Hello, I am the author of the book. Thanks so much for the review and for people's interests. For those who are after the book, it can be found on Amazon and Skal was nice enough to link it above. If it says 'out of stock', don't worry- it's in stock. These are POD books, so when the orders come in, they print them. We're never really out of stock. Thanks again!
There are a variety of Polish smiths out there. I used Dave Baker, who now is on Forged by Fire so a bit too busy for me. Practice blades can be purchased from SGT Blades, and synthetic ones from SIlkfencing, PurpleHeart and Southcoast swords.
It looks like a rather well put together book. The pictures are very good quality and the style of them reminds me of the old manual drawings. So it is as if this book is the updated and newest version of those old manuals.
bring the kriegmesser for horseback fighting! (seriously, the way geralt handle ofieri and olgierd sabre is just suggesting germanic messer fighting style)
Years ago I was used to go for HEMA classes in Warsaw. What I remember it was a challenge for me to go through the full warm up, I haven't find it that hard even later one in when I went for military service. I have learned there a lot of theory and it tempts me to share some here, fortunately my English isn't good enough. But getting to the point, my instructor was the guy who "gave" moves to the Witcher for the first edition of game. He was a guy of impressive skills and agility.
I WANT this book! I get you're not into the SCA, that's cool Skall. You do you. But I am into SCA heavy fighting, and recently got shown a style of round shield and sword fighting that bears some remarkably similar traits to what I've seen of polish sabre so far. So, thanks. Much appreciated, you sharing this resource with us.
Hadn't noticed it until now (as I don't own the book), but I just ordered a replica of what the manufacturer describes as a "copy of a XVII century hussar saber, of which the original can be found in the Polish Military Museum", and lo and behold, there it is, on page 27 (saber I D, bottom left), and the manufacturer (CSS Silesia) is mentioned by name on page 25. Neat.
very good review of RM's work. i started doing saber because of the few videos i have seen on B&I and your channel here. looking forward to going to meet with him in pheonix....maybe he might even come do a saber seminar here in portland!!!
Great to hear there's finally a publication on this. :-) I'll bet there's some Polish non-fiction on this already, but it's great to have an English language source for foreign enthusiasts of this style of swordsmanship.
One of our main goals. Polish people pretty much know all there is to know, but little is in English. Our efforts was to bring the art to English readers!
Pfft..why bother since the pommies could not be bothered to learn another language ? If you went to their country, you spoke English, likewise they should try to speak polish if they went to Poland and not have their host country speak the guests language. ;P
Ogniem i Mieczem - nice movie. I particularly enjoy how pretty husaria eats mud at Zhovti Vody. P.S. You are never too beautiful to fall in the dirt)))
that is an awesome book!!! definetly will save up for that, and a video idea i think for your channel is to do that topic of how to deal with people who bum rush you unskilled and swing powerfull and wildly?? i imagine that would be an interesting topic?
Actually it was far beyond that, as after the Union of Lublin Poland and Lithuania unified their king, government, currency, policy and many others, so it surely wasn't just the military alliance. Btw. they armies remained separate, thus it was more like everything-but-military-wealth (and courtes n'shit).
Lithuanian here. It was called Rzeczpospolita. But it was a failure, because privileged ones (feodalists) were giving themselves more and more rights and more burden for peasants. Economical, political and social reasons lead to crisis and finally, this commonwealth was divided by Prussia, Austria and Russian Empire.Three times until nothing left. I think golden times were after Union of Krewa. Ah, then we, Polish and Lithuanians, used to kick Teutonic Nights asses hard. Good times. Good times.
exlibrisas Pole here. Yes, I agree, kicking the Teutonics out was indeed the best time, were we worked kind of independently and reasonably. Everything fucked up when the crown had gotten extremly weak and the dumb nobles took over. I've always wondered how would the Europe look like if not the partitions, and what caused them.
I have some videos running around, but no step by step DVD or video at this time. The cost vs what I make is the issue with that one. I fund these projects out of pocket and don't do fundraisers.
I find it amusing that I reenact a certain 17th century war in that region and have not heard of this book... I know 30 people that need a copy of this book...
Could you do some more cutting videos with the knecht kriegsmesser? I was lucky enough to try one out on a tatami mat at a renaissance fair not to long ago and I LOVED it, it went through everything so effortlessly. It was just a beast.
Consider this a book for the English-speaking world that largely knows zero about Poland. For you, it may have some neat anecdotes and sources, but the general run-through on Polish history won't be enlightening for the locals. The way we put together the fencing was developed by not only myself, but Poles as well and we had a Polish PHD (in training at the time, but a PHD now) assisting.
Sorry Skal for all the spam about Hussaria and Poland-stronk but that stuff happends if you say the word "Poland" in a non-polish even once :D (source: am Polish)
I think the polish themselves have preserved a lot of information, texts and techniques, but it's only available in polish, alas. For other languages, this looks like one of the best resource books on polish saber fencing (on foot) available.
