Jamie MacIver: HEMA Instructor

11/11/2025

Do you have lots of fencing video? If so, please consider helping me out by sharing some with me... I need 5-20 clips of HEMA thrusts (any weapon) where the camera angle is perpendicular to the fencers, or close to it. Any weapon will do!

The basic question I'm trying to answer is: How fast is a HEMA thrust? I don't have a clue! But this is actually a really important question to calibrate some of my tests as both protective clothing and the human body behave differently. Even a handful of clips would help get a good range estimate and make sure future tests match to the real risks we experience.

Message me here if you have anything suitable

20/10/2025

A little over a year ago I challenged Connor Kemp-Cowell - Hemaist to a duel for the title of "Mr Vadi". Earlier this year thanks to the Fight Night at London Historical Fencing Club we finally settled the question... just who is Mr Vadi?

"I hear-by formally issue challenge to Connor Kemp-Cowell. For too long the most prestigious title has been ambiguous. No more! To the victor the spoils: the...

01/10/2025

Curious about progress with my safety research? Head on over to my Patreon page to hear about the Wessex Sword and Injury Data, Safety Tips Phase 2, my initial investigations in how to test puncture resistance of equipment as well as other projects. I'll be publishing updates publicly rather than just to subscribers in future, so follow the page to make sure you don't miss anything.

Get more from Historical Fencing Research on Patreon

29/08/2025

Competitive HEMA in 2024 was around 5.6x the size it was in 2016 - at least in terms of HEMA Ratings submissions.

I've been exploring what else is is possible with the HEMA Ratings data used to power the HEMA Tournament Finder and thought I'd have a quick look at the growth of the sport - which is pretty impressive, typically ranging from 20-40% annual growth with a few weird years around the pandemic.

While some of that growth is likely to have come from a higher percentage of tournaments submitting, the rise from 3.5k to 20k annual tournament matches in just 8 years is still pretty impressive.

At the same time, events seem to be giving more matches on average to their competitors, and getting more diverse in both gender and weapon categories - but it will be a long time before Open Longsword stops being the most common. See for yourselves in the images how HEMA is growing (and changing) over time.

If you'd like to see more insights, visualisations or interactive charts consider dropping a donation through my Ko-Fi page or make a suggestion in the comments below and I'll consider how to make it work (assuming the folks at HEMA Ratings wants to as well).
https://ko-fi.com/historicalfencingresearch

27/08/2025

Bored of grainy images of Vadi where you can't actually make out any detail or distinguish between the background and foreground? Ok I accept - this might be a niche problem, but I certainly was. As part of work for my translation, I wanted to get better images for print. I removed the background from the highest quality scans available from the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma, who have kindly permitted me to make the available to the community.

The link below will take you to a pay-as-you-like product to download the images. Copyright remains with the library and commercial uses will require consent from them before use (details in the download). There are two copies of each image: one with the floor left in, the other with the floor removed.

A digital download of the high-quality scans of Philippo Vadi’s “De Arte Gladiatoria Dimicandi” (MS Vitt. Em. 1324). All images have been modified to have the background removed t…

26/08/2025

Did you know that my new translation of Vadi is available through my website (Historical Fencing Research)? Download the PDF on a "Pay as you like" basis with the link below.

https://historicalfencingresearch.com/product/on-the-art-of-swordfighting-open-edtion/

In this translation I have tried to resolve many of the things that bugged me about other translations. I've tried to stick as far as possible to clear, modern English (even if this means moving a little bit away from Vadi's "elegant" verse) and to resolve many of the apparent inconsistencies that crop up - particularly in chapters 3 and 4. This also uses higher-quality scans than available through Wiktenauer, with the background removed to make it easier to see if printed on a white page.

I hope to get a print version out over the next few months as well. If you purchase the PDF version I'll send a discount code for the print when that happens.

The translation has actually been out for a while: as I'm the world's worst self-publicist if you didn't know don't worry - it's definitely not your fault. It's me, not you. Expect a few more similar posts sharing some of my past projects.

