Fencing on rapiers Novokuznetsk. historical fencing

In the XIV - XV centuries, in the era of the reign long sword, as the main discipline of the art of fencing, the German masters held the primacy in its teaching and development. But with the advent of the rapier in the first half of the 16th century, the scales tipped in the direction of the Italians.

All authors who wrote about fencing in the 16th century differ in one interesting feature- although they constantly use the word "protection", they do not define any protection (until the 18th century there was no classification of protections). The masters of that era based their practice on the principle that any attack, if it could not be repelled by a shield, cloak or dagger, must be met with a counterattack or evaded by moving the body.

Italian fencing school

Marozzo is the first popular Italian author to write about the art of swordsmanship. Judging by the numerous editions of his works, five of which appeared between 1536 and 1615, he enjoyed a good reputation, even at a time when the fencing system he described was very outdated.

Marozzo's work is detailed description fencing system, popular even before the supremacy of a thrust over a blow was elevated to a principle.

Marozzo divided all types of blows into stabbing and chopping and carried out the following differentiation in them:

• Chopping blows:
  • mandritti(singular "mandritto"), so called because they are applied from the right (dritto) side of the fencer with the aim of hitting the left side of the opponent;
  • manroversi, or simply roversi (singular "roverso"), are applied on the other side (i.e., on the left).

  Chopping blows performed with the front blade:

  • fendente- cut vertically from top to bottom;
  • sgualembro- cut diagonally from the shoulder to the opposite side;
  • tondo or traverso that cut along a horizontal line;
  • ridoppio- diagonal blow from the side to the opposite shoulder.

  Chopping blows performed with the back blade:

  • tondi;
  • ridoppi will become falso dritto(left side - right shoulder) and falso manco(right side - left shoulder);
  • montante- vertical strike from the bottom up.


• Stabbing blows are of four types:
  • punta dryta or simply punta, performed with a hand in the position of the incoming rack;
  • punta roversa- hand in the position of the Front Stance;
  • imbroccata, or thrust over the arm, usually performed in the Becca Cesa or Possa positions;
  • stoccata, or arm thrust, is usually performed with the arm in the High Iron Door position.

Marozzo also detailed 15 possible stances (in Marrozo stances have little to do with what we now call this word), and if you combine them with blows, then we can conclude that the fencing system of the first half of the 16th century was reduced to moving between the stances, to take a position relative to the enemy, which would make it possible to strike in any way.

Seventeen years after the first publication of Marozzo's fencing system, a magnificent work on fencing was published in Rome - "A Treatise on Weapon Science with a Philosophical Dialogue" by the Milanese Camillo Agripa, who made a real revolution in the art of fencing.

As an engineer, Agrippa was interested in the ligaments of movements performed by parts of the body during injections and blows. To describe them, he used his extensive knowledge of geometry and mathematics, and eventually came to the conclusion that in most cases a thrust is more advantageous than a strike, since the line connecting the sword tip and the target, when thrusting, is straight and therefore has a shorter length than the arc of a circle described by the tip upon impact.

Agrippa, being a talented engineer, had a scientific interest in fencing and, noticing significant errors in popular fencing styles, invented a much simpler system.

First, Agrippa abandoned numerous and largely useless stances, connected to each other in the most artificial way. He postulated that any stance where the left foot is pointed out and the sword held in the right hand is too open to the swordsman. Secondly, he began to insist on the obvious advantage of a thrust over a strike, since a thrust requires less power and time, and it is more difficult to parry.

As a result of these remarks, Agrippa reduced the number of useful stances to four and gave them numerical names: prima, seconda, terza and quarta.

Destreza

While the Italians, and then, having intercepted their initiative, the French realized that the simplification of the fencing system leads to perfection, the Spanish masters turned fencing into a very complex and intricate "science", requiring knowledge of geometry and natural philosophy for practical application. The Spanish system of rapier riding (in a broader sense, and on any other melee weapon) was named - Destreza(Spanish La Destreza), which literally means "mastery".

