RENAISSANCE/EARLY MODERN WEAPON ARTS

Antagonistic Collaboration: Thwarting the Student for Transfer

Dori Coblenz

Length:

2 hours

Required Equipment:

Chest protector, jacket, gorget, glove, rapier, mask.

Have you worked with students who can perform a drill perfectly but fall apart when they compete? Or, have you yourself been frustrated because you have learned techniques but have no success using them “in force and true time”? In this workshop, we will delve into the concept of “scaffolding” – gradually removing support and increasing challenges to mirror competitive contexts more closely. The approach involves introducing elements of antagonism, deviating from expected responses, while maintaining collaboration toward a common goal.  The workshop expands upon the theoretical framework for transfer discussed in my lecture, although attendance at the lecture isn’t necessary to benefit from the workshop. Students will benefit most from this class if they have some teaching/coaching experience and are at an intermediate or advanced skill level.

Antonio Manciolino’s Two Sword Assalti: The Minutiae of Provocation

Joshua Wiest

Length:

2 hours

Required Equipment:

Gloves, mask, gorget, and two swords required; leg protection recommended.

Two swords historically was a dueling art, yet we see anecdotes from authors like Palladini and Ghodinho purporting its utility in self defense, so it’s not fair to characterize it only in such narrow terms. That said, the art of two sword fencing was the vehicle which gave the world the famous Duel of the Century, a continuous affair between Ascanio Della Corgna and Giovanni Taddei. Two sword fencing’s fame was short lived, but wide spread, showing up in historical manuscripts ranginging from Iberia to Saxony, and across northern Italy. 

 

This class is designed to take its practitioners through a simulated duel from one of the earliest authors to describe the art—Antonio Manciolino’s Giuoco di Due Spada. We will explore the first third of Manciolino’s assalto as both the agent and patient, discussing the nuance of his clever provocations, and outline some key features of two sword fencing as it was taught in Bologna in the 16th century.

Apropiado – When life gives you dispositive movements, make wounds

Puck Curtis

Length:

2 hours

Required Equipment:

Sword held in one hand, mask, gloves, jackets as needed.

Pacheco’s Three Considerations are Propio, Apropiado, and Transferido.  They define a system of martial opportunity.  Of these, Apropiado is defined as an opportunity being given to us.  If the movement of the opponent’s sword will not wound you, it’s a gift.  How do we capitalize on these gifts?  Why is it important to include this understanding of opportunity and timing?  We will explore Spanish Timing theory and Pacheco’s treatment of opportunity.  How does this compare to the Italian timing system, why is it important for True School fencers to embrace this system, and what can we gain from it?.

Death from Below: Rapier for Short(er) Fencers

Justin Aucoin

Length:

2 hours

Required Equipment:

Rapier, Mask, Gorget, Gloves, Jacket

Hate getting nuked from orbit by a much taller opponent in rapier? Have trouble marching a mile to get into your own offensive measure? Learn how to survive encounters with taller fencers and become a giant slayer!

 

Fencers will learn how to exploit the strengths and weaknesses of the taller fencer. We’ll explore techniques and tactics for surviving assaults against someone taller than us, how to get into our own measure safely, and strike with security. While this class is geared for short fencers, height is relative; if you find yourself at all out-ranged by other opponents on the regular, you’ll be able to glean some useful ideas from this workshop. Taller fencers looking to improve their coaching skills are also encouraged to show up to give shorter fencers realistic training partners to work with.

Die Kunst des Verführens: The art of seduction in the Long sword of Joachim Meyer

Ralf Gutzeit

Length:

3 hours

Required Equipment:

Long sword and fencing mask

We will deal with “verführen” seduction in different forms. What is good “verführen” (seduction) and how do we use it? You’ll learn along the way a “Handarbeit,” or piece of “handwork” that every fencer should be able to master.

The level is medium—basic longsword skills are assumed, familiarity with the German school, particularly Meyer is preferred, but it will be adapted to the group, so that everyone can gain both some practical, technical skill and scholastic/tactical insights.

Dussak of Joachim Meyer

James Reilly

Length:

2 hours

Required Equipment:

Dussack/messer and fencing mask

It’s my particular view that no weapon in all of Joachim Meyer’s work is as physically demanding, and requires as explosive and powerful movement as that of his Dussak. In this class, we will look at the similarities and differences between the dussak and his other weapons, discuss the history of the weapon and its relationship with kdf and Johannes Leckuchner, learn how to move rapidly in and out of distance with strong comportment, and how to control our opponents weapon and body through such movement.

