Posted on

The Return to Castelnaud.

After an unforgettable weekend of swordplay and camraderie last September, Château de Castelnaud has invited me and the gallant fighters of La Mesnie du Blanc Castel to return once more to stage a Passage of Arms.

Once again I, as tenan, will match my skills and my sword against a series of challengers throughout the weekend. In addition, you can look forward to a weekend of talks, demonstrations, and displays by skilled craftspeople.

More details will be forthcoming as they are confirmed, so stay tuned. In the meantime, you can follow my progress in the coming year here and on social media as I prepare once more to submit myself to the Judgement of Mars.

Posted on

British expats cheer on ‘The Dark Knight from the Tower of London’

Shortly after returning from Castelnaud and the Judgement of Mars, I stumbled across a delightful blog post written by a pair of British expats who now live in the Dordogne. They seem to have enjoyed themselves, and were very happy when ‘The Dark Knight’ himself reached out to them asking if I might share their post with my readers.

You can find the post here. My thanks to the authors for coming to the event and for writing the post.

Posted on

Digitising Fencing Treatises at the National Fencing Museum

Last weekend I had the privilege to be assisting fellow fencing scholar-practitioner Guy Windsor in beginning a massive undertaking to digitise the extensive collection of early fencing treatises held at the National Fencing Museum in Worcestershire. The collection of manuscripts and printed books includes some of the most iconic works dating back to the sixteenth century. We got a fair bit done in three days, but there is much more work to do, so stay tuned for updates on this ongoing project.

Working on a pristine copy of Gran Simulacro dell’Arte e dell’Uso della Scherma (1610) by the legendary Ridolfo Capo Ferro

It wasn’t all work of course. In my right hand, a 1687 treatise by Sir William Hope. In my left, a 1729 work by the same author. What is it that drives me forward to keep photographing pages with so many more texts to go, you may ask? Why, nothing less than hope beyond hope.