Masters of Defence
Emblem of the Masters of the Noble Science of Defence
The Noble Science of Defence · an index of sources

The Corporation of Masters of the Science of Defence

Papers of the corporation that oversaw the science of defence, in Tudor and Stuart England.
Original papers of the corporation

The core sources

Each opens with the historical text set against a modern reading and, where the evidence allows, appendices that draw the material together.
Sloane MS 2530
The Minute Book
The guild’s own minute book, 1568–1598: the prizes played by masters, provosts and scholars. Diplomatic transcription against a modernised edition, with interactive data appendices.
DiplomaticModernisedData appendices
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Royal letters patent, 1540–1605
The Warrants
The Crown’s three surviving grants, from Henry VIII, Philip and Mary, and James I. The Marian letter of 1555 in parallel transcription and modernisation, with comparative appendices.
154015551605Comparative
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Sir George Buck, 1615
The Third University
Buck’s chapter placing the Masters of Defence among London’s institutions of learning. As printed in 1615 beside a modernised reading, with the weapons, degrees and authorities he names.
As printedModernisedApparatus
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Original documents

Primary sources

13 items
The archival and printed originals on which the study rests: the minute book, the three grants of letters patent, and the calendars, rolls and record series consulted alongside them.
  1. 1Minute Books: Sloane MS 2530: 1568-1592 Minute Books
  2. 2Letters Patent, Version 1: Public Records Office C.82/770 (20th July 1540).
  3. 3Letters Patent, Version 2: Rymer’s Foedera, Vol. XVI. (6th July 1605).
  4. 4Letters Patent, Version 3: Ancient Letter ECA/1/1/3/35. Part of the Exeter City Archives (15th August 1555). Formerly (prior to 2023) ‘ECA/Ancient Letters/L/35’.
  5. 5Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Philip and Mary. Vols. I-IV, London: HMSO, 1936-9.
  6. 6Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Edward VI. Vols. I-VI, London: PRO, 1924-9.
  7. 7Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Elizabeth I. Vols. I-V, London: HMSO, 1939-86.
  8. 8Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reigns of Edward VI, Mary, Elizabeth, 1547-1580. Vols. I, VI-VII, London: PRO, 1856.
  9. 9Dasent, John Roche, ed. Acts of the Privy Council of England. Vols. I-VII, London: HMSO, 1890-3.
  10. 10Gairdner, J., Brewer, J., Brodie, S. R. H., et al., eds. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII. Vols. XII-XXI, London: HMSO, 1867-1910.
  11. 11"An Act concerning Monopolies and Dispensations with penall Lawes and the Forfeyture thereof," 21 Jac. I. c. 3 (1624), in The Statutes of the Realm, vol. 4, part 2 (London: 1819), 1212-1214.
  12. 12Middlesex County Records: Volume 1, 1550-1603, ed. John Cordy Jeaffreson (London, 1886), British History Online [accessed 1 November 2025]. ↗
  13. 13Various (1592-1934). Exeter Quarter Session Books for Devonshire, 1592-1934. Available online: [accessed 30 April 2024]. ↗
Modern literature

