00:00Canterbury has plenty of history inside its walls, but one group is fighting to bring
00:04ancient sword techniques into the modern day.
00:08Canterbury medieval combat train across many different disciplines, including dagger, German
00:13long knife, staff, pole arms and sword and buckler.
00:17They like to say that history is decided by the winners, but what exactly makes a winner?
00:22Well, throughout most of history it tended to be how good you were with one of these.
00:26Now, this doesn't look exactly like a longsword would have back in the days of Norman sieges,
00:31Viking conquests or peasants' revolts.
00:34This one is intended for training, and here at St Dunstan's churchyard that's exactly
00:38what they do.
00:39While the weapons might not look 100% accurate, the training they're taking comes straight
00:43from the manuscripts, so I've travelled down here to see if I can learn from the best about
00:48how to sharpen my sword skills.
00:51I watched a sabre class, then had a go at the longsword which was a dulled blade without
00:55a pointed tip.
00:56The footwork was the main thing that I struggled with, and remembering whether to swing, reset
01:01or step in combinations.
01:03The class mainly use a German system, and study manuscripts of the martial art to inform
01:08what they'll do during the sessions.
01:10We study the German system, which is a little bit more complicated to do, because we have
01:16in the early period we have a poem.
01:20Basically the poem, the zettel as it's called, is a handout that was given to people that attended
01:25a workshop.
01:26We have a 400, 500 year gap in some instances where people are finding these things and then
01:32thinking, well what does that mean, what do we do with it?
01:35So these are interpretations.
01:37We're not correct in everything we do, and we say that from the start, but we're trying
01:42to do it in the right spirit.
01:44There's also a competitive scene that focuses on the technique of sparring.
02:11It's not about brute force, but using the blade to attack and defend, which for me would take
02:16some getting used to.
02:17If I was a squire instead of a journalist, and this was 11.26, not 20.26, I don't think
02:23I would have made a very good night.
02:24Finn McDermid for KMTV in Canterbury.
Comments