Deserving serious historical treatment, William M. Gaugler, Maestro di Scherma earned from l’Accademia Nationale di Scherma, Naples, was the most significant American figure in international fencing at the end of the 20th centtury. An Etruscanologist trained in Florence, Gaugler was a professor of classical archaeology. A painter and sculptor, his devotion to Renaissance art deeply influenced the way he thought about the discipline of the sword. His Military Fencing Masters Program at San Jose State University produced well-known American masters of Italian fencing. Gaugler was intimately familiar with the German fencing scene, and acccompanying this essay are rules he influenced developed by a Westphalian group. Those rules are intended to achieve the clarity of action he advocated. Designed for engagement in debate, this conversational-style essay even includes space at the end for readers' notes.