Customer Reviews

English Swordsmanship: The True Fight of George Silver

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The one word that came to mind when I first saw this book was "finally!"

George Silver, an English gentleman contemporary of Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth, left two written records to posterity. One, Paradoxes of Defence, was a refutation of foreign swordsmanship systems that he disliked--primarily the Italian and the Spanish--in what is now regarded as one of the most tasty martial diatribes in European history. The second was a manuscript he never got around to publishing--the Brief Instructions Upon My Paradoxes of Defense--where Silver gives us a detailed account of what he considered the best way for an Englishman to fight with a sword. Although unpublished, the Brief Instructions was discovered in the 19th Century and remains a precious testimony of how stalwart Englishmen fought, sword in hand, in the last quarter of the 16th Century.

One of the problems associated with the works of George Silver is their apparent simplicity. This, coupled with the popularity that these works in English have enjoyed in a mostly Italian/German/French-dominated field--has lead to several different interpretations that are often at odds with one-another or even downright wrong. A powerful and authoritative tiebreaker was badly needed. Enter Mr. Stephen Hand.

Stephen Hand brings an extensive and rather unique tool-kit to the writing of this book--including his skills as a trained academic, as an educator, as a writer and, most of all, as a martial artist. But most importantly, Mr. Hand has dedicated most of his adult life in studying the works of Silver, with a passion and determination that make him arguably the world's foremost authority on this important Renaissance English fencing author.

All this shows plainly in this book. English Swordsmanship is a carefully written and extensively illustrated analysis of the swordsmanship style described by George Silver. Both the theory and the practice are explained step by step in a way that will be equally useful to the fencing novice and the experienced martial artist. Stephen Hand's style is adademically sound but refreshingly easy to follow as it weaves its way through theoretical notions such as the Four Governors of the True Fight and practical techniques such as attacks, defenses, footwork and even grapples.

Also, the book is written with spirit and energy, in a style that is beautifully in sintony with the original works of Silver. All in all, this is a fantastic resource that belongs on the shelves of anyone interested in Renaissance England--and in the fencing bag of anyone wanting to learn Historical European Martial Arts.

First, a confession: I have known Stephen Hand for the better part of a decade, and have had the pleasure of trading notes, lessons and blows with him. I also saw this manuscript in its draft form and helped him refine it to its final form. So I cannot be called "unbiased".

OTOH, one doesn't have to question their bias when a book is just damn good. This is a full, introductory course into English swordplay prior to 1600; the result of more than a decade of hard work, and it shows. By "full course" I mean that it is more than just an interpretation or reconstruction of techniques listed by George Silver in his manuscript. The student is given a firm grounding in Silver's fencing theory and tactics, and then is taught in a series of progressive lessons how to work through the system of the sword alone, grappling with the off hand, using the sword and dagger, the sword and buckler and opposing one against the other.

The author is a trained educator, writing about a topic he knows inside and out, and it shows. Throughout the book, the student is given detailed drills, tips on what to look for and what to avoid, and a firm understanding of how and why techiques work *tactically* and by the same token, how they can be defeated or mistakes can be exploited. Later chapters address specific tactical ideas that should alone provide years worth of exploration for new students who have successfully reconstructed the technical material that precedes them. Throughout, Stephen is always very careful to use Silver's own words to clarify these ideas, and then show how his experience and research has clarified those ideas, not replaced them. I myself have been reconstructing the method of swordfighting detailed in 1599 by George Silver since the early 90s, and while Stephen's interpretations and ideas and my own do not perfectly mesh on every point, it is abundantly clear where w depart why he has made the conclusions that he has - and in a few places I now have to go back and reanalyze and amend my own work. That is one of the best compliments this sort of work can receive.

Over the yeares I have seen a great deal of misunderstanding and downright distortion appear amonst many fellow practitioners. Stephen's book should serve to bring that to an end. If you have any interest in the fighting arts of the English fighting man, my recommendation is aquire a copy of this book post-haste and read it conjunction with Terry Brown's excellent "English Martial Arts".

Gregory Mele
Chicago Swordplay Guild
www.chicagoswordplayguild.com

Although I have not yet finished studying through this book,(and it may be quite some time before I am), I have found the way that Stephen Hand had lain out his own interpretation and explanation of George Silvers material on swordplay to be both insightful and clearly explained. Having read other books on renaissance rapier that were translations from Italian, I have found the additional explanations of why Mr. Hand interprets certain actions a particular way to be extremely helpful. I would suggest this book for anyone who is interested in the works of the Sword Masters of old but who are also looking for something decidedly different from the Italian school of rapier that seems to dominate most of the current study groups these days.

