1BohurtThe first magazine for HMB sport

012013

Aigues-Mortes: The Battle of the Nations

Historical source: The visored barbute

Interview:Brendan Griffin

Focus:HMBIA

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WELCOME TO BOHURT

Dear readers,With this issue starts a new project in the world of HMB (Historical Me-dieval Battle). It is the very first magazine that deals with HMB as a sport and focuses on all relevant aspects. It is not a magazine about reenact-ment or historical fencing or medieval markets, although such things might appear in one topic or another, it is a magazine that deals with a very fascinating sport, a sport that has been developing in the east-ern countries for many years but is pretty new to the western world.

This magazine is one step forward in helping to spread the word about this sport. It will try to report about what is going on in the HMB movement, be it on a worldwide scale, like the HMBIA (Historical Medieval Battle International Association) and the Battle of the Nations or on a smaller, more regional lev-el, like the evolution of HMB in different countries, interviews with fighters, young new teams, and so on.

For this very first issue, we got a lot of help from different people and I’d like to thank them a lot for their support

Laurent BemtgenLuxembourgish CaptainFounder & CEO of Bohurt MagazineFounder & CEO of HMB-Luxembourg

Kit Houston Australian Captain Owner of The Fortress Gym in Melbourne Australia Certified Gym Instructor & Personal Trainer

Jana Brooks Team USA Photojournalist and BloggerPresident of the ACL/Team USA Fan ClubWebmaster of www.aclgroopie.com

Mathias Kainz Elena Skuratova Ismael Backes

BOHURTHMB in Ireland Interview with Brendan Griffin

6 TEAM USA.... Past, Present and Looking Forward To The Future

4 Table of Contents

7Shorties & Team Helvetia

8TOP STORY:

The Battle of the Nations

16Anton Trubnikov A Review of TheBattle of theNations

18Impressions of the Battle of the Nations

22Bellathory: A Photographer’s View

on the Battle of the Nations

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27 Portrait:Team USA Executive Office

Jaye Brooks Sr.

28The visored Barbute:Myth or Reality?

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BOHURT37 HMB Fitness

Photo by Yupin Ngiau-Smith

46 The Executioner’s Sword Part 1

50 Fjorka von Rauhenklamm52 Funny Corner

32 Focus: HMB International Association

35Team Portugal

36Calendar of Upcoming Events

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After a glorious, yet humble be-ginning in 2012, Team USA of the Armored Combat League was proud of its achievements at the “ Battle of the Nations”, World Championship in War-saw, Poland. Inspired by inter-national cooperation and a love for the sport, leadership from the ACL worked tirelessly to cre-ate a working system for the team, while its athletes honed their skills.

Growing from the original 29, Team USA presented 48 com-batants to the 2013 World Championship and participat-ed in all four divisions during this year’s tour in the south of France. With the growing pop-ularity in the United States and the continued understanding of HMB to help grow the sport, Team USA is more committed than ever to bring its very best,

to the BotN World Champion-ships, 2014.Athletes from coast to coast, At-lantic to the Pacific, are gather-ing and trying out for next year’s competition. Over two hundred participants have already signed up and are looking forward to showing off their talents to the leadership in several events all over the United States. Of them, the most dedicated and the most prepared will find their way to Springfield, the Capital City of Illinois, and home of the Armored Combat League for the October National Tournament.

“The excitement for the sport in the United States is exhilarat-ing.”, Says Team Executive Of-ficer, Jaye Brooks Sr. “The talent of our athletes has been grow-ing exponentially each year. I cannot wait to see what the coming year has to offer.”

Team USA is quickly making progress and appreciates the founders of the HMB; Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Poland for giving us the opportunity to be part of this amazing sport and truly unique ‘Olympic inspired’, competition.

On a side note; congratulations to the creators of Bohurt maga-zine. We are thrilled to be a part of the newest addition to the HMB family and wish it a suc-cessful future.

by Jana Brooks

TEAM USA.... Past, Present and Looking Forward To The Future

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ShortiesNo Team Belgium for 2014?

According to Pol Jassin, captain of the national team of Belgium, there will be no more national team next year. Even though Pol worked a lot during 2-3 years to be able to participate at the Battle of the Nations, there is no motivation from the team to continue and invest the time and effort neces-sary. Therefore he resigned as a cap-tain and closed the national team of Belgium.

Since no one wants to take over, this seems to be the end of the national team of Belgium,.... for now.

Team Luxembourg even bigger!

It was a very hard job for this little country to get enough people to par-ticipate at the championship this year. But they managed to do it.

Now, after returning from the Battle of the Nations, they have gathered 5 more fighters in a short amount of time. Will they be able to bring 2 teams next year?

It sure seems so and we are looking forward to hear more about them.

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Team HelvetiaSince Switzerland did not have an official team for the Bat-tle of the Nations yet, at the beginning of the year, Sandro and Franco from Ticino, in the south of Switzerland, wanted to create a team.It was difficult at the beginning but they could ask the Ital-ian team for help because they share friendship and know each other for a long time.

In BotN 2013, Sandro participated in the Italian national team where he fought in 5 vs 5, 21 vs 21 and All vs All. Fran-co was asked, at the last moment, to help the Argentinian team as a fighter as they were missing 1 fighter. He fought in the 5 vs 5.Both had the possibility to speak with many different peo-ple, to try out these kind of fights in group battles without much prior training and start new friendships and relations with other teams.

With those experiences, they are now working on creating a national team and are currently looking for new swiss fight-ers. It is quite a difficult task as HMB is not so well known in Switzerland, so at the moment they mostly train 1 vs 1.But recently they were able to gather a few more interested fighters that are close to them, so they can organize better trainings. There are also some people interested from the north of the country.

What they hope to achieve is to inform as many people as possible about this new kind of medieval full contact fight-ing, gain more fighters for the training and see if theywant to be part of the upcoming Team Helvetia and finally, be able to have an official national team with at least 5-6 fighters for the next BotN.

Franco/Sandro, team Fimm Elfar: fimmelfar@bluewin.chFacebook: Battle of the Nations – Team Helvetia

Top Story8

Battle of the Nations is the place where the true character of men is tested. Do you have the will to do what is difficult or do you want to waste away watching others do what you can only dream of?The men fighting, sweating and bleeding in armor have answered that question .

Jaye Brooks Sr. , TEAM USA

BOTN is the unique place of meeting for the real medieval battle, true friendship, sin-cere feelings and genuine courage. It is un-believable and unforgettable

Irina Afanasyeva, HMBIA

PhotoS by Bellathory

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Aigues-Mortes is a city in the south of France. It is famous for the medieval city walls that are well preserved and its name comes from the Lati-nized form “Aquae Mortuae”, which means “Dead Water” and refers to the marshes and ponds that stretch around the city and the fact that there has never been potable water at Aigues-Mortes.

The city itself is said to have been founded at around 102BC by Gaius Marius, a Roman general and statesman, but there is no documented evi-dence for this.

Fact is, that Louis IX obtained the town and the surrounding lands by exchange of properties with the monks of the abbey of Psalmody because he wanted direct access to the Mediterranean Sea for transporting troops to the Crusades.He then build roads between the marshes and the famous Carbonnière and Constance Tower. Later on, his successor, Philip the Bold, would continue

with the construction of walls to completely sur-ound the city. This work would not be completed until the first years of the 14th century.

This was the city from which Louis IX twice de-parted for the Crusades: the Seventh Crusade in 1248 and the Eighth Crusade in 1270 for Tunis where he died of dysentery.

This was also the city, where the Battle of the Na-tions would take place in May 2013.

From a local tournament to a name with worldwide fame - a summary of the development of the Historical Medieval Battle World Championship

Today, when the name “Battle of the Nations” is mentioned, HMB fans and fighters all over the world know what is talked about. But just as any other event, as any other sport, Battle of the Nations had humble beginnings, underwent a development and a lot of changes until it finally arrived where it is today - and even so, it is still changing and evolving.

It is a commonly known fact that sportsmen - whatever sport they compete in - measure themselves not only with their compatriots, but encounter sportsmen from other countries, other continents. Every sport has to have its very own World Championship.

The Past - Humble Beginnings

When in 2009 the idea to hold the first international tournament in a discipline that was yet to be defined as Historical Medieval Battle occured, the inventors of this idea founded the Association of Historical Reenactors of the Middle Ages - an organisation created with one main purpose - to make the dream “Battle of the Nations” come true. Not surprisingly, difficulties had to be overcome, rules had to be set - a venue had to be found.

