I did a little bit of work on Swetnam, trying to figure out how his stance would work in SCA style rapier.  It could work but it’s both defensive while not giving ground.  You can only move in a mostly forward arc.  The sword placement allows a lot of interception parries, and is very good at retaliating quickly, but the lack of backwards movement means that there’s very little body voiding available to you.  I’ll be doing more work on it once I’ve gotten back into fencing at full speed, as I suspect the slightly less stable positioning will be a detriment to fencing where you’re not afraid to get stabbed in the face.

Primarily I worked on finding and exploiting openings in guards.  I did a lot of forearm shots and some belly shots.  The angulation work is starting to come back, and I’m remembering what position to put my hand and blade into to take advantage of various openings.  I need some more work on ensuring that I have full control before making an attack, but that will come.

I’m finding myself remembering how to see openings, and just starting to be able to take advantage of them. My movement gets more fluid by the day.  My base guard seems solid, and I”m working a lot on disengages.

We continued with only doing slow work, though there was enough light that we didn’t have to turn on the porch light to fight by.  My goal is that we will begin doing full speed work in the early summer, leading up to me returning to fencing at events mid summer.

After the slow work section (also known as when it started raining) we discussed various types of Dons and what to look for in a teacher or mentor.  I brought up something from “The Swordmaster’s Grimoire” on teachers and coaches.  I extended it saying that there are teachers, trainers, coaches, and advocates/cheerleaders.  When you look for a formal relationship with a more advanced fencer it’s important to know what you need.

I don’t feel that I am ready for a formal student/teacher relationship in fencing.  I want to continue to focus that energy on my A&S, especially as I will be stepping down as seneschal soon and will be able to devote more time to it.

This is part of an ongoing project to summarize and provide SCA focused commentary on The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence by Joseph Swetnam, published in 1617.

For links to the other sections of the Swetnam Project please go here.

I am using this facsimile: http://tysonwright.com/sword/SwetnamSchooleOfDefence.pdf for the project.

We have now reached the combat portion of the manual.  There is a major change here in that the rest of the book is part of chapter 12.  The table of contents has broken it down into 18 sections.  I will be using the sections as they are listed, but as with the previous chapters still using each inline heading as the heading for the post.

I may need to go back through and add more sections if my posts prove too long, but I’ll cross that bridge when I burn it.

Chap. XII. Sheweth of seauen Principall rules whereon true defence is grounded.

The seven principles are:

1. A good guard
2. True observing of distance
3. To know the place
4. To take time
5. To keep space
6. Patience
7. Often practice

Swetnam dives right into his seven principles.  As I go through them I will list them with their principle.  Because we are now into the combat section I will try to give some commentary immediately following each section.

1. A Good Guard: it is important to have a good and secure guard which will defend your body (and he will explain it better later), but more importantly you must never let your guard drop as long as you are in range of your opponent.

This one is fairly straight forward, have a good guard, never let it drop.

2. True Observing of Distance: stand as far from your opponent as you can so that you can only hit him with a thrust if you step forward.  When you step forward your hand and foot must go together.  This distance could be as much as twelve feet if your rapier is four feet long.  Swetnam says to have your best food back, and to not move it, so that you can be ready to withdraw back into your guard.  You must return to your guard at distance after every attack regardless of whether you hit your opponent or not.  If your hind foot comes forward when you make your attack then you have broken distance and you will not be at the proper distance when you return.  Swetnam says that the best way to learn distance is to practice often with a friend or else in a chamber attacking a wall that is twelve feet away (assuming your weapon is four feet long).

This sounds exactly like a lunge.  The only odd point is that he refers to your rear foot as your best foot, but with body mechanics what he describes only works if your rear foot is your left foot.  Perhaps he means that the left foot is the best foot.  I practiced this lunge and after taking into account blade length (mine is 42″ instead of 48″ as Swetnam prefers) I’m still six inches short.  A friend of mine who is over six feet tall was able to accomplish the twelve foot lunge however (again taking into account blade length)

The twelve foot lunge seems to require an outstanding balance, and for the person to be over six feet tall.  I am unsure of how tall Swetnam was, but I would not be surprised to find that he was a very tall man.  I double checked measurements of today compared with the measurements of Swetnam’s time and the foot is still the same length, so it isn’t an error of conversion.  I recommend that SCA fencers have a 12′ lunge as a goal, but focus on being steady at an 11′ lunge and then work their way up to a 12′ maximum (again remember to take blade length into account).

