Longsword
The Longsword is one of the most romanticized weapons in popular fiction. It’s wielded with honor and used to defend the weak. It’s also portrayed as unwieldy and slow. In reality it’s not the sword that displays honor but the one who wields it and as a two handed weapon it is very dexterous. With practice the Longsword can be both nimble and powerful dealing hard hits fast.
Snohomish Dueling Societies’ longsword classes are all about the fundamentals of sword fighting and building discipline, with the goal of making a skilled and athletic fighter rooted in the basics. It may feel monotonous at times but as Bruce Lee said, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times”
Video by NY Times. Used for educational purpose only
Our primary focus is on building a quality foundation for longsword fencing. The classes take information from Joachim Meyer’s 1578 treatise The Art of Combat, Fillipo di Vadi’s De Arte Gladiatoria Dimicandi, and other sources as needed. While Meyer and Vadi are the main heavy foci we are also open to discussions and plays out of any longsword manuscript be it Fiore, Vadi, Talhoffer, or whoever else is out there. It must be noted that Meyer’s treatise was designed for an event called fechtschule which included a sparring competition with historical federschwert to make the top of your opponents head bleed. We take Meyer’s plays and work to translate them into our modern sparring context where the target is not only the head.
To keep this short I’ll leave you with a thought of mine that I take into every practice. Through intentional practice we reveal what we can be and through ferocious sparring we reveal our true nature.
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Send us the form below and come out to one of our practices! You're welcomed to join any of them, our practices are designed for all skill levels and focus on the basics. See the “schedule” page for more. See you soon!