Cut straight to the chase! This is our Best Sword Lessons Books for HEMA in 2020 choice
Knightly Art of the Longsword by Sigmund Ringeck is one of the most popular fencing manuals to start with when diving into the world of HEMA. It’s not only theory but an instruction manual to be used as you train.
It’s meant to be slowly read for two reasons: the material reveals fundamental principles of western martial art in a new context and with a new perspective. The content of the drawings and their relationship to the text could be difficult to understand, but once you figure everything out, it’s pure gold.
It’s also worth mentioning that this book is a collectible (out of print), so it’s price, will only increase over time.
Take a look at our top picks for Best Sword Lessons Books for HEMA in 2020!
COMPARISON TABLE – Best Sword Lessons Books List
Table of Contents
- COMPARISON TABLE – Best Sword Lessons Books List
- Searching for the Best Sword Lessons Books for HEMA in 2020
- 1. Sigmund Ringeck’s Knightly Art of the Longsword
- 2. The Flower of Battle: MS Ludwig XV13
- 3. Secrets of German Medieval Swordsmanship: Sigmund Ringeck’s Commentaries on Master Liechtenauer’s Verse
- 4. Venetian Rapier: Nicoletto Giganti’s 1606 Rapier Fencing Curriculum
- 5. Christian Tobler’s Fighting with the German Longsword
- 6. Alfred Hutton’s Cold Steel: The Art of Fencing with the Sabre
- 7. Guy Windsor’s The Duellist’s Companion
- 8. Milo Thurston’s A Newer, Shorter and Easier Method of Fencing
- 9. In Saint George’s Name: An Anthology of Medieval German Fighting Arts
- 10. Guy Windsor’s the Swordman’s Companion
- 11. Joachim Meyer’s The Art of Combat: A German Martial Arts Treatise of 1570
- Conclusion
Searching for the Best Sword Lessons Books for HEMA in 2020
In this article, you’ll find out everything about the most popular books for HEMA. When you start digging into the world of HEMA, you’ll find that there’s much more than just buying the best equipment you can get for your money.
Historical European martial arts flourished at the beginning of the 14th century with a German and an Italian school. Then in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance (14th to 16th centuries), other schools from countries such as Spanish, French, English, and Scottish followed. There are a few important figures in the history of HEMA, which will also be mentioned in this article.
We picked the best sword lessons books for HEMA based on not just a theory and an illustrative presentation. We also selected the books that were the reason for the expansion of this beautiful art. Some fencing manuals were written for longswords, while others were written for some other weapons, and we won’t forget to mention that too.
1. Sigmund Ringeck’s Knightly Art of the Longsword
If you want to be a student of historical sword fencing than this book needs to be on your bookshelf. This book covers everything from the sword, buckler, wrestling, to different fighting techniques.
Ringeck’s invaluable 15th-century compilation of the lessons of German fencing master Johannes Liechtenauer is given new life by two modern students of the sword. Johannes Liechtenauer was a grandmaster of the art. There aren’t any records about his life or teachings. Everything that we know about his work comes from the writings of other masters and his students.
The only text known about Johannes stated that Mr. Liechtenauer mastered the art of fencing by traveling to other countries with one goal – to learn and master techniques that were before unknown to him.
Besides detailed illustrations, this book includes original notes from the 15th-century German fencing master Johannes Liechtenauer. The book is of course in the English language, but we’ve always treasured original texts. Each illustration is detailed and precise, and it covers the movement of a fighter along with a complete description of every move. It’s basically a step-by-step how-to guide, with a lot of useful commentaries.
Even the most experienced fighters, will have some problems understanding everything Johannes Liechtenauer wanted to say, and it’s nothing wrong with that, but still, Ringeck did a great job interpreting and dumbing it down for us.
This book covers more than just longsword techniques. On around 20 pages you can find different strategies for sword and buckler. There’s also a lot of material about wrestling and strategies using bare hands against opponents. There’re even around 20 pages talking about the spear, and there’s one interesting part in this book, where Johannes discusses the exciting battle between a spear and a sword.
In the next few pages, there’s a part talking about weak points in the armor (steel plate) and debunking some misconceptions about fighting the opponent wearing the plate armor.
We can’t miss pages where he’s talking about longswords. He covered everything, from explaining what is the longsword, to guards, hand placement, footwork, stances, attacks, counter-attacks, to the actual practice exercises.