3. To Know the Place: There are three parts to place, the place of the weapon, the place of defense and the place of offense.  The most important part is the place of offense though.  You must know what the nearest part of your enemy is to you, and what is the most unguarded (dagger hand, knee, leg, etc) or where you can best hurt him without any danger to yourself and preferably without killing your enemy.

Place means knowing where to strike.  It includes knowing where to defend, and where to put your weapon, but mostly it’s about the attack.  What part of your opponent can you hit easiest and with the best effect.  It doesn’t matter if his leg is nearest to you if it’s fully defended.  You need to be able to see where his defense is lacking.

4. To Take Time: be ready to take advantage of any opportunities that present themselves, either by a part of your enemy which is unguarded, or in response to your enemy’s movement, you must be ready to attack.  Your movement must be at the “very motion” of your opponent.  You need to defend and attack at the same time.  You cannot let your enemy recover his guard after his attack, because if you do then you loose your advantage.  You need to answer him quicker than you can say it, because if you wait too long and attack after your enemy has returned to his guard you give him the advantage.  “He which maketh the first assault doth endanger himselfe most”.

You must attack only when your opponent gives you the opportunity, but you must attack as soon as it’s presented.  When your opponent moves in a way that opens his guard you must attack right away, before he realizes it.  Similarly when your opponent makes an attack you need to be able to defend and respond at the same time.  If you parry first, and allow your opponent to return to his guard then you’ve lost the advantage, and if you make an attack against his secure guard then he will have the advantage.  Parry and attack must be the same movement.

5. To keep Space: there are two ways of thinking of this, the first is what Swetnam calls distance, and he already went over, but what Swetnam means by keeping space is that you should keep a certain space between each attack.  By this he means that after every attack (of any sort) you should recover to your guard so that you can defend or attack again.  You should not charge rashly or furiously, “for hastinesse is foolishnes”.

This links in with his words on taking time.  By recovering into your guard after an attack you are ready for your opponents response, and have the ability to throw another attack of any type; but if you move from your first attack into another attack then your opponent has the ability to attack you while you aren’t guarded, and your attacks are limited by what you did previously, which lets your opponent figure out what you are about to do quicker.

6. Patience: this is one of the greatest virtues of man.  Regardless of how hasty or violent you are by nature you should let reason and judgement guide you, do not let anger rule.  Swetnam has talked at great length about this previously in chapter eight.

Fairly self explanatory.  Be patient, don’t get angry or hasty, especially in combat.

7. Often Practice: Practice is one of the healthiest things for the body, and it is also the best thing for skill.  If you practice frequently you will gain skill and will have a great advantage over the unskilful.  Those who practice leave behind those who fight haphazardly or by hoping for a lucky shot.

Practice.  Practice. Practice. For only by this will you gain skill.

These seven principles are the basis of everything that follows in Swetnam’s manual; everything else will build upon these.

I had to nuke both this site and my drupal site, and my backup SCA site.  This is the first one back up and running.  With luck I’ll be able to recover the drupal site as well.  That one will eventually come back to wordpress, as I”m fairly certain that it was a drupal exploit that let the devil in.  I took the opportunity to try out anew theme.  We’ll see how it goes.

The down side to this is that I lost all of my uploads.  Luckily they were mostly pictures, and a few redundant files.  I don’t think it will be too much of an issue.  As time goes on I’ll try to go back through and add things back in.

I think it’s about time to go through and clean up the site anyway.  There’s a lot of redundant information on here.

This is part of an ongoing project to summarize and provide SCA focused commentary on The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence by Joseph Swetnam, published in 1617.

