Fabrice Cognot (FRA)
Fabrice Cognot has been doing HEMA for years. Really. He’s the founder of De Taille et d’Estoc – France’s largest and (now) oldest HEMA group, chief organiser of the yearly Dijon gathering, took part in the founding of the French national federation, was also involved in the IFHEMA project, has lectured about too many things, written too many articles and maybe not enough books yet, loves to play with whatever HEMA is available, from wrestling to pollaxe and rapier and longsword and makes swords and daggers and hammers and all things cool for a living.
Vincent Deluz (CH) et Cyril Kurso (FRA)
Current president of the Swiss federation of HEMA and instructor of martial arts of the XIXth and XXth century within the association GAGSchola, the martial course of Vincent led him from Judo to medieval wrestling and longsword (2009 ). Since 2014, he has been involved in the martial practices of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, especially the cane and wrestling.
Co-founder of the association “De Taille et d’Estoc”, Cyril has long practiced Asian martial arts, especially karate, before becoming interested in HEMA. His favorite weapons are the messer, the dagger and the longsword, with a strong preference for close combat. This led him to focus in particular on self-defense and its implementation, mainly based on the treaties of the nineteenth and twentieth century. He founded in 2015 the association ” les Choses aux poings” to promote the martial arts of the last century. His specialties for this period are Fairbairn Close Combat, Cane, Wrestling and Knife.
Workshop:
From the hall to the street – cane, boxing and other subtilities
Chris Halpin (UK)
Chris started his martial arts journey as a child and developed a love for grappling and wrestling systems, and he brings this passion to HEMA and devotes lots of his time to teaching catch wrestling and classical pugilism. He also enjoys medieval fencing (especially the messer) however his primary focus is unarmed European martial arts. He has instructed workshops around Europe and is head coach and founder of the York School of Defence.
Workshop:
Catch-As-Catch-Can – No Holds Barred
Ferdi Hutter (CH)
Ferdi Hutter, 39 years old, is a proud father of a son. He fights with swords since he can walk. He played in different LARP and practice a lot of different martial arts since ages. He worked for several years as a police officer. Also there he was an instructor of how to use the pepperspray, control techniques, the handcuff, the expandable baton and so on. Now he runs a training center with Nathalie Strassmann in Winterthur where they teach Boxing, Krav Maga and HEMA. Säbelrassler startet training sword fighting in 2004. But we got professional last year in march 2018. Before, we trained once a week, mostly outdoors, now we have our own training center in Winterthur. We count about 15 members. And since last year we are a part of Swiss Hema, the national federation.
Workshop:
The use of modern Eskrima – Drills to improve your skills with one – handed blades / weapons
Lauren Ireland (UK)
Lauren has been teaching HEMA for a number of years and has instructed at workshops in the UK and Europe. Her research interests include the messer of Johannes Lecküchner along with Victorian Antagonistics and stick fighting. Lauren is also a keen trail and ultramarathon runner when she isn’t training HEMA.
Workshop:
Messer for the Fechtschule – how to humiliate your opponent
Susan Kirk (UK)
Susan has had a long standing interest in all things HEMA. She found her way to it 19 years ago following successful forays into sport fencing, stage fighting, reenactment and a career as an Officer in the British Army (yes, she really is Captain Kirk). Susan played a central part in the development of HEMA in the U.K. as a past President of the British Federation for Historical Swordplay (BFHS).
Susan has been an instructor for about 13 years now, and regularly instructs in a wide range of both armed and unarmed HEMA disciplines for various groups and at events across the U.K. Her main focus of instruction over the last few years has been on Smallsword, Sabre, Bartitsu/Suffragitsu, WW2 Combatives and Indian Clubs.
When not instructing she has also developed a real passion for grappling and regularly trains in catch wrestling.
Workshops:
Smallsword- how to be elegantly lethal
Bartitsu – an introduction
Théodore Laverdure (CAN)
I was introduced to HEMA in 2005 through historical reenactment. I started studying Liechtenauer and I was quickly drawn into the rapier systems of Meyer and Capoferro. In 2014, I founded the Laurentian University Historical Fencing club (LUHF) during my studies in Sudbury Ontario. We experimented with different rapier systems and we complemented our training with staff, dagger, and wrestling. During my time teaching, I studied pedagogy and created introductory lesson plans for every weapon system we covered.
These days, I am focusing on German Longsword while maintaining my skills in Rapier so that I can continue to deliver excellent experiences in HEMA. I am a certified actor combatant with Fight Directors Canada and I currently live in Montréal, Québec, Canada.
Workshop:
Meyer’s Four Opponents
Jay Maxwell (UK)
Jay Maxwell has been studying and practising as a martial artist for over thirty years, switching his focus to Historic European Martial Arts (HEMA) in 2004. He regularly teaches at high profile international events and in his competitive years was one of the top ranked HEMA fencers in the world. Starting his training in London and Oxford in British systems of swordsmanship, he quickly came into contact with the Italian schools and was taken by their elegance. Jay has primarily focused on the 16th through 17th century north-Italian combat methodologies and the influence these have had on the martial systems of the Holy Roman Empire. He is frequently to be found downstairs in the library at the Royal Armouries Wallace Collection transliterating or translating old fencing manuals. He runs displays, seminars and workshops on Historical combat practices and is a member of the Royal Armouries Arms & Armour Society.
Workshop:
Stepping the line
Michel Rensen (NED)
Michel Rensen started training at Zwaard & Steen in 2013, and little more than a year later he started the process to become a trainer at the club. He became a trainer about a year after that, and by now he teaches every week at the club’s Rotterdam branch. Besides teaching at Zwaard & Steen, he also regularly gives workshops, both in the Netherlands and abroad. He also often competes in tournaments.
Workshops:
There and Back again
Between a Rock and a Hard place
Thomas Schmuziger (FRA)
Thomas Schmuziger is a martial arts practitioner since 1989, he began fencing in 1995 and started to teach fencing in 2003 and the practice of HEMA this same year. As a teacher and researcher in this field, he is member of HEMAC as well as a founding member of the French Federation of European Historical Martial Arts, in which he is recognized as experimented instructor. His specialties are Harnischfechten, Rossfechten, german long sword and wrestling.
Workshops:
Harnischfechten (armoured combat)
The “little advice” of MS3227a and Mscr.Dresd.C.487
Christian Stickel (GER)
Christian Stickel began his journey into martial arts and knighthood as a kid and ever since explored different systems of weaponless and weapon based fighting styles. As part of the European reenactment movement he has done things with swords for the last 25 years. Since 2012 he has been teaching HEMA classes three times a week as part of the university sports program in Fulda/Germany and has given workshops at national and international events.
Workshop:
Elementary PHM Half Staff
Mickaël Vieillard (FRA)
President of the association Armatura, representative of the commission Research, History and Heritage, as well as of the commission PALAS within the FFAMHE and founder of the site of referencing of sources: ressourcesamhe.com. He started Asian martial arts at the age of 10, practicing them regularly until age 21 and then intermittently until today. He also begins “historical evocation” with friends in 2004, for taste of martial arts and swords. This will lead him to question historical practices, to discover sources online and quickly contact De Taille et d’Estoc, the closest HEMA association. He founded Armatura with the help of DTE at the end of 2013, to practice several weapons, eras and traditions without seeking specialization, being guided by his curiosity. In parallel, he discovers the problem of decentralization of sources, works, and the difficulty of accessing them. Starting in 2014, he began to compile and reference and make available, online, his personal research to arrive today at a little more than 60 documents on various traditions or themes.
Workshop:
Defending your honour and life with a knife, according to Émile André