You’ve always wanted to learn to swordfight.

But the question has been how?

Opportunity seems slim — maybe there are no teachers nearby. Sure you’ve read some books or found a DVD, but going it alone is difficult. Without someone to correct and coach, it’s hard to know if you’re even doing it right. And you could use a little motivation to keep at it.

Swordplay Online was made for you!

When you sign up you aren’t just getting some home study videos or even a do-it-yourself course.

You are joining an ongoing, living program that has been researched and refined for over 20 years.

Swordplay Online offers a combination of:

Pre-recorded Courses, organized with handouts, drills and supporting documents, organized just like our live programs.
An option to add Live Classes and Coaching
Class Recordings, so you can go back and review.
An ever-growing library of short Technique Videos
Storytime Archive — Have an appetite for history? Get excited to pick up a sword by learning about the real people who practiced these martial arts, and the world they lived in! Monthly live lectures and a library of past events.

Sign up for classes HERE

What You’ll Learn

We offer a variety of weapon topics to explore. If you are new to a style, feel free to listen in on a class anyway.

Armizare (are-mee-TZAR-ay) is the medieval Italian name for the martial arts of the warrior class of Europe – the knight. Like his Asian counterpart, the samurai, the knight was the developer and inheritor of a sophisticated martial arts system that encompasses more than just fencing with the medieval sword; it is a comprehensive combat system useful in a variety of contexts: armed with sword, lance, axe or dagger, unarmed and in or out of plate armour. The system also covers the use of improvised weapons, such as heavy clubs, a small baton and flexible weapons.

Renaissance Swordsmanship will show you the truth behind the swashbuckling swordplay of the Renaissance! By the later 16th century the two-handed longsword had been replaced by the elegant and deadly rapier as the principal weapon of the trained swordsman. Although the rapier has come to symbolize the era, the older, military sword continued to be used throughout the same period in an elegant, cut-and-thrust style learned by soldiers and civilian fencers alike. Your training begins with the rapier and then adds the use of the older, cutting sword. Together, these two weapons form the foundation of an extensive curriculum derived from the teachings of the 16th and 17th century masters of defense that pairs the sword with the shield, dagger and cloak, and also includes knife-fighting and unarmed knife defense.

Why us?

For one thing, our classes are live. You can ask questions in the chat. You can turn your camera on, submit homework and otherwise interact. It’s the closest thing to being there that can be offered.

What more is, we’re the experts. Forteza is the home studio of the Chicago Swordplay Guild, an internationally renowned organization that offers two distinct tracks of historical fighting arts from Medieval and Renaissance Italy (1350 – 1650). We’ve been teaching swordplay since 1999, and are happy to expand our reach to students around the world, via live on-line classes.

Swordplay Online: Distance Learning