Writers on HROARR

Alen Lovric

Alen Lovrič started his HEMA path in late 2007, with his love of the longsword lasting to the present day. Consequently, the longsword of the Lichtenauer tradition is his weapon of choice, with Ringen and the dagger being secondary interests. As of 2011, he is one of the instructors at Academia Artis Dimicatoriae. In terms of scholarship and research, his personal interest lies in applying modern sport sciences to HEMA, as far as applicable.

Alexander Fürgut

Alexander Fürgut is co-founder and instructor at <a href="https://schwabenfedern.de">Schwabenfedern Ulm</a>, runs the <a href="https://www.schwertgefluester.de">German HEMA Podcast Schwertgeflüster</a> and <a href="https://www.hemaguide.com">writes HEMA guides and articles over at HEMA Guide</a>. His main interest is German Longsword and Ringen.

Andrea Conti

Andrea Conti is an Instructor of Scuola d'Arme Fiore dei Liberi in Rome, Italy. His studies are focused on the "Kunst des Fechtens" and primarily on Joachim Meÿer's martial system. Recently he has enjoyed collaborating with the Meyer Freifechter Guild as Unterhauptmann of the european MFFG Region 8. As Founder of HEMA Italia, he created an event called Armizare focused on Harnischfechten and he will be teaching Meÿer's method on Langschwert, Dusack, Rappier and Dolch at various HEMA events throughout Italy.

Andrea Morini

After previous oriental martial arts experiences, Andrea joined the Sala d’Arme Achille Marozzo in 2006. He graduated as a SAAM Assistant Instructor in 2009 and Instructor in 2013. In 2013, he became also HEMAC member. He’s currently holding classes in Rome, Naples and Salerno and several workshops in Italy and abroad. He published “Manoscritto I.33″ in 2012, a publication about Giacomo Di Grassi in 2014, and few short essays for HROARR.com.

Ariella Elema

Dr. Ariella Elema's PhD dissertation, Trial by Battle in France and England, won the Canadian Society of Medievalists' Leonard Boyle Dissertation Prize. She practices armizare with the Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts (AEMMA) in Toronto.

Arturo Camargo

Arturo is a sports and martial arts enthusiast with over 14 years martial arts experience and a History degree. He expends most of his time teaching, researching, and interpreting historical martial arts. In 2008 he opened Krigerskole and is now one of the largest HEMA schools in Mexico. He is also a co-founder of the Unión de Artes Marciales Europeas, (European Martial Arts Union) an organization dedicated to the reconstruction, practice and diffusion of HEMA in Mexico. Recently he helped organizing the third edition of the International Lowlands HEMA Gathering, in the Netherlands. As instructor his main focus is on the German longsword, messer and ringen; he has presented workshops in several events both national and international, among them Fechtschule America, Combat Con and the ILHG.

Bartosz Sieniawski

Bartosz Sieniawski 22 years. Historical fencing and cold weapon accompanied me from an early age. As the son of swordsman, horseman, and lover of cold weapons I grew up surrounded by swords, sabers, rapiers and daggers, gradually getting to know their history, way of use, advantages and disadvantages. I began my adventure with fencing starting with foil lessons in the Central Military Sports Club "CWKS Legia" under the pre-war ideology and methodology continued by my father. When I was 16 years old, I started classes of curve saber fencing according to the old Polish custom of fencing with a stick. In the same time I attended to wrestling classes where I had the opportunity to improve my skills in two Warsaw clubs "WKS Gwardia" and "AZS AWF." The experience gained in fencing and wrestling have motivated me to explore other areas of study and research on the curve sabre fencing. Using this knowledge I work with my father on the reconstruction of the Polish cross-cutting art. According to the work in the field of historical fencing , I work in the film and theater and conduct seminars at home and abroad. In 2010, I graduated from fencing instructor course. I am also a member of the Union of Film and Television Stunt "Trilogy"

