Of Wolf and Dog

Greetings,

The following discussion is a little off my usual discussion of fencing subjects, but it does apply to the broad general area of fencing. The following is a discussion of Jack London's White Fang and how its themes and concepts can be applied. While not exactly aimed at fencing it does discuss training in fencing and also concepts around expectations and education, two subjects which are related to fencing.

The novel White Fang has been used by many people to explain many different things. For myself, it is one of my favourite books that I enjoy reading because it immerses you in the place and period in which it is set and also shows you somewhat the life of one wolf from pup to full-grown, and the interesting experiences that he had along the way. There is an animated version of this story available now on Netflix, which hits most of the main plot points, but misses much of the detail which is contained within the book. It also, as can be expected, changes elements within the story as well.

The first question that White Fang asks is how much of you is wolf and how much of you is dog? Or to put it another way, how much is driven by your instincts and how much of you is driven by what you have learnt at the hands of others? The same question could also ask how much of you is free and how much of you is tied to expectations and impositions, many which are imposed by the self?

We would all like to think that we are more wolf than dog, that we are free to do what we want when we want, but this is really not the truth. We are tied by our expectations of our society, and impositions made by ourselves and our own egos and what we want out of life, which tie us to society. The freedom of the wolf is an illusion that we would like to hold, but many cannot grasp.

Other aspects of the dog show themselves, our education, our further learning at the hands of other education and being part of societal systems. All of these things make us good members of society, good dogs. To rebel against these, to become the wolf, is to threaten ourselves with the potential of becoming outcasts, to stand alone, something which our gregarious nature and ego-financial-driven selves are somewhat afraid of. We admire the rebels in our midst, those who stand alone, but do not join them. Sometimes we need to stand alone, because it is the right thing to do.

In the story, White Fang spends some of his early years in the wild. Then with his mother, Kiche, becomes a sled-dog for an Indian named Gray Beaver. He is trained in this role. He does not get along with the other dogs in the tribe, his mostly-wolf self shows too much. He fights the other dogs to defend himself and place himself on the top of the pack. But he is accepted by Gray Beaver and thus works for him. Later, through some trickery White Fang is sold to “Beauty” Smith and is trained as a fighting dog. He is beaten and set upon other dogs. The fights are vicious and all that White Fang learns is how to fight and kill the dog that is in front of him. Eventually he is taken by Weedon Scott who heals him after a dog-fight and then teaches him another way; that he can live without fighting, or at least that fighting should only be reserved for enemies.

White Fang’s story shows many fights with other dogs who refuse to accept him. In some instances it is to prove that he belongs and others it is because it is what he was trained to do. Some instances are because it is what he is. His early experiences are of rejection from other dogs, these are his formative years and they leave an imprint of not being wanted by other dogs. The result is he defends himself against them and establishes his dominance. This fighting ability pure and raw is taken by “Beauty” Smith and harnessed and let loose on other dogs for money. Weedon Scott wants something else from White Fang, to show him another way; that he can be accepted and that fighting is not the only way to be accepted. He learns from these experiences that he can be accepted and that fighting is not the only way to fit in.

What we must all ask ourselves is in our teaching and interactions are we acting like “Beauty” Smith or Weedon Scott? Are we taking someone at face value and just accepting everyone else’s view of them, or are we forming our own opinion? Are we simply harnessing one ability or are we really developing a human being? This is a question that trainers in all forms of martial arts must ask. What sort of impact is the training having on the individual? Is it perpetuating a cycle or is it doing the best for the individual?

As trainers of martial arts we should all be seeking the improvement of our students, in all senses of the word. We should not just be honing their fighting abilities, but we should also be examining other aspects as well. The social aspects of the art that we teach should be a serious consideration, as the students will learn everything from their teachers. If you teach in a gung-ho, “anything for a win” fashion, then that is what the students will take away. If you teach in an honourable, victory by art and skill rather than pure force fashion, then that is what the students will take away.

I recommend White Fang to anyone as a good read, and a book which will probe thoughts. The themes and ideas which the author presents are some which need to be considered. The story itself is well-written, primarily from the point of view of the protagonist wolf-dog White Fang, which is an achievement in itself, it describes scenes which will make you think.

Cheers,

Henry.

Book Review: Henry V as Warlord

Greetings,

The following will be a review of the book Henry V as Warlord by Desmond Seward. This will be a less formal review than most are accustomed to but it will be striking most of the same points which will be found in reviews of a similar nature. While not exactly related to swordplay, it is related to medieval history and is thus of interest.

Seward, D. (2001) Henry V as Warlord, Penguin Books Ltd, London.

Seward opens his discussion of Henry V with a discussion of how the Lancasters attained the throne of England, claiming them to be "usurpers" to the throne. In this it can be claimed that they attained the throne of England in much the same way as many rulers did. Indeed one of the most famous families in English history, the Tudors, claimed the English throne in the same way.

