Danièle Cybulskie's Medieval Masterclasses

Ken is a highly qualified authority on classical and historical fencing (holding the credential of Maître d'Armes Historique from the United States Fencing Coaches Association) and modern fencing instructor (Prévôt in foil and épée). He has a quarter-century of experience, and has lectured and published widely, as well as taught at institutions such as the Higgins Armory Museum. His aim is, as Burt S. Hall wrote in his review of Ken's translation of Camillo Agrippa's 1553 Trattato di Scienza d'Arme, "demystifying all Renaissance fencing treatises and enhancing their standing as texts." In addition to his academic work, Ken currently teaches privately as the lead instructor of Massachusetts Historical Swordsmanship.

Neil Buttery has been studying and writing about the history of British food for over a decade. His academic career began in the sciences, focussing upon the evolution of social behaviour, eventually segueing into the social history of his favourite thing: food. He is also an experienced chef and restauranteur, recreating historical and traditional foods; a believer that it is our senses of smell and taste that can transport our imaginations to the past most efficiently. This combination of academic study and practical cookery has led to appearances on Channel Four’s Britain’s Most Historic Towns, BBC Two’s Monkman & Seagull’s Genius Guide to Great Britain and Radio Four’s The Food Programme. His research and writing on the subject can be read on his long-running blogs British Food: A History and Neil Cooks Grigson, and heard on the British Food History Podcast. Most recently he completed his first book, A Dark History of Sugar, for publishing house Pen & Sword History.

While obtaining his history degree at the University of Leicester, Tom decided that office work was not for him and gave blacksmithing a try (naturally). Both during and since his time studying Blacksmithing and Metalworking at Warwick College, Tom has provided demonstrations at Mary Arden's Farm in Stratford-Upon Avon and across the UK, showing the life and craft of blacksmiths from the Early Iron Age to the Victorian Era. In his private blacksmithing business, Tom continues to make both modern and historical knives, as well as other weapons based on the measurements and style of archaeological finds. He also does artistic work and just about anything else - as long as it's not horseshoes.