We did use what Polish sources we could find. The book had an international team working on it including Poles. We HOPE there is more out there, but so far, this book contains what you'll find on both sides of the pond.
Im not a weapon specialist, but i know a little about Polish history, and i can tell (without certainty) that sabres was not for real fighting, they was just for show.
Funny enough, today I went to learn some basics of sabre fencing from a local group, and hell, that shit kills your legs. Don't try it if you don't go out too often, or not a masochist.
I will go out on a limb (because i have seriously no comparisson) and say you are one of the best experts on melee weapons on youtube. So i wantd to ask you if you could analyse to what extend the weapons in rwby are practical? And i know that because of their structure they would be REALLY heavy and potentially unstable. But maybe there is some hope yet.
Yeap, as always Cold Steel fucked up. The sabre they're offering is way to heavy. Hm... Maybe you could check out this sabersmith: www.szablapolska.com/index.php/szabla-husarska-typ-2
Kamil Szadkowski Cold Steel is a good company, I have had a number of their knives on my deployments to the middle east and they perform their job admirably.
Hey Skall, was watching your Skyrim weapons video, and i was wondering if you would do a Skyrim armors video ? With the re-release i've had a Skyrim itch to scratch ^^.
Well, isn't it ironic that aside from Janusz Sieniawski, the only person who's done any significant research about Polish fencing is an American? :) Anyways, got to get that book ASAP.
not related to the video, but are weapons designed for HMB and IMCF suitable to be sharpened to use for cutting practise and is the balance for them okay? primarily polearms and swords from historicum.pl
We don't know but have 'some' ideas. There are efforts to re-create Turkish/Ottoman arts underway, so far they have material on sword and buckler, some games, and we do have a Polish reference to Turkish fencing (it's in my book), but we haven't gathered enough material to get a clear picture- yet.
Be mindful though, that Polish saber is an experimental reconstruction, based on scarce resources and cross references. But, after all Polish saber seems to be an oral tradition, each szlachcic passed down to his son in his own way, so there were no school or manuals. What Michał Starzewski did in early XIX century, was collecting what remained of the knowledge (we know that by Napoleonic times cross cutting art practitioners were still alive, including Thaddeus Kościuszko himself) but he died before finishing his work. What we have left is naming, description of stances and description of blows, but again this is pretty vague and written in cryptic language, however comprehensible to a native Polish speaker. It is ranted about Mr. Marsden's work is not an actual historical art because there is no official, historical manual and he refers to US Cavalry manual, which actually makes sense - we know influence of Pulaski on US Cavalry. To me, it is historical because this captures the original idea of a flexible art taught orally, with just some general principles to adhere. What Starzewski remarked in his treatise, is that it is not a fixed method (in the part on stances) in contrary to what Germans do, it shousl rather be adjusted to individual fencer's needs. It seems, that each Polish saber practitioner is historically accurate, as long as they adhere to those main principles because the original idea was to give each fencer as much freedeom as long they remained effective
"The use of the polish saber on foot" - you can cut the foot with it or use it on the foot as a substitute for ice gel. Why wrote a whole book about this?
Kamil Szadkowski Generalnie w przypadku walki z tarczą szabla byłaby nie najlepszym wyborem. Nie sprawdzi się w walce w zwarciu tak jak zestaw toporek- tarcza a w przypadku pojedynków i bardziej, powiedzmy, taktycznych walk miecz oferuje lepsze możliwości dzięki skutecznym pchnięciom i związanym z nimi szerszym wachlarzem pozycji wykorzystujących potencjał tarczy.
Matt Mac Then I advise you to read the diaries of Jan Chryzostom Pasek where he clearly states that for foot combat Pancerni were often taking their kalkans. Pancerni were fighting on foot on many occasions. Second of all I adwise you to read about "petyhorczycy" (don't confuse them with Petyhorcy Cavalry) which was an infantry equipped with sabre, shield and chainmail. Never heard of it? There are works of Radosław Sikora that mentions them.
Kamil Szadkowski Hey I never stated there were no troops in history that used both shields and sabers, you misunderstood me. Just pointed out the fact it's not the smartest way of using them and there are types of other common weapons that match the shield better. Obviously if someone had sabers available there was nothing wrong with equipping shield-carrying soldiers with them. And I've heard about infantry you mentioned, don't know much about them to be honest tho, so I definately can use some reading ;)
Richard Marsden That's kind of what I was looking for. My dad likes History, he reads a lot of biographies, I was thinking of getting him a book on this subject, as it's something I haven't seen on his bookshelf. Thanks.
