Introduction

The fighting style of the Ancient Arts Fellowship today is quite different from the one I learned eighteen years ago. From the beginning, safety was recognised as the foremost consideration, but what we did back then was crude and unsophisticated compared to what we are doing now.

It has always been recognised that a combatant's head and hands are the most prone to injury; as a result, helmet and gauntlets have been a mandatory requirement from the very beginning. Similarly, attacks to the neck, joint and groin were prohibited.

This is the origin of the AAF's "Figure Eight" technique - usually the first thing to be taught to any new recruit. The blows and parries of the Figure Eight are the simplest and safest techniques, and are fundamental to the rest of the combat style.

Basic Techniques With The Sword

The blows of the Figure Eight are as follows:

• Descending head blow, striking the crown of the helmet in a vertical line
• Diagonal descending arm blows, left and right, striking below the shoulder and above the elbow
• Horizontal body blows, left and right, striking below the armpit and above the hip
• Diagonal ascending leg blows, left and right, striking below the hip and above the knee
• Thrust, striking the body below the sternum and above the groin

As can be seen, these legal blows all land on the soft, muscled parts of the body (except for the head blow which lands on the helmet), minimising the possibility of any injury more serious than a bruise.

The principle of pulling the blow is also one that has always been a part of our combat style. In essence, you do not hit someone hard enough to bruise. A fighter must be able to throw a blow at full speed, but then "pull" it back so that it strikes its target softly. This does require practice, but it is not difficult.

The more advanced techniques in general do not change the target areas of the body, but they modify how the weapon approaches them. For example, horizontal leg blows (the so-called "grass cutter") are quite common. One requirement that remains, however, is the restriction on head blows. Straight down to the top of the head ONLY.

The AAF allows blows to the lower arm and lower leg, but caution is essential. Many traditional manuscripts and fechtbuchs (fighting manuals) employ attacks to the forearm.

Other Weapons

More commonly used by the AAF is the sword and round shield combination. Shields were used by all the peoples of the periods we study, and it is impossible to try and recreate their combat styles without taking the shield into account.

Recruits will learn "single sword" first (ie, sword without shield), as it is essential to be familiar with the basic techniques with the weapon before trying to use it with a shield.

Adding a shield changes the style of swordsmanship greatly - one no longer has to parry with the blade in most cases, so direct "single-time" counterattacks are more common. In fact, a shield fight becomes less a game of outsmarting your opponent in a single motion than outmaneuvering them over the course of several.

Once the sword is learned, the recruit may wish to move on to other weapons. The other weapons that the AAF uses most are the two-handed axe, the spear and the glaive. For some reason the use of the single-handed axe and shield has fallen out of favour - the author is not sure why this is.

Group Fighting

In addition to single combat, which develops skill and technique in the individual, the AAF also concentrates on group fighting, with the emphasis on teamwork. "Skirmishing" usually takes up a part of most training sessions. A skirmish ranges from two to five fighters on each side, or even more if we have the people. Fighters can learn how to work with each other, and how to combine weapons (eg, sword and shield plus spear) to best effect.

Other Societies

The AAF is not the only group in the country who studies the european martial arts. The style of the AAF is similar enough to the styles of other groups (other than the SCA of course) that we can engage in interclub combats on a regular basis.

However, the styles of the different clubs are frequently quite dissimilar, and this can lead to misunderstandings on the battlefield. Some groups allow lower-leg shots. Some do not. Some hit with the flat of the blade, some with the edge.

In general, however, these differences tend to be minor, and do not get in the way of having a jolly good war.

Period Texts

The fighting style of the AAF was originally designed without reference to period fencing manuals. In most cases they are "out-of-period". The earliest known fencing manuals date from 200 - 300 years after the Battle of Hastings, which is when our preferred period ends.

That said, there is still a lot that we can learn from studying the old texts. The fighting that we do will never be completely accurate to the period. War and battle cannot be accurately simulated without death and bloodshed. So we don't try to be completely accurate, only so far as is consistent with our first principle of safety.

The period manuals in most cases can be easily adapted so that the attacks land on legal target areas. For example, the ubiquitous face thrust can usually be redirected to the chest, or turned into a head blow with little effect on the technique.

George Silver was a gentleman of Elizabethan England, but the works that he wrote - Paradoxes Of Defence and Brief Instructions Upon My Paradoxes Of Defence contain discussion and techniques of the cut-and-thrust sword which we use. His techniques are valid and appropriate, and can easily be adapted to be safe. So the fighting style of the AAF has been influenced by Silver's work, especially to the extent of adopting Silver's Open Fight and True Guardant as standard guard positions that are taught to new recruits.

Some members (including the author) have found that the style outlined in Tower Manuscript I.33 is very enjoyable, and are actively studying the techniques therein. Although designed for use with a small buckler, many of the techniques are still valid with a larger shield. Some of our members have been studying other styles as well, such as the German Longsword. Although the techniques themselves are not always useful to our style of combat (although there are exceptions), the theory is still valid.

Conclusion

As noted previously, it is impossible to accurately recreate the fighting style of the Vikings, Saxons and Normans without actually injuring people. The AAF combat style is a compromise between historical accuracy and safety. By studying and adapting the period texts we can learn new methods and techniques to apply to our fighting style. As a result the style is always fluid and is continually adapting to new circumstances and new results.