Instructors 2026
Bastian Koppenhöfer
HEMAist since 2012 Martial Arts since childhood. Bastian has trained Messer and researched it since he started. He has a soft spot for early new high German texts and buried the myth of carrying Messers being a legal loophole.
Dominik Petermann
Dominik (Nik for short) has been practicing HEMA with Oxford School of the Sword for over three years, first as a student before becoming an instructor. Nik is an avid HEMAist, and a regular on the sparring and tournament circuit in the UK. He is a keen advocate for inclusion within the sport, promoting opportunities for people of all genders, ages, abilities and sizes. When he is not fighting people, he can usually be found sipping a coffee with one hand and petting a cat with the other.
Rob Runacres
Rob is the founder of the Renaissance Sword Club. He primarily studies sword disciplines, with an emphasis on forms found mainly in Early Modern France and Italy. Rob completed his PhD at Winchester University and specialises in researching fencing masters and martial instruction in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as well as related topics in family history and court studies. He also works on translating fencing treatises from this period and has published extensively in this area.
João Oliveira
João Oliveira was born in Lisbon in 1994, and three of his main interests are medieval history, cocktails and concept art books.
In 2015 he begn practicing HEMA and became and instructor at the Academia de Esgrima Histórica in 2023.
He completed his Master’s degree in Military History in 2020.
He currently teaches arming sword, longsword and rondel dagger according to Fiore dei Liberi, as well as sword and buckler according to the treatise of MS.I.33.
He gave a workshop about rondel dagger at the Panóplia Ibérica of 2023.
In 2024 he provided a workshop called ” A little lesson in Trickery – A way to read your opponents movements” in Dijon and also in the Brussels HEMA Sessions.
In 2025 he provided a workshop called ” Even Stabbing Requires Imagination” in Dijon.
Joachim Bartsch
Joachim “Joe” Bartsch started as a martial artist at the age of 11 in 1976 with Judo. After training other unarmed arts like Jiu Jitsu and a break he began to study weapon based Filipino Martial Arts in 1997. In 2006, after relocation, he joined Krifon Fencing School, starting his journey into HEMA beginning learning the Longsword. Due to his PMA background he started in parallel a dedicated Messer research and training group in march 2008. Since then he serves as leader and trainer of this group known as Messerfechten Mainz, researching the martial art of fencing with the Messer including other weapons like dagger and some unarmed combat. Over the years he has held several seminars teaching Messer, written a small book for his students in 2015 and set up a youtube channel in 2016 to promote messer fencing and help interested persons to start. He is also a member of the ADFD and completed his examination to become a Maître d’Escrime Historique in 2024.
Filipe Martins
Having practised Hapkido for 20 years, I discovered the AMHE in 2015.
I am an instructor at the Lisbon Historical Fencing Academy, where I devote myself to the study of military history and art, as well as to the ‘Destreza Comum’, particularly based on the book Arte de Esgrima (The Art of Fencing) by Domingos Luís Godinho, which I translated in collaboration with Luís França.
Currently, I teach rapier and secondary weapons such as the rodela and dagger, while continuing to give Hapkido classes.
Arturo Medina Garcia
Arturo Medina García is the head instructor and founder of “The Lion’s Knights KDF, he start practicing martial arts in 2000, focusing primarily on Krav Maga, Karate and Chinese boxing for 10 years. Subsequently, in 2010, he began training and studying the German fencing tradition from the medieval and Renaissance periods, and the Spanish tradition of La Verdadera Destreza, focusing on these systems ever since, becoming one of the top fighters in Mexico archiving multiple national championship, Arturo has also teach seminar and workshop in Washington, Las Vegas, Texas, Amsterdam, Ecuador, Japan, Mexico, ect… He was named leader of the first international branch of Tenshin Ryu Hyoho (509 year old Koryu) in the continent of America, appointed by the 11th Shike Ide Ryusetsu in 2025. He is also a direct disciple of the 10th Grand Master Kuwami Masakumo. He is the only Mexican with an official recognition as profesional Historical Fencing Instructor this recognition cabe from La Secretaria de Educación Pública, La Secretaria del Deporte, La Comicion Nacional de Cultura Fisca y Deportivo y el Centro de Estudios Nacional de Artes Marcial. Arturo holds a master’s degree in psychoanalysis, focusing on developing articles that apply the psychological and medical context of fencing.