Hi, i was just wondering how much coverage is there for longswords. Im more of a long swordsmen but i feel this book could still be of use. But i was thinking, how much of saber can bleed into longsword methods? Does footwork act in the same way boths sides?
Alas, not much. One handed vs two is a big difference. We have another book for you though. Look for Flower of Battle by Colin Hatcher, its easy to find and only 40 bucks on Amazon!
No Free Will Again, a Polish king created Prussia (great mistake), and Ducal Prussia was first a Polish voivodeship with semi-independent characteristics.
ChillDudeID I thought the original prussians were just baltic people of another tribe or whatever? Of course, the leaders of the teutonic order became the nobles ruling over the prussians.
No Free Will They were. The Teutons (invited by a Polish prince of a duchy - another mistake) to Poland (really Prussia) ultimately massacred the original Baltic Prussians into extinction and hijacked their name, and later began stealing Polish lands and cities (until getting massively defeated at Grunwald in 1410).
So I've been watching vikings recently the show i mean and I was wondering how accurate it is? I know that the combat is cinematic of course but did the vikings really use the "shield wall"? Are the weapons and armor accurate? And what about the scale of the battles? Because the armies are really small, were they actually that small?
Search History Buffs video on the serie (/watch?v=IBehjjt6V70) there he explains a lot about historical accuracy, for example armors are not accurate because as always in every movie/tv serie they use those "leathers armors" instead of what they really used-chainmails-
Hi. As a polish guy I love overall concept of hussars, their appearance, legends around them and etc. but their main "close combat" weapon saber is so "bad-ass" lacking. In my opinion fighting with it doesn't look showy at all, thus If I would ever consider get into hema, I wouldn't choose a saber for sure. (and yes, I know that in battlefield you dont kill enemies by collecting style points...) It's just a opinion about visual of the weapon. Anyone has a similar thoughts? :)
If the saber is lighter in weight it's not so bad. Later 19th century sources discuss the two grips, one for heavier blades one for lighter. However, 17th century sources show both and only one is well-explained, while that lighter grip is depicted, but not explained. While we think how to hold a sword is very important, it's shocking how often in older sources it is never mentioned at all.
The sabre with Hutton technique is 800g-1000g or even slightly above roughly in weight. It is an awkward grip yes but edge alignment is easy. I never liked it honestly yet I would love to see a video on it comparing those two, since, as you pointed out, they have different ideas behind them.
More always on the way! POD, so have no fear and thanks very much! It sounds crazy, but every sale means a lot, we aren't exactly having these fly of the shelves and we want a nice high quality product. Enjoy it!
I figured at the time Polish people know Polish history and swordsmanship well enough. This was for an English-speaking audience. If I did a Polish version I'd need Daria or someone else to translate and figure a way to get it to the Polish market with Lightning Source. Operating in UK/US is easy- outside that gets trickier.
i had high expectations on this book, so its a pity to see how bad it is. Great historical book, don't get me wrong. But it is not, in no way a book for someone to learn anything about fencing with the saber unless you are completely new in historical fencing.... But then, keep in mind that you have to pay up to 69 (in my case €)for a book that is not what it pretends to be. Richard seems to be good as a histocan, some pictures of him in the book and on youtube suggest that he has forgotten some important things about how to move or even how to fight. I was expecting more from some one so prized personality. If you are in ( dont like the term) hema, and you want an overview of polish saber fencing, then this very very expencive book is for you, if you know already some stuff, then you can just read meyers manual, look for the dussak section and train this. If the book was not so expensive, i were not so disapointed. I really love the polish and hungarian saber, and i guess richard and me are both friends of the with fire and sword books,
You caught that! Ok- so this was images based on a story about smaller Polish guards beating large guards. We chose Chris, at 6'5 to go against Adam who is under 5'5 to really make Chris look enormous.
We took historical pics, then had them re-created. What's interesting is Polish people have been all over the place on how 'right' we are, from YES, to close, to not at all. They all have long reasons as to why. My only defense is... We try our best. It's more than enough for the Americans.
Richard Marsden Well, you know I'm a historical reenactor for first half of XVII century Poland, so I probably notice details which other don't even know about. Don't take it wrong. I appreciate your extra effort . Your clothing looks ok, clothing of your friend is what hurts my eyes. BTW, mustache and polish attire seems to suit you.
If we are at 17th century sabre would you consider looking at Art of the Borderland - Saber fencing of Hungary (Schunder László, Papp Norbert, Ferenczy Attila) "If you tell a Hungarian the word: sword, he will have in own mind's eye a one handed, back edged arched cutter by a great chance, exactly a sabre. Might that be an accident? No, it isn't. The military successes of the hussars and haiduck, the endurance of the border castle soldiers made the saber inseparable from the Hungarian history, so it’s decent to know this noble and shifty weapon. In this book you can find the reconstructed XVI - XVII century saber fencing techniques of the Hungarian Borderlands." You can order it from the smith Peter Regenyei it's €30 so not that much.
