To learn the basics of smallsword, I'm going to use:
or
A New and Complete Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Fencing.
Displaying the Intricacies of Small-sword Play and Illustrated by Mathematical Figures and Adorned with Elegant Engravings after Paintings from Life, Executed In the Most Masterly Manner Representing Every Material Attitude of the Art
A New Addition Revised with a Glossary and Improvements,
by John MacArthur of the Royal Navy, 1780
It is adorned with wonderful illustrations and is written in a very straightforward way. A big shout out to the The smallsword project, and the work of Peter Jamson and Phillip Crawley in transcribing this manual.
I have summarised the system as described in part 1 of the manual. There will be several parts and several blog posts.
Introduction to the guards, parries and thrusts
The system makes use of two principle guards, Carte (inside) and Tierce (outside), as well as six parries and thrusts.
'A guard is supposed to be the most eligible posture, from which you may either
defend yourself, or act offensively against an adversary; and as such is a common
centre to all of your movements.'
Carte and Tierce can be held with raised point protecting the upper lines, as either a guard or a parry, or held as parries with point hanging to protect the lower lines. The lower parries can be made with nails upwards or downwards on either side, creating two upper parries and four lower parries. We call these:
Carte (upper inside, hand in supination)
Tierce (upper outside, hand in pronation)
Prime (lower inside with wrist in pronation)
Half-circle (low inside with wrist in supination)
Seconde (formerly known as quinte, protecting low outside with wrist in pronation)
Octave (low outside with wrist in supination)
(Interestingly, McArthur doesn't bother with Fifth or Sixth position, i.e. Carte and Tierce but with wrist rotation reversed.)
Lesson I. The manner of holding the sword or foil; common guard of carte; and of the advance
The sword is split into six parts: the pommel, the grasp (or grip), the shell (or guard), and the three parts of the blade: the fort (forte, strong), the middle, and the foible (weak).
'[I]n order to hold your sword well, the hilt must be flat in your hand; so that the two edges will be nearly horizontal when you throw yourself upon guard; your thumb stretched along upon the upper flat part of the hilt, within half an inch of the shell and the pommel is to rest under the wrist.'
'Having hold of your sword or foil in this manner, and standing upon your first position, that is, your right foot before the left, with the heel advanced near the buckle, throw yourself upon the common guard of carte, by advancing your right foot about the distance of a measured foot and a half from the left, or at the distance of two lengths of your own foot from the heel of the other – the two heels should be in the same straight line.' I.e. stand sideways, with your feet together, and then advance your right foot a few feet forwards and take your weight on your back leg.
To hold cart, turn your fingernails upwards a little, a little like in the picture below:
Hold your sword out, with the hand level with your lower breast, and the point upwards about 15 degrees, pointing at the chest of the opponent.
'Having made sure of the position above directed on carte guard, you must now, with the utmost regularity, learn to advance and retreat upon this guard, without varying your position [...] In order to advance with regularity, move the right foot with ease forward to the distance of more than a foot, making the left foot instantly follow to the same distance; these two movements must seem as one, by being comprehended in the same moment of time.'
'The retreat on this guard is performed in the same manner as the advance thereon, only your left foot makes the first movement backwards, and your right follows in a line of direction at the same moment'
Lesson II. Of the guard in tierce; advance and retreat thereof
Turn your hand to you are in pronation, that is with the fingernails half turned towards the ground. You will notice that when doing this the sword will naturally shift to the right (for a right-handed fencer), so that it now covers the outside line (whereas Carte covered the inside line).
The stance is exactly the same as in lesson 1, only the guard covers your outside line (right). The advance and retreat are the same.
Lesson III. Of the two simple parades, or parries of carte and tierce
As well as being guards, the positions of Carte and Tierce are also the parries for the upper lines.
If your opponent thrusts at you on the inside (the left), move your hand six inches to the left, turning your wrist into Carte, while keeping your point fixed on your opponent. This is the parry of Carte.
If your opponent thrusts at you on the outside (the right), move your hand six inches to the right, turning your wrist to Tierce, while keeping your point fixed on your opponent. This is the parry of Tierce.
