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The reason steel feders are so widely used in HEMA is due to them being able to be used safely in partner drills, especially at higher intensity .
Stage combat swords miss the rolled tip and bending in the thrust, instead many of them have rather pointy tips. This makes them really unsafe for partner drills and there have been a number of accidents where ...
6
According to this site, the schilt is a safety thing, to route a blocked blade away from the fingers. Non-training weapons generally don't have them because, being larger and heavier, they already have a wider base.
The purpose seems to be additional protection of the hand and fingers at the crossguard, mainly by widening the base of the blade. The schilt ...
5
First of all, this isn't universal: there are sharp swords with a flared ricasso (schilt) and feders without.
"Feder" is very much a modern term, and broadly just means a longsword foil specifically modified for sparring. Characteristic features include:
flared points
wide edges
additional flex
blade shape that brings the weight closer to the ...
5
A few simple piece of advice for anyone thinking of starting their own club.
First and foremost, your finances and the club's finances must be separate in all legal sense. If you take a loan, this must be for the club and not yourself. If you seek funding, it must be as the club and not yourself. This will protect you in case something bad happens to the ...
answered Nov 1 '15 at 14:31
Sardathrion - against SE abuse
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5
If you are in the US want to buy your first steel sword either sharp or blunt, my suggestion is to take a look at HEMA Supplies, a US-based importer and reseller of Peter Regenyei's swords that seem to offer reasonable prices. They mostly sell blunt steel feders from Peter Regenyei but they will take orders for custom sharp longswords.
Regenyei is one of ...
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This answer is late in coming, but I was in the same boat. No HEMA club, just me, and later some friends. I'll split this answer up into 1) Books and 2) Equipment.
Books
I highly recommend Guy Windsor's Swordsman's Companion. He breaks down Italian/Pan-European longsword into very learnable chunks. Sure, he only references the manuals every so often, but ...
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This is a cost analysis (kinda) answer1.
What would being injured cost you? Do you have medical insurance/free health care? Would a broken hand/finger(s) mean you would be effectively unable to earn a living because you do a lot of manual work? Do you know how to use a left/right handed Dvorak keyboard? Once you have an idea of the cost of the injury as ...
answered Nov 30 '15 at 13:03
Sardathrion - against SE abuse
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5
The same source text you're quoting mentions the use of Uberlauffen or overrunning as defense against low threats. The idea is to use a Scheitelhau (or a similarly executed thrust) to strike before you get hit by the opponent while removing the target. Your blade in the opponent's body would then prevent follow-up attacks.
The argument used there is that ...
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From a non-HEMA perspective: you want to minimize the time it takes to defend the current attack, while maintaining a position that can still adapt for your own attacks or to defend potential future attacks. Whether footwork evasion or a block will be faster depends on where your sword is when the attack begins.
If your sword is high, an attempt to block ...
4
If we think about things completely in the abstract, slipping the leg while striking the head is a better option: because you're attacking and defending in the same motion it is virtually impossible for your opponent to react and counter your strike. By targeting your leg, your opponent has robbed themselves of a lot of reach, meaning you can usually easily ...
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I would look at joining the HEMA Alliance, they can provide a lot of help. They also provide insurance, which is a nice perk.
In addition, their forums, and their groups on facebook are great places to figure out how to run a club.
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Most certainly not.
This article on Jogo do Pau specifically tells a story of how stick fighting naturally evolved in rural areas as it is both a useful thing to have in general in the wilderness as well as a weapon simple enough to be available for everyone while not being perceived as an expression of possible aggression. And this extends back into the ...
4
You should really be asking your club, rather than here. If you have just started training then you should not even be using a full weight sword. Safety and strength aside, your joints (and connecting fibers) will probably not be up to the task without some practice.
Buy a cudgel (stick) and a helmet (with eye proper eye protection!) and practice the ...
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In most cases, sword flex is only for the sake of durability and excessive flexibility is likely to interfere with doing proper damage with your blade. A major exception is the urumi, or "whip blade", where that flexibility is used to use it as more of a "soft weapon", able to make more use of centrifugal momentum and to curve around ...
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In the absence of other responses, I will give a kung fu perspective. I have no personal experience with savate, so I cannot productively comment on it or your reference.
Your normal fighting stance should be flexible and adaptive to allow movement in multiple directions and stability from force in multiple directions. You can train this by maintaining ...
