Classification of Swords - Parrying

Parrying

There is a great amount of confusion over edge parries in regards to medieval and Renaissance swords.

Today, the use of the flat-of-the-blade parry is widely advocated by ARMA as the only true way to parry with a sword; even though they sometimes outright admit that there were historical evidence for edge-on-edge parries: "ARMA: Ok, what then about references to 17th and 18th and 19th century manuals that advocate using edges?"

The entire argument for flat-of-the-blade parries are inferred by ARMA (and Ewart Oakeshott) in regards to ambiguous drawings in fechtbuchs or fighting manuals and not from any historical treatises. Both Giacomo di Grassi and Joseph Swetnam parry with the edge of the sword.

However, not all Western martial arts societies advocate the flat-of-the-blade parry; the Cataran Society encourages the edge-on-edge parry and provides evidence as to this belief which can also be found in the book "Lannaireachd:Gaelic Swordsmanship".