When the project “Battle of the Nations 2010” started to develop, four countries - the most advanced at the time, namely Belarus, Poland, Russia and Ukraine - announced their intention to participate. Obviously, at that time these four countries were the only ones capable of raising enough men to form a team - hence the minimum of fighters needed for the first Battle of the Nations was no less than 35.

It was no earlier than in December 2009 that the first summit was held. The heads of their respective national organization comitees, later to be called captains, met in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

Top Story10

Category 1vs1 Triathlon: 1 min 30 Longsword 3 Rounds Sword & Buckler 1 Min 30 Sword & Shield

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Category 5vs5 Buhurt: 3 Rounds Fight until Last Man standing. Kicking, Punching etc are allowed.

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Over the upcoming months, a venue was found: Khotyn, a fortress in western Ukraine, a location for famous battles in the past and nowadays tourist attraction, was chosen to host the first international HMB tournament and initiate a new era in armoured full contact fighting.

When in early May 2010 the first Battle of the Nations was held at Khotyn, it did indeed mark the beginning of this new era. Despite the fact that misunderstandings happened as well as injuries, it was clear to be seen that the new tournament brought a lot of improvements - not only in terms of rules and regulations, but also regarding the popularity of the sport. What had been seen as a hobby for a few fanatics was now about to become a serious and very respectable sport.

But there still was a long way to go - with all the improvements the Battle of the Nations brought, it was clear that this particular event would not cease to exist after the first holding. For the first time, a tournament

had taken place according to previously set rules; and this was considered an important step in the development of the young, yet promising sport - a sport that had so far been dominated by the competitors originating from Russia. The Russian national team still holds the title in the 21vs21-nomination today - but the gap between the champion and the other teams has reduced significantly.

In 2011, Battle of the Nations showed that it deserved its name and its growing fame as world championship, hence not only Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania (who had provided a number of fighters and joined the Polish team in the previous year) attended the event, but also teams from Germany, Italy and even Quebec joined the fights. The sudden rise in the number of nations represented was due to the fact that the mininum number of fighters provided was reduced drastically - from 35 to 8, allowing smaller teams to participate in the 5vs5-nomination. Despite the increased number

of contestants, Russia continued to dominate at will. Taking home all the titles that were there to be won, Russia demonstrated that it was still the team to be beaten. But with the amazing response that came from the audience, with the increasing interest in countries far, far away from where these first championships had been held, it was clear that the Battle of the Nations was just about becoming a real World Championship - a development that brought not only advantages, but also new challenges. It was clear that - if the Battle of the Nations 2012 was to be a representative, respectable tournament - it had to evolve even more than in the previous years; as many other world championships, a new venue was to be found. Certainly, Khotyn had proven to provide anything necessary - but especially the medical treatment in case of injury needed to be improved, and with its uneven ground, Khotyn seemed to be slightly unfair.

The Present - From Poland to France

In late 2011, the annual summit of the participating nations was - for the first time - not held in Kiev, but in Warsaw, and attended by an even higher number of potential contestants - apart from the veteran national teams from Russia, Belarus, Poland and Ukraine, the summit was attended by representatives of Australia, Romania, Israel,

Denmark, Austria, Belgium and Ireland. It was decided that - a premiere in the Battle of the Nations history - the venue for 2012 should be Poland; more precisely, Fort Bema in Warsaw. Moving from the Ukrainian countryside to the heart of a big city like Warsaw was another remarkable step in the development of both the event Battle of the Nations and the HMB sport itself. With several minor changes in the rules, 2012’s Battle of the Nations was

the largest event so far, with 12 national teams of different sizes attending. Apart from the “Big Four” and last year’s contestants Germany, Italy and Quebec, there were several newcomers: reaching from USA, bringing fighters to all nominations, from 1vs1 to 21vs21 and making a remarkable debut, to small teams like the united team of Baltic countries (Latvia and Estonia), Israel or Austria, who barely managed to raise enough fighters for a 5vs5-team.

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brotherhood , strong bond between friends as well as fighterspure friendship ...

Maurício Ramos, Team Portugal

Regardless of the ever rising number of opponents, Russia claimed the titles in all the team events again. But all the contestants had proven their dedication for this uprising sport, and just as the number of competiting countries increased, so did the number of spectators all around the world. With the growing popularity of the sport itself and the event in particular, it was clear that Battle of the Nations 2013 was about to become an event that would outgrow anything the HMB world had ever seen before and finally rightfully claim the title of a World Championship in HMB sport.

2013’s Battle of the Nations was - for the first time, another remarkable development - not held in

the former East Bloc, but moved to France, to the impressive site of Aigues-Mortes. Ever since the Battle of the Nations had come into existence, it had been growing year by year - and in this very year, it did so more than anyone could have predicted when four nations met in late 2009. The astonishing number of 22 national teams, representing their home countries with pride, attended the event. They came from everywhere around the world: Argentina, Australia, Austria, the Baltic States (Estonia & Latvia), Belarus, Belgium, Canada (last year’s Quebec team), Czech Republic & Slovakia, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, USA, and Ukraine. While - unsurprisingly -

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Russia dominated all the nominations again, taking home the title in all three competitions (1vs1 Duel, 5vs5 Group Battle and 21vs21 Mass Battle), it became very clear that the other teams - primarily veterans such as Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, but also the very ambitious US team - had closed the gap towards the once dominant Russians. Despite going undefeated in the final rounds in all group nominations, Russians were by far not as dominant as they used to be.

Apart from the big nations, all eyes were on the newcomers - and there were quite a few of them. It was later announced that the United Kingdom team had won the award for the best newcomer (not a surprise, hence they had made it through

the group stage in the 5vs5-Group Battle and only lost against the later vice-champion Russia 3 in the quarter finals. The award for the best camp meanwhile went to Belarus.

Battle of the Nations 2013, often simply referred to as Aigues-Mortes, was by far the biggest Battle of the Nations event so far and thoroughly deserved the term “World Championship”. A gigantic audience had attended the venue and had turned the event into a real festival. Even though it is yet to be decided where 2014’s Battle of the Nations will be held, it is most likely to be even bigger - and even more popular than it was this year.

by Mathias Kainz

We had the possibility to talk to Anton Trubnikov, the main person behind BOTN, about the event and his own impres-sions:

It has now been the 4th year of BOTN, are you happy with the development so far?

Yes, I am happy with the devel-opment so far. BOTN is a flag-man of the development of the cultural and sports movement HMB. It has been developing very quickly, many national teams has been joining it every year. It is now a high level fes-tival. However, we plan to bring the Battle of the Nations to the unique and fantastic event with-in the coming years.

This has been the first time that BOTN has taken place in France. Some people think that it was a bad choice, others think it was great.

What have been the difficul-ties? Would you say that it was still a success even with those problems? Would you say, that having the BOTN in France helped to create more awareness for this kind of sport in Western Europe and over the world?

France is the first West Euro-pean country to host Battle of the Nations. And, of course it is an important step for all our movement in view of awareness in Western Europe and all over the world. Our experience of organisation the Championship in France showed us that we all should work on our positive im-age in order to prove that HMB is safe, interesting and unique mixture for all ages.

We did have problems in France connected to unawareness of our movement. But thanks God we succeeded and the city au-

thorities of Aigues Mortes sup-ported our event. However we all have much to do to promote the positive image of the HMB around the world among poten-tial sportsmen, fans, sponsors, partners.

One of the questions we of-ten get asked is: How do you finance the project? As you know, there have been some rumours about a mysterious russian sponsor . But how does it really work and may we ask, what the BotN costs in total?

As we are speaking of the prvate brand, and private investments. There are people who invest in our activity but prefer to stay in shadow in order that the movement is developed inde-pendently. We are working now very actively in order to attract more support from the side of goverment and sponsors.

Anton Trubnikov

A review of the Battle of the Nations

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Currently the cost of BotN is over 1 mln Euro.

Seeing that the number of national teams has doubled since last year, what can you say about the level of the new teams. Were they pre-pared enough in your opin-ion? Which ones stood out the most?

Yes, the number of the teams doubled; However we would like the quality of the prepara-tions to double to.

The preparation may be divid-ed into two aspects: training and equipment. I view of the authentic equipment the new team of Luxemburg showed the high level as well as the team UK. In view of traning the UK Team also showed good result. However all the teams did very good, I would say.

