Dueling did not always go to plan, this can be seen by the fact that duels where mainly outlawed in many parts of Europe and also to the fact that duels had to be witnessed. Back in the 14th century this would involve a full judicial committee which was a public affair (many problems arrived when dueling went private as seen in France or Italy, this allowed matters of honor to be dealt with privately) an historical example of a public duel can be read in the last duelist:

July 21st saw the first Gray School of arms fencing for charity event, held in Dublin at the Sean O Casey community centre. The event was in support of the Dublin Simons charity helping to raise funds for the homeless.

Nathan Gray is happy to announce that he will be teaching fight choreography for stage and screen with highlanders Adrian Paul at the Sword experience in August 2018.

Recently we attended one of Dublin’s largest gaming conventions Gaelcon! Where we put on demonstrations, workshops and talks throughout the day.

The Atajo is a key technique in Destreza. While the word atajo literally means “Short cut” it is not an offensive technique, rather it is a way of controlling the opponent’s sword to defend yourself and thereby attack in safety.

Gray School of arms recently hosted the first invitational free sparring session in Dublin.

The invitational free sparring session is a group of clubs who meet up two to three times a month for Sparring with a range of weapons and disciplines within western marital arts.

A look at the military history of Spain and Ireland, and those Irish  who served the Spanish crown.

A look at what it is to be a teacher, and teaching WMA in general.

People from all parts of society participated. It was especially prevalent for nobles and soldiers in command to settle their affairs in such a manner.

Western martial arts, as with many forms of martial arts, were born out of violent times and the necessity to defend oneself. It was through such violence and the development of combative arts that a culture of judicial and non-judicial dueling came to flourish.

As a long time practitioner of martial arts I have seen and experienced many different combative systems. It has been a long search to find a system that suited not only my hunger for knowledge but also my own personal style.

Overall physical fitness is key to any martial artist’s success. In fact it is key to any form of discipline that requires the body to perform strenuous activity. It is physical fitness that I wish to discuss in this post, and the reasons as to why you should be doing it outside of class. Now let me first begin by saying that any martial arts instructor should! Be able to help students attain a high level of fitness in all areas, those being:

Certification. . . This is a topic that is full to the brim with politics and more often than not a nice dose of egomania. I have wanted to tackle this topic for a while now and with its ever encroaching presence in HEMA along with the ever growing controversy, I feel it’s the best time to do just that.