Tudor Kings - How they learned martial arts (sword fighting)

Henry VIII was famous as a warrior king, who loved personal combat. However, we know very little about how he learned these skills. But one source I found a few years ago might give us some clues.
/ scholagladiatoria
/ historicalfencing

[@kimosabe6692]

1.58am in Australia. About to go to sleep. Thanks Matt. Thanks a lot.

[@craigmason9893]

12:11 PM in us

[@MrThedalaillamaknows]

Veeery veeery relatable

[@richardforsman]

First rule in the underground fencing school is "Never talk about the fencing school".

[@adamalton2436]

Hey Matt, great video as usual! A theory on why weapons training did not happen at a young age: below a certain age or level of coordination, young boys would be especially prone to injury. Especially in this era, broken bones or a dislocated joint could be disabling for life or lethal. For an heir to a noble family or a crown, such an injury could be devastating.

[@althesmith]

I second that. Also, when the child was from 5-13 years old, they would be far quicker to pick up languages than later in life.

[@lordstephen7813]

Late to the party but so true. I've trained at Dojo's for Kendo , and a club for German long sword and I've past it on to my son's. It's what we do.

[@Riceball01]

The problem that we run into in regards to a lot of things that went on in the past is twofold: One is obviously a lot of stuff simply gets lost to time either through neglect, intentional destruction, or war, or natural disasters. The second reason is that some thing just don't get recordeed because people just don't feel that it's worth mentioning. They feel that it's either too mundane and/or commonplace and thus not worth mentioning.There's probably a lot that we do now that's not being recorded (by any means) and will eventually lost to historians in the future, leaving them to wonder how we did certain things

[@fattiger6957]

I get the sense that things were much less organized and categorized in past eras (particularly the medieval and renaissance times) compared to now. These types of channels always remind us that the categories we use for swords is mostly a modern invention and people in the past just called every sword, a sword. Probably doesn't help that many things were probably taught directly teacher to student. The printing press was introduced in the 15th century, but I assume it was prohibitively expensive to print manuals/guides at the time.

[@nicolaiveliki1409]

@@QualityPen Not all teenage girls keep diaries. My sister never did, neither does my daughter. Also they had a lot of contextual knowledge which we don't, and we aren't aware of most of the contextual knowledge that we have concerning things that might be important for future historians to understand us. What future historians do have, true, is loads of digital records, and their computers ought to be able to crack all of our encryptions with ease, and if any videostreaming service survives to their time, they will have all of those databases to work off

[@kokofan50]

I would think it was self evident that the Tudor had tutors.

[@scholagladiatoria]

Certainly, but sadly I cannot find any record of them.

[@JustGrowingUp84]

@@scholagladiatoria Matt, I think he made a pun between "Tudor" and "tutor"...

[@BigHossHackworth]

Too easy. I expect better from you.

[@sugarnads]

TheFilthyCasual ... straight man. Its a thing.

[@joshuarosen6242]

@@JustGrowingUp84 It doesn't really work in English as we make a clear distinction between the pronunciation of d and t, unlike our US cousins.

[@calamusgladiofortior2814]

10:10 I could be wrong, but I believe that 12-14 was about the age most medieval trade apprenticeships started as well. And I recall that 14 was the age you could start studying for a master of arts degree at Oxford in the medieval era (a medieval Master of Arts was a fairly general degree, more like a high school diploma today. It prepared you for higher learning). So perhaps it makes sense that knights and soldiers also began training for their profession at that age. EDIT: Also, it would be interesting to know if a noble woman in Queen Elizabeth I's position would be given martial training. In her speech at Tilbury in 1588 she showed up in armour on horseback, and told the army waiting to repel the Spanish invasion that she'll be there fighting beside them if any Spaniard set foot on English soil.

[@cryoshakespeare4465]

Watching this while training up my character in Dwarf Fortress, which essentially involves using a macro to punch a turtle's shell continuously for an entire day until you become a grand master. Why didn't people in history just do this?

[@interdictr3657]

maybe there were not enough turtles

[@iiiiii8522]

Such were the days of Runescape.