Pull in your hand towards yourself a little (i.e. bend your elbow) to make your parry stronger.
It is worth noting that when you to parry like this your point needs to be a pointing somewhat upwards; you can't parry with a completely horizontal point.
McArthur illustrates the change from left side to right side parry with a diagram. The line C-A-D is actually in the horizontal plane, i.e. C is on the left, D is on the right, at the same height as A.
My photo shows this a bit better:
Lesson IV. Of the two simple parades of semicircle and octave
When someone thrusts at you below your blade, you parry this by turning your point to hang down. There are two ways of hanging the point (with wrist in pronation or supination), and as these can be held to cover the left side or the right side, this makes four hanging parries.
The semi-circle parry parries the inside (left side), with hand in supination, i.e. fingernails upwards. Start in Carte guard, and then rotate your blade in a semi-circle in a clockwise direction (hence, why it is called the semi-circular parry). MacArthur says the blade is held at an angle of around 45 degrees, and that the hand is moved about 6 inches to the left, just like the Carte parry.
The Octave is the same as the semi-circular parry, only it is held on the right side of the body. The hand is still in supination, although the nails can be turned somewhat more to the ground. However, McArthur notes that learners have difficulty with this parry due to the bend required of the wrist; yet he notes 'it is the best parry'.
AB the inclination and direction of the blade and point in the medium or common guard of carte.
AC the inclination and direction of the blade and point in the parade of semicircle.
DC the inclination and direction of the blade and point in covering yourself inwards, or forming completely the parade of semicircle.
EC the inclination and direction of the blade and point in forming completely the outward parade of octave.
The outward arc BC is formed by the point in its course from B, in falling to the parade of semicircle.
The inward arc BC, contrarily to the other is formed by the point falling from guard to the parade of octave.
AD the gradual ascent or distance inwards, upon forming the complete parade and opposition in semicircle.
AE the gradual descent and distance outward, in forming completely the parade of octave.
DE the gradual descent and distance from the covered parade of semicircle, to the covered parade of octave, equal to twelve inches; and ED the contrary.
Remark – The distance of the hand between these two covered parades, is equal to the distance between the two parades of carte and tierce
Lesson V. Of the two simple parades of prime and seconde
'These two parades are not so frequently used as the other four, though I have generally observed that young learners entering upon the assault naturally betake themselves to throwing of seconde parade almost against every thrust; which may arise from it being so easy to execute.' As a beginner at smallsword, this is certainly my experience!
Prime is a hanging parry, as used in Sabre systems. In short, the knuckle is in front of your mouth, pointing towards you. Hand is in pronation. The blade is hanging down at a steep angle, covering the left side (inside line) - McArthur says it is held with blade lower than in Semi-circle parry, so 50 or 60 degrees. Hand is 6 inches to your left, like with the Carte parry.
From the Prime position, straighten your arm and move your hand so the blade now covers your right side (outside line). This is Seconde. Another way to think about Seconde is to stand in Tierce and drop your point with a counter-clockwise motion.
'Seconde parade may be performed from either guard and is very powerful against the simple thrusts of low carte and seconde.'
AB the inclination and direction of the blade and point in the common guard of carte.
AC the inclination and direction of the blade and point in the parade of prime, agreeable to the forgoing lesson.
DC elevation of the hand, and inclination and direction of the blade and point, after forming and covering yourself inwards in prime parade.
The outward arc BC is the course of the point from carte or tierce, in forming said parade. AE the inclination and direction of blade and point in the parade of seconde.
FE the direction of blade and point in forming completely, and being covered outwards in the parade of seconde.
The inward arc BE the course of the point from guard, to the parade of seconde.
AD the gradual ascent and distance inwards, upon forming the complete parade of prime. AF the gradual descent and distance outwards, in forming the parade of seconde.
FD or DF the gradual ascent or descent of the hand from one covered parade to the other.
Lesson VI. Of the extension and longe, thrusts of carte, carte over the arm, and tierce
Thrusts are primarily executed with a lunge, except for wrist and extension thrusts.
Carte thrust
Ensure proper form: aim the point at the opponent's chest, raise the arm inward with fingers up, and lean forward while extending the right arm and left leg.
