For as long as I can remember I've been interested in martial arts, as in, eastern martial arts like Judo and Karate. Recently I've been getting more and more interested in history (mainly pop history, like viking combat and warfare and stuff like that) and I was wondering about unarmed combat in Europe during the middle ages.
Did it exist? If so, how common was it and why isn't it as well known as eastern martial arts? If not, how come?
I suppose things like armour and crossbows made it hard to sidekick somebody, right? I know wrestling was a big thing in Greece and Rome but was it ever used outside a sport context?
Thanks so much.
This would be a great question to ask in /r/wma. It's a community of people who don't only research this subject, but practice and even compete in historical European martial arts.
Knights and other armored soldiers engaged in hand-to-hand got around armor in the same way that the samurai did: grappling. Once a combatant was down, the other could pin them, draw his dagger and wedge it into the joints of his armor, killing him. But singular combat, especially singular unarmed combat, was the exception rather than the rule. It turns out that weapons are much better at killing people than fists and feet combined! For that reason, most unarmed treatises are geared toward civilian (read: unarmored) violence. Even then, though, combat manuals were heavily geared towards wrestling rather than striking, because as modern MMA has proven, the former is typically dominant over the latter.
A typical wrestling manual would include various holds, takedowns, disarms and submissions. Many of the techniques are similar or even identical to those found in modern martial arts, both Eastern and Western. Off the top of my head, I can think of three judo throws (tomoe nage, o goshi and kata guruma) that have parallels in medevial treatises, along with your standard Western takedowns such as single-legs.
I'm on mobile now, but I'll provide images and treatise translations when I get home. If you want to learn more about historical fighting, Wikitenauer is your friend!