Dr. Edward Breck, an active fencer in Boston, Massachusetts and the editor of the Amateur Fencer's League of America's magazine, The Swordsman, authored a booklet that was combined with the Senac's and published in 1926 in Spalding's Red Cover series of sports handbooks. This does not appear in the earlier Blue Cover series handbook with content by the Senac's, so we can only be sure that it reflects sabre technique before 1926. Breck's material covers 45 pages, of which 9 are devoted to sabre. This is hardly an exhaustive treatment of the sabre, but it includes an interesting selection of parries that merits examination.
Breck includes familiar sabre parries common in any system at the time, but adds three parries which he defines as being done in the same way as foil parries. His list of sabre specific parries is:
HEAD PARRY - a parry executed with the weapon arm oriented forward and bent with the hand above the head and in pronation, the blade held horizontally.
LEFT CHEEK PARRY - a parry executed by raising the hand to the level of the inside breast, approximately 6 inches from the body, the blade held vertically upward, the edge turned slightly to the inside. This parry also protects against shoulder cuts.
RIGHT CHEEK PARRY - a parry executed by raising the hand to the level of the outside breast, approximately 6 inches from the body, the blade held vertically upward, the edge turned slightly to the outside. This parry also protects against shoulder cuts.
BREAST PARRY - a parry executed by carrying the weapon arm across the body to the inside, the forearm held horizontally at chin level or slightly above, the blade held almost vertically with the edge to the inside, the weapon hand in pronation and approximately 9 inches forward of the body.
GIRDLE PARRY - a parry executed as the breast parry, but with the arm at or below chin level.
FLANK PARRY - a parry formed by a downward movement of the hand, the forearm level at waist level and the blade sloping downward with the edge to the outside, the hand moved to the outside and turned into pronation.
Note that these parries are identified by the type of attack they defeat as opposed to by numbers. To defend against the point thrust, Breck identifies three parries by number and notes that they are done as a foil parry is done:
TIERCE - an opposition parry executed with the forearm and blade sloping upward as a unit, the hand moved slightly to the outside and turned into pronation. This parry also protects against the arm cut.
QUARTE - an opposition parry executed with the hand brought across the lower chest to close the line in the inside, the forearm and blade sloping upward as a unit, the bade directed at the opponent, and the hand rotated past the thumb-up position toward supination.
SECONDE - a parry formed by a quick downward movement of the hand, the forearm and blade sloping downward as a unit, the hand moved slightly to the outside and turned into pronation.
Finally, he identifies two avoidances as defenses against cuts to the forward targets. If you accept the Italian theory of parry by distance, these can be counted as parries, although does not call them such.
AGAINST THE ARM CUT - performed by withdrawing the weapon hand from range.
AGAINST THE THIGH CUT - performed by withdrawing the forward leg to the rear. Whether by reassemble, retreat step, or pass of the forward leg to the rear is not specified, but a picture of the thigh cut shows the fencer attacked withdrawing his leg by passing. He notes that cuts to the thigh were not allowed as valid in the Amateur Fencers League of America rules, but that it was desirable to nonetheless practice this defense.
Copyright 2019 by Walter G. Green III
Breck includes familiar sabre parries common in any system at the time, but adds three parries which he defines as being done in the same way as foil parries. His list of sabre specific parries is:
HEAD PARRY - a parry executed with the weapon arm oriented forward and bent with the hand above the head and in pronation, the blade held horizontally.
LEFT CHEEK PARRY - a parry executed by raising the hand to the level of the inside breast, approximately 6 inches from the body, the blade held vertically upward, the edge turned slightly to the inside. This parry also protects against shoulder cuts.
RIGHT CHEEK PARRY - a parry executed by raising the hand to the level of the outside breast, approximately 6 inches from the body, the blade held vertically upward, the edge turned slightly to the outside. This parry also protects against shoulder cuts.
BREAST PARRY - a parry executed by carrying the weapon arm across the body to the inside, the forearm held horizontally at chin level or slightly above, the blade held almost vertically with the edge to the inside, the weapon hand in pronation and approximately 9 inches forward of the body.
GIRDLE PARRY - a parry executed as the breast parry, but with the arm at or below chin level.
FLANK PARRY - a parry formed by a downward movement of the hand, the forearm level at waist level and the blade sloping downward with the edge to the outside, the hand moved to the outside and turned into pronation.
Note that these parries are identified by the type of attack they defeat as opposed to by numbers. To defend against the point thrust, Breck identifies three parries by number and notes that they are done as a foil parry is done:
TIERCE - an opposition parry executed with the forearm and blade sloping upward as a unit, the hand moved slightly to the outside and turned into pronation. This parry also protects against the arm cut.
QUARTE - an opposition parry executed with the hand brought across the lower chest to close the line in the inside, the forearm and blade sloping upward as a unit, the bade directed at the opponent, and the hand rotated past the thumb-up position toward supination.
SECONDE - a parry formed by a quick downward movement of the hand, the forearm and blade sloping downward as a unit, the hand moved slightly to the outside and turned into pronation.
Finally, he identifies two avoidances as defenses against cuts to the forward targets. If you accept the Italian theory of parry by distance, these can be counted as parries, although does not call them such.
AGAINST THE ARM CUT - performed by withdrawing the weapon hand from range.
AGAINST THE THIGH CUT - performed by withdrawing the forward leg to the rear. Whether by reassemble, retreat step, or pass of the forward leg to the rear is not specified, but a picture of the thigh cut shows the fencer attacked withdrawing his leg by passing. He notes that cuts to the thigh were not allowed as valid in the Amateur Fencers League of America rules, but that it was desirable to nonetheless practice this defense.
Copyright 2019 by Walter G. Green III
Dr. Breck's Sabre Parries by Walter G. Green III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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