Maybe you have already heard about it: The Belgian team ceased to exist as their captain stepped back and no one was motivated enough to continue. Are this kind of things bound to happen in this sport? Do you think that there will be more teams to fall apart in the future or was this just an exception or is it part of the normal develop-ment of the sport?

It is a normal process for some-thing new which is being devel-opped. Someone take a step forward, someone goes on a stand-by, someone leaves, new people come. However, if we speak about the Belgian Team, the desicion was taken under

emotions. I am sure that as Bel-gium is a big country there will be other fighters and a new na-tional team which will join us soon with a new captain.

We have heard about a few armoured combat fighters from South Africa. Will there be an African team next year maybe?

Yes, we are now having negoti-ations with the team of South Africa. We hope to have the fifth continent represented in the BotN next year.

And last but not least, we would like to get your person-al impression of BOTN in only a few sentences.

Fight and travel! This is the essence of what we and all the participants do. We fight everyday for recognition of our sports all over the world, we travel via Internet and the world in order to consoliate the efforts of the people in the right direction and we do all possible in order that the HMB movement in general and the BotN develop and help people to make their dreams come true.

We thank you very much for your impressions and we hope that the BOTN will grow even more with new teams coming from the african continent and other places as well.

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Impressions of The Battle of the Nations by

Flo’tographie

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Impressions of The Battle of the Nations by

Bellathory

A PHOTOGRAPHER’SVIEW BATTLEOF THE NATIONSWe have talked a lot about the Battle of the Nations through the view of the fight-ers or organizers. But what about all the others, for example photographers? How did they experience the event? That is why we decided to talk to one of them, namely: Marie Girond-Lepault.

ON THE

Hello and thank you very much for this interview!So, could you please tell us first a few things about your-self: Who you are, what you do for a living and how you came to do photography.

Hello,My name is Marie and I’m 28, I live in Paris and I have always been working in real estate. I have been practicing photogra-phy for almost 2 years. This is an area that has always inter-ested me (I posed several times as a model), but I did not dare to launch myself into photogra-phy itself for various reasons. Then, I had an opportunity to purchase used equipment. I told myself that this would the moment to start with it. Since then, I have not left my camera, I took some courses with Parisian

photographers to advance and then after some time I decided to create my Facebook page un-der the pseudonym Bellathory to receive external opinions and continue to evolve. I have a clear preference for portraits and fantastical worlds.

Seeing as the BotN was for the first time in France, what was your impression of the event as a photographer?

I was eager to be at BOTN and I was not disappointed. It was a great event with a beautiful environment and rich histo-ry. There have been ups and downs for the organization but finally everything went well. The show and the competition were at the rendezvous. As a photog-rapher, I was able to fully enjoy it thanks to the media space. I

saw a few blades and including iron Bardiche very closely. I also appreciated being able to be in the fighting area at the time of the opening ceremony and share this string moment with the fighters. I left BOTN with eyes full of dreams and more than 2,000 photographs.

When you took photos at the BotN: Would you say, that this type of full contact me-dieval battle event allows for very different and unique types of photos or would it be the same if you would go to a normal medieval market and take some photos there?

I think that during the Behourd tournaments, the images that are taken are different from those that may be taken at oth-er medieval reenactment events

Top Story: The Battle of the Nations

Frank Lormant

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or other such events. For the sim-ple reason that Behourd tourna-ments are competitions and not a simple show. If you miss an im-portant moment in the competi-tion , you can not photograph it an hour later. Then the fighters move very quickly and it requires a lot of attention to get to capture all the important moments of fighting, I even think that it’s impossible to not miss anything.

The atmosphere around the are-na is very strong and emotionally charged, we all want to take pic-tures, but at the same time it is im-portant not to disturb the fighters. They are not there to look pretty, but to defend the colors of their country and win. We must respect their concentration as you would for any other type of athlete.

Seeing as you are married with one of the top fighters of the french team, are you proud of his achievements in battle?

This sport is still new in France and the means available to the fighters to prepare for this kind of compe-tition are limited. Despite this, my husband and the fighters of team France fought well and I am very proud of them and their results in the various competitions. I am also proud to have been able to accompany them throughout this competition. If I was not the pho-tographer, I’ll be the cheerleader

The Battle of the Nations is an event, where lots of different cultures and nations meet and live and laugh together for a short period of time. Lots of new friendships and bonds get formed between the national teams. You as a photographer, did you have the same experi-

ence? Did you meet a lot of new people?

Yes I also hade some great meet-ings with French fighters or atten-dants but also with many people including Quebec that I will not forget anytime soon. In this en-vironment people are proud to show what they can do, they want to share their passion and most of them like being photographed. suddenly the device further facili-tates contact and exchange . This is one reason why I love photogra-phy so much.

Your photos of BotN became quite popular on Facebook af-terwards and they even get used a lot in our magazine. How do you feel about this?

I am surprised and pleased that my pictures have much more. I am also touched that you thought of me to illustrate this magazine. This is my way of supporting the team of France and participate in the development of the sport. I hope to have another opportunity to photograph a lot of style event. I am also going to be at the Black Hawk fortress in Montbazon in September.

We thank you very much for your impression of the BOTN and for your insight given.

If you want to know more about Marie’s work, you can go to her webpage:

http://www.bellathory.book.fr/

Or follow her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/les-imagesdebellathory

by Laurent Bemtgen

These are some of the photos tak-en by Marie.

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Interview: Brendan Griffin

HMB in

Ireland

We talked with Brendan Grif-fin, the captain of the irish national team about the HMB situation in his country:

Hello! Say a few words about yourself: Who you are and how you came to HMB?

I have been involved in reenact-ment since 2000. My first group was all about combat though I later moved on to be more in-volved in Living History. There is very little armoured combat in Ireland. Few people have armour and not many of them train or fight regularly in their armour. I always wanted to do good armoured combat but couldn’t find people to fight. I went to events like Tewkesbury in England where there was plenty of armour but a variable level of intensity. At that stage I didn’t have any information on events in mainland Europe.I was aware of events like Wolin

and did see some videos of 1v1 armoured fights in Eastern Eu-rope. The problem I had with these was that Wolin looked intense but was a bit too linear and Viking. The other fights seemed to be a case of the big-gest guy beating his opponents into the ground.This frustration led me to HEMA events outside of Ireland where I learned a lot about combat and sword fighting as a Mar-tial Art. I was able to bring this home with me and found a few other people already doing this type of fighting. My first contact with HMB was when Natalia posted a link to the festival on the livinghistory.ie website. A few of us were in-terested in going but didn’t get around to it. There was some online correspondence and next thing I knew I was in War-saw to meet a bunch of people who might well be crazy.Having met the people and de-termined that they were neither

a) Political extremists b) Looking to hurt people, I decided that this could be the sport for me.I went to Battle of the Nations in Warsaw to get a first hand impression of the event. See-ing it in person is a very differ-ent thing than seeing it online and that was when I knew that I wanted to do this. It is also where I met the Danish team and made contacts that would result in my participation in this year’s event.

What is the situation of the HMB and reenactment move-ment in Ireland?

Reenactment in Ireland is a small community. There are maybe 150 people in the coun-try involved in medieval combat focused reenactment. This in-cludes everything from Viking to high medieval. Ironically this doesn’t include SCA groups

Brendan griffinCaptain of the Irish National Team

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as there tends to be no over-lap between the two groups though armoured combat may help with that.About 20 people have had some involvement in the training ses-sions I have run. My objective for these is to start with the ba-sics: Get people willing to take part in high quality, intense, training. Get more people into armour. Get people fighting in armour.These may seem like low tar-gets but Ireland needs to build the pool of potential fighters in parallel to a team for Battle of the Nations. Not everyone is willing to fight at that level.

What are the usual reactions you get from people when you talk about HMB?

Reactions vary. To people out-side of reenactment it is only once they see videos that they understand the difference. For people in reenactment it real-ly does depend. Advocates of HEMA seem to show the most resistance. I haven’t had the overwhelming resistance that has been en-countered in some countries. This is probably because I am fairly well known in the Reen-actment community and am an advocate of safe fighting i.e. Having appropriate protective equipment for the fighting...something that is surprisingly uncommon.

Another important aspect of this is that I haven’t been dismis-sive of how other people fight. I

still engage in both mainstream reenactment and HEMA fight-ing and recognise that there is a place for both. There is some-thing I get out of HMB that these do not offer and for armoured combat there is nothing else that compares, but it is not for everyone. Talk of other options as ‘Pussy fighting’ doesn’t work so well for me.