The ancestor of destreza, whose principles were based on the mathematical relationship of angles and arcs, tangents and chords, can be considered Carranza, who completed his first written work in 1569, and was widely circulated by 1582. In the 17th century, the teachings of Carranza were continued and developed by another Spanish master, Luis Pacheco de Narvaez, in fact, it was his works, or the works of other authors, but based on the work of de Narvaez, that constitute the entire Spanish fencing literature of the 17th century. Outside the territory of the Iberian Peninsula, the principles of destreza were "preached" by Girard Thibault from Antwerp, known for his work "Academy of the Blade".

At the heart of all the principles of destreza are movements within an imaginary (mystical) circle drawn on the ground - circon ferencia imaginta entre los cuerpos contrarios(translated from Spanish - an imaginary circle between the bodies of opponents).

An imaginary circle between the bodies of opponents

In a fighting stance (the body is straightened, but so that the heart is not directly opposite the opponent's sword; right hand extended straight, legs wide apart ...) opponents should be at opposite ends of the diameter of this circle, the length of which is equal to the length of the arm with a horizontally extended sword. Opponents can move relative to each other, along diametrically opposite tangents. Opponents can take steps inside this circle, moving along its fictional chords, and find themselves "inside the distance" at striking distance. Thus, any move made by one of the fencers can lead to the following results:

• the opponent takes a corresponding step around the circumference so that they remain at opposite ends of the diameter and nothing changes;
• the opponent strikes by taking a step;
• the opponent gets hit if he misses the "moment".

The main purpose of the step is to put the enemy in a disadvantageous position for defense.

From the general concept of destreza, we can conclude that the lunge was not even in the bud, and the whole tactic was to move in short steps at right angles to the diameter, constantly threatening the enemy with the edge of the blade.

Particular attention in destrez is given to strikes, they are divided into the following types:

• arrebatar - blow from the shoulder;
• mediotajo - strike from the elbow;
• mandoble - blow from the wrist ( light blow point).

In his books, Narvaez also writes about the correct proportions of the sword. Its length should be proportional to the height of a person (Capo Ferro claimed that the sword should be twice the length of the arm).

Thibaut, in order to relate the proportions of the sword to the mystical circle, decrees that the length of the weapon should be equal to the radius of the circle, so that if the sword is placed strictly vertically between the legs, the cross should be at the level of the navel.

Despite the fact that the training of destrese was a long time complex and intricate process, this fencing system existed in Spain as early as the beginning of the 18th century, and Spanish swordsmen enjoyed a reputation as very dangerous and experienced fighters.

A form of ancient melee martial arts that is recreated from historical sources such as texts, images, and oral tradition. In other words, historical fencing is an attempt to revive martial arts, the traditions of which have not been preserved to this day. Basically, the term "historical fencing" refers to types of melee weapons that existed before the heyday of the three classic sports blades - rapiers, epee and sabers. IN last years, as a result of the huge interest in martial arts and historical heritage, many individuals and organizations are trying to recreate the ancient martial arts.

historical fencing in Paladin.

Our hall is named after the famous fencing club "Paladin", which has existed for over 10 years. In early 2002, a number of fighters separated from him, who organized their own own club under the name "Bayard", which soon became generally recognized the best club Russia, Europe and the CIS on the tournament component of historical fencing. The fighters of this club from year to year win almost all the tournaments in which they participate. Moreover, almost all Bayard participants work as trainers at FFC Paladin. Thus, FFC Paladin has the strongest coaching school in this sport in the world, which we are very proud of.

Classes are held in the hall

Coach - Ivan Vasiliev

Experience in historical fencing - since 1999. Multiple winner and prize-winner of various regional, Russian and international tournaments in HMB (both in fights and in group fights). Two-time winner of the "Battle of the Nations" tournament. One of the authors of the concept of professional full-contact medieval fights ("professional fights") - one of the most spectacular and tough types of historical fencing. He won many victories in the professional ring. One of the founders of the club IF "Bayard". He has an official diploma of higher sports education. Coaching experience in historical fencing - since 2003.

Coach - Mikhail Babynin

An excellent fighter and trainer, knows more than others about the theory of fencing, the author of the concept of "two strikes", a participant in the "Battle of the Nations" and various tournaments, writes a bestseller about historical fencing. Sports past - sports fencing.