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.
Veni VADI Vici, as Julius Caesar did not say
|
Hi! Oh my did my last email ever fall foul of the deliverability gods. It had about a quarter of the expected open rate, and several regular subscribers got in touch to say it had landed in the "this is crap" folder. I had a word with support and I think it's the link formatting that's done it. So, if you're looking for the new Vadi course, it's here. The discount will expire on Monday. The point I was trying to make in my last, totally useless, email was that the course covers the full breadth of Vadi's sword material, and everything you need to know to start training (so, basic stuff like footwork and sword handling), but it also includes a lot of depth. For instance, a 26 minute video on Fixing Fenestra, in contrast to the 1 minute video showing you what Fenestra is. I don't dare add the video links, so I've made the short Fenestra video (and a bunch of others) free to preview on the course sales page. The longer one is for course members only. If Vadi isn’t your thing, you can click this link, which will send you to one of my blog posts, about forging a Viking knife, and also tell my very clever email system not to send you any more launch emails. If you just don't like clicking links in emails (and who can blame you?), then go to courses dot swordschool dot com, find the course (it's the first one in the list), and use the code VADITASTICLAUNCH at checkout. Please do share the link and discount far and wide, with anyone you think may be interested in the course. Fingers crossed that this email gets through! yours, Guy P.S. I don't even know whether the original "Veni, vedi, vici" dispatch actually happened. Wikipedia says "according to Appian, [Caesar] used the phrase in a letter to the Roman Senate around 47 BC after he had achieved a quick victory in his short war against Pharnaces II of Pontus at the Battle of Zela (modern-day Zile, Turkey)." And I do know that when I had Veni VADI Vici on the back of a T-shirt, people kept thinking I'd made a spelling error. Despite the very clear image of Vadi right over it. It's almost like they didn't recognise him! |
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! Yes I know we’re not due another newsletter until next week, but I have a long blog post for you, a new podcast episode, and a question, so why wait? Let’s start with the question… (with apologies to the Spice Girls for the terrible subject line) What do you want? I’m thinking about what I produced over the last year. It wasn’t the publishing explosion of 2024, but I did produce two full length courses (Vadi Longsword and Vadi Dagger), created the...
BOOKS PODCAST COURSES COMMUNITY BLOG Hi! It’s that time of year again… I’ve just ordered my Swordschool Training Year Planner. This is a great tool for (you guessed it) planning your training, but it’s also just a lovely thing to have in the house. You don’t have to start it in January; it’s been carefully designed so that you can start at any point in the year (it makes a lot of sense to start a new year in Spring, for instance). But I need a new one now! I have a fancy code that gets me...
BOOKS PODCAST COURSES COMMUNITY BLOG Hi! The big news this week is of course the new book! Here in hardback, paperback, and ebook. From Medieval Manuscript to Modern Practice: the Dagger Techniques of Fiore dei Liberi has landed! It’s lovely when the print proofs arrive and you can sign off on them. And even lovelier when that means you can send out the pre-orders on time! And, doesn’t the new one look very much at home between the wrestling and the sword? Order yours here The book will go...