Freelance Academy Press imprint: 9 books
Iberian Swordplay
Domingo Luis Godinho's Art of Fencing (1599)
Language: English
Release Date: October 23, 2017
In 1599, during the period when the Portuguese crown was united to the crowns of Castile and Aragon, a Portuguese master-at-arms called Domingo Luis Godinho wrote a manuscript in Spanish entitled Arte de Esgrima (The Art of Fencing). Although Godinho's live is largely a mystery and his text was never...
Venetian Rapier: The School, or Salle
Nicoletto Giganti's 1606 Rapier Curriculum with New Introduction, Complete Text Translation and Original Illustrations
Language: English
Release Date: May 21, 2015
Perhaps no other weapon represents Renaissance Italian fencing like the rapier. But do we know how it was used and how it was taught? This book takes you to the fencing School, or Salle of celebrated renaissance rapier Master Nicoletto Giganti of Venice, one among the period teachers leaving instructions...
Dueling with O-sensei
Grappling with the Myth of the Warrior Sage - Expanded Edition
Language: English
Release Date: August 31, 2016
If there were an 'ordinary martial arts book', this would be its evil twin. Unflinchingly honest, writing from an unique, insider-turned-outsider's perspective, Ellis explores aspects of budō, its philosophies and dilemmas through the lens of aikido, a modern martial art whose founder is discussed in...
by Christian Tobler
Language: English
Release Date: November 15, 2015
Language: English
Release Date: November 15, 2015
Recorded over six centuries ago, the teachings of the 14th-century Master-at-Arms Johannes Liechtenauer have been given new life by a world-wide community of modern swordsmen and women, fascinated by the elegance, efficiency and depth of his unique martial art.Christian Henry Tobler was one of the pioneers...
by Guy Windsor
Language: English
Release Date: July 19, 2016
Language: English
Release Date: July 19, 2016
The term 'medieval martial arts' conjures images of armour-clad knights wielding sword, lance and axe. While the image is correct, at the foundation of knightly combat was a sophisticated form of close quarter combat, instantly recognizable to students of classical Asian arts such as jujutsu or practitioners...
Swordplay
an anonymous illustrated Dutch treatise for fencing with rapier, sword and polearms from 1595
Language: English
Release Date: November 12, 2015
Tucked away in the Newberry Library of Chicago is an anonymous manuscript entitled Schermkunst ('Art of Swordsmanship'), whose brief text and exquisite watercolours details fencing with the single sword, rapier and dagger, rapier and buckler, halberd, and full pike. Beyond its artistic charms, however,...
In Saint George's Name
An Anthology of Medieval German Martial Arts
Language: English
Release Date: May 21, 2015
The medieval knight was a well-trained fighting man, expert in the use of sword, lance, spear and dagger, and member of a warrior aristocracy whose values, virtues and vices helped shape European society for over 500 years. As a window into the knight and his craft, In Saint George’s Name: An Anthology...
Hidden in Plain Sight
Esoteric Power Training within Japanese Martial Traditions
Language: English
Release Date: August 9, 2018
Ellis Amdur's writing on martial arts has been groundbreaking. In Dueling with O-sensei, he challenged practitioners that the moral dimension of martial arts is expressed in acts of integrity, not spiritual platitudes and the deification of fantasized warrior-sages. In Old School, he applied both...
The Complete Renaissance Swordsman
Antonio Manciolino's Opera Nova (1531)
Language: English
Release Date: May 21, 2015
Dating from the 1520’s, Bolognese swordsmaster’s Antonio Manciolino’s Opera Nova is the earliest surviving printed book on Italian martial arts. This seminal and eclectic Renaissance work contains clear and systematic instruction on the use of the sword and small buckler, sword and large buckler,...