Let us ask you, what would you do if your opponent would grab and hold your weapon?
You don’t know? We didn’t either… But Johannes did (of course). This part is fascinating because it explains a few possible ways of dealing with this situation.
You can find a lot, lot more in this sword lessons book, and we strongly advise you to get one.
Number of pages: 248
Wise Peasants Grade
- Theory: 5
- Practical presentation: 5
Total: 5
Pros
- Detailed illustrations
- Step-by-step sword lessons
- Multiple situations covered
- Multiple weapons covered
- A collectible book
Cons
- Some illustrations could be confusing
- It’s not in a print anymore
2. The Flower of Battle: MS Ludwig XV13
Fiore dei Liberi (Fiore Furlano de Cividale d’Austria, delli Liberi da Premariacco), author of the original The Flower of Battle was a late 14th-century knight, teacher, diplomat, and renowned fencer.
Mr. Liberi is the earliest Italian master from whom we have an extant fencing text. Flower of Battle (Fior di Battaglia or Flos Duellatorum) is one of the oldest surviving fencing manuals. In his life, he met many fake masters and with five of them, he had a duel for his honor. The reason for duels were envious masters because Fiore refused to teach them his art. All duels were fought with sharp longswords, gambesons, and chamois gloves. Without any surprise, Fiore won each duel without a single injury. In his life, he trained many famous condottieri, who initially become masters of the art.
Only 4 sword lessons manuscripts of The Flower of Battle survived, and there are records of at least 2 others, which are still not found. The Pisani Dossi MS and MS Ludwig XV 13 state that they were both written at Mr. Niccolò III d’Este’s request and according to his design.
MS Ludwig XV13 version is typically referred to as the “Getty version” because it’s currently in the J. Paul Getty’s museum in LA. It’s also titled Fior di Battaglia because it contains 4 manuscripts that were written by Fior. The fencing manual is written in the form of descriptive paragraphs set in poor Italian verses, which are still clear and informative.
The major sections of the MS Ludwig XV13 version include:
- abrazare – unarmed plays (usually translated as wrestling but more literally grappling);
- spada a un mano – also called “the sword without the buckler”, the use of the sword in one hand;
- daga – including both unarmed defenses against the dagger and plays of the dagger against dagger;
- spada a dui mani – the use of the sword in two hands;
- azza – plays of the poleaxe in armor;
- spada en arme – the use of the sword in armor (primary techniques from the half sword);
- lance, spear, and staff plays;
- mounted combat (fighting with the spear, the sword, and common grappling).
In between these sections, there are shorter chapters which cover topics such as bastoncello, or plays of a small stick or baton against unarmed and dagger-wielding opponents; plays of longsword vs. dagger; plays of staff and dagger and of two clubs and a dagger; and the use of the chiavarina against a man on horseback.
The format is mostly the same across all copies of The Flower of Battle treatise. Each section consists of:
- Masters or teachers (figures in golden crowns) that demonstrate a guard for the weapon they use.
- Master called Remedio (remedy) who demonstrate a defensive technique against some attack.
- Scholars or student (figures wearing golden garters on their legs) who demonstrate different variations of the Remedio.
- Master called Contrario (counter), wearing both golden crown and gartner, which show how to counter the Remedio.
- (In rare cases) Master called Contra-Contrario (counter-counter), who demonstrated how to defeat the master’s counter.
The translation and implementation is nothing less, but perfect. This book is a masterpiece, and it’s styled so well that it actually looks as if Fiore wrote the book in English. Worth every penny.
Number of pages: 112
Wise Peasants Grade
- Theory: 5
- Practical presentation: 5
Total: 5
Pros
- Multiple techniques covered
- Step-by-step sword lessons
- Multiple situations covered
- Multiple weapons covered
- A collectible book
Cons
- We couldn’t find any cons
3. Secrets of German Medieval Swordsmanship: Sigmund Ringeck’s Commentaries on Master Liechtenauer’s Verse
The original Secrets of German Medieval Swordsmanship fencing document was written by 15th century German Master of Arms Johannes Liechtenauer. The impressive part is that he did this in verse and the reason for that was to confuse outsiders of his school and to help students of his school.
