IMC 2012: Sessions

In the past ten years there has been a growing interest in the historical evidence concerning the practice of martial arts throughout medieval Europe. Medieval martial arts systems were used for a wide range of purposes, from preparing for a judicial duel, to sparring for training and entertainment purposes in the late medieval 'institutionalised' fencing schools. These different applications are all governed by equally varying systems of rules. This interdisciplanary session provides an overview of the recent researches into, and active promotion works on the display of Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA). Including History, History of Art, History of Literature, Archaeology (classic and experimental), and Museography. These studies are mainly based on investigations focusing on the so called Fechtbücher, 'fightbooks', technical manuals which codified the martial gestures both with text and illustrations, from the early 14th to the late 17th centuries. Researchers also draw on other material and textual witnesses, like arms and armour, literary and normative texts, and a wide corpus of illustrations studied in context. What are the best methodologies to pursue these studies? How to follow, in reading, writing or reconstruction, these gestures and the rules structuring them? What can we learn about the societies that produced these gestures, and how should museums display them today?