[@Likexner]

Dragonborn: makes 164855 iron daggers

[@azraelbatosi]

Henry VIII did import “German”, Germanic, HRE engineers/(armor/blade)smiths because they had incredible skills the native Englishmen apparently did not have yet, and I do believe it was these “German” smiths who helped create the extremely ornate “dress armors”(the Greenwich armors I believe) of that time and shortly thereafter. One famous example was after a rule change at The Field of Gold tournament, Henry VIII had to stop construction on this GORGEOUS, almost completed, articulated suit of plate(areas of high movement like behind the knee and top of the blows were protected by very intricate articulated plates, the feet as well, and it had the same thing on the butt and upper thighs, it would have had essentially no weak spots)which was made by these imported German smiths and they had an extremely short amount of time to adapt, and ended up with this very interesting, ornate, intricate suit that had a huge armored “skirt” which apparently was a new design at the time. These smiths were apparently the best to be had, which is presumably why he enticed them over the channel.

[@bretalvarez3097]

Hey hey I’m early, might as well ask for a request, can you do a video on how prelevent banditry was in medieval Europe?

[@chrisdalton755]

This would make a great video!

[@JustGrowingUp84]

Oh god, I had a flashback to bandit troops in Mount&Blade, especially the horse archers...

[@56sketch]

That is a brilliant idea!

[@spooky4124]

@@JustGrowingUp84 "Horse Archers" just gave me flashbacks to my first encounter with a khergit army... as a nord with no cavalry

[@JustGrowingUp84]

@@spooky4124 Yeah, they're very annoying

[@Zajuts149]

The phrase your read was: "...tilted at the buckler and engaged in swordplay..." I interpret that as training to tilt at the list against a dummy target, a "buckler" that would then automatically swing at you as you hit it. It is a fairly common cavalry training device, that let you practice accuracy and defence.

[@skepticalbadger]

Correct.

[@somerando1073]

Agreed, that is how I took the quote too.

[@George-cr6jq]

This is how i interpreted the quote as well

[@xyxxanx9810]

I´m sorry to say, that you appear to fallen for a Hollywood misconception. The training devices you mention, were not used to train horsemen to defend themselves, instead they were used to reduce the wear on training equipment and to reduce the risk of injury on horse and rider. If you were to hit a static target from full gallop you would risk breaking your lance or the target, additionally the sudden impact could hurt you or your horse. An unmoving target is also a rather bad approximation of a human, who would get pushed away by you charge. The weight attached to other and of the crossbar is not meant to simulate an enemy´s counterattack, but is actually an easy way of controlling the force of the impact. Less experienced horsemen could be eased in keeping proper control of their weapon without having to worry about getting injured and progressively increasing the counterweight would give the horseman an idea of the impact he had to expect when charging an actual enemy.

[@wierdalien1]

@@xyxxanx9810 ala Knights tale and their use of it. Though it does come back and hit him.

[@hatuletoh]

This video is an example why SG is peerless on the subject of all things martial, European, and medieval to Victorian. There are others I watch and enjoy, but no one provides the depth and breadth of analysis, nor the oh-so-critical (here it comes) CONTEXT within which the info must be viewed as Mr. Easton. As a lifelong history nerd for whom there's no such thing as "too much" detail or too many minutiae, I never come away from an SG video without feeling I've learned something--and usually many, many things--entirely new. For example: I'd always wondered about noble and esp royal military training during the medieval period; and most of all I'd wondered about Big Hank #8, being as (in)famous as he was, and knowing how well-documented his love of military work is. And also because I've seen a couple of his armor sets (the in-the-know contemporary jargon for those would be "harnesses", I think, right?), at the Tower of London, if memory serves. And one of them has an enormous cod piece, like, hilariously, ostentatiously big, so...yeah...it just always stood out in my memory, and contributes to why I call him Big Hank #8. Because if he'd lived just about exactly 400 years later, and had been born in or near the southern portion of part of the New World that would come to be called "America"; and if Big Hank #8 had had the fortune to be in the state of Tennessee, in a town called Memphis, at just the right stretch of time, you KNOW he and Elvis would have been friends and fellow carousers, at least. If Hank had been musically inclined, which I believe he actually was, he and Elvis would have toured together, hung out, got wasted, bloated up, and died young together. Big Hank #8 was the Elvis of his day. Anyway... I didnt realize we had no info about his training. I always thought I must have just missed it, as that period is not my specialty by any means. Very interesting.

