Contemporary Swordsmanship Part 1: Fencing without Armour
Swordsmanship /ËsÉËdzmÉnÊÉȘp/: skill and dexterity in the use of the sword.
Fencing /ËfÉnsÉȘĆ/: the action or art of using the sword scientifically
I havenât come across any comprehensive list of the different categories of European sword-fighting styles currently being practiced and available to contemporary people, so I thought this might be an interesting thing to do. Well, except for maybe this one, or even this one. In any case, this illustrated guide should hopefully be a useful reference point for anyone who likes swords and is thinking about learning how to use them, but isnât sure what kind of fencing or sword fighting exists and is the best for them.
Iâve decided to split the types of swordsmanship into two main sub-categories: sword fighting with armour or without armour. I personally consider that armour dictates the nature of combat more than most other determining factors. Or at least it should.
This is Part 1, about unarmoured fencing. Part 2 is about armoured fencing.
Battle Gaming (aka âBoffer Fightingâ)
Battle Gaming, which may or may not be considered a LARP (despite the objection of many of its participants) but is often categorised as one, is known as Live-action Wargames (LAW), or simply âBoffer Fightingâ. It is a North American medieval combat sport where participants use mock foam-padded weapons (boffer) in live action battles.
Players are invited to dress as and role-play a warrior in the battles. Unlike in LARP, these personas are never permanently killed (removed) from the games. Weapons are built with foam to prevent injury. All battle gaming groups use a targeted tag system. The common tag targets are left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg, torso and head. Almost all battle game organisations do not use helmets, therefore hand held weapons may not strike at the head, though there are many different types of boffer fights and some do not adhere to this rule. Targets and all weapons must be larger than an eye socket. All battle gaming combat assumes that the weapons are padded enough that full force blows can be received without injury.
It can be distinguished from more âtheatricalâ LARPs by its relatively high level of full-contact violence (body checks, shield kicks, grappling, and the like), made possible by its high standards of weapon safety. Groups participate in varying battles, ranging from simple two-team death-match battles to capture-the-flag or âconquer the castleâ type scenarios.
Geographic areas are organised into chapters called ârealmsâ, which hold smaller events in their area. Separate from these are groups called âunitsâ, which are groups of people that camp together and/or fight together on the field, and often are made up of a number of people from the same realm. Units tend to have distinctive color schemes, characterisation, and style, but each unit is often wildly different from the next. Because there is no definitive time period set for Battle Gaming, characters and units come from a wide range of time periods. This results in extreme anachronisms and oddities like watching thirteenth-century Vikings team up with goblins to fight Roman legions, or Narnia getting in a fight with Mordor.
The three main chapters of Battle Gaming are Amtgard, Belegarth and Dagorhir.
Whenever âproperâ LARP (i.e. European LARP) players say that they are not mere âboffer fightersâ, this is what they are referring to.
Gladiatorial Combat Re-enactment
There are three kinds of sources that Gladiatorial Combat re-constructors and researchers can look towards in the reconstruction of this combat system:
Archaeological Artifacts: There are Gladiator arms and armour to be found in the archaeological record, as well as the bones of Gladiators showing the traces of wounds received by these arms. Inscriptions on gravestones, buildings and memorials also fall in this category though may have to be interpreted from abbreviations and missing or damaged letters.
Surviving texts: Textual sources, especially those using a dead language, are always prone to errors in translation or interpretation. Also we often do not have the original publications of most texts from antiquity, but merely copies of copies, that were manufactured by the medieval church. Gladiator combat and the fighting techniques used seem to have been common knowledge among the writers and readers of our sources, so they are not very specific or, even if specific, they take the readers knowledge for granted.
Iconographic sources: Iconographic sources in the archaeological record are the single most important source on Gladiator combat, as these finds allow us to create a link between the texts and the artifacts. Without the contemporary depictions of Gladiators we would not have an idea which Armaturae would have worn which helmet from the archaeological record or which shields are used exactly by which Armatura. We also would only know a few of the pairings described by inscriptions and texts. It is also possible to chart the development of Gladiatorial arms and armor thanks to the iconographic sources.
