Irish Swordsmanship: Fencing and Dueling in Eighteenth Century

Irish Swordsmanship: Fencing and Dueling in Eighteenth Century Ireland

During the eighteenth century, Ireland was Europeâ€™s wild west, where the sword was the constant companion of every gentleman, soldier, and rogue. Here, in the dimly lit rooms of Dublinâ€™s popular coffee and chocolate houses, among its public parks and cloistered back yards, fearsome duelists such as George Robert â€œFightingâ€ Fitzgerald, Alexander â€œBuckâ€ English, and Captain David â€œTygerâ€ Roche fought for life and honor with the sword and pistol. Here, countless swordsmenâ€”colorfully dressed in ruffled silkâ€”stained the ground of St Stephenâ€™s Green with blood, and celebrated their survival over glasses of cherry brandy. This is the story of eighteenth century Irelandâ€™s sword cultureâ€”of its renowned fencing schools, its famed swordsmen, its female gladiators, and its notorious armed gangs such as the Bucks, Cherokees, and Pinking Dindies, who terrorized the people of Dublin with the small-sword, knife, falchion, and shillelagh, and engaged in vicious battles with members of the cityâ€™s Night Watch.

Here, also, is the story of Irelandâ€™s most celebrated fencing society, the Knights of Taraâ€”whose grand fencing exhibitions won fame and glory for Ireland, whose writings on bayonet fencing found their way into the hands of Americaâ€™s founding father, George Washington, and whose leading member would go on to have an indelible impact upon the history of fencing in the British Isles.

PART TWO of this book containsÂ A Few Mathematical and Critical Remarks on the Swordâ€”an almost completely overlooked fencing treatise, now published again for the first time in more than 230 years, that is currently the only known original treatment of swordsmanship by an Irish author published in Ireland during the eighteenth century. Though anonymously authored, research suggests that this mysterious textâ€”the publication of which directly led to the formation of the Knights of Taraâ€”may be the work of Cornelius Kelly, Irelandâ€™s most renowned fencing master. Compiled throughout the 1770s and published in Dublin in 1781, this treatise is by no means a beginnerâ€™s manual, but is an extensive discussion and elucidation on the technique, form, philosophy, psychology, morality, and strategy of swordsmanship. Although founded upon the French school of small-sword fencing, it exhibits many peculiarities, and the author's method of explaining fencing is unusual for the era. The text containsÂ applications of geometrical and mathematical principles to swordsmanship, how to utilize oneâ€™s own shadow as a training device, and defenses against assassins and so-called â€œdirty tricks.â€

Irish Swordsmanship contains extensive footnotes, more than sixty drawings, paintings, and engravings from the period, a comprehensive glossary of terms, and seven appendices.

CONTENTS
Preface

PART I: History
I. Dueling in Eighteenth Century Ireland
II. Noted Irish Duelists
i. Captain Peter Drake
ii. Richard Buidhe Kirwan
iii. David â€œTygerâ€ Roche
iv. George Robert Fitzgerald
v. Alexander â€œBuckâ€ English
vi. Richard Brinsley Sheridan
III. Irish Amazons and Stage Gladiators
IV. Eighteenth Century Dublin: Europeâ€™s Wild West
V. Fencing Schools and Masters in Eighteenth Century Ireland
VI. The Knights of Tara
VII. Anthony Gordon, the Last Knight of Tara

PART II: The Treatise
Introduction: Essay on Authorship
Topical Guide to Contents
Note to the Reader
A Few Mathematical and Critical Remarks on the Sword
Glossary of Technical Terms

APPENDICES
I. The Irish Dueling Code of 1777
II. Works on Fencing and Dueling by Irish Authors
III. First Resolutions of the Knights of Tara
IV. Second Resolutions of the Knights of Tara
V. List of the Knights of Tara
VI. Rules of the Cherokee Club
VII. The Irish Pike Exercise

Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Country USA
Manufacturer Hudson Society Press
Binding Paperback
EANs 9780999056707
ReleaseDate 0000-00-00

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Hudson Society Press
Binding	Paperback
EANs	9780999056707
ReleaseDate	0000-00-00

Irish Swordsmanship: Fencing and Dueling in Eighteenth Century Ireland

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