About Fencing
A short history
Medieval swords were heavy and powerful, suitable for denting body armor. It was difficult to kill an armored knight with a sword, but you could break limbs or cause internal injury. Few if any swordplay techniques from this era survive in modern fencing.
With the advent of gunpowder, body armor was rendered superfluous by the penetrating power of the bullet. Armor became lighter, to enhance mobility, and then became ceremonial, disappearing from warfare altogether. During the period in which guns were becoming light and reliable, 1700–1900, the fencing sword experienced its heyday.
No longer required to penetrate armor, the swords grew light and fast. Speed, dexterity and trickery were required to beat an opponent. Before long, the best fencers (the survivors) noticed certain “best practice” moves and methods which translated to a high survival value. These were codified into styles, some of which survive today: French, Italian, Spanish.
The original fencing weapons were the Épeé and the Sabre. The Épeé is a point-weapon rapier. The Sabre is a curved cutting-edge military weapon. The Foil was introduced later as a derivative of the smallsword. It was used as a lighter, safer training weapon, and still carries with it most of the rule-set devised to promote survivable duels. Foil is the predominant introductory weapon in modern times, for it instills good habits common to all weapons.
In the early 1900’s, electrical scoring was introduced, and fencing moved fully into the realm of sport. Button-tips and electric scoring vests made new priorities: You no longer had to live through a one-hit, first-blood duel, you had to score multiple hits against an opponent. The successful Olympic styles of today are recognizable amalgams of Hungarian, French, German and Italian technique.
Modern fencing
Today, fencing is in the NCAAs, the World Championships and the Olympics. Fencers are young and old, rich and poor, and of every color and ethnic background.
The Weapons
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Foil |
Epee |
Sabre |
More information about Fencing
Learn about Fencing from WhatIsFencing.com
The Fencing FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
More Fencing History, by Andy Shaw
Useful website about learning fencing, by a fencer!
A silly amount of random fencing links