New article on poisoned weapons by Jean Chandler
We’re back again with a new, and very interesting article on poisoned weapons in medieval...
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Category: Research
Were Poisoned Weapons ever used in Medieval Warfare?
Last summer, a friend asked me a question that I did not know the answer to. A nagging doubt led...
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Call for Contributions – ‘Crossing Swords, Crossing Boundaries – multilingual and intercultural interactions and exchanges in the Fechtbuch Corpus’
On the occasion of the International Federation of Historical European Martial Arts’s ninth...
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Announcement: The “HEMA goes Public” event in Austria!
Dear fencing friends!, it is our pleasure to announce the “HEMA goes Public” event....
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The use of the German battle sword in the late 16th and early 17th century
The use of the striking German battle sword as found in many armories through out Germany still poses many unanswered questions. This article provides an overview over contemporary sources and proposes an approach to combine the information gained from those sources to determine possible techniques and principles for this weapon.
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Polish and Czech sources on medieval urban violence
Note to reader: This document complements an essay published on the blog Martial Culture in...
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New article by Jean Chandler
After a bit of a hiatus, HROARR is back with a new, and quite fantastic article on medieval and...
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A historical fencer’s primer on late medieval and early modern magic
When you first start reading the medieval fencing manuals, one of the curious things you keep...
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A Wonderful Struggle: The 16th Century Art of Civic Combat, Part 2
The procession arrives at the square. Publicans erects their tents and tap their barrels....
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Meyer’s Four Types of Fencers: How we conceive of them and ourselves
And the first are those who, as soon as they can reach the opponent in the Onset, at once cut and...
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A Wonderful Struggle: The 16th Century Art of Civic Combat, Part 1
There is a particular tension at play in the modern Historical European Martial Arts community...
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Forerunners of the Fechtschule Pt I : Antiquity
“An average, foundational knowledge of the past helps us understand the 14th-16th c. Fechtschulen...
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On The Five Words and Withdrawal
Mark, this is that before all things you shall rightly undertake and understand these two things,...
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On fencing societies and charity in the 19th century
At least as early as in the early 17th cent, fencing masters swore to care in particular for...
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Glossary of Late Medieval Terminology (15th Century Baltic)
Over the years I have spent researching Late Medieval Central Europe, I ran across many unfamiliar...
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The South Italian Longsword of Marc’Antonio Pagano (1553)
This article translates and contextualises the longsword bout detailed in Le tre giornate di...
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News: Translations of Pietro Monte’s fencing treatise Collectanea finally out!
Some fantastic news. Dr. Jeffrey L. Forgeng, the man behind some very good translations, including...
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News: The Illustrated Ringeck
Renowned English HEMA instructor Tea Kew recently launched a project to explore the teachings in...
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Announcing: The awardees of the HEMA Scholar Awards 2017
Finally, after a lot of hard work by the jury, and some delays in the organisation, we are...
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Brief notes on fencing, from the military treatise of Giovanni Alberto Cassani (1603)
Giovanni Alberto Cassani published a military treatise in Naples in 1603.1 In this work he...
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On Sale: Self-Defense for Gentlemen and Ladies
Right now, Amazon has the quite well-received book Self-Defense for Gentlemen and Ladies: A...
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Lecture videos added
In an attempt at boosting both the research and the making of HEMA lecture videos, HROARR from now on will have numerous pages with videos for you to study. You can find them all under the Research section, under Research Videos.
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4th meeting of IFHEMA in Athens
Delegates of IFHEMA member federations gathered in Athens on 2 December 2017 for the 4th regular...
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Book on cutting with medieval sword released
Long in the works after many years of dedicated work on the topic, renowned US HEMA instructor...
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Society for Historical European Martial Arts Studies (SHEMAS) – announcement
The Society for Historical European Martial Arts Studies (SHEMAS) is an idea that turned into a...
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Concerning the Reliability of the Waggle Test
Dynamic parameters define a rigid body’s reaction to external forces. While their importance for a sword’s behaviour is known since the 19th century, many data sets of original swords, replicas and training weapons include mass and the centre of mass, but lack a third parameter such as moment of inertia, radius of gyration, or corresponding centres of oscillation/percussion. A third parameter, however, is required to calculate a rigid object’s response.
