Well, the quest to find a new employee at Arms and Armor is progressing well. We got a bunch of great applications and have spent the last weeks doing some initial interviews. At this point we are not accepting any more applications for this position, but if you'd like to considered for a future position please let us know. We anticipate hiring another 1-2 people in the next two years or so, so if you missed out on this round you haven't necessarily missed the boat forever.
Blacksmith and apprentice
In celebration of our upcoming hire, to be revealed soon, here are some cool pictures and links to medieval apprenticeships, which typically began when a child was around the age of 12 and was
A medieval swordsmith, armorer, and customers...
And here is a cool article from the New York Times about the continuation of medieval traditions of apprenticeship and journeyman years. Unlike medieval masters, we won't make our employees wander the countryside for a few years right when they become competent. An below is a brief video from Deutsch World television following a couple blacksmith apprentices on their wander-year, a period when, traditionally and occasionally today, journeyman craftspeople spend a year traveling around and bartering their trade for all of there needs. Watch it just for the dude drinking beer out of a hat if nothing else.
Our hire will not be forced to dress up like this, but once we finalize our hire we promise to introduce our new team member to you all.
Nathan Clough, Ph.D. is Vice President of Arms and Armor and a member of the governing board of The Oakeshott Institute. He is a historical martial artist and a former university professor of cultural geography. He has given presentations on historical arms at events including Longpoint and Combatcon, and presented scholarly papers at, among others, The International Congress on Medieval Studies.
Craig Johnson is the Production Manager of Arms and Armor and Secretary of The Oakeshott Institute. He has taught and published on the history of arms, armor and western martial arts for over 30 years. He has lectured at several schools and Universities, WMAW, HEMAC, 4W, and ICMS at Kalamazoo. His experiences include iron smelting, jousting, theatrical combat instruction and choreography, historical research, European martial arts and crafting weapons and armor since 1985