“Halbe Stange” Half pole by Joachim Meyer 1570

Ralf Gutzeit

Length:

2 hours

Required Equipment:

Staff approx. 2m long, Mask, respect for the power of the staff!

We will be dealing with “Stücke” pieces by Joachim Meyer, from simple principles to the “Schöfferstreich” to complex pieces such as “Winden” and entries into wrestling.

No previous knowledge is necessary.

“In the Manner Of” – Polyfunctional Actions in Destreza

Puck Curtis

Length:

2 hours

Required Equipment:

Sword held in one hand, mask, gloves, jackets as needed.

Is the defense with the point in the right angle a deprivation of line, a threat, an attack, a feint, or a disruption of an attack in prep?  Do circular and half-circular parries exist in Destreza?  Do beats and expulsions exist?  When we think about fencing, we can become enamored with names.  The names capture things like timing context, intention of the action, and the proper usage.  Sometimes the best definitions are vague enough to allow art to happen.  What if we escape categories and embrace an open-ended polyfunctional system.  What if we don’t try to rigidly define our actions with predetermined outcomes?  What would our fencing be like if we were dynamic and responsive?  We can put the right angle out into the universe and if we are responsive and listen to what the universe is trying to tell us, maybe the right angle becomes whatever it needs to be.

Know Your Enemy: Approaching the Reckless, Timid, Choleric & Phlegmatic Opponent (for Rapier)

Justin Aucoin

Length:

2 hours

Required Equipment:

Rapier, Mask, Gorget, Gloves, Jacket.

Not every tactic works against every type of opponent. This workshop covers four different “types” of fighter personalities and how to approach each one, according to 17th Century Italian masters Francesco Alfieri, Salvator Fabris, and Francesco Marcelli.

 

Attendees will learn about the timid, reckless, choleric, and phlegmatic opponent in a historical context. We’ll go over each temperament’s strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies. We’ll build strategies to defeat them and some example plays we can utilize in a bout. Each temperament will also be put into the context of HEMA rapier combat for practical use in pickups and tournaments.

La Picca Senza The Party – Polearm Dueling For Those Who Are Serious About Social Distancing

Davis Vader

Length:

2 hours

Required Equipment:

Pikes will be provided.  Mask, light gloves, gorget, cup, chest protection (recommended), dagger or sidesword belted to draw.

At some point a spear is just too long to be treated like the nimble weapon it is. Enter the pike: a weapon that is truly king when it comes to reach. In this class we’ll look at pike use one-on-one through the lens of several Italian defense manuals, primarily Giocomo di Grassi and Achille Marozzo and even touch upon similarities from other treatises as we explore the mechanical and tactical tweaks that occur when one has to live or die by their weapon’s reach.

Moving in Tempo: A Weapon Agnostic Look at Dancing with the Enemy

John O’Meara

Length:

2 hours

Required Equipment:

Weapon of your choice, appropriate kit and basic skill set

Combat is a dance — whether you’re fighting with swords, daggers, guns, bare hands, or as an army in the field. We’ll look at a progressive series of weapon-agnostic exercises to internalize the use of tempo in controlling the fight.

Nymphs and Satyrs: The Tactics and Strategies of Bolognese Swordsmanship

Joshua Wiest

Length:

2 hours

Required Equipment:

This class is weapon agnostic; sword and buckler, sword alone, sword and dagger, two handed sword; it doesn’t matter, we’ll do our best to pair everyone appropriately. Instruction will be performed with sword and buckler. Gloves, mask, gorget required; leg protection recommended.

 

From the heights of Mount Maenalus or in Lyceum, Antonio Manciolino describes the tactics of the Bolognese system of fencing in verse using the lyth beautiful nymphs and wooly rough-haired Satyrs as his muses. What does it all mean? 

 

In this class we will explore the tactics and strategies of the Bolognese authors to breathe life into Manciolino’s poetic prose, and find out who we are called to be; the Nymph or the Satyr. 

