LITMIR.BIZ

       1.5 The Rapier and the Fencing School

      From the 16th century onwards, the sword gradually developed away from the battlefield to a duel weapon or weapon for self-defense. During this era, the simultaneous use of a second weapon became increasingly common. In the 16th century, or even at the beginning of the 17th century, the so-called “left-hand dagger²⁴” became commonplace, or one could use a cloak wrapped around the free arm. The latter methodology especially, has relevance in folk knife fencing to this day. Incidentally, Lorenzo de' Medici had already used this combination when he and his brother Giuliano were attacked, on April 26, 1478; well before the 16th century. Or consider the Royal Armouries Ms. I.33 manuscript. It is the earliest known surviving European fechtbuch (combat manual) and one of the oldest surviving martial arts manuals dealing with armed combat worldwide. I.33 is also known as the “Walpurgis Manuscript”, after a figure named Walpurgis, shown in the last sequence of the manuscript, and the “Tower Manuscript”, because it was kept in the Tower of London from 1950 to 1996. It is also referred to as British Museum – No. 14 E iii, No. 20, D. vi.

      This manuscript, whose genesis was estimated around 1300-1320, describes using the “fist shield,”²⁵ or buckler, in a conventional duel and also as part of the skills of the simple soldier on the battlefield. Principles and techniques that correspond to the use of the buckler can be found particularly within the (circling) knife school (“scuola ruotata”) from Riposto, Sicily²⁶.

      Fencing developed at that time from the manifestation of new indepth scientific research. Masters like Achille Marozzo or Antonio Manciolino took the first steps. And Italy was, over time, becoming the focal point, the mecca of this movement. In the course of this evolution, the increasing use of the thrust, as faster and more deadly, replaced the school of slash. The paradigm shift of this technical advance resulted in the birth of a new sword type: the spada, sometimes called striscia (strip/streak)²⁷.

      Eventually, at the beginning of the 19th century, when French, as mentioned, became a world language, this weapon was simply named Rapier²⁸. The name was derived from the legend of the Spanish espada ropera²⁹. However, these assumptions are unproven. And in the founding country of Italy, neither name is used accordingly. The rapier was or is a sword with a long and fine blade, which allowed quick thrusts in tempo³⁰. Consideration should be given to the armor-piercing-sword. This weapon could have been an intellectual predecessor of the rapier.

      The Italian school of fencing predominantly prefers combat with wider distances and forward postures. Every action, whether offensive or defensive, was accompanied by an almost obligatory change in measure without bending the weapon-arm too much. Feints were predominantly body-feints, just like the appell later, a light step forward or in place with the forward foot in order to hide with the sound that the lunge is still continuing forward. And, if the opponent reacts too much to the appell, you were a tempo ahead of him.

      The Italian manner also tried to clear the opponents weapon out of the way with a quick battuta, a beat³¹. It was an athletic and aggressive form of dueling. There were likely even more masters in that era, which represents a flowing transition from the high or rather late Renaissance (Mannerism) to the early Baroque, than there are literary works, of which we have a large number. For example, the following authors, and many others, were just some of the most renowned Italian representatives of this development:

      Camillo Agrippa, Trattato di Scientia d'Arme con un Dialogo di Filosofia, 1553

      Giacomo di Grassi, Ragion di Adoprar Sicuramente l'Arme si da Offesa, come da Difesa, 1570

      Angelo Viaggiani, Lo Schermo, 1575

      Nicoletto Giganti, Scola overo Teatro, 1606;

      Salvatore Fabris, Lo Schermo, ovvero Scienza d'Arme, 1606

      Ridolfo Capoferro, Gran Simulacro dell'Arte e dell'Uso della Scherma, 1610

      Francesco Alfieri, La Scherma di Francesco Alfieri, 1640

      Of course, at that time there were great Fencing Masters of the sword outside of Italy, such as the German Renaissance Fencing Master Joachim Meyer³² or the gentleman George Silver³³, who is still a force to be reckoned with in the late Renaissance. According to his own statements, Joachim Meyer was influenced by Italian fencing methods. George Silver’s work, on the other hand, was a pamphlet against Italian duel fencing, which he considered absolutely unfit for either battlefield or self-defense, due to the length of the sword, among other things. In his work he mainly attacks the Italian Fencing Masters Rocco Bonetti and Vincentio Saviolo³⁴. Whatever one may have thought about the fencing schools of the Italian maestri of those eras, Italy had been the destination for ambitious fencing students from half of Europe for centuries and still remained so.

      At this point, I cannot get into all the masters of the Italian fencing schools, but I would like to name at least a few that, in my opinion, provide a clear technical and tactical connection to the folk knife schools of the 19th century.