Silver’s dagger tutorial

for beginners

by

Carlo Parisi

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Geroge Silver on the dagger fight,

from “Brief instructions upon my paradoxes of defence”

Of the single dagger fight against the like weapon

Cap. 15.

1. First know that to this weapon there belongs no wards or grips but against such a one as is foolhardy & will suffer

himself to have a full stab in the face or body or hazard the giving of another, then against him you may use your
left hand in throwing him aside or strike up his heels after you have stabbed him.

2. In this dagger fight, you must use continual motion so shall he not be able to put you to the close or grip, because

your continual motion disappoints him of his true place, & the more fierce he is in running in, the sooner he gains
you the place, whereby he is wounded, & you not anything the rather endangered.

3. The manner of handling your continual motion is this, keep out of distance & strike or thrust at his hand, arm,

face or body, that shall press upon you, & if he defends blow or thrust with his dagger make your blow or thrust
at his hand.

4. If he comes in with his left leg forewards or with the right, do you strike at that part as soon as it shall be within

reach, remembering that you use continual motion in your progression & regression according to your twofold
governors.

5. Although the dagger fight is thought a very dangerous fight by reason of the shortness & singleness thereof, yet the

fight thereof being handled as is aforesaid, is as safe & as defensive as the fight of any other weapon, this ends my
brief instructions.

transcription by Steve Hick

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A Few notes

Since daggers are so short, the option of defending with parry and reposte in a dagger fight is not to be considered

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,

hence the only way to defend oneself positively is to use distance. Distance is first attained by staying far from the
opponent, and kept by avoiding rushing into the opponent and preventing him from rushing into you. In order to
fight using distance as a defense, you will strike at the limb which is closer to you at the moment your opponent comes
close, you get the part of his body your opponent gets into your striking distance first with. In the second drawing
there is a red line showing the striking distance of the defender, a hand is brought by the attacker into it, so that hand
is hit by the defender, the principle is the same in the other cases where other limbs are hit. The defender must regain
distance immediatley

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after the attacker has closed in and the first blow has been delivered, the simplest way is to step

back, but traversing can be used as well. Traverses are sidesteps performed as follows:

Traverse right

Traverse left

When you’re standing with the left foot forward, the above schemes are to be adapted to the “mirrored” stance. Now,
moving circularly gives you the undeniable advantage of being much less predictable in your movements then if you
just went back and forth.

Another defense that can be used at the beginning of the defensive action, before counterattacking and before
regaining distance, is the slip. The slip is a manouver consisting in simply taking a limb out of the path of a strike,
usually it is used to save

the arm

or the leg

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First know that to this weapon there belongs no wards

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Remembering that you use continual motion in your progression & regression

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Should you seek to grapple your opponent?

No, as the first part of Silver’s instruction says, and as it is shown in the first drawing, seeking to grapple brings you at
a range in which your opponent can give you a full stab. You may stab him as he tries to take the hold of you and then
use your free hand to throw him to the ground. Wrestling with daggers can result in both parties gettintg stabbed
repeatedly

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.

What guard shall you use?

Since your main defense is distance, your stance must not be terribly important, as long as you don’t put any limb into
striking range. Silver does not say which guards to use, anyway some of his sword guards can be used with confort,
adapting them to the shorter weapon and remembering, once again, that it’s distance, not the stance that saves you:

Stoccata

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Passata

Montata

What blows can one use?

Silver’s very brief notes on the dagger are silent on the matter of the spe-
cific blows to use. He talks about stabs, thrusts, strikes and blows, which
can be thought of as simply thrusts and slashes. While, in general, a dag-
ger stab from a forehand grip can be like the one depicted on the right.

Another form of point strike can be used which, in my opinion, fits in this method very well due to its speed:

As to cuts, while certainly slashes apply here, draw cuts can be used as well , draw cuts are performed by bringing the
edge in contact with the target and drawing the blade back as in:

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This is clearly exemplified by Alfred Hutton, in some duel accounts he gives in “The Sword and the Centuries”

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Stoccata resembles Marozzo’s coda lunga et stretta, which is used by the said master for fighting with the dagger.