In the interests of full disclosure, I was given this book for review purposes.
Title: Scottish Fencing: Five 18th Century Texts on the Use of the Small-sword, Broadsword, Spadroon, Cavalry Sword, and Highland Battlefield Tactics
Author: Jared Kirby
Published: 2018
Format: Softcover
Pages: 185
Cover Price: $15.09
There’s something in our collective mind that’s romantic about Scotland. Despite many people (my wife included) not being able to understand the Scottish dialect, we, especially Americans, have this stylized view of Scots. It may be due in part to the movie Braveheart, or if you’re really old like me, The Highlander movie (too bad they never made a sequel to that) and subsequent TV series. Regardless, I was intrigued by the title and eagerly got my hands on the book.
If you are interested, Martial Thoughts Podcast conducted a interview with Maestro Jared Kirby, which you can find HERE.
Content
The book is actually an unusual mix of historical text and historical perspective. Maestro Jared Kirby has collected several antique pieces of Scottish fencing history, and blended them together with chapters on the historical background of the author and their texts. I’m a firm believer in the idea that if you’re going to read any piece of history, you should have context for what it is you’re reading. Mr. Kirby does that very well in this book. The subject matters range from battle tactics of the Scottish troops, to specific treatises on small sword use.
Pros
As I have often said, context is key. Especially in anything do to with the study of martial arts or human combat situations in general. One of this book’s biggest strengths are the historical context chapters. They explain the individual texts in terms of where they come from and why they were written in the first place. For example, the first historical piece was a response to the general idea at the time of the “weakness” of the Scottish troops. He wrote about specific authors, who their audience was, and the purpose of each individual piece collected in this book.
Cons
I have frequently said that martial arts is a gateway drug. Because I studied Japanese martial arts, I was led to study the Japanese language and research much of the history of the country. This was spurred on by my desire to understand how and why Japanese martial arts developed the way they did. That being said, if you are looking for a book that gives you instructions on how to “fence in the Scottish style” then this isn’t the book for you. There is some of that to be sure, but that is not the focus of the book.
Conclusion
I deeply enjoyed this book. I have always been curious about Scotland, its people, and their culture. This book satisfies some of that curiosity. By going into the cultural context it gives a weight to any fighting method studied. It’s almost like a good story gives a movie fight more weight. However, as I stated, it is not an instructional manual. Overall, I’m going to give this book 3.5 out of 5 Ninja Stars. It is a great book, but it may not be the book that everyone is looking for. HEMAists (is that the term for someone who does HEMA?) may be able to gain extra insight out of this book. I was able to appreciate the historical context chapters, and could even derive some instruction from the actual texts.
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