Swordsmanship
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Swordsmanship refers to the skills of a swordsman, a person versed in fencing with a sword. The term is modern, and as such was mainly used to refer to smallsword fencing, but by extension it can also be applied to European Medieval warfare. Swordsman translates gladiator, the term for the professional fencers of Ancient Rome.
Several modern sports and martial arts have components based upon older principles of swordfighting. Among these are fencing, kendo, iaido, kenjutsu, escrima, aikido and some variants of kung fu.
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Styles of swordfighting
sword and shield
The early medieval single-handed sword descended from the spatha was designed for combined use with a shield in hand-to-hand combat. See Viking Age arms and armour, Holmgang. Until the High Middle-Ages (13th century), this combination remained common, and was continued into early modern times in the form of combat with a sword or a grosses messer and a buckler. The earliest fechtbuch known, the I.33 manuscript of ca. 1300 deals with sword and buckler techniques.
two-handed sword
Although occasional two-handed use is attested from at least the 13th century, swords designed for two-handed use appear relatively late.
Examples of such swords include the Scottish claymore, and the German or Italian long-sword or spadona, and the German Zweihänder. There are no surviving manuals or schools dealing with the two-handed claymore, although singlestick is thought to be a sports combat form descended from the use of the later single-handed claymore. Similarly, there is no surviving body of technique dealing directly with the zweihänder, though again some Western martial artists believe that some German long-sword technique is applicable to the weapon.
The greatest body of surviving material on two-handed swordfighting deals with the use of the longsword. Generally, this material can be sorted into the German and the Italian traditions, and also chronologically.
Chronology
Middle Ages
Little is known about early medieval fencing technique but what may be concluded from archaeological evidence and artistic depiction (see Viking Age arms and armour). The earliest known treatises are from 14th century Germany (see I.33, Johannes Liechtenauer, 3227a). The German school of swordsmanship is well attested from the 15th century in fechtbuchs ("fighting manuals"). German masters of the 15th century include Sigmund Ringeck, Hans Talhoffer, Peter von Danzig and Paulus Kal.
Renaissance
The German school declines during the 16th century. The compendia compiled by Paulus Hector Mair in the 1540s look back to the preceding century and are an attempt to reconstruct and preserve a failing art.
The treatise by Joachim Meyer, dating to the 1570s, notable for its scientific and complete approach to the style (it is suggested that Meyer's students came to him with less military knowledge and therefore required more basic instruction), is the last major account of the German school, and its context is now almost entirely sportive.
Also from the 15th century, a separate Italian style of swordsmanship begins to develop, originally probably dependent on the German school. Fiore dei Liberi's manual, the Flos Duellatorum dates to around 1410, and is noted for presenting a complete system of combat not only with the longsword in two hands, but also covering wrestling, dagger, quarterstaff, spear, and poleaxe technique, the longsword in one hand, and in two hands while armored.
The Italian, French and Spanish schools developed into systems of rapier fencing. Renaissance Italian masters include Camillo Agrippa (1568), Rocco Bonetti (1570s) and Capo Ferro (1610).
Modern fencing
18th century: rapier, smallsword, sabre
19th century: Foil (sword)
See also
External links
- http://www.thehaca.com/manuals.htm
- http://www.thehaca.com/medsword2.htm
- http://www.legends.dm.net/swash/rapier.html
- http://mac9.ucc.nau.edu/manuscripts/pcapo/
- Associations
- Academy of European Swordsmanship (http://www.the-aes.org/)
- Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts (http://www.aemma.org/), located in Toronto, Canada
- Association for Renaissance (and Medieval) Martial Arts (http://www.thearma.org/)
- http://www.swordsmanship.co.uk/
- The Company of Maisters of the Science of Defence (http://www.maisters.demon.co.uk/)