Cut & Thrust
What is Cut & Thrust?
Cut & Thrust is a style of rapier fighting prevalent in the 16th Century. Cut & Thrust, sometimes refered to as side-sword, is a form of fighting that lies somewhere between knightly swords and rapiers. This website serves to be a collection of information for Cut & Thrust fighting within the SCA.
Cuts in the light & heavy rapier forms inside the The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) are done through contrived, unrealistic, non-period actions. With the advent of Cut & Thrust into the SCA, a more realistic and accurate percussive cutting action can be implemented, while still keeping with our ideals of safe rapier fighting.
There are many period schools of study that can be used to learn this new form, from Agrippa, to Caranza, to Capo Ferro, to Marozzo.
Why Cut & Thrust?
There are many reasons why we fight cut & thrust, but George Silver said it best in his work Paradoxes of Defence:
And now will I set down possible reasons, that the blow is better than the thrust, and more dangerous and deadly. First, the blow comes as near a way, & most commonly nearer than does the thrust, & is therefore done in a shorter time than is the thrust. Therefore in respect of time, whereupon stands the perfection of fight, the blow is much better than the thrust. Again, the force of the thrust passes straight, therefore any cross being indirectly made, the force of a child may put it by. But the force of the blow passes indirectly, therefore must be directly warded in the countercheck of his force, which cannot be done but by the convenient strength of a man, & with true cross in true time, or else will not safely defend him, and is therefor much better, & more dangerous than the thrust. And again, the thrust being made through the hand, arm, or leg, or in many places of the body and face, are not deadly, neither are they maims, or loss of limbs or life, neither is he much hindered for the time in his fight, as long as the blood is hot...