The Academy of the Sword: Illustrated Fencing Books 1500-1800

Martial Arts Studies, 2016

Acta Periodica Duellatorum, 2019

Numerous treaties and methods regarding fencing are known today, either written by experts, veterans of sword-masters, or by the ministry or war and its branches: the schools of Joinville and Saumur. Some are destined to horse riders, others to officers. Each of these methods has its own particularities and, due to the abundance of treaties, discerning the qualities, the flaws, and the overall interest of a specific method can seem complicated. An attempt is made below to answer: why were the methods of French saber in the nineteenth century conceived and Why were they made this way, and what connection do they share with the French military world. These texts are compared and analyzed to uncover their function regarding the Army. From this analysis, three types of fencing will emerge, sometimes opposite, sometimes complementary; war fencing: conceived to be applicable on the battlefield-duel fencing (that was less official but still popular in nineteen century France)-and finally, recreational fencing, most often taking the form of a sport.

Acta Periodica Duellatorum, APD6/1, pp. 183-199, 2018

For many years, various associations in France have been working on a new way to practice their historical martial hobbies with swords. Free sparring and competition have been and always will be good tools, but from a technical and tactical standpoint they are maybe quite distant from the original sources and historical documents. Some techniques and other material from martial arts manuals and treatises are often neglected or considered to be too academic. In fact, if the idea of martial opposition is present, we cannot say that today's practices are a rebuilding of any historical practices, whether playful or serious. Based on this observation, my doctoral work, in collaboration with the REGHT association 1 , has led us to propose a new school of practices based on a new reading of martial arts manuals. The project is aimed at anybody who uses a bladed weapon as part of their studies of historical fencing, principally in the form of sparring and friendly competitions. Its name: the Convention of the Sword Players.

Conference presentation summarizing what we know about the proto-guild of English Fencing Masters in the 1500s, its members, and their professional practice.

2018

ABSTRACT The three publications offered for evaluation, Veni Vadi Vici, Mastering the Art of Arms vol 1: The Medieval Dagger, and The Duellist’s Companion, establish by example the relatively young discipline of the accurate recreation of historical martial skills. This discipline includes the following elements: • Textual analysis of historical sources (Veni Vadi Vici). • Image analysis for the purpose of establishing details of the execution of the illustrated action (all three works). • Mechanical or kinesthetic analysis of the actions described and depicted (The Medieval Dagger, The Duellist’s Companion). • Determination of the historical and combat context in which the system is intended to work. In these cases, a formal duel or tournament contest between knights (Veni Vadi Vici, The Medieval Dagger), or illegal but socially acceptable unarmoured duelling (The Duellist’s Companion). • Observation of the overall tactical and mechanical preferences of the martial system represented (The Medieval Dagger, The Duellist’s Companion). • Organisation of the material into a syllabus for study and practice (The Medieval Dagger, The Duellist’s Companion). The submitted works demonstrate the discipline as applied to the extant works of three historical masters: Philippo Vadi (ca 1440–1500), Fiore dei Liberi (ca 1350–1420), and Ridolfo Capoferro (ca 1557–1620). The unified body of work is the approach to the material as represented by these books. The submitted works: 1. Veni Vadi Vici (2013) is a transcription, translation and commentary on the late 15th-century Italian manuscript De Arte Gladiatoria Dimicandi. It makes the content of the manuscript available to anglophone non-paleographers, in a transparent way. The translation itself has also been released as a free download, with the original images in colour reproduction. 2. Mastering the Art of Arms vol 1: The Medieval Dagger (2012) is a practical syllabus for understanding and executing the dagger combat skills represented in Fiore dei Liberi’s 1410 manuscript Il Fior di Battaglia. It includes detailed reference to the source, but also provides a template for martial skill development, such as ways to gradually increase the intensity and complexity of the drill until it approaches an actual combat environment. 3. The Duellist’s Companion (2006) is a training guide for the style of rapier combat represented in Ridolfo Capoferro’s 1610 work Gran Simulacro dell’Arte e dell’uso della scherma. Rapier mechanics and actions are refined and complex, so this book covers mechanics in some detail, and provides comprehensive instructions for making Capoferro’s techniques and theory accessible to the modern reader. Taken as a whole, these publications represent a new form of manuscript study: the recreation from textual sources of our hitherto lost martial heritage, and the development of a pedagogical method by which these arts can be safely taught and practised.

Journal of Early Modern Studies, 2018

This essay explores the parallel development of fencing theory and philosophy in early modern Europe, and suggests that each field significantly influenced the other. Arguably, neither philosophy nor fencing would be the same today had the two not been engaged in this particular cultural symbiosis. An analysis is given of the philosophic content within several historical fencing treatises and of the position of fencing in seventeenth and eighteenth-century education and courtly life. Two case studies are then examined: the influence of the fencing master Charles Besnard on the intellectual development of Descartes, and the fencing master William Hope's appropriation of the ideas of John Locke.

Drawing on the manuscript scans, transcriptions, and translations hosted by Wiktenauer, this book offers the first ever compilation of the 15th century glosses of Johannes Liechtenauer's famous Recital. Each page contains a single play of the long sword or short sword, carefully laid out with the relevant glosses of Sigmund ain Ringeck, Peter von Danzig, Pseudo-Peter von Danzig, and Pseudo-Hans Döbringer side by side, and where applicable illustrated with gorgeous full-color scans from the Goliath Fechtbuch, the Glasgow Fechtbuch, and the treatises of Paulus Kal and Hans Talhoffer. In this way, it offers the most complete perspective possible on the tradition of Johannes Liechtenauer as it was recorded in the mid 15th century.

Martial Arts Studies, 2015