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Welcome to the Swordschool Wiki
The Swordschool Wiki is a free reference library for historical martial arts, as interpreted and developed by Dr. Guy Windsor, and as taught at Swordschool.
This wiki records both our current understanding of the historical sources and the training methods we have developed from them over more than twenty-five years of research and teaching.
We are currently (as of July 2026) overhauling the wiki to make it easier to use, and updating it with literally hundreds of new text, image, and video resources. Please do not report broken links or missing pages until this notice has been removed.
See Videos to Shoot for a list of videos that need to be created for the Wiki (either shot from scratch, or edited from online course videos). Please email Guy to suggest additions to the list.
The Swordschool Wiki distinguishes between Interpretation (what we think the historical sources show) and Training (how we bring those systems to life). The wiki is a reference library rather than a complete course. Browse it in any order, or use it alongside our books, workbooks, seminars, and online courses.
Related Swordschool Resources
Books, training manuals, T-shirts and workbooks:The Swordschool Bookshop
Online courses: Swordschool Online
Join our community at Sword People
Support our work at The Sword Guy Patreon
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Interpretation
These pages focus on the interpretation of historical sources: what is shown, what is written, and what we think it means.
For example: what does Fiore mean by punta falsa? How should Capoferro’s scannatura be understood?
Browse by weapon
If you're looking for a specific Italian fencing term, try the Glossary: Glossary of Italian Fencing Terms
Browse by system / author
Interpreting Royal Armouries MS I.33
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Training
How we turn historical material into safe, effective modern training.
These pages describe modern training methods informed by historical sources: drills, progressions, and teaching approaches. If you’re looking for a drill, form, or exercise, it’ll be here.
You'll notice there are fewer syllabi than interpretation pages. Each syllabus provides a structured way into a particular martial art. Once you have built a solid foundation in one system — such as Fiore’s ‘‘Armizare’’ or Capoferro’s rapier — you can readily incorporate techniques and ideas from related sources, such as Vadi or Alfieri, without beginning again from scratch.
The interpretation pages document each historical source on its own terms. The syllabi, by contrast, are practical training programmes that draw on one core system as a foundation. This is not a judgement about the relative quality or importance of the sources; it simply reflects the most effective way to teach them.
By System (in historical order)
Sword and Buckler according to Royal Armouries MS I.33.
Training Royal Armouries MS I.33
Armizare is the name of the knightly combat art as taught by Fiore dei Liberi, and includes longsword, dagger, spear, pollax, and wrestling.
Capoferro's rapier style includes rapier alone, and accompanied by a dagger, a cloak, or a rotella shield.
Training with the Rapier: Capoferro
Angelo's smallsword fencing is the epitome of the French school.
Training with the Smallsword: Angelo
Additional Material
Thanks
Archive
Interpretations and training methods have changed a great deal since we started this wiki project in 2011. When an interpretation or drill is superceded by a newer version, the old one is archived here for reference.
Legacy main page (temporary)
While we are updating the wiki, we'll keep the old Main Page text and links here.
This is a work in progress, and always will be. The most complete sections so far the the Fiore basic syllabus and the conditioning guidelines. See the "all pages with videos" link for an idea of what's been done so far...
For online courses, go to Swordschool Online http://swordschool.teachable.com