For links to the other sections of the Swetnam Project please go here.

I am using this facsimile: http://tysonwright.com/sword/SwetnamSchooleOfDefence.pdf for the project.

This chapter is set out as a discussion between a master and student and covers the weapons which will be taught in the rest of the manual and what to what to do with your life once you’ve mastered the weapons.

For this chapter I will use the same setup as Swetnam does, going between Master and Scholar.

Chap. XI. Questions and Answers.

Scholar
I like what you’ve said so far, now I would like to learn some skill.

Master
What weapon do you want to use?

Scholar
Whatever you think is best

Master
Then you should learn the “perfect use of six kinds of weapons”. You won’t be armed with all six at all times, but if you know these six weapons then you will be prepared for combat regardless of what weapons you or your opponents have access to.

Scholar
What six weapons should I learn?

Master
First the Rapier and Dagger, and the Staff.  The Other four are Backsword, Single Rapier, Long Sword and dagger, and Short Sword and Dagger.  But if you only learn two make it Rapier and Dagger and Staff, for with those two you can fight against any other weapon.  The rapier and dagger versus any single handed weapon, and the staff against any two handed weapon.  But remember that you must be skillful at the weapon before you try to use it against various other weapons.

The reason you need to learn more than just those two is so that you will understand the strengths and weakness of the weapons you will be fighting against.  If Goliath had known how useful and strong a sling could be he would not have given David the opportunity to kill him.  Even so if you have skill at the weapon your opponent is using then you will know what he is able to do with it and what he is not.

Now tell me who you are, and your upbringing.

Scholar
I am the son of a yeoman, but he has passed away and I have spent the money that he left to me.  So “I pray you direct me my course” and give me council for I have little to commend me but my hands, so please teach me anything you can that will help me live a good life.

Master
It takes more than gold to be a good person, and since you’ve shown yourself willing to learn I will tell you what I would do if I was in your position.  I might be a bit long-winded but it will be helpful.  You must know not only how to fight, but also how to govern yourself at all times.  Kind and courteous behavior is the proper way to behave, but it is even better if you are also honorable and skillful in the use of weapons.

Some people say that skill with weapons is for gentlemen only, but I say that everyone needs to know the proper use of weapons; for it can increase the honor and credit of a lower class man, thus it is the greatest skill to have for both rich and poor.

Once you are properly trained in weapons I recommend one of three careers (exercises) for the rest of your life, rather than living at other men’s labors, for everyone will weary of even the best man if he does not support himself.

Scholar
What careers would you recommend to me?

Master
I recommend that you choose to either learn a trade or occupation, go into the wars, or become a serving man.  For once you’ve learned how to fight you will need to find a way to maintain yourself, as idle hands make a hungry belly.

Scholar
Which career would you recommend to me?

Master
I recommend them all, but if you’re looking for steady work I recommend the trades. You will be able to grow and develop through them and could become a craft master.  Even if you’re getting older you are never too old to learn.

Scholar
What trade should I learn?

Master
Find a trade that you like and apply yourself to it and focus on it and work on it and by your honest labour you may make yourself rich.  But there is no good trade for someone who will not follow it, or who drinks away his profits.  That man will just sit in an alehouse and complain about how hard the world is.  But a hard working man will always find work, even if times are hard.

Don’t go wandering from place to place looking for work, for strangers will fear you and will be less likely to want to support your craft even if you have good behaviour.  And if you come home again those at home will not want to give you credit for fear that you will go wandering again.

There are many men who spend their time traveling abroad and in the end they realize the vanity of the world and repent of the time they wasted.  They may get experience but experience makes no money, just as a great goldsmith is useless without his tools or gold to craft with.  People do not trust a stranger so there is no point in taking your trade away to a foreign country when you would be better served by staying in your own land.  Be honest and content with your life.

