**Intact Gift Giving Condition book**

Very few, however, are aware of the resurgence of bloody gladiatorial combat that took place in 18th century Britain, in which the so-called “Masters of the Noble Science of Defence”, full of fire and bravado, demonstrated their expertise with sharp broadswords, daggers, shields, quarterstaffs, flails, two-handed swords, and other antiquated weapons before rabid audiences, while risking brutal mutilation and sometimes death for fame, glory, and prize money. Readers today are familiar with the gladiators of ancient Rome who fought to the death in the Coliseum. Despite the immense popularity they enjoyed during their heyday—which lasted for almost a century—the gladiators have received little attention from scholars and historians, confined instead to a mere chapter in the back of Victorian-era fencing histories. This, then—the product of nearly two decades of research—is the first book devoted to the lives, writings, and techniques of the 18th century stage gladiators, whose ranks included a number of women (the “Mistresses of the Science of Defence”), fighters of African descent, Native Americans, as well as numerous Irish, Scots, Welsh, and English.