distant past
The confrontation of the French and Italian fencing schools
Starting from the middle of the XVII century, when the French shortened their epee, fencing with stabbing weapons began to progress rapidly in a variety of techniques, dexterity and speed of their application. From that moment, a sharp divergence of the French school (more progressive) and Italian (more conservative) begins. These discrepancies reached their peak by the end of the 19th century.
In France, from the second half of the 18th century, fencing has made rapid significant progress, clearly ahead of Italy. In 1736, the Frenchman Girard introduced the 8th and last defense, almost two centuries later than the 7th. In 1755, in the French Encyclopedia, the article “fencing” first talked about the need to introduce a fencing mask to prevent accidents. But 10 years passed before fencing masks were finally introduced. Continue reading
HISTORY OF FENCING IN THE MIDDLE CENTURIES
In the Middle Ages, the possession of knives was the privilege of chivalry. In the wars of that time, the battle was decided by a clash of cavalry. Sometimes the battle was replaced by martial arts of two representatives of hostile armies. Tacitus3 in the work “Germany” describes the struggle of two opponents, the outcome of which decided the victory of the armies.
The religious savagery of the Middle Ages gave rise to another form of martial art – the “court of God.” It was a duel, which took place by order of the court, if one of the litigants disputed the justice of the verdict. The winner of the “court of God” was recognized as the winner of the court case. Continue reading
Types of Fencing
About 30 years ago, fencing was one particular sport. Now there are a number of sports and near-sports disciplines that can be called fencing. With fairly different rules and shells, what unites them is that one way or another the cold steel battle is simulated – which is fencing in the broad sense of the word.
For adherents of one kind or another, I’ll immediately declare that I’m not going to drown for one thing. I also do not consider martial arts such as kendo, slept, or naginatajutsu, since I know very little about them. In the review there will be only “European” fencing. Continue reading
