Robert Reinberger of the Bartitsu mailing list has sent me this fascinating document. It’s an instruction book, from 1925, on how to achieve the Boy Scout Master At Arms badge.
Many thanks Robert!
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This document rocks, James. Let me know if you have any more singlestick pdf’s lying about that you haven’t already shown me. I love singlestick.
Knirirr left the following:
An interesting article, thanks.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, or would agree with me, but there’s something that I thought I saw when looking at some period manuals. In the case of Silver the discussion of the principles of the art is very explicit and detailed. In Hope, 100 years later, it is less so although there are still references to “calmness, vigour and judgement” as the essential qualities of a sword-man and also a section on keeping distance which describes the true times (although in Hope’s typical waffling manner). Go forward a century again and we see essentially lists of techniques and the “principles” stated are no more than tactical advice. The art still works, but it seems to be being learned by rote and unconscious understanding.
Perhaps I am being over-imaginative, but it does look that way to me.
I think that is a valid point that Knirirr makes, and it does link to a conversation I was having on the Defence dans la Rue yahoo list. It seems that the Fin de siècle era arts have a certain flavour to them, a focus on tricks and plays over principles and a more prescriptive approach to their application.
Perhaps this is due to the relative lack of importance of these skills in warfare, or perhaps the nature of education and science at the time, and the way in which that was taught being passed onto to martial education? I’m not sure but I shall muse on this further.