Irish in French service

Possible Irish Kern in French service

Here is a really interesting piece from Ian Heath whose work on the martial history of Ireland is well worth a look at:

Bold is mine and great thanks to Stephen Curtin for doing the digging!

Monstrelet describes Irish foot-soldiers at Rouen in 1418 as 'having only a stocking and shoe on one leg and foot, with the other quite naked, having no trousers. They had targets, short javelins and large knives of a strange sort (Irish Sgian were quite distinctiveNM).' Froissart too records the wearing of trousers as uncommon, but it is worth bearing in mind that they had been commonplace during the Anglo-Norman era and were again in Elizabethan times (not in 16th Century images I have seen NM) , when they are depicted as tight-fitting with a strap under the instep just as they are described in sources several centuries earlier. The business of only wearing one shoe at first seems rather improbable, but we have already seen another instance of this custom in figure 24; in fact having the right foot bare for better purchase on slippery ground had been a relatively common practice amongst many peoples since ancient times (Makes no sense but is referenced and depicted elsewhere NM) The baggy sleeves of the probably saffron-dyed leine worn here were copied from contemporary English civilian dress; a mantle would be worn over this in cold weather, or alternatively a long-sleeved jacket of which the sleeves could be unbuttoned on the outside to allow the leine's baggy sleeves to fall through. Hair was worn long, with a beard or at least a flowing moustache, which was so characteristic that in 1447 it was enacted that 'all who would be taken for English' must shave both lips.

Coming to the arms described by Monstrelet, the knife is a wooden-handled skene, described by Froissart as a pointed, broad-bladed, 2-edged weapon used to cut throats. The javelins or darts he mentions were capable of piercing haubergeons and plates according to one account (very, very unlikely); 3 were normally carried. Curiously, however, one of the most popular Irish weapons of both the preceding and subsequent periods does not occur in any of the principal accounts of the Hundred Years' War era, this being the axe. However, that it did remain in widespread use we know from frequent 14th century references to axes in Scotland being 'Irish' axes.

Shields are apparently not depicted in any Irish source of this era, that shown here being based on 16th century descriptions. They were principally round or oval and convex, and were made of wood or, among the Northern Irish, of basketwork (I've not seen this referenced, it is possible but would be quite a bit less useful). The shields of chieftains were clearly more ornate - a poem of c. 1300 describes one as white with dragons and golden branches painted on it, while a source of 1419 refers to an 'emerald-tinted shield with flowery designs' decorated with variegated pale gold bosses, bronze studs and 'twisted stout chains of old silver'.

One other weapon in limited use among the Irish was the bow. This is described by Juan de Perelhos, a Catalan knight who visited Ireland in 1397, as being 'as short as half a bow of England; but they shoot as far as the English ones.' In the 1360s we even find a certain Donald Gall ("gall" means foreigner, was he Scots? NM) being paid to lead 208 Irish archers in English service. Handguns were later introduced too, but not until the late-15th century, one source recording how in 1489 'a great rarity was sent to the Earl of Kildare, namely 6 handguns out of Germany', these being subsequently used by his bodyguard.

(Ian Heath Armies of the Middle Ages 1982)

Calories and Elizabethan armies

 At the famine village in Doagh, Donegal we were shown the 6.8 kilos of potatoes the average Irish man was eating before the famine.

Icelandic traditional foods

This was by no means a chosen diet but was more the result of British colonial misrule. The potatoes alone resulted in a whopping 5916 calories and provided a fairly robust diet though with major deficiencies, notably in fat 10% and a slew of vitamins B12, A, D etc. Additions of fish, dairy products and some meat (there was quite a bit of wild food eaten in Doagh) would have rounded out the diet make it livable but the average calorie intake must have been higher still. Dr William Short came up with a 10,000 calorie a day figure for his Assessment of Icelandic diets The Icelanders in the 10th century were very healthy by contemporary standards and Icelanders remain some of the healthiest people in the world today. Archaeology shows that 10th century Icelanders did not suffer from nutritional deficiencies. While the RDA of many nutrients and vitamins is based on the minimum to avoid deficiency ,eating the RDA of protein causes muscle loss for example, and doesn't take account of different dietary compositions (the absence of grain/starches greatly reduces the need for vitamins C) intakes at this level meet and exceed the RDA for every nutrient the body requires. Most calculators don't account for the anti-nutrient effect of some foodstuffs particularly whole grain foods but it is clear that according to modern nutritional science Icelandic and Irish farmers could eat a healthy nutritious diet, though they were working at levels which would seem extremely strenuous today. Scaling back this diet to meet modern calorie requirements of just over 2000 calories a day might not result in nutrient demands being met, especially given modern soil depletion and our generally indoor lives.
 This lengthy preamble was a way of getting to some 16th century ration lists I found for English armies sent to fight in Ireland. Ireland was considered a very hard duty and had very low survival rates, sort of a mix of Vietnam and the Eastern front but with far more rain.We should assume that the diet was enough to sustain the men though was probably just enough to do that, armies are not known for overfeeding men, 16th century armies also suffered from serious supply difficulties and dishonesty at every level. The following should be seen as an "ideal" ration, it ran for a long time and was repeated so was probably satisfactory. Also note the absence of alcohol which suggests a complete picture isn't being given as alcohol was drunk in large quantities throughout this period. 
Per day men were issued 1.5 lbs of bread or 1lb of biscuit, butter at 1/2 lb for two days and 1/4lb for two more, supplemented by porridge one day and pease the next. Cheese on two days at 1lb 2lb of salt meat one day a week or fresh meat at 2.5 lb or pork or bacon at 1lb.

 Ten and a half pounds of wholemeal (presumably) bread gives 12624 calories 1.5 lbs of butter gives 4878 calories two pounds of cheese 3171 (surprisingly low!) one pound of salt pork gives 3248 whilst a pound of bacon gives 2454. Another source gives a meat ration of 1.5 lbs per day per man assuming salt pork as a generic and not terribly expensive ration meat gives 4872 calories per day or 34104 per week . A quarter pound of porridge (oats) gives 70 calories and sadly my calorie and nutrition counter doesn't "do" pease so we'll double up the porridge to 140 calories per week. With meat one day a week we have a weekly total of 26525 calories for a low 3787 calories per day. With meat (salt pork) every day gives 54917 per week or 7845 per day closer to levels for Irish farmers in the 19th century. Modern British army rations contain about 4000 calories while the (in)famous K-ration provided less at about 3000 calories. K-rations resulted in malnutrition in troops who relied on them for the bulk of their nutrition and modern military rations are not intended for long term use. So it would seem that the additional meat ration would be required to keep a 16th century army on the move and in reasonable health. With the quantity of grain a salt meat ration would potentially result in scurvy, fresh meat or local vegetables would prevent this.  Given that this food ration weighs in at 15.5 lb per day, with a large army of 3000 men it would take over 23 tons of food A DAY to keep them fed to this level.Even a less exceptional and smaller army of 1483 men such as that which faced Shane O'Neill in 1569 would require over 11 tons of food a day. This figure though minus Kern does not account for the quantities of powder and other materials of war, let alone fodder for horses.While figures lower than this would be both likely and possibly sustainable on the short term much lower figures would seriously affect the army's ability to function. The Minnesota Starvation experiment had a starvation ration of 1500 or so calories a day which resulted in major adverse effects in the subject's performance and even mental health.