Hello, I am the author of the book. Thanks so much for the review and for people's interests.
For those who are after the book, it can be found on Amazon and Skal was nice enough to link it above. If it says 'out of stock', don't worry- it's in stock. These are POD books, so when the orders come in, they print them. We're never really out of stock.
Thanks again!
awesome, i love the videos in which you are featured, especially when you faced that other instructor
Where can I find a good reproduction of a Polish Saber?
There are a variety of Polish smiths out there. I used Dave Baker, who now is on Forged by Fire so a bit too busy for me. Practice blades can be purchased from SGT Blades, and synthetic ones from SIlkfencing, PurpleHeart and Southcoast swords.
Thanks.
Hi Richard! I am part of the Zholdak Kozaky. We reenact the "Ukranian War for Independence" Count on us to buy several copies!
Wow! He even kept Polish diacritic marks! I don't see that often in English.
It looks like a rather well put together book. The pictures are very good quality and the style of them reminds me of the old manual drawings. So it is as if this book is the updated and newest version of those old manuals.
My dad collects Polish sabers! This will be a great resource for both of us! Thanks for sharing!
how about you make a Polish saber review ?
Which saber is always nice and shiny ?
The POLISH saber.
Hahhahaha. Good one. :D
EKS DE
It's funny and true joke in both meanings of polish :D
It is also very fast and accurate so watch out kid. ;)
punny
For more Polish saber fencing see Olgierd from Witcher 3.
Heh.
bring the kriegmesser for horseback fighting!
(seriously, the way geralt handle ofieri and olgierd sabre is just suggesting germanic messer fighting style)
Gaunter O'Dimm>Olgierd
Years ago I was used to go for HEMA classes in Warsaw. What I remember it was a challenge for me to go through the full warm up, I haven't find it that hard even later one in when I went for military service. I have learned there a lot of theory and it tempts me to share some here, fortunately my English isn't good enough. But getting to the point, my instructor was the guy who "gave" moves to the Witcher for the first edition of game. He was a guy of impressive skills and agility.
Kmicic vs Wołodyjowski
Bohun vs Wołodyjowski
I love how the uniforms and clothes look like in this book.
these are the original Polish Szlachta robes. I wore them on few ocasions to demonstrate my culture.
Greetings from Poland, Skall ;)
You are the best!
Borrowed the book from my fencing instructor here in Krakow (contributed to the book as well). Really can recommend it wholeheartedly.
Glad you are sharing good resources like this with your viewers. Plan on picking this manual up.
Thanks much! Every sale matters since I self-publish. Hope you enjoy it when you get around to it.
Is there or will there be an ebook of sorts ?
I WANT this book! I get you're not into the SCA, that's cool Skall. You do you. But I am into SCA heavy fighting, and recently got shown a style of round shield and sword fighting that bears some remarkably similar traits to what I've seen of polish sabre so far.
So, thanks. Much appreciated, you sharing this resource with us.
Makes me want to watch the film "With Fire and Sword" again. The Beauty of Polish history...
0:25 Poland stronk! Greeting from Poland :)
Now that is an awesome portrait.
Thanks for the reference, Skall... NIce review and sharing of info. Cheers!
Great review on a valuable resource, thank you.
I had no idea you uploaded this, RUclips needs to know it's nothing without its content creators.
Hadn't noticed it until now (as I don't own the book), but I just ordered a replica of what the manufacturer describes as a "copy of a XVII century hussar saber, of which the original can be found in the Polish Military Museum", and lo and behold, there it is, on page 27 (saber I D, bottom left), and the manufacturer (CSS Silesia) is mentioned by name on page 25. Neat.
very good review of RM's work. i started doing saber because of the few videos i have seen on B&I and your channel here. looking forward to going to meet with him in pheonix....maybe he might even come do a saber seminar here in portland!!!
Greetings from Poland! :)
Great review Skall, gonna surely get a copy.
Thank you!
SKALLAGRIM saw my comment! Well I hope, Thanks brother!! I long awaited a video like this.
Nice story!! Greetings from Germany. Jim Opprowski.
I like the classes of this professor.
I see "Polish Saber", I upvote. Simple as that.
Great to hear there's finally a publication on this. :-) I'll bet there's some Polish non-fiction on this already, but it's great to have an English language source for foreign enthusiasts of this style of swordsmanship.
One of our main goals. Polish people pretty much know all there is to know, but little is in English. Our efforts was to bring the art to English readers!
Richard Marsden
I'm always partial to translations of non-fiction or entire new non-fiction publications concerning historical topics. Good work !
