Meyer Freifechter Guild
The Meyer Freifechter Guild is an International fencing guild devoted to the study of Joachim Meyer’s 1560 manuscript, 1570 book and Rostock manuscript on the knightly arts of combat. with a secondary focus on associated histories and arts of the period.
The Meyer Freifechter Guild Inc. is a Historical European martial Arts organization and a registered Not For Profit Corporation with a stated mission to educate the public on the many facets of martial arts in the Renaissance.
Our goal is to reproduce the considerable martial skill of Renaissance Europe, specifically the German Art of Combat (Kunst des Fechten or kunstfechten), to do this we follow a methodology designed to cultivate true martial skills by training, study and testing (free play). We fight in the manner of the German Fechtschule. Our focus is on the work of the most prominent Frei Fechter, Fechtmeister Joachim Meyer (possibly also a FederFechter) and his magnificent work on the free and noble knightly arts of combat in 1570. We study the many weapons of the Fechtschule. Longsword, Dussack, Rappier, Staff, Halberd, Dagger, Wrestling and with some attention to Sword & Buckler outside of the Meyer system but using its concepts.