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Acta Periodica Duellatorum, Conference Proceedings
115
DOI 10.1515/apd-2017-0011
Fighting with the Longsword:
Modern-day HEMA Practices
Jack Gassmann, Jürg Gassmann, Dominique Le Coultre
Artes Certaminis / Unil’AMHE
johngassmann.work@gmail.com
jurg.gassmann@gassmannconsulting.com
dominique@le-coultre.ch
Abstract – This article is based on the talk presented on 27
th
November 2016 in
the course of the
Journées d’études sur le costume et les simulateurs d’armes
dans les pratiques d’arts martiaux anciens
. The talk itself involved practical
demonstrations and interaction with other presentations given at the event; this
article does not purport to be a transcript of the presentation, but elaborates on
the key themes of the presentation: The objectives of HEMA as a modern
practice, and their relationship to what we know about the historical practice of
the European martial arts in the Middle Ages, including physical fitness, fencing
techniques and tactical awareness, based on the
Fechtbücher
extant. A key
element of the discussion involved a comparison between the objectives of and
drivers behind historical and modern tournament rule-sets.
Keywords – Historical
European
Martial
Arts,
Fechtbuch
,
Middle
Ages,
Longsword, Sport, Competition
I.
INTRODUCTION
The talk on which this paper is based was one of three in a segment on the practical
application of historical techniques and the relevance of material culture in Historical
European Martial Arts (HEMA). The form of this paper cannot reproduce the dynamic
demonstration of practice presented during the event; we shall therefore focus on
elements of the talk more amenable to a written format.
The opinions expressed here are those of the authors; we do not speak for the event
organisers or the HEMA community.
II.
OBJECTIVES OF MODERN HEMA
II.1.
Martial Art v. Martial Sport
In the HEMA community, there is considerable discussion, controversy and soul-
searching about the issue of martial art v. martial sport. In this paper, we do not
propose to enter into this discussion; we intend to focus on the practice of modern