Combat reenactment

Combat reenactment is a side of historical reenactment which aims to depict historical forms of combat. This may refer to either single combat, melees involving small groups, or nearly full-scale battles with hundreds of participants.

Depending on the intended effect, performances may have the aim of presenting historical martial arts reconstruction, or just offer entertainment, and different groups have different standards of authenticity.

Demonstration of historical fencing begins with Alfred Hutton in the 1890s.

The Association for Renaissance Martial Arts distinguishes the following modes of historical martial arts demonstrations:

In the 2000s, several competition events for choreographed historical martial arts demonstrations were originated, combining the judgement of aspects of historical fencing techniques, stage combat qualities like acting and entertainment value, as well as historical accuracy of costumes and equipment.

Today, tent pegging is the only form of jousting officially recognized by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports. Ring jousting became the official state sport of Maryland in 1962 and was the first official sport of any American state. The Italian town of Arezzo continues to hold an annual jousting tournament, which dates to the Crusades.. Modern theatrical medieval-style jousting competitions are popular at American Renaissance fairs and similar festivals, and feature riders on horseback attempting various feats of skill with the lance, which may not always have a basis in history.

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