Irish cooking without pots

 Figures like this make us realise just how effective scorched earth policies were, or how effective pastoralists such as the Irish/highlanders moving their herds was at limiting the effectiveness of  conventional armies. While English armies carried as much food as possible "on the hoof" the large baggage trains of Elizabethan armies must have seriously hampered their ability to pursue war in Ireland. While it is tempting to believe (as contemporary writers did) that Irish and redshanks were more nimble and physically capable than their lowland or English neighbours a great deal of their manoeuvrability must have come from the lack of supply trains in Gaelic armies. Kern were famously good at raiding and obtained much of their food "off the land" on campaign, an ability put to good use by Henry VIII in France. While operating in their own, friendly or at least not-hostile lands Irish armies could obtain much food locally.
 We must not be too quick to dismiss the cross-country abilities of Gaelic armies, the English could not bring Irish armies to battle and looking at maps or historical reports immediately impresses upon one the shocking speed and manoeuvrability of Gaelic forces. Montroses' famous move to Inverlochy over avalanching mountains being a great example of a feat it being almost impossible to imagine a conventional army performing, feats repeated on an almost weekly basis by the army taken into England by Prince Charles in 1745 during a harsh 18th century winter.
 Succesful Irish viceroys did not commit to the field without specific objectives but with control of the seas and later in Scotland Wade's roads some measure of control was obtained through forts positioned at strategic locations Derry, Inverlochy etc. Burt states clearly that forests and woods were cleared from roadsides to prevent ambush in Scotland a tactic that pre-empts American defoliation programs in Vietnam. Yet even with garrisoned forts it appears that direct control over large areas of Ireland or the highlands was considered impossible and indeed attempts to supply Inverlochy by land were stopped due to the risks involved.
 

Archery in the Scottish Highlands

  "they drink bloud out of the wounds of men slaine: they establish leagues among themselves by drinking one anothers bloud and suppose, that the greater numbers of slaughter they commit, the more honour they winne: and so did the Scythians in old time. To this we may adde, that these [wild] Scots like as the Scythians, had for their principall weapons, bowes and arrows." (Camden)

Scythians

 We have looked at the forms and context of Gaelic archery in this post. Now I want to address some of the ways in which the bow was used North of the highland line. For this I am using contemporary or near contemporary sources, Froissart,Boece Martin Martin, the Dewar Manuscripts etc.
 Earlier medieval sources rarely dealt with the highlands, an area considered too dangerous for travel. The highlands remained an area of speculation, myth and rumour. However some of what was related in these earlier texts is corroborated by other evidence and sometimes the accounts can be verified through their own merit, often (and most amusingly) when the information is discordant with the politics of the time. Examples would be cooking techniques which are referenced in Boece and in the Dewar manuscripts or the rather odd description of highlanders serving as guards to a particularly Gael-unfriendly  King of Scotland.
 Early texts frequently talk of highlanders living by the hunt which probably reflects lowland ignorance more than mundane agricultural reality. Hunting was a part of the highland economy both as a leisure pursuit of the Clan nobility and as a subsistence activity by ordinary clans people. Hunting licences were issued by MacLeod's forester and poaching is also attested to. The wolf was also hunted up to its extinction, probably in the mid 1740s.
 Leslie talked of highlanders being able to hit a "deer in his speede" and the famous woodcut of highlanders hunting has them drawing up on fleeing stags.Spears and dogs were also probably used for boars and dogs were probably used for deer hunting either for bringing an animal to bay or for tracking. Dogs are still used for both these practises today. Poaching may well have looked a bit more like modern bow hunting but the ethical paradigm of the past would possibly mean that hunting was more visceral and drawn out than we would be comfortable with, or indeed it needed to be. Pre-christian warrior bands in Ireland were supposed to live entirely from the hunt a practise we might well expect to see in Scotland given their cultural closeness.Modern traditional bow hunters using recurved bows without sights have success rates of about 1/20 compared to 1/3 for rifle hunters. While they are "hampered" by modern restrictions, seasons etc this still reflects the Gaelic idiom that "the chase is a poor livelihood".

Primitive bow kill in North America

Indeed the bow would seem an obvious choice for the hunt, not so in the dark ages where the Pictish stones show the bow in use for war and the crossbow for the hunt, as was the case later in other European countries. Quarry could also be driven into pens and killed with bows or even swords. In addition highlanders seem to have been more than capable of running deer down in  persistence hunts (a practise very unlikely to work with wolves). 
 On the Islands whales could be driven ashore in efforts that involved whole communities, the whales were killed with the bow or with other weapons such as swords. The meat was preserved with seaweed ash and subsistence whaling was quite an important source of food for poorer islanders.

Modern whale hunt in Faroe

 In addition to providing families with meat or seeing off predators bows were also used for fighting, and naturally it is in this use that a far more reliable and lively record has been kept. At Auldearn in 1645 the Covenanters were "shot onto" target by archers brought to the battle by Lord Seaforth. While highlanders are frequently discussed as carrying bows it has proven hard to find sources relating how they were organised in pitched battle. Certainly at Auldearn as part of a mainstream(ish) army they were used to provide covering "fire" for advancing troops.Though described as archers when working as mercenaries highland units seem to have operated as discrete wholes, archers being an element in a mix of "darts, guns, bows and gallowglass axes" with main forces being longswords and targeteers (in the 16th century at least). At the battle of curlew pass in 1599 the Irish used bows and other missiles to pepper English troops negotiating prepared ambush positions. The Irish were not particularly keen on archery and the archers here may have been Highlanders or re-organised Irish troops. The English noted that Irish rarely used bows unlike Scots.
 There was presumably some way of organising clan armies so that archers could make effective use of their weapons before re-organising in their traditional way (with ranks being ordered along social lines). Bows though not often found in the hands of chieftains appear to have been fairly evenly distributed through the society, it would make sense to use the bow in an organised way shooting controlled volleys at an enemy for maximum psychological impact. Moreover while bows were used by Nordic and English armies of the early medieval period. no specific missile troops were named so it may well be that warriors brought bows along to be used in specific circumstances.

