Introduction to Historical European Martial Arts

The oldest surviving manual on Western sword fighting dates from the 14th century, although there are historical references to sword fighting schools dating back to the 12th century. These 'schools' are better seen as movements within the study of sword fighting rather than actual schools. 

The Venetian school of sword fighting originated in Venice in the early 12th century and lasted until the early 19th century.

The basic principles of Venetian sword fighting are outlined in five major works:

• Giacomo di Grassi – The reasons for successfully handling weapons for attack and defense (1570)

• Francesco Alfieri – The art of excellently wielding the sword (1653)

• Camillo Agrippa – Treatise on the science of weapons with philosophical considerations (1553)

• Nicoletto Giganti – School of Theater (1606)

• Salvator Fabris – Sword fighting or the science of weapons (1606)

The Venetians were masters of their art and shared with their colleagues s from Bologna the solid principles known as Bolognese or Venetian sword fighting. For the first time, the sword was described in detail: the characteristics of different parts of the blade and how they could be used for attack or defense. This also led to the concept of what we now call the 'strike point.' The blade was divided into four parts: the first two, close to the hilt, were for defense; the third part, near the middle of the blade, for powerful strikes; and the fourth, near the tip, for thrusts.

The German school of sword fighting was a combat system that was widespread in the Holy Roman Empire. It existed from the late Middle Ages to the early modern period (from the 14th to the 17th century) and was particularly characterized by the use of the longsword. Important masters, such as Johannes Liechtenauer, developed techniques and principles that had a significant influence on the martial arts of that period.

The oldest document of this tradition is the manuscript I.33, written around 1300. This work provides detailed instructions on the use of sword and shield, and forms the basic for later manuals and the further development of European martial arts.

The Neapolitan School emerged in Naples at the beginning of the 15th century and grew into one of the most powerful fencing schools in Italy. It produced many famous masters and made a significant contribution to the development of techniques and teaching methods. The influence of this school extended beyond Italy and helped shape the art of swordsmanship throughout Europe during the Renaissance.

Until the technological innovations after World War I, cavalry instructors in the U.S. Army still taught swordsmanship, both mounted and on foot. This took place at the Mounted Service School in Fort Riley, Kansas.

The young lieutenant George S. Patton Jr. was appointed there as Master of the Sword, a title for the best instructor. In 1913, he designed the so-called Patton-sabre, inspired by his study with M. Cléry L’Adjutant, then one of the most prominent swordsmanship masters in Europe. During his time at Fort Riley, Patton wrote two training manuals for cavalry officers: Saber Exercise 1914 and Diary of the Instructor in Swordsmanship.

From the Middle Ages, swordsmanship was not only seen as a way to fight but also as a means to train and compete safely. In the 18th century, Domenico Angelo made a significant transformation in this regard. He opened a fencing school in London in 1763, taught the nobility and the royal family, and published an influential instructional book. Angelo laid the basic for posture and footwork that still apply today and was the first to emphasize the health and sporting benefits of swordsmanship over its deadly aspect.

During the 19th century, the emphasis shifted entirely to sport. The first official tournament took place in 1880 in London, after which the first official regulations for swordsmanship were established in both Great Britain and the United States.

Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) are martial arts of European origin. They primarily involve combat arts that were practiced in the past but later disappeared or transformed into completely different forms.

There is little documentation preserved from the classical antiquity martial arts – such as Greek wrestling or gladiatorial combat. Most manuals and technical treatises date from the late Middle Ages and the early modern period. Therefore, HEMA in practice primarily focuses on the period between approximately 1300 and 1800. During this time, the German, Italian, and Spanish schools flourished in the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance (14th to 16th century), followed by the French, English, and Scottish schools of swordsmanship in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Martial arts from the 19th century, such as classical swordsmanship and early hybrid styles like Bartitsu, are sometimes included under HEMA in a broader sense. Additionally, traditional and folkloric styles from the late 19th and early 20th centuries are sometimes counted, such as forms of folk wrestling and stick fighting traditions.

In the United States, the term Western Martial Arts (WMA) is also used, which can encompass both modern and traditional disciplines in a broader sense. In the late Middle Ages, the longsword held a place of honor within these martial arts. Therefore, the term Historical European Swordsmanship (HES) is sometimes used, specifically for the techniques of sword fighting.

The earliest known Western book on martial arts (as of 2025) is the Epitoma rei militaris. This work was written in Latin by the Roman author Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, who lived in Rome between the 4th and 5th centuries. No other Western manuals on martial arts are known from before the late Middle Ages (except for some fragments on Greek wrestling, such as in the Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 466).

