Justin Aucoin is the product of when a five-year-old boy who fell in love with reruns of Guy William’s Zorro grows into a mostly functional adult. His life-long love of athletics and swashbuckling has led him down the road to practicing historical fencing as well as personal training. He’s available for both fencing coaching & personal training in private, semi-private, and group classes both in-person and online.
During his free time, Justin enjoys reading and watching old swashbucklers and historical adventure tales. The Three Musketeers continues to be his favorite franchise (even the really bad renditions). He’s also a huge fan of the Captain Alatriste series and almost anything written by Rafael Sabatini. Justin has even penned a few tales himself. Justin is also an avid cosplayer and enjoys playing video games and tabletop games with friends.
You can find Justin under the moniker of theTavernKnight on social media, a reference to one of Sabatini’s earlier adventure novels.
Read on to learn more about his historical fencing and fitness journey.
Fencing Career
He is the founder and head coach of Boston Academie d’Armes. His fencing career started in 2006, first as a foilest at Boston Fencing Club before joining the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) in 2010. For more than a decade, he has studied 17th Century Italian rapier fencing systems and it’s offshoots found in France and the German states, as well as Italian dueling saber, dueling sword, partisan (spear), and baton-a-deux bouts.
As a competitor, Justin has won numerous rapier tournaments in the SCA — both in singles and in group melee — including Carolingia’s Baronial Rapier Champion, East Kingdom Crown Rapier Champion, and named 8x to the Pennsic Champs team. He is the 15th member of the East Kingdom’s Order of Defense, the SCA’s highest fencing award. He is also a member of the Order of the Golden Rapier and Order of the Silver Rapier for fencing prowess.
Similarly, he is a member of the SCA’s Order of Silver Brooch and the Order of the Maunche for his historical martial arts research, and holds a Silver Wheel and Silver Crescent for his coaching service to the SCA. He’s also a member of the Company of St. Jude, a group dedicated to the study, exploration, and practice of historical martial arts within the SCA.
Outside of the SCA, Justin is a HEMA medalist in both rapier and dagger, and military/dueling saber. He teaches rapier at Athena School of Arms and has taught numerous workshops at HEMA events such as Iron Gate Exhibition (IGX) and Lord Baltimore’s Challenge. He is available to teach workshops at other events and as well as private historical fencing lessons.
He is a certified Instructor at Arms in Italian Foil through the Fencing Master Certificate Program. He is also a Level One student guide & apprentice instructor through Academie Duello, and a personal trainer through NASM.
The Rest of the Team
