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Cateran Society Broadsword Prizefight 4

104 views · Published 30 September 2015 · 11:02 · Indexed 4 October 2026

Channel: gilbride100 · 2015 · Sports

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In the eighteenth century, expert broadsword and backsword fighters could make a living through their art by fighting each other on stage in front of paying audiences. The fighters who made their living this way were known as prizefighters, stage gladiators or sword players. 

These “prizefights” typically involved the use of several weapons in succession. For example, the bout between Timothy Buck and James Miller included the backsword, falchion, sword and dagger, case of falchions, sword and buckler and quarterstaff. The prizefight between McBane and O'Bryan also involved several weapons and was eventually decided by the falchion. 

The prize money generally went to whichever fencer gave the most bleeding wounds. Over time, more and more of these battles were fought with fists, until the prizefight of the stage gladiators became the prizefight of modern boxing. 

In this series of bouts, Cateran Society broadsword fencers recreate the broadsword prizefight under the following rules:

1- Five bouts per prizefight, the first bout always to be single broadsword and the remaining bouts to be fought with any other weapon or combination. 

2- All bouts to be fought according to the Cateran Society's 4-point ruleset: limb strikes are worth one point, torso strikes are two, head strikes are three, and grappling commands are four. No fencer can score more than four points in a bout. Doubles count against both parties and afterblows are counted as doubles. If a double brings both fencers to four points, the higher-scoring strike decides the bout. If a double causes a true tie under these rules, the bout must be fought again.

3- The prizefight is decided by the best 3 out of 5 bouts. If one fencer wins the first 3 bouts, it is preferable to still fight the remaining 2, but if the other fencer declines then the first fencer wins those bouts by default for a final score of 5 bouts to 0. 

All Cateran Society members are encouraged to study these bouts closely and also to fight bouts of this type when ready.

Note: all weapons other than the broadsword and the targe are used according to the Cateran Society's “MacGregor Method,” a system for using all cold weapons according to broadsword principles. This may or may not look similar to the way other systems would use the same weapon.

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