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Last weekend, I had the opportunity to return to Uhuburg Castle in Helen, Georgia. I always love my time out there seeing friends, teaching classes, and introducing people to the wonderful world of HEMA. It was also a great experience that allowed me to clear up some common misconceptions about the Middle Ages. If you ask most people to picture the Middle Ages, they'll probably imagine a world of superstition, illiteracy, and ignorance—a time before science, before reason, and before sophisticated ways of understanding the world. It's an enduring stereotype, but it's also one of history's greatest misconceptions. Medieval scholars built universities, preserved and expanded classical knowledge, developed intricate systems of logic, and created remarkably sophisticated methods for organizing, remembering, and transmitting information. Far from being intellectually stagnant, the medieval world was obsessed with knowledge and with finding reliable ways to preserve it. Some of this knowledge they aimed to preserve were fencing techniques. Today, we will explore the world of the craft of memory, or Memoria, and how it relates to historical fencing. However, I want to give a huge shoutout to Keith Farrell for inspiring this lesson. While writing my book, he introduced me to the Medieval Craft of Memory, a fantastic book that helped me better understand why I.33 may have been written. So in the spirit of passing it forward, let's get into the video!
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