William
Wilson. Photo courtesy of 4W.
William Wilson Tattershall School of Defence
In the Society for Creative Anachronism he is known as Barwn Meistr Gwylym ab Owain, OL OP DWS and is the premiere member of the Order of the White Scarf of Atenveldt, the highest award for fencing in the Kingdom. In the SCA he has also been awarded masters level status for his research in historical swordplay and study of lifestyle of the Elizabethan period.
The Tattershall school is devoted to the study and practice of the Art of Defence of the 15th, 16th and early 17th Centuries. This includes not only fencing but wrestling and the use of the dagger. A prominent researcher in historical swordplay, Mr. Wilson has written and published the book "The Art of Defence," has studied many original texts, and is in the process of working on translations of Italian fencing manuals.
Mr. Wilson has been fencing for 30 years and began his fencing instruction under Master Bella from Canada and Mr. Silverberg in Buffalo, New York with further instruction from other masters and instructors including Maestro Sean Hayes of Eugene, OR and Dr. Rita Ashcraft of Northern Arizona University.
He specializes in teaching beginners either classical foil, epee or saber and teaches beginning and advanced students the art of defence with rapier and sword. He also teaches beginning longsword and backsword. Mr. Wilson currently teaches beginning Italian foil for the PE department at Northern Arizona University. In addition, he teaches seminars internationally on the use of the Italian rapier and the Italian 16th century civilian spada da filo (edged sword/sidesword).