HIGGINS ARMORY MUSEUM HISTORIC COMBAT INTRODUCTION. This course consists
of four 2-hour sessions, and is designed to teach the basic safety, physical skills, training routines, and concepts necessary for participating in
HAM
Historic Combat Workshops. No equipment or experience required.
Participants should wear loose, comfortable clothes with appropriate footgear (i.e. sneakers). Enrollment in each series is limited to a maximum of 16. Cost
is $85 for museum members, $100 for non-members; a discount is available
for full-time students. The Introduction is offered several times a year.
The next series will run on Sept. 29, Oct. 6, Oct. 20, Oct. 27, from 1:30 to 3:30 at the Higgins. For reservations and inquiries phone the Higgins Education Department at (508) 853-6015
HIGGINS ARMORY MUSEUM HISTORIC COMBAT WORKSHOP. The group practices
techniques from medieval and Renaissance combat manuals. Currently focus
is on the techniques of the medieval longsword (also called the
hand-and-a-half sword or bastard sword). The curriculum consists of general work with
body and weapon mechanics, combined with study of the techniques of the
German longsword tradition, as described by Joachim Meyer in 1570. Future plans include practice of Renaissance rapier techniques and the sword-and-buckler techniques of the Walpurgis Fechtbuch (c1300). The group meets at 3:30 at the Higgins on the 1st, 35nEZand (as applicable) 5th Saturday afternoon
of each month. The schedule occasionally varies; be sure to confirm times before showing up. No equipment required; participants should wear
loose, comfortable clothes with appropriate footgear (i.e. sneakers). The
workshops are free with museum membership (available at the door); participants
are expected to take the Historic Combat Introduction course prior to participating. See the website at
http://www.hurstwic.org/medswrd/index.html.

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The basic swordsmanship class is an intense 101 longsword session designed to offer interested and novice individuals an introduction into medieval longsword. From discussions at Higgins, it will cover basics of sword terminology (relative to the period), warm up drills and a training sequence. It was my understanding that completion of this 101 course was required to actively participate in the continued Higgins Medieval Swordsmanship Combat Study Group.

What was happening was that as new individuals came to sessions, advanced study had to be continuously put on hold as we revisited the basics.

Recently, masters/manuals that the medieval swordsmanship group have studied have been Sutor, Meyer (German) and some of I.33 under the guidance of Curator Jeffrey Forgeng.

As part of special events and presentations, Bob Charron is scheduled to come on Dec 1st to offer a presentation and workshop on Fiore (Italian).

I'm also working with Larry Tom of MASHS for a date in January 2002.

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Thank goodness- for a minute I thought it might have been "Musclebound Actors Swinging Heroic Swords", and Arnold was making another Conan movie.....

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