Joseph Swetnam (died 1621) was an English pamphleteer and fencing master. He is best known for a misogynistic pamphlet and an early English fencing treatise. [1] Three defensive responses as pamphlets were made by Rachel Speght, Ester Sowernam and Constantia Munda.
 | This section possibly contains original research . A lot of this section makes OR claims that are "sourced" by referring to the pamphlet.(April 2021) |
Swetnam's pamphlet attacking women was one of the most influential of the era.
The arraignment of lewd, idle, froward, and unconstant women was published in 1615 under the pseudonym Thomas Tell-Troth. Despite this attempt at anonymity, Swetnam was quickly known as the true author (The full title of the original pamphlet was: The araignment of leuud, idle, froward, and vnconstant women : or the vanitie of them, choose you whether : with a commendation of wise, vertuous and honest women : pleasant for married men, profitable for young men, and hurtfull to none.). [2]
Swetnam describes in this document what he views as the sinful, deceiving, worthless nature of women. He addresses his remarks to young men of the world, as if warning them about the dangers of womankind. He cites personal experiences as well as those of well-known biblical and classical figures to authenticate his claims. Obviously intended for a male audience, much of the pamphlet takes the comical form of what we might today call sexist jokes. For example, Swetnam writes, "A gentleman on a time said to his friend, 'I can help you to a good marriage for your son.' His friend made him this answer: 'My son,' said he, 'shall stay till he have more wit.' The Gentleman replied again, saying, 'If you marry him not before he has wit, he will never marry so long as he lives.'" [3]
His borrowing of authority from biblical figures was far more powerful and inflammatory, especially in Protestant England. Most material in attacks on women and in their defence was taken from the Bible, by all writers engaged in the debate. An important part of any author's attack or defence of women (as well as other subjects of debate) was interpretation and counter-interpretation of the Bible to support his or her perspective. [4] Swetnam draws somewhat from the much-debated scene of the Garden of Eden, saying that woman "was no sooner made but straightway...procured man's fall", but he spends more time naming various victims of seduction, including David, Solomon, and Samson, blaming their falls from Godly grace on the wiles of the women with whom they sinned. [3] He even makes use of a number of legendary figures in classical antiquity, including Hercules, Agamemnon, and Ulysses, citing the travails they suffered at the hands of women. While citing scriptural examples lends religious authority to his claims, using classical examples, even those from a mythology deemed false by Christian beliefs, appeals to the sense of antiquity and cultural superiority associated with Rome.
The Arraignment of Women was extremely popular—there were thirteen "known reprints" in the 17th century and another five in the early 18th century; it was even translated into Dutch as Recht-Banck tegen de Luye, Korzelighe, en Wispeltuyrighe Vrouwen in 1641 (to be reprinted four times in the 17th century, with two further editions in the early 18th). [1] Some scholars propose that this popularity was due to its heavy drawing from previous works, including and especially John Lyly's Euphues, and its consequent sense of inclusiveness. Others suppose it could have been its decisively middle-class emphasis and humor. [4] It is also possible that it became popular because of the reaction it sparked from other writers, which seems to be its most distinguishing characteristic.[ citation needed ]
Three female writers responded independently to Swetnam's work, in defence of their gender. The first response was by Rachel Speght, writing under her own name. A Mouzell for Melastomus focuses on biblical material, interpreting scripture to counter Swetnam's attacks, while criticising its grammar and style. She writes, "Whoso makes the fruit of his cogitations extant to the view of all men should have his work to be as a well-tuned instrument, in all places according and agreeing, the which I am sure yours doth not" (p. 36). She also responds briefly to his tract in her second publication, Mortalities Memorandum.
The second response came in 1617 from a writer under the pseudonym Esther Sowernam [5] ("Sour"nam, as opposed to "Sweet"nam). Ester Hath Hang'd Haman is most notable for its reasoned and well-ordered argument.
Next, also in 1617, was Worming of a Mad Dogge, by a writer under the pseudonym Constantia Munda. This tract deployed both invective and learning [4] of French, Italian, Latin and the language of the law. The demonstration of wide education and the inventive used has cast doubt of Constantia being a woman, but within the text she indicates that she is a daughter. The pamphlet was recorded on 29 April 1617 by Laurence Hayes without an author. It has been guessed that the writer may have been employed by Hayes. [6]
Another reply to Swetnam was the comic play, Swetnam the Woman-Hater Arraigned by Women (1620), anonymously written. In it, Swetnam, under the name "Misogynos", is made uncomfortable at the hands of the women he despises. The play reflects the popularity of Swetnam's tract with the "common people": it was performed at London's Red Bull Theatre, which had a populist reputation. [1] The play is credited with originating the English term misogyny.
In his 1617 fencing treatise, The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence, Joseph Swetnam represents himself as the fencing instructor for the then-deceased Prince Henry, [7] who, after having read the treatise, urged Swetnam to print it—according to Swetnam. There is no record of his employment in Henry's service. [1] The treatise itself is a manual detailing the use of the rapier, rapier and dagger, backsword, sword and dagger, and quarterstaff, prefaced with eleven chapters of moral and social advice relating to fencing, self-defence, and honour. Swetnam claims that his fencing treatise is "the first of any English-mans invention, which professed the sayd Science". [8]
Swetnam is known for teaching a unique series of special guards (such as the fore-hand guard, broadwarde, lazie guard, and crosse guard), though his primary position is a "true guard", which varies slightly for each weapon. He advocates the use of thrusts over cuts and makes heavy use of feints. Swetnam favoured fencing from a long distance, using the lunge, and not engaging weapons. His defences are mostly simple parries, together with slips (evasive movements backward).
