Selected Biographies

Terry Brown - The Company of Maisters of Defence, London (UK)
Former soldier Terry Brown is a highly experienced martial arts who has been training in Fong Yang kung fu (the Beggars Art) for twenty-nine years and is the UK chief instructor for this style. He also holds a black belt 2nd Dan in Fong Yang Khong Chang (Singaporean karate) and has served in the following posts: Honorary Secretary of the British Kung Fu Council; General Secretary of the European Kung Fu Union; Martial Arts Commission of Great Britian Delegate; Sports Council Representative (South East England); and Senior Referee.

Joseph Cadieux - Head Instructor for Tournament Productions, San Diego, CA (USA)
Mr. Cadieux has been actively involved in European Armored combat for over 11 years as a member and instructor of Tournament Productions. For the last 2 years, He has been the head instructor of Tournament Productions. He is also a current student of Bak Fu Pai Kung Fu and former student of Tai Kwon Do, Okinawain Karate and Kendo. His current projects is to assist in establishing a historical, although modern training regime for students of European Armed Combat.
 
 

Mathew Cross - Blankenshield Armoury, Founder of Tournament Productions, Pismo Beach, CA (USA)
Mr. Cross created Blankenshield Armoury in 1976 to create and supply period armour that possessed both enhanced protection and wearability qualities. He began organizing and fighting in full contact tournaments for the past 29 years. Mathew founded Tournament Productions in 1985 and still in full operation. Its focus was and still is to promote and stage full contact live steel tournaments. In conjunction with Tournament Productions, a school was created which centred on full contact jousting. He has been involved with the renaissance fair circuit since the late sixties and has worked for the living history centre for eleven years. Mathew was also a board of directors member of the San Luis Obispo faire for five years. In 1994, Mathew has retired from performance and competitions and has focused entirely on the improvement and expansion of armour designs and their construction.

David Cvet - President & Founder, Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts, Toronto (Canada)
Mr. Cvet 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 across all weapons disciplines. He has studied Asian combat arts as well as participated in various medieval organizations including historical longsword training that employed steel weapons in northern Italy. This combination of background experience fired his desire to pursue the development of a formal medieval martial arts training program. To satisfy this desire, he founded AEMMA in mid-1998. In addition to AEMMA, he is also on the advisor for the Swordplay Symposium International (SSI), participating board member of the Association for Historical Fencing (AHF), and executive editor of the Western Martial Arts Journal of the Electronic Journals of Martial Arts & Sciences.
 

Steve Hick - Falls Church, VA (USA)
Mr. Hick is a long-time hoplologist, practitioner of traditional European and Japanese weapon arts, and a researcher into Medieval combat manuals and hoplogical analysis. He has been a respected member of several living-history organizations and his numerous transcriptions and analyses of historical manuals are found through the Internet.

Peter Kautz - Alliance Martial Arts, Ithaca, NY (USA)
Mr. Kautz has been training in both Eastern and Western combative disciplines for twenty years, including Arnis Black Belt (1991), Kung Fu Black Sash (1993), Tai Chi Chuan and Pa Kua Chang Instructor recognition. In the Western arts, he has focused on the analysis and development of Medieval knife techniques and grappling based on the works of Dei Liberi, Talhoffer, Marozzo, and others. Pete has also written a book on this subject entitled "Mani Contra il Courtilo - Hands Against the Knife" which covers much of the research he has conducted on Marozzo.

Jared Kirby - Co-founder of the The Dawn Duelists Society, MN (USA)
Jared began studying sword fighting many years ago as a stage combatant and has received certifications from the SAFD and BADC. He very quickly became interested in the history behind sword fighting and started reading the treatises of the masters. With the help of Tim Ruzicki, Jared co founded The New Dawn Duellists Society to pursue historical swordfighting and teach those interested in the forms of western martial arts from the 13th to 18th century. Jared has lived in Edinburgh and studied with the DDS, and is curently studying the Spanish Rapier with Maestro Martinez. He is excited to be able to bring the Dusack techniques to this workshop again.

John Kovacs - Founder, Renaissance Academy of Martial Arts, New York City, NY (USA)
John Kovacs has studied the martial arts since childhood, and holds advanced degrees and certificates in Karate, Arnis de Mano, and Jujitsu. He has published widely and taught throughout the nation, including a series of workshops at the prestigious John Jay College of Criminal Justice where he held the positions of Defensive Tactic Coordinator and Firearms Instructor. Mr. Kovacs also holds a master's degree in forensic psychology. He is the founder of the Renaissance Academy of Martial Arts, (R.A.M.A.), in New York City. The Academy strives to harmonize a synthesis between the old and the new in Western Martial Arts to meet the needs of people living in a Western context. He has demonstated and taught "Renaissance Jiu-Jitsu" both in the United States at the United Nations, the First Annual Western Martial Arts Workshop, and in Legnano Italy, at the First International Meeting of Ancient and Historical Fencing, under the Federazione Italiana Scherma Antica E Storica, (F.I.S.A.S.). Mr. Kovacs' particular interest lies in the universal principles behind martial culture from both an Eastern and Western pagadigm and the relationship between armed and unarmed combat".

