‘By the Crosse of this Sworde’: Oaths Sworn by Fencing Masters in Sixteenth-Century London
By Jacob Deacon
The Company of Masters of the Noble Science of Defence was the closest thing to a fencing guild that existed in sixteenth-century England, first established in 1540 and primarily operating in London until the early seventeenth century. Its creation followed centuries of prohibition regarding the professional teaching of fencing in the city. The most complete account of the Company and the activities of its members is to be found in MS Sloane 2530 in the British Library, which describes itself as ‘a note of all Maisters Prizes, Provost prizes, Schollers prizes and other necessary matters &cetera’. Prizes were required displays of skill performed in order to progress from one rank to another, but before this rank could be granted the fencer had to swear an oath. Copies of these oaths are to be found in the manuscript. This paper will thus focus primarily on these oaths, in particular those sworn by new Masters, using them as a means of assessing how the members of the Company identified and perceived themselves as well as their fencing practice in late sixteenth-century London.
Jacob’s presentation : Jacob Henry Deacon is a second year PhD student at the Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds. His research is funded by a grant from the School of History and is supervised by Drs Alan Murray and Karen Watts. Jacob’s research focuses on fencing knowledge and culture in late medieval and early modern England as well as attitudes towards fencers. Jacob has published about the purposes of fight books, staff weapons in the works of Pietro Monte, and has forthcoming articles on the relationship between staff weapons and the fight book genre as well as martial training in medieval and early modern London. When not researching Jacob enjoys the works of Terry Pratchett, coffee, and fencing with pollaxes and two-handed swords.
Why lightsabers and chainsaw swords, or how to explain the over-representation of close combat in science-fiction fights ?
By Julien Garry
This conference is a discussion of the influence of the First World War propaganda and of the various militarist modes of representation of this period on Science Fiction. The aim is to demonstrate the link between the over-representation of close combat in the vision and imagination of modern warfare, which has influenced science-fiction writers of the 20th and 21st century, who today still cannot (for the majority) consider futuristic war without close combat. For this, we will study this subject through three major universe of multi-media Science-Fiction : Star Wars, Star Trek and Warhammer 40k.
Julien’s presentation: I have been a HEMA a practitioner for almost 10 years, and teach military fencing with bayonet, saber or spear, on foot as on horseback. My HEMA practice made me want to look into the history of this obscure and unknown branch of fencing history: battlefield fencing. My research, first amateur, led me to resume history studies, a master first, whose memoir was awarded a publication, then the PhD. I am now a doctoral student at the University of Burgundy, and my thesis subject is precisely this history of war fencing. I am a 19th century military HEMA instructor at De Taille et Estoc and have been giving lectures and workshops on these subjects since 2012, my specialties being the French and Swiss officer’s sabre, bayonet fencing, horse fight (I also regularly lead the equestrian sessions of De Taille et d’Estoc) and fight on a boat according to French and British sources.