#historical fencing

[mactiir]

in HEMA (aka historical european fencing), much of the sport is done with fencing masks on, so identifying your clubmates during sparring or tourneys is just based on gear. you know, what color their jacket and pants are, what patches they have on it, how is their mask painted. If someone borrows someone else's jacket it's legitimately jarring, like having someone with an entirely different body type and way of moving stealing your friend's face.

Once i read about historical fishermen in the north sea and how they each had a specific hat pattern that their buddies would use to identity them while they were bundled up. It was so much part of their identity that they were often buried wearing those hats. The gear is like your name, a visual identifier of YOU when you do not have a face.

anyway, back when I was buying gear i got my pants in ELECTRIC blue. I figured i was gonna get a black or grey jacket. but HEMA gear is kind of expensive because it's all custom- or handmade, so instead of spending $400 on a new jacket I picked up one secondhand for like 20. Except the only jacket that fit me was bright, SCARLET red. And I already had my expensive, new, custom, BLUE pants. I look like a damn rocket pop or like, a mixed Icee. I was like, shit! I should switch my jacket before i become the rocket pop guy!!!

Long story short, not only am I now the rocket pop guy, the color scheme has bled into my entire wardrobe. Every-fucking-thing I own is red and blue. I look like a french revolutionary. I look like a founding father in a school play. I have become a northern fisherman in my stripey hat. Now, even if I DO get a new jacket, I feel like I GOTTA buy it in red, yk? Otherwise they won't recognize me. Maybe I won't recognize me. I'm the rocket pop guy!!!

#Hema #historical fencing #historical european martial arts #Fencing #longsword fencing #western martial arts

[runeswordproductions]

I think there’s a pretty good argument to be made that Gideon Nav’s weapon of choice isn’t a longsword, but something bigger, more comparable to a zweihander or a montante.

Like yes, of course Gideon uses a longsword because we as a fandom have a special place in our hearts for longsword and there’s probably Word of God from Tamsyn about it, but if we look at the text *archaeologically* how is this weapon actually described? Getting this out of the way: it’s called a two-hander (literally English for zweihander)  as often as a longsword but I don’t think that says much on its own. Neither are technical terms (“longsword,” historically, has been used to describe many weapons including, ironically, rapiers) and “two-hander” is pretty descriptive of what we think of as a longsword. Another potential fallacy that won’t help us is how everyone seems to regard Gideon’s “longsword” as a brute’s weapon with little finesse behind it. This isn’t true of longsword, but it *does* ring true for a take from snotty rapier people, and this series has an astonishing number of those in it.

Rather, I think the best argument is found in how we’re told these weapons are used. We never get to see Cohort swordsmen in action but they sound more like zweihander-wielding doppelsoldners than fighters practicing blossfechten or harnischfecten. Front line shock troops widely regarded as insane (at least by normal, non-House people), the Cohort's swordfighters seem to trained to take on large numbers of enemies at once and—critically—they don’t seem to fight *other people with swords.* Blood of Eden doesn’t use swords and there are no references to other anti-House resistance movements using them. So what makes the most sense here? Longsword, a surprisingly technical weapon most often used to fight other people with longswords? Or the whirling battle dance of the montante, designed to shock and terrify and cleave through whole units at once? I know which of these fighting styles I’d want to use against a giant bone construct.

#Gideon the Ninth #Gideon Nav #The Locked Tomb #HEMA #longsword #zweihander #montante #historical fencing

[mockingnerd]

Another one for the HEMA folks, or SCA or LARP or other collections of capital letters! It is available here if you are inclined to wear clothes or stick things on other things

If my clubmates would stop saying banger things like this I would be able to stop drawing piles of weapons and twisty banners. But for now it's a pretty fun challenge for my art so I'll allow it

#my art #hema #historical european martial arts #sca #larp #swords #longsword #rapier #halberd #sword and buckler #sabre #saber #smallsword #sidesword #love language #historical fencing #swordfighting

[dogesterone]

So I have over a thousand followers now (holy shit) and a decent number of people who follow me have at least a passing interest in the stuff I post about swords and HEMA, so I figured I'd do you all a favor and quickly point out which HEMA YouTubers are good vs which ones are worth staying away from:

Good:

Matt Easton

Martin Fabian

Robinswords

Schildwache Potsdam

Björn Rüther

Dave Rawlings (London Longsword Academy)

Akademia Szermierzy

Stoccata

HEMA Fight Breakdowns (He did a video on one of my clubmates!)