Besides translating Liechtenauer’s verses and Ringeck’s commentaries into English, Christian Henry Tobler has also provided commentaries of his own and (more importantly) black & white photographs of people demonstrating the techniques in period costume and armor. Comments and photos from Mr. Tobler are not only excellent in quality, but they’re informative too. The parallel commentary of these Masters was done correctly.
This sword lessons manual covers chapters for the longsword, sword/buckler, spears, armed and unarmed wrestling, foot combat in armor, and mounted combat. The stances and methods are very clearly explained with excellent photographs to accompany them.
Johannes even took care of a manual on how to accurately use this amazing book so you can get the most out of it.
Number of pages: 400
Wise Peasants Grade
- Theory: 5
- Practical presentation: 5
Total: 5
Pros
- Detailed illustrations
- Step-by-step sword lessons
- Multiple situations covered
- Multiple weapons covered
- A collectible book
- Parallel commentary
Cons
- It’s not in a print anymore
4. Venetian Rapier: Nicoletto Giganti’s 1606 Rapier Fencing Curriculum
Also called a training curriculum, Venetian Rapier was written by a renaissance rapier Master Nicoletto Giganti of Venice.
First, there’s an intro by Mr. Leoni who gives us some nice historical background about the rapier master Nicoletto Giganti as well as providing some basics about Venician Fencing that Giganti may have assumed was common knowledge when he wrote the book’s original edition.
After that, there are 55 pages of clear, no-nonsense style single blade, rapier and dagger techniques with illustrations. While footwork isn’t expressly discussed, the basics in all other things like guards, feints, passes, parries, thrusts, strikes, are.
Here are a few chapters from the book:
- how to Deliver the Thrust
- delivering a Thrust While the Opponent Moves
- sword-parry and Strike to the Face
- how to Use Single Sword Against Sword and Dagger
Basically, more than 40 different chapters in this sword lessons manual are filled with original illustrations and comments.
Even if you’re an experienced fencer, this book belongs on your bookshelf.
Number of pages: 80
Wise Peasants Grade
- Theory: 5
- Practical presentation: 5
Total: 5
Pros
- Detailed illustrations
- Step-by-step sword lessons
- Multiple situations covered
- A collectible book
- More than 50 pages of no-nonsense material
Cons
- It’s hard to get one
5. Christian Tobler’s Fighting with the German Longsword
First, we need to thank Christian Tobler, Peter von Danzig, Jud Lew, and Sigmund Ringeck for all the hard work they put into this book and for other things they did for HEMA. Johannes Liechtenauer is credited with developing this system, but the masters mentioned above contributed to the original system and explained some of its more difficult concepts.
This book is a masterpiece. We suggest this book to you if you want to explore new concepts you’ve never ever thought about before. Used as the complete, self-contained course, this sword lessons book explains everything from basic footwork to armored combat.
Here are a few chapters that you can find in the book:
- Footwork
- Guards
- Initiative
- Defending with Attacks
- The Master Strokes
- The Sprenchfenster
- Winding
- Armoured combat
- Fencing with the spear
- Fencing with the half-sword
The headline mentions that the center of this sword lessons manual is the longsword. Few chapters briefly cover a few other weapons, but we don’t suggest that you buy this book, expecting detailed strategies for other than longsword weapons.
Every chapter is filled with step-by-step text explanations and pictures, that fill the gap and help to understand very easy, where the text has difficulty in fully explaining a particular move. Every chapter also includes drills, that allow the reader to work through what is taught in the book.
“Fighting with the German Longsword” is a fantastic introduction to the art of fighting with the Longsword. The explanation given by the author is very detailed and reader-friendly. He explains several concepts (slicing, binding) that other sword lessons books of this type either do not mention or give only passing importance.
Number of pages: 331
Wise Peasants Grade
- Theory: 5
- Practical presentation: 5
Total: 5
Pros
- Detailed illustrations
- Step-by-step sword lessons
- Authors covered concepts that are usually ignored
Cons
- It’s rare so it can get expensive
6. Alfred Hutton’s Cold Steel: The Art of Fencing with the Sabre
Cold Steel: The Art of Fencing with the Sabre is a straightforward manual on training with the saber and it was initially published by Alfred Hutton in 1889. This sword lessons book offers both detailed technical and historical views of the art of the saber.
