From Medieval Manuscript to Modern Practice: The Longsword Techniques of Fiore dei Liberi

This is as research is supposed to be, you find a nice piece of information from the past that is almost forgotten and with modern research techniques you make it relevant and alive. Dr. Windsor uses not only the tried and true tools, like using the original sources in the original language but goes into the cutting edge (pun intended) employing video, podcasts, etc. This is a niche pursuit and not everyone loves a sword (How is that possible?) but for those who love everything related to swords I very highly recommend the book. Disclaimer: I DON'T DO THIS TYPE OF FENCING and I still find the books extremely worthwhile. Peter A Sword Nerd

Do you practice Fiore? Do you want to Practice Fiore? Do you like the idea of learning how one can take ancient text, translate it, and then replicate these instructions for modern readers to understand? Do you like swords? If you answered yes to any of these question, buy this book. Easy, done. You won't regret it. This book is worth well more than the asking price. It isn't even fair how cheap such a valuable resource is going for. Details: Guy Windsor is arguably one of the most prolific writers in HEMA. While some might not agree with everything he has to say, there is no doubt that he knows his stuff. Maybe your interpretation might be "more correct" in your opinion, but Guy is rarely, if ever, outright incorrect. This book serves to reveal the inner workings of his brain. You can follow every leap he took from the raw material, interpreted the nuances of ancient Italian and turned it into modern (mostly) comprehensible English, deciphered the rambling and sometime confusing verbiage of this ancient master into something clearly understandable by a modern fencer, and he even films how to do EVERY action! It is the groundwork for almost an entire curriculum on teaching a "How to Fiore" class. Get yourself a friend and follow this book and I am sure you can learn the entire system. You get the whole package here. From the source to a video and every step in between. If you truly want to understand how Fiore works, you can do no better than this book. His older book does a very good job at showing you "How To Fiore" but this book goes so much deeper. It allows you to understand the context behind why you need to move the sword that way when this thing happens. While you might get by with the older books if all you want to do is swing a sword Fiore style, but by reading through this book you will have such a better foundation to work from that I am sure your actual swordwork will improve as well. Again, the price is so easy to justify for this level of work. The best bang for your buck in HEMA literature that I am aware of. Lastly, even if you don't specifically practice Fiore you should still pick this up. This is the best record I have seen for how to go about interpreting HEMA source material. It would serve as a great reference, or inspiration, on how to go about better interpreting the source that you are actively working from. Just pull the trigger. You won't be disappointed.

Very good translation

Guy Windsor has raised the bar yet again. As one of the first WMA/HEMA authors during our current epoch, he has been a consistent, front line contributor for Medieval Swordplay content. This is the only Medieval Martial Arts book I have read that provides both written text and video/media files to demonstrate the interpretation presented; perfect for the age of reading on devices in kindle format etc. Further, It is written by the only person I am aware to have a PhD from Oxford in Recreating Medieval Martial Arts. Do yourself a favour and at least grab the kindle to watch the links to his media files -- you won't regret it.

I refer to this book every day. Simple as that. The explanations are clear, the original text and images are present and clear. This book gave us exactly what we were looking for in our practice and study of Fiore. Thank you, Guy Windsor.

The book is minly OK without anything more. The worst part of it is when the author tries to explaine the contects of creation of the original and about Fiore himself....Well it appears that he has no idea who knights were, nor nobles for that matter. This book will be the most valiable for individuals that has already some experience in HEMA or Buhurt for simple reason that the author is far from being phisicaly fit, which is neccessary in correct represantation of the art. Even after all these harsh things i have wrote here, the content is still good, if you know how to use it

I'm stating in HEMA, Historical European Martial Arts, it's a good place to start.

Bon ouvrage

A really nice book for those who know Guy‘s other books and/or videos. While you learn in the later „how to Fiore“ this is more about „Guy explains why he thinks you should do stuff in the way he shows ist to you and how he came to his conclusions.“ As always, I really enjoyed reading the book and it really helps one to get a deeper understanding of Fiore’s art (if you rely on Mr. Windsor‘s interpretation (what I definitely do)). Thanks for sharing your thoughts and thinking about this fencing stuff and that we readers do not have to think everything through ourselves, saving a bunch of years we can spend on hitting each other with sword, rather than thinking about how to.

This is the book I had been hoping for when Guy Windsor published 'Advanced Longsword' in his Mastering the Art of Arms series. As to the date of this review, 'From Medieval Manuscript to Modern Practice' is the most substantive, single interpretive work on Fiore's longsword material. This is an indispensable text and required reading for serious students of Fiore, including those who disagree with all or parts of Windsor's approach.