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NO, not even if one is being charitable.
Unarmed, we have Greek wrestling was a popular form of martial art, at least in Ancient Greece (about 1100 to 146 BC). and Glima, as pointed out by alex3wielki here is another one from the cold north of Europe and dates from Viking Age (793–1066 AD).
With weapons, we have fencing still uses manuals that were written ...
answered May 23 '18 at 9:10
Sardathrion - against SE abuse
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3
If we're talking about sword-fighting, there are a lot of historical reconstruction groups. A link to a Tournament of Warriors held in Lithuania. https://youtu.be/pZH74NSmpfM
And there is Glima. A grappling martial arts supposedly used by the vikings. More info here. Link to a championship video here
Our historical martial arts are not as famous as the ...
3
Yes there are treatises regarding Wrestling and Swordsmanship.
As can be seen on ARMA's Master Ott's Wrestling:
Hans Talhoffer (1443), Ms.Chart.A.558 (HK 20)
Peter von Danzig, Cod.44 A 8 (Cod. 1449)(HK 42)
Jud Lew, Cod.I.6.40.3 (HK 5)
Paulus Kal ,Cgm 1507
Hans von Speyer, M.I.29 1491 (HK 43)
Paulus Hector Mair, Mscr. Dresd. C 93/94 (HK 15, ...
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My friend studies HEMA-German Long Sword, and while I practice with him, I don't have any particular advice for how to practice the style.
What I would like to say is, especially in the beginning, make sure that you are consistent with scheduling. I have seen many groups form, continue for a couple of weeks and then someone is late or someone doesn't show (...
2
Red Dragon Gloves are rubbish for steel longsword. Here in germany, switzerland and austria they used to be tournament legal together with lacrosse gloves (in some places they still are) and they had widespread use 5+ years ago.
To make a long story short people broke their hands and fingers alot and most people reevaluate quickly if 150€ for a glove is too ...
2
Roland Warzecha has quite a bit to say on the subject. You should consider looking through his website and YouTube channel.*
Dimicator Medieval Swordplay
Roland Warzecha on YouTube
His research and experimentation has concluded that the bind is the foundational principle to sword and buckler combat theory.
*Disclosure: I am in no way connected to Roland ...
2
Stage Weapons Should Not Be Used In Sparring.
Their construction and materials are generally less damage tolerant than their "battle ready" equivalents. This runs the risk of several bad things:
The stage sword breaking, possibly harming you or your sparring partner.
Lack some safety features (rolled tips, increased flexibility, etc.)
...
2
There are two types of steel, hard steel and soft steel.
The purpose of hard steel is edge retention. The purpose of soft steel is absorbing shock. The purpose of blade flex is so the sword does not shatter on the first strike.
Here's the most basic thing about swords, ANY SWORD, no matter the culture. When they hit too many hard things, they stop being ...
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No
Boxing rules require striking with the knuckles, which will render illegal both hammerfists and backfists. More specifically, from the USA Boxing National Rule Book, and their list of boxing fouls (emphasis mine):
Hitting with open glove, the inside of the glove, wrist or side of the hand
Of course, if you go back far enough, I'm sure there have been ...
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The Bolognese sources (1500s) contain information on fighting with both buckler and larger shields, but more importantly, cape. Achille Marozzo has large sections on both. Antonio Manciolino mainly deals with buckler. Giovanni dall'Agocchie is a good read too.
Have a look at wiktenauer, several translations can be found for free.
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Some books discussing Long Shield are Codex Wallerstein, Die Blume des Kampfes, Kunste Zu Ritterlicher Were, Paulus Kal's fencing manual, Paulus Hector Mair's compilation (largely re-illustrations of early fencing manuals), and Hans Talhoffer's MS Thott.290.2º and MS XIX.17-3.
Those links will bring you to illustrations and translations of the text, but ...
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I'm afraid that you'd have to ask the people at the rapier class you attended, because not all HEMA practioners outlaw a Sixte. It is possible that they don't actually have anything against a Sixte, but you were practicing a Quarte, so they were simply chiding you to follow the drill.
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I just watched a video to see Glima wrestling in action.
Looks like it requires a lot of upper body strength and more time standing than in ground control. Plus, at least one big difference. No pin or tap. Just escape to win. Interesting. I learned something new today.
Here's an article with more information, The Gripping History of Glima, featuring an old ...
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