Joseph Swetnam

Description

English fencing master and pamphleteer, author of a notorious attack on women (1615) and of The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence (1617), centred on the rapier and quarterstaff, in which he dismissed George Silver. He claimed to have been fencing instructor to Prince Henry.

Students (1)

• person
  Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales

  sports_martial_artsEnglish swordsmanship Probable

  Probable

  The teacher's own claim, made after the prince's death.

  The evidence favours the claim and nothing credible contradicts it, but it falls short of establishing it.

  Private lesson

  fact_checkassessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  2 sources expand_more

  fact_check

  The teacher's own claim, made after the prince's death.

  “Joseph Swetnam represents himself as the fencing instructor for the then-deceased Prince Henry, who, after having read the treatise, urged Swetnam to print it—according to Swetnam.”

  — Joseph Swetnam - Wikipedia (English). Wikipedia (English)link history info

  alt_routeIndirect

  “when the next native English fencing treatise appeared, it was written by no less a figure than a royal fencing instructor, the choleric and misogynistic Joseph Swetnam (died 1621).”

  — Green, Thomas A.; Svinth, Joseph R.. (2010). Martial Arts of the World: An Encyclopedia of History and Innovation info

Sources

Identifiers