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Since 1999, the Chicago Swordplay Guild has offered students a chance to study historical European swordplay, grappling and armoured combat in an organized curriculum. Introductory classes run in an on-going rotation of 12 week sessions, at a variety of venues within and around the city, and on-going, in-depth training at the Guild’s official home, Pulaski Park Auditorium, Chicago. We also have a study group in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and a branch school in Denver, Colorado.

Come find the class closest to you and see what you've been missing!

Who We Are

The Chicago Swordplay Guild (CSG) is a modern martial arts school dedicated to the study and practice of historical European swordsmanship and close quarter combat of the 14th - 17th centuries. We combine scholarship and research into the teachings of the historical Masters at Arms with the practical knowledge gained through solo drills, partnered exercises, test-cutting with sharp weapons, fencing with specially-designed, blunted weapons and wrestling.

The Tradition

The “Martial Arts” are literally, the “Arts of Mars”, the Roman god of war, so it should be no surprise that Europe boasts a complex martial culture that extends back into antiquity and continues to this day. The Chicago Swordplay Guild connects with this tradition of Western martial arts by training in the historical fighting arts of Medieval and Renaissance Italy (1350 – 1650)

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