At 06:40 AM 2/7/2003 +0000, "seannewt0n <seannewt0n@...>"
<seannewt0n@...> wrote:
>In our salle, the view seems to be that the epee, the smallsword,
>and to a certain extent, the italian/pronated guards are all, to a
>degree, related. The assumption being that as the smallsword has
>quillons and archete (sp?), it is held with an italian type grip.
>Reading back over the archives, I came across a very convincing
>arguement that the smallsword was actually held with a grip more
>similar to that of a saber. That is, with the thumb on the quillon
>block, and the fingers around the grip.

The smallsword is held like a smallsword, not like a sabre. That the
smallsword is commonly held in tierce (third position), which is also the
default sabre guard position, does not mean the grips are identical. In
fact, they differ significantly.

I recommend you read Maestro de Armas Jeannette Acosta-Martinez's explanation:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/classicalfencing/message/6167

--K