Özgen “Ozzy” Senol
Ozzy has been practicing TIKF (Traditional Italian Knife Fighting) in Nuremberg for over 20 years, including 15 years as a teacher. He specializes in Italian dueling knives (approx. 35 cm long) and shepherd’s staff (approx. 130 cm). He is also the main teacher in Germany for the ASAMIR organization (Italy) for the circular school with the shepherd’s staff and knife (Director Scuola Ruotata Moderna).He loves the exchange, the free fencing and always enjoys learning new things.
Mark West
Mark’s study of martial arts began back in 1976. He achieved his karate black belt in 1981 and continued to practice and teach for the next 40 years. Highlights included national finals, international tournaments, and a sabbatical in Japan. Along the way, he’s also explored other martial arts including Boxing, Muay Thai, Kendo and Kali. Mark discovered HEMA in 2015 after moving to France. As a consultant in high performance, Mark travels a great deal, and over the last 10 years, he has become a journeyman in the traditional sense, practicing at many clubs in the UK, France, Italy, Spain and the US. Mark is delighted to have joined the 1595 family and opened his own school in April 2024.
Godefroy Lafayolle de la Bruyère
Godefroy said he practice HEMA since a decade from almost a decade. As many he began with german longsword. Then jumping from tradition to tradition, he meets the Truth showed by the Verdadera Destreza. This epiphany leads him to read again and again Luis Diaz de Viedma’s book.
However, he is also into XIX° century, so he is exploring the French Boxing of Charlemont.
He is also, the current président of the French Federation of HEMA, and held the title of “Federal President with the nice mustaches of all time”
Lise Gijbels
I discovered historical fencing in 2018 at De Vagant as a nerdy student who really needed to get back into sports, and it turned out to be the perfect mix of research and sports! I’ve always enjoyed historical dancing, and the sword feels like an extension of this! I’ve been enjoying longsword and wrestling since, and added bits of any weapon and style I can learn to it. Now historical dancing and fencing meet again for me, and it feels like coming home.
Yann SCHMITT
Gradued from the Institut-Franco-Européen de Chiropraxie (2004), from the European Chiropractors’ Union (Doctor of Chiropractic – 2004) and from the National Board of Chiropractor Examiners parts I & II (2002)
D.U en éthologie (Université de Toulon – 2019) / University degree in ethology (Toulon University – 2019)
Isobel Zijlstra
For Isobel Zijlstra, swords and books have gone together right from the start of their time training HEMA. Before joining Zwaard & Steen in 2021 upon turning 18, they had already started researching Philippo di Vadi and Pietro Monte for a high school project. In the following year they published their first translation together with editor Russell Mitchell: Fencing at the Theresian Academy as part of the on-going Austro-Hungarian Military Sabre Series, and three more translations followed. Alongside this they are a board member for Zwaard & Steen, organize the Dutch Lions Cup, and teach Vadi longsword and Austro-Hungarian military sabre workshops across Europe.
When not wielding sabres or longswords, Isobel can be found obsessing over music, TTRPGs, and various arts and crafts.
Marco De Filippo
Maestro Marco De Filippo
He began his fencing career in 1999 and over time he obtained several qualifications: Graduated technician in historical fencing for the Italian Fencing Federation (level III – maestro); Maestro di Scherma Storica CSEN; historical fencing technician, qualified with international European certification system (SNaQ); Maestro of the Sonoma University; CSEN athletic trainer; Olympic fencing technician.
He also achieved the Phd in Medieval History at the University of Naples (2012), on military subjects.
In 2005 he founded La Compagnia della Rosa e della Spada (The Company of the Rose and the Sword), now with several branches in southern Italy and around 250 students. He works as master in Naples and Caserta, focusing the studies mainly on the late medieval period and early renaissance.
