“How to survive a knife fight between sailors without dying or killing my opponent and thus being hang!”

Weapon: Hand to hand and knife

Source: L’academie de l’admirable art de la lutte : montrant d’une maniere très exacte non seulement la force extraordinaire de l’homme, mais aussi les mouvemens merveilleux, l’usage singulier, & les souplesses des principales parties ou membres du corps humain. (Nicolaes Petter – 1712)

Self-defence isn’t as new as you may think, and protecting yourself against an opponent armed with a knife have been a centuries long issue.

This workshop aims to teach you some “fun” moves extracted from the treaty Klare Onderrichtinge der Voortreffelijke Worstel-Konst written by Nicolaes PETTER (a wine merchant) and published in 1674 – or at least is 1712 French translation.

The workshop will be divided into two phases: the first aimed at learning certain defensive techniques (locks, strikes) from the treaty, and the second aimed at practicing them in a fight situation.

Skill level of Participants: Any skill level
Needed Equipment: Knife / dagger (mandatory), Gloves and Mask (advised for the second part)

About the trainer – Mathieu Tondut

After a bit more than 20 years of martials arts Mathieu join the HEMA family in 2015 and has been teaching for about ten years in numerous French clubs. His work focuses mainly on treatises from the 17th to the 20th century, with a clear preference for everything related to French boxing, cane fighting, saber, self-defence and, of course, knife fighting! The dirtier, the better!