George silver biography
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He dismissed their methods as "juggling gambols" and "apish devices," claiming they relied on deceptive demonstrations that ignored true defensive principles and encouraged unsafe, linear advances over the adaptable footwork essential for survival. He deems this prohibition of thrusting an "evil tradition" in his "Paradoxes of Defence" and believes that both cut and thrust should be used.
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Schools that teach Silver's swordsmanship
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Silver, George |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | British fencer and martial arts author |
| Date of birth | |
| Place of birth | |
| Date of death | >1622 |
| Place of death | London |
- British fencers
- Historical fencing
- 17th-century deaths
- People of the Tudor period
- 17th-century English people
- 17th-century writers
- English writers
- 16th-century births
- 16th-century writers
- 16th-century English people
George Silver
Alongside his brother Toby, Silver issued a formal challenge for a public fencing match at ten weapons, starting with single rapier and rapier and dagger, to be held at the Bell Savage inn near Saviolo's school; the challenge was disseminated via five or six score (100 to 120) printed broadsides posted from Southwark to Westminster, drawing crowds of supporters for organized demonstrations outside Italian salles.
(From Wikipedia)
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George Silver
This article is about the English swordsman. Italian masters, arriving in London during the 1570s and 1590s, attracted aristocratic patronage with their elegant but thrusting-oriented styles, charging exorbitant fees—up to £100 per lesson—that excluded middle-class English practitioners and exacerbated resentment among native masters who viewed these methods as degenerate and overly dangerous.[12][2]George Silver positioned himself as a defender of English styles amid this rivalry, particularly targeting Italian masters like Rocco Bonetti, who arrived in London in the 1570s and established a fencing school in Blackfriars by 1584.
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The fencing historian Aylward claims that he was alive in 1622, when he was visited (a kind of audit of people claiming noble or gentlemanly status) by Cooke, Clarenceux King-of-Arms.[2] However, Robert Cooke died in 1593. 19
1550s–1620s) was a gentleman of England during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, who is known for his writings on swordplay. Bref Instructions, however, remained an unpublished manuscript until its publication in 1898 by fencing historian Captain Cyril G. R. Matthey as a training manual to aid soldiers fighting in the Boer War.
Silver recommends a highly dynamic system which he deemed suitable for duelling, street defence and the battlefield, rather than the purely duelling orientation of the rapier.
A major difference between Silver's system and Italian rapier fencing lies in his not advocating the use of the lunge but rather the use of a gathering step, the normal fencing step in which the feet do not pass, or a full passing step in which they do, to come into range to strike the opponent, followed by instantly "flying out" again.
The Works of George Silver. 66
The manuscript is undated but refers to the "nation of Great Britain" and so must have been written after James I's introduction of that term in late 1604. 1
He later (probably around 1605) wrote his Brief Instructions on my Paradoxes of Defence in which he explained some of his method for using his preferred weapons (he recommends the shorter backsword as being more versatile and offering better defence than the rapier).
He was the eldest of four brothers in a family of gentlemen, with at least one sibling, Toby Silver, noted for his proficiency in swordsmanship.[4]During the Tudor period, the Silver family exemplified the landed gentry of England, a class of landowners who held social prestige without the full obligations of nobility.
Unlike the argumentative tone of Paradoxes, this manuscript shifts toward actionable content, making it a key resource for understanding Silver's vision of English martial techniques.[16]The core of the manuscript consists of detailed instructions on fundamental elements of fencing with English weapons, particularly the sword and dagger.
It covers various guards, such as the true guardant and bastard guardant wards, along with grips and maneuvers for close combat, including how to cross blades, use the dagger to deflect, and execute fights from specific positions.