His first passion was the sword and buckler style of I.33, but during the years he has made in depth studies in Italian and German longsword tradition, exploring every aspect of the combat after the teachings of Flos Duellatorum tradition and the early Liechtenauer tradition.
The other field in which he specialized is that of “Bolognese fencing tradition” and of the Italian Renaissance in general. In particular he focused his studies on the teachings by Marozzo, Manciolino and Anonimo, without neglecting insights into the works by Di Grassi, Dall’Agocchie, Altoni etc. Besides the two-handed sword, his main interests include Sword & Buckler, Sword & Rotella and staff weapons.
Concerning the Renaissance fencing tradition of his own country, he was the first to publish a complete edition of Le tre giornate di Marc’Antonio Pagano, gentil’huomo napoletano, d’intorno alla disciplina de l’arme et spetialmente della spada sola, 1553, by Marc’Antonio Pagano (The three days of Marc’Antonio Pagano, napolitan gentleman, about the discipline of the arms and particularly of the sword alone).
Among his other publications there is Le tecniche di spada e brocchiere secondo il Royal Armouries MS.I.33, Spring edizioni 2015 – The sword and buckler techniques according to the RA MS.I.33).
As a teacher, he took part in many activities during the years, like for example forming new instructors for the Italian Fencing Federation and for other recognised organizations (ACSI etc.) He hold many workshops, seminars, conferences, alone and in collaboration with other instructors, inside and outside his own organization. He also brought historical fencing in high-profile context, like the European fencing competitions in 2024 or at the Military Academy La Nunziatella in Naples.
Concerning competitions, as an athlete he earned a national title in 2014 and some of his students earned national titles over the years.
To this day, he continues to study as a teacher and martial artist, without forgetting the mission of his organization, which is to spread knowledge of Historical European Martial Arts.
Rui Ferreira
Rui Ferreira is one of the founders and instructors of Portuguese club Espada Negra.
Since 2015 he’s dedicated his study to British Military Sabre of the Napoleonic Period focusing on “the Art of Defence on Foot” by Charles Roworth, complemented by the study of the Angelo tradition that preceded.
In 2016 he became an assistant instructor by the Academy of Historical Fencing where he studied with Nick Thomas both Sabre as well as Capo Ferro Rapier.
He’s also translated several treatises and manuals to both portuguese and english of other weapons used in the Napoleonic period.
But his focus isn’t the sabre alone, Rui teaches smallsword focusing on Domenico Angelo but broadening to other french masters, and additionally rapier as well with a strong focus on Capo Ferro and turning to later sources to make the bridge to smallsword, always with the goal of enriching his own knowledge of fencing as well as that of his students.
Régis Harter
Régis practised karate throughout his childhood and adolescence. He has always been interested in armed combat, he started Celtic fighting in 2008 along with reenactment and gladiator fighting in 2010. In 2011, he joined the permanent staff of Acta, managed by Brice Lopez, as a professional fighter until the end of 2013. That’s where he really came into his own, mainly in shield combat : gladiator fighting, roman legionary, celtic, sword and buckler, longsword… An instructor in Gallic combat with the Trimatrici since 2014, he also sought to open up to other practices and approaches as a student in the Elsamhe with Olivier Dupuis from 2014 to 2017: longsword, messer, noble axe, dagger, quarterstaff… And then by practicing Viking group combat. His aim is always to better understand how might how fought the Celts in the Ist century BC.
Marc Dekker
Marc Dekker started his HEMA journey in 2008. I have been studying a wide breath of weapons from sword and heather shield to Scythe and from Flail to Scottish broadsword. I enjoy performing show fights and doing practical research. Come and have a talk about the weirdness of the Arte Atletica or anything else.
Olivier Dupuis
Olivier Dupuis has been studying and teaching HEMA for over twenty years. He is interested in a wide variety of sources, tries to find new ones, and is interested in the sociology of fencers in the Renaissance and the Middle Ages.
