English Swordsmanship: The True Fight of George Silver (Hardcover)

by Stephen Hand (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
George Silver was oneof the most significant writers on the history of Western swordsmanship. Best known for his distrust of Italian rapier fencing, this suspicion led him to document the system of swordsmanship practiced by the English gentry and nobility before the advent of the rapier. Looking back to earlier times, Silver described a system that in many fundmentals was still medieval, but he did so with an early Modern precision. Fearful that his countrymen were forgetting the basics of swordsmanship, Silver described the system in great detail. What emerges is a simple and powerful, yet deep and subtle style, heavily based on natural body movements and designed to work under the stress of real combat. In this book, Stephen Hand presents Silver's system with outstanding text and in more than four hundred clear photographs. This book is a must for anyone interested in swordsmanship, it stands to become a classic!

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Chivalry Bookshelf (May 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891448277
• ISBN-13: 978-1891448270
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #443,339 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Have for Any Student of the Sword, October 11, 2006

By	Tom Leoni (Alexandria, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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 Although unpublished, the Brief Instructions was discovered in the 19th Century and remains a precious testimony of how stalwart Englishmen fought, sword in hand, in the last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.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An "magnum opus" of historical swordfighting, July 11, 2006

By	Gregory Mele (Wheaton, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for study of English Swordplay, November 9, 2006

By	E. Branscum "Frozen Swordsman" (Anchorage, Alaska) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.