Welcome to swordschool!
Where historical accuracy meets practical training. Learn Historical Martial Arts from world-renowned instructor and pioneering researcher of medieval and renaissance martial arts Dr Guy Windsor.
The Swordschool Wiki is a free reference library for historical martial arts, as interpreted and developed by Dr. Guy Windsor, and as taught at Swordschool.
A selection of paperbacks, hardcovers and eBooks: some packed with detailed historical information and others designed as workbook courses you can take at your own pace. Includes Swordschool facsimiles of Fiore dei Liberi and Philippo Vadi.
Listen to podcast episodes or audiobooks on all your favourite platforms – perfect for aural learners, and to supplement our other resources.
Brush up on your theory and terminology as if by magic with Guy’s fun, tactical and secretly educational duelling card game.
Guy frequently keeps his blog updated with thoughts, challenges, interviews and more!
latest news - 6 November 26
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 mutual enthusiasm for violence, and a grey beaver hat sent as a challenge. It ended with two men dead, another horribly wounded, and the survivor riding away wearing the hat that had started it all.
The story was retold for centuries, and in the process got thoroughly mangled. People who had died somehow survived, details changed, and historians made things up. So I went back to the original sources to find out what actually happened.