If a trade is too tedious to learn or to complicated for you then you should go to the Wars, either by sea or by land, as you prefer.  But remember that if you seek your fortune by war you may loose your life while you are young.  Making your fortune in war is not as easy as people say, and in my mind it is not the best way to make your living, but if you choose to do so I recommend that you prepare yourself with knowledge and discretion so that when you gain wealth you will not squander it.  Don’t be like other soldiers who think “lightly come lightly go”.  If you gain wealth through the wars do not waste it, spend it wisely.  I have known many men who gained enough money in the wars to live the rest of their lives on if they spend it wisely.  But if you squander it you will have to return again and again to the wars hoping that fortune will smile on you again.

“Goods gotten by the wars are like a live bird in the hand, which, the hand no sooner opened but she straight flies away”

Do not go against your conscience in order to gain wealth in the wars.  For if you do it will be displeasing to God.  And when you gain wealth save it up so that it may last you the rest of your life rather than coming to nothing.

The third, and in my opinion the worst, choice I have left till last, that is the serving mans life.  Some men find good service, but others spend seven years, or even their whole life  growing older but not wiser nor richer, and some never care for more than having enough to eat day by day and never plan for the future.  If you become a serving man you must work very hard and be very wise with your money or else you will have gained very little when your service ends.  If you are dutiful but not wise and do not provide for yourself then at the end of your service when you look for your leaving bonus there may be none, regardless of the promises you have been given, and so you must remember to save your wealth and do not squander it.

I will now conclude.  Now listen for instruction on the skill of weapons.

SCA Take

This chapter uses a very different perspective than the rest of the book with the conversation between the master and scholar.  It does, however, touch on an important point in that it gives us the weapons that will be covered in the rest of the manual.  As for the rest however although interesting from a sociological perspective It’s not really that important.

The weapons that will be taught in this manual are:

• Rapier and Dagger
• Staff
• Backsword
• Single Rapier
• Long Sword and dagger
• Short Sword and Dagger

Swetnam favours the first two as with proper training those tow weapons can be victorious over any other combination of weapons.  He teaches the other four because they are the most common weapons being used, and with some training in those weapons it will help you to understand their strengths and limitations for when you fight against them.

This brings up two interesting thoughts.  First that he prefers the teaching of the Rapier and Dagger together rather than first single rapier then adding the dagger.  And secondly that if you want to know the limitations of different weapons learn them.  So even if you don’t like bucklers learn how to use bucklers of various sizes, or cloaks, or batons, or different types of dagger.

We had three fighters (well four, but only three practicing) yesterday.  Myself, Sebastian, and Violante (sp?).  The three of us took turns fighting together and watching.  Sebastian is treating it very much as a teaching practice, which I appreciate as I haven’t fought in six months.  On the plus side most of my guard is still there, I haven’t forgotten much.  I’ll take a while to get “fluent” in it as Sebastian says.  But with regular practices again I think I should be ready to fight again by the summer.

I’m very glad that I’ve been working on my arm strength with the l-sits again.  I’m almost ready to try the 15 second sets instead of 10 second sets.  I look forward to the time that I can do a full 30 seconds in a full L.  But that will probably take a while.

Anyway, yesterday’s practice (and probably most of them for the next while) was all about relearning how to fence.  I’ll try to post my thoughts on here like I used to.

Well after making this three times in the last year I should probably post it here.

Today’s comes from “The Good Huswifes Jewell” published in 1596.  As far as I can tell the Turkey came back to Spain very early after discovering the New World; and by the 1530s it was common enough in England to be anecdotaly one of the king’s favorite meals.  By the 1590s it begins appearing in cookery books.

To baje a Turkie and take out his bones.
Take a fat Turkie, and after you haue
scalded him and washed him cleane, lay
him vpon a faire cloth and slit him through-
out the backe, and when you haue taken
out his garbage, then you must take out
his bones so bare as you can, when you
haue so doone wash him cleane, then trusse
him and pricke his backe toghether, and so
haue a faire kettle of seething water and
perboyle him a little, then take him vp that
the water may runne cleane out from him,
and when he is colde, season him with pep-
per and Salt, and then pricke hym with a
fewe cloues in the breast, and also drawe
him with larde if you like of it, and when
you haue maide your coffin and laide your
Turkie in it, then you must put some But-
ter in it, and so close him vp. in this sorte you
may bake a goose, a Pheasant, or capon.

