Our wish is not to merely understand their craft from a technical or academic point of view, or merely demonstrate as show or stunt what we think their movements were like, but instead to develop from their methods genuine martial understanding and practical fighting ability.

This is because not only do we not fully know what all that entailed, but we also: no longer live in a feudal community or city-state, no longer engage in judicial combats or duels, and we no longer prepare to go to war in the same manner. The craft of Medieval and Renaissance martial arts today is not a matter of life-and-death and in a very real sense in our current age we cannot truly approach nor appreciate it in those terms.  General misconceptions about Medieval and Renaissance martial arts (derived mostly from TV and movies), combined with the convincing teachings (and commercialization) of traditional Asian martial arts, lead to an unwarranted and dismissive view of European weaponry and fighting arts as crude, unsophisticated, and brutish.  

Few ordinary people today for example can possess or even hope to obtain an actual antique Medieval or Renaissance sword in prime condition.  Very few people have a real idea of their true attributes or qualities and instead must unfortunately form opinions based on experience with fakes, props, and replicas whose quality ranges from above average to just plain bad.  Add to this the poor example European swords and fighting skills receive in popular media, the hype and mystification enjoyed by Asian swords and weaponry in contrast, and the level of misunderstanding over this subject is then no great surprise. 

What Are We Doing and Where Are We Going? Today we find ourselves in a new age of discovery, a Renaissance of the European martial arts.  Old superstitions and outdated beliefs are being challenged by new scientific knowledge brought about by the rediscovery of old texts.  Due to the rediscovery in recent years of forgotten, lost, or previously unknown European works concerned with self-defence and the handling of arms –particularly swordsmanship, we students of the subject find ourselves in a period of rebirth.  Like the carvel ships that took explorers abroad the oceans, we now have our computers that sail the Internet opening routes of communication and trade to bring together a vast community of practitioners, amateur researchers, and historians questioning the outdated assumptions of traditional fencing and who are eager to relearn and bring to back to life our lost martial heritage. ARMA seeks genuine understanding of historical European fighting arts within a modern incarnation. Our efforts are not aimed at adapting historical techniques and teachings to sporting competitions and tournament games.  While we are doing far more than costumed role-play or performance displays, we are admittedly not doing training for real combat either. After all, no one today is going to attack us with swords out in public or challenge us to duels.  But to build a new tradition, as best we can we approach these combat skills as if they were intended to be used.

Just as the priest and master of arms Hanko Doebringer's in his writings on the teachings of Master Liechtenauer in 1389 complained of the Leichmeisters ("dance masters"), an insult for the show-fighters who instead of knowing the real art only used flashy and ineffective technique for display, we to feel this problem is still with us today. Doebringer stated the reality of swordsmanship was serious and proceeded on the closest and shortest way, quickly and readily; when one wants to strike and thrust in the surest manner as could be done. He noted that rightful swordsmanship did not have any beautiful and broad parries and large motions or fencing around, to impressed unskilled observers people. The Leichmeisters he observed stood still and made large motions slowly and clumsily, creating two or three strokes out of what was really one because they want to be respected by those who do not understand the art, so that they often delayed and missed and in the process exposed themselves. His comments are very telling to us who have criticised the ubiquitous lack of martial intent and authenticity in theatrical combat and modern stunt fighting shows.

Rather than trying to fit what we know about period combat into a preconceived pretend version of it, we instead integrate what we learn about Medieval and Renaissance fencing into a system of training and practice that includes mock-combat. In contrast to the 18th century definition of fencing as essentially the art of single sword duelling, ARMA accepts the definition of Medieval and Renaissance fencing as it originally meant in the periods: armed combat skills which always incorporated close-in and unarmed techniques.

The ARMA is not concerned with exclusively knightly tournaments sports or later gentlemanly “duels of honor”, but with the whole panoply of personal fighting skills of the period from roughly 1250-1650.   The sheer enormity of this subject and its transitory nature, as more material and accurate interpretations appear almost monthly, means we simply cannot be as precise or firm as we would like. Nor can we address every facet of the subject from every historical master’s view.  What we can do is offer a reliable starting point and a sound means by which to study. 

ARMA endeavors to avoid the commonplace “museum curator” approach to historical fencing which treats it as a fossilized cultural artifact.  ARMA uses as its model not only the German Fechtschulen and English fighting guilds of the 16th century, but also follows as its inspiration the first historical fencing enthusiasts who did much to legitimize the subject –the late 19th century British practitioner-researchers Captain Alfred Hutton, Egerton Castle, Sir Frederick Pollock, Captain Carl Thimm, and Colonel Cyril Matthey.

