Salle Green's Noble Company of the Sword, the Salle's historical and demonstration team, presented a 90 minute history and demonstration of the evolution of sword play from the Medieval and Renaissance plays of William Shakespeare to the present on 26 May 2010 at Agecroft Hall in Richmond's Windsor Farms.  Agecroft Hall is a historic Tudor Manor house, constructed in the 1400s in Lancashire, England, and brought to the United States and reassembled in Richmond in 1925. 

The program description from Agecroft Hall's newsletter, The Agecroft Scribe, provides a good overview of what we set out to do:

  The Venue - Agecroft Hall in the Richmond West End

  The Noble Company of the Sword, Salle Green's demonstration team (left to right): Dr. Joseph Iaquinto (German Longsword, Polaxe, Rapier, Classical Epee), Mark Logan (Foil), Micah Taylor (Foil), Claire Schlichtherle (Stage Manager and Foil alternate), Heather Shacker (Sabre), Jordan Wade (Sabre), Kevin Pratt (Classical Epee), Tom Epperson (Smallsword), Dr. Tom DeMayo (Sword and Buckler, Broadsword)

  Maitre d'Armes Walter Green introduces the presentation - we had an audience of approximately 60 of all ages

  Tom DeMayo rolls off the separated sword and buckler of Walter Green to hit with his arming sword in one of Sigmund Ringeck's set pieces for training from the 1400s

  Walter Green closes the distance with his longsword in the position of Nebenhut as Joseph Iaquinto maneuvers in the position of Alber in German longsword play in the Johannes Lichtenauer tradition of the 1400s

  and Joseph Iaquinto takes advantage of distance and timing to strike with Zornhau (the Strike of Wrath), one of the Meisterhauen (Master Cuts)

  Walter Green parries with the queue against Joseph Iaqunto's attack at the leg with the Polaxe from the middle 1400s in the style of Jue de la Hache

  Joseph Iaquinto adopts the High Ward in rapier after the 1594 teachings of Giacomo DiGrassi

  Walter Green parries Joseph Iaquinto's rapier thrust in rapier and buckler play

  Tom DeMayo uses a grapple to set up the downright blow to the head of Walter Green in the Broadsword and Backsword play of George Silver of 1599

  Tom Epperson thrusts at Smallsword in the style of a variety of masters of the 1700s, including Labat and Angelo

 yes, it gets hot in the protective equipment on a warm May evening in Richmond - a note to modern fencers used to masks when working with weapons: masks are an invention of the 1800s, and we did not depict their use because it is historically inaccurate - all participants had thoroughly practiced their plays and executed at a speed the audience could easily see and to which the opponent could safely react

  Moniteur Jospeh Iaquinto on the attack to Kevin Pratt's exposed arm in Classical Epee of 1900

  young members of the audience ably served as judges for the Classical Epee bout

  Claire Schlichtherle and Tom DeMayo help set up for electric bouts as Mark Logan and Micah Taylor hook up

 Micah Taylor waits as his opponent hooks up

  Micah Taylor on the attack against Mark Logan

  Moniteur Mark Logan and C rated sabre fencer Heather Shacker confer on how to fight on the stage - used to 14 meter fencing strips, the much narrower stage added a new dimension to distance control

 electric sabre in a very small space - Heather Shacker starts to recover and Jordyn Wade's riposte is coming out

THE PRESENTATION TEXT

I.  Introduction

Welcome to the audience.

Introduce the members of the Team:

Dr Tom DeMayo – sword and buckler and broadsword

Dr Joseph Iaquinto – longsword, polaxe, rapier, classical epee

Tom Epperson – small sword

Kevin Pratt – classical epee

Mark Logan – foil

Micah Taylor – foil

Claire Schlichtherle – foil alternate and stage manager

Heather Shacker – sabre

Jordyn Wade - sabre

Subject introduction: 

·       The evolution of European swordplay from the Medieval period to modern sport fencing.

