Real World Skills from Real World History
Our modern culture holds many misconceptions about history, especially Catholic history:
| Misconception | Reality |
| True Martial Arts are Asian | The term Martial Arts is actually a European name for any system of combat |
| The Crusades were an offensive war mainly about conquest | In the 7th century the vast majority of the middle east was Catholic. During the next several hundred years, Muslims attacked and drove out Christians. The Crusades were fought as a defensive war to reverse this. |
| Europeans fought with brute force and ungainly weapons | Medieval Europeans developed well-thought out styles of martial arts |
| Catholics worship Mary, saints, etc. | Although Catholics do pray to Mary and the saints, the word “pray” means to simply to ask. The Bible says that we can ask our departed brothers and sisters to pray for us just like we can ask others around us for prayers. |
| Martial arts were invented by Shoalin monks and Samurai | Distinct European styles were illustrated, documented, and can be studied today |
In the past couple of decades our knowledge of the historical manuals that Renaissance Europeans left behind have greatly expanded. What these studies show is a well documented martial arts tradition based on careful analysis, timeless principles, moral underpinnings, and 
deadly purpose.
As early as 1295, fighting men began producing written and illustrated manuals to instruct students in the arts of combat. Some of these manuals have been made available to the public by the Association for Renaissance Martial Arts (ARMA) who excel at scholarship and recreation of missing knowledge from a purely physical aspect. By the 15th and 16th centuries, professional schools were becoming common with advanced curricula covering a wide variety of weapons and unarmed fighting, along with moral instruction to discourage students from becoming thugs and criminals