Winter Messer Meeting is an event for messer fencers, by messer fencers. Our aim is to bring together those who fence with the langes messer for a weekend of freeplay, study and the occasional workshop. The event welcomes all messer fencers, both experienced and reasonably new.
Next Winter Messer Meeting will be on January 22 and 23, 2022
Inspired by events focused on freeplay, such as the Berlin Buckler Bouts, we decided there will be no tournament and no T-shirts. No lectures either. (Apart from participants lecturing each other on the appropriate distance for Pnemen).
The first edition was at January 7 & 8, 2017 in Utrecht, the Netherlands
And it was awesome! 29 happy messer people in one room, fencing, wrestling, sweating and enjoying themselves. More at 2017 Recap
The second edition was at January 13 & 14, 2018. Bigger than the first, with 37 fencers we needed a second hall! More workshops and a few new elements: a Fechtschule and a discussion session (in a changing room!) where ideas on Lecküchner were shared. What remained was the joy, the atmosphere and the sense of being part of a very special gathering!
Also in 2018, our brothers of ELSAMHE organized the first, awesome Summer Messer Seminar in Strasbourg, one of the most beautiful old cities of Europe. The international messer movement is growing!
For the Winter Messer Meeting 2019 we moved to a bigger hall about a kilometer from the first venue, so we could all be in one location. There were both new faces and messer meeting veterans, mixing easily, enjoying cutting with sharp messers, a tweaked Fechtschule, top workshops and the same notion of doing this together.
In 2019 another Messer Meeting event was added: Autumn Messer Meeting was at September 28 and 29, 2019 in Leiden, the Netherlands, courtesy of the Ludolph van Ceulen group. Another flavour of the seasonal messer treat! Handling of historical messers. Real live blade smiths!
Winter Messer Meeting 2020, on January 11 and 12, saw new participants and instructors from the first three meetings. Our brothers of Messerfechter Mainz used the presence of experience fencers to try out their new tournament ruleset.
In 2021 we had to take a raincheck due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We will continue next year!