This modern textbook provides an extensive depiction of more than 75 dagger fencing techniques according to 15th-century dagger Master Hans Talhoffer's manuscripts, among other fencing luminaries, from past and present. In the Middle Ages, dagger fighting was part of every fencer's standard repertoire--just as combat training was for swordsmen. The authors have spent years thoroughly researching the techniques and studying and interpreting the old manuscripts in order to subsequently test them in practice. Based on these historical representations--complete with striking medieval drawings--each technique is explained and illustrated in a series of action photographs. The fencing student is thus able to follow the sequence of movements that make up each technique. Valuable tips on equipment and training, plus a glossary of important terms round out this new standard work.

In 1827, James Bowie carved his way into American history at the Sandbar Fight, and soon every fighting man of the South and West had to have a knife like his. The bowie knife could cut like a razor, chop like a cleaver, and stab like a sword, and many considered it deadlier than a pistol at close range. So great was the dread it inspired that by 1838 it was banned in several states—a ban that did little to stanch the flow of blood. Bowie's story is well known, but what of the other cutters and stabbers of his day? Gunfighters have long been celebrated, but those who fought with the bowie knife have been largely ignored—until now. Unearthing accounts from memoirs, court records, regional histories, and newspaper archives, Paul Kirchner, author of the Paladin bestsellers The Deadliest Men and More of the Deadliest Men Who Ever Lived , presents their stories for the first time in Bowie Knife Fights, Fighters, and Fighting Techniques. Kirchner identifies and profiles the four greatest bowie knife fighters of history, as well as numerous other wielders of the blade. He details the weapon's use in the Texas War of Independence, the Mormon exodus, the Mexican War, the slave system, the Gold Rush, Bleeding Kansas, the Civil War, the Lincoln assassination, the Indian Wars, and the Western frontier. The book describes bowie knife fighting tricks and techniques and provides numerous accounts of knife-against-knife and knife-against-gun encounters. Its final chapter surveys the continued use of the bowie and other fighting knives in modern warfare.

The Codex Wallerstein is one of the best known of the late medieval fencing treatises still in existence. Though perhaps not as widely known as Talhoffer 1467 or Flos Duellatorum, it is just as important to students of the Western martial arts. Originally written in Middle High German during the late 14th and early 15th centuries, the Codex Wallerstein has long been available to scholars in microfilm format from Augusburg University. Now with the publication of this book, the text and drawings are available to scholars and martial artists in the original Middle High German, as well as in Modern German and English translations. The translations were provided by Grzegorz Zabinski, with assistance from Bartlomiej Walczak, two of the most esteemed interpreters of medieval combat in the world. The codex offers a series of fundamental counters to common attacks, using the longsword, falchion and dagger, as well as the complete system of wrestling techniques. In this work the reader will find a great deal of instruction on thrusting at or closing in against an opponent, expanding Master Johannes Liechtenauer's art of longsword combat. For martial artists, medievalists, historians or anyone with an interest in historical arms or self-defense, Codex Wallerstein is sure to become an invaluable reference.

Provides an historical analysis of the range of weapons used in hand-to-hand combat from prehistoric flint knives to eared daggers of the mid-sixteenth century, to nineteenth-century British and American naval dirks.

Whether a side-street skirmish or an all-out war, fight scenes bring action to the pages of every kind of fiction. But a poorly done or unbelievable fight scene can ruin a great book in an instant. In Fight Write you'll learn practical tips, terminology, and the science behind crafting realistic fight scenes for your fiction. Broken up into "Rounds," trained fighter and writer Carla Hoch guides you through the many factors you'll need to consider when developing battles and brawls. • In Round 1, you will consider how the Who, When, Where, and Why questions affect what type of fight scene you want to craft. • Round 2 delves into the human factors of biology (think fight or flight and adrenaline) and psychology (aggression and response to injuring or killing another person). • Round 3 explores different fighting styles that are appropriate for different situations: How would a character fight from a prone position versus being attacked in the street? What is the vocabulary used to describe these styles? • Round 4 considers weaponry and will guide you to select the best weapon for your characters, including nontraditional weapons of opportunity, while also thinking about the nitty-gritty details of using them. • In Round 5, you'll learn how to accurately describe realistic injuries sustained from the fights and certain weapons, and what kind of injuries will kill a character or render them unable to fight further. By taking into account where your character is in the world, when in history the fight is happening, what the character's motivation for fighting is, and much more, you'll be able write fight scenes unique to your plot and characters, all while satisfying your reader's discerning eye.

The Art of Knife Fighting for Stage and Screen: An Actor’s and Director’s Guide to Staged Violence provides detailed information for the safe use of knives and daggers in a theatrical setting and an in-depth understanding of safe theatrical weapons. The book starts with an extensive safety review, then moves on to the basic techniques of dagger fighting, starting with grip and body postures. Readers will then learn about the basic actions of cuts, parries, blocks, and disarms. During this process, they will explore the connection between body and weapon and start learning the elements of storytelling through choreography. Special attention is given to suicides, threats, and murder and how directors, choreographers, performers, teachers, and students can approach these techniques in a way that is physically and mentally safe. The book also covers the use of throwing knives, knife flips, and other tricks to help add a little flair to your fight. The Art of Knife Fighting for Stage and Screen teaches the safe theatrical use of the knife for directors, performers, educators, and students of stage combat.