Evolution
500 Years of Hand to Hand Combat
The Sessions
Medieval Grappling & Dagger Fighting
This lesson is based on surviving manuscripts from Fiore dei Liberi de Premariacco dating back to around 1409 AD.
Fiore was a gifted martial artist and developed a love for fighting arts from a very young age. We know from his writings that he spent a lot of money training with masters until he himself became a master of martial arts.
Fiore's teachings were all tried and tested in battle, he trained many Knights and noblemen the art of battle for war and judicial combat.
Fiore didn't mess around, he concentrates on fast aggressive movements that flow into each other as the body naturally moves under its own momentum. This conserves energy for continuous fighting against multiple enemies while providing you with a good offensive and defensive fighting position. His defence often involves attacking into an attack and redirecting your opponent into armlocks, dislocations and throws. He even throws in eye gouging and twisting of more sensitive body parts for good measure!
Classical Pugilism
Around 1800, pugilism was very popular in England amongst all social
classes. It was used by professional prize-fighters who fought
gruelling, bare-knuckle fights for prize-money, and was also found in
gentlemanly sparring-schools where the middle and upper classes could
learn the 'science of defence' for recreation and protection against
insolence and assault in the streets. In addition to punching skills
18th/19th century pugilism also incorporates basic wrestling
techniques as the rules permitted throwing as well as holding and
punching as late as the 1860s. Even up until the early 20th century
some authors incorporated throws into their treatises, noting that
these were to be reserved for the street rather than the ring. The
lack of gloves required a somewhat different striking technique and
guard from the modern sport.
This session will give an introduction to
commonly-used strikes and blocks as well as spending some time on
throws suitable for the clinch
WWII Unarmed Combat
William Ewart Fairbairn was a British Infantryman who joined the Shanghai Municipal Police in 1907. Whilst there he studied Jujutsu and various Chinese Martial Arts before developing his own system of combat which he called Defendu. Police records show him as having been involved in over 600 fights during his service and he always claimed that his system was based on those things that actually worked.
During WWII he was commissioned onto the General List along with Eric Sykes. He spent the war training UK, US and Canadian Commandos unarmed combat, knife fighting as well as handgun shooting. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was awarded the US Order of Merit for his work. He has been suggested as an inspiration for the character James Bond and is most famous for his part in the development of the Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife.
This session will cover the striking, grappling and throwing skills taught to Allied Commandos during WWII. It is no exaggeration to say that Fairbairn's fighting skills helped the Allied Forces win the war.