·       In the context of Shakespeare and Agecroft Hall

·       In Shakespeare’s day most of his audience understood and was familiar with one form or another of the use of the sword

·       The average middle class or higher male carried a sword as a regular accessory

·       And sword was used to settle personal quarrels

·       As well as a form of public entertainment – the prize fights of masters of arms

o  Started as public guild examinations

o  Became pure entertainment in the later 1600s

o  Finally transitioned from swords to boxing in the mid 1700s

o  Called prize fight because the winner got to keep the money thrown on the stage

Some caveats –  

·       No one alive today actually studied under a Medieval or Renaissance fencing master.

·       We are working from manuals of the time and from accepted translations and interpretations

·       Medieval ones are often more a reminder than a detailed instruction guide

·       Medieval diagrams suffer from the level of art work at the time

·       Manuals become progressively better and easier to interpret as move into Renaissance and Enlightenment – vocabulary becomes more modern and illustrations better

·       What we are presenting is what we believe to be an accurate portrayal of sword combat through the last 700 years.

Finally, safety – the weapons we will demonstrate without a mask we will do slowly and in a controlled manner.  Even as training weapons being hit by one is like being hit by a baseball.

II.  Sword and Buckler - Medieval

First surviving fencing manual is a sword and buckler manual from 1300 – Tower Manuscript I.33

·       first fencing student we know by name comes from this manual – Walpurgis, a woman.

Therefore it seemed logical to start with this weapon.

Sword we are using is the arming sword – a single hand sword with both an edge for cutting and a point for thrusting.

These swords are wooden wasters.  Wasters were commonly used for training for safety and to avoid damaging actual weapons.

The second half of the sword and buckler combination is the buckler 

·       Small round shield held with one hand and used for offense and defense.

·       These are leather – other materials were wood, metal, or combinations of these materials.

Manuscript I.33 taught at the level of if my opponent does this, I do that.

By early 1400s set pieces were being used to train students – we will show four examples of these combinations of movements.

FIRST DEMO

·       Use of sword and buckler together to parry

·       Winding is a common theme – using leverage to move the opponent’s blade to the desired position

·       Use of step off to the side to hit around the opponent’s defense

Parry, Wind Up Left, Reverse Around Right

SECOND DEMO

·       Very common theme with buckler work is that the sword and the buckler move together.

·       You will see winding again – this time as a complete shift in the orientation of the arm and blade.

·       And note what happens when the sword and buckler are separated.

Parry With Raised Buckler, Wind To Thrust, Up To Meet, Roll Off To Leg

THIRD DEMO

·       In this we will see two important themes – first the use of continuous attack to unbalance and pressure the opponent

·       Second the use of the buckler itself as a leverage tool

Two Zucken, Shove Up With Step, Pull And Thrust

FOURTH DEMO

·       Common to think of the buckler as a shield – but it was often reinforced by the sword

·       And could be used as a weapon in its own right

·       This set piece introduces the concept of disarming, a common theme up through the 1800s.

Reinforce Shield Upside Down, Grab Buckler, And Whack

III.  German Longsword - Medieval

The Longsword

·       Hand and a half

·       Two hand

·       Straight blade with true and reverse edges and a point

·       Used for both cut and thrust

Two major schools – the German \ and the Italian.  We work primarily with the German tradition.  What we are presenting comes from Sigmund Ringeck – in the Johannes Liechtenauer tradition that included a long list of masters in the 1400s through the 1500s

This is the core weapon for the development of scientific swordplay in Europe.  Most of the concepts of modern fencing, and of all the intervening varieties of European swordplay come from Medieval longsword.

FIRST DEMO 

·       Today when we fence we think of guard positions as fixed places from which we act and to which we retreat.  In Medieval times guards or wards were flowing, constantly changing to either mirror the opponent or to counter his action.

·       Movement was circular – today we move on a fixed line, a practice that evolved from dueling in the 1800s.  Before that fencers constantly moved to seek advantage.

·       Distance is very important also – watch for what happens when one fencer steps into range.

Mirroring

With Attack by Zornhau on step in

SECOND DEMO 

·       The concept of Meisterhau is very important – this is a combination of defense and attack in one continuous movement.

·       We just saw the sweeping cut of Zornhau, the stroke of wrath.  We will demonstrate two others.  Look in each case for how the defender cuts into the attack and then transitions to push with the point.

