English Martial Arts Podcast Show

In Anglo-Saxon times one of the terms by which a folcwiga (warrior) would have known close quarter combat was handplegan (hand play) which is recorded in the Saxon Chronicles. By Tudor times there were two main titles in use; the Art Militaire and its civilian relative the Science of Defence. In the Stuart era the latter was often called the Noble Science of Defence or the Noble Art of Defence, (these titles being later inherited by boxing). The Science of Defence was a combat art that was concerned with individual self-defence rather than the military scenario but it was so closely related to the battlefield system as to be interchangeable with it. Indeed, the ‘civilian’ system used by the English included usage of many battlefield weapons (see below). One of the major differences between the military and civilian experience was that in the packed ranks of the battlefield there often wasn’t enough room to use the methods or apply the principles that were available when fighting one-on-one (a fact note