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The Dutch Experiment – De Hollandsche Methode, Christiaan Siebenhaar, and fencing in the Netherlands in the 19th Century
In the mid-19th century, not that long after the Belgian war of independence, an experiment was...
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The Awardees of the HEMA Scholar Awards is now official!
Finally, after a lot of hard work by the jury, on the last few days of the year, we are extremely...
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Riddled in Ink – A Stylistic Comparison of Artwork in MS M.383 and the Novati Facsimile
Proposition This article proposes that Francesco Novati’s 1902 facsimile reproduction of Flos...
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The Flower of Battle of Master Fiore Friulano de’i Liberi
Last week, in the same spirit of information freedom that inspired Wiktenauer’s creation, I...
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The Recital of the Chivalric Art of Fencing of the Grand Master Johannes Liechtenauer
Though long delayed, this book represents the most complete picture possible of the Liechtenauer tradition of foot combat as it was recorded in the mid 15th century. It’s the text I wanted for my students when I was leading a study group, and I’m happy to finally offer it in print. I hope it serves in some small way to advance the study of Johannes Liechtenauer’s art.
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King and Fool – The Vier Leger of Liechtenauer’s Tradition
King and Fool – The Vier Leger of Liechtenauer’s Tradition and their relationship with...
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The Last Duel, Part 2: Death by Sodomy
Part One of this article examined the famous judicial duel between Jean de Carrouges and Jacques...
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What Really Happened at the Last Duel? Part1
According to the website Deadline Hollywood, Studio 8 has hired a screenwriter to turn Eric...
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Florius de Arte Luctandi: Challenges and Discoveries in a Contemporary Latin Translation of Fiore dei Liberi
Florius de Arte Luctandi is formally designated Ms. Latin 11269 by the Bibliothèque nationale de...
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The Awardees of the HEMA Scholar Awards 2015
First of all I would like to congratulate all the awardees of this year’s HEMA Scholar Awards! I...
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“The Use of Weapons”, René François (1621)
The entry on fencing in René François’ 1621 encyclopedia is a rich source of terminology and...
Read MoreNew document on Research Methods added for download.
Posting this a bit early since I won’t be able to tomorrow. Not a new article, but a fairly extensive pdf that is derived from the powerpoint presentation that was used for my lecture first at WMAW 2015 in Racine, USA, and...
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Adolphe Corthey: A French 19th Century HEMA Pioneer
In the introduction to “The Sword and the Centuries” (1901), Alfred Hutton mentions a curious incident. His fencing group in the London Rifle Brigade were invited to Belgium to put on a display of historical fencing. What can we discover about this Belgian event? What follows is an overview some literary detective work that reveals Adolphe Corthey, a man in every way Hutton’s equal and the powerhouse behind late nineteenth century HEMA in France.
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Meyer Pilgrimage Part 2 – Basel
Almost exactly a year ago I was lucky enough to be taken on a small journey that has been a long...
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An overview of the Iberian Montante
This article gathers a series of notes written while studying the sources on the Iberian montante sword of the late XV century and following centuries. The extant sources are listed and analysed. Different approaches to teaching this weapon’s handling are described, stressing those who can provide a context for its use.
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The Ringen of Joachim Meyer
This article shall group Joachim Meyer’s Ringen into collections of similar throws....
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Hack & Slash in the Age of Reason: Italian Rapier Against Multiple Opponents
“Finding yourself assailed by enemies, and supposing there are many of them, the situation demands...
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The use of the saber in the army of Napoleon: Part IV – Wounds caused by the saber
Continuing with his four part series on The use of the saber in the army of Napoleon, Dr....
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The use of the saber in the army of Napoleon: Part III
Continuing with his four part series on The use of the saber in the army of Napoleon, Dr....
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The use of the saber in the army of Napoleon: Part II
Continuing with his series on The use of the saber in the army of Napoleon, Dr. Bert Gevaert now...