·       Although we think of these as chopping weapons that is not correct – about 50% of Longsword is thrusting

Krumphau against Oberhau

Ochs versus Zornhau

THIRD DEMO 

·       In next action watch for the same principle of continuous action we saw in one of the sword and buckler plays – the zucken

·       And the futility of only parrying

·       You will see one of the fencers close the distance so as to overrun the opponent

Zucken

FOURTH DEMO

We don’t illustrate it extensively, but Medieval swordsmen were very willing to get to close distance and overpower the opponent – wrestling was consider a fighting skill and noblemen employed both fencing and wrestling masters.

·       Even though the blade of the weapon is long the fencer was willing to close and use that length for leverage and to get inside the opponent’s guard

·       Excellent if somewhat bloodthirsty application is slicing of the hands

Slicing of the Hands

IV.  Pollaxe - Medieval

First weapon built specifically for fencing – combat in the lists in tournaments.  Some were undoubtedly used in war, and one version, the Lucerne Hammer, is found in Swiss armories.

Parts:

·       Dague

·       Mail

·       Bec

·       Altogether the cross

·       Haft

·       Queue

Although you would think the Cross would be the business end, over 70% of the one surviving Pollaxe manual, La Jeu de la Hache from the 1400s, focuses on Queue techniques.

DEMO ONE 

·       Major advantage of the polaxe is its ability to pivot on the opponent’s weapon.

Strike With Queue, Block, Strike With Mail

DEMO TWO 

·       The cross can be also be used as a blocking tool to rob the opponent’s axe of its energy and allow a thrusting attack.

Strike With Cross, Block With Cross, Disengage, Thrust With Queue

DEMO THREE 

·       The cross also allowed hooking of the opponent’s body to throw him off balance – once off balance, a good shove and the opponent was on the ground

Strike With Cross, Block With Queue, Bec To Hook

DEMO FOUR 

·       Much polaxe technique emphasized physical use of the haft of the axe for leverage – wrestling with sticks if you will

·       In this case we uses the Mail as a hook to pull the opponent forward off balance and then allow his momentum to contribute to the dague blow

Clash, hook and pull forward, thrust

DEMO FIVE 

·       One way to win in a tournament was to force your opponent out of the lists, the fighting area.  In polaxe this was generally a square or circle, marked with barriers or by something as simple as straw on the ground.

·       Leverage of the queue allows fencer to pivot the opponent and run him out

Parry with queue, lift up and rotate, shove out by the back

V.  Rapier - Renaissance

The Rapier comes out of Italy, and we can accurately talk about an Italian invasion of England in Shakespeare’s time.  This created a real conflict with the fencing masters who taught traditional English swordsmanship. 

·       Conflict of ideas

·       Conflict of what is English versus foreign

·       Social conflict between tradesmen English fencing masters and Italians who were of the class of gentlemen

The rapier itself is a long bladed weapon used in its early days for cutting, but eventually becoming almost entirely a thrusting weapon.  A wide variety of guard patterns were developed, and blade lengths could reach 5 feet – we are demonstrating with city of London legal weapons – a blade longer than 3 feet 6 inches resulted in you having the tip broken off by the guards at the city gates.

We will be demonstrating techniques from Digrassi, one of the first Italian masters to be published in English and whose 1590s book would have been familiar to Shakespeare’s audience.

It is important to note that: 

·       Emphasis so far has been on the quick end to the fight – rapier continues that

·       These fighting systems are designed to deal with less skilled opponents – dealing with drunks and with valiant men with no training who simply threw themselves at you were difficult problems

DEMO ONE

We see now an emphasis on immediately being in a fighting position after drawing the sword, with a progression into a preferred combat position, and wards as modern guards from which you worked throughout the fight

Sequence of Wards 

·       High Ward

·       Middle Ward

·       Base Ward or Lock

DEMO TWO 

·       When we draw there is an imperative for Immediate offensive action, much as was the case in German Longsword

·       And if the opponent voids (stepping to the side to avoid the hit) the thrust converts to a cut

General Attack

General Attack With Cut

DEMO THREE 

·       DiGrassi teaches a series of defenses that are more subtle and more modern that what we saw in Longsword.