[@sugarnads]

Hatuletoh exactly.

[@JohnsonLobster]

"Peerless"? If you only watch KZbin videos, maybe. Read a book, "History nerd".

[@wierdalien1]

Hank?! HANK?! Jesus. Its cry God for HARRY, England and St George. not Hank. Thats like saying old Tommy Jefferson wrote the declaration. That rant over, you have a good point.

[@sugarnads]

Alistair Shaw while i agree hank just sounds plain wrong, isnt harry short for harold?

[@sugarnads]

JohnsonLobster you do realise theyre utterly different formats, right? And i doubt youve read any of mr eastons' published work either. Id be willing to bet its out there.

[@LuxTheSlav]

Henry VIII was a massive fan of all things martial, and a massive fan of the HRE, and also, he was friggin' MASSIVE.

[@JimGiant]

He wasn't always gigantic, he ballooned in size after his health started to deteriorate due to sporting injuries and multiple incurable diseases.

[@LuxTheSlav]

@@JimGiant Well yeah, nobody is born obese.

[@wierdalien1]

@@LuxTheSlav he may have been obese but i still wouldnt want to take him on.

[@connorjaneu3021]

Luka Pavlič I think what he’s saying is that the obesity didn’t really start until later in life. That’s just the pop culture perception of him because we often see him as a bad guy and thus we exaggerate his negative attributes. He was actually one of the finest athletes of his day for most of his life.

[@BigHossHackworth]

Those Holy Romans sure loved some English jujitsu.

[@JustGrowingUp84]

Thank you, this is a fascinating subject! Obviously the treatises many of us take for granted would not have been the standard training procedure for most old-timey warriors, even nobles, so "the real deal" is very interesting.

[@masvindu]

7:24 - Edward the SICKth. I see your tricks.

[@BladeFitAcademy]

Interesting the age of weapons training started at age 13.5 -14. My club is for youth and teens and I can say based upon personal experience that before this age kids are not intellectually developed enough to handle even blunted weapons with precise enough instructions to be safe and learn constructively enough for the martial arts. We train ages 7-18 with foam equipment and won't even allow kids under 14 to practice with wasters.

[@senkotsumcgi1531]

I love the wrestling pics. Looks like judo tech. I love how so many styles crossover each other.

[@johnladuke6475]

There's only so many ways to punch a guy in the face.

[@rogerlafrance6355]

A good place to look are the palace expense records that often list payments to the master of the horse or sword and even grooms and bits of kit. Can show how extensive it was and can turn up the names of masters.

[@Peldrigal]

Wasn't it that you can be a page at 7, a squire at 14, and a knight at 21? This is both connected with the significance of number 7, and some more practical biological reasons.

[@TheJimboslav]

DANCING! yes, maybe could you focus a future video on dancing? We know how important it is to master your body and it's movements before starting martial training. Greeks and especially Spartans are known for that.

[@twirlipofthemists3201]

There was an American football player (defensive end?) in the 80s who said ballet training helped him penetrate offensive lines and bash ball carriers into the turf. (Richard Dent?)

[@CaptChimponaut]

@@twirlipofthemists3201 Vasil Lomachenko a current boxing champion talks about how his father made him take dance lessons as a child to help his footwork. Skill-wise Lomachenko may go down as the greatest boxer of all time, so I would say there is definitely truth to this.

[@twirlipofthemists3201]

@@CaptChimponaut I believe all of that except: No one can be greater than Ali. 😀

[@inisipisTV]

Most specially the Lindy-jigg.

[@sugarnads]

Sounds like a job for ... LINDYBEIGE!!!

[@yungchangsta]

*Sees Tudor in title* Tom Canty: Y E S

[@thomasbelassie]

Although he died young, Edward did a lot for education. He set up ‘ blue coat schools’, which gave promising orphans a brilliant, free boarding school education. Some still exist, but most are now fee paying schools, with some good scholarships/ bursaries available.

