Our Sources and What We Study

HEMA has a wide variety of sources nowadays, unlike when the AES started back in the early 1990’s. We had few resources – the Lichtenauer poem, Talhoffer’s 1467 treatise (only in German), and a few other references that were incomplete. Since then the scholarship in this has expanded greatly! Today we have people translating treatises […]

The HEMA Scholar, book on HEMA, swordsmanship, sword fighting, sword theory, sword instructions, martial arts, martial arts instruction

The HEMA Scholar – new AES book

Books on HEMA add credence and authority to how one is perceived as an instructor. Maybe it works that way for a whole school, too. I’ve been meaning to write a book for many years, and even have a few outlines completed, but never seem to find the time to complete any of them. Well, […]

Defining Our Art

The other day I had someone ask what it is that we do at The Academy of European Swordsmanship. He had found us through our website. Now, my immediate thoughts were that either he didn’t really have a look at the website, or it’s somehow lacking in this regard. Maybe the information is too hard […]

On the After-Blow

Thanks to Matt Galas for allowing us to use this article… ————————— “I realize that the After-Blow has become such a commonplace in HEMA that folks don’t understand its origins. Here is the full text of an article on the After-Blow concept, documenting its origins in Belgian fencing guild rules and fencing hall practice across […]