Battle of the Nations (Medieval Tournament)

The Battle of the Nations is an international historical medieval battles world championship, first held in 2009, and held in Europe in April every year since. It is a full contact competition, using metal weapons, and a standardized list of rules. National teams in HMB compete at the championship in several standard nominations, including "Triathlon Duel", "Professional fights", "5 vs 5", "21 vs 21" and "all vs all". All battles are full contact, no stage reenactment battles are organized at the championship. In 2012 25 teams representing 25 countries entered the tournament

Main Provisions
National teams of different countries compete at “Battle of the Nations”. Under the rules of BN a national team has to consist of at least 8 and maximum of 50 fighters. Any representative of any of the HMB clubs, as well as an individual fighter, provided he has gone through a selection process conventional for a country, can become a member of a national team.

Qualifying tournaments are competitions, where battles are held in accordance with the unified international rules for the historical medieval battle. National teams organize qualifying tournaments to find the best HMB fighters of a country. The unified international rules, according to which battles are held, have been written specially for "Battle of the Nations”. Before the unified rules were written, the countries had different HMB rules.

The tradition for this combat/competition has largely come from Russia, where enthusiasts have held previous events where full contact "battles" of large numbers of armoured combatants, are held, often in historical sites. The emphasis is put on the combatants wearing historically accurate equipment and heraldry, and the use of appropriate weapons for the combat.

The heraldry, however, reflects the modern competition teams, rather than necessarily an historically correct heraldic device that may have been worn by combatants in the medieval period. The first tournament was held at the Khotyn Fortress in Ukraine in 2010. The combatants depict armoured fighters from the 12th - 15th century. A number of different forms of combat take place, including some involving individuals, 5 a side or 21 on each side. Over 200 armoured men at arms take place in the competition, and in addition to melee/hand-to-hand weapons, archery is also featured.

Team Quebec (also known at Ost du Quebec ) was the first non European team to enter the tournament in Ukraine in 2011. Their captain put a team together of 9 fighters and 3 support staff who traveled from Montreal Quebec to take part in the tournament. They also held the first friendly tournament under the HMB rules in St-Eustache in February 2012 where participants from Ontario and USA took part. Together with Scallagrims group from Toronto they founded the National Medieval Martial Arts League in Canada.

US combatants entered a team for the first time in 2012, with a number of their members coming from the Society for Creative Anachronism. The US team is a cross-group association of historic martial arts organizations.

The 12 countries are participated at "Battle of the Nations 2012".

In 2013 the Battle of the Nations was held in Aigues-Mortes in southern France. This was the first time the event was held outside the Eastern Bloc. 22 teams participated in the "Battle of the Nations 2013" List of participants (Sorted by first year participation): 2010 — Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland 2011 - Germany, Italy, Canada 2012 - Austria, United States, Israel, Denmark, The Baltic States- union of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia 2013 - Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Czech Republic & Slovakia, France, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Spain, United Kingdom Fighters from Portugal also attended, and fought with the Luxembourg team.

About 25.000 attend the event annually.

History
The first summit dealing with the organization of the festival and the championship was held in Kharkiv in 2009. Its participants, captains of the first national teams, came to a consensus concerning how to hold the event. In addition, the unified international rules of the historical medieval battle were created. Since the rules could vary in different countries and even in different regions of one country, the creation of the unified rules allowed to simplify the conduct of battles. The first "Battle of the Nations" was held in 2010 in Khotyn (Ukraine). It was attended by the national teams of four countries, namely Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland. Russia won most of the first places. The program included three categories: a duel (1 vs 1), group battles (5 vs 5) and mass battles (21 vs 21). For those who were not members of the national teams, but came to support the comrades, there were non-security buhurts. Relying on the experience of the first "Battle of the Nations", the participants of the second summit devoted to the future festival (the summit was held in Kiev), modernized the rules a little bit. In addition, the summit of the year 2010 was attended by representatives of the countries which were potential novices of BN. In 2011, also in the Khotyn Fortress, the second "Battle of the Nations" was held. 7 national teams participated, 4 old ones and 3 novice teams, namely Italy, Germany, Quebec. The first places were won by Russia. The festival was attended by about 30,000 spectators. Within the festival, a documentary about the life of the participants was shot.

