Sigmund Ringeck's Knightly Art of the Longsword

I am a forty-eight year student of Asian martial arts, with Cheng Man-Ching's T'ai Chi at the center of the last forty-five years of study. I became interested in the Western Martial Arts movement in general and the longsword in particular after seeing some of the ARMA videos on Youtube and reading some of the online articles. This is the first book on the subject I've purchased. I'm working my way through it at a slow pace for two reasons: the material reveals fundamental principles of martial art in a new context and with a new perspective (a good thing), and the content of the drawings and their relationship to the text are difficult to understand (not a good thing). Not impossible, just not quite clear. Despite this unnecessary difficulty I rate the book five stars. The content is worth the effort needed to extract it. This is not to fault the authors too strongly. Making dynamic interactions clear with static images has never been easy. I'd like to suggest that two changes could relieve this problem: 1. Label the combatants so the attacker, the starting guards and the form of attack are clear. 2. Reduce the size of the figures so more intermediate states could be shown. The latter change would compensate for the visual ambiguity of the arrows the illustrator used to show the sword path, and possibly give a clearer indication of the timing used. The latter change would make "Indes" and the mechanics and timing of changing your actions from "Nach" to "Vor" clearer.Despite its shortcomings I expect this book to play a continuing role in my practice and I recommend it.

Diese Arbeit von Lindholm und Svard gehört eindeutig zu den besseren Werken dieses Genres. Bei Rekonstruktionen der Lehren alter Fechtmeister bleibt naturgemäß einiger Raum für Interpretationen. Die meisten Arbeiten, die ich hierüber gesehen habe, nutzen diesen Raum eher fantasie- statt sinnvoll. Das trifft auch auf die meisten "großen Namen" dieses Genres zu. Bei der Beurteilung dieser Bücher sollte man niemals die Realität aus den Augen verlieren. Danach verbieten sich viele der Interpretationen ganz von selbst.Dieses Buch jedoch ist eine gute Arbeit und wirklich empfehlenswert.

Took me forever to research the book I wanted. This was it. Gives great history, illustrations, gave me good guidelines to use real sword for practice....I am not really a weekend warrior or role player but I enjoy using the heavy sword for physical training as a unique way to get in shape and give myself a break from weightlifting. This book gave me realistic strokes or motions to use a practice that help me stay in shape and...if I ever have to really use the sword...I actually have developed a real skill.

The translations of Master Ringeck's verses' is the real draw here. The pictures can help you visualize the techniques, but be warned; they are not all 100% accurate! Some of the pictures will not match up with what an instructor will show you or what you will discover for yourself in a fencing match.So great for Ringeck, and ok for the author's input.

This is a great, classic text that has been nicely translated and illustrated by folks who are serious about the topic. That being said, there is only one reason to get this book: you want to learn some real German longsword moves.This book has nifty pictures, but the guards and other techniques are for a WMA student, not really for just your average swash and buckle fan.Very informative for that specialty audience!

This is a perfectly acceptable book, as long as you just read the translation of Ringeck. The interpretations provided by the modern authors are dated, since this book is more than a decade old, and modern HEMA was only just getting started. Their concept of footwrk was clearly not based on high-speed testing of the techniques, and like many in the early days, they seem memorized by the sheer lethality of the longsword, going on about it at length. Buy this book for the translation, and skip everything else. Especially John Clement's introduction, and any other part where the "blocking with the flat" is mentioned.

This is put together extremely well. I have several texts on German School longsword and this is easiest to understand. Really impressed with they way it ties techniques together for more practical use of counters and makeing fight decisions. Must must have.

This was bought as a gift. Glancing through it, I noticed the book is thourough showing foot patterns and has original German text side by side with the English. Very cool!

This is a great book. Simple to follow, it also covers a huge range of techniques and information. The inclusion of Liechtenauer and Ringeck’s original text alongside the translation is a lovely touch (although my Medieval German is very limited!) and the additional chapters on cutting, sword sharpening and

This is the place to start if you want a book about swordsmanship. It's not a history book or alot of random opinions of the author. But a book about the techniques of the longsword. And with good solid content

Great read, informative and descriptive. Good for most levels I would imagine.

Just what I was looking for!I'm training HEMA Longsword in a little group here in Norway. This book gave us a great insight in guards/attacks/techniques. It's a perfect study-book for beginners!

AAA perfect