The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence, 1617 - 2017

A 400th Anniversary Look at Joseph Swetnam's Fight Book

The year 2017 marks the quatercentennial of Joseph Swetnam's The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence. Swetnam's book holds the honor not only of being the earliest known printed fight book "of any English man's invention," but also the only known treatise authored by a member of the English Masters of Defense, a guild of professional fencers who flourished during the Tudor and Stuart eras. Writing his book over the course of twenty years, Swetnam's martial career spanned a period when English attitudes toward fencing styles and theories were becoming influenced by those of Italy and France. Swetnam's book, however, remained remarkably indigenous in both thought and execution. Four centuries later, its enduring value is the unadulterated glimpse it provides of the English martial arts at the turn of the seventeenth century, as well as Swetnam's own perspective on the social and moral context of interpersonal violence, particularly in regards to honor and the duel.



To commemorate the 400th anniversary, the Association for Renaissance Martial Arts presents here a modernized transcription and analysis of Joseph Swetnam and his work, in order to make his somewhat archaic language more accessible to a modern audience, and study guides to offer a framework from which to study and understand his system.

David Kite, December 2017



1. The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence - By Joseph Swetnam

(Modernized transcription by David Kite)

2. Joseph Swetnam - Biographical Sketch - By David Kite

3. Advice and Ethics in Joseph Swetnam's Schoole of Defence - By Matt Bryant

4. Study Guide for the Single Sword Play of Joseph Swetnam's Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence - By Brian Kirk

5. Study Guide for the Staffe Play of Joseph Swetnam's Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence - By Stacy Clifford