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IMC 2012: Sessions

Session 1703: Rediscovering Historical European Martial Arts, II

Thursday 12 July 2012, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:Université de Genève / Historical European Martial Arts Coalition (HEMAC)
Organiser:Daniel Jaquet, Unité d'histoire Médiévale, Université de Genève
Moderator/Chair:Karin Verelst, FUND-CLEA, Department of Mathematics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Paper 1703-aReading Steel : Finding the Immaterial in Metal
(Language: English)
Fabrice Cognot, Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne
Index terms: Archaeology - General, Military History
Paper 1703-bFighting in Armour According to the Fightbooks: Late 14th-early 16th Centuries - Classical versus Experimental Studies, an Overview
(Language: English)
Daniel Jaquet, Unité d'histoire Médiévale, Université de Genève
Index terms: Archaeology - General, Military History
Paper 1703-cLes normes et les règles de rédaction d'un savoir gestuel: l'exemple des livres d'escrime à la fin du Moyen Age
(Language: Français)
Pierre-Alexandre Chaize, Laboratoire Etat, société et religion (ESR), Université de Versailles - Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines
Index terms: Manuscripts and Palaeography, Military History
Abstract

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?