Henry de Sainct Didier Archive

  • <p>There’s two famous members of the Sainct-Didier clan. The most well known is Henry de Sainct Didier, the author of the fencing manual I’ve translated. The second, earlier one is Guillaume de Sainct Didier, a twelfth century Provençal poet.</p> <p>Here are the relevant entries from the catalog of Count of La Croix du Maine’s library, published in 1584. The full title of the book is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The First Volume of the Library of the Lord La Croix Du Maine, which is a general catalog of all types of authors who have written in French for the last five hundred years and </span> […]</p>017 February, 2016

    Snippets of Sainct-Didier

    There’s two famous members of the Sainct-Didier clan. The most well known is Henry de Sainct Didier, the author of the fencing manual I’ve translated. The second, earlier one is Guillaume de Sainct Didier, a twelfth century Provençal poet.

    Here are the relevant entries from the catalog of Count of La Croix du Maine’s library, published in 1584. The full title of the book is The First Volume of the Library of the Lord La Croix Du Maine, which is a general catalog of all types of authors who have written in French for the last five hundred years and […]

  • <p>The most difficult aspect of interpreting Henry de Sainct-Didier’s Secrets of the Sword Alone (1573) is not so much finding a translation for his rather vague and nebulous term <em>desrober</em> but understanding how he applies it to his system of swordsmanship. His meaning is made clear not by understanding the word itself but through simple contextual analysis of the strikes before and after the action he calls <em>desrober</em>. I will show here that Sainct-Didier has a clear and consistent meaning for the term which serves to underscore the basic principles of his text.</p> <p>The term itself is easily understood. […]</p>019 November, 2014

    Henry de Sainct-Didier’s “Desrober”

    The most difficult aspect of interpreting Henry de Sainct-Didier’s Secrets of the Sword Alone (1573) is not so much finding a translation for his rather vague and nebulous term desrober but understanding how he applies it to his system of swordsmanship. His meaning is made clear not by understanding the word itself but through simple contextual analysis of the strikes before and after the action he calls desrober. I will show here that Sainct-Didier has a clear and consistent meaning for the term which serves to underscore the basic principles of his text.

    The term itself is easily understood. […]

  • <p>Here’s my modern English translation of Henry de Sainct-Didier’s 1573 sidesword/rapier treatise <em>Secrets of the Sword Alone</em>. This is a straight translation. I’ve not attempted to interpret the text as it’s really not required.</p> <p>It’s 154 pages long including  an introduction and 34 pages of Sainct Didier’s images.</p> <p>The print version is currently available from these stores.</p> <ul> <li>Lulu</li> <li>Book Depository</li> <li>Amazon</li> <li>Barnes and Noble</li> <li>AbeBooks</li> <li>Foyles</li> <li>Adlibris</li> </ul> <p>The eBook can be ordered today from these stores:</p> <ul> <li>Barnes and Noble</li> <li>Apple iBookstore</li> <li>Kobo</li> <li>Amazon (Kindle)</li> <li>Bookworld</li> <li>Angus & Robertson</li> <li>Scribd</li> <li>Blio</li> <li>BookBaby</li> </ul> <p>The back of the book says:</p> <p><em><span style="color: #000000;">A modern </span></em> […]</p>22 September, 2014

    Secrets of the Sword Alone: Where do I buy it?

    Here’s my modern English translation of Henry de Sainct-Didier’s 1573 sidesword/rapier treatise Secrets of the Sword Alone. This is a straight translation. I’ve not attempted to interpret the text as it’s really not required.

    It’s 154 pages long including  an introduction and 34 pages of Sainct Didier’s images.

    The print version is currently available from these stores.

    • Lulu
    • Book Depository
    • Amazon
    • Barnes and Noble
    • AbeBooks
    • Foyles
    • Adlibris

    The eBook can be ordered today from these stores:

    • Barnes and Noble
    • Apple iBookstore
    • Kobo
    • Amazon (Kindle)
    • Bookworld
    • Angus & Robertson
    • Scribd
    • Blio
    • BookBaby

    The back of the book says:

    A modern […]