Historical European martial arts are martial arts of European origin, particularly using arts formerly practised, but having since died out or evolved into very different forms.
The first page of the Codex Wallerstein shows the typical arms of 15th-century individual combat, including the longsword, rondel dagger, messer, sword-and-buckler, halberd, poleaxe, spear, and staff.
Fol. 4v of the I.33
The final stage of the last sequence in the Royal Armouries Ms. I.33
Longsword guards (1452 manuscript)
Rapier
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A rapier is a type of sword originally used in Spain and Italy. The name designates a sword with a straight, slender and sharply pointed two-edged long blade wielded in one hand. Known for its elegant
Historical European martial arts
…guards (or hand-positions), which would remain the mainstay of Italian fencing into the next century and beyond. From the late 16th century, Italian rapier fencing attained considerable popularity all over Europe, notably with the treatise by Salvator Fabris (1606). Antonio Manciolino (1531, Italian…
Espada ropera, first half of the 17th century
Swept hilt, an Italian fashion
Swept hilt, an Italian fashion
Pappenheimer, a German innovation