With friendly regards,
IFHEMA Executive Committee

Gabor Nemeth, President

Dear HEMA communities,

with our first short message we would like to present the newly elected Executive Committee for the period of the next two years. We are confident, the challenges ahead of us and how we will tackle them will offer a fair chance to evaluate our actual contribution in the coming years.

We would like to take the opportunity to welcome Portugal among the members of this young Federation. All signs indicate that we can be optimistic about the future steady growth of our ranks as countless federations – and not only in Europe – show interest applying for membership. Of course all these federations need to be aware, that we have strong, definite values, which we expect all members to respect and firmly uphold as their own.

By Roman Vučajnk

A success story of how an idea hatched on a bus grew into the first international competition of International Federation for HEMA

Competitions are not the only aspect of HEMA activities, yet nowadays they attract hundreds to modern arenas, where martial athletes fight to honour the European martial legacy in a respectful and regulated environment.
There are many systems to choose from, they vary in disciplines based on particular weapons, rule sets, judging infrastructure and in the local atmosphere created by the hosting clubs. Individuals can now fight in various club and event tournaments, leagues and national competitions.

Only years ago, competition were largely friendly encounters of enthusiasts exploring the sport side of historical martial arts. Today, the largest competitions take place in large gyms and sport halls, with trained crews of judges, referees, floor managers and administrators taking care of every detail.
Carefully planned rule sets keep getting re-evaluated and optimized for a maximum sport experience, equipment standards are focused on protection and efforts are made to have finals streamed live on the internet.

Teams and individuals alike pay attention to their training practices and fighting skills. While a number of fighters aim to win titles, there are many who join the competitions only for fun of the game. Regardless of their motifs, every competitor receives a big share of respect within appreciative HEMA communities. Rightly so, as with the effort and time invested into training, dedication and courage mustered, the HEMA athletes also nurture a vision that reaches over political and cultural borders, and display core values that larger HEMA community is based on.

The idea

A sense of belonging to this big family of Hemaists and a desire to contribute to the development of the community motivated a group of Hungarian Historical European martial artists returning from the Dijon HEMAC event to plan hosting the first competition within IFHEMA.
Very soon, a straightforward proposal was presented, first to the Executive Committee of IFHEMA and later to all delegates at the session of the General Assembly, the highest body of IFHEMA.

The plan was put forward in clear terms: the initiators – the Hungarian National HEMA Federation – would provide for the venue, the logistics and the staff, deal with the finances and support, and motivate the IFHEMA community to contribute towards developing a solid rule set and judging panels.

The IFHEMA fencers should just register and take part in the Cup.

Due to conflicting schedules, the unfolding of the plan was a bit more complicated, as the Hungarian Federation had to make certain assurances to the city council of Hajdúsámson, a small town to host the event. The city council had to grant the use of a sports hall, the sponsors of the event had to be brought in – all this before the General Assembly of IFHEMA even had a chance of granting a formal support to the event!
Szabolcs Waldmann, the leader of the Hungarian HEMA community, remembers: ‘Our problem was that we neither had the money, nor the assurance how many people would come, nor did we know what the decision of the General Assembly would be – if we can host the first IFHEMA Cup at all.’
There were lots of nails suffering a bite in Geneva on 6 December 2014 after the Hungarian delegate delivered the project proposal, but the final answer was positive and the team could plunge into the deep waters of organizing the event with IFHEMA backing them up.

The team

The organizing team of the IFHEMA International Cup included many able and motivated individuals of whom several deserve a special mention:

Tibor Pávay, Chairman of the Hungarian National HEMA Federation, was very active in securing patrons and supporters of the event, among them were mayors of surrounding municipalities. Furthermore, he brought necessary funds to the event and ran the PR activities.

Csabán Marika ‘Maci’ proved to be a very successful fundraiser. In addition to substantial pecuniary foundation of the event, she provided valuable help with designing and obtaining prizes (among those an original smallsword and several hundred years old pages from the Nurnberg Chronicles!).

Attila Weisz, one of the Vice-Presidents of the Hungarian Federation, was in charge of the fighting ring. He managed a team of 17 judges and kept an open eye on the competition running smoothly and without risks.

Várhelyi Zoltán was the event manager. He and his 35 assistants kept the floor ready around the clock.

Katalin Kajdiné Virág was on top of the provisions and supervised the cleaning of the venue. The food was catered for all the participants three times a day for the whole duration of the event.

