the period clearly demonstrates that European swordsmanship at the time
was a systematic and highly dynamic art.
The Renaissance Masters of Defence were highly regarded specialists
who published their methods in numerous illustrated technical manuals.
Dozens of these manuscripts still survive. The various manuals describe
fighting stances and guards (or Wards), attacks, evasions (or Voids), parries,
and numerous kinds of counteractions. They also instruct on principles such
as recovery, timing, distance, and judgment as well as the ethics and philos-
ophy of personal armed conflict and dueling. These invaluable works pres-
ent a highly developed and innovative aspect of Renaissance martial culture.
The cut-and-thrust swordsmanship of the early Renaissance consisted
of a sophisticated and effective system of armed combat that evolved from
medieval swords. This was a battlefield method that increasingly found use
in personal single combat or private quarrel. These swords were used
mainly by lightly armed foot soldiers (as well as in civilian self-defense) in
the 1500s and 1600s and were employed against a range of armored and
unarmored opponents. The weapons were popular for sword-and-buckler
and sword-and-dagger fighting—which provided the foundation for the
emergence of the thrusting rapier.
During this time, the use of the thrust began to dominate over the cut
in civilian fighting. This is a consequence of the environment in which the
weapons were employed as well as certain mechanics of use. The more re-
fined techniques of Renaissance cut-and-thrust swords provided a founda-
tion for those of later centuries, such as cutlasses, hangers, and spadroons.
These in turn provided the basis for European stickfighting martial sports
during the 1700s and 1800s (such as cudgeling, singlestick, backswording,
and, in France, la canne). Other forms of cut-and-thrust swords, more
closely related to medieval blades but with basket and cage hilts, emerged
for mounted combat during the late Renaissance. These were held in a sin-
gle fist grip and employed similarly to earlier medieval swords.
The forms of swordplay espoused in Italy by early Renaissance masters
employed slender edged blades used in a slashing and stabbing style that de-
veloped from earlier military methods. These styles, applied in urban per-
sonal combat, served as a foundation for the development of the civilian
thrusting style of the true rapier. Among the most famous and influential
masters of the earlier cut-and-thrust method were German masters such as
Joerg Wilhalm and Italian masters Antonio Achille Marozzo and Francesco
Altoni. Some of the earlier medieval German fechtbuchs(fight books) also
discuss elements of cut-and-thrust techniques. Among the most noted prac-
titioners of the versatile and practical cut-and-thrust method was the En-
glishman George Silver. Other advocates of such weapons included masters
such as Joseph Swetnam and Germans Jacob Sutor and Joachim Meyer.
Swordsmanship, European Renaissance 581