From Manciolino to Marozzo, into the works of the Anonymous author, and the dialogues our dear friend Angelo Viggiani, we will surmise the the principles of fencing laid out in the Bolognese corpus, and see how a solitary approach can be the key to unlocking a system.

Rapier Essential: Mastering the Cavazione

John O’Meara

Length:

90 min

Required Equipment:

Rapier kit, basic skills in Italian rapier

Perfect this key technique of point-forward sword systems using proper grip, good structure and fluid mechanics, so that your point is always free, proactive, under your control, and going where you want it to go.

Two Heads are Better Than One: Introduction to Pascha’s Jägerstock (Double-headed Spear)

Justin Aucoin

Length:

90 mins

Required Equipment:

6- 7′ staff, spear or jaegerstock (some will be available, bring your own if possible.)

 

Want to hold off 30 swordfighters with just a stick? Mid-17th Century fencing master Johann Georg Pascha claims you can do just that with the jägerstock, a double-ended spear sometimes referred to as a hunting staff or the French’s bâton à deux bouts. This workshop will cover the general techniques presented by Pascha (including thrusts, strikes, and overhead blows), as well as some specific “lessons” he presents in his book to keep a swarm of enemies at bay.

Rapier of Gerard Thibault~ An Introduction

Ralf Gutzeit

Length:

2 hours

Required Equipment:

Rapier with straight crossguard (curved cross guard possible but makes some actions more difficult), Fencing mask, gloves.

 

Thibault’s book is a special form of the Spanish school. We will focus on his examples of the “straight line” and conclusions that arise from the “Inbroccata” (curved attack) and other situations.

Level of difficulty is beginner to intermediate level.

OTHER MARTIAL ARTS

A Bound Fist: Dambe Boxing and its Connection to Spear and Shield Fighting

Da’mon Stith

Length:

2 hours

Required Equipment:

Practice Spear or 4 ft to 6 ft staff; Small shield or Buckler; Boxing Glove or something to wrap the hand

 

Dambe Boxing is an ancient martial art and combat sport practiced by the Hausa people of northern Nigeria. The origin of this art is shrouded in mystery but resembles the style of boxing depicted in ancient Egyptian, Etruscan, and Minoan art  featuring a bound fist and an open hand. 

Dambe represents a unique form of weaponized boxing where the dominant hand which is bound and wrapped into a club-like striking surface is called the ‘Mashi’ or spear and is used in powerful clubbing and thrusting strikes whereas the unbounded hand, ‘garkuwa’ or the shield, remains open and is used primarily for defensive actions, clinching, and grappling.

In this class we will learn the fundamental guards, attacks, defenses of Dambe boxing, explore how these techniques relate to spear and shield, and discuss the connections between the Hausa and ancient Egyptian boxing.

Hungarian Fighting Arts: Exploring the Early Saber

Dr. Bill Ernoehazy

Length:

2 hours

Required Equipment:

A synthetic or bated steel saber. Gauntlets or other reinforced hand protection for sabers. Mask or fencing helm. Gorget.

 

Tracing inputs from family lore, oral literature, and the insights of other researchers, we will look at what we know, and what we think we know, about fighting with the Hungarian saber of the 1500s. We will also explore how early Hungarian fight can be adapted to living history and HEMA competitive environments.

Hungarian Fighting Arts: The Fokos, an EDC for a modern martial artist

Dr. Bill Ernoehazy

Length:

90 mins

Required Equipment:

Mask or helmet. Gauntlets or other reinforced hand protection. Limited number of fokos trainers will be available.

 

The walking axe of the lands “beyond the forest” had many names. Hungarians called them fokos, and claimed to have brought them to eastern Europe when the came from the stepps of central Asia. They were useful tools and, in the right hands, an excellent self defense weapon. We will look at what the fokos can, and cannot do, and how contemporary versions make a fine EDC tool.

Introduction to Classical Italian Sabre

Eric Myers

Length:

2 hours

Required Equipment:

Mask / jacket / glove, modern sabre (preferred) or historical sabre with 16mm or narrower blade

Skill level: basic/intermediate level experience with a single hand sword

 

One of the most distinctive of Italy’s martial arts, and one that has survived into the current era, in many ways saber-fencing is what any number of us grew up thinking of as “swordfighting”. This class will introduce students to some Italian sabre fundamentals, drawing from multiple sources.

