Alyx Whittaker (The United Kingdom)

Fiore’s Dagger and Wrestling

Alyx Austin is a semi-regular instructor for the London Historical Fencing Club. She is a self-styled HEMA Bad Ideas Aunt who loves the obscure and odd side of Historical fencing.  

I will be teaching a class on Fiore’s Dagger and Wrestling, but with a focus on it’s adaptation and stylistic focus on armoured combat. We will walk through the basics of Fiore’s wrestling, and dagger work, it’s focus on armoured combat, and a wider context of the use of armor and how to defeat it in harnessfechten. 

Which Weapon:

Please bring a suitable Rondel Dagger trainer (either blunted or synthetic)

Gear Requirements:

This will be fairly kit agnostic. If you do not have any armor don’t worry. 

If you have full steel harness, please bring it!

If you do not, please try to bring:

• Mask
• Duct tape or equivalent
• Two (+) sets of arm guards and elbow protection
• Chest protector
• Hema Jacket
• Rondel Dagger (Simulator or blunted and safe steel)
• Heavy Gloves

Experience required

No experience necessary, this is a beginners focused class

Dimitri ten Have (The Netherlands)

De Sikkel: een wapen vol haken en ogen!

NL

Dimitri is les-assistent bij de Zwaardkring en gast-instructeur bij Historisch Schermgilde Limburg. Alhoewel hij zich vooral bezighoudt met langzwaard, is hij geobsedeerd geraakt met vrijwel alles omtrent Paulus Hector Mair’s Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica. Daartoe behoort ook het vechten met de graansikkel (falx frumentaria).

Tijdens deze workshop gaan we focussen op het toepassen van technieken zoals we die vinden in Mair’s Stucken, binnen context, op tempo. Iets specifieker: we gaan het hebben over verscheidene manieren om je te verdedigen tegen een snede van boven, en hoe je vanaf hier verder gaat. Daarnaast zullen we enkele misvattingen over de sikkel proberen de wereld uit te helpen.

Er zijn helaas maar beperkt leen-sikkels aanwezig, dus mocht je zelf veilige trainings-sikkels hebben, dan wordt het ten sterkste aangeraden deze mee te nemen.

Omdat deze workshop bedoeld is om technieken op snelheid toe te passen – en zo de essentie van de technieken te ontdekken – is volledige spar-uitrusting aangeraden. Heb je dit niet? Wees dan niet getreurd! Je hebt niet per se gear nodig om mee te doen aan deze workshop. Let daarbij wel op dat de hoeveelheid gear die je meebrengt, de intensiteit van de (spar)oefeningen bepaalt. 

Ervaring met sikkel, worstelen of dolk-vechten is niet nodig, maar helpt wel. Het doel van deze workshop is om een relatief rustige intro tot Mair’s sikkel aan te bieden.

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Getting hooked on Sickle!

EN:

Dimitri is an assistant-instructor at de Zwaardkring and a guest-instructor at Historisch Schermgilde Limburg. Whilst most of his sword-related time is spent on longsword, he became obsessed with basically everything in Paulus Hector Mair’s Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica. A fascination which includes the grain sickle (falx frumentaria).

During this workshop we will focus on applying techniques found in Mair’s sickle plays, in context, at speed. More specifically: we will look at multiple ways to defend against a slice from above, and how to continue from thereon. Furthermore, we’ll get into tackling some misconceptions about the grain sickle and the plays surrounding it.

Because loaner sickles are scarce, it would be recommended to bring your own safe simulators if you have the option.

Since this workshop focusses on applying techniques at speed – to show why certain techniques are the way they are – full gear is recommended. That said, you don’t need gear to participate, just note that the amount of gear you bring will dictate the intensity of the (sparring) exercises.

Emilia Skirmunt (United Kingdom)

Rapiers in the dark

Isobel Zijlstra (The Netherlands)

Pasta Longsword: Intro to Vadi 

Ever heard of a guy called Philippo di Vadi? No? You're missing out!

Vadi was a Italian fencing master who wrote Liber de arte gladiatoria dimicandi in the second half of the 15th century. This workshop will explore how Vadi's longsword has some fundamentally different approaches to fencing than the Liechtenauer tradition (and Fiore de'i Liberi!). This workshop is open to both beginners and advanced fencers.

Equipment:
Longsword, at least mask, gorget, chestplate (we will be doing thrusts), and heavy gloves. Full gear is not required but does mean you can play more dynamically.

Isobel started training at Zwaard & Steen just over 2 years ago, and focuses on both Liechtenauer longsword and Vadi longsword, as well as 19th century Austro-Hungarian military sabre. They took an interest in HEMA 4 years ago for a high school project and wrote an 80(!) page paper on Philippo di Vadi and Pietro Monte, upon turning 18 they joined Z&S and haven't put down the swords since. They work with Russ Mitchell to translate 19th century Austro-Hungarian military sabre manuals to easy to understand English, two of which have been published thus far: Fencing at the Theresian Academy (Russ, Zijlstra, Sept 2022) and House of Chappon (Russ, Zijlstra, Kovacs, Bencsik, Nov 2023). Isobel is also a general board member of Zwaard & Steen.