[@macnutz4206]

No matter what the weapons set, grappling was always an important part of martial training. So, I would expect wrestling to go from play to training, at a relatively young age. Wrestling is very useful for getting the other guy down and for defending against being pushed and tripped to the ground. It's also great conditioning training, balance training, and strength training. All without weights or tools. All those things are, of course, very valuable when the weapons training starts.

[@thirdtrysacharm6177]

By reviewing the lightsabre fights in Star Wars. [citation not needed]

[@viridisxiv766]

twirling about from out of distance?

[@hotsteamypudding]

@This Dude they'd also be pretty crap against non-laser/beam swords. Imagine someone swinging an axe at someone with a light saber - you can't block or guard with a lightsaber without cutting off the head of the axe which would then continue and bury itself in you.

[@orkstuff5635]

It's a shame that there weren't more diarists around recording the stuff that 'everybody Knows' :-)

[@christopherrowley7506]

there might have been but unfortunately most european towns have burned multiple times throughout the ages do to predominately wood construction. lots and lots has been lost in fires

[@nobbynoris]

If surviving contemporary accounts of the time are to be believed that's because the would-be, potential diarists were too busy drinking and shagging and venturing forth on the associated trips to the privy, to empty one's bladder, and/ or, wipe oneself down, before heading back in there for round two.

[@charles2703]

It would kinda be like you following a garbage man around and recording what he does. You’d be locked up

[@joshuarosen6242]

That is absolutely true. There is a lot of knowledge that has been lost because no-one bothered recording what everyone already knew.

[@richardlarson6313]

Top notch as always.... for your reference however, the term “tilt” is regularly utilized in boxing(get some Tyson fury) and MMA

[@toddellner5283]

Excellent point about our somewhat distorted view of training and the fact that it was generally teacher to student rather than out of books. Even today with literacy much higher and books much cheaper there aren't that many books out there which convey the subtleties and a lot of the day-to-day of martial arts training. There are none which give good instruction in dynamic movement. I can't believe it was ever different.

[@Zilegil]

One thing I think you should have noted was the practice of pagery (this doesn’t apply to kings, only gentlemen.) Young male gentry would mostly go off to local manors and castles to serve as servants for the local governor or castellan. This wasn’t seen as demeaning, but was in fact a part of the training to become a man. This is because they’d most likely have to run their own household, (either by owning one if they were firstborn, or acting as a steward in someone else’s if they weren’t ) and so prepares them for this task. Although this part of their upbringing would be in the years leading up to their 13th or 14th year

[@boriskapchits7727]

Those who read "the prince and the pauper" know perfectly well that Henry had a son. :) The age of 13 seems quite to be accepted age for a boy to start learning his trade. 200 years later Nelson went to sea in about the same age. By the way, this is also the age when a boy becomes man in jewish tradition.

[@hilbertsinn6886]

You know where Tudor kings kept their armies? In their sleevies.

[@wierdalien1]

Out.

[@jdavison8551]

Specifically, the green sleeves.

[@wierdalien1]

@@jdavison8551 allegedly

[@dzonbrodi514]

Oh you

[@GoodandBasic]

Thank you. This is something i have wondered about for a long time. I look forward to more videos on training of historical people. JB

[@benjaminadams2969]

Wow, so this is fascinating. I do Jui-Jitsu, and the wrestling techniques shown in the diagram at 5:30 are instantly recognisable. Right to left it's a hip throw, an arm drag and an inside trip. Really effective techniques still practiced and used in competition today - goes to show that they really had it worked out.

[@billyraydavis3400]

Great video loved it thank you for all the hard work making the videos

[@kevinnorwood8782]

I'm kind of not really surprised that Henry VIII was a fan of "all things martial" as you put it, Matt. His father, Henry VII was a warrior king as well, and he practically idolized his father. And also, I seem to recall a line from Season 1, Episode 1 of the Showtime series "The Tudors" that indicates that Henry VIII had a desire to be remembered through victory in battle that was just as great as his desire for a male heir: Henry: Thomas (Thomas Moore), I swear to you, I intend to be a just ruler. But tell me this. Why is Henry V remembered? Because he endowed universities? Built houses for the destitute? No. He is remembered because he won the Battle Of Agincourt. Six thousand English bowman against thirty thousand French-the flower of French Chivalry DESTROYED, in four hours. That victory made him famous, Thomas. It made him immortal. And for everyone who believes Henry VIII couldn't have been like that and only remembers him as an obese glutton, what you have to remember is he didn't start really putting on the weight until he was about 36. And that was when he had a really bad horse accident and suffered a leg injury that never fully healed and left him with a limp for the rest of his life (the accident in question is shown in Season 2, Episode 8 of The Tudors).

