HEMA stands for Historical European Martial Arts. It is a broad, overarching term for the study and practice of historical European martial practices, both with weapons and unarmed. This typically spans from medieval times through the classical fencing period. Individual HEMA schools have their own focus, both in terms of weapon forms practiced and culture/school studied. At Boston Academie d’Armes, we focus primarily on thrust-centric weapons in the Franco-Italian system of fencing of the early-modern period (17th Century) through Victorian era (19th Century), including the rapier and its secondaries , and classical fencing with the smallsword/dueling sword, and the dueling saber. HEMA includes classes in a school, competitive bouting tournaments, cutting demos & tournaments, workshops, research & translation, and more.