Historical European Martial Arts has a rather unusual relationship with books. In most combat sports, reading is supplementary. In HEMA, several centuries of dead fencing masters are effectively part of the coaching staff.
The surviving fight books, fencing treatises and modern interpretations are the foundation on which HEMA has been reconstructed. They cover everything from longsword and messer to rapier, sword and buckler, sabre, wrestling and dagger fighting.
Some are wonderfully clear. Others assume their reader already understands what the master means, which is slightly inconvenient when that master has been dead since the fifteenth century.
This guide brings together the HEMA books I think are genuinely worth owning. I have separated primary sources from modern interpretations because they serve rather different purposes. A modern training manual can help you learn how to fence. A historical treatise lets you investigate what Europeans actually wrote about fencing.
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The Essential HEMA Books at a Glance
| Book | Author / Master | Tradition | Best for | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Medieval Art of Swordsmanship | Hans Talhoffer / Jeffrey L. Forgeng | German | Historical source study | Beginner to intermediate |
| The Art of Combat | Joachim Meyer / Jeffrey L. Forgeng | German | Longsword and Renaissance fencing | Intermediate |
| The Swordman’s Companion | Guy Windsor | Italian | Practical longsword training | Beginner |
| The Duellist’s Companion | Guy Windsor | Italian | Rapier | Beginner to intermediate |
| The Medieval Longsword | Guy Windsor | Italian | Fiore longsword | Beginner to intermediate |
| The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe | Sydney Anglo | European | Historical context | All levels |
| The Art of Sword Combat | Joachim Meyer / Jeffrey L. Forgeng | German | Swordsmanship | Intermediate |
| The Art of Swordsmanship | Johannes Lecküchner / Jeffrey L. Forgeng | German | Messer | Intermediate to advanced |
| The School of Fencing | Domenico Angelo | British/Italian | Small sword | Intermediate |
| Cold Steel | Alfred Hutton | British | Sabre and military fencing | Intermediate |
| Old Sword-Play | Alfred Hutton | European | Historical sword systems | Intermediate |
| The True Principles of the Single Sword | William Hope | Scottish | Small sword | Advanced |
The Medieval Art of Swordsmanship by Hans Talhoffer
Best for: Anyone beginning to explore original HEMA sources
Tradition: Fifteenth-century German martial arts
Weapons: Longsword, dagger, polearms, wrestling and others
Hans Talhoffer is one of the great names attached to medieval fight books. His surviving manuscripts are particularly famous for their illustrations, which range from recognisable fencing actions to judicial combat conducted with equipment that occasionally looks as though someone has raided a particularly violent gardening shed.
Jeffrey L. Forgeng’s edition of Talhoffer’s 1467 manuscript makes the material considerably more approachable for an English-speaking reader.
Talhoffer demonstrates that medieval martial training was considerably broader than simply learning to swing a sword. Wrestling, dagger fighting, armoured combat and judicial duelling all appear alongside swordsmanship.
For someone building a HEMA library, this is one of the more accessible ways into the primary sources.
Why buy it
- Excellent introduction to medieval fight books
- Strong visual material
- Covers several forms of combat
- Useful for understanding the wider martial culture surrounding longsword fencing
Seven Swords verdict: An excellent first historical fencing source, particularly if you want something you can study without immediately requiring a working knowledge of Middle High German.
The Art of Combat by Joachim Meyer
Best for: Serious longsword students
Tradition: German Kunst des Fechtens
Weapons: Longsword, dussack, rapier, dagger and polearms
If I were building a HEMA bookshelf from scratch, Joachim Meyer’s The Art of Combat would be very near the top of the shopping list.
Meyer’s 1570 Gründtliche Beschreibung der Kunst des Fechtens appeared towards the end of the great German fencing tradition associated with Johannes Liechtenauer. That relatively late date is actually an advantage for modern practitioners. Meyer explains his system in considerably greater detail than many earlier masters.
His famous fencing diagram presents the divisions and lines of attack around the human body, while the text develops guards, cuts, footwork and combinations into an unusually sophisticated system.