In 2011 the list of battle categories presented at the festival, has undergone significant changes. Two more categories were added to the three classic ones, namely the “professional fight” and “all vs all”. The latter category has replaced non-security buhurts, giving an opportunity to participants who are not members of the national teams to fight for their countries.

"Battle of the Nations-2012" was held in Warsaw, Poland, and gathered representatives of 12 countries. A feature of the festival were battles of mounted knights, that were included in the program of the traditionally foot world championship in HMB for the first time. The top four teams were Russia, Ukraine, Poland, and USA.

"Battle of the Nations-2013" was held in Aigues-Mortes, France. 22 teams from Europe, the Americas, and the Pacific Rim took part. With the increase of teams, there were no "pro rules" fights or mounted jousting in the main arena. The top four teams were Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia, and USA.

Towards the end of the 2013 HMBIA announced that the Battle of the Nations 2014 would be held in Trogir, Croatia. Around 30 countries are expected in Trogir on June 12-15th. The organizers promise to make the 5th anniversary of the festival Battle of the Nations better and more spectacular than all the previous ones.

Valid battle categories
Valid battle categories of the competitions held among national teams on the HMB and a brief explanation of them:


 * "Triathlon Duel", fights 1 vs 1. The category consists of three rounds with the use of different weapons. The first round lasts one and a half minutes, longswords are used, the second round is held with the use of usual swords and buckler shields, three bouts up to three hits, and the third round lasts a minute and a half with the use of the standard shield and sword. Points are awarded for effective (a clear, stout) blow delivered with the weapon edge to the allowed zone.


 * "Professional fight", fights 1 vs 1. The category consists of three rounds of three minutes each, pre-selected weapons are used. Points are awarded for effective (a clear, stout) blow delivered with a sword, shield edge, fist, leg, knee, and a good throw with the final blow.
 * "Five vs five" the group battles "5 vs 5" are the most active kind of buhurt combat. A team fights against a team on a hard bordered list field. One five-member unit includes from five to eight men (five men fighting on the lists, and three reserve men). A fighter is out of battle if he falls down (touches the ground with the third point of support). There are 3 bouts in a battle until a team wins twice.


 * “Royal category”, a mass battle "21 vs 21", when up to twenty-one fighters representing a country fight on the field at the same time. There are six reserve men. A fighter is out of battle if he falls down. A battle continues until the men of only one team remain standing on the lists, so their team wins.


 * "All vs all" are the largest mass battles. All men (including those not included in a national team) of all participating countries come to the lists. The participants are divided into equal groups, but in such a way that the representatives of one country are in the same group. There is a battle, a fighter is out of battle if he falls down, points are awarded to the national teams which are among winners.

Valid non-battle categories


 * "Contest for the best set of armor and weapons" is held among fighters of the national teams, who can demonstrate only those sets that were used in battles. Assessment is done by knight marshals, the refereeing panel and the organizers of the festival, who take into account the overall level of aesthetics, historicity of a set of armor and weapons, integrity of the individual elements, quality of the items.


 * "Contest for the best authentic field camp" of a national team. Authenticity, accuracy, functionality, aesthetics and originality, as well as the size of an authentic field camp is assessed by the refereeing panel and the organizers of the festival (it takes place for one day).


 * "Archery tournament" (bow and crossbow). The tournament is held at a specially equipped place and it takes place for about 2 days. Categories and regulations may vary depending on the festival.

External

 * http://www.battleofthenations.ua/ Battle of the Nations official site
 * http://www.CombatMedieval.com/ French national Team site
 * http://www.battleofthenations.com.au/ Australian national Team site
 * http://www.bnfest.co.il/ Israel national team site
 * http://www.battleofthenations.us// United States national team site
 * http://www.BotNNZ.org/ New Zealand national team site
 * http://www.ostduquebec.com/ Quebec National team web site
 * http://hmb-luxembourg.net/ Luxembourg National team web site
 * http://battleofthenations.org/ United Kingdom team web site
 * http://middleagestoday.com/en/node/818