This morning's Southland Times carries the swashbuckling story of fightin' men from the south and our own Bioneer's one of them!
There's movin' pictures too, here, on the Times' website.
The clash of swords and shields echo over Fernworth School on Thursday evenings.
Members of Medius Auvum Comitatus, the Invercargill medieval swordfighting club, go there to practise their skills.
It is a stunning sight, and an incongrous one in New Zealand two men clad head to toe in armour wielding massive swords, swinging at each other's heads and bodies.
The appropriately-named Zane Knight first got into swordfighting growing up in Whangarei.
''I'd always been into medieval history,'' he said.
''It's a part of my family heritage. There's a lot of Scottish and Danish there. I also grew up with stories of ancestral swords brought over from Denmark ... It's always been a passion.''
The original club still existed in Whangarei, he said, but he set one up in Invercargill when he moved South in 2007.
His comrade-in-arms Terry Guyton discovered the group when he stayed late at work – he is a teacher at Fernworth.
He concedes his skills do not match Mr Knight's.
''If Zane was fighting someone closer to his level there would not be so many strikes,'' he said.
Mr Knight made the swords the group uses himself, using a steel bar reduced and shaped by a sander. The process can take up to 60 hours.
The group have two-handed greatswords as well as single-handed swords, which Mr Knight prefers to use.
Armour is also time-consuming. At the time the group tends to portray, armour was transitioning from chain mail to plate.
Chain mail – links of metal formed into a shirt – is extremely hard to make, while plate metal is expensive.
Mr Knight's first chain mail shirt had 28,000 links, each of which had to be connected by hand.
''It's something to do when you're really bored,'' he said.
On their bodies, the group wear 1cm thick leather jackets called gamesons, with metal plates for the shoulders, upper arms and neck.
There are different types of helmets, all heavy. When struck by a sword blow, you hear ringing but feel little.
The skills being taught come directly out of original treatises written to instruct knights.
The same techniques would have been used on battlefields and in tournaments across Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries, during conflicts such as the Wars of the Roses in 15th century England.
The bucklers (small shields) used by the group would have been used only in tourneys – they were no use against an arrow or a crossbow bolt.
In battle, men would have used bigger shields, and, as technology developed, larger swords to penetrate advanced armour.
There is a thriving subculture of medievalists in New Zealand. Each year, there is a tourney in Taupo, featuring swordfighters and jousting, Mr Knight said.
The clash of swords and shields echo over Fernworth School on Thursday evenings.
Members of Medius Auvum Comitatus, the Invercargill medieval swordfighting club, go there to practise their skills.
It is a stunning sight, and an incongrous one in New Zealand two men clad head to toe in armour wielding massive swords, swinging at each other's heads and bodies.
The appropriately-named Zane Knight first got into swordfighting growing up in Whangarei.
''I'd always been into medieval history,'' he said.
''It's a part of my family heritage. There's a lot of Scottish and Danish there. I also grew up with stories of ancestral swords brought over from Denmark ... It's always been a passion.''
The original club still existed in Whangarei, he said, but he set one up in Invercargill when he moved South in 2007.
His comrade-in-arms Terry Guyton discovered the group when he stayed late at work – he is a teacher at Fernworth.
He concedes his skills do not match Mr Knight's.
''If Zane was fighting someone closer to his level there would not be so many strikes,'' he said.
Mr Knight made the swords the group uses himself, using a steel bar reduced and shaped by a sander. The process can take up to 60 hours.
The group have two-handed greatswords as well as single-handed swords, which Mr Knight prefers to use.
Armour is also time-consuming. At the time the group tends to portray, armour was transitioning from chain mail to plate.
Chain mail – links of metal formed into a shirt – is extremely hard to make, while plate metal is expensive.
Mr Knight's first chain mail shirt had 28,000 links, each of which had to be connected by hand.
''It's something to do when you're really bored,'' he said.
On their bodies, the group wear 1cm thick leather jackets called gamesons, with metal plates for the shoulders, upper arms and neck.
There are different types of helmets, all heavy. When struck by a sword blow, you hear ringing but feel little.
The skills being taught come directly out of original treatises written to instruct knights.
The same techniques would have been used on battlefields and in tournaments across Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries, during conflicts such as the Wars of the Roses in 15th century England.
The bucklers (small shields) used by the group would have been used only in tourneys – they were no use against an arrow or a crossbow bolt.
In battle, men would have used bigger shields, and, as technology developed, larger swords to penetrate advanced armour.
There is a thriving subculture of medievalists in New Zealand. Each year, there is a tourney in Taupo, featuring swordfighters and jousting, Mr Knight said.
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