Lászlo Fogl ‘Lazsi’ was steering the IT support. His software made sure the score was kept, pools set up and results displayed for the audience to see.

Zsófia Jasik made sure each participant was issued with an original Welcome Package, thus upholding the tradition of hospitality among HEMA communities.

Orsolya Waldmann designed the logo and all necessary digital art, in addition to managing the event website.

Gábor Németh ‘Hekka’ was the delegate who presented the project at the IFHEMA General Assembly. Furthermore, he took care of the participants from abroad and organized transport from the capital.

Szabolcs Waldmann, the man who put himself at the end of the list, has been the driving engine of the IFHEMA International Cup from the beginning. The Hungarian HEMA community is grateful for his constant efforts to improve it and to have served as a liaise between the organizing team and IFHEMA.

The happening

IFHEMA International Cup 2015 hosted three disciplines: Longsword, Single Rapier and the Franco-Belgian Invitational Tournament, supported by the competition for the best team.
The list of the disciplines at IFHEMA International Cup has not been chiselled in stone and may change in the years to come.

Apart from an original blade and pages of a 500 years old book, protective equipment was offered as prizes, as well as a Regenyei black federsword.

Given this was the first time that IFHEMA International Cup took place, not all IFHEMA members sent their teams due to various reasons, mostly because of financial constrictions. Nevertheless, Austria, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and Switzerland national teams were joined with the Hungarian team in registering for competition.

HEMA communities from Greece, Italy and Mexico are not yet represented in IFHEMA, but had sent their delegations, who were warmly welcomed and made feel like home.

The General Assembly of IFHEMA was adamant in having the event open to combatants from IFHEMA and non-IFHEMA communities, if it was to support the Hungarian initiative. Thus, the key IFHEMA values of transparency, good governance, responsibility and striving to contribute to better societies were upheld in a better way.

A slippery slope

One of the most protruding rubs was the initial proposition of the name of the event – IFHEMA World Cup. IFHEMA as an organization is at an early stage, therefore many felt that the event cannot yet merit the designation of a ‘world cup’.
Therefore, the General Assembly of IFHEMA insisted of having the name altered. A new name was chosen, which remained unchallenged and gave the event its unique character – IFHEMA International Cup.

Unfortunately, the name change was not well communicated far and wide, which resulted in many global HEMA communities expressing their disagreement with the ‘world cup’ designation for many months later.

The lack of proper communication between the organizers and IFHEMA or the general public was evident in other instances, too.
However, lessons were learned and the first IFHEMA International Cup recognized and identified room for improvement.

Results

A software, coded especially for the occasion, kept the score well and provided the following result list.

Longsword

1 Maciej Zajac (Poland)

2 Rafal Kalus (Poland)

3 Jakub Wrzalik (Poland)

4 László Schunder (Hungary)

Single Rapier

1 Péter Faragó (Hungary)

2 Marek Helman (Poland)

3 Andrzej Starodumow (Poland)

4 Mátyás Miskolczi (Hungary)

Franco-Belgian tournament

1 Etienne von Gunten (Switzerland)

2 Francesco Perciballi (Italy)

3 Andreas Pavlidis (Greece)

4 Sebastian Alejandro Estivill Bustillos (Mexico)

The Polish team won the team competition.

The lessons learned

After the event, lists of future improvements started taking shape. The organizers, the participants and the world-wide communities contributed their opinions, suggestions and criticism.

Improved communication between various parties prior and after the event, improved co-operation with IFHEMA members in the planning phase, suitable rule-sets and venues, and clear guidelines regarding participating teams are at the top of the list.

One thing is certain – IFHEMA International Cup will remain open and willing to develop further.

The General Assembly of IFHEMA will convene for its session in December 2015, where the 2016 instance of IFHEMA International Cup will be considered. At this moment we cannot say where and when exactly it will be held, but offers for hosting the event have already reached the desks of IFHEMA officials.

IFHEMA members will have to acknowledge the legacy of the Hungarian initiative and promote the outcome for the benefit of IFHEMA.

IFHEMA International Cup 2015 is the proof of what can be achieved by hope, courage and co-operation.

Future steps

The first IFHEMA International Cup happened – a fact to consider with all due respect and pride. A bald idea conceived on a bus running high on post-HEMA event enthusiasm made its way through idealistic but rational planning and was embraced by IFHEMA communities.

