In this presentation we will demonstrate how analysis of historical swords can help us to recreate the fighting arts of medieval and Renaissance Europe, while helping to preserve and interpret the importance of these artifacts. We use measurements from three original fencing longswords, what we call feders today, in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Higgins Armory Collection of the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts, to see how the design of these pieces can inform our interpretations of period fighting books.

This lecture will include the chance for participants to handle and potentially spar with accurate reproductions of 16th century feders similar to those depicted in Joachim Meyer’s 1570 fight book. These feders differ significantly from those commonly used in HEMA today.

In this presentation we will examine several original swords from the Oakeshott Institute collection that are similar to those represented in various fight books currently used to reconstruct historical European martial traditions.

These swords have been chosen for inclusion based on what they can tell us about the various sources and the weapons and training tools used therein. Attendees will have the opportunity to handle the antiques under supervision. These will include a 15th century longsword and several rapiers dating to the 16th and 17th centuries, 

This presentation will involve an introduction to the life and work of Ewart Oakeshott, the history of the collection, as well as our 3D modeling initiative, and will include an opportunity to handle antiquities from the collection. These will include swords from the bronze age through the early modern period. We will give a thorough description of what is known about each of the swords and its historical context, emphasizing what we can learn from these important pieces of history.