My Experience with HEMA Part 2: HISTORY AND TECHNIQUES OF HEMA

by Ralph

Most of the martial arts practiced today are fortunate enough to have an unbroken lineage stretching back possibly hundreds of years. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, for example, has a documented lineage tree that goes back to Jigoro Kano, who passed what was then known as Kano Jujutsu (eventually Judo) to many people in a large school called the Kodokan. One of the students, Mitsuyo Maeda, travelled the world and found his way to Brazil where he passed it on to Carlos Gracie who then passed it on to his siblings and children. The Gracie family continued to practice and develop their technique, calling it Gracie Jiu Jitsu, but they were disconnected from Japan which led them to a different path of evolution. While Japanese Judo began to emphasize throws while standing up, Gracie Jiu Jitsu emphasized the ground game with a focus on ground control and submissions.

  Click here to see an interactive BJJ Lineage Tree.

The European Medieval Martial Arts were not as fortunate in this respect. The history of Europe is the history of technological advances in weapons and combat.

As weapons advanced, the techniques and methods to use them progressed and the practice of those weapons that were replaced went out of use. Similar to Judo and BJJ, some European martial arts have evolved over time and survive today such as wrestling and boxing, perhaps because the evolution of weapons do not change the way the human body is used in combat.

Weapons martial arts, on the other hand, depend on the weapons available and European weapons have changed often. Guns made their way into the battlefield and made many melee weapons obsolete for the most part. Although swords remained in use, their purpose and therefore their form changed. They became civilian weapons or weapons of status for officers in the form of rapiers and sabers. This meant that:

the practice of medieval swords such as the longsword or arming sword was not passed on by direct lineage from teacher to student. All that we have left today are surviving documents from that period.

The fact that there is no direct lineage and that we only have surviving documents means that a lot of the material that is available is open to interpretation and there is no 100% way to verify. The method used to interpret a lot of the techniques illustrated and explained within surviving documents today is to test them out and see what works. This method is effective in developing a working martial art, and in my opinion it is the only way it should be done, but again nothing is certain if we are trying to rebuild a lost history.

Before the dawning of the Internet, the existence of these treatises was for the most part unknown to people who may have been interested, let alone the general public. And for people who did know about them, the documents were difficult to gather because they were held by different musueums around the world and therefore would be difficult for a single person to study thoroughly.

Many small groups of people from Europe and North America began providing copies and translations of treatises online sometime in the 1990's. Some of the pioneers of providing copies of treatises online include David M. Cvet and Brian A. McIlmoyle who are the founders of AEMMA. They reached out to various museums and universities and offered to digitize microfilm copies of treatises that they held so that they could keep a computer record. Their only request was that they could keep a copy of the digitized files for themselves.

The original treatises they obtained were German, but eventually they would obtain copies of the Italian master's treatises that would become the foundation of the classes that they teach today; the treatises of Fiore dei Liberi.

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AEMMA Classes
Techniques of the Longsword
Fiore dei Liberi

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Fiore's treatise includes a diagram that shows many important aspects of swordsmanship. In the middle is a man with seven swords pointing to his centre from different directions; these include two going down diagonally from the top, two going up diagonally from the bottom, two going horizontally, and one from underneath pointing straight up. The first six swords show the different lines of attack for cuts and the single sword pointing up represents the thrust. In addition to the swords, there are four animals surrounding him in four different directions. At the top is the lynx with compass dividers; they represent vision and judgement. To the left is the tiger with an arrow; they represent swiftness and accuracy. To the right is the lion with a heart; they represent courage and willingness to fight. And at the bottom is the elephant walking on solid ground with a tower on its back. This represents a strong base and good balance which are together able to support large structures.

AEMMA's recruit classes start with the elephant by teaching a good base. The elephant, which represents strength and balance, is the only animal in the diagram that makes contact with the ground. This means the elephant represents our legs which have to support the rest of our body. AEMMA recruit classes introduces students to proper footwork by teaching proper stances and how to walk while maintaining a balanced stance and rhythm. Continuing with lessons that teach balance, AEMMA introduced basic wrestling positions and techniques.

After a base is developed, students are finally able to hold a sword and learn the basic cuts and thrusts. The basic attacks follow Fiore's diagram of seven swords and are as follows:

Fendente:
The fendente is meant to cleave an opponent from teeth to knee. The fendente is an attack that starts from either the left or right shoulder and is swung downwards diagonally to the opposite side.

