Before getting to the main point of this post, I would like to issue the 2016 Advent Challenge.
Today begins the season of Advent in the Catholic Church. It is a time of waiting and preparation for Christmas. Advent begins four Sundays prior to Chistmas and ends on Christmas Day. Advent lasts for a little over four weeks.
As a warm up for the Lenten Challenge, I would like to issue the Advent Challenge.
Beginning today and through Christmas, in spite of the business and general insanity of the season, find a way to train every day. Do what you have to; move heaven and earth, but train every day. Even if it's just a little. No excuses.
These challenges are a form of Shuugyou Renshuu, or "Austere Training."
Won't you join me?
At HROARR.com, a website dedicated to Historical European Martial Arts, is an article about what classical training involved. An excerpt is below. The full article may be read here.
For someone training in any martial art, looking at how they trained back in the day when the stakes were life and death, is instructive. Enjoy.
"Take great pains in your knightly practices" - A brief review of Medieval and Renaissance training methodologies
Few men are born brave; many become so through care and force of discipline.
- Flavius Vegetius Renatus
Many pages have been written on the subject of medieval and
renaissance combat treatises, every year new translations, books, essays
and blogs are added to the bibliography of weapons and combat during
the Medieval Ages and the Renaissance. However, the subject on how
knights and period fencers trained, especially as related to physical
conditioning and strength remains nearly unexplored.
There is a mildly generalized understanding that these groups trained
their bodies swinging heavy weapons, moving large and heavy objects and
throwing stones, but many misconceptions around this subject remain,
that is why we will present the advice given by the old combat masters,
as well as some statements made in some period documents, and we will
briefly analyze some period illustrations, looking for a better
understanding of how these men prepared for combat.
Classical Influence
Probably one of the most influential texts during the middle ages and
the renaissance, related to combat and military training was the
treatise written by the roman writer
Flavius Vegetius; entitled "
Epitoma Rei Militaris".
In the first book, of the four that form his work, Vegetius lists
several activities in which recruits should train at. Those activities
can be split in four categories: physical work, hand to hand combat,
ranged combat and horseback combat.
Related to physical combat he states that recruits should be capable
to march near 25 km, in five hours, they should also run, and jump (more
likely avoiding obstacles) on a regular basis. During summer months he
also recommends swimming when possible. And indicates that it was
customary to have three sessions a month, in which recruits should march
around 12 km carrying close to 20 kg. Finally Vegetius recommends that
all men at arms are accustomed to physical work, such as chopping wood,
carrying weight or crossing ditches.
Referring to hand to hand combat, he observes several times the importance to train the recruits on the
armatura,
which is the use of the weapons, making use of the well known practice
of hitting a pole sticked to the ground with wooden weapons, that
weighted about twice as much as the real ones. Vegetius also affirms
that recruits should be trained twice a day in this fashion, once in the
morning, and then again in the afternoon after their meal. Meanwhile
the veterans should do it once a day in a non-stop fashion.
He also considers it crucial that the recruits acquire skill handling
a horse, and advises that during the winter months, when it was not
possible to ride outside, wooden horses were built to train indoors
mounting and dismounting techniques. And he constantly puts emphasis on
the importance to train the recruits with the bow and arrow, the throw
of javelin, and on the use of the sling.
The words of the combat masters
Throughout the middle ages the advice given by Vegetius to keep the
troops in good physical shape was maintained almost unaltered. Running,
swimming, jumping, fencing, wrestling, riding and what later would be
named vaulting were still kept in great esteem.
Hans Talhoffer, a very well known fencing master, in his mid 1400’s work, most likely dedicated to
Luithold von Königsegg,
recommends to his student, just like Vegetius did, to train twice a
day, once in the morning, the second time in the afternoon: “
practice for two hours with effort, do not eat much fat, practice again in the afternoon for two hours”. Also, he encourages his student to:
Strive after integrity
апd take great pains
in your knightly practices:
throwing апd pushing stones,
dancing апd jumping,
fencing апd wrestling,
running at the lance апd tournaments,
апd courting beautiful women.
