I thought this was a really interesting article by Aed of the Thegns of Mercia. http://thethegns.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/in-de...story.html

So I thought I would throw out another poll for the members of myArmoury. What do people here think about the article and what do they do?

For me, with some martial arts in my background, my interest has always been in knowing how to use the weapons I like. So if I had a good opportunity I would be studying a type of HEMA and moving along with JSA from my background. But if it were possible to dovetail the reenactment periods with study of a type of MA appropriate that might be the best of both worlds.

However, the times I'm most interested do not have the best sources. And I have done enough MA to prefer to focus rather than do a hodge-podge of things.

The author is really talking more about reenactment of battles rather than HEMA, but it made me think about this a bit. How about you? I'd like to know what kind of combat reenactment you might do, or why you don't, or what you study such as HEMA or another martial art, and what you gain from it. Does it influence your reenactment, has it made you interested in reenactment if you don't currently do any, or would you rather just drink a yard of beer at the RenFaire? ;)

Not sure how SCA properly fits into your poll

SCA heavy is a martial art.
Some of us are very particular about our appearance, both on and off the field.
Not really "reenacting," though, it's recreation.

Why pretend to fight when you actually fight?

All martial arts (HEMA, SCA, etc) have their own particular limitations and none are particularly authentic, so chose your poison and have fun.

My primary interest is large unit fighting, which is something that SCA heavy does. The challenges of getting 50 to 2,000 people to fight together as a unit in unscripted chaos is just as much a challenge today as it was 1,000 years ago. I think the experience provides tremendous insight into what Medieval fighting was really like.

I am also a believer in experimental archeology. I do not believe that we can truly understand until we put ourselves in other people's shoes, whether they be combatants or non-combatants.

Re-enactment takes time, and other people with time (well, you could do it alone, but more fun with others). My time being what it is, I don't have time to commit to doing re-enactment at the level I would like to, were I to do it.

So I do armed martial arts. Which is sort-of a vague re-enactment, without a specific time-period. Some people will be very "H" in their HEMA, and focus on one source/period/school. Others are more eclectic (drawing on many sources) and/or modern (aiming at what works in competition, regardless of source). I wouldn't call the sports/competitions, as such, martial arts, though serious competitors will learn a martial art focussed on that sport/competition (so I wouldn't call SCA heavy a martial art; however, what Paul of Bellatrix developed was a martial art); as a modern example, I wouldn't call MMA a martial art.

I do eclectic, and non-competition. Mostly longsword, two-handed sword, spear, one-handed sword, archery. German, Chinese. Some later sabre, courtesy of one training partner.

I try to do some experimental archaeology. Student projects like pit-cooking, computational modelling of archery, etc. That's neither martial arts, combat sports, nor re-enactment.

Thanks Timo, nice to hear from you.

Before your post and Harry's I don't think I have ever heard the term Experimental Archaeology before. I see that it is a different thing altogether though with obvious overlap of interest.

I have always liked European weapons but never found the time to study them, and really I was unaware people were doing this before ten years ago. When I was living in a city, I studied a range of Japanese and Chinese martial arts, about three years for this one or that one before I had to move along. Now of course my life has settled but again no training options for my time. So the historical research and collecting has filled that void. Given the chance, I'd study martial arts again and I will in time. But I think the research and collecting is helping me deepen my understanding of it all, I'd like to think so anyhow. So I do have the eclectic personality you speak of, but having had the opportunity to already find several good teachers, I'm a bit spoiled and do not want to waste my time with something I don't want to train in for long term.

As far as SCA and sports vs. martial arts go, I believe it is less important of a distinction for this particular poll. I'm thinking of a Venn diagram sort of thing here, where there is a physical/combat derived sphere, a crafts type sphere from Experimental Archaeology, and a research/educational sphere of Living History, and I'm just curious how people here would fill it out.

When I studied Iaido, and traveled to study in Japan, there was of course a large portion of the physical sphere filled in for me, but I also learned much about the culture, the tradition and the dress, which would be more of the research/educational sphere. Learning to polish a sword or make a saya would have been the crafts sphere, but I did not do any of that.

When I studied aikibudo and Chinese internal martial arts there was an almost entirely physical sphere emphasized.

Those who study a western martial arts tradition I wonder how they fill in their other spheres, if at all. Or those reenactors. Of course myArmoury does tend to favor western arts, I don't mean to leave other MAists out.

i myslf do dark ages reenactment combat with living history aspects as secondary since i dont have the time or space to do the crafts i would like. however i am someone who rates getting a proper feel for combat conditions as being more important than the LOOK of the gear, for example i would want to encourage a greater proliferation of , say padded javelins and byzantine plumbata and increased spear usage since well, thats what was used. however this gets an odd reaction from people since they see it as almost larping since such simulants are very foam based (using NERF throwing missiles aka the whistler footballs with fins in the case of plumbata) it actually makes people i know not want to touch it with a 10 foot pole) and even foam headed javelins wrapped in fabric are only just toeing the line which annoys me personally but i cant do much about it

i would like to probably do more HEMA both to help me train and increase my skills but also because it allows a more historical range of techniques


hopwever the role of non combat activities and display warriors is PARAMONT imho.. historical reconstruction involves all aspects of life, cooking, weaving blacksmithing even abstract concept reconstruction such as medical knowledge, theology mythoilogy etc but those are normally more the pervue of academics

Years ago I ran a German longsword study group, but not anymore. I got tired of having to rely on manuscripts and independently designing curriculum for myself and my group members. The speculative aspect of the art also got very tiring for me... too much discussion that went like "well it would have worked if we were fighting for real". I suppose it's inevitable when you're trying to re create combat with deadly weapons because you can't go full force against training partners.

Now I train in boxing. I really enjoy that the sport has widespread recognition and a base of established trainers to learn from. There is also no pointless speculation about techniques working or not working... if you have some novel idea about how to throw a right hand then get in the ring and test it out at full speed. Boxing also has a strong emphasis on basic conditioning which has been very helpful for me. You can do a jump rope workout in almost any public space where you can't take a practice sword.

So I dunno how to answer your question. I study a martial sport, don't reenact, but enjoy collecting medieval weapons, armor and accessories. I'm working on an early 14th century knight's kit, but have no plans to fight in it or join a group. I still greatly admire the European sword arts but it's not for me anymore.

I wish I could do either. Besides the SCA I haven't found any groups in the Philly area that do any kind of pre-17th c reenactment or living history.

I love the SCA, especially the people, but I wish I could supplement it with something a bit more authentic and in depth.

I was initially interested in HEMA-style marital arts, and I contacted a nearby academy for instruction.

Unfortunately, when they found out that I was already involved in SCA heavy, I got a tirade about how the SCA is useless and everything that I already knew what just a hinderance to "proper" fighting, blah, blah, blah.

I never called them back, and that was 3 years ago.

Almost entirely just martial arts. Kung fu, Tai Chi, longsword, spear, archery, and now rapier.

One day I'll get around to the late 14th century kit I want, but time and money are the main limitations.

The more people calling for and buying historically accurate arms and armor the better! The more people digging through the historical records and finding cool stuff the better!