The extension is crucial for directing the point swiftly. Always extend the arm straight first (with shell higher than the point), and then make the lunge, not the other way around!
'Your body should incline a little forwards; the head raised upright, looking outwards over the shoulders, so as to have a full view of the point.'
Maintain a proper distance during the lunge, proportional to your height, and typically around four feet distance between left and right foot.
During the thrust, apply gradual pressure inwardly against the opponent's blade during the lunge for cover.
'To recover with ease and quickness from your longe to guard, requires as little practice...' Recover to guard by leaning back on the heels of both feet and bending the left knee.
Carte over the arm
Carte over the arm is basically just a thrust with hand in Carte but made on the outside line of the opponent, i.e. on the left side of their sword.
'The thrust of carte over the arm, is performed in the same manner as carte inside, by disengaging to tierce; with this difference, that the head is raised upright in the inside, and the hand well opposed outward in order to be well covered.'
Tierce thrust
A thrust in Tierce is made on the left side of the blade, like Carte over the arm, but with the wrist turned in Tierce.
'This thrust of tierce is rather awkward to use in assaults or attacks. It may be thrown in with safety, when your adversary holds his hand low, being engaged in tierce. It differs only from carte over the arm, by reversing the wrist, the hand being also well raised and opposed outwards.'
Lesson VII. How to thrust low carte, octave and flanconnade
Low Carte
'Low carte, sometimes called semicircle thrust, is naturally delivered after forming the parade of semicircle, in the same manner as simple carte thrust; only the hand and point must be fixed lower.' I think that is perfectly clear.
McArthur notes that Low Carte is good for various uses, including feinting a thrust in Carte and then redirecting the thrust low to the belly, especially if the opponent is prone to parrying high.
Octave
The thrust of Octave is often treated the same as Low Carte (in fact, it is largely the same!), but it is often used following a parry in Octave, made to the flank, and often without a lunge required. McArthur states that Octave can be made in safety against Tierce, with opposition outwards. I take this to mean it is therefore a Low Carte but made on the outside (left of the opponent's sword) whereas Low Carte is typically made on the inside line.
Flancannade
When engaged in Carte, bind the opponent's foible and swiftly drop your point over their blade from the inside to the outside and below their wrist. Now thrust Low Carte/Octave to the flank. This is the Flanconnade. The left hand is used to oppose the opponent's blade and point to prevent accidents. Flanconnade requires caution as it can leave you vulnerable to counterattacks if not executed properly. It's best used when the opponent's wrist and point are low, typically during engagements in carte.
Lesson VIII. How to thrust seconde and prime
Seconde
'The thrust in seconde is naturally delivered after the parade of tierce, or when engaged in tierce by dropping the point under your adversary’s wrist, with the nails reversed downwards, as in the parade of seconde, then longe and deliver the thrust on the flank or belly.' Seconde is a low thrust with pronated hand delivered on our right side.
Prime
Prime is a thrust used in response to your opponent's strong pressure when they are within striking distance. It involves extending your arm towards your opponent's body from a defensive position, with the hand facing downwards. Unlike seconde, the arm is raised and opposed inwards. Prime doesn't usually require a lunge because it's assumed that the opponent has already advanced towards you.
McArthur notes that most people erroneously treat it the same as a Seconde. In Prime, I believe the fingernails point more to the right, and in Seconde more to the ground. The hand is probably held higher in the prime thrust.
Lesson IX. Of engaging and disengaging
Engaging in Carte or Tierce means opposing your opponent's blade inside or outside when you first meet in a fencing stance.
Carte engagement, where blades meet inwardly, is easier for beginners as it facilitates various thrusts and maneuvers. Tierce engagement, with blades meeting outwardly, is preferred for advanced fencers as it allows for more intricate feints and offers better defense and options for compound parries.
Disengaging or shifting the point from one side of the opponent's blade to the other is crucial in fencing for executing feints and maneuvers. The movement should come from the wrist, keeping the arm aligned, to ensure a successful disengagement.
McArthur doesn't say this explicitly, but it is assumed that disengagements mostly are made under the blade when in high guards, and over the blade when in low.
