The most detailed and comprehensive treatise on swordsmanship ever written.
Gerard Thibault'sAcademy of the Swordoffers an extraordinary glimpse into a forgotten landscape of ideas, in which Pythagorean sacred geometry illuminated the lethal realities of rapier combat to create one of the Western world's only thoroughly documented esoteric martial arts. Translated by the widely respected occultist and scholar John Michael Greer, this stunningly illustrated and precisely detailed manual of Renaissance swordsmanship is a triumphant document of Renaissance culture-as well as a practical manual of a martial art that can still be studied and practiced today.
Table of Contents:
Translator’s Introduction
Author’s notice: On The Consideration of the Figures in this Book
Chapter One: On the Proportions of the Human Body, Related to the Figure of our Circle and to the Proper Length of the Sword
Chapter Two: On the Proportions of the Body
Chapter Three: On the Correct Way of Drawing the Sword and Entering into Measure
Chapter Four: On the Posture of the Straight Line
Chapter Five: On Attacks at the First Instance, and
Feints
Chapter Six: On Attacks and Counters on the Straight Line
Chapter Seven: On the Timing of Attacks and Counters
Chapter Eight: On Imbrocades
Chapter Nine: On Sentiment
Chapter Ten: On Sentiment, Continued
Chapter Eleven: On Entering Within the Angles
Chapter Twelve: On Entering Within the Angles, Continued
Chapter Thirteen: On An Alternate Guard
Chapter Fourteen: On Cuts
Chapter Fifteen: On Techniques Outside the Arm
Chapter Sixteen: On Pauses
Chapter Seventeen: On Cuts, Continued
Chapter Eighteen: On Cuts To The Right Arm
Chapter Nineteen: On Obliging the Blade
Chapter Twenty: The academy of The sword
Chapter Twenty-one: On Attacks of First Intention
Chapter Twenty-two: On Diverse Counters
Chapter Twenty-three: On Another Alternate Guard
Chapter Twenty-four: On Different Postures
Chapter Twenty-five: On Subtle Variations
Chapter Twenty-six: On Subjecting to the Inside
Chapter Twenty-seven: On Parrying
Chapter Twenty-eight: On Unnatural Postures
Chapter Twenty-nine: On Unnatural Postures, Continued
Chapter Thirty: On Maintaining the Advantage
Chapter Thirty-one: On Obliging the Blade, Revisited
Chapter Thirty-two: On Attacks of First Intention, Revisited
Chapter Thirty-three: On the Postures of Salvatore Fabris
Introduction To Book Two
Chapter Thirty-four: On Facing the Sword and Dagger
Chapter Thirty-five: On Facing the Sword and Dagger, Continued
Chapter Thirty-six: On Facing the Sword and Dagger, Further Continued
Chapter Thirty-seven: On Facing the Sword and Dagger, Concluded
Chapter Thirty-eight: On Facing the Sword and Shield
Chapter Thirty-nine: On Facing the Sword and Shield, Continued
Chapter Forty: On Facing the Two-Handed Sword
Chapter Forty-one: On Facing the Two-Handed Sword, Continued
Chapter Forty-two: On Facing the Two-Handed Sword, Concluded
Chapter Forty-three: On Facing the Left-Handed Swordsman
Chapter Forty-four: On Facing the Musketeer
Note to the Reader
Glossary of Terms
About the Author :
Gerard Thibault d'Anvers(ca. 15741627) was a Dutch fencing master and author of the 1628 rapier manualAcademie de l'Espee('The Academy of the Sword'). His manual is one of the most detailed and elaborate extant sources on rapier combat, painstakingly utilizing geometry and logic to defend his unorthodox style of swordsmanship.
John Michael Greeris the award-winning author of more than fifty books, includingThe New Encyclopedia of the Occult,The Druidry Handbook,The Celtic Golden Dawn, andCircles of Power: An Introduction to Hermetic Magic. An initiate in Freemasonry, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, Greer served as the Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA) for twelve years. He lives in Rhode Island with his wife Sara. Greer is also the author of eleven fantasy and science fiction novels and ten nonfiction books on peak oil and the future of industrial society, and also blogs weekly on politics, magic, and the future at www.ecosophia.net.