This one is fairly easy as most of the steps are already done when you buy a turkey these days.

To Bake a Turkey

• Turkey
• Bacon enough to cover it
• Salt
• Pepper
• Cloves
• Butter – optional

1. Take your turkey and lay him breast down on your cutting board, this will be messy, so don’t have anything near.
2. You will need a bowl for the bones (roast them and make stock from them after, it tastes great), a long thin knife (slicing knife), and a pair of bone sheers.  If you don’t have those you can do it all with knives but it is a bit more dangerous and takes longer.
3. Use your bone shears to cut up each side of the spine and remove the spine from the back.
4. Use the knife to slowly release each of the bones and remove them.  You may need to use the sheers again to cut the cartridge connecting the leg bones to the thigh bones.  I normal leave the wing bones and leg bones but remove everything else.
5. Go slowly, don’t rush or you’ll cut yourself. the breast bone needs to be removed very slowly.  You don’t want to penetrate the skin by accident.
6. Once this is done rub the bird down with salt and pepper, then truss it up so it looks like a normal turkey (though smaller now).
7. If you want you can put some butter inside the bird, but it’s really not that necessary.  We wont be cooking it in a coffin (this time) so it isn’t really needed.
8. Use a small knife to poke holes in the skin and a little into the meat and stick cloves in them.  Clove the breast to your preference, but I find that people like the flavour of the cloves, so go nuts.
9. Wrap the whole thing in bacon.  Last time we did it we used a lot of bacon, but we’ve done everything from one tray to half a box. The bacon keeps the bird moist during cooking and adds some great flavour.
10. Put it in your preferred method of roasting (roasting pan, turkey cooker, etc) and cook it till a knife going in has clear juices come out of it.  Or you can go by a meat thermometer.
11. Remove from the roaster, take the legs and wings off and slice the rest like a roast.

We did this the other week as the main meat for Winters Tourney and everyone loved it.  The fact that the king loves bacon didn’t hurt .

I hope to do this some time with a proper coffin.

This is part of an ongoing project to summarize and provide SCA focused commentary on The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence by Joseph Swetnam, published in 1617.

For links to the other sections of the Swetnam Project please go here.

I am using this facsimile: http://tysonwright.com/sword/SwetnamSchooleOfDefence.pdf for the project.

This chapter lays out all the ways that a coward avoids a true show of his skill.

Chap. X. The trickes of a Coward.

The first way to know a coward is that he will carry a lot of weapons.  Swetnam is quick to point out that he doesn’t call all men who go about heavily armed cowards, but he says that if you pay attention you can tell which is which.

When a coward is challenged he will mention several places for the combat, but then will pick the location when only the challenger and he knows where it is.  He will then go to a different spot which he had mentioned previously and brag to everyone that he was there to fight the challenger but they didn’t show up, because the challenger is at the actual location.

Again, cowards will brag and insult a man when that man is with friends and in public so that everyone will see and hear what a valorous man he looks like, or he will draw his weapons at a fair or market because he knows that the fight will be stopped before anyone is hurt.  Swetnam says this is not true valour for there is no true test of skill or “manhood”.

Some cowards challenge a well to do man, but at the duel he makes a great speech about how he didn’t realize what a good man the other was and that he refused to fight such a good man, thus he seems brave for the challenge, and seems honorable for not trying to hurt a good man, but truly is neither.

