Conférences

This conference list is not complete, a lot of descriptions are still missing.

Sean Franklin : utting Edge Teaching: More Historical Than You Think – Constraints Lead Approaches to Application of HEMA Technique

Sean Franklin began his HEMA career in 2011, and hit the ground running. Due to his prior experience in the Canadian High-Performance Sport System he was able to apply his physical conditioning and disciplined training focus to develop as a martial artist at a rapid rate, being able to outfight many club head instructors after only a few years’ experience. Sean has experience in many weapons and traditions, having competitive medals in most tournament weapon sets. Sean’s experience in sports coaching has allowed him to rapidly develop as a martial arts instructor, working to develop high level martial artists by instruct at schools and events around the world. Recently he served as a delegate and coach for the North American team at the 2019 European Summer Games (yes, you read ‘North American team at the European Games’ correctly.) A passionate advocate of test cutting, Sean finds they practice useful for both preserving martial validity and as a tool to assist the development of quality body mechanics. Sean might be most known for his instructional YouTube videos, which is ironically the least impressive credential in terms of demonstrating actual competence.

Just how do we get to actually expressing our system of choice in sparring? Why do we struggle under pressure to perform our interpretations? Since the 1920s modern movement science researchers have learned quite a bit about how to teach, despite a largely conservative status quo from world of sports coaching. Often times learning about modern science to help training been viewed as ‘sporty’ and therefore anathema to the more historical pursuits. But this doesn’t have to be the case! In fact, many examples of historical practices are more in line with the cutting edge research on Constraints Lead Approaches than traditional sports coaching methodologies. This lecture will focus on how to re-think training and practice design to better develop skills. And be more fun. Because that’s important too.

Daniel Jaquet : Joachim Meyer and Hitler Youth’s educators…

Daniel is a medievalist. He is the editor of the Journal Acta Periodica Duellatorum. He has fun with armour and wrestling, lately dussack is his weapon of choice.

Michael Chidester

Michael Chidester is the Editor-in-Chief of Wiktenauer and the founder of HEMA Bookshelf. He started HEMA in 2001 and has been working on Wiktenauer since 2009. He has lectured on historical martial arts across North America and Europe, and authored several books.

Bartlomiej Walczak : Digging Deeper – HEMA Replication as Embodied Research and its Epistemology

I’m going to present the current understanding of what HEMA recreation and replication are as well as how it fits into the overall landscape of embodied research. In other words, answer the question “What Are We Actually Doing?”. Don’t worry, it’s going to be fun.

Gilles Martinez : « Se couvrir ! » Prévenir les blessures à l’épée-écu dans le combat chevaleresque féodal (XIe-XIIIe s.)

Cette conférence entend mettre l’accent sur le fait de se couvrir dans le combat à l’épée et au bouclier de la période féodale (xi^e–xiii^e siècles). Si les historiens se sont parfois penchés sur les blessures du combattant à cette époque, la prévention de ces blessures n’a pas présenté le même attrait. Or le chevalier « bien couvert » ou « à découvert » est un motif qui revient souvent dans les sources littéraires du temps. Parfois, des précisions supplémentaires accompagnent la description du combat, permettant de mieux percevoir les gestuelles associées et d’établir des liens avec le corpus iconographique. La protection du bras armé durant la frappe est probablement l’action la mieux décrite, mais elle n’est pas la seule… Au final, l’ensemble des éléments associés dans les sources à la bonne ou à la mauvaise couverture permet d’envisager ces actions comme une composante majeure de la technicité chevaleresque, établissant par là-même les attitudes fondamentales de ce type d’escrime.

Rob Brooks : Immortalised In Bronze: Unlocking the Secrets of Ancient Combat

Between 2015 and 2019, the Hotspur School of Defence was invited to join an ambitious research project conducted by the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at Newcastle University. The aim – to gain new insights into how combat was conducted with Bronze Age swords using nothing more than patterns of damage evident on original specimens. With no instructions on their use, it fell to the HSD to deduce a viable combat system based on surviving martial traditions from Europe, which would then be tested under rigorous scientific conditions. This lecture follows our expedition deep into experimental archaeology – an adventure which culminated in some stunning, and shocking, results that lit up the academic world of Ancient History.