Jérémie Gueben
Jérémie has twenty‑five years of martial arts experience and has competed internationally in judo, sambo, MMA, and HEMA (longsword, singlestick, sabre). He is one of the instructors at the “Les Sept Épées” club in Mons, Belgium, and has led numerous workshops in various clubs across the country. He has a particular interest in the traditions of Fencers Guilds in Belgium. He also initiated his club’s “Tir du Roy,” the first held in the city since it was abolished by the French revolutionaries.
Jeff Tsay
Jeff Tsay has an eclectic martial background, having studied wing chun and several other unarmed and armed Eastern arts before finally succumbing to the hidden mysteries of the Western traditions. In his spare time, Jeff’s efforts have focused on refining his interpretation methodology and using it to analyze both greater- (e.g. “Krump“) and lesser-understood (e.g. “Rose“, “Aussere Mynn“) KdF techniques, putting them to the test in national and international tournaments (e.g. Swordfish, Longpoint, and Fechtschule America), and pushing the bounds of using video as an effective medium for sharing HEMA research — efforts that have led to 3 major US HEMA Series Livestreams in 2013. Every Fall (and now Spring too), Jeff also helps host the Iron Gate Exhibition (IGX), one of the premier HEMA conferences in the US. Most recently, a translation of Paulus Hector Mair’s massive HEMA opus Ars Atheltica has finally become publicly available, making Jeff along with the rest of the team led by Dr. Jeffrey Forgeng, published authors.
JJ Hoesl
Due to health reasons, JJ Hoesl will be unable to attend HEMAC this year, and we hope to see him next year
Bert Gevaert
Bert Gevaert (1978) picked up the sword in 2007, after his entire youth was corrupted by reading books and graphic novels about knights, pirates and musketeers. He became member of the Hallebardiers and soon started teaching various kinds of weapons, mainly focussing on longsword, armoured fencing and halberd. In his first years in the world of HEMA, he was an avid tournament fighter. Nowadays he focuses on teaching martial arts, giving lectures, publishing books and articles about this subject.
Jordan Mock
Jordan Mock has fenced and taught across Europe and the USA. He has competed and medaled in tournaments all over the globe in several different weapon sets and is ranked amongst the top 10 for longsword fencers in Britain, as well as training up and leading teams to compete and win in melee tournaments.
Emilia Skirmuntt
Emilia has trained how to hit people with swords and other objects for more than 20 years. During that time she has studied multiple weapons, systems, and in multiple different clubs, starting in Poland and then moving to London and Oxford. She has won medals in both women as well as open competitions both in the UK and abroad, fighting with longsword, rapier, rapier and dagger, saber, sidesword, and sidesword and buckler. She was also voted best technical fencer of By the Sword 2019. Emilia travelled around Europe leading workshops and seminars and was one of the representatives for the UK and Ireland HEMA team in the European Games taking place in Minsk in 2019. She is a member of the organising committes for the Wessex League, and Albion Cup, the biggest international competition in the UK. She also organised English Sidesword Open In Oxford in 2018. Currently she is the head instructor for the Oxford Chapter of The School of the Sword. She teaches Italian longsword, dagger, rapier, sidesword, unarmed, and tomahawk techniques.
Emilien Sivry
After a very traditional start in HEMA with the long sword, I quickly became intrigued and then completely captivated by fencing with the long knife. For the past 10 years, this has been my sole focus, which gradually led me to produce a complete French translation of Lecküchner (1482) and become an international instructor.
Always seeking technical precision rather than athletic performance, my love for the long knife comes from its versatility. Long play, short play, wrestling, disarms, arm locks and other humiliating items that can be adapted to the situation—you will find everything in Lecküchner, both playful and serious.
Jonathan Hily
Jonathan started HEMA back in 2010 in a park in Strasbourg, France. After 2 years practicing with ELSAMHE, he funded a club in La Chaux-De-Fonds – La Chaux-de-F.AMHE while moving in Switzerland.
Main instructor in his club but also very committed to HEMA community, working within Swiss HEMA and participating in international events.
