HE importance of fencing to the Elizabethan theater,1 to Shakespeare's company,2 and to the dramatic and theatrical structure of particular Shakespearian plays3 as well as the knowledge of fencing that we can postulate for Shakespeare's audience4 suggests strongly the value of inquiry into Shakespeare's use of fencing. Romeo and Juliet is filled with references to fencing, but aside from general comments, scholars have made little use of fencing terms and references to illuminate the play or stage the fights. Holmes points out Mercutio's sneers at the un-English rapier-and-dagger technique of Tybalt and the sympathy that the audience felt for such an attack on foreign mannerisms,5 but goes no further with the extensive fencing references in Romeo and Juliet. From the descriptions given in the play, we can describe Tybalt's fencing technique, adumbrate his character from the technique, and describe the theatrical effect his fighting had on the stage. Tybalt fights by a Spanish book of fence as mannered and artificial as that book of poetics by which Romeo makes love and sonnets; Romeo's impetuosity gives Tybalt a real advantage over Mercutio, an advantage, moreover, suited particularly to the Spanish style of fencing. Shakespeare's fencing terms describe with relative precision the fight between Tybalt and Mercutio, and tell us how to stage the fights, if Elizabethan weapons, or replicas, are available. Tybalt, Mercutio, and Romeo all use Elizabethan rapiers in their fights. Benvolio describes the fight between Mercutio and Tybalt: