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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN num: 9781891448270
ISBN number: 1891448277
Label: Chivalry Bookshelf
Manufacturer: Chivalry Bookshelf
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 264
Printing Date: May 25, 2006
Publishing house: Chivalry Bookshelf
Sale Popularity Level: 197117
Studio: Chivalry Bookshelf
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
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!
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Rated by buyers 
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"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 subsequent 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
Rated by buyers -
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.
Rated by buyers 
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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.
Rated by buyers -
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.
Rated by buyers -
The one word that came to mind when I very 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.
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