The recent HEMA drama seems to be a debate on definitions, but in truth, it is simply an age-old fight – of competence against mediocrity. This strikes the heart of HEMA, because all of us have once been that – … Continue reading The Celebration of Mediocrity
In the last few days, the HEMA community has been collectively groaning in wonder at the series of videos of YouTuber Shadiversity that claim to talk about historical European martial arts, but consistently miss the mark both in regards to … Continue reading The Shad Drama – background, context and responses
While various fencers have entire spectrum of different views on source material for HEMA, last video of YouTuber Shadiversity video is even more surprising. Is his talk, he responses to previous Matt Easton’s point about the letter “H” in the … Continue reading Video Digest #16 – Are treatises our only source?
A recent private discussion on HEMA online has made me realize that in today’s community, we expect much more of HEMA instructors than a decade ago. That’s not a bad thing, and we certainly see more and more professional instructors … Continue reading HEMA students, teach your teachers
Perhaps the standard in HEMA right now, SPES have always been fast at offering new products, but a bit slow on updating or upgrading their classics. Now we have a surprise – two of their most popular jackets, in 800N … Continue reading 2 new SPES jackets, finally 800N Light
There is a tendency in HEMA, like in other combat sports, to assume tournaments and free fencing to be the ultimate endgame. And that kind of thinking is not entirely wrong – sparring, competitive or otherwise, is the best way … Continue reading HEMA beyond tournaments: The Motus “Knightly” Obstacle course
I love travelling and meeting HEMA people, and Dijon and Minsk were perhaps two of the best opportunities to become acquainted with a ton of instructors, fighters and scholars from all around the world. But among all of them I … Continue reading Jay Maxwell: A school of fencing with a special concept
Just over 2 years ago, I went to my first tournament. It wasn’t anything too stressful or confusing for me – I had trained HEMA for 8 years by that point and I felt confident enough in my fencing. After … Continue reading First tournament? Train, prepare, learn.
As most of you know, just over a week ago I had the opportunity to fence and judge at a special event – HEMA in the European Games 2019 in Minsk, Belarus. As I prefer to do, I waited for … Continue reading What happened at Minsk 2019 (Full Report)