Lesson X. Of the practical variations on engaging and disengaging, advancing and retreating; simple parades and thrusts of carte and tierce
Lesson 10 - 14 are a series of exercises for students to do to learn the various guards, thrusts and parries.
Engagement of Carte:
Retreat and Advance: I'll retreat while you advance, both maintaining our guard positions properly.
Straight Thrust in Carte: I'll execute a straight thrust in the carte position. You parry and counter-thrust while ensuring cover.
Counter-Thrust Over Arm: Again, I'll thrust straight in carte. After your parry, disengage to Tierce and counter-thrust over my arm, covering outward.
Retreat and Advance with Parries: I'll retreat; you advance, executing movements from 2.
Retreat and Advance with Counter-Thrusts: Same as before, but follow the actions from 3.
Disengage to Tierce and Thrust: I'll disengage to tierce and thrust over your arm. You parry and counter in tierce.
Retreat, Advance, and Counter-Thrust: I retreat; you advance. I will disengage to tierce and thrust Carte over the arm. You parry in Tierce and then thrust Tierce if my arm is low, or disengage and thrust Carte if my arm is high.
Advance with Disengagement: 'On the engagement of tierce, I disengage you and thrust carte inside; throw it off by forming your parade in carte, then disengage, and thrust carte over the arm; I parry it, and make a return in tierce; which you throw off by forming said parade of tierce, then longe home with a straight thrust in tierce.'
Thrust from Tierce Engagement: I press on your blade. Swiftly disengage and counter-thrust over my arm. 'I throw it off by forming the parade in tierce, and will deliver a straight thrust, which you parry with tierce; then disengage and deliver me the thrust of carte over the arm.'
Pressing on Blade: I press hard on your blade; you disengage, and deliver me the thrust of carte over the arm.
Forced Engagement: Similar to before, but after your counter-thrust, I'll parry and counter-attack in tierce; you parry in tierce and then disengage and attack me in Carte over the arm.
Feints: On the engagement of carte, I in like manner force upon your blade; disengage to tierce and form your extension; I come to form my parade in tierce; then you nimbly disengage again, and deliver me the thrust of carte inside.
Lesson XI. Of the simple practical variations on the parades and thrusts of semicircle and low carte
Engagement of Carte: On engagement of Carte, drop your point and thrust low carte.
Carte Thrust: On engagement of Carte, I thrust straight in carte. You parry with your carte parry and counter-thrust low carte.
Disengage to Tierce: On engagement of Carte, you disengage to tierce to thrust carte over my arm. I parry in tierce and counter-thrust with a disengage into carte. You then drop your point and thrust low carte.
'Repeat all the movements of the last branch; then I make a return in low carte; throw it off by recovering quickly, and forming the parade of semicircle; and conclude this branch by returning me a thrust in low carte.
I disengage in order to thrust carte over the arm; throw it off by forming your parade in semicircle, and return a thrust in low carte, which I parry with semicircle, and in return will deliver a thrust in carte; make your extension as if going to push high; but in place thereof, when I come to form my high parade, then drop your point, and thrust low carte.
You disengage to tierce; I come to use my parade in tierce; disengage again to carte and deliver me a thrust in low carte.
Repeat the movements of the last branch, and after having disengaged to carte, you may form your extension, as if intending to push high, then quickly deliver the thrust in low carte.
On the engagement of tierce, I force upon your blade; disengage and deliver me your thrust in low carte.
On the engagement of tierce, repeat the same movements; but I throw off your thrust by my parade of semicircle; then as I recover, after you parry my return, deliver me a thrust over the arm.
On the engagement of carte, I will advance, disengage, and deliver a thrust in tierce; while at the same time you retreat, forming the parade in tierce; on my recovering, I lean or force upon your blade; then disengage and return me low carte.
On the engagement of carte, I retreat while you advance; then disengage and thrust carte over the arm; I parry it, and will thrust in return, by disengaging to carte; throw it off by forming your parade of carte, and thrust carte straight home; I oppose it, by forming the parade of carte; and if I am slow in making a return, or that my hand deviates from the line of direction as you recover, deliver me a thrust with the wrist in low carte.
