Respect the Past. Recognize the Present.

 

 

We are the Umbral Blades HEMA club. We are a martial arts study group based in the New River Valley that seeks to understand historical weapons and techniques in a modern context.

 

A Broken Line

Unlike in other cultures, the weapon martial arts in the middle ages of Europe do not have a continuous lineage of practice. As advances in materials and tactics made older weapons obsolete, studies of their use either died out or transformed into sportified versions of themselves that did not retain their techniques or physical understandings.  As HEMA practitioners, we here in the Umbral Blades hope to revive these lost traditions.

 

Putting It Back Together

The Umbral Blades’ goal is to imagine what modern iterations of historical European martial arts systems would be like if they were continuously studied. We hope to accomplish this task by studying these defunct systems alongside intact systems and modern reconstructions. Specifically, we study the historical German Kunst des Fechtens, Bolognese Swordsmanship, and Regimental Broadsword & Saber along with current Filipino and Japanese Martial Arts and compare them through the lens of current self-defense, sport fencing, and Modern Agonistics.