·       For example, in this case not only does he parry, but he allows the passion of the opponent to deliver his hit by running onto the blade.

Defense against thrust in High Ward

DEMO FOUR

·       The circular style of longsword fencing remains in rapier fencing, although we start to see footwork that looks more modern.

·       The attack itself is more linear than in Medieval fencing.

·       However, the principle of continuous action certainly still applies as the fencer uses continued forward movement after the parry to press his reply home.

Parry Riposte Sequence Against Attack From Low Ward

The rapier probably has the greatest variety of relationships with other weapons of any sword in history:

·       Single rapier

·       Rapier and dagger

·       Case of rapiers

·       Rapier and cloak

·       Rapier and lantern

·       Rapier and targe

·       Rapier and buckler

The last gives the English language the term swashbuckling – sound of rapier, dagger, and clothing as young toughs strutted through the streets of London.

DEMO FIVE 

·       Unlike in Medieval sword and buckler the buckler is separate from the sword

·       Buckler held far out to cut off the angles – this is one of the first applications of mathematics to swordplay – a theme becomes increasingly common in the 1500s and 1600s

Rapier and buckler

VI.  Broadsword/Backsword - Renaissance

Our broadsword and backsword play is drawn from George Silver

·       Transition between Medieval and Modern.

·       Because this style of swordplay was commonly used in prize fights, Shakespeare’s audience would have been familiar with it.

·       Its essential stoutness is shown by the fact that much of technique survived in military sword techniques through the late 1800s.

The Broadsword had front and reverse edges, a wide blade, and a point.  Typically it had a basket hilt to fully protect the hand.  Its interchangeable cousin was the backsword, distinguished by a sharp front edge and a flat back edge.

We are demonstrating broadsword with singlesticks.  Singlestick play as an English village game was also known as backswording and used much of Silver’s play.  Singlestick survived into the early 1950s, before dieing out with a number of similar violent country sports, such as shin kicking.

DEMO ONE 

·       Silver has a sophisticated view of timing and distance.

·       Like the longsword fencer advocates keeping the distance so that an opponent will be vulnerable to immediate attack when he steps into the fencer’s attack distance.

·       He distinguishes between true fights and false fights.  Like in longsword where the blade cleared the way for the body, in Silver’s view a quick way to die was to move the body before you move the sword.  This concept remains in modern fencing as the rules of right of way in foil and sabre.

·       His open fight position is designed to maximize the advantage of true fight and distance control.

Downright Blow from Open Fight

DEMO TWO

·       If open fight is a largely vertical attack, there must be a counter that defends against it – this is Silver’s True Guardant.

·       The defense sets up the riposte – the attack after your parry.

True Guardant Fight with Riposte

DEMO THREE 

·       Against lower attacks the True Guardant simply sinks to the level of the attack

·       This series of guards builds a box of steel around the torso – concept of defensive box – used not only in modern fencing but also in some Asian weapon arts

Bastard Guardant Left and Right

DEMO FOUR 

·       For Silver Medieval wrestling has not gone away as a component of sword play

·       He emphasizes that grappling is not a good thing, but that the best way to counter a grappler is to be able to grapple well yourself.

·       At the simplest level this is just a hand press to control the opponent’s guard, and hence the weapon

Diagonal cut against Bastard Guardant to inside

DEMO FIVE

·       At a more aggressive level Silver answers the attack with a wrist lock

·       This opens many options including bashing the face with the guard – fencers were expected to use the whole weapon.

Diagonal cut against Forehand Ward to inside

DEMO SIX

·       Silver is a major foe of Italianate rapier fencing believing that it was unsound

·       Silver describes what is clearly a complete system of swordplay

·       But then Silver adopts four positions from Italian fencing and gives them names that ape Italian attacks but are not correct as wards

o  Stocatta

o  Imbrocatta

o  Montanta

o  Passata

·       It is interesting what fashion can do even to life and death with swords

 VII.  Smallsword - Enlightenment

The longest lived sword

·       1660s to today

·       Smallsword served as the standard weapon for general officers and officers of the staff corps through the late 1800s, is still carried by cadets of some military academies, and is worn by members of the French Academy.

