PHEMAS
Training in Fiore Longsword & Abrazare
Training with the Pan-Historical European Martial Arts Society (Singapore) is primarily based on the manuscripts of Fiore Di Liberi. There are three surviving manuscripts each with slightly different content and published at different times. The most important of these is held in the Getty archives and as such is referred to as the Getty version.
Over the last two decades, many extraordinarily talented and hardworking people around the world have pooled their resources, applied their individual talents and worked towards resurrecting Historical European Martial Arts. We at PHEMAS have had the wonderful fortune to have been able to spend time to learn from one of the best of these talented researchers. As such, we are able to provide training under the syllabus created by Mr. Guy Windsor of the School of European Swordsmanship, Helsinki.
Anthony trapping Tome in the Ligadura during a Pair Drill
Fiore created a complete system. That is, a martial arts system that is built around a set of simple and effective guiding principles and applied to the large range of weapons that a gentleman in the fifteenth century would have to master. The core of the system is learnt in the Abrazare (unarmed) section if the manuscript. In this section, a novice would learn the principles of body mechanics to defend themselves against unarmed opponents as well as attacks with the dagger. There is a large focus on footwork throughout the training as there is with all sword arts and the Abrazare is also a great way for the novice to master his/her feet and balance.
From there, scholars will learn the basics of Longsword. The guards, various cuts and methods of dealing with an opponent’s cuts will all be covered. During PHEMAS training, there is a heavy focus on control and timing of the cuts. To help build these skills, Mr. Windsor has developed a series of single and paired memory drills. These drills not only teach the correct cuts, footwork and responses, they are also important for teaching distance and control.
Joshua in the First Remedy Position
The ability of the instructors to control the level of safety of a class depends very much on discipline. When instruction is given for a new task, the class will be expected to return to a one line formation with their sword tips pointing downwards. This simple act of control and discipline is important to maintain the level of instruction and shows that the student has respect for the safety of his/her classmates.
The class is lined up to watch the instructions for the next exercise. The sword tips are pointed downwards so that they will not accidently hit their classmates.
Novice swordsmen/women can not expect to engage in free sparring until they are more advanced in their training as a high degree of skill and control is required for safe swordplay. In order to attain this skill, a series of stress drills of varying intensity will be employed. These are well designed to teach quickness of mind and trust in one’s skills in a controllable environment.
The class is here practicing the guard Posta Di Frontale
