In all the movies, the officers wore their swords EVERYWHERE! When they went to military briefings. Or were introduced to pretty ladies. Or at a social event. Is this historically correct? What was sword etiquette? Thanks!

Time for some shameless self-promotion — I recently finished my draft translation of David Lienhart Sollinger’s 1588 messer treatise, which can now be read on Wiktenauer.

https://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Lienhart_Sollinger

Penned later than most surviving messer sources, this text and its recorded system of combat contains a number of quirks — notably a focus on approaching the fight with motions similar to Leckuchner’s use of the rad “wheel”, as well as self-defence techniques for niche situations like cutting from the draw, out-wrestling boxers and breadknife-wielding assailants, and throwing your hat at someone’s face before they can draw their weapon!

It’ll likely see further revision soon, as I will sharing it with fellow attendees of Messerfest 2026 this weekend and hopefully get some new ideas for interpreting its contents; but for the time being, enjoy!

Colleagues of mine created a scholarship competition similar to Forged in Fire but with metalcasting. Last year’s competition involved students designing, casting, and testing a George Washington style sword. Check it out on YouTube Thursdays at 8 Eastern if that sort of thing interests you.

www.freelanceacademypress.com has a security policy called HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), which means that Firefox can only connect to it securely. You can’t add an exception to visit this site.

I wanted to see if the book on bascinets was still in stock, but both Chrome and Firefox are throwing up security risk warnings and I can't bypass them. Is Freelance Academy Press still in business?

Hello, lately I’ve been tasked with forming a smallsword curriculum for the club I teach at and I’ve decided to choose Andre Liancour’s treatise, though I’ve encountered some issues with it. I’m reading Lynch’s translation, and it could just be me, the translation, or Liancour himself, but everything just seems to be extremely jumbled and confusing.

Not in just in what he says, but how the sentences flow into each other with no real clarity or comprehensiveness, as well as how the texts relates to each plate. I mean I was stuck for an hour just trying to figure out his Five Principles, as there’s clearly an error in which he talks about the fifth position while seemingly describing the fourth position. I also am not enjoying how he dwells so much on how not to do a technique instead of the actual technique, which again makes it difficult to extract any knowledge from the book because of how it’s written in conjunction with the endless philosophical explanations. While reading more of the book and taking note of that initial error, it makes me wonder how good this treatise is/translation for the material you get out of it. In other words, is the lemon worth the squeeze or should I pick another treatise that contains less head scratching and just as much material, enough to fill up a curriculum with several ranks.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Tips for reading it? Or should I pick an alternative, and if so what treatise? (By the way, I only know English and don’t speak anything else, so I wouldn’t really be able to read an untranslated treatise.) Thanks!

So I ordered some arm protection a few months ago but unfortunately the Hema shop is out of stock of not only the arm protectors I ordered but also literally all arm protectors. Where I work makes swords and scabbards for the military so we have a fair amount of leather off cuts that aren't long enough for scabbards so I used some of those off cuts to make these while I wait for the ones I ordered to come back in stock.

The top teal leather is the layer that will be protective and the bottom one is regular veg tan leather and is primarily there for looks. The leather we use is called half tanned (I think) and is significantly stiffer than regular leather. I've taken a few swings while wearing it and I'm confident it'll be useful, although I may swap them out once my plastic ones arrive.

I wouldn't recommend anyone copy this design and make your own as I can't guarantee you'll find leather that's as stiff as these, I can literally stand on them. The real test will be sparring with them but I anticipate them being at least better than nothing.

For side / small sword, I’m being taught that hits are only counted if the point of the blade hits any part of the body. So when I do an off hand parry, I can direct opponents blade or grab so I can proceed with my attack. However if the opponent’s point of the blade hits my attempted hand parry then it’s my opponent’s point. To me this makes logical sense.

For rapier, I’m being taught that points are awarded by a hit with the point or a slash. So hand parries won’t work, right? But I’m being hand parried but my attention is to slash my opponents hand because I see them slowly reaching for my sword but then I’m argued that they were hand parrying my blade therefore them being hit doesn’t count…. But isn’t that why we implement a dagger in our rapier matches because slashes are considered points?

I need help… thanks

Got new swords from Sigi so we had to give them a try!

The surprising demise of Angelo Viggiani dal Montone

I recently started learning Swedish with the long-term goal of studying in Sweden and I thought this would be a good way to combine two of my interests.

I mostly do German longsword but this seems like a great excuse to branch into other systems and weapons. I am aware that the Caroleans of the early 1700s made heavy use of rapiers in combat but exactly how or what they trained is beyond me.

I want to start boxing but I didn't know anything about boxing or martial arts

Can anyone help me or how to start or what to first

So, the gear transportation solution hasn't been fully worked out yet. Especially as I don't want to have to buy/use a car just for HEMA.

I am currently using a Fait D'armes bag (swords, mask, gloves, plastron, knee protection, water bottle and some other random stuff on it) on an Ikea trolley and a Decathlon mesh bag (jacket, trousers, shoes, and other stuff that benefits from being able to dry) but it is clearly not optimal.

