Question about HEMA

[ryan]

So I did some research and this game is heavily inspired by HEMA? Not knowing anything about swordsmanship I have some questions. Is HEMA closer to being a sport or just roleplay? Like do people try to hit each other to win or are they just pretending to duel and practicing old combat styles? Also does it hurt when getting hit? Like are people swinging at a normal speed or half speed?

[BaconHer0]

HEMA isn't reenactment. It's a martial art, so more than just sport like Olympic fencing where the goal is to tag your opponent first.

You wear protective gear in HEMA because the blunt swords impart a lot of force. Broken bones, concussions and fractures are a thing

[voronin_mike]

What he said. Though there are some groups which consider HEMA rules to be encouraging practices which are not true to historical martial arts practice.
A better analogue would be a modern karate which includes a range of groups from pure sport to pure traditional (whatever THAT is as karate itself is no older than 20th century in Japan) practices.
Reenactment is its own beast and there are some events/traditions which form a gray zone between HEMA (and other historical martial arts groups) practices and pure costumed plays.

[Ilxuss]

Historically speaking, Europeans used in wars what was the most effective. Sometimes with quirks - like they tried to capture enemy nobles alive for ransom. Pre-medieval ages, swords were very effective against unarmored people - which was almost everyone. Then various armours started to be more common in the Middle Ages. Then firearms were introduced and armour started to be abandoned as it was ineffective against guns, heavy, tiring to wear, hot and so on, so sword fencing saw some reemergence as it was very effective against unarmored enemies. That was until the time modern firearms replaced it all.

All the methods of fighting effectively in History, in Europe, with Martial weapons, which include hand-to-hand combat Arts are classified as HEMA. Swords are the most popular but it also includes spears, hammers, maces, poleaxes, hammers, hand-to-hand and so on. The techniques of using swords, lances and other weapons on horseback are also included to some degree. The tactics of fighting in large groups differ a lot from how singular units fought and HEMA focuses mostly on singular techniques as they could be practised in the past in preparation for war. In the past, it also found use as a personal defence weapon. Also dueling, as a method to resolve personal conflicts became kind of the main focus.

Now we fast forward to modern times - private duels to the death are forbidden, guns are more effective for personal defence, and the God-given right to defend your good name in the courts using the duel has also been taken away. A lot of people who knew martial arts died in the wars too. Since those arts have mostly died, the enthusiasts who wanted to learn about it had to restore it from sparse manuals, manuscripts, diaries and other historical sources. And so the first generation of HEMAists was born - people who gathered whatever sources they could teach it "as written" and did what was in their power to restore this lost knowledge.

Then there is the second generation of HEMAists - when the historical sources run out they did their best to fill in the blanks with other methods - interpreting a single descriptive sentence into "how it could be", or using the science of biomechanics to deduce what are the effective methods of fighting.

Then came the newest, the 3rd generation of people who don't have to restore the lost arts and learn it from the 1st and 2nd generation. At this point we've restored what could be restored, it's unlikely we'll find more sources, and the 3rd generation is what Russ Mitchell calls "living lineages" (video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Efz-9EJNQBA ) of fencers who continue the traditions of their teachers (and by the extension - the traditions of sources that date back hundreds of years). They are happy with their teachers, and their teachings, they develop new techniques on their own and they will participate in sparrings or HEMA tournaments and they will treat HEMA more as a sport.

Today, nobody wants to die in their sparring, so HEMAists use protective armour and blunted weapons. But the base assumption is recreating the effective duelling method in the duel to the death using weapons that are effective in this direction. In opposition to Olympic fencing, where it turned into a "tag" with the thinnest and longest weapons that are the most effective for this very purpose. Sport HEMA may go in the same direction. It is the case to some degree today, where lighter, thinner weapons with better hand protection are superior. But as it is now, HEMA is closer to using the weapon effectively to kill. And to use a weapon that does it the most effectively.

We have 3 generations of HEMAists living today - 1st generation who is doing the historically faithful reconstructions, 2nd who is advancing it by using science and less reliable sources - but still trying to be as faithful as possible, and the 3rd generation who treats it more as a sport. No matter which is it, when they train they will do so with protection. If they fight without it, then they will naturally fence more safely as they don't want to hurt their partner. And if they have a grudge or get too competitive, then they can hurt their partner if they hit too hard - despite the protection and blunted weapons as they often use "real" weapons.

HEMA also covers some wrestling, grappling and weapons other than swords, but swords in duelling settings are the most popular. Some groups do Full Contact Medieval Armored Combat, but since they use full plates, with blunted weapons and they don't want to kill each other, it ends up with blindly beating each other until one side is too tired to move, with not much in common in the terms of techniques. So it's separate from HEMA. And while a HEMAist can be a part of the Living History Group ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_history ) they are separate and HEMA itself isn't about roleplaying.

tl;dr: HEMA is closer to sport but with huge emphasis on practical effectiveness and historical sheerness. It hurts when you get hit (especially) with a strong blow, and somebody can even have bones broken during the practice as they use "real" weapons but blunted. But the sharened weapons of what they use are effective enough that one wouldn't need to hit especialy hard to kill. And it has little to do with roleplaying but a roleplayer may learn HEMA to be more authentic. But roleplayers don't fight often - they roleplay aspects of the common life most often. They sometimes fence at half speed when they don't have protection or they learn something new.

[Someguyinhere]

HEMA is a lot of things. At the core, it's a reconstruction of historical techniques based off surviving treatises and manuals from the late Medieval period. Modern sparring, point competitions, and other things have really blurred the lines, and the debate of "what is HEMA" could be gone over all day with no real outcome other than arguing.

At the end of the day, it's your best source and guideline for what combat may have looked like between two trained individuals. These were REAL combat systems built by REAL warriors, and it looks nothing like modern stage fencing or foil fencing. Also, it encompasses a lot more than swords. HEMA includes anything that a treatise was written on. So that includes spears, pikes, one-handed swords, longswords, two-handed swords (what we call greatswords typically), LOTS of swords, polearms of many kinds, quarterstaff, wrestling, and striking.