The Armour Archive

Dear all,

The Higgins is a real rarity: A museum of arms and armor that is also one of the world's most important centers for the study of historical martial arts. If you haven't already, please revisit our newly redesigned website at higgins.org/ and click on "Academy of the Sword" to see our Western Martial Arts programs.

In January we'll be offering some exciting classes, together with a new and more affordable fee structure. On Saturday the 21st (after our January 14th appearance at Arisia in Boston), we'll be beginning the 10:30 Saturday salle session from the ground up, with Fiore dei Liberi's system for unarmed combat and self-defense.

Also beginning in January 28th, we'll be having a three-weekend introductory class to let you hit the ground running with longsword, rapier, and Viking combat techniques. Of course, we'll also be holding our usual weekday foil, épée, sabre, rapier, bâton/stick, and Viking classes during the week.

A full listing of classes is viewable here. If you have kids, be sure to bring them to vacation-week workshops!

Even if you never use any of Fiore's techniques, the class is still very useful. It provides you with a framework for understanding and analyzing sword combat. You can then take this framework and apply it to your own collection of fighting techniques. All but the most advanced fighters will gain some useful insight. And the most advanced fighters probably already have a similar framework of their own.