Bad:

Shadiversity (Friends with chuds like Sargon of Akkad and not a credible source of information in the slightest)

Blood and Iron Martial Arts (Toxic club culture at best, Nazis at worst)

Jill Bearup (TERF)

ARMA, including ARMA Korea (High control group/grift with bad safety culture)

#HEMA #Historical Fencing #Resources #Swords

[victusinveritas]

#philomena cunk #hema #martial arts #historical fencing

[we-are-knight]

I feel ⚜️p o w e r f u l⚜️ in this armour.

Jacket is layered with plates, making it a coat of plates stand-in. Shoulders and arms are in harness now, and my legs are covered from the front. With the sallet visor, I think that I've finally got enough together to form a harness simulator.

Not as pretty as steel, but much more affordable, and besides that my jacket (given to me by my friends) looks amazing. ✨

I feel more like a knight than before.

#the knight himself #HEMA #fencing #historical fencing #martial arts #longsword #chivalry #heraldry #harnischfechten

[loathsome-little-creature]

Whatever happened to like, wandering swordsman as a job like wtf. smh my head…

#shitpost #hema #historical fencing #medieval #196

[lactoset0lerant]

Do you like swords? If yes, which one of these are true about you?...

#swords #dnd #fencing #historical fencing #im actually a fencer so thats why i like them lmao

[medieval-margins]

The wonderful fencing illustrations in Hans Talhoffers fencing manuals are of course iconic! We have two different versions of this Talhoffer design, one of them featuring German calligraphy spelling 'Hep! vor Schwert, vor Körper', which means 'Hep! Before Sword, before Body'.

Medieval Margins is a Norway based design project by medieval-excited HEMAists, combining art from real medieval manuscripts with hand-drawn calligraphy

#medieval #medievalcore #knightcore #fencing #hema #historical european martial arts #historical fencing #calligraphy #hans talhoffer #talhoffer #longsword

[mactiir]

I just started doing HEMA, is there any workouts I can do so I’m not worn out at the end of a single bout?

You probably won't like this answer but, running.

Understand I'm RELATIVELY new to HEMA (less than 2 years) and also fairly new to being non-sedentary (couldn't run a mile before this year and only started sort of working out ~3 years ago), so I am not an expert. But Sparring WIPED me when I started. I cross trained with climbing for several months, figuring strength and balance were the trick, especially since my arms and back were sore CONSTANTLY at first. And climbing helped like, a tiny bit, but I still had zero capacity for long or multiple bouts. Then I picked up regular running specifically to increase my endurance for steel kit HEMA. In 3 months of regular cardio I went from fencing like, 2 bouts a day max before I was too wiped to continue, to fencing 5-6 high intensity bouts in a day with a energy to spare.

And, honestly, running sucked ass at first. I took 5 months to complete a "9 week" couch-to-5k program. I walked over 90% of my miles for the first month. But holy shit, I feel like a fucking Olympian in the ring. Even when my technique needs work I'm literally running circles around fencers whose only cardio is fencing.

Strength is good too, but I hate weights so I do body weight stuff around climbing. Exercises focused on the upper back and shoulders are useful specifically for longsword. These can be low-weight, since swords aren't honestly that heavy (although strength can be useful in tourney bouts, strength building is a different story from 'doing bouts without feeling like death'). Bicep and tricep curls, chest presses and overhead rows will all make it so your arms/back/shoulders don't get tired. But for me, and for a lot of new fencers, the limiting factor is cardio, cardio, cardio. Do more cardio. Take as much time as you need to build up to regular and comfortable cardio, but. Seriously. Do cardio.