Ben Michels

Bert Gevaert

Bert Gevaert did a PhD in classical philology (disability in ancient Rome), is teacher of Latin in a secondary school, lecturer on historical subjects and city guide in Brugge. He started historical fencing in 2007, participated on his first tournament at Arts of Mars (2010), became second in SwordFish (2011), king (champion) of his guild, Hallebardiers (2011) and obtained a place in the quarter finals in Swordfish (2012). He practices armoured combat, longsword, dussacken and recently (September 2012) also rappier, mainly focussing on authors of the 16th century with a preference for Joachim Meyer and Hector Paulus Mair. Bert is currently finishing a translation of Heinrich von Gunterrodt, De Veris-Principiis-Artis-Dimicatoriae, which is going to be published at Freelance Academy Press (ebook in 2014 and printed edition in 2015). He has also translated the longsword section of Hector Paulus Mair into Dutch and is currently working on an English translation and comment (based on the Codex Icon 393) together with Keith Farrell. Besides this he is also working on a Dutch book on HEMA (14th till 17th century) and a book on the history of the guild of the Hallebardiers. In September 2013 he started a class of wrestling and dagger, based on Fiore dei Liberi, especially for secondary school students.

Chris Slee

Chris Slee is a swordsman, historian and franco-phone with an academic background in Renaissance thought, history, literature and languages. He has fenced with rapier, sidesword and longsword for more than a decade and has competed in and marshalled at national tournaments.

Christopher VanSlambrouck

Corey Roberts

Corey has studied historical swordsmanship and combat arts with the ARMA since 2006. He is originally from Montana. He now lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Daniel Jaquet

David Coblentz

Eugenio Garcia-Salmones

Eugenio Garcia-Salmonesis the founder and head of School of Historical fencing "Don Diego Lopez de Haro", and also the senior instructor specialized on the italian and destreza vulgar rapier and rapier and dagger and side sword. Since 2007 Eugenio is also a member of HEMAC and he has teached at major Spanish and European HEMAC-associated events. Also is one of the founders of the FEEH (Spanish Federation of Historical Fencing) and have participed actively in the constitution of IFHEMA, being the representative per Spain. Eugenio has translated the following masters into Castilian: * Sigmund Ringeck * Wallerstein * Talhoffer * Peter Von Danzig * Camilo Agrippa " Tratatto di scientia d'Arme", 1553 * Henri de Sainct Didier “Treatise containing the secrets of the first book on the sword alone”,1573 * Nicoletto Giganti “The School”, or “Salle”, 1606 * Ridolfo Capo Ferro’s ‘Gran Simulacro’, 1610 * Salvatore Fabris’ rapier fencing treatises of 1606 * Francesco Alfieri rapier fencing treatise of 1648 Now he is working on traslation of Achille Marozzo treatise and actively collaborates with IFHEMA in the comission of certification.

Falko Fritz

Fran Terminiello

Studying Italian rapier and Bolognese swordsmanship since 2010. Also practising Bartitsu and pugilism.

George Georgas

George E. Georgas is the founder of the Hellenic Academy of Historical European Martial Arts ‘Leontes’. He is certificated fencing instructor of the Hellenic Fencing Federation and also national referee of the Hellenic Fencing Federation at the epee. He is instructor of Meyer Freifechter Guild with the rank of Fecther and he is the group leader in Greece. He is also member of Learn Sword Fight (Gladiatores). He is in the Administration Council of the ‘Pammachon’ (which is the name of the Hellenic HEMA Federanion in Greece). He is also instructor of weapon fighting of the Association of Historical studies ‘KORYVANTES’. He is studying the ancient Greek and Byzantine warfare, such as the use of rompaia, spathion and paramirion types of swords and other weapons such as the spear. He is also give stage fighting lessons to the theatrical team ‘The Blue Rose.’

George Zacharopoulos

Preceptor of Academy of Hoplomachia Co-author of the book "The knightly Art of the sword -Hoplomachia in the Medieval and Renaissance Europe" (language: Greek) General Secretary of HFHEMA Member of HEMAC & The HEMA Alliance

Giorgio Fonda

I've graduated in architecture in Trieste with a thesis on the Medieval shape of the city. I'm currently a freelancer / photographer, using these skills for a company of archaeological research. I share my interests with the study of ancient fencing and passion for the reconstruction of historical equipment. For the first 8 years of my fencing life, I practiced within a number of different clubs. I moved on. On 07/07/2007 I received the diploma as "magistro scholare" at the national academy of fencing (ANS, Italy). On 11/07/2009 I received the diploma as "magistro" from the aforementioned ANS. On 27/05/2012 I was certified as an FIF Functional training specialist. Nowadays I teach, and learn myself, with the awesome pals at SeptemCustodie.

