George Silver

Quick Facts

Date of Birthc. 1550

Date of Deathc. 1620

Country of OriginUnited Kingdom

Biography

George Silver was an English gentleman and author of the work Paradoxes of Defence of 1599, in which he defended English fencing with the short sword against the fashionable Italian rapier. According to Wiktenauer he was born in the fifties or early sixties of the 16th century, and we have not found his birthplace or exact dates of life.

He was the eldest of four brothers, and his brother Toby was also a fencer. On 24 March 1580 he married Mary Haydon in London. He was not a professional fencing teacher, and we have not been able to establish his teacher or fighting lineage.

Paradoxes of Defence was published in London by Edward Blount and is dedicated to the Earl of Essex. Silver claims in it that the short sword has the advantage over the long sword and long rapier, that the cut is as fast as the thrust and often more dangerous, and he rejects the lunge. With his brother Toby he challenged the Italian master Vincentio Saviolo to a public match with various weapons, but no formal match took place. Around 1605 he wrote the manuscript Brief Instructions upon my Paradoxes of Defence, printed only in 1898.

His writings are studied today as a source of English fencing and have appeared in Czech translation too. The researcher J. D. Aylward claimed that Silver was still alive in 1622, but his evidence does not hold up.

Early life

According to Wiktenauer, George Silver was born in the fifties or early sixties of the 16th century, and the sources give neither the exact date nor the place. He was the eldest of four brothers, and his brother Toby was also a capable fencer. On 24 March 1580, by the calendar of the time still 1579, he married Mary Haydon in London. The researcher J. D. Aylward claims descent from Sir Bartholomew Silver, whom Edward II knighted, but Wiktenauer does not consider it proven. English Wikipedia describes him as a gentleman and not a professional fencing teacher.

Training and teachers

We have not found his teacher or fighting lineage, and Wiktenauer states explicitly that they are unknown. English Wikipedia states that he knew the fencing schools and their systems well. He preferred the short sword and the backsword and, instead of the lunge, he promoted a stepping technique that combined cuts with the thrust. In Paradoxes of Defence he writes that whoever gains the advantage in the right tempo, distance and time has the upper hand.

Contribution and innovations

Paradoxes of Defence was published in 1599 in London, the publisher being Edward Blount and the printer Richard Field. The work is dedicated to Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, who was also the patron of Vincentio Saviolo. Silver claims in it that the cut is as fast as the thrust and often more dangerous. In the section Admonition he proposes testing foreign teachers with three matches, against English masters, against inexperienced men and against men half drunk. Together with his brother Toby he challenged Saviolo to a public match with ten weapons, and the challenges were posted in London, Southwark and Westminster. The manuscript Brief Instructions upon My Paradoxes of Defence is kept in the British Library as Sloane MS 376 and apparently dates from around 1605.

Legends and documented facts

The researcher J. D. Aylward claimed that Silver was visited in 1622 by Robert Cooke, and inferred from this that Silver was still alive then. Cooke, however, died in 1593, and William Camden, with whom the claim is connected, was paralysed in 1622 and died a year later. English Wikipedia describes the match with Saviolo as Saviolo failing to appear, while Wiktenauer quotes Silver, according to whom no formal match took place at all. We have not resolved the dispute.

Legacy

Brief Instructions remained unpublished until 1898, when, according to English Wikipedia, Captain Cyril G. R. Matthey published it as a training manual for soldiers of the Boer War. A manuscript version of Paradoxes also exists, Additional MS 34192. Wiktenauer lists concordances by Michael Chidester and Stephen Hand, a modern translation of Paradoxes and a Czech translation. English Wikipedia ranks his work among the key sources of English fencing and refers to the books English Swordsmanship (2006) by Stephen Hand and Master of Defence (2008) by Paul Wagner.

Associated Martial Arts

Quotes