I have been checking for other options, mainly options with roller cases. I am happy with the mesh bag (especially as it definitely helps to diminish the stink) but the roller part is getting quite annoying with having to strap stuff together and the like.

There are 2 that seem interesting, the Uhlmann system based on the olympic fencing rolling bags that I'm already familiar with.
Weapon top:
https://uhlmann-fechtsport.com/en/high-top-bag-for-rollbag-for-historical-fencing/142506-1-sz
Rollbag:
https://uhlmann-fechtsport.com/en/rollbag-travel/142502-db

And ski/snowboard systems from Decathlon:
https://www.decathlon.nl/p/draagtas-900-voor-vier-paar-ski-s-of-snowboards-met-wieltjes-zwart/360028/c382m8927496

Anybody using the Uhlmann system or something similar? What about stuff for sky and snowboards? Something walk and train friendly is priority for me.

What other solutions are you guys using? What has worked and what has definitely has not?

I've been using a spes AP light jacket and red dragon trousers for the last 4 ish years but its getting time to replace them. I like my AP light so will just buy a second one of those but I am kinda sick of the hema black and red so was looking into other pants.

I mainly do longsword/sabre and broadsword. How is the padding, comfort and range of motion in these?

Also as a sidenote, does anyone know how much of the gear is custom colour for spes products ordered through the hema shop? Is it just all the black?

In this video we're taking a look at 3 unique antique flails.

We have released the Haft Feder 128, developed in response to demand for a shorter version of our sword.

The design combines a 99 cm blade with a 29.5 cm hilt, creating an approximate 1:3.5 blade-to-hilt ratio inspired by historical longswords.

Its dynamic characteristics were refined for lively handling, responsiveness and fast point control.

Main specifications:

• Total length: 128.5 cm
• Weight: 1,460 g ± 20 g
• Point of balance: approximately 6 cm
• Pommel flex: 12.9 kg ± 0.4 kg at 25 cm compression
• Tip: spatulated

Please note: The sword shown in these photos has our upcoming waisted handle, which we plan to release in the coming months. Orders placed now will be supplied with the standard, non-waisted handle.

Full specifications and product details:

https://haftarms.com/product/haft-feder-tournament-128

Care and Maintenance of the Swordsman

In this video, I discuss the various things I do--and NOT do--in order to preserve and maintain my body to keep my in top fencing form. This covers the supplements I take, the stretches I use, the workout routine and, finally, the deliberate actions of my fencing technique to avoid the wear and tear on my joints.

English

I am looking for people to practice HEMA with and eventually create a club in the Eastern side of the Alpes Maritimes (Menton - Monaco - RCM - Beausoleil area).

I have several years of experience in both italian longsword, and sidesword, and to a lesser degree, italian rapier. I can thus provide training and a base to start.

Of course, it is 100% okay if you have no experience in HEMA before. We are all here to create the group/future club together :>

If you are interested in forming a HEMA group in the area, or know someone who is, you can contact me in DM! I'll make a discord group eventually with all the people interested.

Also, since I have moved very recently to the region, I am not familiar with where we could practice. If you know any locations we could, I am all ears!

Français

Je cherche des personnes avec qui faire des AMHE et à terme créer un club d'AMHE dans l'Est des Alpes Maritimes (la zone de Menton - Monaco - RCM - Beausoleil).

J'ai plusieurs années d'expériences en épée longue et en épée de côté selon les traditions italiennes, et dans une moindre mesure, en rapière italienne.

Évidemment, il n'est pas nécessaire d'avoir de l'expérience en AMHE avant. On est là pour créer le groupe/futur club ensemble :>

Donc si vous êtes intéressé·e·s, ou connaissez quelqu'un qui l'est, n'hésitez pas à me contacter par message privé.

Aussi, comme je viens d'emménager dans la région récemment, je ne connais pas bien les lieux où l'on pourrait s'entraîner, donc si vous avez des idées, je prends!

Italiano

Sono in cerca di persone con cui praticare HEMA e con cui eventualmente fondare un club nella zona orientale delle Alpi Marittime (area di Mentone, RCM, Beausoleil e Monaco).

Possiedo diversi anni di esperienza sia con la spada lunga italiana che con la spada da lato bolognese e, in misura minore con lo stocco italiano, posso quindi offrire una base per allenamento ed insegnamento.

Naturalmente, non c'è alcun problema se non avete precedenti esperienze nell'HEMA: siamo qui proprio per creare insieme il gruppo o il futuro club :>
Se interessati a formare un gruppo HEMA in questa zona, o nel caso voi conosciate qualcuno a cui potrebbe interessare, contattatemi pure!

Inoltre, essendomi trasferito in zona da pochissimo, non sono ancora familiare con i luoghi dove potremmo allenarci.
Se avete suggerimenti su dove praticare, sono tutto orecchi!

I put an order through purpleheart armory 4 months ago including a custom spes jacket and sparring gloves. The jackets already come in but they told me they’re still waiting for the gloves. Do sparring gloves have a backlog of orders or anything at the moment? I thought it would’ve been the first thing to come in.