[@kalamtaj1064]

Respect from India love you brother

[@gadyariv2456]

Americans probably know Eduard VI thanks to Mark Twain's 'the prince and the pauper'

[@thirdtrysacharm6177]

American here, can confirm that's my main familiarity with him.

[@charles2703]

I honestly thought he was a character created for the book

[@donaldhill3823]

The way the writer uses the word Tilting here suggest that the meaning of Tilt or tilting is close to the meaning of word engage or engaging or possibly closer to spare or sparing. This would imply that it has less specific connection to Jousting then we currently assign to it. I wonder if looking in the records of the Kings guards assigned to Henry at the time of Henry the 8th's childhood might give you some insight into his training. While his father might have been his teacher, it could have also been assigned to the guards, who you would expect to have some sort of training routine that he could have joined into or if nothing else, they might tell you where they escorted him on a regular basis giving you insight on where next to look. Of course this assumes his movements were recorded.

[@toddellner5283]

I'd be surprised if they had full armor for the stick-and-shield fencing. Helmet and something like a gambeson, possibly gauntlets certainly. But even if you're a noble armor is expensive, especially for a growing lad who isn't going to fit into it in a month or two.

[@scholagladiatoria]

I do agree, but also remember that armour doesn't disappear, it stays around for long periods of time - it doesn't necessarily need to be bought if your family already has a load. And Greenwich was where Henry VIII's armoury was based - they had literally dozens of harnesses and hundreds of pieces of armour in the family collection, in all different sizes, just sitting there ready to be borrowed.

[@Khanclansith]

Holy bleep! Matt is out of his Super Dry gear! Did their endorsement deal get cancelled? (Wink wink)

[@chaos_omega]

I've heard the term "tilt" used to describe a bout in modern combat sports such as boxing, MMA and kickboxing.

[@IgnisDracoX]

That sword second from the bottom behind him is sick

[@minuteman4199]

Why didn't they start training younger? It's kind of pointless. My son started to fence at about ten years old. Now, he's fifteen and he's pretty good, but he didn't start to develop until he was thirteen or fourteen. The time he spent before that was really a waste of time. Of course all kids are different, but that's my experience.

[@Poohze01]

When I was learning to teach fencing, my master said much the same - Up until about 13 you're just teaching them basic co-ordination and giving them some exercise, after that they're learning to fence.

[@sugarnads]

Same with squash. Not much point in doing anything other than basic skills and running about. Then it starts to click together. Its abut the lack of strength and development in the body. And the brain hasnt matured enough to take it in properly. About 13-14 is when it starts being useful to coach.

[@kevinschultz6091]

yeah, same with most applied martial arts that I've taken (and taught). When I've taught Escrima classes, we usually didn't allow boys to join the class unless they were at least 10 years old (with a parent), or 13 years old by themselves. This was based off of my own instructor's 30 years' experience in teaching both Tae Kwon Do, as well as Escrima. (In contrast, girls could usually join the classes by age 11 - they simply matured faster mentally.) The idea of handing a 10-year old boy a rattan stick, and expecting him to NOT fidget and/or randomly hit his fellow classmates, is somewhat silly. We had 2 hour classes 2 to 3 times a week, and that was simply too long for most kids.

[@nicolaiveliki1409]

@@kevinschultz6091 But hitting other people with the hitty thing is 90% of the fun, and that's how you learn at that age (or any age) ;-) My brother and I have been hitting each other since we were really small kids (like 5 and 7, he's older) and we developed really good fighting instincts

[@andersbenke3596]

Why was (certain kind of?) martial training outlawed within cities?

[@scholagladiatoria]

Because martial arts schools often seemed to have served as centres for civil unrest and criminal activity.