In this book, Hand, a leading authority on recreating medieval and renaissance swordsmanship, turns to the long overlooked topic of the English basket hilted broadsword of the Elizathean age. Long considered to be inferior to the rapier, it is now usually accepted as a viable weapon art, yet there has been little secondary information until now.
The book covers the sword that would have been called the "short sword" at the time, though in fact the blade was often a yard or so long-it was short only compared to two handed weapons. This was the most common civilian and military side arm of the day, and quite similar to the Scottish Highland basket hilted claymore, from which Hand's one time colaborator Paul Wagner speculates it derived. It is a style Shakespeare was almost certainly familiar with (in addition to write plays, Shakespeare acted, and almost all actors of the day took fencing to improve posture and perform the many sword fights the in the plays). It was a precurser to 18th and 19th century saber play. In addition, it is probably closer to actual native Gaelic Highland swordsmanship than anything we have today, being a bit more archaic and a native British style, as opposed to the continental styles of "Lannairreachd: Gaelic Swordsmanship" by Chris Thomson.
The format of the book seems quite similar to the author's "Medieval Sword and Shield", an explication of the famous 1300 AD-era I.33 sword and buckler manuscript. Footwork, the foundation of any martial art, is covered first, then basic stances and strikes, followed by elementary attacks and parries, then more advanced grappling and other techniques.
All in all, for a new comer to this style, this book is a better intro than Terry Brook's good but eclectic and too brief "English Martial Arts", as well as a good starting place for those considering the simplified, comparitvely boring "Gaelic Swordsmanship" mentioned above (its style was invented to teach men to be acceptable swordsmen in a very short time for military service, not master swordsmen after a proper instruction period), or the more obscure primary sources of "Highland Swordsmanship" and "Highland Broadsword".

"English Swordsmanship" is a brilliant, practical, interpretation of George Silver's works on fencing. It is pretty specific to the use of the broad- or back-sword, but somewhat applicable to classical sabre. The techniques described may seem insanely risky to a sport fencer, but a modern foil, epee, or sabre is a child's toy next to the English swords of Silver's era. This is about the sword as a weapon, not as a sport.

Although Stephen Hand had to interpret much of Silver's work, he did his reseach thoroughly, and mostly it makes sense. My disagreements are little more than quibbling, so will not be detailed here. Silver's original text is readily available for comparison, so other readers can form their own judgments, but I felt it followed well. I wouldn't recommend this as a "first book" on classical swordfighting, but that is more about English broadsword fighting than Hand's interpretation of Silver's work. After a reasonable grounding in the basic concepts, this is an excellent adjunct and expansion on other works.

Overall, I consider this an excellent addition to my classical fencing library and recommend it whole-heartedly.

E.M. Van Court

I have a number of Western Martial Arts books and manuals manuals and this is really one of the best. You can tell the author is very knowlegable in what he teaches and he is also good teacher. The pictures and descriptions are very well written. I have over 20 years in the asian martial arts and have been studying western martial arts for about 8 years now and I would like to see more books written like this one. I would recomend this book to anyone who is serious about swordsmanship.

I can't heap enough praise on this book. Well okay, this book doesn't cure baldness and raise the dead, but it is a true work of brilliance. Professor Hand has done something amazing - he has reconstituted a dead martial art, and a martial art that unjustly died out, owing to swordsmanship no longer being a true matter of life and death anymore after the ascendance of the gun, and to an over-fascination with foreign customs and as one contemporary put it, a desire to wear light swords that do not wear out your hose (pants!) The system in question is the use of the Sword - i.e. the cut and thrust weapon that has enough weight behind it to shear a limb off. It lost out in popularity in civilian life (where it was illegal to kill people with swords anyways!) to the Italian rapier and then to the French smallsword. These lighter swords were easy to carry around and even easier to use as their techniques were limited to just the thrust and a few basic parries and simple footwork. They were of course deadly enough to be useful for self-defence, but were seen as weak for the battlefield to which real swords were brought. This Sword-using system (the capital "S" is intentional here) was put into writing by a gentleman by the name of George Silver. It is the culmination of millennia of fighting experience among the English, refined and personalized to some extent, to be sure, by Silver himself, but according to his own claims, an accurate rendering of the traditional English way of Fencing. Unlike the Italian Fence-masters who advocated for the duel, Silver rails against it, only thinking fencing a fit practical skill for serving the nation on the battlefield, or as a last-ditch self-defence. He sees the health benefits (which are probably the main things we are interested in today regarding martial arts) as particularly salient, and the practice of cutting motions and the wide variety of footwork with the traditional English sword and its system as conducive, more than perhaps anything else to good health, physical and mental. I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment. Silver's system uses natural body movements - most steps are like natural walking steps, most sword attacks as natural swings through a natural arc. You don't crouch down low in awkward positions. The system feels almost instinctive. It's actually very subtle and counter-intuitive and tricky. It's a great core workout, and a fantastic all-body wholesome exercise. Its intrinsic interest which appeals to our sense of self-preservation keeps us interested and exercising, and its training makes us very strong, healthy both at limb and in heart and lungs, and sad to say, if the need arises, there is no doubt we can pick up some kind of object to use as a weapon, and use it spectacularly well! There are even not a few grappling moves. I've been a fan of Silver's old works for years but could never really understand them 100%. Well, perhaps I thought I understood them, but I obviously was not doing so. Professor Hand brings over 20 years of professional experience teaching and fighting referring to Silver's system to bear on this book. He has connected the dots. He has done the same as what a paleontologist does with dinosaur bones. Dinosaurs were once great animals. So too Silver's fencing method was a great school of Fight. Now we can enjoy it once again! I am noticing that it is helping me get better at kendo, and at judo too, believe it or not - judo being heavily dependent on subtle footwork and kendo on both subtle footwork and subtle sword work for success. Silver intended the training with the Sword to be the root of the study of all fights, and I am finding exactly this to be true, thanks to Professor Hand! I can't wait for volume II where Prof. Hand pits Silver's system against rapiers, and supplements the sword with daggers and shields! That will definitely be interesting!

I have not read the entire book as yet, but I am impressed with what I have. The book appears to be very compleet and a good reference as well.