Known colloquially by its acronym AOD, the manual teaches a universal system of swordsmanship that is applicable to all military swords used on foot at that time.
Attacks are broken down to a simple six cut system as first shown in Gaspard La Marchant’s official ‘Rules and Regulations for the Sword Exercise of the Cavalry’, of 1796.
The system shown is also very closely related with the Angelo’s, who went on to teach and create official military manuals on civilian swordsmanship that were used extensively throughout the 19th century.
[1] The Art of Defence is sometimes incorrectly attributed to John Taylor, a sword master whose ten lesson structure was added by Roworth in his third edition (see below).
[2] He served in the Royal Westminster Volunteers,[3] a militia unit whose job it was to maintain order and protect the country in case of invasion.
Taylor’s lesson’s and manual exercise (solo drill) were depicted in Henry Angelo’s work in 1799, forming the entire basis of his infantry system.
He taught military swordsmanship at his fencing academy in Fish Street Hill, London, in the early 19th century.
[7] A landmark legal case in copyright law ensued in 1807 when Roworth claimed Wilkes had reproduced most of his work in the latter’s ‘Encyclopaedia Londinensis,’ Wilkes had reproduced over one hundred pages of Roworth’s work, including plates.