This was the very video that brought me into the HEMA world back in 2011 :)

I really love the setting here - the ruins, the twisted ancient oaks, and the cold grey mist hanging in the air like shades of ghosts. Their period clothing is stunning, not least for the bright reds and colours that heighten the dreary browns and greys of the grim background. More, I love the intent on the fencers' faces, their swift merciless strikes , their cold, controlled savagery.

The half sword techniques are usually meant for armoured fencing, where it is hard to hurt the opponent with cuts or blows.

That is beautiful. It is an art.

These videos are just absolutely beautiful.

The music is selfmade. I have added a download link to the mp3 in the video description, since one cannot post urls here in the comments.

Absolutely brilliant amazing stuff. We are now finally forging swords that we feel confident can withstand this heavy of use and true combat.

I'm glad to see that the historical sword is experiencing a groundswell of interest and support...a lot of people would miss the intricacies that go into fencing, but videos like these go a long way toward making it palatable to the masses. Well done, sirs.

The Germans were forced to come up with so many elaborate manuals on the correct art of fighting because everyone kept insulting everyone else's Renaissance parachute pants. Seriously though, cool video! I'd love to learn to fight like this but tragically there are no instructors in my country.

Old but Gold!

I am a long time practicioner of Kendo and have several friends attending both viking and medieval (various schools) fighting groups. This video gives me a good glimpse of some of the things they have been talking about over the years, and it is very inspiring too. Thank you very much!

Danke für das Video man bekommt sofort Lust diese Kampfkunst zu erlernen! Sie zeigt wie gut die Mittelalterliche Schwerttechnik in Europa ausgeprägt war. Es ist beeindruckend zu sehen wie elegant hier gekämpft wird!

Damnit, I want to train in a foggy castle!

Warhammer Fantasy Role Play First Edition. I played it, they live it.

Oh mein Gott, in 2 Minuten fast den gesamten Danzig und seine Kumpanen durchgemacht. Großen Respekt für die akurate und zielstrebige Ausführung der Techniken.

this is one of the better fencing movies ive seen on KZfaq yet.

Some of this should be finishers in Witcher 3

This helped me kick my dad's ass, thank you.

Ich schau mir das Video immer mal wieder gerne an! Es ist einfach ein Genuss, die schöne Stimmung, die Kleidung, der Klang der Schwerter und die passende musikalische Untermalung! Weiter so , Jungs! Ihr seid Klasse! Grüße aus Nürnberg

Einfach klasse, wirkt nicht überzogen, sehr schön ausgeführt. grade favorisiert. DANKE DAFÜR!

ICH WILL DAS AUCH LERNEN!!!! Ich bin viel zu faul für jeden "normalen" Sport, aber das wäre endlich mal was, was mich genug interessiert es dauerhaft zu betreiben!

beautiful

Great video! Matching soundtrack, setting, costumes and most importantly a great demostration of swordfighting techniques! Thanks!!

This video got me started 8 years ago and since then I have seen my small study group grow into a school of over 25 members and 3 coaches in an indoor facility.

Respekt. Das ist wirklich gute Arbeit. Ich finds gut das es Leute gibt die echten Schwertkampf ausüben und nicht nur dieses hin und her aller Hollywood.

Meine größte Hochauchtung. Sehr schön in Ausführung und Authentizität. My greatest respect. Perfectly nice in authenticity and accomplishment.

English is fine :) The sequences shown this video are based on the full range of available fencing books, from the Cod.HS.3227 to the book of Joachim Meyer. Also, lots of the stuff here is only a combination of very basic concepts like striking, displacing or thrusting. If you are interested in references to specific text parts, feel free to take a look at our other two videos.

Sehr gut in Ausführung und Technik... und dann noch so eine wundervolle Kulisse dabei

Magnificent video! I liked everything: the skills of the performers, the clothing, the background and, of course, the music! Fantastic!

wonderful demonstration - really does a good job of showing how sophisticated longsword technique is

I'm LARP'er and watching this makes me very happy even 16 ( !! ) Years after this was uploaded. For me and my Two-Handed Blade this is a good showcase how to attack an enemy in single combat

This is easily one of the most badass things I've seen on KZfaq.