Sottani:
The sottani is the opposite of the fendente. The sottani goes from knee to teeth in a diagonal motion and uses the false edge; this attack is basically the fendente in reverse and can also come from either the bottom right or bottom left.

Mandritto:
The mandritto is a horizontal cut can target anything from shoulder to hip. While cutting from the strong side uses the true edge, the mandritto coming from the weak side (if you are right handed, then swinging from left to right) uses the false edge which is the edge closest to the sword wielder. While using the false edge gives a weaker strike, it is better defensively because it exposes less of the strong hand and also allows the sword to reach farther at an earlier stage in the swing.

Punta:
The punta is the thrust where the sword's point is driven into the opponent.

Fiore teaches with an emphasis on defense and keeping the swordsman alive.  With that in mind, all attacks are taught to go in the following order:

1) Lead with the sword by moving its centre of gravity forward toward the target. The sword should be the first thing that moves within striking distance of the enemy so that your arms do not become a target for a counter attack.
2) Lean the body forward so that the whole body can add weight to the attack.
3) Step towards the target and close the distance so that the sword can reach the target while keeping the body in balance.

The attacks themselves are an introduction to the positions called guards.  Guards, according to Fiore, are transitional positions that swordsmen will find themselves in at the beginning and end of their attacks.  Therefore, inbetween attacks, if swordsmen are walking or circling an opponent, they will hold a guard position or transition between different ones.

The starting position of the fendente, for example, is called 'Posta di Donna' (Woman's Guard).  In Posta di Donna, the sword is held pointing up and backwards over either shoulder.  When the sword is swung through fendente, it will pass through 'Posta di Longa' (Long Guard) which is the position where the sword is held straight pointing forwards toward the target. The fendente then follows through and finishes at 'Dente di Zenghiaro' (Boars Tooth) which has the sword pointing diagonally downwards pointing at the floor at the opposite side of the body.

The guards are categorized as high medium and low as follows:

High
Woman - Sword held over either shoulder
Window - Sword held horizontally at either side of the body over the head while pointing towards the opponent
Bicorno - Sword held in the middle pointing at the opponent

Middle
Long - Sword held forward and extended while pointing at the opponent
Breve - Sword held with the handle near either side of the hip with the point facing forward towards the opponent
Frontale - Sword held above either side of the hip like Breve, but higher

Low
Long Tail - Sword held at either side of the body pointing down to the ground and behind so that the opponent cannot see its length
Boar's Tooth - Sword held pointing forward, downward and to the left (if right handed)
Middle Iron Gate - Sword held forward and down
Full Iron Gate - Sword held downward and to the right (if right handed)

After learning about and practicing the various guard positions and attacks, recruit students are finally introduced to various ways of defending yourself with and against a longsword. There are four general categories for defending yourself against an attack. In order of how easily you can counter attack, they are:

Oblique - In a single swing, you deflect your opponent's sword by hitting it at a slight angle. The deflection will cause your strike, if angled correctly, to hit your target while deflecting your opponent's sword slightly off course away from your body. This is considered to be the best possible defense used by masters because the defense and offense is done in single time giving your opponent no opportunity to defend.

Beat - As the opponent attacks, you swing your sword directly against the flat of your opponont's sword so that it is hit completely off course. Once the opponent's sword is hit off course, you can go for a counter attack. This is considered a two time defense and offense.

Bind - A bind is a direct block of the opponent's line of attack which causes your sword to make direct contact with your opponent's edge. This defense is done as a last resort.

Void - The opponent's attack is avoided all together so that no contact is made. Depending on the way the attack is avoided, it can result in easy or difficult counter attacks.

With the basic skills and concepts outlined above, a complete sword fighting system could be made. However, the basics only introduce you to the general concepts that have been drilled down and analyzed by the people of AEMMA. While watching the more advanced classes from the sides, I could see the amount of time and effort put into analyzing the source material and practicing their interpretations.

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Personal Take Away

During and after going through the recruit classes in Medieval longsword, I was amazed by how technical real sword fighting actually is. I was even more amazed by how different real sword fighting is compared to how it is portrayed in movies and television. Learning about the oblique defense completely shocked me because I didn't even know such a defense and counter attack was possible.

The foundations of sword fighting as outlined by Fiore such as having a strong foundation with balance like an elephant, having vision and judgement like a lynx, speed and accuracy like a tiger, and courage like a lion all seem like important attributes for many things worth pursuing in life.