As long as no clear and concise description of gladiatorial combat techniques and combat rules are found, we can speculate about gladiatorial combat, but we can never be sure. As a speculative type of Western Martial Art, with no accessible tradition, Gladiator Combat is referred to as a type III WMA.
There are many Roman and Gladiator re-enactment groups globally, so perhaps the Gladiator Research group on Facebook is a good place to start.
I havenât seen many live examples of this type of combat, but certainly âexperimentalâ and âroughâ were two of the words that came to mind.
SCA Rapier Combat is a style of fencing practiced in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). The primary focus is to study, replicate and compete with styles of rapier sword-fighting found in Europe during the Renaissance period, using blunted steel swords and a variety of off-hand defensive items.
Participants wear period clothing while competing, along with or incorporating protective equipment (such as modern fencing masks) for safety. Rapier combat in the SCA is based on a system of honor and chivalry. Because the combat is full speed and unchoreographed, the combatants themselves determine if the attacks they receive were successful based on the angle, location, and force of the strike. For example, a valid blow to the foot or leg will disable the leg, so the fighter must then fight kneeling, sitting, or standing on one leg.
There are three categories of SCA rapier combat: 1) Light 2) Heavy and 3) Cut & Thrust.
Hereâs how to get started in the SCA.
If you look past the flamboyant garb, fictional personas and affectation, this isnât, in my view, a million miles off from 17th century historical fencing, certainly compared to their rattan âheavy combatâ, which is relatively more disconnected from historical reality.
Historical Rapier Fencing (& other thrusting weapons)
A precursor of the rapier, the spada da lato or âside-swordâ is the Italian term for the type of sword popular during the late 16th century, corresponding to the Spanish espada ropera. A cut-and-thrust sword, ideal for handling the mix of armored and unarmored opponents of that time, it is a continuation of the medieval arming sword and in turn the predecessor of the rapier of the Early Modern period. European duelling weapons developed through several forms of the rapier to the smallswordâreflecting the changes from a cutting style of swordplay to a thrusting style (âfoiningâ). This was a result of increasing specialisation in their use on the duelling field, and the social stigma attached to carrying and using swords too obviously adapted to the actual âworkâ of warfare. The smallsword, and the last version of the rapier, were made possible only by metallurgical advances in the 17th century as high toughness steels became more readily available.
Attempts at reconstructing the discontinued traditions of European systems of combat began in the late 19th century, with a revival of interest in historical fencing. This included reconstructions of the fencing systems of several historical masters such as George Silver and Achille Marozzo. The movement was led in England by Captain Alfred Hutton and Egerton Castle.
Throughout the 20th century a small number of researchers, principally academics with access to some of the sources, continued exploring the field of Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) from a largely academic perspective. In 1972, James Jackson published a book called Three Elizabethan Manuals of Fence. This work reprinted the works of Silver, Giacomo di Grassi, and Vincentio Saviolo.
Since 1991, many HEMA communities have flourished in Europe, North America, Australia and the wider Anglosphere. These groups are engaged in attempting to reconstruct HEMA using various training methods. As far as Europe is concerned, Southern Europe, Spain and Italy in particular, appear to have the greatest concentration of rapier fencing schools, followed closely by the United Kingdom.
The HEMA Group Finder can help you locate a school that specialises in sidesword, rapier or smallsword, or any of the other weapons listed below.
Historical Longsword Fencing (& other cut-oriented weapons)
While there is limited documentation of the martial arts of classical antiquity or the early medieval period such as Gladiatorial or Viking combat, there are many surviving dedicated technical treatises or combat manuals date to the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period. For this reason, the focus of the recreation of the Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) is on the period of the half-millennium of ca. 1300 to 1800, with a German and an Italian school flowering in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance (14th to 16th centuries).
During the Late Middle Ages, the longsword had a position of honour among these disciplines. The longsword, or hand-and-a-half sword, was the classic weapon of the knight, and was chiefly used in the 1300s and 1400s, surviving as a sport weapon into the 1700s. Other cutting or cut-and-thrust weapons from that earlier period are arming sword, dussack, sword & buckler, and langes messer, (but interestingly, nothing at all about sword & shield) and later, as civilian duelling swords became increasingly thrust-oriented, the backsword (16th and 17th centuries), the basket-hilted sword (16th to 18th centuries), and the military sabre (19th century) retained important roles as side weapons in warfare.