The smallsword is:

·       Shorter than the rapier

·       Has a simplified guard

·       Is lighter, better balanced, and faster

Our smallsword play is drawn from Angelo in the mid 1700s.

DEMO ONE

For the first time we find a formal salute – this reflects the increasing use of the sword for competition

Salute – 4 movements

DEMO TWO

·       Now the parry to block the attack is an accepted part of defense

·       You will note that the execution is faster and more direct than in previous weapons.

Guard in 3rd Engaged, Thrust in 3rd – Parade – Riposte 4th Overarm

DEMO THREE

·       The lighter weapon allows faster movements and we see the older pass under the blade become a very modern disengage.

Guard in 3rd, Disengage Attack in Second

DEMO FOUR

·       With this comes a new set of parries to block attacks and set up offensive actions in reply – the modern riposte.

Guard in 3rd, Disengage Attack in Second – Half Circle Parade

DEMO FIVE

·       However, there are many older techniques which survive.  For example, St. George’s Guard descends from Silver’s Bastard Guardant – and is what we know today as parry 1

Attack in 2nd to inside, 1st Parade

DEMO SIX

·       By the middle of the 1800s smallsword play had essentially developed all of the techniques of modern fencing

·       Two examples are the coupe – a pass of the blade over the point and the counterdisengage, a circular movement to deceive the opponent’s circular movement

·       None of these were possible with the heavier weapons of the 1300s through 1600s.

Coupe

Change of Engagement – Counter Disengage

DEMO SEVEN

·       In spite of this modernity, old habits died hard.  For example, literally dozens of techniques were taught on how to disarm an opponent.

Disarm on Thrust in 3rd, with Parry, Grasp Guard With Blade Pushing Down

VIII.  Classical Dueling Sword - Classical

There is a direct lineage from the rapier through the smallsword to the epee du combat, or dueling sword, to the modern epee.

The dueling sword of the late 1800s through the 1960s used a blade of approximately 35 inches, and triangular in shape. Although people call this a blood groove that is simply wrong – the groove allows a strong blade that is also light in weight.

The epee also uses a large bell that protects the hand.

Obviously in a duel any part of the body is target.  However, as most relatively modern duels were fought for first blood to satisfy honor, and not to kill, the arm was a favorite target. 

And as first blood suggests, typically he who hits first, won.

This model of the duel served as the model for early sport epee, typically fenced outside on a gravel path for one hit, with no time limit – the longest fencing bout on record is a 97 minute one touch epee bout. 

We will fence for the best of three touches.

Are there any volunteers who would like to serve as judges in the audience – we need four judges.

The quick judge’s course – a hit anywhere on the body counts – the hit must arrest with the point so that it would have caused an injury if it were sharp – raise your hand if you see it hit – and if asked respond yes, no, abstain of you cannot tell.

IX.  Electric Foil - Modern

Modern foil descends from practice fencing and competitive bouts with the small sword and is in its current form by the 1850s.

As you can tell from the judging experience it is difficult to see hits.  As a result, efforts to find a better way started in the early 1900s, eventually ending in electric scoring – in epee at the 1936 Olympics, in foil in the 1950s, and in sabre in the 1990s.

Modern foil is fenced with the foil, a light weapon of approximately a pound in weight.  The target is the torso, not including legs, arms or head.  Hits must arrive with the point to complete an electric circuit through the electric vest, or lame, the opposing fencer wears.

Foil has the concept of right of way – the fencer who initiates an attack has the right to continue that attack until it is either blocked or misses.  If two hits arrive the referee determines which one has right of way.

X.  Electric Sabre – Modern

The modern sabre descends not from the cavalry sabre but from the Italian dueling sabre, a lightweight weapon similar in function to the French epee du combat.  Like the foil it weighs approximately 1 pound, and is fenced with right of way.  The principles of the electric equipment are basically similar.

What is different is the target, from the waist up including arms and head, and the fact that any contact, whether with point of blade edge, results in a hit. 

Sabre is heavily dependent on footwork, finding the right distance from which to attack so that the opponent has very little chance to defend successfully.