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The Styles of Swordplay
by Lord Simon fitz Tomas
During the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe, several different styles of
sword fighting existed. The times and customs made the sword and swordplay
almost common place. Schools and fraternities dedicated to the study of fencing
sprang up all over Europe. Vast distances, both physical and political, made
the spread of knowledge slow throughout the whole of Europe and so different
styles of fighting developed in each country. Knowledge slowly spread and by
the middle of the seventeenth century there were basically five styles of
fencing. They are: the Old style, the Spanish style, the Italian style, the
German style, and the French style. We will briefly examine each of them in
turn.
The Old style was the basis of all other fencing styles. It was what
remained of medieval sword fighting techniques. The weapons of this style were
the dagger, the cutlass, the long sword, the 'hand-and-a-half' or 'bastard'
sword, and the two-handed sword. The only defensive item employed with this
style was the buckler, a small round shield that was held in the fighter's off
hand. The Old style developed from the medieval arts of war with a single sword
or a sword and shield. Using wider and heavier swords than the rapier, the Old
style depended more upon physical strength than upon dexterity or finesse. It
used a combination of attacks with the sharp edge of the blade (slashes),
attacks with the flat of the blade (strikes), and attacks with the point of the
blade (thrusts).
The Old style endured the longest in England. This is due, in part, to
two factors that influenced the English strongly in the art of sword fighting:
a book and a law. In 1599, a mercenary named George Silver wrote and published
a book on sword fighting entitled Paradoxes of Defense. This book is a tirade
against the rapier and foreign styles. It must have been well received by its
audience since prior to this book's publication a law was written limiting the
length of rapiers that were allowed on English soil. There is a case of a
foreign diplomat running afoul of this law and having his blades broken to the
proper length by the English authorities. Yet we cannot condemn the English for
being non progressive as there were foreign fencing schools and masters teaching
the other styles to any Englishman willing to learn.
The Spanish style was probably the first solid fencing style to develop
from the Old style. Built upon medieval sword fighting techniques, it relied
heavily upon almost full arm extension and footwork to keep the opponent at a
set distance. The weapons utilized by the Spanish style were the long sword and
the rapier. The style used no defensive tools; a single blade served as both
offense and defense. It depended upon quick movements and used both the slash
and the thrust as attacks. The slash was the stronger of the two attacks due to
the distance kept between opponents.
The Spanish style has been described as "a complicated and mystical
affair" due to its extensive use of geometry and its complicated "circle of
defense" referenced by a French student of the style named Thibault. It is
believed that the Spanish style developed from the teachings of alchemy that
stressed perfection of the human form in all things. The difficulty in
mastering the style, combined with the rigid laws and customs regarding dueling
in Spain, meant that sword fighting did not become as popular in Spain as it did
in the rest of Europe. Spanish sword masters and Italian merchants brought the
Spanish style of fencing to Italy. The Italians incorporated some of the
elements of the Spanish style into the style that they were developing.
The Italian style developed shortly after the Spanish style. It
concentrated on the physical and mechanical points of swordplay, such as
presenting the smallest possible target to the opponent and always keeping the
tip of the blade pointed at the opponent. The weapons used in this style were
the long sword, the rapier, and the foil, a long and thin blade with a sharp
point and no edge. The defensive items utilized in the Italian style were the
buckler and the baton, a cane like stick held in the off hand and used for
parrying. Additionally, the Italians innovated the art of sword fighting by
introducing the integration of attack and defense in both hands. This
innovation was called Florentine fighting, after the city of its birth. Thus
swordsmen using the Italian style often carried a dagger for use in their off
hand. Some fought with two long blades. This style used two types of attacks:
the thrust and the lunge. The lunge was another invention of the Italians,
although at first it was basically just a running thrust.
The Italian style is the best documented of all of the styles, as
instructional texts still exist written by such masters as DiGrassi, Agrippa,
and Capo Ferro. The Italian style spread throughout Europe and influenced all
of the other styles. The French style developed almost completely out of it.
Additionally, the tenets of the Italian style are also, in a large part, the
basis of modern epee and foil fencing.
The German style was developed in Germany and Eastern Europe (The Holy
Roman Empire) at the same time the Italian style was being developed. Owing its
origins to the Old style, the German style used a viscious system of slashes and
cuts aimed at the upper torso and a box like system of parries. These attacks
and defenses were based upon the moves that a man fighting from horseback would
use. The weapons of the German style were long sword and saber. No defensive
items were used in this style, although woodcuts would indicate that a secondary
weapon, a sword or a dagger, was sometimes used. The style utilized three types
of attacks: the slash, the strike, and the cut, a fast attack somewhere between
a shallow thrust and a short slash.
Numerous German fencing texts from the period still exist. The style
influenced cavalry fighting and sword fighting in warfare, such as it was in the
period, throughout Europe. Much like the Spanish style, the German style
emphasized keeping the opponent at a set distance. The style was spread across
Europe by the landsneckt mercenaries. Finally, the modern techniques for saber
fighting owe their beginnings to the German style.
The French style was the last to develop and was truly a synthesis of the
best the other styles had to offer. This style stressed the use of strategy and
thinking in combat to make every factor count for you and against your opponent.
The style fully incorporated the Florentine method and combatants used long
swords, foils, and rapiers for weapons. Defensive secondary items could be
nearly anything: a dagger, a buckler, a baton, a cloak, a hat, a mug, a chair,
etc. One of the most common secondaries was the dagger. A long daggers was
developed for this purpose and took on a name of its own: the main gauche or
left hand. The French style had three types of attacks: slashes, thrusts, and
lunges.
In 1573, Henri Sainct Didier published the first book on the art of
swordsmanship ever written in French. He is held by the French to be "father of
their national science of arms", however his work is largely derivative of di
Grassi and other Italian masters. The French style eventually achieved
dominance over the other styles in the late 17th century. Today, it is the
style of sword fighting that people identify with the rapier and The Three
Musketeers. This is largely due to Hollywood of course. However, by the end of
the 17th century, Paris was the home of numerous fencing schools.
By the 18th century fencing had basically begun to devolve into simply a
sport. While duels still occurred in some places, more and more they were being
fought with pistols instead of swords. For nearly all people the five distinct
styles of swordplay that once existed in Europe have degenerated over time into
only a general idea that once people fought with swords. Today, only a very few
talented people keep the noble spirit and active study of classical fencing
alive. In a future article I will describe some period duels as well as try to
give you a feeling of what it is like to cross swords.
Saludos
