About
What is Danelaw HEMA all about?
Historical European Martial arts is a passion of ours.
We wanted to put together a sparring club of like-minded people who just want to turn up, shoot the breeze and get some sword fights in. So far, we've really been enjoying it.
Each of us has a different focus, whether it be sources we're studying or trying to recreate moves from the Witcher 3...
Either way we're here to have fun and get better at what we love, fighting with swords.
The Goal
It's important to us to make everyone feel not only welcome, but epic.
We want you to become the best verision of yourself.
You won't come out of every fight the victor, but you'll come out having had the time of your life.
We don't expect you to become part of the rank and file and operate like a knock-off version of any of our instructors, but more find your own way of doing things.
What about other weapons?!
You're right, there's more to life than just swords, and we're well aware. If I'm honest, I'd encourage you to become a jack of all trades and learn to fight with a bunch of different things!
We play with axes, shields, maces, polearms, muskets and all sorts of other whacky weapons you can think of.
We like to balance our training with a few serious steel bouts, then when we're knackered, start getting random!
The Vibe
We're a relaxed group, we want you to learn at your own pace and in your own time.
We encourage people to learn using low-kit and low-investment, to keep things accessible.
We operate on the principle of "Anything can work, if you make it work"
So we're open to the maddest ideas, just don't be surpised when they don't work!
What about the sources though!
So our leader Wes didn't start HEMA following any traditional sources. He started within the Order of the Blade, which took a more modern approach to learning swordfighting.
However Wes developed a passion for the old-stuff, and began trying tons, from I33 to see how that worked for different shields
And instead of leaving it there, carried on looking into other manuscripts. Getting heavily into British military sabre, German coverd cut systems and then falling into the Rabbit hole of English Backsword, and English longsword
He's no pro, and admit's he still feels very new to HEMA in general, only had a handful of tournament fights, and no scorecard to shout about yet. We're moving in the right direction though.
Some of our members come from long reenactment backgrounds, modern fencing and various other martial arts, so we get some really interesting match-ups!
This gives us so much to draw from in our living lineage, influencing how we all read our chosen sources and what we get out of sparring in general.
Yeah whatever, but how do you TEACH the sources?
We try to take the main concepts and underlying commonalities, and focus on these. Depending on weapon styles, we might focus more on one source than others, as is natural. However overall it isn't for us to fully convince you of our interpretation, but to encourage you to understand and build your own, then bonk you on the head when it's inefficient or doesn't work quite as you want it!
Again, we're no masters, but we know how to put things to the test and find a way that works for us.
The reason our students do it
What keeps me coming back?
Well. There's several things tbh. The camaraderie, the shits and gigs, the access to people with completely different skill sets than mine I can learn from, the cross over in interests etc. and then, there's the internals.
I feel better. I act nicer when I've been. I don't feel the frustration with the world and my colleagues when I've recently stabbed someone. (Consensually)
Mainly here for the sparring, but what keeps me going with something is a regular sense of progression with learning things and understanding how everything fits together.
I enjoy the fight, its a good vent, especially when you've been dealing with pissant teenagers all day they you "shouldn't hit".
Also, its a great social group, theres a lot of overlap of interests for us so conversations aren't one dimensional.
I've loved swords and medieval for as long as I can remember, so experiencing that for myself rather than rewatching Robin Hood is definitely a draw.
But one of the main things at the moment is fitness. Im nearly 40 and have quit my manual/physical job, but have half a dozen projects on at home and a young family so don't have the time or inclination for exercise, and find traditional "gym" mind numbing.
Even when I was a mof fencer I was wanting to fence rapier &dagger, to try and get it to work.
But it's the zen state of swordplay that keeps me returning
So... Back to the Sources
Sigh Fine.
The sources we base our teaching around are:
Longsword, we use a blended approach, mix of Meyer, Fiore, English Longsword. Terminology-wise, it's mostly the German terms, because they tend to be the most popular and they're also stuck in my head.
Sabre & single-handed, We use Hutton, Musgrave Waite, also Hans Lecküchner messer for weapons without hand protection, and also a sprinkling of Kali/Escrima. In parallel, we also have English Backsword from George Silver, which some of the techniques I feel can fit in well.
Rapier & Dagger we're pretty much free-styling if I'm honest, I haven't read much about it, but I'm working on it.
Sword and Shield, we use a practical approach to I33, simply to piss off Fred and Rob. However this isn't the floaty stuff you find online, it's an effort to bring it's concepts into a more practical use. We also look at some of the Iberian styles of sword and buckler for extra advice on tactics and other postures.
Staff/Quarterstaff I use Wylde and Silver from the English traditions.
Polearm, is pretty much freestyle
Dagger, I just use Kali/Escrima, so technically no European source. For Reverse dagger.... maybe try another club