The world's foremost practitioner
of authentic Chivalric Arts of Defense

Private Training Program Workshops and full Seminars available: Contact us with requests and information on fee and travel schedule. Presentation and lecture requests are welcome.  Private lessons also available. Special arrangements possible for video, motion-capture, and CGI modeling.

"Consulting Sword-master"

Advisory and Educational Services:
John Clements provides a range of consulting services and special information on the culture and history of Medieval and Renaissance close-combat skills, arms and armor, swordplay, and historical fencing. Previous project involvement includes working with: National Geographic, Sony Pictures, The History Channel, Fox Television, Six Flags Houston, and major computer and board game producers. He has done professional consulting for game developers Blizzard, NCsoft, Xaviant, and Go-Time.To improve the historical accuracy and martial validity of your endeavor, send an e-mail inquiry. All fees are by negotiation.

Offering Professional Fight Arrangement and Fencing Stunt-work for Film, Television, and Motion-Capture:  John Clements brings an unrivaled mastery of actual historical combat techniques for creating never-before seen action featuring a unique spontaneous arrange fight execution system of martially sound, historically accurate, visually dynamic, and physically intense material. Featuring an authoritative and pioneering program with a dynamic and highly original alternative outside the box of current standards, he offers a new alternative to the dry, over-used cliches of entertainment industry fight certification.

Ask about the Renaissance Martial Arts Lecture Series, Homeschooling Program, & Corporate Outings.

"What we demonstrate in a presentation is a reconstructed exhibition of authentic European martial arts skills delivered not for amusing performance or stunt display, but education, cultural heritage, and self improvement." - John Clements

Email the ARMA Director at: theARMA@comcast.net

Instructing in an unmatched historical curriculum



Arranging dynamic fight action sequences

Teaching in Italy, 2012 Performing at the World Martial Arts Festival, Korea, 2012 With a !4th Century Warsword, Scotland 2012 Examining an Authentic Two-Handed Sword, Scotland 2012 With a 1000-year-old Viking Ingelri sword Presenting on Mare at the Kelvingrove Museum, 2012 Reenactment in Narni, Italy 2012 At the World Martial Arts Festival 2012   Lecturing at the University of Bridgeport 2012   Filming with PBS Nova 2011 Teaching in Russia 2011 On National Geographic Channel 2011 At the Medieval Center, Denmark Researching Rapiers in Italy At the International Martial Arts Symposium, 2011 At the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russa, 2011 With Hans Talhoffer's original 1459 fight book in Denmark At the World Martial Arts Union, South Korea  2010 Examining historical specimens, Spain 2009

Presenting on historical fighting methods, Portugal 2009

Teaching in Europe, 2009

A leader in historical fencing studies, reconstructing authentic methods and historical techniques

Private & class instruction

Lecture & Seminar Presentations

Youth Talks & Demos

Consulting for the Sword Manufacturing Industry

Museum Presentations on Arms & Armor use (Kienbusch Collection, Philadelphia 2007

Evaluating & Testing Historical Fencing Products

Teaching longsword fencing in Athens, Greece 2004

Renaissance swordplay seminar on longsword in Haifa, Israel 2005

Longsword technique presentation in Gaunajauto, Mexico, 2006.

Seminar in Mexico City, 2007

ARMA Seminar in Athens, Greece 2007

Inspecting authentic pieces at the Oakeshot Institute, 2007

Examining antique blades

Practicing in armor at the Royal Armouries, Leeds UK

Rapier practice in Europe

Classroom Training

Examining an antique rapier in Switzerland

Training with antique blades

Consultation with noted authority Dr. S. Anglo

Meeting with famed sword expert the late Ewart Oakeshott

Consulting with the late sword expert Hank Reinhardt & swordmaker Paul Chen

Test-cutting with sharp swords at the 2000 Renaissance Martial Arts Expo Atlanta

Workshop Demonstration in Canada

Examining an original 1536 fencing text by Achille Marozzo

Lecturing & instructing in Germany

Examining a great-sword of c. 1400 at the Royal Armouries, UK 2001

Trying out an antique two-handed sword from c. 1550

Presentation at the Sarasota Medieval & Renaissance Studies Conference 2002

Lecturing at Texas A&M University 2003

Examining a 1000-year-old viking sword

Examining an original edition of Fiore dei Liberi's Flos Duellatorum c.1410

Demonstrating cuts and thrusts on raw meat with an actual antique 16th century swept-hilt rapier

Lecturing at New York University 2003

Researching an original 1553 edition of Agrippa's famed fencing text

Handling authentic 16th century swords in the Swedish Royal Arnory

Consulting with noted master swordsmith and researcher Peter Johnsson

Hefting a fine 16th century antique ring-hilted rapier of the Swedish Royal Armory

Exploring the original 1410 Pierpont-Morgan edition of the "Flos Duellatorum" fighting manual by Fiore dei Liberi

Researching swords in Budapest, Hungary 2004

Program at West Point 2003

Presentation Demo at Ashokan Sword 2000

Training with an authentic 16th century bastard-sword -  2008

John Clements is a leading authority on historical fencing and the worlds foremost instructor of Medieval and Renaissance fighting methods. As a long-time Western martial artist who has been studying historical fencing since 1980, John is the most prolific writer on the subject of historical fencing. He has practiced European cut-and-thrust swordplay and for more than thirty years, taught on it in 16 countries, and researched arms and armor on four continents.  He instructs both nationwide as well as internationally and (since 2005) from his one-of-a-kind private facility, Iron Door Studio, based outside Atlanta, Georgia. 

John is featured in PBS Nova's Secrets of the Viking Sword (2012) and performed and directed foot-combat sequences for the 2011 National Geographic Channel documentary, Medieval Fight Book --the first ever television program of its kind to cover the work of a historical European Master of Defense.  He was also featured prominently in and co-wrote the 2009 documentary film, Reclaiming the Blade. He also appeared in the documentary special featurette, "Knights in Training," on the 2008 special edition Blu-Ray re-release of the film, First Knight.  He was also the writer and producer of the first of its kind web documentary on Renaissance martial arts.

John's writings on swordsmanship and historical close-combat have appeared in eleven different published books since 2001. He was a contributing author on close combat and fighting arts to The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology (2010). &n