Historical European Martial Arts in its Context: Single-Combat, Duels, Tournaments, Self-Defense, War, Masters and their Treatises

This book is a fantastic resource that places arms and techniques in their historical context. The section that lists the most well known arms manuals by country and date is a great jumping off point for anyone wanting to get a start in HEMA.

This is like a condensed and abridged history of the time periods that the most referenced historical European fighting manuals in HEMA schools were written during. The first-hand accounts were stellar, and the ease of access can't be beaten. It's like having just the chapters out of several history books that I otherwise would have had to hunt down separately. Highly recommend. Contextualizing the techniques is invaluable.

Richard has done something that historical european martial arts has needed for a long time - context. The fencing cultures of old weren't just affected by the people wielding the sword, but by their worldviews, fashion sense, and ideals surrounding decorum. To better understand not just how they fenced, but *why* is to understand the world around them. Richard's experience as a history teacher shines through - he knows how to combine disparate facts into a narrative that's engaging and human. If you are interested in swords or sword culture, this book is required reading.

Beautifully printed book for a very reasonable price - lots of full size color pictures to complement the well-written summary of Historical European Martial Arts and its context (just like it says in the title). Chock full of anecdotes and useful summaries of a wide variety of sources and time periods. This belongs on the shelf of any HEMA practitioner or in the hands of any new student of historical fencing wishing to get an informative, substantial introduction.

Of all the HEMA related books I've ever owned, this is by far the most fun one to read. It combines the history of the arts themselves with the history of our current movement to revive them. And I'm not just enjoying it because I'm in it. :) It really is a great book. If you're in HEMA, or want to know more about medieval and Renaissance martial arts (and their modern revival), then don't think twice. Get the book. It's well worth the price.

I gave this 5 stars only because I couldn't give more. This is an excellent book. It is well researched, informative and very readable. I got it for Christmas and have only put it down when compelled to do so.

Great overview of what modern HEMA is all about. Anecdotal accounts of fights aren't usually studied as closely as treatises and manuals, but I feel they're just a valuable to understanding the martial arts we practice.

This author is practitioner of Historical European Martial Arts (HMEA), and wrote the book to fill a gap in the documents supporting HMEA. The author stated that people know the "how" of the techniques, but they don't know the "why." The book gives a nice introduction to Judicial Duels, Private Duels, Jousting, and weaponry. The book confines itself from roughly 1300 to 1800. The author's writing style is clear and concise. The book could have used a bit more editing because there were some passages that needed more polish, and there were several format errors in switching back-and-forth from block quotes to the main text. The book quality is decent with glossy illustrated paper-covered boards (i.e., "library" binding) and bright white paper. There are numerous color and black-and-white illustrations. Some of the photographs of the modern reenactors are uninteresting and seem to have been chosen to highlight the person(s) in the photo, rather than what they are doing. A worthwhile addition to your library if you're interested in the topic.

A great resource for anyone looking to better understand where HEMA sources come from and why they are written the way they're written. If I had to nitpick to help improve a possible second edition, the chapter formatting could use polishing. Some typos also lead to inconsistent information (e.g., 500 per 100,000 in one instance vs 50 per 100,000 in all others), but these are rare and easy to ignore given the wealth of information the book provides.

Most of of the information comes from wikipedia and wiktenauer. Some aspects are incomplete or inexact. For the price you don’t get a fair amount of information. The edition standards are not first class.

This is a great book for HEMA practitioners as well as people interested in Europe's martial arts. Obviously, Richard Marsden has put a lot of time in researching this theme (same can be said for his Polish Sabre book). No matter what discipline of HEMA you're practicing, this book will be of interest to you. Even though I believe this book deserves its 5-star score, it does have its flaws. There are a lot of anecdotes, which are by themselves quite interesting, but they do interrupt the reader from the main theme. Also, there are A LOT of pages filled with photographs from modern HEMA practitioners, which are (imho) quite irrelevant to the history of HEMA, and a bit irritating to the reader. Instead, the book would be even more appealing if Marsden had included more original pictures from the treatises.

Realmente esperaba un poco más sobre el libro por la cuestión de precio-calidad. No esta mal, es una gran explicación histórica del HEMA, si buscan técnicas o reglamentos, pues no encontraran mucho aquí.

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