JManly Current Contents Index

European and Colonial Combatives, 1776 - 1914

A special section of the Journal of Western Martial Art

Current Articles

06/06

Emelyne Godfrey - Review of The Bartitsu Compendium, Volume one: History and the Canonical Syllabus
Review of the Bartitsu Compendium, an excerpt of which is below.

05/06

Tony Wolf - The Bartitsu Compendium
This essay is excerpted from the Bartitsu Compendium, a comprehensive guide to the history and practice of E.W. Barton-Wright’s “New Art of Self Defence” which was founded in England in 1899. Barton-Wright was the first man to deliberately combine Asian and European martial arts to create a comprehensive system of civilian self defense skills, and his Bartitsu Club was the first example of the modern commercial martial arts school in the English-speaking world.

Articles - 2005

06/05

A. Austen - A Plea for "Style" in Boxing
A reprint of an article first appearing in Outing Magazine, 1891 p140-143, when, with the international contest between Sayers and Heenan, prize fighting and all its odious train of barbarities died a natural death, it seemed as though the daystar of pure amateur boxing had arisen and the Queensberry rules adopted by gentlemen for gentlemen seemed to assure its future...

01/05

National Police Gazette - The Apaches of Paris
A reprint of an article first appearing in the National Police Gazette in 1905 which discusses the then current issue of pervasiveness French street fighting, including an interesting engagement of a handkerchief against one armed with a revolver.

Articles - 2004

08/04

Jason Couch - Purring
An expose on an extraordinary form of fighting bouts known as "purring" or shin-kicking. The article describes two famous bouts complete with explicit descriptions on the conditions of the participants' shins bearing similar attributes to raw beef steak.

Articles - 2003

08/03	Tony Wolf - An interview with Maestro John Sullins This interview is the first of a series to be featured at the Journal of Manly Arts over the coming months, describing the modern practise of martial arts and combat sports originating between 1776 and 1914. To begin we present a discussion with fencing Maestro John Sullins, whose curriculum at the Tri-Cities Academy of Arms includes several different Classical-era fencing styles.
06/03	Professor A. Austin - A Bout with the Gloves. Originally published in Outing magazine, March 1896, "The only way that my study and practice of the art have taught me to punish my adversary, without getting punished myself, is by having the judgment to make and seize an opening, the promptitude and dexterity to make the most of it, and the force behind the blow to make it effective."
05/03	Arthur Inkersley - Græco-Roman Games in California. Originally published in Outing magazine, February 1895, describes a fascinating account of the Olympic Club of San Francisco whose president at that time presented the idea to reproduce the combats and physical games similar to those held in the ancient Roman amphitheatre, including gladiatorial bouts, chariots, horses and Roman "dancers" as part of the entourage entering the arena.
04/03	R.C. Macdonald, M.D. - Scientific Boxing Under the Boston A. A. Rules Originally published in Outing magazine, October 1892, the article describes the science of boxing as an artificial method, and which can only be acquired by study and practice; the science of fighting is a natural instinct, greater in some than in others. The fighter is "born, not made," but the opposite is true of the boxer.
04/03	Charles Turner - How Old England Trains Her Red Coats Originally published in Outing magazine, March 1891, this work should succeed in setting out the special necessity of individual skill on the part of every separate soldier, and if it portrays successfully the beneficial effects of a due admixture of serious "work" in the preparation, and "play" in the competitive exhibition, it will have effected all its author aimed at.
03/03	unnamed - Biographical Sketches of Col. James H. McLaughlin of Detroit, Mich., and Hentry M. Dufur or Marlboro, Mass. Col. J.H.McLaughlin was born at Oriskany, Oneida County, New York, June 8, 1844. His father was Scotch, and his mother a native of Kings Co., Ireland. His first wrestling match occurred at Binghamton, N.Y., when he was only fifteen years of age, but even then he was a big lump of a boy weighing 185 pounds.
02/03	Nuno Curvello Russo - Jogo do Pau: Origins and Evolution Jogo do Pau ("the stick game," or "stick-fencing") is a fighting style employing a simple staff, approximately the height of the player, in techniques of attack and defence.

Book & Video Reviews

09/03

Tony Wolf - The Life and Adventures of Miss Florence LeMar, the World's Famous Ju-Jitsu Girl
This curious book on Jiujitsu was published in the Antipodes in 1913 by the authors Joe Gardiner and Florence LaMar. The authors were a husband and wife team who enjoyed great success in touring music halls throughout New Zealand and Australia during the early part of the 1900s. Yukio Tani had established an association between the martial arts and the music halls some years earlier, and perhaps the confluence of Orientalism and the "showman's privilege" of bending the facts explains much of the mystique still attached to Asian combatives in the Western world.

Feedback

You are welcome to contact the editor, Tony Wolf with or to submit via email, "". Letters to the editor will be published in the above listing in a similar fashion as articles submitted.

Resources

For an excellent printed resource and more information on a subscription, visit Western Martial Arts Illustrated.

You can find more information on medieval fighting arts at the Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts website or to view an extensive online library of medieval fighting arts treatises visit the AEMMA Online Library.

The Editors

, Editor - JManly
Tony is a professional fight director and martial arts/stage combat tutor. Since 1978 he has traversed a wide range of Asian, Polynesian and European martial arts, with a particular interest in both European "folk styles" and the combatives of the late 1800s. He was a pioneer of padded-attacker self-defence training in his home country of New Zealand and serves as an advisor for several international martial arts and stage combat organisations.
Tony's fight direction and action sequences have been featured in over one hundred and seventy feature film, television, theatre, opera and ballet productions. Between 1998-2000 he served as the Fighting Styles Designer for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie trilogy and in 2002 he toured Japan with the Washington Opera Company's production of Otello starring Placido Domingo. Tony has taught, directed and performed throughout New Zealand, as well as in Australia, the USA, England, Ireland, Canada and Japan. He lives in Wellington, New Zealand with his son, Josh.

, Executive Editor - JWMA and JManly
David is the Founder and President of the Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts (AEMMA), an organization dedicated to the resurrection and formalization of medieval martial arts training systems. He received training in Milan, Italy employing steel weapons in longsword techniques and has participated in various organizations dedicated to studying the Middle Ages. His background and experience having fired his desire to pursue a formal medieval martial arts training program, he founded AEMMA in mid-1998. He is a member of the advisory board of the Swordplay Symposium International (SSI), an interdisciplinary colloquium of historical fencing specialists dedicated to promoting and advancing the study of Western swordsmanship, and participating board member of the Association for Historical Fencing (AHF). David received his appointment of free scholler in Oct, 2000, and is the provost of the Academy as of May 1, 2005. He is also the 23rd President of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada.