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 Duel of the Hat: from 300 words to 300 pages
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Hi! This may be the most niche passion project I’ve ever done. It started with a simple question for a completely different book: who actually died in a notorious duel fought in France over 400 years ago? Some sources say la Garde died; others claimed both combatants survived. The rabbit hole beckoned, and I dived right in. This book comprises three things: 1. Establishing from the surviving evidence what actually happened: who fought, who died, where, and when. 2. How the story changed over the centuries. 3. An exceptionally comprehensive collection of resources (all the major sources are reproduced in translation in full, and the bibliography alone has nine pages). It’s not just a great story. It’s also (I hope) an example of how we can establish the facts at four centuries’ distance, and a look at the fallibility of historians in general, and three in particular. I’ve made the following assumptions about the reader: 1. You have at least a passing interest in swordsmanship, duelling, or the history of violence. 2. You don’t know any French. The second one isn’t critical; if you do happen to read French just fine, you’ll probably still enjoy the book, and be able to check my sources in even more detail if that’s your jam. A 300-word sidebar is now a 300-page book. Phew. You can find the Early Access version of the book in PDF format here:
If you buy the PDF now, you have an opportunity to comment on it in the next couple of weeks (and get a mention in the acknowledgements), and you will receive the finalised ebook (in all the usual formats) at the end of this month. Most of my readers prefer print, so you will also get a voucher for the full cost of the ebook redeemable against the hardback or paperback. Lots of people have opinions. When it comes to books, the only opinions that matter are those of the people who bought it. I look forward to hearing yours! yours, 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've spent a ton of time lately investigating a famously savage duel that happened over 400 years ago. The resulting book is almost ready, so it's time to show you the cover! One Thursday night in France, sometime around 1597, a young man climbed out of his mother's château window to go and fight a duel. He was already an accomplished swordsman, and he was wearing a very fine hat, but he did not survive. The quarrel began with a satirical poem, a...
BOOKS PODCAST COURSES COMMUNITY BLOG Hi, Jordan Kahn contacted me recently for permission to use some images from one of my books, which is how I found out about his very cool new solo training tool. It’s basically a caller, which tells you what to do next when practising solo longsword drills. You set it down, and it calls out instructions for you to follow, either as fixed drills or random sequences. It’s an interesting way to build flow and learn the Italian terminology. He shared it on...
BOOKS PODCAST COURSES COMMUNITY BLOG Hi, Last week I released MS 2031, my edition of a previously unpublished seventeenth-century Italian rapier manuscript. Since then I’ve fixed a formatting error that crept into the paid version, so if you bought it last week, you can download the corrected version from the shop. (You should already have got an email about it from me.) The free facsimile, transcription, and translation (which you can find on my blog) were all unaffected, which is exactly...