Striving for Historical Accuracy
The Historic European Martial Arts of KC club started as a group of like-minded individuals who wanted to study the actual martial arts as they were practiced during the Middle Ages. Some of us have been at this a long time, with as much as 25+ years of other martial arts and sword fighting experience. And of course, some of us are still pretty new at this.
We strive to make our classes fun, safe, and worthwhile. We believe in a “no egos” style of teaching, where students are encouraged to make contributions of their own, including helping out with the teaching of the material they have mastered. For some of us, studying the “Western Martial Arts,” or WMA, is enough.
For the rest of us, it is a natural progression to want to share what we’ve learned. So, some of us also do educational presentations to the public where we don Medieval clothes and armor, and spar in front of an audience to show what real sword fighting actually looked like. We also talk about weapons and armor, daily life in the Middle Ages, and other topics that pique our interest and are appropriate to the audience.
ABOUT HEMA KC
Our Objective
Our objective is to establish a comprehensive understanding of Historical European Martial Arts in the German tradition, namely that of Johannes Liechtenauer and the subsequent masters in the period of 1350 CE to 1450 CE. To this end, we interpret and study translations of the original treatises and Fechtbucher (Fight Manuals) and reconstruct the material therein as faithfully and accurately as possible.
Our Activities
Our Guild meets weekly to practice techniques and discuss source material, as well as an additional class on armored combat for senior members. Throughout the year, we attend and organize a number of events, a number of which are Living History events in which participants are dressed and act as those we study did centuries ago. We interact regularly with other schools and prominent members of the HEMA community throughout North America and beyond.
What We Do
The Martial Arts we study are divided into two categories: Blossfechten (Unarmored Fencing) and Harnischfecten (Armored Fencing). Unarmored techniques consist of Ringen (Medieval German Wrestling), Dolchfechten (Dagger Fencing), Messerfechten (Knife Fencing), Sword and Buckler fencing, as well as Fechten mit dem Langen Schwert (Fencing with the Long Sword). In addition, senior guild members study and undertake combat in armor, Harnischfecthen, with unique wrestling, sword, dagger, spear, and pollaxe techniques.