Marc Dekker (The Netherlands)

Fighting with the Farmers Scythe according to Paulus Hector Mair

Marc Dekker from Bataille will provide an introduction on a less common (or more common) weapen: the scythe.

We will work from the pages of the Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica. This fight manual by Paulus Hetor Mair is unique as it features various farmer/peasant weapons among which the farmer scythe.
We are going to cover a few selected pages starting with the basic and working towards the weird. Depending on time we will see how many of the 10 pages we can cover and how many extra variations we will find.
We will provide training scythes for this workshop.

Gear required

Gloves that protect hands and wrists.

Merlyn Janssen (The Netherlands)

Merlyn Janssen (bio)  

Started with martial arts in 1997 and was one of the founders of the HEMA revival movement in the Netherlands.

After practicing Aikido for 3 years, he came into contact with H.E.M.A. in 1999. That year he became a member of The European Historical Combat Guild (E.H.C.G.) Together with 3 friends he started a study group to interpret the medieval martial arts as described in medieval manuscripts. This study group changed into the Zwaardkring in 2001; a school for medieval martial arts. In addition to being one to the founders, he has been active as treasurer, chairman and chief instructor. Merlyn has studied a range of medieval weapon disciplines including; messer, ringen/ Glima, sword & buckler, sword & shield, fighting in armor and pole axe. His favorite weapon discipline is the longsword according to the Lichtenauer tradition.

Lecture 1

The curse of Knowledge & H.E.M.A

“ How to talk about your HEMA hobby to the uninitiated”

Although HEMA has come a long way the past 25 Years. Knowledge of HEMA is no way near common knowledge.

As you spend more time in the Hema scene we sometimes tend to forget what the rest of te world thinks about out hobby, if they even think of it at al! 

What are the Biases that people have, and how can we deal with them? 

A small lecture on HEMA awareness, that should be familiar and somewhat entertaining. 

Lecture 2

A take on the History of HEMA in the Netherlands.

“You should have been there to believe it.”

HEMA, at he moment, is alive and growing in the Netherlands, But that was not always the case. We’ve come quite a Long way And it has been an interesting ride! 

For all those interested in the Narrative of arguably the oldest HEMA school in the Netherlands, This is a narrative journey back to the origins of the Zwaardkring, and all the things that HEMA was, could have been and ultimately became.  

Michel Rensen (The Netherlands)

What the Legend of Zelda can teach us about longsword fencing

Michel Rensen started practicing HEMA (completely unencumbered by previous martial arts experience) at Zwaard & Steen in 2013 in an attempt to find an activity more physically involved than playing video games. A bit more than a year later, he entered the instructor training programme. He concluded this programme roughly a year later, making him a full instructor at the club. Apart from teaching classes at Zwaard & Steen every week, he has also taught workshops at various events. Besides teaching, Michel has also been a regular in the longsword tournament circuit.

Workshop:

What The Legend of Zelda can teach us about longsword fighting. No, it’s not magical spin attacks, throwing bombs or how to yell HYAH HYUH HUH HIIAAAAA while fencing. Rather, we’re going to take a look at the three parts of the Triforce: Courage, Power and Wisdom, and why you need to balance all three of these aspects to fence well. This random videogame lore applies surprisingly well to the historical techniques laid out by Liechtenauer and his students; each of these aspects is extremely important, to the point where omitting or even underrepresenting one of them will negatively impact your fencing. Prior knowledge of the Legend of Zelda games is not required to attend the workshop!

Gear requirements: 

The minimum required gear for this workshop is a longsword, mask with back of head protection, a gorget, chest protector and gloves. More equipment allows for training at a higher intensity.

Pedro San Miguel (The United Kingdom)

Sabre: Strike Clean - Before, During, After.

Source based and competition proven sabre techniques and strategies designed to minimise the risk of eating double hits and afterblows on the attack, even if your opponent is intentionally not defending.

Pedro San Miguel focuses on 19th-century sabre and foil, with his main sources of study including the works of John Musgrave Waite, Captain Alfred Hutton, Louis Rondelle, George Chapman, Camille Prevost, and Masaniello Parise, while also having a keen interest in other Italian, Spanish, and French sources.

Pedro enjoys competition, and has reached the #1 spot in sabre on HEMA ratings using a strictly source based approach.

Pedro teaches at Schola Gladiatoria, while also being a senior member of The Renaissance Sword Club. He conducts private tuition in the UK, and regularly teaches workshops at international events.

Level:

Some sabre experience is preferred, but these principles can be applied to all weapons.

Equipment:

Sabre, mask, and jacket.

Organisation:

• Max van de Ekart
• Hanna van Rooijen
• Pascale Boots
• Tosca Beuming