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.
The Cherry Blossom Edition
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Hi! The cherry blossom bloomed in my garden a week ago. A useful reminder that things can be beautiful, and nothing lasts forever. I’ve been eyes-deep into editing the new Vadi course for the last couple of weeks. There is a TON of material- three full days of shooting video. The course is almost ready to launch, and I’ve already added it to the Mastering the Art of Arms packages on Teachable and Sword People. Expect a full launch maybe end of next week. Hurrah! The course covers everything you need to learn to fence with a longsword in the style of Philippo Vadi, based on my interpretation of his book De Arte Gladiatoria Dimicandi. The main sections are: 2. Warm up, Footwork, and Sword Handling drills. 3. The Blows of the Sword 4. The Twelve Guards 5. Basic Training and Setting up the Plays 6. The 25 Plays of the Longsword 7. Plays from Chapters 11 and 15 8. Skill Development So far we’re at over 70 video clips, and there’s a way to go yet. Would you like a sample? I thought so… Here’s one of the footwork videos: https://vimeo.com/1071693412/cb5884fb8d And here’s one of the plays of the sword: https://vimeo.com/1073158320/887367e819 Keep an eye out for the launch emails (there will be a limited-time discount), or get access now by subscribing to the Mastering the Art of Arms package (on Teachable and Sword People). Cool stuff from the Internet My friend Dr. Antti Ijäs has written the chapter “Written Sources on Medieval Fighting Practices” for the new book Violence and Warfare in Social Context: archaeological and historical studies. His chapter is available for free here: https://sh.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1947237&dswid=-6613 You may recall Antti from episode 155 of The Sword Guy. As you would expect from Antti, this chapter is erudite, well written, and very useful. Go indulge yourself! Paradoxes of Historical Martial Arts My series of Paradoxes is up to #4: “Details matter. Don’t sweat the small stuff.” You can find the series on Swordpeople.com in The Salle space, with the hashtag #paradoxesofhma. I’d love to know what you think! I’ve been re-reading Roland Allen’s The Notebook: a history of thinking on paper. I recently interviewed him for an upcoming episode of the podcast, and it inspired me to dive back into his masterpiece. 100% recommend if you haven’t read it already. And I was chatting to my mum the other day, and for no reason I can think of, David Niven’s autobiography The Moon is a Balloon came up, and last night I decided to re-read it, for maybe the 5th time since I first came across it as a teenager. It’s brilliantly written, and runs the gamut of human experience from appalling child abuse to fame and fortune, warfare and bereavement to madly romantic love, all told with a self-deprecation and humour that never fails to charm. Yes, it’s dated, and a lot of the name-dropping (he was a major Hollywood star, after all) falls a bit flat because you’ve probably never heard of a lot of the people he clearly expects you to know, but still totally worth the read. 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...