Modern "Viking" archer

"Nor might any one of them injure the other
Except where from arrow's flight one had his death.
The flood went out - the pirates stood ready.
Full many of the Vikings, eager for battle." (Battle of Maldon 991)
 At the battle of Glen Fruin in 1603 MacGregor archers were held in reserve;
"The story continues that the MacGregors ran the three and a half miles back to Allt a’ chlèith where they passed out of the Laird of Luss’s lands. The stream, we are told, was full of holes and deep pools.
Only at a few points was it easily forded and on the north side was a small embankment. Here the MacGregors made their stand. Soon the Colquhouns, packed together and knee deep in the stream, were taking casualties but having little effect on Clan Gregor.
At this point the MacGregor bowmen left in reserve and stationed behind a craig next to the ford began to shoot down on the Colquhouns. They killed a number of them, including Lindsay of Bonhill and the sons of the laird of Camstradden.
At this the Colquhouns began their flight back down the road. The MacGregors followed, keeping to the higher ground. A stand was made at an unidentified site called Toman an Fhòlaich, where more of the Colquhouns were killed.......Sir Humphrey’s remaining men still outnumbered the MacGregors. There is a large level field at Auchengaich, where Sir Humphrey set his men in battle formation, supported by horsemen.........This stage of the fight lasted only three minutes, whereupon, the Colquhouns took to panicked flight down both sides of Glen Fruin. Near the lower end of the glen the MacGregors attacked an armed band of the freemen of Dumbarton, killing some of them.
The second MacGregor casualty, and the last man killed that day, was shot by an arrow shot by a Colquhoun that he had pursued to a place called Eas Fhionnglais, or Finlas waterfall."
 Well sited  MacDonald Bowmen were used en masse at the battle of Inverlochy in 1431 a force of 220 archers was led by Alasdiar Carrach. He maneuvered his force past the lacklustre security of The Earl of Mar's camp then sited his troops on a hill and waited for further MacDonalds to arrive. The MacDonalds were mounting a rather chaotic defence of Lochaber after the imprisonment of their chief by James I. Donald Balloch arrived with a second force of MacDonalds and engaged Mar. Carrach's archers charged off the hill and "shot their arrows so thick on the flank of the Earl's army that they were forced to give ground". The MacDonald's claimed 27 casualties to 990 and the Earl of Mar himself got an arrow in the thigh. The battle is of special interest as Alasdair Carrach arrived with "archers" not "caterans","men" or followers".
 At Blar-na-Leine or the battle of the shirts in 1544 armies of the Camerons and MacDonalds fought an affiliation headed by Lord Lovat. The battle started with both sides exchanging arrows for sometime until they exhausted their stocks and charged. The Cameron archers charged recovering spent arrows which they used at point-blank ranges.
 In 1625 the giant MacMhicEoin raised the visor of his helmet contemptuously while advancing on an inferior enemy and was shot in the face for his pains, receiving a mortal wound.
 The latest I can place bows in the hands of a highland army is in the stand off at the ford of Arkaig in 1665 where Ewan Cameron's biographer lists the army as; " 900 men armed with guns, broadswords and targes, and an additional 300 with bows in place of guns." Bows in place of guns not in place of swords!" I have read that bows were used at the final clan battle at Mulroy in 1688 but have been unable to find evidence to support this, it is certainly possible. Cameron tradition places a bow in the hands of a Government highlander at KillieKrankie in 1689.
 Bows feature in many of the Nordic sagas and were used extensively by vikings especially in sea battles. Like the later famed English bowman "archers" were warriors who used bows rather than technically limited troops. It may well be that highland archers followed this pattern rather than being troops who only used bows unlike the slingers of the ancient world who only engaged in slinging.
 However pitched battles were not all that common in the Gaelic world, far more common was the raid or ,as in Ireland, the running battle and ambush. Fighting seems to have been a chaotic and bewildering (to modern minds) mix of extreme brutality and incredible displays of compassion with a liberal sprinkling of often insane-seeming heroics. The smouldering fire of tribal warfare was fanned to a furious blaze by the well-intentioned (a generous reading)  meddling by the Scottish Crown and the age of the creach or raid meant that feud and conflict were intensified in a bitter cycle of bloodshed.
 The folklore and surviving stories from that time feature much archery, often in  a similar vein to the use of the bow in the Icelandic Sagas. Gunnar's famous defence of his home in Njal's saga has a nice parallel with a story about Little John MacAndrew;
 Iain Beg, or little John was a small (puny) man who was a fierce shot. He accompanied a party pursuing some caterans of Keppoch who had lifted some cattle. Catching the caterans in a hut Little John placed himself by the entrance with his arrows at his feet. As the caterans rushed out  Little John shot them all save one known as the "black lad" who cut his way out of the back of the hut.. The headman praised MacAndrew's archery in hearing of the black lad using his name, Little John now knew he would not know peace as his name was known to his enemies.
 The Laird of Achluauchrach  who lived in Keppoch went searching for Little John, offering rewards for informants, he met Little John but not knowing of his stature considered him a herd boy. Little John offered to take him to Little John's bed for a reward deep in the woods John revealed his ruse "There is the bed of little John now and take a look at it..." Achluachrach went forward to examine it before John cried "deliver your soul to God" and shot him. A while later a band of vengeful Keppoch men came came looking for Little John. Little John was in his house one night cutting withies he was dressed in his shirt which was apparently a common custom, especially indoors. This led the Keppoch men to assume that he was a herd boy, Little John's canny wife ordered the "herd boy" to fetch his master and sent him off with a bannock. MacAndrew left while his wife passed his bow and arrows out to him through a window, setting up to shoot he cried out "whoever wants Little John MacAndrew let him come out here he will find him". The Keppoch men rushed out whereupon Little John shot them as they exited.
 "Mischevous" Duncan MacFarlane also used guile to outwit a marauding band of caterans, this time  from Athol, Duncan had a group of "big boys from the mill" unemployed, enthusiastic youngsters but fairly poorly equipped. The boys and MacFarlane dressed some tree stumps (higher in those axe-using days) and managed to trick the Athol men into discharging their arrows at these stumps in the poor light just past the gloaming. Interestingly the text reads that the Athol men were trying to "drive them back from the ford" indicating that there is a possibility that bows could be used to deny or clear ground before the hand to hand fighting started. The Boys from the mill were then able to return these arrows and engage in a "fire fight" at no expense to their own meagre stocks.This was a common enough idea in the highlands and indeed was done by English armies too (notably at Towton 1461)and is probably a very old idea.
 This kept the Athol men in the woods where mischievous Duncan burnt them all in a hunting booth (as well as miles of woodland). Sixty swords axe heads and a creel full of arrow heads were found in the ashes, this was some raiding party!

