Fighting in Armour

“Young knight learn to love God and revere women so that your honour grows. Practice knighthood and learn the Art that dignifies you, and brings you honour in wars. Wrestle well and wield lance, spear, sword and dagger manfully, whose use in others’ hands is wasted. Strike bravely and hard there!” With these words, the 14th–century Master-at-Arms Johannes Liechtenauer begins his instructions into the knightly art of arms, a robust martial art whose other masters would expand upon over the course of the 15th century to cover the entire panoply of medieval arms: swords, shields, polearms, daggers, wrestling and mounted combat. Christian Henry Tobler here presents a detailed exploration of armoured combat with sword, dagger, spear and axe. Filled with techniques, drills, explanation of armour and its component parts, and an overview of the various sources and their authors, the pages are illustrated with photographs, mainly in colour, of beautiful replica armours of the 14th and 15th centuries. Nothing more symbolizes the medieval knight than his harness of plate armour, and armoured combat with all of these tools, or with none at all, played an important role in the tradition. It is also the driving passion of Christian Henry Tobler, author of the seminal Fighting with the German Longsword. This new book is a true first-of-its-kind primer of medieval armoured combat, and a love song to the Knightly Art whose spirit has infused the author’s own for most of his life.