09/2008

A Brief Examination of Fiore dei Liberi's Treatises Flos Duellatorum & Fior di Battaglia
David M. Cvet ...  An examination of Fiore's life based on currently available material and a brief comparative analysis of the Pisani-Dossi, Morgan's and Getty's versions of Fiore's treatises.

07/2008

Fiore dei Liberi : Origins and Motivations
Russ Howe ...  A comprehensive exploration of the life of Friulian swordsmaster, Fiore dei Liberi, who was born mid-14th century, died early 15th century, and the politics of the period and area in which Fiore grew up, learned the art while traveling throughout Europe.

06/2008

Editor's Note
David M. Cvet ...  The past couple of years have been challenging from a personal level, with the passing away of my father, and health issues (still going on) with my in-laws. However, the journey back to the journals has only just begun and have expectations that there will be a high level of interest in practitioners and researchers wishing to publish their works in this journal...

09/2006

Reflections on audatia as a Martial Virtue
Dr. Charles H. Hackney ...  Charles examines, from a variety of perspectives, Liberi's use of the term audatia by drawing primarily from the philosophical and psychological literature, as virtue theories are currently gaining ground in these fields. He discusses how it may be cultivated, and how it may be applied in the life of a martial artist.

02/2005

A club with an edge
Dr. Timothy Dawson ...  The image of medieval and Renaissance weaponry in Europe, just as many other areas of life in the period, is the subject of many widely accepted "facts" of uncertain origin. The remark that gives this article its title embodies two of the most widespread of these, i.e. medieval swords were clumsy, heavy bludgeoning implements, and after c.1400, were light and dexterous tools.

01/2005

The Measure of a Master Swordsman
David M. Cvet ...  A detailed examination of one of the earliest known swordsmasters of the late 14th and early 15th century, of a page known as "sette spada" from the treatise written by Fiore dei Liberi in 1410 illustrating the combative attributes required of a skilled fighter stemming from an allegorical interpretation and symbolism of beasts.

10/2004

The Two-Handed Great Sword - Making lite of the issue of weight
Anthony Shore ...  An informative article that attempts to dispel some of the myths and misinformation surrounding the issue of weight of the two-handed great sword and its deployment in assaults.

03/2004

Editor's Note
David M. Cvet ...  A very successful year for JWMA and JManly, given the submission of 14 articles and 7 articles respectively. It is becoming clear that the practitioner out there is also becoming quite a good writer, with articles based on solid research. I can see the trend continue in perpetuity...

10/2003

The Practical Saviolo - Part 5
Stephen Hand ...  This is the last in a series of annotated sections of Vincentio Saviolo's "His Practise. In Two Bookes." and presents a discourse on single rapier. It was originally published in Hammerterz Forum Vol. 5 No. 2 & 3.

08/2003

The Practical Saviolo - Part 4
Stephen Hand ...  This is the fourth in a series of annotated sections of Vincentio Saviolo's "His Practise. In Two Bookes." It was originally published in Hammerterz Forum Vol. 5 No. 1.

06/2003

Blossfechten and the Fechtschulen - German Judicial and Sport Dueling from the Dark Ages to the Renaissance
Michael Rasmusson ...  An in-depth look at the development and the relevance of the German fencing school or "fechtschule" form of fencing bouts from its roots before the 14th century to 17th century to the challenges faced today with holding and administering unarmoured longsword fencing bouts which remain within the spirit of the earlier fechtschule principles.

06/2003

Sword and Buckler Fighting among the Lost Crusaders
J. Christoph Amberger ...  A fascinating account by an American visitor by the name of Richard Halliburton (1900-1939) of the existence of possible lost crusaders in the remote regions of the Caucasus area. This area cut off from the rest of the world with 9 months of ice and snow may have provided the necessary isolation to maintain the fighting styles of the crusaders for hundreds of years.

06/2003

The Flower of Battle - A Medieval Italian Fencing Manual
Matt Galas ...  The article examines a manuscript, written in 1410 by a swordsmaster by the name of Fiore dei Liberi, providing details of Liberi's past, brief examination of self defence against a knife (dagger), longsword, armoured combat and mounted combat.

