The School of the Sword

This weekend instructors Fran and Emilia taught classes and gave a lecture at Swords of the Renaissance VII hosted by Schildwache Potsdam, in Germany.

The event is held at the breathtaking and historical Neues Palais in Potsdam, and features a wealth of international instructors. It was a pleasure to be invited back.

Emilia gave a breakout class on solo drills, and Fran taught two workshops: Bolognese footwork and Proceeding with Resolution according to Fabris. She also gave a lecture on building strong communities.

Many thanks to all the attendees, but especially the instructors and organisational team. Amazing work.

Our Oxford chapter will be running a second beginners course this year starting at the end of September! It’s a 6-week course that teaches you all the basics of historical swordplay based on Fiore dei Liberi's longsword techniques. You will also receive a free T-shirt ;) The number of places is limited, and you can register via this link: https://manager.dojoexpert.com/student/register.aspx?g=53c74c5d-f165-4a0f-96b5-8e7ddb49affd&j=en-GB

We had three instructors at Fightcamp 2026:

Emilia - Fiore longsword disarms
Fran - Bolognese footwork using the segno
Rick - Polearms according to Marozzo, Meyer, Manciolino and Monte

It was a great event and we look forward to 2027!

Congratulations to Teya, Ren and Claudio who have all passed their safety tests and are now full members of the School!

Greatsword, or Spadone, or Montante, is a great teacher: it introduces body mechanics and stability like no other sword can. It gives instant feedback, and once correct form is achieved it’s easier to replicate with smaller weapons. Plus who doesn’t love the big swords? ✈️✈️ ✏📝

It was a very warm evening in Godalming tonight so we trained outside, and also tested our latest members. Congratulations Matt and James on passing!