ABSTRACT
Since the introduction of the rapier, the conflict between "cut" and "thrust" has been constant. While the Italian school proclaimed the superiority of the point, the English populace clung to their rustic ideals and traditional sword and buckler play. The sword that proceeded the rapier and managed to rival it, at least in England, was a stout, short blade, roughly the length of a man's arm, furnished with a simple cross hilt, pas d'ane, side ring and often a knuckle bow. It was meant to be used with a small hand shield called a buckler for defense and the strong and swift cut on the offense. Before the mid to late sixteenth century the cut, on a pass, was thought the best method of attack possible.
