Royal Guild Of Defence

Welcome to the homepage of the Royal Guild of Defence.

The Guild is dedicated to supporting the research and teaching of the period martial arts of Europe, as detailed in the various extant fencing and wrestling manuals. These period texts are the ones you will see here referenced as the Ancient Masters.

The Guild has a small administrative section, and a teaching body consisting of the Guildmasters and Provosts, who can be found throughout the Kingdom. Contact details can be found in the Guild Directory.

As a Royal Guild, our purpose and overall government is defined by our Charter of Incorporation.

The details of how we actually conduct our prizes (examinations for rank), as well as duties and privileges of those ranks is contained in the Guild's Ordinances. A clarification on the guild's position for prize content containing Oral Tradition is contained on the Oral Tradition page.

Prospective scholars can find an introduction to the guild here. The playing of the prize is a major part of the Guild's history, and as such a record for each prize and the result achieved by the candidates is recorded in our Guild Chronicle.

The Guild administration also keeps a record of the membership for each of our ranks, which also indicates whether that member is active or inactive within the Guild's activities.

The Pro Forma announcement for a Guild Prize can be found here.