Getting to the Point:
The European Art of Fencing
By Ken Mondschein
As
with most things in the martial arts, the story of
fencing is not a simple one. If you ask one person
to tell you what "fencing" is, he might
tell you that it's a modern sport. Ask a second, and
she might describe fencing as a five-hundred-year-old
martial tradition. Yet a third might mention Zorro,
Cyrano de Bergerac, and other fictional heroes. All
of these explanations are, in their own ways, correct.
Therefore, the question becomes which fencing we are
speaking of? In his article, we will seek to tell
the story of the Western European tradition of swordsmanship,
from its beginnings to how it is practiced today.
History
Swordsmanship, of course, has existed for thousands
of years. Egyptian wall reliefs from about 1190 BCE
illustrate bouts using protective equipment, and the
cultures of the ancient world, such as the Greeks
and Romans, set up systematic schools of instruction
for their youth. Likewise, medieval warriors, from
Charlemagne's paladins of the eighth century to the
Crusaders of the eleventh century, no doubt learned
their martial skills from their elders, and passed
them on, in turn, to their juniors. However, specific
techniques can only be traced back to the late Middle
Ages, for this is when the first surviving book on
the subject was written. This manuscript, catalogued
in the British Library as I-33, was written in about
1300 by a churchman in southern Germany. The text
is in Latin, with illustrations depicting a priest
and his student performing various techniques with
sword and buckler (a type of small shield). It seems
that the monks of the Shaolin monastery in China were
certainly not unique in pursuing matters both spiritual
and martial.
During the Middle Ages, schools of swordsmanship
comparable to those of feudal Japan arose throughout
Europe. These were sophisticated and deadly battlefield
arts, all designed to dispatch an adversary or adversaries
as quickly as possible. Schools and masters of arms
taught weapon and empty-handed arts suitable for use
in any situation: mounted or on foot, in armor or
unarmored, against one adversary or in a melee. One
favored weapon was the German langshwert or Italian
spada da una mano e mezza, known in English as the
longsword or bastard sword. This was a light, straight,
double-edged cutting-and-thrusting sword, meant to
be used in two hands. The use of shorter swords, daggers,
armor-piercing weapons such as poleaxes, and specialized
weapons, such as spiked shields used for judicial
duels, was also taught.
Notable medieval masters included Johannes Liechtenauer,
who is credited with founding the widely influential
and long-lived German school of swordsmanship, and
Ott, a Jewish wrestling master who served the noble
Hapsburg family of Austria. Ott's style of unarmed
defense resembled the jujitsu of the Japanese bushi
in many respects. The pragmatic art of close combat
in the West favored neutralizing the opponent swiftly
through joint locks and takedowns. Unlike modern karate
or tae kwon do, there was little emphasis on kicks
and punches in the medieval fighting arts, though
these certainly did exist.
The story of fencing as it exists today, though,
really begins in late fifteenth-century Spain, for
that was where the custom of wearing swords with everyday
civilian dress was most widespread, and where the
first known schools of specialized instruction in
a civilian style of swordsmanship existed. Beginning
in the1530s, we also find treatises on civilian swordsmanship
being published in Italy. The schools of use for these
relatively light, single-handed weapons, the Spanish
espada ropera (or "dress sword"), and the
Italian spada di lato ("side-sword," in
the sense of a "sidearm"), were not very
much changed from the earlier, more military styles.
However, in 1553, an Italian architect, philosopher,
and amateur swordsman named Camillo Agrippa published
a book that would prove widely influential. Agrippa's
Trattato di Scientia d'Arme ("Treaty on the Science
of Arms") advocated a rationalistic approach
to swordsmanship. This book made many lasting technical
contributions to the art of civilian swordsmanship.
For instance, prior to Agrippa, colorful mnemonic
names for guards and stances, such as the porta di
ferro ("iron door") and posta di donna ("lady's
guard") were in common use throughout Europe
to describe positions taken for attack, defense, or
to invite an attack from the adversary. To some degree,
these paralleled the stances or positions taken by
Japanese swordsmen. Agrippa replaced these descriptive
names by a simple system of four guards, numbered
sequentially from the position the hand naturally
takes when the sword is drawn from the scabbard: prima,
seconda, terza, and quarta. This system, with additions,
is still followed today.
Agrippa also placed great emphasis on using the point,
which, he argued, is superior to a cut, since an object
moving in a straight line will reach its destination
faster than an object traveling in an arc. This idea
would prove greatly influential in the development
of fencing. As in Japan, swordsmanship remained an
essential part of the education of every gentleman,
and the sword was a required dress accessory for certain
social classes. Unlike Japan, where the katana was
the all-purpose sidearm of the samurai, a specifically
civilian weapon emerged in Europe. From Agrippa's
time on, we begin to see the first uniquely civilian
sidearm, the rapier, come into its own. A rapier is
a long, single-handed sword constructed primarily
for thrusting. Though sometimes carried by gentlemen
serving in their country's armies, its unwieldy length,
limited cutting ability, and considerable cost made
this practice more a mark of status than a wise choice
in battlefield weapons.