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A key to Meyer’s mechanics & footwork – part 1
Here is a rough diagram that tries to explain the core mechanics that go through all of Meyers...
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The use of the saber in the army of Napoleon: Part I
“The sword is the weapon in which you should have most confidence, because it rarely fails you by...
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Chivalry East of the Elbe, Part I
Introduction: So what happened to the Second Estate? Most of my own HEMA-related historical...
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A salute to Joachim Meÿer!
On this day, the 24th of February, 1571, Fencing Master and ex-soldier Joachim Meÿer died shortly...
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The nature of the work ahead of us
Our personal goals in studying HEMA are varied, complex and individually quite different. For...
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Meyerozzo: The influences of the Bolognese method in German Rappier
There are many reasons why I devote much of my time and my energies on what Joachim Meyer has...
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Announcement: The HEMA Scholar Awardees of 2014!
The jury for the HEMA Scholar Awards 2014 has finally reached a decision on what nominees will be...
Read MoreCall for papers to Acta Periodica Duellatorum 2015
Dear Swordsmen and -women, I would like to inform you that the Call for Papers period for Acta Periodica Duellatorum is now open. If you are interested in submitting an article to our next issue you are more than welcome to...
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Fechtordnung of the City of Solothurn
Below are three versions of the Fencing Ordinance of the Swiss town of Solothurn, first the...
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Researchers eligible for the HEMA Scholar Awards
As it can be difficult to remember who published research in 2013 we will here list some examples...
Read MoreNew book out: Henry de Sainct-Didier’s “Secrets of the Sword Alone”
Chris Slee has just published a translation of Henry de Sainct-Didier’s “Secrets of the Sword Alone”. You can find out how to buy it...
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Meyer Pilgrimage Part 1 – Straßburg
We all share the same love for our personal and shared discoveries of a forgotten European martial...
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Time to nominate for HEMA Scholar Awards 2014!
It’s about that time of the year again where we need to start thinking of nominations...
Read MoreTeaching progressions in Meyer’s longsword 1: the attacking skill tree
Over the last five years, I’ve given several workshops in both South Africa and Europe focused on sequencing the teaching of techniques from Joachim Meyer’s “Gründtliche Beschreibung… der Kunst des Fechtens”[i]. In my view, each...
Read MoreWiktenauer fundraiser
As you may have suspected, running Wiktenauer isn’t free. While neither I nor sysadmin Christian receive any compensation for our efforts, the costs associated with hosting Wiktenauer come to about $500 a year. For the...
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The jury has reached a decision!
Finally we have a decision on the awardees of the HEMA Scholar Awards 2013. After careful...
Read MoreThe lost 2nd Giganti treatise rediscovered
Nicoletto Giganti is one of the most celebrated Italian fencing masters of the 17th century. His widely-acclaimed treatise of 1606 promised a second work, which however was long considered lost or never to have been written....
Read MoreJoachim Meyer’s dagger system
Note: This is a working document and will continuously be updated as we work with our interpretations of Joachim Meyer’s dagger teachings. Similarly to how I worked with his staff teachings I will attempt at systemizing...
Read MoreArming Sword Geometry by Peter Johnsson
Designing a sword of mid 14th century style using a system of geometric drawing that is inspired by surviving plans of medieval gothic architecture. Please visit my site at peterjohnsson.com for more information about this...
Read MoreHEMA Scholar Awards
Hi everyone! As we all know HEMA has many different aspects that are all equally important in our shared effort in recreating these forgotten martial arts. Lately, tournaments have received much attention and the top fighters...
Read MoreNews from Dr. Forgeng
Great news for students of Joachim Meyer and Leküchner, from Dr. Jeffrey L. Forgeng, posted on the Reprint Forgeng’s “The Art of Combat” Facebook group. “I’m happy to be able to report some updates...
Read MoreIllustration showing the hanging of Paul Hektor Mair
This is a pretty damn exciting find! Eric Wiggins discovered an illustration depicting the hanging of 16th cent martial arts enthusiast and fechtbuch collector Paul Hektor Mair and Ben Floyd tracked down a colour version of...