05/2003

English Martial Arts
Frank Docherty ...  The article briefly examines the history and culture behind English martial arts and its variations such as bare knuckle boxing, broadsword, sword and dagger, sword and buckler, backsword and quarterstaff.

05/2003

The Practical Saviolo - Part 3
Stephen Hand ...  This piece picks up with Vincentio describing techniques possible from the short ward, a variant of the low ward in which the hand is held by the right side, with the rapier directed at the opponent's face.

05/2003

Behind the woodshed: Little-known aspects of Dussack play through the ages
J. Christoph Amberger ...  An exploration of one of the most bizarre German sports fencing weapons, apparently in use for a couple of hundred years since the 1400's and was the dominant training weapon used in the German fechtschulen during the 16th century, outstripping the use of longsword, staves and daggers.

04/2003

Fencing, Old and New. As Typified by Angelo and Prévost
H. A. Colmore Dunn ...  Originally published in Outing magazine, October 1894, the article offers an interesting perspective of the perception of early historical fencing (17th - 18th century) from the viewpoint of the late 19th century at the time this article was written, in which strength rather than skill was the order of the day for swordsmen wielding the rather "cumbersome" rapier, and who neglected the point of ths sword resulting in wild and imaginative swordplay.

04/2003

Reconstructing Ancient Martial Arts
J. Christoph Amberger ...  Christoph takes a winding trail of a series of brief explorations of some historical sources describing early martial arts traditions of the Eastern and Western cultures, brief examination of Western fighting art styles that we have come to expect from the Asian arts, the "perfect" sword blade construction and the lethal and systematic Western fighting arts buried in the often times illustrated documentation (treatises) by the masters of the period.

04/2003

The Practical Saviolo - Part 2
Stephen Hand ...  Continuing with part #2 of series of annotated sections of Vincentio Saviolo's "His Practise. In Two Bookes.", Stephen picks up where Vincentio has just finished describing the fourth sequence commencing from the extended Low Ward.

03/2003

A Fechtschule in late 16th-Century Germany
J. Christoph Amberger ...  An engaging 16th century description on the German fechtschule or fencing school originally written in "Kufahl, Hans and Schmied-Kowarzik, Josef. Fechtbüchlein, Leipzig: Reclam, 1894" provides the reader a glimpse into the distinction between the exercise of arms on the fencing floor and the contests which were held publically.

03/2003

The Practical Saviolo - Part 1
Stephen Hand ...  This is the first in a series of annotated sections of Vincentio Saviolo's "His Practise. In Two Bookes.", a rapier fencing manual published in England in 1595 and the first such work actually written in that country (albeit by a foreigner).

03/2003

Editor's Note
David M. Cvet ...  This is my first editor's note written for the Journal of Western Martial Art and it is about time. As an editor, I've been rather silent in my responsibilities towards this online journal, even though work has been occurring throughout the life of this journal, not entirely visible to the reader...

11/2002

In Memorium R. Ewart Oakeshott 1916-2002
David M. Cvet ...  Ewart Oakeshott, 86, a leading authority on European arms and armour, died last month. He loved handling swords, says The Daily Telegraph in his obituary, and was involved in historical re-enactments of battle scenes.

10/2002

Summary of the 4th International WMAW
David M. Cvet ...  The magnificant tradition of the Western Martial Arts Workshop was secured with yet another successful WMAW weekend hosted by the Chicago Swordplay Guild at a retreat on the shores of Lake Michigan in a gothic revival setting of Racine, Wisconsin approximately 1.5 hours north of Chicago.

10/2002

Martial Art and Pastime of Fops: How Fashion and Social Issues Shaped Modern Fencing
J. Christoph Amberger ...  This is the first part of a series of articles exploring the influences of social and status consciousness that shaped the ancient western martial Art of Defence into modern fencing.

06/2002

Principles of Fiore Dei Liberi's Martial System
Robert Lovett ...  Fiore dei Liberi of Cividale d'Austria was a medieval swordsmaster, born sometime between 1340 and 1350 in Cividale del Friuli, a small town on the river Natisone in Italy. This article is based on his writings, specifically his treatise entitled "Flos Duellatorum" written between the years of 1409 and 1410.

