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 enlarge | Author: Stephen Hand
Publisher: Chivalry Bookshelf
Category: Book
List Price: $49.95
Buy New: $33.91
You Save: $16.04 (32%)
New (19) Used (9) from $27.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 645239
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 264
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.4
Dimensions (in): 11.1 x 8.8 x 0.9
ISBN: 1891448277
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN: 9781891448270
ASIN: 1891448277
Publication Date: May 25, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 6-7 of 7 | | « PREV | | |
 An "magnum opus" of historical swordfighting July 12, 2006
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
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
 Another essential work by Stephen Hand April 10, 2006
13 out of 17 found this review helpful
In this book, Hand, a leading authority on recreating medieval and renaissance swordsmanship, turns to the long overlooked topic of the English basket hilted broadsword of the Elizathean age. Long considered to be inferior to the rapier, it is now usually accepted as a viable weapon art, yet there has been little secondary information until now.
The book covers the sword that would have been called the "short sword" at the time, though in fact the blade was often a yard or so long-it was short only compared to two handed weapons. This was the most common civilian and military side arm of the day, and quite similar to the Scottish Highland basket hilted claymore, from which Hand's one time colaborator Paul Wagner speculates it derived. It is a style Shakespeare was almost certainly familiar with (in addition to write plays, Shakespeare acted, and almost all actors of the day took fencing to improve posture and perform the many sword fights the in the plays). It was a precurser to 18th and 19th century saber play. In addition, it is probably closer to actual native Gaelic Highland swordsmanship than anything we have today, being a bit more archaic and a native British style, as opposed to the continental styles of "Lannairreachd: Gaelic Swordsmanship" by Chris Thomson.
The format of the book seems quite similar to the author's "Medieval Sword and Shield", an explication of the famous 1300 AD-era I.33 sword and buckler manuscript. Footwork, the foundation of any martial art, is covered first, then basic stances and strikes, followed by elementary attacks and parries, then more advanced grappling and other techniques.
All in all, for a new comer to this style, this book is a better intro than Terry Brook's good but eclectic and too brief "English Martial Arts", as well as a good starting place for those considering the simplified, comparitvely boring "Gaelic Swordsmanship" mentioned above (its style was invented to teach men to be acceptable swordsmen in a very short time for military service, not master swordsmen after a proper instruction period), or the more obscure primary sources of "Highland Swordsmanship" and "Highland Broadsword".
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