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SUMMER
KNIGHTS NEWSLETTER
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DECEMBER/JANUARY 2002 Unto the populace of Summer Knights patrons doth Lord Magnus, Lady Branwyn and the Master Knights send greetings! Once again we send forth this missive informing the populace of deeds both great and small and Knightly-News concerning the Summer Knights program. As usual, we extend an invitation to all who are interested in our program to send us their email address and, for those of you who already receive the newsletter, forward it to others; let others know about Summer Knights! As
always, feel free to check out the Summer Knights website at: www.summerknights.com HAPPY
HOLIDAYS We
hope that each of you enjoyed the holidays and had a Happy New Year.
Lord Magnus and Lady Branwyn took a couple of days off to visit
Chicago (the Art Institute of Chicago has a magnificent collection of both
art and Medieval armour, if you get the chance we highly recommend a
visit) and then some time with family in Kentucky.
But now we are back home and gearing up for Summer Knights 2002!
We wish all of you the very best in 2002, from our household to
yours!
SIR
DANIEL BECOMES A WORLD CHAMPION ARCHER AT THE 2001 NORTH AMERICAN ARCHERY
TOURNAMENT This
December Sir Daniel represented the Summer Knights Master Knights
Household and competed in the North American Archery Tournament. Sir Daniel, in the shooting group with none other than the
great archer Sir Dana, spent two days of challenging shooting at the
Everglades Archery Club. At
the end of the two days, Sir Daniel’s high scores found him not only
netting the Gold medal for the North American Tournament (which includes
the United States, Canada and Mexico) but breaking all the National
records for longbow in his age group in Field, Target and Hunter
categories! But his
achievement does not end there; Sir Daniel’s scores also garnered him
with the World Records in Field, Target and Hunter categories as well! His
outstanding abilities have brought great honour upon the Master Knights
Household and, needless to say, Lord Magnus, Lady Branwyn and all the
Master Knights are very proud of his fantastic achievement. In addition, his skills have also bagged him the new position
of Commander of the Rangers! Huzzah
to Sir Daniel, our own World Record holder!
SUMMER
KNIGHTS TO DEMONSTRATE THEIR KNIGHTLY ARTS AT THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
FESTIVAL AT VIZCAYA The
time has come again when the Master Knights intensify their training in
preparations for the Italian Renaissance Festival at Vizcaya.
This year the Festival takes place March 14th, 15th,
16th and 17th. As with last year, the Summer Knights will be showcasing the
armour they have produced, the skills at arms they have acquired and, of
course, the most important and unique program for young people today,
Summer Knights! Mark the day
in your calendar and plan to join us, we know a great time will be had by
all! In
addition, Summer Knights is looking for volunteers from among its Knightly
Alumni for help with the Summer Knights booth and for volunteer work with
the Italian Renaissance Festival. Volunteers
will get in for free and will be able to rent garb (medieval/renaissance
clothing) from the Festival costumers for a refundable charge of $5!
We hope to have many volunteers from our noble knights and
certainly hope to see you all there! THE SUMMER KNIGHTS
CORPORATE ROUND TABLE
Once
again, when the call was extended in our last Newsletter, two of our
faithful Sponsors contacted us immediately to renew their commitment to
the Summer Knights and their belief in Chivalry.
Our two returning sponsors are:
COOPER-GENERAL
and
INTERNATIONAL
TRAINING CAREERS (ITC) Of
course, for each company there is always one person behind the commitment
to Summer Knights. From
Cooper-General, Vice-President Michael Fresco contacted us and insured us
of their continued support. The
Cooper-General Corporation are the Master Distributors for the Ericsson /
MaCom 2way radio line. They handle the complete area of
communications including antennas, cable connectors and replacement parts.
They supply local government and schools and also handle all sales
to South America and the Caribbean. In
addition to our thanks to Cooper-General for their renewed support, we
would also like to offer a heart-felt Huzzah to Mr. Fresco and his
beautiful wife who just gave birth to their fourth son!
We know their new addition will prove to fill the shoes of his
brothers with their same grace and commanding nature.
Certainly the new Michael Fresco Jr. will grow to be a strong and
valiant Knight! Our
second sponsor to renew their commitment is International Training Careers
(ITC) and their sponsorship came directly from the work of Zuleika Perdomo-Martell.
International Training Schools are a Nursing Assistant and Patient
Care Technician School. Mrs.
Perdomo-Martell has been the school director of International Training
Careers for the past 16 years and is very proud of the fact that she has
graduated hundreds of students now working in Miami’s hospitals, nursing
homes and home health agencies. In
addition, she has been a loyal sponsor of Summer Knights for two years;
helping her community by working towards the creation of Chivalrous
Knights for the future. Her
son Sir Jonathan attended Summer Knights two years ago (he had to miss
last summer due to an extended European vacation) and will no-doubt return
to further his skills this year. We
welcome the return of our noble knight and indeed offer many thanks for
Lady Zuleika’s continued support of what she knows, first hand, to be a
truly valuable program. To
have our sponsors return is a great incentive to us, and a gauge by which
we can judge their satisfaction and our success at achieving the goals of
Chivalry. However,
Summer Knights is still in need of sponsors for the 2002 year.