‘Threading the Needle’: Decoding Mamluk Swordplay

Da’mon Stith

Length:

2 hours

Required Equipment:

Arming sword or sabre-like sword and shield/buckler. Fencing mask, gloves

 

Uncover the mysteries of Mamluk swordsmanship and delve into the intricacies of an ancient martial art.

From the 13th to the 16th century, the Mamluk Empire, located in Eqypt and the Eastern Mediterranean, and Western Asia, was ruled by a proud military caste of Mamluks (freed slave soldiers) . In this class, we will focus on their deadly cutting exercise, referred to enigmatically titled as “threading the needle”,  as detailed in the fascinating 15th-century military treatise referred to as  “Kitāb al-makhzūn jāmiʻ al-funūn” (The treasure that combines all arts).

This exercise consists of twelve cuts targeting vulnerable areas of the body and bears a striking resemblance to the twelve fundamental strikes of El Matreg, a martial tradition practiced in present day Algeria where the stick serves a substitute for the sword… Could there be a link?

In this class we will unlock the hidden secrets of this striking pattern and how it applies to single combat, as well as its connection to living traditions in North Africa and the Middle East.

Tire Machèt: Haitian Machete Fencing

Da’mon Stith

Length:

2 hours

Required Equipment:

24″ x 1″ hardwood or rattan stick, blunted machete or short messer/light dussack. Fencing mask, gloves

 

The tradition of Tire Machet, is rooted in the warrior arts West and Central Africa, and evolved into its unique form during the Atlantic slave trade and the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) where it blended indigenous African swordplay with European fencing, creating a dynamic and complex cultural expression which facilitated the only successful slave result in the west.

 

In this class, we will explore the Avril family system, emphasizing defensive skills, agile footwork, and dynamic evasions, and the four foundational principles: respond with your feet, descend in time, suck it in for safety, and pivot further. Participants will learn traditional play originally practiced in secret, and then how to apply these principles in live sparring to demonstrate the crucial role of this martial art in triumphing over colonial forces.

Stop cuts and point in line:  under-used sabre techniques

Eric Myers

Length:

90 mins

Required Equipment:

Mask / jacket / glove, forearm protection, modern sabre (preferred) or historical sabre with 16mm or narrower blade

Skill level: intermediate level experience with a single hand sword, preferably a cutting and thrusting sword

 

This class will give students lots of practice with some fundamental but under-used sabre techniques, and how they are used tactically.

LECTURES

All in mail, never clinking: Sea knights, Knight fish, and merfolk in and on armor

Kendra Brown

Length:

2 hours

 

 

 

Understanding material culture before the modern era is a difficult process that requires examining our own cultural baggage and context. In the second quarter of the sixteenth century, Filippo Negroli, Kunz Lochner, and Kolman Helmschmid, some of the most talented armorers in Europe, all made armor for people like the Holy Roman Emperor and the King of France that was decorated with half-human warriors sporting curling fish tails as well as swirling foliage and hoofed legs. In 2024, it would be strange for world leaders to wear merman-themed clothing or protective gear—or for mermen to have hooves or leaves. What did this imagery mean to the original wearers and viewers? My quest to find out took me from King Arthur prequel romances in France to manuscript mass production in Belgium to the rediscovery of an emperor’s private bath in Rome. There were some surprises along the way!

 

Bringing a Sword to a Gunfight: Fencing in the 18th and 19th Centuries

Adam Franti

Length:

2 hours

 

 

 

Despite the dominance of firearms and artillery to battlefields of the 18th and 19th centuries, fencing remained an important skill for military officers and men of the militia, and was a popular pursuit for men of all classes. What importance did fencing have to military and social life of this period, and why did fencing remain such a prominent topic of discussion, training, and competition, well after the era of the sword’s utility was long past?

 

The Five Words: Warfare as Fencing on a Grand Scale

Adam Franti

Length:

90 mins

 

 

 

Joachim Meyer, whose system of fencing is based on the Five Words framework of Johannes Liechtenauer, stated that fencing is warfare in miniature, and that students of fencing, by learning fencing, also learn useful lessons of the art of war. This lecture proposes the Five Words as a framework for understanding medieval and early modern warfare, and contrasts this framework with the more modern – and more widely used as a historical tool – analytical framework of Prussian theorist Carl von Clausewitz.

