Alberto Bomprezzi started his martial artist career practicing karate in the Shotokan school in the early eighties, eventually switching to sport fencing where he competed at national level until the 2001 the year he retired to start researching and teaching historical fencing.
In the 2002 he founded the AEEA (Asociación Española de Esgrima Antigua) with only the Madrid group, but in few years the number grew and now 12 schools all over Spain work to spread historical fencing in the spanish territory. Since the 2006 he is a professional fencing teacher, the only one in Spain strictly focused on historical fencing.
His main interest are body mechanics as a way to develop practical methods that may be, through training, applied to all kind of straight double edged weapons. To that extent he trains and teaches longsword, sword and buckler, montante, cut and thrust, all kind of rapiers alone and with dagger and /or buckler.
From the theoretical and historical point of view though he studies all sources that may be useful to learn and improve, mainly Italian and german, he mainly uses, researches and teaches la Verdadera Destreza the spanish theoretical method of the XVI and XVII century based on geometry which he uses as a tool to analyze fencing and develop a true practical method for the use of historical weapons. He has also an interest on the southern XVII century and early XVIII century Italian style for its close relationship with the Spanish method.
In academical terms he has been teaching historical fencing to students of History in the Universidad Computense de Madrid. He was invited to participate in the 1st Congress of Military History held in 2014 where he participated with the conference “The military mindset as generator of a theoretical method to be used to learn how to safely face duels”.
The conference was published in the papers of the congress by Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
He has published articles in the specialized magazines:
- Arma Blanca – a specialized magazine on edged weapons
- Despertaferro – One of the most important History magazines in Spain, for which he often collaborates as an advisor for weapons and fighting styles of the XV,XVI and XVII centuries.
He has also participated in history documentaries on TV since the 2004:
- 2004 El Madrid de Alatriste made by National Geographic on the XVII century swordmanship
- 2015 El siglo de Aguila Roja made by RTVE – Radiotelevisiion Española the spanish televisión – on duels and history of swordmanship and fencing
He also he is a permanent teacher for the armament course of the IHCM – the spanish Institute of Culture and Military History – and collaborates with the Army Museum in Toledo and with the Royal Guard of Spain.
On the 2012 he was awarded the Great Cross of the Order of Santa Maria de España for his work of research and resurrection of la Verdadera Destreza.
Has a doctorate degree in English language and linguistics and a dual Master degree in English language and business administration and a minor in Spanish from the University of Giessen, Germany. He also studied at the UWM (USA) for his Bachelor degree and Universidad de Salamanca (Spain) during his Master degree studies. He is the founder and managing director of Razmafzar organization. He has written five books and published 151 print articles in different journals across the world, most of them in peer-review journals. He has won two major book awards in Iranian Studies. Dr Khorasani has been an active martial artist and wrestler since his childhood. He has revived historical Persian archery and swordsmanship and related Persian weapons and martial arts called Razmafzar. Dr. Khorasani also founded Niloufar Books a publishing house dedicated to the academic study of historical artifacts and history across the world.
Daniel Jaquet is a scholar specialized in HEMA studies (PhD in medieval History, University of Geneva 2013), an international instructor (HEMAC member since 2007) and a HEMA practitioner since 2004. He is specialized in armoured fighting, but his expertise also include civil fighting with longsword and wrestling 15c.-16c. He is currently vice-president of the Swiss HEMA Federation and president of the International HEMA Federation (IFHEMA).
Chris is a full-time teacher of martial arts. He comes from a background of boxing & sports/classical fencing, first studying the art of the sword under Master Jeff Elmes in 1987. Wishing to discover a more martial approach to the sword he began a study of the works of Saviolo in 1999 & in 2002 co-founded the 1595 Club with the aim of forming a school concentrating upon an examination and practice of Saviolo’s principles of swordplay and using them as a basis for a system of combat. Since that time he has been invited to teach, demonstrate, lecture and fence throughout the UK, and Europe. The 1595 Club now has chapters in England, Ireland and Italy.