Meyer wrote:
“For fencing comes from the desire to fight.”
It is a wonderfully economical observation. Strip away the diagrams, terminology and modern tournament rules and the origins of the art remain rather straightforward.
Jeffrey L. Forgeng’s translation has consequently become an important book for English-speaking HEMA practitioners.
Why buy it
- One of the most important German fencing treatises
- Extensive longsword material
- Goes beyond longsword into several weapons
- More explanatory than many medieval sources
- Suitable for long-term study rather than a single read
Seven Swords verdict: If German longsword is your main discipline, this belongs on the shelf rather than sitting indefinitely on an Amazon wish list.
Amazon: [https://link.amazon/B0f9rTzna]
The Swordman’s Companion by Guy Windsor
Best for: Beginners who actually want to train rather than simply collect treatises
Tradition: Italian longsword
Primary influence: Fiore dei Liberi
Historical sources tell us what earlier fencing masters taught. They do not necessarily tell a modern beginner how to structure Tuesday evening’s training session.
That is where Guy Windsor’s The Swordman’s Companion becomes useful.
Windsor was among the important figures in the development of modern European historical fencing and this book approaches swordsmanship as a living martial practice. Conditioning, mechanics, drills, footwork and technical development receive considerable attention.
It is therefore a different sort of book from Talhoffer or Meyer.
I would actually recommend owning both types. Reading original fencing texts without practising their movements can become an exercise in imaginative geometry. Practising without consulting the historical evidence rather misses the point of the “H” in HEMA.
Why buy it
- Written specifically for modern practitioners
- Accessible to beginners
- Strong focus on drills and training
- Useful bridge between historical research and physical practice
Seven Swords verdict: One of the better starting points for somebody who has bought a longsword trainer and suddenly realised the sword did not come with instructions.
Amazon: [https://link.amazon/B07A2prLi]
The Medieval Longsword by Guy Windsor
Best for: Students of Fiore dei Liberi
Tradition: Italian
Weapon: Longsword
Fiore dei Liberi’s Fior di Battaglia, or Flower of Battle, is one of the fundamental sources for medieval Italian martial arts.
Fiore tells us that he had studied martial arts for decades and had fought several times in deadly encounters. His surviving manuscripts cover wrestling, dagger, longsword, spear and armoured combat.
The Medieval Longsword provides a modern route into that material.
The great strength here is structure. Fiore’s manuscripts can initially appear deceptively simple because of their beautiful illustrations. Understanding how guards, crossings, masters and plays relate to one another is another matter entirely.
Windsor helps turn those images into something that can actually be practised.
Seven Swords verdict: Probably the most sensible purchase on this list for a newcomer specifically interested in Fiore longsword.
Amazon: [https://link.amazon/B0f0fvU3l]
The Duellist’s Companion by Guy Windsor
Best for: Rapier students
Tradition: Italian
Weapon: Rapier
Rapier fencing is one of those arts that looks wonderfully elegant until somebody points a rapier directly at your face.
The Duellist’s Companion introduces the principles of seventeenth-century Italian rapier fencing through a modern training framework.
Distance, timing, blade control, footwork and thrusting mechanics are central to the system. Readers coming from longsword may find the tactical environment surprisingly different.
The rapier rewards precision and punishes enthusiasm unsupported by judgement.
This is another useful bridge between historical scholarship and practical training.
Amazon: [https://link.amazon/B0iURyv2T]
The Art of Swordsmanship by Johannes Lecküchner
Best for: Messer practitioners
Tradition: German
Weapon: Messer
Johannes Lecküchner’s work is essential reading for anyone fascinated by the messer.
His late fifteenth-century system is extraordinarily extensive. Rather than treating the single-edged weapon as a crude alternative to the longsword, Lecküchner presents a sophisticated martial art involving cuts, thrusts, winding, grappling, disarms and close-quarter techniques.
His teachings draw heavily upon the conceptual world of the Liechtenauer tradition.