Lochiel

 After all that trickery let's have some heroics; in 1654 Ewan Cameron of Lochiel decided to "take a bite" (literally true as things turned out) out of the Cromwellian soldiers every time they emerged from their fort at Inverlochy. 32 Camerons led by their chief ambushed and charged a much larger force of Government soldiers at Achdalieu in what was described as a "stiff fight". One Cameron shot an English soldier but it did not pierce deeply enough to kill ("not withstanding that they are shot forth weakly" spencer) Lochiel called out that the shot "came from a weak arm". The clansman took the words to heart and rushed forward grabbing the soldier and forcing the rest of the shaft in up to the fletchings. Naturally impressed Lochiel ordered men forward to save the archer who had rather exposed himself.
 Big Archie MacPhail was an almost exemplary cateran big, brave, strong and an expert swordsman. Though foolish and rash the men of Glencoe would rarely go raiding without him. During the wedding of Menzies of Appin and a daughter of Breadalbane the Glencoe and Keppoch MacDonalds decided to take advantage of the celebrations to make a great prey of Breadalbane, Archie MacPhail was with them. The Campbells of Breadalbane not too affected by the "whisky in their heads" were soon off after them and at Stronachlachain the MacDonalds made their stand. MacPhail moved by the great odds against them prayed to god in a speech worthy of a Conan film "God of the elements (!)...I did not propose to Thee so much in all my life but once before.....if Thou wilt not be with us, be not against us, but let it be between ourselves and the carls". He rose seized his bow and aimed at the pursuers. There was a great slaughter of the Breadalbane men and MacPhail chased the Menzies bridegroom who tried to escape over a river, MacPhail shot him in the groin.
 James MacFarlane smoked out the Laird of Luss from his fortified house in a jealous struggle over MacFarlane's wife. Green branches were burnt to produce great quantities of smoke, as the Laird of Luss, until then safe in his house moved to a window to escape the fumes he was shot dead by a MacFarlane archer. That James Macfarlane served his wife Luss's genitals shows us what kind of husband he was!
 A man named MacAuley ambushed his son hiding on the path he knew he must take. He shot him from ambush and inflicted a deadly wound upon him.Naturally the community were very angry at this behaviour and sent a man named Big Malcolm MacIlvain , the best fighter in the area to get him. MacIlvain was not too interested in catching MacAuley feeling that hiding in the hills and killing his own son was punishment enough (MacAley found out he had been mistaken through his son's last words).MacAuley,who seems to have had an interesting ability for not thinking things through, thought that by shooting MacIlvain he would be so feared as to be left alone.
 Waiting in a wood Macauley ambushed  MacIlvain as he was coming home with a goat on his back, brilliantly MacAuley hit the goat (we've all been there) MacIlvain cried aloud "you shoot from over there/you cause damage here/If I go o'er from here/ I will cause damage there." MacAuley realised from this that MacIlvain was not interested in seizing him and slunk off in shame  MacIlvain was later again almost killed by arrows...years later he was overtaken by pursuers in a bog, stuck up to his hips he broke his sword while defending himself. he decided to yield "here is my sword I know that I must yield at all events" the commander stepping forward to take his sword was ,of course struck with the broken bit and killed. The men decided to shoot him from safety, somehow MacIlvain survived and made a decent break for freedom before being wounded and realising he must yield.
 While much of this is is by necessity drawn from folktales it does relate how highlanders themselves used bows or at least thought they did. Information that would satisfy a modern historian is pretty thin so as is often the case we have to rely on folktales or as I would prefer to call it "folk history" and a certain amount of conjecture based on historical documentary sources. However it is apparent that we can get a very lively and interesting picture of the Highlanders' use of the bow from the sources available to us. What is interesting is that while even heroic(ish) figures such as Archie MacPhail used the bow, the bow is often used as a ruse of war or in straight out dishonest ways, though to be fair ambush and deception was commonplace and swords (as above) were just as likely to be used. Interestingly MacMhicEoin after having been felled by an archer attempted to skewer the Cameron chief after having asked for his sword to be returned.
  From the histories we can see that archers were used in tactically competent ways and sometimes to great effect. Some credence is lent to the idea of commoners armed with bows, yet the remaining musters don't support this view what is clear is that archers could be and often were assembled into units in at least some clan battles, it is also clear that they continued shooting even when the opposing sides had joined in hand to hand combat and indeed continued to carry and use their bows at very close ranges.

  (sources on request, please don't use orginal material here without consent or at  least acknowledgement).

Long Distance running among the Highlanders

 I have just finished the extraordinary "Terra Incognita" by Martin Rackwitz. A truly superb resource which deals with travellers accounts of Scotland and particulalrly the highlands through the medieval and early modern periods. The level of research is very high and the work has provided a much richer picture of the highlands through this period, and given much context to the works I was already familiar with.
 I had not known that cancer became quite common in the later period (18th-19th century) thanks in large part to the Highlanders' love of tobacco, this is interesting in light of the fact that some other "primitive societies" can have high levels of smoking and non-existent cancer rates. I suspect we could find a hypothesis for this in the phytic acids of oats vitamin D and insulin. Frankly causes and rates of cancer appear to be pretty much a mystery but it does suggest that lots of oatmeal, fish and exercise is not so protective of cancer as many would have us believe. Highlanders used seabird oil as a cure.
 I was also surprised at the level of grain import to the highlands. The agriculture of the mountains does not appear to have been self sufficient. Beef exports were vast and the highlanders ate little themselves, the majority of beef was exported to England, a trade which increased through the 16-17th centuries. Cash generated by this trade was used to provide grain to see highlanders through the gaps of the year.It was presumably also used to procure wine, weapons, possibly linen and other items difficult to obtain or produce north of the highland line. Highlanders themselves focused more on herding and despite using every suitable piece of ground for grain agriculture do not appear to have spent too much effort on the practise.Visitors report that men had little to do with agriculture feeling it was beneath them, and that fields once sown were left alone to become choked with weeds.  That grain was a precious commodity used to ameliorate agricultural shortfalls in a marginal environment it is worth noting that a great deal must have been used for brewing and distilling.
 It is always of interest to me how much effort and time humans put into religion, alcohol and other non-essential activities. Maybe it is the post industrial enlightenment society I have grown up in but it is interesting that the spiritual and the recreational are more often the priority of humans indeed we could say that these "needs" will be met before many others we might meet first, not to mention that the inefficiencies of a parasitic landowner class and their hangers-on often passes without mention.

 In a previous post I have written about what is known of the physicality of historical highlanders in addition the throwing and leaping swimming etc we will have to add long distance running. Their speed in travel is well attested to and in the 1745 Jacobite rising Highland armies ran rings round the British armies sent to engage them.In the lowlands of Scotland were coaches were not at all common "footmen" were sent out with horses hired from inns and returned with them the following day. They kept up with the patrons at the jog over many miles and were a fairly common part of the lowland inn network."Here (Dundee) we took a footman along with us as a guide, it being the custom in these parts to travel upon hired horses, and they send a footman along with them to bring them back again.....they will undertake to run down the best horse you can buy in seven or eight days; they run by the horses side all the way, and travel thirty and forty miles a day with ease."(kirk 1677)
 In the highlands a British traveller called William Mildmay was provided an armed escort of five men by Lord Lovett. They travelled fully armed and in their plaids. They ran by the six horse coach the entire way from Fort Augustus to Crieff in three days. While the route may have changed somewhat it is unlikely to have been too dissimilar to the modern route which is 118 miles. This gives us about 39 miles a day or 3.9mph on a 10 hour day with no breaks. "any of our people would think this hard duty,& hardly be able to compass it, but these highlanders do it with great ease,& when they are dry don't want to swig down great draughts of ale or strong beer, but will take off their bonnets& dip up a little water at a spring and run on with great spirits. they are used to fare hard & great exercise" (Mildmay 1736). Mildmay further described the highlanders "They are Strong, well looking Handsome people....very nimble &can walk or run, faster & farther, than any people whatever, and being inured to hardship in their infancys, can live harder&bear more fatigue".
 Horses were of great importance to the traditional economy but were left to range freely being herded up when needed. Garron was a small tough animal more donkey sized " they are so small that a middle sized man must keep his legs in lines parallel to their sides when carried over stony ways (Burt). Horse were captured by being driven into bogs, driven up steep hills or chased over heath and rocks until the horses laid down for weariness and want of breath (Burt).

