Fencing Theory: The Swordsman's Quick Guide, #6

By Guy Windsor

*This instalment of The Swordsman's Quick Guide has been included as a chapter in the author's book The Theory and Practice of Historical Martial Arts.*

 

Fencing theory is the intellectual, abstract structure that fencers use to describe, define, and explain their art. In this book, professional swordsmanship instructor and author Guy Windsor introduces you to the uses of fencing theory, and explains in detail all the major concepts. You can then use this theory to better analyse and understand whatever swordsmanship style you practice.

The main areas covered here are:

• Doctrine: the idea behind the art. What is the best way to win a sword fight? What is the best kind of sword fight?
• Strategy: the end-state that you aim for in a fight. Stab him in the face; disarm him; throw him to the ground, score 5 points before he does.
• Tactics: the choice of specific techniques that will lead to your strategic goal.
• Time: the timing of your actions relative to those of your opponent. Many styles define actions in terms of the number of motions they require, and distinguish between acting before, during or after your opponent's motion.
• Measure: the distance between the two fencers. Any fencing action has a specific measure in which it works best, and most styles distinguish between being able to hit without stepping, or with a single footwork action, or requiring more than one step. Many also include grappling measure.
• Postures: the static positions that are defined in the art; even in arts where there is no standing still, there is usually at least one "on guard" position defined somewhere.
• Actions: movements of the sword or body. Cuts, thrusts, parries, lunges, passing steps, turns, steps, even backflips.
• Combinations: specific actions strung together in sequence, usually for tactical reasons. Common combinations often get given names and are thought of as "a technique", such as the punta falsa, the krumphau, the scannatura, the one-two.
• Mechanics: very few historical fencing sources discuss mechanics in any detail, but most give at least some indication of how an action should be done.
• Additional elements: many sources or styles also include other elements, such as virtues and philosophy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Spada Press
• Release date: Apr 21, 2016
• ISBN: 9798201078294

Guy Windsor

Dr. Guy Windsor is a world-renowned instructor and a pioneering researcher of medieval and renaissance martial arts. He has been teaching the Art of Arms full-time since founding The School of European Swordsmanship in Helsinki, Finland, in 2001. His day job is finding and analysing historical swordsmanship treatises, figuring out the systems they represent, creating a syllabus from the treatises for his students to train with, and teaching the system to his students all over the world. Guy is the author of numerous classic books about the art of swordsmanship and has consulted on swordfighting game design and stage combat. He developed the card game, Audatia, based on Fiore dei Liberi's Art of Arms, his primary field of study. In 2018 Edinburgh University awarded him a PhD by Research Publications for his work recreating historical combat systems. When not studying medieval and renaissance swordsmanship or writing books Guy can be found in his shed woodworking or spending time with his family.

Book preview

The Swordsman’s Quick Guide Series Introduction

Hello, and welcome to The Swordsman’s Quick Guide series of booklets on various aspects of life in general and training historical swordsmanship in particular. My name is Guy Windsor, and I have been working on historical European swordsmanship, mostly from medieval and renaissance Italian sources, since the early 1990s. In 2001 I opened my first proper school, and have been making my living as an instructor and writer on this topic ever since. Each instalment is intended to put my key ideas about a single subject together in one place for easy reference, and so they are not specific to one weapon, style, or system. As such, they should also be useful to most other martial artists.

  In many cases, I cover the specific systems in detail in one or another of my books. For Fiore’s longsword techniques, you will probably find my The Medieval Longsword and Advanced Longsword, Form and Function useful. For Capoferro’s rapier plays, The Duellist's Companion. In this series I will do my best to stay general, so that the fundamental principles are not hidden behind system-specific jargon and examples.

The ideas for which topics to cover in this series mostly come from the questions I get asked by my readers and students, so if you think of a topic you’d like me to include please let me know! You can find me on the usual social networking sites, and also on my own website, www.guywindsor.net/blog

  The rest of the series includes The Seven Principles of Mastery, available free in most ebook shops, Choosing a Sword, available free when you sign up to my mailing list, Preparing for Freeplay, Ethics, and Teaching a Basic Class.

Introduction

  Fencing theory is the intellectual, abstract structure that fencers use to describe, define, and explain their art. For modern sport fencers, the fencing theory that their art is based on has been refined and defined and described to the nth degree; it can be simply learned from a book (I recommend the British Academy of Fencing’s documentation for this; you can order it here). For historical fencers the situation is very different. Many historical sources don’t discuss theory at all, they just describe a list of guards and techniques. Others describe the theory of their art in such metaphorical or culturally specific terms that it is very hard to understand what they are actually trying to say. The purpose of this instalment of The Swordsman’s Quick Guide is to give you the mental tools to analyse the fencing theory of any style.

  Fencing theory is not a new idea. At the bottom of the first page of the earliest fencing treatise we have, Royal Armouries MS I.33, there is the phrase Notandum quod ars dimicatoria sic describitur: Dimicatio est diversarum plagarum ordinatio, et dividitur in septem partes vt hic. Jeffrey Forgeng translates it as: "Note that the art of combat is described as follows: Combat is the organising of various blows,