02/2002

Historical Martial Arts: Alive and Well
David M. Cvet ...  The article reviews some of the current developments internationally with respect to the reconstruction, study and the practice of historical Western martial arts.

01/2002

The Importance of Studying Historical Treatises
Bartlomiej Walczak ...  The subject of Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) has so far been addressed only marginally both in the literature and in the Western martial arts community. Their traditions disappeared long ago and in contrast to the Eastern martial arts, with the sole exception of wrestling, HEMA cannot be reconstructed solely on the basis of any of today's modern combatitive sport.

01/2002

Study of the Destructive Capabilities of the European Longsword
David M. Cvet ...  Much has been written and discussed across the historical European martial arts community in articles and forums on the subject of the value or lack of value of practice cutting employing sharp swords.

12/2001

"How's your elephant?" An Asian style Martial Artist looks at the WMAW
Deborah Klens-Bigman, Ph.D. ...  Rapiers, daggers, broadswords, knights in shining suits of armor - stuff of childhood fantasies. As a kid, I would have killed (or at least fought a duel) for a chance to attend the Association for Historical Fencing's Third Annual Western Martial Arts Workshop, held October 12, 13 and 14, 2001, at Riverside Church, in New York City.

05/2001

A Brief History of the Quarterstaff
Frank Docherty ...  The Quarterstaff was for centuries considered the weapon of the lower sections of society, although the nobility had a healthy respect for the Quarterstaff, which they also practised. In reality Quarterstaffing, as a fighting art reigned supreme in England for many centuries.

04/2001

Several Remarks on the Blossfechten Section of Codex Wallerstein
Grzegorz Zabinski ...  The paper deals with selected aspects of Blossfechten (unarmoured combat) with the longsword as depicted in one of the most renowned, yet still unpublished source of medieval swordsmanship known as Codex Wallerstein (Universitaetsbibliothek Augsburg, I. 6.4^o.2).

03/2001

Daggers of the Mind: Towards a Historiography of Fencing
Ken Mondschein ...  If historians from Karl Marx to Michel Foucault have dealt with conflict between dominant and subordinate groups as a primary theme in their work, it is arguably because of their European background. The notion of social class, it has oft been noted, is more in the fore of the French or British mind than it is in the American.

02/2001

The Demystification of the Spanish School
Maestro Ramón Martínez ...  The Spanish School of Swordsmanship, "La Destreza" is the most misunderstood subject in the history of fencing. It has been misrepresented by fencing scholars for the past one hundred years as an ineffectual and artificial system of swordsmanship full of absurdities. The intent of this article and others to follow is to present a clearer and more accurate picture of what "La Destreza" is.

02/2001

Getting to the Point: The European Art of Fencing
Ken Mondschein ...  As with most things in the martial arts, the story of fencing is not a simple one. If you ask one person to tell you what "fencing" is, he might tell you that it's a modern sport. Ask a second, and she might describe fencing as a five-hundred-year-old martial tradition.

02/2001

Fiore dei Liberi's 7 Rules of Wrestling
Peter Kautz ...  In his 1410 book Flos Duellatorum (The Flower of Battle) Fiore tells us that in his time he met "1000 men who would call themselves masters; though if their skills were combined, you would not have 4 good students, let alone one True Master", and that he wrote his book at the end of his life because there was simply no one around who was as skilled as he was, or who knew so many kinds of techniques.

12/2000

Vollstandiges Ring-Buch by Johann Georg Passchen
Dr. Eli Steenput ...  This is an interesting little 17th century wrestling manual, with focus on unarmed defence, and surprisingly complete in the types of techniques covered. It is also boringly repetitious and the explanations are not extraordinarily clear.

11/2000

Oakeshott's Typology
Björn Hellqvist ...  This is an attempt to introduce the reader to Oakeshott's sword blade typology. Ewart Oakeshott is perhaps the most noted student of swords, and his contribution to our knowledge is significant. In order to make his research easier, he divided the swords into types. In contrast to other typologies, like Petersen's Viking sword typology that only focuses on the hilt form, Oakeshott's typology concentrates on the blade and its function.

