Back to My Home Page
"Fencing Ancient Art Modern Sport" as the posters issued by the Amateur Fencing Association - Now theBritish Fencing Association used to say. This page (and the follow up pages) are intended to look at some of the many aspects of Fencing, both past and present.
Why fencing as a sport - why not if it comes to that. Probably too many swashbuckling movies and TV shows when I was a kid - Robin Hood, Zorro, William Tell etc. At least that is what drew me into fencing when I saw an advert for it at work. It didn't take long to work out that there wasn't going to be any swinging from chandeliers in this game (although more of that later).
Modern Fencing, is a highly competive sport at all levels from club up to Olympic. World wide it is managed by the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (International Fencing Federation - this is a French language site - they are promising an English version in due course, in the meantime a machine translation via Alta Vista can be obtained by clicking here - warning, this is a frame based site so the translation process is a bit convoluted) which is the governing body of the sport and is responsible for maintaining the "official" rules.
Modern fencing uses three weapons:-
| Foil is the lightest of the three weapons and the one which (traditionally) has been the first one that an aspiring fencer would learn. It derives from the old court sword and is a point only weapon (that is only hits scored with the point are valid). Foil also has a limited target area, basically only the torso is valid, hits on the head, arms or legs are "off target" | |
| Foil also benefits (or suffers, depending on your point of view) from the concept of "Right of Way". Briefly put, this states that the first person to start an attack has "Right of Way" until his opponent parries the attack. If his opponent does not parry the attack then even if both fencers are hit only the "attacker" scores a point. | |
| Why this arcane way of fighting? Foil has remained true to its original function as a training weapon for aspiring swordsmen. The limited target covers the areas of the body that are easy to hit and have a high probability of inflicting a fight-stopping wound. The concept of right of way is simple - in a real fight the winner is the one who walks away at the end. Forcing a trainee to parry an incoming blade before attempting his own attack is one way of keeping him alive in the real thing - no-one wins a double hit! | |
| Foil, incidentally, is my main weapon, and yes, I do think that Right of Way is a good thing! |
| Epée is the second of the point only weapons and is, in the opinion of the epéeists, the purest of the three modern disciplines. | |
| In epée the complete body is the target (except for the sole of the foot) and there is no "Right of Way" to worry about. epéeists are the main group who think that right of way ruins foil. Hits in epée are separated by time, any hits that arrive within one 25th of a second are considered to be a "double hit" and both fencers score. The epée is also a longer heavier weapon than the foil. Why the difference, the epée, rather than being a training weapon, started life as more of a practice weapon - therefore the scoring system reflects what can happen in real life. In epée it is, sometimes, possible for both fencers to lose a fight (sometimes, because the rule on this is one of the ones that keep changing). |
|
| I do fence epée as well as foil, mainly because we have a lot of epéeists at the club and it's often the only way to get enough fencing on a club night. It's not my "main" weapon by any means, although I have managed to lift the club epée trophy from the real epéeists a couple of times. |
| Sabre is the third of the modern weapons and the "odd one out". For a start, it is the only one of the modern weapons that is not "point only" and it is also the last of the modern weapons to go electric (only within the last few years). | |
| Hits in classical sabre can be made with the forward "cutting" edge of the blade, the top third of the back edge of the blade, or the point. I say "classical" sabre, since the advent of electric sabre has forced one or two changes. | |
| Sabre also has the concept of right of way and the sabre target is all of the body above the waist. The "urban myth" is that this represents the available target when attacking a man sitting on a horse - and also that it avoids the danger of hitting the horse (which is unsporting). | |
| As I said the advent of electric scoring apparatus has required a few changes. This might be a good point to explain the concept of electric scoring. The delay with electric sabre came for the problems in designing a blade that could register hits from all three valid scoring areas, but not other parts of the blade, and could also measure that the hit had been made with sufficient force to qualify as valid (both foil and epee use spring loaded points for this). Eventually they took the sensible solution and gave up. Electric sabre now allows any hit made with any part of the blade, however gently (not that over gentle hits are much of a problem in sabre) | |
| Do I fence sabre, not very much and even less now that the cost of kit has gone up (electric equipment is expensive). |
Guildford Fencing Club is where I fence these days. I started at the Civil Service Fencing Union (now CS Fencing) and Woking Fencing Club in 1972 (they had the same coach) and I have been fencing practically ever since (although with several lay-offs of various lengths - none more than about 12 months). And yes, if you have been to the GFC homepage and back, you will have noticed that the graphic at the start of this paragraph is not the same as the badge you found there. This is the original GFC badge (in fact it's a scan of the badge off my old tracksuit) and I'm the nostalgic type.
