HEMA kit history part 1

This post is to give ideas on how to build a historically inspired supply of weapons in a club or personal collection based on period materials and modern comparisons for safety.

Let's start with Europe:

Ancient period (Bronze Age to fall of Rome): historically, only wooden wasters were used as noted with the rudis as mentioned by Vegetius and a survival of from Ireland. For safety in HEMA, nylon will suffice such as Purpleheart Armoury and Black Fencer. A loophole for using blunt steel is that the cavalry spatha already has a fairly spatulated tip

Dark Ages: historically they may have only used wooden wasters or sticks. Nylon works here as well as the spatha loophole for most swords of this period.

Middle Ages: this is when steel fencing weapons begin to appear, mostly for tournaments and later, the feder. Wood was still used, so substitute nylon. Daggers wear sometimes leather. Also, practice polearms start to appear in the form of leather heads. In these cases, leather can be used as is or substituted with rubber. Hafts can now be made of rattan.

Mair

Renaissance: this is when fencing equipment started to flourish. Feders, wasters, blunt steel, and leather gear continue to be used. Rapiers and parrying daggers are known for being steel, and occasionally wood. Dussacks were often leather-covered wood. Also, single-sticks are developed being a simple stick- historically of ash, modernly as rattan- and a leather or wicker basket-hilts (which could be substituted with plastic

Enlightenment (late 17th century through Napoleonic era): another era with an abundance of fencing gear, this era sees single sticks, wasters, foils as seen in Olympic fencing, as well as the continued use of staves and steels.

Victorian era: foils, single sticks, wasters, and staves were still used. Steel gymnasium sabres become popular. Epees (Olympic style) are introduced as an alternative to foils. Towards the end, fencing bayonets become popular, mostly as spring plungers.