It starts with a look at the weapon’s construction and its grip, followed by explanations of a variety of different parries and strokes as well as methods of combining attack and defense. It’s basically a book with less historical stories and other useless parts than the actual material for training.
More than 50 illustrations help demonstrate how to hold the saber, how to guard, seizure, guard and other aspects of the art of fencing with a saber.
Here are a few chapters that you can find in the book:
- The Game of the Sword (The Fencing Sword)
- The Saber Opposed to the French Sword
- The Great Stick (The 5-foot Stick)
- The Short Sword-Bayonet or Dagger
An experienced saber fencer should have no problem understanding and picking up many techniques that are given by this book. The same goes for a Foil or Epee fencer, especially if he or she wants to learn more about the saber techniques.
This fencing book is an excellent addition for the historical martial artist or a history enthusiast.
Number of pages: 210
Wise Peasants Grade
- Theory: 5
- Practical presentation: 5
Total: 5
Pros
- Detailed illustrations
- Step-by-step sword lessons
- Price range
Cons
- We couldn’t find any cons
7. Guy Windsor’s The Duellist’s Companion
In The Duellist’s Companion, Mr. Windsor thoroughly analyses the realities of Italian rapier fencing based on Capoferro’s Gran Simulacro. First published in 1610, this is one of the most famous treaty ever written. Guy explains the style from first principles, which is very helpful for beginners.
Guy combines theory and practical use in a series of exercises in which every movement is taught according to the mechanical and tactical principles underlying the action. Every concept and move was interpreted in a very detailed way along with explained reasons behind them. The drills to develop skills specific to the rapier are also excellent.
With over 400 carefully illustrated photographs showing every movement and principle, this fencing manual offers fencers a comprehensive guide to understanding the art of Italian rapier play.
Number of pages: 256
Wise Peasants Grade
- Theory: 5
- Practical presentation: 4.5
Total: 4.75
Pros
- Well interpreted concepts
- Step-by-step sword lessons
- Suitable for beginners
- Price range
Cons
- Some illustrations can be unclear
8. Milo Thurston’s A Newer, Shorter and Easier Method of Fencing
A Newer, Shorter and Easier Method of Fencing presents for a reader a manual for studying an effective, system for fighting with mostly small swords and similar types of historical weapons.
The “New Method” of fencing with the small sword (and similar historical weapons) developed by the Scottish fencing master Sir William Hope.
Hope elaborated his new method as practical and “reality-based”. Milo Thurston starts with the basics such as the footwork, posture and hanging
guard, and continues with more advanced concepts such as modified hanging guard, short lunge, and tight defensive stance. He also includes cuts, grappling and sword capture techniques.
Text can be sometimes harder to understand because it’s written in a strange Scots-inflected language. Nevertheless, every concept is explained by both a written description and a set of very useful photographs. The outcome is a useful curriculum which definitely manages to explain the quite complex art of fencing in Hope’s system in a very effective way.
If you are a beginner, this short sword lesson book is a great starting point to learn and drill a whole range of attacks, defenses and other techniques with small swords.
Number of pages: 134
Wise Peasants Grade
- Theory: 4.5
- Practical presentation: 5
Total: 4.75
Pros
- Well interpreted concepts
- Step-by-step sword lessons
- Price range
Cons
- Text could be hard to understand
9. In Saint George’s Name: An Anthology of Medieval German Fighting Arts
In Saint George’s Name is another book from the popular writer Christian Henry Tobler. This book is similar to other 2 works by Henry, but it’s focused less on longswords, and more on other peripheral weapons.
The exciting part of this book is its structure. Because chapters are written as stand-alone articles, so casual readers could enjoy picking and choosing their favorite sections and re-read them without missing any crucial information from previous chapters.
The first half of the book is an accumulation of Henry’s works, which include exhaustive training notes for the messer techniques of Master Paulus Kal, poleaxe techniques from German treatise (late 15th century, and dagger techniques by Master Peter Falkner. There’s also an exciting training study comparing sword, lance, messer, and spear techniques, along with the various cultural and philosophical aspects of these arts.
The other half of this book is easy to read and understand the translation of Van Danzig Fechtbuch (fencing book) by Mr. Tobler.
This fencing book is actually a collection of all fencing treatises from German medieval times, and it also includes Liechtenauer’s verses and treatises by other fencing grandmasters of that tradition. In these documents, you can find a collection of topics that include armored combat, wrestling, longsword, dagger, and lastly a longsword.