A new level of IFHEMA activities was achieved and new possibilities emerged. Hopefully, the organization will be able to acknowledge its potential and will continue to promote and support further initiatives by its members.

Furthemore, IFHEMA members and organizers should not forget to turn to many experts outside the organization. There are many communities with vast experience sharing the same passion and striving for the same goals, excelling in performance. Regardless of affiliation, HEMA communities wish the same thing: to develop HEMA further and have lots of fun doing it.

by Roman Vučajnk

Acta Periodica Duellatorum: the first academic yearbook of publications related to HEMA

Promoting HEMA through academic efforts and publishing is one of the IFHEMA aims.
The goal is to develop structures and channels that would enable HEMA oriented authors to conduct research and publish their work according to academic standards. IFHEMA may be heading in the right direction by contributing to the professional partnership with Acta Periodica Duellatorum, a regularly published reference point of HEMA publications.

The major part of current IFHEMA work deals with setting up a machine that would serve the needs of national HEMA federations. As an umbrella organization it was set up to help, promote and uphold the processes that bring respective IFHEMA member communities further in their HEMA activities.

In addition to the competitive side (see IIC, link) and networking of dozens of clubs, a quiet but strong current is also gaining momentum. This time, the focus is not on respective federations, but on making a joint effort in providing a confident appearance in one of the bastions of modern professional spheres – the academic circles.

Academic and non-academic HEMA researchers

Until recently, researching HEMA was not considered an academic endeavour in its own right. HEMA approach could appear in the shadow of ‘proper’ academic disciplines such as history or archaeology, yet donning faithful reproductions of historical martial gear and discovering the true meaning of material and written sources was regarded as something to frown upon.
Not anymore.
People like Daniel Jaquet, Thore Wilkens, and Eric Burkart are pursuing their academic careers in researching HEMA.

There is a sizeable group of people, which we also need to take into consideration and it does not belong to academic worlds. A community of non-academic HEMA researchers, who have contributed immensely by locating and interpreting sources and artifacts, and making their results available in many different publications.
These researchers are not full-time academics and usually do not aspire to hold an academic tenure. Their approach is tailored to their respective life circumstances and they often deliver their conclusions through publicly available channels of mass communication. In addition to travelling and teaching, they design video channels, dedicated websites, printed books and social networks to get their message across.
Their persistence is leading them to a number of significant results with the ‘professional’ academics starting to peek in.

What both groups may need today is a sort of a HEMA-dedicated platform where they could publish their conclusions on academic level for the benefit of further HEMA research and studies. The platform itself needs to remain independent, non-profit, with open access and has to provide peer-reviewed information.
It is one of the aims of Daniel Jaquet to establish a researchers’ associacion to promote HEMA studies and to foster the emerging field of research. The project is ongoing under the name of SHEMAS, Society for Historical European Martial Arts Studies.

From logistics to heritage

In early summer of 2012 Mátyás Miskolczi earned his PhD and wanted to use the momentum to do something useful for publishing community. At first, he wanted to start a journal on logistics, but he soon realized that particular market was already crowded.

The idea about a journal still lingered and as Mátyás is also an important member of the Hungarian HEMA community the next step seems very logical. At least in retrospective.

I expected nothing less with my question: what about starting a journal on HEMA?

‘Yes, it was new and revolutionary.’
Which was an understatement for tears, sweat, sleepless nights and substantial telephone bills when Skype is down. Still, with some chances of enjoying the fruits of labour after a while.

As every year, that summer he attended the HEMA summer camp organized by his federation. There he spoke to Szabolcs Waldmann, another pillar of the Hungarian HEMA community, who met the idea with enthusiasm. They both agreed that such a journal offering articles and reviews on HEMA related matters would bring the wider community forward.
Daniel Jaquet joined as the third pillar of the endeavour.

Mátyás acknowledges that ‘at that time many people were already active in HEMA communities as researchers’.
They were involved in very important activities such as locating and reading the sources, transcribing and translating, providing comparative analysis, and developing tools.

However, outside HEMA communities, especially in academic circles, the term researcher carries an additional expectation – an academic activity.

‘There is a gap between academic and HEMA research’ Mátyás explains.
That does not mean that non-academic contribution is less valuable in any way, but in order to get accepted by other scholarly communities, publications should comfort to certain forms and procedures. The journal he had in mind would help bridging the by motivating its contributors to develop methodology and apparatus, which would bring their work closer to those communities and make it available for further academic research.

I was interested in knowing what other communities he had in mind.

