The Sword Guy Podcast

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-216-making-seated-longsword-work-with-ella-rose To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Ella Rose has been practicing historical martial arts since 2017. In 2023 she founded Black Cat Historical Fencing with co-founder Shane Scallin, where she teaches dagger, rapier and beginner longsword classes. She has competed across the US and internationally, and she has won medals in multiple weapon categories. Ella is the lead tournament organizer of Iron Gate Exhibition, Benedict's Big Day, and Long Tail. Ella has worked in many minority-focused spaces, both within historical martial arts and in her career as an illustrator. Having dealt with chronic illness and disability her entire martial arts career, she led the creation of BCHF's seated fencing practice, one of the first of its kind. And in 2025 she organized the first seated longsword tournament, and she aims to continue pushing the HEMA community further towards inclusion for all athletes. In our conversation we talk about dealing with chronic illness, especially within HEMA, and the adaptations that Ella makes to her training and recovery time. This is a useful conversation for anyone involved in running a club, or thinking of starting one, because we talk about what to charge students, and the ethos that will help make your club inclusive and welcoming. We talk about the adaptations salles should make so they become places where people can hang out and still be part of the community, even if they are not actively taking part in a session. Most clubs are not going to be equipped with disability accommodations already in place, so we discuss how coaches can support students with different needs, and what a club can do to actively show that people with disabilities are welcome. We also hear about the fascinating process of adapting historical martial arts to seated fencing: how to adapt the system, how to create suitable seats and where to position people, and how a seated fencer can fence against someone standing up.   Links of Interest BCHF Website: https://www.blackcathistoricalfencing.com/ BCHF Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackcathistoricalfencing/   Ella’s art website: https://www.icecubesanddragonfire.com/ Ella’s art Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/icecubesanddragonfire/?hl=en To see the graphic novel mentioned: https://markosia.com/2025/08/18/emily-corn-vol-2-part-1-finding-the-light-out-now/   IGX 2026 Ruleset, which include the most up to date seated fencing rules Ella has written: https://irongateexhibition.com/tournaments-spring/   Utah Fencing Federation: https://www.utahfencingfoundation.org/   For photos from Long Tail 2026, including photos of their seated longsword tournament see https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-216-making-seated-longsword-work-with-ella-rose 

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-215-the-pen-and-the-sword-of-justice-with-ariel-anderssen To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy This episode sees the return of Ariel Anderssen, who is a model, actor, author, property investor, and is perhaps best known for her career as a BDSM model and performer. Of course, her principal claims to fame are actually appearing on episodes 93 and 102 of this very show. We do talk about swords a bit… what sword would be a worthy reward for finishing a book, and Guy’s smallsword obsession. (Read about his smallsword guards and see pictures here: https://newsletter.swordschool.com/posts/a-joint-a-church-and-six-foil-guards)   Ariel is ostensibly on the show to talk about her new book Dirty. This is her second memoir, and you can read the blurb below. We talk about a lot more than just the book though, including taking part in hijack simulation exercises in Nigeria, the double standards for actors in drama and in porn, chokeholds, coping with change, being recognised by policemen, and more. Pre-order Dirty here: https://ariel-anderssen-author.myshopify.com/products/pre-order-the-ebook-of-dirty Ariel Anderssen lives in a big Georgian house in a little Welsh town and spends her days creating homemade tweed outfits, jam tarts, and niche fetish movies.  Her marriage is a harmonious delight, her sex life thrilling (though not strictly monogamous), and her past, a quagmire of child abuse and religious zealotry. At 47, Ariel is at the peak of her career as a submissive BDSM performer, travelling the world to shoot kinky movies with her friends.  This year, just like any other, she’s busy with bondage and spanking photoshoots, experimenting with unwise cosmetic procedures and having a series of wildly kinky sexual encounters in hotel rooms across Europe with an enigmatic dominant gentleman. Unlike any other year, Ariel is also coming to terms with the realisation that she and her two siblings were abused throughout their childhoods. Traumatic memories from her past threaten her equilibrium as she re-establishes contact with her younger brother and becomes determined to find justice for all three siblings. Her past and present collide, as she addresses the possibility that her experiences of abuse have informed her sexual identity. Will her history make her forever feel DIRTY? Or this year, can she find a way to feel clean again?

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-214-swords-in-your-seventies-with-deborah-fisher  To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Deborah Fisher is a member and instructor with the Whidbey Swordplay Association, a historical martial arts club on Whidbey Island, a ferry ride north of Seattle, Washington. She specializes in rapier and small sword. Knighted as Dame Virago, she is a former assistant director and instructor for the Seattle Knights, the Pacific Northwest’s premier sword fighting and jousting theatrical troupe. And as Captain Highjack, she is the former leader of a very scurvy and entertaining band of pirates known as the Pirates of Puget Sound. We talk about how and why Deborah got into swords at the age of 50, and what her current training looks like in her 70s. We discuss how some physical and mental abilities change as you age, but how one’s peak is still an attainable future goal. Deborah is a professional writer, specializing in instructional materials for teachers, health-care practitioners, and community youth advocates. She has written six books on positive youth development and served as a national trainer for the Minneapolis-based Search Institute. She is also a co-author of Stamp of the Century, a nonfiction book about the history of flight and a famous airmail postage stamp called the Inverted Jenny. Two of Guy’s blog posts mentioned in this episode are 100 Days No Booze Results: What Really Changed (and What Didn’t) and You’re probably holding your sword wrong. Here’s why. Find out more about the Whidbey Swordplay Association at: https://whidbeyswordplayassociation.com/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-213-armoured-martial-arts-with-jenny-habry To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Jenny Häbry is an armoured martial arts competitor who has crowned UK's best female fighter in both 2022 and 2024, and again in 2025. And since 2024 has served as the Women's National captain. She has founded her own team, and her favourite discipline is pro fighting, where she remains undefeated. In 2025 she secured three World Championship gold medals, further cementing her place as one of the sport's leading fighters. Jenny also travels worldwide, sharing her expertise and passion through teaching. She runs Armoured Martial Arts Nottingham with UK men’s team captain Daniel Winter. In our conversation, we find out what the modern sport of Armoured Martial Arts involves; the different elements of competition, the physical risks, how Jenny trains, and what this very small sport needs to grow. We also hear about her titanium armour! Jenny also tells us about her recent trip to America, where the sport is much more popular. Here’s a photo of her winning the crown in the first female five-round championship fight: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-213-armoured-martial-arts-with-jenny-habry Find Armoured Martial Arts Nottingham here: https://www.armouredmartialartsnottingham.com/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-212-physio-for-ninjas-with-erick-ellison  To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy This episode is with Erick Ellison, who is a Bujinkan instructor and physiotherapist in Helsinki Finland. Regular listeners will already have heard of him as the person who fixed very old injuries in my shoulder, my knee, my neck and various other places. He qualified as a physiotherapist in 2007 and has been running his own practice since 2012. His list of professional credentials is both very long and very varied, incorporating modern medicine and traditional Japanese approaches. In our conversation we talk about the history of Ninja, their strategies and techniques, and some of the misconceptions around them. We also talk about physiotherapy and the training involved, and how a practitioner like Erick chooses which technique to use on a person. Erick also shares a set of movements called the Five Tibetan Rites, which he believes are a great general guideline for maintaining strength and flexibility. You can find Erick online here: https://www.fysiosakura.fi/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-211-embodying-martial-arts-in-an-aging-body-with-jess-finley  To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy The inestimable Jess Finley is back on the podcast! If you’re not aware of her work, she has written a wonderful book about medieval wrestling, starred in several of my online courses, and we recently collaborated on an online course about Von Baumann’s wrestling. On her Patreon account, she produces translations, interpretations, previews of books in progress and videos. She also teaches swords around the world. We start by talking about travelling with knives and guns, before moving onto the main topic, which is looking at the ways to mitigate the downsides of aging as we train and get older. One of the main things to work out is understanding the difference between discomfort and dysfunction, i.e. is this pain OK, or have I catastrophically injured myself? And at what point should I listen to the fear? We talk about what lessons a long term martial arts practice has given us in our daily lives, especially when dealing with life’s big moments. Links of interest: Jess Finley on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/jessfinley/ Books and publications: https://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Jessica_Finley Von Baumann wrestling course: https://swordschool.teachable.com/p/medieval-german-wrestling-the-twirchringen-of-von-baumann How Emotions are Made, by Lisa Feldman Barrett: https://lisafeldmanbarrett.com/books/how-emotions-are-made/ The book that Jess and Guy discuss about the Olympic athletes was Howard Schatz’s Athlete.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-210-from-homeschool-to-author-with-amos-wilson  To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Amos Christian Wilson is an independent Christian author, poet and musician. He is also a home school graduate and third born of 12 who loves reading, the outdoors, theology and history. He went from high school to a wide range of trade jobs, from carpentry to piano tuning to horse shoeing. He seeks to write books which centre around religious characters and immersive world building. In our conversation we talk about growing up as one of 12 and being homeschooled, and how a picture book about arms and armour sparked Amos’s love of swords, followed by a Fiore manual from a homeschool organisation’s catalogue of “toys for growing men”. We talk about some of the different jobs Amos has done over the years to support his true career as a writer. He describes his four-book Gwambi series as Treasure Island meets Chronicles of Narnia, with maybe a little bit of Charles Dickens thrown in there. You can find Amos on Substack and download a free ebook there. Or find out more on his website, https://www.acwilson.net.  As Amos isn’t a historical martial artist, he has a different idea of what he would do with $1 million, and it’s one that Guy is fascinated by.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-209-medieval-european-body-culture-with-dr-maciej-talaga To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Dr Maciej Talaga is an assistant professor at the University of Warsaw. His research interests have revolved around premodern European martial traditions, with particular focus on late medieval, Central European and the so-called German School of fighting. His goal is to elevate HEMA studies into a legitimate field of research within academic history and archaeology. Maciej is a member of HEMAtac, a HEMA coaching organization, and is a qualified Olympic fencing instructor in the Polish Fencing Association. He also runs the Sprechfenster blog on Patreon. Guy first came across Maciej’s work through his article Probing the Depth of Medieval European Body Culture: Preliminary Research on Methods of Physical Training, 1250 to 1500. We talk about how Maciej got into historical martial arts, and a bit of background of the development of the HEMA scene in Poland. Both Maciej and Guy have experience of sport fencing, and we talk about how sport fencing coaching techniques can be beneficial in training historical fencing, giving you a framework for understanding concepts in historical fencing. Maciej sees HEMA as a grand project, with tournaments having a key place within this project. We discuss the benefits of the competitive environment, how it affects your training, and how it reveals the differences between what’s in the fight books and how we practice sword fighting today. Guy talks himself into getting back into tournament fencing – for seniors only, mind you. We also discuss the topic of Maciej’s article about medieval European body culture. What sports did people do, how did they train? What sources do we have to prove what people did? Links of interest: Probing the Depth of Medieval European Body Culture: Preliminary Research on Methods of Physical Training, 1250 to 1500 HEMAtac: https://hematacticalanalys.wixsite.com/hematac Maciej’s Sprechfenster blog: https://www.patreon.com/sprechfenster

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-208-swords-are-where-i-can-be-me-with-vera-martocchia  To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Vera Martocchia is a professional sword fighting instructor with nearly a decade of experience in historical martial arts. She co-founded the historical martial arts club Swordpunch in London, and teaches a wide range of weapons, including sidesword, longsword, dagger, sickle and more. In addition to her historical martial arts practice, Vera holds a master’s degree in international business, works as a marketing professional in tech and is a certified fitness professional with over 16 years of experience. Our wide-ranging conversation covers how getting pregnant is what got Vera into historical martial arts (in a roundabout sort of way) and the reasons she and her business partner Jack set up their own club. Setting up your own club may not be the practical choice, and we discuss how to manage all the responsibilities of both the club and life – hint: the answer is not to sleep. One of Vera’s driving forces was to create a club that is welcoming and a healthy learning and training environment with professional teaching methods. We talk about how to help vulnerable students, and how to professionalise HEMA teaching.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-207-the-perfectly-rational-fencer-with-martin-hoppner  To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Dr Martin Höppner has been involved in historical martial arts since joining a local reenactment club, “Berliner Rittergilde” in 2008 before getting into historical fencing in 2015 studying classical sabre and rapier at the University of Berlin club. He then moved into sword and buckler, inspired by Roland Warzecha’s work (you can hear from Roland here) and Fiore’s Art of Arms, before being seduced by Manciolino and Marozzo. In 2017 he co-founded Schildwache Potsdam as a collaboration between the Berliner Rittergilde and the University of Potsdam’s Academic Sports Centre. In 2020 and 2021 he was on the DDHF national longsword first squad. And since 2022 he was on the Rapier national squad, where he is now head coach. He runs the Schildwache Potsdam YouTube channel, and is one of the organizers of one of my favourite events, Swords of the Renaissance. He is a research associate at the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg and has a PhD in economics and social sciences. Economics is very relevant to this episode, because Martin and I discuss how Game Theory relates to fencing. What is it rational to do when sparring and what do people actually do? What is the most rational way to react to an opponent who hits you increasingly hard or fast? Should you match them, or walk away? We also talk about rule sets in tournaments, and Martin’s thoughts on how to devise them to stop people gaming the rules, and make the fencing cleaner and scoring fairer.   Links of interest: Schildwache Potsdam (Martin’s club) and info on Swords of the Renaissance event: https://schildwache-potsdam.de/ The Schildwache Potsdam Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/SchildwachePotsdam Schildwache Potsdam YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/schildwache-potsdam  

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-206-you-re-a-fechtmeister-too-with-liam-clark To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Liam H. Clarke is a historical fencer with a focus on Renaissance-era German fencing traditions, specifically the work of Joachim Meyer. He has been practicing since 2016, first in the Rocky Mountains before returning home to the Pacific Northwest. For the last few years, he has been delving into the archives, researching the lives and times of the contemporaries of Joachim Meyer, publishing his findings, including illuminating Joachim Meyer’s family through his Substack, Evergreen Historical Fencing. In our chat, we discuss the appeal of delving into archives instead of just doing swordfighting: does having a better understanding of the lives of past masters help us fence better, or have a deeper enjoyment of practising historical fencing? Liam explains who Meyer was, his family’s background in paper production, and what life was like in city states like Strasbourg in the 16th Century. Every (male) citizen had a responsibility to own arms and armour and be prepared to protect the city, whether on night watch, military conflicts, or fire calls. Liam’s research can help us picture what daily life was like for Meyer and his contemporaries, and how they had the same struggles with money and other commitments that we have today. One thing Liam’s research has highlighted is how young these fencing masters were, and how a “Fechtmeister” wouldn’t have been a wizened old man with a long beard. Meyer was only in his early thirties when he died. Many of us practising HEMA today would qualify as a ‘Master’, which is a nice thought for reducing the imposter syndrome! All of Liam’s research findings and articles are open source and freely available at https://evergreenfencing.substack.com/p/three-other-fechtmeisters-of-strasbourg Check it out!

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/salute-before-you-cross-swords-with-damon-young To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy My guest today, Damon Young, is an Australian philosopher, author and martial artist. He has written 14 books or so, including Philosophy in the Garden, Distraction, and On Getting Off: Sex and Philosophy. He has also edited a couple of books on philosophy and martial arts, such as Engagement: Philosophy and the Martial Arts, and Martial Arts and Philosophy: Beating and Nothingness, perhaps my favourite title. His latest work is Immortal Gestures, Journeys in the Unspoken. For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy You might remember Damon from his previous appearances on this show in Episode 31, Why Swords Are Cool, and again in Episode 44, What is a Sword? Unfortunately for Damon, he’s not doing a lot of sword swinging at the moment because of an as yet unidentified issue with his arms. We discuss how he might get this issue sorted – which may involve flying to Helsinki – and how it can be tricky to prioritise your own health over other priorities and difficult life stuff. We also revisit the definition of a sword. What is a sword? When is a sword-like object not a sword? Damon’s new book is about gestures, and we talk about the weird politeness of a salute or a bow that’s absolutely essential before you try and murder someone with a kilo of sharp steel. A gesture can be an important symbol of trust and respect, and this courtesy separates martial arts or duels from a more bestial act or something a commoner might do. Our conversation goes off in several tangents, discussing whether philosophy is a scam, pens, getting rid of stuff, cataloguing your book collection, notebooks and the history of sticking two fingers up to the French.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-204-staying-fit-for-fencing-with-dr-elizabeth-scott  To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Elizabeth Scott is a historical martial arts and armoured combat practitioner on foot and on horseback, which is extremely cool, as well as being an orthopaedic surgeon, which is arguably even cooler. Her latest venture is Sprezzatura Sports, a company providing health and fitness training for sports fencers and historical martial artists. Of course, her main claim to fame is having appeared on this show before in episode 114. Things have changed for Liz since our last conversation in 2022, as at the time of recording, she was preparing to move herself, her dog, and maybe her horse over to the UK to start a master’s degree in Sport, Strength and Conditioning at Loughborough University. It’s just Liz doing the degree, not the dog or the horse. In our conversation we talk about recovery from injury, how to stay injury free and take care of our bodies as we age. We also talk about training for historical fencing, training for tournaments, and dealing with both the mental and physical sides of tournament fencing. Liz is a mounted combat enthusiast, and we discuss vaulting onto your horse – while in full armour – and how this was an essential part of the medieval training, despite seeming pretty impossible to us modern folk. 