HEMA practitioners can tend to view HMB as without skill but that is usally because they ar-en’t looking at the right fights. The same is true of 5v5 and 21v21. The same is also true of reenactment or HEMA fights - look at the wrong ones and you will get the wrong idea as to what is involved.The good news from this is that I probably won’t face the same level of saboutage and negativ-ity that has been experienced elsewhere. But that may be because I haven’t taken people from anyone’s group or taken an event slot in the calendar. I don’t intend to but that could be the point where things change.

What was your impression of this years BotN and the dan-ish team in specific, since you participated in their team?

In most ways this year was bet-ter than last year. Not least be-cause I got to fight.The setting was amazing if a little far from international air-ports, the onsite medical team was far better, the site layout seemed better. There was also a general improvement in the

pool of marshals with a much increased presence from outside the traditional BotN countries. That is a good thing.Where there negatives? Yes. There was a lack of non-involved public, the number of traders was down and local PR seems not to have worked. More se-riously there were some irreg-ularities that shouldn’t have happened. These have been discussed in some length online so there is no need to mention them here.What is important is that this was an amazing event. I took part as a member of the Denmark 2 team. My intention for this past year was to go to a number of international events to gain the experience I need and wasn’t getting at home. I travelled to the UK to train with their team and later on went on to spend a full weekend with the Danish team. I didn’t get the competition fighting time I wanted during the year, primar-ily to do with economics but I learned a lot on each of these trips.Denmark offered me a place on their team and in their encamp-ment. It was a great experience and they were amazing hosts. Their generosity in talking En-glish when I was present - in-cluding during the fights - was humbling. That is why I am happy to say that I am Danish and Proud!I learned a lot about myself as a combatant and a competi-tor during BotN. I could go on about that but it is probably the single most important personal benefit from my participation. I now know that I am capable

Interview: Brendan Griffin 25

and able for this type of fight-ing. Before participating I didn’t know. And I will do it again.

Did Your participation affect awareness in Ireland?

Definitely. I haven’t managed to get the level of media coverage that was possible elsewhere,but I have seen some positive im-pacts. The fact that we are now in the middle of the reenact-ment season does mean that I won’t be able to capitalise on this for a while but the aware-ness in that community is there.There is still a lot of work to do but I am more confident that we can get a 5 man team for next year.

Considering the current dis-cussions about safety at BotN: Is there anything in spe-cific that you think should be improved?

Safety levels improved a lot since last year. That is a good thing. it is well on the trajecto-ry of being as safe as a contact sport can be. In some ways it is as safe or safer than main-stream reenactment.The issue of equipment checks ties in here a bit and that is an area that needs to improve. The number of armour failures was way down on last year but there are other issues that still need to be addressed.There will always be a balance between safety and intensi-

ty. At the moment that seems about right.

What are your plans for the future in terms of HMB/na-tional team?

I need to get more people in armour and I need to get more people training. The former is happening but it needs to hap-pen faster if people are to get fighting in armour over the win-ter. The latter is a matter of set-ting in place a long term sched-ule for training - up to now we have planned one month at a time. That is a big jump.There are a lot of details to work out...and I really need to get moving on that! But most of all I need to train and I need others to train. It is already late to be starting for next year.

We thank you very much for this interview!

You can find out more about Team Ireland online:

https://www.facebook.com/BattleOfTheNationsIreland

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Team USA Executive Officer - Jaye Brooks Sr. Jaye, Co-owner of the Armored Combat League and own-er and head instructor of the training facility, “The Knight’s Hall”... (a full contact, full force, armored combat dojo, lo-cated in Nashua, New Hampshire), is one of the founding members of Team USA.

Jaye’s professional skills as a Sr Project/Program Manag-er for his day job provides an invaluable service with his leadership ability, organization, strategic planning and day to day business operations for the Armored Combat League (which is the recognized HMB sporting entity for the United States.)

Jaye has 32 years armored combat experience and fa-cilitates armored combat sports and training seminars throughout the United States. He has fought in hundreds of combat competitions globally and been successful throughout his fighting career. Finding HMB in 2011 was the answer to many years of wishing for a more physical medieval combat sport. He has embraced its demanding physicality with great enthusiasm.

A believer in fighter fitness, Jaye trains 5-6 days a week. working to keep his 47 year old body in top form. A com-bination of regular body weight exercise, high intensity interval training, boxing, swimming, armored combat and a clean healthy diet help him stay competitive with athletes half his age.

Jaye is comfortable participating at the highest levels in Duels, 5 vs. 5, and 21 vs.21 and enjoys them all equally having years of experience with many weapons and tech-niques.His favorite weapons are longsword and two-handed axe.

When not training Jaye works on promoting the sport globally and works with HMBIA on various committees with the intent of making this sport a household name throughout the world.

By Jana Brooks

Portrait 27

THE VISORED BARBUTE Myth Or Reality?

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The visored barbute has been a hot topic in the HMB community for a long time.Therefore we decided that it would be a good topic to start our series of “Historical Sources”. We will take a look at how this dicussion started in the first place, talk about some originals and will try to answer the initial question: Has there ever been a visored barbute?

The discussion itself started with only one particular helmet: The visored barbute you can see on the left page and which is situated in the Musée de l’Armée in Paris. Now some might want to say there’s no point in having this article since this is an original piece and therefore

the proof has been brought. But things aren’t so simple.This helmet is known to have been put together of two, albeit original, yet different pieces during the 19th century. The museum itself does not show the two pieces together anymore. The barbute itself is a late 15th century type, but the visor is a much earlier one: late 14th century visor for tournament helmets. There are different reasons why this helmet is compromised:First of all, in the museum they gave a 14th century dating for this helmet. But the base of this helmet clearly is a late 15th century for the following reasons:Firstly, this form of the skull buldge and tail does not occur in a 14th century context. Secondly, the shape neither allows for the ubiquitous camail and verveles of a 14th

century bascinet, nor does it have mounting points for such. Thirdly, 14th century bascinets do not normally have rolled edges, and this one clearly does. Fourthly, barbutes of ‘corinthian’ form all consistantly date between 1440 - 1460, Fifthly, it is attributed to Missaglia - even if the mark is a historic forgery (as was occassionaly done to pieces to sell them for more value - sallets with ‘a touch of Meylan’ were regularly listed as being of more intrinsic worth in English inventories), it is a mark that did not exist until the 15th century.So, now we know that the initial dating of the museum is not correct. Helmet and visor do not match together because of their different timeframes, the barbute being dated to between 1440 and 1460 and the visor already being depicted for 14th century / early 15th century. An example is the National Museum of the Duchy of Spoleto (Italy) - where a fragment of frescos is in the Camera Pinta (Painted Room) showing a similar visor for an earlier helmet.

So this puts us back at the initial question: Is there any evidence for visored barbutes?

Fresco at Camera Pinta (Italy)

Compromised barbute at Musée de l’armée. Put together in the 19th century of 2 original pieces

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Lets start with some original pieces that show us that they might have existed. One original lies in the Cleveland Museum of Art and has apparently been excavated from the Venetian garrison at Chalcis on the Greek island of Euboea, dated to about 1350 to 1420.The museum itself refers to this helmet as a barbute so lets compare it to the one on the left:

As you can clearly see, the outer silhouette is very similar to the compromised barbute from

Paris. The main differences are, that the Chalcis example has no rolled edge, has holes to attach a camail and, which is most interesting, an attachment for a visor of the “klappvisor” type. But, the face opening is not the same. In fact it seems as if it is an early version of a barbute with the face opening being wider because of the use of a visor. So could this be the “visored barbute” we are looking for?

Unfortunately for those that were hoping on seeing this as evidence, we have to tell you, that this is not a barbute. The naming of the museum is simply wrong. This helmet does not have any aspects that clearly define it as being a barbute. In fact, It looks more like a bascinet which has been found at Coburg and is dated to

the late 14th century and which includes the visor (a houndskull shaped visor).

Another potential example of a visored barbute would be the barbute in the next picture. It is from the “Musée de l’armée” in Paris and clearly is a barbute. There is no visor attached to it so why would we bring it up since it only looks like the standard classical barbute? The reason is because we’ve heard from some people the interpretation that the two

holes on the front upper part could be a sign for a klappvisor.

So maybe this is our source for visored barbutes?