Swetnam's fencing system has been linked both to contemporary Italian systems as well as the traditional sword arts of England; his guard positions resemble those of contemporary Italian instructors, but his fencing system appears structurally different, and more closely related to a lineage of English fencing. [9] He is also distinctive in his advice to wound rather than kill an opponent. [10]
Nothing is known about his ancestral origins or other family life other than the fact that he had a daughter named Elizabeth, who married in the church of St Augustine the Less Church on 4 November 1613 and died in 1626. In a letter of administration drawn up after her death, Swetnam is referred to as "nuper de civit[ate] Bristoll" ("late of the city of Bristol"). According to a letter of administration, Swetnam died abroad in 1621. [1]
A rapier or espada ropera is a type of sword used in Renaissance Spain to designate a sword with a straight, slender and sharply pointed two-edged long blade wielded in one hand. It was widely popular in Western Europe throughout the 16th and 17th centuries as a symbol of nobility or gentleman status.
A quarterstaff, also short staff or simply staff is a traditional European pole weapon, which was especially prominent in England during the Early Modern period.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1617.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1615.
Stephen Gosson was an English satirist.
Historical European martial arts (HEMA) are martial arts of European origin, particularly using arts formerly practised, but having since died out or evolved into very different forms.
Martial arts manuals are instructions, with or without illustrations, specifically designed to be learnt from a book. Many books detailing specific techniques of martial arts are often erroneously called manuals but were written as treatises.
The German school of fencing is a system of combat taught in the Holy Roman Empire during the Late Medieval, German Renaissance, and early modern periods. It is described in the contemporary Fechtbücher written at the time. The geographical center of this tradition was in what is now Southern Germany including Augsburg, Frankfurt, and Nuremberg. During the period in which it was taught, it was known as the Kunst des Fechtens, or the "Art of Fighting". The German school of fencing focuses primarily on the use of the two-handed longsword; it also describes the use of many other weapons, including polearms, medieval daggers, messers, and the staff, as well as describing mounted combat and unarmed grappling (ringen).
The English language terminology used in the classification of swords is imprecise and has varied widely over time. There is no historical dictionary for the universal names, classification, or terminology of swords; a sword was simply a single-edged or double-edged knife.
Rachel Speght was a poet and polemicist. She was the first Englishwoman to identify herself, by name, as a polemicist and critic of gender ideology. Speght, a feminist and a Calvinist, is perhaps best known for her tract A Mouzell for Melastomus. It is a prose refutation of Joseph Swetnam's misogynistic tract, The Arraignment of Lewd, Idle, Froward, and Unconstant Women, and a significant contribution to the Protestant discourse of biblical exegesis, defending women's nature and the worth of womankind. Speght also published a volume of poetry, Mortalities Memorandum with a Dreame Prefixed, a Christian reflection on death and a defence of the education of women.
Salvator Fabris (1544-1618) was an Italian fencing master from Padua. During his life he taught in various European countries, most notably in Denmark where he was the fencing instructor of King Christian IV. It was during his time in Copenhagen that he published his treatise on rapier fencing, Lo Schermo, overo Scienza d’Arme, in 1606. The treatise became a fencing bestseller around Europe, and was reprinted until 1713 and translated into several languages, notably into German, and again in 2005, into English.
Jane Anger was an English author of the sixteenth century and the first woman to publish a full-length defence of her sex in English. The title of her defense, Jane Anger Her Protection For Women was published in 1589. In the late sixteenth century, it was rare for women to write and publish on secular, or non-religious themes. It was also rare for women to argue against male supremacy.
The Company of Maisters of the Science of Defence was an organisation formed in England during the reign of Henry VIII to regulate the teaching of the Arte of Defence or fencing, using a range of weapons, including the rapier, quarterstaff, and, most notably, the broadsword.
Alfred Hutton FSA was a British Army officer, antiquarian and writer. Serving during the Victorian era in the 1st King's Dragoon Guards, he played a major role in the revival of historical fencing in England, together with fellow fencers Egerton Castle, Ernest Stenson-Cooke, Sir Frederick Pollock and Walter Herries Pollock.
Sonnet 151 is the 151st of 154 poems in sonnet form by William Shakespeare published in a 1609 collection titled Shakespeare's sonnets. The sonnet belongs to the Dark Lady sequence, which distinguishes itself from The Fair Youth sequence by being more overtly sexual in its passion. Sonnet 151 is characterized as "bawdy" and is used to illustrate the difference between the spiritual love for the Fair Youth and the sexual love for the Dark Lady. The distinction is commonly made in the introduction to modern editions of the sonnets in order to avoid suggesting that Shakespeare was homosexual.
Swetnam the Woman-Hater Arraigned by Women is a Jacobean era stage play, an anonymous comedy that was part of a controversy of the 1615–20 period.
The oldest surviving manual on western swordsmanship dates back to the 14th century, although historical references date fencing schools back to the 12th century.
Ester Sowernam is the pseudonymous author of one of the first defences of women published in England and a participant in the Swetnam controversy of 1615–20.
There is some evidence on historical fencing as practised in Scotland in the Early Modern Era, especially fencing with the Scottish basket-hilted broadsword during the 17th to 18th centuries.
The Alehouse dagger or bum dagger is a type of long, heavy English dagger or shortsword. It was the standard form of dagger in England from the sixteenth to the mid eighteenth centuries, and consisted of a long, broad, straight blade, with a large, heavy basket hilt which was used as a knuckle duster. They generally weighed two or three pounds, and were worn on the lower back. They were common civilian weapons, effective against swords and polearms, and short enough to be used easily in the confines of a crowded pub.
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