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-203-writing-great-sword-fights-with-sebastien-de-castell It’s a welcome return for a previous guest, the brilliant writer Sebastien de Castell. His first published novel was Traitor’s Blade in 2014. Since then he has published the Greatcoats Quartet, the Spellslinger YA fantasy series, The Malevolent Seven and his latest Play of Shadows. He also has eight more books under contract, so there are plenty more to come! Sebastien has written some of my favourite sword fights in all of literature, so when I decided to update my book, Swordfighting for Writers, Game Designers and Martial Artists, it was a no-brainer to talk to Sebastien about how he approaches writing action scenes in his books. We talk about more than just sword fights, and this conversation will be fascinating to any writer or anyone thinking about writing their first novel. It’s not just a chat for novellists. As you’d expect on The Sword Guy Podcast, we do talk about weapons, like a pistol within a rapier, and other strange and unusual weapons that never quite caught on. To find out more about Sebastien’s books, visit https://decastell.com/ and to listen to his previous appearance on the podcast, check out episode 69: Swashbuckling with Sebastien de Castell.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-202-the-schielhau-in-detail-with-alexander-furgut  To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy It’s a warm welcome back to the Sword Guy Podcast to Alexander Fürgut, who was one of my interviewers on Episode 132, Podcasting with the Sword Whisperer. He's the co-host of the Schwertgeflüster HEMA podcast and of Schwabenfedern Ulm, a large HEMA club in Germany. We're here today to talk about his new book, The Schielhau in Detail: a comprehensive guide about fundamentals, tactics and strategy of this longsword technique. We talk about the challenges of writing a book, and how much tougher Alexander found the process than he expected, especially as he immediately went on to translate the original German version into English. Will he write another? We have a chat about possible subjects, and the best approach when choosing a topic to write about. Is it better to write something with the widest possible audience, or is it better to focus on something very niche, like, for example, the Schielhau? Find Alexander’s book, The Schielhau in Detail here: German edition: Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon DE – Amazon CA – Amazon AU/NZ English edition: Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon DE – Amazon CA – Amazon AU/NZ

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-201-the-notebook-and-a-zibaldone-salad-with-roland-allen  To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Roland Allen is the author of The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper. The book is about the development of the notebook (i.e. a book you write in yourself) in European history, and it covers everything from the development of paper as a cheaper thing to write on than vellum, to wax tablets, to Italian accounting practices, to Leonardo da Vinci's famous notebooks, to Darwin, to the modern Moleskine and where it actually comes from. In our conversation we talk about the means, motive and opportunity that enabled Roland to write The Notebook, and the challenges of covering such an enormous topic: what had to be left out; and the power of holding a grudge. There’s also great advice for anyone writing any sort of book about how to incorporate cause and effect into your storytelling. Readers need reasons and consequences to stay engaged. We talk about Roland’s favourite genre of notebook, the zibaldone, which existed in medieval Florence as a way for people to write down all the bits of literature they liked, local songs, recipes, events – anything notable was written down in a hodgepodge paper version of a mixtape. To connect this to fencing, it is similar to one of our oldest treatises, Manuscript 3227a, also known as the Döbringer manuscript. This is basically a zibaldone, with a section in it on fighting with a longsword. But it also has sections in it on other things like fireworks and recipes.  There’s lots else to talk about, including our preferred brands of notebook, and our favourite paper. Find out more about The Notebook on Roland’s website: https://roland-allen.com/  

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-200-with-michael-chidester-sharing-hidden-treasures To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy For our two hundredth episode it’s the welcome return of Michael Chidester. Michael is the architect of Wiktenauer, the online archive of historical martial arts sources. He's also the founder of HEMA Bookshelf, which produces stunningly good facsimiles of historical sources, such as the Getty manuscript of Fiore dei Liberi’s Il Fior di Battaglia. He also produces a whole bunch of academic books on historical martial arts as well. If you haven’t already heard of him, go back and listen to episode 21 as well. In today’s episode, we talk about how Michael took on Wiktenauer and saved it from deletion, for which