There are plenty of folks in the stage combat world who strive towards historical accuracy in movement. A majority of the debate that is kicked up revolves around the surviving fight manuals from different time periods.
A few important problems arise from trying to read too much into historical manuals.
One, the progression of art can be seen as the manuals move through history. The Codex Wallerstein (which is on the Fight Jam site!) is one of the oldest fight manuals and all of the drawings are flat. Depth and Perspective had not been developed yet. Despite this, many claim that the Codex advocated parrying with the flat of the.blade. The images do seem to suggest as much but it is not clear whether it Is intentional or a consequence of the artistic abilities of the time. By tue time you get to Capo Fero artistic techniques developed to show great detail and edge to edge parries that we use today can be seen.
This leads to number two: ideal vs Practical
You can take martial arts training in present day as a suitable example. No matter how much someone trains in a particular discipline the ideal situations practice in the dojo rarely arise and fights tend to quickly degrade into furious fist and foot flying.
So, the manuals may demonstrate a prevailing theory of the time but that does not necessarily mean it represents the historical way the weapon was used.
This in turn leads to three: Many Different Theories
The manuals we use to base historical accuracy are the surviving manuals. While it wasn't as easy to make your own manual in the past there were certainly more than one or two per century or country.
Self defense was just as much a business then as it is now. Sure, they actually encountered violence more but that is all the kore reason for a surplus of self defense schools. Old manuals survive for a variety of reasons. Some are lucky, some had extremely motivated and charismatic authors to ensure longevity, and some were just plain good. Many, many more disappear for the exact opposite reasons.
So are we really looking at history or are we looking at what was lucky enough to survive history?
This doesn't mean manuals aren't valuable resources. They can provide great inspiration, and even instruction at times. What they do not provide is anything definitive and if we aren't sure you van bet the audience won't understand or know the difference.
If interested in forming your own opinion check out the historical manuals we have on our site (www.fightjamchicago.com).
Greg
"And That's Real"
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