Running gear

As with the native American moccasin the highland  curran was a fairly light weight shoe with no support which would wear out quickly on paved surfaces though probably far more suited for long distance running than the military shoes of the time.I'm sure Mildmay would have mentioned if the highlanders ran barefoot but going barefoot was very common in the mountains and for women in the lowlands. Burt noted that highlanders avoided walking on modern roads. Though I am not especially a fan of the "born to run hypothesis"  long distance running in minimalist footwear has historical precedent at least in the Scottish highlands until very recent times.

Thomas Page and Authenticity

I ma currently writing a continually expaning piece on Gelic martial arts but thought I would bring together these two articles on Thomas Page. T.Page wrote a treatise on the backsword and the highlanders method of fighting in 1746.
 Bethan Jenkins wrote an interesting article on the treatises autheniticty here; from the invaluable Linacre School of Defence library. Ms Jenkins wrote; "I would also note that, though Loyalist armies protest themselves horrified by the devastation wrought by Highland swordsmen, swords were seriously in a minority of the weapons carried by the Jacobites." dear readers of this blog  know that the evidence suggests swords were far more common than is often thought.
 The rebuttal from Chris Thompson is very good but the link provided does not take us there anynore. Fear not for I have found it;
A Reply to "Contextualising Western Martial Arts" by Bethan Jenkins

By- Christopher Scott Thompson

There has been a lot of buzz lately on the Cateran Society list about the publication of a short paper by Bethan Jenkins, on the subject of Thomas Page's Use of the Broadsword from 1746. Ms. Jenkins' main point is certainly an important one: "martial artists also have a great deal to learn from an historical appreciation of manuals of fence - both from the body of the work, and from the peripheral material contained in the text".
I would like to state from the outset that although I do not agree with Ms. Jenkins' conclusions, neither her academic nor her martial credentials are in question. She has uncovered some fascinating details about the life of Thomas Page and the regiment he served in, and these details are very much to be welcomed. Her article raised some valid points, and they need to be considered carefully by anyone interested in the Highland broadsword manuals. However, there is additional information, which casts more light on the issue in question.
Ms. Jenkins is quite correct that the regiment to which Page belonged- the Norwich Artillery Company- was more of a private club than a genuine regiment. As I wrote to Paul Wagner in private correspondence several months ago: "This wasn’t a regular army regiment, but more of a home defense unit, formed only that year (1746) by Lord Hobart (to whom Page dedicates the book) to defend Norwich against a potential attack by invading Highland Jacobites... A Jacobite attack on Norwich was unlikely at this point anyway, because the Jacobite Army had already invaded England in 1745, getting as far as Derby before turning back. They were defeated in April 1746 at Culloden, only 3 months after the Norwich Artillery Company was founded, so possibly before the book was even printed. Page even refers to the Company as being “ornamental,” so perhaps it was more a case of “playing soldier” than seriously expecting that they would face an attack by Highlanders... Overall, it does not seem that this company was taken terribly seriously by anyone involved."
She also seems to have established that Page was not a professional fencing teacher, and that he sold Highland broadswords at his shop. Does this really imply, however, that he was not knowledgeable about his topic? I see no reason why it should.
Ms. Jenkins goes on to say: "In Page's book we see an example of the fear, which became the Romantic myth that the Jacobites were all Highlanders from a quasi-medæval society, all sword-wielding and kilt-wearing savages (noble or otherwise)." The Highlanders, according to this article, are portrayed as savages and troglodytes, a mysterious and threatening Other. She is definitely correct that this was a widespread image of the Highlanders in this time period. The only problem with this is that Page says nothing negative whatsoever about the Highlanders and even praises their skill and their merciful way of fighting single combats. He does indeed include a rather fanciful history of the broadsword with "Orientalizing" elements.
Ms. Jenkins mentions Page's footwork diagram, saying: "This latter section, as well as the diagram accompanying it, is found verbatim in Taylor's text at the end of the century[b]. This suggests two things - either straight plagiarism by Taylor (not at all uncommon at the time); or, Page's text itself is a plagiarism of a general swordsmanship manual. The tripartite structure lends itself to this interpretation, as the introduction and the "Highland techniques" added to the end read as discrete parts, and so could indeed be a body text with extras tacked on."
Taylor actually includes a number of techniques derived from Page, including the section on slips, and even goes so far as to include a long quote taken directly from Page in the section on "The Cut at the Advanced Leg or Thigh," describing him as "an able writer on this science." This implies that the footwork diagram found in Taylor is in fact a plagiarism from Page, and not from a hypothetical third document.
She also states: "This mainly involves fencing with the point of the sword forward - this is all well and good for fighting with a smallsword, which is an edgeless thrusting weapon, but of little use with Broadswords, as it does not provide a secure true cross in the parry, and wide-spaces the defender." Having fenced with point-forward broadsword guards for almost nine years now, I can state that parries with a true cross can in fact be made from these guards.
She also analyzes some of the specific techniques in Page's manual, comparing them both to other British broadsword manuals of the time and to the Penicuik sketches, a set of eyewitness illustrations of Highland warriors from the '45. Paul Wagner has already addressed this aspect on SFI, but to sum up briefly, a deep familiarity with Page actually reveals far more consistency with the Penicuik sketches than is generally assumed. Page's system is not nearly as similar to the English backsword manuals as it appears on reading it over. Only after practicing it for a good long time- in particular, Page's concept of Equilibrio and its ramifications- can one see exactly how unusual his method really is. As David Teague has stated, when the sword and targe techniques from Page are practiced according to his Wide/Narrow footwork method and his concept of Equilibrio, the result is something that looks rather like the Penicuik sketches indeed.
Is there any evidence this was actually a system used by the Highlanders? The answer, in my opinion, is yes. With apologies to anyone who already read the following passage on SFI, I would like to present the following facts:

