to do so. Active defense was instead achieved by hitting the oncoming blade edge against flat, or else receiving the edge of the oncoming cut with the flat while moving into it. Otherwise, a cut might also be intercepted on the edge at the intersecting shoulder of the blade and the cross-guard while moving in against the attack. Intentionally blocking with the edge, despite its ubiquity in stunt fencing performances and widespread use in later fencing, was a sure way of unnecessarily damaging a sword and risking it breaking. See: The Myth of Edge Parrying in Medieval and Renaissance Swordplay . 29. All European fencing is based upon the idea of "parry and riposte" fighting. False. The ideal of making a separate parrying action (or defensive block) priorto delivering a follow-up attack became predominant only in the fencing systems of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Prior to this, the means of defending against cuts and thrusts consisted essentially of a single action that counter-attacked by displacing the oncoming blow with a strike while simultaneously hitting back. This element is common in the armed fighting arts of many cultures. Or else parrying was achieved by closing in to stifle an attack before it impacted by moving to encounter it against the hilt (where there was greater leverage) at the lower portion of the attacker's weapon (where there was less momentum). These elements are almost entirely absent from the later methods of fencing developed during the very different military environment and civilian self-defense conditions of