J. Christoph Amberger is a native West Berliner. He studied in Berlin, Göttingen, Aberdeen (Scotland), and Annapolis (Md.) and holds an M.A. from St. John’s College Graduate Institute and a J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law.
After a 20-plus-years career in financial publishing, he is now an attorney in Baltimore City.
Way back when, in the mid-80’s, as a member of two German student Corps, he fought 7 sharp Mensuren. He has been fencing competitively since 1984.
After teaching youth teams and adult fencing classes at Baltimore Fencing Center in Timonium, Maryland, for over a decade, he now fences at Homewood Fencing Club in Baltimore. Join for Epee Open Bouting on Tuesdays and Fridays at 7PM!
Amberger launched Hammerterz Forum in 1994, one of the first journals exclusively devoted to the exploration of historical fencing. Apart from hundreds of articles and dozens of publications, Amberger has published five books, with more in the pipeline.
Among them is The Secret History of the Sword: Adventures in Ancient Martial Arts, on whose concept this site is based. Read more about the SHotS platform right here.
A word about SHotS:
FencingClassics/SHotS is privately published. It is a reflection of Amberger’s personal creed and interests. We’re independent and not accountable to any organization. We don’t care about clicks and views and visitors. We don’t take public money or grants or other handouts or alms of any kind. We pay for our own research. And while we always entertain well-argued criticism, we take direction from absolutely no-one: If we’re wrong about something, we’ll fix it. If you like what you read, great. If not: “Buy a helmet, man”, go elsewhere.
You’re likely to meet Amberger at the next American Smallsword Symposium. It is highly unlikely he will wear period garb…
The Secret History of the Sword 