Pfft..why bother since the pommies could not be bothered to learn another language ? If you went to their country, you spoke English, likewise they should try to speak polish if they went to Poland and not have their host country speak the guests language. ;P
I suggest movies based on Sienkiewicz's books: Ogniem i Mieczem (With Fire and Sword), Potop (The Deluge) and Pan Wołodyjowski (Mister Wołodyjowski).
I dont think they have eng subtitles :P
Majonez Pomorski They have kid, they have.
Ogniem i Mieczem - nice movie. I particularly enjoy how pretty husaria eats mud at Zhovti Vody.
P.S. You are never too beautiful to fall in the dirt)))
ChillDudeID But its realy fun to watch
that is an awesome book!!! definetly will save up for that, and a video idea i think for your channel is to do that topic of how to deal with people who bum rush you unskilled and swing powerfull and wildly?? i imagine that would be an interesting topic?
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth :D!
Actually it was far beyond that, as after the Union of Lublin Poland and Lithuania unified their king, government, currency, policy and many others, so it surely wasn't just the military alliance. Btw. they armies remained separate, thus it was more like everything-but-military-wealth (and courtes n'shit).
Best time of history!
+Jiotr Purga Also the budget was separate and currency was actually unified with Floren or Gulden, but it was still the time of gold standard.
Lithuanian here. It was called Rzeczpospolita. But it was a failure, because privileged ones (feodalists) were giving themselves more and more rights and more burden for peasants. Economical, political and social reasons lead to crisis and finally, this commonwealth was divided by Prussia, Austria and Russian Empire.Three times until nothing left. I think golden times were after Union of Krewa. Ah, then we, Polish and Lithuanians, used to kick Teutonic Nights asses hard. Good times. Good times.
exlibrisas Pole here. Yes, I agree, kicking the Teutonics out was indeed the best time, were we worked kind of independently and reasonably. Everything fucked up when the crown had gotten extremly weak and the dumb nobles took over. I've always wondered how would the Europe look like if not the partitions, and what caused them.
Can confirm the book is excellent.
I can smell the new pages from here... oof
i dont care about the text LOOK THERE IS PICTURES!
Over 300 of them at the highest quality we could afford.
At 2:00 there's even Skal's clone! They really went above and beyond. Good job, Richard! :D
Sir, you will have to do instructional or illustrative on DVD or something next, with in depth explanations as voice overs or something..
I have some videos running around, but no step by step DVD or video at this time. The cost vs what I make is the issue with that one. I fund these projects out of pocket and don't do fundraisers.
Perhaps you could video it whilst you are teaching as a series of loose lectures, to accomplish two things at once, albeit not perfect, as suggestion.
The best technique for Saber is when you use its weapon art and then everyone sends you hate mail.
lmao, carthus curved sword ftw.
This is great book.
I find it amusing that I reenact a certain 17th century war in that region and have not heard of this book... I know 30 people that need a copy of this book...
Advertising is no easy feat. Good news is, on Amazon it's about the only book on the Polish Saber.
Greeting from Poland xD
Could you do some more cutting videos with the knecht kriegsmesser? I was lucky enough to try one out on a tatami mat at a renaissance fair not to long ago and I LOVED it, it went through everything so effortlessly. It was just a beast.
Hmmm... might feel a bit weird to read about Polish saber fencing in English when I'm Polish
Consider this a book for the English-speaking world that largely knows zero about Poland. For you, it may have some neat anecdotes and sources, but the general run-through on Polish history won't be enlightening for the locals. The way we put together the fencing was developed by not only myself, but Poles as well and we had a Polish PHD (in training at the time, but a PHD now) assisting.
Sorry Skal for all the spam about Hussaria and Poland-stronk but that stuff happends if you say the word "Poland" in a non-polish even once :D (source: am Polish)
Yeah... unfortunately.
Yep, we Poles tend to go bat shit crazy each time someone from abroad mentions our little country.
17th century... Poland... sabres...
Yep, checks out. I reenact your history.
I think you refer to it as "The Ukranian Rebellion."
Close enough - Khmelnytsky Uprising.
***** Yep, Close enough.
0:58
is that you, skall?
Nope.
Skallagrim :(
+Skallagrim dude, love your outfit on the bottom left there
Skallagrim have to agree it do look like you
Knall Kul
Not really.
Jestem polakiem i jestem dumnym widzem pozdrawiam
Before we begin, does this actually have a chapter about how to end them rightly? Because otherwise i'm quite disappointed.
No, this is book about saber. You can't end someone rightly, when you cant throw a pommel.
MrMrodzi A skończ waść wstydu oszczędź
Ja o tym wiem, celowo zmieniłem tekst żeby bardziej pasował do sytuacji.
Idk why my comment thread turned Polish but ok.
I think the polish themselves have preserved a lot of information, texts and techniques, but it's only available in polish, alas.
For other languages, this looks like one of the best resource books on polish saber fencing (on foot) available.
