Historical European martial arts (HEMA) are martial arts of European origin. These martial artists today study the usage of historical swordsmanship weapons. The range of weapon type varies from fighting with a 14th century two handed sword to those who practice 18th century cavalry charges with military sabers. As there are many upcoming sites that focuses and promotes HEMA, we will just go in brief on what HEMA is.
The focus of HEMA is de facto on the period of the half-millennium of ca. 1300 to 1800
With the German and an Italian school flowering in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance (14th to 16th centuries), followed by Spanish, French, English and Scottish schools of fencing in the modern period (17th and 18th centuries).
This is because there are limited surviving documentations of the martial arts of classical antiquity (such as Greek wrestling or gladiatorial combat), surviving dedicated technical treatises or martial arts manuals date to the Late Middle Ages and the early modern period.
Modern reconstructions of some of these arts arose from the 1890s and have been practiced systematically since the 1990s. Arts of the 19th century such as classical fencing, and even early hybrid styles such as Bartitsu may also be included in the term HEMA in a wider sense. Many traditional or folkloristic styles attested in the 19th and early 20th centuries, including forms of folk wrestling and traditional stick-fighting methods also fall under this term.
The alternative terms that are used include Western martial arts (WMA) and historical European swordsmanship (HES)
With WMA being a broader umbrella terminology, it is sometimes used in the United States and in a wider sense includes modern and traditional disciplines. While HES is used specifically to talk about sword based fighting traditions.
During the Late Middle Ages, the longsword had a position of honour among these disciplines, and sometimes historical European swordsmanship (HES) is used to refer to swordsmanship techniques specifically.
In general the majority of HEMA schools focus on the study of two-handed sword based fighting systems that originated in the 14th to 16th centuries of what is today Italy and Germany.
There are also many clubs that cater to those who wish to study the usage of rapiers as taught by Spanish, Italian and German masters, the small sword and the military sabre. Swashbuckling or fighting with a sword and buckler is also popular, and people are even reproducing how to fence using a huge great sword (sometimes called a zweihander or montante).