This digital download contains a new translation of Philippo Vadi’s “On the Art of Swordfighting”(MS Vitt. Em. 1324) by Jamie MacIver, in PDF format. This new translation focuses …

23/08/2025

Slow sparring day at Waterloo Sparring Group today: only five of us and so I fenced everyone twice (8 fights). I decided to make every match with a different weapon. 4 longsword fights (Aureus, Regenyei, Sigi Maestro and Shorty), rapier & dagger, (different) single rapier, sabre and pair of sideswords (against longsword). Definitely a nice perk of WSG having moved to the London Historical Fencing Club venue! Saturday sparring sessions run 2-4pm are open to anyone cleared to spar at their own club, so if you want to come down (or are passing through London) come get some sparring in.

18/08/2025

Had a blast this weekend with Connor Kemp-Cowell - Hemaist and I teaching a whole weekend of Vadi as a double act, hosted Turun Historiallisen Miekkailun Seura ry. We covered a ton of material on guards, wide play and the middle sword and were both hugely impressed by how quickly folks picked things up and engaged with the material. Particular thanks to Tuomas for setting it up and Miro for helping get us there.

It was an absolute pleasure working with Connor - our interpretations broadly align and our teaching styles work well together despite having been created independently. Even where there are small differences we usually both see how the other's view is supported by the text and leads to good fencing...
.. but I'll confess publicly the interpretation of some core parts of chapter 15 (Defence Against the Rising Strikes) that he took us through is better than mine and I'm stealing it.

14/08/2025

Safety Tips Phase 2 planning is underway! Last weekend I asked the question: can I test protective equipment with the drop rig we created? Shorter answer - yes. More details coming soon, but Patreon backers just received an early update of the tests and results - so if you can't wait, join me on Patreon.

https://youtube.com/shorts/i1iH-N0qxQc

https://www.patreon.com/historicalfencingresearch

Safety Tips Phase 2 planning is underway! Last weekend I asked the question: can I test protective equipment with the drop rig we created? Shorter answer - y...

13/08/2025

And now for something completely different: ever wanted to know what the one tournament in the world to run Flail & Buckler is? Well now you can! With the help of HEMA Ratings and thanks to needing the appropriate licence to publish safety research (big thanks to my Patreon supporters for making that affordable) I've been able to produce the "HEMA Tournament Finder".

Powered by HEMA Ratings data, this interactive map allows you to find events across the world that have been submitted to HEMA Ratings and see how countries compare. Easily search by date, location, gender, or weapon(s) - and find out what events you missed and can maybe catch in future years. Data refreshes daily to match HEMA ratings and so will stay up-to-date as time goes on. Check it out with the link below (other useful links in the comments)

https://links.historicalfencingresearch.com/tournament-finder/

06/08/2025

My latest (after a brief hiatus) Coffee & HEMA video is up - where I discuss what I'm doing differently on the back of the safety research that has taken up most of my free time in the last year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp4qtjDfybg

After a year of safety research, what do we have to show for it? Well, quite a bit.

The short versions of my conclusions are:
1) Untipped swords (at least up to the size of a standard regenyei) in the wrong conditions can puncture lightly protected fencers
2) Some tips, notably rubber, vastly increase the force transferred to a mask
3) Safety conditions are wildly different in different areas of HEMA

I try to be cautious before recommending actions to the whole community, but I obviously use this research to make decisions about my own safety. Because I interact with so many different parts of the HEMA community, I need to consider how to stay safe in a wide variety of situations. So, for my own part, I'm tipping all of my swords with plastic and upgrading my equipment to 800N puncture resistance where possible. Tips help me keep my friends safe, and 800N material helps keep me safe when my opponents haven't extended the same courtesy.

The research that underpins this can be found here: https://historicalfencingresearch.com/updates/

The Coffee & HEMA series examines a range of different topics in Historical European Martial Arts. I try to make a point about an important area in the time ...

11/07/2025

My latest report as part of Safety Tips is out: "10 Case Studies in Puncture Risk" is now out. The most surprising thing about these case studies for us has been just how normal the fencing or equipment is in many of them, except for the resulting injury. Some key findings include:

* Even larger untipped swords can cause injury, as can tipped swords with smaller tips

*Non-Rated cloth is often not sufficient to prevent puncture by an untipped sword

*350N Rated cloth can be punctured by broken blades

*Unsafe behaviour combined with other safety factors can lead to severe injuries

Read the full report by following the link below

All of our safety research is community funded and we need your help to make it happen. If you find this report helpful, please consider supporting us through Patreon. Introduction About a month ag…