Guy Windsor. Photo courtesy of School of European Swordsmanship, Helsinki.
The International Swordfighting and Martial Arts Convention
Biography Page for

Guy Windsor
School of European Swordsmanship, Helsinki



Born in Cambridge, England in 1973, Mr. Windsor began training in martial arts at the age of twelve and specifically in the art of fencing at age thirteen. In 1993 he began to practice historical fencing, and in 1994 he founded the Dawn Duellists Society (DDS) in Edinburgh, with Paul Macdonald. After completing a Masters degree in English literature, he trained and worked as an antiques restorer and cabinet maker, while teaching at the DDS.

In March 2001, he moved to Finland to open the School of European Swordsmanship, Helsinki (SESH). Since then he has taught historical fencing full-time. Within a few months, the school had grown to the point where it became necessary to open a permanent salle dedicated to the practice of historical European swordsmanship. Within the next three years, four additional branches were opened; in Turku, Tampere, Lappeenranta and Linköping, Sweden.

Mr. Windsor has worked his way backwards through the history of fencing, specialising at first in the smallsword with a particular fondness for the work of Donald McBane. His rapier method is currently an interpretation of Capo Ferro's treatise of 1610. His longsword method forms the basic training of all new students, and is largely based on Fiore dei Liberi's treatise of 1410, though Vadi's of 1482-5 is also influential. The sword and buckler method in I.33 (ca. 1300) is the latest addition to the SESH curriculum. Mr. Windsor also particularly enjoys practice with spadroon, dagger, spada da lato and cavalry sabre. The emphasis in all his training is on the martial effectiveness and historical accuracy of the techniques.

For many years Mr. Windsor has been particularly interested in the internal, meditative and medical aspects of swordsmanship. To this end, he incorporates massage and herbal medicine at an early stage in his students' training and his study of Western shamanic techniques forms the basis of the more advanced internal and spiritual training.

Mr. Windsor divides his time between his own training, teaching at his salle in Helsinki, and taking workshops across Finland and abroad.

When he has time to spare from research, teaching, training, and developing his didactic method, he is also a writer (in 2004 he completed work on the popular book The Swordsman's Companion: A Modern Training Manual for the Medieval Longsword), and enjoys traditional bowmaking, archery, riding, shooting, and fine ale. Mr. Windsor is presently at work on another Companion guide, this one for the rapier of Ridolfo Capoferro.