However, medieval texts – such as the Icelandic sagas s, Byzantine Acritic songs, the epic Digenes Akritas, and Middle High German tales – contain descriptions of fights and martial knowledge. Visual arts from that time also provide information, for example, the Bayeux Tapestry, the Synopsis of Histories by John Skylitzes, and the Morgan Bible. Based on basic of such sources, combined with practical experimentation, researchers sometimes attempt to reconstruct older combat methods, such as pankration, Byzantine hoplomachia, Viking sword fighting, and gladiatorial combat.

The oldest surviving Fechtbuch (combat manual) is the Royal Armouries Ms. I.33, also known as the Walpurgis book or Tower Fechtbuch. This manuscript, written around 1300, covers fighting with sword and shield (buckler).

Our knowledge of military technology in the Viking Age (late 8th to mid-11th century) is based on relatively few archaeological finds, images, and partly on the stories in the Norse sagass and laws recorded in the 12th to 14th centuries. According to custom, all free Norsemen were required to own weapons and were allowed to carry them at all times. In the Hávamáll, a collection of wise counsel attributed to Odin, it states for example: "Do not leave your weapons lying behind your back in the field; you never know when you might suddenly need your spear."

War was the most prestigious occupation in Scandinavia during the Viking Age, and finely crafted weapons were an important way for a warrior to display his wealth and status. A wealthy Viking usually had a complete outfit: a spear, a wooden shield, and a battle axe or sword. Battle axes were considered the "normal weapon" for middle-class Vikings, while swords were primarily reserved for the upper class and nobility due to their high cost.

Viking weapons were often celebrated in poetry. The wealthiest sometimes had a helmet and chainmail shirt, which were presumably limited to the nobility and their professional warriors. Poor warriors wore multiple layers of thick woolen clothing. The average farmer probably only had a spear, a shield, and possibly a simple axe or a large knife (seax). Some warriors also brought their hunting bows, usually longbows or flatbows, which could be used in the early stages of a battle.

The central figure of late medieval martial arts in Germany is Johannes Liechtenauer. Although no manuscript by him is known to have survived, his lessons were first recorded in the Nuremberg Manuscript GNM 3227a from the late 14th century. From the 15th to the 17th century, numerous Fechtbücher (German "sword books") were produced, of which several hundred still exist. Many of these works describe techniques derived from Liechtenauer's leather. His Zettel (a type of poem or summary of his techniques) remains one of the best-known, albeit cryptic, pieces of European martial arts literature, and is studied and applied worldwide by swordsmen and researchers.

Usually, multiple forms of fighting were taught alongside each other, such as: unarmed wrestling (Kampfringen or abrazare), dagger fighting (Small sword or daga, often a rondel dagger), long knife (Messer or Dusack), staffs, long staff or polearms, longsword (Langesschwert, spada longa, spadone) and fighting in armour (Harnischfechten or armazare), both on foot and on horseback. Some Fechtbücher also include sections on special duels shields (Stechschild), used in judicial combats.

Important 15th-century German sword masters included Sigmund Ringeck, Peter von Danzig, Hans Talhoffer, and Paulus Kal, all of whom passed on the leather of Liechtenauer. From the end of the 15th century, "brotherhoods" of sword fighters (Fechtbruderschaften) emerged, such as the Brotherhood of St. Mark (1474) and the Federfechter.

An early example from Burgundian France is Le jeu de la hache ("The Game of the Axe") around 1400.

The first master to write in Italian was Fiore dei Liberi, commissioned by the Marquis of Ferrara. Between 1407 and 1410, he documented extensive combat techniques in his work Flos Duellatorum, in which he covered wrestling, dagger, weapon handling with a armour, longsword, polearms, combat in armour, and mounted combat. The Italian school was continued by Filippo Vadi (1482–1487) and Pietro Monte (1492, Latin with Italian and Spanish terms).

There are also three early English texts on sword fighting (before George Silver), but these are very obscure and of uncertain date. They are usually attributed to the second half of the 15th century.

In the 16th century, compilations of older Fechtbücher techniques were made, some of which were printed, notably by Paulus Hector Mair (in the 1540s) and Joachim Meyer (in the 1570s). Mair's work is unparalleled in scope by any other German master and is considered invaluable by contemporary researchers.

In Germany, sword fighting developed sportive traits in the 16th century. The treatises of Mair and Meyer built on the tradition of Liechtenauer from earlier centuries, but with new and distinctive features. The printed Fechtbuch of Jacob Sutor (1612) is considered one of the last works in the German tradition.

