Historical swordsmanship

Historical fencing is a martial art that revives old European Arts of Battle. Contrary to popular belief there has been versatile and rich culture of martial arts through ages in Europe. As years passed by, most of those Arts were either forgotten or they evolved into different forms. Even today part of our martial heritage lives for example in boxing, wrestling and classical fencing.

Now those forgotten Arts are being revived again by the aid of the old masters themselves, as many of them wrote manuscripts or books upon the Art and the use of different weapons. A great amount of those treatises are known today and new ones are still been found nearly every month. Even though many of the systems are well documented and many treatises have pictures as an aid, interpreting the treatises is a long-span and challenging process.

Every weapon taught in our school is based on a single respective source, but to better understand the systems we also study other traditions on the same subject. For example, in addition to the Italian longsword (that) we mainly study, we occationally practise the German tradition as well. This enables us to get a more comprehensive view of the Art.

The practice of historical martial arts is good for mind, body and soul. The mind is improved through concentration and the development of theoretical understanding. The body through healthy and varied exercise. The soul through the constant striving for perfect form, the intellectual and moral honesty the Art demands, and through the depth of personal interaction that fencing with your peers creates. (part of school's mission statement).

Sources

Fior di Battaglia, 1409

The main system taught in our society is the Italian longsword from the late middle ages, the source being Fiore dei Liberi's Fior di Battaglia ('The Flower of Battle') from 1409. Fiore's treatise is one of the most important ones of the whole European martial culture. It describes a consistent and comprehensive system that can be applied as such to various weapons. In his treatise Fiore deals with

• unarmed techniques (abrazare)
• the use of dagger, sword, spear and pollax in armour and without
• mounted fighting armed and unarmed

You can read Guy Windsor's articles on Fior di Battaglia (amongst other things) here.

1.33, n.1300

This is the earliest known surviving European fechtbuch, or fight book. It's of German origin, written entirely in Latin and it describes the use of medieval arming sword and buckler. The treatise is also known as the Tower fechtbuch for it's long stay in the Tower of London. Nowadays the treatise is in the Royal Armouries museum, Leeds.

Gran Simulacro, 1610

The source for our Italian rapier is Ridolfo Capoferro's “Gran Simulacro Dell'arte e Dell'uso Della Scherma..”, which is considered one of the cornerstones of Italian rapier.

Updated: 8.9.2009 01:39