Getting medieval: The Liberty picks up the longsword
Reporter Eoin McKenna Walsh longsword training with Seif Allam. Photo: Jack Dempsey
For most, the acronym is unfamiliar but for members of Dublin HEMA club it represents a community, a deep history, and an exciting sport. HEMA stands for Historical European Martial Arts and as a sport draws from European weapons fighting martial traditions dating back to the 14th century.
“Try it out and see if you like it,” said the Dublin HEMA club founder, Neil Byrne. So I did.
I stood across from the longsword teacher Seif Allam, both hands wrapped around the hilt of the longsword he had pulled from his hip to let me borrow, “all of the stances are based on… like existing historical manuscripts”. He explained while he showed me the plough and the ox.
These stances, properly called Pflug and Ochs in the Walpurgis Fechtbuch, the manuscript created around 1320, were where he had started for my lesson. He highlighted how they were the most basic guards to hold, protecting your body or head, depending on the position, while ready to strike.
It was interesting to see how the method and practically tested theory created over 500 years ago are still used today to greatly preserve the history of Late Medieval European sword fighting.
The manuscript credit: Jack Dempsey
Each guard and swing is meticulously aimed at small spots on the opponent while covering parts of yourself. ” Keep the tip pointed at me, but lift the blade a little higher… to catch mine,” he instructed while our blades were locked.
Depending on who you ask, the sport, hobby, or martial art is open to many different approaches. Like fencing, matches see two armed combatants duelling each other, protected with padded gambesons, jackets, light armour, and masks; glory is not always found in battle.
Laura Bitterlich, another instructor and the club administrator who had earlier been teaching me the 8 wards of sword and buckler (like a mini shield), explained to me how swinging a literal sword at someone could be quite daunting for her.
Sam Hughes, a Longsword Instructor, chimed in on the conversation, saying, “I’m sure there’s a point somewhere in the manuscript….. it says that a peasant with a sword could beat, like a noble trained swordsman, with enough pressure.”
When speaking about dueling, Seif explained, “It’s almost a checklist… if you watch (a duel) it’s really quick, you don’t get time to think it’s just reaction.” Founder Neil Byrne also explains, “In Hema, the primary target is the head and face.”
This I can attest to, while most of us have spent our lives watching epic medieval battles on the big and small screens, watching armored warriors being cut down by great hero’s; the feeling that sparks within you, deep within your muscles and bones when you feel a sword fall on to yours is surreal, almost familiar as hundreds of years of innovation and training had made the enormously symbolic sword a, as Laura had told me, “extension of your body”.
You could see this in a duel between Sam and another skilled club member. Each strike and pullback flowed into a defensive block as the opponents countered. The fights were quick, being pushed in one direction or the other before one swordsperson landed a blow.
Seif made the point, “HEMA is less on a line, so your feet would be a little wider apart, like boxing.”
While matches were quite literally a flurry of steel, loud and fast, especially in the case of sword and buckler duels, with Neil Byrne even mentioning in regard to the Walpurgis Fechtbuch style, “The German is always better than the Italian.”
It was still relatively safe regarding martial arts, with Byrne adding, “Injuries tend to be pretty low. The kind of injuries we get in the club is stupid stuff like someone going to take a sip of their water bottle. Then they twist their foot….. in a tournament (it) would be a broken finger or a concussion”.
Laura really highlighted the safety measures and the focus on them while she showed me the basics of using a sword and buckler. She showed me how each sword needed to have a certain level of bend and how the blades had to be dulled with a blunt tip.
Laura Bitterlich bending an arming sword, credit Jack Dempsey
Laura would spoke about the club’s openness to me, which is very evident. You can truly feel that while in the Club and training, even while sparring, it could be seen that every single member of the club did it for a deep love of the art and nothing more, with not one member ever accidentally or purposely pushing a boundary or hurting another while training.
Additionally, I can truly attest to the welcoming and open atmosphere they have created. Not only did I feel like I had been fully embraced and accepted without question by every member of the community after the 2 hour training session I was able to take part in.
The sword and buckler were where the technicalities of using a medieval manuscript shone through.
Laura and I worked through the 8 wards of sword and buckler. I thought the first ward, sub-brachia, was particularly cool because it started as if you were pulling a sword out of its sheath.
While the loud clangs of blades clashing and bucklers catching them rang out beside us, Laura taught me how a buckler was used to cover your hand while striking with the sword and not a metal boxing glove used to punch blades away.
Laura showed, while I struggled to remember to “never block from the bottom”, that just like the longsword, often if you can pull off a perfectly executed block as described in the manuscripts you will suddenly find yourself not only covered, holding your opponent’s blade in a lock with the buckler, but also with the point of yours in a position ready to strike at the face.
This is when Laura had instructed the coolest instructions I have ever received in my life, ones I don’t think many people would be accustomed to hearing, “now stab me in the face”, she congratulated me. At the same time, we laughed through our colourfully decorated mesh masks after I had jokingly exclaimed how it was the first time I got to stab someone in the face.
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