The discussion of Henry V's invasions of France are made very much as single-sided accounts, with barely passing references to the Norman invasion of England, which in effect was the same in reverse, but with longer-lasting effects. Thus he focusses on the ways in which Henry V had an impact upon the French and the actions of the army of Henry V.  Many of the same actions which were committed by Henry V were the same as those which were committed by William the Conqueror when he invaded England.

In the way of many historians of the modern period he compares actions of the past with modern ideas of normality, making references to actions made by modern armies in World War II on both sides, but particularly the German army. This sort of revisionist angle of history is foolish as it does not take into account the mind-set of the day and thus the normalities which were experienced in the period. One aspect in particular which seems prevalent is the use of terror in war.

Terror was often used as a weapon in war in the medieval period. This was designed for a purpose. A city which held out against a besieging force for an extended period of time could expect a much harsher response once it finally fell than one which capitulated earlier. It is an element which can be seen as "normal" for this kind of warfare throughout the period and beforehand.

Further in certain cases commanders of armies would allow atrocities to be committed in the earlier parts of their campaigns to reduce the later body cound and civilian deaths in later sieges and battles. Henry V was not the only one who used this particular aspect of terror in warfare. Charles VIII of France in his invasion of Italy used the same method in his campaign. A city early in the campaign would be sacked to let all the others know what would happen if they resisted, and it would result in many others afterward capitulating early or not resisting at all thus reducing the body count. Such actions need to be examined from the overall point of view.

Seward also vociferously complains about Henry V's army "living off the population". Again this was normal practice during the period, and it was a practice which was continued, and was previously used. Again it can be cited that Charles VIII's army also used the same tact when travelling through Italy, expecting the various cities to pay for his campaign, feed and billet his soldiers as he passed through. These aspects were normal for this period. Thus the historian needs to understand and look at it from their perspective.

While Seward seems to be on a purposeful aim to reduce the status of one of England's favourite heroes, and present him rather as a warlord than a great king, his book does present a great deal of useful information. The detail which is supplied of his campaigns and how he managed to pay for them along with the alliances made, and plots he managed to avoid against his life are truly interesting. This makes the book well worth the read even for these elements.

The book is a most interesting discussion of the life of Henry V and covers many different aspects of his rise to the throne and also his life as king. It uses many different sources which have often not been heard from before, which are in themselves most useful. The only detraction in the whole situation is that the author seems to have had an aim from the beginning to cut down this famed figure by presenting as much information to the contrary of what has been presented before. Read from the point of view of an pure interest in both sides of the story, it is a good read and supplies very good detail, but tends to compare too much of what was normal then with what is considered normal now. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in early fifteenth-century English and French history and particularly in Henry V and his campaigns, even for a different point of view.

Cheers,

Henry.

Book Review: Scottish Broadsword and British Singlestick

Greetings,

Time for another book review...

Farrell, Keith (2014) Scottish Broadsword and British Singlestick, Fallen Rook Publishing, Glasgow

First thing that you will notice is that it is by Keith Farrell, an author whom I have reviewed before. Yes. What does this mean? It means that the style of writing is easy to read and ensures that the point which is being made is made in very good fashion without having to resort to overtly complex words.

The book itself presents a great reproduction of Roworth's Arte of Defence on Foot of 1804, this has been transcribed by the author rather than simply presenting a facsimile of the original or referring to it. By doing this he gives a clear print version of the original noting the original page numbers and using the original illustrations. This allows the reader to read what was written by the original author without having to muddle through all of the issues of the original text.

So, many people will just go straight into the treatise and start describing techniques and stances and so forth, this is not the case with this book. There is actually only a relatively small amount of the book which actually deals with "how to", just over a third, that being said, it is the perfect foundation for what is presented. This book is not just a "how to guide" but an educational guide about the weapon systems and this is more important.

What this means is that the book provides the background of the era in which they were set. This background explains how the systems of swordsmanship formed as they did. You will find that systems of fencing, especially modern sport fencing, developed out of the conditions that developed around them. If you understand the background of a weapon system and its background you can understand where this came from.

Further to this, after the treatise is presented, the author presents how the treatise should be studied. This means he gives points about how the lessons presented in the treatise can be used and what the modern swordsman should be considering when taking on this sort of study. These elements are important as the modern physiology is not typically prepared for this.

Needless to say that overall I am very impressed with this book. It is an excellent book for the beginning broadswordsman, and also of great interest to anyone who is interested in the history of Scotland especially in the 17th to 19th centuries. So needless to say, it got me twice.

You can purchase this book at the link below:
http://www.fallenrookpublishing.co.uk/scottish-broadsword-and-british-singlestick.php

Cheers,

Henry

Book Review: Fencing Through the Ages

Greetings,
What? Another book review? Yes, it is. This one is of a similar nature to my last in that I bought this book at Swordplay last year and have been horribly slack about getting around to doing a book review on it. This is one that I am actually going to really enjoy telling you about as it will reveal a book and an author who, for the most part had been pushed aside for others.