1- Donald MacLeod (a famed Highland swordsman of the 18th century) was trained before 1700 on the Isle of Skye- i.e., in the clan system, not the Regimental system.
2- He was teaching broadsword in northern England between 1715 and 1725, and reviewing broadsword schools in England as late as the 1790s- thus, he was personally involved in the "Highland broasdsword" fad as it developed in England.
3- He was a founding member of the Black Watch. Specifically, he was a drill sergeant and broadsword instructor in the Black Watch. Early recruits were daoine-uaisle (members of the warrior elite), and thus already trained swordsmen, but after a certain point lower-ranking clansmen started to be recruited, and it was MacLeod's duty to teach them broadsword.
4- The only record we have of the Black Watch broadsword practice is Anti-Pugilism by Captain Sinclair, which was published within MacLeod's lifetime.
5- Anti-Pugilism has several key points in common with Page. The hanging and St George guards are identical with Page, and (if you look at the illustrations to Anti-pugilism) he uses the Equilibrio concept in a vestigial form- the hand is held in front of the body in the outside and hanging guards, and is thrown back behind the body when you cut; and it's held behind the body in the inside guard. This system is closely related to the one described by Page (although certainly modified for Regimental use).
(ed. Donald MacLeod could be generously described as unreliable)

There is, as Paul Wagner has pointed out, a thread of continuity between the various Highland broadsword texts, implying an ongoing tradition with certain features that are distinct from those found in the (otherwise closely related) English backsword manuals. Many of the unusual elements of Page still survive in some form in Highland broadsword manuals written fifty years later, such as the peculiar hanging guard with its close resemblance to Silver's Guardant Ward.
So, if Page actually did have some exposure to genuine Highland broadsword fencing, where and when could this have happened? Not knowing the details of his earlier life, it's hard to say. But the fact that one of the most illustrious swordsmen of the Highlands was actually drilling recruits in Newcastle in the 1720s, shows that it was by no means impossible that Page could have picked up such knowledge somewhere. Highlanders may have been perceived as frightening savages, but there were loyalist Highlanders (far more then rebels) (such as the Duke of Argyll) in the highest ranks of government and the military, and they sometimes kept retinues of Highland swordsmen around them. To give one example, the Norfolk Regiment (9th Regiment of Foot) was commanded from 1715-1717 by a celebrated Highland warrior and clan chieftain, Sir James Campbell of Lawers. He was a Lt General at the time. Norwich, of course, is in Norfolk, which isn't proof of anything but is certainly interesting. Lest it be assumed that such loyalist Highland chieftains would not have traveled with the traditional retinue of expert swordsmen, MacLeod's memoirs indicate that "Red John of the Battles," 2nd Duke of Argyll, "was an excellent swordsman himself, and kept a band of excellent swordsmen always about him." If we know that there were loyalist Highlanders like MacLeod and Campbell of Lawers, stationed at times in England and even training recruits in some cases, it does not seem far-fetched that Page could have had a chance to learn Highland broadsword.
To sum up, the "Highland" status of Page's manual cannot be proven outright with current evidence, but I think there is a fair amount of circumstantial evidence in favor of it. In any case, Ms. Jenkins is no doubt correct that much could be gained by paying more attention to the historical and social context of the manuals we study. 

Paul Wagners comments;
Although I can understand the sentiment, since at first glance Page doesn’t appear to be significantly different to any other British back/broadsword manual of the 17th, 18th or 19th century, my feeling is that Page does represent a genuine Highland tradition, particularly the biomechanics, which are central to the system.

One of the most interesting details of Pages’ system is his method of balance and power generation. It is clear from contemporary descriptions of Highlanders in battle that the Clansmen were delivering blows with considerably more power than was considered usual, and Lowland Scottish and English troops were always horrified by the damage done by the Highland broadswords. In comparison, the style of “Highland Broadsword” taught in the Highland Regiments was not really designed for cutting off limbs and cleaving heads, and Sinclair said clearly that “the motion of the sword is to proceed from the wrist only.”

Page's "equilibrio" provides us with a fundamental bio-mechanical Principle – in fact “Principle the First” - that explains how Highlanders may have utilised to generate substantially more power in their blows than was available in the normal manner. The use of the left arm in this manner would appear to be a fundamental use of biomechanics unique to the Page (or the Highlanders), and certainly not outlined by any other British manual.

A careful comparison between the techniques of Page and those later works claiming a "Highland" method reveals threads of similarity that are distinct for contemporary English texts. This suggests strongly that the art practiced by these Highland soldiers was part of a living lineage from traditional Highland methods.

The most obvious difference between the “Highland broadsword” manuals and earlier English backsword sources is that the English held their Guards high and extended, with stiff arms. Wylde described his Outside Guard as;

“Stand upon a true half Body, and extend your Sword-Hilt out at the Arms end stiff, without bowing the Elbow-joint, your Point leaning or sloping towards your left Shoulder, or your Opposer’s right Eye, lying as hollow as you can with your Body; then you may see your Opposer the inside of your Sword.”

Lonnergan noted that;
“our two sticks form two angles like unto a St. Andrews cross; therefore we must see each other’s faces through the lower angle, otherwise we cannot be well on Guard.”

The reason for holding the arm high and extended is to prevent a “cut within the Guard”, that is cutting to the outside of your opponent’s sword without disengaging and without opposition. However, despite the English preference for holding the arm extended with “your Sword-hilt out at the armes end”, the Highland masters carried the Outside and Inside Guards tucked into the body, with “your wrist on a level with your flank.” MacGregor explained;

“Many advise, always to keep a straight arm when engaged at back sword, which is a very bad advice indeed. The reason they assign for it is this; that if a man keeps his arm crooked, he is liable to be often hit in the elbow, on account of its being bent. But in this they err greatly; for, if a person always keeps his arm straight, it will soon become nervous, even although he had not a sword in his hand. Therefore I advise broad sword players to keep their sword arm bent, and perfectly easy, by which means they will be enabled to fence double the time they would do with it straight. But let them take care to straight their arm when a blow is aimed at them; this is the time to do it, but to do it always is exceedingly wrong.”

MacBane gave an equally practical reason, advising “keep your Guard low, for fear your adversary cuts you under your hilt.”

Another difference between those manuals of English and “Highland” tradition is in some Guard positions. The Medium Guard of the “Highland Officer” Sinclair is a relaxed position with the elbow bent and the point up at around a 45-degree angle, which also made a brief appearance in Hope’s The Scots Fencing Master (1689). This is quite distinct from the extended, point-threatening “Unicorne” used by Swetnam, Wylde and Godfrey. While the latter was used to keep the opponent at a distance, Sinclair’s “Medium Guard” is simply “between the inside and the outside,” and while having some offensive capability, it clearly had no real defensive value.

A second identifiable Guard that appears to have a Highland providence is Sinclair’s “Hanging Ward,” which is held on the Inside line guarding the left-hand-side, similar to the “True Guardant” ward described two centuries earlier by Silver. No other surviving fencing text since Silver shows this guard, all preferring an extended Outside or “Hanging Ward in Second,” which Silver had dismissed as “imperfect Guardant.” Even more remarkably, the “True Guardant” was not actually described in Silver’s only published work, Paradoxes of Defence. Sinclair’s Anti-Pugilism would appear to be the first British (and possibly the first European) fencing manual ever published to illustrate or clearly describe this guard, probably due to the retention of old clan techniques through a Highland singlestick tradition. It is also found in Macgregor, Angelo’s Hungarian and Highland Broadsword and Taylor.

