Historical medieval battles

Historical medieval battles (HMB) is a rather young modern sport, full contact fighting with the use of offensive and defensive weapons characteristic of the Middle Ages.^[1] Specifically the armour and weapons must be of the style from the dates 1200 to 1699, with location irrelevant. HMB is a full contact fighting on steel blunt weapons. Fighters are dressed in full armor, which, like the weapons, is made according to historical standards. One person's full set of armour must originate from the same place and within a fifty-year time span. Blows may be aimed at any parts of the body (with the limitations set in the regulations); both wrestling and percussive techniques are permitted.

Unlike staged battles, that can be seen at festivals of historical reenactment of the Middle Ages, the battles are held in full contact, are refereed by the referees who have special training and combat experience.

Historical medieval battle is a sporting component of historical reenactment of the Middle Ages. Battles of the athletes usually take place at festivals of historical reenactment. The main competition for the fighters practitising them, has recently become "Battle of the Nations", an international championship on historical medieval battle.

The main idea of this element of reenactment is, on the one hand, the maximum competitive component for the participants, on the other - an opportunity to test the historical equipment in conditions close to a real combat. Therefore, to participate in battles one needs equipment that once really existed.

In order to reduce injuries the equipment is thoroughly checked before battles, all the weapons are blunt.

Unlike historical fencing, historical medieval battle takes a lot from modern martial arts, with wrestling technique as an important component, which is not forbidden, and even mandatory.

History

Historical medieval battle dates back to the first large-scale battles with the use of steel arms, which were held in Russia in the late 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century, at times when in the rest of the CIS countries reenactors used wooden or textolite weapons. An example is the festival "Zhelezny Grad" (Iron Town) held in Izborsk, where buhurts involving hundreds of fighters took place.

Tournaments on historical medieval battle gradually began to take place in neighboring states, namely Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, but they reached European countries not immediately.

Competitive categories

Historical medieval battle, like any other sport, has several categories. All its categories can be divided into mass and single ones.^[2]

Single categories

Single categories, namely "one vs one" are divided into tournaments and professional fights in their turn.

Tournaments

Points / hits are counted in tournaments (duels); a fighter has to deliver a certain number of blows (usually 10) to his opponent, or gain the maximum number of points within a certain period of time (2–3 minutes). The tournaments in turn are divided into:

• "Shield-sword" (fighters compete with each other, using a shield and sword)
• "Sword-sword" (each fighter has a one-handed sword and no shield)
• "Longsword" (men use longswords)
• "Nonstandard" (weapons that do not fit the first two categories: halberd, two-handed ax, two-handed swords, etc. are used for fighting).

There is also a category called "Triathlon": three rounds with different weapons, the first one - "longsword", the second one - "sword-buckler", the third one - "shield-sword."

Professional fights

The second "single" HMB category is professional fights. A fight is held in the format of "three rounds of three minutes." According to the rules, any techniques aimed at delivering blows to any part of the body, except for the neck, back of the knee, groin, eyes, feet, and back of the head, if an opponent is bent, are allowed (except for thrusts, which are prohibited in all HMB categories). All other things, including 3-second ground fighting with no active movements of the opponents are allowed.

Mass categories

• "5 vs 5"
• "21 vs 21"
• Buhurts

The rules of mass battles are slightly different. The “kill zones” are the same, but the winner is the one who remains standing on his feet, hits are not counted.^[2]

In addition to these categories, there are some others, such as the "2 vs 2" (which is held in the “deathmatch” mode: several two-member units meet on the lists, the battle is "all against all" and the winner is the two-member unit, of which at least one fighter is on his feet); "10 vs 10" and others. HMB categories often can be created for a specific festival, depending on its objectives and specific requirements of historicity.

Training and preparation of fighters

Workouts are held in accordance with the most effective modern methods of training available in the martial arts. HMB fighters practise crossfit (because to fight in armor, weighing thirty kg, one needs to be strong and tough, have good coordination of movements), related martial arts (wrestling, sambo, Muay Thai, MMA etc.), run. etc. Fighters often use groundwork of other contact martial arts in their training practices.^[3]

Regulations

There are unified international rules for the battles. They prohibit a number of very traumatic techniques, as well as regulate the admission of fighters and their weapons in order to observe the historical reliability of equipment, and also to eliminate serious injuries. Due to the fact that different countries used to have different fighting rules, the first unified rules were developed specifically for the world championship on historical medieval battle, "Battle of the Nations." However, the rules used at a local tournament may still differ (for example it may be prohibited to deliver blows to certain areas, e.g. below the knee, elbow, etc.), but the international rating events are conducted in accordance with the accepted international rules for historical medieval battles.^[2]

References