THE HISTORY OF FENCING

BY CHESSA KOWNURKO AND IAN MININGER

Earliest Records Carvings in Egypt near 1200 B.C. showed

pictures of sword competitions similar to modern fencingThe competitors wore masks and used safety tip

swordsThere was also evidence

of judgesNot organized enough,

However, to be called

“fencing”

Renaissance

Around the 1400s during the Renaissance swords began being crafter that were lighter and quicker than the bulkier swords of the dark ages

Along with these lighter

swords came more technique

Germany

The German academy St. Mark, also known as Maxbruder, was credited as being the first to try to establish a single, organized way of approaching fencing

German fencing guilds began appearingSuch as the guild shown in this picture, one of the

more famous German guilds “Meyer Freifechter”

Fencing as an Art The first book created on

the topic of fencing was the

Treatise on Weapons It was written by Diego de Valera

somewhere between 1458 and 1471 It has been said that the creation and

emergence of this book marked the birth of fencing as an art

Emergence of the Rapier

In the 1500s the rapier was developed in Spain

It spread to Italy, France, and all over the rest of Europe

It was one of the most popular swords used for self defense and duels

Roughly 40,000 French nobles were killed between 1600 and 1780 due to the effectiveness of the rapier as a weapon

Rapiers

France and Italy Two main fencing schools emerged

The Italian and French schools The French school

Focused itself mostly on academic and Strategic techniques

The Italian schoolEmphasized the importance of physical

strength The two schools became rivals and traces

of the rivalry, though minimal, still remain even today

Emergence of the Foil

The foil became popular in the 1700s The blade of the foil is flexible, blunt

tipped, and thin It is used for practice matches and in

training The foil is one of the main things that

began the usage of fencing as a sport rather than as a form of self defense (what it previously was)

Foils

Fencers in Cyrano’s Time Francesco Antonio Marchelli who lived in Italy around

the time of 1660 was a sword master who created the “Passata Soto”, a famous way to lunge he also wrote "Regole Della Scherma“ which was published in 1686

Camillo Agrippa, who was alive from 1590 to 1650, was an Italian master who wrote the book "Trattato di Scienza d'Arme" in 1568. He also created the four main fencing positions

Andre De Liancour lived somewhere around 1680 in France he wrote the book "Le Maistre d’Armes” in 1686 and also is credited with being one of the first ever to teach the fencing move known as the "coupe"

Modern Fencing

Today, fencing is a combat sport between two people using blunt tipped swords

The official sport is divided

into three weapons The foilThe sabreThe epée

Fencing is even in the

Olympics

epée

sabre

foil

Olympic Fencing

Work Cited "A Short History of Fencing." A History of Fencing.

Web. 20 Feb. 2012. <http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~fencing/oldweb/history/fencinghistory.html>.

"The History of Fencing |." Http://lafencing.com. Los Angeles International Fencing Center. Web. 20 Feb. 2012. <http://lafencing.com/?page_id=284>.

"The History of Fencing." Fencing Classes in Winchester VA, Frederick MD, and the Panhandle of WV. Web. 20 Feb. 2012. <http://www.swordsmen101.com/historyoffencing.html>.

Work Cited "A History of Fencing." ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation. Web.

20 Feb. 2012. <http://library.thinkquest.org/15340/historyessay.html>.

"Rapier." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Feb. 2012. Web. 20 Feb. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapier>.

 "Great Fencing Masters Of History." Http://www.acfencers.com. ACFA. Web. 21 Feb. 2012.

<http://www.acfencers.com/fencingmasters.html>.

"Fencing." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Feb. 2012. Web. 20 Feb. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fencing>.