AEMMA Chapter formed in Stratford

Free Scholler William Brickman, a resident of Stratford is starting up an AEMMA chapter in Stratford, the inaugural class scheduled at 7pm, Tuesday, March 27th. The classes will be held in the gym at Shakspeare Public School located on 35 Mowat St., Stratford. Bill successfully tested for the rank of Free Scholler in December 2011, and is anxious to get a chapter up and running in Stratford. He will be instructing in the Fiore dei Liberi system, beginning with grappling, dagger and sword classes. AEMMA wishes Bill success in this endeavour and will enjoy complete support from the Academy. Visit the Chapter's website at stratford.aemma.org for further details on Bill and the training to be offered.

Pas d'armes, April 14, 2012

AEMMA is hosting its 5th annual armoured pas d'armes on Saturday, April 14th, 2012. The event will be held at the salle d'armes on the 2nd floor of 927 Dupont St. (near the intersection of Dupont and Ossington). The day will begin in the morning with the arrival of the combatants, repairs to their harness if needed, coffee & pastries for the volunteers and combatants. The bouts are scheduled to begin approximately 1pm and will continue till around 5pm. Visitors are welcomed to spectate, and ask that a "cover charge" of $10 per person be contributed to AEMMA to help support the cost of hosting such an event.After the bouts are concluded, the salle will be transformed into a dining venue with great food, pot-luck and other culinary delights.

Details on the event can be found by visiting the AEMMA website by clicking pas d'armes announcement. As more details and personnel are added to the event, the web pages will be updated to reflect these changes.

Bow Making Course returns in 2012!

The ever popular bow making course, instructed by Paul Micallef returns with its first instance this month, beginning on Jan 22nd for 6 weeks, concluding Saturday, Feb 25. The first three classes fall on the Sundays, Jan 22 & 29, Feb 5th, with the final three classes on the three consecutive Saturdays beginning with Feb 11 through to the 25th.

The course details:

• the course consists of six classes; each class is 2 hours long
• includes detailed instruction with lots of individual coaching
• students must supply: a spokeshave, a round file, and sandpaper
• no previous woodworking experience is needed
• students can complete a longbow valued at over $200 retail
• students will also learn how to make traditional bowstrings
  

Course fee: $200, which includes all materials, Registration and payment of fees (cash or cheque only) will take place just before the first class.

For more information on the course or to register, contact Paul Micallef with archery@aemma.org.

AEMMA Bow Making Course

AEMMA is happy to introduce a bow-making course, instructed by Paul Micallef. Students taking the classes will learn the bowyer's craft and make their own traditional longbow. There will be six Sunday classes, each class being 2 hours long. All materials (bowstaves & bowstring) are included in the low fee of $200. Students must supply a few basic tools including a sharp knife, a spokeshave, round file and sandpaper. The final product is a longbow which would retail for approx. $200. Courses begin on Oct 16 to Nov 20, 2011 between 3pm and 5pm. Contact Paul by clicking here.

Paul organizes and instructs the AEMMA archery group and the Royal Ontario Museum Mediaeval Longbow course. He still takes great pleasure in experimenting with and building primitive and mediaeval archery tackle. Paul helped start two archery clubs in BC and also gave seminars showing camp instructors how to teach archery. By then, Paul was an experienced woodworker, yet he found making archery tackle still pleasantly challenging.

How a man shall be armed...

David M. Cvet, President and Founder of AEMMA, delivered the very popular "How a man shall be armed in the 14th century" to a largely Slovenian audience at Dom Lipa Auditorium, 52 Neilson Dr, Toronto, a senior care facility catering to Slovenian elders on Sunday (Mother's Day), May 8 at 3pm. The audience was comprised approximately 1/2 by patients in the facility, and the other 1/2 by members of Slovenski Dom. Slovenski Dom is an association of members of Slovenian descent, which promotes and preserves Slovenian culture through hosting and organizing social, sport and charitable events and activities.

The presentation began with a powerpoint presentation introducing some mediaeval history of the Slovenian region, followed by the history of Slovenian heraldry and the state of Slovenian heraldry today. This was followed by the popular "How a man shall be armed...". Questions were fielded in both English and Slovenian. It was well received, most never having experienced anything like this form of presentation before.

Destreza: a reintroduction to Spanish swordsmanship

Maestro Ramón Martinez of the Martinez Academy in New York, will be coming to AEMMA to give a weekend workshop on Spanish Swordsmanship, la Verdadera Destreza, at the Fighting Arts Collective on Dupont St, May 14-15th. This workshop will pick up where the last workshop left off after last year's workshop in April, 2010, and as such, it will be generally reserved for three kinds of students of the art: 1) those who took the workshop last year, 2) those who are currently taking Italian rapier, and 3) those who have done Dall'Agocchie, or are currently in the Spanish study group on Wednesday nights. If you would like to attend but do not fit into one of those three categories, contact AEMMA.

The fencing equipment required will give people a good idea of what will be covered over the weekend. Without exceptions, all participants must have the following gear:

1. rapier,


2. fencing mask,


3. fencing jacket or gambeson (a sweatshirt, sweater, regular jacket is NOT an acceptable substitute),


4. leather gloves,


5. gorget is highly recommended,


6. 16th/17th century dagger for rapier, as a good chunk of the time will be spent with sword and dagger.

If you do not possess any one of the above items, and are not currently in the pursuit of them, contact AEMMA immediately so we can set some equipment aside. AEMMA has three rapiers which can be released on loan for the workshop, including up to two daggers.

The cost for the weekend will be $125, and AEMMA will require a $60 deposit by the end of this month (31st of March) to reserve your spot.

March Break @ the ROM

Since 2003, AEMMA has been delivering programs for the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) which includes annual static and dynamic displays and presentations during the March Break, to individual programs and lectures such as "How a man shall be armed in the 14th century" to classes including introduction to medieval swordsmanship, Italian rapier and medieval longbow.

This year is no different, with the conclusion of the Italian rapier classes, AEMMA will be participating once again in the March Break activities on and between March 14 - 18th. However, this year will be slightly different, in that static displays of arms and armour will not be included, but visitors and children will be treated to the usual plethora of medieval interests and activities including medieval dance, falconry and an interactive presentation of "How a man shall be armed in the 14th century" daily at 2pm.

However, the really big "production" is scheduled on the weekend of October 1 & 2, whereby, in partnership with the ROM, a medieval festival weekend entitled "The Field of the Feast of Archangels: A Fall Mediaeval Fair" which will be featuring medieval falconry and hunting, heraldry, and a historically authentic pas d'armes (armoured tournament) on the Saturday, and an unarmoured tournament on Sunday. A truly activity packed weekend for all to witness and experience the medieval period. Details are being worked out, and look forward to more information and brochures on that weekend distributed during March Break.