While there are some barbutes that have such an element on top, like the one in the

next picture which has a nose protection added to it, there have never been any klappvisors on barbutes, for the simple reason that klappvisors have not been in use much anymore in Italy during the appearance of barbutes (mostly around 1425 - 30) and klappvisors were actually more of a german type. As for the two holes on the barbute from Paris, it was surely used for something else. It could be extra holes for the padding or for an orle or some other attachment to helmets. If you look really close, there are not only two holes on the front, but some more to the sides which seem to form a circle around the helmet. The same is also

Upper 2 pictures show the helmet found at Chalcis and which lies in the Cleveland Museum of Art labeled as barbute

Bascinet from Coburg

Barbute from Musée de l’armée.

Barbute/Celata with noseguard

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Barbute/Celata with noseguard

existant on the compromised barbute with visor. Here’s a photo of it without the visor and you can clearly see the same holes as on the other one.

So this was again another dead end. In fact we could continue on like this. For every potential

source of a visored barbute, there are to many proofs that it did not exist. A barbute in fact might ressemble a bascinet and it most certainly evolved from it, but the barbute itself was the evolution into a visorless helmet, which continued to evolve into the sallet/cellata. And if we look at the term “barbuta”: It is not even the naming of the type of helmet but it means the people fighting in the infantry. It can be translated as “bearded men” and might point to people wearing bascinets with camail. This term has been taken over to describe this type of infantrymen, independent of the type of helmet they wear.

In the end, we can conclude that it did never exist. There wasn’t even a reason to put a visor on this type of helmet as it was meant to be worn without. Unfortunately, due to the actions of a certain someone 130 years ago, the myth of the visored barbute started to appear.

Right now, still a lot of people believe the visored barbute to be real and use it in combat. We hope that the word spreads and people start to avoid using this combination as it simply is not historical.

by Laurent Bemtgen

Orle on a bascinet

Compromised barbute from Paris, shown to the public without the visor

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Bohurt Magazine had the pos-sibility to interview Anton Trubnikov, president of HMB International Association about this very association. We decided to ask him some questions that we thought could interest our readers.

Hello and thank you very much for the opportunity to

make this interview with you. Could you first tell a bit about HMBIA for those of our read-ers that do not know about it yet.

HMBIA is an international asso-ciation which aim is to promote and develop all aspects of de-velopment of the cultural and sports movement called Histor-ical Medieval Battle (buhurt or full - contact armour fighting).

HMBIA has clearly formed its missions, goals and credo, which you can see in the below picture (enclosed). HMBIA is open for every person from any country, who are interested and who cares about our missions, values and goals.

How did it all begin? When did you have the idea to start HMBIA?

The idea of creating the associ-ation was born in 2011, howev-er it was registered in Liechten-stein in November 2012.

What are the main projects and targets of HMBIA?

The main project of the HM-BIA is now the development of the brand Battle of the Nations which is a private brand and is managed by the HMB Inter-national Association. HMBIA also supports many festivals and tournaments all around the world and prepare a range of new large scale projects of which the readers will know in autumn. Please follow our open page in Facebook HMB Move-ment which will be regularly up-dated with the new information.

Can you tell us a bit about how the HMBIA functions? Maybe explain the different commitees a bit.

Yes, of course. In order to bet-ter understand the structure of organization please see the pic-ture which shows the different levelsof cooperation and levels of influence inside of the organi-zation. The initial level is HMB movement, which is the society

Anton Trubnikov, President of HMBIA

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of people who are interested in everything which is connected to the cultural and sports move-ment HMB, its events, plans, aims and news - who are the participants or spectators, fans or online viewers, journalists or visitors, everyone who likes this sport.

The next level is the member-ship in the HMBIA with the aim to help the association to reach its goals via work in the Com-mitees or Advisory Board. The HMBIA is open to work with an individual members, with the clubs, clubs alliances, federa-tions or associations of any type and forms, with all who are con-nected or want to be connected to the mission of the HMB Inter-national Association. In order to join the HMBIA one can fill in the applicaion form which will be available soon in our page and send it to the office@hmbia.com after which the manager will in-form all further instructions.

Once one becomes a member of the HMBIA he is the part of the General Assembly and can be appointed as a member or a head of a Committee. After the contribution in the work of the HMB International Associa-tion is big enough the person is offered to be a member of the Advisory Board out of which elected the President and Vice Presidents. The detailed information on the structure of the HMBIA as well as the description of the desi-cion making process, which is connected to a diffcult legal pro-cedure, will be available gradu-ally in our Facebook page and official HMBIA web site which is to be launched in September.

We plan to issue the reports twice a year which would cover the details on the work done by the association.

Will HMBIA try to establish contact to the Internation-al Olympic Commitee to get HMB recognized as a real sport?

Yes, of course. We have been working on the international recognition of HMB not only as a sport by the International Olympic Committee and other big sports entities all over the wolrd, but also as a unique mix of sports, history and culture

by such bodies as UNESCO and other international bodies.

How does the association gather funds?

Currently all funds come from the private sources. The mem-bership fees now is minimal and make 1 USD per year as it is more important for us to work with the intelligent people who are willing to share their expe-rience and skills for the devel-opment of the HMB sports then their financial contribution. In future we expect to attract more sponsorship and investments from private and governmental sectors.

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Why did you choose Liechtenstein as the seat of HMBIA?

There are numerous sports association which are registered in Liechtensein as it is a country with a loyal legislative basis for the young sports entities. The country is situated in the heart of Europe and has good financial reputation all over the world. Dozens years ago the climate was better in Switzerland, but currently the situation is a bit changed owing to the governmental sup-ports to sports asso-ciations in Liechten-stein. I also would like to add that we have a rep-r e s e n t a t i v e offcices in other Eu-r o p e a n c o u n -tries.

How many countries are currently mem-ber of the HMBIA?

HMBIA is a new association. However, I would not ask this question in this way.

I would ask how many members bet-ter then how many countries.

Currently we develop the network of the membership among the

clubs, individual members, organisations of any types

and we will include this data into the first HMBIA re-

port. Currently we count members from

over then 15 coun-tries.

What are the plans for the

future? Are there any

m o r e projects

next to BotN?

As I said before, yes, we do have other projects next to BotN. Themain plans for the HMBIA now is to promote the HMB sports to the new level all over the world in order to attract more spectators, more support and attention in the national and international level. We plan to develop the network of financ-ing for the members of the association in order to support fighters, clubs, teams and help them to reach the higher level of the development.

Would you like to add sth for our readers?

Yes, I would like to add that the HMBIA opens the doors for all the people who are willing to work, all individuals, entities, associations which would like to join us and help us to reach our goal. Our

goal is to have HMB recognized all over the world as the new unique mixture of the sport, culture and his-tory with fans, support and admiration all over the world.

We thank you very much for this inter-view and for the ex-planat. We hope for a successfull growth and will be reporting regularly on the HM-BIA’s activities.

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Bohurt Magazine spoke to Mauricio Ramos, the captain of the national team of Portugal to talk about the general situation of Team Portugal as well as the difficulties they have to face and what the plans are for the future:

Well, in terms of the general situation of Team Portugal, I would say good, better than I expected since we managed to accomplish one of the most important goals at the last World championship of HMB in France: First we participated in the tournament, with a thousand thanks to the Captain of the Luxembourg team (Captain Laurent), we were able to join forces with his teammates and at the end became friends forever..., secondly this event contributed to get more fighters for our cause and Team Portugal will be a complete team next year for sure, 3 more people have joined the ranks.

In terms of difficulties we have to face, the most problematic is to raise money, second, to get the much needed equipment for this kind of sport, third is the fact that we are geographically apart from each other and that makes everything difficult, especially training. And to make things more difficult in Portugal, my second in command had an accident (Alexandra Pacheco) while swordtraining with one of our fighters and the result was 3 weeks in hospital with an infection to her arm, in terms of difficulties, this is...

In terms of planning, since the end of BotN, we have already started to raise money for the next HMB tournament (hopefully in Luxembourg) and in terms of strategic importance, I would say: going back to medieval roots. I believe that there’s still much more to learn and to apply to the next Battle of the Nations World Championship.

TeamPortugal

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Calendar of upcoming events

Faucon Noir, Montbazon (France) - Black Hawk TournamentWhen: Sep 14 – 15, 2013Where Montbazon, France - 1vs1, 5vs5, Mellee (map)Description: Registration & information : http://www.combatmedieval.com/inscrip-tion-tournoi- du-faucon-noir-14-15092013/

Victoria Harbor, Ontario (Canada) - Sword and FireWhen: Sep 20 – 22, 2013Where: Canada, 6323 6th Line, Victoria Harbor, Ontario. (map)Description: Sword and Fire Scallagrims Medieval Martial Arts Centre: www.scallagrims.com. Single triathlon duels, 5vs5, all vs all. Will be up closer to the tournament. Open public tourney.

