Old Soldier Ancestors

The other week I posted about the database where you can search muster rolls from the Hundred Years War (1300s-1400s).
It looks like wildcard searches are the way to go, because I found soldiers in the database that share the surname of both sides of my family by searching on the first couple of letters [...]

Manly Arts Day in Maryland

Last week I attended a couple hours of this day long event in Towson, MD at the historic Hampton House, a National Park Service site. There’s nothing like the thrill of sunny day filled with martial arts at a historic mansion…

Oprishki

I remember seeing a cane once based on the Polish Ciupaga or a variant. While all wood, it had

Quarterstaff vs. Rapiers: Peeke’s Three to One

The tale of Richard Peeke, an English sailor captured during a raid on Spanish coastal towns in 1625, was popular during his own time, but showed renewed interest during the Victorian era for Peeke’s display of manly virtue. Today, the tale is often told honoring the efficacy of the traditional quarterstaff, which, common weapon though [...]

The Cane as a Weapon (1912)

In 1912, A.C. Cunningham published The Cane as a Weapon, which even today remains the best book I have ever seen on fighting with a cane. It is amazingly succinct and conveys what is as nearly a complete system of cane fighting as a reader could desire, all within 25 pages.

“Physical Culture and Self Defense” by Fitzsimmons (1901)

Our indefatigable friend Kirk Lawson recently finished transcribing another martial classic. This one was on my list, but he saved me the trouble with this faithful reproduction. Here’s his description:

As with all other retranscribed antique manuals that I republish, the text is available for free. You can download it at no charge. The treeware version [...]

The Chopper: The Pugilist’s Backfist

The backfist, and by that I mean the direct backfist, not the spinning one, often gets a bad rap. Many view it as a technique that is useful for TKD practitioners to get a quick point in tournaments, but one that has little value otherwise. Boxers and kickboxers are particularly skeptical of its effectiveness because [...]

Bartitsu FAQ

This is the Frequently Asked Questions post Tony Wolf publishes every now and again for the benefit of new members to the Bartitsu Forum. I thought this would be a good introduction and a good time to spread the word because work is now underway on Volume II of the Bartitsu Compendium.
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Q – What [...]

Was Savate’s Drop Kick from Pro Wrestling?

Of course that begs the question: Does savate possess the drop kick?
Unless you’re a youngster, you’re probably familiar with the numerous books Bruce Tegner published primarily in the 1960s, one of which was a text on savate. Therein, Tegner demonstrated first a jumping drop kick from the standing position and then a leaping sidekick from [...]

Early Civilian Western Martial Arts

The following roundup represents a group that goes together in my head as Civilian/Self-Defense Martial Arts in the late Renaissance to early-Victorian eras. I chose to keep boxing manuals separate, because they are generally later than these manuals.
Johann Georg Passchen’s Vollstandiges Ring-buch (1659). These other versions are probably based on Eli Steenput’s translation:

HACA

AEMMA

Nicolaes Petter’s Clear [...]

Bartitsu: An Eclectic Edwardian Martial Art

I was involved with this project, but it was the indefatigable Tony Wolf that took the editorial reins and turned a bunch of list talk into the amazing piece of publishing that became The Bartitsu Compendium. Instead of rehashing it all here, let me quote from the sale site:

The Bartitsu Compendium is a complete guide [...]

H.G. Lang’s “Walking Stick Method of Self Defence”

While we’re tooling up, I wanted to point out some great reprints and original publications by some of our friends. Kirk Lawson did a great job on his Walking Stick Method of Self Defence reprint, down to matching both the layout and font as closely as possible.
Lang’s method is based upon Pierre Vigny’s la [...]