Acta Periodica Duellatorum, Hands On section, articles 151 Hands On section, articles Do you even Zornhaw? A set-theoretic Approach to HEMA reconstruction Maciej Talaga Association for Renaissance Martial Arts Poland, Warsaw Study Group and Szymon Talaga The Robert B. Zajonc Institute for Social Studies, Warsaw Abstract: The present paper is focused on proposing a positive solution in regard to HEMA reconstruction methodology. Firstly, it starts by identifying main factors behind difficulties in communicating, validating, and evaluating competing interpretations (or motion reconstructions) among different scholars and practitioners. Then, principles of the set theory as applied to the humanities are presented and explained through examples related to the HEMA studies. This is followed by a description of a proposed methodological framework, called the Set-theoretic Method, which has been devised so as to be applicable on its own to the whole process of interpretation (motion and tactical reconstruction) or as a supplement to the previously published ADVISE method, where it acts as a bias-reducing procedure, especially during comparative stage (i.e. the ‘External Input’ stage in ADVISE). Finally, the method is illustrated with a case study – a comparative analysis of the Zornhaw glosses in the ‘Codex Döbringer’, ‘Codex Danzig’, and ‘Codex Ringeck’ followed by exploration of ‘Flos Duellatorum’ by Fiore de’i Liberi in search for an analogy for Zornhaw. Keywords: research methodology; fight books; set theory; reconstruction; interpretation. I. INTRODUCTION Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) as a research field fits well the so-called ‘bodily turn’ in cultural studies, since it investigates human body as a tool used in various forms of combative social contexts. As an academic discipline it is still very young and searching for optimal methods and best practices for interpretation of the related sources. Methodological studies are scarce and preliminary, but this has started to change as more and more questions have been being posed and discussed in recent years. Previous works mostly address experimentation 1 , codicological questions 2 , and The authors would like to express their gratitude to Bartłomiej Walczak, Krisztina Nagy and Daniel Pope for their insightful readings of the earlier versions of the paper, discussions, and encouragement.