The Historical European Martial Arts Coalition was founded in 2001 by
western martial arts practitioners and researchers from various European
countries, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Norway and Poland.

Since then it has more than doubled in size, held ongoing events, and now
has members also in Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland.
The two primary objectives of HEMAC are:

1. To share and cooperate with research,
2. To organise events, to further aid the exchange of information.

HEMAC has no hierarchy and is a 'round-table' organisation. Decisions are
made by democratic process.

It is also in the spirit of HEMAC to help and nurture new practitioners and
researchers and help them flourish, by aiding them in their researches and
learning.
It does not seek to inflict rules or regulations on any member or member
group - It simply exists as a coalition of friendly individuals who want to
help each other.

HEMAC is made up of individuals, but any member may choose to call their
group a 'HEMAC Group' if they so choose.
HEMAC has a private members' mailing list which has been operative since the
conception of HEMAC in 2001. The website is open to the general public and any individual can become a registered user of the website and be included in the information sharing, about European Martial Arts and about Hemac events.

Upon entering HEMAC, each member should provide some research, article or
source material which will become part of the website, therfore available under a free licence to the learning community.

It is expected that contribution to HEMAC in various ways is an ongoing exercise by its members, leading to continual growth of scholarship. So far, submissions
include transcriptions and translations of some well known and lesser known
fighting manuals, as well as articles (eg. Ringeck translation, Doebringer
transcription, Cotton Titus transcription etc).

HEMAC held their First Annual Event in Dijon in March 2002, and their Second
Annual Event in May 2003. Both events were resounding successes, and there
have been additional HEMAC events in various countries, with many more in
the planning. These events saw not only HEMAC members presenting material,
but also other respected practitioners - all people are welcome at HEMAC
events.

To contact HEMAC you can mail any of the members individually or simply use this website.

the HEMAC forum agreed unanimously on this version of the manifesto