It is an axiom of martial arts and historical fencing that only a master or a very skilled fighter can check all the faults that a beginner is liable to make when learning.  But no one alive today knows what Medieval or Renaissance styles really looked liked nor how exactly they were passed on. Obviously there are no living historical masters today around to teach us. Yet, if we carefully study the illustrations in the surviving texts, translate their words with precision, and interpret both based on a sound understanding of how the weapons in question can actually be employed, then the historical techniques and principles of the source manuals are not difficult to reconstruct.  We seek not to produce students that are technically proficient in movement patterns yet tactically ineffectual as fighters. We seek instead the meaning of the authentic historical teachings…and through analysis, a modern way to practice them once again as credible martial disciplines. When it comes to Renaissance martial arts, we concluded, authenticity does not exist unless we now reconstruct it. This, then, in a nutshell is what ARMA does.

What does it mean to practice Renaissance Martial Arts?

The historical fencing movement has gained great momentum in recent years, as more and more serious students have rediscovered the original historical manuals and realized their value as unparalleled sources of study. The old orthodox view of fencing history is fading in light of a new generation of historical European martial arts practitioners aided by advances in scholarship and communication.

To explore and learn our subject requires we conduct pure research and experimentation in the investigation of European arms and armor and their use combined with honest supposition, conjecture, and analysis.  For the purpose of developing training sequences, drills, and practice routines we define terminology and identify essential principles and concepts from historical fencing manuals. These efforts aim at establishing a new pedagogy of instruction or Medieval and Renaissance martial arts as combative skills instead of martial sports. Our perspective is that of training and instructing. Hence, in our modern practice now we explore them and try to master them as if they were really intended to be used –even though we realistically know this will never be the case. 

The domain of Medieval and Renaissance fencing today involves a multitude of proficiencies. These teachings must be studied within their own context, following conditions approximating those they were originally practiced under, and using weapons and equipment of the same historical styles. The sophisticated fighting skills of the 13^th to 17^th centuries were highly developed and effective.  To learn them again requires considerable research and physical effort that cannot be acquired except by pursuing them along a similar historical manner.

While the motivation for studying this subject will surely be different for each individual, certain general elements can be identified. These skills are obsolete for modern war and duelling itself is a thing of the past, however there are still genuine self-defence components to be learned. There are of course strong health benefits to be derived from the exercise, stress relief, and physical and mental conditioning found within martial practice.  Improved physical fitness and mental well-being as well as character are all well-known aspects of the pursuit of fencing or martial arts. Additionally, within Medieval and Renaissance fencing there are other elements at work such as gaining an appreciation for our Western heritage and history and the ingenuity with which our ancestors met adversity. Finally, the camaraderie found in learning and playing together with fellow students cannot be denied.

Thus, the Association for Renaissance Martial Arts is an educational non-profit organization dedicated to the study and practice of historical fencing and the exploration and promotion of our Western martial heritage. The ARMA focuses on the interpretation and legitimate reconstruction of Medieval and Renaissance combat systems as a modern discipline. The ARMA’s efforts are directed toward resurrecting and recreating a legitimate craft of European fighting skills in a manner that is historically valid and martially sound.  Join us in exploring and reviving an exciting world of history and culture! 

Programs and Efforts

The ARMA represents a modern effort at researching, reconstructing, and resurrecting a legitimate craft of Medieval and Renaissance martial arts. ARMA material is based exclusively on documented Western martial culture and experience in handling real weaponry. Effort is directed at an approximation of historical fighting skills through a curriculum of interpreted techniques, principles, concepts, and methods for using swords, spears, shields, staffs, daggers, and grappling arts. The ARMA therefore views historical fencing from the perspective of the art of using all arms.

The ARMA System is founded upon an appreciation of the context under which European combatives of the Medieval and Renaissance era existed. The ARMA recognizes that fencing of earlier centuries was a martial art in the truest and original meaning of the European term –armed and unarmed fighting skills so named for the “Arts of Mars”, Roman god of war. ARMA’s Training Methodology emphasizes the “Martial” in martial arts, and does not suffer the pretense of posing and pretending.

ARMA practice reflects that while later fencing became synonymous with gentlemanly duels of the single-sword, historical European martial arts represented a diversity of sophisticated and highly effective styles using a variety of weaponry and armors for war, judicial combat, and personal self-defense. ARMA classes reflect understanding that all-out the life or death fighting of Medieval combat and Renaissance frays, rencounters, and streetfights are far removed from the more limited academic fencing of both 18^th - 19^th century gentlemen and today’s sporting styles.

The ARMA attempts to provide students and enthusiasts with realistic and effective understanding of martial skills, and not merely interesting intellectual recreation or academic demonstration of period styles. The subject is viewed by ARMA as a means of appreciating our martial heritage and its ingenuity, the adversity of life in earlier ages and the need for practical self-defense, as well as developing our fitness and character.

We offer a Member Training Program of Workshops