Uploaded November 2021 | Updated September 2026, 12 hours ago

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Fight like a Noble: Bolognese Sidesword at the Italian Court

Emilia Skirmuntt has trained how to hit people with swords and other objects for the last 19 years. During that time she has studied multiple weapons, systems, and in multiple different clubs, starting in Poland and then moving to London and Oxford. She has won medals in both women as well as open competitions both in the UK and abroad, fighting with longsword, rapier, rapier and dagger, saber, sidesword, and sidesword and buckler. She was also voted best technical fencer of By the Sword 2019. Emilia travelled around Europe leading workshops and seminars and was one of the representatives for the UK and Ireland HEMA team in the European Games taking place in Minsk in 2019. She is a member of the organising committees for the Wessex League, and Albion Cup, the biggest international competition in the UK. She also organised English Sidesword Open In Oxford in 2018.
Currently she is the head instructor for the Oxford Chapter of The School of the Sword. She teaches Italian longsword, dagger, rapier, sidesword, unarmed, and tomahawk techniques.

Thanks a lot to Emilia for this wonderful contribution and also to all people joining us on this weekend!

This is one of the six 45 min workshops which were given at the "Swords of the Renaissance II" in October 2021 here in Potsdam. A yearly international two day event with the focus on to create an open space that reflects both the diversity of the historical martial arts between the 15th and 17th centuries and the diversity of today’s practitioners. From the elegant movements of the Italians (Bologna), the deep stances of Fabris, the sporty demands in Germany (Meyer), the dancing forms of the Spaniards (Destreza), the space-creating presence of the Portuguese (Montante) to the grumpy Englishmen (Silver! – not our instructors… they are wonderful – not grumpy!) and many more.
The participants have the opportunity to deal with weapons and styles that are unknown to them by talking to the specialists in conversation and hands-on.

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