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As we enter the 21st century, there are two main observations that can be made of Western Swordsmanship as it exists today. Firstly, the arrival of the world wide web has offered the Swordsmanship community an unprecedented source of information on historic swordplay that until recently was simply unobtainable for many of us. The second observation is the enormous amount of ‘cultural baggage’ that seems inherent in any study of this art. It appears there are as many philosophies on what Swordsmanship should represent as there are people attempting to teach it. The interaction of these two points brings us to what I consider to be the biggest challenge facing Swordsmanship organisations today; not only defining what we do but just as importantly how and why we do it. The College has tackled this challenge not only by defining Western Swordsmanship as the study and mastery of period weaponry based upon the works of previous Masters of Defence, but also by attempting to develop a modern martial art approach. What this means is that we are attempting to combine both the concepts on Swordplay as taught by these Masters with contemporary instruction. The College’s emphasis is not on re-enactment nor are we attempting to straitjacket swordplay within artificial conventions that can be found with sport fencing, role playing and fantasy organisations. We consider this approach to be a sound basis in which to present Western Swordsmanship to the 21st century public. I sincerely hope that our website will prove of interest to fellow Swordsmen and in this small way, help contribute to a better environment of co-operation. Scott Andrew McDonald Chief Instructor Australian College of Arms |   |
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