A cunning coward when he is challenged will begin bragging and acting tough; talking about how there’s no chance that he can be beaten, and about how the man who challenged him won’t show up because he’ll be too afraid of the fight, and the coward will talk about how he doesn’t draw his sword in vain.  If this doesn’t work the coward will, if he knows his opponent well, talk about how to men this close shouldn’t let it come to blows, and if he is of higher rank than his opponent he’ll talk about how he wouldn’t lower himself to fighting someone so base.  Attached to this he adds:

“I have known in a strange place, that a scurvy base fellow will stand so much upon his gentilitie, and think to make the world beleve he is a great man in his own country”

If it turns out that he can not escape his challenger, for example if he’s at a tavern and there are too many people about, he will draw his dagger with little reason so as to show that he wants to fight right then and there, and so those around them will calm him and his opponent down so that they won’t fight in the middle of the tavern. Swetnam doesn’t oppose this so much (the friends stopping a fight), but he does oppose any falling out over something small like a cup of wine or a pipe.

If a coward lives to be old he may boast that he is the best man in the world because he was never tried and never had to draw his sword, even though it was his cowardice rather than his skill that kept his skin whole.

A wise or valorous man could say the same thing, for a man can answer a challenge and yet keep himself safe. And why should we fear death by combat? You do not fear a bed, yet men die in their beds. You do not fear crossing the sea, but many men die at sea. Swetnam says that there “is less danger in fighting a good quarrel with skill and discretion” than in many other things that we do every day.

It once was that a coward will have a sword or rapier at the length of half a pike (6 feet), but now that shorter swords are the fashion it is harder to tell a coward by the length of their sword. In this Swetnam seems to dislike the fashion for very short swords, but at the same time says that he won’t be vocally opposed as he knows a number of good men who prefer the shorter weapon.  Now instead of the very long weapon the coward buys the most expensive weapon he can, yet Swetnam again says that you cannot know a coward by his weapon any more than you can by his injuries or scars.  You can’t know how good a judge is by his robe, or a sailor by his whistle.  You don’t know if gold is good till you’ve tested it. Similarly you don’t know if a man is a Man or a Coward till he’s been tested.  But you will rarely see a coward use his weapon in earnest except when he’s drunk or forced into it, but he will draw his weapon frequently around others and shows off tricks with his sword in an attempt to get people to believe that he’s a good fencer.  Cowards will, by speaking libels and dealing underhandedly, revenge themselves upon others in private because they can not respond “manfully”.  But at the same time the coward gets upset when he hears of other men called brave or valourous, as he doesn’t want any other man to be better than himself.  If he hears of anyone commended for being valourous a coward will reply that “he is no body; or he is not the man you take him for”.

A coward delights in creating quarrels between people and in spreading rumors and tales.  Swetnam claims that the chief cause of cowardly minds is ignorance and want of skill.  He warns that you should never trust “a coward in his fury” and to not let him closer than “the point of thy rapier”.  Let the coward have his word, but don’t let him get any advantage on you, or give him room to do any tricks, especially if he is your enemy.

Swetnam won’t say that all of those who practice throwing a dagger or “darting” a rapier are cowards, but he does say that anyone who uses it in a fair fight is a coward.

He then gives us a real world example of a coward.  One Cosbe had a quarrel with the Lord of Burke.  It grew and they arranged a duel.  Just before they began Cosbe said “my Lord you have spurs which may annoy you” and said that he should take them off.  As Burke was removing his spurs Cosbe ran him through and killed him.  Lord Burke was a skillful swordsman and would have done well in a fair duel, but instead he was murdered and Cosby was hanged for it.

Swetnam ends with a final anecdote which seems to be more about murderers and less about cowards.  A man commits murder and is granted leniency by a judge. He later kills a second man and is granted leniency again by the same judge.  He kills a third man and the judge sentences him to death as he has been warned twice.  The murder then said that the judge is wrong to condemn him for killing three men because the judge killed two of them.  The judge asked what he meant and the man replied that if the judge had hanged him for the first offense he wouldn’t have killed the other two, therefore he was guilty of killing only one man and the judge was guilty of killing two.  Swetnam references this story to remind us that a “man-slayer” should be hanged for the first offense if it wasn’t in self defense or for a true quarrel.

SCA Take

I don’t believe that there is much of an SCA rapier take from this chapter.  But the chapter is an important one for understanding the early 17th century concept of honour.  The killing of a man in a fair duel over a good reason was not an evil thing, but the use of any tricks or pretending to be what you are not was dishonorable.