Auckland (New Zeland) - Armageddon TournamentWhen: Oct 25 – 28, 2013Where: New Zeland, AucklandDescription: Name of the tournament: Armageddon Name and contact details of the main organizer: Sean Geenty,Dave Smith botnnz@gmail.com Categories:1v1, 2v2, 5v5, group http://www.BotNNZ.org http://www.facebook.com/BattlenatioNZ Additional information: Armageddon is one of NZ’s largest public ‘alternative’ events, would suit an international foot tournament

Berdorf (Luxembourg) - Battle of MüllerthalWhen: Nov 3Where: Berdorf, Luxembourg - The devil islandsDescription: More details here: http://www.hmb-luxembourg.net/battle

The Battle of Müllerthal is a training event based on light full contact and is meantfor the following people: 1. For those teams that want to train team tactics in a very difficult terrain 2. To train your stamina. (The place will be very hard even for people with good stamina) 3. If you want to get in touch with full contact for the very first time 4. If you want to hit people :P

Come and enjoy a nice training event!

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HMB FitnessKit Houston

Kit Houston is the owner of ‘The Fortress’, a functional fitness and medieval training centre in Melbourne, Australia. Kit has done Martial arts on and off his entire life and has 12 years of experience in re-enactment. After completing his Certificate III (Fitness) and Certificate IV (Personal Training) he began to combine both his interests in modern and medieval fitness into high intensity workouts.

Welcome to the first article on HMB fitness and training ideas for Bohurt magazine. My goal for this space will be to present a modern and medieval approach to training that covers the historical as-pects of exercises and provides sound training ideas that work for the goals of HMB. Over the next four issues I will present information extracted from medieval art and manuscript to give you easy and inexpensive ideas for strength, speed, endurance and HMB specific training.

When coming up with any fitness plan you must first ask ‘what does it take to be the best at your sport and what training should I do?’

After looking at a variety of other sports and the associated training regimes, it becomes very clear that HMB requires a little bit of everything. You must be a well-rounded athlete that is balanced in all key areas of fitness such as cardio respira-tory endurance, muscular strength, muscular en-durance and flexibility. While I understand that it’s a bit of a generic response, I’m sure you will agree that when you look at our requirements, training for balance in all areas will make you a highly competitive fighter.

If we look at how medieval man trained and how

modern fighter’s train we will see the common set of movements and requirements have not really changed. Fundamentally, we need to be training like a competitive fighter, with just a few differ-ences. The first main difference is that we need to take into account training for the additional weight we have due to weapons and armour. With the average equipment requirements rang-ing between 20kg-40kg, we must take the time to build a solid core complex.

The second main difference is that we need to be able to use our core to support the weapon and armour weight in all directions of movement; away from the body, forward, up, down and in any diagonals while we strike, throw and bend. Think about the action of striking with a weapon

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and the weight at the end of the arm lever. The weapon, gaunt-let, and vambrace weight is increased exponentially as it moves

away from the shoulder. When you strike repeat-edly, it’s easy to see how you can gas out quickly.

This is the same for all of our armoured actions. The head with a helmet on creates an imbalance as we move back and forward. Legs in full plate

are heavier as they move from the body to kick, and of course, the shield arm is not only a dif-ferent weight but also a different surface area to move thought the air.As it states in the adage, “to get better at a sport, train in that sport”, of course training in full ar-mour is one of the best ways to get in shape for HMB but I hope to offer you some different ideas in the next few articles that you can take away and add to your current workout.

Today we talk ROCKSIn this article we cover medieval man train-ing with Rocks. Rocks are easily obtainable, cheap, effective and offer a different feel to modern weights. The imperfections in the rocks work all of your stabilisation muscles from the arms and shoulder girdle right down to the core complex and grip strength. Making you an all over stronger athlete, in all planes of motion.

See next page:

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Overhead PressExercise used to improve overall strength of the upper body using resistance on the vertical plane.

They target the Deltoids, Triceps, Pectorals and the Core complex

Starting Position

- Stand with feet shoulder width apart- Make sure you’re directly over the weight- Squat with correct form and stand bringing the weight up to your chest

The Movement

- Take a breath in, squeeze your glutes and tense your core- Press the weight above your head- Lock our your arms- Hold for a count and then return controlled to chest

Workout ideas

- 3 sets of 12 to 15 at a lower weight- 3 sets of 8 at a medium weight- 3 sets of 3 to 5 at a heavy weight

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Overhead Push PressMuch the same as the Strict Overhead Press, the Push Press will allow you to lift heavier weight either in separate sets or once your overhead press becomes too hard.

Starting Position

- Stand with feet shoulder width apart- Make sure you’re directly over the weight- Squat with correct form and stand bringing weight to chest

The Movement

- Take a breath in, squeeze your glutes and tense your core- Keeping the trunk upright, dip the knees and hips an inch- With no pause at the bottom return with explosion and forcefully continue with the arms up pressing the weight above head to lock out- Hold for a count and then return controlled to chest

Workout ideas

- 3 sets of 3 to 5 at a heave weight- 3 sets of 12 to 15 overhead press and 3 to 5 push press

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Single Arm PressExercise used to improve overall strength of the upper body using resistance on the vertical plane. They target the Deltoids, Triceps, Pectorals and the Core complex

Starting Position

- Stand with feet shoulder width apart- Make sure you’re directly over the weight- Squat with correct form and bring the weight to your chest

The Movement

- Move weight to one arm over shoulder- Take a breath in, squeeze glutes and tense your core- Press weight above head until arm lock out- Hold for a count and then return, controlled to shoulder

Workout ideas

- 3 sets of 12 to 15 at a lower weight- 3 sets of 8 at a medium weight - 3 sets of 3 to 5 at a heave weight

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WoodchopperExercise used to strengthen the Shoulder Girdle, Hips and Core complex on the vertical, horizontal and diagonal planes. Well suited to athletes who require rotational power.

Targets the Pectorals, Anterior Deltoids, Triceps, Traps, Hip complex, Lats, Glutes and Core complex.

Starting Position

- Stand with feet shoulder width apart- Make sure you’re directly over the weight- Squat with correct form and bring weight to right side of quads- Move weight to lower right side

The Movement

- Move weight from lower right, across the body to upper left.- Hold for a count and then return controlled to lower right- Repeat for number of reps and then swap to the lower left

Workout ideas

- 3 sets of 12 to 15 at a lower weight- 3 sets of 8 at a medium weight - 3 sets of 3 to 5 at a heavy weight

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Deadball Pushups Starting Position

Plank position (head, shoulders, hips and knees are in alignment)

The Movement

- Take a breath in, squeeze your glutes and tense your core - Squeeze shoulder blades and lats- Bend your elbows to lower your whole body- Ensure elbows stay close to your body- From the bottom, squeeze your quads, glutes, shoulder blades and abdominal muscles and extend your elbows, until you return to the starting position.

Workout ideas

- 3 sets of 10 to 50- 3 sets of 10 to 50 with a paused 3 count in the bottom position

Some examples from manuscripts:

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Deadball Slams Exercise used to improve the Shoulder Girdle, Hips and Core complex on the vertical planes.

Target, muscles of the arms, back, core and legs

Starting Position

- Stand with feet shoulder width apart- Make sure you’re directly over the weight

The Movement

- Squat with correct form- Place hands on the side of the ball and press together gripping the ball- In one movement, stand up, bring your hands up past your chest to over your head- With force explosivley throw the ball to the ground.

Workout ideas

- Sets and reps eg 3 sets of 10 - Interval slams- Tabata slams

You can go to http://bohurt.net where you can find a video of these exercices.

Please contact Kit Houston on fitness@bohurt.net with any questions, ideas and submissions you would like to add into next quarterly issue.

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Part I - The ExecutionerYou will probably never see a fighter in the Battle of the Nations, and only very rarely on a reenactment event, carry an executioner’s sword - and this for very good reasons.

So, why write about a weapon if it is not employable in the lists? A first point would be that, regardless of that, it often is a beautifully and artfully crafted blade, and this is always worth our attention. A second one would be, that exactly because of its improperness on the battlefield, it enables us to further understand the scope and importance attributed to “the weapon” during the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period.