We did use what Polish sources we could find. The book had an international team working on it including Poles. We HOPE there is more out there, but so far, this book contains what you'll find on both sides of the pond.
Im not a weapon specialist, but i know a little about Polish history, and i can tell (without certainty) that sabres was not for real fighting, they was just for show.
#Skallagrim hello from Poland :D come visit us, especially during anniversary of Grunwald battle!
I think I can read the whole thing if I pause thru this video!
i'm from Poland :D
brawo
Waszmościowie, a może pojedynek na szable?
Üdv, lengyel testvérem.
Popieram ideę pojedynku.
ja tez
0:36 - "The Szlachta" śmiechłem
Mamy w ogóle podobną książkę, tylko, że polskiego pochodzenia?
I nie na wszystkich zdjęciach mają wąsa ;-;
Funny enough, today I went to learn some basics of sabre fencing from a local group, and hell, that shit kills your legs. Don't try it if you don't go out too often, or not a masochist.
Was that a picture of Skall at about 1 minute in?
Sounds interesting
The guy at 0:50 looks like he's about to do a sick flip
I am from Poland and saber in Polish is szabla
I really want to try testing chinese straight sword techniques with HEMA students because I feel there's a lot of similarities between them.
I see skallagrim's film }
I see it's film about the best cutting edge weapon ever } = i give a like
I see film about polish weapon }
I thought this guy 0:51 was you for a moment! Not in the other pics he appears in later, though
I will go out on a limb (because i have seriously no comparisson) and say you are one of the best experts on melee weapons on youtube. So i wantd to ask you if you could analyse to what extend the weapons in rwby are practical? And i know that because of their structure they would be REALLY heavy and potentially unstable. But maybe there is some hope yet.
I'm looking forward to fill the empty space on my bookshelf.
Does anyone have recommendations for other books of this type.
I have a new book coming out about the history of HEMA, so duels, self-defense, war, masters and more. Might be of interest!
I have the book, I just need a good practice saber. I have the Cold Steel Polish saber but it seems just a tad heavy.
Yeap, as always Cold Steel fucked up. The sabre they're offering is way to heavy. Hm... Maybe you could check out this sabersmith: www.szablapolska.com/index.php/szabla-husarska-typ-2
Kamil Szadkowski Cold Steel is a good company, I have had a number of their knives on my deployments to the middle east and they perform their job admirably.
Hey Skall, was watching your Skyrim weapons video, and i was wondering if you would do a Skyrim armors video ? With the re-release i've had a Skyrim itch to scratch ^^.
This book is really well written and informational, but from a point of graphic design, it deserves a better design.
Well, isn't it ironic that aside from Janusz Sieniawski, the only person who's done any significant research about Polish fencing is an American? :)
Anyways, got to get that book ASAP.
Bullshit. Check out Jurek Miklaszewski and his Silkfencing team. They have done amazing research about polish sabres.
More good news. Jurek is in the book!
What is a good book for beginning with the messer?
not related to the video, but are weapons designed for HMB and IMCF suitable to be sharpened to use for cutting practise and is the balance for them okay? primarily polearms and swords from historicum.pl
Would you suppose that the Polish style of saber use was similar, and if so to what degree, to Ottoman Turkish style?
We don't know but have 'some' ideas. There are efforts to re-create Turkish/Ottoman arts underway, so far they have material on sword and buckler, some games, and we do have a Polish reference to Turkish fencing (it's in my book), but we haven't gathered enough material to get a clear picture- yet.
Richard Marsden Very cool, thanks!
Finally someone that doesn't crumble the sheets as they're flipping them, that always gets me cringing
But he does crumble them!
Seeing how Skall is going through this book page by page one could probably read it whole just by stopping the video
Hi Skallagrim, like your channel. Where are you originally from? Do you live in Vancouver?
no fajna książka nawet ;)
3:59 Neighbours, a blessing and a curse, right?
I love the 17th century history of eastern europe.
Its like the wild west of america
have you seen this movie?www.imdb.com/title/tt0072021/?ref_=nv_sr_3 great history and great saber duels
Krzysztof Fleszer ill check it out
Do you read trilogy of H.Sieńkiewicz: "Ogniem i mieczem",
"Potop" and " "Pan Wołodyjowski" ????
Be mindful though, that Polish saber is an experimental reconstruction, based on scarce resources and cross references. But, after all Polish saber seems to be an oral tradition, each szlachcic passed down to his son in his own way, so there were no school or manuals. What Michał Starzewski did in early XIX century, was collecting what remained of the knowledge (we know that by Napoleonic times cross cutting art practitioners were still alive, including Thaddeus Kościuszko himself) but he died before finishing his work. What we have left is naming, description of stances and description of blows, but again this is pretty vague and written in cryptic language, however comprehensible to a native Polish speaker.
