#capoferro

[myxineye]

oooo if ur asking for pitty requests maybe like….one of your favorite companions?

ridolfo + iago are my favorites!!! the first thing i did when i got enough crowns was get ridolfo for my witchdoctor, and a big reason why i picked privateer as my second pirate to run through the story is because i could get iago lol

[stormbreaker101]

[dogesterone]

infodumping about my swords and my sword girls

I use my longsword/brunhilde for both italian and german longsword fencing in the styles of fiore dei liberi and johannes liechtenauer. my longsword training is probably the most intense and physical, and i wanted that to be reflected in brunhilde's design. unlike camilla and alexandria, brunhilde's name isn't a reference to anything related to historical fencing; it's a reference to brunhild, a warrior-queen from the volsunga saga and the nibelungenlied. "brunhilde" was actually a name that i considered for myself when i was still figuring out who i wanted to be as a trans woman, but i worried a little bit that it would sound too awkward and outdated.

I use my longer rapier/camilla for italian rapier fencing in the style of camillo agrippa, salvator fabris, and ridolfo capoferro. camilla is actually named after camillo agrippa! camilla is the tallest of the three sword girls because she actually has the longest blade, even slightly longer than my longsword's blade. rapiers used in the italian tradition tend to be extremely long; the one i use is actually a little shorter than average by comparison. capoferro suggests that one use a blade that reaches from the ground to the armpit when positioned upright relative to the wielder's body, as opposed to the likes of george silver and gerard thibault, who explicitly make arguments in favor of shorter blades.

I use my shorter rapier/alexandria for gerard thibault's style of la verdadera destreza (spanish) rapier fencing. alexandria is named after alexander, the character in thibault's book who is always used to demonstrate the "right" way of fencing, according to the author. I wasn't sure if I wanted alexandria to have a more spanish sounding name in reference to destreza, a more french sounding name in reference to the language that thibault's book was written in, or a more dutch sounding name because of thibault's nationality. i ended up settling on something that wasn't any of these things.

[effemeridiscettiche]

Dieci anni di Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale • Le parole e le cose²

[jimmythedonut]

Ayy lads guess who just got their Darkwood training rapier and dagger? I'm so used to foil it feels like a brick but now I can train in a legitimate martial art and not a sport!!!

[endemix]

7.00 pm in this magic exclusive beach. Priceless. #🌞 #portocervo #portocervocostasmeralda #portocervomarina #capoferro #capoferroportocervo #calagranu #sardinia #sardegna #costasmeralda #vitasmeralda #sardegnasicura #sardiniaisland #august2020   #noncenecoviddi #edmgram #summer #enjoy #vip #italianstyle (presso Porto Cervo Cala Granu) https://www.instagram.com/p/CD_518BoOE8/?igshid=153e4n1z0wz45

[franonimous]

#chillout with the #masters #HEMA #rapier #throwcushion #redbubble #cushion #fencing #sword #rapier #capoferro #Giganti

[costalongu]

#lighthouse #capoferro #memories #shukran (presso Faro Capo Ferro - Porto Cervo)

[apieters]

The Super Mega Awesome Rapier and Smallsword Timeline!

What’s up, fellow nerds. Do you love long, stabby swords? Do you like swashbuckling adventure stories? Ever wondered what your favorite book and movie characters’ swords are actually supposed to look like? Do you do Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) and have you ever self-consciously wondered if your practice weapon is really from the same time period as the style you’re studying (it is? Are you sure about that?)? Ever wanted to get a sword to train with that your favorite character plausibly could have wielded?

Well look no further! After way too many nights of copiously poring over descriptions in my favorite novels, Wikipedia pages, and the great AVB Norman’s The Rapier and the Smallsword, I have created a timeline of all 113 rapier and smallsword hilt types in Norman’s typology and plotted them on a timeline of the years 1470-1820. Also included are a timeline of the major Western wars in which these weapons would have been used on the battlefield, and a timeline of as many known historical fencing masters as I know of who taught the use of the rapier and smallsword, including their known years active if that information was available.

The centerpiece of this project, however, are the character timelines. Based on available evidence from their stories (either in the novels or movies themselves or gleaned from Wikipedia), I was able to create date ranges for the swords different characters would have used. By trimming copies of the Master Reference sheet, I could isolate the viable options for the swords of different characters, as well as contemporary historical sources that could be used as the basis for their fencing styles.

Characters analyzed include:

Inigo Montoya and Wesley from The Princess Bride

Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D’Artagnan from The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After.

