Our group is named for Saint Didacus of Alcalá, known locally as San Diego. As a lay brother he, like common merchants and tradesmen, would have learned sword fighting for both exercise and civil defense. Without access to professional fencing masters from the large cities, they learned from manuals, travelers, and each other. The Scholars of Acalá focus on fencing manuals written in the 16th and early 17th century. This includes the knightly arming sword, the two-handed longsword, the common so …

SoCal Swordfight! is a community project of over 10 Historical European Martial Arts clubs sharing seminars and tournaments with the assistance of the HEMA Alliance, an educational non-profit promoting HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts). Everything we teach is either derived from an existing historical training manuscript (e.g. Leckuchner 1482 for langenmesser -- German "longknife" -- or Meyer 1570 for longsword), or is a living tradition such as Irish stick-fighting or Scottish wrestling. …

This is an official study group of the Association for Renaissance Martial Arts, where we study and practice European medieval and renassance martial arts from authentic original sources: http://www.thearma.org/ As a martial art, it is practiced with as much realism as is feasible. It also means that it is not a passive art like some Asian '-Do' arts, nor a sport like modern boxing, wrestling, or MMA, nor a performance art for the stage, screen, or renfaire, nor a Live Action Role-Playing group …