For this post I will take you into a world full of mystery, adventure and romance; that world is the history of swords!
Where to begin . . . ahh the sword. Simple yet holds an elegance no other weapon can. When gazed upon, the image of valiant knights charging into battle thunders through our heads or of a fair maiden being saved from a beastly dragon. Stories have been formed about the blade but what about the truth behind it?
The sword is shrouded in mystery. Sword Masters of ages gone by mainly passed their knowledge to their pupils. Some, but a rare few, documented their teachings so later generations could learn the art of attack and defense with the blade. This may sound a bit strange but movies have helped keep the sword alive and bring it back to the fore front of history!
In Cinematic history, swords have been used many a time from actors like Errol Flynn to William Moseley. How about I'll show you a clip from one of Errol Flynn's movies, Captain Blood.
In this scene Flynn, as Peter Blood fights his enemy, Levasseur to the death!
Then from a more recent cinematic film, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Moseley as Peter, fights the evil King Miraz in a duel.
Both movies span over seventy years but it shows that the art of sword play is still roughly the same!
A quick history
It is said that swords came about during the Bronze Age and they started off as being daggers without a cross guard. People who were considered masterswordsmen were Kings, great warriors and rulers. One such famous swordsmen was Fiore dei Liberi (1350-1410). He is famous for his third manual of martial arts titled the Flower of Battle. 
He fought duels and came out unhurt and was taught by masters in Germany and Italy. He even challenged men who claimed to be swordmasters.
Another is William Wallace of Scotland (1272-1305). He lead Scottish Infantry during the Independence war against England. It's said his sword was a claymor or in Gaelic Claidheamh-mor. In English it's called a great sword and it reaches the length of sixty inches (That's five feet tall!)
Swords were some times given names so that foe and friend alike would remember them. During the time of the Middle Ages, only the rich and Knights carried such an honorable weapon. Famous swords in fiction you probably know are Excalibur, King Arthur's sword; Sting, Frodo Baggin's sword; and Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, Yamato Takeru's sword and many more. Then in real history; Legbiter was owned by Magnus III, Tizona was owned by Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, etc.
Each sword has a history behind it whether it's real or fictional. There is so much more history and stories but I can't cram it all in this page so I'll give you some references to check out so you can understand this unique weapon.
A book I found very helpful to learning how to fight with a sword is The Beginner's Guide to the Long Sword.
Or if you would rather study the art that goes behind making a sword a good book with lots of pictures and information on how much they cost would be Spirit of the Sword.
Last but not least if you would rather go in person to study the sword a great place to go ( I would LOVE to go!) would be Higgins Armory Museum. This place houses the largest collection of swords in the Western hemisphere! To learn more or plan a trip go to higgins.org
That is the topic for you this month. Remember, the sword, like any weapon has to be shown respect.
May adventure take you by the hand and lead you,
No comments:
Post a Comment