Winter is coming to Port Coquitlam. On Saturday as a matter of fact.
But don’t go scrambling to Environment Canada to confirm an unseasonable forecast.
That’s when Daniel Werner is opening his sword fighting academy, Prima La Spada, in rented space at the PoCo Legion. And while he won’t be teaching people how to slay dragons or hordes of the undead, the warehouse supervisor-turned-swashbuckler admits TV shows and movies like Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings are driving a renewed interest in learning how to combat with long and side swords as well as rapiers and poleaxes.
It’s movies and stories that got Werner hooked on medieval lore and war when he was a kid who was enchanted by the idea of being a knight in a more gallant age. But when he finally decided to act upon his fascination by joining a swordplay school in Vancouver five years ago, he discovered a martial art that is as much cerebral as it is physical.
“It’s like a chess match,” Werner said.
For three hours he could be immersed in a world where a mistake or lapse in concentration would cost him his life — or at least a limb — were the weapons he brandished real and not blunted training implements.
“You’ve got to treat it as if it’s a real fight with sharp swords,” Werner said.
It’s also a combat sport with very defined rules, as well as established treatises that date as far back as the 15th century when Johannes Liechtenauer developed the German school of swordsmanship and Italian swordsman Fiore dei Liberi wrote Flos Duellatorum, a kind of manual for various forms of combat, from wrestling to staff and dagger.
Werner said he brings prospective students up to speed on some of that lore, as well as the safety aspects of swordplay so nobody gets punctured before they’re ever issued a green cord for their sleeve and allowed to wield a weapon as an “apprentice.”
A year of instruction and practice will earn a duellist a blue cord and the progressions continue all the way to a gold cord, when a fighter is considered a master capable of passing on their knowledge.
Werner said while the rules of sword combat are old and entrenched, actual battle in competition or training is often fluid and without limitation.
“You can do anything you want to do, as long as you can keep yourself safe,” Werner said, adding the long and side swords he typically uses weigh less then two pounds and have no sharp edges, while the poleaxe is made of rubber.
Werner said there’s plenty of opportunities for modern knights in training to test their mettle at local, regional and even international competitions. But he’s careful to separate swordfighting practitioners from historical reenactors like the Society of Creative Anachronism who will often stage duelling and jousting tournaments as part of their immersive experience.
Swordfighting martial artists have their feet planted in the medieval and modern worlds, Werner said.
“We do hold ourselves to a high sense of decorum,” he said. “But we’re not here to mimic all the knightly virtues.”
• To learn more about Werner’s swordfighting academy, go to www.primalaspada.com.
