I started HEMA at some point before 2009, when we founded the club, coming from reenactment and doing mostly longsword. With some guidance from Alberto Bomprezzi and the AEEA we started doing rapier, and I started reading sources. Eventually I became the main instructor for the club, and after suffering through Pacheco for a while, found my way to Ettenhard and eventually Rada, which became my favourite source and focus.

Explosiveness and Destreza, name a less iconic duo

A pretty common issue with Destreza training is learning actions that end up too slow to really use in sparring because they take too long to reach the proper position. In this workshop we'll look at some drills and ideas aimed at fixing that so Italians stop making fun of us.

Diestro vs siniestro

A look at a Spanish dictionary will show Diestros are the natural enemies of left handers, much like Diestros and Vulgars, Diestros and Italians, and Diestros and other Diestros. As such we must learn how to handle this terrible foe, and Rada, as usual, has actual answers for us (not involving pretending they're bad fencers by default or making our students beat them up until they switch hands unlike some other masters). In this workshop we'll take a look his advice, and also try to compare it to his usual game plan to gain a better understanding of it.

Robert Childs is a swordsman out of the United States who began his fencing career 34 years ago at the age of 17.

Though a multi-gold medalist in saber, single stick and longsword, Robert’s expertise and passion is for the rapier. His unique approach and style of fence has garnered international attention and owes its genesis to a life of travel competing and learning from a variety of styles and cultures.

His most recent tournament performances include winning gold at Sweden’s Swordfish for rapier and dagger, and gold medals each for rapier and saber at the United States SoCal Swordfight competition in Southern California.

In keeping with his desire to help other fencers achieve their greatest potential, Robert Childs has further written his treatise on rapier combat titled, “Revelations of Rapier”, due for release in May of 2022.

Beginner’s Class - Foundations of Rapier:

Just as you would not build a house without a strong foundation, so too can you not master the rapier without strong fundamentals to serve as the foundation of your art. In this class, geared toward the beginning fencer, Robert Childs will provide an explanation of his core philosophy that underpins all swordplay.

Following this, he will detail the common mistakes he has seen around the world as he guides the class through his method of moving, attacking, recovering and, finally, how to build the foundation of a powerful defense with the rapier and dagger.


Advanced Class: Blade Manipulation
Control of your opponent’s weapon is a vital skill if your goal is to go beyond point scoring and strike your opponent without being struck in return. Over the course of this instruction, Robert Childs will take you through a master class on blade manipulation. Here you will start by learning his fundamentals of controlling the opposing weapon.

Then you will apply those lessons as Robert guides you through the steps of his more often used techniques for blade captures and disarms. As there are numerous sub-skills that must already be in place to make use of this knowledge, it is important to note this class is aimed at the advanced fencer.

Emilia has trained how to hit people with swords and other objects for the last 19 years. 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 is a member of the organising committes for the Wessex League, and Albion Cup, the biggest international competition in the UK. 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.

Bringing rapier to a bar fight - grappling techniques in rapier systems and how to use long blade in confined spaces

Steph is a Free Scholar of The 1595 Club and instructor at the club’s London Salle.

Steph has trained in martial arts for the last 20 years. Initially training in Chinese and Japanese forms including Wing Chun, Aikido and Katori Shinto Ryu, she was introduced to HEMA around 9 years ago. On a recommendation she went to an open workshop with The 1595 Club in Brighton and was instantly hooked! She has an interest in the application of body mechanic, particularly for the shorter fencer, so expect a class looking at the detail of things like footwork. She predominantly trains with the ‘war rapier’ commonly associated with The 1595; replica’s of sword A535 in the Wallace Collection in London, but enjoys working across a range of weapons styles, and unarmed fencing/pugilism.

Offhand Saviolo: considering the use of the offhand alone and using a dagger in Vincentio Saviolo’s treatise of 1595’ (so covering both the use of the left hand/gauntlet and the dagger)

Mike Prendergast has been researching and practising historical European martial arts since 1999. His main focus is on the fencing of Renaissance Italy, he specialises in the rapier system of Nicoletto Giganti (1606) and the art of Pietro Monte (pub. 1509), whose 'Collectanea' he has published in English translation. He instructs in other Italian styles including Fiore dei Liberi and Manchiolino’s sword and buckler.

As a competitor, he has medalled in international tournaments in rapier, rapier & dagger, sword & buckler and longsword. He was delegate and rapier and dagger competitor on Team UK and Ireland for the invitational HEMA tournament at the European Games in Minsk in 2019.

Mike is founder and chief instructor of the Historical Combat Academy (HCA) and also instructs with SCA Dun in Mara, in Dublin, Ireland. He coordinates the annual International Rapier Seminar (IRS) which he hosted in 2015. He has presented on his translation and interpretation work at academic and public conferences in France and Belarus.

In balance to all the Destreza content at this event, here is a workshop on how to defeat it!

The Italian and Iberian systems of rapier fencing are frequently taught in a vacuum, without reference to one another. This can often lead to difficulties for practitioners when they encounter fencers from the other style.

This workshop takes as its starting point some of the references in Destreza sources about Italian fencing styles and the few descriptions from Italian-derived treatises about Destreza and extrapolates from there a series of practical approaches to the challenge of fencing against such a significantly different style.

A lot of this content is condensed from the Destreza versus Italian Rapier event hosted by UmeHFS in 2019 and I appreciate the input of my co-instructor at that event (and this!), Aleix Basullas Vendrell, especially on the Destreza versus Italian component.

Because, of course, ‘know your enemy’ is a thing, and as well as the obvious benefit to diestros from practising against what Italian stylists are going to pull out against them, we will also workshop what diestros, in turn, can do to counter these Italian wiles. So, in a way, this is also yet another Destreza workshop!