Alexey Rodriguez Blanter
Alexey Rodriguez Blanter started with HEMA in 2017, primarily training with longsword at Zwaard & Steen. He sees swordplay as a fun puzzle, and he enjoys sparring with others to compare and test different solutions, down to small nuances of sword position and timing. Alexey is also active in the Dutch / European longsword tournament scene as a platform to pressure-test the developed techniques against motivated opponents.
He enjoys sharing his experience of longsword techniques and concepts.
Predrag Nikolic
Predrag Nikolic has been meddling with martial arts since his teens, Judo, Iwama-ryu Aikido and some Jiu Jitsu. After a night at the disco he was asked whether he wanted to learn mediaeval swordfighting. Intrigued by the prospect of the promised dagger, staff and Ringen-techniques he joined Zornhau. Soon after he learned that there was no instructor for Ringen or dagger
That is the reason that for the last decade he has started to interpret the german mediaeval manuscripts dealing with Ringen (german wrestling), dagger fighting and staff-fighting. His focus is on the technical aspects of Ringen.
Tobias Hyder
Tobias Hyder is the founder and lead instructor of Exmoor HEMA. He has been involved in martial arts since 1986 and discovered Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) in 2008, beginning a dedicated study of historical European fencing traditions.
His primary focus is the German longsword system of the Johannes Liechtenauer tradition, with particular attention to the teachings preserved in MS Dresd. C.487. Tobias also studies the wider Liechtenauer lineage across multiple historical manuscripts in order to develop a broader perspective on the art and to explore interpretations that may be overlooked when relying on a single source.
In 2022 he founded Exmoor HEMA to create a space dedicated to the study, practice, and interpretation of these historical martial arts. His teaching approach combines careful study of the source material with practical experimentation, using principles of parsimony and biomechanics to pressure-test movements through drilling and sparring. This approach seeks to better understand how the techniques described in the manuscripts function as a cohesive and practical martial system.
Sam Pearson
After being stuck inside during COVID watching HEMA videos, Sam dived headfirst into training this new hobby as soon as there was an opportunity.
From making wooden swords with his grandfather as a child, to practicing in the woods with a friend, then joining a HEMA club and traveling to international events and tournaments; Sam has been privileged to
learn from some of the most talented instructors and competitors in HEMA.
Sam enjoys fencing with Sabre, Smallsword, Sidesword and Rapier, but Lichtenauer’s Longsword remains his main interest. Sam appreciates a live approach to HEMA coaching, using sparring games and live drills to embed techniques whilst under pressure.
Julien Wattez
Julien discovered longsword at the turn of the 2000s, at a time when access to sources was still limited. German treatises were explored with enthusiasm—sometimes (often) with approximation, but always with commitment.
After a period focused on more playful forms of fencing, he joined, about five years ago, a young HEMA club in the Mons region of Belgium. What started almost by chance quickly became a central anchor in his practice.
Since then, he has regularly taken part in tournaments in Belgium and abroad, competing in longsword, sabre, and singlestick. He participates primarily as a fencer, and occasionally as a judge or referee. This variety of roles has helped shape a broad and pragmatic understanding of the discipline. Within his club, he assists the main instructors and also leads some training sessions.
His practice is now structured around longsword, sabre, and singlestick, with a growing interest in other weapons—particularly the messer.
Alongside his martial practice, he is also involved in designing and building equipment. From early on, he developed DIY singlestick models that helped structure the discipline within his club, contributing to its recognition in Belgium. More recently, he has developed a synthetic messer prototype, with several other projects currently in progress.
His work is shared freely online in an open-source spirit—a way to contribute to the spread of HEMA, with a strong inclination toward DIY, knowledge sharing, and approaches that are slightly off the beaten path.
Ken Renaud Dietiker
Ken is the owner and principle instructor of Seven Swords Academy in the United States. Though he initially studied various Asian martial arts in his youth (Kempo Karate, Hapkido, Praying Mantis Kung-Fu, Tai Chi, etc.), he eventually discovered HEMA in 2000 and became immediately obsessed. In 2014 he opened his first training hall, which has since moved to its current location in Tacoma, WA. As a retired US Army veteran of 20 years, his experience and knowledge of tactics in military warfare has also helped in bringing realistic expectations to his interpretations of historical manuals and their technical application. His study of HEMA has helped to develop a well-grounded, basic but progressive program that reinforces good structural mechanics with fundamental and dynamic movement as its primary skill set. Ken has also received a BA in Communications, with a certification in instructional design, which he uses to create an adaptable and comprehensive technical curriculum for the students at his school.
