History of Fencing

Swordfighting as sport has existed since ancientCutting swords had been used in bloodsports
Egypt, and has been practiced in many forms insuch as backsword prizefights at least as far
various cultures since then. Although jousting andback as the 17th century. Broadswords, sabres,
tournament combat was a popular sport in theand cutlasses were used extensively in military
European middle ages, modern FIE fencing owescircles, especially by cavalry and naval personell,
more to unarmoured dueling forms that evolvedand saw some dueling application in these circles
from 16th century rapier combat. Rapiers evolvedas well.
from cut-and-thrust military swords, but wereTraining was performed with wooden weapons,
most popular amongst civilians who used it forand stick fighting remained popular until Italian
self-defence and dueling. Rapiers were edged, butmasters formalized sabre fencing into a non-fatal
the primary means of attack was the thrust.sporting/ training form with metal weapons in the
Rapier fencing spread from Spain and Italy tolate 19th century. Early sport sabres were
northwest Europe, in spite of the objections ofsignificantly heavier than the modern sport sabre
masters such as George Silver who preferredand necessitated a strong style with the use of
traditional cutting weapons such the English broadmoulinets and other bold movements. As with
sword.thrusting swords, the sabre evolved to lighter,
The Spanish school, under masters such asless fatal dueling forms such as the Italian sciabola
Narvaez and Thibault, became a complicated anddi terro and the German schlager. Hungarian
mystical affair whose geometrical theoriesmasters developed a new school of sabre fencing
required much practice to master. Italian mastersthat emphasized finger control over arm strength,
like Agrippa and Capo Ferro developed a moreand they dominated sabre fencing for most of
pragmatic school in the late 16th and early 17ththe 20th century.
centuries, introducing innovations such as linearDueling faded away after the First World War. A
fencing and the lunge.couple of noteworthy duels were fought over
By the 18th century, the rapier had evolved to adisputes that arose during Olympic games in the
simpler, shorter, and lighter design that was1920s, and there have been rare reports of
popularized in France as the small sword. Althoughsword duels since then. In October 1997, the
the small sword often had an edge, it was only toMayor of Calabria, Italy, publicly challenged certain
discourage the opponent from grabbing the blade,Mafiosos to a duel. German fraternity dueling
and the weapon was used exclusively for(mensur) still occurs with some frequency.
thrusting. The light weight made a more complexThe first modern Olympic games featured foil and
and defensive style possible, and the Frenchsabre fencing for men only. Epee was introduced
masters developed a school based on defencein 1900. Single stick was featured in the 1904
with the sword, subtlety of movement, andgames. Epee was electrified in the 1936 games,
complex attacks. When buttoned with a leatherfoil in 1956, and sabre in 1988. Early Olympic
safety tip that resembled a flower bud, the smallgames featured events for Masters, and until
sword was known as le fleuret, and was identicalrecently fencing was the only Olympic sport that
in use to the modern foil (still known as le fleurethas included professionals. Disruptions in prevailing
in French). Indeed, the French small sword schoolstyles have accompanied the introduction of
forms the basis of most of modern fencingelectric judging, most recently transforming sabre
theory.fencing. Foil fencing experienced similar upheavals
By the mid-19th century, dueling was in decline asfor a decade or two following the introduction of
a means of settling disputes, partially becauseelectric judging, which was further complicated by
victory could lead to a jail term for assault orthe new, aggressive, athletic style coming out of
manslaughter.eastern Europe at the time.
Emphasis shifted to defeating the opponentWomen’s foil was first contested in
without necessarily killing him, and less fatal duelingthe 1924 Olympic games, and
forms evolved using the dueling sword, or epeeWomen’s epee was only contested for
de terrain, an unedged variant of the small sword.the first time in 1996, although it has been part of
Later duels often ended with crippling thrusts tothe World Championships since 1989.
the arm or leg, and fewer legal difficulties for theWomen’s sabre made its first
participants. This is the basis of modern epeeappearance in the 1998 World Championships as a
fencing.demonstration sport.