 

How to Get Hooked on Manuscripts

Kendra Brown

Length:

2 hours

 

 

 

Manuscripts that contain fencing treatises are the root of most Western Martial Arts study. However, fencing treatises are only one tiny, unusual category of late medieval and early modern manuscripts. Getting a more complete picture of life in the past requires additional sources. Conveniently, modern digitization and web technology makes it possible to browse and study manuscripts from anywhere in the world. If you’re interested in primary source research but don’t know where to start, or just want to know what other kinds of manuscripts existed alongside the ones we know and love, this talk is for you.

 

Lessons from Feldlager

Charles Lin

Length:

90 mins

 

 

 

A discussion of insights from Feldlager 2023. Lots of pictures. Discussion of medieval military context and its relation to martial arts. Also important – where doesn’t this context overlap? Pushing back against modern military mindset that people try to apply to martial arts. 

 

I’ll also discuss related activities in the US I’m organizing, and ways you can get involved.

 

Preposterous Philosophic Masters of the Sixteenth Century”: Lessons from Part I of Viggiani’s Lo Schermo

Dori Coblenz

Length:

90 mins

 

 

 

It has become something of a commonplace to invoke the first two parts of Angelo Viggiani’s Lo Schermo only to dismiss them as a self-indulgent set of philosophical ramblings. For instance, Egerton Castle wrote in his 1884 Schools and Masters of Fence, from the Middle Ages to the Eighteenth Century that Viggiani’s headings show the “tough matrix of nonsense” in which “these preposterous philosophic masters of the sixteenth century imbedded their precious principles,” concluding, “[h]appily, however, the third part treats pretty exclusively of fencing” (63). However, more recently, William Gaugler in History of Fencing dedicates more pages of analysis to the third part of Lo Schermo than he does to any other sixteenth-century fencing manual. Even when writing of the more prolific seventeenth-century authors, Gaugler only treats Antonio Marcelli’s magisterial Regole della Scherma (1686) at greater length than Lo Schermo. Why might Gaugler feel that Viggiani’s text merits more attention than the manuals we have come to see as foundational to historical fencing practice such as Ridolfo Capoferro’s Gran Simulacro (1610) or Nicoletto Giganti’s Scola, Overo Teatro (1606)? In part, Gaugler’s emphasis may be attributed to Viggiani’s conceptually rigorous and hyper-organized innovations on previous Bolognese treatises, along with the rich biomechanical detail he provides. Even more, Lo Schermo speaks to questions of knowledge generation and transmission more broadly, questions of deep interest to both instructors and practitioners. Viggiani is not the only fencing author invested in the project of fusing philosophy and skilled embodied practice into a new kind of text, but Lo Schermo raises and treats pressing sixteenth-century concerns around theory and practice earlier and more exhaustively than we see elsewhere in the Italian fencing tradition.

 

This presentation explores the history of Viggiani’s reception and argues that adding Books 1 and 2 back to our picture of the Bolognese master opens useful avenues for conversations around teaching approach, particularly in how we adapt professional knowledge from other disciplines to fencing. Lo Schermo’s technical discussions of guards and blows have thus far attracted the lion’s share of the meager attention Viggiani receives, but I agree with the Bolognese master that fencing extends beyond technique and into theoretical questions around time, motion and deception. I will argue that Lo Schermo’s philosophical questions are not tangential to those of fencing theory and practice, but rather integral to the system and valuable in shaping modern-day approaches to historical fencing instruction.
 

A Rhetorical Approach to Italian Fencing

Dori Coblenz

Length:

2 hours

 

 

 

This talk introduces historical connections between the discipline of rhetoric and that of fencing, exploring several areas in which rhetorical pedagogy can help us develop more rigorous and student-focused fencing pedagogy that is attentive to multiple levels of audience. I will bring in modern-day education pedagogy on scaffolding and transfer as well as medieval and early modern concepts such as the rhetorical canon of invention uniting the best of the old and new for our discipline.

Sega! The Legacy of the Bentivoglio

Joshua Wiest

Length:

2 hours

 

 

 

Bologna. A university city with some of the most progressive policies in the western Medieval world; a vibrant, flourishing epicenter of culture, free thinking, and liberalism. The city of Bologna was one of the crown jewels of the Italian Renaissance, but its republican experiment went terribly wrong. Over the course of a 68 year period, Bologna saw 19 regime changes, that’s roughly equivalent to a new government every four years, not so bad from an American perspective—until you factor in that every one of these regime changes came at the behest of bloody factional violence.

