Gladiatoria is a short action movie written and produced by Norwich HEMA Society in an attempt to create a fight scene using authentic historical longsword and polearm fighting techniques, including half swording, poleaxe use, pommel strikes and grappling.
The techniques used were taken from medieval fight manuals, including Fiore dei Liberi's “Flower of Battle”, Le Jeu de la Hache and Codex Gladiatoria, from which this film is titled.

We wanted to depict the fighting style of the medieval Knight, showing the correct technique for fighting in medieval armour ( suit of armour or harness) whilst showing how the medieval perception of success in combat was a mixture of skill and a belief that God would choose the victor, based around piety and divine justice.

Our short films were inspired by the “Knight of Hope” by Andorea, and “Fiore” by AM productions, which had a big influence on us, and set the bar for how armoured fighting and choreography could and should be depicted. Our films typically are made on a minimal budget and edited by our members, but we hope that you enjoy them.

Norwich HEMA society regularly train in deconsecrated churches, which brings in revenue for the Norwich Historic Churches Trust to maintain and care for these beautiful historic venues. This Knightly Duel was filmed at St Laurence Church, which is a medieval church in medieval quarter of Norwich, England.

Featuring Adrian Horne, Adam Fuller, Tim Wilson and Jack Wishart from Norwich HEMA society.

If you enjoyed this short film, please remember to like, share and subscribe, as it really helps our channel grow. Feel free to leave feedback in the comment section below. We intend to launch more armoured Knight videos soon.

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