Medieval wrestling doesn’t get any easier than this.


Weapon: None

Source: Kölner Fechtregeln (W8°150)

This workshop analyzes the Ringen (wrestling) section of the charming “pocket-book sized” Kölner Fechtregeln (ca. 1530). Yes, all of it – it’s that short. The Kölner Fechtbook is a unique source in many ways, because it appears to be the notes of a fencing student rather than a fencing master, who recorded the techniques the learned and intended to use (rather than recording all the techniques he was able to teach). Therefore it allows us to reconstruct the extent of the “active repertoire” of fencing and wrestling techniques that the “average fencer” of the early 16th century may have known.

Skill level of Participants: Any skill level
Needed Equipment: Recommended: mouthguard, sturdy jacket.

About the trainer – Elias Flatscher

Elias Flatscher has trained and competed in Greco-Roman wrestling (Russian and Nuremberg schools) and Freestyle wrestling (Dagestani school) in Germany and in the Austrian Bundesliga (seasons 2013-2017), cross-training in Judo, SAMBO, Sumo, Ranggeln and Schwingen and coaching grappling for a variety of martial disciplines (youth wrestling, MMA, BJJ, HEMA). He doesn’t hold any rank in any martial art, but may just be the most evil whitebelt you’ll ever meet. In HEMA, he has been focusing on the wrestling sections of Fiore, Monte, the “Blume des Kampfes” and the “Nuremberg” groups of treatises, leading to a number of international workshops and a paper on the wrestling sections of Cod.I.6.4º.2 published in the companion volume to HEMA bookshelf’s “Baumann” facsimile. When he’s not doing something wrestling-related, he currently works as a post-doc for medieval archaeology at the University of Zurich.