#fencing master

[the-history-of-fighting]

Aldo Nadi, considered by many fencers to be the greatest fencer of all time, performing his “perfect” lunge.

sword-play.net

[karrey]

My lil bard as a kiddo, fencing practise with their family's fencing tutor/guard Ruperta!

[howardhawkshollywoodannex]

The Fencing Master (1992) is number 752 on Halliwell’s Top 1000.

Editor John Walker gave the film three stars and wrote “Elegant, erotically charged story of love and loyalty and of different codes of behavior, told with subtlety, dash and elegance.”

My rating - unseen

The film was directed by Pedro Olea, who was born in Bilbao, Spain, and has 27 director credits from two shorts 1963-64, his first feature in 1968, to a 2015 short.  I am unfamiliar with all his films,

[thetavernknight]

Goffe, Whalley, or the Devil

Goffe, Whalley, or the Devil

Ran into this fun little story on Tumblr recently about a judge who trolled the hell out of a fencing master in Boston in 1660. To show the dexterity of the Judges at fencing, this story is told: That while at Boston, there appeared a gallant person there, some say a fencing-master, who, on a stage erected for the purpose, walked it for several days, challenging and defying any to play with him…

View On WordPress

[mindhost]

We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Masters

By Matt Galas, 2013

Modern HEMA has no use for “masters”. Once upon a time, the title had a much more mundane, work-a-day meaning than it does today. But in the wake of the martial arts revolution in the 1960s and 1970s, that mundane meaning is long gone. Instead, the title has become immensely laden with baggage, not only among the general public, but in the general martial arts community as well. To believe that a few articles and pictures posted on Facebook can change such deeply ingrained notions, reinforced by one Hollywood movie after another, is naïve at best.

Nowadays, the term “master” carries expectations of an impossibly-high level of perfection in martial skills. In terms of creating new masters, this level of expectation means that the legitimacy of their titles will forever be questioned, forever be in doubt. (“He sucks”; “I could take him”; “That’s not what a master looks like…”) Such cultural baggage, such exaggerated expectations are nothing more than a burden and a hindrance to instructors whose primary task is to train students and spread the art.

Far worse, the term “master” carries the connotation of near-papal infallibility and unquestionable authority. So strong is this expectation, especially among the general public, the young, and the naïve, that it has the effect of suppressing critical thought and cultivating a passive mentality. It turns what should be free-thinkers into followers. The masters themselves run the risk of falling prey to this notion, becoming filled with exaggerated sense of gravitas and self-importance. I have seen this among those sporting a "maestro" title in the past, as well as a hyper-sensitivity to criticism, a dislike for having their authoritative pronouncements challenged, and a tendency to quash open discussion and debate. This, especially in the sport-fencing community.

That kind of authoritative, authoritarian attitude does not bode well for the HEMA community, which is based on vigorous debate, flexibility towards new approaches and interpretations, rapid changes due to new research, and disrespectful young upstarts with lots of brains and wit who like to challenge the status quo.

Nothing could be worse, nothing could be more damaging for the young, vibrant, creative, flourishing HEMA community than a cadre of elite (elitist?) masters, whose influence would settle like a cloud of orthodoxy to stifle independent thought. Modern HEMA has developed in the absence of masters, and has made tremendous progress in two short decades. HEMA has need of qualified, well-educated instructors, certainly. But of masters, we need none.

-- A reaction (among several others) to the USFCA master of historical fencing certification programme which granted the title of 'Maitre d' Armes Historiques' to Ken Mondschein in 2013. The ensuing discussion was known at the time as "Mastergate".