepts. I challenge each student to embrace the spirit of the Age of Enlightenment and as Kant says 'Sapere aude' i.e., dare to be wise, in order to push his smallsword skills to a higher level. |
| 12.00 - 13.00 | Freeplay |
| 13.00 - 14.00 | Luncheon |
| 14.00 - 15.30 | Warm up & Freeplay |
| 15.30 - 16.30 | Competition Finals |
| 16.30 - 17.00 | Freeplay, Salute & Doors closed |
| Finis | For those that can stay there will no doubt be an informal sojourn to the pub for a discussion of the weekend, important fencing matters and the latest moustache fashions from the Continent. |
Instructors
Philip Crawley (Dawn Duellists Society)
Philip Crawley can't remember a time when he wasn't fascinated by European weapons, and has studied their use for almost as long. As a keen advocate of French martial arts his interests include, alongside the smallsword, knife, walking stick and Defence Dans La Rue. He is a BFHS IL1 Instructor and Assessor, and a Comtech Bowie Knife Instructor.
Ian Macintyre (Black Boar School of Swordsmanship)
Ian Macintyre is the Proprietor of the Black Boar Swordsmanship School. He has been fencing for 12 years and teaching for 7, qualifying as BFHS CI in 2007. His particular interests are Military Sabre, Walking Stick and most recently Courtsword.
Dr Milo Thurston (Linacre School of Defence)
In 1999 Dr. Thurston founded the Linacre School of Defence in Oxford, now based at the university's staff club, in order to continue his study and promotion of these arts. Since that time he has presented seminars on Hope's small-sword system (and, on occasion, pugilism) in the UK, US, Canada, Germany, Sweden and Australia as well as being awarded instructor certification by the British Federation for Historical Swordplay.
Simon McGrory (Society for the Study of Swordsmanship)
Simon McGrory has been fencing for over twenty years and teaching various types of swordplay to all levels of pupil for seventeen. He is both a member of the British Academy of Fencing (BAF) and an instructor with the British Federation for Historical Swordplay (BFHS)
Victor Markland (Mid -Atlantic Manly Arts/ Mid-Atlantic Society for Historical Swordsmanship)
Victor began his study of historical swordsmanship about 15 years ago. For several years he has participated in, presented and organized programs on period martial arts at diverse venues in the USA He is most proud of the annual Manly Arts Day, now in its seventh year, held at Hampton National Historic Site. He practices regularly with the Mid- Atlantic Society for Historical swordsmanship (MASHS) and administers the Mid -Atlantic Manly Arts group (MAMA). Victor is glad to have finally found a use for those degrees in philosophy.
Equipment
Please attend wearing loose, practical, comfortable clothing with soft-soled training shoes and long sleeves. All skin should be covered.
Some equipment may be available to borrow but this cannot be guaranteed in any way. If you do borrow equipment it is on the condition that it is returned in the same, preferably better, state it was lent in, any damage is to be compensated for.
The following equipment is strongly recommended in order to participate fully in the event:
- Fencing mask - ideally 1600N with a 25 kg rated mesh
- Gloves
- Fencing jacket
- Plastron - either under or over the jacket
- Chest guard (especially for Gentlemen of the female persuasion)
- Box (for Gentlemen)
- Gorget
If there is any difficulty with acquiring any of this then please get in touch before the event.
Smallswords
- These must be foil, epee, 'musketeer' or schlaeger bladed and between 30" and 35" long, with 32" as the ideal.
- They must be blunt and the tip 'buttoned' in some reasonable manner
- They must have a simple hilt, but need not have a knucklebow
- Foils, epees and other long, straight-bladed fleurets may be used
- Pistol-gripped swords will have you horsewhipped from the premises!
A very serviceable and economical smallsword simulator can be made from the following items from
Leon Paul:
- Foil Pommel Product Ref: 74
- Ambidextrous Foil Handle Product Ref: 79B
- Foil Pad Product Ref: 87
- Standard Foil Guard Product Ref: 70
- #2 Steam Epee Blade Product Ref: 16LP
The organisers and Instructors reserve the right to ban the use of any equipment they deem to be unsafe, or inappropriate.
Competition
In order to encourage people to meet and fence each other there will be an unusual twist to qualifying for the competition, all in the spirit of 'serious fun':
- At registration each fencer will be given ten tokens, called 'Guineas'
- These Guineas can then be gained through fencing other fencers, or by betting (see later)
- The number of Guineas wagered on the outcome of a match is up to
the participants, with a minimum of one token per person. This allows for handicapping matches- a stronger fencer may offer more Guineas to encourage a less experienced fencer, who offers fewer, to play against them, for example.
- The rules for each match, e.g. grappling, double-hits, offhand weapons, etc., are to be decided to both participants' satisfaction, equipment level
and comfort level. Where there is disagreement then the lower of the two levels is to be chosen.
- Matches may occur at any of the designated freeplay sessions during the event. Matches held outside these designated times, especially if off the event premises, are not condoned by the event organisers.
- At the designated time on the Sunday the fencers with the most Guineas will then play each other until there is a clear winner who will then receive a prize.
- Attendees may also bet on other fencers' bouts in order to gain more Guineas either with the fencers engaged in the bout, or with other fencers not involved. Examples include betting on the outcome of a bout, whether a participant uses a certain move or technique, who has the better form or whatever is agreed.
Be creative!
Accommodation
Due to the small size of the event we are unable to organise accommodation and will leave this to each participant to organise for themselves to book one of the many youth hostels, bed and breakfasts, hotels, etc. in the city.
If you need help with this then please
email us.
This is often the best place to start:
http://www.visitscotland.com/
Travel
Edinburgh is served by an international airport, central railway station and coach station with connections from all major cities.
The city itself is easily travelled by taxi, bus and foot, however there is very little parking at the St Stephen's Centre for those of you arriving by car. Parking in Edinburgh is notoriously expensive, limited and well enforced so please take this into account.
Please check parking restrictions around the venue as they are often different on weekends, so parking availability may change on each day of the event.
Forthcoming events