Macgregor also mentions what he calls the Hanging Guard in Second, which he describes it as “another medium in the broad sword,” indicating that it closes neither the Inside nor Outside lines. Macgregor claims to be the inventor, saying it is “mentioned by none, so far as I know,” but the Guard is in fact the same one illustrated by McBane and used by Sir William Hope in the New Method.

The appearance of Hope’s Hanging Guard in “Highland” swordplay is particularly interesting. Hope devoted a surprising proportion of his early books instructing his students how to deal with broadsword-armed opponents, and warned them not to lunge, thrust or even “Stand not to an Ordinary Guard, for then he would Disable your Sword Arm.” As time went on, he developed an admiration for the back/broadsword, and declared “For without all doubt, the art of the back-sword, is the fountain and source of all true defence; and that of the small, only a branch proceeding and separat from it.” This opinion was formed under the influence of a “Professor of Both-Swords, in the City of Edinburgh” named William Machrie, who Hope considered one of the best fencing teachers to be found in Scotland. Hope’s entire New Method was derived from “the common hanging guard of the back-sword,” presumably as taught be Machrie. This Guard would thus seem to have a widespread Scottish, and possibly Highland, origin as certainly nothing like it is found in the English manuals.

One of the most distinctive elements of Page’s system is the use of both a conventional “Narrow” fencing stance, with the heels in line, and a square-on “Wide” stance. The traverse between these stances is used when circling around an opponent, and involves stepping from Wide to Narrow and back to Wide. More oddly, he states that since the Inside is only to be held on the Narrow stance, and the Outside on the Wide, every time you traverse between stances you must change Guards. As strange as this may sound, it would appear to be a key principle in the Highland method.

Taylor reproduces Page’s footwork scheme and uses the same traversing, with the difference that his does not stop at the Wide stance or change Guards; this is understandable as a modification necessary when utilising sabres. Mathewson, however, preserves the use of the Wide and Narrow stances with each change of Guard, though the foot is shifted a mere “three inches.” Both works also seem to have retained an echo of Page’s Equilibrio, holding the left arm extended behind and upwards “forming a semicircle, height of the forehead,” and swinging it down so as to place the “left hand on the left hip, thumb to the front” when adopting the Outside.

Of all the other sources, MacBane might be most expected to be influenced by the clans, being a native of the “Highland capital” of Inverness, and making occasional reference to his “Highland blood.” He was not a “Highlander” in the cultural sense of the word, but his manua was published in 1728, when native Highland swordplay was very much alive. He served for several years in a Scottish regiment at Fort William, and had experienced battle with Highlander first hand in a clan fight with the MacDonalds at Mulroy in 1688.

Taken in isolation, MacBane’s very brief instructions on the backsword, buckler and targe are insufficiently explained to say much of anything. However, with the help of Page it is obvious that McBane utilised the important elements of Highland swordplay. He advises to “keep your Guard low, for fear your adversary cuts you under your hilt” (unlike Godfrey and Wylde and Lonnergan). He also uses the traverses described by Page, talking about “Changing” Guards with “both hand and foot” when traversing, and noting that to “rise to your In-side Guard, bring up your right foot” to a Narrow stance, and “falling briskly back with your left foot” to change to the Outside Guard. He also echoes Page’s method of “Timing the Guard, warning “you must take great care your enemy does not cut you on your Change.

One element in McBane that is not obvious in Page, but appears to be distinctly Highland nonetheless, is to be found in MacBane’s use of his St. George of “Cross Guard.” From the St. George, MacBane instructs to “Slip foot and hand, and though to his head. Be very quick and guard your own head with St. George’s Guard…and return him the same”
The method of slipping back to charge the blow, throwing, and then recovering to the St. George is parallelled in Mathewson;

“The scholar at the inside guard will move his right leg back, behind the left, and form his hanging guard, step forward with his right foot a full three feet, and throw at his adversary's head; he will immediately recover with his right leg back, forming his hanging guard, and receive his adversary’s cut for his head…This is the most useful lesson in learning the Broad Sword, as it gives action to the body to move forward and backward as circumstances may require, and the leg being moved back in place of guarding with the sword, is allowed by the best fencers to be preferable.”

Likewise, McBane explains his throws from the St. George as “the first cut is to his head, 2d at his face, and 3d at his ribs,” noting that after each blow you should “come quick to your Guard and keep your Guard.” This is extremely similar to Angelo’s lessons, which typically throw from and recover to a close St. George Guard.

Then there are descriptions of Highland swordsmen. These generally give only a few hints of their technique. There are, however, detailed descriptions of how Highlanders dealt with pike-blocks and bayonet lines. There are many references to clansmen cutting off pikeheads with their swords before closing, and at Killiekrankie Donald Gorm, who commanded the MacDonalds of Glengarry, died with twelve pike-heads embedded in his targe, the poles having been severed by his broadsword. At Mulroy Hill MacBane reported;

“a highlandman attacked me with sword and targe, and cut my wooden handled bayonet out of the muzel of my gun; I then clubed my gun and gave him a stroke with it, which made the butt-end to fly off; Seeing the Highland-men to come fast upon me, I took to my heels and run thirty miles before I looked behind me.”

By the time of the 1745 Rebellion the thecnique was this:

“When within reach of the enemies’ bayonets, bending their left knee, they, by their attitude, cover their bodies with their targets, that receive the thrusts of the bayonets, which they contrive to parry, while, at the same time, they raise their sword arm and strike their adversary. Having once got within the bayonets, the fate of the battle is decided in an instant, and the carnage follows; the Highlanders bringing down two men at a time, one with their dirk in the left hand, and another with the sword”

"(They) stooped low below the charged bayonets, they tossed them upward by the target, dirking the front rank man with the left hand, while stabbing or hewing down the rear rank man with the right; thus, as usual in all Highland onsets, the whole body of soldiers was broken, trod underfoot, and dispersed in a moment”

The technique described above is extremely sophisticated and difficult to execute; approaching the bayonet line at a run, the swordsman must drop low with the left leg, deflect the front-ranked bayonet upwards with the targe, then pass forward, striking the second-rank soldier to the right with the broadsword while simultaneously dirking the front-ranked man in the chest. However, the technique of “stooping low” is recognisable from Page’s manual as “fighting below the Guard,” while the “tossing bayonets upward with the target” clearly described as part of Page’s broadsword and targe system where he instructs “with your Target, which will be then under his Hilt, throw up his Sword and Arm, that you may have a free Passage for your own Sword.”