Hans Jornlind

Henrik Gyarmati

Henrik Gyarmati is an instructor on longsword, messer, wrestling, dagger, staff weapons and montante with <a href="http://www.drey-wunder.de">Drey Wunder, Germany</a>. He studied over 20 year’s eastern martial arts (3rd Dan traditional Karate, 3. Dan Ju-Justu, 1. Dan Eskrima) and fought for 4 years in the Doce Pares Eskrima German national team in international competitions. He was multiple German- and European vice-champion in disciplines single stick, double-stick and knife fight. Since 2011 he deals exclusively with the European historical martial arts and initially led a Gladiatores Group in Bielefeld. In 2013 he founded an own club "Drey Wunder" based in Bielefeld. Along with Martin Lümkemann he developed <a href="http://c3w.live">CHALLENGE.3W</a>, the HEMA freefight record and analysis system and conducts seminars to different HEMA weapons. He also works in the public relations department of the German Federation of Historical fencers <a href="http://www.ddhf.de">DDHF</a>

Herbert Schmidt

Iacopo Venni

He studied Historical Fencing since 2004 with the Sala d'Arme Achille Marozzo. In 2008 he published, with Alessandro Battistini and Marco Rubboli, "Monomachia" by Francesco Altoni and in 2009 "Treaty of Fencing" fby Anonymous Riccardiano with Alessandro Battistini.

James Roberts

James Roberts has been involved in HEMA since 2000, and is the founder of the Medieval Armed Combat Society (MACS) in Johannesburg/ Pretoria (South Africa). Despite being called an "old dog" by Matt Galas a few years ago, he still fights, teaches and researches HEMA, concentrating on 16th century German sources. He taught and fought at WWOC 2010, Dijon 2011, taught and marshalled at WWOC 2012 ans WWOC2014, and taught at Fightcamp 2013 and 2014, as well as numerous locations in South Africa.

Jan Schaefer

Jay Leccese

Jay Leccese is an independent researcher focusing on close study of the illustrations in the four extant manuscripts of The Flower of Battle, as well as the three manuscripts collectively referred to as Die Blume des Kampfes.

Jean Chandler

Jean Henri Chandler is an amateur historian, Liechtenauer Fencing instructor, and former HEMA competitor from New Orleans, Louisiana. Jean specializes in late medieval martial culture and has published original historical research to the Acta Periodica Duellatorum. Jean is a regular contributor to the Swiss Academy of Science martial culture blog, and HROARR. Jean has given lectures at HEMA events around the world from the Higgins Armoury in Massachusetts to HEMAC Dijoin in France. You can see all of Jean's interviews, essays, podcasts, and more at his official website: <a href="https://jeanhenrichandler.com/">www.JeanHenriChandler.com</a>

Jeff Tsay

Jeff Tsay is currently director of Forte Swordplay, a group based in Boston, Massachusetts devoted to the study of HEMA and actively training the German tradition of Kunst des Fechtens. Jeff has an eclectic martial background, having studied wing chun and several other unarmed and armed Eastern arts before finally succumbing to the hidden mysteries of the Western traditions. In his spare time, Jeff's efforts have focused on refining his interpretation methodology and using it to analyze both greater- (e.g. "Krump") and lesser-understood (e.g. "Rose", "Aussere Mynn") KdF techniques, putting them to the test in national and international tournaments (e.g. Swordfish, Longpoint, and Fechtschule America), and pushing the bounds of using video as an effective medium for sharing HEMA research. 2013 has been a banner year for the HEMA Series Livestream, including the first US HEMA livestreams at Fechtschule America and Longpoint, produced by Jeff and his technical team from Forte Productions. Every fall, Jeff also helps host the Iron Gate Exhibition, one of the premier HEMA/WMA conferences in the US (www.irongateexhibition.com). In the remainder of his very full life, Jeff is a professional project manager, a devoted husband, and dedicated father of 2 awesome boys. To find out more about Jeff's efforts, check out www.forteswordplay.com, www.irongateexhibition.com, and the Western Martial Arts Coalition (www.wmacoalition.com).

