Welcome to Swordschool!

For students of Medieval and Renaissance Italian martial arts.

Where historical accuracy meets practical training.

Books, facsimiles, audiobooks, online courses and t-shirts from world-renowned instructor and pioneering researcher of medieval and renaissance martial arts Dr Guy Windsor.

What's new in store?

Il Fior di Battaglia by Fiore dei Liberi, with translation by Guy Windsor

Facsimile AND translation in one volume

Il Fior di Battaglia by Fiore dei Liberi

This book reproduces the Getty manuscript in its entirety, in full colour, and as close as possible to the size of the original.

The second half of this volume is a second reproduction of the manuscript with the original Italian text replaced by my English translation. This recreates the experience of reading the original Italian as closely as possible. The book also includes an introduction to Fiore and his life and times, the provenance of the manuscript, and suggestions for further study.

This way, you get the original, and the translation, in one volume… for the same price as the original facsimile-only edition.

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A companion volume to the Spada Press Facsimile of Il Fior di Battaglia by Guy Windsor

Don't miss the companion volume to the facsimile:

The Flower of Battle

If you buy the facsimile you will get a free ebook copy of the companion volume, which includes a complete transcription of the manuscript. Or you can order it as a paperback (with a discount if you get both facsimile and companion volume together).

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Audatia the game (Print at home)

Swords are cool. Fighting with swords is the most fun you can have with your clothes on, but it’s hard work and dangerous. So we have distilled Guy Windsor’s decades of research and training into a duelling card game: AUDATIA.

We have provided the cards as print-at-home PDFs, which will be sent to you by instant download. All rules are included.

Looking for ready made cards? We'll be adding them to this store soon, but in the meantime you can find them here: Drive Thru Cards

Find out more about Audatia

Find your thing

  • Do you like the theory?

    Want to know how to research, how to train, or how to write about historical martial arts?

    Theory and Practice 

  • Do you want step-by-step instructions?

    Choose to learn rapier or longsword from a workbook with video links. Make notes as you learn with these specially designed books.

    Workbooks 

  • Interested in the original treatises?

    See facsimiles of original sources, translations and Guy's interpretations.

    Treatises, translations, and academic interpretations 

  • Medieval Longsword

    Are you madly medieval? Check out the medieval combat collection!

    Longsword 

  • Renaissance Rapier

    Do you rave about the rapier? Learn Renaissance Italian martial arts, including the rapier fencing of Ridolfo Capoferro.

    Rapier 

  • Video Courses

    Do you learn best from video? Check out Swordschool's extensive selection of online courses.

    Online courses 

Hardbacks and Facsimiles

Fill your bookshelf with beautiful hardback editions of Guy's works and affordable facsimiles of Vadi and Fiore.
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Paperbacks

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Workbooks

Learn Armizare or Rapier in these practical ring-bound workbooks, available in left-handed and right-handed versions, to make note-taking easy.
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Audiobooks

All audiobooks are delivered instantly by email from BookFunnel, to listen to in their dedicated audiobook app.

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Ebooks

All e-books are delivered instantly by email from BookFunnel for you to read on whichever device you like.

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Bundles and Box Sets

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Online courses

T-Shirts

From medieval sword and buckler to the elegant smallsword, and most weapons in between: showcasing famous women in the historical martial arts. Walpurgis? Lady Agnes? La Maupin? absolutely. And now including La Chevalière d'Eon.

And The Sword Guy podcast and Sword People community shirts too!

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Looking for something related to a particular master?

Latest News: 11 April '25

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:

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1. Introduction, with safety briefing, kit requirements, and my book The Art of Sword Fighting in Earnest.

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

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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​

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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).

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