The Medieval Art of Swordsmanship is illustrated in colour throughout with a facsimile of a complete medieval pictorial manuscript. The book presents in facsimile and translates Europe’s oldest personal combat treatise, which is held in the Royal Armouries. Written in Latin in the latter part of the 13th or earliest years of the14th century, this German manuscript predates others, such as that published as Medieval Combat by Hans Talhoffer by Greenhill Books, by a century. It is a testament to the complexity and skill of medieval swordsmanship. The manuscript has been seen and studied by serious specialists in the Royal Armouries Collection at Leeds (where it is colloquially known by its accession reference, I.33). It presents a combat system that is sophisticated, complex and difficult, but one that also begs still more questions about its context and its diffusion of fighting arts beyond the chivalric military classes. Accompanying the complete colour facsimile is a transcription and translation, with an introduction, by Dr Jeffrey Forgeng. He is a Curator at the Higgins Armory Museum in Worchester, Massachusetts, and the Adjunct Associate Professor of Humanities at Worchester Polytechnic Institute. He has published extensively on topics including daily life in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the Robin Hood legend, and the history of games, as well as medieval and Renaissance martial arts. He is currently working on another notable work which requires translation and it will be published by Greenhill Books. The Medieval Art of Swordsmanship is a new book from Chivalry Bookshelf. Back to Greenhill Military Book News No. 127 Table of Contents Back to Greenhill Military Book News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by Greenhill Books This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com