“Guy has the rare talent of making this material accessible” -Neal Stephenson (from his Foreword to Swordfighting)

“Guy Windsor's greatest gift to WMA/HEMA is his marvellous ability to translate period language into a meaningful experience for modern WMA/HEMA practitioners and he has once more shown his ability to do exactly that.” – Adam, reviewing Veni Vadi Vici on Amazon.

From the late fifteenth century comes a detailed manuscript on knightly combat, written by Philippo Vadi. Dedicated to one of the most famous Italian condottiere of the age, Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino, this book covers the theory of combat with the longsword, as well as dozens of techniques of the sword, the spear, the pollax, and the dagger.
This black and white paperback edition of The Art of Sword Fighting in Earnest includes a detailed introduction, setting Vadi and his combat style in their historical context, a complete translation of the manuscript, and a detailed commentary from the perspective of the practising martial artist. Please note it does not include a facsimile of the manuscript, but that may be downloaded from a link provided in the text.
This volume is the second edition of Dr. Windsor’s earlier work, Veni Vadi Vici, updating the translation and the introduction. This is essential reading for any practitioner of knightly combat, academic historian, or enthusiast for the quattrocento period of Italian history.

Dr. Guy Windsor is a world-renowned instructor and a pioneering researcher of medieval and renaissance martial arts. He has been teaching the Art of Arms full-time since founding The School of European Swordsmanship in Helsinki, Finland, in 2001. His profession is finding and analysing historical swordsmanship treatises, figuring out the systems they represent, creating a syllabus from the treatises for his students to train with, and teaching the system to his students all over the world. He is the author of numerous classic books about the art of swordsmanship including the definitive The Theory and Practice of Historical Martial Arts, The Swordsman’s Companion, and his Mastering the Art of Arms series.

Philippo Vadi

Books