Also, es ist nett so etwas zu können uns als Hobby mit anderen ganz sicher eine klasse Unterhaltung. Es ist ebenfalls eine Kampfkunst die man nicht vergessen sollte. Ich sehe ja immer öfter Kampfkünste aus dem fernen Osten. Einfach weil die viel "ausgeschmückter" sind. Zumindest vom Kampfstil her. Jedoch ist es schön zu sehen, dass es noch diese Art von alten Kampftechniken gibt. Denn ich persönlich habe das noch nicht in einer derartigen Weise gesehen. Danke dafür :D

excellent video, and also a beautiful setting. it's amazing that this is how people used to actually battle it out way back (except for the stage moves, whichever they are). it seems like there were so many different techniques to master, and if you had one down very well, and the other guy didn't expect it, it was over very quickly. just amazing.

this the most serius video about long sword and fencing technnics. this is real and pure art in movement. thanks masters.

These are really excellent demonstrations. I never realized fighting with longswords involved such finesse.

wirklich sehr schön :) Mir gefällt besonders der demonstrationshafte Charakter des Videos mit dem die Techniken gezeigt und häufig von beiden Seiten wiederholt werden

Best WMA video I've ever seen! the techniques are delivered with flow and grace with convincing distance and timing. Looks really good, speaks of a high level of training.

Great vid showing authentic fencing styles and some accurate wardrobe for the time period, Keep the videos coming!

Back in the late Medieval-Renaissance-Early Modern Era, 1300-1700, the Irish & Scottish (although very skilled in areas) relied more on brawn, sheer primal ferocity & blind combat fearlessness (as brutally effective as it wasn't, as such primevally motivated tactics could wreak incredible devastation or prove suicidally futile) while the Germans & other Europeans (although fierce & crazy at times, most especially the Swiss & Balkan tribes) relied more on spectacular training, elaborate skill, great timing, pinpoint exploitation & cold steely fury. Just like above. What a superb demonstration. Consummate professionals of outstanding skill, finesse & dedication!

Ah. There we go. I was trying to save it AFTER I clicked on the link, not saving the link itself. Now it worked. Thanks man.

Lovely, gents. Just lovely. Thanks for keeping our martial heritage alive, and for sharing it with us.

This is a great video. The place, the filming and the music are all really good. I sometimes play this in the background, just to hear the music and the sword :) This'll be what I show people to show them what HEMA is.

Great video. It shows the techniques clearly but it's also cinematic and dramatic.

Cooles Video. Ihr seits echt gut. Kämpfe nun 8 Jahren und muss sagen ich lerne in jeder Einheit immer noch was neues und komm auf Schritt/Stell/Haltung-Fehler drauf. Ich könnts es.

Amen brother!!! Im Native-Canadian but I study german sword because its a good system that WORKS on the battlefield.

Indeed in the Liechtenauer books there is not much explained about footwork except coordination of steps and strikes. On pictures (well drawn in Mair and Meyer for example) you can see the stances, so take a look at these if you haven't yet.

Fantastic technique. Pure Talhoffers style. It is good to see some authentic fighting styles.

I like it very much even though I do not agree with all of the techniques. Great setting, excellent camerawork, professional editing, beautiful costumes - great job!

Some of the clothing in our videos is custom made, some is from shops like medievaldesign or matuls.

Have been watching and studying these great videos for a long time and just realised at yesterday's study group that my sparring partner and myself have been doing the technique at 2:00 wrong. One of those..".can't believe we missed that"... something so simple as one little move that throws everything off.

wunderschöne aktionen, ähnelt dem stil von tallhofer aus dem 14. jahrhundert. bewegungsfluss schön, erinnert ein bisschen ans sportfechten. weiter so wonderful actions, gareth of orkney

Wickedly deadly efficient. Amazing how quickly life could be taken (and probably was) by these techniques.

Very nice! Makes me glad I don't play with swords, I'll just watch, thank you very much. Excellent video, outfits, setting, everything.

Don't forget: The technique at 0:44 belongs to half swording, which would be often used in armored combat. But even unarmored it is possible to do this without being cut, since the attackers blade is locked between defender's shoulder and blade when the downward pressure is applied.

Please re-upload it, I beg you! KZfaq left only 240p for all old videos. That was the most iconic HEMA video.

Hi, I'm "the guy on the left" ;D . First of all: thanks for your comment! The first move he does is an emergency-defense against my unexpected thrust, and then he continues to strike with his short edge, which can be a strike or also done as a thrust. If I explained this wrong, then the man on the right will certainly correct me (as he's the teacher).

This video is amazing. I cant stop watching it. The German style is efficient. Just few parries and they get in for the kill. Sometimes just a change step and they're open for the strike. It's elegant IMO

Ein Meisterstück Video - sehr fortgeschrittene Techniken / erhalten Sie bitte gute Arbeit aufrecht

Danke für das Lob :) Wir haben momentan keine anderen Videos. In unserem nächsten Video wird zwar nichts von Talhoffer enthalten sein, dafür aber einige Stücke von Peter von Danzig. Video mit Einmannübungen wird es eher nicht geben denke ich. Ist eher schwierig dazu ein gute Video zu machen.

"real swords", meaning the sharp equivalents of the training tools used in this video, are often even lighter. Check out the museum line swords on the albion website, which are replicas of original swords from museums. The swords in this video are between 1.6 and 1.8 kg :)

Very well done - good demonstrations of the techniques from clean angles to see the motions, but still kept very dynamic and interesting. Very good camera-work overall. Thank you for posting. Adds to my growing repetoire of practice moves!

Thank you very much! I really would have never expected that so many viewers would comment on my music in this fashion. In all honesty: I'm absolutely surprised and honored.

@TheTrueNicki And so there are three Oberhau (two diagonal and one straight), three Unterhau (again, two diagonal and one straight) and two Mittelhau (left to right and right to left), sometimes a thrust is counted as one of the basic line of attack and then it;s also divided into Oberstich and Unterstich.

I'm sorry, you have to look at our second long sword video to see Albion swords. In this one, two are from Pavel Moc and one is from Lutel. I don't know how light they appear, but the weights are from 1.6 to 1.8 kg.

Very nice! Loved the scenery. Just one question: What's the exact purpose(s) of using flexible blades like those in this case?

Zwei Kämpfer im Nebel - wunderschön!

that parry deflect at 1:42 was amazing!!!!

Actually had a group claiming to be legit show up to do a demo...with boffers.This year at our annual gathering here in the eastern U.S. I finally got to see what german longsword and italian rapier should look like. Very strong and decisive technique.

Our Sources are the System of Peter Koza and the available fechtbooks like e.g. the Cod. 44 A 8 Peter v. Danzig 1452 (from which some pieces ("Stücke") will be seen in our next video :) )

beautiful video, music and everything, just very well done. shows the technique very well.

Fantastic work. I am eagerly awaiting the next video you guys put out.

@Kunstdesfechtens: Thanks for your reply. I combine several techniques of kendo and aikido, silat and fencing. I love to do an kukhri attack using kendo moves and sinawali drills. I am from germany and I am on middleage-festivals as often as I can, and it is impressing all the time. Train on, keep the art alive and respect each other all the time!

Super fencing! Real Gladiators! Great costume and the right music to go with it! Viel Danken! Wunderbar! Ich habe es gern! Ich erfreue mich sehr!

All I can say is "Excellent!" gentlemen. Very well done.

I love how they do the moves smooth and stylish.

To quote Mr Vader: "Impressive. Most impressive." Two thumbs up guys.

Oh and make another video, these two are just plain amazing, me and my friend are even trying to mimic your moves from this movie, but more and more people keep saying that we are not going anywhere, oh well... Sorry for my horrid spelling and once again - Great job!