In 1965, Martin Wierschin published a bibliography of German fencing manuals, along with a transcription of Codex Ringeck and a glossary of terms. In turn, this led to the publication of Hans-Peter Hilsâ seminal work on Johannes Liechtenauer in 1985.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Patri J. Pugliese began making photocopies of historical treatises available to interested parties, greatly spurring on research. 1994 saw the rise of the Hammerterz Forum, a publication devoted entirely to the history of swordsmanship. During the late 1990s, translations and interpretations of historical sources began appearing in print as well as online, with the Wiktenauer becoming the largest online database dedicated to the masters, manuals, and techniques in recent years.
There are HEMA schools that teach everything from longsword to sabre all over Europe, the USA and beyond, but probably the highest concentration can be found in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe, with Sweden, Germany and Poland being arguably the foremost countries in terms of variety of fencing halls, skill and number of practitioners, and abundance of quality instructors and academic researchers.
The fundamental difference between HEMA sword practice and the other types of swordsmanship listed here is the study and application of historical resources and the lack of lineage or living tradition, making HEMA a Type II WMA. The weapons used vary, but tend to be either blunted steel training swords such as the federn, or nylon sword simulators.
Here is a more detailed overview of the different weapons and fencing schools that fall under these last two categories of fencing.
The HEMA community is relatively small, and yet there are signs that point to a possible divide emerging between those that consider tournament fighting to be a valid test of fencing abilities and those that very emphatically do not, reminiscent of the split between classical and sports fencers.
Mensur - Academic Fencing
Academic fencing (German akademisches Fechten) or Mensur is the traditional kind of fencing practiced by some student corporations (Studentenverbindungen) in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and to a minor extent in Kosovo, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Flanders. It is a traditional, strictly regulated épée / rapier fight between two male members of different fraternities with sharp weapons. The German technical term Mensur (from Latin, dimension) in the 16th century referred to the specified distance between each of the fencers.
Mensur is neither a duel nor a sport. It is a traditional way of training and educating character and personality; thus, in a mensur bout, there is neither winner nor loser. In contrast to sport fencing, the participants stand their ground at a fixed distance. At the beginning of the tradition, duelers wore only their normal clothing (as duels sometimes would arise spontaneously) or light-cloth armor on arm, torso, and throat. In recent years, fencers are protected by mail or padding for the body, fencing arm, fencing hand (gauntlet) and the throat, completed by steel goggles with a nose guard. In Austria a nose guard is uncommon. They fence at armâs length and stand more or less in one place, while attempting to hit the unprotected areas of their opponentâs face and head. Flinching or dodging is not allowed, the goal being less to avoid injury than to endure it stoically. Two physicians are present (one for each opponent) to attend to injuries and stop the fight if necessary.
The participants, or Paukanten, use specially developed swords. The so-called MensurschlÀger (or simply SchlÀger), exists in two versions. The most common weapon is the KorbschlÀger with a basket-type guard. Some universities in the eastern part of Germany use the so-called GlockenschlÀger, which is equipped with a bell-shaped guard.
The scar resulting from a hit is called a âsmiteâ (German Schmiss), and was seen as a badge of honour, especially in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th. Most Mensur scars are located on the left temple of the forehead. Scars on the cheek and chin are rather uncommon today and sometimes due to accidents.
How to get into this? You must join a a Burschenschaft; a traditional type of German fraternity. There are schlagende (allows Mensur) or even pflichtschlagende (mandatory Mensur) Burschenschaft. The SĂŒddeutsches Kartell is probably the best option.
Having said that, these fraternities might be ever so slightly on the conservative side of things.
Stage Combat is a specialised technique in theatre designed to create the illusion of physical combat without causing harm to the performers. It is employed in live stage plays as well as operatic and ballet productions. The term is also used informally to describe Fight choreography for other production media including film and television. It is a common field of study for actors and dancers with some form of martial arts training, and is closely related to the practice of stunts.
The over-riding concern is for the safety of the actors and audience. This requirement has led to the adaptation of many standard martial arts and fencing skills specifically for performance. For example, many basic sword attacks and parries must be modified to ensure that the actors do not bring the points of their weapons past their partnerâs face or otherwise inadvertently risk the other actorâs health and well-being. Attacking actions in stage combat are extended past the performance partnerâs body, or aimed short of their apparent targets.