In Italy, the 16th century was a period of great changes. It began with the treatises of the Bolognese masters Antonio Manciolino and Achille Marozzo, who described a variation of the eclectic chivalric martial arts of the previous century. From sword and shield to sword and dagger, from sword alone to two-handed sword, from polearms to wrestling (though absent in Manciolino): early 16th-century Italian sword fighting reflected the versatility expected of a warrior of that time.

By the mid-16th century, polearms and sidearms, along with the dagger and cape, gradually disappeared from manuals. In 1553, Camillo Agrippa first defined the prima, seconda, terza, and quarta stances (or hand positions), which would form the basic of Italian sword fighting well into the next century. From the end of the 16th century, Italian rapier sword fighting became popular throughout Europe, particularly thanks to the work of Salvator Fabris (1606).

Important masters from this period included:

• Antonio Manciolino (1531, Italian)

• Achille Marozzo (1536, Italian)

• Angelo Viggiani (1551 and 1575, Italian)

• Camillo Agrippa (1553, Italian)

• Jerónimo Sánchez de Carranza (1569, Spanish)

• Giacomo di Grassi (1570, Italian)

• Giovanni Dall'Agocchie (1572, Italian)

• Henry de Sainct-Didier (1573, French)
  Frederico Ghisliero (1587, Italian)

• Vincentio Saviolo (1595, Italian)

• Girolamo Cavalcabo (1597, Italian)

• George Silver (1599, English)

During the Baroque period, wrestling lost popularity among the upper classes, as it was now seen as uncivilized and rustic. The sword fighting styles also had to conform to the new ideals of elegance and harmony.

In Spain, this ideology was particularly developed to great heights. La Verdadera Destreza ('the true art of swordsmanship') was based on Renaissance humanism and scientific principles, as a counterpart to the traditional, "everyday" way of fencing from the Middle Ages. Important masters of Destreza were Jerónimo Sánchez de Carranza (the "father of Destreza", …1600) and Luis Pacheco de Narváez (1600, 1632). The Dutch master Girard Thibault (1630) was also influenced by these ideas.

The French fencing school developed during this period independently from the Italian origin, with its own terminology, rules, and teaching methods. French Baroque masters included Le Perche du Coudray (1635, 1676, teacher of Cyrano de Bergerac), Besnard (1653, teacher of Descartes), François Dancie (1623), and Philibert de la Touche (1670).

In Italy, the 17th century was dominated by Salvator Fabris, whose work De lo schermo overo scienza d'arme (1606) had a significant influence not only in Italy but also in Germany, virtually displacing the German fencing traditions. Fabris was succeeded by masters such as Nicoletto Giganti (1606), Ridolfo Capo Ferro (1610), Francesco Alfieri (1640), Francesco Antonio Marcelli (1686), and Bondì di Mazo (1696).

In England, during the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, works on swordsmanship by English authors appeared, such as George Silver (1599) and the professional fencing master Joseph Swetnam (1617). The English verb to fence is first mentioned in Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor (1597).

The French fencing school, which originated in the 16th century in Italy, developed into its classical form during the Baroque. In the 18th century, during the late Baroque and Rococo, French fencing with the small sword emerged, and later with the foil as training weapon for the small sword.

Around 1715, the rapier was largely replaced by the lighter and more manageable small sword throughout most of Europe, although techniques of the rapier were still addressed by authors such as Donald McBane (1728), P. J. F. Girard (1736), and Domenico Angelo (1763).

In this period, bare-knuckle boxing also emerged as a popular sport in England and Ireland. Pioneers of this were the Englishmen James Figg and Jack Broughton.

During the 18th century, the French fencing school became the standard in Western Europe. The Italian-born master Domenico Angelo, who taught in England, published his work L'École des Armes in French in 1763. The book became a huge success and served as a standard work for fifty years, including during the Napoleonic era. Angelo's s manual was so influential that it was included under the title Éscrime in Diderot's Encyclopédie.

Since the 1980s and 1990s, historical European martial arts communities have emerged in Europe, North America, Australia, and the rest of the world. These groups attempt to reconstruct historical European martial arts using various training methods.

Although the focus is usually on the martial arts of medieval and Renaissance masters, 19th and early 20th-century instructors are also studied and their systems reconstructed. Examples include Edward William Barton-Wright, founder of Bartitsu; Pierre Vigny, master of combat savate and stick fighting; Rowland George Allanson-Winn, boxer and fencer from London; Jean Joseph-Renaud, French journalist and self-defense enthusiast; and the British quarterstaff expert Thomas McCarthy.