Read MoreFlower of Battle
Here is an excellent lecture on Fiore Furlano de Liberi, Ludwig von Eyb and more, by Michael Chidester, held at Fechtschule America 2013. Well worth watching, no matter if you focus more on the “Italian” or...
Read MoreDie Vorpal-Klinge!
This short movie shows a glimpse of the world of the Collegiate Fencing, the still living child of the Fechtschule tradition. For more reading, look at the excellent article An overview of German collegiate fencing traditions by...
Read MoreMeyer Rappier research launch
There is a growing interest in Meyer’s rappier and to aid in this, and as I also plan to study this more myself since it is basically required in order to fully understand Meyer, I decided to create this page. If anyone...
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Meyer’s masters
On this day, 443 years ago, Fechtmeister Joachim Meyer published his magnificent fencing treatise...
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Post your thoughts on HROARR
The beauty of posting your texts on HROARR is that we then can have lots of HEMA articles...
Read MoreTranslation of Meyer’s first treatise finally here!
After a long and excited waiting, Kevin Maurer has finally managed to deliver a great gift on the last day of the year; a complete translation of Meyer’s von Solms treatise, dated to ca 1560. Kevin has been working on this...
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The Dussack – a weapon of war
In my opinion the dussack doesn’t quite get the recognition it deserves in the historical...
Read MoreA goldmine of printed fencing treatises
Today I thought I would share a little “secret”. In Saarbrucken, Germany there is this great little bookbindery called Fines Mundi that produces prints of antique books with traditional binding and in many...
Read MoreThe Rose and the Pentagram
This article is written to accompany the recent article about the mysticist, and possibly even fencer and a Freyfechter, Heinrich Agrippa. If you haven’t read the article, it is suggested you do so, before...
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A call to arms!
From at least as far back as the early to mid 1400s, all the way up until about the French...
Read MoreR.L. Scott Conference in Glasgow, 2012
A Celebration of R.L. Scott and His Arms & Armour Collection Glasgow Museums 19-20 September 2012 “No master better versed in their points” This was arms and armour scholar Sir James Mann’s assessment of...
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Meyer and Marozzo dagger comparison
It has been debated regarding to what extent Meyer was inspired by the Italians, the...
Read MoreNew research project: Meyer’s general advice
This project will collect all of Joachim Meyer’s personal advice on fighting, stripping away all techniques instead focusing on fighting principles, tactics and strategies. Anyone is welcome to join us in this project. The...
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New German rapier treatise added: Joachim Koppen from 1619 (1625)
Joachim Koppen was a Phil. and Med. Doctor in Magdeburg who wrote this treatise after having been...
Read MoreUnique new treatise added
We just added a rather unique new, but uncompleted treatise to our database. This time it is the Codex Guelf 83.4 August 8°, entitled “Das ander Theil des newen kunstreichen Fechtbuches, darin alle fürnembste...
Read MoreNew Book: Manoscritto I.33
Hi everyone! I’m proud to announce a new book about the famous I.33 Manuscript. Authors: Andrea Morini, Riccardo Rudilosso and Federica Giordani, of Sala d’Arme Achille Marozzo, published by “il...
Read MoreBeautiful facsimiles of the I.33 coming soon
The Royal Armouries have teamed up with specialist publishers of military manuscripts Extraordinary Editions to produce a full-size facsimile of the manuscript in a limited edition. Each copy of the manuscript will come complete...
Read MoreNew book: La Scherma by Francesco Ferdinando Alfieri
New book: La Scherma (The Art of Fencing) by Francesco Ferdinando Alfieri (1640) Translated by Caroline Stewart, Phil Marshall and Piermarco Terminiello. Get it at the site of The School of the Sword.
Read MoreTalhoffer: New research in the Royal Library.
Here’s a interesting post on the front page of the Danish Royal Library. Amongst other things, the research of well-known HEMA-researcher and curator Claus Sørensen is presented and the whole news post is...
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Is there really a Left Vom Tag?
Well there is a right Vom Tag, and a middle one… so there has to be a left Vom Tag as well,...
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