Jens Peter Kleinau

Independent researcher and instructor at Zornhau, Germany, for any single handed weapon.

Jess Finley

Jessica Finley has been studying medieval sword work and martial arts for more than a dozen years with the Selohaar Fechtschule. Her book “Medieval Wrestling: Modern Practice of a 15th Century Art” was published in 2014 by Freelance Academy Press as part of their “Medieval Martial Arts” series, and her paper on medieval wrestling can also be found in the collection “In The Service of Mars,” a selection of pieces on historical martial arts from the same publisher. She has founded a school of Medieval Martial Arts in north Georgia called "Ritterkunst Fechtschule" and continues to publish on her blog under that same name. When not fighting, instructing, or writing, Jessica spends time with her two children and husband at one of their family hobbies, typically outdoors.

Jürg Gassmann

My background is in law, with a major academic interest in Roman law. I will happily deal with Roman law and feudal law, and in terms of languages am comfortable with Latin all ages, German all ages (Southern Germany), and modern German, English, French, Italian and some others.

Ken Mondschein

Ken Mondschein is a scholar, college professor, and author with expertise in subjects ranging from the Middle Ages to modern pop culture, as well as (fittingly for a historian of the Middle Ages and Renaissance) a fencing master and jouster. He received his PhD in history from Fordham University, has also studied at SUNY Buffalo, Boston University, and Harvard, and was a Fulbright scholar to France. Though Ken's scholarly concentration is premodern Europe, he has taught, lectured, spoken, consulted, and published on everything from medieval science to the political uses of the past, and worked with organizations ranging fom the J. Paul Getty Museum to the History Channel to the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Kit Smith

Krist Martens

Member, co-instructor of the Hallebardiers or the Sint-Michiels guild in Bruges, Belgium

Maciej Talaga

Maciej Talaga is an archaeologist, a longsword fencer, current President of ARMA Poland, an independent researcher focused on the ‘Nuremberg Codex’ (GNM 3227a), and one of the instructors in the Warsaw Study Group. Since 2014, with over a decade of experience in HEMA (formerly coached by Bartłomiej Walczak) as a competitive fighter and coach, a few years of cross-training in the Olympic epee, and an instructor’s licence from the Polish Fencing Association he has focused mostly on teaching. In addition, in 2017 he started cooperation with the HEMAtac project (https://nagykrisztina.wixsite.com/hematac) promoting knowledge-based HEMA instruction and set up Sprechfenster Blog (https://www.patreon.com/sprechfenster), an online channel presenting research and training methodology in HEMA (including tools for individual lessons) and showcasing the Polish HEMA community. Apart from HEMA, he is a happy (but a bit underslept) husband and a father of two, a freelance translator, and a necessary evil to two she-cats.

Martin Austwick

Martin Fabian

Martin Fabian started his fencing career in 2003 as a stage fighter and in 2007 moved to the study of original sources dealing with Kunst des Fechtens or HEMA in general. He studies and practices every possible HEMA weapon with longsword being his prime interest. In 2008 he founded and currently leads Bratislavský šermiarsky spolok (Bratislava Fencing Society) – a HEMA dedicated group in the capital of Slovakia – and has got years of experience as HEMA instructor. He is a senior member of Magisterium Slovacum and member of HEMAC.

Matt Galas

Mattias Nyrell

Mattias Nyrell has practised the Practical Tai Chi Chuan of sifu Dan Docherty since 2000. He has always been interested in swordsmanship and the armed parts of the art. Since 2006 he has also been investigating various other styles of historical fencing, some major influences include the JianFa of Scott M. Rodell and Italian longsword of Guy Windsor. In 2012 he started the club ”Historical Fencing in Linköping / JianFa.se”. Website: <a href="http://JianFa.se">JianFa.se</a> Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/jianfa/">www.facebook.com/groups/jianfa/</a> Email: [email protected]

