
Combat reenactment is a side of
historical reenactment
Historical reenactment (or re-enactment) is an educational entertainment, educational or entertainment activity in which mainly amateur hobbyists and history enthusiasts dress in historical uniforms and follow a plan to recreate aspects of a histor ...
which aims to depict historical forms of
combat
Combat (French language, French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent Conflict (process), conflict between multiple combatants with the intent to harm the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed (Hand-to-hand combat, not usin ...
. This may refer to either
single combat
Single combat is a duel between two single combatants which takes place in the context of a battle between two army, armies.
Instances of single combat are known from Classical Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The champions were often combatants wh ...
,
melee
A melee ( or ) is a confused hand-to-hand combat, hand-to-hand fight among several people. The English term ''melee'' originated circa 1648 from the French word ' (), derived from the Old French ''mesler'', from which '':wikt:medley, medley'' and ...
s involving small groups, or nearly full-scale
battle
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...
s with hundreds of participants.
Depending on the intended effect, performances may have the aim of presenting
historical martial arts reconstruction
Historical European martial arts (HEMA) are martial arts of European origin, particularly using arts formerly practised, but having since died out or evolved into very different forms.
While there is limited surviving documentation of the mar ...
, or just offer
entertainment
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...
, and different groups have different standards of authenticity.
Historical martial arts demonstrations
Demonstration of historical fencing begins with
Alfred Hutton
Alfred Hutton Society of Antiquaries of London, FSA (10 March 1839 – 18 December 1910) was a British Army officer, antiquarian and writer. Serving during the Victorian era in the 1st King's Dragoon Guards, he played a major role in the revival ...
in the 1890s.
The
Association for Renaissance Martial Arts distinguishes the following modes of historical martial arts demonstrations:
*
Theatrical Fencing (stage-combat, performance fighting) in the sense of a performance art, not a martial art, although relying on a foundation of martial techniques and principles, serving the end of dramatic entertainment.
*Arranged Performance Fighting, as distinct from both theatrical fencing and
historical swordsmanship practiced as a martial art, having the purpose of demonstration and education. Such performances are offered by a number of museums, including the
Higgins Armory Museum
The Higgins Armory Museum is a collection in the Worcester Art Museum. It was formerly a separate museum located in the nearby Higgins Armory Building in Worcester, Massachusetts, Worcester, Massachusetts, dedicated to the display of Weapon, arms ...
, Worcester, MA, US
and the
Royal Armouries
The Royal Armouries is the United Kingdom's national collection of arms and armour. Once an important part of England's military organization, it became the United Kingdom's oldest museum, and one of the oldest museums in the world. It is als ...
,
Leeds
Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
,
*Mock-Fighting & Martial Sports, including simulated battle presentations and tournament bouts in
living history or
live-action role-playing
Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games or ...
games with special "combat rules".
Joust
Today,
tent pegging
Tent pegging (sometimes spelled tent-pegging or tentpegging) is a cavalry sport of ancient origin, and is one of only ten equestrian disciplines officially recognised by the International Equestrian Federation. Used narrowly, the term refers ...
is the only form of jousting officially recognized by the
International Federation for Equestrian Sports
The International Federation for Equestrian Sports (, FEI) is the international sport governing body, governing body of equestrianism, equestrian sports. The FEI came into being following the Olympic Congress in Lausanne (SUI) in 1921 from May ...
. Ring jousting became the official state sport of
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...
in 1962 and was the first official sport of any American state.
The Italian town of
Arezzo
Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...
continues to hold an annual jousting tournament, which dates to the
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...
.. Modern theatrical medieval-style jousting competitions are popular at American
Renaissance fair
A Renaissance Festival (medieval fair or ren faire) is an outdoor gathering that aims to entertain its guests by recreating a historical setting, most often the English Renaissance.
Renaissance festivals generally include costumed entertainers ...
s and similar festivals, and feature riders on horseback attempting various feats of skill with the lance, which may not always have a basis in history.
"Society Equestrian Marshal"
retrieved 2007
Battle reenactment
Reenactment of battle
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...
s is a major and popular component of historical reenactment
Historical reenactment (or re-enactment) is an educational entertainment, educational or entertainment activity in which mainly amateur hobbyists and history enthusiasts dress in historical uniforms and follow a plan to recreate aspects of a histor ...
.
Due to the number of participants involved, most reenacted battles cannot be choreographed in any detail, and safety guidelines or "combat rules" are imposed on participants instead, prohibiting most realistic actions. Some reenactment battles take the form of a competition, where the two "armies" try to defeat each other within the actions permitted by the combat rules.
Battles in film are not inhibited by such restrictions, due to the possibilities of cutting and closeup. They are fully choreographed, and are not performed in a single go but divided into individual sequences.
Combat as interactive martial art
The Society for Creative Anachronism
The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is an international living history group with the aim of studying and recreating mainly Medieval European cultures and their histories before the 17th century. A quip often used within the SCA describes ...
fighting is based on Medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
fighting on foot, in the spirit of tournament fighting with wooden swords. The armor is handmade and based on historical artifacts. Unlike most reenactment events, the events are not pre-determined. It's a participatory sport; the fighters win or lose a bout, much like Karate
(; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...
or Judo
is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...
.
Combat rules
* Codex Belli
* Early Medieval Alliancebr>
Equipment
Since the 1990s, an increasing number of companies offers replicas of historical arms and armour. Blade weapons used for combat reenactment are unsharpened, and specialized sparring weapons (e.g. Albion
Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than "Britain" today. The name for Scot ...
's "Maestro Line") also have rounded points. Blunt, flail and staff weapons are more problematic since the replica essentially has the same effectiveness as the "serious" version, unless rattan or latex weapons are employed, which in turn lack the characteristics of the originals and induce handling techniques inconsistent with the weapons they are supposed to represent.
Societies
References
Historical Fencing Studies – the British Legacy
by John Clements
Defining Historical Fencing
(thearma.org)
{{Reenactment
Military reenactment
Historical reenactment by type
Mock combat