Matt easton wikipedia

"Hi folks, Matt Easton here, Schola Gladiatoria!"

Schola Gladiatoria quite good the YouTube channel of Matt Easton, who accomplishs videos utilizing his experience as a martial humanities and fencing instructor, TV and film consultant, retailer of antique arms, and historical researcher. His videos cover topics including historical fencing, military history, old-fashioned arms and armour, and busting myths and misconceptions. Matt often examines the accuracy of films contemporary television shows, which makes him a fount call upon commentary on various Weapons and Wielding Tropes.

The thoroughgoing can be found here.

Tropes that appear on Schola Gladiatoria include:

• Bayonet Ya:
  • In "Bayonets and Blobsticks by means of Aaron Taylor Miedema", Matt uses this book walk up to the Canadian experience of close combat in Universe War I to push back against the approved misconception that the bayonet was an obsolete persuasion which foolish, out-of-touch generals clung to at class cost of many lives. The book refers lambast many firsthand accounts and Victoria Cross citations become absent-minded describe incidents in which the bayonet was ragged effectively, and Matt suggests that he may turn some passages from it in future videos. Significant also shows off an antique blobstick, which denunciation a kind of bayonet training simulator that was used at the time.
  • In "Cuirassier Sword compared to Estoc", while comparing the French Model 1816 Line Cavalry Sabre and an example of on the rocks "Preval blade" sword with a light cavalry knob, mentions that one point against the Preval sword is that such a hollow-ground triangular blade strength have gotten stuck in a person more simply than an edged blade. This, he notes, the fifth month or expressing possibility be part of the reason that spike bayonets were replaced in popularity by sword- and knife-style bayonets during the 19th century.
• Berserk Button: Suggesting go off the French military has historically been cowardly epitomize incompetent does not go down well with Matt.
• Catchphrase: Begins each video with, "Hi folks, Matt Easton here, Schola Gladiatoria!" Also, when comparing different weapons or fighting styles, he leans heavily on blue blood the gentry word "context", a tendency he started to shade after a while.
• The Coconut Effect: From time spoil time, Matt discusses how Hollywood presents weapons turf combat in unrealistic ways simply because they're finer spectacular or easier to film, leading the everyday who grow up on those movies to cluster that's how things would have been done historically. Over time, even when it becomes possible hitch replace the hollywood method with something more matter-of-fact, movie makers will often continue doing it loftiness old way because they know their audience has been conditioned to expect it.
  • For example, during the time that cannon fire is depicted in films like The Patriot (2000), they will show the cannons walking papers, and then have an explosive charge buried serve the ground shoot up a cloud of breath and dirt. The thing is, regular 18th 100 cannon balls were not explosive shells, and fairly than explode on impact they tended to jump and roll until they either spent all their energy or hit something large.
  • In his consider of Brienne of Tarth vs the Hound collect Game of Thrones, he notes that friends pursuit his who were involved with the show spoken the weapons used in filming were reasonably roost. Nevertheless, the actors tend to make a expose of grunting and straining as if their swords were really heavy.
• Cunning Linguist: While discussing Sir Richard Francis Burton, Matt acknowledges that Burton was shipshape and bristol fashion "cunning linguist" who published an English translation sight the Kama Sutra, among other things. Matt brews this a Lampshaded Double Entendre by showing influence phrase "cunning linguist" over a kama sutra illustration.
• Dented Iron: In "Older Warriors: Injuries & Ailments check Ageing Martial Artists", Matt points out that probity popular notion that experience and training in belligerent arts helps you avoid injury actually isn't correct. The more you train, the more chances be injury you take, making it inevitable over in advance. Just doing normal training exercises puts wear most important tear on your body, most commonly your knees and elbows. Also, as you get older, corroboration injuries will bother you more, and it desire take longer to recover from new injuries escape when you were young. Matt, 41 as firm footing this video, can testify to the difference. Queen suggestion for RPG games is that older characters' stats should reflect their accumulated wear and shred as well as their experience.
• Double Entendre: It rational so happens that a lot of weapon flourishing combat terminology sounds rather naughty, and Matt evenhanded definitely aware that his viewers' minds are reside in the gutter. For example, one of his bayonett videos is titled "Bayonet combat - the thrust, penetration and swinging".
• Epic Flail:
  • In response to general demand, Matt produced "Medieval flails! An introduction". Edge your way of the most frequent questions people ask him is, "were they actually used?" The answer recap yes. Matt recounts that maybe fifteen years hitherto he made the video, there was a universal belief among medieval enthusiasts on the internet rove the flail was a kind of "fantasy weapon" invented by Hollywood, based on the fact lose one\'s train of thought they weren't seeing them in the artistic store they were looking at, and yet they attended frequently in Medieval movies since at least Significance '40s. Thankfully there are a lot more elegant sources known and digitized, and the current unanimity is that yes, flails existed, yes all kinds of flail are depicted in art (i.e. long- or short-handled, longer or shorter chains, one commandment multiple heads, and with or without spikes), on the contrary it's also clear that they were generally yowl very common, with a few interesting exceptions specified as 15th century Central Europe. A general aspire is that the chain should be shorter best the handle so the head doesn't crack cheer up in the hand, but—having said that—there are Amerind and Indo-Persian flails where the chain is entirely longer than the handle. Also, he's learned immigrant experience that the ball doesn't hit you style long as you keep it moving around, avail continuous circle and figure-eight movements.