Michael Chidester

Michael Chidester is the Editor-in-Chief of Wiktenauer and, as Director of the Wiktenauer, an officer of the <a href="http://www.hemaalliance.com/">HEMA Alliance</a>. Michael has been studying historical European martial arts since 2001. He was a member of the Association for Renaissance Martial Arts (ARMA) until 2006, where he achieved the rank of general Free Scholar, and he acted as the ARMA Provo Study Group Leader from 2007 until its dissolution in 2009. Michael co-founded the <a href="http://trueedgeacademy.com/">True Edge Academy of Swordsmanship</a> in 2009, and until late 2010 was a senior instructor at its Provo, Utah branch. In 2012, Michael was appointed to the newly-established position of Director of the Wiktenauer by the HEMA Alliance general council, formalizing the role of principal designer and editor that he had assumed in early 2010 and adopting the Wiktenauer as a formal Alliance project. As Wiktenauer lead, Michael has assembled the most complete catalog of HEMA manuscripts currently available, compiling together such resources as scans, transcriptions, and translations, and is currently laboring to assemble a similar catalog of printed treatises. In 2013, these efforts earned him a <a href="http://thehemascholarawards.com/">HEMA Scholar Award</a> for Best Supporting Researcher. Michael has lectured on Medieval and Renaissance martial arts at the <em>Historical Swordsmanship Symposium</em> at the Massachusetts Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies, <em>Life, the Universe, & Everything: the Marion K. “Doc” Smith Symposium at Brigham Young University</em>, and numerous HEMA events including <em>Broken Point</em>, <em>Fechtschule America</em>, <em>Fechtschule New York</em>, the <em>Iron Gate Exhibition of Historical Martial Arts</em>, <em>Longpoint</em>, and the <em>Purpleheart Armoury Open</em>. In 2010, Michael received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Brigham Young University, with a minor degree in Military Science and additional coursework in Italian and Spanish. He developed a degree of fluency in the latter while living abroad in Mexico between 2002 and 2004. He is a member of the Western Martial Arts Coalition and a Lifetime Member of the HEMA Alliance.

Mike Cartier

Nathan Arries

Phil Crawley

Instructor with Black Boar School of Swordsmanship, Edinburgh, primarily obsessed with French martial arts and culture of the C18th to C20th which he promotes through research, teaching and organising the annual Smallsword Symposium.

Piermarco Terminiello

Piermarco Terminiello is an instructor at The School of the Sword, UK. His research interest is focused on sixteenth and seventeenth century Italian swordplay. He has an extensive knowledge of technical manuals from the period, including a number of widely overlooked works. Along with Kevin Maurer he was recognised as “Best Researcher” in the inaugural HEMA Scholar Awards of 2013. Among other research, he has unearthed and translated (co-authored) the “lost” second book of Nicoletto Giganti (1608), unearthed the lengthy manuscript treatise of Giovanni Battista Maffani (1629) not listed in any fencing bibliography, published English translations of Francesco Ferdinando Alfieri’s La Bandiera (1638) and La Scherma (1640); Giuseppe Colombani’s L’Arte maestra (1711); the fencing treatise of Marco Docciolini (1601); the treatise of Jacopo Monesi (1640); and a transcription of the Biblioteca Trivulziana Cod.256 (c.1680). He has helped bring HEMA to a wider public, having previously lectured at the Wallace Collection, in London UK; has published in the long-established peer-reviewed Journal of the Arms and Armour Society; is a member of the Historical European Martial Arts Coalition (HEMAC); and a member of the Advisory Board of the peer-review journal Acta Periodica Duellatorum. He has enjoyed success as a competitive fencer, winning numerous international competitions; while during his tenure The School of the Sword has established a remarkable record of tournament success.

Reinier van Noort

Reinier van Noort is the main instructor and founder of the School for Historical Fencing Arts. He started modern (foil) fencing in 2003, but he in the summer of 2005 he was introduced to Medieval European Martial Arts, which changed his life forever. From 2005 until 2010, Reinier has trained in longsword and other Medieval European Martial Arts with groups in the Netherlands, and since 2007 he has been increasingly active as a trainer with one of these groups. From 2008 until 2011 Reinier has also trained Kadochnikov Systema with Maxim Pipotja in Amersfoort. After making the first English translation of Bruchius' "Scherm- ofte Wapen-konste" (Fencing- or Weapon-Art") in October 2009, Reinier got very interested in rapier fencing, and since January 2010 he has been researching, training and teaching the Fencing Art described by Bruchius in practice. In 2011, Reinier won the "best fighting technique" award in the HEMAC Dijon Rapier tournament.