In other stories give hints of technique can be gleaned from the exploits of famous Highland warriors. For example, in one tale from the Dewar Manuscripts (Thanks to Christ Thompson for these ones!) the Laird of Skipness and an Irish champion start their fray by “crossing swords,” suggesting an engagement in either the Outside or Inside Guard. In another tale from the same source a captured Jacobite soldier is forced to fight “an accomplished English fencer…as good as they thought was to be found in the English army.” If he won, he and his comrades would be freed, but “if the Englishman will kill the Highlander, every one of you here shall be put to death.” According to the story, “The Highlander closed up with the Englishmen then, and it was but a short time until he struck him with the sword and killed him.” This recalls the method outlines by Page, who says in single combat “The Highlander…runs up boldly to half Sword” to finish his opponent off as quickly as possible. More specifically, Page tells;

“He runs up boldly to half Sword, receives an Outside, and changing with his Adversary, drops his Blade below the Hilt on the inside, draws the Edge of his Sword cross his Adversary’s Wrest and springing backward saws it at the same Time.”

The recalls the tale of when Rob Roy was challenged by Ruari Dubh MacNeil of Barra. MacNeill was himself a proud swordsman, and challenged Rob to a duel simply to see if he was as good as his reputation. Rob at first refused, but eventually agreed to the duel, and in the first pass Rob cut MacNeill’s sword arm so deeply that he nearly severed it.

In another account of a famous Highlander, Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel is noted in a fight with an English soldier as having “tript the sword out of his hand.” This indicates the use of another series of techniques described by Mathewson in which;

“most likely the twist that you give will throw down the sword of your adversary, or if it should not be thrown from his hand it will give you an opening to throw in a cut, or that it may embarrass him and put him off his Guard”

The big issue is the difference between all this and the Penicuick Sketches, which, I am boldly predicting, will be the primary counter-argument for Page being genuinely representative of "Highland" technique in this article when it appears. Anyway, nearly all the figures are standing in Page’s widely-splayed “square Body” stance, with the “Legs crossing the Line of Defence at right Angles.” The majority are standing sword-foot-back, a stance not specifically addressed by Page, and generally the feet form the typical L-shape, with the rear foot roughly at right angles to the front foot.

The Guard positions depicted in the Sketches are varied and particularly revealing. Two figures are in Page’s only recommended Guard with the Targe, in which he says “advance to your Enemy with a Square Body, and always under an Outside Guard, with your Target advanc’d a little before your Sword, and in a direction levell with your Adversary’s Breast,” and four more are in the same Guard, simply held sword-foot-back instead.

Two figures are in a low Guard position Page records as held by a Highlander named Gorman, “Right Hand with the Hilt as low as he could reach towards the Knee, his Sword pointing towards the Ground and outwards,” though once again held sword-foot-back. Two are in a similar position on the Inside, ie “Underarm,” and another has adopted a low forward Hanging Guard similar to MacGregor & Hopes "medium" Hanging Guard.

One of the most interesting aspects of the Sketches come from a consideration of Page’s use of the left hand as a balance to the cutting action of the sword (maintaining “Equilibrio”).

Although Page (perhaps understandably) primarily maintains the targe in front of the sword and body as a protective device, the figures in the Penicuick Sketches certainly appear to be utilising the principle of “Equilibrio” and using the targe as something of a counter-balance to each other. In every single instance, the targe is held in a position either “Diametrically Opposite” to the sword, in such a position as to maintain the body’s balance. Given the weight of the Highland targe, this could well indicate an important and fundamental principle of targe use, at least in some circumstances.

The relevance of Page for understanding the Sketches is best illustrated in one instance where two clansmen are shown duelling with sword and shield in a very dramatic “action” shot. The left hand figure is shown with his shield edge-on by his side, with the sword in either an extended Hanging Guard or in the midst of launching a descending Prime thrust. The right-hand figure is lurching backwards and covering his head with his shield, with the sword swung (seemingly uselessly) low and to the right.

The position of the right hand figure’s sword can be easily explained as simply being “Diametrically Opposite” the shield, indicating that the sword and shield could be used to counterbalance each other; in this case the raising of the shield quickly was obviously of prime importance, and the dropping of the sword used assist the motion. However, it would seem to be an unlikely reaction to the left hand figure’s thrust if that were all that was happening. Page, however, provides a sequence that closely matches the illustrated scenario. According to Page, the right hand figure is “pitching to a Hanging” i.e. delivering a rising cut terminating in a Hanging Guard, which is intended to make the left hand Highlander “raise a Target to cover his Head.” This will then allow the right hand figure to “throw home an Inside at his Left Ribs underneath his Left Elbow,” a target which is indeed exposed in the illustrated example.

Really, the only major difference between Page and the illustrated depictions of Highland warriors is that Page uses an exclusively right foot forward stance, moving by stepping, traversing and lunging, whereas the majority of illustrated Highlanders are shown with the left foot back, indicating the use of medieval-style passing footwork. There are several possible explanations for this discrepancy between Page’s instructions and the iconography of the Penecuik Sketches and other sources.

Firstly, while the left-foot-forward Open Ward-like Guard so often depicted is not mentioned by Page, he does describe how raising the sword high, for example into a Hanging Guard, was sometimes “desgn’d only to give a Swing to your Arm.” This sequence of Page is reminiscent of Mathewson, and in fact effectively describes Swetnams “quarter” blow. This suggests the possibility that the illustrated positions with the sword foot back were merely used as transitionary positions, used “to give a Swing to your Arm” as you “compasses the blade about the head” and/or “Slip the Blow” by passing back, and not at static Guards.

The second possibility is suggested by Page’s note that “In the Field of Battle and in promiscuous Combat…[the Highlander’s] Attack begins at all Times with a full Throw at the outside of the Sword Arm” and “The Highlander has nothing regular in Field Attacks and generally chop Right down to an Outside; or with a swinging and low Inside.” This would seem to indicate left foot forward versions of the Outside Guard, akin to Open Ward and Zornhut, were restricted to battlefield combat, where they could make either of these attacks with equal ease. Given that the Highland custom was to duel only to first blood, while to cause bloody mayhem on the field of battle, this restriction of the use of blows on the pass may have been due to custom rather than utility, much as certain of the more lethal techniques were by custom omitted from the repertoire of English stage gladiators.

Finally, given the fragmented and warlike nature of clan society, it is certain that there existed many different schools and systems of swordsmanship throughout the Highlands. Assuming Page learned the fundumantals of a Highland swordplay from a Highlander, whoever taught Page may not have used the old left foot forward techniques, and Page does seem at pains to point out his is “the Method us’d be the modern Highlanders” and “the Principle destructive Methods of Wounding in Modern Use,” strongly suggesting the existence, perhaps contemporarily, of an “Ancient Use” as well.

Further, Page tells us that “there are many other artful Throws which safely Cut the Adversary, yet not commonly known or taught by every Master…but have kept inviolably secret by the very few to whom they have been imparted; and are commonly called Finesses.” The ease with which Rob Roy disabled MacNeill of Barra indicated that not all clans were familiar with the “Finesses” of others, and any Gael is more than likely to have kept his most effective techniques secret from interloping English soldiers. Page seems inordinately proud of revealing "Gorman's Throw" (Gorman being a Gaelic name, BTW), so it is entirely possible that Page was simply not privy to the Highlanders’ use of the "Open Ward" like High Guard or passing footwork.