Karin Verelst
Karin Verelst practices martial arts, including HEMA, for more than two decades. Her historical fencing school HSK De Vagant is located at the (Dutch) Free University of Brussels. She was founding president of the Belgian historical fencing federation SBSN, and former president of IFHEMA (international historical fencing federation). Karin’s main focus is on German longsword and unarmed combat (“ringen”), although she broadened her interest to stick fighting, Destreza rapier and Messer over the past few years. Her further martial experience includes Olympic boxing, Tai Jutsu and Shaolin Kung Fu. She has also acquired the basic professional qualification of the British Academy of Dramatic Combat (BADC) in 2016, and followed several digital workshops from the well known fight choreographer Tony Wolf. She developed a comprehensive Self Defence program based on her martial experience, focusing especially (though not exclusively) on the needs of women. Finally, Karin is active as a researcher and scholar in HEMA-Studies.
Anne-Charlotte Misto
Anne-Charlotte Misto, I have been practicing HEMA since 2017.
I mainly teach sidesword, and occasionally 19th-century cane, within Compagnie Dagorlad. I have been practicing cane since 2021.
I also practice longsword, which I can teach, as well as other weapons. My work focuses on posture, strike mechanics, and the role of the body and emotions in martial practice, with particular attention to the place of the female body in HEMA.
Kindred Willow
Kindred started HEMA in Glasgow in 2015, quickly becoming dedicated to the sport. Scottish Broadsword was the first weapon he was taught and has remained his strong favourite to this day, alongside other 18th Century practices like smallsword, military sabre, and singlestick.
Besides these, he is keen practitioner of the 15th Century German Lichtenauer Tradition, fencing with Longsword, Messer, Sword and Buckler, Dagger, and Spear.
Michel Rensen
I am Michel Rensen, and I started with HEMA in in 2013 with the group Zwaard&Steen. Approximately one year later, I entered into the instructor program and I have been teaching ever since; more than ten years by now. Besides teaching within the context of the club, I also regularly teach at various events, both in the Netherlands and internationally.
For years, my focus was mainly on longsword, apart from occasionally playing around with other weapons such as messer, dagger, sabre, etc. A couple of years ago, I started to briefly play around with rapier, too… and then I never stopped playing with it. Now I am actively studying sources, and I have taught beginner courses at my club and a number of workshops outside the club. I have a strong preference for the style of Salvator Fabris, but honestly I’m not picky when it comes to rapier; everything is interesting!
Jerca Primc
I’ve always felt at home in sticky situations, so my gateway drug into HEMA came as no surprise to anyone. I’ve dabbed in cane fighting in its various forms; from competitive sport, to defensive and dueling techniques. In 2010, i have gathered a band of stick fighting enthusiats under the flag of Canne klub Kamnik. Its members continue to terrorize a certain slovene mountain range, to this day.
Mike Prendergast
Mike Prendergast is an Irish instructor and researcher who has been studying and practising historical European martial arts since 1999. He is founder and chief instructor of the Historical Combat Academy (HCA) and also instructs with SCA Dun in Mara, both in Dublin, Ireland. He has co-translated and teaches from Pietro Monte’s martial anthology ‘The Collectanea’ (1509). Mike has a wide interest in Italian Renaissance fencing styles, initially studying Bolognese fencing, he also teaches the rapier of Nicoletto Giganti (1606) and the system of Fiore dei Liberi (c. 1410).
As a competitor, Mike has medaled in international tournaments in longsword, rapier, rapier & dagger, sword & buckler and montante. He was delegate (team captain) and rapier & dagger competitor on Team UK and Ireland for the HEMA tournament at the European Games in Minsk in 2019.
