The three publications offered for evaluation, The Art of Sword Fighting in Earnest, Mastering the Art of Arms vol 1: The Medieval Dagger, and The Duellist's Companion, establish by example the relatively young discipline of the accurate recreation of historical martial skills. This discipline includes the following elements: • Textual analysis of historical sources (The Art of Sword Fighting in Earnest). • Image analysis for the purpose of establishing details of the execution of the illustrated action (all three works). Mechanical or kinesthetic analysis of the actions described and depicted (The Medieval Dagger, The Duellist's Companion). • Determination of the historical and combat context in which the system is intended to work. In these cases, a formal duel or tournament contest between knights (The Art of Sword Fighting in Earnest, The Medieval Dagger), or illegal but socially acceptable unarmoured duelling (The Duellist's Companion). • Observation of the overall tactical and mechanical preferences of the martial system represented (The Medieval Dagger, The Duellist's Companion). • Organisation of the material into a syllabus for study and practice (The Medieval Dagger, The Duellist's Companion). The submitted works demonstrate the discipline as applied to the extant works of three historical masters: Philippo Vadi (ca 1440-1500), Fiore dei Liberi (ca 1350-1420), and Ridolfo Capoferro (ca 1557-1620). The unified body of work is the approach to the material as represented by these books. The submitted works: 1. The Art of Sword Fighting in Earnest (2018) is a translation and commentary on the late 15th-century Italian manuscript De Arte Gladiatoria Dimicandi. It makes the content of the manuscript available to anglophone non-paleographers, in a transparent way. The translation itself has also been released as a free download, with the original images in colour reproduction. 2. Mastering the Art of Arms vol 1: The Medieval Dagger (2012) is a practical syllabus for understanding and executing the dagger combat skills represented in Fiore dei Liberi's 1410 manuscript Il Fior di Battaglia. It includes detailed reference to the source, but also provides a template for martial skill development, such as ways to gradually increase the intensity and complexity of the drill until it approaches an actual combat environment. 3. The Duellist's Companion (2006) is a training guide for the style of rapier combat represented in Ridolfo Capoferro's 1610 work Gran Simulacro dell'Arte e dell'uso della scherma. Rapier mechanics and actions are refined and complex, so this book covers mechanics in some detail, and provides comprehensive instructions for making Capoferro's techniques and theory accessible to the modern reader. Taken as a whole, these publications represent a new form of manuscript study: the recreation from textual sources of our hitherto lost martial heritage, and the development of a pedagogical method by which these arts can be safely taught and practised.

Pourquoi et comment se battait-on à la fin du Moyen Âge et durant le XVIe siècle ? Avec quelles armes ? Et en suivant quelles règles ou quels principes ?L’objectif de ce travail est de répondre à ces questions en s’interrogeant sur les utilisations théoriques et pratiques de l’armement présent dans les sociétés européennes du Moyen Âge tardif et de la Renaissance. Trois axes principaux seront à l’étude :– tout d’abord, celui de la réalité du terrain à travers l’étude des sources judiciaires, en particulier les lettres de rémission qui attestent de la présence et de l’utilisation d’une arme pouvant conduire à la blessure ou à la mort d’un individu.– ensuite, celui de la théorie des armes à travers l’étude des Fechtbücher, les livres de combat germaniques écrits par les maîtres d’armes du XVe et XVIe siècle. Ces derniers expliquent le maniement des différentes armes tel que celui des épées, des armes d’hast ou de la dague, ainsi que les fondements de l’art de la lutte et de l’escrime à pied et à cheval.– enfin, celui de la pratique contemporaine, c’est-à-dire l’expérimentation gestuelle et la tentative de restitution des techniques et des tactiques anciennes via des méthodes d’enseignement dans un cadre normé. Ceci afin de mieux comprendre les gestes martiaux ludiques du passé.Outre l’apport de la sociologie, ce corpus est complété par l’étude des documents littéraires ou normatifs, illustrant la présence d’armes dans les milieux non militarisés comme ceux des sociétés d’escrimeurs ou des manifestations martiales et sportives. / Why and how we use to fight in the late Middle Ages and during the sixteenth century? With what weapons? Following what rules or principles?The objective of this work is to answer these questions by questioning the theoretical and practical uses of weapons. The ones present in European society in the late Middle Ages and during the Renaissance. Three approaches will be explored :– First, the situation on the ground through the study of legal sources, particularly the remission letters in which the presence and use of a weapon can lead to injury or death of an individual.– Secondly, the theory of weapons through the study of Fechtbücher, Germanic fightbooks written by masters at arms of the fifteenth and sixteenth century. They explain the handling of various weapons such as swords, polearms or daggers. Also the foundations of the art of wrestling and fencing on foot and on horseback.– Finally, the contemporary practice. That is to say, the gesture experimentation and the attempted to return old techniques and tactics through teaching methods in a regulatory framework. The goal is to better understand the playful martial gestures of the past.Besides the contribution of sociology, this corpus is completed by literary or normative documents, showing weapons in non-militarized environments such as corporate fencers or martial and sporting events.