Hands-on experimentation with formations and tactics from medieval classics of military strategy and tactics.

Weapon: Longswords, Messers, Sword-and-Bucklers, etc. No spears, polearms, or extra-long weapons, please.

Source: Vegetius de Rei Militarii, Christine de Pizan, Philip von Seldeneck

Participants in the workshop will take on the role of units in a medieval army, applying military advice from periods classics such as Vegetius, Christine de Pizan, and Philip von Seldeneck. By experimenting hands-on with formations and strategies, participants will gain understanding into the formations, tactics, and context of many of the historical European martial arts we study. This class will involve lots of fencing, a lot of maneuver, but is not about being an individual soldier in a line, but rather in learning how the different lines and formations were made and why they work in their context.

Skill level of Participants: Beginners (basic knowledge of weapon / system required)
Needed Equipment: Full sparring gear (Mask, Jacket, strong gloves, throat, elbows, knees, groin protection)

About the trainer – Jake Norwood

Jake Norwood has been practicing and teaching HEMA since 2000. Jake’s HEMA CV includes creating and running Longpoint, once the western Hemisphere’s largest HEMA tournament and workshop series, from 2010-2019; was a founding member and first president of the HEMA Alliance from 2009-2012; and was North America’s most consistently successful competitive fencer with over 50 medals in Longsword, Messer, Saber, Cutting, and Technique from 2011-2016. Jake is a fanatic Liechtenauerist, a pioneer in recreating Germanic “Common Fencing,” and an avid harness-fencer who’s currently focused on reproducing the HEMA Experiment at the Military Unit Scale through the bi-annual Feldlager event. Jake, an American who lives in the Netherlands, is also a war veteran, mega nerd, and former TTRPG designer.