Self-Defense for Gentlemen and Ladies
WOMEN of the BROADSWORD, SABER, and STICK.
A commonly held myth among contemporary fencers is that in past history, women were only allowed to fence with the foil. Generally speaking, this seems to hold true prior to the 1870s, at which time Colonel Thomas Monstery began training female fencers in a number of other weapons such as the broadsword, bayonet, and bowie knife. After beginning with his protégé Ella Hattan (a.k.a. "Jaguarina"), Monstery held classes in New York City to instruct women in stick self-defense. Also of note, during the 1880s, Professor Hans Hartl of Vienna was giving demonstrations throughout America with his female students in the use of the sabre, sword and dagger. By the 1890s many other fencing masters, such as Regis Senac, were following suit. Although foil continued to be the primary weapon taught to women in the fencing world at large, numerous accounts of women fencing with other weapons can be found in the literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Attached are a few illustrated examples. ... See more
