HEMA Alliance

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Official logo of the HEMA Alliance HEMA Alliance logo.jpg
Official logo of the HEMA Alliance

The HEMA Alliance (HEMAA) is a martial arts federation dedicated to the study of Historical European Martial Arts. It is organized as a United States nonprofit organization incorporated under the laws of the State of Utah. As of 2014, the HEMA Alliance represents more than 40 distinct HEMA groups (many of which contain multiple study groups) as well as numerous independent practitioners, making it the largest HEMA federation in the Americas.

One of the alliance's stated goals is to connect HEMA groups from all over the country. [1]

Programs and services

Programs and Services provided by the HEMA Alliance include:

The Wiktenauer

The Wiktenauer is a Wiki database dedicated to the masters, manuals, and techniques of Historical European Martial Arts. The Wiktenauer is an open-source service provided by the HEMA Alliance for its members and the general public; contributors need not be members of the HEMA Alliance. The wiki's mission is to collect all of the primary source literature that makes up HEMA text, as well as all related research, and to organize and present it in an accessible format. Currently there are the following basic categories of pages:

The wiki also features pages for HEMA groups, notable practitioners, pages for HEMA events, general information pages.

“Where we lack the oral tradition of Asian martial arts, handed down from teacher to teacher over centuries, what the original masters left us might be more valuable: their original words and instructions,” says Jake Norwood, former president of the HEMA Alliance. [2]

Michael Chidester has provided extensive concordances of a number of manual groups on the Wiktenauer.

Governance

The Alliance is directed by three counterbalanced bodies: a Board of Directors, a Governing Council, and a Curriculum Council. The Board of Directors is responsible for oversight and strategic direction, the Governing Council manages the daily operations, and the Curriculum Council is responsible for research and training programs. The Governing Council is democratically elected by the Alliance membership while the Curriculum Council appoints its own councilors. The Governing Council has veto power over Curriculum Council appointments, and also recommends nominees to the Board of Directors.

Operating philosophy

As stated on the Alliance website, "The Alliance is dedicated to excellence as well as freedom and variety in the pursuit of Historical European Martial Arts. The Freedom of Study Policy built into the bylaws guarantees that the membership will always have freedom of association in their training and that the product of the Curriculum Council will never be presented as a mandate. The Financial Policies guarantee that member dues will serve the full membership and not select individuals or clubs. The HEMAA is an all-volunteer organization..." [3]

Each year, the HEMA Alliance sponsors and co-sponsors a number of regional HEMA events for members, as well as non-members. The largest of these events is Longpoint, an international event held each year in Ellicott City, Maryland. [4] Longpoint is home to North America's largest open international tournaments. Events include open steel longsword, women's steel longsword, invitational/counted blows steel longsword, open synthetic longsword, open steel messer, paired technique demonstrations, single stick, longsword cutting, and ringen (grappling). [5]

The Purpleheart Open (formerly "Fechtschule America") is another popular event held in Houston, Texas. In previous years Fechtschule America has helped break new competitive ground by hosting the first open international dussack tournament, and the first fully realized Franco-Belgian Guild rules longsword tournament in several hundred years. Fechtschule America features instructors and attendees from all over the world. “They come here to learn martial arts that are not practiced today,” said instructor Maxime Chouinard. “They learn how to fence, fight with a walking stick, a dagger and even wrestle.” [6]

Affiliate clubs of the HEMA Alliance also hold regional events, such as Iron Crown KDF's sponsorship of the Pacific Northwest HEMA Gathering [7] and Krieg School of Historical Fencing hosting Rocky Mountain Krieg.

HEMA Alliance member-written literature

The following is a partial list of books written or contributed to by members of the HEMA Alliance.

See also

Related Research Articles

A longsword is a type of European sword characterized as having a cruciform hilt with a grip for two-handed use, a straight double-edged blade of around 85 to 110 cm, and weighing approximately 1 to 1.5 kg.

Royal Armouries Ms. I.33

Royal Armouries Ms. I.33 is the earliest known surviving European fechtbuch, and one of the oldest surviving martial arts manuals dealing with armed combat worldwide. I.33 is also known as the Walpurgis manuscript, after a figure named Walpurgis shown in the last sequence of the manuscript, and "the Tower manuscript" because it was kept in the Tower of London during 1950-1996; also referred to as British Museum No. 14 E iii, No. 20, D. vi.

Hans Talhoffer

Hans Talhoffer was a German fencing master. His martial lineage is unknown, but his writings make it clear that he had some connection to the tradition of Johannes Liechtenauer, the grand master of a well-known Medieval German school of fencing. Talhoffer was a well-educated man who took interest in astrology, mathematics, onomastics, and the auctoritas and the ratio. He authored at least five fencing manuals during the course of his career, and appears to have made his living teaching, including training people for trial by combat.

Swordsmanship or sword fighting refers to the skills of a swordsman, a person versed in the art of the sword. The term is modern, and as such was mainly used to refer to smallsword fencing, but by extension it can also be applied to any martial art involving the use of a sword. The formation of the English word "swordsman" is parallel to the Latin word gladiator, a term for the professional fighters who fought against each other and a variety of other foes for the entertainment of spectators in the Roman Empire. The word gladiator itself comes from the Latin word gladius, which is a type of sword.

Johannes Liechtenauer was a German fencing master who had a great level of influence on the German fencing tradition in the 14th century.

Historical European martial arts

Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) are martial arts of European origin, particularly using arts formerly practised, but having since died out or evolved into very different forms.