Mike has taught HEMA in Ireland, the UK, France, The Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Serbia, Switzerland, Lithuania, Austria and the USA. He is a member of the committee for the International Rapier Seminar (IRS) which he hosted in 2015. He has presented on his translation work at academic and public conferences in France and Belarus.
Mathieu Tondut
Mathieu began practicing Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) in 2015 at De Taille et d’Estoc (DTE), then continued his training at the Club Bourguignon de Défense Historique (CBDH) before joining Médieval Combat and finally settling at the Ost du Griffon Noir (OGN) in Toulouse. Since then, he has been an instructor there within the “Belle Époque” Self-Defense study group. His work focuses primarily on treatises from the 17th to the 20th centuries, with a clear preference for everything related to French boxing, cane fighting, saber fighting, self-defense, and, of course, knife fighting! The dirtier and funnier, the better!
Garance Psalmon
Members of De Taille et d’Estoc for 4 years now, I grew rapidly found of broadsword and wrestling. As I have been invested in issues related to feminism for quite some time, I naturally turned myself towards women’s self-defense.
Pauline Paiva Pereira da Sousa
Member of De Taille et d’Estoc since 2021, I swiftly oriented my HEMA practices towards broadsword then wrestling. Through its connection between our bodies and our senses, it inspired me to reach out to other sports, wondering how these different practices all translate in the range of our abilities. Friend of Garance, standing with her against social issues and in the light of feminism, it was a no brainer when she asked me to co-instruct her workshop.
Julien Vuagniaux
Instructor of the Swiss club Clair de Lame and instructor for workshops on Combat Glima and harnischfechten for about 15 years
Sebastien Romagnan
Sébastien Romagnan is one of the few French specialists in Destreza, a discipline he has been teaching in Annemasse for over 15 years. He is also the author of several books on the subject.
Nicolas “Vabo” Ferrand
Vabo the Magnificent, Grand Chamberlain of the Southern Lands, bearer of the sacred bee
Aurélien Nouvion
Since 2013, Aurelien has been exploring the wide diversity of Historical European Martial Arts. Co-founder of Ex Machina and the Sword&Buckler Family, he particularly enjoys practicing combat systems with swords and shields. He also cultivates his love for boxing, Latin translation, and engineering curious physical training exercices.
Willeke Snijder
Willeke started her HEMA adventure with Bataille in 2010 which was then known as Noorderwind.
She studied a wide range of weapons, from longsword to dagger, drawing techniques from multiple sources, all to be used in fights staged for shows and demonstrations. In this way the audience gets to experience HEMA from an entertainment angle.
During her training she was introduced to the sickle and it quickly became one of her favourite weapons.
Within Bataille Willeke is the main instructor for sickle fighting. Every summer at the club’s summer course, she teaches sickle to students new to HEMA with great pleasure and success. On several occasions she has had the honour to teach at HEMA events where she gets new insights from the participants of the workshop.
Gabriel Tardio
I started HEMA at fifteen in a reenactment club, i first come by an english transcription of Ringeck on a internet reenactment forum, in 2005. I quickly grow a passion for the source and learning from it, even if it wasn’t simple at this time, few interpretation were out, and fiew video were made, it was, at this point, very exotic. I used my reenactment club as a place to work on interpretation, to fight, and keep “learning the sword” by doing so. As time passed, i moved for my study, living in Belgium without any club, but still working on source and keep my sword moving, at this time i worked a lot on solo drill training and the understanding of concept from source. Back to france, I found an hema/reenactment club in the South, after that, moving in the North for work, i joined a buhurt club, as a technical trainer, and create an hema section. I started my first “Hema labeled” competition in 2015, before that, i only fight in reenactment. In 2019 i moved to Clermont Ferrand, in a professional structure to train HEMA on a daily basis. The structure closed for different reason and Covid happened right after. I started a little Hema youtube channel, focusing on solo drills for those who want to keep training during Covid. Out of covid, we reassemble diverse Hema group of the city (there were 3 differents entities at this time) and merge in an unique one, in 2021, DFDA was born (De feu et d’acier, trad :“Of Fire and Steel”) in reference of the volcano near the town. My personal reputation in France grow during those years, for my content, my “style”, my personnel view on german longsword, and the role i took later in the french federation, pushing on competition, judging, and ruleset allowing to make source shine, as my main personal point of interest. Since 2015 I have stayed very active on the french competitive scene, improving my skill, my physique and my performance until 2025 where i was honored to win the “title” of Longsword Champion in the FFAMHE (French hema federation) tournament cycle. Out of that, i had the luck to travel and meet other hemaist, in France of course, at Dijon for the HEMAC, but also in Vienna Austria, for the Dreynevent. I meet and exchange blows with some “big names” : Bjorn Ruther, Jake Norwood, Ingulf Kolweiss, Keith Farrell, Jake Gassman, Micheal Rensen, Ties Kool, Josh Furrate, etc..