#Hema #historical fencing #historical european martial arts #longsword fencing #exercise #western martial arts #Workout stuff

[runeswordproductions]

What Your Favorite Sword Says About You (Slanderous)

Arming sword: you cannot fight without your emotional support buckler

Backsword: you’re the weirdo at the saber event

Basket-hilted broadsword: you’re an American with a kilt collection

Cutlass: you’re willing to spend $400 to lose at saber

Dagger: you like to grapple but can’t close distance without getting cleaved

Dussack: you don’t understand why no one wants to play with a 400-year-old boffer

Katana: there is a 90% chance you have no idea what you’re doing

Kriegsmesser: you’re willing to spend $800 to lose at longsword

Longsword (German): wall of text about why your feder is a real sword

Longsword (Italian): you get scared and confused whenever your opponent switches to thumb grip

Messer: wall of text about why your messer *isn’t* a real sword

Montante: you have no friends

Rapier: you’re scared to get hit with a sidesword

Saber (dueling): you’re a sport fencer who wanted a flashier outfit

Saber (military): you will burst into flames if you lose to one more dueling saberist

Sidesword: you’re not dexterous enough for rapier

Shashka: you like wearing furry hats better than having fingers

Smallsword: you can’t lift a rapier

Spadroon: you’re outnumbered by people who have never heard of your weapon at your own event

Viking sword: there’s a 100% chance you have no idea what you’re doing

#Swords #HEMA #historical fencing #longsword #rapier #saber #fencing #sword fighting #shitpost

[mockingnerd]

A silly little design I made for my historical fencing club! We’d been discussing mental health in HEMA and my clubmate said this banger of a quote and I had to immortalize it. You can get it on stuff here!

Turns out I do love drawing swords

#yes I drew my actual feder #my art #hema #historical european martial arts #swordfighting #longsword #rapier #historical fencing #buckler #sword and buckler #sword #sidesword

[milkywayan]

fencing tournament today! competing in longsword and sword and buckler! wish me luck!

edit: tournament is long over, thanks @ everyone who wished me luck, even weeks later :)

#personal #hema #historical fencing #historical european martial arts #women of hema

[victusinveritas]

#philomena cunk #hema #historical european martial arts #fencing #historical fencing #swords #martial arts memes

[historicalfightingguide]

For anyone who hasn’t yet seen the following links:

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Some advice on how to start studying the sources generally can be found in these older posts

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Remember to check out  A Guide to Starting a Liberation Martial Arts Gym as it may help with your own club/gym/dojo/school culture and approach.Check out their curriculum too.

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Fear is the Mind Killer: How to Build a Training Culture that Fosters Strength and Resilience by   Kajetan Sadowski   may be relevant as well.

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“How We Learn to Move: A Revolution in the Way We Coach & Practice Sports Skills”  by Rob Gray  as well as this post that goes over the basics of his constraints lead, ecological approach.

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Another useful book to check out is  The Theory and Practice of Historical European Martial Arts (while about HEMA, a lot of it is applicable to other historical martial arts clubs dealing with research and recreation of old fighting systems).

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Trauma informed coaching and why it matters

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Look at the previous posts in relation to running and cardio to learn how that relates to historical fencing.

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Why having a systematic approach to training can be beneficial

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Why we may not want one attack 10 000 times, nor 10 000 attacks done once, but a third option.

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How consent and opting in function and why it matters.

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More on tactics in fencing

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Types of fencers

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Open vs closed skills

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The three primary factors to safety within historical fencing

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Worth checking out are this blogs tags on pedagogy and teaching for other related useful posts.

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And if you train any weapon based form of historical fencing check out the ‘HEMA game archive’ where you can find a plethora of different drills, focused sparring and game options to use for effective, useful and fun training.

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Check out the cool hemabookshelf facsimile project.

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For more on how to use youtube content for learning historical fencing I suggest checking out these older posts on the concept of video study of sparring and tournament footage.

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The provoker-taker-hitter tactical concept and its uses

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Approaches to goals and methodology in historical fencing

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A short article on why learning about other sports and activities can benefit folks in combat sports

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Consider getting some patches of this sort or these cool rashguards to show support for good causes or a t-shirt like to send a good message while at training.

#fencing #hema #historical fencing #swordfighting #meyer #research #Youtube

[we-are-knight]

So, I can't afford full plate harness.

BUT...

I can afford, steadily, to equip plastic harness simulators.

So I guess I'm investing in this for the time being, to get some experience in harness without a plate harness.

Knight is in fact going to do some true knightly combat, soon.

#knight #chivalry #plate armour #longsword #cavalier #knights #armour #HEMA #Historical Fencing #WMA #MAC armoury #harnischfechten #armoured combat