Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The Dirk in Gaelic Society... 1 Chapter 2: Mastering the Dirk... 5 Chapter 3: Guards ... 15 Chapter 4: Responding to an Attack ... 21 Chapter 5: Throws from Highland Wrestling... 39 Chapter 6: Bone-Breakings... 47 Chapter 7: Knife Against Knife ... 53 Chapter 8: Going on the Offensive ... 57 9. The Dirk Dance Positions ... 65 Chapter 10: Exercises and Drills ... 71 Appendix 1: Combative Techniques in the Scottish Dirk Dance ... 95 Appendix 2: The Manx Dirk Dance ... 105 Appendix 3: The Cateran Society... 107 Glossary... 109 About the Authors ... 111

About the Author

Christopher Scott 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, a national organization that promotes historical fencing with Highland weapons. In 2000, Louis Pastore began researching martial arts that were practiced throughout Scotland and Europe. In 2004 he 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.