Highland Swordsmanship: Techniques of the Scottish Sword Masters

The Scottish Highlander has been romanticized in poetry, song and legend; immortalized in the figures of Bonnie Prince Charlie and Rob Roy. His reputation as a fierce fighter and deadly swordsman was much more than a myth - a proud tradition of Scottish fencing masters taught the use of the backsword, smallsword, target and dirk from the 17th through the 19th centuries. These masters were as colorful and diverse as the Scottish people themselves, from the upper-class "Anglicized," Sir William Hope, to the bawdy, soldier-turned-fencing master Donald McBane, who ran a fencing salon out of his wife's brothel. In this omnibus edition, Mark Rector presents two classic manuals of Scottish swordsmanship from the days of Culloden.