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Western martial arts

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Western Martial Arts (WMA) refers to formalised fighting techniques and skills of European origin, as distinct from those originating in Asia.

The term "Western Martial Arts", originally coined during a discussion between Gregory Mele, Pete Kautz, and Dwight McLemore, is used to reference the study, recreation and preservation of combat skills developed during the 14th through 18th centuries, and is often distinguished by the term Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA). The related term historical fencing is specific to the recreation of weapon-based martial arts. WMA is now also used in reference to traditional European martial arts and combat sports such as savate, Jogo do Pau and catch-as-catch-can wrestling.

History

Traditional Western martial arts often possess no formal, written histories, being transmitted from one generation to the next largely via oral tradition. This is especially the case of traditional forms of wrestling, stick fighting and knife combat associated with rural areas and/or with criminal subcultures.

There are no living masters of Historical European Martial Arts because their 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.

Contemporary enthusiasts and scholars of HEMA attempt to recreate the "art" using period sources, experience in existing living traditions, and practical experimentation, a process equivalent to that of other forms of experimental archaeology.

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 by interest in adventure, fantasy, and historical films 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 or later 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 most notable is the work of the Italian Maestro Fiore dei Liberi circa 1409-1410, 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. The most recent periodical available pertaining to WMA has a Web site at: Western Martial Arts Illustrated, and the editorial board includes one of the three gentlemen who coined the term "Western martial arts," as well as other highly respected men in the martial arts arena, like Tony Wolf and Roger Siggs.

Schools and Training

There are number of schools and guilds available to the inquisitive scholar. Note that there are no universal titles or ranking for either teachers or students nor accreditation systems for schools in WMA, therefore any "masters-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 (the head instructor).

A list of schools: Maintained by the Chicago Swordplay Guild

Canada

Europe

United States

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