Changing social attitudes, as well as the practicalities
of using a long, agile blade, saw grappling techniques
diminish in importance, though not entirely disappear,
through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. So,
too, did other technical aspects change. By the late
1600s, various national styles had become well established
throughout the nations of Europe. Italian fencers
used a long blade, often in conjunction with a parrying
dagger held in the non-dominant hand. As time went
on, footwork became increasingly linear, though circular
and angular motions, as well as various evasive actions,
were also practiced. The Germans followed the Italians
in many things, but favored blades with more developed
cutting edges, and also kept up the use of older weapons,
such as the langshwert. The Spanish, beginning in
the mid-sixteenth century, developed a sophisticated
and deadly school of fencing, La Verdadera Destreza
("The true art and skill") based on humanistic
philosophy.
La Destreza, today often erroneously called the "Spanish
Circle," "Magic Circle," or "Mysterious
Circle," used geometric concepts to train the
mind of the fencer. The French, meanwhile, favored
a blade that, as time went on, became increasingly
shorter, quicker, lighter, and almost edgeless.
This French version of the rapier eventually came
to be called the smallsword. The French kings founded
an academy in Paris, and the masters-at-arms there
enjoyed a teaching monopoly. Both because of the effectiveness
of a lighter, more agile blade, and for reasons of
international style, the French school of fencing
became widely influential throughout Europe. Smallsword
fencing is the direct ancestor of the most common
styles of fencing of today.
The Classical Age
Following the revolutions of the late eighteenth
century, the sword, and emblem of the aristocracy,
was no longer worn with civilian dress. However, the
practice of dueling did not cease, though the code
that governed such occurrences grew more elaborate.
For this grim purpose, the French devised the épée
du combat, a dueling sword used for thrusting only.
The Italians followed in this, and also favored the
dueling saber, a light cut-and-thrust weapon. The
Germans favored a somewhat heavier saber. Fencing
with the foil, originally a practice weapon for the
smallsword, continued to develop into a sophisticated
art that let swordsmen use their technical mastery
of all the techniques of killing in a context where
injury was highly unlikely.
This "classical age" was really the fullest
development of the art. While fencing has changed
quite a bit since the nineteenth century, it had reached
a recognizable form by this time. Though fencing,
like dueling itself, became more formal, forbidding
the use of such techniques as disarms, the skills
of fencing always remained grounded in reality. Duels
were serious affairs, and not infrequently ended with
disfiguring or fatal results. Likewise, disarms and
other "rough play" continued to be taught,
if not used, and have passed down to the present time
in certain traditional schools.
By the late nineteenth century, the three classical
fencing weapons had become established and were used
in international competitions. These weapons were
the foil; the épée, fitted for non-lethal
purposes with a three-pronged safety tip (the pointe
d'arret); and the blunted fencing saber. Other weapons,
such as the cane (French: la canne), the grand canne
or two-handed stick, bayonet, quarterstaff, and singlestick,
or an Anglo-American substitute for the saber, were
also commonly practiced for sport and self-defense,
though they are rare today.
Fencing was an integral part of the first modern
Olympics, and the FIE, or Federation International
d'Escrime, was founded in Paris in 1906 to oversee
rules and standards for international competition.
These rules codified French fencing practice into
the international standard. Under the FIE rules, the
foil scores touches only to the torso. Double-hits
in foil are resolved using a concept known as "priority,"
often commonly referred to as "right-of-way,"
that originally evolved to emphasize defense over
suicidally counterattacking. Saber allows the entire
upper body as a target, though at one time it also
included the leading leg. Saber fencing also uses
the concept of priority to resolve double-hits. The
épée, which allows touches to the entire
body, has no such rules, and is considered a more
perfect mirror of the duel.
Alongside
these three weapons, though, legacies from the past
remained. Sword and dagger was still commonly taught
in places such as Naples and Sicily, and, in 1888,
a team of women fencers from Vienna put on a demonstration
of "Neopolitan" in New York City. Likewise,
two-handed sword fighting survived in the French and
Italian forms of grand canne, and even as late as
the 1930s, an attempt was made to revive the old school
of German longsword as part of Adolph Hitler's volkskultur
movement. These martial artifacts are still alive
today. Not unlike the koryu bujitsu, or feudal warrior
arts of Japan, they are handed down from master to
student, and remain a vital, though increasingly rare,
part of Western martial culture.
Fencing Today
Today, on the cusp of the twenty-first century, the
vast majority of fencers participate in the sport
of fencing, also variously called Olympic fencing,
competitive fencing, or electric fencing. As much
as the teaching of kendo and judo in Japan is standardized
under the Japanese Ministry of Education, so, too,
is the FIE the central organizing body for competitive
fencing. The governing bodies in other countries,
such as the United States Fencing Association, which
oversees such aspects of competitive fencing in the
U.S. as insurance, rankings, and the selection of
the Olympic team, all comply with the standards and
rulings of the FIE.
