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Welcome me, for I have joined this tribe!

topic posted Thu, March 11, 2004 - 2:16 PM by  Michael™
I'm very much into history, and I decided to join a number of tribes devoted to various aspects of it today. I'm also part of the Medieval tribe, which is a cool one to check out if you haven't done that already.

So, who are the other members of this tribe, that I may get to know you all?
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Michael™
offline Michael™
Cleveland
62 friends
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  • D. M...
    D. Matthew
    offline 159

    Re: Welcome me, for I have joined this tribe!

    Mon, March 15, 2004 - 11:55 AM
    Greetings, kind of like EC here, the California Renaissance Faires are what thrust me down the educational bend of the Renaissance. I've been portraying a Florentine for 12 years, so I've kind of got the Medici bug working for me... :)

    My particular interests are in the practical, day-to-day tools and technology, as well as the political interweavings you have between the Papacy, the Emperor, and all of those pawns called the Royalty and Nobility... :)

    My other bend is Renaissance Warfare. The site is only in it's infancy, with a skeleton of the planned content, and a list of some of the reference material I use, but if you want to hang onto it, www.RenaissanceWarfare.com.

    If anyone is ever looking for random scraps of Elizabethan data, I've got over 1000 manuscripts in PDF form (over 12 Gigs) covering Religion, Law, Warfare, Cooking, Husbandry, you name it. It's still being organized, and I've only been able to dip my toes into all of it, but I've got some real gems here.

    If you're ever seeking anything from a period text, drop me a line at admin@renaissancewarfare.com

    Matthew
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    • Mich...
      Michael™
      offline 62

      Re: Welcome me, for I have joined this tribe!

      Mon, March 15, 2004 - 2:29 PM
      A really good book to check out, if you haven't done so already, is 'Renaissance Swordsmanship' by John Clements. That is a very good breakdown of the methods of swordfighting practiced during that era. Clements is also author of 'Medieval Swordsmanship.'

      RS should still be in print; you might want to ask your local bookstore about it.
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      • D. M...
        D. Matthew
        offline 159

        Re: Welcome me, for I have joined this tribe!

        Mon, March 15, 2004 - 3:11 PM
        I own one of his books, and I recommend it for getting started, but he can be rather, ummm, biased in his enthusiasm (in his workshops, he actually admits he thrives on besting those less practised than he).

        William Wilson and Patri Pugliese paved the way for the newfound exhuberence in Renaissance Swordsmanship, and they have published, explained, and made available many of the original manuscripts (George Silver, Giacomo DeGrassi, Vincentio Saviolo, Jakob Sutor, etc.).

        J.C. and the HACA (or ARMA) crew have done an admirable job of getting more of these manuscripts uploaded, viewed, and discussed, but they are relative newcomers, and act rather elitest in their field. AEMMA has done an outstanding job, and are a little less biased in their interpretation.

        Yes, it's a good resource, but the only way to really 'get it' is to pick up a well designed blade, and put your hours into learning how these weapons behave, get comfortable with it, and start stepping through the historical manuals. This is exactly what John did, and it is unfortunate that his pride sometimes interferes with the learning.

        Unless you were in the studio with these guys 450+ years ago, you'll never know *exactly* how their methods worked, and nothing beats primary experience when compared to interpretation 450+ years post-facto.

        I'm sorry, a Soap box somehow slipped under my feet... :)

        Yes, good starts.
        If you want to keep going, check out HACA.org, Aemma.something or other, William Wilson of the SCA, Patri Pugliese (king of all Manuscript acquisition Artists), groups.yahoo.com/PNW-Fechtschule, and anywhere you can get practice beating on one another with wood and steel... :)

        Matthew
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        • Mich...
          Michael™
          offline 62

          Re: Welcome me, for I have joined this tribe!

          Mon, March 15, 2004 - 3:24 PM
          LOL, yeah I heard Mr. Clements' ego can sometimes get in the way of his being really good. If he'd go up against better opponents, he would learn better than he has about swordfighting.

          Another good source to start with is episodes of 'Conquest' hosted by Peter Woodward on the History Channel.
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          • D. M...
            D. Matthew
            offline 159

            Re: Welcome me, for I have joined this tribe!

