RESOURCES

Please find web resources and information we hope will help you to understand what FSMD does, and guide you to a better understanding of the the medieval era and its martial arts.

The medieval world around the end of the 14th century was undergoing changes at all levels of society.  Systems of government, religion and society were slowly transitioning from the feudal model into a form more recognisably modern.

The paid soldier was now the norm, and although advances in warfare such as the longbow had shaken the chivalric ideal of single combat by mounted knights, the noble warror still held this virtue close. Tournaments and tournament troupes formed, with warriors plying their skill at arms to earn their keep on the field of honour. Whilst every culture in the Western world had differing ways of organising the tournaments, its fundamental truth never vaired :  Two or more knights performing deeds of arms, strength and courage before the gathered nobility.

Arms and armour found their pinnacle in this age  Knights in both mail and plate armour where the shining beacon of the the battlefield.  However, the wide-spread adoption of gunpowder - agianst which no practical armour was proof - was just around the corner.  The armoured knight's days were numbered.

We are at a unique moment in history, for has there has never been so information available to the scholar of the medieval age as now.  While this wealth of knowledge can never be considered to be comprehensive, it is sufficient to enable us to recreate this unique martial art and immerse ourselves in the culture that sustained it.