It is ranted about Mr. Marsden's work is not an actual historical art because there is no official, historical manual and he refers to US Cavalry manual, which actually makes sense - we know influence of Pulaski on US Cavalry. To me, it is historical because this captures the original idea of a flexible art taught orally, with just some general principles to adhere. What Starzewski remarked in his treatise, is that it is not a fixed method (in the part on stances) in contrary to what Germans do, it shousl rather be adjusted to individual fencer's needs. It seems, that each Polish saber practitioner is historically accurate, as long as they adhere to those main principles because the original idea was to give each fencer as much freedeom as long they remained effective
"The use of the polish saber on foot" - you can cut the foot with it or use it on the foot as a substitute for ice gel. Why wrote a whole book about this?
One question about the book: Does it covers fighting with polish sabre AND shield too?
Kamil Szadkowski Generalnie w przypadku walki z tarczą szabla byłaby nie najlepszym wyborem. Nie sprawdzi się w walce w zwarciu tak jak zestaw toporek- tarcza a w przypadku pojedynków i bardziej, powiedzmy, taktycznych walk miecz oferuje lepsze możliwości dzięki skutecznym pchnięciom i związanym z nimi szerszym wachlarzem pozycji wykorzystujących potencjał tarczy.
Matt Mac Then I advise you to read the diaries of Jan Chryzostom Pasek where he clearly states that for foot combat Pancerni were often taking their kalkans. Pancerni were fighting on foot on many occasions.
Second of all I adwise you to read about "petyhorczycy" (don't confuse them with Petyhorcy Cavalry) which was an infantry equipped with sabre, shield and chainmail. Never heard of it? There are works of Radosław Sikora that mentions them.
Kamil Szadkowski Hey I never stated there were no troops in history that used both shields and sabers, you misunderstood me. Just pointed out the fact it's not the smartest way of using them and there are types of other common weapons that match the shield better. Obviously if someone had sabers available there was nothing wrong with equipping shield-carrying soldiers with them. And I've heard about infantry you mentioned, don't know much about them to be honest tho, so I definately can use some reading ;)
No. Single saber only on foot.
Richard Marsden Thanks for the answer!
Can you recommend any good books on the history of pistol dueling?
Two.
Gentlemen's Blood
VG Kiernan's Duels in European History
Neither are how-to, just context and history.
Richard Marsden That's kind of what I was looking for. My dad likes History, he reads a lot of biographies, I was thinking of getting him a book on this subject, as it's something I haven't seen on his bookshelf. Thanks.
Hi, i was just wondering how much coverage is there for longswords. Im more of a long swordsmen but i feel this book could still be of use. But i was thinking, how much of saber can bleed into longsword methods?
Does footwork act in the same way boths sides?
Alas, not much. One handed vs two is a big difference. We have another book for you though. Look for Flower of Battle by Colin Hatcher, its easy to find and only 40 bucks on Amazon!
1:50 - Would make sense, since Prussia pretty much bordered Poland at the time.
Prussia was also within and created by Poland...
ChillDudeID
It was called the 'polish lithuanian commonwealth' not the 'polish lithuanian prussian commonwealth'
No Free Will
Again, a Polish king created Prussia (great mistake), and Ducal Prussia was first a Polish voivodeship with semi-independent characteristics.
ChillDudeID
I thought the original prussians were just baltic people of another tribe or whatever? Of course, the leaders of the teutonic order became the nobles ruling over the prussians.
No Free Will
They were. The Teutons (invited by a Polish prince of a duchy - another mistake) to Poland (really Prussia) ultimately massacred the original Baltic Prussians into extinction and hijacked their name, and later began stealing Polish lands and cities (until getting massively defeated at Grunwald in 1410).
I wonder, if those technique can be use with a Cutlass?
You could, but the cutlass has its own techniques and purposes. Later 19th century sources cover it.
Ha Cool, what book cover it? wait a minute, are you the same guy who made that book?
So I've been watching vikings recently the show i mean and I was wondering how accurate it is? I know that the combat is cinematic of course but did the vikings really use the "shield wall"? Are the weapons and armor accurate? And what about the scale of the battles? Because the armies are really small, were they actually that small?
Yes
PieGotFace damn i always thought there was like battles of thousands of troops
By "yes", PieGotFace means "no".
Except for the bit about army sizes.
Search History Buffs video on the serie (/watch?v=IBehjjt6V70) there he explains a lot about historical accuracy, for example armors are not accurate because as always in every movie/tv serie they use those "leathers armors" instead of what they really used-chainmails-
Kurwa, greetings from Poland ;)
Hi. As a polish guy I love overall concept of hussars, their appearance, legends around them and etc. but their main "close combat" weapon saber is so "bad-ass" lacking. In my opinion fighting with it doesn't look showy at all, thus If I would ever consider get into hema, I wouldn't choose a saber for sure. (and yes, I know that in battlefield you dont kill enemies by collecting style points...) It's just a opinion about visual of the weapon. Anyone has a similar thoughts? :)
hello I'm only 15 and would like to get into hema. can anyone help me?
