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Western Swordsmanship Technique & Research |
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What is Western Swordsmanship? European sword fighting arts can be traced to what 19th century author Richard Burton called the Age of Bones. Examples of edged weapons made of bone have been found in caves in France and Belgium. Warriors play a prominent part in European history and literature, but little exists about the techniques used in combat before the 13th century. From the late 13th century on, a great deal of material has survived. These texts describe systematic combat techniques for swords and other hand held weapons. For most of these arts, these manuscripts are all that remain. Master-to-pupil instruction in western fighting arts did not survive, unlike the multitude of Eastern martial arts. Today, no one can say he/she was taught the art of the German longsword by a lineage of masters dating back to the 14th century.
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Technique & Research Efforts to reconstruct Western Martial Arts increased greatly in the mid-1980s, largely due to the work of men like John Clements who founded the Historical Armed Combat Association (now ARMA) in Texas. Like Clements, researchers in the field of historical combat uncovered many of the misplaced and forgotten texts written by European masters. Several texts have been translated into English and other languages and shared over the Internet, allowing many people to examine and interpret the techniques. Today, groups exist throughout world. These groups focus on the interpretation and martial application of historical techniques in order to train and practice true historical European martial arts (HEMA). Western Swordsmanship Technique & Research in one such group. We are not the pioneers of HEMA, the researchers are. To stretch this metaphor further, we are more like the early settlers, those who come in to a new territory via the path blazed by others. Through our sweat and efforts, we gain a better understanding of the techniques, find new ways to teach them, and help promote the territory to those who may be interested.
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These pages were developed for use by the participants of WSTR. Though available to any interested party, they represent ideas and practices developed through the collaboration of its participants. Our information is gathered from a wide variety of sources. Visit our research pages to see some of the sources we use.
The intent of this web site and its content is to provide open communication for the members of WSTR. WSTR claims no ownership of any fighting philosophies, interpretations, or techniques. We didn't invent any of this. We aren't that cool...yet. Frankly, we cannot truly know if we are right or wrong, and there isn't a soul alive who could truly say "You've got it!". |
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