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Our Year in Review Report - 2004 By John Clements This is the fifth of our annual review columns. It is astounding that yet another year has passed. I write this statement every year it seems. But every year it’s true. And every year our knowledge of Renaissance martial arts grows in breadth and depth. As with each previous year we witnessed continued growth in historical fencing studies, a strengthening of scholarship, improvement in understanding, sharpening of skills, and even greater camaraderie among us. Here now are some highlights of the past year:
In 2004 ARMA held major events across the USA and Europe, including a NTP 1.3 at Provo, Utah in January, a February workshop in Melbourne, Florida, and a special test-cutting day outside of Houston, Texas. In February, ARMA held “Southern Knights,” our first regional event, in America’s “duelling city,” New Orleans. Attended by more than 30 members from around the Gulf States it featured classes from 7 instructors on 6 different fighting weapons and styles. The success of this event spurred us to arrange other annual regional events in lieu of larger bi-annual international ones.
ARMA has long stressed the import of both prowess and scholarship combined, while acknowledging that each alone has an important role on its own. For those in our organization who are still developing either, we stress the virtue of maintaining good character. A change to our organization in 2004 that was received with enthusiasm was the addition of a Code of Conduct. For ARMA this means Respect for History and Heritage. The more deeply we immerse ourselves in the teachings of the historical source literature, the clearer it becomes that there is often a strong ethical component within the fighting guides. They were not just concerned about self-defense isolated from human concern but often address when and where and under what conditions it was appropriate to use violent force. More subtle and practical than familiar chivalric notions of the period, this philosophical element reflects ideals of Latin Christendom as well as both Classical virtues and the new Humanism of the age. Since the 12th century knights in particular had already recognized the virtues of Sapientia, Fortitudo, Prudentia—or reason, courage, and caution. Thus, ARMA took as our Credo of Renaissance Martial Arts Studies: Sincerity of Effort, Integrity of Scholarship, Appreciation of Martial Spirit, and Cultivation of Self-Discipline. Applied to the pursuit of our craft, to our scholarship, our art, our personal training and advancement, these four ideas cannot help but also come to impact upon how we conduct ourselves in our daily lives—and as a result, upon our interaction with our family, friends, community or church. We come to understand the reality of Medieval and Renaissance martial history not as mere weekend chivalric role-play or escapist cavalier theatrics, but as something considered and weighed. We come to understand honor as personal principal, not an abstract occasionally discarded when inconvenient in business dealings, civic responsibilities, or private affairs. Who would have thought…Renaissance martial arts builds character. What a concept. That was 2004 for ARMA.
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In
2004 ARMA broke the 400 member barrier with one 60 day period resulting
in over 30 new applicants—one almost every two days. Overall,
our membership “churn rate” as been a healthy 6 to 1. We added new
Study Groups in Las Vegas, Ohio, Wisconsin, New York, as well as
our first ever in Hong Kong and two more in Sweden. We also added
2 new Senior Free-Scholars. In February we witnessed the successful
Senior Free-Scholar Prize Playing of Stewart Feil at BYU in Provo.
During the summer a successful Senior Free-Scholar Prize Playing
for long-time member Gene Tausk was held outside Houston and for
the first time in a custom champ clos
It is continually heartening to witness the numbers of people around the world committing to our campaign for excellence in the discipline of historical fencing studies. Our ratio of new and returning members this summer and fall has been astounding.
A
significant addition to our structure was the establishment of a
new Senior Researcher
ARMA continued to acquire new
works and research materials and continued further to make inroads
into our understanding of the historical source literature, particularly
with the German longsword styles and the teachings of Liechtenauer
and Meyer. Our curriculum for longsword in particular was refined
and amended to a greater degree than ever and we continued discovering
historical validation for our drills and exercises. 
The
year of 2004 was our largest for new articles, essays and editorials.
We continued to push the envelope with a major piece on the importance
of physical conditioning and fitness in historical fencing, an important
article on the actual weight of Medieval swords, the most in depth
research piece yet produced on the history of the pell, and an important
research article on edge damage. A major article of Questions and
Answers about the Rapier was produced this year that ended up being
the largest and most detailed stand-alone article ever written on
the weapon or for the Web. The piece also presented material and
original research never before compiled or pointed out regarding
the nature of the weapon. We received a tremendous amount of positive
response for offering this informative article. 
Another major
article was produced covering the weight of two-handed great swords,
which ended up as the most detailed and informative yet written
on this often misrepresented topic. ARMA Stockholm prepared a useful
and insightful analysis of unarmed techniques, ARMA South Florida
continued building on its excellent Joachim Meyer resource, VAB
put together an excellent introduction to armored combat, Jeffrey
Hull presented his own research into Martin Siber, and a combination
of members put together an important new article on the Mastercuts.
The members’ area had several major additions including a lengthy
Liechtenauer study guide, translations of 15th century
dagger manuals, several new training articles, and new videos. We
rounded out the year with one of the most important pieces we have
yet featured, that on Core Assumptions.
In
2004 we held our first ever seminars in Athens, Greece and Budapest,
Hungary. ARMA-Poland Study Group leader Bart Walczak also once again
proudly represented us at the annual HEMAC event in Dijon, France.
In May, Bart Walczak also instructed at a HEMAC event in Vienna
and gave a seminar on the Codex Wallerstein
Members
also held smaller training days in Long Beach, Mississippi as well
as in the Atlanta, Georgia area under Director John C.