we all owe him a beer. It has changed and grown enormously since its inception in 2009. For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy We talk about translation, including how to interpret multiple translations of the same source, or even multiple versions of the same treatise, such as the different manuscripts of Fiore’s Il Fior di Battaglia. We discuss the frustration of knowing that there is a manuscript out there, owned and hidden away by the Pisani Dossi family, which we just can’t access. Michael talks about the process of reproducing manuscripts, and the lengths he goes to to ensure that his versions are as accurate as possible. This includes reproducing the collation, and the rough and smooth sides of the original parchment. Since Michael’s first appearance on the podcast in 2020, he’s changed his mind a little about what he’d do with a million dollars to improve historical martial arts. We also hear about what he’s got coming up and the huge project he hasn’t started yet. Wiktenauer: https://wiktenauer.com/ HEMA Bookshelf: https://www.hemabookshelf.com/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Sydney Schwindt is an actor, fight director and clown. She is also an artist and illustrator. In our conversation, we talk about how Sydney got into fight direction and some of the plays Sydney has worked on, or would like to work on and the swords she enjoys using. We also talk about being a clown, and the joy of having the audience throw a pie in your face. This leads us into a discussion about some of Shakespeare’s clowns and how they have been portrayed on film by different actors, more or less successfully. Sydney has a website for her art, called True Edge Art, and we talk about some of her designs and what inspires her. A big part of her inspiration in both her visual art and her stage work is environmentalism, and she is keen to do more work making the violence of climate change feel more real and more visceral by embodying it through actual violence on stage. And she’s also going to do a one-person show about a clown raccoon.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-198-safety-testing-hema-with-jamie-maciver To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Jamie MacIver is a historical martial arts instructor who co-founded the London Historical Fencing Club in 2016, which has grown to over 120 members and now has his own permanent training space. We start our conversation with Vadi, and why Jamie prefers Vadi to Fiore. We have a discussion about guards and whether Vadi is more defensive than Fiore. You can find updates on Jamie’s translation of Vadi’s The Art of Swordfighting on his website, here: https://historicalfencingresearch.com/projects/translation-vadi/ Next, Jamie explains about taking the plunge into getting his club its own permanent space. The London Historical Fencing club is one of only around three in the UK that has a permanent home, so we hear how it was possible post-pandemic, and how they manage the classes to make it financially viable. Jamie also explains about the steps they have taken to ensure diversity within the club. Having been involved in running lots of tournaments, Jamie found he was having to make decisions on what HEMA kit is safe enough with nothing much to back up those decisions. So he set up the Historical Research Company Ltd to research historical martial arts safety, starting with research into sword tips. What is the difference between having a tip and no tip on your rapier? And which tips are the safest? Do different tips affect how likely it is for sword to glance off a mask or to stick to a mask, causing concussion and other injuries? You can find out more about the project and its conclusions here: https://historicalfencingresearch.com/projects/safety-tips/ And there’s a video here: https://youtu.be/wAZgMmIak-Y You can support Historical Fencing Research here: https://historicalfencingresearch.com/support-our-work/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-197-russian-dissidence-with-romana-shemayev  To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Romana Shemayev is an American songwriter and performer, translator of contemporary Russian poetry,  and one of the founders of “Bent Blades, a gathering of Historical Martial Arts enthusiasts, who study German longsword fencing according to the principles of Johannes Liechtenauer. The interview is a bit different to the usual. It starts out normally enough with background chat, and swords. But she is a translator and performer of dissident songs from the USSR, and she performs several of them for us. It’s only fair to say that the recording could be better- the perfectly fine normal podcast setup didn’t capture her guitar as well as it might. This episode was also edited together from two separate recording sessions several weeks apart, so it may be a bit less consistent than usual. The transcription isn’t perfect either! It won’t affect your understanding or enjoyment of the content though. Also, her songs deal with some pretty intense subject matter. Going to the sauna to recover from years freezing in a gulag is not the most extreme example.