Dr. Guy Windsor is a world-renowned instructor and a pioneering researcher of medieval and renaissance martial arts. He has been teaching the Art of Arms full-time since founding The School of European Swordsmanship in Helsinki, Finland, in 2001. His day job is finding and analysing historical swordsmanship treatises, figuring out the systems they represent, creating a syllabus from the treatises for his students to train with, and teaching the system to his students all over the world. Guy is the author of numerous classic books about the art of swordsmanship and has consulted on swordfighting game design and stage combat. He developed the card game, Audatia, based on Fiore dei Liberi's Art of Arms, his primary field of study. In 2018 Edinburgh University awarded him a PhD by Research Publications for his work recreating historical combat systems. When not studying medieval and renaissance swordsmanship or writing books Guy can be found in his shed woodworking or spending time with his family.
Books, Movies, Safety Tips, and Paradoxes of Historical Martial Arts!
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Hi! The NEW Fiore MovieHave you seen the short movie Fiore? It’s a ten minute film with extraordinary historical accuracy and detail, about Fiore dei Liberi. It came out in 2022. I interviewed the film maker Alberto Mattea in episode 145 of The Sword Guy. (There’s a link to the film on youtube in the shownotes.) I reviewed it at the time: “I loved FIORE. It manages the almost impossible feat of being both historically accurate and entertaining, with appeal for anyone who likes sword fights, as well as for Fiore specialists. It is by far the best depiction of the period I have ever seen, with extraordinary attention to detail in the clothing, furniture, food, even the process of making manuscripts. I’ve spent my life studying Fiore’s works, and it was wonderful to see the master’s words come alive on the screen.” Well, they are doing a sequel! And they are raising funds on Indiegogo right now. You can find the project here. They are asking for a tiny amount of money, so every little helps. If you’d like to support the project, please do! Fiore FacsimileIn case you missed the announcement in the last email, our new facsimile of Il Fior di Battaglia, and its companion volume, are now available to buy at swordschool.shop. It’s a thing of beauty! The book reproduces the Getty manuscript in its entirety, in full colour, and as close as possible to the size of the original. The second half of this volume is a second reproduction of the manuscript with the original Italian text replaced by my English translation. This recreates the experience of reading the original Italian as closely as possible. The book also includes an introduction to Fiore and his life and times, the provenance of the manuscript, and suggestions for further study. This way, you get the original, and the translation, in one volume… for the same price as the original facsimile-only edition. If you buy the facsimile you will get a free ebook copy of the companion volume, which includes a complete transcription of the manuscript. Or you can order it as a paperback too (with a discount if you get them both together).
NEW IN: Audatia Print and Play decksWe have finally figured out how to distribute my card game Audatia on the swordschool shop. We haven’t quite cracked the physical deck problem yet, but you can get PDFs to print at home to build your decks. You can also get super-spiffy desktop wallpaper images, like the one you see here: You can get the entire collection (four character decks, plus the armour and Liechtenauer expansion packs and wallpapers) at a hefty discount here: https://swordschool.shop/products/audatia-bundle The Science of Safety in Historical Martial ArtsThe Historical Fencing Research safety project (see The Sword Guy episode 198 with Jamie MacIver) has released its preliminary results. This from Jamie:
As a backer of the project I got early access, and can confirm it’s well worth a read. Plus, it costs you nothing to sign up to their mailing list… Paradoxes of Historical Martial ArtsA paradox is an absurd or contradictory statement that is nonetheless true. At least that what it is now: when George Silver wrote his Paradoxes of Defence, published in 1599, it meant something contrary to popular opinion (which is why we don’t find his opinions paradoxical). The opposite of a true statement is often another true statement, and I've been thinking a lot about the many contradictory but true statements that apply to HMA (such as #2: “Expertise matters. Do not trust experts”). So, I'm writing a series of "paradoxes of historical martial arts", that I'd like your views on. Each paradox in the series is framed as two true statements that contradict each other. You can find them on Swordpeople.com in The Salle space, with the hashtag #paradoxesofhma What I’m ReadingI’m currently re-reading Traitor’s Blade, by Sebastien de Castell. It’s volume 1 in his Greatcoats series, and perhaps my absolute favourite of his many awesome books. Read it if you haven’t already. I picked it up again because Sebastien writes the best sword fights in the business, and I was looking for examples to use in the book I’m working on (the new Swordfighting for Writers). I could have flicked through it, or used the search function on my e-reader, but thought I’d better just read the whole thing. You know, for research. It’s work, honest. I’m near the end of volume 1, and will probably just read through the entire four book series. For research. cheers, Guy |
Guy Windsor's Swordschool
Dr. Guy Windsor is a world-renowned instructor and a pioneering researcher of medieval and renaissance martial arts. He has been teaching the Art of Arms full-time since founding The School of European Swordsmanship in Helsinki, Finland, in 2001. His day job is finding and analysing historical swordsmanship treatises, figuring out the systems they represent, creating a syllabus from the treatises for his students to train with, and teaching the system to his students all over the world. Guy is the author of numerous classic books about the art of swordsmanship and has consulted on swordfighting game design and stage combat. He developed the card game, Audatia, based on Fiore dei Liberi's Art of Arms, his primary field of study. In 2018 Edinburgh University awarded him a PhD by Research Publications for his work recreating historical combat systems. When not studying medieval and renaissance swordsmanship or writing books Guy can be found in his shed woodworking or spending time with his family.
BOOKS PODCAST COURSES COMMUNITY BLOG Hi! I do weights with my wife on Tuesdays and Saturdays. We normally do classic weight training, but last week she thought it might be fun to do a follow-along “posterior chain” workout from Roxanne Russell (an Australian fitness person on the tubes of you). It was so much “fun” she immediately wanted to do a dumbbell shoulder workout from Caroline Girvan. Caroline was using 8kg weights, I used 5, my wife was on 3. I quite like workouts where you just...
Hi! Historical Martial Arts have come a long way. When I started out, there were no maps, no guides—just manuscripts and guesswork. Now? There’s so much material out there, beginners often don’t know where to start. That’s why I’ve created something new: Introduction to the Art of Arms: Get Started in Historical Martial Arts This set of online courses gives you a clear, structured introduction to the Art of Arms. Minimal gear and no prior experience required—just curiosity. We start with: ✅...
BOOKS PODCAST COURSES COMMUNITY BLOG Hi! I’m just back from the Sword and Balkan event in Belgrade last weekend. It was a great trip, with some of my absolutely favourite rapier bouts (my classes went pretty well too). I’ve written up a review of the event here. I had a day to look around Belgrade while I was there, and can 100% recommend the National Museum. I’ll be writing that up properly in due course, but in the meantime, two highlights: Bronze Smith, ca 700BC "The Traitor" by Pavle...