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| ARMA Director John Clements
The
world's foremost practitioner Private Training Program Workshops and full Seminars available: Contact us with requests and information on fee and travel schedule. Presentation and lecture requests are welcome. Private lessons also available. Special arrangements possible for video, motion-capture, and CGI modeling.
Offering Professional Fight Arrangement and Fencing Stunt-work for Film, Television, and Motion-Capture: John Clements brings an unrivaled mastery of actual historical combat techniques for creating never-before seen action featuring a unique spontaneous arrange fight execution system of martially sound, historically accurate, visually dynamic, and physically intense material. Featuring an authoritative and pioneering program with a dynamic and highly original alternative outside the box of current standards, he offers a new alternative to the dry, over-used cliches of entertainment industry fight certification.
Advisory and
Consultancy Services:
"What we demonstrate in a presentation is a reconstructed exhibition of authentic European martial arts skills delivered not for amusing performance or stunt display, but education, cultural heritage, and self improvement." - John Clements Email the ARMA Director at: theARMA@comcast.net  Instructing in an unmatched historical curriculum   Arranging dynamic fight action sequences
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“Every Art has this property of being clear to those trained in it, so that thence comes this maxim, ‘Believe the man who is skilled in his art.” - Anonymous Parisian theologian, 1398 John Clements is a leading authority on historical fencing and the world’s foremost instructor of Medieval and Renaissance fighting methods. As a long-time Western martial artist who has been studying historical fencing since 1980, John is the most prolific writer on the subject of historical fencing. He has practiced European cut-and-thrust swordplay and for more than thirty years, taught on it in 16 countries, and researched arms and armor on four continents. He instructs both nationwide as well as internationally and (since 2005) from his one-of-a-kind private facility, Iron Door Studio, based outside Atlanta, Georgia.
John is featured in PBS NOVA's Secrets of the Viking Sword (2012) and performed and directed foot-combat sequences for the 2011 National Geographic Channel documentary, Medieval Fight Book --the first ever television program of its kind to cover the work of a historical European Master of Defense. He was also featured prominently in and contributed to the 2009 documentary film, Reclaiming the Blade. He also appeared in the documentary special featurette, "Knights in Training," on the 2008 special edition Blu-Ray re-release of the film, First Knight. He was also the writer and producer of the first of its kind web documentary on Renaissance martial arts. John's writings on swordsmanship and historical close-combat have appeared in eleven different published books since 2001. He was a contributing author on close combat and fighting arts to The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology (2010). John was a major consultant for the youth title, Warrior VS Warrior (Kingfisher 2010), and was senior editor and contributor on, Masters of Medieval and Renaissance Martial Arts (Paladin Press, 2008). He has written on the nature of historical bladed combat for the anthology, Spirit of the Sword (Krause Publications 2010).
In his work on reviving forgotten European fighting arts, Clements teaches, lectures and writes on historical European martial arts professionally and has authored articles on swords and weapon fighting for magazines in seven languages, including: Medieval Warfare Magazine, Military History, Renaissance Magazine, Tactical Knives, Journal Of Martial Arts Anthropology, Karate International, Histoire' Medievale, Le art de la Guerre, Master at Arms, Game Developer, The Sword, Hop-Lite, Sword Forum International, Rapio Journal, Pallasch, and Dragon magazine. He was a contributor on arms and combat to the archaeological anthology, Cutting Edge (Tempus Pub. 2007), and the anthology, Hundred Years War: A Wider Focus (Brill, 2005), as well as a major contributor on historical fencing and editorial board member for the new Martial Arts of the World encyclopedia from ABC-CLIO Press (2001). In just the first decade of the 21st century, no fewer than nine current or former students of John's have gone on to author books on this subject. No other instructor of the subject can make anywhere near a similar claim.
In September 2010, John
was inducted into the World Martial Arts Union (WoMAU) as the official
representative for the martial arts of Renaissance
Europe. Under the official patronage of UNESCO, the WoMAU is a
Non-Governmental Organization for sustaining
Intangible Cultural Heritage. As a delegate
to the Union, John advises for the promotion of
authentic Western European fighting arts from the
14th to 17th centuries.
John is also the author of the groundbreaking books Medieval Swordsmanship: Illustrated Methods & Techniques (Paladin Press, Nov ’98) and Renaissance Swordsmanship: The Illustrated Use of Rapiers and Cut-and-Thrust Swords (Paladin Press, March '97).
