British/European Martial Arts

[jeep]

Most people think of Ninja, Samurai or Kung Foo, karate and other forms of fighting developed by non European ethnic groups when the term Martial arts is mentioned. Martial being Military or warlike and Arts being skills. Most dont think of Europe or Britain being exponents of martial arts but they also had and used martial arts (And still do but are technology based)
When you watch a movie of Ancient China, Roman or medieval Europe and Britain (And into later times), all that sword play, and archery, horsemanship etc are martial arts too. And just like our ancient counterparts in China and Japan the Europeans also had forms based on small blades, Long sticks or shafts, club and chain, Cudgel (Like a kosh) and unarmed combat (Wrestling).
So why bring all this stuff up, well in another thread where it was suggested Archery might be a possible activity young people may be interested in doing i mentioned Scottish Broad sword might be of interest to others too. Lo and behold Karla from Scotland advised she would be keen to learn the art of the Claymore. I have been performing semi choreographed Claymore fighting displays for a while now due to re-enacting as a 1745 Jacobite at shows (Dont actively re-enact WW2 anymore - hair is too long haha) but i also would love to learn it correctly as well as archery with the traditional British long bow.
Who else would like to or does already take part in martial arts of a British or European origin.
Below is a shot of me on left and Devo at the recent Tartan day event here in Auckland New Zealand

[Stuart]

Scotland has its own martial art, it's called Fuck-You. It's mostly just head butting and then kicking people when they're on the ground.

(Thanks to Mike Myers for that one!)

[jeep]

haha, yea seen that one too it practised often down here, probably due to the very high scots ancestry in the NZ population. If it works right there should be a link below to footage of some broad sword play at a British display

   An Clann Swordfights at Culzean Castle   

[didiosa1980]

Cool video.  Totally agree with the comment of martial arts. I took a Korean form when it was popular to do so back in the early 90s and did so till about the end of the decade. It is kind of sad that everyone things Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon when anyone mentions if they like martial arts. I'm pretty sure there are some other countries that have just as good styles as Asia.

[Karla]

The books I have are:

English Martial Arts - Terry Brown

The Highland Broadsword - Five manuals of Scottish regimental Swordmanship

Highland swordsmanship - Techniques of the Scottish Swordsmasters

Which also contains a cool autobiography of a soldier who used these techniques in real life.


It does seem that a lot of the knowledge that was developed through the ages was recently lost. Some blame football for distracting the common man. Some blame World War I for the loss of knowledge in pugilism. For example, I learnt through damaging my wrist that it's very effective and far safer for oneself to punch with a vertical wrist and then found that this was often a technique used in pugilism. I then learnt Wing Tsun and found that they used a vertical fist for their punches. yet everyone now boxes with their knuckles horizontal.

If you think about it, we all have the same limbs, the same joints, the same brains etc. People spent their entire lives learning these arts in Europe and opened schools which had grading systems. People lost their lives if they didn't fight as well as the next man. Even swordmakers could fear losing their life if they sold a dodgy sword and the buyer somehow manager to survive. Swordsmanship was used for sporting entertainment and even women competed professionally. Techniques adapted to this as well. The martial arts here would have been as sophisticated as anything developed elsewhere.

[jeep]

Good links Karla

    I would not mind getting a couple of them myself (Once i have paid my vehicle infringement -Ooops). I have a copy from the net of Thomas Page's "Use of the Braadsword - as used by the Highlanders (published 1746) but it is sparse on illustration. Which one of those books listed would you describe as the best in regards clarity for learning correct basket hilt Claymore techniques of the 1700s.

    There is an archery club in my area but they seem to prefer super modern gear and professional competition and are not keen to bother themselves with novices who want to use traditional equipment for mere interests sake.

[ToneBender]

In a perfect world (where I had the time) I'd learn Krav Maga.

[Gman707]

The most famous western martial art of course us pugilism....boxing

[chrisw91]

I would be interested in learning Sambo, which is a Russian martial art.

[Petrucio1983]

Most people think of Ninja, Samurai or Kung Foo, karate and other forms of fighting developed by non European ethnic groups when the term Martial arts is mentioned. Martial being Military or warlike and Arts being skills. Most dont think of Europe or Britain being exponents of martial arts but they also had and used martial arts (And still do but are technology based)
When you watch a movie of Ancient China, Roman or medieval Europe and Britain (And into later times), all that sword play, and archery, horsemanship etc are martial arts too. And just like our ancient counterparts in China and Japan the Europeans also had forms based on small blades, Long sticks or shafts, club and chain, Cudgel (Like a kosh) and unarmed combat (Wrestling).
So why bring all this stuff up, well in another thread where it was suggested Archery might be a possible activity young people may be interested in doing i mentioned Scottish Broad sword might be of interest to others too. Lo and behold Karla from Scotland advised she would be keen to learn the art of the Claymore. I have been performing semi choreographed Claymore fighting displays for a while now due to re-enacting as a 1745 Jacobite at shows (Dont actively re-enact WW2 anymore - hair is too long haha) but i also would love to learn it correctly as well as archery with the traditional British long bow.
Who else would like to or does already take part in martial arts of a British or European origin.
Below is a shot of me on left and Devo at the recent Tartan day event here in Auckland New Zealand

That's really neat to learn. Thank you for that information. (If you're still on the site.)

[Northman]

I would be so happy to learn all forms of martial arts. Medieval fencing is an option here, but for now it is way too expensive. But maybe someday.

[Petrucio1983]

I wanted to learn fencing, but I found out that it's a very expensive thing to learn. So now I'm just messing about with ham radio.

[Gman707]

I fence. I really enjoy it and here it is notvery expensive. It's great exercise too. I dont think people realise. ..