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

    A complete facsimile of Il Fior di Battaglia, plus a translation. Combined in one beautiful volume for the first time!

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

    Original Italian

    The original Getty manuscript, reproduced in full colour.

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

    Translated version

    See the English translation alongside the original images.

20th Anniversary Edition of The Swordsman's Companion

Celebrate two decades of historical martial arts development with the 20th Anniversary Edition of The Swordsman's Companion by Guy Windsor. This seminal guide has transformed the lives of thousands of swordsmanship enthusiasts worldwide, becoming a timeless classic in historical martial arts literature. 

This special edition retains the original's practical approach with detailed instructions, illustrations, and drills, which were state-of-the-art in 2004. The field has moved on considerably, so this book includes access to Guy's fully updated interpretation of Fiore's longsword techniques in The Medieval Longsword.

Click here for more information

  • 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.

Paperbacks

Workbooks

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

Ebooks

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

Bundles and Box Sets

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!

Latest News: 8 November '24

Hi!

I’m currently working on a new online course- a set of wrestling plays from Von Baumann, which Jessica Finley has interpreted, and we shot together in July this year. It’s a fascinating little mini-system embedded in the larger treatise. Watch this space…

Speaking of online courses, I’m working out ways to open up my platforms to other instructors. I have two services for distributing courses: teachable, and swordpeople.com. These cost several thousand dollars a year to maintain, which is a barrier to other historical fencing teachers who are perhaps earlier on in their career or have smaller followings.

My goal is to make the best historical fencing material available to my people, and not limit that to the work I can do myself. It’s also good to expose my people to the work of other instructors- when I ran my school in Finland we averaged 3-4 guest instructor seminars per year. If I can find the right way to do it, it’s a triple win: the students get access to material they wouldn’t otherwise see; the instructor gets to make a better living communicating their material; and my own platform also grows.

I’m not one to plan everything down to the last flicker of an eyelash, so I’ve invited my first guest instructor to host a course on my teachable platform.

Read more