Author: Christopher Scott Thompson with Louie Pastore
Publisher: PALADIN PRESS, Nov 2007
Binding: Softcover
ISBN: 1-58160-566-8
Synopsis
Lessons include holding, carrying & using the dirk with a sword & targe; choosing the proper guards; responding to sudden attacks from in & out of distance; using the dirk for the seven principal "bone-breakings"; & executing the throw from Highland wrestling. Photos; 5.5x8.5 inches; 128 pgs.
More Information
HIGHLAND KNIFE FIGHTING
With the Dirk & Sgian
by Christopher Scott Thompson with Louie Pastore
In this entertaining & informative look at the Highland dirk, author Christopher Thompson examines a number of Scottish historical & oral sources to document the role of the knife in Gaelic society. Although worn by all classes of society, the dirk was the primary weapon of the common clansmen, & since it was worn indoors as well as outdoors, it was the favored weapon for acts of revenge & self-defense. Highland Knife Fighting traces the historical roots of the dirk, which is believed to be descended from the medieval ballock dagger, & provides step-by-step instructions & photos in how the Highlanders used the knife. Lessons include holding, carrying & using the dirk with a sword & targe; choosing the proper guards; responding to sudden attacks from in & out of distance; using the dirk for the seven principal "bone-breakings"; & executing the throw from Highland wrestling. Also included are exercises & drills, including the advanced quickdraw drill, & combative techniques of the Scottish dirk dance positions.
Photos; 5.5x8.5 inches; 128 pgs.
Christopher Thompson is the author of Lannaireachd: Gaelic Swordsmanship, a training manual on the use of the Highland broadsword. A resident of Portland, Maine, Thompson is the president of the Cateran Society.
In 2004 Louie Pastore was accepted as a pupil of John Wesencraft, the only surviving teacher of the Highland dirk dance as taught to Tom Flett in the 1950s.
