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.

Also 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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  • 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

  • Master the Art of Arms

    Access to everything!

    Find out more 
  • Introduction to Historical Martial Arts

    The perfect place to discover the historical martial art that's right for you.

    Coming soon 
  • Medieval Italian Martial Arts

    Everything Fiore and Vadi

    Find out more 
  • Medieval German Martial Arts

    Medieval German wrestling, longsword and sword and buckler

    Find out more 
  • Renaissance Italian Martial Arts

    Bolognese swordsmanship and the rapier.

    Find out more 

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: 4 July '25

Hi!

I do weights with my wife on Tuesdays and Saturdays. We normally do classic weight training, but last week she thought it might be fun to do a follow-along “posterior chain” workout from Roxanne Russell (an Australian fitness person on the tubes of you). It was so much “fun” she immediately wanted to do a dumbbell shoulder workout from Caroline Girvan. Caroline was using 8kg weights, I used 5, my wife was on 3. I quite like workouts where you just stick to one weight, it simplifies things. There were of course exercises where I could have gone a lot heavier, but also moments where 5kg felt more than enough.

So my hamstrings are toast and my triceps hate me. But it was fun! So much so that we repeated it (and I moved up a weight or two).

Why am I telling you this? Because it’s no bad thing to cross train, and it’s no bad thing to change things up every now and then. And if I can suffer through it, so can you. It’s honestly a refreshing change not to be making all the training decisions in a session.

Speaking of cross training, I’ve been having a go at “rope flow”, which seems quite fun and useful if you don’t take it too seriously. I cut the sound on this video because there was a lawn mower running nearby, and I was swearing a lot:

https://vimeo.com/1096945046

It’s not all suffering through kettlebells and chonky bits of iron. I also ended up shooting a couple of sword videos. This is me getting into a longsword frame of mind:

https://vimeo.com/1096538105

And this is a very useful exercise for learning when to pass and when to lunge, with a rapier or any other weapon:

https://vimeo.com/1096538161

Read more