[@tohopes]

@@scholagladiatoria pls do video on this.

[@7seatea7]

@@scholagladiatoria Jujutsu dojos seemed to have had a similar reputation in 19th century Japan.

[@connorjaneu3021]

scholagladiatoria Interesting. Because obviously, martial skill was greatly admired at the time, so you’d imagine that fencing academies would be admired too. I suppose that’s why they were allowed to continue, just outside cities.

[@Bluebb8]

Watched the video. Takeaways: 1. Nice shirt matt 2. Where'd you get that shirt? 3. Very cool shirt

[@HK-mr4rv]

Mr. Matt Easton, I am hoping you can do more videos on the English warbow. I know you primarily study swordsmanship, but you seem to have a lot of knowledge on archery as well. I would be interested to hear more from you on that topic. Have a great day - I love this channel 😁

[@alexandreantasbotelho2964]

Very nice video! Very interesting to hear about your investigations in this matter! Thanks and a Merry Christmas to you and your family.

[@twirlipofthemists3201]

I guess it's hopeless to ask for info on training in the dark ages / high middle ages?

[@Krishnaeternal]

In our ancient culture: "Oh you're old enough to run, now? Then you should learn to do a flying kick!"

[@Lurklen]

Really interesting video, on a little talked about personage in history. Something I find funny about this, youth television creates scenarios like this all the time in fiction. There's always the group of young nobles or princes or whatever learning together, and there's the young king who nobody wants to test themselves against, and who doesn't think he's quite good enough. They all learn together and bond and then have big dramatic conflicts later when they have to grow up. Who knew anime and kids cartoons had it a bit right. Also, I always wonder about young Edward, and how history might have been different if he had lived (not better mind, but it feels like a strange turning point for some things.) I also wonder why he isn't more of a character in fiction. Almost no one knows about him, or Henry's other son, and they seem like really interesting characters to play around with.

[@UnholyTerra]

Fantastic video. Kind of new to your channel, loving it a whole lot’

[@pbr-streetgang]

Thanks for the vid sir.👍🏼👍🏼

[@pianofun2763]

Another point to consider to answer why they started training at certain ages, a child's bones are rather soft compared to an adults, so a hard blunt hit at a young age has a higher chance of fracturing them. I believe i heard at around age 10 to 12 the bones start to become more like an adults, probably because of puberty, not exactly sure on this. The reason wrestling/grappling is good at a young age is good for the same reason. Tendons and joints are more flexible at a young age making them more resilient to stretching or breaking.

[@leavemealone2006]

Thanks Matt! I love these kind of discussions! Also, you mentioned records of wrestling matches outside the cities. Could you point me to some souces about this? I'm really interested in studying this!

[@icolky5272]

Interesting so the traditional idea of lords being trained from about 5 with wooden swords by a master of arms before slowly progressing from blunted weapons till full makes steel, whilst spending a few years apprenticing as a squire before being knighted once they’d reached a certain age and/or ability wasn’t actually quite how it worked?

[@womble321]

Hi was just watching a video that mentioned some metals are prone to fracture with small changes in temperature. Is there any sign that swords that were fine in warmer climates broke In cold weather. Apparently it was a big problem with Iron Ships. They were fine in tropical waters but the armour could shatter in cold weather.

[@Sokolo43]

Hey Matt, one slight correction: French wasn't solely used as a diplomatic language before the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. The end of the 30 years war marked the beginning of French political and cultural dominance over Western Europe for 150 years. Best regards

[@scholagladiatoria]

French was basically the 'lingua franca' of the nobility of all of Western Europe (and part of Eastern Europe) though.

[@telesedrin]

Great video! Thanks Matt!

[@johnkilmartin5101]

Is there nothing written about the training of Henry Duke of Richmond, Edward's half brother?

[@tdavis2j]

Oughtn't we look to e.g. modern fencing instruction, especially from more traditional... well, traditions, for hints? I learned Olympic sabre from an expert Olympic saber fencer, without specific reference to any particular source material. Having broadened my scope of learning since, I can see where his traditional [Soviet-era Hungarian Olympic team] and personal biases/opinions/interpretations interact with the general best-practices over time; presumably something like that went on with His Majesty at the time?