            Mon, March 15, 2004 - 3:39 PM
            God, I loved that show! I recorded a few of the episodes... :)

            Yeah, there's been a lot of ego put on the line by everyone and their mother opening up a fight school and calling themselves 'Masters'. It's pretty comical around here.

            The latest trend has been for everyone to translate Joachim Meyer for the Longsword, and DiGrassi for Rapier. The amusing thing is that while Meyer's actual text has yet to be completely translated into English and published in it's entirety, DiGrassi *was* translated into English, back in the 1580's... :)

            If *anyone* could capture the nuances of a language form that is 400 years, and translate it into a usable version of English, would your money be on a contemporary of DiGRassi's time who may have actually spoken to DiGrassi, and carried a sword, or a contemporary of ours swinging about an expensive letter opener... :)

            What makes me grin is that while all these 'Masters' profess to fight "in the Spanish" or "Italian" styles, or prefer Sutor's method over Saviolo, or Silver over Sutor, I smile and proudly state "...that I find DiGrassi's method to be the best."

            When puzzled looks await my next response, I proudly quote DiGrassi:

            "...hit him with whatever works..."

            :)
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  • Re: Welcome me, for I have joined this tribe!

    Tue, October 19, 2004 - 2:45 PM
    Hello!

    New here,

    since college in the early 90's have studied a lot of history, particularly western, especially italian, and therefore at times the renaissance.

    Michael asked: Question about your fave Renaissance: Italian or English?

    I would add that there is that point of view shared among many that "the renaissance," the most familiar being with Italy, preceded in "France" and "Flancers" that on the Italian peninsula, but which I will not get into, beyond the apparent point that the italian peninsula concurrently was still not (1100-1200's) stable enough for a broad floursishing to take roots in several city "states..............."

    Fit to say I have no favorite, but I spent a whole lot more time on that in Italy (because a whole lot more happened thereabouts and from, and I focused a lot on Ancient Rome, the Holy Roman Empire, around which most of Europe centered for a very long time).

    Not really into ren fairs, (yet).
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  • ± Saint
    ± Saint
    offline 114

    Re: Welcome me, for I have joined this tribe!

    Mon, April 4, 2005 - 12:54 PM
    Now that things have settled some ... I'll give you a small 411 on me'self too.

    I have been working Faire since '93 when I joined the Southern California Scottish Guild Clan MacColin. I left them after a few years and helped a friend start the Guild "The Army of O'Neill" which, is a 16th Century Irish guild based around the exploits of the rebel Earl, Hugh O'Neill. It was then that I started to get into the historical aspect of it and began to research everything I could for this period.

    In the research I made some friends with Historians who specialize in this particular field. That is, 16th Century Ireland and more specifically the Nine Years War (AKA Tyrone's Rebellion)

    I worked as a battle coordinator and a Captain in O'Neill's army and have since moved up to Northern California (Sacramento area) to start a similar guild. This guild is much more historically based than the previous ... from costuming to type of troops and use of Gaelic phases, period encampments, tactics demonstrations, actual historical characters (I portray Sir Cormac MacBaron O'Neill the Uirri of Tyrone) etc. etc.
    The ultimate goal is to have a fully functional guild that can establish encampments at various Faires in California or travel as a group to Faires/Events and do the wandering minstrel bit (since many of the people in the guild are musicians)

    If you are at all interested in Irish history and in specific the Desmond Wards and Tyrone's Rebellion, I have extensive source material and can send you a list. There is also a friend of mine who compiles a list of General 16th Century military resources that I can refer you to as well.

    Best,
    Daniel H. O'Connor
    Guildmaster
    Saint Columcilles Warriors of the Red Hand
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    • ♣ Jen ♣
      ♣ Jen ♣
      offline 75

      Re: Welcome me, for I have joined this tribe!

      Thu, April 28, 2005 - 2:20 PM
      I would absolutely love to see any lists on source material that you have for both Sixteenth Century Irish and Military resources. I have been recently thinking that I need to study more about the military aspects of the time, seeing that The Army of O'Neill is a military army and all. ;)
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