Historical European martial arts
Martial arts of European origin
古歐洲武術 · ヨーロッパ武術の歴史
- Type
- martial arts
- Part of
- fencing
Historical European martial arts (HEMA) are martial arts of European origin, particularly using arts formerly practised, but having since died out or evolved into very different forms.
While there is limited surviving documentation of the martial arts of classical antiquity (such as Greek wrestling or gladiatorial combat), most of the surviving dedicated technical treatises or martial arts manuals date to the late medieval period and the early modern period. For this reason, the focus of HEMA is de facto on the period of the half-millennium of ca. 1300 to 1800, with a German, Italian, and Spanish school flowering in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance (14th to 16th centuries), followed by French, English, and Scottish schools of fencing in the modern period (17th and 18th centuries). The Swedish HEMA Association Svenska HEMA-Förbundet defines HEMA as any martial art predating 1950 and has a living tradition or preserved source material.
Styles and branches of Historical European martial arts
Notable Historical European martial arts athletes and practitioners
- James Figg England
External links
Facts from Wikidata Q924194 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.
Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.