The standard reference on historical swordsmanship since its 1885 publication, this volume is still widely considered the definitive work on fencing history and the art of European swordsmanship. The author traces fencing from its roots in the unschooled brawling of the Middle Ages to its latter-day precision and refinement; he focuses particularly on the 16th-century development of the rapier and the weapon’s popularity in Renaissance Italy, where Italian masters founded the modern art of swordsmanship. Abundantly illustrated, this legendary work, long out-of-print, will be of great interest to scholars as well as fencing and sword enthusiasts. Unabridged republication of the classic 1885 edition. 150 black-and-white illus.