Historical Medieval Battles (HMB) or Buhurt[1][2] (from Old French béhourd: "joust", "tournament")[3] or Armored Combat is a modern full contact fighting sport with steel blunt weapons characteristic for the Middle Ages.
[8] Hits and blows may be aimed at any parts of the body (with the limitations set in the regulations); both wrestling and percussive techniques are permitted, thrusts are forbidden.
[11] Historical medieval battles dates back to the first large-scale battles with the use of steel arms, which were held in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine [12] in the late 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century, at times when in the rest of the Eastern European countries reenactors used wooden or textolite weapons.
An example is the festival "Zhelezny Grad" (Iron Town) held in Izborsk, where buhurts involving hundreds of fighters took place or Sword of Russia tournament from 1996.
This event attracted participants from the rest of Europe and outside of it and buhurt gained worldwide attention from reenactment community.
The tournaments are divided into: There is also a category called "Triathlon": three rounds with different weapons, the first one – "longsword", the second one – "sword-buckler", the third one – "shield-sword."
They prohibit a number of very traumatic techniques, as well as regulate the admission of fighters and their weapons in order to observe the historical reliability of equipment, and also to eliminate serious injuries.