Western martial arts

Western Martial Arts (WMA) refers to the European based fighting techniques and skills as opposed to the Asian rooted systems, and are further differentiated by the lack of a spiritual component common to most of the Asian systems. Western Martial Arts have seen a resurgence of interest since the beginning of the early 1990's, centered mainly on the study, recreation and preservation of medieval and renaissance swordsmanship and combat skills developed during the 14th through 18th centuries, which one may consider the modern outgrowth or superset of Historical European Martial Arts.

History

There are no living masters of Western Martial arts because the practice was largely allowed to die out in the 18th century with the emergence of more effective combat skills, mostly due to the introduction of firearms. Some practices such as Military Saber and Horse Lance were in use until the early 20th Century. At this point enthusiasts and scholars are trying to recreate the "art" using period sources, experience in existing living traditions, and a healthy dose of experimentation.

This research has, in part, been spurred by a resurgence of public interest in Western Martial Arts as is illustrated by public interest in Renaissance Fairs, the Society for Creative Anachronism, and, possibly to some degree, by interest in adventure, fantasy, and historical movies and tales such as The Lord of the Rings, Zorro, The Princess Bride, Braveheart, and role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons that depict pseudo-medieval combat.

Weapons

Commonly used swords include longswords, arming swords and rapiers, and to a lesser extent smallswords and backswords (modern fencing with foil, épée, and sabre is a rather different sport). Clubs and maces were used as crushing weapons, spears, staves, various polearms, and flail weapons are used for longer reach and greater momentum. Shields include the buckler and the kite shield.

The Masters

WMA knowledge was originally passed down from master to student with very little written instruction or documentation. Manuals that were written during the medieval ages were most likely closely guarded documents commissioned by the nobility of the day for use only by the nobles themselves, their knights and masters at arms. There are a scarce handful of manuals written between the 15th and 17th centuries available today. One of the the most notable is the work of the Italian Maestro Fiore dei Liberi circa 1490, known as Fior di Battaglia, or Flos Duellatorum which roughly translates to "The Flower of Battle". Fiore is considered to be the earliest master of the Italian school of swordsmanship. This manual covers his studies in Dagger (Daga), Sword (Spada), Long Sword, Short Sword, Poleax, Staff, Stick, and Wrestling / Grappling (Abrazare), both unarmoured and in armour, both on foot and mounted combat. Another well-known manual is the Fechtbuch Manuscript I.33 (pronounced "One thirty-three" rather than "Eye-thirty-three") which deals with 13th century German Sword & Buckler skills, and now resides in the collection of the Royal Armouries in Leeds, England. The German Master Johannes Lichtenauer started a whole tradition of masters in the German school of swordsmanship and Fiore likely began with the work of the Germans and then built upon their work as a foundation. There were a number of Bolognese masters, such as Fillipo Vadi, Filippo Bartolomeo Dardi, Guido Antonio di Luca, Antonio Manciolino, Achille Marozzo, Angelo Viggiani dal Montone, and Giovanni Dall’Agocchie. The rapier masters include such masters as Salvator(e) Fabris, Camillo Agrippa, and Ridolfo Capo Ferro. In England George Silver and Joseph Swetnam were well-known fencing masters. Rince an Bhata Uisce Bheatha, a mode of combat better known as Bata which employs the Irish walking stick shillelagh, was invented by the Doyle clan of Ireland, though no one person can be ascribed as its creator.

Further Reading

The Association for Renaissance Martial Arts ( ARMA ) has a good deal of information about the masters as does The Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts which has a good library. More information can be found at many sites including Schola Gladiatoria which has a lot of good information on two main translations of Fiore's work, known as the "Getty" or the Getty Translation, and the Morgan Translation.

Sydney Anglo's The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe is an often mentioned book on the subject.

Schools and Training

There are number of schools and guilds available for the inquisitive scholar. Note that there are no universal titles or ranking for either teachers or students or accreditation systems for schools in WMA, therefore any "master-at-arms" are self-appointed, however well-earned, and any "guilds" are not medieval or renaissance in origin. However, a number of schools make use of the ranking system detailed by the English historical Master, George Silver. These ranks are Scholar (acknowledged student), Free Scholar (advanced student), Provost (instructor, often the most senior student), and Master (head instructor).

A list of schools

Europe

• Sala d'Arme Achille Marozzo
• Schola Gladitoria located in West London, Great Britain
• Nova Scrimia in Italy researches Italian fencing and fighting arts from 1300 to modern time and combine them for modern day-life martial arts. This group published several books on this field, in particular a detailed 1000 page study on "Flos Duellatorum"
• Ochs - Historische Kampfkünste in Munich, Germany
• "Scrimia Schuola D'Armi" is a historical research group that develops protocols of philological studies on traditional fencing and Italian fighting styles International Scrimia Organization - OIS
• School of European Swordsmanship in Helsinki, Finland, teaches the Italian system

United States

• The Association for Historical Fencing
• Schola Saint George studies Fiore
• Tattershall School of Defense which studies Fiore as well as other 14th through 19th century WMA
• Chicago Swordplay Guild
• Rocky Mountain Swordplay Guild