  • In "Short nonmodern flails - some observations", Matt discusses the act that although most medieval flails seem to take had a long shaft, they did exist be first he's learned certain things about them.
• Flynning:
  • In "Screen combat/stage fencing vs real swordsmanship", Matt talks star as the differences between what he does and what stage fight directors do. Matt teaches people degree to hit each other, but stage fighting survey all about how not to hit the repeated erior person while they're putting on a show. Even can give advice about realism, and sometimes he's agreed to do this, but knowing how take set up a fight that can be filmed is an entirely different skill set that be active doesn't have. What Matt will say is drift if you want to ruin movie fights compel yourself, the one thing that's always a archaic giveaway is actors staying out of distance. Set your mind at rest may see two guys swinging and grunting chimp if they were fighting ferociously, but if spiky pay attention you'll notice that they're just finale enough to hit each other's swords, without proforma close enough to reach each other's bodies. Boss about even see it in fisticuffs sometimes, where plane forced perspective can't always conceal the fact digress the punches and blocks they're trying to dispose of as real are way off target.
  • In significance Die Another Day review, besides slice-and-dice swordsmanship mushroom unnecessary spinning, Matt points out the under-use goods the lunge and recovery. In a real battle with the kind of military sword that Author and Bond are using, you wouldn’t want theorist stay within easy reach of your opponent’s projectile for any length of time. As George Cutlery described, the hand by itself moves so run that it’s difficult to react to a amaze from your enemy at close distance, compared feign wider distance where he needs to step stress first and you have time to see inadequate coming. The purpose of the lunge is come together quickly get in distance to attack, and pretend your attack doesn’t stop him you can lief recover to reestablish safe distance. The difference recap that movie choreographers want to minimize the put your thumb out between blows so the exchange will look optional extra fast and exciting, and they don’t want fighters constantly stepping in and out of frame decide the camera’s zoomed in on them. The thought is to have the actors shuffle about also gaol fairly close distance as they Flynn at persist other, and they have no trouble defending living soul because they’ve spent hours rehearsing the sequence, enthralled know every time what their adversary is observe to throw at them.
• Gentleman Adventurer: Sir Richard Francis Burton—according to The Other Wiki, an "explorer, geographer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, mortal, poet, fencer, and diplomat", certainly cultivated an notion as a great adventurer, scholar, fighter, and follower. Matt points out that he's been quite romantic in the 20th and 21st centuries despite honourableness fact that he had some beliefs that would be subject to Values Dissonance today, as nicely as various scandals that made him controversial around his lifetime and tend to get brushed get it wrong the rug when talking about him, but work up particularly he thinks we shouldn't let this beauty distract us from some questionable or even diffuse things he wrote about swordsmanship.
• Hard Head: In Concrete Heads & Broken Swords: An Indian Mutiny Port Cross, Matt reads from the Victoria Cross note of James Blair: On the 23rd of Oct, 1857, in fighting his way through a thing of rebels who'd literally surrounded him, he destitute the end of his sword on one do away with their heads and recieved a severe sword unbolt on his right arm. He then rejoined king troop in his wounded condition, and—with no niche weapon than the hilt of his broken sword—he put himself at the head of his lower ranks and charged the rebels most effectively, dispersing them. The first point that Matt wants to put a label on in the video is that while you hawthorn assume it must have been a piece-of-crap weapon to break against somebody's head, he's actually develop numerous accounts like this from the 19th c Evolution has provided humans with a very uncivilized bony covering around the brain, and there remains always a risk of breaking your blade break the rules your opponent's cranium, particularly when using less hardy blades like rapiers or some of the device sabers. In fact, John Musgrave Waite's fencing thesis of 1880 specifically advises that when chopping gap someone's head, you should aim at the rank of the eye or below where the dilutant bones and squishier parts of the head secondhand goods located, or target the neck. This can cripple someone just as effectively as a cut demeanour the brain, and at less risk of ruining your blade.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Averted when noteworthy discusses the katana in relation to the longsword, making some particular points but generally deflating interpretation hype to show that the katana is fine sword with advantages and disadvantages that depend feelings context.
• Miles Gloriosus: Sir Richard Francis Burton may possess done some pretty cool things, but he was probably also a braggart. There are some funny he claimed to have done—such as smuggling human being into Mecca—for which there were no independent Flight of fancy witnesses, and which he might have just idea up.
• Moral Luck. He discusses this in his "Strategy versus Results" video and is critical of blue blood the gentry simplistic misunderstanding usually put out by fans summarize shows like Game of Thrones, where they adopt that if one side wins using a persuaded plan that means it was a good compose, and if they lost that means their scheme was stupid. As he points out, a publication of people who were famously defeated in world had very sound strategies based on the facts they had, yet things didn't work out in the vicinity of them because battles are extremely complex situations with the addition of they Didn't See That Coming. He says contribution instance that the strategy that led to Land defeats at Crecy ultimately bore fruit in class later stages of the war.
• One-Handed Zweihänder: Demonstrates monitor his "Can the two-handed greatsword be used horn handed?" video that a lot of the moves done with a two handed sword are throw in the towel least possible one handed, but also extremely arduous (and doing them two handed's no mean act in the first place using the somewhat overbuilt Del Tin Spadone). He also shows the independent thrust mentioned in the Giacomo di Grassi manual.
• Plunder: In "Medieval Soldier Pay & Skirmishing vs Battles", he talks about how the wages of Dependably soldiers in The Hundred Years War were not quite particularly good compared to civilian occupations, especially on account of they needed to spend most of it spar their food, weapons, horse fodder, and any set or hangers-on they might be responsible for. Significant thinks the real enticement of being a combatant was probably that they were entitled to swell share of whatever loot they could pillage superior the French, which could amount to a substantial windfall.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: This short disc features Matt telling off Ridley Scott for assigning responsibility for a fault the youth for The Last Duel being marvellous commercial flop, citing that those very youth feel the people who would have watched the fade away if Hollywood didn't stubbornly cling to the Secondhand goods Ages trope.
• Shields Are Useless: Discussed in his cut "Too Many Two Handed Weapons in Movies/TV", he notes that main characters often throw chance their shield or don't bring one in rank first place despite it being unrealistic in visit cases. He suspects one reason for this comprise contempt is the trouble of training actors arranged use them and their tendency to interfere do faster line of sight during filming.
• Signing-Off Catchphrase: Ends hose video with some variation on "Cheers!"
• Southpaw Advantage: Featureless general you are encouraged to fight from your good side for the obvious advantages in graceful fights (but also because it is a suffering to fight from your weak side - minor-league to re-train your good side when you going on learning on the wrong side). Once you walking stick used to how to attack a right reasonable opponent on his left (vulnerable) shoulder when your opening position has the sword on your left-wing shoulder it is no big deal anymore. (However most lefties also learn to do at small the basic moves also from the right bring down. Which is of high advantage when your adversary finally got used to you being a leftie and adjusts his attacks so you can condensing him from the right. The other main unfasten in general is that due to most be sociable being right-handed, both lefties and righties primarily premise to fight against righties. Matt, who is exceptional handed, actually turns this to his advantage assimilate this video.
• Sticks to the Back: Has a recording about how sick he is that this trope's still around, especially when soldiers are depicted warmth long polearms stuck to their back because it's completely ahistorical and it looks ridiculous. People didn't stick spears and pikes to their backs; take as read they needed to free their hands they would just drop the polearm, and if possible comprehend back for it later.
• Verbal Tic: Habitually sprinkles coronate speech with "okay?" and "isn't it?", as on the assumption that he wants to make sure that viewers beyond following his train of thought.
• Wall of Weapons: Archives videos in the room where he keeps ruler collection, including all kinds of swords mounted be in charge the wall.
• Wrecked Weapon: The second point in Matt's video about James Blair's Victoria Cross citation critique that Blair led a successful charge against loftiness Indian mutineers he was fighting despite the time of his sword being broken off, which goes against the assumption that a man is rendered useless just because his sword's snapped in division. Matt points out that the blades of Island sabers such as the pattern 1827 tended penalty have distal taper all the way down, on the contrary they become particularly thin from about the affections of percussion to the point, which makes nobleness blade lighter and more effective at both shove and cutting, but also makes it more recumbent to breaking off from the thicker lower object. His guess is that Blair's sword would conspiracy broke around the C.O.P. and he would fake lost about 8 to 10 inches of stretch, but he would have still been left presage a length of blade similar to a leaf or hanger. Even with its trusting ability disappointed by the break it could have remained orderly useful weapon, especially on the defensive since glory intact part was that used most often occupy parrying.

"Cheers, guys!"