Paul Macdonald - Director of the Dawn Duelists Society, Edinburgh, Scotland (UK)
Mr. Macdonald is a professional swordmaker and proprietor of MacDonald Armouries. He is a founding member of the Dawn Duelists Society whose mission is to revive and teach forms of historical swordsmanship, from the late medieval period through the nineteenth century. He is also a founding member of several historical swordplay federations in Europe.

Maestro Ramón Martinez - Director, Martinez Academy of Arms, New York City, NY (USA)
Maestro Ramón Martínez is the director of Martinez Academy of Arms. He received the rank of fencing master from Maître Frederick Rohdes in the traditional manner, through years of apprenticeship. In addition to Maestro Martínez' expertise in the French and Italian schools, he spent two decades reconstructing the Spanish school of rapier fence, La Verdadera Destreza. First unveiled to the public at the Aston Magna Academy, La Destreza has also been demonstrated at Lincoln Center, The Jarvis Conservatory in Napa, California, and most recently at the International Paddy Crean Stage Combat Workshop in Edinburgh, Scotland. Maestro Martínez is a founding member of the International Masters at Arms Federation, the author of numerous monographs on the Spanish school, a research consultant for the American Society for Chivalric Research, and a staff member of the Academy of Arms Online Quarterly journal.

Provost Jeannette Acosta-Martinez - Provost, Martinez Academy of Arms, New York City, NY (USA)
Jeannette Acosta-Martínez is a professional restorer of antique furniture who specializes in 17th and 18th century works. This, together with her interest in fencing, has led her to the study of antique weapons. She began studying fencing under Maitre Frederick Rohdes, and, after his death in 1983, continued her studies with Maestro Martínez. She is Provost at the Martinez Academy of Arms as well as the Academy's business manager. In this capacity, she was instrumental in orchestrating the historical exposition in January 1999, which had international participation and featured demonstrations not seen in public in more than 100 years. She also assists Maestro Martínez in his demonstrations and lectures.

Gregory Mele - Director of the Chicago Swordplay Guild, Chicago, IL (USA)
Mr. Mele is the founder of SSI, Executive Editor of SAPDA and co-founder of the Chicago Swordplay Guild.

Scott Nichols - Founder of the Company of Cavalier Gentlemen, Toronto, ON (Canada)
Mr. Nichols is an experienced fencer who has competed and coached in both modern and historical fencing for the last 11 years. He has also trained extensively in several other martial arts including karate, kendo and wrestling. Regarding historical fencing as a legitimate martial art led him to do intensive research in the UK, especially in reference to the rapier and the Art of the Duel. He founded the Company of Cavalier Gentlemen to promote rapier fencing as a combative discipline and train others who are interested in historically relevant techniques.

Maestro Andrea Lupo-Sinclair - Director of Italian Federation for Ancient and Historical Fencing, Legnano, Milan (Italy)
Maestro Andrea Lupo-Sinclair of Milan, Italy, is the founder and President of the Associazione Triskell, a group dedicated to reviving the true systems of ancient fencing, training and use. Maestro Lupo-Sinclair is also the founder of the Italian Federation for Ancient and Historical Fencing (Federazione Italiana Scherma Antica e Storica). He is associated with the British Association for Historical Swordplay and is a founding member of the International Masters of Arms Federation. Maestro Lupo-Sinclair is a leading voice in Italian historical fencing.

Dr. Jeffery Singman - Higgins Armoury, Worcester, MA (USA)
Dr. Singman is the curator of the Higgins Armor Museum, the translator of "Manuscript I.33" the oldest known fencing manuscript (c.1295), and an avid supporter of living history in America, particularly through his involvement with the Traynd Bands of London. Dr. Singman described his analysis of the I.33 text in the Royal Armories Yearbook 2, 1997, and a book containing the full translation and commentary will be published by the Royal Armouries in 2000.

Milo Thurston - Founder, Linacre School of Defence, Oxford (UK)
Mr. Thurston has been active for about 10 years in the area of sport fencing, with all "weapons" groups. He had represented the universities of Dundee and St. Andrews in Scottish competitions. Milo has trained with the Dawn Duellists Society for approximately 2 years, and been concurrently researching Hope's methods in detail for about a year. The Linacre School of Defence was set up in April of 1999 to put into practice the results of the research.

Rob Valentine - Valentine Armoury, Calgary, Alberta (Canada)
Mr. Valentine runs the highly respected Valentine Armories and has personally been building armour for over seventeen years. He is a re-enactor, researcher, and master armorer. He had also produced a video on authentic armoring and is preparing a book on the subject.
 

Marian Zakrzewski, Maitre d'Armes, Poland - Founder, F.I.E. Fencing Club, Toronto (CAN)
Mr. Zakrewski has been professionally competing and coaching in modern fencing for over 45 years. He received his Master of Arms from Warsaw in his native Poland, coaching their Olympic team for the Montreal Olympics (1976). In 1983 he emigrated to Canada where he coached the National Team for the Seoul Olympics (1988). An abiding interest in the tradition of the sword has led him to become involved in historical fencing, and he is currently sharing his knowledge and experience with the Company of Cavalier Gentlemen as well as continuing to run his own F.I.E. fencing club.