Wir haben eine ganze Menge Spass :) Einen "schön anzusehenden Schwertkampf" im Sinne eines länger andauernden Ablaufs kann man nur machen wenn beide Beteiligten Fehler machen, so dass insbesondere die Indes-Techniken nicht erfolgreich sind, und der Kampf weitergehen kann.

Very nice technique and flawless footwork.

wow, a very good video. besides the awsome sword work, i love the period outfits and the setting you chose to film. 5 stars for you

If you're referring to the fencing in the video, it isn't bujinkan. It is the medieval German school of fencing. They actually made fencing manuals in medieval times, so many groups (like the one in this video), are reviving the arts. I suggest looking up Historical European Martial arts on wikipedia, for more information. Similarities with kenjutsu are not surprising, since they are both sword fighting systems.

@mickyfudge Longswords were still used during the early Renaissance, mainly due to the prevalence of plate armour. During the late Renaissance the use of heavy armour declined due to the prevalence of firearms on the battlefield, this gave room for lighter swords, such as rapiers and broadswords.

Best longsword fencing video ever

The guard "Hangetort" is used to displace and followed up by ashort edge strike which could be called "Umschnappen".

The sword from Lutel is like the one listed by catalog Nr.15001 with the blade of 15004. The ones from Pavel Moc are not listed on his website. One is custom made I suppose, and the other one is a variant of some standard model with a "tournament blade".

Thanks for the maker info. Just starting a longsword study group and these clips are excellent. I've been a collector for years (vintage & repros.) I'm a mortuary hilt sword fanatic. Again thanks for these videos.

@Khornedevotee As gurkfish89 correctly states, the swords in this video are practice or 'sparring' blunts and tempered to flex more than a 'real' live bladed sword. However every sword has to have a degree of flexibility otherewise there is a danger it could break or take a permanent set. Earlier, more cut orientated swords are usually quite flexible to deal with the stresses involved in cutting, later, more thrust orientated swords are usually stiffer to enable them to deliver a strong thrust.

The music was composed and recorded by the guy who wears the orange hat in the video. You can find his website with more music in the video info.

Das ist sehr überzeugend! Kompliment vom Exfechtmeister der Company of Saint George. Hartmut

Ihr seid sehr gut, schöne Technik. Hammer Location.

many interesting things can be learnt from yur films, i admire your fencing art

Spitze! Super video, very clear, fluid, precise interpretations of the Lichtenauer school. Thank you for posting this, keep up the good work.

I'm a "katana weaboo" but i LOVE this video. I see much similiarities with the Kenjutsu style that i practice.

@Pawnbroker00 Coloured dyes have been in use for several thousand years. Many of them were fairly cheap to obtain too. The colours used in this video would be fairly easily available during the later medieval period. Red could be extracted from Madder (red was probably the cheapest dye to purchase, ever wondered why the British army wore red uniforms?) and blue from Woad. True black was harder to come by, but people would make do with a very dark shade of another colour that looked black.

The author's name is Alexander Werner, he is the guy with the orange hat, and he created this music for this video. So there is no album.

Sehr gutes Video! Vor allem die musikalische Unterlegung finde ich echt klasse! eine Frage hätte ich aber: Mit welcher Art vn waffe wurde hier gekämpft? Habt ihr einfach nur normale, stumpfe Schwerter, Schaukampfwaffen oder biegsame Übungsschwerter benutzt?

I think two of them use Albion Liechtenauer models and the guy in dark red hat uses Albion Meyer. Both are steel swords that are designed as training tools (a bit more flexible than originals and with deeper fullers to compensate for the added weight of blunt edges), but have the balance and weight of the original weapons.

Good Music... Good plays... Nice outfits...

@Caliburnis Given what I just said, I do not deny you the right to be correct. What I meant is the fact, that most longswords (at least the authentic specimens I've seen) are generally a bit larger than later swords (rapiers and late European sabres). Yeah, I've seen some humongous rapiers (not to be mistaken with a tuck/estoc), which evidently needed to be half sworded (as shown i early manuals treating on rapier fencing).