What is HEMA

HEMA stands for Historical European Martial Arts, a wide umbrella term which encompasses all information on combat techniques from medieval and ancient times. The majority of surviving information comes from fourteenth and fifteenth century German and Italian authors such as deTorri and Capofaro. Practicing HEMA consists of fencing with various medieval weapons and the odd Princess Bride joke. Princess Bride actually references a real life HEMA master during the battle between Westley and Inigo Montoya. In HEMA circles, this movie is viewed as a mixed bag for its representation of HEMA swordplay, as it is accurate in parts but overall has a few more rapier cuts than one would usually see in practice. Another movie, The Duellists (1977), is viewed as being a movie with the most accurate historical swordsmanship.

For my senior project I endeavored to learn the martial art known as HEMA. This largely consisted of attending classes at the HEMA club, Noble Science Academy located in Lebanon, NH. The head instructor, Jonathan, was my mentor. These classes usually involved us practicing Jonathan's interpretations of techniques shown in HEMA manuals and ten minutes of open sparing between classes. The weapons we practiced the most were longsword and rapier. We also occasionally practiced sabier, rapier and dagger, messier, and a myriad of other weapons on more rare occasions. I attended these classes on Tuesday and Thursday evenings for 2 hour periods. I began attending these classes in late October.

HEMA does not originate from a single culture. It comes comes from hundreds over thousands of years. The oldest HEMA manual is considered to be a piece of pottery that serves as a wrestling guide from classical Greece. It also includes information from all the major culture groups in Europe, covering every element of how people fought in early modern, renaissance, medieval and ancient Europe. The main manuals we used at Noble Science Academy and many of the most common ones in use come from regions that were once controlled by the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) in the territories of Italy and Germany. HEMA is not limited to the application of hand to hand,(melee) weapons, early gunpowder weapons and some archery can also fall under the HEMA umbrella.