Primary Resources

Major efforts of on-line researchers studing rapiers, duelling, and the history of fencing is now beginning bear fruit. Various members of the on-line community have entered or are entering the original text into forms that are available on-line. Hyperlinks to complete or works-in progress for each master listed below. Those master's works which are not linked require willing volunteers to enter the text. Contact Don Danulf Donaldson if you want to participate in any of these efforts.

The best known Elizabethian Masters:

DiGrassi (1570)

The on-line version provided by Iain McClennan, Calontir (Ian Johnson) using scanned and OCR'd input materials. This version has the spelling corrected and is vastly easier for the modern reader to understand.

Vencento Saviolo (1594)

Booke One: his Practise

Booke Two: Of Honor and Honorable Quarrels

George Silver (1599)

Pardoxes of Defense

Brief Introductions Upon My Paradoxes Of Defense

Marozzo (1526)

Introduced the first coherent sytem of personal defence. Emphesizes both the use of the sword's edge and point. No real guards or wards in his system. Most moves worked from a pre-defined stance to execute counter-attacks. When one "parries" an attack, he emphesizes using the off-hand, buckler, or similar object.

Agrippa (1568)

We now see a simplifed set of guards, moves that lay the foundation of the lunge, he advocated circular movements and increased the emphesis on the use of a dagger for parrying.

Fabris (1606)

Recommend an infinite variety of body movements. He advocates copying the bodily position of the opponenet, contra posturea; four guards, true guards: en guarde, engagement, close measeure: misurea stretta, disengage: cavatione di tempo, circular parry: contra cavatione; insisted that the thrust is more effective than the cut.

Greganti (1606)

His work is the first published discription of the lunge: stoccata lunga. He emphesizes the use of two parries (quarte and tierce). The left or off hand is now used for counter balance instead of defense

Capo Ferro (1610)

Straight line fights, general parry (semi-circle from opponents left shoulder to his left knee, and passing through his right hip), uses all tools available, more on tehlunge, parry and the use of a shorter weapon.

Swetnam

Strykar (Steve Hicks) Is working on this. He claims its 80% done. I expect to receive his pieces very soon now.

Caranza

Baron Master Gwylym ab Owain, has been working on an on-line copy of Caranza.

Secondary Resources

Old Sword-Play

by Captain Alfred Hutton
transcribed by Bryan Maloney