Sources and articles of reference

65 items
The secondary scholarship: studies of the guild and its records, of Tudor and Stuart governance and monopoly, of fence and its European context, and the palaeographic and reference works drawn on throughout.
  1. 1“Commentary on: Statute of Monopolies (1624).” Primary Sources on Copyright (1450- 1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer. Cambridge University Press, 2008. ary_uk_1624 ↗
  2. 2Acutt, J. (2015). Arte Gladiatorie: The ancient Roman institution and its perpetuation in Western martial culture, Academia.edu, ↗
  3. 3Acutt, J. (2016). Add.MS.5540 (Notes on Fencing c.1680-1696) by a prominent 17th Century Bristol Sugar Merchant and Philanthropist, John Carey. IQ Journal - Journal of the Institute of Martial Arts and Sciences.↗
  4. 4Anglin J. P. (1984). The Schools of Defence in Elizabethan London. Renaissance Quarterly. 1984; 37(3): 393-410. doi:10.2307/2860956↗
  5. 5Anglo, S. (1993). [Review of The Noble Science: A Study and Transcription of Sloane Ms. 2530, Papers of the Masters of Defence of London, Temp. Henry VIII to 1590, by H. Berry]. Renaissance Studies, 7(3), 317–319. ↗
  6. 6Anglo, S. (2000), Renaissance Martial Arts of Europe, Yale University Press.
  7. 7Anonymous (1600s). ‘Treatise on the Inns of Court and other Collegiate Bodies’ (Coll. Arms MS Vincent 190, fol. 6v).
  8. 8Anonymous (1886). Saturday Review, April 10th 1886. 498.
  9. 9Ascham, R. (1545), Toxophilus: The School of Shooting in Two Books. From the 1866 reprint. University of Wisconsin.
  10. 10Aylward, J. D. (1951). ‘Playing a Prize’, in Notes and Queries 1951-05-12: Vol 196, Iss. 10. pp 201-204. [accessed 30 September 2025]. ↗
  11. 11Aylward, J. D. (1956). The English Master of Arms: From the Twelfth to the Twentieth Century. London: Routledge and Kegan-Paul.
  12. 12Berry, H. (1991). The noble science: a study and transcription of Sloane Ms. 2530, papers of the Masters of Defence of London, Temp. Henry VIII to 1590. University of Delaware Press ; Associated University Presses & British Library Sloane 2530. ↗
  13. 13Bischoff, B. (1990). Latin Palaeography: Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Trans. Dáibhí O Cróinín and David Ganz. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  14. 14Boehm, K. & Silberston, A. (1967). British Patent System: Volume 1, Administration. Cambridge University Press.
  15. 15Braddick, M. J. (2000). State Formation in Early Modern England, c.1550-1700. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  16. 16British Museum (1819). A catalogue of the Lansdowne manuscripts in the British Museum. With indexes of persons, places, and matters. London: British Museum. Available online at: e/2up [accessed 30 April 2024]. ↗
  17. 17Brown, T. (1997). English Martial Arts. Anglo-Saxon Books.
  18. 18Buck, G (1615). “Of the Art gladiatorie, or Science of Defence”, in The Annales, Or Generall Chronicle of England: Begun First by Maister Iohn Stow, and After Him Continued and Augmented with Matters Forreyne, and Domestique, Anncient and Moderne, Vnto the Ende of His Present Yeere 1614., An appendix by Sir George Buck. “The Third Vniversitie of England or A Treatise of the Foundations of all the Colledges, Auncient Schooles of Priviledge, and of Houses of Learning and Liberall Arts, within and about the most Famous Cittie of London”, Cap 42. pp. 985. Available online at: [accessed 30 April 2024]. ↗
  19. 19Castle, E. (1885): Schools and Masters of Fence: From the Middle Ages to the Eighteenth Century. Bell & Sons: London.
  20. 20Chaudhuri, K. N. (1965). The English East India Company: The Study of an Early Joint-Stock Company, 1600-1640. London: Frank Cass.
  21. 21City of London Corporation (1861). Liber Albus: The White Book of the City of London. R. Griffin: London.
  22. 22Clemens, R. & Graham, T. (2007). Introduction to manuscript studies. Cornell University Press.
  23. 23Coke, E. (1797). Institutes of the Laws of England: Containing the exposition of many Ancient and other statutes. E. & R. Brooke, Bell-yard near Temple-Bar: London.
  24. 24Cotton, W. (1873). An Elizabethan Guild of the city of Exeter, an account of the proceeding of the Society of Merchant Adventurers, during the latter half of the 16th century. Exeter: Pollard.
  25. 25Crankshaw, D. J. (2009). "The Tudor Privy Council, c. 1540–1603." In State Papers Online, 1509-1714. Gale Cengage Learning. [accessed 30 September 2025]. ↗
  26. 26D’Ewes, S. (1682). The journals of all the Parliaments during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 1682. [accessed 30 September 2025]. ↗
  27. 27Dallas, J. (editor) (1897). The Note-book of Tristam Risdon, 1608-1628. London: Elliot Stock.
  28. 28Darcy v. Allein (1602) 11 Co. Rep. 84b, 77 ER 1260 (King’s Bench)
  29. 29Egan, P (1836). ‘The Wrestlers’, in Pierce Eganʼs Book of Sports, and Mirror of Life Embracing the Turf, the Chase, the Ring and the Stage Interspersed with Original Memoirs of Sporting Men. Publisher: T. Tegg, London. Chapter XXI, pp.321-336.
  30. 30Elton, G.R. (1962), England Under the Tudors. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd.
  31. 31Elton, G.R. (1972). Policy and Police: The Enforcement of the Reformation in the Age of Thomas Cromwell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  32. 32Fletcher, A. (1986). Reform in the Provinces: The Government of Stuart England. New Haven: Yale University Press.
  33. 33Fox-Davies, A. C. (1915) ‘The Book of Public Arms’, London: pp. 228.