German school of fencing

The German school of fencing is a system of combat taught in the Holy Roman Empire during the Late Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Modern periods, as described in the contemporary Fechtbücher written at the time. The geographical center of this tradition was in what is now Southern Germany. During the period in which it was taught, it was known as the Kunst des Fechtens, or the "Art of Fencing". Though the German school of fencing focuses primarily on the use of the two-handed longsword, it also describes the use of many other weapons, including polearms, daggers, messers, and the staff, as well as describing mounted combat and unarmed grappling.

Singlestick Martial art that uses a stick 34 inches (86 cm) in length

Singlestick is a martial art that uses a wooden stick as its weapon. It began as a way of training soldiers in the use of backswords. Canne de combat, a French form of stick fighting, is similar to singlestick play, which also includes a self-defense variant with a walking stick.

Waster Type of Practice Weapon

In martial arts, a waster is a practice weapon, usually a sword, and usually made out of wood, though nylon (plastic) wasters are also available. The use of wood or nylon instead of metal provides an economic and safe option for initial weapons training and sparring, at some loss of genuine experience. A weighted waster may be used for a sort of strength training, making the movements of using an actual sword comparatively easier and quicker. Wasters as wooden practice weapons have been found in a variety of cultures over a number of centuries, including ancient China, Ireland, Iran, Scotland, Rome, Egypt, medieval and renaissance Europe, Japan, and into the modern era in Europe and the United States. Over the course of time, wasters took a variety of forms not necessarily influenced by chronological succession, ranging from simple sticks to clip-point dowels with leather basket hilts to careful replicas of real swords.

Italian school of swordsmanship

The term Italian school of swordsmanship is used to describe the Italian style of fencing and edged-weapon combat from the time of the first extant Italian swordsmanship treatise (1409) to the days of Classical Fencing.

Joachim Meyer

Joachim Meyer was a self described Freifechter living in the then Free Imperial City of Strasbourg in the 16th century and the author of a fechtbuch Gründtliche Beschreibung der Kunst des Fechtens first published in 1570.

Association for Renaissance Martial Arts (ARMA) is a US-based non-profit organization dedicated to the study and practice of historical European martial arts of the 15th to 17th centuries.

<i>Zweihänder</i> Type of Sword

The Zweihänder, also Doppelhänder ('double-hander'), Beidhänder ('both-hander'), Bihänder or Bidenhänder, is a large two-handed sword primarily in use during the 16th century.

The Chicago Swordplay Guild is a modern school of swordsmanship and Western martial arts, and non-profit organization based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It provides organized instruction in the study and practice of historical European swordplay, with a principal focus on the Italian school of swordsmanship and other martial arts of the 14th–17th centuries. Co-founded in 1999 by Gregory Mele and Mark Rector, the Chicago Swordplay Guild seeks to be consistent with the methodology of the ancient European fencing schools by combining scholarship and research into the teachings of the historical Masters, with the practical knowledge gained through solo and partnered drilling and fencing. Since techniques are taught in reference to how effective they would be in a real encounter, the Guild practices with an absolute emphasis on safety, control, competence, and skill at arms.

Schola Gladiatoria

Schola Gladiatoria (SG) is a historical European martial arts (HEMA) group based in Ealing, west London, Great Britain, founded in 2001 and led by Matt Easton. It provides organized instruction in the serious study and practice of historical European swordplay. Schola seeks to be consistent with the methodology of the ancient European fencing schools by combining scholarship and research into the teachings of the historical masters, with the practical knowledge gained through solo and partnered drilling, and free play (sparring).

Ars Ensis

Ars Ensis is the largest Hungarian HEMA association. It is a non-profit martial arts organization whose members research and teach mainly medieval and Renaissance historical European martial arts, based on period sources. The instructors of AE have been working on creating this HEMA community since 2003, and Ars Ensis has been operating as a Hungarian incorporated association since 2010.

Renaissance Sword Club

The Renaissance Sword Club is a historical European martial arts group based in London, South East of England and Brittany, France. It was founded in 2013 by Rob Runacres. Its primary aim is the research and recreation of European swordsmanship of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, specifically those concerned with the rapier and spada da lato, as well as their companion weapons such as the dagger, cloak, buckler and rotella. Members have also pursued interests outside of the core curriculum in to staff weapons, longsword and small sword.

The practice of Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) first started in Australia in the late 19th century before largely dying out. There was then a revival of interest in the late 20th century to the current day. The practice of HEMA in Australia has grown to be a popular activity, with clubs all in capital cities, and the larger cities in Australia, Sydney and Melbourne, each have a number of clubs teaching various styles.

While the majority of surviving sources concerning the use of the two handed Longsword detail the German school of swordsmanship and the Italian school of swordsmanship, there was also a smaller English school with its own techniques. The body of techniques used in English Longsword use has survived to the modern day in three manuscripts: The Ledall Roll, Man yt Wol /The Harley Manuscripts) and the Cotton Titus Manuscript

Kuk Sool Won Korean Martial Arts

Kuk Sool Won is a type of Korean martial arts. It was founded in 1958 by Suh In-Hyuk (서인혁), who also carries the formal titles of, Kuk Sa Nim and Grandmaster.

References

  1. http://www.roanoke.com/extra/wb/238700
  2. "Black Belt magazine Feb. 2010". Archived from the original on January 14, 2010.
  3. The HEMA Alliance
  4. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/16/sports/for-longsword-a-comeback-ages-in-the-making.html
  5. http://www.fightlongpoint.com/
  6. "Learning European Traditions", Houston Chronicle, 18 March 2012, Sunday Edition.
  7. "Valley Club Studies Old World Martial Arts", by Sandra Babcock, The Spokesman-Review, 14 July 2012, Washington Voices.