One particularly interesting feature is how much technical complexity Lecküchner extracts from what appears to be a relatively simple weapon.
That is a recurring lesson in historical fencing. Simple weapons do not necessarily produce simple martial arts.
Jeffrey L. Forgeng’s translation makes this important source available to modern English readers.
Seven Swords verdict: Essential for dedicated messer students and extremely worthwhile for German longsword practitioners interested in how related principles appear across weapons.
The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe by Sydney Anglo
Best for: Understanding HEMA historically
Period: Late medieval and Renaissance Europe
This is the book I would recommend to someone who wants to understand the world behind the fencing manuals.
Sydney Anglo was an important historian of Renaissance martial culture, and The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe examines fencing, wrestling, duelling, martial education and combat literature within their historical setting.
That distinction matters.
HEMA practitioners naturally concentrate on technique. Historians tend to ask rather irritating questions about who was learning these techniques, why they were learning them, who wrote the books, who paid for them and what purpose the resulting manuscripts actually served.
Those questions often change how the technical material is interpreted.
Why buy it
- Serious academic history
- Excellent context for historical fencing manuals
- Covers martial culture beyond individual techniques
- Useful for researchers, instructors and writers
Seven Swords verdict: Perhaps the best book on this list for understanding HEMA as history rather than simply reconstructed fencing.
Amazon: [https://link.amazon/B0e6ckeUT]
Cold Steel by Alfred Hutton
Best for: Historical sabre enthusiasts
Tradition: British military fencing
Weapon: Sabre
Published in 1889, Alfred Hutton’s Cold Steel: A Practical Treatise on the Sabre belongs to a much later martial world than Fiore or Liechtenauer.
That does not make it less interesting.
Hutton was closely involved with the late Victorian revival of historical fencing and sought to preserve practical swordsmanship at a time when the military relevance of swords was rapidly declining.
His sabre system is clearly presented and remains influential among historical sabre practitioners.
For students accustomed to medieval HEMA, Victorian fencing literature can be rather refreshing. Printing had improved, terminology was more standardised and authors occasionally explained what they meant. Luxuries should never be taken for granted.
Seven Swords verdict: One of the obvious additions to a library devoted to military sabre.
Amazon: [https://link.amazon/B0ddP6oZ0]
Old Sword-Play by Alfred Hutton
Hutton’s Old Sword-Play is particularly interesting because it represents historical fencing being reconstructed before modern HEMA existed.
Published in 1892, it examined earlier European sword systems and attempted to make historical fencing accessible to contemporary practitioners.
Modern scholarship has moved considerably beyond Hutton’s interpretations, so this should not be treated as the final word on medieval or Renaissance fencing.
That is precisely why I find it interesting.
HEMA itself has a history.
Studying how Victorian swordsmen interpreted older fencing traditions helps show how historical European martial arts have repeatedly been rediscovered, reinterpreted and occasionally misunderstood.
Amazon: [https://link.amazon/B07qjfLPd]
The School of Fencing by Domenico Angelo
Best for: Small sword and eighteenth-century fencing
Weapon: Small sword
Domenico Angelo became one of eighteenth-century Britain’s most celebrated fencing masters.
His L’École des Armes, published in the 1760s, helped establish fencing as both a martial skill and a fashionable accomplishment among Europe’s elite.
The beautifully illustrated plates show guards, parries, attacks and defensive actions.
Angelo famously presented fencing as an activity capable of developing:
“strength, agility and grace.”
That wording captures the changing status of European swordsmanship. Fencing was increasingly being promoted not simply as preparation for violence but as physical education and gentlemanly accomplishment.
For anyone studying the transition between practical sword fighting and modern fencing, Angelo is difficult to ignore.
Seven Swords verdict: A beautiful and historically significant addition to any serious fencing library.
Amazon: [https://link.amazon/B0cYQTBcg]
The True Principles of the Single Sword by Sir William Hope
Best for: Experienced small sword researchers
Tradition: Scottish
Weapon: Small sword
Sir William Hope is one of the more interesting characters in British fencing literature.