  34. 34Gilbert, H. (1562). Queene Elizabeth’s Achademy: The erection of an Academy in London for the Education of Her Majesties Wardes and others the youth of Nobility and Gentlemen.
  35. 35Gleason, J. H. (1969). The Justices of the Peace in England, 1558-1640: A Later Eirenarcha. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  36. 36Greene, W. (2014). The Masters of Defence ca. 1530-1617: Conference presentation for the Tenth Annual Symposium on Historical European Swordsmanship. Massachusetts Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies University of Massachusetts Amherst, 26 April 2014. [accessed 10 April 2024]. ↗
  37. 37Hailwood, M. (2016). Alehouses and Good Fellowship in Early Modern England. United Kingdom: Boydell Press.
  38. 38Hale, G (1614). The Private Schoole of Defence. Or The Defects of Publique Teachers, ex-actly Discovered, by way of Objection and revolution. Together with the true practise of the Science, set downe in judicious Rules and Observations; in a Method never before expressed. By G. Hale Gent. London: Printed for John Helme, and are to be found at his Shop in S. Dunstames. Church-yard in Fleet Street. 1614.
  39. 39Herrup, C. B. (1987). The Common Peace: Participation and the Criminal Law in Seventeenth Century England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  40. 40Hindle, S. (2000). The State and Social Change in Early Modern England, 1550-1640. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
  41. 41Historical Manuscripts Commission. Report on the Records of the City of Exeter. HMSO, London (1916). [accessed 1 February 2024]. ↗
  42. 42Hobbes, T. (1651). Leviathan, Chapter 5, ‘Of Reason, and Science’.
  43. 43Hooker, alias Vowell, J. (1765). The Antient History ... of the City of Exeter ... Compiled ... from the Works of Hooker, Izacke and Others. The British Library.
  44. 44Hughes, P. L. & Larkin, J. F (editors) (1964-1969), Tudor Royal Proclamations, 3 vols. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1964-1969), vol. 2: xlii-lxviii; vol. 3: xv-xliii.
  45. 45Hume, D. (1789). The History of England: From the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688, Volume 7. New York Public Library.
  46. 46Machyn, H. (1550-1563). The Diary of Henry Machyn, Citizen and Merchant-taylor of London, from A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1563. The Camden Society, London.
  47. 47Manning, R. B. (1972). Elizabethan Recusancy Commissions. The Historical Journal, 15(1), 23–36. . [accessed 1 February 2024]. ↗
  48. 48Mansell, C & Hailwood, M. (editors). (2018); Court Depositions of South West England, 1500- 1700, University of Exeter, . [Accessed 1 Oct 2025]. ↗
  49. 49Matthias, J. (1972). The Noble Art of Fence: A Letter. The Antioch Review, 32(3), 354– 361. . [accessed 1 February 2024]. ↗
  50. 50Notestein, W. (1923). The Journal of Sir Simonds D’Ewes, Yale University Press.
  51. 51Parkes, M. B. (1969). English Cursive Book Hands, 1250-1500. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  52. 52Price, F.D. (1937). “The Commission for Causes Ecclesiastical for the Dioceses of Bristol and Gloucester, 1574.” Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 59 (1937): 61-184.
  53. 53Price, W.H. (1906). The English Patents of Monopoly. Harvard Economic Studies, vol. 1. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
  54. 54Sheppard, P. (1993). The Noble Science: A Study and Transcription of Sloane Ms. 2530, Papers of the Masters of Defence of London, Temp. Henry VIII to 1590. Notes and Queries, 40(2), 244+. [accessed 1 February 2024].
  55. 55Slack, P (1988). Poverty and Policy in Tudor and Stuart England. London: Longman.
  56. 56Strutt, J. (1876). The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England. Edited by William Hone. Chatto and Windus.
  57. 57Thirsk, J. (1978). Economic Policy and Projects: The Development of a Consumer Society in Early Modern England. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  58. 58Thompson, E. M. (1912). An Introduction to Greek and Latin Palaeography. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  59. 59Usher, R. G. (1913). The Rise and Fall of the High Commission. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  60. 60Welle, R. (1993). “...und wisse das alle höbischeit kompt von deme ringen”: Der Ringkampf als adelige Kunst im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert. Pfaffenweiler: Centaurus.
  61. 61White, S. D. (2017). Sir Edward Coke and “The Grievances of the Commonwealth,” 1621-1628, University of North Carolina Press.
  62. 62Wrightson, K & Levine, D. (1995), Poverty and Piety in an English Village: Terling, 1525- 1700. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  63. 63Wrightson, K. (1980). “Two Concepts of Order: Justices, Constables and Jurymen in Seventeenth-Century England,” in An Ungovernable People: The English and Their Law in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, ed. John Brewer and John Styles. London: Hutchinson.
  64. 64Younger, N. (2007). “The Tudor State.” In State Papers Online, 1509-1714. Gale Cengage Learning, 2007. [accessed 30 September 2025].
  65. 65Zmarzly, R. J. (2007). Justices of the Peace in Mid-Tudor Devon circa 1538-1570. Thesis Presented to the Graduate Council of Texas State University-San Marcos in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts. San Marcos, Texas.
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