During two days, the Swiss Blades will offer about fifteen workshops relating to various weapons, historical periods, approches, and different skills level. The goal is to give a large choice to participants, so that everybody, beginner as well as advanced, can enjoy it. The schedule will also allow people taking part in the tournament to participate in at least two of the five workshops sessions. Furthermore, we will organise conferences on Friday and Saturday evening.
Fiore dei Liberi’s Armizare system
By Auri Poso
Assistant: Daniel O’Donovan
Fiore dei Liberi’s Armizare system uses a limited number of principles to derive an infinite number of actions, applicable to any pointy weapon – or lack thereof, in the case of wrestling. Central to his system are his guard positions, which he uses to anchor and direct those actions. In this workshop we’ll be looking at how we can use the same Fiore guards from wrestling and dagger to longsword and spears to apply his simple heuristics for dealing with adversaries.
Suitable for all, beginner/intermediate students will probably get the most out of it.
Fighting with the Klewang
By Martin de Jong
Assistant: Anouk Post-de Jong
In this workshop you will learn how to fight with a Klewang as taught in the KNIL (Royal Netherlands East Indies Army) regulation from 1937. This iconic short type of sabre was used in close combat situations in the various environments of what is now present day Indonesia. You will learn basic movements with and without weapons, cuts, thrusts and parries with the Klewang and how to use the carbine in the off-hand active and passively. We will practice this in solo and group exercises.
Did you know that people of Swiss origin had served in the VOC / KNIL from 1660 until 1950?
All levels.
Gear requirements: For the left hand a medium-heavy glove. For the right hand Red dragon glove and/or heavier. Fencing mask. Throat protector. Full gear is optional when practicing. When sparring after class, full gear is required.
Weapons required: 10 pairs of Klewang trainers and carbines are provided as loaners. If you have your own trainers please bring them (no fencing rifles). If you don’t have them, sabers, cutters and cutlasses (because of the length) (steel/synthetic) will also suffice.
Longsword efficiency
In this longsword workshop, we will look at how to move the body to make your attacks as efficient as possible. For this, we will use basic techniques and go into the details of what every part of your body is doing. We will look in depth at the oberhau, but the principals of this workshop can apply to all techniques.
All levels.
Gear requirements: longsword, gloves and fencing mask.
Swiss bayonet fencing
During the francophone influence era of the 19th century, bayonet fencing was an essential part of infantry training. Popularized and theorized in France but also in Germany, it quickly spread to neighbours country and kingdoms through French and Prussian texts translations. Switzerland is not spared and is even one of the first countries to bring it in the official infantry training, long before France, which was the originator of the bayonet fencing method chosen.
The goal of this workshop is to discover the Swiss bayonet fencing of 1826 as it was pictured in the Military manual for the instruction of Swiss officers of all arms, then in its recovery by the war federal council in 1845.
Level : beginners
The Height Differential
By Veronica Young
Assistant: Thomas Pifer
Are you a shorter fencer and always getting hit on the head by taller people? Are you a tall person that’s always getting hit in the arms by shorter people? Do you have trouble when training to get some techniques to work correctly because of your or your training partner’s height? This is the class for you! In this class we will go over training methods, fighting methods, and techniques that can help your training and fencing to hopefully use your height to your advantage! We’ll be focusing on overall health, distancing, and fencing techniques to use. This class is for all genders and people of all heights, because everyone is shorter than somebody!
Level : all levels
Introduction to Meyer’s Quarter staff/ Polearms
By Veronica Young
Assistant: Thomas Pifer
Quarterstaff and Polearms are a lot of fun because of the larger weapon size and how different they feel from other weapon sets seen in HEMA. This class will go over the basics of what Meyer teaches for Quarterstaff (and spear and polearms) from the 1570 book The Art of Combat as well as safe training and sparring methods.
Level : beginners
Scottish style of sword fighting
Emanuel Meyer proposes to discover the Scottish style of sword fighting. The workshop will focus on Hope’s observations and recommendations based on the French school.
Hope is considered part of the Scottish Enlightenment movement and spent his life questioning and trying to improve fencing. He wrote several books, including his “New Method” and “The Compleat Fencing Master”, to which this workshop will be dedicated.
Suitable for novices and more advanced fencers alike.
Polish Crosscutting of the 18th Century
By the 18th century, the Polish sabre had adopted many elements from Western cavalry sabres.
The fencing system developed into a distinctive blend of Western and Eastern European techniques. Footwork, tactics, cuts, and parries on the menu.
Level : Intermediate and advanced
Gear requirements : Mask and gloves for advanced level
Distance Preparation
One of the most crucial aspects developed in modern fencing is distance preparation. While detailed works on intention discovery and action preparation were created in the 17th
century, it was the evolution of modern sport fencing that refined this skill to its peak, particularly in terms of pedagogy.
A series of exercises derived from sport fencing designed to introduce fencers to the process of distance preparation and the discovery of intention.
Level : intermediate
Gear requirement : Suitable for any weapon type, making it applicable to all fencing systems.
The Bataireacht
Assistant : Romain Meister
Bataireacht is a centuries-old art practised in Ireland, and more specifically in our case in Northern Ireland (Antrim County).
It combines the use of a stick, a blackthorn cane, with foot/fist techniques and even wrestling.
The workshop will explore the historical and social foundations that led the Irish to develop this fighting art, as well as the movements and strikes that characterize it.
An application in group combat (Faction fight) may be planned depending on participation and equipment availability.
A lesson in spadrooning, or, why Colin is also wrong in Switzerland*
Assistant : Martin de Jong
*this ongoing inside joke will be explained at the beginning of her workshop
Though often ridiculed as being ‘useless’ and ‘weak’, spadroon is a wonderful and interesting weapon to use in H.E.M.A. and does not deserve the hate it generally gets, as Anouk will gladly explain and demonstrate.
This workshop focuses on Roworth’s Art of Defence. The perfect go-to for anyone who wants to start doing sabre with no previous knowledge of the weapon. However, it would be a shame to assume that is all Roworth is good for. It is a source often overlooked as being a ‘beginner’s source’, but if one dives deeper you will find layers upon layers of interesting tidbits of knowledge that combine three weapons into one source.
English systems on the use of the Billhook/Guisarm
Billhook, Ronca, Guisarme, Poleaxe, Halberd, etc. : second only to the spear in its widespread use on the battlefield, the use of a cut‐and‐thrust polearm, usually with a hook and an overall length of ca. 240 cm has numerous applications for laceration, trapping and hooking. Known for its versatility, this weapon type was the Swiss Army Knife of its time. In this workshop we will delve into the techniques of George Silver and Joseph Swetnam and clues to its use and consider the origins of this methodology.
Gear requirements: A staff, ca. 180cm long, 30mm diameter. Or a halberd, billhook, poleaxe or similar.
Level: all levels