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.
Bringing Vadi to life. No bleeding head wounds, thank you!
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Hi! Swordschool turned 24 years old last week, as you may know if you got the email. It’s a strange feeling looking back at photos from that time- we were all so young, and so keen, and, yes, I had a lot more hair. Maybe as sword-knowledge went in, it pushed the hair out? Hard to say. In the spirit of nostalgia, here’s a photo from before I even started the school, in October 2000. I challenged all comers at the DDS, and fought everyone in the photo at the weapon they are holding. Then got my head split open because sport fencing masks are not fit for fencing with longswords. You can read the whole story on my blog. Bringing Vadi to lifeI’ve spent this week preparing for and shooting the new Vadi course, which will include at the very least all of his longsword plays. I’m writing this the week before, because I’ll be too swamped with shooting etc., and the excellent Jo York (see episode 117 of the podcast) has come down from the North to assist me, and is sleeping in my study where the computer is. I’ve been thinking about whether to release this course in the normal way (with a limited-time launch discount), or make it only available through the Mastering the Art of Arms subscription (on teachable or Swordpeople). On the one hand, it’s very nice to get a lump of cash up front. On the other, I’m trying to encourage the people who use my material to think of themselves as part of a larger whole, and to be in closer contact with me personally. What do you think? Launch or subscription? I’m hoping to use some of the course material to update The Art of Sword Fighting in Earnest with videos of every play in Vadi. We’ll see… The NEW Fiore Movie reminderHave 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.) Now 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 Facsimile trials and tribulationsYou may recall the lengthy troubles we had with the printers for my new Fiore facsimile with translation. It was all fixed, and we sent out replacement orders to everyone who got sent a compromised version. Turns out that a) our UK printers didn’t update their American printing service properly, so most if not all the US replacements were printed with the old files. These are being reprinted again. And b), some of them also had serious printing errors such as streaks of black ink across a page, or misaligned colour plates creating a blurred effect, that sort of thing. So they are being reprinted too! If you have a copy, please check it carefully and let me know if there’s anything wrong with it. It’s got to the point of being funny. One has to wonder, will one of these books spontaneously burst into flames? Paradoxes of Historical Martial ArtsMy series of Paradoxes is up to #3: “The Art was often taught in secret. The Art that can’t be spoken of is not the true Art”. You can find the series on Swordpeople.com in The Salle space, with the hashtag #paradoxesofhma. I’d love to know what you think! What I’m ReadingI’m still re-reading The Greatcoats series, by Sebastien de Castell. 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’m through the first two volumes, and reading Gabrielle Zevin’s All These Things I’ve Done as a palate cleanser before diving into volume three. I’m enjoying All These Things quite a bit: so far it’s a dystopian future where coffee and chocolate are restricted substances, and a teenage girl has dumped a school dinners lasagne on her ex boyfriend’s head. 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.
Hi! When I get to the end of a major project I usually clear my desk and have a general tidy up. It’s then very likely that I’ll spend some time making something physical. There’s something about editing video that makes doing woodwork a psychological necessity. Pretty much the moment I hit “Publish” on the new Vadi course I went out to my shed and got to work cleaning and sharpening my most-used chisels. As I was slotting them back into their rack, I thought it was about time I upgraded...
Hi! There’s a knotty question which I’m sure keeps you up at night. Who would win in a longsword duel, Fiore or Vadi? Well, Fiore was a famous soldier, commander of the artillery on the walls of Udine, with streets named after him. And who claims to have fought five grudge matches against other fencing masters. Vadi… we’re not 100% sure. There’s some evidence to suggest he was governor of Reggio from 1452 to 1470, and he probably lived from 1425-1501. But no record of him ever teaching...
Hi! I hope you’re getting some time off for Easter this weekend. And lots of Easter eggs. We all need to keep moving to burn off some of that chocolate, so here’s a short gentle warm-up routine from the new Vadi course: https://vimeo.com/1071693384/0c6d4215e2 Yes it’s very gentle, because I’ve made the course fit for absolute beginners, as well as much more advanced students. So I include everything from how to hold the sword, through basic actions, techniques and counters, up to quite...