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Eire and Honor
In 18th- and 19th-century British fencing history and literature, a number of fencing masters and amateurs play an improtant role: It was the Irish Dr. Keyes, against whom Domenico Angelo could show off his cool and expert foil technique in the his future high society patrons and students. Master Dubois, scowled at by James Figg in the famous Hogarth engraving, reportedly met his death at the hands of an Irish fencing master. And Smollet's picaro Roderick Random vividly narrates an encounter with a roguish Irish swordmaster...
Compared to the English, the Irish (and the British colonials ruling them) spent an inordinate amount fighting each other in duels. And even if the popular choice of weapon shifted from the sword to the pistol in the early 1700s, Kelly's comprehensive and exhausting study into the reason, culture, and counter-culture of duelling in Ireland represents on of the best books on the subject I have seen in a while.
Highly recommended!
Author: Kelly, James
Title: "That Damn'd Thing Called Honour": Duelling in Ireland, 1570-1860, Cork, Ireland: Cork UP, 1995; paperback; 325 pp.; b/w illustrations. ISBN: 1859180434; US$30 at amazon.com
Hammerterz Rating: HHH 1/2
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