Cyrano de Bergerac

Señor Zorro from the original Zorro story, The Curse of Capistrano

Rapiers from the time of William Shakespeare

And so much more!

I also created pages for major HEMA disciplines, such as Italian rapier (Fabris, Giganti, Capoferro, and Alfieri), Destreza, and Bolognese sidesword, including individual authors for Destreza (my personal fencing style). Each hilt, if applicable, also has a list of modern HEMA training swords that conform to that type, so that you can see what your current training weapon is good for or find a training weapon to suit your discipline, aesthetic, or fantasy!

Feel free to peruse my work, or download your own copy to edit.

Pictures are not included, but can be found online with a quick google search. Or you can search “a.v.b. Norman rapier typology” in the tags and find reference images of most of these weapons that I’ve previously reblogged.

Also, @we-are-swashbuckler @historicalfightingguide @prideknights @malaguttifederico @we-are-knight I’m tagging y’all because I think y’all might enjoy this.

[radwolf76]

If you’ve ever wanted the context and history behind the banter traded between Inigo Montoya and the Man in Black during the swordfight upon the Cliffs of Insanity

[apieters]

So I actually have Girard Thibault’s treatise and I’m reading this very section—and this looks exactly like what he describes, and it’s super impressive here.

Thibault is one of the few European authors who describes how to draw one’s sword, and he definitely says that part of it is to psych out your opponent—he explicitly describes drawing your sword this way in a self-defense context, and sometimes the threat is all you need to get out safely.

Also, it makes you look like you’re ready to cancel out Capoferro.

Using my new scabbard to practice Thibault's method of drawing the sword.

[we-are-swashbuckler]

My Favourite Sword

I haven't really been around for a while. I've checked in, I've reblogged other people's work, but I haven't myself been around. Some of that is Covid shutting down the world, some of that is that I was diagnosed with M.E. two years ago (a year after I began to suffer with it) and my body has been shutting me down at every opportunity. I'm currently working with a really good therapist to explore possible C-PTSD. In all, life's been unkind to me recently and I needed time to myself.

And yet, part of recovery is exploring and rediscovering who I am. So let's look at who I am, behind the screen, by looking at the sword which best reaffirms who I am.

As a former fight-director and stunt-performer, I own what my wife would call 'too many swords' and yet there's one which would be my therapy sword.

I'll tell you about it after the cut, but I don't want to ruin the surprise. Try to imagine it first.

Was it commissioned by a six-fingered man and then used to murder the smith's father?

Is it an elegant weapon from a more civilised age?

Guess...

In truth, it is this:

A Triplette practice foil which I bought two decades ago on eBay for maybe £10. The guard is heavily scratched, the leather on the wooden grip keeps slipping down, the martingale is missing if it ever existed.

It's the sword I could never sell (partly because it's worth very little to someone else) for a handful of reasons.

Firstly, it was the first sword I ever bought myself. Back when I was a newbie, back when I needed to practise my Capoferro every day, back when I was always so broke I could barely afford the train-fare to my auditions.

I bought a second sword (a Leon Paul Étoile) to lend to people so I could walk through a fight. It's clean, it's shiny, it's... soulless. I only ever use it as a left-hander when I am practising my Florentine style.

Because I loved it, my battered foil gained history, which made me love it more.

This is the sword which sketched out so many swordfights, the sword which kept my mind focused in rehearsals and auditions when I was a director.

This is the sword I once used to beat an annoying braggart. I never could quite like the man, I never knew why at the time, but he insisted on 'duelling' me. A sort of exhibition match maybe, in his mind. A foil is designed not to do too much harm, but he surrendered after taking just a few too many blows; all thrusts to the same area on the left-hand side of his chest.

Months later, that incident took on new meaning. Months later, that creature was revealed as a monster, a paedophile and child-pornographer. My foil was the sword that defeated a vile thing and beat him into submission.

His fiancée became my girlfriend and the event took on a sort of mythic importance in hindsight.

This was the sword that struck down the beast in the hands of a pale swashbuckler. I won't say that it won me my wife, but it's the kind of romantic image that a betrayed woman can cling to when she rebuilds herself.

Image of 'D' from Vampire Hunter D - painted by Yoshitaka Amano

It's the sort of romantic image an ageing swordsman can cling to as he rebuilds himself.

[wraith-of-thiodolf]

7: What is your opinion on [rapiers]?

10: Are you allergic to anything?

