Photo -- Medieval knights in combat

The Sword of Truth

So, there I am, writing like the wind on my next medieval romance, ideas sparking from my brain, keyboard alight with my progress, when I run smack into a simple research question, an insignificant mote of minutia which would add a note of verisimilitude to my reader’s visit to my carefully constructed–already heavily researched–world.

That’s when the writing stops dead and the search for that itty-bitty, I repeat: insignificant, piece of information begins. Yesterday it was: what terms did medieval combat trainers use during training sessions?

That was yesterday. After many tumbles down Google-sized rabbit holes, my question remains unanswered. However I have learned much about swordplay in my search, which will be useful either in this book or upcoming titles. One daunting fact–medieval combat trainers left over 600 training manuals, few have been translated into English, but most have been studied by medieval scholars and combat professionals.

These two websites have added down-and-dirty, truth-on-the-ground, swordplay specifics to my trove of knowledge:

Swordplay for Fantasy Writers

Sword Fighting is Not What You Think

Thank you!

However, since I can’t afford to spend another day searching for this minuscule bit of fluff, I will either not put medieval sword fighting training terms into the mouths of my characters, change the scene, use generic modern terms, or make up a few terms of my own based on the action and reaction to blows and cuts.

Last week I spend a half-day looking for the shape and size of a stoneware soup terrine of the type that was used to serve a table loaded with hungry knights.

Tomorrow, who knows?