Interdisciplinary campus festival project of FB 02 and 05: Game of Swords! The revival of medieval European fencing as sport and science

The Middle Ages are currently booming! Films, novels, medieval music, medieval markets, fantasy, re-enactment, LARP, historical fencing as a sport - the Middle Ages are being received, reproduced and virtually reinvented in the most diverse settings, forms of discourse and action in a highly creative way. Fighting with pre-modern melee weapons, i.e. swords, halberds, knives and the like, seems to have a particular fascination. However, questions about what actually constitutes THE Middle Ages, to what extent we have reliable knowledge about this era and what motives actually drive these medieval receptions are usually lost sight of. Rarely is there a more intensive exchange between academic and experiential engagement with the Middle Ages, although there is certainly great potential for knowledge in both directions. The recourse to pre-modern forms of agonal-violent conflict resolution appears to be increasing significantly at present and requires more intensive and in many respects interdisciplinary investigation.
The project aims to trace these phenomena with a mixture of academic background information, entertaining combat presentation and critical discourse between swordplay practitioners, academics and an interested audience. The event will open with three short keynote speeches (5 minutes each), which will provide brief background information on fencing books, battle narratives in medieval novels, political and gender-theoretical aspects of the exercise of violence and aspects of sport history. Athletes from the "Historisches Fechten Gießen e.V." association will then give a practical introduction to the art of fencing and provide insights into weaponry, tactics and movement routines. Finally, there will be a moderated discussion with the athletes, the participating scientists and the audience on questions of pre-modern fencing and its role in our present day. After the presentation, the audience will also be able to try their hand at fencing under supervision.

Persons involved (subject areas):

Norbert Hagemann (FB 05, Sports Science/Psychology and Society)
Christian Jaser (FB05, Medieval History)
Agnieszka Komorowska (FB02, French Literature)
Michael Mecklenburg (FB02, Ältere deutsche Literaturwissenschaft)
Sabine Ruß-Sattar (FB05, Comparative Politics)
Angela Schrott (FB02, Romance Linguistics)
Jan-Henrik Witthaus (FB02, Spanish Literature)
Historisches Fechten Gießen e.V.(https://hisfec-giessen.de/)

Location:
Platz in front of the University Library (arcades in rainy weather)