Date of Award

4-6-2026

Document Type

Thesis

First Advisor

Dr. Howard Pollack-Milgate

Second Advisor

Dr. Pedar Foss

Third Advisor

Dr. Amity Reading

Abstract

The ahistorical spectacular stylization of medieval and Renaissance European martial arts, which is common in modern artistic media, is flawed. In at least some cases a historically informed approach is preferable. This thesis describes how one might take such a historically informed approach to writing a fight scene. It examines the martial arts practiced by elite members of society through the medieval poems Beowulf and The Song of Roland, and through martial arts manuals including Fiore de’i Liberi’s Flos Delatorum, the glosses of Johannes Liechtenauer’s Zettel, and the rapier manuals of Camillo Agrippa and Girard Thibault d’Anvers. It considers audience expectations through analyses of well-known fight scenes like those from The Lord of the Rings, The Princess Bride, and Star Wars, then identifies two major barriers which can make historically informed depictions of combat less appealing than uninformed stylized combat. The first barrier is a lack of knowledge, which can be overcome by teaching the audience within the story, and the second is a lack of interest, which can be overcome through historically informed variation and spectacle. The paper concludes with the creation of a historically informed fight scene that demonstrates its research and theories in practice.

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