 The oldest surviving English work giving technical information on staff combat dates from the 15th century – it is a brief listing of "strokes of the 2-hand staff", which shares terminology with the preceding "strokes of the 2-hand sword" in the same manuscript.George Silver (1599) explains techniques of short-staff combat and states that the use of other polearms and the two-handed sword are based on the same method.Later authors on the subject included Joseph Swetnam, Zachary Wylde, and Donald McBane.