In the next few issues we are going to try to explore why exactly no fighter would equip himself with one of these weapons, investigate their material aspects, and their use and areas of utilisation.

First of all, however, we will have to take a look at the man who wields this sword. This may seem at first sight rather unimportant, for is a sword not a sword, regardless of who carries it, as long as he masters the art of fighting?

The simply answer is: No. Not in this case.

Before we can delve into the material aspects of the

weapon itself, then, we have to take a (as short as possible) detour into the very complex realm of the medieval and Early Modern mind. Even though we’re speaking about times when violence was never lurking very far beneath the surface, be it in entertainment, the law, or everyday life, there was a line which only one single person could ever cross: the impersonal dispensation of death, outside the battlefield and against a fellow Christian. But this is

merely the surface.

What is crucial in an appreciation of the craft is the concept of “honour” and “dishonour” so deeply rooted in the late medieval and Early Modern continental world-view, and practically impossible to fully grasp in the 21st century. The space is here much to restricted to indulge in a comprehensive discussion of the subject, on which there still is no clear consensus even in the academic world. Nevertheless, this “honour” is by no means to be understood in the modern sense of “respect ”/”disrespect ”, “morality”/”immorality”, or “loyalty”/”disloyalty”, to name but a few. Rather than this, it was a notion defining

your position in society through your profession, one which would generally remain for life, and in most cases would be passed down to your descendants. Among the professionals considered “dishonourable” we can find (among many others) the gravedigger, the sewage cleaner, the chimney sweep, the barber, and, obviously, the executioner. The link between all these people is

The Executioner’s Sword

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their proximity to “dirt”, death, and the physically base. And while all these professions could again be subdivided into many different degrees of “dishonourability”, none was as low, feared and reviled as that of the executioner. 1 The act of handing over the task of executing lawfully condemned criminals to a single person started late. Indeed, before the 13th century the act could be performed by anyone, be he a member of the wronged one’s family, a random citizen of the community, or the community as a whole. In fact, it was only the late re-emergence of Roman Law which necessitated the creation of an executioner’s job, as most crimes before the 1200s were atoned for through the payment of a certain sum of money - the weregild -, not execution. Once capital punishment became established as the norm, subjects were needed to enact it on a regular basis. As not many people would have taken up such a job voluntarily, it fell to the judges to appoint executioners. Most of them were thus directly recruited from the criminal population, who were sometimes offered the position as a form of pardon. (It is significant to note that some criminals preferred the death sentence to becoming life-long executioners themselves...) By the 14th century, the job of executioner (or carnifex, in continuation of the Roman terminology) had become the norm in urban environments, while the rural population still tended to perform the sentence collectively.2

With the passing of the decades, the executioner became more and more shunned, until in the continental 16th century he emerged as the subject of fear, loathing and social segregation. But while there were certain basic traits connecting all European headsmen, there were some significant variants when looking at them along

1 Nowosadtko, Jutta, Scharfrichter und Abdecker: Der All-tag zweier „unehrlicher Berufe“ in der Frühen Neuzeit, (Paderborn: F. Schöningh, 1994). pp. 48-51.

2 van Dülmen, Richard, Theater des Schreckens: Gericht-spraxis und Strafrituale in der frühen Neuzeit, (München: Beck, 2010). pp. 102ff.; 154-155.

“national” lines.

It will of course be impossible to cover the practices of every single Eastern and Western European realm, as it would not even be feasible to cover one single nation. Conventions varied greatly not only in time, but also between provinces and different cities and towns. Rather than even attempt this, we will inspect the broadest common denominators and dissimilarities

in the German lands and the kingdom of England. These have been chosen due to the greater availability of research material, but also because they offer maybe the starkest contrasts in any two European countries.

So, in full knowledge of the danger of oversimplification, let us draw the “typical” profile of, first, the 16th century German executioner. The Holy Roman Empire does indeed figure as the place where all characteristics surrounding the hangman were most strongly felt and represented. The Scharfrichter (lit.: sharp-judge) as he was generically called here had many names, from which the extend of his reception by the public can already be gleaned: Meister Abkürzer (lit.: Master Shortener); Angstmann (lit.: the Fearman); Meister Auweh (lit.: Master Ouch);

Zwicker (lit.: Pincher), or, even more tellingly, Schwerter (lit.: Sworder).3 While these are only very few examples, what we can already see repetitively is the appellation “master”. The German executioner was by the end of the Middle Ages exactly that, a master of a craft, the learning of which necessitated an apprenticeship and the successful passing of an exam (!), resulting in a set of clearly defined and consciously upheld professional ethics.4 In this respect, then, he stood on par with the

3 Angstmann, Else, Der Henker in der Volksmeinung: seine Namen und sein Vorkommen in der mündlichen Volksüber-lieferung, (Bonn: Klopp, 1928). Note the author’s name, and try to guess why she specialised in the subject. The reader sending in the right guess will receive a hand-made, high-quality execu-tioner’s mask made out of coarse wool.4 Scheutz, Martin, Alltag und Kriminalität, (Oldenburg: Oldenburg Verlag, 2001). p. 172.

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carpenter, the roofer and the goldsmith.1 The similarities stopped here, however. His status as a social outcast, rather like the Untouchables of India, forbade him for example to:

- visit most taverns (unless the place had a spe-cial table, reserved exclusively for him);

- drink from the same glass as another person;

- come into physical contact with any “honou-rable” citizen (i.e., practically any other one than other executioners);

- marry freely (exempt were daughters of other executioners. Rarely, if the condemned crimi-nal was a woman, she could convert her death sentence into marriage with the Scharfrichter. Which she rarely did.)

- live within the town walls;

- have free choice in matters of clothing (at least during the late Middle Ages he had to be iden-tifiable from afar, much like the leper. The Early Modern Period saw him generally dressed as a Landsknecht or a rich burgher).2

1 Kulischer, J., Allgemeine Wirtschaftsgeschichte des Mit-telalters und der Neuzeit (Oldenburg: Oldenburg Verlag, 1988). pp. 197-198.

2 Nowosadko, Jutta, Scharfrichter und Abdecker: Der Alltag zweier «unehrlicher Berufe» in der Frühen Neuzeit, (Pa-derborn: F. Schöningh, 1994). p. 49 ; von Hippel, Wolfgang, Armut, Unterschichten, Randgruppen in der Frühen Neuzeit, (Oldenburg: Oldenburg Verlag, 1995). 37-44 ; Ehnen, E., Frauen im Mittelalter, (München : Beck, 1999). p. 173.

Paradoxically, in view of the above, his status came along with certain rights and privileges, some of which could lead to considerable wealth and financial standing:

- jurisdiction over the town’s prostitutes and their revenue (additional function as a pimp, in other words);

- jurisdiction over the town’s deceased animals (which could be skinned, and the hides sold);

- consultation fees as an unofficial -if not ille-gal- physician (resulting from an intimate knowledge of human physiognomy, resulting in turn from his knowledge of torture and exe-cution. Indeed, he may have been one of the most learned people of the medieval world concerning the body’s tissue- and bone-struc-ture, dissection being generally outside the law.)

- consultation fees as an unofficial -if not illegal- healer (resulting from the magical qualities at-tributed to his person. Books could be written - and have been - on this aspect alone. The execu-tioner’s capacity as the hinge between life and death lend him a great number of supposedly occult skills, which could be transmitted into the fabrication of ointments, elixirs, etc.. The procedure by which these were then handed over to the client had to follow intricate cere-monies and rituals, knowing that he could of course touch neither the client, nor the jar in which the ointment was kept).3

3 ibid.

< Beheading.--Fac-sim-ile of a Miniature on Wood in the “Cosmog-raphie Universelle” of Munster: in folio, Basle, 1552.