‘HEMA is close to history, no question about it, but there are other disciplines. HEMA is interdisciplinary.’
Mátyás certainly had a point. Sport sciences, biomechanics, physics, metallurgy, and linguistics are just some of many disciplines a researcher of HEMA has to include to proceed with work; surely the outcome can go both ways.

Mátyás agrees that not all independent researchers should assume a uniform style of publishing, but certain methodology has to be established. This is the ground that Acta Periodica Duellatorum (APD) has stood on for three years.

In this time three issues were published, divided in two parts.
The Scholarly section contains articles with scientific (scholarly) character and is managed by Daniel Jaquet, a Swiss academic.
The Practical section delivering articles ‘which mainly support HEMA trainings or interpret manuscripts’ and are not academic, but of credible quality. This part is led by Szabolcs Waldmann.

Until now, Acta Periodica Duellatorum published 29 articles in total by almost two dozen authors, titles ranging from Translation memory and computer assisted translation tool for medieval texts and Honour and Fighting Social Advancement in the Early Modern Age to The Spanish response to the Italian fencing tradition and Organization and Regulation of Fencing in the Realm of France in the Renaissance.

How to get published in ADP

Call for papers is always announced on the Acta Periodica Duellatorum website with all deadlines stated. After submitting an proposal with a short description of the topic and the concept, the Editorial Board decides on suitability.
After the abstract is accepted, the members of the Editorial Board look for two peer reviewers, who will take on the full paper submitted by the author and do a “blind” or an anonymous review. The peer reviewers file in their feedback, then allow for a certain period, so that the author can amend the paper, if necessary.

Mátyás told me that there were cases of authors withdrawing their paper because of a less favourable feedback from their peer reviewers. In some cases it is a hit to self-esteem, naturally, but there are cases when non-academic authors accept it as an opportunity to improve their research and writing with great results.

After the final submission of the article, the technical wheels are set in motion and they do not rest until the next issue of Acta Periodica Duellatorum is printed.

Getting to the academia

‘Academia – that’s a rocky road.’ (I have always admired the diplomatic way in which Mátyás delivers less-than-perfect news)

It takes time, it takes effort, it takes results for the academic bastion to start lowering the bridge. I believe it also takes courage and people with good academic standing are welcome to promote the journal, too.

This year, APD founded a partnership with De Gruyter Open, a leading publisher of Open Access academic content (as written on their website). A very important feature besides open access is digital object identification (DOI) to uniquely identify each article online.

‘To be openly accessible is very important!’

Soon, Acta Periodica Duellatorum will also be found in the library of the National Museum of Slovenia for the benefit of Slovenian scholars and researchers.

The APD team

Mátyás serves the journal as the Editor in Chief, with the members of the editorial board certainly not strangers to HEMA communities: Daniel Jaquet, János Majár, Szabolcs Waldmann, Attila Törcsvári (with Harald Winter and Scott Brown being members of the initial editorial board).

Attila Törcsvári is also the technical editor of APD and Mátyás remembers the impressive article Attila wrote on computer assisted translation tool. Orsolya Waldmann is very valuable to the team for her website management.

The team is determined to keep the journal non-profit. All income is directed towards printing and shipping costs, and maintaining the website, while any potential surplus ‘will support research or a charity’. A printed copy of Acta Periodica Duellatorum is available on demand and at major HEMA events for an affordable sum.
Mátyás emphasized that before buying a copy, every customer is told that the articles are also made available online free of charge. Hardcopies, however, will be made available based on annual subscription, as is the custom with most of academic journals.

The most generous maecenas of Acta Periodica Duellatorum is Peter Regenyei, without his support the journal would probably get stuck before reaching the printing house. In the second year, PBT Historical Fencing started contributing towards covering printing costs.

The road ahead

In 2016, Acta Periodica Duellatorum will get a facelift and will present itself with a new website and format. It will remain a serious professional attempt towards promoting HEMA related research, both for academics and communities of practitioners. The team wants the journal to become the first and unavoidable platform for academic writing in HEMA (with publishing academic and non-academic contributors, insisting on double-blind peer review and providing DOI).

Both IFHEMA and Acta Periodica Duellatorum are happy to continue their professional partnership, as there are many opportunities offered by a big common interest  – motivating and promoting HEMA research in academic and non-academic spheres.

Acta Periodica Duellatorum home website

The online issue of Acta Periodica Duellatorum 2015 can be found at De Gruyter Open