 

This was the forge that tempered the legacy of the Bentivoglio family. A family that tangentially or directly shaped the lives of Filippo Dardi, Guido Antonio di Luca, Giovanni Filoteo Achillini, Antonio Manciolino, Achille Marozzo, Angelo Viggiani, Giovanni dall’Agocchie, Frederico Ghisilieri, and Girolamo Cavalcabo.

 

In this lecture we will set out to explore the conditions that created a fencing tradition by following the lives of men and women who shaped them. From Giovanni I Bentivoglio in 1400 to Giovanni II in 1506, and beyond to the later 1580’s where we’ll see the last gasps of a coherent legacy.

Who are we? Understanding the Renaissance Mind as Modern People

Joshua Wiest

Length:

2 hours

 

 

 

As modern humans, educated through the crucibles of a time marked by great technological and scientific advancement it’s hard for us to put ourselves in a Renaissance mindset. Modern scholars have highlighted the Renaissance as a period of rebirth, a foundation for the later enlightenment thinkers, and a staging point for the unprecedented advance of the industrial and digital revolutions. Yet, as the standard bearers for the rebirth of a forgotten art, we strive to find reason in the principles of long forgotten books. 

 

This lecture is designed to take you on a journey through the Renaissance mindset. From the physics of Aristotle, into the Humoral world view, back through the revolutionary ideas proposed by William of Okham and Siger of Brabant. To do this we will look at the men who brought these ideas to bear in the academic arena and had a direct influence on the authors of the fencing books from Nuremberg to Bologna.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Children of the Sun: Renaissance Physical Culture and the Alchemy of Martial Movement

James Reilly

Length:

60 mins, Friday and Saturday

Required Equipment:

Athletic clothing

 

 

 

While academically substantive, this class will essentially be a morning workout session. Plan accordingly.

 

Fencing in the medieval and renaissance period existed as a smaller part of a broader physical fitness continuum. We will focus on those other aspects of historic training that are commonly left out by modern practitioners. We’ll explore the relationship that knightly training has to both wrestling, and several modern track and field sports. We’ll develop some basic technique and review a variety of ways in which cultivation of the relevant dimensions of skill have both indirect and direct application in fencing, martial practice and life.

 

Interpretation Workshop with Latin Lew

Kendra Brown

Length:

2 hours

 

In this workshop I will begin with an overview of the Latin translation of the Lew gloss of Liechtenauer’s verse. We will then examine a few passages in depth, interpreting the text and comparing parallel Latin and German versions. We will discuss how they are different, what those differences could reveal about contemporary understandings of the text, and how studying the same treatise in multiple languages can add depth to interpretations.

 

This lecture is designed to take you on a journey through the Renaissance mindset. From the physics of Aristotle, into the Humoral world view, back through the revolutionary ideas proposed by William of Okham and Siger of Brabant. To do this we will look at the men who brought these ideas to bear in the academic arena and had a direct influence on the authors of the fencing books from Nuremberg to Bologna.

Social Violence Scenarios

Charles Lin

Length:

90 mins

Required Equipment:

Mask, Dagger trainer.

 

We’ll go through several scenarios that cover important concepts that distinguish social violence from other types of violence. Ends in large brawls, and discussions about how martial arts mitigate the spread of violence, and the individual’s duties within a society.

Train Like a Landsknecht

Adam Franti

Length:

2 hours

Required Equipment:

Typical sparring safety gear; trainers for one and two handed fencing

 

Mercenaries made up the bulk of armies in the 15th and 16th centuries. Recruited from classes who jealously guarded their right to bear arms, mercenaries were heavily utilized in part because of the enthusiastic culture of fencing that encouraged training in the form of games, contests, and performative wagers. Urban men found opportunities to develop their martial skills in impromptu challenges, feats of strength and athleticism, and competitive contests that made up the background noise of large and small scale civil events, like yearly fairs or weddings.

This class aims at reconstructing the spirit of impromptu athletic competition, to encourage a style of playful, competitive training. We will be playing fencing games and challenges, run races, engage in wrestling and throwing competitions.