[@bubble8829]

Brilliant, thank you. I've seen paintings and read of noble kids in armour. Did they also have kid-sized weapons for learning and practice? Eg, smaller swords, little wooden wasters?

[@Elmriver]

A moment of your time good sir.

[@chucknorris202]

I agree - I think you ought to learn unarmed martial arts first. Also, wrestling is really good to start with, for a kid - since it doesnt involve strikes so they cant get hurt as easily. In modern days, theres really no wrestling schools available for adults - so I started my own martial arts journey with brazilian jiu jitsu, did that for over a year. I train Muay Thai kickboxing these days, have done so for 2+ years and ongoing. Anyway, great video! Ive been interested in how the ancient peoples learned how to fight for awhile now. Not just the wealthy ones I mean; but all types.

[@Marcus_563]

I am sure the French Ambassador would have said exactly the same thing to King Edward if he had lost his first match.

[@justsomeguy3931]

Learning about how European martial arts were historically practiced would be greatly beneficial to HEMA - obviously

[@kevinnorwood8782]

Also Matt, any chance that you could do a video on Hans Talhoffer (the legendary 15th Century German master-of-arms) and his famous Fight Books (if you haven't done so already)?

[@icfubar9150]

Always interesting from Scholar-gladiatoria.

[@rolandscherer1574]

About the training of martial arts: At the age of 14, boys were of full age at that time. They then had to defend their rights by themselves.

[@rickjames7391]

That's an awesome ThunderCats shirt!

[@demoncard1180]

7:04 and it's been raining here ever since!

[@michaelholloway8]

I occured to me that a really smart leader would never be caught within hundred miles of a copy of The Art Of War, or the Prince, so i assume it would be a smart worrier who doesn't let on how he was trained.

[@thebobbytytesvarrietyhour4168]

Am I remembering correctly to say that solders really didn't get specialized one on one "fencing" training?

[@amitabhakusari2304]

Do a video on how common folk learnt to fight(unless you have already)?

[@liamricketts846]

Damn you make some gooooood videos !

[@waderutherford9083]

Can you talk about the club on your wall?

[@interdictr3657]

its called a bonker

[@arpioisme]

hey matt, i wonder what sword is that behind your head?

[@markrobinson5774]

What's a butler ? is that a shield where did the cloak?

[@stormiewutzke4190]

Super interesting.

[@watchdog3688]

Don’t you believe that no matter how well or poorly Edward performed, the French ambassador would “compliment” the young king? The Frenchman couldn’t possibly critique the King honestly .... “King, you skill is utter crap” is not something he could say in the role ambassador (or really any person). Thoughts?

[@arx3516]

I don't think that sayng that to Henry VIII was very safe....

[@MarikHavair]

He did say the role of an ambassador was to blow smoke up someones ass...

[@martialme84]

Hey Matt! I know you have a busy schedule, but could you maybe improve on the build quality of the available merch a little bit? My brother is a big fan of yours(You identified a sabre for him once) and i thought i´d get him a shirt from your store as a little surprise for christmas. What the supplier himself as well as some customers wrote about these shirts and their quality though.... I immediately dropped the idea to gift a shirt like that to somebody. A shirt that is "perfectly suited to a one time memorable promotion" or some such? I know these kinds of flimsy shirts that don´t hold their colour, nor their shape and then tear at the seams in no time at all... You and your video content look like quality. Your merch should do the same. Love your work! Happy christmas to you and your family, Matt!

[@dcbanacek2]

Apparently Henry 8 slept during his wrestling classes. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_of_the_Cloth_of_Gold)

[@andresrivera1638]

Is there a good book one can get that is good for someone who wants to learn how to use a rapier fencing better without being able to go to a HEMA club?

[@mizutoryu242]

Elisabeth surely had more ''dexterity'' than her male siblings.

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

We know that in North Africa and Al Andalus boys learned stick fighting as a precursor to using real swords later (I've just read some c14th sources), it seems likely this tradition would continue under Spanish Christian rulers too.