On the engagement of tierce, you may repeat all the movements of the branch 9th, except the last therein, then disengage completely over the arm, and deliver your thrust in octave, forming a good opposition against my blade outwards.'
Lesson XII. Of the simple practical variations on the parades and thrusts of octave and flanconnade
On the engagement of tierce, drop your point, and deliver me a thrust in octave, observing to form a good opposition.
On the engagement of tierce, I'll attempt a low carte thrust with a disengage; you parry it with octave, then swiftly retaliate with an octave thrust.
On the engagement of carte, replicate the actions from the second branch.
On the engagement of carte, I'll disengage to tierce and thrust; you parry with tierce, then counter with an octave thrust.
On the engagement of carte, I'll thrust low; you parry with a semicircle motion, then counter with an octave thrust over my arm in a move known as a counter disengagement.
On the engagement of carte, repeat all the movements in 5; then I oppose your thrust in octave by forming Octave parry; if I attempt to thrust by disengaging over the arm to low carte, oppose it by semicircle parry, and thrust in low carte.
On the engagement of tierce, I'll disengage and thrust low carte; you parry with an octave, then fully disengage and deliver a low carte thrust.
On the same engagement of tierce, I'll thrust straight in Tierce or Carte over the arm; you parry with a tierce motion, then extend as if to return the thrust, but swiftly drop your point and thrust in octave instead.
On the engagement of carte, cross my blade with yours, drop your point, and thrust in octave. This is known as a flanconnade thrust.
On the engagement of carte, I will deliver a straight thrust in carte; throw it off by forming your parry in carte; and if I recover with my wrist low, deliver me a thrust in flanconnade.
On the engagement of carte, feint the flanconnade by binding my blade a little, but then deliver me a straight thrust in low carte.
On the engagement of carte, I will thrust carte; parry this then feint the flanconnade as above; if I oppose or force upon your blade at the time, nimbly disengage to tierce, and deliver me the thrust of carte over the arm.
On the engagement of carte, I will deliver the thrust in flanconnade; oppose it strongly by forming octave parry and return an octave thrust.
On the engagement of carte, I'll thrust low carte; you parry forcefully with octave, extending your point to thrust me simultaneously.
Lesson XIII. Of the simple practical variations on the parades and thrusts of prime and seconde
On the engagement of tierce, as I advance aggressively, parry my thrust with a prime parry, then swiftly retaliate with a prime thrust.
On the engagement of tierce, as I advance I will disengage and thrust carte; counter my attack with a prime parry, then disengage over my arm and follow up with a thrust in seconde.
On the engagement of carte, I will disengage and thrust carte over the arm; parry it with a simple tierce and swiftly return with a thrust in tierce. If I advance and force upon your blade, respond with a prime parry and deliver a quick return thrust in prime.
On the engagement of carte, I disengage and thrust carte over the arm. Counter with a tierce parry and return the tierce thrust. If I attempt another thrust without advancing, parry with prime then disengage over my arm and counter with a thrust in seconde.
On the engagement of tierce, I thrust in seconde; parry this in seconde, then swiftly return with a seconde thrust as I recover.
On the engagement of carte, I thrust in low carte; counter with a seconde parry and return with a seconde thrust.
On the engagement of carte, I will disengage and thrust carte over the arm; parry this in tierce and swiftly return a seconde thrust.
On the engagement of carte, disengage and feint a carte over the arm; when I form a tierce parry, then quickly turn your wrist down and switch to a seconde thrust.
On the engagement of tierce, feint a seconde thrust under my wrist, then swiftly switch to a thrust of carte over the arm.
On the engagement of tierce, advance and force on my blade. I will oppose it in prime and return a thrust in prime. You parry this in prime.
On the engagement of carte, force upon my blade and I will create an opening in tierce. Disengage and thrust carte over my arm. I parry it in tierce and stay on your blade, then thrust in seconde from the wrist.
On the engagement of carte, deliver a thrust in low carte. I will parry in seconde and return a thrust in seconde. You parry this in seconde, and then disengage over my arm and deliver a thrust in prime.
Coming up in Part 2: On the various round parades, counter disengagements, feints,
glizades etc.
Very nicely explained.