Our Instructors
Ben Strickling - Head Instructor, Kunst des Fechtens
Ben Strickling has been studying Historical European Martial Arts for over a decade. In that time, he’s been instrumental in helping foster interest in Historical European Martial Arts throughout North Carolina. He’s the founder of Triangle Sword Guild and is primarily responsible for the development of the club’s Liechtenauer-based curriculum. Ben has had a number of competitive wins in historical fencing, including first place wins at the Meyer Open, SERFO, Kriegs-schule, Study in Steel, and back-to-back gold medal wins in dagger at Iron Gate Exhibition. He’s also won silver medals at Longpoint, Fechtschule New York, and the Pacific North West HEMA Gathering. Ben has also taught seminars in MS I.33 sword and buckler, longsword, spear, and medieval dagger.
Chris Nolan - Head Instructor, Renaissance Fencing
Chris Nolan is the head instructor for the Bolognese Program with Triangle Sword Guild in Raleigh, NC. His focus is primarily on Marozzo's two-handed sword and Bolognese Single Sidesword traditions. He has approximately 20 years training in Traditional Korean and Chinese martial arts prior to training in HEMA which play an influential role in how the program trains and interprets historical European texts.
Kurt Holtfreter - Head Instructor, Chivalric Arts (Fiore and Armor)
Kurt Holtfreter has been studying Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) with the Triangle Sword Guild (TSG) in Raleigh North Carolina since 2017. He has a background in Kendo, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program. Kurt travels to other HEMA schools to broaden perspectives through collaborative training, sparring, and consultation in order to bring home fresh ideas to share with TSG. Kurt’s passion lies in understanding the mindset of the combat professional of the 14th Century and is the head instructor of the Armizare curriculum. He uses his experience from his time in the Marine Corps to craft training experiences focusing on being the person of arms and replicating immediate actions seen with Fiore’s de’i Liberi’s Armizare manuscripts.
Kurt runs the YouTube channel Holtfreter Lab’s where he showcases his research and shares his interpretations on Armizare. He has also published the book “My Mind of Fight” which is his thoughts, observations, and considerations for the Kunst des Fechten systems on Amazon. Kurt has won silver medals in the 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 Raleigh Open, the 2019 Study in Steel tournament, and placed second in paired combat in the 2023 Festival of Heroes Tournament. Kurt has taught seminars regarding bind mechanics at the 2019 Study in Steel tournament. In Oktoberfecht, he has taught fundamentals of armor and basics of lance combat. He has also taught armored seminar weekends regarding body mechanics, enhanced striking, and ground up grappling fundamentals. He is also a guest instructor at the 2024 WMAW where he taught the crossings of the sword, defensive lance, and effective dagger defense.
Michael Brown - Head Instructor, Napoleonic Fencing
Michael has been fencing full time with TSG since October 2019, and teaching Broadsword & Sabre with the club since early 2021, starting as a study group before transitioning into the Napoleonic core curriculum encompassing Highland Broadsword, British Sabre, Spadroon, French Smallsword, and various other period styles and sources. Though his main focus is warfare in the long 18th Century, he has spent time in all classes offered by TSG to get a rounded experience in HEMA, from dagger to armor, sidesword to longsword, rapier to montante. His current areas of focus are around highland fighting styles and fighting styles of the British Royal Navy.
Eager to expand early-modern HEMA in the Southeast, he is constantly seeking new opportunities to share what we do with the general public, through outreach at various highland games from Wilmington to Grandfather Mountain, living history and reenactment events, and other public events tying together what we do to NC history; as well as driving forward sabre and broadsword fencing in the southeast through events such as the Carolina Campaign, and the Sabre Invitational at Raleigh Open.