I think the most important thing to take from this is to remember that it is dishonorable to present yourself and your skill level as greater than they truly are.  I may have more to say on this later, but I’ll come back and edit this some time for that.

This is part of an ongoing project to summarize and provide SCA focused commentary on The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence by Joseph Swetnam, published in 1617.

For links to the other sections of the Swetnam Project please go here.

I am using this facsimile: http://tysonwright.com/sword/SwetnamSchooleOfDefence.pdf for the project.

This chapter has two purposes.  The first is to remind us that skill is something that can always increase, and the second is a condemnation of telling tales or gossip.

Chap. IX. Sheweth what an excellent thing skill is, with persuasion to all men to forbeare the maintaining of idle quarrels.

In Favour of Skill

Swetnam begins this chapter by giving a disclaimer that though perfect skill is what we aspire to, it is also impossible to reach. Even if a man traveled the entire earth or soared through the sky, or dove to the bottom of the seas he would not achieve perfect skill.

“[skill] is so large that I cannot compas it, so high I cannot reach it, and so deepe a hidden secret, that I cannot sound the bottom of it; for I cannot travaile so far, climbe so high, nor wade so deepe”

But he says that he has seen so much that he knows that even though imperfect those who focus their minds on learning, knowing they can never truly achieve perfection, become the most famous of men; for we admire and reward skill, and how it “abateth the choller and courage of the hasty and furious man” and tempers him, just as iron is tempered with steel to make a blade, for steel alone is to brittle, and iron alone can not be sharp enough. So the learned man knows that those who are furious and hasty are soon killed. Skill, use (training/practicing), and exercise are the three key parts of ability.

Skill makes people more prepared to fight, so they do not wince at every blow. A natural coward when he has gained skill becomes bold.

Here he has a note that skill and practice help a man to be able to use both of his hands the same way – being equally skilled with either.

Every man should learn as much skill in weapons as he can, and also learn as many different guards with each weapon as possible so that you may be able to defend yourself in a fight.  For if you have skill with only one weapon, or know only one guard or one kind of blow or thrust you will not be able to protect yourself against the man who knows many guards, blows, thrusts, and weapons.

Man does not know what he is capable of until he not only tries, but practices, and gains experience. Skill is the best armour, for it allows you to fight without fear, and allows you to hurt without being hurt yourself.

Against Gossip

Many people tell tall tales, and boast, but do not put any confidence in the speech of a drunkard, a coward, or a fool, for you should not trust what they say. Similarly a Gentleman, or any good many, should not tell tales. But if you hear a friend of yours “wronged behind his back” you should answer on your friends behalf with reasonable words, but do not tell your friend what was said unless it concerns his life, as you don’t want to be repeating the words of a fool.

Remember: a carrier of tales can never truly deliver a man’s speech without adding or talking away from it, which changes the speech. So it is better to not say anything.  “Tale-bearers are the breeders of great mischiefe”.

When words are passed from one party to another to another malice is perceived, and offense is taken from them, when none was meant. This can create a grudge that may be kept for a long time. Swetnam encourages us to confront each other instead of holding grudges so that everything is out in the open and resolved, either “with weapons or with words or by the persuasions of friends”. Do not let envy, or hatred remain in your heart against anyone, for any reason. Talk with whoever spoke ill of you, be courteous to them, do not be angry until you have heard his tale, for there may be no cause for the quarrel.

Do not meddle with men above your station even if they wrong you, and you have good cause, for you will gain little by the quarrel. It is better to endure the malice of the mighty and to let the quarrel go than to try to maintain it, for by doing so you prove yourself to be the more honourable man.  Do not rail against them, or talk behind their back, for that is dishonourable.

To the might Swetnam says this: do not offer wrong against those lower in station than you. For many men would rather lose their lives than their honour, and so they will fight with no fear of the law. For they know that they have no standing before the law against a powerful or well connected man regardless of what they do. Here Swetnam quotes a proverb “The rich men have the Lawe in their owne hands”.