John trains primarily in longsword, sword-and-buckler, sword-and-dagger, spear, rapier, and is an ardent promoter of weapon sparring and test-cutting. In the past 12 years, he has had the opportunity to practice with actual historical swords, handling more than 200 antique European blades from the 12th to 17th centuries in private and public collections across 14 countries. John is a member of the British Arms and Armor Society and helped pioneer the realistic use of both historical wooden training swords (wasters) and steel training swords (federschwerter). In September 1994, John took first place in the Advance Weapon-Sparring competition of the US National's Kung Fu tournament, in Orlando, Florida. He is a member of the Georgia Association of Historians and was a feature presenter on Renaissance swords at the 2006 Blade Show in Atlanta.
As a promoter of the restoration of historical fencing as valuable part of our intangible cultural heritage, Clements has long advocated a true fighting discipline approach toward the study of forgotten European fight literature.
As a full-time professional writer-researcher and practitioner of historical fencing, Clements has committed his life to a career in advancing and promoting the study of Medieval and Renaissance combatives. He presently teaches and researches on historical fencing full-time while working on book, video, and consulting projects about the subject.
To quote ARMA instructor John Clements: "As a historical fencer and Renaissance martial artist, I can think of nothing more satisfying than to simply declare, '...Yes, I am a swordsman.'"
Read some of John Clements' articles here: Our New "Rosetta Stone" - Advancing Reconstruction of Forgotten European Fighting Arts Why Are There So Many Kinds of Swords? Top Myths of Renaissance Martial Arts What did Historical Swords Weigh? Historical
Fencing Study - The British Legacy
Pinder's Contest - 16th
century rural English Prizing Peachey
the Shoomaker's
Challenge The
Myth of Cutting vs. Thrusting Swords Wasters -
The history of wooden swords Renaissance Martial Arts
Literature Using the “F" Word – The Role of Fitness in Historical Fencing Questions and Answers About the Rapier The Weighty Issue of Two-Handed Great-swords
"John Clements a leading
authority on Medieval and Renaissance Combat.
He has shaken the dust off of the real
history of our European Combat Heritage and has
brought it back to life accurately and honestly,
in all its brutal and elegant forms.
Seeing John in action is a testament to
the effectiveness of the actual fighting skills
that these knights and nobles perfected and used
in real life and death combat." “John
Clements is a very knowledgeable and insightful
martial artist. His research and methods,
particularly in the interface between fighting
with weapons and grappling, have been very
helpful to the development of our program." “I have found
John Clements' workshops on Medieval and
Renaissance martial arts in "I thoroughly
enjoyed and learned much from the ARMA seminar that
I participated in. I found John Clements to be very
knowledgeable and skilled in the use of realistic
weaponry of medieval and renaissance “The
ARMA training curriculum is just about as solid
as you can get. It's progress from simple drills
to full speed applications is the best I have
seen. This is reality training at it's best.
John projects an intensity in his instruction
that is hard to not get caught up in. His energy
and zeal are remarkable." "I have found
John Clements to be expert lecturer on subject of
Western Martial Arts. John possesses understanding
of both framework of martial arts in general, as
well as minute details - and that combined with
his passion makes for very enjoyable
seminars."
-
Keith Ducklin “John Clements is
a superb martial artist and exemplifies this in
his use of the longsword…anyone who wants to
explore Western martial skills should take any
possible opportunity to train with John Clements." "John Clements is a
pioneer, Western martial artist, eclectic
reconstructionist, and accomplished author. His
unswerving dedication to uncovering the Western
martial arts is unparalleled. This renaissance
has given practitioners connection with their
heritage."
“John Clements and
his associates at ARMA put on a wonderful
demonstration for a focused audience at the
Philadelphia Museum of Art. His researched
lecture included fascinating illustrations of art
and history that helped illuminate the Museum’s
collection and our commitment to the artistry of
martial objects. Of course the highlight of
the workshop was the fighting demonstration that
allowed the audience to experience first-hand a
different—and equally important—artistry.
Many audience members expressed their enjoyment in
seeing weapons in action and the techniques and
strategies of Renaissance martial combat. All
in all, John Clements presentation was excellent; it
gave new life to the objects on view in our
galleries.”
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As a fight instructor and
experimental historian, John Clements has given
fencing seminars and workshops in 24 states and
across North America and Europe. He presented
demonstrations of Medieval and Renaissance martial
arts at the Royal Armouries in Leeds and the Wallace
Collection Museum in London, the Philadelphia Museum
of Art, as well as exhibited at Oxford University,
the Danish Medieval Center, and the National Arms
Museum in Budapest, Hungary. In December 2011,
he presented the first ARMA seminar in St.
Petersburg, Russia. John has also lectured on 
Clements is also a founding
patron member of the 
