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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. Advisor & Consultancy Services:
Ask about the Renaissance Martial Arts Lecture Series, Homeschooling Program, & Corporate Fun Day Events. What we demonstrate in an exhibition is a reconstructed example of authentic European martial arts skills delivered not for simple entertainment performance or stunt display but education, enlightenment, and self-development. Email the ARMA Director at: theARMA@comcast.net
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ARMA
Director John Clements 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 decades, researched swords and arms in 12 countries and taught classes and seminars on the subject in 10 countries. From 1997 to 2004 he taught public classes and private lessons in Houston, Texas. 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's writings on swordsmanship have appeared in 7 different historical fencing books since the year 2000. He 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, Hammerterz Forum, Hop-Lite, Sword Forum International, Rapio Journal, Pallasch, and Dragon magazine. He was also a contributor on arms and combat to the archaological 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 historcial fencing seminars and workshops in cities across North America and Europe, including, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Orlando, Atlanta, Los Alamos, Princeton, and New Orleans, as well as Calgary, Krakow, Stockholm, Munich, Athens, Budapest, Mexico City, and Haifa, Israel. 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 Philidelphia Musem of Art, as well as exhibited at Oxford University and the National Arms Museum in Hungary. 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, 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 Univeristy 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 Univeristy, Rice University, and Furman Universities. John also lectured on historical combat at the Origins gaming convention '02 and has consults on historical combat for the game industry. 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. John has personally consulted with leading experts and scholars in Europe and America, practiced with the Fight Interpreters at the Royal Armories, and privately toured several famous arms museums and sword collections. He 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 currently trains in long-sword, sword & buckler, sword & dagger, spear, rapier & dagger, and is an ardent promoter of contact-weapon sparring and test-cutting with sharp replicas. In the past 5 years, 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 historical wooden training swords (wasters) and a true martial arts approach within the modern study of period fencing texts. 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. 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's 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 a few video clips here:
Practice of unarmed disarming counters
"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." - Ernest Emerson - Matt
Larsen
- Keith Ducklin
“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.” -- Adam Johnson, Staff Lecturer for Academic Affairs
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