Here are several Stage Combat Training organisations as listed by the Society of American Fight Directors.
And letâs face it, most of us trying to become swordfighters of one form or the other were probably initially inspired as kids by these kinds of choreographed sword fights to begin with.
Classical Fencing is the practice of fencing with foil, sabre and epee as they were fenced prior to the introduction of the electric scoring apparatus in the early 20th century. It is a form of traditional fencing in that it is an unbroken tradition (or type I WMA) with methods and philosophies that are not those of contemporary sport fencing. Just as the use of electricity separates classical fencing from sport fencing, the continuity of study also separates historical fencing from classical. To practice historical fencing (longsword, sword & buckler, rapier, military sabre, smallsword etc) requires the study of pre-1800 historical treatises rather than the unbroken line of pedagogy from Maestro to Maestro that can be found in classical fencing.
There is no agreement as to the exact rules of classical fencing, but there are a number of generalisations that unify contemporary classical fencing.
 First of these is the expression that âclassical fencing is a frank encounter between two opponentsâ where the object is to touch the other fencer without being touched. Even though the âweaponsâ are blunt, the fencers treat them as though they were in fact sharp.
Classical fencing still uses the same weapons that have been used in fencing since the early 19th centur - namely, the standard (non-electric) foil, standard épée (equipped with a pointe d'arret), and sabre (including both blunted dueling sabres and modern standard sporting sabres).
Olympic and classical fencing differ in the use of weapon grips for foil and épée. In sport fencing, the most used handle for foil and épée is the pistol grip, with the French retaining significant use in épée. Classical fencing prohibits the pistol grip, and uses the Italian and French grips primarily, and occasionally the Spanish grip.
Today, classical fencing clubs (and classical fencing instructors and masters) can be found in Europe, the United States, Canada, and Australia. The Classical Fencing subreddit contains various links to salles (thatâs French for âhallâ, as they like to say) and is a good place to ask for help to join a club.
Classical fencing refers to a period of time during which the sword was no longer commonly worn as an article of a gentlemanâs everyday attire, a period referred to as âthe Golden Ageâ, when (according to classical fencers) the âart of fencing reached its highest peakâ, with quite literally ânothing else to discover about sword applicationâ. I wonder what the people that regularly used swords âfor realsâ in both civilian life as well as the battlefield would make of that particular claim.
Sport Fencing became an increasingly organised competitive activity late in the 19th century. Basic conventions were first collected and set down in the 1880s by the French fencing master Camille Prevost. Officially recognised fencing associations also began to appear: the Amateur Fencers League of America was founded in 1891, the Amateur Fencing Association in Great Britain in 1902, and the FĂ©dĂ©ration des Salles des Armes et SociĂ©tĂ©s dâEscrime in France in 1906.
Meanwhile, fencing for men had been part of the Olympic Games with their revival in 1896. In 1900 the Ă©pĂ©e joined the foil and sabre as individual events in the Olympic program. Team competition in the foil was introduced in the 1904 Games, followed by the sabre and Ă©pĂ©e in 1908. By the early 20th century, numerous disputes had arisen over various fencing rules. For instance, at the 1912 Olympic Games, France withdrew its entire team over a dispute regarding the target area for foil, and the Italians refused to fence in the Ă©pĂ©e events because of a rejected request to increase the allowed length of the Ă©pĂ©e blade. As a result, in 1913 the FĂ©dĂ©ration Internationale dâEscrime was founded and thereafter was the governing body of international fencing for amateurs, both in the Olympic Games and in world championships. Events for women fencers have been added to the Olympic contest over the years: individual foil for women was first included in the 1924 Olympic Games, and a team event for women was introduced in the 1960 Games. Womenâs team and individual Ă©pĂ©e made their Olympic debut in the 1996 Games.
From the end of the 19th century until after World War II, épée and foil competitions were dominated by the French and Italians; thereafter, as fencing became more popular worldwide, the Soviet and Hungarian fencers became dominant. Especially in sabre, the Hungarians dominated for much of the 20th century.