Our Summer Knights Corporate Round Table offers Sponsorship
packages, starting at only $499, that allow businesses and individuals to
sponsor a single knight and become a part of something meaningful in the
life of today’s children and the future of society, a Chivalrous society
for tomorrow! With
your sponsorship, you receive special recognition in our newsletters,
space on our website to define Chivalry and logo space on our brochures at
large community service events and even the Italian Renaissance Faire;
last year we reached over 5000 people at the faire alone!
These events, newsletters and web presence allow our sponsors to
connect with the most chivalrous group on earth, the Masters of Knightly
virtue, the Summer Knights! We
want the world to know about the very special businesses that sponsor
Summer Knights; truly, sponsors of Chivalry itself! For
information please contact us at: 305-609-6048 or email us at: admin@summerknights.com SUMMER
KNIGHTS REGISTRATION IN FULL SWING
Believe
or not Summer Knights has been receiving registrations since September
2001! It seems many have seen
the website and are ready to discover the fun of Knighthood for
themselves. Many of our
Knightly Alumni have already contacted us to ensure they have a space
amongst the Chivalry. Furthermore,
the Italian Renaissance Festival is coming up and, as with last year, our
enrollment increases quite rapidly. So,
if you want to make sure you are in a Household of Noble Knights in 2002,
register for Summer Knights early since space, as always, is limited! (See
http://www.summerknights.com/registration_information_links.htm
for details and http://www.summerknights.com/Forms%20and%20Registration/registra.htm
for registration) WHAT ART THOU
READING?
1)
Techniques of Armour
Reproduction by Brian Price 2)
Le Morte D’ Arthur by
Sir Thomas Malory (ed. John
Matthews) 1)
Techniques
of Armour Reproduction by Brian
Price is a masterwork and a MUST HAVE for anyone interested in becoming an
armourer, or even for those who want to further their armouring skills.
Mr. Price’s book is a carefully crafted, very well detailed tome
of knowledge that stems from years of practical experience. Unlike the
Medieval armourers that went to their graves with the secrets of their
art, Mr. Price shares every aspect of the armouring process without
leaving out a single element of how each piece is created.
From the process of choosing and finding tools to the techniques of
every step in the creation of armour, this book leaves no stone unturned.
From patterns to polish, Mr. Price shares his vast knowledge with
passion and precision. Each
page is accompanied by clear and informative pictures that show the reader
exactly what his descriptions so skillfully detail.
As armourers, we at Summer Knights are constantly honing our skills
and challenging our abilities to push ourselves to the next level of
mastery. But we can’t begin to think of how much “trial and
error” we could have avoided if we had owned Mr. Price’s book sooner!
In any case, the book has already proven most useful to the Summer
Knights Armoury and we know it will enhance your armouring skills too!
As a side note, we found Mr. Price’s, website www.chivalrybookshelf.com,
to be most impressive and contain works of great value to the student of
the Knightly Arts. Lord
Magnus even came across a copy of Fiore de Libere’s Flos Duellatorum
that will soon be released in English; a day late and a dollar short as
Goode Magnus already spent a great deal of time translating the original
from the Italian! We’ll
probably buy it too just to check our own translations.
Having read Mr. Price’s “Book of the Tournament” a few years
ago and finding it impressive in its own right, we feel Brian Price’s
book on armour reproduction is a perfect follow-up and a magnificent piece
of work in its own right and we wait with bated breath for any book he may
produce in the future. Well
done Mr. Price! 2)
Le
Morte D’ Arthur by Sir Thomas
Malory (ed by John Matthews) Yes,
we know that many of our devotees and Knights-in-Training have already
read this book, the most famous book on the subject of King Arthur.
However, even Lord Magnus, who has read Le Morte D’ Arthur
over a dozen times and has taught it for ten years, has to admit the
beauty of this latest edition. The
editor, John Matthews, is among the world’s best and most renowned
Arthurian scholars alive today. His
vast knowledge is evident throughout his countless other works on the
subject (of which Lord Magnus and Lady Branwyn own virtually all), but
this edition of Le Morte D’ Arthur truly shows Mr. Matthew’s
passion and love for the Arthurian sagas. Other copies of the Le Morte D’ Arthur have similar
content, but it’s the scope and the presentation that set this work
apart as THE copy to read. In
most editions, the spellings alone can force even a determined reader to
fail to grasp the beauty of the piece.
It seems Mr. Matthews has lovingly “fixed” the original text to
contain the modern spellings of each word while maintaining the content in
a perfect, unabridged edition suitable for King Arthur himself.
Although Lord Magnus has several copies of Le Morte D’ Arthur,
this one, by far, is his favorite.