[@KickyFut]

How many shouts of "Thunder!" were said to the Sword of Omens before it was swiped at your shirt? 😉 Very cool shirt, BTW!😁

[@temujin5743]

I think learning to fight with weapons at 13 is actuelly early in life. It's like today a 13 year old kid would learn to shoot with a gun. We see sword fighting today as a game, thats true today we play with swords this was not the cas back then.

[@dazeen9591]

What Sabers do you recommend for HEMA sparring?

[@scholagladiatoria]

Kvetun

[@benjaminschmidt3022]

the source is available online: www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/spain/vol10/pp286-299

[@b19931228]

Younger boys often lack the discipline or temperament for martial arts practice.

[@b19931228]

If your kids lack discipline, it is best to be a good parents instead of sending them to various extracurricular programs and expect things to get better, it might be, but they are not designed to do so.

[@hutc0028]

What’s the source for the image displayed at 16:52 in the video?

[@LordTytusMandarynka]

MASSIVE fan. xD

[@Spike294]

cheers folks!

[@marcoatzori92]

Could you imagine? "Ponk", a wooden stick on the head and "ops", the only son of Henry the VIII dies... would have been quite embarrassing for everyone there ;)

[@beardedbjorn5520]

0:54 can anyone tell me what those two guys on the right sparring are using?

[@levifontaine8186]

I’m very interested in how pirates were trained (obviously many were ex soldiers)

[@PlayaSinNombre]

Levi Fontaine by surviving the sea...

[@razorboy251]

Wow that was a tremendously interesting video. It also (at least for me) somewhat debunked this idea that "well the knights started training when they were little boys". 13 really isn't a little boy. I've heard of some historical sources that claim that some knights got their spurs as young as 15, but it's clear those were a sufficient exception as to be written about.

[@scholagladiatoria]

Edward the Black Prince won his spurs at age 16 (at Crecy), and that was considered young at the time. So if he had begun training at about 12 or 13 that sounds about right.

[@ZagorTeNayebo]

Just to clarify 13 is definitely a little boy

[@charlesparr1611]

@@ZagorTeNayebo Not always, I matured late, but my elder half brother was 5'10" and had to shave before he turned 14. I was 5 foot two at 15, and six foot four on my 16th birthday. People develop physically at wildly different speeds, enter puberty at wildly differing ages, and as for mental/character development it's even more varied and harder to gauge. In addition, it seems likely that in a world in which 15 yr olds routinely were on the battlefields fighting, there was little luxury for remaining a 'little boy' any longer than necessary, especially if you consider that a royal son was likely being intensively educated by careful selection of the role models and tutors selected to interact with him, as has been the case throughout history with plenty examples. Earlier in period, but its well worth looking at the early life of William the Marshal to see how people viewed such things in the past. The idea of an 'age of majority' and that an individual is an infant if below some age applied to the entire population is a new one which is tied inextricably to the invention of the modern systems of mandatory public education. For that system to work, people must be slotted in to the program at a time most likely to allow them to succeed, and once in that system, the system itself tends to rein in the excesses or the insufficiencies of individuals, making being promoted ahead of your age, or held back an unusual event. However public education did not even exist as an idea in the time of the Tudors, let alone a a structured system. Someone, likely his father, will have either carefully delegated the management of Henry's education to someone (often seen in fosterings and squirings), or managed these issues himself. It is important to note that these decisions were made based on how ready the kid was to start, not on their age, and in fact a kid's classmates might have been chosen according to their utility in forming the royal heirs character, as opposed to their own readiness.

[@TehCthulhu]

So what you're saying is... Dune.

[@davidbriggs264]

Given what Edward was reportedly capable of in that piece, I would disagree with your assessment that Edward started martial arts training at the age of 13 1/2, since that is the age he reportedly was at the time of writing. I would argue that his martial arts training began much earlier, perhaps as young as 8 to 10 years of age. Remember that we are talking about a King of England, which means that in addition to the weapons training he would have received training in tactics, strategy, and logistics, things which the man in the ranks would not have needed at that age, and would be expected to pick up what he needed in future years.

[@scholagladiatoria]

The text literally starts by saying that he was just beginning to learn in May 1551.

[@thelonerider5644]

I want to know what happened if you accidentally hit the king during a fencing match...

[@theJellyjoker]

I think a lot of it was secret knowledge passed down from master to student or self taught.