Rob Lovett (rob_lovett@hotmail.com)
Wed, 06 Oct 1999 08:29:30 BST
How about this:
Combat Hobby, Martial Art or Living History?
Historical re-enactment, especially in the Dark Age and Medieval Periods,
has been and probably always will be heavily weighted towards re-creating
battles, skirmishes and tourneys of the past. This, after all is what
interests, the majority of the public, as it easily capitivates their
imagination and they can relate to it via their own experiences through
watching television and films. This is probably the reason that a lot of the
combatants became involved themselves as a ways and means to live out our
Errol Flynn and Mel Gibson fantasies.
All this aside, there should be just as much of a commitment to be able to
accurately display medieval combat as there is dedicated to Living History.
Already I can here a clamour of dissent and angry voices but hear me out.
Many groups base their fighting styles on modern fencing methods, or
restrict shots to the head, do not allow thrusting, all blows must be
angled, no blows at right angles to the body and the list goes on. This is
fine, if what you are aiming to perform is a theatrical performance, after
all we do not want our actors to get hurt, but let us not sell it to the
public as an historical representation of medieval warfare.
The medieval knight and Dark Age warrior was a martial artist in every sense
of the word. He would have been an expert in his field just as much as
todays black belt karate practitioner 2nd Dan Fong Yang Khong Chang
instructor. Yet, in spite of this obvious disparity between our own fighting
styles and that of a medieval knights we continue in maintaining the lie
that we are experienced and well practiced martial artists that are fighting
in a completely authentic manner. What is this sweeping statement based on?
I dont know, but I do not think that any warrior of the past would have
purposefully omitted certain shots.
The most obvious reply to all of this is that we live in the modern day, we
cannot be expected to spend as many hours practicing as did the warriors of
the past and above all we msut ensure that combat is safe. These are all
very good arguments and some of them are indeed valid. The main one though
that I come up against is safety.
Granted, saftey is very important to us all, no one wishes some one else
injury, but I do not see that omitting shots is the answer. I believe that
the answer is in the approach of a martial artist, we should all adopt the
same mentality as that of a black belt karate kid or a master of Fong Yang
Khong Chang and approah our training in the same manner.
What is the purpose of training?
We are all creatures of instinct and reflex. If you place your hand in a
flame you pull it away without thinking because your body is conditioned
into removing itself from a recognized source of pain, but having said that
there are thos people that can ignore the pain and overcome that reflex to
leave their hand in the flame, in other words they have overcome their
natural instinct.. Training should do exactly the same for a martial artist.
For example, if a punch is thrown at some one they will instinctively throw
their head backward to try and avoid the blow. A martial artist would not,
and would either block the blow or side step it or a hundred and one other
options that may present themselves depending on how the blow is delivered.
In other words he would have overcome the natural reflex and would have
conditioned himself to re-act differently.
Instinct is not a cognitive process. It is instinct that is directly
affected by your immediate environment and not the cognitive process, and it
is only through cognitive reasoning that instinct can be overcome. This is
where training comes in, because it is through training that you retrain
instinct to react to certain environmental pressures and conditions until
eventually they become instinctual.
Now, if you omit from your training certain blows, e.g. the head blow, then
you will never retrain your instinct to be able to deal with that particular
environmental pressure and unless you are quick thinking or lucky or both
then you will end up with a lump of steel embedded in your cranium.
Training is also important so that you are able to learn in safety the basic
principles that are common to all martial arts as Silver called them the
Four True Times, the Four False Times, the Four Grounds and the Four
Governors.
How is this achieved safely?
Basically the way that all martial artist have always done it, by
approaching training in a balanced way, by praticing techniques/katas,
forms, and sparring with both light contact and at full contact. It is
through this style of training, and doing it honestly incorporating all
attacks and defences with out omitting any then you will be able to go and
fight effectively on the field knowing that you are doing it safely.
Many of you reading this will assume that I am saying that we must adopt
eastern martial arts and train using their styles and techniques. This is
not the case at all. We have a wealth of information that is based from
within Western Europe that dedicated martial artists are trying to
rediscover least we lose these parts of our heritage. Surely, as
re-enactors, who profess a love for the periods of history that we try to
recreate, we should endeavor also to recreate these arts not based on what
we think is safe and fashionable but on factual documented evidence, and
follow our calling with as much dedication as those people involved in
living history.
If we are not prepared to do this then maybe we should question the validity
of what we do, and make way for those people that are prepared to travel
this road..
The information is available to people who are interested quite easily.
There are modern researchers and authors like Terry Brown and John Clements
that have bothe produced books about the very subject of Western European
Martial Arts suggesting froms and techniques to practice. These two
gentlemen also practice and teach what they preach.
Alternatively the source material that they have used an be researched
though for the majority this will be difficult without translations, but
these are becoming more and more widely available.
There are organisations in existance, which try and promote these western
martial arts like the HACA, based in America, and the AEMMA, based in
Cananda, and over here there are two schools that I know of Company of
Maisters, North London, and the Linacre School of Defence, Oxford. These
schools are dedicated to recreating the styles that were used in the past by
the weapons masters of old not in inventing a new style.
If these people can do this, then surely so can combatants from
re-enactment, it is just as important as all the rest of the Living History
that is displayed and just as educational. If we truly love what we do then
surely we can elevate our levels of training and commitment to that of a
true martial artist instead of maintaining low levels of apathy hiding
behind excuses. If we are not careful, we will find our selves standing
still and being classed with those people that roam around the hills and
vales through foam weapons around, along with their fireballs.
Rob
>From: "David Debono" <david@mailgate.novar.co.uk>
>Reply-To: histrenact@novar.co.uk
>To: <histrenact@novar.co.uk>
>Subject: Re: [Histrenact] - Test Message
>Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1999 21:53:07 +0100
>
>
>Hello Ulrich
>
>It has done so, although the mailer is up and running quite happily as the
>othr mailing lists here are all fine.
>
>So, what good topic can we start to get the messages flowing again :-)
>
>Take care all
>
>David D.
>The Mediaeval Combat Society
>The Historical Reenactment Web Site
>http://www.compulink.co.uk/~novar/renact.htm
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Ulrich von Bek <ulrich_von_bek@hotmail.com>
>To: <histrenact@novar.co.uk>
>Sent: 05 October 1999 18:20
>Subject: [Histrenact] - Test Message
>
>
> >
> > It seems to have gone a bit too quiet round here, so...
> >
> >
> >
> > Testing Testing Testing
> >
> >
> > If there is anyone out there, please reply!
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Ulrich von Bek, gentleman adventurer.
> >
> > The Gun Company - http://guncompany.freeservers.com
> >
> >
> > ______________________________________________________
> > Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
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