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.
Too Many Sword Options? Start Here.
|
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:
Then you’ll explore two full beginner courses:
Explore Other Traditions You’ll also get thorough taster sessions from other traditions:
It’s like a guided tour of the historical martial arts landscape—so you can find what suits you best. 💰 How much does it cost? I don’t think beginners should have to spend hundreds of dollars just to try something out. So this course is:
👇 Ready to start training? ➡️ Click here to join the course now Questions? Just hit reply. I’d love to hear from you. And please do forward this email to anyone you think might be interested. 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’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...
BOOKS PODCAST COURSES COMMUNITY BLOG Hi! Online Course progress As you know I’m working on the Introduction to Historical Martial Arts course, designed to introduce beginners to the historical, martial, and artistic elements of this pursuit. It’s a worthy challenge- in other words, it’s very difficult to get right, but I can’t delegate it to anyone. I’ve cracked the overall structure and the technical side of how it’ll be delivered, so I’m now working on the actual individual components of...
Hi! I have to confess my mojo has been at a pretty low ebb for the last couple of months. There’s no obvious reason why, but I haven’t written a word in any of my current book projects, and while I did manage to edit and publish the new Vadi course, that was about it for creative juices flowing. I’m inclined to associate this with the very annoying cholesterol results I got back from a routine health check at the end of March, which lead me to drop alcohol altogether for a month. Clearly my...