Actually i regulary give 2 days workshop to overview the German longsword system, exposing my method, for basis to in deep mechanics, based on my still in progress book project around my teaching of the German longsword.
Karl Rapp
Karl Rapp has been training rapier, saber and sword & buckler (I.33) since 2008. He taught italian rapier at Klingenspiel since 2012, and now continues to do so at Sprezzatura in Vienna, also holding workshops at international events like HEMAC Dijon, Dreynevent, IRS, and of course Rapier Vienna.
He enjoys combining rapier with and against various weapons, be it with a coat or a dagger, against a longsword, sabre, sword and buckler, or spear and rotella. Ridolfo Capoferro’s treatise is held in particularly high esteem by him, and he tries to focus mainly on this source.
Martin Enzi
Martin Enzi first got in touch with martial arts by practicing classical boxing, but finally found his passion when he switched to HEMA in 2001 to train longsword, wrestling, dagger and polearms.
2003 he got his hands on the first draft of the transcription of Johannes Leckuechners “Kunst des Messerfechtens”, while work was still in progress. This gave him the possibility to be one of the first persons to dig into this manuscript.
Instantly fascinated while reading the first pages of the manuscript, this was when his fascination with and passion for Messer started.
After intense studies and training, he started as a trainer for Longsword, Messer, and eventually also for the so-called “peasant weapons” like sickle, scythe or flail plus the not so common use of spear in 15th century sources.
2006 he took part in the transcription of parts of Paulus Hector Mair’s manuscript (scythe, sickle and flail) for the Higgins Armory Museum, which will be published by Jeffrey L. Forgeng and the Hema bookshelf.
Even though training in Liechtenauer School of longsword and the peasant weapons from PHM has always been close to his heart, his main focus and deep passion lies with the Messer according to cgm582, taking also into account other Messer-related sources like Talhoffer, von Baumanns Fechtbuch ( Codex Wallerstein), Pauernfeindt, or Falkner.
After teaching for over 20 years now at international events and martial arts gatherings, Martin Enzi was honoured to be the first European HEMA-teacher to get an invitation to Tokyo, where he held a masterclass in Messer fencing – in fact, the first Messer class based on European sources in the history of Japan.
He was also asked to contribute 3 articles to the book series “Meditations on HEMA”, and writes articles in magazines and does surveys about finds and originals in museums.
Apart from HEMA, Enzi has been practising stagefighting constantly for 24 years. As an instructor in an SFX agency, he teaches and coaches actors and stuntmen in the use of historical and modern weapons and is an examiner for the practical part of the official Austrian gun licence. He also works as a fight choreographer for film, theatre and television productions and recently received his certificate as a weapons master of arms for film and theatre
Jack Gassmann
Jack Gassmann started HEMA in 2008. He has been teaching and competing internationally for over a decade using his competitive experience to pressure test his understanding of Liechtenauers 5 words. He has taught on both sides of the Atlantic. He successfully competed in the US and Europe, at one time ranking 5th on HEMA ratings and taking Bronze at the European games. Jack also researches and publishes on the military background of the Fechtbücher. His teaching style combines his research on historical training methods with modern sports science and his background in game design and horse training. He’s always happy to chat about the historical context of KDF or Rossfechten.