The Arte of Defense The Arte of Defense was studied and taught by masters in the late 15th and 16th Centuries. The most famous of the teachers typically came from Italy. Until the advent of the smallsword and the French schools of fence, the Italians and to a lesser degree the Spanish, enjoyed the role of the most sought after teachers of the Arte of Defence. This is not to say that earlier fencing schools did not exist. The Germans had fine schools and some of the oldest existant fencing manuals come from Germany. The English at the end of the 16th Century followed the continental fencers in taking on the use of the rapier. In defense of English technique, George Silver published a treatise called the Paradoxes of Defence. This treatise was used to espouse the use of the English weapons and to downplay the use of the rapier. Silver hated the Italians and Spanish and made sure that his readers knew that these styles were more dangerous for the user than good English practices. He also wrote a treatise on his Paradoxes called Brief Instructions. Two Italian Elizabethan Masters of note were Saviolo and Di Grassi. Saviolo' s works cover not only his view on fencing mechanics but also honor. Di Grassi in the author's opinion is one of the finer manuals translated to English in this time period. Although Di Grassi predates the Elizabethan period proper, his manual which was orginally published in 1570 was translated into Englsih in the late Elizabethan period. There is a move now to compile electronic copies of existing early fencing manuals. A History of Fencing The history of fencing parallels the evolution of civilization, back from the days of ancient Egypt and Rome, to the barbaric Dark Ages, to the fast and elegant Rennassiance, up to the modern, increasingly popular fencing of today. Fencing has always been regarded as more than a sport; it is an art form, an ancient symbol of power and glory, and a deeply personal, individual form of expression. Fencing is and always has been an intrinsic part of life, from the dueling and battle of yore to the widely captivating movies and facets of popular culture such as Zorro, Scaramouche and The Princess Bride. The earliest evidence of fencing as a sport comes from a carving in Egypt, dating back to about 1200 B.C., which shows a sport fencing bout with masks, protective weapon tips, and judges. The Greek and Roman civilizations favored short swords and light spears, and taught their warriors in schools called ludi. The collapse of the Roman civilization at around 476 A.D., however, brought the crude, heavy weapons of the barbarian invaders and signalled a regression of fencing through the dark ages. It was not until the beginnings of the Renassiance in the 14th centurty that light, fast weapons such as the rapier came back into use, primarily because gunpowder rendered heavy armor obsolete. The fifteenth century brought the beginnings of modern fencing. Spain had the first true fencers, and the first two fencing manuals were published there in 1471 and 1474, but swordplay guilds such as the Marxbruder from Germany began springing up all across Europe. About 1500 the Italians began extensive use of the Rapier. The right hand held the weapon while the left hand held a dagger (often called a Main Gauche) or buckler (a small shield), used for parrying blows. Italian fencing masters, such as Agrippa, who invented the four fencing positions (prime, seconde, tierce, and quarte), and masters di Grassi and Vigiani, who invented the lunge, became very prolific in this time. The 16th century also brought a large increase in the popularity of dueling. More noblemen at during this period were killed in dueling than in war. The Queen Catherine de Médicis of France had many Italian fencing masters come to France and develop fencing there. She was so successful that in 1567, her son, King Charles IX, officially recognized the French Fencing Academy, and awarded many hereditary titles to the new French fencing masters. These new masters were the first to classify and define fencing attacks and parries. In 1573 Henry de St. Didier was the first French fencing master to publish a treatise, and one of the first to advocate heavy use of the Épeé instead of the Rapier. During the 17th century several major changes occured in fencing. The "fleuret", or foil, was devoloped in France as a lighter training weapon for dueling. Right-of-way, a set of rules which made the game a series of alternating attacks and defense, became generally accepted. With right-of-way, duelists were unlikely to impale each other, as they did not both attack at the same time. This made fencing safer and reduced the number of casualties to dueling. |
