Johannes Liechtenauer said that the five words are the fundament of all art.
The more I think about that, the more I’m starting to believe it’s true. Over the last few months I've had the pleasure of talking to a number of really brilliant people; Jean Chandler, Jess Finley, James Reilly, Jack Gassman, Adam Franti, Puck Curtis, Charles Lin, Michael Chidester, Rob Rutherfoord, and Ben Strickling.
While that's a veritable whose-who in the Historical fencing community, almost every one of them is an artist in another craft. Jess was relating a story about her quest to become a master stone mason, and related something that really stuck with me. I'm paraphrasing here, but essentially in stone masonry there are only 6 rules to build a good wall and you can never follow all of them. You have to learn what rules you can break, and when, ie. when to be soft and when to be hard.
In talking to Jack about breaking horses, he informed me that every riding population has hard cowboys and soft cowboys; riders and horsemen. A masterful expression of horsemanship is often conveyed in a practitioner knowing when to be soft and when to be hard. To further this perspective, here's Tom Dorance on horsemanship:
Similarly, in relating the five words as a function of warfare, Adam Franti showed how the five words scale into the tactics and strategy of conducting a battle and going on campaign. Which you should check out after you listen to this podcast!
This extends into the visual arts as well. The use of light and dark as contrasting opposites is essential for creating depth and focus. This is known as chiaroscuro:
Definitions from Oxford Languages:
Chiaroscuro: chiar·oscu·ro kē-ˌär-ə-ˈskyu̇r-(ˌ)ō
noun
: the treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting.
: an effect of contrasted light and shadow created by light falling unevenly or from a particular direction on something.
: the interplay or contrast of dissimilar qualities (as of mood or character)
I'll leave it at that. Enjoy the podcast, this is a long one, but it's worth every minute, I promise. James Reilly is one of a kind, and someone I'm honored to call friend.
Podcast Related Material:
Michael Chidester’s Lecture IGX 2018
Meyer’s Four Types of Fencers: How we conceive of them and ourselves, by James Reilly
If you want to learn from James directly, go check out his True Steel Training course! Link
Sting:
Petyr’s Fechtshule:
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