Lansing longsword group reclaims medieval martial arts  

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 30 — Donning heavy cloth armor, reinforced steel masks and 3-pound longswords, instructor Adam Franti and student Abbey Rich square up to duel. The pair dips, dives and thrusts around each other as the swords clack and ring with each blocked blow.

Though sword fighting in movies is often romanticized, the lethality of the situation is apparent. The blades dance together as the duelers take time to size up a thrust or strike. Each connecting impact of a longsword strike is heard on heavy cloth armor.

Rich lands a glancing blow to Franti’s chest. “Nice hit,” Franti said. 

The pair are part of the Lansing Longsword Guild, a 15-member group dedicated to the practice of 16th-century swordsmanship and martial arts. The guild is a member of the Historical European Martial Arts or HEMA. It is a club with 40 chapters worldwide.

Members learn how to use the longsword, dagger, dussack, rapier and polearm akin to efficient 16th-century soldiers. The Lansing Longsword Guild’s guide? German free fencer Joachim Meyer's “Gründtliche Beschreibung der Kunst des Fechtens,” which translates to “A Thorough Description of the Art of Combat.”  

“I started modern fencing in college for a few years,” Franti said. “I was an epeeist, but it was never like what I wanted it to be. I didn't even know what this was until I watched a documentary in 2010 called ‘Reclaiming the Blade.’”   

The documentary focuses on the history of the Medieval and Renaissance blade and how the art of its combat is being resurrected for modern western martial arts.

After learning more about “historical fencing,” Franti said he wanted to learn rapier, but gravitated to the longsword. 

The sparring longswords the group uses vary in weight and model, but all have dulled points and edges. The most common type is “feders,” which is German for feather. Franti’s feder was made in Poland.

By 2015, Franti focused on mastering Joachim Meyer’s manual of free fencing.

“Theoretically, the idea was if you learned how to fight, you can pick up any old thing and use it,” Franti said. “It teaches basic body mechanics, footwork and bladework. Once you learn that, you can apply it to any other weapon.”    

Student Abbey Rich got into western martial arts by researching sword fighting to better write a sword fight scene in a novel. Rich said she was searching combat videos on YouTube and came across a Facebook group offering a free beginner’s sword class. 

Since then, Rich went further back into western martial arts by practicing the sword and buckler by using a manual from the 1300s.

“It’s the oldest HEMA manuscript we found,” Rich said. “It’s written in Latin and is all in play form, where it is written between two combatants, a priest and a student.”  

The combat manual was housed in the ducal library of Gotha in Germany before being lost in WWII. In 1950, the manual resurfaced in Sotheby's auction and was purchased by Royal Armories, the U.K.’s national museum of arms and armor.

Rich said at one point a woman appears to spar with the instructor in the manuscript.

“That’s always a cool thing to show off. A lot of people think women didn’t fight back then, but they did. This hobby escalated from research to becoming a workout to getting into all the historical stuff.”  

The Lansing Longsword Guild meets 6 p.m. each Tuesday in Central United Methodist Church. Loner gear is provided and the first lesson is free.

For more information, visit  lansinglongsword.wixsite.com/website