MAGNUSIZE
YOUR SWORDSMANSHIP: TRAINING PART 2 Herein
Lord Magnus is offering a series of tips for training those sword muscles
and keeping in shape. Last
time (in the October/November 2001 Newsletter) we discussed the need for a
practice weapon and a pell. We
also marked out the pell with clock-like hash marks in an effort develop
accurate targeting. In
addition, we offered a graphic covering Fiore de Libere’s eight cuts to
help you understand the historically accurate methods of delivering a
sword blow. However, we did
not cover the finer points of pell work and so in this installment we will
offer a series of drills you can run on your pell. Assuming
you have your weapon in hand and you’re standing in front of your pell,
the following drills can help to strengthen your skills on the battlefield
and in the tournament lyst. These
drills are intended for single sword (two-handed sword drills and
two-sword drills – sometimes referred to as Case or Florentine fighting
– will be addressed in future newsletters) but it is usually good form
to incorporate a rotating series of drills that cover several weapons in
one work-out session. At
first, however, let’s stick to one weapon until the level of proficiency
allows forays into the multi-weapon training session. In
addition, warming up properly is, as with any serious exercise, of
paramount importance to getting the most out of your work out and insuring
against injury. So start out
SLOW and work up your intensity gradually! To
begin with, it is important to think of your swordfighting drills as
serious practice for martial competition.
Otherwise you stand in front of the pell assuming (like a movie
hero whose enemies seem to exist only to be vanquished by the hero) that
your opponent will not fight back! THINK
of what your opponent sees when they look at your stance.
Are you offering them a target?
Are you aware of your invitation or is this simply a problem with
your stance? THINK of what would happen if your opponent attacks.
Are you in distance? Can you move out of the way? Does your
movement allow you to set up for another attack or does it leave you
vulnerable? All
these questions (and a host of others) should enter your mind during
practice on the pell AND during actual combat.
Once
your mind-set is right and you are warmed up, then practice can begin in
earnest. If you are using the
“wheel of eight” as described in the last lesson then it will be much
easier to understand any notations herein.
You can check-out the practice graphic at: http://www.summerknights.com/fiores%20eight%20cuts.htm
I
like to start off by going around the clock but not necessarily in a
clockwise motion. In other
words, you’ll hit all the numbers, but in numerical order. Start with 1
then 2 then 3, 4,5,6,7 and then 8. Sounds
simple huh? Not really.
As the intent of practice is to gain valuable skills and eliminate
bad techniques, your trip around the clock must focus on the effectiveness
of each blow. Sure the first
hit (number 1, an on-side shot for a right handed swordsman) is easy and
probably has great force, but is the number 2 shot as strong or is it what
we would call a “love tap”? Concentrate
on delivering your sword attack not from your wrist or arm, but from your
hips. If you imagine your
energy building from your back foot and traveling up your body to your arm
then you can begin to understand the nature of where the true power comes
from. In short, if you
concentrate on each shot and see to their effectiveness, then you are
truly practicing, if not you’re just beating on your pell without a
goal. After
successfully going around the clock, attempt creating combinations of two
or more blows that you feel would work against an opponent.
The easiest, in its simplicity and effectiveness, is a simple high
shot on one side (let’s say 1) and then its diagonal opposite (let’s
say six). This would
effectively give you a head shot that your opponent must defend and then a
leg shot on the opposite side of the body.
Try a low on-side shot, say at number five, and then the diagonal
opposite at number two. Starting
with an on-side shot in your combinations will help develop certain skills
and muscle memory, but as you progress you should attempt to start with
the off-side shot, let’s say for a right handed swordsman, a number two
or four and then end with the on-side shot, one, three or five. It’s more difficult for the beginner but developing these
skills can prove extremely valuable for the competitive swordsman.
As
you develop your skills you can also develop your own series of drills.
Each drill should focus on maintaining the gains acquired through
practice and striving to achieve new levels of proficiency.
In addition, as stated earlier, work on moving in on your target.
Just because your pell is stationary does not mean you must be as
well. Incorporate the practice of moving away from an imaginary blow from
your pell and then setting up (and delivering) the next shot. Or, better still, practice what the 14th century
German sword masters used to call “Versetzen” literally to
“set aside” the opponent’s attack and launch your own
counter-attack. When training with the Royal Armouries fight directors John Waller, Jonathan Waller and Andy Deane, Lord Magnus learned a related phrase that he has incorporated into his style and his teaching: move first and use the sword as insurance. This philosophy can be applied to your pell work as you can practice the movement of getting out of the way of an intended attack and making sure your sword is in the proper place to block the incoming weapon (insurance) and then launch your counter-attack. In
addition to your sword work on the pell and your footwork, you should also
consider your breathing. Within
your workout, work your way up a decent pace and then see how many blows
you can deliver in succession without stopping.
If you are not breathing correctly then you will probably be
limited to just a few. However,
once you master breathing calmly throughout your workout then you will be
able to deliver blows ad infinitum until your strength gives out, not your
breath! Any
pell practice will help your skills and muscle strength, but if you think
more strategically as you train, then your shots will be both strong and
effective. Until next time
M’Lords and M’Ladies. Yours
in Chivalry, Lord Magnus and Lady Branwyn
Sovereign of the Master Knights
305-609-6048
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