As in any sport, the objective is to win, which is
accomplished by scoring hits, or touches, as they
are termed in fencing. All competition fencing weapons
make use of an electrical scoring apparatus. When
a hit is scored, an electrical circuit is completed,
setting off a scoring light. Exactly what constitutes
a valid hit is determined by the rules established
by the FIE, and may be rather abstract, bearing little
resemblance to what a fencer would do if his life
were actually on the line. In épée fencing,
for instance, a touch to the foot sufficient to set
off the electric scoring machine is a valid hit, whereas
the counter-thrust to the attacker's throat that arrives
an instant after is not counted as valid. The relatively
safe nature of the sporting weapons makes actions
that would be unthinkably risky with sharps quite
effective in competition. Likewise, though martial
arts such as kendo and judo maintain rituals and etiquette
descended from their feudal forbears, the rituals
in competitive fencing, such as the salute and the
handshake after the bout, are often almost perfunctory.
However, there is also a growing minority of classical
fencers who seek to preserve fencing as it was practiced
in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in
all its sophistication, but also in a manner consistent
with the realities of dueling with sharp weapons.
Part of this is an attempt to preserve the rituals,
etiquette, and mindset that have come down to us from
the past. Classical fencers see fencing as a martial
art, and argue that, without a connection to the age
when dueling was a reality, and constant reference
to the realities of using sharp weapons, fencing loses
its meaning and becomes merely a sporting event played
with expensive equipment under rules incomprehensible
to a non-initiate.
There is also a significant number of historical
fencers, whose numbers have been growing in recent
years. For reasons of historical interest, tradition,
or romanticism, historical fencers concentrate their
study on weapons that historically predate the three
classical weapons. Some historical fencers practice
weapons such as longsword or sword and dagger in traditions
stretching back centuries. Masters versed in these
arts, however, are few and far between. Other students
of historical fencing attempt to reconstruct the practice
of lost weapons arts from written evidence and practical
experience.
Finally, theatrical fencing should not be neglected,
since it is an art unto itself. Indeed, much of the
interest in fencing is generated by superbly executed
scenes such as the duels in Rob Roy, Shakespeare in
Love, and Dangerous Liasons, both choreographed by
the legendary William Hobbs. However, the aim of theatrical
fencing is quite different from that of classical,
historical or sport fencing. In any of those disciplines,
the objective is to enter into the adversary's distance,
preferably in a subtle, deceptive manner, and hit
him. In theatrical fencing, the actor seeks to maintain
a safe distance, to show the audience clearly what
is happening, and to keep his partner unskewered.
It therefore requires a very different mindset.
For further reading, we recommend classic works including
Egerton Castle's "Schools and Masters of Fence,"
Arthur Wise's "Art and History of Personal Combat,"
Richard Francis Burton's "Book of the Sword,"
and Baron Cesar de Bezancourt's "Secrets of the
Sword." Some excellent recent publications include
J. Christoph Amberger's "Secret History of the
Sword," Sydney Anglo's "Martial Arts of
Renaissance Europe," and Mark Rector's "Medieval
Combat." For those interested in finding instruction,
excellent online resources include the Martinez Academy
of Arms homepage at www.martinez-destreza.com and
Kim Moser's classical fencing resource page at www.kmoser.com/classicalfencing.
Let
Us Know Your Comments & Opinions On This Article
About The Author
Ken Mondschein, is a New York City writer and amateur
historian. After achieving a masters degree in European
History he became a student of classical fencing and
historical swordsmanship under Maestro Ramon Martinez.
He is also knowledgeable about European classical
dressage, the art of horsemanship, and its history
and application in mounted combat. Other martial arts
studies include karate where he is now a student at
the World Seido Karate Organization's New York City
headquarters. Mondschein currently works in textbook
publishing.
Photo Notes & Credits
Photo one: A person running another through
with a blade is from Ridolfo Capo Ferro's Italian
rapier manual, his "Gran Simulacro" of 1610.
Capo Ferro was an extremely influential Italian master,
and the art quality is, in any case, very good.
Photo two: Thibault's so-called "mysterious
circle," which is really a diagram showing how
the proportions of the body are used in his system
of fencing, which is taken from the Spanish school.
However, Thibault was not Spanish; he was Flemish.
He published his work, which was written in French,
in 1628. The language of publication alone marks him
as not of the mainstream Spanish school.
Photo three: The team of female Austrian fencers
with foils and daggers in a New York photographer's
studio (circa 1888) was provided "Courtesy of
Metropolis Fencing."
back
to top
home
| about
us | magazine
| learning
| connections
| estore
|