Weird as it may seem, Toronto, a modern city of glass and steel, is also a city of shining plate armor and flashing swords.
BY THE BOOK
Everyone’s familiar with martial arts like karate, tae kwon do, and kung fu. However, most people don’t realize that medieval Europe had a tradition of martial arts, too. Knights had to learn to wield sword, lance, and axe with the same skill as Japanese samurai. Of course, unlike in Japan, there is no living tradition of how to do this. This is where the discipline of Historical European Martial Arts comes in: Using detailed manuals left to us by fencing masters of the past, HEMA practitioners aim to reconstruct how knights actually fought. Toronto’s Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts (AEMMA), founded in 1998, is one of the oldest HEMA clubs in North America. Using the manuscripts of Fiore dei Liberi, a medieval Italian fencing master, AEMMA members lovingly re-create and research the fighting skill of the medieval warrior—and then apply them.
In other words, grown men in downtown Toronto dress up in medieval armor and beat the crap out of each other with steel weapons.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
“When people think of this, they think of some crackpot in his backyard or basement with a sword. But with the Internet, you can find other crackpots in their basements and build a community,” joked Brian McIlmoyle, AEMMA’s lead instructor.
AEMMA members are more than just “crackpots,” though: There’s a lot of skill involved. “A lot of people think medieval warfare is all about brutality—smashing and crashing and whoever was strongest won,” says Kel Rekuta, a senior AEMMA member. “The reality is, like any other martial art or professional sport, you have to train for it.”
AEMMA’s brand of medieval mayhem has also won them kudos from academic circles. Students and professors at the University of Toronto have become interested in Fiore dei Liberi, and the group has joined forces with the Royal Ontario Museum to present an annual tournament in the armor gallery.