10/2000

Chivalry and the Modern Practice of the Medieval Martial Arts
Brian Price ...  The recent interest in Medieval and Renaissance martial arts is a wonderful thing. Drawn to the tantalizing world of historical techniques as expressed through the fechtbuchen (fighting books), reenactors, martial artists, tournament society members and historical fencers have begun to communicate, creating a rich new renaissance of learning with respect to the practice of medieval fighting.

10/2000

Clear Instructions to the Excellent Art of Wrestling
Dr. Eli Steenput ...  Clear instructions to the excellent art of wrestling, teaching how one can defend oneself in all occurrences of violence, and how to counter all grips, pushes, punches. Most useful against troublemakers and those seeking to offend others, or that threaten one with a knife.

05/2000

A Matter of Time
Stephen Hand ...  You face your opponent en guarde, waiting for his move. He lunges at the left side of your chest. Without thinking you parry the thrust across your body and then extend your sword in a counterthrust, aiming at the center of your opponent's chest.

05/2000

JUEGO DEL PALO - Stick Fencing of the Canary Islands
Tony Wolf ...  Juego del Palo ("stick play") is practiced as a folk art, sport and self-defense system on the Canary Islands, a mountainous island chain off the coast of Morocco. It features a wide variety of Estilos (styles), which are usually named after the families which have preserved and perpetuated specific teaching systems, and also many distinct juegos (games) featuring different rules, strategies and techniques.

04/2000

About Cornish Wrestling
Colin Roberts ...  Cornish Wrestling, or 'wrasslin' as we call it, is an ancient form of one-on-one combat, similar in style to many other forms of Celtic wrestling. It certainly has no similarity with the wrestling seen on TV where entertainment rather than competitiveness is the aim.

03/2000

The Incised Effigial Stone at Foveran, Aberdeenshire
Neil H. T. Melville ...  On the 24th of July 1411 Donald, Lord of the Isles, at the head of a Highland army numbering, so it was said, 10,000 men, arrived at the village of Harlaw near inverurie, less than 20 miles from Aberdeen. Donald claimed the Earldom of Ross by right of his wife and was determined to assert his title by force of arms against the counterclaim of the regent, the Duke of Albany, on behalf of his son, John, Earl of Buchan.

03/2000

Early Cornish Wrestling
Ken Pfrenger ...  Very few western martial traditions have a verifiable unbroken line of practice from Medieval times. The same can be said for Asian martial traditions as well. The indigenous wrestling of Englands West Country and of the Cornish people themselves has a history that extends before Medieval times and possibly back into ancient times as well.

01/2000

The Gripping History of Glima
Peter Kautz ...  Glima translates literally as "The Game of Joy", and is an art roughly 1100 years old. It was brought to Iceland by Viking settlers, and has been practiced as a folk art ever since. It is mentioned in writing in the "Jonsbok" law-book in 1325, "Whosoever participates in a contest of friendly wrestling or hide-tugging does so on his own responsibility".

01/2000

The Origins of the Two-Handed Sword
Neil H. T. Melville ...  Any sword which is to be regarded as a two-hander must, by reason of its dimensions and weight, require two hands for its effective management. Hence the blade, as well as the hilt, must be longer than norm, i.e. over 100cm. Secondly, the hilt of the true two-hander should not merely accommodate two hands but be long enough for the two hands holding it to be kept apart, in order to give a fulcrum effect; and the greater the possible distance between the hands the more easily could the long, heavy blade be manoeuvred for an offensive cut or a defensive counterblow.

12/1999

The Problem of Armour in Medieval Combat Reconstruction
Greg Mele ...  Today a wide variety of groups practice historical swordplay, to various degrees of realism. These include "live-fantasy" boffer fighters, for whom "Medieval combat" is simply a facet of the bigger game, the martial sport of many American derived medieval "recreation" societies, the "battle pageants" many living history groups perform for the public, and the pure martial focus of organizations such as the Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts or the Historical Armed Combat Association.