Manuals of the Science of Defence:
Manuals written by the various masters of various schools allowed the martial arts techniques
of the times to documented and cataloged. It was seen as the duty of a maister to publish
his techniques as a way to safegaurd against an imposter brandishing them as his own.
The manuals are an important part of Eighteenth Century British Martial Culture because they
show the interest of a literate and educated class/society in the methods of combat. Very often
these manuals contained prefaces and dedications to the king and to individual patrons. These
manuals not only served as ways of spreading the various schools of defence but as guides to
etiquette and behavior as well. Some maisters even included political commentary in their
descriptions of their combative methods.