Corthey, Adolphe (2015) Fencing Through the Ages, LongEdge Press, Brisbane, First Edition 1898, Translated by Chris Slee

So, the bibliographical details have been presented above, and should provide everything you should need to search for this book online for you to buy it. Why would you buy it? Well the book presents some very interesting material which has otherwise been shoved aside by the English-speaking world.

This book was translated into English from French by Chris Slee in a literal fashion. In this he attempted to stay as true to the language as possible. The advantage of this, while meaning that the result is less smooth than it could be, means that it is closer to the original as possible for the English-speaking reader. Slee supplies notes with regard to his translation of particular words throughout the book to inform the reader of his choices.

Adolphe Corthey is the French equivalent to Captain Alfred Hutton and Egerton Castle and is of as much importance to the revival of Historical European Martial Arts. His book Fencing Through the Ages presents an account of various masters of fencing, much as Castle's Schools and Masters of Defence. While it was Hutton and Castle on one side of the English Channel, it was Corthey on the other side.

The book presents an interesting discussion of the history of fencing from the very beginning all the way up to the eighteenth century. His discussion of the very early periods is, of course, very brief whereas his discussion of Renaissance and later period weaponry is much longer. The first weapon he discusses in detail is the two-handed sword, and the last is the smallsword. In this discussion he mentions the works of various masters in the same sort of fashion as is found in Castle's. This is the primary part of the book, and the actual book written by Corthey. As expected, of course, there are present many of the historical biases of the period with the "development" toward the dominance of the point and so forth, but as an historical document, this makes it still useful.

The fact that the above is the primary part of the book does not mean that the sundry materials should be skipped over in any way whatsoever. There is the presentation of contemporary media information also included demonstrates significance of author and work. Thus the presentation of such work was placed in the public eye, much as HEMA practitioners are attempting to do now.

One of the most interesting documents contained within this volume actually resides in the back pages. It is entitled "On the Subject of the Transformation of the Combat Sword" and discusses the transformation from combat weapon to weapon usable for practice. This is a document which should be of great interest to all practitioners of revivalist martial arts, but especially HEMA with regard to examining how to get weapons at least resembling their historical counter-parts.

In the end I found that this book, understated by its size and weight, was a most interesting read from cover to cover and I would recommend it for all with an interest in history and HEMA. The wide areas of knowledge which Corthey points toward should at least indicate to the reader other areas in which research may be made, and other areas in which maybe they had not thought to cover.

Cheers,

Henry.

Book Review: Encased In Steel: Anthology I

Greetings,

This is a book review that I should have done not long after Swordplay 2015. What can I say? I took the book home, I had other stuff to research, I read it, I then almost instantly passed it on to a student, and now I have actually had time to sit down and do a book review of it. This in some way alludes to my attraction to the book once I finally managed to open the cover and actually start reading.

Farrel, K. (ed) (2015) Encased in Steel Anthology I, Fallen Rook Publishing, Triquetra Services (Scotland), Glasgow

First bibliographical details, above and, the book is a soft cover, just over 200 pages long. It is about the size of a large novel in area (15 x 23-cm). All in all the book is quite unremarkable by its outside. This is one of those cases where the book should not be judged by the cover.

The book is filled with great articles covering many different subjects. Many of these subjects would not even be considered by some members of the HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) community to be relevant to their studies. I would suggest this is because that their focus is more on the physical aspects of what they are studying rather than an holistic examination of the arts.

The editor, states that this is a selection of articles from the "Encased in Steel" weblog, plus some extra articles which have been added in. As stated previously it covers a wide variety of subjects clearly divided into five general areas: Chivalry & Christian Values, HEMA History & Research, Weapon History & Research, The Practice of Cutting and Practical Concerns for HEMA Clubs. All of these areas are pertinent to HEMA and also the wider sword-wielding communities.

The articles themselves are very well written and easy to read. Jargon is in most cases explained so that the reader does not get confused. All of the articles are well documented and researched and each one has a bibliography supplied at the end of the article for further examination of the sources for further research. While the manner of writing is more scholarly in approach, bringing up relevant details in the appropriate manner and also forming arguments based on the evidence presented, the articles are also presented in a way which is engaging. The multiple authors are respected in their various fields in the HEMA community.

Rather than focusing on the purely martial art and physical aspects of HEMA, it also has some especially interesting articles on the ethics of swordsmanship and other social aspects which are integrally related with the wielding of a sword and indeed other weapons. Needless to say this collection of writings, while not wholly may in single appeal to a much wider community, as such this book is recommended for reading by all those interesting in swordsmanship, regardless of their interest or skill level.

Cheers,

Henry.