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Hi!

I’m back from my holidays, featuring ten days in Spain with the whole family then a six-day post-exams road trip with Daughter 2. This included visiting Manchester, York, and Edinburgh. And we popped in to Rosslyn Chapel on the way down south.

You can see why conspiracy theorists go nuts for this place; it’s an astonishing bit of late medieval stonework, complete with weird and wonderful carvings such as this fallen angel:

And a Green Man:

You’re not allowed to take photos inside, so don’t tell anyone!

But what on earth’s going on here?

Yes, I’ve completed the editing for the new Vadi Dagger Course and added it to the Mastering the Art of Arms and Medieval Italian Martial Arts subscriptions. I’m planning to launch it with a sales sequence and discount etc. at the end of next month.

I have also added video of all of Vadi’s armoured combat plays and mixed weapons plays to the Vadi Longsword Course, which is also included in the subscriptions. This means that video of every play in De Arte Gladiatoria Dimicandi is now included in those two courses.

I am completely stalled on all other projects (From Medieval Manuscript to Modern Practice vol. 2: The Dagger; Swordfighting for Writers, etc.) but I did get a little bit of woodworking done over the last month or so, using up some offcuts. Any idea what this is?

It's installed and in use now, so I'll send out the solution next time!

New Book from Toby Capwell

Armour of the English Knight: an armourer’s album is a departure for Toby. Here’s (some of the) publisher’s blurb: “In his three-volume work Armour of the English Knight, author Toby Capwell re-discovered the previously unknown and distinctively English style of fifteenth-century armour. His story followed the harness of English men-at-arms from victory at Agincourt (1415) to defeat at Castillon (1453) and on through the Wars of the Roses (1455-87) and into the Tudor Age. The work also comprehensively documented the presence of foreign armour styles in England during the same period – primarily French, Burgundian and Italian war gear.

Hundreds of original illustrations were created for these three books, by two of the foremost armourers working today.

Now, all of those fine line drawings are brought together in a single volume and expanded with a wealth of brand new, previously unpublished illustrations, to form a concise summary of the contents of the 1100 pages of the original English Knight series.

An Armourers’ Album thus forms the essential visual reference guide to armour of the fifteenth century.”

Pre-order yours here.

What I'm Reading

There wasn’t a lot of time for reading on my road trip with Daughter 2. But the Kobo algorithm recommended The Ministry of Time, by Kaliane Bradley, and I’ve got to say it was pretty good. Interesting time-travel premise, with weird twists and some interesting writing choices, all based on a 19th century (real-life) Arctic expedition. It’s a risky move having real historical characters in your fiction, but I think Bradley pulls it off. I think I may have skimmed a bit because there are elements I don’t quite get, but definitely worth the time. Time, geddit?

cheers,

Guy