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.
Why Fiore scholars should study the Twirchringen
|
Hi! Last June I flew to Kansas to shoot Fiore dagger plays with Jessica Finley. While I was there she asked if we could also shoot a course on Von Baumann’s wrestling plays, because they formed such a handy mini-system. A great introduction to German wrestling, and also useful to broaden the education of Fiore scholars. She had helped me with the Abrazare (Fiore’s wrestling) course the previous year, so she knew what it Fiore covered- and what he left out. And she thought Von Baumann’s Twirchringen plays would fill some of the gaps. That was a very easy HELL YES! for me, and so we set to work. I love Fiore, as you probably know. And I think his abrazare section, taken in context with especially the dagger plays, is relatively complete. But it’s not intended to be anything like a comprehensive wrestling method: it’s just the abrazare plays you need as a foundation for the entire knightly combat system. Assisting Jessica on this course on the Twirchringen added a great deal of breadth to my own wrestling knowledge, and I think every Fiore scholar who doesn’t yet have a solid wrestling background (which includes me! My unarmed experience is mostly punching and kicking) will find this a really useful way to broaden their base. I mean, does Fiore show us this? I mean, it looks like a gambarola, but it is really not... Check out the video here!
And here’s the obligatory reminder to go buy the course before the discount expires:
Remember to share that link, or this whole email, with your friends! And can we agree that this is a much better way to run a launch sequence? If you’re not even a bit interested in Von Baumann’s wrestling stuff, then click on this link, which will take you to a post about syllabus design for rapier fencing, and also tell my very clever email system not to send you any more of these emails about the wrestling course. And if you are a Patron, or have bought the Abrazare or Hauptstucke courses, you should already have received an even bigger discount code. If that's not the case, reply to this email and I'll send it to you. 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! 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...
BOOKS PODCAST COURSES COMMUNITY BLOG Greetings from Helsinki! It’s good to be back, swinging swords in my old salle, and catching up with old friends. Last weekend’s seminars went really well: Angelo Smallsword on the Friday, Vadi Longsword on the Saturday, and Polearms (spears and pollaxes) on the Sunday. One part of me wishes I was better at taking time during seminars to take photos for the socialz, but the rest of me is quite happy focussing exclusively on the students in my class. I did...