Jay Maxwell

Jay Maxwell began his study of Historic European Martial Arts (HEMA) in the early 2000’s. He regularly teaches at high profile international events and in his competitive years was one of the top ranked HEMA fencers in the world. Starting his training in London and Oxford in British systems of swordsmanship, he quickly came into contact with the Italian schools and was taken by their elegance.

In 2018 Jay organised the ‘English Sidesword Open’ one of the most successful British HEMA tournaments to date with the largest amount of sponsorship ever accrued for a competitive HEMA event. For 2020 this was going to be expanded to include seminars and workshops with TV personalities and world leading authorities, but was cancelled due to the pandemic. He is also on the organising panel for European league series events, and has had the pleasure of seeing numerous former students compete at a high level.

Jay has primarily focused on the 16th through 17th century north-Italian combat methodologies and the influence these have had on the martial systems of the Holy Roman Empire.