Guildford is fairly typical of the majority of fencing clubs in the UK, in that we have (and always have had) a mixture of ages and fencing interests, from young children to pensioners and everything from purely social fencers, right up to keen competition fencers (and every level in between).
If you are looking for this sort of club in the south east of the UK, look us up. You can get the contact details from the GFC Page, we're a friendly bunch, and the beer at our local pub is good (we have our priorities right on this one - if the beer quality slips, we change locals).
For those who enjoy discussion of fencing topics, there is always the news group (rec.sport.fencing).
I said that this page would cover both modern and ancient fencing, and I also said "more about swinging from the chandeliers later". Fencing is off course a very old "sport" (if you take the definition of sport in this case to include any use of blunted or bated swords) There is, apparently, a series of reliefs in the temple of Medinet-Habu near Luxor that may well record a fencing match. In any case it shows two fighters with bated swords (or possibly single sticks) & protective masks and appears to have a referee, spectators and a scorer. These reliefs are described in Weigell's A Guide to the Antiquities of Upper Egypt first published in 1910.
Traditionally, fencing as we know it was supposed to have taken a break during the Middle Ages due to the weight of swords designed to bludgeon their way through plate armour. However, this view is being increasingly challenged these days as more research is put into analysing old fencing manuals covering the 13
Again, traditionally, the advent of gunpowder and the decline of armour led to the development of lighter swords (such as the rapier) and the creation of fencing styles by the great masters of the 16th Century. Again, this view is being challenged by better understanding of the pre-rapier teaching methods.
If you are interested in discussion of period fencing, rather than just in reading the old manuals then I suggest that you try the following pages
If you check out these sites you will see the name J Christoph Amburger cropping up time and time again. Christoph is the editor of the printed journal Hammerterz Forum, which I cannot recommend too highly. Email him at zoergiebel@aol.com for subscription details. On the subject of printed books, check out Primary Resources, which includes Patrick Pugilese's list of seminal works on the subject. Then check out amazon.com and search under "fencing". They have quite a number of the best resources in print.
Thats all for now, I hope to have more links, and some more pages at a later date.
Any comments on these specific pages to
George Silver's "Paradoxes of Defense" and "Brief Instructions"
These two books form a defense of the traditional English styles of Sword and Bucker and Backsword against what Silver saw as the new-fangled, foreign and "fashionable" rapier style. Ignoring the aspect of Silver trying to protect his own livelihood from foreign competition, in context he had a point. His main argument was that the rapier was too deadly for duelling and unsuitable for use on the battlefield - and no one would dispute this. However, fashion is no respecter of practicality and the rapier would supercede the older styles. Incidentally, nothing changes in this world - I remember my first Fencing Master complaining that the introduction of electric scoring was ruining foil fencing, and there are those who are saying the same about sabre these days
Di Grassi's "True Arte of Defence"
A major work by a 16th C fencing master. Giacomo Di Grassi's work covers all of the major areas of fencing of the period. A fascinating insight into the Italian school of the period.
Saviolo's "Practise"
Another late 16th Master who taoght in England and put his thoughts into print. Vincentio Saviolo's Practise (dedicated to the Earl of Essex) takes the form of a dialogue between Saviolo and a "pupil"
Hutton's "Old Sword Play"
Captain Alfred Hutton's Old Sword Play, written in the late 19th Century, encapsulates both a great deal of fencing history and a great deal of Victorian misconceptions, but well worth a read.
Historical Armed Combat Association
A really excellent resource for anyone who is interested in the subject, in particular check out the Essays page.
In Ferro Veritas
Adam Crown's on-line site. Covers all forms of period fencing and is the home of The Academy of Arms On-line Quarterly. Well worth a look
La Donna Rapera
Brian Maloney's period fencing page. Has lots of useful links to other pages.
Elizabethan Fencing
William Wilson on the web, again, lots of useful stuff and lots of excellent links.
Martinez Classical Fencing
Recently jazzed up period fencing site that I heartily recommend. 
Oh yes, what about the swinging from the chandeliers? Never did get to do any of that, but GFC did put on a few "period" demonstrations at various fairs etc. around the area. Nothing too authentic, just "pseudo" medieval/renaissance costumes, converted fencing weapons and a great deal of hack and slash and bad dialogue. Nothing to swing from, but is was fun. That's me in the green!!!