Swetnam closes this chapter by reminding us that the poor fear to offend the rich and powerful, but the implication is that it does not give the mighty the right to take advantage of those who are lesser.

SCA Take

We have two very important parts in this chapter, one of which is directly applicable to SCA combat and one which is directly applicable to life in general.

There is no way to achieve perfect skill, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t try. Swetnam wants us to practice and practice and train and train until we are as close as possible to perfect skill.

The second section of the chapter is very different.  It is about gossip. He has several things to say about gossip, the first of course is DON’T. But also he recomends that if we hear gossip about someone we know refute it if you can, but don’t repeat it, even to the person it was about. The only reason to pass on gossip is if someone’s life might be in danger.

If you hear gossip about you find the person who said it and figure out who started it, then talk with them.  Find out why the said it and what they meant by it.

And finally do not start a quarrel with those above you, even if you feel that it is deserved. In the SCA if someone of higher rank insults you and the talking it out method doesn’t work let it go.  Do not insult them back either to their face or to others. By doing this you will show yourself to be a more honorable person than the one who insulted you.

Also, do not start a quarrel with those below you in rank, for if you do then you are not living up to the honourable conduct expected of someone of your rank.

This is part of an ongoing project to summarize and provide SCA focused commentary on The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence by Joseph Swetnam, published in 1617.

For links to the other sections of the Swetnam Project please go here.

I am using this facsimile: http://tysonwright.com/sword/SwetnamSchooleOfDefence.pdf for the project.

This chapter is a brief overview of the types of weapons that are currently used and some philosophy on the use and knowledge of weapons.

Chap. VIII. How the use of weapons came, also the number of weapons used from time to time, with other good instructions.

Mankind was created without natural weapons.  We have hands to push away that which annoys, and feet to run from that which scares us.  But other creatures are naturally armed with teeth, claws, horns, beaks, venom, etc.

When man fought with tooth and nail, hand and foot, it was the strongest man who won.  Even with the advent of basic weapons it was still the strongest who survived. (Swetnam references Sampson here)

Over time weapons improved from clubs, staves, sings and darts, and other weapons were invented, and armour created.  From iron chariots to armed elephants and horses, to swords spears, bills, halberds, javelins, partisans, crossbows, longbows etc.  By Swetnam’s time, he says, most of these had been left behind and instead the weapons of the time are musket, arquebus, crossbow, calieuer (small cannon?), pike, sword, and rapier, all of which he says are “weapons of great danger” – not only to an opponent, but to the wielder as well.  (He seems to imply here

Swetnam goes on to say that because we have all sorts of dangerous weapons we should train everyone how to use them so that they know how to defend themselves without being hurt by their own weapon. He points out though that the best weapons to train people in are the ones that are the “most safe to defend, and yet most dangerous and hurtfull to thy enemy”.

Those who make good quality weapons are admired, but more admired are those who are skillful at the use of the weapons.  Those who are skillful and famous are given titles – like Knight. Similarly it is now expected that all men should not only be able to carry and use a weapon, and also be able to “speak and to discourse” about weapons with anyone.

Fencing was created by the Romans, who created entire armies of sword fighters.

Those who are skillful are sad that so many men die in duels which had no good reason beyond aspiring to praise.  The dead men did not understand that praise and admiration is given for skill, and not for the duel itself. (Swetnam seems to be implying that if more people devoted themselves to learning skill rather than testing skill in duels they would attain the praise they want).

The wise man prepares for Winter during the Summer, and for war during peace time.  War always follows peace, and similarly there is no one alive who will not be so wronged that he must fight.  Thus the wise man is armed with both weapons and skill beforehand so that if an occasion comes where he must fight he will be prepared.

SCA Take:

As this section is mostly philosophy it’s not as applicable, but there are two SCA related things to mention:

It is expected that you not only know how to use a weapon without hitting yourself in the foot, but how to talk about weapons.

It is one thing to be able to win in a tournament, but it is a better thing to focus on your skill first – winning in tournaments will come after that.