34: What is a color that calms you?

80: Some thing you wish did exist:

2: What’s your dream pet? (Real or not)

4: What was your favorite video game growing up?

14: Would you rather be a vampire, elf, or merperson?

24: Favorite constellation?

70: Can your dog roll over on command, if you have a dog?

90: If you were an animal, which one would you be?

7: What is your opinion on [rapiers]? going to attempt to be brief and summary. going to cut off the 'what is a rapier argument and talk specifically about classic capoferro/fabris type rapiers. many of them are certainly beautiful weapons but they are definitely not my thing. rapier fencing is, for me, awkward and counter-intuitive. its true that the animal instincts of a man is to strike not to thrust. [insert latinate vs teutonic rhetoric] i tend to agree with most of silvers points on the subject. the classic italian style rapier is just not a good weapon of war. they lack utility, and are too easily foiled by armour. fabris doesnt reference preferred length, but the length suggested by capoferro also makes it unwieldy, hard to draw, and useless in close quarters. that said, they are truly fine dueling weapons (and allowing time to draw them) they are fine street-weapons, and this was historically their use. not to say they didnt see battle-field use but more infrequently. it was common for officers and gentlemen to have a rapier for civilian life and either a 'side-sword' or indeed a broadsword of some sort as a war sword. were i forced to become a rapierist i would prefer at the very least one of a shorter length, like that suggested of thibault (common in destreza). although it is my under-standing that many spanish rapiers (at least later ones) had even less of an edge. i would actually prefer an even shorter 'side-sword' which is of the same family and can not dishonestly be called rapiers. lean into di grassi or even meyer. dardi-adjecent sort of things. also much better at striking. course still swords i like better than any of this family any-way.

10: Are you allergic to anything? nope

34: What is a color that calms you? like burgandy and adjecent tones. warm but not bright. like light from candles or a lantern.

80: Some thing you wish did exist: adventuring as a viable career option :V

2: What’s your dream pet? (Real or not) as blase as it would be just a giant wolf. big enough to ride...

4: What was your favorite video game growing up? age of mythology

14: Would you rather be a vampire, elf, or merperson? elf i suppose. get to stick around a while but not stuck with being immortal. or an undead abomination. like the ocean but probably not that much.

24: Favorite constellation? the only correct answer is draco

70: Can your dog roll over on command, if you have a dog? she was taught it but its been so long i dont think she remembers. shes alseep right now and im not goingto wake her to find out. ill try to test this out later...

90: If you were an animal, which one would you be? probably dog

[bowl-of-wyrms]

The Spiral Animals #1: Unicorns

Guidelines here

I know I said I wasn’t doing any mythical creatures, but I felt that the unicorn NPCs were too important to leave out in this. I’m also biased because I’m Italian and Valencia is one of my favorite worlds. Anyway, here’s the facts:

World of Origin: Valencia

Group Name in Game: N/A

Culture in Real Life: Italian, Spanish

Approximate Time Period: 14th-16th century C.E. Basically during the Italian Renaissance and the Age of Exploration (when Spain and Italy sent explorers to the new world). I based this approximation off of the characters’ clothing and their interactions with Skull Island. 

In-Game Examples: 

Ridolfo Capoferro in Pirate101

Diego the Duelmaster in Wizard101

[livethroughtthis]

Because I'm an autistic fencing nerd is Achille Marozzo very well known in your area today? My club studies a lot of his stuff for spear, dagger fighting, and lots of other stuff. (Though admittedly his treatise covers so many different manuals of arms that you don't get as in depth as say Giganti and Capoferro for Rapier or Meyer for longsword) Just curious to know if the area he's from still views him as important in the history of martial training.

I think in the specified environment of martial arts he still is :')... I don't know a lot tho about it I kinda know the archery environment because one of my uncles (the good one lmao) with his wife trains people in archery for the paralympics but I don't know a lot about fencing and the fencing environment... it's cool tho and it would be cool to learn but i really don't know

[jimmythedonut]

Alright sword nerds help me out: I’m slowly paying for a nice A&A Rapier (for sharp/showing off) but I really want a HEMA/sparring rapier. Either swept hilt or pappenheimer, at least 43″+2″ ricasso. Would you recommend Darkwood or Castille more? Both are about the same price and I’m getting a full, heavy, non-economy one, the Darkwood would be about ~$600 as would the Castille. Any experience with either company? Looking for a heavier, ~3-3.25lb rapier overall since that’s what my A&A is gonna be.