Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Paradoxes of Defence

  • By: George Silver
  • Narrated by: Ben Crystal
  • Length: 2 hrs and 22 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (3 ratings)
Get this deal Try for £0.00
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Paradoxes of Defence cover art

Paradoxes of Defence

By: George Silver
Narrated by: Ben Crystal
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £6.39

Buy Now for £6.39

Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Silmarillion cover art
By the Sword cover art
The Dragon and the George cover art
Men of Iron cover art
The Song of Roland cover art
Foodstuffs LitRPG Box Set: Books 1-3 cover art
On Horsemanship cover art
The Prince cover art
The Use of Medieval Weaponry cover art
Letters from a Stoic cover art
Hagakure cover art
The Peloponnesian War cover art
Ivanhoe cover art
The Art of Manliness - Manvotionals cover art
Letters from a Stoic: Complete (Letters 1 - 124) Adapted for the Contemporary Reader (Seneca) cover art
El Cid: Castilian Knight cover art

Summary

Paradoxes of Defence was first published in London in 1599. It was written by George Silver, an English gentleman, who was appalled at the influx of Italian rapier fencing into England, and set out his arguments in favor of the traditional English weapons: the short sword, the short staff, the forrest bill, the morris pike, and all manner of additional arms such as daggers, bucklers, and targes. He rails against the fashionable new style on the grounds that it is both dangerous to the practitioners, and of no use in warfare.

Whether he was right or wrong, history was against him and the fashionable Italian rapier took over. But his work offers a vital window into the theory and practice of martial arts in England in Tudor times, and ironically provides much of what we know about several Italian rapier masters: Rocco Bonetti, Vincentio Saviolo, and Jeronimo Saviolo.

In this edition, the text has narrated by Ben Crystal in original pronunciation. The original text includes marginalia, which have been incorporated into the audio files.

We have also produced a version that has been modernized and edited by Guy Windsor, and narrated in modern pronunciation by Jonathan Hartman. 
©2021 Spada Press (P)2021 Spada Press
Combat Sports & Self-Defense
Show More Show Less

What listeners say about Paradoxes of Defence

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.co.uk reviews

Amazon reviews
Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Wesley

Brilliant listen

Hilarious use of Elizabethan English, really adds to the title. Concepts cover the importance of the bind and it's comparison with English shorts word and Italian Rapier, as well as other weaponry. looking forward to playing with some of Silvers ideas in sparring

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!