A complete beginner's guide to training in medieval Italian longsword. This book covers everything from choosing a sword, to warming up, to fencing. Full of set drills and clear descriptions, this book has been the standard work on the subject since it first came out in 2004. As a technical manual it has been largely superceded by The Medieval Longsword, which came out in 2014, but it is unsurpassed as a general guide to how and why you should train swordsmanship.
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This book is a great reference that I find best paired with Guy Windsor's “Mastering the Arts of Arms Volume 2 – The Medieval Longsword”…Highly recommend this book, especially paired with Guy Windsor's Longsword book. As with his book on longsword, I recommend this book to anyone who is just starting or anyone that has been practicing for a while or even instructing. Whether learning on your own or already a member of a club or learning community, this book contains invaluable information that goes a long way to improving your understanding and mastery of the longsword material.
I have been practicing the longsword for about two years (but in the German/Liechtenauer way), and I found this to be an enlightening book.
Top notch book. Good review of history, terminilogy and basic techniques. The training sections of the book a very good, starting with explanations and excercises of basic body mechanics, balance, stances and footwork, continuing on to guards, attacks and pair drills. It is very comprehensive, breaking down the different parts of the gross motor skills needed into well thought out packets.
You can read an independent review on Henry Walker's blog, here.
This is also one of my two books to date that has been published in a foreign language, in this case, German. No, that is NOT me on the cover!!
The other is The Medieval Dagger: Der Mittelalterliche Dolch