Actors, Roles, and Behaviours

Image of Personal Combat in Medieval Fightbooks

  • Bartlomiej Walczak Independent scholar
Keywords: ADVISE, Embodied Research, Fightbooks, Historical European Martial Arts

Abstract

This paper attempts to look at Fightbooks as literary sources and apply this reasoning to ADVISE reconstruction methodology. First the concepts of Real and Imaginary Worlds is introduced, followed by the distinction between Actors and Roles. Based on descriptions each Actor and Role can be assigned a set of Actions, Decisions, Intentions and Goals that constitute their Behaviours. Depending on Perspective, such Behaviours can be divided into Expected and Unexpected.

Reconstruction is then looked at as an effort to gain deeper insight into described Roles and Actors through enacting of their Behaviours. Applying these concepts to ADVISE methodology allows for more nuanced and stricter process by focusing on Actions in Phase 1 and Decisions in Phase 2. Phase 5 introduces formal set theory notation that allows for a consistent high-level reasoning about the content of recorded message. Discussion addresses potential criticisms and further applications of this approach, demonstrating how it can bring more clarity to the whole process, especially when it comes to properly defining future experiments.

References

Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, MS Ludwig XV 13 (c. 1404)
New York, Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.383 (c. 1400s)
Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Hs 3227a (c. 1389)
Rome, Biblioteca dell’Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei e Corsiniana, Cod.44.A.8 (c. 1452)

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Published
2023-05-15
How to Cite
Walczak, B. (2023). Actors, Roles, and Behaviours: Image of Personal Combat in Medieval Fightbooks. Acta Periodica Duellatorum, 10(1), 19–41. https://doi.org/10.36950/apd-2022-003
Section
Articles