In 1936 the electrical Ă©pĂ©e was adopted for competition, eliminating the sometimes inaccurate determinations by fencing officials; the arrival and judgment of hits is completely registered by the electrical apparatus. In 1955 electrical scoring was introduced for foil competitions, making its Olympic debut at the 1956 Games, but judges are still required to interpret the priority of the arrival of hits. Electrical scoring for the sabre became part of the Olympic program at the 1992 Games. The electrical system used in fencing works on the same principle as the doorbell. Fencers wear clothing made of lamĂ© interlaced with copper threads; the lamĂ© is sensitive to the electrical weapon. In Ă©pĂ©e the entire suit is sensitive, as the entire body is the target in that fencing variant; in foil, only the vest worn by the fencer is sensitive; in sabre the vest and mask are sensitive. Cords are connected to the fencerâs clothing, to the weapon, and to the scoring box. (The cords connected to the fencer coil into a reel that is spring-loaded to take up any slack in the cords and prevent the fencer from tripping.) When a weapon touches the fencer with a small amount of pressure, a circuit is created and the scoring box reflects a hit. In Olympic fencing, the first fencer to record 15 points wins the bout. Bouts can also be of a predetermined duration, in which case the fencer with the highest score wins.
Sport fencing has certain conventions, such as Priority, or right-of-way (RoW). Right-of-way determines who has the right to hit whom at any given moment in an exchange of blade actions. The rules guide the fencer, helping create an advantage in distance and timing over the opponent and allowing the fencer to follow the most important precept of sword fightint - to hit an opponent and not be hit. Offensively, right-of-way is established by extending the sword arm straight and menacing the opponent with the weapon point. The other fencer thus becomes the defender and must parry (block) the attack before attempting any offensive action. Once the defender produces a parry that deflects the attack, the defender claims right-of-way and becomes the new attacker by riposting (counterattacking). The initial attacker then becomes the defender, and must parry the riposte. Right-of-way thus alternates back and forth as one fencer creates an advantage over the other.
If playing a game of tag with car antennae (as a HEMA guy Iâm contractually obliged to use this phrase) sounds like the sort of fun swordsmanship youâd like to get into, this map shows locations in the USA or otherwise this forum might be a good place to ask for help.
Everyone knows that the lightsabre (âan elegant weapon, for a more civilised ageâ), is a fictional energy weapon featured in the Star Wars universe. Most people reading this will also know that Olympic fencer and fight choreographer Bob Anderson developed the fight scenes for the original trilogy.
What might not be common knowledge is that there are many 'Lightsabre Academiesâ around the world teaching students how to fence with these imaginary weapon simulators, what some of these schools refer to as Sport Lightsabre Combat.
The largest in Europe appears to be the LudoSport Lightsaber Combat Academy - a chain with several schools originating in Italy in 2007 that teach students in the art of lightsaber combat. The three Founding Masters of LudoSport have experience in different sports, martial arts and fencing, though they specify that Lightsaber Combat âdoes not derive from any other combat art in any way, (âŠ) because the various sports that inspired Lightsaber Combat have not been used to supply single movements or techniques, but solely aspects that could be adapted to the instrument that this sport uses.â
According to LudoSport, Sport Lightsaber Combat is a form of recreational- sporting combat competition that can be carried out specifically and only with the instruments and the presumption of the existence â in imagination â of an actual lightsabre. This instrument is a weapon with a weightless blade, with a 360° edge that cuts everything except itself. Like fencing, it has precise rules, common language, and a full attack and defence system. The academy provides the lightsabres, which are made of an electronic sound-enabled aluminium hilt plus a soft polycarbonate tube thatâs better to use for combat than fragile film replicas.
There are other similar Academies such as the New York Lightsaber Academy or The Sabre Authority in Singapore, as well as many others to chose from.
Star Wars is the first movie I saw several times in the theatre as a child, so I can understand what drives these folks, but having said that, HoS lIâ Dalo'Ha'chuâ!
Thatâs it for modern unarmoured European fencing as far as I know. Please let me know if you can think of other similar examples that do not fall under any of the categories above, or if you think Iâm an idiot for misrepresenting your little group or whatever.
See part 2 for fighting in armour.
[sources: wikipedia, official websites, google]
