Tremonia Fechtschule 2020

I am Maarten, one of the instructors at Sumus Soldani. I have been doing HEMA for about five years and have won a couple of tournaments by now. I mainly do longsword, but I also like sword and buckler. Next to historical fencing, I did teaching studies at college and when I teach, I try to apply what I learned there to HEMA.

Didactic principles to improve learning and teaching HEMA (Lecture)

My lecture will handle the didactic principles, which are seven principles that your teachings should conform to as much as possible. It is not specific to any weapon, so it should be useful for most people. I will talk about how you can use these principles both as an instructor and as a student. If you are interested in improving as a teacher or student, don’t hesitate to come to the lecture.

Christian is a trainer for Montante, Rapier and Longsword at the Pfälzer Schwertlöwen – Historische Kampfkünste e. V. in Neustadt an der Weinstraße/Rheinland-Pfalz. He is currently focusing on La Verdadera Destreza.

Elmar trains with the Hospitaliter zu Magdeburg e. V. He is mainly concerned with Montante and Mangual and concentrates mainly on sources from the ‘Esgrima Commun’ and its practical application.

Power Generation and Application With the Two-Handed Sword (Workshop)

We would like to give an introduction to the handling of the two-handed and focus our perspective on the generation of energy and strength through the awareness of movement chains in the body, the transfer of energy to the weapon and the practical application within the framework of two Reglas.

Appropriately, Elmar and Christian got to know each other better at the International Montante Symposium 2018 by Drey Wunder in Bielefeld, after they met for the first time at the Treffen Historischer Fechter Deutschlands 2018 in Nordhausen. Since then, they have been in close contact, exchanging ideas regularly.

Previous knowledge: not required!

Equipment: Waster and steel weapons can be provided to a limited extent. However, we recommend at least one stick (if necessary a tool handle from the hardware store) with 160 cm. Anyone who wants to have a little more weight with this variant can add tape around the stick at their own discretion.

Tobias is the head of Fechtboden Zimmermann in Munich. He has been training different kinds of fencing for about 16 years now. His main focus these days is 18th and 19th century fencing. He is prévôt d’armes of the Akademie der Fechtkunst Deutschlands (‘German Academy of the Art of Fencing’) and has a teacher’s license for La Superba (Italian Duelling Art) and Bastone Genovese (traditional stick- and knife-fighting from Genoa). He is also Europe Development Coordinator of the Haitian Machete Fencing Project devoted to spreading the traditional Haitian martial art ‘Tire Machèt’. Also, he likes cats. 🙂

The Art of Kreusslerian Thrust-fencing in Firm and Fleeting (Workshop)

From the time that Wilhelm Kreussler began teaching in Jena in around 1620, the Kreussler family had a lasting influence on fencing in the German-speaking states. Beginning in times of the rapier, their style lasted until the early 20th century, and provided a theoretical foundation for sabre and in part even bayonet on top of its direct use.

In this class, we are going to take a look at two of the fundamental terms of the art: ‘fleeting’ and ‘firm’; the former meaning working without blade contact and the latter working with blade contact.

Prior knowledge: Not required

Gear: Smallsword simulator/Italian foil/French foil (we’ll also have some weapons you can borrow), mask, gloves

And the Fencing Hall Is Yours! (Meyer Longsword) (Workshop)

Hitting reliably in fencing only works with your opponent cooperating – even the most beautiful hew can degenerate into a double hit if countered inopportunely. As communicating one’s aims directly is not a promising option during a fight, your opponent’s unintended cooperation is best achieved via your own fencing and by exploiting two major motivators: Wanting to not get hit and wanting to hit. In this seminar, we want to take a closer look at this concept – of course at the example of many handworks and devices from Meyer’s art of fencing. The first part of the seminar will deal primarily with hits, the second part with provocations.

Ulrik has started HEMA in 2014 with British military sources, but very soon found his love for the Messer – which he teaches at the „Freifechter“ in Cologne.
Aside from that he uses his time for the study and training of historical spear fighting and traditional „Tribal Fighting Arts“.

“Suppose he’s got a pointed stick?” (-Eric Idle) (Workshop)

The weapon which has been used for the longest amount of time in the history of our species is, without any doubt, the spear.

In my workshop we will take a look at different fundamentals in handling the spear, as well as the general body mechanics which it relies on in its use.
We will take a quick journey through space and time, covering techniques we can find in similar forms throughout the source material available.
The aim of the exercises and plays we are going to work with is a basic understanding of how to use the spear in general, as well as providing a toolbox of things to work with and build up on in the future, if desired.

I have the goal to make my workshop as interesting as possible for everyone. Beginners and advanced people are equally welcome!

Gear requirements:
Gloves and safety goggles/masks at own discretion.
Groin protection highly recommended.
There will be a small amount of loaner gear available, although I’d recommend bringing your own spear (or other kind polearm as an equivalent) – as long as it’s safe for training/sparring purposes.

“And whoever watches (the spear) should be frightened with great dread.”

(-Fiore dei Liberi)

Daniel Bartholomäus Ciupka is a member of Bellum Nobile in Düsseldorf. He started weapon based martial arts training at the age of 16 with Filipino stick fighting and practices HEMA since 2008. Since 2017 he has been teaching Meyer rappier/sidesword. His focus of interest includes Liechtenauer longsword, Meyer sidesword, British sabre, singlestick and walking stick fencing. He won several tournaments in various disciplines, including HEFFAC 2016 (longsword), HVN Charity Tournament 2015 and 2018 (singlestick), World Wide Open Championship 2012 (backsword) and the Offenes SchwertRing Turnier Lüneburg 2019 (sabre and longsword).

The use of the left hand in Joachim Meyer’s Rapier/Rapier & Cloak (Workshop)

In this workshop we are going to have a close look at two very exciting chapters of Joachim Meyer’s 1570 fechtbuch. In the first part we will train the closing of the distance and the use of our left hand to restrict our enemy’s options. In the second part we will train the efficient use of the cloak to improve our probability of survival during swordplay.

Equipment: fencing mask, thin gloves, sidesword, and cloak. A certain number of sideswords/rappiers can be borrowed. Instead of a cloak you can use a larger piece of cloth, eg a towel, a regular jacket or similar.

I started practicing HEMA at TUS Grün-Weiß Holten in 2013. Since then, I couldn’t imagine a life without HEMA. After some successes in several tournaments, I began teaching at our club. Our main focus is the longsword of the Liechtenauer tradition and we work primarily with sources from Ringeck, Jud Lew and pseudo Peter von Danzig, which will also be the basis for my seminar.

We must go back, Marty! Back to the Vor! (Workshop)

The three times Vor, Indes and Nach will cross any fencer’s path sooner or later. In my seminar we want to concern ourselves with the accurate definition of these times and take a closer look at how to gain the Vor, fence from the Indes and retake the Vor from the Nach. Fühlen of the blade bindings will be an essential element of the seminar. Throat protection, a fencing mask and padded gloves will be required. You can bring extra gear for more sparring-like exercises.