Sword and Shield
It is one of the great disappointments that world’s oldest fencing manuals only appeared at the tail end of the age of fighting with sword and shield. There are no manuals dedicated to how the shield was used in the medieval period…or are there?
In 2002 Stephen Hand and Paul Wagner wrote a paper describing the surviving evidence for how people fought with large shields in medieval times, and this has formed the basis of most serious efforts at reconstruction of sword and shield combat in HEMA ever since. Evidence comes from a range of sources, 15th century sword and dueling shield, 16th century sword and rotella and the numerous surviving images of medieval sword and shield combat.
Contrary to the accepted wisdom developed by re-enactment, shields in single combat were not held with the flat face towards the opponent, but rather the edge of the shield. This allows for complex fencing with the shields to take place, the weapon being used for occasional attacks into an opening, exactly as described in Viking sagas and Medieval romances.
Sword and shield is a dynamic and exciting style of combat, popular with advanced students.
In 2002 Stephen Hand and Paul Wagner wrote a paper describing the surviving evidence for how people fought with large shields in medieval times, and this has formed the basis of most serious efforts at reconstruction of sword and shield combat in HEMA ever since. Evidence comes from a range of sources, 15th century sword and dueling shield, 16th century sword and rotella and the numerous surviving images of medieval sword and shield combat.
Contrary to the accepted wisdom developed by re-enactment, shields in single combat were not held with the flat face towards the opponent, but rather the edge of the shield. This allows for complex fencing with the shields to take place, the weapon being used for occasional attacks into an opening, exactly as described in Viking sagas and Medieval romances.
Sword and shield is a dynamic and exciting style of combat, popular with advanced students.
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