By Odin Rasco
The clash of blades, the well-timed parry of a dagger or the thrust of a rapier are scenes so ingrained in history and pop culture that most people recall moments from their childhood when they grabbed a suitably-sized stick for some imagined sword battle.
When stepping out of the realm of childhood memories, however, opportunities to swing a blade at a friend that don’t result in unplanned amputations and a trip to the emergency room – or jail – can feel overwhelmingly scarce.
Luckily for Chico residents hoping to sharpen their swordsmanship, Kingfisher Historical Fencing Club has announced a new series of classes starting June 2.
These courses aim to introduce a new cohort of combatants to the world of historical European martial arts, also known as HEMA. At its core, HEMA carries an ironic duality: the techniques used are hundreds of years old, informed by surviving texts from across Europe on fencing (some as old as the 1400s), but the sport itself only truly got going in recent decades, according to lead instructor Ciaran Flanagan.
While Olympic-style sport fencing has been a tradition for generations, HEMA is relatively new and more interested in the sort of sword fights that would have actually happened in history.
David Miller, an expert in HEMA, has developed a massive following on YouTube around explaining and demonstrating the sport.
“Often times people think there are more rules in Olympic fencing than HEMA, but in reality it’s probably about the same, just for different reasons,” Miller explained in one of his videos. “Olympic rules are there to create a unified and cohesive sport. HEMA’s rules are there to help us replicate, as best as we can, how these weapons would have actually been fought with.”
This is the distinction Flanagan observed growing up in Butte County.
“When I was a teenager, there was a sport fencing club in Chico that I would come down from Paradise to visit,” he recalled. “Sport fencing like you see in the Olympics, it was the coolest thing for a nerdy kid like me to jump into, but there’s always this kind of component like ‘Oh, this is cool and all, but it’s not really sword fighting.’ It doesn’t feel quite right.’”
From the first glance of a HEMA duel, it’s easy for onlookers to spot differences from the kind of fencing they may have seen before. Instead of the épées, foils and sabres used in Olympic-style fencing, HEMA utilizes a plethora of era-appropriate weapons, including two-handed longswords, short swords and daggers. Sometimes a combatant might fight with a small buckler strapped to their forearm as a shield, while another fighter might toss a cloak wrapped around their arm toward their opponent in an attempt to throw them off.
“We take a big sampling of everything that the modern HEMA scene covers,” Flanagan said. “Basically, if there are surviving texts or information on old fencing systems from the late medieval through the Renaissance period, people are out there exploring it and trying to reconstruct it.”
Though HEMA started as a sort of ragtag movement that was, at first, less concerned with proper safety measures than it was with hitting one another with big blunted swords, the movement has experienced an evolution in recent years, according to Flanagan. These days, the broader community not only takes safety seriously, it also has a focus on inclusivity as a core component of its DNA.
“This movement has become an opportunity for people who might never have gotten into sports, might not have felt welcome in sports or might have been a little shy,” Flanagan observed. “It’s one of the most inclusive sports I’ve ever seen. The community makes a big point of being passionate about involving all people – all different body types, genders and levels of ability – and meeting people where they’re at.”
Flanagan added, “Even if people are coming in and they don’t have any physical coordination, or maybe they’ve been sedentary for a while, it’s a really exciting opportunity to have them come into this really motivating space and learn to use their body.”
The Introduction to Historical Fencing course Kingfisher plans to kick off on June 2 is the result of years of fine-tuning and marks a new milestone for the club. It’s the first formal class program the group has put on, and members hope it might help swell the ranks of the club and produce more potential duelling partners in the future. Students in the eight-week beginner course will become familiarized with foundational fencing movement and theory while using one-and two-handed swords. By introducing students to a sample of multiple kinds of swords, Flanagan hopes they’ll discover the style of blade that speaks to them the best.
“There will be a lot of opportunities throughout the course to handle a lot of different kinds of weapons and see which ones speak to a given student,” Flanagan explained. “Something that we found in the past is people come in with expectations of what sword they’ll like the most that may have been informed by movies that might not have been so accurate, and by the time they get their hand on a different weapon they’ll like it much better. So we really want to give everybody the opportunity to handle many different kinds of weapons, experiment with just dipping the toe into a few different fencing systems through the beginner course and hopefully have a moment like Harry Potter with his wand where it’s like ‘oh yeah, that’s the one.’”
The beginner course is set to start June 2 and run through July 28; the first session is a free open house, with the remainder of the course costing $200 total. Classes will be held at 177 E. 20th St. in Chico, and individuals interested in attending can contact the club at kingfisherhfc@gmail.com, or call at (530) 588-0776.
Be the first to comment