I was invited onto this site by a certain "Raf S.", who contacted me via The History Channel site, where I post as "Cohort69".   I moderate on the History Forums at MMA.tv and stick-and-knife.com, as "TrueFightScholar",  where we cover martial arts and military history.  I also post frequently on Swordforum, under my real name, David Black Mastro.

This site looks like a lot of fun, and I look forward to many fine discussions and debates.  I would like to thank "Raf S." for inviting me.

Best Regards,

David Black Mastro

Originally posted by demon sup buddy, welcome to AllEmpires!

Thank you!

BTW, when I post, I notice that I can't right-click copy what I type, which is something I like to do, just in case I get bumped offline when posting.  What's up with that?

Much Obliged,

David Black Mastro

Originally posted by Imperator Invictus Welcome to AE.

Thanks!

Oh, OK.  That's not the way I'm used to doing it, but it works! 

One other question--I'm not receiving e-mails regarding replies to threads--is there any other way to tell this, aside from sifting through the threads themselves?  Many sites have a feature on the user control panel, where you can see all the threads you've posted on.

Thanks for all the help,

David Black Mastro

welcome!   i see why from your medieval post why you like to back up your writing      I still have not got use to this style of copy and paste yet but getting there.   Atleast here unlike our old site(we just moved here), we dont have time-outs which use to be very frequent there.

 do you have a shorter nickname to refer to as? 

Yeah, otherwise you can just lose a lot of text sometimes.    

do you have a shorter nickname to refer to as?

If you wish, you can call me 'Knecht, or simply abbreviate my username to L_D.

Or, just call me David!

Peace,

David Black Mastro

Hello!

Welcome!

Settings -> Forum Preferences -> Enable the WYSIWYG post editor -> "No"

Thank you!

Thanks for the tip, Cyrus.

Now, what about being notified of thread responses?  Or, is there a way to "subscribe" to threads, so that I can check for responses on my control panel?

Sorry about the confusion,

David

Thanks, Serge.

Would you like to explain your nickname? Maybe, if you do, I'll be able to remember it (I am afraid my old memory is not what it was one, and I have some problem with long and complex words )

Landsknecht literally means "servant of the land", and it describes the type of mercenary footsoldier used in the German-speaking territories loyal to the Hapsburg Emperor in the 15th and 16th centuries AD/CE.  The landsknechts were established in order to counter the threat from the Swiss Cantons.  Landsknechts fought in essentially the same manner as their Swiss opponents--they were predominantly pikemen.  Because they fought with the long pike, the term Landsknecht is sometimes seen spelled as Lanzsknecht, which means "lance-servant".  From this, we get the Italian Lanzichenecco.

Now, Doppelsoldner means "hireling who draws double-pay", and it was used to describe the elite veterans of Landsknecht units, who fought with arquebuses, halberds, and two-handed swords.

Peace,

David

Welcome to AE LD.

I'm not sure if you can do that, maybe you could try using the active threads link.

Thanks!

I'll give it a shot.  So, how do folks keep track of all the threads they've posted on here?

Peace,

David

I know I don't all the time. I try to keep up by checking all of the updated ones.

Thanks for the info!

Thanks for the info, L_D.

I see you are a linguist -- not unusual here, but most seen among European and Asian members. Bravo!

BTW, I need to say you have a rather cool full name, so it's nearly a pity to replace it with a nick. Maybe you know, Mastro is Italian for Master. Do you have Italian ancestors? Or, maybe, Spaniards?

Serge L,

You are too kind, sir!  

My linguistic skills are actually predominantly limited to the martial arts, and historical military matters.  I took 3 years of Latin in high school, but I otherwise have little expertise in this field.

Hispano-Italian ancestors, actually.

The original name was "Mastrobattista" ("Master Baptist"?), which my father shortened to "Mastro" long before I was even born.  His father was from Rome, and his mother was from a town on the Adriatic, called Ortona.  As I'm sure you know, the Spanish had a pretty profound influence in Italy for many years--in Sicily, Naples, Milan, Tuscany, etc.  From what I understand, "Mastro" is more commonly seen as a Spanish spelling, as opposed to "Maestro".  In fact, I sometimes have Latino folks ask me if I'm Spanish, based solely on my name.

My middle name, "Black", was my mother's maiden name--she was a Scot-Irish Protestant, who could ultimately trace her ancestry to Catholic Highland Scots of the MacGregor clan.

Peace,

David

Yes, that would be the litteral translation. "Mastro", in syurnames, means "Master artisian", so your ancestor was either a skilled artisian named Battista, or, since "battista" was also a nickname for waiters or house servants, he could have been a head waiter or a butler.

Ortona a Mare, in Region Abruzzi, Province of Chieti. I know it, my mother lived there for many years during her youth, and I have been there in vacation, once.  Me and my mother both lived for many years in Rome too.

Sure, it could have been Italian or Spanish both. The two languages are rather similar, and there also have been mutual influences, as you mentioned.

In this case the surname origin is probably derived from physical characteristics of the ancestor (dark hair and/or skin ... at least for Scottish standards).

However, I repeat, I really like the sound of your full name.

Hi Serge,

Thanks for the info regarding all of that--I do remember my father once saying that our ancestors had supposedly been involved in clothing manufacture, so the "artisan" part makes sense.

It truly is a small world!

Those "mutual influences" have always particularly intrigued me from the martial/military standpoint.  During the late Middle Ages and into the Renaissance, the swordfighting traditions of Spain and Italy were rather similar.  Both areas were famous for their style of sword-and-shield fighting (espada y rodela; spada e rotella), which saw much application on the battlefields.  In civilian circles, the Spanish and Italians also popularized the method of using the sword-and-dagger (espada y daga; spada e pugnale).  In terms of "mutual influences", the Spanish derived their famous battle formations--the colunela and tercio--from Italian sources.  In addition, Italian schermitores from Naples insist to this very day that their is a Spanish element to their swordplay, though they are not sure what it is!  Considering the long Spanish involvement in the South of Italy (the whole "Kingdom of the Two Sicilies" deal), this doesn't sound surprising.  It's also interesting to note that, in the late 16th century, the Spanish Army of Flanders--generally considered to be the very best army in Western Europe--actually had more Italian soldiers than Spanish ones!  Also, in terms of quality, out of the so-called "Six Nations" (Spaniards, Italians, Burgundians, Germans, Walloons, and British) who served in the Spanish Army, the Spanish considered the Italians to be second only to themselves.  In fact, the best commander that the Spanish Army of Flanders ever had (indeed, perhaps the best commander anywhere in Europe at that time) was Italian--the famous Alessandro Farnese, the Duke of Parma!

Well, it might actually be by English standards, since, as far as I know, "Black" was one of several names given to Scottish families by the English, after the Jacobite Rebellions when the Gaelic-speaking Highland culture was suppressed.  You could compare it to the African slave Kuta Kinte (sp) being named "Toby", in the old tv series Roots.

However, I repeat, I really like the sound of your full name.

Feel free to use my full name, if you wish.

Peace,

David