Living the history

Historical sword fighting

by Mario Urminsky

Raise a tent, dress up as a knight or a servant, why not? There are still people that can travel back to medieval times and enjoy their atmosphere. The main mission of the medieval group is to promote the knowledge of history and to introduce its members and the general public to the medieval way of life, with its struggles, crafts, dance, and culture in both theoretical and practical form.

Sport or Theater?

Historical sword fighting is closer to theatrical fencing than to sports. Like stage fencing, it is not a real competition, and fencers perform a pre-rehearsed choreography. However, injuries can occur, in any sport. If someone is hit, they will pretend to be injured or to have died. Many of those who get into historical fencing used to practice fencing sports. The weapons are made as close as possible to the authentic ones. In sports fencing the blades have wires attached to automate hit detection. There isn’t as wide a range of techniques as historical fencing does, which is intended to perform for an audience. They try to show a much more varied range of weapons, as well as techniques, to have a better picture of what the fight might have looked like in its original setting.

Passion, not bussiness

The historical sword fighting community is united by an interest in history and a desire to have fun, to get together sharing hobbies, rather than looking for monetary gain. Of course, they also perform martial arts in public, at castles and chateaux during various festivals and other events. They don’t take the money that they earn to make a living; usually its for covering food, drink, travel expenses. It’s nice to meet friends, it’s nice to put on a historical costume and imagine you’re a farmer or a knight. No business involved.

Costume creation

Even an ordinary weapon, such as rapier or the cheapest saber, will cost you about 100 euros. When recreating a fully authentic medieval costume, we must take into account shoes, socks, pants, shirts, vests, coats, hats and other accessories: belts, bandoliers, pockets, additional weapons, or shields. The prices quickly rack up. We usually sew the costumes ourselves and have the weapons made so that they resemble the real ones. A one-handed Viking sword weighs about one kilogram, a one-and-a-half sword weighs up to two kilos. Swords designed for theatrical stage fencing are a bit heavier than the original ones because they are blunt; sharpening a blade into a thinner edge will make it lighter. The heavier the sword, the slower I am with it. I may hit my opponent with more force, but if he has a light sword, he can hit me three times for each of my strikes.

2 of the author’s cοstumes, still being worked on

Reviving history

It is popular among swordsmen today to devote themselves to living history, that is, to recreate a historical life. During weekends dedicated to living history, you can stay in historically accurate tent camps and play for a while with the hierarchy that ruled at the time. There are various open-air museums with houses built of clay which are visited by these historical revivers, even if there is no audience. They just go there to play and live for a weekend, for example, as Moravians of the Great Moravian Empire, where they rink from ceramics cups and eat from wooden plates.

Taking on a sporting level

Fencing is a dynamic sport for those with a brave character. It is a sport with which young people do not normally come into contact often. New fencers must start from scratch. Everyone must first be able to move their legs properly, which takes about half a year. Then the arm work can start. Motor coordination and peripheral vision are very important. It’s a fast-paced sport and the swordsman has to make split-second decisions on what to do. Fencing helps its practitioners develop their coordination, their acting, as well as their fighting spirit, all while teaching them about history. If you want to be part of historical group, you can start up on facebook looking for some group near your location or start with fencing as a sport and contacts will come very easily.

The author (in the middle) on his first revive history event

Link to my group that I was writing about : Vír Fortis

The author during an event, entertaining and teaching kids the basics with a plastic sword