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In 1790, an anonymous Highland Officer (who we now know to have been a Captain Sinclair) published Anti-Pugilism, or the Science of Defence, describing the broadsword and singlestick play he had learned in his military service in the Black Watch. This was the first of a series of late-period Highland Broadsword manuals, written by or for soldiers in the British Army, particularly the famous Highland Regiments.
In 1799, Henry Angelo (son of the great smallsword fencer Domenico Angelo) published a poster called The Guards and Lessons of the Highland Broadsword, illustrated by Rowlandson. This poster illustrated eight Guards and described ten Lessons, or Set Play sequences.
The same year, he published Hungarian and Highland Broadsword, which was intended as a training manual for English cavalrymen who had adopted the Highland broadsword for their own use. This manual shows complete illustrations for the ten Lessons, which are here called Divisions. The “Hungarian” aspect of the manual refers to the mounted exercises, which appear to be very loosely inspired by Hussar cavalry drill, while the “Highland” refers to the dismounted exercises or 10 Divisions, which were based on traditional broadsword play. Angelo’s lessons were said to be those of the broadsword master John Taylor. The Taylor broadsword and sabre manuals draw heavily from the work of Thomas Page, an earlier writer on the Highland Broadsword, as well as from the Highland Officer’s Anti-Pugilism.
In 1805, an English military fencing instructor named Thomas Mathewson published his Fencing Familiarized, which described a modified system of Highland broadsword, more heavily influenced by smallsword practice than Angelo’s works. Sections of this text were apparently copied directly from the earlier Anti-Pugilism. Mathewson also appears to have been a student of Archibald MacGregor, a Highlander and broadsword master, who was the author of a Lecture on the Art of Defence.
We base our study of the Regimental Highland Broadsword on Angelo’s Ten Lessons, as well as the methods of Mathewson and the Highland Officer. The Regimental Highland Broadsword is an excellent introduction to the rest of our curriculum, but is not a pre-requisite for studying Levels II or III.
Here is the video curriculum for the Regimental Highland Broadsword:
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