Canterbury Medieval Combat and KDF Broadstairs was borne out of a desire to study medieval martial arts. There were no groups in East Kent that offered any form of HEMA at the time. Having started a traditional Japanese Martial Arts school, we found a location where we could practice. We started as a study group.
Having attended some workshops and reading lots and lots of books on the manuscripts, we chose the German system as it offered a wide range of support and joining the KDF as a Fechtschule (fight school) has meant we have connections with some great coaches across the UK and Europe.
We also get access to see the manuscripts and weapon handling sessions at the Royal Armouries as well as get to train there.
The group over the last two years has started back up again in Canterbury, as we were able to secure hall space much easier than going to back to our School Hall in Broadstairs.
OUR PRACTICE
Our focus is to emulate the techniques that are provided in the Manuscripts and use them as they were used in the medieval period. The aim is to use the early available manuscripts as these look to be more combat or self-defence focussed and used by the new middle classes. This is not military combat.
While our focus is on German longsword techniques, we also practice a range of other weapons at either workshops or extended training sessions.
These include:
- Dagger
- German Long Knife
- Staff
- Polearms (Halberd / PoleAxe)
- Sword and Buckler