His writings reveal a swordsman continually reconsidering how fencing should work when the consequences were rather more serious than losing a tournament exchange.
Hope increasingly emphasised simplicity and practical defence.
This makes his work particularly interesting when compared with more elaborate contemporary fencing systems.
Students interested in the relationship between fencing salle technique and actual duelling should find plenty here to argue about, which is generally a healthy sign in historical research.
Which HEMA Book Should a Beginner Buy First?
For a complete newcomer, I would resist the temptation to buy the most obscure fifteenth-century manuscript available simply because it looks impressively historical.
Start with something you can actually use.
My suggested route would be:
For German longsword:
The Art of Combat by Joachim Meyer.
For Italian longsword:
The Medieval Longsword by Guy Windsor.
For general medieval HEMA:
The Medieval Art of Swordsmanship by Hans Talhoffer, translated and edited by Jeffrey L. Forgeng.
For messer:
The Art of Swordsmanship by Johannes Lecküchner.
For rapier:
The Duellist’s Companion by Guy Windsor.
For sabre:
Cold Steel by Alfred Hutton.
For historical understanding:
The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe by Sydney Anglo.
Ideally, pair a historical source with a modern practical interpretation. The combination is far more useful than relying exclusively on either.
Primary Sources or Modern HEMA Books?
Both.
Primary sources give us the historical evidence. Modern books help translate that evidence into a training environment separated from the original masters by several hundred years.
There is always interpretation involved.
A manuscript illustration cannot demonstrate speed. A paragraph cannot perfectly preserve timing. Translations can alter technical meaning. Even something as apparently straightforward as the position of a foot may generate years of scholarly disagreement.
HEMA therefore works best when practitioners compare sources rather than treating any single modern interpretation as revealed truth.
The historical masters themselves were hardly unanimous.
That, frankly, is half the fun.
Building a Serious HEMA Library
Once you move beyond the beginner stage, organise your reading around the tradition you actually practise.
A German longsword library might eventually include Liechtenauer-related material, Peter von Danzig, Paulus Kal, Hans Talhoffer, Joachim Meyer and supporting research.
An Italian collection would naturally centre upon Fiore dei Liberi, Filippo Vadi and later Renaissance fencing masters.
Rapier students can move into the works of Ridolfo Capo Ferro, Salvator Fabris and Nicoletto Giganti.
British swordsmanship opens another enormous trail through George Silver, William Hope, Domenico Angelo, Henry Angelo, Charles Roworth, Alfred Hutton and others.
You do not need all of them immediately.
HEMA books have a habit of multiplying once placed on a shelf anyway.
A Note on Editions and Translations
Check exactly which edition you are buying.
Historical fencing books may exist as facsimiles, scholarly translations, modern interpretations, reproductions and cheaply scanned public-domain editions. These are not necessarily equivalent.
Where possible, I prefer editions containing:
- The original illustrations
- Clear identification of the manuscript or printed source
- Translator’s notes
- Historical commentary
- Technical terminology retained alongside translations
- Good-quality reproductions of the original plates
- A proper bibliography
For serious study, paying slightly more for a respected translation is usually worthwhile.
A mysterious print-on-demand edition with no named translator may technically contain the same centuries-old words. Whether those words have survived their journey through the publishing process intact is another question.
Are Historical Fencing Books Enough to Learn HEMA?
No.
Books are fundamental to HEMA, but swordsmanship remains a physical skill.
Distance, timing, balance, pressure, reaction and judgement have to be experienced against another person. Even excellent illustrations freeze actions that originally happened in fractions of a second.
Use books alongside structured training with a reputable HEMA club whenever possible.
The source should inform the fencing, while the fencing helps you interrogate the source.
That conversation between text and practice is one of the things I find most compelling about HEMA. You are not simply copying an old diagram. You are testing whether an idea recorded hundreds of years ago still makes mechanical sense when two people stand opposite each other with swords.
Sometimes it does beautifully.
Sometimes everyone returns to the book.