Everyone can enjoy and learn something new from this sword lesson book. Experienced students will find a collection of practical techniques while beginning students will enjoy reading this translation of these easy to follow documents, filled with explanations and illustrations.
Number of pages: 210
Wise Peasants Grade
- Theory: 5
- Practical presentation: 4.5
Total: 4.75
Pros
- Suitable for beginners and experienced students
- A lot of interesting material
- Well interpreted concepts
- Step-by-step sword lessons
- Price range
Cons
- We couldn’t find any cons
10. Guy Windsor’s the Swordman’s Companion
We recommend Guy Windsor’s the Swordman’s Companion to anyone who is just starting or anyone that has been practicing for a while.
Mr. Windsor discusses 3 types of a swordsman – the technician, the competitor, and the spiritualist. This technical manual covers everything from the technical aspects of longsword all the way to the philosophy of training and how to train with different types of fencers that are mentioned above, in a plain modern English.
Chapters offer the full set of drills and straightforward descriptions that cover tips on how to choose a sword, how to warm up, how to guard, fencing principles, among many others. Every chapter is filled with helpful illustrations and tips (and tricks).
Here are a few chapters that you can find in the book:
- The Italian Masters
- Fencing Principles
- Unarmed Practice
- Armed Practice
- Solo Drills
- Freeplay
This sword lessons book also has one fascinating feature. Revisions that were made since the 1st edition have been left on the pages, with notes that explain where an author made changes.
Number of pages: 242
Wise Peasants Grade
- Theory: 5
- Practical presentation: 4.5
Total: 4.75
Pros
- Suitable for beginners and experienced students
- A lot of interesting material
- Well interpreted concepts
- Step-by-step sword lessons
- Price range
Cons
- Some illustrations are of poor quality
11. Joachim Meyer’s The Art of Combat: A German Martial Arts Treatise of 1570
Published in 1570, Joachim Meyer’s The Art of Combat is among the most significant sword lessons documents in the rich history of German martial arts treatises. In this publication, Meyer is giving us a rational approach, along with a detailed illustration for each technique presented.
This book is split into 5 parts, each covering 5 different weapon types: longsword, rapier, dagger, dussack, and staff weapons. Each chapter is filled with training drills, attack combinations, methods, and explained the principles behind each technique.
Among the many fascinating things that can be found in this book, one is particularly interesting. It shows how medieval martial arts were changing over time into a sport. Only one chapter in this book (rapier – cut and thrust) is intended for the actual fighting. Others such as the longsword, halberd, knife, pike, and dussack chapters were written for sparring as a sport.
Written in a martial arts sport type format, this book inevitably supports the statements of an English fencer George Silver.
Born in the 16th century, Silver was a gentleman of England, but not a professional fencing teacher. Mr. Silver was familiar with the fencing schools of the time, and he claimed that he mastered the use of all fencing weapons. He particularly disliked the Italian school of fencing, so he decided to write down his very well known work Paradoxes of Defence.
In the 13th chapter of his book, he explains why blows are stronger and more effective than thrusts in a fight, and he was a firm believer, that rapier schoolmasters teach no cut, and fight schoolmasters teach no thrust, and teach other, more effective techniques instead.
Nowadays, HEMA enthusiasts fight for sport and not for life so they may think that the lack of missing sections (thrusting in the longsword section) could be a drawback when sparring.
We also noticed that some readers had problems with the translation. Some of them would prefer to keep terms for specific movements and techniques in the original language because most of the students are used to seeing original terms, even if they’re in the German language.
Aside from all that, the book is still one of the best sword lessons books you can get, and it’s “must-have” for all HEMA enthusiasts.
Number of pages: 320
Wise Peasants Grade
- Theory: 4.5
- Practical presentation: 4
Total: 4.25
Pros
- Suitable for beginners and experienced students
- Chapter about dussack
- Well interpreted concepts
- Step-by-step sword lessons
- Price range
Cons
- Illustrations are at the end of each chapter
- Translation of terms
Conclusion
When we were picking these books, we wanted to make sure, that these books are accepted throughout the HEMA community. It wasn’t easy to sort them because each one of them covers really remarkable content.
We hope you liked our Best Sword Lessons Book for the HEMA list, and please let us know which book you loved the most in the comments below.
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