Richard Marsden

My name is Richard Marsden, I teach history for a living, have a Bachelors degree in Secondary Education from ASU and a Masters degree in Military Studies: Land Warfare from AMU. I'm an author, historical fencer, I dabble in economics, and am a husband to a loving wife who tolerates my eccentricities.

Rob Runacres

Robert Geißler

Robert Geißler is an instructor on longsword with <a href="http://www.tremonia-fechten.de/">Tremonia Fechten</a>, Germany. He holds an advanced degree in physics (Diplom-Physiker) and is one of the developers of the <abbr title="Historical European Martial Arts">HEMA</abbr> tournament software <a href="http://blackknight.tremonia-fechten.de/">Blackknight</a>. Robert is a researcher with the <a href="http://inmotukampfkunst.wixsite.com/kampfkunstforschung">Forschungsgemeinschaft Historische Kampfkunst</a>.

Roger Norling

Roger Norling is an instructor on Joachim Meÿer's Halben Stangen (Quarterstaff) with the Gothenburg Free Fencer's Guild (GFFG). Unterhauptman of the Meyer Freifechter Guild (MFFG) Starting with the Gothenburg Historical Fencing School in 2008, he is since 2015 a member of the GFFG. His main focus in his research is the "Kunst des Fechtens" and primarily the longsword, dussack and polearms. He has been focusing on the works of Joachim Meÿer since 2009. In this he has enjoyed collaborating with the <a href="http://www.freifechter.com">Meyer Frei Fechter Guild</a>. In May 2013 he became a Fechter of the MFFG, in 2016 receiving a rank as Research Scholar of the same, and in 2019, finally appointed as Unterhauptmann . Currently, he is writing on several books which will explore the teachings of Joachim Meyer, as well as on pedagogics for teaching martial arts. He is the creator behind the three sister sites <a href="http://www.hroarr.com">HROARR.com</a>, <a href="http://wateronarock.com">Water on a Rock</a>, an online journal on philosophical ponderings, and Northernbush.com and shares his experiences and knowledge in articles on both sites. He regularly lectures on topics related to HEMA, and teaches workshops on Meÿer quarterstaff, dusack and longsword at various HEMA events around the world. For more about this, read his <a href="http://www.hroarr.com/workshops/instructors/norling-roger-ghfs-hemac/">instructor's profile</a>.

Sven Horvatic

Sven Horvatić is fairly new to the HEMA community but always showed great interest in swords. As most HEMA practitioners, he started when he was just a kid, flailing sticks around. Since 2011., when he first heard of HEMA, he started to completely turn his life around. Main hobbies became fitness and nutrition as well as the long sword. Starting from 2014. he became interested in the side sword as well as Jogo Do Pau. He is currently the vice-president of "Ars Gladiatoria" Zagreb, mostly managing public relations. He is also the co-instructor at Ars Gladiatoria, teaching the long sword and offering any advice one might need in their training.

Tinker Pearce

I am a swordmaker by trade and a student of the techniques of Fiore and Saviolo. I live in Seattle, WA. USA with my wife Linda. I wrote "The Medieval Sword in the Modern World" and have a podcast called 'The Sword Geek' In addition to Swords, knives, martial arts etc. I am interested in firearms and Automobiles (Historic, classic and modern in both cases)

Ton Puey

Ton Puey grew up studying karate shotokan in his childhood and teenage years, before getting into sports fencing. He «got historical» in 2002, and around 2004 began researching and teaching the Iberian school of «Verdadera Destreza». Ton has taught workshops in Spain, Portugal, France, Austria or Italy, and has become a professional HEMA instructor under his own brand «<a href="https://www.facebook.com/academiaespada">Academia da Espada</a>». He is a founding member of <a href="http://www.ageaesgrima.com">AGEA</a> (the Galician HEMA federation), <a href="http://www.hemac.org">HEMAC</a> fellow and honorary member of FEEH (the Spanish HEMA federation). Ton also takes part in the governing body of <a>AGEA editora,</a> where he helps publish critical editions and modern texts on Destreza and HEMA in general.

Tuuli Salmi

Member of Jyväskylä Historical Swordfighting Society in Finland, and co-founding member of Finnhird (Icelandic horse show riding group). You can find me on FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/tuuli.salmi and our group: https://www.facebook.com/finnhirdriddarar