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The
world's foremost practitioner *Private Training Program Workshops and full ARMA 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. Advisory
& 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
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ARMA
Director John Clements
“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 one of the world’s foremost practitioner-instructors 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 historical fencing active today. He has practiced European cut-and-thrust swordsmanship and rapier fighting for more than two-and-a-half decades, researched swords and arms in 13 countries and taught classes and seminars on the subject in 11 countries. Based outside Atlanta, Georgia, he instructs nationwide and internationally as well as (since summer 2005) from his one-of-a-kind private facility, Iron Door Studio.
John
has been featured twice on The History Channel,
instructed cadets and officers in historical fencing at West Point, and
was a keynote presenter at the Sword 2000 event of
the New England Bladesmiths Guild, as well as the Schola St.
George Medieval Swordsmanship Symposium 2001 in San
Francisco. In 1982, he founded the Medieval Battling
Club, and in 1999 was the creator and a founding member of
the original Swordplay Symposium International.
He also presented at the 2001 Texas Medievalists Association annual
conference in San Antonio, the 2003 conference at the University of St.
Thomas, and the 13th Biennial New College
of South Florida conference on Medieval-Renaissance Studies 2002. He
has lectured for the History, Anthropology, and Military Science
departments at both Texas A&M and Texas A&M
International Universities.
He has presented on Medieval and Renaissance combatives to classes at
Brigham Young University, Rice University, and Furman
Universities.  Clements is also a patron member of the Oakeshott Institute, has consulted for the US Army's unarmed combative systems program, and has taught historical European martial arts to underprivileged kids at a college-prepatory academy in Houston. Previously, in 1993 he taught two semesters on swordsmanship at Western Nevada Community College, and in the state of Texas is a Court certified Expert Witness in the area of bladed combat. From 1997 to 2004 he taught public classes and private lessons in Houston, Texas. 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).
Currently John trains in longsword, sword & buckler, sword & dagger, spear, rapier & dagger, and is an ardent promoter of weapon sparring and of test-cutting. In the past decade, John has had the opportunity to practice with actual historical swords and has handled more than 200 antique European blades from the 12th to 17th centuries in private collections, auction houses, and museum storerooms across five countries. John is a member of the British Arms & Armor Society and helped pioneer the realistic use of both historical wooden training swords (wasters) and steel training swords (federschwerter). He has long advocated a true martial arts approach within the modern study of European fight literature.
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 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: 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 See some sample videos below:
"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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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 Oxford
University Press’s, 
Clements teaches,
lectures and writes on
historical European martial arts professionally and has authored
articles on swords and weapon fighting for magazines in 6 languages,
including: Military History, Renaissance
Magazine, Tactical Knives, Karate
International, Histoire' Medievale, Le
art de la Guerre, Master at Arms, 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). 
John has presented
historical fencing seminars and workshops
in more than two dozen cities across North America and Europe. He
has also 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 and the National Arms Museum in Hungary. 