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This list could be prolonged for quite some paragraphs. Yet what does already show is that the line between the executioner and other “lowly” job functions could be rather blurred, that material wealth did not necessarily concur with high social standing, and that he was surrounded by a set of strong metaphysical superstitions. To what extend the latter point was important can be illustrated by the consideration that even the putting down on paper of the “dishonourable” word executioner endangered the “honourable” writer of being “contaminated”.4

The word “continental” has been mentioned several times above, and indeed did the Scharfrichter’s English colleague live in a completely different world. This world was governed much less -if at all- by the superstition prevalent in the Empire, and was based less on ritual than on practicality.5 Contrary to the German lands, the medieval English hangman was employed within the structures of the feudal system, i.e., he was allotted a parcel of land, in return for which he performed his service.6

One would think that his life was easier than that of his German counterpart, and it certainly was, but this came only at the price of a clear disadvantage of another person: the condemned. However much the executioner between Rhine and Oder was shunned, he remained a thorough professional. The English one was an amateur, often a repented criminal, appointed punctually. The skill required for a flawless beheading need hardly be explained to a sword-fighting audience. Suffice to say that it asked for constant practice (particularly as a botched execution could have dire consequences for the executioner, as we will see

4 Stuart, Kathy, Defiled Trades And Social Outcasts: Hon-or And Ritual Pollution in Early Modern Germany, (Camebridge: Camebridge University Press, 2006). p. 45.5 Nowosadtko Jutta: “„Scharfrichter“ – „Hangman“”. Zwei soziokulturelle Varianten im Umgang mit demVollzug der Todesstrafe”. In: Archiv für Kulturgeschichte 74 (1992). pp. 147‐172.6 Justin Atholl, Shadow of the Gallows, London: John Long Limited, 1954, pp. 134-5.

in the next issue), and this the English headsman simply never obtained.

This distinct lack of professionalism is clearly reflected by the island’s prevalent method of execution, the gallows. Although this was generally also the case in mainland Europe, the act of beheading was in England strictly reserved for nobility...and even then the verdict was more often carried out by the axe or hatchet than by the heavy sword.7

So far we’ve briefly seen the differences between the deeply ostracised German Scharfrichter and the somewhat more integrated English headsman. Not necessarily less despised, the latter enjoyed a greater freedom of action in his quotidian life, which in turn had a decisive impact on his competence.

Although this article has been much too short for

anything than the broadest of overviews, it has hopefully been possible to provide a glimpse into where the man named Crakebon8 (Crack-bone) stood in medieval and Early Modern society’s conceptions.

Next issue we will take one step farther, and place ourselves at the foot of the execution hill. We’ll watch the two handle their weapon, observe their striking techniques and, well...see some heads roll...

Upcoming issues:

Part II - The Art of Killing

Part III - The Sword

by Ismael Backes7 Robin, Gerald, D., “The Executioner: His Place in English Society”, in: The British Journal of Sociology15 (1965). pp. 234‐253.8 Jönsö, Jan, Studies on Middle English Nicknames, (Lund: Liber Laromedel, 1979). p. 22.

Praxis rerum criminalium iconibus illustrata. Antwerpen - Beller - 1562

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Do you know the old joke how to make your girlfriend a real football fan? Show her the most handsome player in your favorite team, check out that she remembered his name and number, and show to him during games. Be sure your girl will become a passionate football fan!

If your girlfriend is not yet a fan of medieval battles just show her Fjorka von Rauhenklamm. This handsome and charismatic guy with a charming smile and manners of real knight impresses many women’s hearts. I could not resist his charisma too and decided to ask him a few questions.

Me: When have you taken an interest in re-enactment events and medieval battles? How many years have you been fighting?

Fjorka: My interest in reenactment began very early – I always loved to read and so I found my way into the “medieval world” by reading a lot of historical books and romans. About 15 years ago I tripped into a real medieval market in my town –by coincidence. I was really astonished by seeing people who “really lived” this life and I wandered about three hours around noticing that this would be exactly “mine”.

I fight since nearly 13 years.

Me: Why did you choose full contact fights? A lot of european re-enactment fans think it is too brutal and dangerous.

Fjorka: It’s not like crocheting, that’s true, but if you look at so many other sports like boxing, kick boxing, rugby and so on you will find the same amount or even more injuries and “violence”.

We choose this kind of sport because we fought many years following codices which just allowed smooth claps with the sword and to be honest – I felt stupid after a while.

Standing there as man, as knight with full armory, strong and tough but then just “hugging” and clapping my “enemy” – this was not my way.

Also we want to know, how it really had happened 700 years ago – the sweat, the dust, the adrenaline, the fear of not knowing whether you get a brutal hit from behind the next moment because you’re in In-fight with your opponent and can’t turn around and so on..

And – we need this kick, the mixture and also the endorphines after a victory gives you the feeling to be alive.

Me: You are in pretty good physical shape, what sport you practice except full contact medieval fights?

Fjorka: Thank you – I do my best to stay fit. Running, going into the gym, swimming, sword-training, skiing.. nearly every sport.

Me: You have very aggressive style of fights. What weapon you prefer for battles? What your favorite weapon?

Fjorka: The style of fighting gave my the nickname “the Beast” , because sometimes I’m really raging, no other will than victory.

In the world championship I choosed a two handed axe because this weapon swung with all my strength hits like a bull kick – and I’m fast enough to move also with a long weapon in an in-fight.

Fjorka von Rauhenklamm an Interview by Skuratova Elena

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At the moment I’m preferring my handmade axes but next year… let’s wait and see.

Me: Tell, please, a story of your scar. How did you get it?

Fjorka: Oh, it had been a silly coincidence – a show fight. I had to pull down my helmet for the spectators I had to shout and with my helmet the sounding is bad.

During the fight I slipped over grit and directly into the sword beat of my partner. But I’m really lucky because otherwise I would have been just one-eyed.

Me: You were described as a very promising fighter. Are you planning to participate in 1 vs 1 nomination next year?

Fjorka: Thank you – yes, I will do my best.

Me: I know you are the commander of some guild/order (Grenzwacht) Tell a few words about it.

Fjorka: It’s a fighting-patrol from the 13th century. We have choosen the castle Burghausen, because we live in the neighbourhood of it and it’s also the longest castle in the whole of Europe. A very beautiful castle.

In “our” century there had been a lot of border conflicts between the clerical troups in the south and royal troups in the north of this region and so we decided to represent to defend Burghausen as border patrol against the troups of the bishop of Salzburg.

Me: What events do you participate throughout the year ? Are there in Germany quite a lot of cultural medieval festivals and re-enactment events?

Fjorka: We join many events during the year.. a lot of turneys, a lot of medieval festivals and reenactment events, also doing projects like visiting protectories and making eyes of terminally ill children shining..

In Germany and Austria there are a lot of medieval festivals, because of the history.. we have many castles and a beautiful “old” places which are suitable for doing reenactment.

Me: Do you or your guild involve in showbiz projects? TW-show, movies, music videos, art-projects?

Fjorka: Sometimes, but I prefer living my hobby without so much hurly-burly .

Me: It was your first BotN as I know. What impressions you feel after it? What team was toughest opponents? Tell about personal highlights, may be a few bright or funny moments?

Fjorka: It was undescribable.. great. So many nations, so

many nice people, a lot of new friendships, spectacular fights, really hard opponents – there is no possibility to describe the feelings – you have to experience it firsthand

The toughest team ? There had been a lot of hard opponents, but one of the hardest teams we had to fought against were the Russians. They are really hard fighters and I also was knocked unconscious in one round but I hope I repaid it ..

There also had been a lot of highlights like getting the respect of other fighters, for example one of the USA Team came and offered me his weapon-dress as present because he said it would be a honor for him giving it to me as great fighter. Also a broken shield from one fighter of the Ukraine-Team who visited our camp and offered me his shield with the words “look, two beats from your axe” – and the shield was broken through. We changed our shields as symbol of respecting each other as tough fighters.

A lot of knightly gestures, a lot of highlights – visit and see it personally !

Me: What do people in Germany think about BotN?

Fjorka: It’s a “young” sport here in germany, the people have to adjust to it, but it grows up very fast and I think in one or two years it will be respected generally.

Me: How do you think your national team will participate to 21 vs 21 nomination next year?

Fjorka: I’m not allowed to tell it at this moment but I’m looking forward to …..

Me: And last a very personal question - Do you have the Lady of your Heart?

Fjorka: There are so many wonderful, beautiful and bright ladies in this world.. I hope to find finally the One who is compatible to me and can tame this heart.

by Skuratova Elena

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Funny Corner

HMB - Memes

See more at:

https://www.facebook.com/medievalbattlememes

As a typically observant medi-cal provider, the extreme high levels of iron in your system have me quite puzzled.

Laurent Bemtgen

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Historical Glass Beads - Susanne Herminghaussusi346@rocketmail.com http://www.handwierksstuff.lu

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In the next issue of BOHURT - HMB Magazine:

-Test review of gambesons -The Executioner’s Sword Part 2 -The next step in Kit Houstons training plan -The start of a series of Fighting Techniques with Different Weapons -How to promote HMB Events -And much more...

BOHURT HMB Magazine