HEMAAlliance.com if you're in the USA. Use the Club Finder either way.
Hutton uses the "strange" sabre grip, is that wrong?
If the saber is lighter in weight it's not so bad. Later 19th century sources discuss the two grips, one for heavier blades one for lighter.
However, 17th century sources show both and only one is well-explained, while that lighter grip is depicted, but not explained. While we think how to hold a sword is very important, it's shocking how often in older sources it is never mentioned at all.
The sabre with Hutton technique is 800g-1000g or even slightly above roughly in weight. It is an awkward grip yes but edge alignment is easy. I never liked it honestly yet I would love to see a video on it comparing those two, since, as you pointed out, they have different ideas behind them.
Do you have some sources to get the book you'd like to recommend for EU countries, or should I just look it up on my own?
This book can be found on US and UK Amazon and other online retailers. Just look up Polish Saber and you'll find it!
Just bought last one in stock on Amazon UK ;)
More always on the way! POD, so have no fear and thanks very much! It sounds crazy, but every sale means a lot, we aren't exactly having these fly of the shelves and we want a nice high quality product. Enjoy it!
Coming in Witcher 3 sourced.
Is there a Polish language version of this book?
Nope
I figured at the time Polish people know Polish history and swordsmanship well enough. This was for an English-speaking audience. If I did a Polish version I'd need Daria or someone else to translate and figure a way to get it to the Polish market with Lightning Source. Operating in UK/US is easy- outside that gets trickier.
Richard Marsden Maybe Jurek could help you out?
If you pause the video, you can get most of the book for free :P
i had high expectations on this book, so its a pity to see how bad it is. Great historical book, don't get me wrong. But it is not, in no way a book for someone to learn anything about fencing with the saber unless you are completely new in historical fencing.... But then, keep in mind that you have to pay up to 69 (in my case €)for a book that is not what it pretends to be. Richard seems to be good as a histocan, some pictures of him in the book and on youtube suggest that he has forgotten some important things about how to move or even how to fight.
I was expecting more from some one so prized personality.
If you are in ( dont like the term) hema, and you want an overview of polish saber fencing, then this very very expencive book is for you, if you know already some stuff, then you can just read meyers manual, look for the dussak section and train this.
If the book was not so expensive, i were not so disapointed.
I really love the polish and hungarian saber, and i guess richard and me are both friends of the with fire and sword books,
@3:50 that dude is huge. on the right page, left side. voiding the hand.
You caught that! Ok- so this was images based on a story about smaller Polish guards beating large guards. We chose Chris, at 6'5 to go against Adam who is under 5'5 to really make Chris look enormous.
Richard Marsden
interesting, is there any mention of how large people might better defeat small people?
Not in the sources we uncovered.
Skall, don't use a vibrator whilst filming - it shows in the audio! ;)
Mmh, wouldn't you be able tor ead the entire thing out of this video ? And wouldn't that be bad ?
Saber on the front cover has a polish sxripture- "God with us".
Old polish move: ruclips.net/video/r-mnfJvSDkU/видео.html
Duel 3:50
hey skall thanks for going through most of the book. Just like the cheap fucker i am SCREENSHOTS!
There is only one drawback... The clothing they used for the photos. What the hell they were even thinking?
We took historical pics, then had them re-created. What's interesting is Polish people have been all over the place on how 'right' we are, from YES, to close, to not at all. They all have long reasons as to why.
My only defense is...
We try our best.
It's more than enough for the Americans.
Richard Marsden Well, you know I'm a historical reenactor for first half of XVII century Poland, so I probably notice details which other don't even know about.
Don't take it wrong. I appreciate your extra effort . Your clothing looks ok, clothing of your friend is what hurts my eyes.
BTW, mustache and polish attire seems to suit you.
Yeah, looks like a cheap Halloween outfit you would buy in Walmart.
ChillDudeID This^^
0:50 Skall has a twin.
Hello (=
If we are at 17th century sabre would you consider looking at Art of the Borderland - Saber fencing of Hungary
(Schunder László, Papp Norbert, Ferenczy Attila)
"If you tell a Hungarian the word: sword, he will have in own mind's eye a one handed, back edged arched cutter by a great chance, exactly a sabre. Might that be an accident? No, it isn't. The military successes of the hussars and haiduck, the endurance of the border castle soldiers made the saber inseparable from the Hungarian history, so it’s decent to know this noble and shifty weapon. In this book you can find the reconstructed XVI - XVII century saber fencing techniques of the Hungarian Borderlands."
You can order it from the smith Peter Regenyei it's €30 so not that much.
My slav blood approves